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] 
 
f ^. 
 
 i^^/^/'f^^^y. 
 
 A LADY'S LIFE 
 
 ON A 
 
 FARM IN MANITOBA. 
 
 BY 
 
 MRS. CECIL HALL. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 W. H. ALLEN & CO., 13 WATERLOO PLACE, 
 
 PALL MALL. SW. 
 
 1884. 
 
 {A3X rights retserced.) 
 
LONDON : 
 PEINTED BY W. H. ALLEN AND CO., 13 WATERLOO PLACE. S.W. 
 
PKEFACE. 
 
 These letters were never intended for publi- 
 cation, and were only the details wrii;ten to 
 our family of an every-day life, and now put 
 in the same shape and composition; not as 
 a literary work, but in hopes that the 
 various experiences we underwent may be 
 useful to future colonists intending to emi- 
 grate and farm, either in Manitoba or 
 Colorado. 
 
 M. G. C. H. 
 
I/I I 
 
< 
 
 A LADY'S LIFE 
 
 ON 
 
 A FAEM IN MANITOBA. 
 
 QuEENSTowN, April 14th. 
 What joy! four hours in harbour given us 
 to recruit our emaciated forms and write you 
 a few lines of our experiences and trials. 
 You wished us to keep a diary with every 
 detail, which we will try our best to do, 
 beginning by telling of the cheerless journey to 
 Liverpool in rain, the elements even seeming 
 to lament our departure. The bad weather 
 has lasted more or less ever since, just one 
 gleam of sunshine brightening us up on 
 leaving the wharf, but we saw nothing of the 
 Mersey or the surroundings. The only thing 
 that struck us most forcibly was the smalluess 
 of our ship, though it was 6,000 tons. It has 
 
FAEM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 H' 
 
 just been re-docked and overhauled, and still 
 smells horribly of paint and full of workmen, 
 whom, however, we drop here, in exchange for 
 1,200 emigrants. These, with about sixty 
 first-class passengers and a hold full of 
 potatoes, form our cargo. We began life 
 bravely last night, enjoying a very good 
 dinner, and after playing a rubber of whist 
 retired to our berths congratulating ourselves 
 on what excellent sailors we were going to be ; 
 but alas I . . . . Dressing this morning was 
 too difficult, the ship rolled fearfully, even the 
 friends who came with us thus far, and con- 
 sider themselves first-class sailors, think that 
 it will be more prudent to go by train through 
 Ireland home, instead of waiting for the 
 return boat of the same line which calls here 
 on Sunday and is to take them to Liverpool. 
 We almost wish we could turn tail; the 
 prospect of ten days more of the briny ocean 
 is not what at this moment we most fancv. 
 However, in the short time we have been in 
 harbour we have been recruiting to start 
 afresh, and hope for better weather. 
 
FARM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 Dearest M. Mid Atlantic. 
 
 I sadly fear 1 must have contributed 
 more paving-stones for a certain region ; for 
 many good resolutions did I make in starting, 
 and not one of them has been kept, not even 
 so much as writing daily a portion of a letter 
 to be sent home from New York. And now 
 my long story will have to be cut short, and 
 the doings of the last fifteen days will have to 
 be crowded into a very limited space ; for we 
 are in sight of land, and our excitement can 
 only be compared to that of school boys the 
 last day of the term. The joy of landing will 
 not be un mingled with regrets in parting from 
 our fellow-passengers, with whom we have 
 become fast friends; and we are inclined 
 mutually to believe in transmigration of souls, 
 and that we must have known each other in 
 some prior state. Some are going into Minne- 
 sota, three of them having bought 13,000 
 acres in the Red River valley, which they 
 are going to farm on a large scale, and hope 
 in four years to have made fortunes, another 
 owns mines in Colorado, having been one of 
 the first pioneers of the San Juan district ; he 
 
4 FARM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 is in a fair way to a princely fortune. I fear 
 golden apples will not be strewn on our paths, 
 even though we are bound the furthest west. 
 Fifteen days have we been out of sight of land; 
 two days out from Queenstown we broke a 
 piston-rod, which obliged us to Ipy to, in a fear- 
 fully rough sea, for five hours. Next day one 
 of our four boilers burst, and again another 
 piston-rod; which accidents, combined with 
 contrary winds and heavy seas, reduced our 
 speed to nearly half for the remainder of the 
 journey. Our spirits have not flagged, as, 
 thanks to various small games such as pitch- 
 and-toss, running races when the ship was 
 rolling, quoits, and cards, we have not found 
 time unbearably long. The last few days we 
 have had big sweepstakes on the run of the 
 ship ; but, unfortunately, none of our party 
 have won them. One evening we had a con- 
 cert ; but you may imagine the talent on board 
 was not great when they had to call upon one 
 of us to accompany the prima donnay and 
 the other to sing a second in a duet ; another 
 evening we danced — or rather tried to — our 
 band consisting of a concertina and a flute, 
 played by two of the steerage passengers, but 
 
 i 
 
 I 
 
 II 
 
FARM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 1 
 
 the vcasci rolled so persistently that we often 
 lost our cciuilibrium and reeled like drunken 
 men and women. 
 
 I must stop: cur.' jsity bids me go on deck. 
 We shall shortly be in the quarantine harbour, 
 the entrance of which is said to be very fine ; 
 though I very much doubt our being able to 
 see anything, as, in spite of being in this much 
 boasted climate of the new world, it is raining 
 and is dull enough to rejoice the hearts of 
 true John Bulls like your daughter's. 
 
 Navy Yard, New York, April 30th. 
 
 I hope you will have got our letters sent 
 off by the ship's boat the night before we 
 were allowed to land, as, though we arrived in 
 the quarantine harbour at 7 o'clock, it was too 
 late for the Custom-house and medical officers 
 to inspect us ; we therefore had to lay to, and 
 only moved up to the wharf about 8 o'clock 
 the next morning. We were greeted by a 
 most kind letter of welcome, and the first 
 thing we saw as we got to the dock was the 
 Navy Yard Tug with the Commodore and 
 
6 
 
 FAEM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 daughters on board to receive us ; and, thanks 
 to them, we had no difficulties or bothers. 
 The Custom-house men went through the 
 form of opening two of our boxes and inquir- 
 ing into the age of our saddle, which had been 
 used but looked terribly new, hardly as if it 
 had been in wear six months, which is the 
 given period for things to pass in free of 
 duty. We then steamed round New York 
 through much shipping and under a most 
 marvellous new suspension bridge, which is to 
 join New York and Brooklyn, to the dock- 
 yard ; where we had another most hearty recep- 
 tion from our hostess. They had all been in 
 a fidget at our being so many days late, and 
 directly the ship was telegraphed off Sandy 
 Hook the last night, in spite of the pouring 
 rain, the Commodore had gone down in the 
 tug to the Quarantine Harbour to try and get 
 us off. 
 
 Since our arrival we have been " doing '^ 
 New York, and are woefully disappointed in 
 the size of the streets. Fifth Avenue I expected 
 to find a Parisian Boulevard with trees lining 
 the ''side walks," instead of houses of all shapes 
 and sizes, which are good inside, judging by 
 
 
 m 
 
 
 I 
 
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 FARM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 }} 
 
 m 
 
 
 one of the large ones we went to see, but 
 nothing much from the outside. Day-light 
 in the streets is almost shut out in the ''City" 
 part of the town by the endless telegraph wires 
 and advertisements hung across, to say nothing 
 of the elevated railroads built on iron girders, 
 which circulate round at the height of second- 
 tloor windows. We have made a good deal of 
 use of the railroad ; it is pleasanter than our 
 under-groundj the atmosphere being *' rather'* 
 clearer, though at first it is startling to see the 
 twists and curves the trains give to get round 
 the corners of the streets, and to watch the 
 moving of objects at about forty feet below 
 you. 
 
 I am not at all surprised people do not care 
 to drive much, as tramways pass through 
 every street almost, and all are so badly paved 
 that paint and springs would suffer. The 
 ferry-boats which ply between the cities, start- 
 ing every five minutes from different wharves, 
 astonished us most ; waggons, carriages, &c., 
 all drive on twenty at a time, and three or 
 four hundred foot-passengers, the latter pay- 
 ing two cents per passage. 
 
 On the whole I think we have seen almost 
 
8 
 
 FARM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 everything that is to be seen. We spent an 
 afternoon in the Central Park, lunched at 
 both of Delmonico's restaurants, dined at 
 the invitation of our banker at " Pinards," 
 where the roses were lovely, the centre 
 bouquet measuring two feet across, and each 
 lady having different- coloured bunches on 
 her serviette; a play at Walleck^s, theatre 
 both pretty and well-ventilated, and a most 
 splendid exit, the stalls on the same level as 
 the street — the whole place seemed to empty 
 itself in about five minutes ; and a day's expe- 
 dition to Statten Island, from which we had 
 a lovely view of New York, its surround- 
 ings, and the whole harbour. To-morrow we 
 are to go for three nights to Washington, 
 returning here to start westwards on Monday, 
 though everybody tells us we are going too 
 early in the year. The spring in Manitoba 
 
 has been very late. A , writing on the 
 
 26th of April, says they are just starting 
 work, but cannot do much at present on 
 account of the water from the melted snow 
 not having run oflp. The rivers have broken 
 up. The Eed Eivcr carried away one of the 
 two bridges at Winnipeg. He happened to be 
 
 Mpimmkutaai 
 
FARM LIFE IN MANITOBA. ^ 
 
 iu town at the time, and although he didn't 
 see the bridge go^ saw it afterwards and the 
 jam. The ice was blocked for about a mile 
 above^ tumbling all over the place, making the 
 river rise about ten feet an hour, washing out 
 all the neighbouring houses. It lasted about ten 
 hours, then crash it all went, floating quietly- 
 down the stream, the water receding at the same 
 time. There has been so much snow this year, 
 which makes everything backward ; but it has 
 all gone in a week. It must be quite marvel- 
 lous how quickly it disappears, as, going from 
 one farm to the other, distance about seven 
 miles, starting at 4 o'clock a.m. wdth the thermo- 
 meter showing twenty degrees of frost, when 
 
 the sun got up it was so hot he, A , couldn't 
 
 get back. Next morning, starting equally early, 
 he only travelled two miles; the snow was so 
 soft the horses sank at every step above their 
 knees. He was trying to take a sledge-load 
 of hay over to his " Boyd " farm. The cattle 
 there having run very short lately, they even 
 had to take some of the thatching, which was 
 of hay, off" the roof of the stable to feed the 
 animals. We may have difficulty in getting up 
 to Winnipeg, as the railroad is washed away 
 
 •■^* ^-«-,— ,...,_ 
 
10 
 
 FAEM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 I 
 
 within about eighty miles of the place, and 
 the passengers are transferred to a steamer, 
 which takes them twenty miles to another 
 train. There was a fear of famine in Winni- 
 peg, as no provisions could be got up. Lots 
 of emigrants, when they saw the water, turned 
 back. Good-night, we have packing to do to 
 be off early in the tug which takes us over 
 to Jersey city to catch our train to Washington 
 at 10 o^clock on the Pennsylvanian Railway. 
 The Commodore's son, who is home on leave, 
 goes with us, and we have many introductions. 
 We are bidden to a reception at the White 
 House, and have been vainly endeavouring to 
 get into some of our hostess's smart gowns ; 
 but, alas ! they are all too short, so we shall 
 have to be content with our own black fou- 
 lards. 
 
 / 
 
 'I 
 
 I 
 
 
 Rigg's House, Washington, May 2nd. 
 We had our first experience of drawing- 
 room cars coming down here, with very com- 
 fortable arm-chairs, and one seems to do the 
 journey of .200 miles easily, in about six hours, 
 through very pretty country. I never saw^ such 
 
 t 
 
 '-••jirpw* stmfs^'- 
 
 'in r T«ii 1 1 iij «^_, 
 
FARM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 11 
 
 1^ 
 
 people as Americans for advertising ; all along 
 the line, on every available post or rail, you see, 
 "Chew Globe Tobacco,^' " Sun Stove Polish," &c. 
 We enjoyed the reception at the White House. 
 Our invitation was from 8 to 10 o'clock p.m : 
 we arrived before the doors were open, and had 
 to wait some few minutes in the entrance, 
 which is glazed in, and where the drums of our 
 ears were sorely tried by a noisy military band, 
 which when you get into the rooms and at 
 a distance sounded well, but not just alongside. 
 After depositing our cloaks, we filed by two 
 and two past the President, shaking hands with 
 him and the wife of the Secretary of State, 
 who receives when there is no Mrs. President, 
 and then wandered through the six remaining 
 rooms, being introduced to several people as Mrs. 
 H of England, and Miss W of Eng- 
 land, which we thought would not convey much 
 to their minds excepting that we were two very 
 un-smart Englishwomen; though we were much 
 consoled about our clothes which did not look 
 so peculiar, every sort of costume being worn, 
 even to bonnets. No refreshments are given, 
 so that we were glad that supper was included 
 in the " Menu du jour ^' at our Hotel. 
 
 ( 
 
 \ 
 
12 
 
 FARM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 I shall not pretend to describe Washington 
 to you. Any guide-book would give a more 
 satisfactory account, but it is much more my 
 idea of a city of the New World ; the streets 
 are well paved, are nice and broad ; then the 
 houses are generally standing in their own 
 grounds, with trees and flowers; altogether 
 it may be called an " elegant '' city. The 
 people were most kind and civil to us. One 
 afternoon we made two " cabinet " calls on 
 ministers, but the other afternoon we went for 
 a drive across the Potomac to Arlington, the 
 ancestral place of the Lees, which was confis- 
 cated after the war and is now a soldier's 
 burying-ground. It has an exquisite view across 
 the river. The only thing that distressed us 
 was the bearing-rei^p on the nice little pair of 
 chesnuts in the buggy. The reins are crossed 
 over their nose, passed between the ears, and 
 fastened tight to the saddle, which forces the 
 head right back and nearly saws the mouth 
 in two. We never rested until we had loosened 
 them, which was supposed to be the reason 
 why the horses broke in their trot afterwards, 
 as they were supposed to require a support. 
 
 The weather has been quite delightful, bright 
 
 I 
 
 TitSGr •?*5>*.#5«* - Tr»r«»»«K»l»— JMB«!eSKi3BJ!Sl»- 
 
FARM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 18 
 
 sunny days but not hot ; and if only the houses 
 and hotels were not kept at such a sufFocatinj,^ 
 temperature, we should be very happy both in 
 and out of doors. The artificial heat has com- 
 pletely knocked us up in Brooklyn. We had 
 a lovely big room with a large bay window 
 besides another window, where we often re- 
 tired for a blow of fresh air ; the result has 
 been that we both have had bad crying colds. 
 
 Chicago, May Uth. 
 We are now half way to Manitoba, and have 
 really done the journey thus far so easily that 
 it seems nothing of a drag; and if it wasn't for 
 
 the Atlantic, A would not seem to be at the 
 
 end of the world, which we fancied whilst in 
 England. 
 
 We left Brooklyn on Wednesday morning, 
 very sorry to part from the Commodore and his 
 family, who have been most kind and friendly, 
 trying their best to make us feel at home. 
 Unfortunately, having only just got the appoint- 
 ment and lately taken up their residence at 
 the Navy Yard, they could do no entertaining. 
 
 \ 
 
14 
 
 FARM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 i 
 
 Anyhow, we have had a very pleasant insiji^ht 
 into the home life of America, which differs in 
 small ways a good deal from ours, and in cha- 
 racter, habits, and everything there is a widish 
 gulf between the two races. 
 
 Our train here was a splendid one, stopping 
 only about sixteen times, and doing the nine 
 hundred miles in thirty-six hours. We had 
 a section in the Pullman, which makes a 
 double seat facing each other by day, and at 
 night the two seats are converted into a bed, 
 with the second bed pulled down from the roof, 
 on which mattresses, blankets, and sheets are all 
 arranged with a projecting board at the head 
 and foot, and a curtain in front, so that one is 
 quite private, and we slept like tops. We had 
 also a dining-car on, where every luxury of 
 the season, to strawberries and cream, were 
 served by the blackest of niggers in the whitest 
 of garments, for the sum of a dollar a head per 
 meal. 
 
 Only fancy our delight, after leaving Harris- 
 burgh about 3 o'clock in the afternoon, to find 
 friends in the train, people from an adjoining 
 county in England who knew all our friends, 
 and with whom we had much in common. I 
 
FARM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 15 
 
 need hardly tell you that we did "chin'* it 
 until our ways parted at this station, they 
 going to the Grand Pacific, we to the Treeraont 
 which had been recommended to us as being 
 a quieter hotel for ladies alone. 
 
 Men make these hotels their club, where 
 they smoke and lounge all day ; but as there is 
 a second door for ladies, one is not bothered 
 in any way unless you want to go to the office 
 for information. 
 
 We are astonished at the enormous piles of 
 buildings in this city ; land, one would think, 
 must be cheap. All the shops cover an equally 
 large area, though, in many, several offices are 
 on one floor. It is too marvellous to think, 
 when one looks at this place, that three and 
 a half square miles in the centre of the town, 
 which is now in regular handsome broad streets, 
 the fire of eleven years ago should have so 
 completely burnt everything to the ground, 
 though now not a vestige of the conflagration 
 is left. The houses have even had time to get 
 quite blackened with the smoke of the soft coal 
 they use, which is found in great quantities all 
 through Pennsylvania ; the mines and furnaces 
 we passed on our way up. 
 
 \ 
 
IG 
 
 FARM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 I' i 
 
 The country the whole way was very pretty. 
 We crossed the Sus(|ueliuiia river^ which is 
 grand in width and scenery, and skirted the 
 Juanita through a chain of mountains turning 
 in and out with every hend of the river, so 
 that one felt always on the slant and could 
 generally see cither end of the train. Unfortu- 
 nately it poured with rain the whole way, so 
 any distant views or tops of mountains were 
 invisible. Some of the country is like England, 
 undulating, rolling, well-cultivated fields, en- 
 closed with pailings which overlap each other 
 and would be awkwardish obstacles in a hunting 
 country ; but one misses, like abroad, the 
 cattle — we saw one or two stray cows, but 
 little else. Around Chicago it is a flat plain, 
 and, as there has been a good deal of rain 
 lately, water is out everywhere. For the last 
 hour of our journey we came through the 
 suburbs, and, as there is no protection whatso- 
 ever to the line, we had to come very slowly 
 (about seven miles an hour), ringing a great 
 bell attached to the engine to announce our 
 arrival, as children, cows, vans, &c. go along 
 the line in the most promiscuous way ; it is 
 extraordinary that more accidents do not hap- 
 
f 
 
 ^li 
 
 FARM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 17 
 
 pen. By law, I believe, the train ought to go 
 very slowly wherever lines cross each other; 
 anyhow they must ring the bell, the result 
 being that the bells seem going all day when 
 you are anywhere near the station. We 
 were given introductions to one or two people 
 here, one gentleman putting himself at our 
 disposal to show us " around straight away ; " 
 and we visited the principal shops, streets, 
 park, which is land reclaimed from the lake, 
 and the tramways, which are worked with a 
 pulley froffi a centre about six miles off. A 
 Chinaman in San Francisco was once heard to 
 describe thi^ said tramways as " No horsey, 
 no steamy, go helly.*' 
 
 The weather has, unfortunately, been wet 
 and much against sight-seeing, the streets in 
 consequence are too indescribably dirty, mud 
 inches deep, and everyone is so busy making 
 money that they have not time to pull up 
 those who are responsible and insist on the 
 streets being cleaned, though the money is 
 yearly voted by the municipality, and gene- 
 rally supposed to be pocketed by the authori- 
 ties. We leave this to-night for St. Paul, much 
 impressed on the whole with Chicago. There 
 
 2 
 
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 I 
 
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 *d 
 
18 
 
 FAEM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 I 
 
 arc one or two more sights I should like to 
 have seen, such as the two tunnels under the 
 river, but I fancy one leaks and the other is 
 unusable for some other reason. I should 
 also have liked to have been to one of the 
 Niggers' revival meetings ; but not to the 
 pork manufactory, where pigs go in alive, are 
 killed and cured ready for exportation in less 
 than twenty minutes. Our friends went there 
 this morning, and the descriptions they gave 
 were not particularly inviting. The lady hadn^t 
 been able to touch a mouthful of food all day 
 afterwards, and declared it would be years 
 before sb . could eat pork. I also have been 
 dying to see a house on the move, but had to 
 content myself with looking at a large brick 
 house, which not three years ago had been 
 moved back 150 yards bodily. Chicago is 
 getting too old a city, and ground is too 
 expensive, for people to be able to change the 
 sites of their houses when the fancy takes 
 them ; in St. Paul or Winnipeg we may have 
 the satisfaction of meeting one coming down 
 the street. 
 
 « 
 
FARM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 19 
 
 The Merchant's Hotel, St. Paul, 
 
 May 16. 
 
 We left Chieago Friday night for this place 
 at about 9 o'elock, and, thanks to a letter of 
 recommendation to the conductor, two lower 
 berths were assigned to us, and we even 
 had the privilege of not having the uppers 
 pulled down. It is a curious regulation in the 
 Pullman cars, that should the upper not be 
 tenanted it must be opened or else paid for by 
 the occupant of the lower ; so unless one takes 
 a whole section one is bound to have a great 
 board just above one's head, which in nine 
 cases out of ten prevents our sitting up in bed, 
 and one never can have much ventilation. 
 
 We were awoke earlier on Saturday morn- 
 ing than we either of us quite appreciated, to 
 be in time for breakfast at La Crosse at 7 
 o'clock. La Crosse is a large settlement of saw- 
 mills on the banks of the Mississippi, for cut- 
 ting up the wood brought down by the curiously 
 flat-bottomed steamers worked by a paddle in 
 stern the same width as the boat, and which 
 push innumerable rafts o£ wood before them. 
 Wc saw several of these steamers, and were 
 
 2 * 
 
 
 :,'i 
 
 \ 
 
!^ 
 
 'I I 
 
 20 
 
 FABM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 detained for a long time on the bridge which 
 crosses the Mississippi, said to be a mile and a 
 quarter long^ whilst the farther end of it was 
 drawn aside to allow of two steamers passing 
 through. Our railroad skirted the banks of 
 the river, and we were very excited at seeing 
 an Indian and his squaw in a canoe going 
 down stream. The conductor of the car con- 
 versed with us a good deal the whole way, was 
 most anxious to know all about our comings 
 and goings, and told us he would be glad to 
 *' learn the train by which we returned, as no 
 ladies would ever be allowed to leave Mani- 
 toba." Unfortunately we took his advice about 
 the hotels in this place, and on arriving came to 
 the wrong inn. This one is the most frequented, 
 being close to the station, but certainly is 
 not as pleasant, either as regards company or 
 situation, as the other, the Metropolitan. 
 We found one of our fellow Atlantic passen- 
 gers at the last-named, and I never saw anyone 
 so genuinely glad to see friends. He is one of 
 the three men we told you about, who have in- 
 vested in thirteen thousand acres in Minnesota. 
 He is down here trying to hurry the contrac- 
 tors who are to build their houses and stables 
 
 I 
 
 
' i 
 
 FARM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 21 
 
 at Warren; also to buy farming implements 
 and lumber. His horses and mules he intends 
 buying at St. Louis. He gives a most vivid 
 account of all the roughing they have under- 
 gone. They are living in a small way-side inn, 
 nine men in one room with no furniture. 
 One of them managed one night to get hold of 
 a stretcher in lieu of a bed, and just as he was 
 settling down to his first beauty-sleep a carter 
 came and told him to move on, as the 
 stretcher was his. He suggested that as we 
 are to pass Warren we should pay them a 
 visit on our way up ; that he would take up a 
 tent and furniture, besides provisions ; but I 
 do not think it sounds inviting enough, 
 as, though I do believe we should do the 
 community a good turn, besides the pleasure 
 of our company, they would have a tent and 
 a few luxuries after our departure, instead of 
 feeding, as they daily do, on beans and bacon, 
 living in a filthy hotel and having had no- 
 thing to wash in until they bought them- 
 selves a bucket. Last night, just after we had 
 gone to bed, a loud knock was made at our 
 door, and a man asked " if we intended get- 
 ting up to-night,'' at which we were furious; 
 
 111 
 
 m 
 
 ml 
 
 • 
 
 3 M 
 
 '11 
 
22 
 
 FAEM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 but ho persisted in the most determined way 
 in questioning us as to whether "it wasn't 
 
 Mrs. H 's room," and we liad time to get 
 
 more than angry before we recognised A 's 
 
 voice and simultaneously both jumped out of 
 bed to receive him, en deshabille. It is very 
 nice of him coming all this way, four hundred 
 tniles, to meet us. He looks much the same 
 as ever, only as brown as a berry from the 
 reflection of a fortnight's sun on the snow. 
 He is wonderfully cheery, seems glad to see 
 us, has so many questions to ask of you all, 
 and swears by the healthiness of the Canadian 
 climate and the life they lead at the farm. We 
 are none of us ever to be sick or sorry again ! 
 
 "We have been a long drive to-day, starting 
 at 11 o'clock, and only back just in time to 
 do our last packing, send ofl:' this letter, and dine 
 before wc go on to Winnipeg at about 7 o'clock. 
 We drove across a bridge on the Missouri to 
 Fort Snelldon, a miniature Aldershot, with 
 Imts and tents, and a beautiful stretch of grass 
 for manoeuvres or galloping, on to the Min- 
 haha Falls, where we stayed some time gazing 
 and admiring and even walking under the falls. 
 The volume of water failing seemed extra- 
 
 I 
 
 
 IS 
 
FAKM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 23 
 
 ordinary, but was completely eclipsed by the 
 falls of St. Anthony at Minneopolis, which 
 we saw later. The latter originally fell per- 
 pendicularly ; but to utilise them for the enor- 
 mous saw-mills built at the water's edge 
 they have been under-planked, so that the 
 water goes down in a slant. We were most 
 fascinated by the sight, and watched the 
 torrent from various points of view. 
 
 Minneopolis is much like other Western 
 towns we have seen, semi-detached houses 
 standing in their own grounds, the grass in 
 many instances well kept, but utterly destitute 
 of flowers, which one misses so much. This 
 place, St. PauFs, is beautifully situated, built 
 on both sides of the river, the banks of which 
 are very steep. Good-night; in twenty-four 
 hours more we hope to be at our destination 
 in the far North-west. But we are not to go 
 out immediately to the farm, as we are arri- 
 ving rather earlier than A expected, and 
 
 the men who have been living with him all the 
 winter cannot turn out before Friday to make 
 room for us ; so we are to stay in Winnipeg 
 for a day or two. 
 
 
 
 i 
 
 M 
 
 j 
 
 1. J 
 
 I; 
 
 H 
 
 
 
 J 
 
 
 I J 
 
 ; 
 
 1 ; 
 
1 
 
 24 
 
 FARM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 
 II 
 
 Winnipeg, May 18th. 
 
 Here we are, and we do feel ourselves really- 
 landed in the far North, after a most prosperous 
 journey the whole way. We arrived *' quite on 
 time '' last night, rather an unusual thing with 
 these trains, particularly since the floods, when 
 the passengers were dependent on the steamer, 
 we saw yesterday as we passed high and dry on 
 the prairie, which had to convey them from 
 one train to another across the floods close ta 
 St. Vincent. 
 
 O the prairie ! I cannot describe to you 
 our first impression. Its vastness, dreariness, 
 and loneliness is appalling. Very little is 
 under cultivation between this and St. Paul, 
 so that only a house here and there breaks the 
 line of horizon. There are a few cotton and 
 aspen trees along the Red Eiver Valley, but 
 with that exception the landscape for the last 
 fifteen hours' travelling has been like the sea 
 on a very smooth day, without a beginning or 
 an end. 
 
 We were met at the station here by one of 
 
 A 's friends, who drove us out about a mile 
 
 and a half from the town across the Assinboine 
 
 I 
 

 EARM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 25 
 
 over a suspension bridge built exactly opposite 
 the old Fort Garry, and somewhere close to the 
 spot where our first English pioneers must 
 have landed from the river steamer some twelve 
 years ago to a very comfortable house belonging 
 to another mutual friend, a dear kind old gen- 
 tleman whose wife and daughter being away 
 has placed the whole house at our disposal 
 until we can get out to the farm, which we find 
 is sixteen miles off. 
 
 It will be very difficult to describe everything 
 to you. To begin with, the depot or station 
 presented a curious appearance, such crowds 
 of men loafing about with apparently no other 
 object but to watch the new arrivals ; so different 
 to English stations where everyone seems in 
 a hurry either coming or going. And then the 
 roads we had to drive along defy description. 
 The inches (no other word) of mud, and the 
 holes which nearly capsize one at every turn. 
 Even down Main Street the roads are not 
 stoned or paved in any way. We bumped 
 a good deal in our carriage, and for consolation 
 at any worse bumping than usual were told, 
 " This is nothing, wait until you get stuck in 
 a mud-hole out west.'^ Then our route, thanks 
 
 I; 
 
 I'; 
 
 
 I 
 
 
 \ 
 
26 
 
 FABM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 to the floods which have been very bad this 
 year and are still out enormously — the upper 
 floors of two-storied houses only being visible in 
 many places, — was most intricate. We had to 
 be pioneered over a ditch into a wood, supposed 
 to be cleared, with the stumps of trees left 
 sticking about six inches out of the ground 
 for your wheels to pass over, on to a track, 
 and then through a potato garden to the 
 house. 
 
 We were quite ready for our supper, it 
 being about 8 o'clock when we got here ; 
 and the food at Glyndon, where we stopped 
 twenty minutes in the middle of the day to 
 " put away '^ the contents of sixteen dishes of 
 some various mess or another, had not been 
 of the most inviting of meals ; and though the 
 chops here were the size of a small leg of 
 mutton and had the longest bones I ever saw, 
 hunger was the best of appetisers, and we did 
 credit to our meal, which had been cooked by 
 our host. 
 
 This morning we were awoke by the same 
 kind person depositing a can of water at our 
 door for our baths. He gets up very early, 
 ^s he has to fetch the water, milk the cow, 
 
 ^ 
 
FARM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 27 
 
 
 
 feed the calf, etc., all before breakfast and 
 starting off for his office. 
 
 There is a man-servant here who gets £5 to 
 £6 a month, apparently to do nothing, as he 
 is the only one on the premises who can afford 
 to be idle and smoke his pipe of peace; but 
 servants are so difficult to get in this country, 
 and our host being on the move, having got 
 a better Government appointment at Perth, is 
 anxious not to change now, so, like everybody 
 else, puts up with anything. The last servant 
 they had in this house was the son of a colonel 
 in the English Army, who was described as *^ a 
 nice boy but very lazy '' ; but this man-servant 
 hasn^t even the recommendation of being nice. 
 He was out at the farm working for his board 
 and lodging, and no wages for some months, 
 but A could not stand his idleness. 
 
 We all had to cook our breakfasts this morn- 
 ing, and as everyone was, by way of helping, 
 either making toast, poaching the eggs, cook- 
 ing hunks of bacon, or mending up the fire, 
 the stove was pronounced much too small. 
 The moment we had finished our meal we had 
 to retire upstairs and make the beds and tidy 
 up a little ; a half-breed woman living about 
 
 i 'i 
 
 I'r ' 
 
28 
 
 FARM LIFE TN MANITOBA. 
 
 I 
 
 half-a-mile off is supposed to come in for an 
 hour and wash up and clean the house, but if 
 it is bad weather she is unable to get through 
 the mud ; therefore when the ladies of the 
 establishment are away the house is left a 
 good deal to its own devices, the dust and 
 cobwebs not often disturbed. 
 
 C Farm, May 21st. 
 
 Our last letter to you was written with the 
 first impression of our colonist life whilst in 
 Winnipeg, where we had a very good insight 
 of the way English i people will rough it when 
 they come out. It would horrify our farmers 
 to have to do what gentlemen do out here. 
 They are all their own servants. That lazy 
 servant in Winnipeg, we were told, gave 
 notice to leave, because one night he was 
 requested to keep the kitchen fire in so that 
 we might have a kettle of hot water when we 
 went to bed. 
 
 We spent as little time as we could at our 
 suburban residence, so as to save him any 
 extra trouble, always lunching and sometimes 
 
FAEM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 29 
 
 dining in Winnipeg ; and though all the restau- 
 rants are bad, still the food was almost as 
 good as what we cooked ourselves. Our chief 
 mistake for our first meals was that v a put 
 everything on the fire at the same time, and, 
 funnily enough, our fish boiled quicker than 
 the sausages, and they again much quicker 
 than the pudding. Once there was a bread- 
 and-butter one, about which there has been 
 a good deal of chafi^, as it was supposed to be 
 first cousin to bread-and-milk ! 
 
 The weather was very bad, constant rain, 
 and we had a fair specimen of Winnipeg mud. 
 To these buckboards (which is a buggy with a 
 board behind for luggage), or to any of the 
 carriages, there are no wings to protect one 
 from the mud, so that we always came in 
 bespattered all over, a great trial to our 
 clothes. But in spite of the rain and bad 
 weather we were determined to come out here 
 on Friday. We hired a democrat, a light 
 waggon with two seats, and started during the 
 afternoon in the rain, hoping it might clea 
 which it eventually did when we were about 
 a third of our way. It was awfully cold, and 
 the jolting of the carriage over the prairie so 
 
 Iff! 
 
 i' 
 
 r 
 
 I i 
 
 \ 
 
 I 
 
 .MKi^-\ 
 
I' * 
 
 30 
 
 FAllM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 fearful that our wraps were always falling off, 
 I had always understood the prairie was so 
 beautifully smooth to drive over ; but found it 
 mueh resembling an English arable field 
 thrown out of eultivation, with innumerable 
 mole-hills and badger-holes, and natural 
 cracks about an inch wide, which drain the 
 water off into the marshes. If your carriage 
 is heavily weighted it runs pretty easy ; but 
 woe betide you if driving by yourself — you 
 bump up and down like a pea on a shovel. 
 
 We nearly upset, shortly after leaving 
 Winnipeg, as a house was on the move, or, 
 more properly speaking, had been, as it was 
 stuck in a mud-hole; a load of hay, trying to 
 get round it, had stuck as well ; and the only 
 place given us to pass was fearfully on the 
 slant down to a deepish dyke, into which a 
 buggy had already capsized. We caught the 
 first glimpse of our future home eight miles 
 off, the house and stables looking like three 
 small specks on the horizon. It is very diffi- 
 cult to judge distances on the prairie, and the 
 nearer we seemed to get to our destination 
 the further the houses were removed. The 
 farm had an imposing appearance as we drove 
 
FARM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 31 
 
 up to it. Mr. B , who met us at the gate, 
 
 was most anxious that on arrival we should be 
 driven to the front door and not to the kitchen 
 one, which, being the nearest, is the handiest. 
 He, poor man, has given ' up his bed and 
 dressing-room to us, and we find ourselves 
 very comfortable. 
 
 (11 
 
 C Farm, May 24. 
 
 The two young men, Messrs. H and 
 
 L , who inhabit a tent about two miles 
 
 from here, and who are building themselves 
 a stable, are going into Winnipeg to-morrow 
 for more lumber; and as I don't know when 
 I shall have another opportunity of sending 
 letters in, I send you a few lines. These two 
 
 men have been living with A all the 
 
 winter, and only turned out for us the day 
 we arrived. It was such bad weather they 
 hoped and speculated on our not coming; so 
 that when we were seen in the distance there 
 was a general stampede to clear out. I must 
 say I should have been very loth to turn out, 
 during this cold weather, of a comfortable 
 
 I 
 
 it'* 
 
 ,^ '. 
 
32 
 
 FARM LIl'E IN MANITOBA. 
 
 i 
 
 house into a tent, and, had 1 been they, 
 shouhl have wished us somewhere. We have 
 already had a taste of the cold in these 
 regions. Friday, when we drove out here, 
 
 was bad enough ; but on Saturday, when E 
 
 and A went into town again to take our 
 
 carriage back, they were nearly frozen with 
 the biting wind and sleet they had to face the 
 whole of the sixteen miles home. On Sunday 
 the thermometer was down to 22, or ten 
 degrees of frost, with a bitter north-west wind, 
 and we had an inch of snow on the ground ; 
 and though the sun melted most of it, the 
 thermometer at night went down again to 
 24. I don't think I ever felt so cold in bed, 
 in spite of a ton weight of clothes. Luckily 
 the stoves are still up in the house — in summer 
 they are generally put away ''^ the warehouse 
 to give them room — so that we have been 
 able to make a light both night and day. We 
 are told the weather is most unusual ; anyhow, 
 it is mighty cold. Those poor men in the 
 tent have suffered a good deal ; one night the 
 pegs to the windward gave, and the snow 
 drifted against their beds as high as their 
 pillows. They luckily have got a stove, but are 
 
 *. I 
 
FARM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 33 
 
 obliged to leave their door open to allow of the 
 pipe going out; unfortunately they have no 
 extra tin or iron to put on the canvas round 
 the pipe, whieh is the usual way to prevent it 
 catching fire. 
 
 To describe our life here will take some 
 doing, and, after the novelty has worn off, it 
 will not amuse us quite so much; nor shall 
 we be so keen of helping our Abigail, who is 
 the wife of the carpenter and maid-of -all- work, 
 in everything, excepting that she must always 
 have a great deal to do for a large household 
 like ours, consisting of four men and our two 
 selves, and we shall always want employment, 
 and I don't think we shall either of us care to 
 ride or drive much. 
 
 We have fallen into it (the life) wonder- 
 fully quickly ; completely sunk the lady and 
 become sort of maids-of-all-work. Our day 
 begins soon after 6 o'clock by laying the break- 
 fast, skimming the cream, whilst our woman 
 is frying bacon and making the porridge 
 
 for the breakfast at 6.30. Mr. B and 
 
 A are out by 5 o'clock, in order to water, 
 
 feed, and harness their horses all ready to go 
 out at 7 o'clock, when we get rid of all the 
 
 3 
 
 H 
 
 I 
 
' 
 
 I 
 
 u 
 
 )l 
 
 it] 
 
 m 
 
 34 
 
 FAEM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 men. We theu make the beds, help in the 
 washing-up, clean the knives, and this morning 
 I undertook the dinner, and washed out some 
 of the clothes, as we have not been able to 
 find a towel, duster, or glass-cloth, whilst Mrs. 
 
 G cleaned out the dining-room. The dirt 
 
 of the house is, to our minds, appalling; but 
 
 as Mrs. G only arrived a few days before 
 
 we did, and all the winter the four men were 
 what is called in this country *^ baching it " 
 (from bachelor), namelj^, having to do every* 
 thing for themselves, it is, perhaps, not sur- 
 prising that the floors are rather dirty and 
 that there is a little dust. The weather is 
 much against our cleaning, as the mud sticks 
 to the boots and, do what vou will, it is 
 almost impossible to get it off; rut that the 
 men seem to have thought much about it, as, 
 until we arrived and suggested it, there was 
 
 no scraper to either door. Poor Mr. B 
 
 was rather hurt in his feelings this morning 
 on expressing some lament at the late sharp 
 frosts, that all his cabbages would be killed, 
 when we said that it was a pity he had sown 
 them out of doors, as he might almost have 
 grown them on the dining-room carpet. He 
 
 
FARM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 35 
 
 ' li'^fil 
 
 
 also amuses us by lamenting that he did so 
 much cleaning and washed the floors so often ; 
 he might just as well have left it until we 
 arrived. Our time is well filled up until din- 
 ner, at 12.30, at which we have such ravenous 
 appetites, we are told, no profits made on 
 the farm will pay our keep. At half-past 1 
 when the men turn out again, we generally 
 go out with them, and some out- door occupa- 
 tion is found for us ; either driving the wag- 
 gons or any other odd jobs. There is a lot 
 of hay littered about, and that has to be 
 stacked; also the waste straw or rubbish 
 which is burnt, and the fires have to be made 
 up. Three-quarters of an hour before either 
 dinner or supper (the latter meal is about half- 
 past 6) a flag, the Union Jack, is hoisted at 
 
 the end of the farther stable — if neither A 
 
 nor Mr. B is about, we undertake to do 
 
 it — to call the men in ; and they declare the 
 horses see the flag as soon as they do and 
 stop directly. The class of horse here is 
 certainly not remarkable for its good looks ; 
 but they are hard, plucky little beasts, and 
 curiously quiet. The long winter makes them, 
 as well as all the other animals, feel a dcpen- 
 
 '6 * 
 
 
( , 
 
 '} 
 
 il 
 
 w* 
 
 
 36 
 
 FARM LIFE IN MANITOBA, 
 
 dence upon man, and they become unusually 
 tame. The cows, cats, and everything follow 
 the men about everywhere. They used to have 
 to keep the kitchen door shut to prevent one 
 
 of the cows walking in. A has got a jolly 
 
 old cat who follows him like a dog, sleeps on 
 his bed, and sits next to him at meals. Mr. 
 
 B has a dear coUey with whom he carries 
 
 on long conversations, particularly on the sub- 
 ject of the coolness of the morning and the 
 water in his bath ; so you see we have plenty 
 of animal life about. The men at the tent 
 have a black water- spaniel, which greatly pre- 
 fers our fare and warm house to the tent, so 
 is nearly always here. 
 
 
 ! 
 
 ill 
 
 1 ; 
 
 l-lf ' 1 
 
 May 25th. 
 
 We over-slept ourselves this morning, it 
 
 being a dull day and no sun to wake us up, so 
 
 that it was past 6 before any of us made our 
 
 appearance. The way we work here would 
 
 rejoice Uncle F 's heart and amaze some of 
 
 our farmers' wives and daughters. My advice 
 to all emigrants is to leave their pride to the 
 
 '( 
 
FAEM LIFE IN MANITOBA 
 
 37 
 
 ' 
 
 care of their families at home before they start, 
 an^, like ourselves, put their hand to every- 
 thing. We have had some funny experiences ; 
 but for all our hard work we get no kudos or 
 praise, it is all taken as a matter of course. 
 I would not live in such a place for worlds, but 
 while it lasts it is great fun ; and I think we 
 have done good by coming out, if only to mend 
 up all the old rags belonging to these four 
 men. We were much in want of dusters, etc., 
 the first days, and were told that when the 
 three months' wash which was in Winnipeg 
 returned we should find everything we wanted, 
 instead of which there was a fine display of 
 torn under-linen, and stockings by the dozens, 
 which we have been doing our best to patch 
 up and darn, but no house linen. We shall do 
 as much washing as we possibly can manage 
 at home, I expect, as the prices are so fearful, 
 to say nothing of the inconvenience of being 
 ages without one's linen . I will just quote a few 
 of the prices from our bill of the Winnipeg 
 Steam Laundry. Shirts 15 cents, night ditto 
 10 cents, vests and pants 25 to 50 cents, 
 blankets 50 cents, counterpanes 35 cents, 
 table-cloths 15 to 35 cents, sheets 10 cents. 
 
 ill 
 
 1 
 
 ! *^ 
 
 i\ I 
 
 
 i; 
 
 
if'i 
 
 1 ?r 
 
 ^ik 
 
 38 
 
 FARM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 pillow-slips 5 to 15 cents, night-dresses 15 cents 
 to 1 dollar, petticoats 30 cents to 1 dollar, etc., 
 everything in proportion. We thought one 
 dollar per dozen all round was exorbitant, hut 
 when hardly anything is less than eightpence 
 (as a cent, according to the exchange, is more 
 than a halfpenny) it seems ruinous. 
 
 We get 4 dollars 80 cents only for the sove- 
 reign here, being tenpence short of the five 
 dollars. 
 
 ■\\ > 
 
 lif i 
 
 
 May 28th. 
 
 Our weather is improving, to-day has been 
 lovely ; but alas ! with the warmth have come 
 the mosquitoes. I don't believe you will ever 
 see us again ; they (the mosquitoes) bite so fear- 
 fully, even in the day-time, that they will devour 
 
 us up entirely. A is having wire coverings 
 
 made for the doors and windows ; but, unfortu- 
 nately, owing to the floods after the melting of 
 the snow, all the stores which ought to have 
 arrived in Winnipeg a month ago have been 
 delayed, and the shops are very short of goods 
 of all sorts and kinds. There are said to be 
 
 > n 
 
 ^. 
 
PABM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 39 
 
 I It 
 
 4,000 cars with provisions, etc. between this and 
 
 St. Paul. A and I spent an afternoon at the 
 
 other farm, " Boyd/' which he rents of a Mr. 
 Boyd, three thousand acres for ^40 a year. It 
 is covered with low brushwood with a few 
 trees here and there, and a good deal of marsh, 
 and therefore unfit for cultivation, so they keep 
 it entirely for their cattle and for the cutting 
 of hay in summer. It is a much prettier place 
 than this, the house being surrounded by trees, 
 whereas here we haven't one within seven 
 miles, though last year they did their best and 
 planted nearly five hundred round the house 
 as avenues to the drive ; but only a few survived 
 the drought of last autumn and severe cold of 
 winter, the rest are represented by dead sticks 
 We tried to see the cattle at Boyd's, but they 
 were away feeding on the marsh and could only 
 be looked at from a distance, as we neither of 
 us felt inclined to run the chance of being 
 bogged or of wetting our feet. 
 
 In coming home we called at the tent, and 
 I was surprised to find how quickly Messrs. 
 
 H and L were building their stable, 
 
 which is to be large enough to hold two stalls 
 and a room beyond, Avhich, when they have 
 
 1 1 
 
 . ,-i^iwE^\ 
 
40 
 
 FARM LIFE IN MANITOBA, 
 
 iif 
 
 
 a house, will make a good loose-box; but 
 for the time being they intend to live in, 
 either sleeping in the loft or tent. 
 
 To build a house or stable is not very diffi- 
 cult; but with no carpenter or experienced 
 man to help it wants a certain amount of 
 ingenuity. You lay out your foundation by 
 putting thick pieces of oak called " sills " 
 on the ground in the shape of your house. 
 In town these '^ sills " are nailed to posts 
 which have been driven eight feet into the 
 ground ; but on the prairie are simply laid 
 on the fiat ; on to the sills come the joists, 
 planks 2x6 placed on edge across, two feet 
 apart. Then the uprights, which stand on the 
 sills two feet apart, form the walls. To these 
 you nail rough boards on each side, with a 
 layer of tar-paper in between if building a 
 stable ; if a dwelling-house, on the inside you 
 put against your rough board, laths, and then 
 plaster, on the outside the tar-paper and 
 siding. 
 
 The floor is made by nailing rough boards 
 on the joisi s, then tar-paper, and on the top of 
 that tongu3d and grooved wood fitting into 
 each other, to make it air-tight. 
 
i> 
 
 
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 V fii 
 
 n 
 
 
 II 
 
 If 
 
'I 
 
 
 H 'I 
 
 Mi 
 
 m 
 
 
 
 mm m 
 
 Si I 
 
 1IP» ft 
 
 MmMi 
 
 
 ; 
 
FARM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 41 
 
 The roofs, which are almost always pointed 
 on account of the snow, are composed of rafter 
 2x4, two to three feet apart, with rough 
 boards across, then tar-paper and shingles; 
 the latter are thin, flat pieces of wood laid on 
 to overlap each other. 
 
 We send you a small sketch of our buildings, 
 which will give you a better idea of these 
 " frame " houses than any description. They 
 can be bought ready-made at Chicago, and 
 are sent up with every piece numbered, so 
 that you have no difl&culty in putting them 
 together again. 
 
 Our own house is twenty-four feet square 
 with a lean-to as kitchen. The dining and 
 drawing-rooms are each twelve feet square, 
 separated by sliding-doors ; A ^s bed- 
 room, the entrance-hall, and stair-case dividing 
 the remainder of the house. Our front-door is 
 not quite in the centre; but, thanks to the 
 verandah, one does not perceive it. Above, 
 looking due south, we have a bed-room, 
 dressing-room, and large cupboard for our 
 clothes. There are two other rooms at the 
 back for the men. 
 
 The other house is for the labourers, of 
 
 ' 
 
 I ! 
 
 j; 
 
 I 
 
1! 
 
 42 
 
 FARM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 whom there are eleven, with a woniar as eook, 
 the wife of one of them ; it is also for a ware- 
 house, where all the spare implements and 
 stores are kept. 
 
 Besides these houses we have two good 
 stables, one holding fourteen horses, the other 
 the remaining six (also the cows, pigs, and 
 chiekens during the winter) ; piggeries ; and 
 
 last, but not least, my chieken-house. A 
 
 has presented me with a dozen hens, for which 
 he had to pay thirteen dollars, which with 
 the seven old ones are my special charge, and 
 are an immense amusement and occupation. 
 
 His farm here, as he has other land else- 
 where besides the Boyd Farm, consists of 480 
 acres ; half of one section and a fourth of 
 another. 
 
 All the surveyed country in the North-west 
 Territory has been divided into townships 
 thirty-six square miles, and they again into 
 sections of a mile square, which are marked 
 out by the surveyors with earth mounds 
 thrown up (at the four corners) in the form ol- 
 right-angled pyi ^mids, with a post about three 
 feet high stuck in the centre. The mounds 
 are six feet square, with a square hole on each 
 
PAEM LIFE IN MANITOIIA. 
 
 43 
 
 side. To the marking of sections a similar 
 mound is erected, only of smaller dimensions. 
 The sections are numbered as shown by the 
 following diagram : — 
 
 N 
 
 W 
 
 31 
 
 32 
 
 33 
 
 34 
 
 35 
 
 36 
 
 30 
 
 29 
 
 28 
 
 27 
 
 26 
 
 25 
 
 19 
 
 20 
 
 21 
 
 22 
 
 23 
 
 24 
 
 18 
 
 17 
 
 16 
 
 15 
 
 14 
 
 13 
 
 7 
 
 8 
 
 9 
 
 10 
 
 11 
 
 12 
 
 6 
 
 5 
 
 4 
 
 3 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 I •:■'. 
 
 : i| 
 
 '■ I ''I 
 
 I \ ,1 
 
 The Townships are numbered in regular 
 order northerly from the International Boun- 
 dary line or 49th parallel of latitude, and lie 
 in ranges numbered east and west from a 
 certain meridian line, drawn northerly from 
 
. I 
 
 I ! 
 
 ,, 
 
 * 
 
 i J* 
 
 44 
 
 FARM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 the said IDth parallel, from a point ten miles 
 or thereabouts westward of Pembina. 
 
 When the Government took over the terri- 
 tory from the Hudson Bay Company in 1870, 
 two entire sections in every fifth township 
 and one and three-quarters in every other, 
 were asaij^ncd to the Company as compensa- 
 tion. There were also two sections reserved 
 as endowment to public education, and are 
 called School Lands, and held by the minister 
 of the Interior, and can only be sold by public 
 auction. 
 
 The same was done for the half-breeds; 
 240 acres were allotted to them in every 
 parish. Their farms are mostly on the rivers, 
 along the banks of which all the early settlers 
 congregated ; and to give each claimant his 
 iota the farms had to be cut up into long strips 
 of four miles long by four hundred yards wide. 
 
 On every section-line running north and 
 south and to every alternate running east 
 and west nine feet, or one chain, is left for 
 roads. Our farm-buildings are not quite in 
 the centre of the estate, on account of having 
 to make the drive up to the house beyond the 
 marsh on the easterii boundary. 
 
FARM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 45 
 
 I have drawn you a plan of the farm ; the 
 spaces covered with little dots arc the marshes : 
 the one on the west extends for miles, and has 
 a creek or dyke dug out by Government to 
 carry off the water. From the drawing it 
 looks as if there was much marsh around us ; 
 but this bit of ground was the driest that 
 could be found not already taken up. As it 
 
 was, A purchased it of a man who has 
 
 some more land nearer Winnipeg, giving him 
 five dollars per acre. The Nos. 30 and 31 
 mean the sections of the townships. 
 
 For emigrants wishing to secure a '^ home- 
 stead," which is a grant of 160 acres given by 
 Government free, with the exception of an 
 office-fee, amounting to ten dollars on all the 
 even-numbered sections of a town-ship, he 
 will now have to travel much further west, 
 as every acre around Winnipeg is already 
 secured, and has in the last two years risen 
 most considerably in value. 
 
 The Canadian Pacific Railroad Company, 
 which was given by Government 25,000,000 
 acres, besides the 25,000,000 dollars to make 
 the line across the country from Thunder Bay 
 on Lake Superior to the Rockies, sell their 
 
 \H-\ 
 
 II 
 
I 
 
 n 
 
 46 
 
 FARM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 II' i ' 
 
FARM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 47 
 
 land (which is on odd-numbered sections of 
 every township for twenty-four miles on each 
 side of the track, with the exception of the 
 two sections, 11 and 29, reserved for school- 
 lands) for two dollars fifty cents, or ten shil- 
 lings per acre, to be paid by instalments, 
 giving a rebate of one dollar twenty-five cents, 
 or five shillings per acre, if the land is brought 
 into cultivation within the three or five years 
 after purchase. 
 
 A man occupying a ^^ homestead " is exempt 
 from seizure for debt, also his ordinary furni- 
 ture, tools, and farm implements in use, one 
 cow, two oxen, one horse, four sheep, two pigs, 
 and food for the same for thirty days ; and 
 his land cultivated, provided it is not more 
 than the 160 acres ; also his house, stables, 
 barns and fences ; so that if a man has bad 
 luck, he has a chance of recovering his mis- 
 fortunes. 
 
 In one of your letters you ask if a poor 
 man coming out as labourer, and perhaps 
 eventually taking up land as a homestead or 
 otherwise, would encounter many difficulties. 
 I fancy not, as both the English and Canadian 
 Governments are aff'ording every facility to 
 
 i ■ ■ ( 
 
 1 
 
 li 
 
 H'ifcl 
 
 iJ 
 
 **rfiS^ ^ 
 
i I 
 
 I ''r ' 
 
 I 
 
 48 
 
 FARM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 emigrants, who can get through tickets from 
 London, Liverpool, or Ireland at even a lower 
 rate than the ordinary steerage passenger. 
 They can have themselves and their families 
 booked all the way, the fares varying from 
 nine pounds five to the twenty-eight pounds 
 paid by the saloon. 
 
 On board ship the steerage have to find 
 their own bedding and certain utensils for 
 use; otherwise everything else is provided, 
 and, I am told, the food is both good and 
 plenty of it. Regular authorised officers of 
 the Dominion Government are stationed at 
 all the principal places in Canada, to furnish 
 information on arrival. They will also receive 
 and forward money and letters ; and everyone 
 should be warned and put on their guard 
 against the fictitious agents and rogues that 
 infest every place, who try to persuade the 
 new-comers into purchase of lands or higher 
 rates of wage. 
 
 We heard the other day of an English 
 gentlemen being taken in by one of these 
 scoundrels, and giving a lot of money for land 
 which on examination proved to be worthless. 
 Luckily for him, there was some flaw in his 
 
 I 
 
 ^>^i^ 
 

 i : 
 
 FARM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 49 
 
 agreement, and his purchase was cancelled. 
 Men who intend buying land should be in no 
 great hurry about their investments ; the banks 
 give a fair percentage on deposits, and it is 
 always so much more satisfactory to look 
 around before settling^^^__ 
 
 E has been very busy arranging the 
 
 garden ; a most fatiguing process, as she has to 
 cart all her own sods to make a foundation and 
 then heap soil on to them ; but having brought 
 a quantity of seeds from England she feels 
 bound to sow them, and hopes they will make 
 a grand show later on, and the place quite gay. 
 You should have seen the beam of delight 
 which shone on the countenance of a stranger 
 who had come out from Winnipeg for the 
 night, when on arrival he was immediately 
 
 pressed into E 's service to cany water for 
 
 these said seeds. The temperature is now at 
 64°, and, as things grow as if by magic, we hope 
 they will soon put in an appearance. Oats 
 planted only a week ago are now an inch above 
 ground. We have had a nice breeze the last 
 two or three days, so that the mosquitoes have 
 not worried us so much. 
 
 The prettiest things to see here are the 
 
 4 
 
 lliili 
 
 hi: ' ■ 
 
 II 
 
 SI 
 
 (!i 
 
 I; ¥ 
 
 1 4,: 
 
 ' 
 
I 
 
 
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 I • 
 
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 I; {'■{'. : 
 
 
 l! :M 
 ■ 
 
 60 
 
 FARM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 prairie fires at night. The grass is burnt in 
 spring and autumn so as to kill off the old 
 tufts and allow of the new shoots growing 
 for hay. The fires look like one long streak 
 of quivering flame, the forked tips of which 
 flash and quiver in the horizon, magnified by 
 refraction, and on a dark night are lovely. 
 In the day-time one only sees volumes of 
 smoke which break the monotony of the 
 landscape, though I don't know that it is 
 picturesque. With a slight breeze the fires 
 spread in a marvellous way, even at the 
 rate of eight or nine miles an hour. The 
 
 other day A and Mr. H , whilst putting 
 
 up their tent, did not perceive how near a fire 
 they themselves had lighted at some distance 
 was getting, until it was upon them. They 
 then had to seize hold of everything, pull 
 up the tent pegs as best they could, and 
 make a rush through the flames, singeing 
 their clothes and boots a good deal. 
 
 The pastures on the burnt prairie are good 
 the whole summer, and animals will always 
 select them in preference to any other. The 
 wild ponies, be the snow in winter ever so 
 deep, by pawing it away, subsist on these 
 
 I • 
 
mtSi^^t 
 
 FABM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 51 
 
 young shoots and leaves of grasses, which are 
 very nutritious and apparently suffer little 
 by the frost, which only kills the upper 
 leaves but does not injure what is below. 
 
 The mirage is also very curious; the air 
 is so clear that one often sees reflected, some 
 way above the horizon, objects like the 
 river, trees, and even the town of Winnipeg, 
 which we could not otherwise see ; we could 
 actually one evening, at sunset, distinguish 
 the gas-lights. 
 
 Sunday. 
 
 This is a real day of rest, and the men 
 really do deserve it. We all have a respite, 
 as regards breakfast, it being at 9 o'clock 
 instead of 6.30; and do we not appreciate 
 the extra forty winks! The whole day is 
 spent more or less in loafing, we having no 
 regular church nearer than Winnipeg, sixteen 
 miles, though an occasional service is given 
 at Headingley, eight miles off. The men lie 
 stretchfed on the straw-heaps in the yard, 
 basking and snoozing in the sun. We gene- 
 
 4 * 
 
 I 
 
 yy. 
 
I 
 
 II 
 
 
 if 
 } • \ 
 
 :-;|l 
 
 I 
 
 52 
 
 FARM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 rally have some stray man out from Winni- 
 peg, and are much struck with the coolness 
 of their ways. Colonial manners, somehow, 
 jar a good deal on one; they take it quite 
 as a matter of course that we ladies should 
 wait on them at table, and attend to their 
 bodily comforts., On the other hand, they 
 never seem to object to any accommodation 
 they get, and are perfectly satisfied with the 
 drawing-room sofa for a bed, even with sheets 
 taken out of the dirty linen bag, which has 
 been once or twice the case when our supply 
 has run short. I don't object to their coming, 
 only that our Sunday dinners have to be 
 in proportior^, and as all our provisions come 
 out from Winnipeg it is rather difficult 
 catering. We have no outside larder or any- 
 where to keep our meat and butter, so have 
 instituted a lovely one by putting all our 
 things down the well, which is nearly dry 
 and is under the kitchen floor. In winter 
 there is never any need of a larder, as the meat 
 is frozen so hard that it has to be twelve hours 
 in the kitchen before they can attempt to 
 cook it. 
 
 Our food is very good and we have the best 
 
1 
 
 
 FABM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 53 
 
 of all receipts, ravenous appetites for every 
 meal. Our breakfast consists of porridge, 
 bacon, and any cold meat, jam, and any quan- 
 tity of excellent butter and bread. Dinner, 
 a hot joint and a pudding of some sort, 
 finishing up with coffee. Supper, much 
 the same. We have coffee for every meal, and, 
 as tixw pot is always on the hob, anybody can 
 have a cup when they like. The men have about 
 two cups apiece before breakfast when they 
 first get up. We never mind any amount of 
 coffee, but wage war against the cocktails, 
 taken before meals as appetisers. A cocktail 
 is a horrid concoction of whisky, bitters, sugar 
 and water, which are all mixed together with 
 a ^* swidel " stick, which stick is always on the 
 wander and for which a search has to be made. 
 Nipping is too much in vogue in this country, 
 but we are told that a lot of support is wanted, 
 the air is so larefied and the water has so 
 much alkali in it, and therefore not supposed 
 to be healthy, but it is most beautifully clear 
 and delightfully cold to drink. 
 
 It certainly does disagree with the horses 
 and cattle when first imported into the district. 
 
 
 m 
 
 I 
 
 li 
 
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 s 
 
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 f 
 
 i 
 
 
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 6 
 
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 e^3 
 
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 I 
 
 54 
 
 FARM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 June 3rd. 
 
 If you happen to know of anybody coming 
 out here, and so many do, and you would like 
 
 to give A a present, I wish you would kindly 
 
 send him a few table-cloths, dusters, towels, 
 and pairs of sheets ; in short any linen would 
 be most acceptable as we are so short. How 
 these men managed when the linen went into 
 Winnipeg to be washed, and was sometimes 
 kept a month ere it came home, is a mystery. 
 Thtoe extra men living in the house have none. 
 They facetiously describe their ideas of dirt by 
 saying, if the table-cloth, however filthy it might 
 look, when flung against the wall didn't stick, 
 it went on for another week ; if it stuck, was 
 then and there consigned to the dirty-Hnen 
 bag. 
 
 Since we have been here we have instituted 
 a weekly wash, every Monday and Tuesday. 
 
 E and Mrs.]G preside at the tub all day, 
 
 and even then our sheets and towels often run 
 short. 
 
 Every colonist ought to provide himself with 
 two pairs of sheets, half a dozen towels, two 
 table-cloths, and a few dusters; and as those 
 
 i 
 
 EiSK; 
 
 — — ^^SMfiBil 'JWi^WwBBteiEyiKflKJSiM-J^'.S 
 
 I . * lll »H I W " 
 
FARM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 55 
 
 things and his wearing apparel, if in use six 
 months previously, are allowed into the country 
 free of duty, they might as well bring them 
 over, as everything of that sort in Winnipeg 
 is so fearfully dear I do not like buying any- 
 thing there. We sent for some unbleached 
 calico the other day, worth twopence-halfpenny; 
 was charged twelve cents or sixpence a yard. 
 Besides the four yards of calico there were ten 
 of bed-ticking, also ten of American cloth ; and 
 the bill ,ras six dollars seventy cents, nearly 
 seven- and- twenty shillings. Everything is 
 equally dear, the demand is so much greater 
 than the supply. Beef is tenpence to thirteen- 
 pence a pound, mutton about the same, bacon 
 tenpence, pork tenpence, chickens four and 
 twopence each. We use a good deal of tinned 
 corned beef ; and very good it is, it makes into 
 such excellent hashes and curries and is so 
 good for breakfast. 
 
 A also wants a pair of loug porpoise- hide 
 
 waterproof boots sending out; they are quite an 
 essential, as after the heavy rains water stands 
 inches deep in our yards, and he has so much 
 walking into the marshes. In the spring, when 
 the snow has melted, the ^' sloughs '' or mud- 
 
 ) 
 
 i 
 '■ 
 
 M 
 
■ 
 
 • 
 
 ,J i 
 
 r; 
 
 
 56 
 
 FARM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 lioles along all the tracks and across the prairie 
 are so deep tliat horses and waggons are 
 repeatedly stuck in them, and the men have 
 to go in, often up to their waist, to help the 
 poor animals out. The only way sometimes to 
 get waggons out is to unhitch the horses, 
 getting them on to firm ground, and by means 
 of a long chain or ropes fastened to the poles, 
 pull the waggons out which as a rule have pre- 
 viously had to be unloaded. The clothes these 
 
 men wear are indescribable. A at the 
 
 present moment is in a blue flannel shirt, a 
 waistcoat, the back of which we are always 
 threatening to renew . Inexpressibles somewhat 
 spotty, darned, and torn, and, thanks to one or 
 two washings, have shrunk, displaying a pair 
 of boots which have not seen u blacking-brush 
 since the day they left England. Coats are 
 put on for meals, to do honour to the ladies, 
 but seldom worn otherwise. The coarser and 
 
 stronger the clothes are the better. 
 
 's 
 
 straw hat is also very lovely, it serves periodically 
 for a mark to shoot at with the rifle on Sun- 
 day mornings, or when company come out from 
 town. V^e both of us feel much like our old 
 nurse when we are doing our mendings, cutting 
 
 I ■ 
 
 "r III' 
 
vv. 
 
 FABM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 57 
 
 up one set of old rags to patch another; but 
 thanks to ammonia and hot irons, we flatter 
 ourselves we make them almost look respec- 
 table again. 
 
 There is a half-breed called L'Esperance 
 who lives about eight miles from here, on the 
 banks of the Assiniboine; and one of our 
 neighbours telling us the other day he had 
 several buffalo robes to sell, wc drove over to 
 inspect them, and saw some real beauties for 
 ten or twelve dollars ; at the Hudson Bay 
 stores, in town, they ask sixteen for them. 
 L'Esperance himself wasn't at home when 
 we got there; but his wife, a fine, tall woman, 
 speaking a peculiar French patois, showed us 
 *'around,'' also the pemmicain, which is 
 buffalo-meat pounded, dried, and pressed into 
 bags of skins, it keeping good for years in 
 that way. It looked nasty, but the children 
 were chewing it apparently with great relish. 
 Whilst in the shanty we heard a great noise, 
 and, running out, found our horse, which had 
 either taken fright or been stung by some fly, 
 tearing past us with the buggy through the 
 
 old lady's potato-field into the bush. E 
 
 tore after it, and in a few hundred yards came 
 
 M 
 
 M 
 
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 • 
 
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 A- 
 
 //■>: 
 
i^ I 
 
 68 
 
 FARM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 " 
 
 !'i 
 
 iS 
 
 I 
 
 up to the horse standing trembling, and gazing 
 at the shattered remains of our poor vehicle 
 He had tried to turn the corner, when the 
 whole thing capsized topsy - turvy, and he 
 had almost freed himself of all the harness; 
 luckily he was considerate enough not to have 
 given that " one more struggle '' which would 
 have indeed settled the whole question, and 
 obliged us to foot it on our ten toes home. 
 Curiously enough the shafts were not broken, 
 but the splinter-bar was. There was quite a 
 procession back to the shanty, the half-breed 
 woman and one girl dragging the buggy, one 
 child carrying the cushion, another the whip 
 
 and wraps, and E leading the horse. We 
 
 set to work to make good the damage as best 
 we could, with thin strips of buffalo -hide, and 
 started homewards ; but without buying our 
 robes, not daring to add to our weight. The 
 man at the ferry-boat gave us an extra binding 
 up, and by going cautiously we got home, 
 though we feared every moment would be our 
 last, as regards driving, as the bound-up parts 
 creaked most ominously all the way, and we 
 fully expected at every rough bit to go in half. 
 The horse is generally so quiet that we never 
 
FABM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 5» 
 
 if' 
 
 mind where we leave him standing. I luckily 
 
 have just given A a new carriage, which 
 
 will come in very handy. It is to be a " demo- 
 crat/' double seata, and one long enough to 
 be able to carry luggage. These small buggies 
 are beautifully light, but will carry next to 
 nothing; and we always have difficulty in 
 accommodating all our parcels every time we 
 come out of Winnipeg. 
 
 I 
 
 June 6th. 
 
 A WAGGON is going into town to-morrow to 
 fetch a sulky and a gang-plough, and some 
 potatoes for seeding ; and we hope a few also of 
 the latter for eating, as hitherto our on?r 
 vegetables have been white beans and rice. 
 You may be wondering what these ploughs 
 are : a sulky is a single-furrowed sixteen inch 
 plough, to which are harnessed three horses, 
 a man riding on a small seat and driving 
 them instead of walking ; and a " gang " is a 
 two-furrowed twelve-inch plough, and drawn 
 by four to six horses, and which will break 
 over four acres a day ; the sulky about three. 
 
 
V. 
 
 I 
 
 60 
 
 FARM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 1 1 '. 
 
 /'I 
 
 II 
 
 
 A has had one for some time, but as yet 
 
 only the deep ploughing or backsetting of last 
 yearns breaking has been going on, and until 
 the seeding and harrowing i? finished, which 
 ought to have been done before now, but this 
 year has been delayed by the lateness of the 
 spring, and the snow being so long in melting, 
 no fresh breaking has been begun. 
 
 There are still about two hundred and 
 eighty acres to break, or, more properly speak- 
 ing, two hundred and forty, as forty acres are 
 in marsh, in which water stands so deep no 
 cultivation would be possible, though, later 
 on, the marshes yield beautiful crops of hay ; 
 rather coarse-looking stuff, but undeniably 
 nutritious, and not distasteful to either horses 
 or beast. It has cfcen been speculated as 
 io whether there was any means of draining 
 the marshes, but, owing to the extreme level 
 character of the country, you could get no fall, 
 and tiles would not do on account of the 
 severity of the frosts, which penetrate deeper 
 into the ground than the drains could be 
 carried. The Government have cut good- 
 sized ditches at right angles to the river, and 
 they are found to be the only practical 
 
II 
 
 1 
 
 PABM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 61 
 
 drainage which is feasible, and, when once cut 
 and the water set running, have no tendency 
 to fill up, but gradually wear deeper and 
 broader, so that in time they almost become 
 small rivers. We have one running through 
 our west marsh, and on a bye-day we some- 
 times fish in it for pike ; not that any of our 
 party have been successfu), but some of 
 our neighbours catch fish, aid very fair-sized 
 ones. 
 
 The land is woaderfuUy rich and good. A 
 black loam (which colour is no doubt due, 
 partly, to the gradual accumulation of the 
 charred grasses If '\. by prairie fires), of about 
 two feet in depth, with a clay and sandy sub- 
 soil, and in which, they say, they will be able 
 to grow cereals for the next twenty years, 
 without manure or its deter* orating; though 
 if there was only time to do it before the snow 
 falls, it seems a pity not to put the manure 
 on to the land instead of burning it, as they 
 do at the present moment. Perhaps when all 
 the land is broken, which they hope will be by 
 the end of next summer, they won't be so 
 pushed for work as they ire. 
 
 The ground here requires a great deal of 
 
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 62 
 
 FAEM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 cultivation. It is first of all broken with a 
 fourteen or sixteen inch plough, so shaped 
 that it turns the sod over as flat as possible, 
 generally from the depth of two to two-and- 
 a-half inches deep, the shallower the better, 
 and then left to rot with the sun and rain for 
 two months and a half. 
 
 It has often been tried, and with very good 
 results, to put in a crop of oats on the first 
 breaking, sowing broadcast and turning a very 
 thin sod over them ; and the sod pulverizes and 
 decomposes under the influence of a growing 
 crop quite as efi'ectually as if only turned over 
 and left to itself. There are also fewer weeds, 
 which is of importance, as it often happens that 
 the weeds which grow soon after the breaking 
 are as difficult to subdue as the sod. If the soil 
 is nice and soft a man and team of horses wiU 
 break an acre and a half a day, and average 
 throughout the season an acre. -The breaking 
 goes on until the middle of July, and the 
 end of August the *^ backsetting." begins, which 
 is ploughing the same ground over again 
 about two inches deeper. 
 
 The following spring the harrows (which 
 are " disc,^^ of a peculiar shape, twelve to 
 
 
 c 
 
 r 
 
FABM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 63 
 
 eighteen razor-wheels on an axle, and in going 
 round cut through and break any sods), are 
 run over repeatedly both before and after the 
 seeding ; the ground is also rolled and then 
 left, and for the two-and-a-half bushels of oats 
 or two bushels of wheat-seed per acre, hopes 
 for a grand return being always entertained. 
 
 By some experts late autumn sowing is 
 strongly advocated, as, during the fall, owing 
 to the dryness of the atmosphere, there is 
 scarcely any growth ; so that the grain sown 
 late cannot germinate, nor can it absorb water 
 or rain enough to rot it, the winters being so 
 dry. And when the first days of spring come 
 the snow melts, the starch of the seed has 
 changed to grape-sugar, and begins to germi- 
 nate ; so that the young plants will in no way 
 be damaged by subsequent droughts, nor by 
 the frosts which sometimes come after heavy 
 rains in August and much injure the crops. 
 At the present moment we are craving for 
 rain, and should the crops not be as plentiful 
 this year as expected, on account of the 
 drought, I should feel much inclined to try 
 autumn sowing. 
 
 Before the prairie is broken the turf is very 
 
 !'!' ! 
 
 i : 
 
 
 M 
 
; 
 
 ; 
 
 1 > 
 
 !i I 
 
 
 
 n; 
 
 ' it! 
 
 64 
 
 FARM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 tough, and requires a great deal of force to 
 break it ; but when once turned the subse- 
 quent ploughings are easy. 
 
 Our chief difficulty and trouble are the 
 stones ; they generally lie just beneath the 
 surface, differing very much in size. Some 
 are huge and have to be regularly trenched 
 round and horses harnessed to a chain put 
 round them to raise them out of the ground ; 
 when they are put on to the stone- boat and 
 conveyed to the boundary fence. It generally 
 
 falls to E 's and my special lot to drive 
 
 the stone-boat or the waggons, whilst the men 
 with crowbars and spades go before the 
 ploughs clearing them all away, for fear they 
 may blunt the shares and throw them out of 
 the furrow. 
 
 The last two or three days, when not stone- 
 picking, A and Mr. B have been 
 
 stretching the barb- wire with which they are 
 enclosing the property; and there has been 
 great chaff about our *' Jehuship.'^ The 
 wooden posts along which the wire is run are 
 put in the ground, and they then have to be 
 rammed down with a fearfully heavy wooden 
 mallet, which I can hardly lift. To get pur- 
 
FARM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 65 
 
 chase on the mallet A mounts into 
 
 the waggon, which accordingly has to be 
 driven quite close up to the post without 
 touching it. 
 
 The two old mares we drive are more than 
 difficult to turn or stop to a nicety, the result 
 being that once I went too near and broke 
 off a piece of the waggon. Another time, 
 after a corner-post had been driven in most 
 
 securely with props, E drove up against it, 
 
 taking the whole concern away bodily. 
 
 The weather is quite delightful, no mos- 
 quitoes as yet to speak of; but the two big 
 marshes on either side of the farm harbour 
 them dreadfully. 
 
 Wild duck also abound m these marshes; 
 there are thousands about, and we have found 
 many nests and been revelling in the eggs, a 
 delightful change to our regular menu. The 
 nests are very difficult to find ; we two went 
 one afternoon in the buggy to look for some^ 
 and the men declare we looked in the marshes 
 themselves for them, which was not certainly 
 the fact ; though after driving round all the 
 outsides, and not having been warned that the 
 marsh on the eastern boundary of the farm 
 
 5 
 
 m 
 
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 ' 
 
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 i'.i 
 
 I 
 
 
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 r. 
 
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 €6 
 
 FAEM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 was very deep, we came home that way, not 
 at all liking the water coming up to the axle- 
 trees and the horse floundering about at every 
 step. To turn back was as bad as to go on, 
 and as we saw wheel-tracks along the fence 
 we stuck to them, thanking our stars when 
 we got through safely. 
 
 June 12t \. 
 
 We have had a real visitor lately — I mean 
 one who has brought a change, and a tooth- 
 brush; and for the auspicious event we rigged 
 him up a stretcher bed, the most comfortable 
 of things, canvas stretched on to a wooden 
 frame, with a mattress on the top. You 
 could not wish for anything softer. He was 
 one of our ocean companions ; his nickname 
 of Mike still sticks to him. On getting to 
 Winnipeg at night he had great difficulty in 
 finding our whereabouts ; even at the Club he 
 
 was told the only W known kept a store 
 
 in Main Street. Luckily from the Club he 
 
 went to A 's livery stable, which is exactly 
 
 behind it, where a man offered to drive him 
 
 
FAKM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 67 
 
 out forthwith, having driven another man 
 here only four days ago; but he preferred 
 waiting till the morning, getting here some- 
 where about 9 o'clock, when he was set down 
 immediately to work to stone the raisins for 
 a plum cake, and when tired of that had to 
 
 help A planting potatoes. He declares 
 
 he never will come here with his best clothes 
 and a " boiled '' shirt on again, as we have 
 worked him so hard. 
 
 The accounts he gives, in an exaggerated Irish 
 brogue, of his experiences in Minnesota have 
 kept us in fits of laughter. The description 
 of their first drive, when both he and his com- 
 panions were all bogged ; and how that twenty- 
 seven mules and twenty- eight horses bought at 
 St. Louis all arrived one night at the station 
 about 5 o'clock, after sixty hours' travelling 
 with no food or water, had to be unloaded 
 from the cars, and they hadn't a halter or 
 even a rope to do it with. Eventually they 
 got all the poor beasts into a yard with wooden 
 pailing round, but, something startling them, 
 they made a rush, the fence gave way, for 
 which damage the proprietor charged them 
 ten pounds, and all galloped straight on to 
 
 5 * 
 
 'Si 
 
68 
 
 FAEM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 '1,1 
 
 » ;. 
 
 the prairie, and it took the men all night 
 getting them together again. One pair of 
 horses disappeared altogether ; but were 
 brought back when a reward of thirty dollars 
 was offered; they had wandered nineteen 
 DDiles. 
 
 Mike lept in A 's room. They talked so 
 
 mucu, ani ^old so many funny stories, that we 
 despaired of ever getting them down to break- 
 fast ; Mike declaring he would like to bring 
 his bed along with him, as he hadn^t slept in 
 one, or been between sheets since leaving New 
 York, six weeks previously. We drove hin^ 
 over one afternoon to fish in the creek about 
 two and a half miles off; but as we had to go 
 in a light waggon, and with only one spring 
 
 seat, both Mike and A had to hang on 
 
 behind, with a plank as seat, which was 
 always slipping and landing them on their 
 backs at the bottom of the waggon. When 
 we were about half a mile from home E — ^ 
 made a wager that she would get through the 
 wire fence and home across the prairie before 
 we could get round and the horses be in their 
 stable. We had a most exciting race; the 
 gates, which are only poles run from one end 
 
 I 
 
FABM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 69 
 
 of the wire to another, were a great impedi- 
 ment, and I believe it was really a dead heat, 
 through all the labourers entering into the 
 joke and rushing to unhitch the horses, 
 which were disappearing into the stable as 
 E was at the kitchen- door. 
 
 I fancy that on the whole, in spite of his 
 hard work, Mike enjoyed his visit, not only for 
 the pleasure of our society, but as he had never 
 seen a piece of meat, nor at ti '?ig but pork 
 t.3id beans and bad coffee at 'Va ,n, nor had 
 a bed to lie on, nor as muc- . -^h ',er as could be 
 held in a tea-cup to wasl in; he must have 
 felt he had dropped into a xaud of Goshen by 
 some happy mistake. 
 
 To give you a clearer insight into our 
 daily life, and as I have nothing really to write 
 about this week, I think I cannot do better 
 than copy out our journals, which we try to 
 keep regularly, though in our monotonous 
 every-day life it is sometimes difficult to find 
 incidents to chronicle. 
 
 Monday, — Wash and cook all the morning ; 
 
 E and A plant willows in the marsh 
 
 during the afternoon. I wander about the prairie 
 in search of a duck's nest I saw yesterday and 
 
 II 
 
 Kfe' 
 
^ „• .J . J-- J--»..4_l.J !«..,* 
 
 70 
 
 FARM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 I ^ 
 
 
 u 
 
 thought I had marked ; hut the tracks, stones, 
 and ridges on the prairie are so alike, that it is 
 almost impossible to reme . ^*?r any place ; 
 anyhow, I cannot find the nest. I could not 
 take it yesterday, as I was riding, and the 
 animal will not stand i till to let you mount, 
 and had I had to scramble up on to her I 
 should certainly have broken all the eggs 
 I took. An exhausting day with a hot wind 
 blowing ; we are craving for rain, and 
 thankful for the slight showers that fell during 
 last night. It is marvellous how quickly vege- 
 tation will grow. Some sample wheat planted 
 in the garden, of which there was no sign 
 yesterday, thanks to the rain and sun has 
 grown quite an inch by 6 o^clock this evening. 
 The grass is beginning to look so green and 
 nice. 
 
 Tuesday. — E and Mrs. G finish their 
 
 wash which they could not get through yes- 
 terday. I go up to the tent, with Mr. H 
 
 to drive his waggon, and help to unlumber the 
 wood he brought out yesterday from Winnipeg. 
 Riding on these waggons loaded, and without 
 a spring seat, is anything but pleasant over the 
 prairie, but Mr. H is so accustomed to it 
 
 i 
 
 I 
 
 ■'I 
 
 " 111 ;, 
 
FARM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 71 
 
 now that he can stretch himself on the top and 
 sleep soundly ; and once or twice, coming out 
 from town, has found himself in quite the 
 wrong direction by allowing the horses to go 
 their own way. 
 
 E and I spend our afternoon cleaning 
 
 up the tent. 
 
 Wednesday. — A and I drive into Winni- 
 peg. We have had various commissions to do, 
 
 and A had to attend a meeting at the Club. 
 
 Mr. W. H has most amiably put his house, 
 
 consisting of two rooms and a kitchen below, 
 at our disposal whenever we want to rest ; so I 
 spent my whole afternoon there, nominally 
 reading the ''St. James's Gazette,'" but, I fancy, 
 indulging in '' forty winks " whilst waiting for 
 
 A . We afterward dined with the j udge in his 
 
 very nice pretty house called " The Willows,'* 
 driving home later. The cold was so great 
 
 that A , who had brought no great-coat, 
 
 was forced to run behind the buggy some way 
 to get warm and produce circulation. The 
 prairie fires quite lovely on all sides, quivering 
 high flames for miles, and the night being 
 dark, they looked very bright. 
 
 Thursday. — Was so tired after my day in 
 
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 : 
 
 r! ': 
 
 ■'■!> 
 
 r-sfe/^ 
 
^M— <l ( .i»i ■.. • m0»- m^ * 
 
 72 
 
 FARM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 town that I breakfasted in bed ; disgraceful ! 
 By the time I get down the family have all 
 dispersed to their various works. After dinner 
 
 E and I drive a waggon over to the Boyd 
 
 Farm to fetch oats for Mr. H . The 
 
 students, who haven't much to do, are 
 enlisted into the filling and loading of the 
 sacks ; rather glad, we fancy, of some occu- 
 pation. On our return we found a friend of 
 
 Mr. B ^s, who, having heard of our 
 
 proximity, he living at Headingley, has come 
 over to dine and sleep. Our " parlour " sofa, 
 as usual, is called into requisition. It will 
 soon be worn out, so many sleep on it. I 
 think last week it was occupied nearly every 
 night. 
 
 Friday.— We have had very smart company 
 to-day, as the judge, his wife, niece, and 
 another man came over. We hoped they 
 would stay to dinner, and had "killed the 
 fatted calf; but I fancy the ladies dreaded 
 the prairie by night, and insisted upon return- 
 ing — we could hardly persuade them to take 
 a cup of tea — fearing that they might be be- 
 nighted. 
 
 Saturday, — Hard at work cleaning all the 
 
 
FARM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 73 
 
 morning. Mr. B 's friend leaves after 
 
 dinner^ and I drive the marcs in the waggons 
 whilst the men stretch the wire-fencing. 
 
 E rides to the tent with letters. We 
 
 sustained rather a shock to our nerves to-day ; 
 about 12 o'clock a buggy was seen nm- 
 ing towards the house just as we were sitting 
 down to dinner, and as our food was scanty 
 we did not know hov we possibly could feed 
 three extra men. Luckily they only came to 
 enquire their route to the tent, and it was a 
 relief when they drove on ; though we felt 
 we ought to have given them some food, 
 as the tent could only provide bacon and 
 biscuits. 
 
 Sunday. — Mrs. G , our factotum, has a 
 
 holida}', and goes over with some of the other 
 labourers to spend the day at the other farm. 
 
 E and 1 have to undertake the menage 
 
 for the whole day. Our mutton, a leg, was 
 very nicely done, also our vegetables, rice, and 
 beans ; but the " evaporated ** apples, which 
 we use much, required boiling previous to 
 being put in a tart, which we neither of us 
 knew. Therefore they were not done, and the 
 crust was all burst. The men from the tent, 
 
 \ i 
 
 III 
 
74 
 
 FARM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 who generally spend their Sundays here, were 
 allowed some dinner, on condition they washed 
 up afterwards. 
 
 f I 
 
 June 18. 
 
 I AM afraid our letters will not be so interest- 
 ing as the novelty wears ofp; the monotony 
 of our lire may begin to pall upon us. We 
 hardly ever go two miles beyond the farm ; to 
 take our neighbours at the tent their letters 
 or parcels brought out from town, is about the 
 limit to our wanderings. We did drive one 
 of the waggons to our neighbour Mr. Boyle 
 to fetch home some oats the other night, and 
 we also have been into town to pay our 
 respects to the Governor and his wife. We 
 happily don^t want much outside attraction, 
 for we have so much to do on the farm. The 
 men work us pretty hard, I can tell you; 
 as, besides all our indoor work, we have had 
 three afternoons cutting potatoes for seed, 
 until our hands are too awful to look at, and 
 the water is so hard that we never shall 
 get thtm a decent colour again. Some 
 
! 
 
 FABM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 75 
 
 "white elephants" potatoes planted three 
 weeks ago (thirty in number we cut into 
 420 pieces) already make a great show, and 
 will want banking up next week. About ten 
 acres of ground close to the house have been 
 reserved and are called " the garden/' in 
 which have been planted turnips, flax, beet- 
 root, lettuce, tomatoes, and potatoes ; in short, 
 all the luxuries of the season. But I am 
 afraid none will be ready before we leave, if 
 we carry out our idea of going to Colorado 
 early in August. 
 
 We have been craving for rain, and at last, 
 luckily, had a delightful shower a few days 
 ago, which has freshened us up and will make 
 things grow. Therv is no grass as yet above 
 four inches in height, and this time last year 
 they were hay-making. The men are begin- 
 ning to fear there will be none ; but with a 
 little warm weather and a certain amount of 
 rain everything grows as if by magic, so we 
 may still hope to have a good season. 
 
 Only very few of the garden- seeds have 
 made their appearance, which is disap- 
 pointing after all the trouble they were ; but 
 the wild flowers are beginning to come out on 
 
 'I 
 
 .■'I 
 
 I? 
 
 i ■ !! 
 
 ! 1^1 
 
76 
 
 FABM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 the prairie, small bushes of wild roses are all 
 over; there are also very pretty sunflowers, 
 a tree maiden-hair, several different vetches, 
 sisters, yellow-daisies, &c. ; many we cannot 
 name, indigenous to this country we conclude. 
 
 I!. 
 
 ^•1 
 
 June 26. 
 
 We quite feel as if we had been here years 
 instead of about five weeks ; and though it was 
 prophesied before we left England that, after 
 turning the house up-side down and making 
 the men very uncomfortable with our clean- 
 ings, we should then go on strike, it has not 
 been altogether fulfilled. We certainly did 
 try to clean up a bit, but we still help in 
 housework, and have to do as the servants at 
 home. If we expect visitors, or on a Sunday, 
 put on a tidy gown ; otherwise we generally live 
 in the oldest of frocks (which are more or less 
 stained with either mud or the red paint with 
 v/hich we have been painting the roofs of both 
 the stable and the labourers' house), very big 
 aprons, sleeves to match, and our sun-boimets. 
 E— - — has concocted for herself a thin blue- 
 and-white shirt, and as she generally lives 
 
 III 
 
 Ml 
 
'• 
 
 t 
 
 FARM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 77 
 
 with her sleeves tucked up, her arms are 
 getting quite brown and sunburnt. Our boots 
 are the only things we do not much like 
 cleaning, they get so soon dirty again ; and we 
 have come to the happy conclusion that un- 
 blacked boots have a *' cachet " that blacked 
 boots have not. When we first arrived the 
 men promised to do them for us every 
 Sunday ; which promises, like so many, have 
 partaken of the nature of piecrusts. 
 
 We are both of us delighted to have come, 
 the whole experience is so new, and what we 
 couldn't have realised in England ; and I am 
 sure, in spite of the bouleversement of the 
 bachelor regime y it is a great pleasure to the 
 men we are here. Our Winnipeg acquain- 
 tances tell us that A is quite a changed 
 
 man, so cheery and even bumptious, and that 
 everything is now *' What we do at the farm." 
 
 It is all very well, however, in the summer ; 
 if obliged to stay through the winter, it would 
 be quite another *' pair of shoes.'' The ther- 
 mometer often registers forty degrees of frost, 
 though the effects of this extreme temperature 
 in the dry exhilarating atmosphere is not so 
 unpleasant as might be imagined, but the 
 
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 mB 
 
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 I 
 
 1 
 
 FARM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 loneliness and dreariness of the prairie 
 with two or three feet of snow would 
 be appalling. The cold is so great that you 
 have to put on a buffalo coat, cap, and gloves, 
 before you can touch the stove to light the 
 fire, and notwithstanding the coal stove which 
 is always kept going in the hall to warm the 
 up-stairs room (through which the pipe is 
 carried), the water iu buckets standing along- 
 side gets frozen. 
 
 Then the blizzards, which are storms of sleet 
 and snow driven with a fierce wind, and so 
 thick that it is quite impossible to get out of 
 doors, or see at all, would be too trying. 
 
 Even to get across the yard to the further 
 stable the men have to have a rope stretched 
 as guide so as not to lose their way ; and these 
 storms sometimes, as they did this last year, 
 continue for three weeks consecutively. 
 
 The snow on the prairie is never very deep, but 
 it drifts a good deal, and was to the depth of 
 twelve feet on the west side of the house. 
 
 No work can be done much in the winter 
 on account of the cold and snow, so that from 
 the middle of April, when the snow begins to 
 go, until the beginning of October everything 
 
FABM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 79 
 
 has to be rushed through and as many 
 hands put on as they can possibly get, who are 
 all discharged at the end of the summer and 
 only two or three kept to look after the animals. 
 After threshing, these men have little or 
 nothing to do : digging out the well to water 
 the horses, teaming hay into the town on 
 sleighs, and fetching timber over from the 
 other farm, is about their only outdoor occu- 
 pation. All the animals in the shape of 
 horses, cows, pigs and chickens are huddled 
 together in the stables for warmth. 
 
 I 
 
 i 
 
 
 July 5th. 
 
 We have received our letters most unex- 
 pectedly to-day j two of our gentlemen coming 
 out last night from town brought sundry 
 parcels, newspapers, etc., but never thought of 
 turning round to see if all v safe in back of 
 carriage, declaring it was .eh rough driving 
 they could only think of h- \v to hang on and 
 not be jolted out, so that ty the time they got 
 home, letters, a horse-c jliar, spare cushions, 
 etc. were all gone. It was too late to send 
 after them ; but one of the men started back 
 
 > I 
 
h 
 
 \ '■ 
 
 1 
 
 FARM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 at 3. 30 this morning, finding most of the lost 
 things strewn broadcast over the prairie, even 
 to within a short distance of "VV^innipeg. He 
 went on to feed and bait his horses, at the same 
 time enquiring for letters, finding ours just 
 come in, and which would have lain there until 
 our next opportunity. 
 
 Our variety to-day has been the absence 
 of our cook, and we are again left in charge, 
 and we flatter ourselves the dinner was 
 " immense/' Stewed • beef, rice, mushrooms, 
 (of which some were rather burnt, others not 
 quite done enough, but that is a trifle), 
 yorkshire pudding (baking-powder making 
 an excellent substitute for eggs), and an apple 
 tart. What more could you want? We are quite 
 ambitious now, and have curries, rissoles, etc. 
 
 A used to say he hoped we should not 
 
 expect either him or his friends to eat our dishes, 
 as they would have to go to bed afterwards for 
 at least three or four hours; but they very much 
 appreciate any change made in the metm. 
 
 We are longing to make bread, which takes 
 up a great deal of our factotum's time, as it 
 has to be set over night and kneaded three or 
 four times the following day ; but are begged 
 
 
 «&' 
 

 FABM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 81 
 
 to defer that amusement until within a few 
 days of our departure, as it would so entirely 
 upset our American trip if we had to attend 
 A ^s obsequies. The bread is perfectly deli- 
 cious, so light and so white in colour. The flour 
 is excellent. It is not made with brewer's 
 yeast, but with a yeast gem dissolved in warm 
 water, to which is added a handful of dried hops 
 boiled beforehand for about ten minutes, and 
 strained. To that is added a cupful of flour 
 a teaspoonful of salt, and one of sugar, and 
 the whole is put into a warm place to ferment ; 
 when fermented, which takes about twelve hours, 
 into a cool place, where m will remain good pnd 
 sweet some time. 
 
 A Receipt for Bread- Ma king. 
 
 Put ten large spoonfuls of flour in a bread- 
 pan, and add enough warm water to make it 
 into a thin batter, add half a pint of yeast, mix 
 well, and, having covered the bread-pan with 
 a cloth, put it in a warm place near the stove 
 over night. During the night it should rise 
 and settle again. In the morning add enough 
 Hour to make it in into a thick dough, and 
 knead it on a bread-board for ten minutes. 
 
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 82 
 
 FARM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 Put it back into pan for two hours and let it 
 rise again. Grease your baking-tins, knead 
 your dough again, and then fill the tins half 
 full, put them close to the stove to rise, and 
 when they have risen thoroughly, grease the 
 tops of your loaves with a little butter (pre- 
 venting the crust breaking and giving it a nice 
 brown colour) and put them into the oven and 
 bake for an hour to an hour and a quarter. 
 
 As E had not Mrs. G to wash up 
 
 with her, she enlisted one of the men, and it 
 was very funny to see him in a hat three times 
 too big for his head, pipe in his mouth, sleeves 
 turned up, drying the dishes and putting 
 
 a polish on them. Talking of hats, E has 
 
 at last got one and a half, it literally covers 
 even her shoulders, and at midday she declares 
 she is as much in shade as under a Japanese 
 umbrella ; for trimming a rope is coiled round 
 the crown, the only way to make it stay on the 
 head. Of her gloves there is only the tradi- 
 tional one left ; the other is among the 
 various articles we have left on the prairie, 
 bumped out of the buggy one day when she 
 took them ofl' to take care of them in a shower 
 of rain. 
 
 
 ! i 
 
i ■ 
 
 FAEM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 83 
 
 I \ 
 
 That driving on the prairie is loathsome, but 
 if we want to get about at all we must do it, 
 as we don't like the riding horses. At the 
 present moment we have got one of the plough 
 animals, which is rideable. The poor beast 
 was frightened one night three weeks ago, 
 during a fearful storm of thunder and lightning, 
 and ran into the barb wire, wounding itself 
 horridly c i the shoulders and neck. The skin 
 had to be sewn up, and it cannot wear a collar 
 for the present so we have it to ride if we like. 
 It is not a slug like the other two. 
 
 The thunder-storms here are frightful ; they 
 are also very grand to watch, as we can 
 see them generally for miles before they 
 come up. We, luckily, have about ten light- 
 ning conductors on the houses and stables, so 
 that we feel safe. A thunder-bolt fell pretty 
 near the other day, destroying about six posts 
 and the wire of our north fence. Thanks to 
 the rain we have lately had, and the warm 
 sun, we find such quantities of mushrooms 
 all over the prairie. They grow to such a size ! 
 We measured two, one was 21 ^ inches round, 
 the other 21, very sweet and good, and as pink 
 underneath as possible. The labourers have 
 
 6 * 
 
 M 
 
 •11 
 
 ! ■. 
 
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 i;: I 
 
 84 
 
 FARM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 been so pleased with them that last Sunday 
 they began picking and cooking them in early 
 morning, going on with relays more or less all 
 day, so that by the evening they couldn't look 
 anoth( r in the face, and it will be some time 
 before they touch them again. We have them 
 for every meal. 
 
 Our diaries here are more or less public 
 property, and as we have been nowhere or seen 
 anything at all exciting since we last wrote, 
 I am going to copy down from the journals 
 the incidents, if any, of the last week. You 
 seemed to appreciate it the last time we sent 
 you home a copy, but you must forgive if it is 
 somewhat of a repetition to our numerous 
 letters. The weather, for one thing, is daily 
 chronicled, as it takes up much of our 
 thoughts, so much in the future depending on 
 its being propitious just at this time of year, 
 when the seeds art all sown and the hay almost 
 ready to cut. 
 
 Tuesday, — Beautiful day, so warm and nice, 
 without being hot ; everything growing, too, 
 marvellously; even the seeds in the garden, 
 which we began to despair of, are coming 
 up. 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 1 1 ■ 
 
FABM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 85 
 
 
 
 The men have been very low, on account of 
 the scarcity of rain ; but we have had one or 
 two thunder-storms lately which have done 
 good, and in this climate I do not think one 
 
 ought ever to give up hopes. E has been 
 
 painting wild flowers, which at this moment are 
 in great profusion and variety all over the 
 prairie, most of the day, varying her work by 
 painting the doors of the room, which were 
 such an ugly colour, a pale yellow green, that 
 they have offended our artistic eyes ever since 
 we have been here. I am said to have wasted 
 my whole morning watching my two-days- 
 old chickens, supposed to be the acme of in- 
 telligence and precocity. The afternoon was 
 spent in shingling the hen-house. It was only 
 roofed over with tar-paper laid on to the 
 rafters, which answers well if the wind doesn't 
 blow the paper about, or that it has not any 
 holes; but as the hen-house is only a lean-to of 
 the stable, the roof of which we have been 
 very busily painting, it has been trodden upon 
 a good deal m getting on and off" the roof, 
 and, in consequence, the paper is much like a 
 sponge, letting any rain in, and drenching the 
 poor pitting fowls ; but with the shingles over- 
 
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 Photographic 
 
 Sciences 
 
 Corporation 
 
 23 WEST MAIN STREET 
 
 WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 
 
 (716)873-4503 
 
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 86 
 
 FAEM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 lapping each other on the tar-paper, the roof 
 will be quite water-tight. 
 
 Wednesday. — Our factotum has gone into 
 town, and we are left in charge, E parlour- 
 maid, Mr. B scullery-man, and I cook. 
 
 We have heaps of mushrooms at every meal, 
 a most agreeable change to the rice and white 
 beans we have only hitherto had. 
 
 Thursday. — Hot day. A went into 
 
 town to some meeting at the Club. We have 
 been dreadfully tormented with mosquitoes to- 
 day, also the big *' bull-dog " fly, which, when- 
 ever the kitchen door was left ajar, came into 
 the house in myriads : but we find that Keat- 
 ing's powder most effectually destroys them, 
 and in a very few seconds. We have been 
 busy making a mattress and pillow for Mr. 
 
 H , really one does not realise how clever 
 
 one is until our genius is put to the test in an 
 
 establishment like this. E and I drove 
 
 up to the tent after supper with our handiwork, 
 and had great pleasure in seeing it filled with 
 hay. Our drive was not of the most envi- 
 able : we had a waggon with no spring seat, 
 only a board, which was always moving, to sit 
 upon ; one horse would tear along, the other 
 
 '^i 
 
 ■ 
 
FAEM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 87 
 
 not pull an ounce, in spite of applying the 
 whip a good deal, and we were nearly 
 smothered with mosquitoes, I never saw such 
 clouds of them, and on our return home there 
 was a general rush for the bottle of ammonia, 
 which is the only thing that allays the irrita- 
 tion. 
 
 Friday, — Excitements have been crowding 
 in upon us to-day. Bob, one of the labourers, 
 who went into Winnipeg yesterday, only 
 arrived home at 3 a.m. this morning. He 
 left town at 6, but the night being dark he 
 lost his way, and finding himself on the edge 
 of a marsh, having a feed of oats with him, 
 wisely unhitched his horses, tied them to the 
 wheels, and waited patiently for daylight. 
 Just as we were sitting down to dinner, three 
 men who have been surveying the Government 
 ditch near here, came and begged to be fed. 
 Luckily we had soup and plenty of cold meat ; 
 but our pudding — the less said about that the 
 better. We always have the evaporated apples 
 as a stand by, and they are delicious ; so with 
 quantities of butter and milk we never need 
 starve. 
 
 Then in the evening, when Mr. B was 
 
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 88 
 
 FAEM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
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 going to the stable to serve out the oats for 
 the horses, he came in for the finish of an 
 exciting race between two of the plough 
 horses. The jockeys or riders were told forth- 
 with that a waggon was going into town the 
 following morning, and that their services 
 would be dispensed with in future. Just as 
 
 we were going to bed we heard A coming 
 
 in, and with him a stranger who turned out to 
 be our cousin, only fifteen days out from 
 England, via Canada. He looks very deli- 
 cate. 
 
 Saturday. — We had made no preparatio n f or 
 
 E. P last night, so he had to occupy the 
 
 *' parlour " sofa, and says he slept like a top ; 
 doubtlessly did not require much rocking, as 
 he had travelled through almost without 
 stopping. We were busy all this morning 
 writing letters for the discharged miscreants to 
 take into town. It has been very hot and 
 close all day. I rode up to the tent, and 
 hurried home, seeing a thunder-storm coming 
 up, which was grand; audit was very lucky 
 that I got home, as it began to rain at 3 
 o^ clock, and is still pouring in perfect torrents 
 at 10 o^clock P.M. 
 
 % 
 
FAKM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 89 
 
 ^'to 
 
 Sunday. — The yard is in such a fearful state 
 of dirt, and the water standing inches deep, 
 that it has been nearly impossible to move 
 
 beyond the door. I put on A 's long 
 
 waterproof boots, and managei to get as far as 
 ray hen-house, and found two of my chickens 
 dead. 
 
 Another sitting hen has been a source of 
 great anxiety, as she will peck her chicks to 
 death as they hatch, and out of a sitting of 
 eleven eggs we have only been able to save five 
 birds, A wet Sunday hangs very heavily on 
 our hands here, as there is nothing to be 
 done. 
 
 Monday. — Big wash as usual all the morning, 
 
 and just as E and I were to drive a waggon 
 
 over to Mr. Boyle for some oats which required 
 fetching, we had quite a scare. A lady and 
 gentleman were seen to be riding up. We 
 both of us rushed up-stairs to put on some 
 clean aprons to do honour to our guests, who, 
 with another man, also out from town, 
 remained the whole afternoon. We have never 
 dined as many as nine people in our vast 
 apartments before, but we managed very 
 nicelv. 
 
 , 
 
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 if' 
 
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 iff : 
 
 1:.^ 
 
 90 
 
 FARM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 We have had heavy showers with a high 
 wind, and the thermometer down to 50 all the 
 afternoon. We tried to persuade our lady 
 
 visitor to stay the night, A offering to 
 
 give up his room ; but she persisted in going 
 back, and, I am afraid, will have got very 
 
 wet, in spite of E lending her waterproof 
 
 jacket. 
 
 Tuesday. — The household had a long turn in 
 
 bed this morning, Mr. B only getting 
 
 down at about 7.15, when various things were 
 offered him to prop open his eye-lids when he 
 did appear. 
 
 The weather has been slightly better than 
 yesterday, but the wind has been high, and it 
 was really quite cold, varied by slight showers 
 of rain in the morning. In the afternoon we 
 all made hay. 1 worked my rake until my 
 horse beat me by refusing to move in any 
 direction excepting homewards ; and I had to 
 
 call A , who was stone getting, to my rescue. 
 
 He, with judicious chastisement in the shape 
 
 of a kick or so, made the horse work. E 
 
 and E. P loaded hay. Thanks to the late 
 
 rains the marshes were heavy, and they very 
 nearly stuck once or twice in going through 
 
 i 
 
FABM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 91 
 
 them. There were no mosquitoes, which was 
 a blessing, but one is never troubled with them 
 in a high wind. 
 
 You should have seen A- 
 
 July 9. 
 
 -- and his equi- 
 page start into Winnipeg two days ago. He 
 and the men from the tent had to go in and 
 bring out a waggon and the new " Cortland 
 waggon" (my present), and they had to take in 
 the broken buggy to be mended. So they 
 started with a tour-in-hand to their cart, the 
 broken buggy tied on behind, and another pair 
 of horses behind that again. The buggy they 
 say very nearly capsized going over the bridge 
 of the creek when near Winnipeg, otherwise 
 they got on beautifully ; but it was a funny 
 arrangement altogether, and they seemed ta 
 cover a quarter of a mile of ground as they 
 left here. Winnipeg grows in a most astonish- 
 ing way ; every time we go in, a new avenue or 
 street seems to have started up. Emigrants, 
 they say, are coming in at the rate of a 
 
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 if Pi 
 
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 92 
 
 FABM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 hundred a day. A few years ago the popula- 
 tion was about five thousand, in 1878 about 
 ten, now over forty thousand, a fourth of 
 whom are living under canvas. 
 
 It was estimated last winter that the build- 
 ing operations this season would amount to 
 four million dollars, but double that amount 
 is nearer the mark, and many are obliged to 
 abandon the idea of building on account of the 
 difficulty of getting timber and bricks. Every 
 house or shanty is leased almost before it is 
 finished. Winnipeg, as you know, was 
 formerly known as Fort Garry, and one of the 
 chief trading stations of the Hudson Bay 
 Company. Of the old fort, I am sorry to say, 
 there is very little left, and that is shortly 
 to be swept away for the continuation of Main 
 Street. The Governor, now occupying the old 
 house, is to have a splendid building, which, 
 with the Houses of Legislature, are in the 
 course of construction, rather farther away 
 from the river. 
 
 The town is built at the confluence of two 
 great rivers, the Red and Assiniboine, the 
 former rising in Minnesota, and flowing into 
 lake Winnipeg 150 miles north, navigable for 
 
t 
 
 to 
 
 FABM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 98 
 
 400 miles. The Assiniboine has many steamers 
 on it ; but the navigation being more difficult, 
 the steamers often sticking on the rapids, it is 
 not much in vogue with emigrants going west, 
 particularly now that the railway takes them so 
 much more rapidly. 
 
 There is a large suburb of the town the 
 other side of the Red River called St. Boni- 
 face, the see of a Roman Catholic Archbishop, 
 possessing a beautiful cathedral and a great 
 educational school for young ladies ; for some 
 reason or other we never managed to get over 
 there to see it, though the cathedral is a grand 
 landmark for a great distance. 
 
 The railway traffic also is enormous. During 
 the flood 4,000 freight waggons were delayed 
 at St. Vincent ; now they are coming in at the 
 rate of 4,000 per week, and still people cannot 
 get their implements, stores, &c. fast enough. 
 We have asked several times for some turpen- 
 tine at one of the shops, and the answer 
 always given is, "It is at the depot, but not 
 unloaded.^' 
 
 We have been wanting turpentine to mix with 
 the brown paint with which we are painting 
 the dining-room doors. But first of all the 
 
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 TitwiBiBrfiMtfigg^ 
 
ri 
 
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 1 
 
 "il 
 
 94 
 
 FARM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 paint fails, and then the turpentine, and I 
 fully expect our beautiful work of art will not 
 be finished before we leave. 
 
 July 12th. 
 
 It is very certain that no gentleman ought 
 to come out to this country, or, when here, 
 can expect to prosper, unless he has some 
 capital, heaps of energy, and brains, or is 
 quite prepared to sink the gentleman and work 
 as a common labourer. 
 
 The latter command the most wonderful 
 wages, there is such a demand for them that 
 one can hardly pick and choose. A plough-boy 
 gets from four to six pounds a month, an 
 experienced man from eight to ten pounds, 
 besides their board and lodging ; a mechanic 
 or artisan from fourteen to sixteen shillings a 
 day ; women servants are very scarce, they get 
 from four to six pounds a month. We were so 
 astonished at the wages in New York ; the head 
 gardener in the Navy Yard was receiving one 
 hundred and fifty pounds a year, his underling, 
 seventy-five pounds, the groom one hundred 
 pounds. It is surprising to me that the whole 
 
 II '.' 
 
FARM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 95 
 
 of the poorer classes in England and Ireland, 
 hearing of these wages, do not emigrate, par- 
 ticularly when now-a-days the steerage in 
 the passenger ships seems to be so comfortable, 
 and that for about six pounds they can be 
 landed on this side of the Atlantic. We have 
 nine Britishers and two Canadians on this 
 farm, and the amount of ground broken up 
 does everyone great credit, considering that 
 the whole place is only of a year and a halPs 
 growth. Since we arrived we can mark rapid 
 and visible strides towards completion. The 
 house has been banked up and grassed, a 
 fence put to enclose all the yard, and we have 
 actually had the audacity to talk about a tennis 
 ground, which would take an immense deal of 
 making, from the unevenness of the soil. The 
 water, having no real outflow, makes itself 
 little gullies everywhere, which would be very 
 difficult to fill up level ; but I don't know that, 
 until we are acclimatized to the mosquitoes, 
 said to be the happy result of a second year's 
 residence, that we should feel inclined to play 
 tennis, as we could only indulge in that diver- 
 sion of an evening when work was ended, and 
 that is just the worst time for these pests. 
 
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 96 
 
 FARM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 They spoil all enjoyment, we never can sit out 
 under the verandah after supper, which we 
 should so like to do these warm evenings. 
 They bite through everythinj?, and the present 
 fashion of tij^ht sleeves to our gowns is a trial, 
 as no stuffs, not even thin dogskin, are proof 
 against them, and our faces, arms, and just 
 above our boots are deplorable sights. Ammo- 
 nia is the only remedy to allay the irritation. 
 I am not drawing a long bow when I say that 
 in places the air is black with them. 
 
 The poor horses and cows are nearly mad- 
 dened with them if turned out to graze, and 
 the moment the poles across the road are with- 
 drawn, they gallop back into their stables. 
 The mosquitoes are great big yellow insects, 
 about half an inch long. 
 
 The house and country at Boyd's farm is 
 much prettier than this, from the lot of trees 
 round it, and the ground not being so flat ; 
 but we wouldn't change for all the world, it is 
 so stuffy, and the flies and mosquitoes are much 
 worse there than here, where we catch the 
 slightest breeze of wind, which always drives 
 them away. We were dreading making the 
 hay in the marshes on account of them. 
 
 < 
 
 
1 
 
 FARM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 97 
 
 I do not think we shall suffer much from the 
 heat, as nearly always, even in the hottest 
 part of the day, there is a breeze j and as yet 
 the nights are dclicirualy cool, we have never 
 found one blanket too much covering. 
 
 We talk of going an expedition up west 
 next week, taking the carriage and horses, and 
 driving as far as Fort Ellice. I don't know 
 that we either of us look forward to the expe- 
 dition very much, as we fear we shall have to 
 rough it too greatly ; but, on the other hand, 
 it seems a pity not to see something more of 
 the country. There are hardly any inns or 
 resting-places; the accommodation may be fear- 
 ful. We hear that about fourteen people are 
 
 lodged in one room as an ordinary rule. A 
 
 has gone into Winnipeg to make arrangements ; 
 and if he finds we cannot depend on the inns, 
 we shall take a tent, and camp by the towns, 
 going in for our meals to restaurants. 
 
 In the Train 200 miles West of Winnipeg, 
 
 July 24, 1882. 
 
 As we seem to stop every two or three miles 
 for some trifling cause or another, I am in 
 
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 m 
 
 ; 
 
 i ! 
 
 98 
 
 FAltM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 hopes I may get through a long, maybe dis- 
 jointed letter to post to you on our way through 
 Winnipeg to-night, which we wish to reach 
 about 6 o'clock, giving us time to drive out 
 to the farm before it is quite dark. I told 
 you we were proposing a trip up North-west, 
 and we really have had a most successful jour- 
 ney. A has a friend, Manager of the 
 
 Birtle Land Company, who with others has 
 bought up land, intends breaking so many acres 
 on each section and then reselling it, hoping 
 thereby to clear all expenses and make a lot of 
 money besides ; and as he had to go up and 
 look after the property, it was settled we 
 should all go together, and very glad we are 
 that we did do it, though we have had some 
 very funny experiences. We are pleased to 
 find that all the North-west is not like the 
 country around Winnipeg, so awfully flat and 
 without a tree ; on the contrary we have been 
 through rolling prairie, almost hilly and very 
 well wooded in places. 
 
 We started last Monday, the 18th, having got 
 up at 4.15, which we did not think so terribly 
 early as we might have done before the days 
 we were accustomed to breakfast at half-past 
 
 1 
 
 i 
 
 

 FARM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 99 
 
 6, but had even then a terrible run for the 
 train. We had had some heavy thunder-storms 
 on the Sunday ; and though we allowed two 
 hours and three-quarters to do our sixteen 
 miles into Winnipeg station, the roads were 
 so heavy, and the mud so sticky and deep, 
 that we really thought we should be taken up 
 for cruelty to animals, hustling our poor little 
 mare. As it was, we arrived just in time to 
 get into the cars, our packages and bundles 
 being thrown in after us as the train was on 
 the move. Luckily we managed to get all on 
 board, and found plenty of friends travelling 
 west; one a Government inspector, a most 
 agreeable man, who has to certify and pass the 
 work done on the line before Government pays 
 its share of the expenses. He was telling us 
 how he and two other men spent three hours 
 finding names for all the new stations along 
 the line, and could only think of three ! The 
 stations are placed at the distance of eight 
 to ten miles apart, and they are bound not to 
 have any name already taken up in Canada, so 
 that for a railway extending over three thousand 
 miles to the Rocky Mountains names are a 
 difficulty. We did him the favour of writing 
 
 7 « 
 
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100 
 
 FAEM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
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 out a few, taking all the villages one was 
 interested in in the *'Ould Countrie/' for 
 which attention he seemed much obliged, and 
 has promised a time table of the line with the 
 nomenclature of its stations when opened. 
 They are building the Canadian Pacific at the 
 rate of twenty-five miles a week, and every 
 available man is pressed into the service, so 
 that it is not so surprising the poor farmers 
 cannot find labour. The wages, two dollars to 
 two-and-a-half a day, are more than we can 
 pay. There has not been much engineering 
 required or shown on this line, as we went up 
 and down with the waves of the prairies, had 
 only two small cuttings between Winnipeg 
 and Brandon, three hundred miles, and were 
 raised a few feet above the marshes ; but con- 
 sidering how fast they work and how short 
 a time they have been, it is creditably smooth. 
 We disembarked at a city called Brandon, 
 which last year was unheard of, two or three 
 shanties and a few tents being all there was 
 to mark the place ; now it has over three 
 thousand inhabitants, large saw-mills, shops, 
 and pretentious two-storied hotels. We found 
 our carriage, which had been sent on two days 
 
(i 
 
 FAEM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 101 
 
 was 
 
 for 
 
 and 
 
 the 
 
 ned. 
 
 ; the 
 
 can 
 
 
 I 
 
 previously, waiting for us at the station, as 
 we were to have driven on that night to Raiiid 
 City; but, owing to the Manager not being 
 able to get through all his business, and his 
 not liking to leave the two labourers he had 
 with him on the loose, for fear they should be 
 tempted by higher wages to go oflf with some- 
 one else, we decided to remain that night at 
 Brandon, and were not sorry to retire to bed 
 directly after dinner, about 8.30. We were 
 given not a very spacious apartment, the 
 two double-beds filling up the whole of it. In 
 all the hotels we have been into, they put 
 such enormous beds in the smallest of space, 
 I conclude speculating on four people doubling 
 up at a pinch. We luckily had brought some 
 sheets ; the ones supplied looked as if they had 
 been used many a time since they had last been 
 through the wash-tub. I cannot say we slept 
 well, chiefly, I think, owing to lively imagi- 
 nations and the continual noise of a town after 
 the extreme quiet of the farm ; and as there 
 was only a canvas partition between us and 
 the two men, who snored a lively duet, we had 
 many things to lay the blame to. 
 
 We were on the move again about 5.30, 
 
 •1 ' 
 
 I'' 
 
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102 
 
 FAEM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
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 lii'.' ; 
 
 intending to breakfast at half-past 6, and 
 start on our travels directly after ; but some- 
 how, what with one thing and the other, the 
 various packing away of our different packages 
 and parcels into our three waggons, it was 
 past 8 o'clock before we got off. 
 
 We were rather amused at the expression 
 at breakfast of our waiting-maid when asked 
 to bring some more bread and then tea. She 
 wanted much to learn if we had any more 
 *^ side orders." 
 
 Alcoholic spirits are quite forbidden in this 
 territory; to bring a small keg of whisky 
 and some claret with us we had to get a per- 
 mit from the Governor. I am afraid the 
 inhabitants will have spirits. The Jfirst man 
 we met last night was certainly much the 
 worse for liquor; and though in our hotel 
 there was no visible bar, an ominous door in 
 the back premises was always on the swing, 
 and a very strong odour of spirits emanated 
 therefrom. 
 
 Our cavalcade, A and the Manager in 
 
 the democrat, we two in a buggy, and the 
 two labourers with a man to drive in another 
 carriage, produced qute an imposing effect. 
 
 
 l' 
 

 FARM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 103 
 
 We had to cross the Assiniboine on a ferry, 
 and then rose nearly all the way to Rapid 
 City, twenty-two miles, going through pretty 
 country much wooded and with hundreds of 
 small lakes, favourite resorts of wild duck. 
 The flowers were in great profusion ; but we 
 saw no animals anywhere, excepting a few 
 chipmunks and gophirs, which are sort of 
 half-rats, half-squirrels. The chipmunks are 
 dear little things about the size of a mouse, 
 with long bushy tails and a dark stripe run- 
 ning the whole length of the body. 
 
 Rapid City is a flourishing little town of 
 some fifty houses, and is growing quickly. It 
 is prettily situated on the banks of the Little 
 Saskatchewan, and has a picturesque wooden 
 bridge thrown over the river. We had lunch, 
 picnic style, and a rest of two hours. There 
 was a large Indian camp just outside the town, 
 and as we sat sketching several Indians passed 
 us. Their style of dress is grotesque, to say 
 the least of it ; one man passed us in a tall 
 beaver hat, swallow-tail coat, variegated- 
 coloured trousers, mocassins, and a scarlet 
 blanket hanging from his shoulder. The long 
 hair, which both men and women wear, looks 
 
 J 
 

 104 
 
 FARM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 I ♦ 
 
 I / 
 
 : t 
 
 { > 
 
 as if a comb never had passed near it, and gives 
 them a very dirty appearance. They all seemed 
 affable, and gave us broad grins in return for 
 our salutes. 
 
 The Indian tribes on Canadian territory are 
 the Blackfeet and Piegans. The former used 
 to number over ten thousand, but now are 
 comparatively few. The small-pox, which 
 raged among them in 1870, decimated their 
 numbers; also alcohol, first introduced by 
 Americans who established themselves on 
 Belly River, about 1866, and in which they 
 drove a roaring trade, as the Indians sacrificed 
 everything for this " fire-water,^' as they 
 called it, and hundreds died in consequence 
 of exposure and famine, having neither clothes 
 to cover them nor horses nor weapons where- 
 with to hunt. LucKily in 1874 the mounted 
 police put an entire end to this abominable 
 sale of whisky. 
 
 The Indian is naturally idle — to eat, smoke, 
 and sleep is the sole end of his life ; though he 
 will travel immense distances to fish or hunt, 
 which is the only occupation of the men, the 
 women doing all the rest, their condition 
 being but little better than beasts of burden. 
 

 PAEM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 105 
 
 The Indiau of the Plain subsists in winter on 
 buffalo dried and smoked; but in spring, when 
 they resort to the neighbourhood of the small 
 lakes and streams, where innumerable wild 
 fowl abound, they have grand feasting on the 
 birds and eggs. 
 
 The tribes living near the large lakes of 
 Manitoba, Winnipeg, and Winnipegosis have 
 only fish as food, which they dry and pack for 
 winter use, and eat it raw and without salt — 
 which sounds very palatable ? 
 
 When the Dominion Government obtained 
 possession of the North-west Territories, by 
 the extinction of the Hudson Bay Company's 
 title in 1869, it allotted to the tribes inhabit- 
 ing the country, on their resigning all their 
 claims to the land, several reserves, or parcels 
 of ground, which were of sufficient area to 
 allow of one square mile to every family of 
 five persons. On these lands the Indians are 
 being taught to cultivate corn and roots. 
 Implements, seeds for sowing, and bullocks 
 are given them, besides cows and rations of 
 meat and flour, until they are self-sustaining. 
 They are also allowed five dollars a head per 
 annum, so that several wives (polygamy being 
 
 
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 ^1 
 
 106 
 
 FARM LIFE TN MANITOBA. 
 
 allowed) and children are looked upon as an 
 insured income by a man. 
 
 This treatment by Government has ^^been 
 very successful, and many tribes are abandon- 
 ing their precarious life of hunting. Horse- 
 stealing in former days was looked upon by 
 the young men as an essential part of their 
 education ; but now the settler need be in no 
 dread of them, as they are peaceably inclined 
 and kept in check by the mounted police, a 
 corps of whose services and pluck all who 
 have had any dealings with them cannot speak 
 too highly. The officers are men of tact and 
 experience, and the corps numbers about 500 
 strong. They move their head-quarters from 
 fort to fort, according to the movements of 
 the Indians and the advance of emigration. 
 
 On leaving Rapid City, we took a shorter 
 track than what is generally taken, thereby 
 saving ourselves at least forty miles to Birtle. 
 Our first night, distance about twenty miles 
 after luncheon, we spent alongside of a small 
 store-house on the Oak River ; we had passed 
 some very comfortable-looking settlements 
 that afternoon, one, where we got infor- 
 mation about our road, belonging to a man 
 
 I 
 
 l'< 
 
 
FARM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 107 
 
 called Shank, who had been settled about 
 four years, and had quite a homely-looking 
 shanty covered with creepers, and garden 
 fenced in. At Oak River we had rather 
 speculated on getting both food and lodging ; 
 but when we found the fare offered no better 
 than ours, we decided to have our own supper, 
 getting the woman to boil us some water for 
 our tea. We also refused the lodging. The 
 house was scrupulously clean, ditto the woman, 
 but we couldn't quite make up our minds to 
 share the only bedroom with her, her husband 
 and two other men, one ill with inflammation 
 of the lungs, rejoicing in an awful cough, 
 and rather given to expectoration; so we had 
 our first experience of real camping out. Our 
 tent was an A tent, just big enough to allow of 
 two people sleeping side by side ; the only place 
 to stand up in, was exactly in the middle, but 
 we arranged it very fairly comfortably by 
 putting some straw under our buffalo robes, 
 and our clothes as pillows. The men had to 
 make their couch under the carriage with 
 whatever cloaks we didn't want, to keep the 
 dew off them; and by lighting a large "smudge'' 
 to keep o^ the mosquitoes, we all slept pretty 
 
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 108 
 
 FARM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 well, though Mother Earth is very unrelenting. 
 If, however, we wanted to change our posi- 
 tion we were sure to awake. The following 
 morning, Tuesday, the men had a bathe in the 
 river, which we very much envied them; though, 
 having brought our india-rubber bath, and 
 there being plenty of water handy, we did very 
 well. We were off again at 7 o'clock. Our 
 breakfast bill of fare not much varied from 
 that of last night — tea, corned beef, ox tongue, 
 and bread and butter. The country through 
 which we passed was not so pretty as on 
 Monday, with fewer trees. Our cavalcade was 
 increased by another man in his buggy, who 
 was on his way to Edmonton, and he travelled 
 with us most of the day. Mid-day, after 
 eighteen miles, we came on a small settlement 
 of four Canadians, who were just finishing their 
 dinner. They were very nice, delighted to see 
 ladies, placed the whole of their place at our 
 disposal, and though, of course, they could do 
 but little for us, we were not allowed to wash 
 up our plates nor to draw our own water. 
 They had everything so tidy and nice, rough 
 it was bound to be. Like thousands of Cana- 
 dians, they have taken up land, 240 acres 
 
 i.iiiL 
 
FARM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 109 
 
 apiece, and are working them together, with 
 two yoke of oxen and a pair of Indian ponies. 
 Whilst we were resting, the Manager drove on to 
 find his farm ; but as they have bought several 
 sections in different townships from the railway 
 company, it was difficult to find out on which 
 section his men were working. The only thing 
 he knew was two of the numbers of the section 
 and that the Arrow river ran through the pro- 
 perty. The Canadians told us that Ford 
 " Mackenzie,'^ for which we had been steering 
 all the morning, was six miles further on; so 
 that when we left them about 2 o'clock 
 (amidst many expressions of regret; they 
 repeated to us several times how delighted they 
 were seeing ladies, not having seen a petticoat 
 since they came up last spring), we had to 
 wander many a mile before finding either the 
 ford or the farm. As it was, we mistook the ford 
 and had to cross and recross the river three 
 times, which we, in our buggy, didu't at all 
 appreciate; the banks were so steep we felt 
 we might easily be pitched out. 
 
 At Mackenzie's Ford we found a wretched 
 man who, having settled here two years 
 ago, and was getting on well, had last month 
 
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110 
 
 FARM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
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 brought his wife and children up by steamer 
 on the Assiniboinc, where they had caught 
 diphtheria ; two chiklren had succumbed to the 
 •disease, and his wife, he greatly feared, couldn't 
 live. We luckily had some whisky with us, 
 and were glad to be able to give him some, 
 as the doctor had recommended stimulants to 
 keep up the poor woman's strength. 
 
 From him we heard where the Manager's 
 camp really was, and reached it, very tired, about 
 7 o^clock, to find everything in the most fear- 
 ful state of disorder and mismanagement ; not 
 even a well dug to provide water for man or 
 beast. The men had mutinied, ten of them 
 gone ofiP, ixnd only three and a woman as 
 cook left; she had known much better days, 
 and was perfectly helpless and unable to 
 manage the stove or the cooking in a shed 
 made of a few poles with a tarpaulin thrown 
 over, 
 
 A is the most splendid man; whatever 
 
 diflSculties there are he makes light of them ; 
 and directly the horses had been unharnessed he 
 set to work to put our tent up and lay out our 
 supper, which was improved by the addition 
 of some fried potatoes. Our table was the 
 
 li > 
 
FAUM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 Ill 
 
 ill 
 
 its to 
 
 spring seat of the waggon, our seats the boxes 
 the stores have come in, or our bundle of rugs ; 
 and though the ground was harder to sleep on, 
 as we had no straw under our buil'alo-robe, still 
 we got a fair amount of rest at night. Two 
 very pretty Italian greyhounds we had 
 brought up with us kept our feet warm, as 
 it was quite chilly, the dews being very heavy. 
 The men were horribly disturbed all night by 
 the mosquitoes, which were in myriads. No 
 smoke of the smudges really keeps them off, 
 though it stupifies and bothers them a good 
 deal. 
 
 On Wednesday, contrary to expec' ition, we 
 got some water to wash with, the Manager 
 having had a hole dug. Water is so easily 
 procured with digging, and at no great depth, 
 that there is no excuse for not having it in 
 abundance. We then spent our morning, 
 whilst the men were going over the various 
 sections, in trying to teach the woman to 
 cook, making biscuits, which were not a 
 success, mending clothes, and writing up our 
 diaries ; so that the time flew all too quickly. 
 
 We drove on twenty-two miles in the 
 afternoon, and, being all down wind, were 
 
 •*•*«« Wll»W-*r-' 't 
 
tR ' 
 
 112 
 
 FARM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 i i 
 
 pestered with mosquitoes and most fearfully 
 bitten. 
 
 The country much the same as the previous 
 day, very little taken up ; but the wild flowers 
 lovely. We counted forty-two different speci- 
 mens ; those yellow orchids you are so proud 
 of at home, also red tiger-lilies, phloxes, and 
 endless other varieties. Birtle, another mush- 
 room town, looked so pretty and picturesque 
 as we came down upon it, by the evening 
 light, situated in a deep gorge much wooded 
 on the Birdtail-Creek. 
 
 You would have laughed to see us arrive at 
 what we thought our destination — a nice 
 house on the top of the opposite hill belonging 
 to a friend of the Manager's, where we were 
 to be hospitably entertained. The house was 
 locked up, but that was no obstacle ; we forced 
 
 the windows open, and whilst A put the 
 
 horses up, the Manager went down the hili for 
 
 water, I foraged for eatables, E for wood 
 
 to light the fire, and we very shortly after- 
 wards sat down to a very fair meal ; our neigh- 
 bours^ bacon and tea, but our own bread. 
 Luckily a Winnipeg lady, hearing of our 
 arrival, came up to offer her services in the 
 
FARM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 113 
 
 shape of food or lodging ; the latter we two 
 gladly accepted, instead of pitching our tent 
 outside the house, which was already full, 
 three bachelors living there and our two men 
 intending sleeping between the walls, coiite que 
 coute. The house we spent our night in was 
 a log one, and, though unpapered, looked 
 very comfortable, and was prettily hung round 
 with Japanese fans and scrolls, and various 
 photographs. We had a funny little canvas 
 partition in the roof allotted to us ; but were 
 not particular, and did great credit to our 
 feather bed. 
 
 And how excellent our breakfast was next 
 morning, porridge and eggs ; we hardly knew 
 when to stop eating. We started early to 
 Fort Ellice, one of the Hudson Bay forts, 
 hoping to find the steamer on the Assiniboine 
 to take us back to Winnipeg; but unfortu- 
 nately it had stuck on the rapids. So after 
 waiting twenty-four hours at the fort, we 
 determined to drive down to the end of the 
 Canadian Pacific Railway, and so home. The 
 old fort is very little altered from what it used 
 to be, surrounded by its wooden pailings, and 
 having a store on the left side of the entrance 
 
 8 
 
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 ♦I. 
 
 ■ ',' 
 
 
 i n 
 
114 
 
 FARM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 i.i> 
 
 V: 
 
 I. 
 
 •^,> 
 
 gate, where all the Indians come to make 
 their purchases in cotton -goods and groceries 
 in exchange for their blankets, moccassins, or 
 furs. The Assiniboine we crossed just before 
 getting to the fort, on a ferry. It is a grand 
 winding river with fearfully steep banks, 280 
 feet almost straight up, which was a pull for 
 our horses, the tracks being very bad, and 
 not well engineered, going perpendicularly up 
 the hill. Mr. Macdonald is the '*boss'^ at 
 the fort, and had known two of our friends 
 who were up here several years ago. 
 
 There is a Lincolnshire man farming on a 
 large scale settled not very far away from the 
 fort ; but we had neither time nor inclination 
 to go further north. We hoped against hope 
 that the steamer might get up, but on Satur- 
 day gave it up as useless, and settled to drive 
 towards Gophir Ferry, trying to find a friend 
 
 who, when out at C Farm, told us he was 
 
 living on section xxvii by 13, and near two 
 creeks. For the first five miles our road lay 
 along the Beaver Creek, which was pretty ; 
 but afterwards the scenery much resembled 
 Winnipeg, flat and uninteresting, not a tree, 
 and without even the beautiful vegetation and 
 
make 
 )ceries 
 ns, or 
 before 
 grand 
 
 , 280 
 uU for 
 d, and 
 irly up 
 ss^' at 
 friends 
 
 s 
 
 g on a 
 'om the 
 iination 
 st hope 
 L Satur- 
 to drive 
 a friend 
 ; he was 
 ear two 
 road lay 
 pretty ; 
 sembled 
 i a tree, 
 tion and 
 
 FARM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 115 
 
 flowers we had had on our previous drives. 
 We had to stop several times to look at the 
 section-posts, it was quite an excitement to 
 mark every new number we came to. Our 
 road took us pretty straight to the Mouse 
 Mountain trail ; but at a shanty being advised 
 to leave the track and go straight over the 
 prairie, we overshot the tents we were in search 
 of by a short distance. 
 
 Our friend had not returned from Winni- 
 peg, but we made ourselves quite at home, 
 pitching our tent alongside of his men^s. He 
 had four Englishmen working for him, two of 
 them were tenant-farmers at home; one man, 
 who had been out two years, had had a large 
 farm near King's Lynn, and has taken up a 
 section close by ; but as he bought his land 
 too late in the spring to do anything to it, 
 beyond hoping to build himself a shanty 
 before the winter set in, he is working for 
 our friend, who has 2,000 acres. Another of 
 the men was a newly-arrived emigrant; he 
 and his three children were nearly devoured 
 by mosquitoes, and were most grateful for 
 some concoction we gave them to allay the 
 irritation. He had been quite a '^ gent "in 
 
 8 * 
 
 ^1 
 
 ] ' 
 
 ., .'i 
 
 :. \ 
 
 ii 
 
 ■M 
 
 1 
 
 
 
116 
 
 FARM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 .'r' i 
 
 his own country, but bad times and alcohol 
 had been too much for him. I don't think he 
 at all relished the work he had to do, plough- 
 ing with oxen all day, &c. They plough 
 almost entirely with oxen up in this country. 
 The oxen are easier to feed, and don't suffer 
 so much from the alkali in the water. But 
 most of the Englishmen when they first get 
 out here dislike using them, they are so slow ; 
 and I should agree with them. 
 
 A great many new-comers find the ways and 
 means difficult to conform to, and would give 
 a good deal to go back ; but after they have 
 been out a year or two they drop into fresh 
 habits and seem to like the life. 
 
 On Sunday we started late, for two reasons. 
 The horses which had been very restless all. 
 night, driven mad by the mosquitoes, could not 
 be found, having wandered over the brow of the 
 hill to the river edge, to catch the slight breeze 
 blowing j and secondly we thought we would 
 have a rest, and did nothing but regret 
 it all day, as the hejit was fearful, and as we 
 went down wind the mosquitoes were ditto. 
 Also we got into camp very late at Flat Creek, 
 where we had hoped to find a freight train. 
 
FARM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 117 
 
 to get on as f^r as Brandon, whereas we 
 had to camp close to a marsh just outside the 
 city — the " city " comprising a cistern to 
 provide the engines of the train with watei, 
 and half a dozen tents all stuck on the marsh. 
 We were rather amused by the name of one 
 lodging tent, "The Unique Hotel"; in other 
 words, beds were divided off by curtains, so 
 that you were quite private ! 
 
 We pitched our tent on the highest spot we 
 could find ; but the mosquitoes, to accommodate 
 us, left the marshes and came in perfect myriads 
 around us. We lit smudges on all sides, but 
 as there was hardly a breath of air the smoke 
 went heavenwards, and consequently we had 
 to sit almost into them and could hardly see 
 to eat for the denseness of smoke. Query 
 which was the worst, the evil or the cure? 
 That last night was the most uncomfortable 
 of the whole lot, and I don't think any of us 
 disliked the prospect of a comfortable bed. 
 But in spite of all our roughing we have enjoyed 
 it, and very glad we went. It is satisfactory to 
 know that all the prairie is not as flat as around 
 
 us at C Farm, that it is rolling, and covered 
 
 with bluffs or brushwood. A is pleased, 
 
 ili 
 
 '51. 
 
 i 
 
 
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 !, 
 <\- 
 ■i' 
 if 
 
 
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 '.l .1 
 
 ll 1 
 
 118 
 
 FARM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 as he has seen no ground as good as his own, 
 and declares he wouldn't exchange his 480 
 acres for a thousand up west. The land is 
 certainly of a much lighter nature, having 
 more sand in it, and is easier to get into culti- 
 vation in consequence, but he doesn't think 
 it will stand the same amount of cropping. 
 
 The trails, which are only tracks made by 
 the half-breeds and Indians on the prairie, 
 have been good throughout, but in spring are 
 full of mud-holes or sloughs. 
 
 The new carriage has turned out quite 
 a success and been very useful, as it has 
 carried all our clothes, buffalo robes, buckets 
 and oats for the horses, our provisions, etc., 
 even to our tent, the poles of which were slung 
 along the carriage just above the wheels, and 
 
 the whole so light that A pushed it easily 
 
 three or four hundred yards when we were 
 moving our camp at Fort Ellice. 
 
 Queen's Hotel, Winnipeg. 
 
 July 25. 
 
 We cannot fancy ourselves in this elegant 
 brick edifice ; but it 's an ill wind that blows 
 
 9 I 
 
FARM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 119 
 
 own, 
 480 
 ad is 
 ving 
 ulti- 
 hink 
 
 
 
 no one any good, and had we not been nervous 
 of driving sixteen miles in a raging thunder- 
 storm last nigh^ you would not have received 
 a letter by this mail. The heat is so great 
 that I am afraid my ideas won't flow. It 
 is a hot thundery day, cloudy and close, the 
 thermometer is at 109° in the shade, and 
 everything one touches seems to be at melting 
 point. Unfortunately we have had all our cool 
 things for our journey, and they are too dirty 
 to wear in a " live " town. These three last 
 days are the only days we have had to grumble 
 at the heat; and, I expect, if we had been out 
 at the farm, quietly doing our various works, 
 we should not have felt it so much ; but a 
 tent on a hot day is like a stove-house, quite 
 fearful. 
 
 We have had a very successful tour of seven 
 days, sleeping five nights on Mother Earth, 
 which was mercilessly hard. Lived chiefly on 
 corned beef, tea, and marmalade, three times 
 a day. Driven 173 miles, nearly the whole time 
 in pretty, sparely inhabited, wooded, and un- 
 dulating country. Had another 300 miles to 
 and fro in the train, and arrived here last night 
 hoping to get home to our own beds, when we 
 
 it' 
 
 
 12 
 
 A 
 
 t ... 
 
 I 
 
 . ^ 
 
 »« Mi« t i iiiiiiii fii i in i . Ill i f i " 
 
120 
 
 FARM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 were distressed at finding no buggy from the 
 farm, though we sent them a telegram early 
 in the morning before leaving Flat Creek, 
 which we conclude they haven't received. 
 
 Just as we were starting, and before our 
 small packets could be fetched from the sta- 
 tion, a fearful thunder-storm, preceded by a 
 dust-storm, came on; and we had to take 
 refuge in an hotel, which, contrary to our 
 expectations, was not only clean, but com- 
 fortable. The climax to all our troubles has 
 been that the man from the livery-stable was 
 unable to get our hand-bags, so that we 
 actually had to go to bed last night and get up 
 this morning without a sponge, comb, tooth- 
 brush, or any blessed thing. We were nearly 
 sprinkling ashes on our heads and rending our 
 garments when the fact was broken to us; 
 but, considering we had no other clothes to 
 fall back upon, we suppressed our feelings and 
 drowned our tears in sleep, putting in nearly 
 twelve hours, as it was 9.15 when we woke 
 this morning, and it was not very late when 
 we retired. We had neither of us slept well 
 the night before, and it had been a hot, suffo- 
 cating day for travelling, so that we were very 
 
• k 
 
 FARM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 121 
 
 tired when we got in. What useful things 
 hair-pins are ! I have always fqund them excel- 
 lent bodkins, button-hooks, wedges for mis- 
 fitting windows, &c., but until to-day hp'l 
 never realized what a capital comb they would 
 make, held tightly. 
 
 I don't know that we have had any very 
 amusing adventure ; but the whole expedition 
 has been an adventure, and therefore, as it 
 proved the business of the day, it was taken 
 seriously — I mean, we hardly laughed when we 
 all shared the same drop of water in a bucket 
 to wash our face in turns, and then hands, 
 drying ourselves with the same towel, which 
 was not always of the cleanest, and when we 
 shared the same tin cup to drink out of. Of 
 course we managed to get in a very fair 
 amount of chaff. I used often to drive, and 
 it was said that if ever there was a hole or 
 stone on the trail I used to bump, bump over 
 it, shooting the others almost out of the 
 carriage, so that there were cries of "danger 
 ahead,'' when they declared they had to hang 
 on to each other for safety. 
 
 We had to leave A behind us yesterday 
 
 at Flat Creek with the carriages and horses. 
 
 % 
 
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 :lii' 
 
 Sii 
 I' 
 
 'iSii 
 
 
 122 
 
 FARM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 to follow us in a freight train, and he has 
 just turned up, very hot and weary and out of 
 temper with the railway authorities, as they 
 make so many unnecessary difficulties in un- 
 loading. Instead of following us directly 
 yesterday, as he was told he would do when 
 he first put the horses on the train, they did 
 not start until late in the afternoon, and have 
 
 been travelling' all night, A sleeping very 
 
 peaceably in the horse-box. 
 
 We are to go out to the farm as soon as the 
 horses have been fed and we can reclaim our 
 lost baggage of last night. 
 
 I am thankful to say that we never came 
 across any snakes during our expedition, 
 though they are said to abound by Brandon 
 and further west. The only one we saw was 
 when the conductor on our train brought 
 us a parcel and showed one coiled up inside. 
 It was a trial to our feelings, but I believe it 
 was dead. There are none around Winnipeg, 
 not even a worm. 
 
 iii 
 
 ^- - ■, : : -tt?7 a rTr , ffr ' X'. — :":: z: 
 
 Jii. fc i 1. 1 I »r l 
 
 mmnilft il'ifcli 
 
FARM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 123 
 
 has 
 lut of 
 they 
 un- 
 fectly 
 ^hen 
 did 
 have 
 very 
 
 Farm, July 30th. 
 
 We found the most lovely batch of letters, 
 almost worth being away from home for ten 
 days, on our arrival here at 12 o'clock p.m. 
 on Tuesday, which completely revived our 
 drooping spirits ; we were feeling rather limp 
 and tired after a long day in Winnipeg, and 
 losing our way across the prairie coming 
 home. It was very dark, and the only guidi 
 we had was when the vivid flashes of lightning 
 reflected the farm-buildings ; as it was, we 
 drove through the big marsh, the mosqui- 
 toes nearly eating us up ; and A so 
 
 worried bv them that he couldn't think of the 
 trail, and trusted to the horses finding their 
 way. The joy of coming upon our own fence 
 is better imagined than described. I pictured 
 to myself that we should be like one of our 
 labourers, who, having gone into town just 
 before we started up west, lost his way coming 
 out, unharnessed his horses and picketed them, 
 and sat down quietly, waiting for daylight 
 before he ventured on. It is marvellous that 
 anyone finds their way on the prairie. There 
 are numberless trails made during the hay- 
 
 / ■ 
 
 \' 
 
J ' 
 
 ' &ll 
 
 'I 
 
 
 124 
 
 FARM LIFE JN MANITOBA. 
 
 harvest, which may mislead ; and in a country 
 which has been surveyed some time back, the 
 section-posts have almost entirely disappeared, 
 the cattle either knocking them down or they 
 having been struck by lightning. 
 
 We found our bedroom very full of mos- 
 quitoes, so that our sleep was much disturbed, 
 in fact we never slept properly till after the 
 sun rose ; but our letters cheered us up and 
 were far more refreshing than ten hours' sleep. 
 
 The netting over our windows had got torn 
 from the tacks, so that the mosquitoes had 
 come in by shoals just to show how they 
 appreciated the attention of having things 
 made easy for them. Otherwise, we are not 
 generally much bothered with them in the 
 house, netting being over every door and 
 window. 
 
 The cat sometimes thwarts our protection 
 by jumping through them in the morning, and 
 no thumpings seem to impress her with respect 
 for the said net. 
 
 We are told the mosquitoes will be gone in 
 a fortnight ; certainly the big yellow ones have 
 lived their time and are not so plentiful, but 
 they have been succeeded by a small black 
 
 ii 
 
 J. -.4 
 
FARM LIFE IN MANITOHA. 
 
 125 
 
 in 
 
 species which is quite as venomous, and not 
 80 easy to kill. 
 
 We went to Church yesterday at Headinglcy : 
 quite a red letter day. It was only the second 
 time we have been able to manage it in the ten 
 weeks we have been here ; and though it was 
 very hot in Church we were ashamed to take 
 our gloves off, on account of the scars. 
 
 The Church is quite a nice little building, and 
 the service delightful after so many weeks of 
 not hearing it. We had to take our horse out, 
 tie it to the churchyard paling, and put the dog 
 in the buggy to take care of our goods and 
 chattels. 
 
 We are getting quite low at the thoughts of 
 leaving this in ten days' time; being rather 
 like cats, attached to any place where one 
 has heaps of occupation, and where one is 
 kindly treated and well fed, however ugly that 
 place may be. 
 
 We have been very busy haymaking since 
 we got home, and a grand stack is in the 
 course of erection nearly opposite the dining- 
 room window. You never saw anythino^ so 
 astonishing as the way the oats, potatoes, etc., 
 have shot up in our absence. Even the puppy, 
 
!• 
 
 Hi i I 
 
 ■I'j 
 
 1 ^ 
 
 
 III 
 
 fi 
 
 126 
 
 FARM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 which we left a fluffy ball, seems to have 
 grown inches. Then, all my chickens are 
 hatched, and are an endless pleasure and 
 anxiety. I am supposed to spend hours over 
 them. 
 
 We have received four sheets of official paper 
 
 from Mr. W , full of directions about 
 
 our journey to Colorado, describing his home, 
 etc., even to the nickel-plated tap we shall 
 find in his kitchen, which is to supply us with 
 an unlimited amount of water. He tells us 
 we need bring nothing but a saddle and a 
 toothbrush, — he will find all the rest; and that 
 we are to make it a note that it is one of the 
 strictest rules of mining camps that guests 
 are never allowed to pay for anything. As we 
 hope he is making a fortune by his mines, we 
 shall not have so much compunction of accept- 
 ing these terms. We are to sight-see, climb 
 mountains, go into the mines, fish for trout, 
 and do nothing the live-long day but amuse 
 ourselves. 
 
 I am afraid A will miss us terribly, 
 
 dear old soul ! He is very fond of having us 
 here, and is always bemoaning our departure. 
 I think it will make a great difference to him 
 
have 
 
 are 
 
 and 
 
 over 
 
 I paper 
 
 I about 
 
 iiome, 
 
 shall 
 
 s with 
 
 lis us 
 
 and a 
 
 d that 
 
 of the 
 
 guests 
 
 As we 
 
 les, we 
 
 iccept- 
 
 climb 
 
 trout, 
 
 amuse 
 
 rribly, 
 ing us 
 irture. 
 :o him 
 
 FARM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 127 
 
 
 and to his humdrum hard-working life, as we 
 are always cheery and have never had a diflfi- 
 culty or annoyance of any sort. 
 
 August 6th. 
 
 We are rejoicing now that we have settled 
 to go to the Kocky Mountains, as the hot 
 weather we speculated on avoiding has come 
 in with a rush, and for a whole week the 
 thermometer has been at 80° to 85°. One 
 morning before a thunder-storm, when it fell 
 forty degrees in a few hours, it was up to 90°. 
 We have had some rain, but not the heavy 
 storms we have seen wandering round, which 
 generally follow the course of the Assiniboine — 
 a relief to out minds, as our hay is still out. 
 
 It has been cut nearly all round the property 
 outside the fence, in spite of the risk one runs 
 of having it subsequently claimed by the owner 
 of the section, who is generally a half-breed, 
 a loss only to be avoided by leading it home 
 at once, which we are doing. 
 
 This has happened to our neighbour, with 
 whom, I am afraid, we do not sympathise very 
 keenly, as he had taken up the marsh which 
 
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 ■■' C 
 
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 !■* 
 
 128 
 
 FARM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 our men cut last year, and had the full inten- 
 tion of doing again this year, so they looked 
 upon it in the light of their special property. 
 
 We have only two waggons working 
 here, as nearly all the men and horses are gone 
 over to Boyd's; and as our hay is a mile and 
 a half away, we don't get much more than 
 five loads a day, so that the stack does not 
 grow very fast. 
 
 Our e;:citement this week has been a cricket 
 match with Boyle's Farm ; four of their men 
 we challenged. It really was too amusing. 
 They had a bat and ball, stumps, but no bales, 
 and played on the prairie, which was so fear- 
 fully rough that it was almost dangerous^ the 
 ball shot in such various directions after hit- 
 ting the tufts of grass. Everybody fielded, but 
 a ball going into the wheat-field behind the 
 wickets was not counted as a lost ball. The 
 total score of the two innings was only ten, 
 and in one our opponents went out without 
 a single run ; so you may fancy the howls 
 of either applause or derision at every ball. 
 
 !i I 
 
 .iU: 
 
FARM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 129 
 
 f 
 
 iten- 
 oked 
 
 'king 
 gone 
 
 and 
 than 
 
 not 
 
 August 17th. 
 
 The ^arm with all its toils and pleasures 
 is a thing of the past ; we were both very- 
 low when we turned our backs upon it and 
 its inhabitants just a week ago. We have 
 been in such robust health the whole of our 
 three months, hardly a headache or finger-ache. 
 Our maid-o£-all-work life has suited us, and 
 we have acquired such an immense deal of 
 practical knowledge that for those reasons 
 alone we might be gratified and pleased we 
 came. Since then we have been staying with 
 Mike in Minnesota, where we were either 
 riding or driving (anything to do with horses) 
 all day long. Driving four miles, jumping 
 the horses over a pole, taking them down to 
 water, having a mule race (which was truly 
 amusing as the course was just in front of the 
 house and several bolted home), and driving 
 a gang plough, were a few of the ^^ diversions " 
 found for us. Our host was most kind and 
 anxious to make us comfortable ; he worked 
 heaven and earth to get his house ready, the con- 
 tractors having taken so much more time than 
 they said ; anyhow, he turned the carpenter* 
 
 9 
 
 H 
 
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 H 
 
 
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 : I 
 
 130 
 
 FABM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 out of the house the day previous to our arrival, 
 carried in the furniture, nailed up mosquito 
 blinds, and did many things himself, so that 
 everything should be in spick and span order. 
 
 As these men, Mike having two partners, 
 are farming thirteen thousand acres, they are 
 on a much larger scale as regards buildings, 
 numbers of horses, etc., to anything we have 
 seen before. Their living-houses are about 
 
 double the size of C Farm ; they have also 
 
 huge stables, which A fancies will be 
 
 cold in winter, but have a most imposing ap- 
 pearance, as have also their implement house, 
 sheds, etc. The land seemed much the same 
 as ours, a rich black loam, but very much 
 wetter, marshes everywhere. They have broken 
 two thousand acres since the beginning of 
 June, and were busy, whilst we were there, 
 cutting hay, Mike hoping he had already got 
 over five hundred ton up ! 
 
 We drove one day to see a neighbouring 
 farm which is said to be the " boss '' one 
 in all the country, belonging to a man who 
 has been out five years. He was just starting 
 to cut his two square miles of wheat, and we 
 watched the seven self-binding machines with 
 
 a I 
 
 I 
 
FARM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 131 
 
 great interest. They seem as light as a reaper, 
 and the machinery comparatively not intricate. 
 
 We were driven through some standing corn, 
 which was rather agonizing to our British 
 ideas, but he thought nothing of it. The straw 
 was four and a half feet high, and he hopes 
 to get forty-two bushels to the acre. His 
 farm being on the Snake River, and having 
 many creeks running through as drainage, is 
 a great advantage. His vats were pronounced 
 no better, if so good, as ours at C Farm. 
 
 We remained at Warren a day longer than 
 we had intended, as we got to the station just 
 in time to see our train move off. We accused 
 Mike^s Irish groom, who is quite a character, 
 of bringing round the carriage too late on 
 purpose. If he did, I think all the party 
 forgave him ; we were very happy, it gave us 
 
 another night of A 's society. Mike was 
 
 low at our going. Poor man ! one cannot 
 be much surprised at his liking to keep us, 
 as, besides the fascinations of ladies' society, 
 he has no neighbours whatsoever, and, except- 
 ing the two men he has in the house, there 
 is not a gentleman nearer than Winnipeg. 
 He offered me seventy-two dollars a month 
 
 9 * 
 
 i 
 
 
 V. 
 
 ^il 
 
 ;! ■ 
 
132 
 
 FAEM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 I 
 
 H 
 
 to be his housekeeper. E was to have 
 
 two dollars a week as parlour-maid, which she 
 considers an insult ; or she might have seventy- 
 five cents a day if she would drive the ploughs. 
 
 Servants and labourers get higher wages 
 there than in Manitoba, all the men were 
 averaging thirty-five to forty dollars a month 
 and their keep. They were all Swedes and 
 Germans, of whom there is an enormous colony 
 in the state. 
 
 We are tiow trying to spend our day at 
 Council Bluff, a large junction of the Grand 
 Pacific Railway, having come in here at 8 
 o'clock this morning, and our train to Denver 
 not leaving till 7 o'clock this evening. The 
 hotel is right on the station. The weather 
 is so hot, that as yesterday, at St. Paul's, where 
 we also had to spend a whole day, we have 
 never summoned up courage to go beyond the 
 door. It was suggested we might take the 
 
 tram and go up into the City ; but E has 
 
 a notion that one city is much like another, 
 particularly on a hot day. 
 
 It is curioi) s how Americans live in hotels ; 
 there are several families in this, and if my 
 letter is not very intelligible you must forgive 
 
V 
 
 FABM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 133 
 
 lay at 
 Grand 
 at 8 
 Denver 
 The 
 eather 
 where 
 3 have 
 nd the 
 ie the 
 — has 
 lother, 
 
 lotels ; 
 if my 
 brgive 
 
 me, as 1 am writing in the grand corridor to try 
 and catch the slight draughts of air blowing 
 through, at the same time that half a dozen 
 children are playing up and down. 
 
 The scenery yesterday from St. PauPs all 
 along the banks of the Missouri was very 
 pietty. We both of us sat outside the Pullman 
 as long as daylight lasted, feasting onr eyes 
 on the water, trees, etc. The height and 
 luxuriance of the latter seemed quite incom- 
 prehensible after the total absence of forest 
 scenery for so many months. It is pretty 
 round here ; and by the time we get to the Rocky 
 Mountains we shall have got beyond the stage 
 of thinking a hillock a mountain, and fairish- 
 sized trees not so wonderful after all ; but at 
 the present moment we are in that pleasing 
 state, ready to admire anything and everything. 
 We hope to get to Denver on Saturday night, 
 and rest there Sunday and part of Monday, 
 and we also hope to get to Church there. 
 Mike offered to drive us into Warren last 
 Sunday ; but as the service was a Swedish 
 Presbyterian, we didn't think we should be 
 much edified. 
 
'/ 
 
 
 
 
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 I \ 
 
 i ''■. '•'■ 
 
 ml 
 
 
 m 
 
 11 
 
 i 
 
 134 
 
 FAEM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 Denver, August 21st. 
 
 We arrived here Saturday evening, very- 
 tired and not at all sorry to exchange the Pull- 
 man for a comfortable room and bed, which 
 we had telegraphed for, and therefore not, like 
 so many of our fellow-passengers, obliged to 
 seek shelter elsewhere. The Pullman's are 
 most comfortable, and for a long journey like 
 ours nothing could be so good ; but I am glad 
 that in England we don't have either these 
 or the ordinary American car in general use. 
 The publicity is so odious, and one does get 
 bored by the passengers constantly wandering 
 up and down the train, and the boys who 
 pass and repass every ten minutes selling 
 books, newspapers, cigars, candy, and the un- 
 ripest of fruit, which they are always pressing 
 you to buy; to say nothing of chewing, spitting 
 Americans one has to countenance all day 
 long. The last four-and-twenty hours of our 
 journey have been very tiring. The scenery 
 has been so monotonous ; endless long undu- 
 lating plains like the waves of the sea, covered 
 with grass quite dried up, a few flowers, and 
 a bee-shaped cactus. The heat was very 
 
 
 1 
 
FARM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 135 
 
 list. 
 
 very 
 Pull- 
 which 
 t, like 
 ed to 
 ''s are 
 y like 
 a glad 
 these 
 al use. 
 es get 
 iering 
 8 who 
 selling 
 le un- 
 essing 
 litting 
 1 day 
 'f our 
 enery 
 mdu- 
 vered 
 \, and 
 very 
 
 oppressive, a hot sirocco wind blowing which 
 obliged us to keep our windows shut on 
 
 account of the fine alkaline-dust. E had 
 
 her window open last night, and awoke this 
 morning to find herself in a layer of ashes. 
 
 We skirted the South Platte River most of 
 the time ; it was only a bed of shingles^ wide 
 and shallow, with not a drop of water in it. 
 These plains, extending for thousands of miles 
 in all directions, are the great " ranching," or 
 cattle-farming districts, formerly the favourite 
 breeding-grounds and pastures of the buffalo, 
 which, alas ! have all disappeared. We only 
 saw a few tame ones amongst the herds of 
 cattle; they have been killed in the most 
 ruthless, indiscriminate way for their furs, and 
 will soon be " things of the past." 
 
 We wondered much, with the river and 
 every visible stream so dry, how the large 
 herds of cattle and horses were watered ; but 
 have since been told that water is so near the 
 surface the herdsmen have no great depth to 
 dig to procure any quantity. We thought we 
 could have made a good pick or two amongst 
 the horses, but we didn't care for long-legged 
 ugly big-horned cattle brutes. Here and there 
 
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 336 
 
 FARM LIT^E IN MANITOBA. 
 
 was a herdsman mounted on a small Indian 
 pony with a high Mexican saddle, enormous 
 spurs, and a long lasso, galloping and dexter- 
 ously turning his animals. 
 
 Our train had to pull up several times and 
 whistle loudly to turn the animals off the 
 track, there being, as usual, no rail or pro- 
 tection j but pulling up for them was not half 
 as exciting as on Thursday night, when we 
 stopped repeatedly to turn a man off the train 
 who, not having paid his fare, nor apparently 
 intending to do so, had swung himself in some 
 marvellous way under the cars, hanging on by 
 the break. Whenever we slackened speed he 
 jumped off, walking quite unconcernedly 
 alongside; but the moment we moved on he 
 got on again. We never knew how far he 
 continued his perilous ride, I fancy that even 
 the officials gave up remonstrating; anyhow, 
 as long as daylight lasted and we could watch 
 the men, no efforts on their part seemed to 
 make the smallest impression. 
 
 Three hours before getting into Denver we 
 had our first glimpse of the Kockies, and 
 although they were then only in the blue 
 distance we were quite excited about them; 
 
FARM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 1:37 
 
 hdian 
 rmous 
 jxter- 
 
 and at Greely Statiou (much impressed on our 
 minds by having read Miss Bird's book just 
 before coming here), we came in full view 
 of Long's Peak, — almost wishing '' Mountain 
 Jim ^' might still be alive to ascend it with us, 
 — and the whole of the gorgeous range ; and 
 quite one of the loveliest sights I ever saw 
 was watching two thunder-storms on either 
 side of the Peak break and disperse, whilst the 
 reflections from the sunset-glow lit up the 
 rest of the heavens. The railway and Denver 
 City itself is about thirty miles distant from 
 the mountains, but the atmosphere is so clear 
 that they look as if quite within an easy 
 gallop. 
 
 It is difficult to understand why the town 
 has been built so far from the mountains, 
 situated as it is on a sandy, treeless plain. 
 
 It is growing, like most of the western 
 towns, at a tremendous pace, and we are lodg- 
 ing in a luxurious hotel, our room on the 
 fourth floor numbers i54. We found the 
 avenues of trees lining every street an im- 
 mense boon this morning in going to church 
 at the cathedral. 
 
 The heat, though great, is not so oppressive 
 
 \i 
 
i 
 
 
 l.h 
 
 i 
 
 'i 
 
 i 
 
 • 
 
 138 
 
 FARM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 as either at St. Paul's or Omaha, but then we 
 are at the height of 5,000 feet ; and this after- 
 noon the air has been cleared by a thunder- 
 storm preceded by a great sand-storm, which 
 we watched from our windows encircling the 
 town, so thick that mountains and all view 
 was obliterated for the time being. 
 
 Denver is a great resort for invalids, chiefly 
 those suff'ering with asthma. 
 
 August 22. 
 Before leaving Denver we went to a gun- 
 smith and invested in a fishing-rod an( 
 numberless flies, with which we intend to d( 
 great execution. We also went to the exhi- 
 bition, opened a month ago and still unfinished; 
 one of the leading men, to whom we had a 
 letter of introduction, showed us everything. 
 It is chiefly interesting to miners, as the dis- 
 play of minerals from Western America is un- 
 rivalled. There seemed, in the specimens, 
 enough gold and silver to make us rich for ever; 
 unfortunately our ignorance on the subject of 
 ore is too great to thoroughly appreciate it. 
 
FARM LIFE IN MANITODA. 
 
 131> 
 
 n we 
 If'ter- 
 bder- 
 ^hich 
 the 
 view 
 
 OuiiAY, August 24. 
 
 It is not easy to sit down and write after 
 forty-eight hours' travelling, as we have been 
 doing since leaving Denver on Monday night 
 at 7 o'clock ; but in such scenery and air so 
 exhilarating we do not feel as tired as we 
 expected. You should have seen the omnibus, 
 stage-coach, charridon, or any other name you 
 please to give the lumbering vehicle in which 
 we performed our last twelve hours' drive ; it 
 looked truly frightening when it drove up ta 
 Cimarron depot, ono tent, last night, to pick 
 us up, intended for twenty pfssengers and 
 any amount of luggage, and swung on great 
 straps. It was wonderfully well horsed, and 
 we changed our teams every ten miles ; but 
 only then came at the rate of five miles an 
 hour. We both of us started for our sixty- 
 four miles' drive on the box-seat with the driver, 
 who happened to be an extremely nice man 
 and an experienced whip ; in former days he 
 had driven the stage-coaches across from 
 Omaha to San Francisco, a journey of three 
 weeks. But he took up much room on the 
 seat, and every time he Iiad to pull up his 
 
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i 
 
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 m 
 
 m 
 
 'f 
 
 <lt I 
 
 
 
 
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 11 4 4 
 
 HO 
 
 FAEM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 liorses his left elbow ran into me, until " he 
 guessed my ribs would be pretty-well bruised." 
 
 About midnight, when our only other fellow- 
 passenger turned out from the inside cf the 
 coach, I entered it, though I expected nearly 
 every moment would be my last, the bumping 
 was so fearful. I managed to get a few winks 
 
 of sleep towards morning. E sat outside 
 
 all night, finding it very difficult not to drop 
 off the coach from drowsiness. The early 
 hours of the morning, after the moon 'vent 
 down until dawn, were truly wretched, what 
 between the outer darkness, the flickering 
 of our lamps, the unevenness of the road, and 
 the clouds of dust, and one almost began to 
 wondei if the journey was worth so much 
 trouble. 
 
 But with daylight we quite altered our 
 opmions ; as really I do not think, if you 
 searched the ^hole world over, you would find 
 anything more beautiful than the Uncompahgre 
 valley and park looked in the morning light. 
 
 Mr. W met us at 5 o^clock a.m. at the 
 
 *' Hot Springs," so called from the boiling 
 water that gushes out of the ground, and 
 which is said to give the name of "Uncom- 
 
 
 »i y i<y|M j iiii a »i )ijji i 
 
FARM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 141 
 
 and 
 
 pahgre " to the district, that being the Indian 
 word for hot water. He brought us out hot 
 coffee and food to refresh us, and drove us 
 the last nine miles up the valley. We came 
 slowly, thoroughly enjoying the scenery. On 
 either side of the road are well-cultivated 
 farms. Within two miles of Ouray the park 
 narrows into a magnificent gorge, bounded 
 on each side by precipitous cliffs of red sand- 
 stone, covered with pines and quaking aspen, 
 the whole crowned by arid peaks. From this 
 gorge you suddenly come upon the town, 
 situated in an amphitheatre of grand gray, 
 trachyte rocks. 
 
 Our house is in Main Street. The ground 
 floor is an office ; our four rooms are on the 
 first floor, to which we asceiid by a wooden 
 staircase outside. 
 
 Every nook and corner is filled with some 
 curiosity or mineral specimen. Our host being 
 a great sportsman, there are various trophies 
 of the chase — a mountain lion, wild sheeps' 
 heads, bears, cranes, even to a stuffed donkey's 
 head ; there are also cabinets of fossils, speci- 
 mens of ore, etc., and great blocks of the same 
 piled on the floor. 
 
142 
 
 FARM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 Our family consists of our two hosts, Messrs. 
 
 W and B , two Indian ponies, a mule, 
 
 two setters, and two prairie dogs, which are 
 reddish-buft' marmots. We are only to remain 
 here one night, and, if thoroughly rested after 
 our journey, go up to the log cabin in the 
 Imogene Basin, 3,000 feet higher. We are 
 both looking forward to it immensely. It 
 is right in the heart of the mountains, 10,600 
 feet, and with no one near us, as all the 
 mines surrounding the cabin belong to a 
 <;ompany which had to suspend its works 
 last month for want of funds, so that they 
 are not being worked. The air is glorious, 
 and we feel already perfectly restored to our 
 usual health, though we are warned that 
 strangers cannot walk much at first, the air 
 is so rarefied that one is soon out of breath. 
 Anyhow the atmosphere has been so clear that 
 it much added to our enjoyment in seeing 
 the ever varying beauties and distant mountain 
 view all along our journey from Denver here. 
 
 We unfortunately came through the '^ Grand 
 Canyon" at night. Had it been clear the 
 porter on the car was to awake us to see it ; 
 we could quite picture to ourselves its beau- 
 
 ^>m^ 
 

 FARM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 143 
 
 ssrs. 
 nule, 
 
 are 
 main 
 after 
 
 the 
 
 are 
 It 
 ),600 
 
 the 
 
 to a 
 
 Forks 
 
 they 
 
 ties by the scenery in the Black Canyon we 
 eame through yesterday by daylight. The 
 engineering all along the line is marvellous, 
 the way we rose nearly 7,000 feet by a zig- 
 zag over the Marshall Pass, or the Great Divide, 
 going down nearly as many feet on the other 
 side and then through these canyons, which 
 are only narrow gorges for a raging torrent 
 to rush through on its headlong career. 
 
 Our train was a very narrow gauge with 
 bogie wheels, and we twisted so, in and out of 
 the bends of the river, that the engine often 
 looked as if it might easily come into contact 
 with our carriage which happened to be the 
 last. It is the great advantage of the Pullmans 
 they are always on last to the train when 
 passing through any pretty country, and when 
 there are no other carriages of the same, so 
 that one can sit on the rear platform and see 
 all the scenery. 
 
 We entered into conversation with two 
 Germans, and were amused by one of them 
 surreptitiously bringing us two pink trout from 
 his luncheon at the v/ayside hotel, we having 
 remained in the carriage for our frugal meal ; 
 and though we had got to the " Sweets '^ stage 
 
 ^»m^ 
 
144 
 
 FARM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 m I 
 
 I fi 
 
 i ■■ 
 
 i' 
 
 1 
 
 y 
 
 felt bound to begin again, and much enjoyed 
 our fish. The food provided at these wayside 
 inns is generally so bad and dear, a dollar 
 a head charged for sixteen to eighteen dishes, 
 of almost uneatable messes, that we prefer the 
 tinned meats and fruits we have in our 
 luncheon basket ; and for drinks we have 
 beautifully iced water in all the carriages, the 
 ice being replenished at every big station. 
 
 The last forty miles of our railroad journey 
 was over a line only opened ten days ago, by 
 which, I am thankful to say, we avoided twelve 
 hours more of the stage-coach and a night in a 
 Colorado inn, which, we are told, is anything 
 but pleasant, there always being many more bed- 
 fellows than what one bargains for ; and we 
 should not have seen the Black Canyon and 
 its thirteen miles of grandeur and sublimity. 
 The railway track is cut out of the sides of the 
 over-hanging rocks, and in places is built on 
 a bed of stones in the creek itself. 
 
 The rocks at times almost seemed to meet 
 overhead, then widened, we crossing and re- 
 crossing the torrent by wooden bridges which 
 shortly are to be replaced by iron ones. The 
 colouring was so beautiful, the chasm being 
 
 
FARM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 145 
 
 oyed 
 rside 
 ollar 
 shes, 
 • the 
 our 
 have 
 3, the 
 
 iirney 
 
 ?o, by 
 ;welve 
 it in a 
 >rthing 
 •e bed- 
 ad we 
 n and 
 limity. 
 of the 
 lilt on 
 
 meet 
 nd re- 
 
 which 
 J. The 
 
 1 being 
 
 generally in shade with the mountains above 
 standing out in glorious sunshine, covered as 
 they were in many places, even as far down as 
 the water's edge, with pines. Nature is mar- 
 vellous in its productions, but the ingenuity o" 
 man is also wonderful, and we quice came to 
 the conclusion that the scenery of that canyon 
 was worth coming all these thousands of miles 
 to see. 
 
 Ouray, August 27th. 
 
 The name of Ouray, given to this town, is 
 from the last chief of the Utes, who, with his 
 tribe, lived to within a couple of years on a 
 reserve down in the Park. The first stake is 
 said to have been struck by white men in 
 1865^ but no cabin was built until 1874, and 
 from that time the town has been growing 
 rapidly, having now about 1,000 inhabitants. 
 In the south-west portion of the basin in which 
 it stands, and where the waters of Canyon 
 Creek flow into those of the Uncompaghre, 
 there are some lovely canyons and picturesque 
 gorges, and here, in places where the hot 
 springs overflow the banks of the main stream, 
 
 10 
 
 J ^ 
 
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 I 
 
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 1^ 
 
 m 
 
 i'.i i 
 
 
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 y 
 
 146 
 
 FAltM Lim IN MANITOBA. 
 
 the rocks are covered with maiden-hair and 
 other ferns. These hot springs serve to keep 
 the river unfrozen even in the severest 
 weather. 
 
 Mountain Rat^s Nest, Imogene Basin, 
 
 August 29th. 
 
 This is a glorious region, and we send you 
 the enclosed sketch to show our picture of 
 comfort and perfection. I assure you, nightly 
 as we sit down to our evening repast, or later 
 round our wood fire in our '^ parlour," we con- 
 gratulate each other, and fancy we would not 
 change places with the highest of the land, the 
 air and life are so intoxicating. 
 
 After twenty-four hours in Ouray we came 
 up here, sending the darkie Henry and our 
 luggage on before us in a waggon. We have 
 brought nothing but the bare necessaries of 
 life — all our heavy boxes are gone to Chicago 
 to await our return — being warned to bring as 
 little as possible, on account of the difficulties 
 of transport in the mountains, also of only 
 being allowed 50 lbs. weight on the coach, 
 every extra lb. charged ten cents. We our- 
 
and 
 keep 
 ereat 
 
 SIN, 
 
 d you 
 ire oi 
 ightly 
 ' later 
 e con- 
 Id not 
 id, the 
 
 e came 
 nd our 
 ^e have 
 aries of 
 Chicago 
 Oring as 
 Siculties 
 of only 
 e coach, 
 We our- 
 
 
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 III 
 
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 4 
 
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 i ! 
 
FARM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 147 
 
 selves rode up here, arriving about 6 o^clock, 
 and found poor Henry waiting outside, not 
 having been able to get into the cabin, the 
 door-key being carefully in Mr. W.^s pocket ; 
 but as everything is always left in order it 
 didn't take us long to make ourselves comfort- 
 able ; and as at sunset the cold had been 
 piercing, a fire soon lit was very acceptable. 
 
 This cabin is quite unique. It consists of 
 two rooms on each side of the front door, with 
 a tiny passage used as larder, wood-hole, 
 saddle-room, &c. 
 
 Our room is our bed and drawing-room com- 
 bined, which is hung all round with every 
 imaginable skin, wolf, skunks, lynx, &c., stuffed 
 animals and birds, guns and traps, to say 
 nothing of shelves covered with different speci- 
 mens of ore taken out of the adjoining mines. 
 It was quite creepy, the first night, having to 
 sleep with a bear's head at the foot of our bed, 
 with a stuffed fox just over our head, which has 
 the most awful squint, and is the first object 
 that catches the eye on awaking, and a driei 
 root, the fibres of which so much resemble a 
 man's beard that it looks horridly like a scalp. 
 • The hay-mattress on our bed has to be 
 
 10 * 
 
 i 
 
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 11: 
 
 
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 il\- 
 
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 148 FARM UFK m MANITOBA. 
 
 v.,npd int., grooves for our poor bones to rest 
 shaped int., gr .^ .^ ^^^^^^^ „p 
 
 comfortably. I'^^'^J ^''J^ji,, ^he " lounge." 
 with skins, and then is eaUe ^^^^^_ 
 
 ingon end, in which our t ^^^ 
 
 are eoneealed, so tha ^^ ^J^^^^i.the 
 
 we breakfast -f .f ^ VaL ^ o"^ the 
 
 only bit ot flat gr ^ou„tain, and 
 
 ''^^^'Tlwtrltof water runs about 
 a most beautiul stream ^^^^^^^ ^^^ 
 
 forty feet below usjn ^^^^^^^.^^^ 
 
 coldest of water. One ol^ ^^^^ ^^^ 
 
 ,^ the --7J; :,S to picket them in 
 to water, and ^i^erwa ^^ ^^^.^^ .^ ^_^^^^ 
 
 amongst the '°^ J^ ' ^he short summer 
 
 ^'"'•^TTot^S arwlerever there is an 
 o-^^*''%'°°;rfir't afternoon we were up 
 open space. Y^ j^^^^^, b^^^n 
 
 
 >li! 
 
FARM LIFE TN MANITOHA. 
 
 149 
 
 rest 
 I up 
 
 )j 
 
 and- 
 
 cans 
 our 
 IS the 
 jainst 
 cupy. 
 
 table 
 L the 
 as we 
 I, and 
 
 about 
 st and 
 pations 
 s down 
 lem in 
 , great 
 summer 
 re is an 
 were up 
 le basin, 
 s, which 
 phloxes, 
 
 vetches, 
 
 and fifty other species. E picked a good 
 
 many, and hopes to draw them for the benefit 
 of you all at home. The flowers shoot up 
 almost before the snow has melted, and make 
 the most of their short existence which lasts 
 about two months and a half. We tasted the 
 " bear berry/' which grows as a bush and 
 has a round brown berry, quite bitter, but, as 
 its name shows, is much appreciated by the 
 bears, who come any distance to get it. 
 
 September 4th. 
 
 We are enjoying this mountain life; the 
 weather is all we can desire, and we are in the 
 most robust of health. We live almost 
 entirely out of doors, sketching all the 
 morning, in the afternoons making expedi- 
 tions either into some of the mines, or over a 
 mountain-pass; and for "tender-feet/' the 
 name given to all new-comers, are pronounced 
 to be gooa mountaineers ; but our ponies and 
 mules are so sure-footed and pleasant that we 
 follow any trail, however narrow and uneven, 
 with the greatest confidence. 
 
r r' 
 
 ; ' t 
 
 150 
 
 FARM LLKE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 I ' 
 
 It I 
 
 The scenery everywhere is far beyond our 
 sketching capacities, but we find spoiling many 
 sheets of drawing-paper a never-failing amuse- 
 meut and occupation ; and we can sit out any- 
 where, as neither snakes nor mosquitoes are 
 known in these altitudes. Our darkie's criticism 
 might be discouraging, he saying he cannot 
 understand our wasting so much time on 
 '^ things not at all like nature,'^ were it not 
 counterbalanced by the praise given us in the 
 *' Ouray Times,^^ which paper we sent home to 
 you last week. The balsam pine, which is 
 about the only tree we have, is rather mono- 
 tonous and sombre-looking, being of a blackish- 
 green ; and we have not here, as in the valley 
 around Ouray, the beautiful sandstone and 
 porphyry rocks for background ; only never- 
 ending blue distances, brought out so clearly 
 on account of the extraordinary dryness and 
 purity of the atmosphere. 
 
 We have been escorting two men to-day 
 over a pass 12,500 feet, part of the way to San 
 Miguel, going as far as the ridge, from whence 
 we had a most glorious view and panorama, 
 as we could see into the valleys and canyons 
 some miles below ; Mount Wilson, which un- 
 
our 
 
 any 
 
 use- 
 
 any- 
 
 are 
 
 cism 
 
 nnot 
 
 e on 
 
 t not 
 
 11 the 
 
 me to 
 
 ich is 
 
 nono- 
 
 ckish- 
 
 valley 
 
 le and 
 
 never- 
 
 clearly 
 
 ss and 
 
 to-day 
 to San 
 jjrhence 
 orama, 
 anyons 
 ch un- 
 
 1 
 
 FARM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 151 
 
 fortunately was shrouded in dark, stormy 
 clouds ; a range of mountains in Utah culled 
 Sierra ia Sul, about 120 miles distant; aud a 
 long way into New Mexico. 
 
 In returning home we got into clouds, and 
 could hear a thunderstorm raging in the valley 
 below us, for some little time losing our trail, 
 and not sorry when we found it again and 
 were able to descend from higher regions, the 
 cold was so intense ; not so surprising, as we 
 found when the mist lifted that snow had 
 fallen on all the surrounding peaks. 
 
 Imogene Basin, September I2th. 
 Two days after our expedition to San 
 Miguel we awoke to find ourselves in a " white 
 world," the snow being two inches deep. It is 
 said to be a most unusually early storm, but 
 .it was not altogether a surprise : the glass had 
 been falling and storms had been audibly 
 growling all round us. The snow only lasted 
 about twenty-four hours, just long enough 
 for us to realise and admire Imogene in its 
 winter garb, and enable us to try and walk in 
 
 i 
 
 , 
 
t 
 
 ». . 
 
 152 
 
 EAEM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 f^now-shoes. We did not attempt either going 
 up or down biM in them, so that our perform- 
 ance was confined to the small space in front 
 of the cabin. 
 
 With the exception of this one storm our 
 weather continues lovely ; bright, sunshiny, 
 warm days — we do not even require an extra 
 jacket out of doors until after sunset — with a 
 slight frost every night. 
 
 Last Monday ^e started early, taking pro- 
 visions with us, and spent a long day in Red 
 Mountair Park, sketching the marvellously 
 
 brilliant scarlet peaks, whilst Mr. W shot 
 
 grouse, of which he got three and a half 
 brace. The grouse are much like ours, only 
 larger, and roost in trees. These parks abound 
 in game. Wc have been wishing to see a bear ; 
 at a safe distance, perhaps, but have never 
 succeeded, though several have been killed 
 
 since our arrival. Whilst shooting, Mr. W 
 
 came upon the fresh trail of one and its un- 
 finished meal of a gophir not very far from 
 where we lunched ; only fancy what a stam- 
 pede there would have been had the bear 
 appeared. We are always looking out for thin 
 trees round which a bear's claws would over- 
 
\ 
 
 FARM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 153 
 
 going 
 •form- 
 L front 
 
 oa our 
 shiny, 
 L extra 
 with a 
 
 gpro- 
 
 n Red 
 
 ilously 
 
 - shot 
 
 a half 
 
 only 
 
 30und 
 
 bear; 
 
 never 
 
 killed 
 
 ^ 
 
 s un- 
 
 from 
 
 stam- 
 
 bear 
 
 >r thin 
 
 over- 
 
 lap, and therefore they could not climb, to 
 take refuge up in case of danger; but they 
 very seldom attack, unless wounded or a she- 
 bear with cubs. In the spring and autumn 
 these parks abound in deer; but in summer 
 they go above timber line to graze on the suc- 
 culent bunch grasses and to be free from flies. 
 There are also mountain-sheep, coyotes, and 
 foxes, and along the streams several beaver; 
 but we never have seen any animal bigger 
 than a prairie-dog, or smaller than a coney. 
 
 Chipmunks and the mountain-rats disturbed 
 our slumbers at night, running about the 
 cabin, and I do not at all t^ ink we should like 
 our dormitory were we not watched over 
 during our slumbers by a cat, the most sociable 
 of beasts, who as a rule sleeps between us, and 
 protests loudly if we either of us move or wake 
 him. 
 
 September 7th. 
 
 By degrees we are learning something of 
 the mines and miners ; also are beginning to 
 know all the packers who daily ;;o up and 
 down the trails, each with a train of ten 
 
 ik 
 
 I 
 
154 
 
 FAEM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 donkeys carrying the ore from the mines. 
 The men's appearance is of the roughest, but 
 they, one and all, are most civil, both of 
 speech and manner. Women are rare in these 
 districts, the wife of the manager of the 
 Wheel of Fortune Mine being the only 
 one living up here. She has been here two 
 years, and is quite idolized by the miners and 
 trappers, as she has never been known to 
 refuse hospitality to any. We were much 
 amused, whilst going through the Wheel of 
 Fortune tunnels last Saturday, to hear one of 
 the miners ask who we were, and when told 
 with the ready answer, natural to this country, 
 that '^ we were Duchesses,^' he wished much 
 to know if that was not something like the 
 Prince of Wales. 
 
 We went into a lower shaft whilst two fuses 
 were fired in ah upper. The anticipation of the 
 shock was worse than the realisation. Each 
 of us carried a candle, and the concussion blew 
 them all out ; but beyond that, the smell of 
 gunpowder, and smoke, we experienced no 
 harm, and as we had matches and the candles 
 were soon relit, we had not to grope our way 
 back in darkness. 
 
FARM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 155 
 
 
 We have been into several of the tunneU on 
 the eight well-definec* lodes in this basin, 
 also into some in Sneft'els ; these veins may 
 be all traced through into Red Mountain 
 Valley, which seems to be the volcanic centre 
 of this neighbourhood. The porphyry vein 
 matter or ore-bearing quartz, having decom- 
 posed more readily than the trachyte of the 
 mountains which they intersect, in some 
 instances, as in the peak just above our cabin, 
 they have cut deep notches in the summit of 
 the ridges, making the outline very jagged and 
 rugged looking. 
 
 The mineral wealth around us is astound- 
 ing, hundreds of rich mines have been dis- 
 covered in all the surrounding mountains, and 
 are being discovered now. Three men, whilst 
 at dinner a month ago in Red Mountain Valley, 
 in picking round with a small axe where they 
 were sitting, knocked off a piece of rock 
 which, when analysed, proved to be so valu- 
 able a lode, that they have since then sold 
 their claim for 125,000 dollars. 
 
 Any man can stake a claim of 1,500 feet 
 on a vein if not previously done ; but he has 
 to expend ^100 on it in the first five years to 
 
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 156 
 
 FARM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 enable him to obtain a patent from Govern- 
 ment, which secures the property to him for 
 ever. 
 
 There must be a certain amount of excite- 
 ment to miners as to what treasure will be 
 produced after every blast of gunpowder; but 
 oh ! how I should hate the life, living under- 
 ground in these subterranean passages, which 
 are all more or less wet from the water perco- 
 lating through the rock, and never able to see 
 the sun or the beauties of nature. The wages 
 of the men are enormous, able miners getting 
 four dollars a day ; sorters, or the men who 
 break and turn over the stone, three and a 
 half. 
 
 Mr. W had a hard life when he first 
 
 came out here in 1877 ; as he and his partner 
 worked with no other help for four years 
 underground mining, besides having to build 
 their cab-n, being their own blacksmiths, 
 assayer, » k, &c., and he declares he enjoyed 
 it immcT ^* ly, with the exception, perhaps, of 
 the first winter, when, getting in their supplies 
 very late, they had to live on bacon (and that 
 rancid) and flour, but little else. 
 
 Stores for the winter have to be brought 
 
5rn- 
 £or 
 
 PAEM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 157 
 
 up in October, as the trails early become 
 impassable, and all outer communication can 
 only be kept up on snow-shoes. The snow 
 averages about seven or eight feet, though 
 in this bason it has been known to be thirty- 
 eight deep, but in the Uncompaghre Valley 
 and down by Ouray it averages only a few 
 inches. Animals are left out to graze there all 
 the winter. 
 
 The Ranch, Uncompahgre Park, 
 
 September 16. 
 Ten miles below Ouray. 
 
 Amidst many tears and regrets we have 
 torn ourselves away from the cabin, where we 
 €Ould have spent another month or six weeks 
 in perfect contentment ; but a storm being 
 predicted, and duck-shooting and fly-fishing 
 being part of our Colorado programme, we 
 accepted the loan of a house on a farm down 
 in the valley, and are installed in it. It 
 wanted a certain amount of pluck, on first 
 seeing our accommodation, to come down. 
 Our house is one room, thirty feet long by 
 about eighteen wide, an open roof with plenty 
 
158 
 
 FARM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 1. 
 
 i ;i • 
 
 W\ 
 
 ,|,iS 
 
 i I 
 
 of air-holes, and no partition whatsoever, 
 excepting what we have made hy hanging 
 three blankets from a rafter, behind which is 
 our bed (or lounge in day-time), the washing- 
 stand, a box set up longways, and a tin bason, 
 an arm-chair which consists of two pieces 
 of wood, and an old wolfskin, much worn, and 
 a rickety table, at which I am writing now, 
 lighted by a candle stuck into a bottle. On 
 the other side of the blanket- partition is the 
 kitchen stove, big table, store shelves, a pile 
 
 of saddles, &c. Mr. W sleeps in a tent 
 
 outside ; Henry in a waggon : he, poor man, is 
 not at all happy, as he imagines bears and 
 coyotes are nightly intending making their 
 evening meal off his portly form. He is the 
 greatest coward I ever saw, and came in 
 horror confiding to me that he had seen a 
 
 snake, yards long, which Mr. W killed 
 
 the day following, and it proved to be a 
 small water-snake, hardly ten inches. 
 
 Henry affords us a great deal of amusement ; 
 he does not at all presume, but, in his quaint 
 way, wishes to tell, and asks so many things, 
 queries which often are almost unanswerable. 
 The day we spent in Ouray on our way down 
 
 ( I 
 
FARM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 159 
 
 from the cabin here, we much distressed hira 
 by not '' striking a show " in the street, and 
 not wearing smart clothes which had a " tong/^ 
 if it were only to show that we consider Mr. 
 -- a *^ biff bug: 
 
 O' 
 
 W— 
 
 He left his wife in the South eleven years 
 ago, and, in spite of all our protestations and 
 lectures, informs us he is going to marry again, 
 as in the Bible he reads '' that it is wrong for 
 man to live alone/' 
 
 It is a matter of infinite surprise to him how 
 we can remain out of doors with no covering 
 to our heads, he could not stand the rays of 
 the sun as we do ; and why our complexions in 
 tuOn sequence are not as dark as his is a mystery 
 to him. 
 
 The Ranch, Uncompaghre Park, 
 
 September 34th. 
 
 Although this house does consist of only 
 one room, is situated in a stony field, with not 
 a tree near us, and that we are not having good 
 sport, either trout-fishing or duck-shooting, we 
 should be quite happy and contented were it 
 not for the B flats which abound, the first we 
 
160 
 
 FARM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 ,■1 
 
 t • 
 
 have come across, which, Henry assures us, 
 are not from dirt, but grow in the pine- wood. 
 Why are they not, then, in the log cabins which 
 are entirely built of pine? We have not 
 
 disclosed the fact to Mr. W , he is so 
 
 thoroughly enjoying his holiday, as we know 
 that we should hf" ji sti'ntly ordered back to 
 Ouray, where he woiilo have to begin his work. 
 Whilst he is out shootiii^ we make expedi- 
 tions, exploring over all the foot-hills. One 
 day, after wandering up a beautiful valley, we 
 came upon a Park or " Mesa,^^ and I do not 
 ever remember having seen such a view : 
 miles of grass on which wild cattle and horses 
 were feeding, with clumps of trees artistically 
 dotted here and there, and for background 
 the orange and scarlet tinted foot-hills, 
 pines on higher regions, and a glorious 
 panorama of snow-capped mountains beyond. 
 But for the mountains, one might almost 
 fancy oneself in some EngUsh park, and at 
 every turn we felt we ought to come upon 
 an Elizabethan House. There were many 
 tracks of deer, but none were visible. We 
 overtook a man driving a team of ten oxen 
 with lumber, and of him asked our way, as 
 
 
FARM LIKE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 161 
 
 we 
 
 
 one mi^ht very easily lose oneself in these 
 rolling park-like glades, intersected with deep 
 canyons, with no trails or roads, excepting 
 here and there one made by lumberers. 
 In coming down the hill again, close to a 
 large saw-mill, we watched a man breaking 
 in a horse of five years old. He had secured 
 a dozen, all wild, in a corral or fenced en- 
 closure, and had thrown a noose over this 
 one's head. He was trying to draw it up 1 7 
 means of a thick rope to the fence, the ''ope 
 getting tighter and tighter as the rr'ni ^1 
 backed or tried to gallop round with the otiiei 
 horses. Finally, when the poor bru v/as 
 almost choked, and perspiration was stream- 
 ing down him, he allowed the man to go up 
 to him, who very dexterously and quickly 
 slipped a halter over its head. Th(3 horse 
 then was tied up to the post, the others turned 
 out, and the man intended keeping him there 
 until the following morning without any food, 
 when he would put a saddle on, and ride 
 him, and hoping to sell him as broken for 
 eighty dollars. 
 
 Many of these horses are not broken at 
 all ; we were shown a good-looking mare of 
 
 11 
 

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 162 
 
 PARiM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 thirteen vears old who had never had a bit 
 in her mouth. 
 
 The IIanch, September 39th. 
 
 This is the country I should like to have 
 a farm in, were I bound to emigrate. In this 
 valley every sort of grain and vegetable seem 
 to grow in the most luxuriant way, and we 
 have been feasting on tomatoes, cabbages, 
 beets, lettuces, etc. The butcher, who is also 
 greengrocer, sent a potato twelve inches long 
 by nine round, "hoping the ladies would 
 take it in their trunks to England as an 
 average specimen.^' Then on the " Mesa " 
 or parks above the foot-hills, large herds of 
 cattle can always graze through the winter. 
 We have had jelly made of squawberries and 
 the Oregon grape, which is excellent. There 
 are also wild gooseberries and black currants, 
 both of which we have found. This ranch is 
 160 acres ; the only buildings the owner has 
 put up are the dwelling-house and one shed 
 as a stable and implement-house. Hay last 
 year was selling at £10 to £12 a ton, pota- 
 
FARM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 163 
 
 bit 
 
 an 
 
 toes 3d. to 6d. a lb, oats Id. a lb., and 
 everything in proportion ; eggs 3s. to 4s. a 
 dozen all the year round, milk (jd. a quart ; 
 so that any man ought to make a very large 
 profit, the land originally costing him nothing, 
 and, excepting in hay or harvest time, very 
 little labour required. Oats are cut very 
 green and stacked for winter fodder. These 
 fertile valleys are very limited in number, 
 and as the consumption must be on the in- 
 crease, mines being discovered and opened 
 out, some time must elapse and the railway 
 come nearer, ere competition reduces the 
 prices, or the farmer's profits are lessened. 
 
 The people round are most kind and friendly, 
 and would be more so had they received the 
 
 slightest encouragement ; but Mr. W gave 
 
 out we wanted to know no one, that we were 
 not to be in Ouray, and that all our time 
 was to be taken up seeing the country. We 
 
 went one day up Bear Creek, as Mr. W 
 
 was asked to see a mine, and dined with the 
 manager and his wife. They gave us a sump- 
 tuous repast, and tried to persuade E and 
 
 I to remain the night, though we were only 
 about four miles from home ; but even we two 
 
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 164 
 
 FARM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 are not enough un-Englishified as yet not to 
 object to sleeping with two other people. 
 They had only one room for kitchen, bed, 
 sitting-room, &c. ; and it is curious how little 
 one now thinks of the bed standing in one 
 corner, the washing-stand in another, whilst 
 kitchen-stove, and scullery fill up a third. I 
 suggested that when strangers did sleep there 
 they gave them the adjoining cabin ; but was 
 told that a trussel bed put alongside of the 
 host's "took no room whatsoever/' Mr. 
 
 W tells a funny story of a picnic party 
 
 in the mountains in an old cabin of his, which 
 only contained one room, and where five 
 women and six men had to sleep the night, 
 the women occupying the bunks, the men 
 (after promenading outside whilst the women 
 were getting into bed) sleeping on the floor. 
 They all laughed and talked so much that day- 
 light almost appeared before any of them got 
 to sleep, and there was a regular stampede 
 under the blankets among the ladies when a 
 match was struck, one of the men objecting to 
 his neighbour lying alongside of him with all 
 his clothes on. 
 
FARM LIKE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 165 
 
 October 3rd. 
 
 How the time flies ! in f()rty-ei<,'ht hours 
 from now we shall have said good-bye to the 
 most fascinating? of regions, and Ouray and 
 the Rocky Mountains, with all the gloric .»='. 
 scenery, will only live in our memories and be 
 things of the past. 
 
 I fancy one could never tire of it, and wish 
 so much I could describe the view we had 
 from our Ranch looking up the Uncompahgre, 
 — the valley bright yellow with the grasses and 
 aspen trees turning colour from the frosts, 
 the scarlet dwarf oak on the foot-hill, and the 
 mountains lost in the blue distance. During 
 our six weeks' stay we have tried all the 
 different phases of life. The cabin life in 
 amongst the mountains and miners, the Ranch, 
 and town, and certainly give the palm to the 
 first-mentioned. As we anticipated, our Ranch 
 life was brought to an abrupt end the moment 
 
 we owned to Mr. W how our slumbers 
 
 were disturbed with the B flats; we had to 
 return into Ouray, and have been living here 
 some days. 
 
 Mr. W found such an accuxiiiilation of 
 
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 166 
 
 FARM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 ;• nt' 
 
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 11) ! : 
 
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 work on his return that, excepting at meals, 
 we never see him ; and have to content our- 
 selves wandering and exploring on our ponies 
 all the different trails, and we shall soon be 
 acquainted with every one within miles. The 
 only ride we do eschew is the Toll Eoad up 
 the park, the only piece of flat ground any- 
 where about, and fit for cantering along. It 
 is the favourite resort of the ladies of the town, 
 who are smartly arrayed in very long-skirted 
 habits ornamented with brass buttons and 
 velvet jockey-caps, and who must naturally 
 look down upon us as disgracefully turned out 
 in our every-day gowns and broad-brimmed 
 hats, which, to say the least, have seen better 
 days. 
 
 Ladies riding alone are required to pay no 
 toll ; a custom we think ought very much to 
 be encouraged all over the civilized world. 
 
 We have spent one more night at the cabin 
 in Imogene, leaving Henry in Ouray and 
 
 " doing*' irr ourselves ; and whilst Mr. W 
 
 and the '* expert,^' for whom we went up, were 
 inspecting mines, we two fetched the water, 
 made bread, and had a general sweep out. 
 The cat was supremely delighted to see us. 
 
FARM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 167 
 
 
 and could not apparently make enough of us ; 
 when not allowed on our knees, stood up 
 against or walked round us. 
 
 The heavy snow-storm of last week destroyed 
 ail the grass and flowers ; they were so high 
 when we left that a mule could hardly have 
 been seen whilst grazing, and now they are 
 laid quite flat with not a vestige of their beauty 
 left. The wind was very high as we went up 
 the canyon, so we had to hurry past the 
 patches of aspens growing on the rocks and 
 having very little hold for their roots, which 
 were being blown over unpleasantly near us. 
 
 This will be the last letter you will receive, 
 as when once started we shall go as fast as 
 the stage-coach, rail, and bteam-boat can take 
 us to England, 1 having had a telegram which 
 hurries us home. 
 
 Good-bye, we look forward immensely to 
 seeing you all again ; but we have had such a 
 pleasant trip throughout, without a single 
 contretempSy that we can but be delighted we 
 came, and shall always look back with immense 
 gratification on our six months' sojourn in the 
 Western hemisphere. 
 
168 
 
 FABM LIFE ]N MANITOBA. 
 
 '• ' i 
 
 It i'. 
 
 London, December, 1882. 
 
 Since arriving in England 1 have received 
 the following letter from my brother in Mani- 
 toba, and as I want this book to be a sort of 
 guide to colonists I think it well to add it: — 
 
 C Farm, November 14th. 
 
 y 
 
 I AM writing now to send you a kind of 
 statement of our farm accounts ; though it 
 cannot be quite correct, this year's crop of 
 oats not having been thrashed out, so that tlie 
 calculation can only be approximate. 
 
 1st. The Land. — The cost of the land is 
 taken as the first purchase-money and the 
 amount it has cost to bring 410 acres under 
 cultivation. 
 
 3nd. The Buildings. — They consist of two 
 dwelling-houses and two stables; one of the 
 houses, being for the men, is also used as a 
 warehouse and granary. 
 
 The contract price was very low, and also 
 the price of timber ; now both gone up, but 
 put down at the original cost. 
 
 3rd. The Horses. — Valued, I think, rather 
 low at 250 dollars a team ; 500 dollars for the 
 
FARM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 1G9 
 
 also 
 but 
 
 stallion. The 4,326 dollars include their cost; 
 the amount of oats and hay they have eaten. 
 
 The Cows. — Include their original cost, 
 hay and per-centagc of keep. The price of 
 cattle now is high ; we sold two cows this 
 summer at an average price of 75 dollars. 
 
 Implements have been reduced about 35 per 
 cent, for their two years' wear. 
 
 Carrifujes being new, we have taken nothing 
 off them . 
 
 Pigs have the cost of their feeding added ; 
 the young ones taken at an average of ten 
 dollars. 
 
 Furniture. — A slight deduction for wear and 
 tear. 
 
 Oats. — We are calculating 2,500 bushels off 
 181 acres. 
 
 Hay is difUcult to calculate; I do not think 
 we have 100 tons. The price now is very 
 low ; 5 dollars a ton, and it would cost us 
 three dollars to get it into Winnipeg. 
 
 Potatoes are uncertain. They are worth 
 one dollar a ton now, and if we can manage to 
 keep them during the winter they will be 
 worth a good deal more ; but they are difficult 
 to keep, although we have a good root-house. 
 
170 
 
 FAKM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 . I 1 
 
 If the frost happens to get to them they will 
 all spoil ; and it is difficult to keep the frost^j 
 out, going as it does twelve feet into the 
 ground;. 
 
 The Fence is quite worth the money ; so you 
 see that putting most things at a low price, 
 one has a certain profit, though not in hard 
 cash ; and it is satisfactory to find that one 
 hasn't beea working for two seasons for 
 nothing. No one expects a farm to pay in 
 this country during the first two years. 
 
FARM LIFE IN MANITOBA. 
 
 171 
 
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