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^A r
NOTES FROM A JOURNAL
IN
NORTH AMERICA
IN 1883.
BY wf^HENRY BARNEBY,
OF BEEDENBDRY COURT, BROMYARD.
-~»».>»5f^!<r<.«p—
rxuposd:
PUHTBD at IHB OFFICKS op THB "HBRKPORD tlMES."
'i
I
m- •
' Ob"
■>
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.]
i
IS
r-
NOTES FROM A JOURNAL IN NORTH AMERICA, IN
1883.
[REPRINTED FROM THE "HEREFORD TIMES."]
ARTICLE L
ACROSS THE ATLANTIC-NEW YORK-AMERICAN RAILWAY TRAVEtLiy^-
WE8T TO DENVER, COLORADO.
„e Might bs ""I" ^,P™" iSta ".de affable to those
whose loss we all dep ore. Had he Uvea, we J^eavour
rriirt» .e>«tio« »ch .jb^*;f.,;x3
'"""■IrL'Sr?; :Ll iXS ^d .» Ct any rate;
^'TcSrtt. tr I .h'll vcfrain i.'om stating anything but
oar "„rwaS"ute to the -UUr.i^^J^ Swrh;,t''"there
'^'" A Stconnt of our travels might, Itear, p.-ore "««™».
inatorinls for which I sliall Rohu-t from my journal, choosinj?
th()fi(( poi'tioiiH whiitli 1 tliiiik iimy provo of tlii! f^rcalcst iiitiTcst,
and tiiistiiiir tliat tlic reader will acuiept my coutrihutionH in i\w
sumo Hpii'if in which they aro f^ivcn,
On tho lUth May, 188:{, f Htarti-il on my soc^ond American
tour, accompanied liy my friends, the lato Mr. Meysey (!live and
Mr. Arthur Mitcheii. \Ve sailed in tho S.S. (icrnninic (.'i.UUt
tons). White Star Line; ('a|)tain Kennedy, (rommaiider. Slus is
a Hno vcHHol, and an excellent sea-hoat, ; hut, a.s it iw not my
intention to recommend one lino of steamers in preference ttj
another, F will merely state that she was in every way as
<!ond"{)rtalil(» and as well manaift-d as any vessel need be. I felt
myself very miudi at home on l)i>ard, as 1 had crtissed the Atlan-
tic in 18H1, in the sister ship, the Mi-itannic, of vvhioh tlje (ier-
mani(! is in ivery ri'speet a facsimile. We had secured the best
accommodation procurable — miinely, the Purser's cabin on deck
for one of our party, and a large roomy family cabin below for tlio
otlier two.
One cannot judge j)ropei'ly of an ocean steamer except by
ex[)erionce as a passenger, but the following hints may be use-
ful : — I'jUgage your berth as long beforehand as you can, and, if
possible, get it in fi^ont of the engine-room and dining saloon, so as
to avoid tlie heat and smell — for, of course, when the vessel is in
motion the current of air alwaj-s blows aft. Take your berth also
as near the centre of the vessel as you can, and always engage one
in an outside cabin (that is, one near a port-hole), for those in
tlie inside cabins have less light and no fresh air,. By paying
a little (!Xtra, an otllcer's cabin is usually obtainable ; and this in
the sunnnei- months is a very great advantage, as these cabin.s
are generally on deck. In winter or in rough weather, however,
the motion is less felt down below ; and the nearer you can get
to th(! keel the better. Ufon going on board, nnike carl}- arrange-
ments with the bath nuiT to put your name down for a ecu'tain
hour. On .soTue of the vessels this otHcial is also the barber and
hair-dresser; so that, should you wish it, you can get ])roperlj
" fixed nj» " every morning. The hours for nu-als are.generally— -
breakfast, 8 or 8.o0 till 10 a.m.; lunchecni, 1 p.m.; dinner, G
]i.m. ; supjier, aay time you like to ask for it. There are, there-
fore, ((uito enough opportunities for eating and drinking, and
the food is all of high quality and well served. Some people,
however, I'csigu themselves to their fate immediately they come
on board ; and, retiring to their cabins, are never seen again
until they reach the other side of the Atlantic. Passengers of
this class are not entitled to be placed under tlie head of good
sailors, and must bo a real blessing to the victualling depart-
ment. The rule is for lights to be put out at eleven, p.m. ;
but, I believe, one can have one burning thewliole night through
if desired. Of coui-se, there is a smoking-i'oom,— it is on deck ;
and no smoking is allowed down below.
Theal>ove remai'ks apply to tiist-class jiassengers only, but
iiiti'irst,
iiH in tlie
tiicriciiii
iiv(^ and
ic (."..OO'l
Slio in
« not niy
lonco to
way as
I felt
III' Atlan-
tlio (Jer-
i the best
1 on (U'ck
)w for the
I'xct'pt hy
ly ho UHO-
in, iinil, if
luoii, so as
cssL'l \h in
hcrtli also
ii'i'tifi'i; oiu)
• thoso in
J{y payint^
anil this in
I'st! (nibinn
', iiowovcr,
ju L'an f<('t
y aiTanfro-
• a (joi-tain
)ai"b('r anil
t ])i'np(!i'lj
Dnoraily— -
dinner, (>
arc, thero-
iking, and
no people,
they come
seen again
senfrers of
ad of ffood
ng depart-
'Oil, ji.ni. ;
it throngh
! on deck ;
< onlv, lint
a few hints tosocond-class passengers may also bo usefnl. Most
linos cany both steerage and "intermediate" passengers, the
fornior being of the ordinary emigrant clasH. On large steamers
ditTorent mitiomilitics are, when below, divided off into separate
(ptartors. 'I'lie accommotlation is as good as can bo expected,
but, of coiii'se, tho space allotted to each pi.'rson is very limited ;
tlio fe(;iliiig, however, is extu'llent, and every care is paid to
cleaidin(!Hs. What is I'alh^d tho "intermediate" is act'ommoda-
tion between tho saloon and tho emigrant class ; in this, rooms for
whole families are procurable at arato very little above the steer-
age faro ; and the part of tho vessel allotted to those passengers
is generally about tho steadiest on board. I have purposely
refrained from cpioting tho fares across the Atlantic, for these
prices are easily obtainable by writing to any of the Transatlantic
shipping offices, and different lines vary, according to the
accommodation they have to offer.
In conclusion, 1 consider that the horrors of an Atlantic
passage ai'o very much over-rated ; and, as far as I ami .-. imed,
1 would rather spend nine days on board one of these mag , Vtent
vessels, than tho same number of hours on a Channel steanjjoat.
Some people woidd be astonished if they could wit'i esa tho
ordinary dinner-table of an ocean steamer, and so" rom oi^i to
two hundred people sitting down to a wel'-servi. i dinner in a
hanil ' saloon, and looking just as comfortable there, v^L"n iu
mid-oce.in, as they would at a 'ible d'/U)te in a fii-sl r^ass
hotel — assuming tho Atlantic to bo on good behaviour.
But I must return to our travels. We had a beaulitul run
down tho Mersey, and were favoured with calm sea an;1 fine
weather until wo reached Quoenstown, Avhero, as we had some
hours to wait for the mails, we landed, and took tho opportunity
of going to see Cork. Before 5 p.m. we had weighed anchor, and
had started for New York — a run of 2,885 miles from Queens-
town to Sandj' Hook at the mouth of New York Harbour — tho
rain meantime coming down in the most correct Irish style, until
we lost sight of land. We did not have a particularly good or
<piick passng'j, for wo experienced three days of heavy sea, and
mostly head winds ; and two daj's of fog — during nearly the
whole of which we had to run at half-speed — and the horrible
noise of the fog-horn was inces.santly heard. When this at last
cleared off, the weather was most enjoyable ; and it was a grand
sight to seo our fine vessel being pushed along as fast as possible
in order to make up for lost time. Each line of Atlantic steam-
ers has its own scpai'ate course for both the outward and return
journeys ; and during our passage wo saw no vessels except two
or three sailing ships, until nearing New York on tho 19th
May. That night there was rather a commotion on board, owing
to another steamer having come nnj)leasantly near to us ; and it
subsequently transpired tliat we had really only narrowly escaped
a collision.
On reaching Now York Harbour, on the 20th, we were put
-Jfc^
1 '(rt |H»i i i ft i» «H' awi M' W > ' ,
g^
L ' j i .;i > iH i* . fi wi j ' A ' W"
I
in quarantine to await inspection by the doctor ; and found
ourselves in company with four or five other large ships, all full
of emigrants. It is the duty of the medical officer who comos on
board to see that all the emigrants are vaccinated ; and our
doctor had performed this operation on about 100 of thorn during
the passage out. On being i-eleased fi-om quarantine we landed,
and went at once to the Brevoort House Hotel, where we secured
rooms. New York did not seem to have changed much since I
saw it two years ago, except that the Brooklyn suspension
bridge — then in course of construction — was finished, and was to
be opened the following week with great ceremony by my friend,
the Hon. Abram Hewitt, member of Congress for New York. I
was very sorry that we could not wait to see this, but it was im-
possible, and Mr. Hewitt could not even obtain permission for us
to inspect it, all permits being refused. New York is now becom-
ing so well known that it is unnecessary for me to say much about
it. I consider the harbour to be one of the finest I have ever seen ;
I should fancy that this one, and that of San Francisco, are un-
equalled in America. Broadway is the principal business street ;
the Fifth Avenue is the fashionable quarter, and is remarkable
for its handsome hduses and numerous churches. The city is
regularly built in blocks ; Broadway runs diagonally to the
avenues, thus intersecting all the blocks. The Central Park is
extremely well laid out, and is quite worth a visit. To strangers,
the elevated railway is one of the principal sights of New York ;
it is carried on trestles right along the street ; the trains run on a
level with the first-fl(X)r windows of the houses, which I should
think must be very inconvenient for the owners, as one can see
right into the rooms in passing along. There are very few hired
carriages to be had in New York, and what there are are
frightfully dear ; but street cars (or trams) run nearly every-
where, both in New York and other American cities ; and, on
account of their cheapness, are a great convenience to the
residents. Some of the cars are closed like ours ; others are
open, with cross seats, and are in summer very pleasant to travel
in ; they all go at a good pace, and it is not at all a bad way of get-
ting about when lionizing the various towns, for one can see a
great deal by changing from one car to another. I may here add
a word about the river steamboats of America, of which the
best are those plying near New York. These are veritable
floating pahioes, accommodating about 1.000 passengers. The
ai'rangements arc generally as follows :— The deck projects over
the hull so as to give more space in the vessel, and yet cause her
to make as little resistance to the water as possible ; the goods
and engines are usually on the lower deck ; and the upper one
is an immense saloon, with sleeping berths all round. There are
open space, fore aud aft, to walk or sit about. On the steamers
near New York the commissariat is good, but on most of the
others it is very bad.
Perhaps, before proceeding to a more detailed account of
L
;tor ; and found
re ships, all full
erwhocomos on
nated ; and our
3 of them during
itine we landed,
^here we secured
sd much since I
dyn suspension
shed, and was to
ly by my friend,
ir New York. I
I, but it was im-
ermission for us
'k is now becom-
i say much about
'. have ever seen ;
■ancisco, are un-
business street ;
d is remarkable
es. The city is
agonally to the
Central Park is
t. To strangers,
ts of New York ;
i trains i-un on a
which I should
s, as one can see
e very few hired
t there are are
m nearly evory-
1 cities ; and, on
venience to the
lurs ; others are
)leasant to travt'l
a bad wayof get-
jr one can see a
I may here add
!a, of which the
3se are veritable
)asseugers. The
jck projects over
ind yet catise her
sible ; the goods
lid the upper one
)und. There are
On the steamers
, on most of the
tailed accnunt of
the various parts we ^^^^'^^l^i::^."^^
some general i^^^^^f !"\"l^^'^,Ur>^^^^ ««™^ l^"''^'
always heard was good ^^J^^^^^^^X secure the comfort of a
or if you trave by a I'"™^'^^^;^^ to pay the extra fee de-
seat in which It IS ^^'f ,^;:i^^,^™o rtUns, but not to all :
manded. These cars are attache to mos '^..^^a^d ; they
and the ordinary cars ^^^ ,«™"^i;f ' ifjf,, the engine. Though,
hold about 60 people, and ^^^^^'^^^^ZnlyL. not allow
they can be t-"-;l /-"jf^:- ^^^^^/^^^or s t with their back to the
this to be done ^''^'^^^'^^^'^i^t^f^-ndow. are open, as arc often
engine. In hot wcathei all '^'^'^ T^"; . jj^possiblo to get out
the' doors at each end ^-sides so that ^ - ^P-^j^^^ they only
of the draught; ^^^f ^^^^ ""?„ r '^^ of the glass interferes
put up half-way, and the 7«°*i'^"J^^^,\f the dust and engine
Ldly with the view. On these °°«^^ ^
blacks blow in in clouds, and, ^^ /^^.f^'^f^fdTscr bed There aro
the extreme -Pl«--*-fJXayr 'o you antt choose your
no classes in ^^'J™ j^^ J^ew York senator or a nigger
company, and T^, ^^^^^a^^^^^^^^ although no classes are
for your nearest iellow-passengci . ju» , , -^ i^^er trains,
.eco'gnised, a new «>-ten. . cx.eping ^f.^ZZ: .i a reduced
called emigrant trains a. dm the^^ j,^^^ ^^^ ^^ number
rate, thus amounting to s«''«";^--^.f;'''/;^^i, separate Pullman has
of cars has a conductor and P"^^ei , eacU sep ^ ^^^
both officials. Those m ^^e bo^tW ^^^^^^ J^.^ ^^ .^^^.
in the Northern, and some of the ^^^^ men in their own esti-
ingly rough. Being, appa-nt y, g-J* ^^ ^t in themselves.
mation, tbey niake use of the can assongers as
and, judging ^Y ;«- ^^jf^; J-^t^ ^jde there at all. They
receiving a favour m being aUowtu ^^^ ^j^^
invariably bang the doors with «' Wcr c^a ^^ door-banging is
on entering or leaving the cai. ^^1^1 ■] travelling,
one of the greatest ^'^^«^"'=«^J.^^^f'tr Torter o\. nelspaper-man
Whether it be passengers, ^^''^^^^'lll^J,^^,,^ witb/ books,
(who takes it m ^^f^^ „ *^° _%7,e dooJs as hard as they
papers, fruit, and cigars, f ""J^f^f ^^^^
can (apparently) mpassmgbackwaxdsa^^^^^^ American
difficult to explain the wan of quiet ^J^^'''^^^ uncomfortable,
cars you are allotted ^ -™^"f J^.^Som car. ThJ porter
or an arm-chair if It IS only a <irawm„ pouerally a
(whether in the Pullman or t^c oidm ly cai) J ^^^^^^.
;«gger, and his business is to look f tci^the ca. ,^ ^^^^
Tndirat^o havl Th^d a^at struggle to get up or down
I 1
:s
-■8
at the end of the cars, overweighted by my 1 Wf?« ) *!;« P^^^^^
meanwhile looking on, and never thinking crt «»"»"»? J" !'Jl^
rescue There are only two doors to each car (forward and aft),
and to get in or out tales a considerable time, for the as .tep
Lome distance from the ground. The t™-« /\";°«^* .^^^
start off without warning, either by bell or word "« ^^J^^^ 'Uu
this increases the inconvenience of there being so tew ways ot
enLnce and exit; for people will stand ^n il^oj^^i-r^,-^
there is always a scrimmage to regain ones f f .«« ^^.^^^^^^
train moves off. There are no regular station porters,
so you must look after your own luggage, for no one will give
you the slightest assistance ; unless you send it to the luggage
Joom some time (often an hour) before your train is to start, and
have it checked to your destination I suppose this is a
good plan if one is travelling with a large amount of
fuggac^e ; yet if one adopts it, there is occasionally an
Snv"enient delay in the delivery of one . th^ng^J^^
arrangements for smoking are very bad; sometimes theie is
rac?ommodation excepting on the platform outs.de ; but a^ a
rule there is one car (though an uncomiortable one), « yh;°^
it is allowed, but in this the dirt ,s usually sufficient to deter
one from entering. In the Pullman cars, however, there is
generally a little room attached, A mght journey in an
Sinar/car must be simple torture, but most trains i-unning
any distance carry a Pullman "sleeper." These make up
twentTfour berths in two tiers, of which the lower berths are
prefemble, as the upper ones are liable to get^ covered with the
«>al-black; and dust penetrating through the top ventilatoi^.
Some trains carry dining-room ears, which are a Rre'it come-
nience-for in the matter of wayside refreshments I thmk
America is nearly as far behind the continent as we are our-
seWes The permanent way of the railroads .s in some places
still very rough; but in the Eastern States this is now
imnrovinjr with the increase of traffic.
^ Aftef making various arrangements, and seeing severa
New York friends, we started on the evening of the 22nd of
MaT by the Pennsj'lvania route from New York to Denver, and
found this line a wdl-maiiaged one, and our Pullman "«1«-I'ers
comfortable enough. The next day we tmversed «ome jeiy
pretty scenery in the Alleghany Mountains, after which we
Massed on out of Pennsylvania State, through those of Ohio,
Sana? and Illinois, tilfwe reached St^ Louis, on the bordeij
ol Missouri ; a distance of 1,064 miles ^^™-/-- J'f '/u^t
took us about forty-six hours to pertorm. The states c^ Ohio
and Pennsylvania both contain mostly undulating, well-wooded
Lnds wl thought the soil of Illinois State (especially as we
neared St. Louis) better for agi-icultural purposes than any we
hid previ.rasly seen. At the St. Louis Station we were met by
my Send Mr. Wainwright, who took us (after breakfasting
^iV him) to inspect his lager beer brewery, which we found
«■■
■1
the porter
ng to the
I and aft),
last fitep
)st always
louth, and
iw ways of
tform, and
when the
1 porters,
e will give
e luggage-
) start, and
) this is a
imount of
ionally an
ings. The
»s there is
; but as a
, in which
■nt to deter
r, there is
•:iey in an
ns running
make up
berths ai-e
id with the
ventilators,
reat conve-
its I think
we AVG our-
some places
lis is now
ing several
the 22nd of
Denver, and
i" sleepers"
. some very
r which we
)Re of Ohio,
the bordei-g
York, which
lies of Ohio
well-wooded
'cially as we
han any we
were met by
breakfasting
ich we found
rsrv interesting. He showed us through immense cellars
wW he beer^was kept almost iced-for lager beer will not
keep as our English beer does, and must be stored in a cool
temperature, which is a difficult thing to manage in a place like
St Tout well known to be one of the hottest in this d.sh.ic
Wo tasted some of the beer, which was excel ent. A tap la
auUskeVgoing for the workmen, of which they avail hem-
i vTpre ty\-eely. We went afterwards to the Corn Exchange
to l%CbLkersiambli.g in corn. I saw one two y^^^^^^^^^^
in Chicago and this is managed on the same plan ; a hollow is
made S'e middle of the i, so that all the ?-;t- -^^^£^
can see one another. We were shown some capital Cahtoinian
barlev and some beautiful white Indian corn.
W^eft St. Louis by 8.30 p.m. train for Denver, and
changed trains next morning at Kansas City, which seemed a
wVaee.^ T^^ station was full of emigrants and everything
about the district gave signs of life and activity. Outside the
cit> people were cfmping^ut in tents. The country round was
mulh wooded, the sofl mostly of a dark loamy colour, though
poor in places, it was, apparently, generally very fertde, and the
^,s seemed Urefo'rward than further east. Kansas City is
on Ihe Mis.souri river, and I am to d tha lands more than 100
miles to the west of that river are armed at a ^^^^^ ";^,^^^^^^
drought may at any time destroy all the crops Ihe wheatbelcls
of Kansas /tate were all in ear, the seed having been sown last
September; the heads of the corn were very even throughout
but tl^ straw short. The railroad is not fenced m, and where a
W rosses the line, a post is erected with cross boards marked
-riilwav crossing," in order to Avarn the people passing by. On
mo t hei'unes by which I have travelled in America, the engine
Tver sounds a w'histle, or rings a bell at all *- e^f^s^^b^^
here this is not done. '• Look out for the cars is another
waiting The houses of the settlers here were most y budt oi
wood though a few were of stone. When standing alone, a few
I^es were always planted round to afford shelter. Here and
tLere was an attempt at fencing in, but the lands were generally
""'"As'we went further west, the country became more and
more open, and cattle ranches took the place "^ . '\^^ble land m
fact it was really open and undulating prame. The next
moriii gour jcmrney Jas very monot<mous, being entirely over
Te opfn priirie, through bad and burnt up land; and he
on y TciteLmt 'was when our train startled and Boattered^a
herd of antelopes which were grazing near the track. Wo
watth^d the'ch^n of the Rocky Mountains K-^- >T ^-ng m
the far distance, but were a little disappointed vvnth this Mtw ot
t lem owin-r, probably, to the fact that the plateau we were
'a "'rsing wis^n itself some 4,000 to 5,000 feet above the sea;
md hough the mountains rise straight up from he plain the
■air e beU>g at so gi-eat an elevation necessarily takes off from
■ ■ ■ . 10 , • ■ ■■ • ■ ;-
their .ealhei.M. ^^Uc. at^^eve he. wa^^^
situated quite on the open pra e, -.^J^ t^J^^^ JJ^^^j ^,,,. it is
it has a lively lcH>k '^'J!!. ^^^^^^jj J gcj; |,iles in alHrom New
.listant 93:^ miles fiH.tnbtLonH,m^^^^ ^^^^ ^
York-a jouraey which it had f^"-^ .^^^ oxchisive, of
nights of' continuous travelling to ^vccomj^ We purposely
cotrse,of one stoppage of a d^^ at K^-^« ^^^,, ^.^X, as wo
travelled as fast as possible mci ^is pa ^^^^ ^^ ^^^^^^
were all anxious to f ^ at once to t^ie ^ « side of the States
there the time at our disposal ;-besides tnis
was not new to inc.
■■
ir, ami, on
a.m.) th'5
Denver is
le sea, but.
aco. It 18
from New
and i'oin-
Illusive, of
. purposely
ute, as we
id to spend
the States
MANITOU-
ARTICLE II.
-SALT tAKE CITY— OGDEN WEST TO SAN FRANCISCO.
Of the railway iourney between Denver and Xltah, a distance
of 745 mile UHi a^ain from there to California, 871 mdes, total
feiG riles.'l do not here propose to say much, as I wish to ., .
rfserve tho',n-eater part of 'this article for a short account of
Salt Lake City and San Francisco, with then- inhabitants. With
^ome few excep ions, as, for instance, the lovely scejierv round
Manitou ■ the m-and, thouf^h desolate, Royal Gorge of Arkansas
?ho b^aut es of Marshall^ Pass, and, still more, of the Black
Arion the country through which we passed until we reached
?he Paeit sl'M ^s of the Sierra Nevada Mountains was mostly
iled.ip pra rie and sandy desert, and only available for agricul-
tra purposes after much labour and extensive irngation, such
a Imvc been bestowed on it in the Mormon territory, where he
desert has certainlv been converted into a garden. Until the
She r la' ds of other parts of Americ^ are filled up I should
recommend the intending emigrant to choose «f .«« t^''™ ^^ ,^/;
fnture home rather tlmn to attempt to start m this country.
Cliad^^r rich in minerals ; but those who meddle with mimng
B, eciktions had better take care not toburn their fingers.
' Prom Denver we went by Colorado Springs to Manitou
'r^.. IIZ nkce is very prettily situated among the lower spurs
of^v:tck%ullLhl'^^
theseaandisbecomingratherafashionableAmericanresort. The
Jirs very pure and^good, and the climate excessively dry, and
suitable or consumptive and rheumatic patients. A friend of
mnrwhoc^^^^^ !'-« '^''•^'^'^ so much benefit
n^ hi stay tbat he told mo he should - --y«/---^' fj
wis the .nily place where he had been really well. I should
Jnk that in IL it must ^l^velop into a welUknown sana^mnui^
The scenery here is beautiful, especially in the ^'aic"- ^^
f ft».hi,rh valleys up in the mountains are called; they
Tusl s Wfieldsi ^ttle ranches; but unless they possess
a stm^i of wlter, they are perfectly useless for the latter pur-
''""""The country between Colorado Springs and Manitou-and
..,JlZ cLtin.ed our iourney-looked utteij^ de^olat
.'v-ervthinff being completely dried or burnt up. This was stm
d e case n tlie ifeighbourhood of Pueblo, which is situated on the
Arki'a River, Ld gave me the impression of being like a
Spa sh or a Mexican town. It was quite different from the
othei ATOiu-ican cities I have seen. The inhabitants appeare
very rou™h and lawless ; there were a great many Baj^t-s an^^^
Tjeonle camping out round the town, but 1 am told that its
ToHation is decreasing. A magnificent cotton-tre,, growmgin
f
- "S.^i-igiS^S^^ifefe--
>im»
12 . ^ :-
„ , f tl.o nrincioal tliorouL'hfares, was being cut down, mucli to
nrtiolo oxpostulntmg against its Idll, .i"" p«Lm„
"''" wTproSod bv ™l t. S.lt Lak. Citj, c™».inK the R«cky
very steep a,K^ the curves »harpt ^^^^^ ^_^ ,e^,, i,,e ,<,p.
mg on the "the sute w j ^.^ ^^^ ^^ ^^ j^^^
^■■'%\raS -X"^.^e';S St^ntt we had ,e,t the
tanks kept at sta.ted intervals for the use " ^he^ en^nnes 1
not know whether any rani ever tails ' *> « d_^«t ,ct^,
tainly passed over ™-y ^-^^; /,r'!' J^^.^^ ^^
"■Xb^aS:^Th"ernV;L i^^^^^^^ °J
. ^^l^J'wtJb^^nof Au^^lak.^
conscientiously recommend this lotaiu.-i to
promising Held for labour.
1, mucli to
nxch a fine
lo citizens
nevvspp.per
ew8 in the
the Rocky
(1, though
nd in Mar-
merica, the
xdients are
I'ound and
,ch the top.
,nd the one
etime, and
I by a whiz
,tmospherio
J down-hill,
lin in front
le from St.
ndstill now
, but three
Eew hundred
e. Descend-
:)re fcrtile-
i, at a place
ery. Later
;e called the
er seen ; its
very variety
luxuriantly
ge after the
,d previously
a few days
I were killed,
in mourning,
I the broken
! had left the
ver a regular
fi'ow. There
,t in the huge
igines. I do
rict; Ave cer-
and once, in
tie vegetation
ppearance of
lly could not
nioTant as a
. ■ ■ . ' ■ 13
A f In.t we arrived at Provo, about 46 miles from Salt Lake
At last y« ^^";^j^ , It ^as the first Mormon settlement
City, and "ear Utah ^ake^ U .^^^^^^^ ^he cultivaUon
we had notu^cd, ;^"i.f;^'^f'f;',,t„trds dotted about. Irrigation
being very good, with '^'fj\\l^'l''\^^^.^ ^go, the whole of this
upon a party of ^^'l^'^'^''/}'^'' „\ told are great gamblers ; but
were playing cards, and I was t^ld a^e gita j
their faces, as the Indians of t^e ^'"^J^^^'^Ltf '/erethe«^«<^
ai^,utwhomI sl-lll^avemoretosayhereaf r. ^, ^^^^^^^^^ ^^l^
bear a man speaking lu a ^"^^. ^'X'^'dropping or a brush
what he said; and he |iXLw audK T^-ats are placed
brushingacoat,isasodistnctlja^^^^ ^^^^^^> ^^^
on an ascending scale, and au aU «* woo ^^ ^^ accommo-
building 1. not ornameutal, ^^^^fj*^ ""^P^f ^^ ,an see and hear;
date a large number of ,f»r\^\"" /'^*^L^ ' T ibernacle is only
E";:;™:ni« s'r,.. ,»■;!.*.., tod ,.,^^ m
i'i
.^»
iriiliiili"Miili'-l r-
mmmmmm
\l
■ ' , 14
more funds come in, and it will, I Rhould think, take many years
tocompleto, even if eve. finished. The site has been very
i^diSsly chosen, both for effect, and eonven.enee to the
''^'' We next called npon President John Taylor (who succeeded
T^riirham Youn-), havin- been told that he liked seeing strangers.
Wo we™ however, iufrn'med that he was out driving, and were
askJto call Igain.' In order to occupy our time we went to see
?he late President's grave, and in doing so, passed the house
^eie he usJd to accommodate his 18 wives. T - g-ve w l-^-
found in a place by itself, was merely a slab of granite "ith no
name or inscription, surrounded by iron railings. On returning
we a'-ain called on President Taylor, and in due course he came
Tto the room to receive us. He did not look as it he had bee
o^it driving, and we were inclined to think that u.s had bee a
fiction on the part of the attendant. He was a tall, largely-niade
man wi h bil head and hands. I believe there are six Mrs
Sorl and we were rather disappointed at not being '"trodviced
to them. The house was a good-sized one, and everything
' looked very comfortable. The President told us that the
Mormon Sritory was about GOO miles h.ig by =^0^) -ad, aj;;
now extcnde.l into New Mexico and Ari/ona. Ihe ougmal
Sle'have, in most cases, moved south into Ari^^^^^^^^^^^^
a greater distance from civilization, ^^^''-V -" ^[^"j' ^" f
Tilnralitv of wives without restrictiouH. bait Lake Utj is,
course the centre of the Government, The settlements are by
no rne^ns diminishing, but, .m the contrary, increasing; and more
nd more o the territory is, by dint of irrigation, being rapidly
-f
brought under cultivation
After our interview with the President we visited tit
Museum which is kept by an Englishman (a Mormon), who
came h^i-ehi 1864. He told us he had then been one ot a party
Hon cmiLmmts and that for the last 1,000 miles they had
traveUed S the ;rairie and desert in ox-carts and waggons,
J Zl suffered terrible privations. Numbers ot his fellow-
We^rl £ died on th'l way; and, though so many years
io he related, with an evidently keen recollection, the hard-
£s they had undergone, and the joy "^"^ thankfulnos.s w ti
wWch they had at last sighted Salt Lake City, and i s well-culti
vated landl On their arrival they had been kindly cared or
•Ind housed by the settlers, until they were able t, shift tor
them elves \Ve also heard from this man how the Mormon
lend out their missionaries all over the world to make fresh
converb. and induce them to come to the Mormon territory It
m^not, however, be supposed that all the -'" -s in U aj, are
of the Mormon P-snasion, for there -^f^^^?^ ^^l^i
" Gientiles
non ner.suasion, lui iui.i^ •'■--- -o- — .■ . ,
among them. Salt Lake City is beautifully situated
semi-
well-
at'the foot of mountains, which sun-ound i^j" ^ ^m^ ^f
,Mrr>I« Everything looks prosperous ; the lands ai c
stocked airfrrigated, and thoroughly cultivated to the best
v4p^"a^gttei^»i »j>. i» BM > a 't^ ^ M ^**^
■■
■any years
loon very
po to the
uc'cocdecl
trangorH.
and were
out to see
the house
, which we
with no
oturnin}''
;o iio camo
had been
ad been a
j,'(.'ly-mado
six Mrs.
introduced
vorythins^
that the
l)r()ad, and
10 oi'iginal
,, wliore, at
or enjoy a
City is, of
nts are by
p; and raoro
inu; rapidly
visited tlie
•mon), who
1 of a party
s tliey had
i waf^i^ons,
his fellow-
tnany years
, the hard-
ihioss witli
s well-eulti-
y eared for
ti shift for
e Mormons
make fi'osh
rritory. It
u Utah are
riy so-called
dly situated
id of semi-
are well-
to the best
15
advantage, but I think this system of Mormonisra should be
abolished, indeed, it is a disgrace to a civilized country like the
United States that it shouki be allowed, A law has, in fact,
boon passed, suppressing it ; but when an attempt was made to
put it in foreo, it was found that no verdict could be obtained,
owing to the majority of the jury being themselves Mormons. It
is often thought that each member of this persuasion may have
as many wives as ho pleases; but this is not the case ; it is
only allowed as a great favour, and each candidate for the
privilege has to prove, to the satisfaction of the Elders, that his
means are sufficient to support the number of wives he wishes to
have.
We left Salt Lake City by the 4 p.m. train on the Slst May
for Ogden ; thence by the Central Pacific Railway to San
Francisco. After leaving Ogden the country became poor, and
the sage bush was again almost the sole occupant of the sandy
soil . There was a civil darkie in our car, who told us that on the
following day we should see nothing but sand and desert, and that
both the windows and ventilators would have to be closed. This
prospect was not cheerful ; but the result, happily, did not justify
our fears, for, though the next day we travelled on through the
same country of sand and sage bushes, we experienced no dust,
but enjoyed a beautiful cool bre«»ze. The promised desert was
certainly there, but a heavy fall of rain on the previous day had
laid the dust ; in fact, pools of water were to be seen all along the
track. This is most unusual at this time of the year ; but it was
a very fortunate circumstance, for otherwise we should doubtless
have been overwhelmed with the dust and heat ; so we willingly
forgave the darkie his false alarm. There were mountains in the
distance along the whole route, which looked as if they ought to
carry sheep ; but probably by the end of summer every blade of
grass will be burnt up. It was only here and there that we saw
a patch of cultivated land.
The following notice was written on the b.icks of our tickets : —
" Passengers are allowed to carry one canary each in a cage,
without extra charge or fee to the baggage man or porter." In our
car the following notice was posted up : — " Warning — Passengers
are hereby warned against playing games of chance with strangei-s,
or betting on thi-ee cards, monte, strap, or other games. You will
surely be robbed if you do. — A. M. Townk, General Superintend-
ent." Here is another specimen, also put up in the cars . —
" Passengers are requested not to spit on the floor of the cars."
A line of spittoons was arranged along the floor, one for every two
passengei-s.
Just at dusk we began the ascent of the Sien-a Nevadas, but
of the scenery here it was impossible to see much that evening,
and, as we often ])a.ssed through veiy long snowsheds, perhaps
there would not have been much to look at even in the day-time.
Our darkie, by ray orders, awoke me at 3.45 a.m., when we were
li
0-
ii
i>mnf' ■"
1 ;,
'■• . ■ IG
,.. p..„« Cape Horn. ^^^£S^f 'Stllf S ^ ™S
LcencUng the racilic ^?V^^l^\^ Setu.n ; all kin.ls
country Beomed hko an ""';«"«; ^'^ ;/ ;r,,,„,eutal troos, were
of firB and pincH, such as ^^ f^J^^j^^^^"' Presently wo passed
here flourishing luxuriant y ^^ ^ .^^^^j ^ 7 ,,0 com erops appeared
through a fine agncultura '^«"»^\y: ;"''';" "^.^^es the harvest had
to ./already fit for -^ 2d"^,,^Xwarthat it generally is
actually commenced. I *« ""^^ "^^^ j, j.^j been a wet and back-
Hoenan, came from who fought ^^y^'^'^^^^^Z.t, 5 10ft. long by
we crossed an arm o the bay - ' ^^"S^^^^^.^a iw, over in two
Francisco. , . „„„„f,ach ; the harbour is a
The city looks well f;'""\*J"\X^. funded on all sides
magnificent one. over 40 mdes l«°g' jf ^^^^^^^^^^ their base, and
by>- l^i'^%,trhU;s""Ss tttCrall parched or burnt
partly on one of the hiUs. ^''''^^ ^ description to be seen,
up, and there are "« /'f %«V Jf S^tol and then went out to leave
^Ve engaged rooms at f'';^^!^i''«J\°'S; nquiries as to our future
our letters of "^tvoductum . n to inaKe i ^^^^.^^ ^^ ^^^^ ^^^ ,^f
route. In the course of «"^ k""'^^';^;^*' \^^^^^ ^^e quite a feature
the Frisco street-cars on "n'il?^^ "P^"' „,;,' f„a for going "P and
o the place. They are admxraWy « "^^/^^Jlgi, ''The plan
. down hill, ^uul their motion ^^J/J .^^^ \„%^^^^^^^^ and are attached
seems a simple one: ^^^ '^''^'^^^'^(XSl in an open gi'oove
subjects of the Celestial empie ^^^ ;\7^f ^^^..^en the men and
but found it impossible to tell ^^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^^e tohl afterwards)
the women in dress ; P^^^^^^y^^^f^.t every other window we saw
they were almost all men, f J. '^J/f^^^i their eai-s cleaned (!)
individuals having their P^f^f ^^^^^^^^^^^^ We bought a
-apparently a very favouu e amu emen ^^^^^^^ .^^^^ ^^^^. ^.
fewcuiiositiesatoneof heu^^^^^^^ would return later m the
where we promised the ^l^f^-^^,^ f^;/';_ g^t out to see the per-
evening. ^0- -g J^^^^a^^^^^ once, but once
fovraance ; it is, ctiivunj,
;he moun-
ovcr this
itaitipil in
'ho wlolo
all kinda
cos, were
wo )>a88ed
J appeared
irvost had
onerally is
and back-
us* by the
icia Boy,"
I England),
ft. long by
ver in two
le bay until
d, after ten
ves in San
arbour is a
on all sidps
r base, and
ed or burnt
I to be seen,
out to leave
» our future
;o use one of
lite a feature
oing up and
le. The plan
are attached
open groove
,y the simple
thus the cars
a acciilentully
inhabited by
ibers of them,
L the men and
Id afterwards)
indow we saw
ai-s cleaned (!)
Wo bought a
, their theatre,
n later in the
a see the per-
ice, but once
17
,1 1 Iw, ouito onouch, as (for a European, at any rate,) it is hard
vrould be qvi to onoug. , y i^^ ^^^^ performers were very
to ^^^J^^^l^J^i^,. n.en wore partly hidden by long
other slums of this quaiiei. iiit ^^ deemed
r-,;s;xsT:i" ^ii" '«- i >»««- ...
"""on the ntemoon ot tho next ,l.y wo m»<le »n ex|»ditio» to
i, a '?-^\;jfi£^itT-«"«*«^ the height of its prosperity.
America;but i thiuK It nas ^.^,^ ^.^^j^^y
While it was *l^«^f^^ .f^:™^!^^^^^^^^^^^ the East, it enjoyed a
-"-"^r*T,if ,Sl2ge must no;, however, cease ; for the
monopoly. J-ins auvduuif, l}.,nrnid of the Southern
Pacific ports of the Northern PacxhcK.r^do^h^^^ ^
Pacific Railroacl, and «-'; "j! ^^^ ^^^^ traffic,
will all compete with ^^^^ 1';*^"^^^^^ \^Ci the third will also
Two of these lines are ^1»'«" ^ .^^°™P';;'^;3"''it i« true that as the
be finished in the course of ^^f^J.y^^J'f^/Ji^e ocean trade to
country fills up, traihc will "^Sl'^=^^„' ^/^'J^^^ of the new
China, J^H-, Aust- -^^^^^ l^^ hf t^viU ^^^ortly, if I am
^fX mucrmLtken, share with San Francisco a pr^vdege
that has hitherto been her's alone.
!i!
ARTICLE Til.
THE Y08F.MITK VAl.l.KY, OAUFOnNU.
, -.r 1 T„«n ith we left San Francisco for
ON the afternoon of Monday, J«^° f^f ' J^ '^'^j ^„ ,ff„r frotn a
the Yoscmito Valley, »"^^'"8 V^^'^;'"'^ "y^Lo, to whom we
Dr. Gwinn (a gentleman .•oBjdmg ^* ^^^"^^^^^^^^^ „« .ftor ouf
had an introduction from ^"l^"^ ™ neighbourhood, m
viBit there, and take »ih *« ^os Argo os an i g ^^ ^^^^^^
order that we nnght see h^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
ern Oahfornia. It was umicim experience was,
route for reaching the Yosonute , t^° ^^^^'j; ";^^"„ia ^^ from San
that anyone who has *'r,,*"J"\r8^°eel.? stage to Murphys;
Francisco via ftockton to M.lton thence l.y^^^^^^g ^^^^^ ^^^ I ^_^^^
oa to the Calaveras Giovo '^"^^^ ^ ^^^ route we took,
again to the Yose'ntto ; ^^ s m^^^^ ,,^^^^ ,, ,,
making an expedition from Clarke 9 to i ^^ ^^^
did, and, after sleeping at ^ajlerc. .*'vke 'he r ^^
Francisco the following morni g J^'^ j^J^^the advantage'of
time and entail more staging, '•"J„'!l"'f,,7bv different routes. •
entering and lo-mg the Yosemite^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^.
We travelled by the Centiairacinc y ^^^ ^^^.^^
over to Oaklands by *' «/«'7,, ^^^ ^ \^^^ we found to be a^v
tickets included sleepers o«\ ^^^Z'^;;;"; ^ for one or two of the ••
mistake ; and the sleeper be 8 f"", ^^'^'^l the conductor and
"PP-: r;r' "'li'cWUweldded instead on sleeping at
Darkie, both proving ""f.^^''' ,^ " •_ „. midnight). In conse-
Madera (where ^« ^«^^ t^^^/l'rc" took ^ "^^^^^^^^ ^^ *'''^"^
quence of our decision the ''"'^ductor took ms r „ ^^^^-^^^^
1 to get into the other c.>ach; so we w^^^^^^^
sleeper and went into the "^f i^/y^'^; ,„^ey, arrived at Madera
fairlycomfortable and.after a ted^usjourn y, ^^^ ^^^
at 11.50 p.m. It -««;^ g'f^;j;j" but the landlord was very
rooms, for there was rather ^ c^owd but t ^ ^^^
civil, and insisted -J^^^s^^'Jngn the hotel, rather than
;?trLrrptrnorSSrBhnntfd on a siding for the
=aF£=SiSiS2
t Z i^ryi'Sh* tUWy to Wl the p...ng.n.
night.
bount
put on
by the
there 2
the sec
icigco for
)r from a
Ivliorn we
after out
rhood, itv
of Houth-
o the b(!8t
(Mice was,
roin San
Murpliys,'
by stag^
we took,
ovo as we
;k to San
a longer
vantage of
lutes.
lera, goingf
ur railway*
id to be a
two of the
ductor and
ileeping at
In conse-
I by telling
the Silver
e ourselves ■
at Madera
lied on for
[ was very
1 very hot
rather than
ng for the
eople were
I coauh was
who came
ing to stay
set off by
I of waiting
passengei-s
19
that tlio coach was full. Those coaches are the property of the
" VoHoniito Tiinipiko Iioad ('oiiipiiiiy," whoso Imsiiu'ss soenis badly
managed, and I am told that the ( 'ompany pays no dividend, 'I'ho
VfdiidoH lire cuiioUH-lookiiij^- things, paintiul red; the bo<ly is like
the tub of II boat with no bows, iind is slung on loathcr stnips for
s|irinf,'s — and with good reason, for no other mi!tiiod could witli-
stand th(! (((Iccls of tli(! fearful jolting of tlie.so roiigli roads — they
carry eleven passengers, the ilriver's seat holding two besides
himself. Tlin coMchmen are excellent wiiijis, and hnndlo their team
of four, or sometimes six horses, with \vond(!rful oiise. The roads are
extremely rough, the bum|iing atrocious, and more tlioroughly
iippreciablo by oqK^itnico than by description.
The first and second stages (tf our journi;y were uninteresting
hot, and dusty, being over j)rairie and at the bottom of the foot
hills ; wo then griulnally ascended, and, after lunch, came across
tlie first tine scenery of our drive during tho descent to Fresno
I'lats, where \\v obtaintid a nnignifieent view of forest and moun-
tiun. From hero the loute gratlually re-ascended, passing the
whole way through beautiful natural forests of the finest timber,
growing Ik^o to an immense height. Traces of forest fires v.'ere
livery where noticeable, caused in former times by the Indians, who
used to burn tho underwood ; tho larger trees are, therefore, in
many cases thus accideiitiii.y injured by fire at their base. We saw
some magnificentspccimensof Ponderosa (pitch-pine), Lambertiana
{sugai-[)ine), Tlinja (Jigantea, and other pines; also of Balsam,
Californiiin, and Kv(!rgreen Oaks, which grow beautifully heie, and
in the district on the other si<le of Fresno Flats ; there are, besides,
many varieties of evergreen and flowering shrubs, especially the
Manzonita plant, which is very similar to our arbutus ; flowers are
also to be s('eii in every direction, the most remarkable being the
Lcather-j)lant, and the lluck-eye. Some of the Ponderosa and
Lambertiana run np to 200 or 300 feet in height ; we niensured
ono 26 fee J in circumference, and this was by no means of
excejitional size. A walk through this magnificent forest would
have been most delightful, — though our drive was Tcry enjoyable,
notwithstan<ling the drawback of having to be constantly on the
look-out for tho horrible bumping. Our driver handled his six
hoi-ses in fine style, and we vent along at a great pace, soon
catching up the coach next before \ia : but, all the same, we were
an hour and a half late in reaching Clarke's Hotel, our sleeping
quarters for tho night. It was here that wo first found out that
by coming this route we were obliged to abandon all idea of seeing
the Calaveras Grove, and must miss the Stockton route altogether.
Of course, wo did not arrive at this conclusion without much
discussion and argument ; but there was really no lielp for it, for
the hotel and stage '-ad tho entire monopoly, and we could procure
no other hoi-ses. Tlie next day, therefore, we set off at G.30 a.m.,
for more jolting and liumjiing on the coach ; this time under the
care of a nigger coachman, who drove well, but could not take us
iii
i •
■ i
j
■i
20
aa fast as we liad gone on the previous day, for the road was much
worae, being very narx'ow and bad, and carried mostly at a higli
elevation along the side of the mountains. The latter were all
densely timbered, ^nd the gigantic proportions of the pines and
fir were much the same as those we. had previously seen.
When we arrived ac " Inspiration Point," seven miles from
our destination, wc left the coach and proceeded leisurely on foot.
From hero the firsst glimpse of the Yosemite Valley is obtained.
The view was one never to be forgotten. Here we actually were
at last, after years of talk, and after a journey of between G,000
and 7,000 miles. It was a glorious sight ; the bright green valley
far below us, the trees looking quite small on account of the dis-
tance, the river Merced flowing along the centre ; huge granite
mountains running straight down ou each side, 3,000 to 4,000, or
even 5.000, feet — El Capitan being the most noticeable on the left
from this point, and the Cathedral Hocks on the right. Tiie Sentinel
.Do!n^^ was further off", and the Half Dome, Dome, and Cloud's
Rest weie in the greater distance. It was a magnificent si^ht.
The granite walls could hardly hold a tree, and, though the immense
masses of rock at fii'st looked bare, the effect was relieved as the
eye rested on the green of tlio valley below. The valley itself is
4,003 feet above the sea. We had a beautiful walk froia luspira-
tion Point to Cooke's Hotel. During the lirst part of the descent
we .saw the " Bridal Veil ' watertall on our right, coining tunib-^
ling down in a huge mass ; on our left was the " Virgin's Tears,"
which wa« mere s]»ray by the time it touched the valley. After
passing these, the Yosemite Fall itself (1,GOO feet high) came into
view, and before reaching it we arrived at the hotel. The whole
of the valley is thickly ])lanted with (s[)ocimen) Conifers, beau-
tiful Ponderosa, Lambertiana, Thuja Gig.intea, Balsam, ikc, ifec.
There are also some very fine Douglas (irs. We came upon the
first of the latter after leaving Inspiration Point.
We reached Cooke's Hotel about 3.;}0 p.m., and settled to do
nothing more that afternoon, but only to look at the Yosemite
Fall, and the other beauties of the valley, which seemed to impress
one more the more one looked at them. We found tlie atmos[)hero
rather warm, and there were a good many mosquitoes about ; but
later in the year the.se troublts ^vouid, I should fancy, be far
worse. Apparently, we had come at the exact time for seeing the
waterfalls to perfection, especially as the season was rather a
late one ; in an ordinary season, the second, or even the firpt,
week in May is said to be better ; the flowers would ' ortainly be
morcin bloom at that time, but still we saw a great many.
The next day we were up at 4.45 a.m., and, after breakfast,
"Walked to the Mirror Lake to see the reflection on its surface of
the mountain opposite (the Half Dome, I think) when the sun
appeared over its summit. There was too much ripple on the
lake, and we were I'ather disappointed in the result, and I said
as much on being asked by an American what I thought of it.
) road was much
lostly at a higli
latter wore all
f tlio pinf^a and
T seen.
3ven miles from
eisurely on foot,
lley is obtained,
ve act\ially were
f between G,O0O
ight green valley
3coiint of the dis-
re ; huge granite
;,000 to 4,U00, or
ceable on the left
^ht. The Sentinel
iTie, and Cloud's
magnificent si^ht.
ough tho immense
as relieved as the
he valley itself is
ralk from luspira-
,art of the descent
^ht, coming tumb-^
'" Virgins Tears,"
;he valley. After
3t high) came into
liotel, Tlie whole
ii) Conifers, beau-
Balsam, &c., &c.
vVe came upon the
X.
., and settled to do
>k at the Yosemite
I seemed to impress
and the atmosphere
iquitoes about ; but
ould fancy, be far
time for seeing the
jason was rather a
, or even tho first,
would rortainly be
great many,
iiid, after breakfast,
on on its surface of
link) when the sun
auch ripple on the
result, and I said
hat I thought of it.
■ ■ ■■ ■ 21 ' ■■' ■ -■' - ' ^ ■ .•■
He replied " that it was the case with many." One Amencan,
S?>f^^r^r.^^uil^e;ot thi^ Wt^
pond. nowevei, i «. ;„' onso cranito mountain coming
small but pretty ; and ^'^^ V n^. ?opt ia a sicht in itself. The
mmmmm.
vnnobed a trail wliicn tooK us /^i^^ ■^o "^f ., 4-i,mrn11mr
,„..forf.ill dashino- down into a deep, aarK goige.
::'; fiue'vtw o?it, but could not get under it, on account of the
^P^'%' mile above this we approached the Nevada Fadls winch is
sends the water up again for some little ^^f '^^'^^f ' °;'J ^ j.^^^
here the ascent ot Cloud a itest „gturned to Cooke's
h ■
,: ii»i' .'iiiiiii I •
22
mountain wc were ascending sheltered us from the «un The
mth went up in zi^-za-s, and, at eacli turn, wc Irnd most lovelv
^fews of the valley beneath ;-iirst of ail m the ' u'oct.on of
Inspiration Point, and. fartl,er up, towards Mirror Lake. Ihe
Sei- we asoonded the more beautiful the valley looked, with
the Merced Iliver flowin-^ alonj, the centre, pxne tree, otiinmens^^
^i/o and ir.-andenr, each standing out separately as it P">T«r,7y
ttodout,or like specimens in an -^^f "^ > '^"'1 ^^^^'l^^^^
fields by the side of the river forming, patches ''^ /^^'^J"' "^^
relieved the eye after u^izin- at the desolation of rock a bo^e
After steep climb o an hour and a half we came to a l.tt e
Ittai wh re \" halted for a short rest, and nuninwhde
atod tlie view, which was really a charming one The pmes
™red to «row out of the soli.l rock, en.-h tree, whether young
;rol being of wonderful growth an<l vigour, but no o such
en'rm'ous si^ze as those we had seen on our ^-vc^/-- Madera o
Clarke's and the Yoscmite. On leaving our ilagstaii rest ^^e
Sntinued our ascent, but now out in the open, among mountain
nl-mts Avith no shelter either from rocks or trees W t stil
Soyed the same beautiful views of the valley beneath us, but
at this elevation we could see over the tops ot the clitts which
formed iS;hes, and found that round-headed monntams const,
tutrd the gene -al character of the Sierra Nevada range, and
that the peaks, which we had seen from below, were only
^ations^L 'and there. At a ^li^^ance of thi^.piaiiers o a
mile from Glacier Point we again entered the to e t, and saw
some more magnificent specimens of the hr tr.be-Douglas,
Lambertiana, Lasciocarpa, Ponderosa, &c., &c
On reaching Glacier Point (a hut built on the edge of a
precipice some 3,000 feet deep) we had n .plend.d view of the
S eriaNevadas. and also uj, the Little Yosemite Valley; having
"w uS our backs on the Yoseniite Valley itself / ^(-J -
av ■in enormous section of the mountain range, with the \ ernal
F^U r S in front of us, and the Nevada Falls (whic^i we luid
visited the previous day), higher upon the same river. Theie
was han ly a blade of g^ass lo be seen ; Imtall was one immense
mass o granite mountain and valley, with iir trees distributed
n forests and ^n-oups here and there. The timber did not look
^^>ry hne Zt then it was some distance off; and, liesides, as its
foothold appeared to be nothing but rock, this was, perhaps not
u-p • . in'^^^^ The view was so entirely diiferont trom what we
ZlMt behind, when we turned from the Yosemite, that the
ftnitrast was vcrv remarkable. .
I took us two hours and fifty minutes to reach Glacier
r.iint from Cooke's Hotel, and the walk we 1 repaid us, for ,t
was beautiful in the e.vtreme. Not only are the views very fine,
but e^'-y tree is a specimen, although not so large as hose m
o her parts. By elinibing to this height also we obtained a view
^ the^wonderfd treeles; mountains-El Capitan, the Dome,
Ha Dre, the Cap of Liberty, etc. We also saw in the distance
wii ii mi«.»J» » «» JW
«■■
un. The
nst lovely
■cction of
ike. The
ikcd, with
: immense
pm-posc'lj'^
the little
leii, which
ick above,
to a little
noanwhile
The pines
;lier young
)t of such
Madera to
il' rest ^^c!
• mountain
We Htill
th us, but
liffs which
lins consti-
funge, and
were only
larterR of a
t, and snvf
— Douj^daa,
L^ odgo of u
'iew of the
cy; having
Ikfore ua
the Vernal
ch we had
,'er. There
ric immense
distributed
lid not look
sides, as its
)crhaps, not
ni what wo
te, tlint the
ach Glacier
lid us, for it
\\H very fine.
3 as those in
ained a view
the Dome,
the distance
^y„tt in tois part are called snow-capped mountainB ; but in
i L II -C^k was creeping through, and in another 8ix
we'eK^erdi not believe Tny^snow would be found on them
Tt all From Glacier Point we had a most wonderful Tiew of
fi Unlf nomo an immense granite mountain rising straight
UP hko a rundread^ DoloSte, and then split in two ; one
:LtrgLndeddownsn.oth^^ .
I ouL'ht to have mentioned before that the Yosemite *au was
rAhrother) which does not show to advantage from the valley
the opposite side or tne ^«l.«lt•Jf. ■■."" \-t„i
best if these waterfalls, br t they are all most beautiful
After a short rest at Glacier Point we started off for the
Senti^d Domerhaving to ascend again through the forest, where
we aw some magnificent trees, amongst which wo especially
wtsawaoi , », ^,- At first we mistook the trail (foot-
Ta i:^trg oft: ';;:■ wrtg mountain ; but. on seeing the
& ne Dome in the distance (a barren gi-anite rock with one
ttr rc^ on the summit), we ma.le for it, and ^'^re ^'''" ^^7^^^^^^
t ,L.L?"s , for we had a glorious view all round. On the one
?Je w ?e thrYasemite Falls and Valley; on the other the
Xevada Falls with the Vernal Fall below; mountains al round,
fnd a spfemld panorama of the Sierra Nevadas. In one direetiou
were fir trees growing out of rocks halt covered with snow-qmte
TwhitiT Hcen. ; in another, we looked right down into the val ey
to^^rcs Milton, a deep blue haze increasing the beauty of the
V ew Aga hi, n anotller direction, we saw the wonderful Half
Dome the Ca , of Liberty, (Uoud's Rest, &c., &c. No panorama
a,u I be bettlr; it was' quite dilTerent from anything I have
«P.n in Europe- the mountains here have a character of their
.vn and evm4hing looks desolate and cold, for there are no
piches of grJeri grass to relieve the immensity of the grey
San te eliff^-in fact, there is no green except the interminable
dai-k pines; which, though beavtiful when taken individua ly,
iv« the effect of dreary sombre masses wHen seen from a dis-
Snce During the descent from the Sentinel Dome we again
?orthe trail, and were nearly an hour before regaining i . When
one loses one's way in a forest like this, there is some difficu ty
rfimlTng it agai.U.ut wo could have retraced our stq^s to the
SpnHne Dome although for the moment we had lost sight of
ft On retTning to Glacier Point we stayed there another
couple of hours, and the view struck us even more on this second
,.gi n >HM.UHii l H. ' JHl lil lJ I >^
■•-^wrf!??
u .
visit. We also went to "The Poi<' whiclx -^J^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
by a dark blue haze, which added much to the feet. J U ke
thP higher cround.s of the Sierra Nevadas, the Valley itseit
Ju. W that the world can produce, combining mountain,
X'i watrtenory. The^eep blue haze was v-y -
markable, and I fancy must be peculiar to these valleys alter
°'''^'A/"Enffli8hinan, whose acquaintance ,-^« ^^^^ pi-eviously
o-nod ones Further down I noticed something stirnng in tue
IS ,1 this „aigh£,u.hood on the P"™"" f/^J°\Ve J »»
:z=' "i^ *° It &:f ci to wind ^~..h .,.
thing was beautiful, and it reminded one of ^Y°',SJd thl love°
\, TfnliflTi villa • but hero no human hand had created tuc loye-
we had hitherto made. ■„„i\r, nn those moun-
Tha trees which grow the most luxuriantly on tnesc moin
r5U»«",„tsc.tt»,d among <.*er trsej^ver the ™«n
tni^^ but ffrow only in patches, viz.: in the It'resno, mariposii,
InfcaratS grovl.. aSd one or two other places^ It mus be
understood that almost -^;y*-^;^o 7^^' high. Besses these
" anpcimen running up from oU to ^ou leei. mg"- ^ .- „ „ii
tre'etTe American fx/Evergi-een Oaks grow to perfect-n all
through this country, attaining to magnificent dimensions.
..,L*;i''i>"V,.j' i^eU'—f*"'
ated at the
scene from
n describe,
y right and
r overhurg
3t. TTulike
alley itself
ng through
16 different
vater ; with
; every tree
s view from
of the finest
If mountain,
?^as very re-
■^alleys after
. previously
I the descent,
I' the beauti-
3 way we cut
; to procure
rring in the
)ear, and, on
ear had been
md I expect,
). The view
re the valley,
as if planted
I, of one huge
I through an
h side above
iffect. Every,
ery adjoining
ated the lovc-
tion occupied
d pleasantest
a these moun-
iana, Nobilis,
iicola, Balsam,
to, if not the
ugh, the Wei.
rer the moun.
mo, Mariposa,
s. It must be
should call a
. Besides these
perfection all
nensions.
25
were astonished at our ^'^^"^S being here regarded as
aary appendages to European tr^e^^^^ ^^^^^ ^
quite useless. Owing to the ^ryn^^s ^^ ^j^ „f ^^^ ^t 96"
Ls not seem ^^^^^^^^^Zt^esuS^Ts about, for which one ■
in the shade. There aie som drawback for pedestrian
must be on the look out; ^»*^f ^°f ^,^^1, ^^ich the paths are
expeditions is the ^ust anji dry s^^^
inches deep One great ^j^^^^^^f^^k cL^^^^ to Niagara, where
all the Bights are free-an agreeao ^^ ^^^ ^j
one has to pay a ^oUar (4s) at every tur ^^^^ ^^
view. Of course. Imng, &«' ^ ^/^ j.^ it is a wonderful and
the Yosemite ought to be visited ^^^^^^^ ^^^ --"/ ^! V?J
beautiful Bight, of !Lee seen its splendid views and waterfalls
S:^;t^^-SdWl lifelong reminiscence.
ARTICLE IV.
SOUXniiRN CALIFORNIA.
We left the Toscmite Valley at 6.30 a.m. on June 9th, by coach
for Clarke's Hotel, retuming by the same way by which we had
come along the valley. We took orn- last look at the Yosemite
from Inspiration Point, and the view impressed us quite as much
as it had done before, and must be reckoned as one of the most
nerfect the world can produce. On stopping to change horses,
we were invitci to eat bear, and found on enquiry that the
animal which we had heard had been killed in the neighbour,
hood was the pai-ticuLar bear in question, and had fallen by the
hand of a detei-mined, dirty-looking fellow whom we now saw
standing over its skin. The latter was neatly pegged out on the
ground, undergoing the process of being preserved. The man
told us that while ho had been out after horses, he had met a
black bear, which " frothed in his face," and, ho believed,
intended to attack him, although he never befor; new an instance
of a bear turning upon a man without provocation. Anyhow he
had let off his ritlo and wounded him, and then, managing to get
away and fetch his dogs, soon dispatched him. The meat was
not bad to the taste; rather like beef ; but very tough, and diffi-
cult to swallow, even with the help of potatoes and water there
was another man in tho hut— a savage-looking fellow, who must
either have been half-starved, or else was very much devoted to
bear's meat, iudging from the manner in which he was devouring
it Our host Avas very hospitable, but had a peculiar manner,
which may, perhaps, be accounted f r by a fact I aftcrwarc.s
discovered, viz., that a 25 gallon cask of whiskey had arnveu at
the hut on the previous day. , , ,, ■ n f
From Clarke's Hotel we visited the Mariposa Grove ot
Wellingtonias, of which space forbids me to say anything here ;
and the following morning (June lUth) we started off again by
coach at 6.30 a.m. for Madera station. It was a very hut day ;
at 9 20 the thermometer stood at 100^ in the shade, and, later on,
tho iieat increased, and the dust was dreadful. It was altogether
one of the hottest and dustiest days we had as yet expenenced.
The route from Clarke's to Fresno Flats, 27 miles, is one
immense forest ; it is all free, .so that anyone who desires may
come and cut do^u a tree and take it away without charge. I he
monarchs of the forest are fortunately so large that tbey are
considered almost worthless ; the extra trouble m converting
them is thus their safeguard, and the smaller trees are those
that first of all fall to the woodman's axe. Signs of the pioneer
. were here and there visible, and the secluded approach to the
^iii t i iiiii'iiwii i ^iiiiHaBiiWi l JM g
by coach
eh we had
( Yosemite
te as much
f the most
ige horses,
y^ that the
neighbour-
llcn by the
e now saw
otit on the
The man
lad met a
! believed,
m instance
Anyhow he
ging to get
I meat was
h, and diffi-
iter. There
, who mufit
devoted to
? devouring
ar manner,
afterwards
I arrived at
a, Grove of
thing here ;
ff again by
ry hut day ;
nd, later on,
,8 altogether
cpciienced.
iiilcs, is one
ilesires may
charge. The
lat they are
, converting
ss are those
: the pioneer
oach to the
27 ' ,
Yosemite is already being viewed as a source of i^tureg&m
OccaXnally a han,mock might be seen slung between two trees ;
and tl e do/and rifle filling in the picture were tokens of some
Catter's bcation. A dense mass of smoke was another sign
th t the work of destruction had commenced, and that a section
of ground was being cleared. The emigi-ant cuts ^ow" - the
first instance, what timber ho requires for fencmg, and for build-
ing his house; and then proceeds to burn the remainder and in .
mLy cases, he burns, not only his own trees, but the adpmmg
ones Timber is regarded as such useless lumber that no one
thinks of complaining, but it is no easy matter to «top a fo^'est
fire when once started. We passed through two or three of these
so-called cieariuKS-smoke. fire, and all, but tl'^J ^ei^ m a hdf-
oxtin-uished state. The forest pioneers of this part of California
are lanly.cKpericnced backwoodsmeu, and it is no place for a
youn^ ha id to try his fortunes. Clearing a section of forest is
an expensive and arduous task; and what is now being done in
Jhe S er^ Nevada mountain forests will not bring m a great
return n point of farming. All this district, now so remote
from railway communication, will doubtless eventually be
opened up- and then these magnificent forests will become a
source of wealth to the timber trade, whereas now the expense of
hauling and conversion is their great safeguard.
We traversed the same road as on the previous Tuesday ;
the only difference being, that, instead of ascending we were
m-iduallv descending; ami that we werebound tocatch atiam-
fi "o 7 xm ' om Madera to Los Angeles. Our driver knew this,
nd I must say that he showed himself to be equal to the occa
sion,andan excellent whip ; especially once when he took us
,lown the side of a mountain, in beautiful style, at the rate of 14
miles an hour. He had a team of six horses, and the run down
was about five miles ; the road a good grade, but with oome very
sudden ben.ls and turns, and extremely narrow (only just room
Tpa's along) ; the outer side also was not m the best of repair.
Besides this there were, in many places, on the mner bhIc, sharp
proiecting rocks, which would have made it rather awkward
fov us had a wheel touched them. The man commenced hum-
min- a tunc at the top of the incline, and did not stop it till ^e
luurrcachcd the bottom ; during the whole time he worked his
team with voice, hand, and foot-the right foot having command
of the break. Not a mistake was made by horse or man, and it
seemed to us a wonderful feat of driving, especially considering
the pace at which we went. I occupied the outside seat on the
box,\vith one of my friends next me ; and we had sometimes to
hold on with both hands to avoid being jerked off the coach
These Californian roads are abominably rough, for they are not
stoned, only cut out, and no trouble is taken to remove projecting
rocks, so that these, combined with the rut.., make the bumping
one has to undergo very unpleasant at times, as we f.mnd to oui
cost during our drive to the Yosemite and back.
28
Whilst on the drive to Madei-a we formed the acquaintance
of twT American farmers from the State of Iowa. They wero
•nteuLiTmcn a^^^^ had come out to the far, far west to see the
mieiuK'^"'' " ' , „ T.„i. ii,p„ f[[A not seem as satianed vitn
C'ator i t tW d ex ocKbl. and much preferred their
o^i Stale of low'a as a Jvhoat-produeing countr^^^^^^^^^^
were much struck with the orange groves of Southen Lahtor^^^^^^
Thprfi oan however, be no doubt that there is a hold for laboui
,^n this county and at a high rate of wages; but the two seasons
ronlv the C^and the wet) and the mixture of i-aces-Mexican
iudU'nese'b^ing employed-are cl-wbacks to reco«^^^^
British workman to seek his home so far fi"""} J^^^^P^^'J^^"
other openings, without these disadvantages, can be Wl nearex
home So far as California as a wheat-growing State is con-
ee^ed I am of opinion that its best 'lays aie over, now that
We i's so much cLpetition elsewhere, but I ^^l-;! J^.^L^
gi-eat future before it as a vine-gi-owing and oiange producing
'^'^ When it came to the last stage, it was evident that our
chance of catching the train at Madera (f.^j^-. ^'^^ ;f,i:::,:
,rm.^ .Imibtful one- but the remainder of the journey was ovt-i
nrafrie and ovu two coaches both went at full gallop, keeping a
Se'disTanc^apart, so as to avoid the dust About a jni e f nn
Madera there was a cry of " the driver s hat J™ *^"* ^-^fj^;, ^^^^^
been blown off, and was seen making the best of its way ^^^''^^^'i
douds of sand and dust. It was. however, securecl by one of
om party after a considei-able run. The dust x-aised by our t^o
^alloninff coaches was tremendous ; and, m addition to th's,
Srhenw?>^^°eatout three miles from Madera, a blizW (or
Tand stolm) sot i^, which was anything but p easant. Howevei-,
S paceTiwered, and, soon after six o'clock, -^aUoped -
Madera Station to find the train already there, with Ui . v.wyn,
who had come all the way from San Francisco to meet us.
rnxiousfy lookfng out for us' He said they had all g'ven ^is up
as too L for the train, and had this really been the aise t
would have been excessively inconvenient and annoying both o
him and to us; but, happily, a "--/%- ^7, :i\7tj:
we iumned into the cars, and presently set to %voilc to na\e a
for of course, we wei-e m a tlreadtul mtss. auu m"'""
"'^''i^ll^^bltaT'ontinued for some time after we were in the
train blinding everything and oVdiging ^ ^^ ^^J^
windows and ventilators closed. This f ^'^ ^^^^^^f "^^^^ ^''
difficult to irrigate, and the country looked much more bumt up
£ it had doL the previous week, and the flo™ app^u^d
withered The nexi morning we passed on through tne same
■ Wtun country • quite different from what I had expected to
LetX part fori had thought to find good land the whoh3
way from San Francisco to Los Angeles. Nearer the Pacifac
■1
nuaintance
They were
J to see the
isfiod v/ith
brred their
lough thoy
California.
Ifor labour
TO seasons
-Mexican
Jimending a
i-opt, when
und nearer
tato is con-
r, now tlmt
o it has a
s-pmducing
;nt that our
s nlT) was a
?y was over
, keeping a
a mile from
e latter liad
k^ay through
il by one of
I by our two
ion to this,
blizzard (or
:. However,
:nlloped into
1 Ur. (iwyn,
to meet us,
given us up
I the case it
j-ing both to
a mile," so
k to have a
)" generally
lite covered
were in the
uive all tlio
California is
ire burnt up
rs appeared
^h the same
expected to
[ the whole
the Pacific
29
coast it may bo better, but that is twenty miles or more to the
westward.
Wo amved at Los Angelt.s at 7.65 a.m., and were met at
the Depot (stiition) by Mr. Shorb, of San Gabriel, with whom
wo adjourned to b.-eakfast, at which wo were joined by tho
Mayor. Contrary to our expectations, Los Angeles was not at
all a pretty place ; it seemed very Spanish in its aspect and
manners. After breakfast wo started off, accompanied by Dr.
Gwyn, Mr. Shorb, and the Mayor, in a carnage and four, to see the
vineyards of San Gabriel. On our airival at one of these, we
were taken over an extensive range of new buildings just put
up, and then had to taste all the wines, of which we thought the
best were port and Angelica. Afterwards we drove through the
vineyard, and then on through others, until we reached Mr.
Shorb's house, whei-e we were i-egaled with cake and mint-julep.
The latter is a compound of whisky, sugar, water, and ice, and
is a nice cooling drink. As we had hardly tasted anything but
water for the three previous weeks, this visit to the vineyards
made rather a diffei-ence in our mode of living. After a short rest
we drove on to call on a Mr. Rose, and sec his vineyard and
orangery ; and also his stud of liorses, which are very good. The
vineyard appeared to be in excellent order, and the crop of
oranges and lemons very abundant. Great quantities of these
latter fruits are produced in this country ; they are sold here at
the late of 1 dollar 50 cents per box of about 120 oranges. We
noticed a gi'eat many pomegranate trees in bloom ; it is a very
pretty shrub with a red flower (often double), and some of the
hedges were formed of it.
Later on we continued our drive to the Sien-a Madra Villa,
whei-e we were to pass the night. It was such a pretty place,
completely surrounded by vineyards and oi-ange and lemon
groves ; with lai-ge bushes of geranium (six feet high), gix)wing
in the garden and grounds. This place (an hotel) ia 15 miles from
Los Angeles, and is situated 1,800 feet above the sea, oti a slope
of the Sierra Madra Mountains. We had very nice rooms, and I
was gUul of a little rest ; and, with a cigar and armchair, and ray
feet well out of my bedroom window, succeeded in making myself
very comfortable, enjoying meanwhile the beautiful view towards
the Pacific Ocean, of which, though 25 miles distant, we could
here obtain a glimpse. The climate in these parts is delightful ;
this evening there was a nice breeze, and it was not at all too
too warm. There was a slight fall of rain to day — a most unusual
occurrence at this season of the year, for Dr. Gwyn told us that,
during his 35 yeara' experience, he had never before known it
hajjpen at this season. We had a very pleasant day, and I am
very glad to have seen this southern part of California. Where
water can be obtained for irrigation, it ia a luxuiiant country.
The drive of ten or twelve miles from Los Angeles to the San
Gabriel wine manufactory is mostly over prairie, and uninteresting
in point of scenery ; but the view from the Sierra Madra Villa is
80
decideiUv cood, though not very remarkable; a plain in tho foro-
g id iuldocl with orango groves and vinoyaniH, and ow moun
tains rieht and left. A great many invalids como here ivs a health
ierrthHng the winter (fro-n October to Apnl; on account of
Ihe drvne.sr«f the H<.il and the pleasant climate. There are some
r tt le nakes about, which is a drawback. Chinese and Mexican
workmen are a goc^l deal employe.! ^^^V ^ :T"^ri^;£Z:
engaged in filling a cart on our arrival at the vi a. ^ '>«;^\'"'^ -
notice was put up outeide a saloon on the Southern Pachc Rail-
wTatTBEvtion-house called Lang, which we passed this ^
_« Eating House," " Good You Bet." In Los Angeles 1 saw a
tradesZn playing a customer over tho counter for cigars, double
"■ '^ WhelTlSe the following morning, the birds in the orange
croves were singing merrily ; and after breakfast we went out to
ScTanreit some "of tho fruit, for oranges are never so nice as
Ken one plucks them for oneself. While thus occupied I no u,ed
Tlarce <renvnium bush, growing almost wild, the topmost floWer of
whTch was as high as my head. About 1 1.30 we relucUuitly left
The Sierra Ma.lm Villa.'and its pl.a. nt cpiiet, and setott m atwo-
hoi-se bu4y, in the clulrge of tlie ch.'k from the hotel, who was to
X U8 Ibr a drive, and knd us at Mr Shorb s (our lu.st of yestor-
day) n time for luncheon. Wo went w th him o see various
vSries, and then to a large scattered ylUage calle.l iasaclena.
Nine y^ai-s ago there was not a house in the place ; it is now
ii "Ll into lots of five .icres and upwards, ami a very thrivmg
Imunity is arising ; nearly every ho.ise has its onvnge grove and
vineyard. There is no silocui (or public house in the place, and
all the people, by mutual consent, (are supposed to drink wate
uly. House's are being rapidly built, and I saw a large hotel n
course of construction ;°on the whole I take Pasadena to be a hu^^
with a future before it,-partly on ac-coun ot its ^^!f^'^^^}^
will make it awiuter resort for invalids. On our arriya at M
Shorb's house about 1.30, we were immediately presented with a
mint iulep ; this was quickly followed by luncheon, which was a
S, indeed. We we^-e waited u, on by a Chinese, but whether
nan or woman we could not make out. It was a splendid
"ateitainment, with uV- sorts of Califoriiian winos, and ch.mpag.u-.
to fi i4 up with. After luncheon we drove to San Gabriel fetation,
where we said good-bye to Mr Shorb and returned to Los Angeles
and there caught the train to San Francisco, in which we procured
sleenei-s. Dr. Gwyn still accompanying us. , , ,, ,
^Th; drawback to the Los Angeles district and to other parts
of California, appears to be the difficulty of getting water fo
purposes of ir'rigation. Fuel is also scarce ; but, of course m such
iwLm climate, comparatively little is ^-^a^^'-e^l. -v"'! Y" ^^^^^^^^^^^^^
.rood deal used. The country is, however, very bare of tiees toi
fiiel, a great deal having been already cut ckwn ; but 1 saw some
g ov'es of Eucalvptnsbefng planted, which shows that the mhabi-
jJiLimi.iMiiiiHi'tt.illi'i
ui tho foro-
low moun.
lus u hualtli
ivccoimt of
ero are some
ntl Mexican
f tlio former
10 fuUowiii"^
iicifio Ruil-
is mornitiy :
I's I saw IV
ars, double
111 the oranj^e
I wout out to
ir so nice as
ed, I noticeil
lost flower of
luotantly loft
totf in a two-
1, who was to
ost of ycstor-
;o see various
ed Pasaiiona.
!e ; it is now
very tlirivinj;
ngo grove and
the place, and
) drink wat(.'r
lar^o liot(!l in
1 to be a place
ilitnate, which
rrival at Mr
iented with a
which was a
but whotlier
,s a splendid
id ch'inipaj^no,
abriel Station,
) Los Angeles,
h we procured
to other parts
ing water for
iourse, in such
ud wo'jd is a
of trees for
ut 1 saw some
lit the inliabi-
31
tants have an eye to the future. I wu told that soft coal, brought
from Austi-alia, costs as much as 10 dollars {£?) \ier ton. There
a>'e a great many tropical plants growing near San Qabriel ; and I
hear that in April, and the beginning of May, the fields are
covered with masses of beautiful wild flowers. English walnut
trees thrive well here, and a great many are being planted; tig-treet
of large size grow in the Belds ; and currant and gooseberry bushes
and almond trees abound. Cherries are just being imported,
and, as far as they have been tried, do well. Very pretty
avenues are formed of the pepper-tree, it being both shady
and handsome in its growth. Chinese and Mexicans are the
gardeners, and do the grape-pruning, and indeed all the work —
even to selling vegetables to the natives, instead of the latter
growing them for themselves. I am told that this mixture of
races in labour is freely employed ; otherwise one might have
thought it rather objectionable. Thn next morning we passed
through a dreary country, sadly in want of water and rain. At
Merced, where we breakfasted, we came across the two men we had
seen in the Yosemite, driving a large car covered with placards, and
who had told us that their object in travelling in such a way was
" to run an advertisement."
We reached San Francisco at 2.30 p.m., having passed Bay
Point at 12.30, at which place Dr Gwyn's son has an estate of
2,000 or 2,500 acres. This place Dr Gwyn had asked us to visit ;
so, accordingly, on the following day, we left the Central Pacific
Station at 9.30 a.ni., and on reaching Bay Point were met^by
Mr. Gwyn, jun , and taken by him for a drive through vast
corn-fields, one being as large as 640 acres, or a square mile. The
Californian crop does not appear to me to be larger, in point of
bushels to the acre, than in England, but the great advantage they
have over us is that there is no uncertainty as to fine weather for
harvest ; the only doubt is whether or not there will be a sufficient
quantity of rain after the seed is planted, and, as far as I could
gather, there is a failure in this respect about once in six or seven
years. As regards the harvest operations, the grain is thrashedaud
bagged in the fields, the sacks remaining there, or alongside the
railway track, until fetched away by the cars ; for, as there is no
fear of any rain, it is unnecessary to place them under cover, or to
house them in granaries. The straw is either burnt or turned in,
and if there are cattle on the ranche, of course what is required
for them is kept. Different machinery is used for cutting the wheat;
one machine is a " header " — i.e., just takes off the heads ; another
is a very clever one, and heads, stacks, and thrashes the corn, and
puts it into stacks, all by the same process. What is called " hay"
in this country is really oats, barley, or wheat cut when green,
and, after being left for a short time in the field to dry, stored in
a bam for use. The straw with the grain left in it is is freely
eaten by the horses. These latter are of a supenor breed, and
go along at a good pace ; both they and the live stock generally
•jsaasKiSfflff^-
I
i
i
:iJ
Il
looked won and healthy ho ^ J-J^^JJj ^^^
In the, afternoon wo had a ""» ^J^'' ^.w tLl of the Kolden
cortiHol.JH, untd wo "'''"y /'^f "^Sd UiiH yoar-it>?cnorally
niaBH. The harvest was rather l*'^^^^'^'^ "'^7 t^^ coi-n-farmH
Francisco.
laa
Il roncUtion.
Jlly riponod
Itliu guidon
[it f^enorally
] com- farms
liiHhud (iH H
wo lU-OSHod
rail to Sun
ARTICLE V.
IIRITI8H COLUMIUA.
Before proocoding to say anythinpf about British Columbia,
iicrhaps a few words on American Hotels may not come amiss
ticrc. The Palace Hotol, at which wo stayed when at San
Francisco, was a mapnificent place, with 1,000 bedrooms ; my
room there was No. 600 on the 4th floor. This was the largest
Hotel wo stayed at, but they are often on the same sort of
scale. They are usually built with a spacious hall (which,
as a rule is j)avcd with black and white marble) ; this is used as
sitting and smoking room ; in it are generally a telegraph and
a railway ticket office, a book stall, a cigar store, and a bar
and barber's shop adjoining. The staircases are sometimes of
marble ; the dining saloons and drawing rooms are very fine
rooms, and there is always a side entrance for ladies. The bed-
rooms, as a rule, are well furnished, with comfortable beds, and
clem well-aired sheets. Several of the hotels have capital bath>
roon 1 ; and in many cases they are attached to the bedrooms.
With fewexcep' irns all the attendants are blacks, and though
1 ,.,m told that they make good hotel servants, and are in
coiiHcquenco much sought after, yet, when the first novelty had
worn off, I should much have preferred having my bell answered
by a white man. At the door of the dining saloon stands a
head-man to shew you to your place, also a nigger to take your
hat. I was surprised to see the way one was shown day after
day, to the exact seat one had occupied from the first ; and also
how the nigger outside would single out the right hat out of a
collection of perhaps 200, without ever making a mistake.
The hotels are conducted either on the European or on the
American system. Of the former I need not say much here; —
the rooms are invariably dear, and the food at the restaurant is
also expensive for a single traveller, because one portion is
enough for two or three persons, and so the price is naturally
high ; — but two or three people travelling together would find
more economy in the European than the American plan. The
hotels which I have visited conducted on the former system were
the best, and I prefer it in every way ; but, doubtless, for a person
making a home of an hotel, the American plan may answer well,
as it is virtually boarding at so much a day. In either case wines
are very dear ; the Americans drink milk or water with their
meals.
The American system is to have board and lodging at an
hotel at so much per diem ; many Americans make tlie hotel
itself their home, and even people with private establishments
. .airTssKssvasTr
34
TarTfrom fto 5 doSars (I's to 20s) a day. and I must confess
^'^'inrrtfalte ZT^ guest-book is presented to you in
which yoTwSte down, or '.' register" 7°- name ; you^^then
Tiven a key, and taken up in a hft to your room /f .^^^^^ *°^
mlals vary in different localities ; as a rule breakfast is from 6
to 10 oVbck ; dinner from 1 to 3; tea 5 to 8 ; and ^^VV^ f^Z
8fco 12 if voudonot manage to get your meals withm these
hours rwldchin^avelling is often inconvenient you are shut
ouHnd must either wait for the next meal, or if you venture
?o order 3hLg to your room, you are charged an exorbitant
to oraer any B •/ ^ ^ ^^^ ^^^^ ,g indifferent. A
Cu is ivenTu from which you make a selection, and then
are notffiven a regular bill; sometimes you are only tod
what you have to%ay, sometimes 7^^ . ^^\S^7'^^^ -f'l
Tf ^aner on which the whole amount is put down m a
fumnsum If you think it too dear, and expostulate, you are
Si^y told Sat is the rule, and that those ai. the charge.
T -,f+«r, +lfn,iD-ht li or li day was included m our day s bill, but
Wher eftrience I found that tke custom was to divide the
d^ys nt qu?^^^^^^^^ if one registered one's name m the
^uest book at 2 p.m. (having had luncheon previous to arrival)
SrSthe hote'l the\ext Lrning at 8.30 a--- -« charged
the whole day, including the 1 p.m. .di^^^'"' ..J^.^^ arbitrary
;rrdt;KThanri~^
SStis:3hrXSei^o-^-^^^
12. It IS unnecessary to explain the i-onvenience o^ ^is
Blan and the extra and needless expense involved. Thus it wiU
be seen that one pays the same whether one partakes of the
Learoi not. and ?hat if out on a day's excursion no difference Ul
"^'VW tSan travelling more expensive than anything
I have before experienced, except in Russia ; and this is d^ ^ the
hotll tariffs for the railway travelling is not dear. ^^J^°^^
Ss iTtt officials treat yL with great u-ncern ; and in ad
cases you must look out for yourself, for you aie J^e^ "J?^
as receiving a favour by becoming an ^nma e tban a^->^fe^«^8
one by your custom. If you ask a question at the office, you ge*
»rai«»i> ^tifc.''iW'i '" -^*'^* ' ''''--* ^^^W^
.ej are charged
ind the charges
. I must confeBB
lented to you, in
e ; you ai'e then
The hours for
kfast is from 6
i,nd supper from
als within these
it) you are shut
if you venture
id an exorbitant
indifferent. A
lection, and then
nee, in a quantity
, of course, half
i. The meat is
at ham and eggs,
ngs to aek for.
On leaving, you
u are only told
re given a slip
put down in a
ostulate, you are
I are the charges,
iir day's bill, but
was to divide the
one's name in the
svious to arrival)
1. one was charged
I asked a Yankee
Led this arbitrary
Bgister late in the
it was necessary
lay, and then to
means he paid for
a day, instead of a
onvenience of this
ved. Thus it will
e partakes of the
ion no difference is
sive than anything
nd this is due to the
not dear. At most
concern ; and in ail
II are viewed more
than as conferring
it the office, you get
the shortest possible reply, and have to word it as if addi-essin^
a fcreat man instead of the office clerk, and you must await his
plLure:in listening to you. But I must ^-^y ^!^ ^^^ ,7/^^* °*
askinff for local information you mvariably receive attention,
and it i.s willingly and kindly given. There is one convenience
arregards Icttei's; there is a small box attached to the place
V here vou hang up your bedroom key at the office ; m this letters
or teleli-ams for you are put on arrival, so that you can ascertain
for yourself whether there is anything for you without always
haviner to ask the question. , ^1. a • „„
Although, as a European, I do not care about the American
hotel system, still there is much to be said m its favour for
Americans themselves, and I quite acknowledge that om- cousins
from across the Atlantic must have much to find fault with in
our svstem in England. , , , ■ ,
One great thing in American travelling is that tourists are
not a part of the system,-one is treated b;, /Americans fairly, as
one of themselves, and there is no such thing as two prices, one
for Americans and one for strangers. Where a European pays
highly, Americans would pay highly also (a very usual occur-
rence) and although when first travelling m America one feels
alarmed at the little one gets in exchange for a dollar, one
soon becomes accustomed to it, especially when one sees how
Americans themselves fare in this respect. Europeans are, I
should say, as a rule, allotted the best available accommodation
at an hotel, and in this le.spect they are certainly treated with
kindness and attention. . p it- 1. •„
On Friday, Juno 15tb, we left San Francisco for Victoria
British Columbia, by the s.s. Dakota, a steady old vessel of about
8 000 tons, somewhat of a tub, and certainly not fast, as she took
from 2 p.m. on the Friday till about 11 p.m. on the Monday to
run 756 miles. On reaching Cape Flattery (when we saw British
Columbia for the first time), to enter the straits of San Juan,
the view was very good indeed. The straits are eleven miles
broad ;-on our left lay Vancouver Island, British territory, its
mountains completely covered with forest from summit to base ;
on our right was Washington Territory, which here appeared
also to be one mass of forest coming right down to the water s
edge;-and before n: lay th. snow-covered range of the
Olympian Mountains ;- the waters of the Pacific Ocean, and
Capo Flattery LiirhthuURo in the foreground, standmg on a
grassy knoll, with 4ark caves beneath, completed the picture.
The town of Victoria struck us as very English, the streets
rather untidy, with grass growing, exceptingin the mam streets
on the side walks; and everything so nice and green, such a
difference to burnt-up California. Each house m the suburbs
appeared to have a flower-garden attached reminding me in this
ofJerseyorGuernseytowns.Wemadeseveralenpyableexpeditiona
from Victoria to Esquimont, Cowichan, and baanwich ; to New
Westminster and up the Eraser River to Yale, and on beyond to
-r-^-r^-s^X,'^^!^^^^^^
p;^S^S^C!SPW^
rr
msi-
t ,
36
ci-<,»«w»y» with a httio «nd on *" *?P', J,^"Jj„,te, rf the
what »omod to ^ '^0 thjkcBt o to, «t« we jc^^^^ ^^^^ ^.^
Sc£rt^a-,''Lifar«5t;;t^^^^^^^
dense forest for about tll^'^^.^^^^^''^;. JV uaTuiaT ami luxuriant
K moss ferns, hanging mosses, ^^"^^J^^f ^ J^eJ in evt^v
„.any plants of -^---^™- i^t^cre T^^^^
direction, forming quite a fan y- like «^enc. ^ ^^^-,
mcnts with hira to take us on m ^^^^^^^^ ^^
rhotTi':;fcoS ^t"^otf sr f 5^.^^^^^^^^
miuiage them admimoiy. Upon onr '™''"B jj
, the Indian a oigai- and ofecd l"™ ' ''S''™'^t"Sj7 to hi,
immediately -i^^'^.J^f .™S'if .-eTel"; '' i" ''"•"■ '-
Xh fwi, ™™.deli withThideou, S^-in h-om ». |o e,..
Pnrfish Bay is mentioned na a po.siMe tei-mmu. tor tit
CanaS PacS Railway in oa.e Port «o°dy ™ ^°™i
Inlet .honld have '-/'jj^'^f^t 'the^^ht'^grat e.pcn.e
r„tie?t aZV^:nTrw.--;/fVS
.VTlff^/^'OIPB^
#
a
, &c. The
intorestinff
inagnifioeiit
) travelling
wood placed
ilace called
inder of the
ilungel into
y discovered
1 some rain
een the drip
3 soon were
wondei-fullj
J to describe
d luxuriant
[uite covered
These, a'.id
3W in every
iber vs-a. ;'ds(.
SpruK', nna
iVe had'-if ir
n forcii't; oi; r
em-leaves at
idian digging
riade arrange-
lish Bay. ft
) lie down in
rike a match
■om the stern,
propelled and
3 trunk of the
ith an axe or
t the Indians
canoe 1 gave
my own. He
s bodily to his
t in time, for
ar to ear.
■minus for the
on BuiTard's
urpose. From
great expense
a breakwater,
::)oal Harbour,
veio it not for
1 fifteen miles
nised terminus,
d of BuiTard's
nxisv is almost
!^
Columbia. The some,? >.a. J",'» ^XoS a qua«t% of
New Westminster seems an admuabko^^^^ J ^^^^ ^^^^
1 °'^^^To^Sa^;S'byfortstfi^thl nothing but bare
•^T'l'te to be seen We Continued our journey up the nver
poles were to DC sttu. »' ^ *i,„ midst of beautiful mountain
ty steamer, and were soon m tje m dst o* J'caut ^j ^^e .
sc^^nery, which rose up on ^^^ fte'uU was filled
"•^' ^ rihe con tittimof the Canadian Pacific Rai way onour
signs of the constiuci on Chinese and Indians at
left in ascending the ri% ei '/" |." ^^ , l«l«vcci Gradually the
work on the line; about ^,000 ai e emplo j c U J
^T'T.d S^l^ mX T^ -ulS t- on each, side
wide and switt, »^^ J""Y'v/ , .,^ -i.,^ „„avt, thus leaving a
were about one and ^J'f , ^^J^beU ee„ ^l^^'^ looked good
considerable quantity of^ flat Ij^^,^;/;^,^^^^^^^ The nearer hills
Boil, only it was too tl»^kly {'^^S'^,. "^^^^^^^^ / „iountains
appeared to be very « «fP^^^'^,,^"f '" ,7, .Xdid, most of them
i4e behind them, and their shapes ^;"^.,f/'''™V-capped as in
had snow in patches, but few were eal 7^^;°^ '^^^ ^ut
Switzerland. On arr'vmg at Yale (™™ ^i, P,.onhactor
,a her a mi.serable sort o place), ^r- OndcidonK t ^
Cor this portion of the Canadian Pacific Kalh^aJ, ; ^J
Vlaced an engine and car at -^^-^Ig tW^^^^^^^ -''1^-^
"c named the early hour of *!-- a m^or our s^^. he offe^
-., „s too good to refuse, so we /*^f P '',.;*', ""'^ I'^.i Ja water,
a m and, after a hasty breakfast of drj 1"'^'^^^"" :" ^.^.^t
Twerek punctually ^^^ the .n. n^^^^^^^^^^
through beautiful scenery, but '7 *£<=;« !j ,,^^^ previously seen,
with trees of a waller grow th than those w e I •' ^^^^^
The river narrows, '^- VTlIeffsGae " where it contiacts
r;Sf n^-:^^:::::;!: tvo^il^ ^Cng on either side
m
i
-jp*
--r!P?3n?es
13
1
i I
iKi
88
opening to allow of the passage of the water. The line ran along
the left bank of the river (the Fraser), and was sometimes
unpleasantly near ii , a considerable portion of the track was cut
out .,f the rock, and in many places there were heaps of over-
hanging d«&ri.; which ought to be removed. The curves were
vather sharp, and there were a great many wooden bridges and a
succession if short tunnels-fourteen of the latter m as many
ni'les Near a place called Boston Bar, 40,000 people at one
W weie seeking gold in the bed of the river dunng
th^ gold mania of 1862, finding it among the sand left dry when
the river was low. Even now people make a considerable mcome
by washing; and I was told that several of the Indians, when
they wanted money, simply went to the river and washed till
they found enough gold to support them. This sand is old
(Ptris which has accumulated in the course of ages, having
bivP cashed down from the mountains, which mountains contain
ft 1, )i gold When we reached the end of in^ completed
tracx. engine reversed, and we returned to Yale afver a most
enioval trip. But it would be impossible here to mter into
details of all our excursions. Cowichan on Vancouver Island
was a very pretty place, and had a " settled" appearance; itis^
I should think, one of the best and most prosperous farming
settlements we saw. We were also interested m a trip north to
Nanaimo and to Departure Bay, which is the great coaling station
for the whole of the Pacific Coast.
Whilst we were in British Columbia we did some land-
prospecting on our own account; this gave us an opportimity ot
seeing some of the most beautiful portions of Vancouver Island ;
and we were thus brought in contact with some of the
tnhabltants, from whom we obtained bo.h useful and valuable
information. Nothing could exceed the kindness and hospitality
of the settlers; they received us always with a warm welcome,
and were anxious to give us what i,.f-^rmation they could ; and m
the maiority of cases, were ready tu enter into a bargain to sell
their own holdings for a handsome consideration— supposing we
were willing to buy. But land is absurdly dear at present, for
Teie are Sxch gi-eat expectations of the "boom" which will
follow upon the completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway
and also of the island railway from Nanaimo to Victoria, that
the prices asked are usually very high. The present ra«e of
settlers are mostly men who have taken up Government lots at
about one dollar per acre, and the greater part of them are
miners who made money at the gold washings on the In-aser
River or at Cariboo. They are, as a rule, happy and contented ;
but perhaps this is brought about less by their success as
farmers than by the excellence of the climate. One and all,
whatever other complaints there might be, always wound up by
saving that British Columbia enjoyed the finest climate m the
world and that this in itself made them contented and happy.
One day as we were wandering in a f crest, land-prospectmg
y^^», . jy. .j,H>jf , j.|; ; . .|i C i j;Ha ^l V/Ji>^^
Ml
e ran along
KomotimcB
xckwascut
,ps of ovor-
urves wei e
idgcs and a
n as many
)ple at one
^er, during
"t dry when
able income
lians, when
washed till
and is old
Tcs, having
ains contain
, completed
ifver a most
mter into
aver Island
ranee ; it is,
)us farming
rip north to
ding station
some land-
portunity of
liver Island ;
ime of the
ind valuable
1 hospitality
rm welcome,
ould ; and in
rgain to sell
lupposing wo
present, for
' which will
ific Railway,
ictoria, that
3sent race of
iment lots at
of them are
n the Frascr
id contented ;
r success as
One and all,
wound up by
limate in the
and happy,
d-prospecting
39
with a settler (a farmer), we noticed at tlio base of a huge
Douglas pine a little wooden cabin made of a cross-stick on two
poles, with strong strips of bark leaning against them to form two
Tides There was but just room for a man to crawl underneath ;
nevertheless, in this the owner had lived, summer and winter,
for twelve years ; on his own holding of about a hundred acres
which he had not attempted to cultivate further than by cutting
down a few of the magnificent forest trees, here and there. Wot ■
long ago, this man unexpectedly came into a large property else-
where Search was made for him, and on being discovered he
was taken off, new clothes provided for him, was shaved and
had his hair cut, and then was shipped off by the tiext mail to
his new home and his riches. We saw the ashes of his camp
fire, the kettle, and some old clothes, all still remaining just as
This is a perfectly true incident, and tends to prove what _
the climate must be. For my own part I believe the summer
to be perfect, neve very hot, but like a beautiful sp^^g daj
with a gentle bre(..^ from the north, which springs up about
eight a.m. every day, ^nd dies away towards six pm. m the
evening A good deal of rain falls in the winter, but the cold
k never severe west of the Cascade Mountains, and there is
hardly ever enough snow in the winter to run a sleigh^ ihe
climate of Vancouver Island is greatly to be preferred to that
of the mainland, there being much less rainfall on the former
than on the seaboard of the latter. • u i ^„„A„
On Vancouver Island I believe the beso agricultural lands
to lie about Saanwich, Cowichan, and Coraax; the interior is
still all wood, and at presented has been ^^"^"ry^f d.
On the mainland there are some farm-lands of good q^al^Y ""
the Lower Fraser, though with rather a heavy raimall, and the
farmers are annoyed by mosquitoes; higher up t^«/^7';^*;°
. lands are su'^^ct to f.oods. The land available for farming
urposes is called "bottom-land;" but there is to., httlo of it
ivei to make British Columbia much of a farmmg country
Bottom land, as the name indicates, means land found here and
thero in valleys, in low undulating sections of the mountains.
The farms are, therefore, much scattered, and there are
none of any extent on Vancouver, or on the west coast of
British Columbia. A farm of 300 acres is considered large, and
they generally average about 100 acres In he interu.r, the
farms are cattle ranches, and grazing lands of largo extent, but
these also are scattered far apai-t on account of the mountainous
state of the country. The beauty of the climate makes one regret
all the more that the farming lands are not more extensive ;
otherwise it would be the place of all others to which a small
farmer should emigrate. But from what I have observed of the
country I think agriculturists could do better further east ; the
farms which I saw were in patehes here and there, and wore all
small and badly worked ; there is so much lumber (wood and
-^^'"i^'^rTn^^^^^^s^gssmi^^^^^^^^^'
^rrr^mrvrm!^
40
riTo wtjn oSTe eS lol it do^not grow againunt
fEpxt season It fattens cattle amazingly, but sheep rum it
the next season. ii> j^^ ^^^^ districts are
entirely, for they eat ^^^ "«^" , country near Kamloops
prove a drawback to the lands east of the ^^jf „^;. ™"f '^/^
A man looming /i^.iiov (As^ uer acre, would have no
tSvalue of the timber would make soxne ^^^^^ ^^^^'^i^^;!;
IMMI
■■
n%
3 a cleared
H lifetime
i ai'G also
ey are in
;he future
ts Tuineral
idoubtedly
iininish in
id in size
;n proof of
10 feet long
Id of one
t above the
yever, such
iversion of
t high and
, the value
;ion, trans-
expensive.
;e is said to
vinter, and
e-bush and
ired by the
ye range is
again until
leep ruin it
listricts are
r Kamloops
is said to be
■al lands are
ipared with
lUst, I think,
range. The
;lers, &c. :—
acres at the
aid have no
I to take it
f . To fence
iear the land
ars (£2) per
fro are always
i much more
per acre. But
)r this outlay.
JO or £40 per
ith willow or
) cultivation;
ng and open
ning is much
edgeways in
41
A i.«c4V,« • these are placed in a drain about three
three-cornered lengths , *^f «/™ Vj ^^^^ ^^ter to run under-
feet deep in such ^^^^Xfbe selected, it will last for years.
a?:i\ia'at^^^^^^ ^-^^^- -''''--'-'
n^ay be of i»tero«t :- ^^^^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^ ^
g:t^. L\"XlsTer'-e ; weight, 401bs per bushel.
Barley, 45 „ „ » " ggj^^ ^^
Wheat, 40 ,, ,. .. ''^^ . Washington Territory.
^:n:::T£^^or:j^l^e.i^^^ rihing aoibs.
'- Telstni&rent. Beans do not do well^ ^^^
Labour is expensive; 7^^*«^2^ dollars (m)p«^^^^ >^^^^
r 7tor ' ^t r^l'lrarX^on anyTa^m ajl the year
;^o;;sV? ttTh7owner o^^far of r,%t^^^^^
where only one man was regulariy emp^y«d- ^J^^^ ^ ^o well
that a labourer or artizan of ^^^y ^^ Ysteadv and active ho
out in Victoria, Bntish Columbia ; and ^f J^ady ^'^.^ ^^3^ ^e
remembered that f ^^I'l^^X'' ^ven at emigration prices ; and
cannot be managed under d.^U even ac e g r Victoria
it would cost an ordmary traveller £50 t^l^bU to re ^^^ ^^
(B.C.) direct ^""^ , ^^^^f S^ ^^^eslel m^^
emigrant to go round m a sailmg vessel ma^^p^^ ^ ^^^^
ioumey would probably take aDouj nve r .^^^
•ksidei this, -ages would ^-^^^^J^^rglT^o^n. a day ;
of emigration. C°ninion labourers ng carpenters.
masons and g°od ".xemen^^^"- a^y Women servants couM
gardeners, and painters, ^^^^ ^, ^^Z' . ' te of wage8-£60 or
Obtain immediate e°^Pl«y°^^,^* ^^f.^d?^^^^^^^ ^«
£70 a year, if not more ; and J°^^ ¥«^^^^^ed life within six
able to retire from service a-d -^^^.^J^Hhis reason that
months, if desirous to do f ° '^^ to impoi-t women servants,
people think ^^ bardly worth while to impoi^^^ ^^^^^ ^^^^
as the expenses would be °«avy, ana ^^^ ^^^
likely be -^f^^ee^L^^J^^n^^
necessaries of life are excessive y ' g ^-^^g ^g^ the
penny.bit is taken or given "^ ™ff _^°aii change to less
Canadian Government tried to «fX * ViSoria expostulated ;
banid., with the »«"«' H"" '°L°ant home in the eolemes.
For a peraoB seeking a P'^"'"' "» ^^^jj recommend.
Victoria, Briti.h Colnmha .B 'h^ Sj »ca.^= '!"" Chinese >v>
SS?;rSt;"m£ «Snr.e.U .0 ,ong as the, a«
4\
"!S^®S^^^»»
42
trusted Ono Chinaman will do wliat is called " run a liouso "
—i.e., do all the cooking, waiting, and washing, for a family. Ho
must, however, bo trusted with everything, and paid in full
whatever ho asks ; for should his honesty be doubted, he will at
onco rob you, or leave your service.
Provisions in Victoria are dear, with the exception ot Sisli ;
first-class salmon can be purchased at fivepence per pound
House-rent in Victoria is very dear ; town lots command
enormous prices. Whilst we were there, half a Town-lot in the
main street was sold for 15,000 dollars, but I should add
that it was a comer frontage. A great many of these
corner frontages are not yet built upon, as they are
being held by speculators ; but were I one of that happy trater-
nitv I think I should avail myself of the present high prices,
and not wait for the inevitable drop which is sure to follow a
The conclusion at which I arrived was that British Columbia
thou<rh rich in minerals and timber, is not an agi-icultui-al
district The available lands at Vancouver and the west of the
mainland are good, but insufficient in quantity to tempt a tide
of emigration of the farmer class. However, a farmer witu a
little capital, buying land at once, might do well ; for the cleared
land must increase in value, as the colony will increase in
population when the Canadian Pacific Railway is completed. In
the interior the lands are more of a grazing quality ; hence capital
would be required to stock them. The great drawback in the
interior is, however, the want of water, as little good can be
done without irrigation. Domestic servants, agricultural
labourers, and artizans ought, if steady, to do well. Nursery
cirls would be at a premium, for the ladies of Victoria, although
they employ a Chinaman "to run the house," do not take one
to run the nui-sery; hence young girls willing to take the
baby " command a high figure, and soon realise the value of tlieir
We passed many happy days in British Columbia (with its
beautiful scenery), but there was so much to do and see, that
had the weeks been lengthened out to months we should still
not have seen all ; and should have left it with the same keen
retn-et, as after our short stay. The hospitality of the Victorians,
from the Lieutenant. Govenior downwards, was unbounded ; we
soon made acquaintance, not only with the Lieutenant-Governor,
but also with the Premier, several of the Judges, and other leading
men But I regret that we did not form the acquaintance ot a
luminary of the law, who, in the exciting times of the gold mama
at Cariboo, kept such a strict hand over the lawless population,
that it was reported of him " that, after sitting in judgment all
" through the week, when he took his well-earned rest on a ©unday,
"he spent his leisure hours in looking out for trees on which to
"hang criminals on the Monday."
g BS».,.UfeJ4^.MA...,.A.^.iJ.^^!J^-^
m^
wm
m a liouBO "
family. Ho
paid in full
d, he will at
tion of fish ;
per pound.
,H command
fn-lot in the
should add
ly of these
I they are
lappy frater-
high prices,
) to follow a
ish Columbia
agi'icultural
B west of the
Lcmpt a tide
rmer with a
)r the cleared
1 increase in
ompleted. In
hence capital
vba«k in the
good can be
agricultural
ill. Nursery
iria, although
not take one
to " take the
value of their
ibia (with its
iud see, that
re should still
he same keen
be Victorians,
ibounded ; we
ant- Governor,
[ other leading
laintance of a
he gold mania
ss population,
I judgment all
it on a Sunday,
js on which to
ARTICLE VI.
THE S0RTH.WK8T TEEEITOEY OF CANADA.
W. left British Col-^^ ^ "J^^ ^^^^^^^^^^
w sea to T-oma (Wae^ngton^T^^^^^ ^
^alama and on by the J^"^^ ^^^ ^^^ ,eenery was very
Portland (Oregon). >^f, ^«J^ "" .,„. ._ nothing was visible
good, but of this we f ^^\^°™J^lfSW wShtoW
L account of forest fires; the smoke from w J j,^^
the views, and ^f^/^'^ *t^f^S by Northern Pacific
Portland ^e travelled eastwarj 700 mUeB ^ ^^^ ^^^^
Eailway, as far as Missoula ; and Jj^^'^^^^fi^i.hed portion of
over the Rocky Mounto°«; ^r^erritor^V-^^ P" H and
the line, to Helena (Montana Territory; , ^ 8^ ^^^
wild bit 'of travelling in every way ".but some ot y^^^^
well worth all the trouble. W® conunuea i^ ^^j^^^
?S4^,t^arherto"wiSJ?^-SS^^ of ^over 1,000
^'^Here we met the ^^^^i:^^:^^^^; ^^''S^^
eugagement to go *«, ^^^ J^^ tloTe^^^^^^ travelling m a
20th we started on the lo^gr^J^f ^^^^ ^J^^^ our own provisionB
Directoi*' Car, a party of eight ^7^*^ery difficult, or. perhaps,
:?rt in^^fsfbiV^ H^^^^ --^^^^ '-' ^^
^^^ tXbTitself is only -^all P^.^^^^^^
Canada designated the North-West lemtOTy 3 Canadian
north-west, and is -o^. ^'J^.^^^^ythTrSaL^^ the North-
xny next and concluding article.
On leaving Winnipeg our «*- ^^^^^^^^X^ upon the
xnoming passenger tram west, ^e struck out a ^^^ ^p^^^^^
open prairie, .-^^f ^7^^^ tt fi^^^^^ b^*-"' ^^^T^'
(^? '^ ^rw^st T^SiS^ 219 miles westof Winnipeg. Here
intheNorth-West lerritcry, "^ ihe, car for no spirits are
the mounted police «a^\V.^!X,^to^ These men are well
admitted into t^« ^"'^^■^tL^XSeamnce of bein? smart
dressed in red umforms. '^f ^^^\^^jS^on, and thay are
li
■•■.■SSSSK*^***^
ii'fifiiinrriiriii
influence over them. It seems rather an arbitrary rule that no
CitH bcSr. or other intoxicating liquors should be ^ lowe.l u.
this c.autr;; but, during the construction of the radway, and
S,^il th wVole district is moi-e settled, there are x^easons m
vour of this self.iidlicted law. liesules, it «»i'>uld bo
cmemberecl that " firewater" (i.e., strong drink), has a most
BoweSl and disastrous effect upon the Indians : so much so,
C a settler convicted of having given '7.^7" I"'!-;';-;^^;^
himself liable to a very heavy punishment indeed. 1 ho law is
o course, evaded at times, and dmnkenness is an occasiOTml
result I was mucli amused at hearing m one district of a
ifal which had just taken place, in which the accused had stated
n his defence tliat he had really got drunk, not from drinking
ZirVZ^orcestershire Sauce f However this might have
bS it is a fact that, in consequence of this anti-liquor law,
™ drinks ai-e concocted, having the appearance of s rength,
Sit which I can vouch for as being very nasty to the palate.
The country round Moosomin is very undulating and there
is a J<x)d deaTif sei-ubwood about; but I should doubt its being
oW n farr ms district. Close on each side of the railway,
Tt'ooked almost Uninhabited; for a "one mile belt" wa.s being
•cserved in order to avoid the chance of the land being bought
bv speculators, and not by bona Jide settlers. Since last autumn
Jwevor this land has been thi-own open and ^.U soon e
nlmbited We saw the settlers' houses dotted about m the
i toe on The undulating (or "rolling") open prairie; there
seemed to be a great many small farms, but mostly rather far
''^'"'From a station called Indian Head we visited Bell Farm,
managed by a company; under the superintendence of a Majoi
SelT They have taken up 56,000 acres, and intend breaking it
nn at the rate of 7,000 acres a year. From here we drove on. a
dFstance of twenty miles, to IVt Qu'Appelle, over a very
snaSy-pr .lated ^iistrict, all open undulating prairie, with
sSarn here and there. We stopped to speak to a setter,
X had come to these parts a year or two before, from Ontario
He told us that he was very happy and contented and preferred
Se North-West to his old quarters; and that though the six
months' winter was lony, and there was not much to do besides
TttLg wood, and feediig cattle, he did not much --^ tha ^
and "it was better for the boys than m Ontario, and they
themselves preferred it. • v
From Fort Qu'Appelle we made a very interesting expedi-
tion to a^arge encampment of Red Indians of the Cree tribe ;
a Mr MacdoVll, whose acquaintance we had formed, and who
was weU-known by the Indians, having preceded us there, to
Tk plmiSon for us to call. At some distance from the camp
we we™troduced to a half-breed Indian who undertook to be
our Xpi-eter. The camp, containing a hundred wigwams or
'■wMiawt-iirfi-iiukuaii
.^^ja8feJWl^^; !.^wa i ww^
45
(', (lint no
III lowed in
liilwiiy, and
rctiHoim in
slioiild bo
las a moHfc
() llllU'h KO,
ail, rendurn
The law is,
occasional
trict, of a
had stated
m drinking
night have
litjuor law,
f strength,
palate.
, and thoro
bt its being
u) railway,
was being
ting bought
ast autumn,
ill soon be
bout in the
•airie; there
ly I'ather fur
Bell Farm,
of a Major
breaking it
drove on, a
iver a very
raii'io, Avith
to a settler,
om Ontario.
id preferred
ugh the six
> do besides
mind that ;
," and they
ting expedi-
Cree tribe ;
;d, and who
us there, to
m the camp
Brtook to be
vigwams or
more, was on a flat elevation. As wo drove past, every tent
produced a number of peering faces, painted red, or yellow and
red, the hair-partings being generally of the latter colour.
About four hundred Crees were assembled here, for there had
been a great function on the previous week, which the different
neighbouring chiefs and their tribes had conio to attend. One
ceremony had been to admit five wan-iors as " braves." These
unfortunates had had to undergo various ordeals, of which one
was to have a stick run through the flesh of the chest, and
another, to bo strung up by the skin of the shoulders for an
hour and a half ; — during which latter operation, I was told one
of the Indians fainted twice. On approaching the large wigwam,
we saw that wo were in for a regular " Pow-wow " (lovdo).
The tent was crammed with Indians, the chiefs being seated
together at one end, with the band at their side. The sight was
one we shall never probably see again. The tent itself was
about forty feet long by fifteen foot bi-oad; made of dirty canvass
or skins, and Buj)ported by light cross poles, very like our hop
poles. Towards its southern end were three cauldrons contain-
ing food; one delicacy being dog stew, which is thought a great
dainty. We were met at the door by Chief Pasquah of
Qu'Appello Lake district, who introduced us to the assembled
chiefs, seven in number, all Oreo tribe Indians, and wo had
great shakings of hands all round. Their names were : —
Chief Cotu, i.e.— The Coast, from Polly.
„ Keechehona, i.e. — The Keys, from The Keys.
„ Pasquah, i.e, — The Plain, fi-om Qu'Appelle Lakes.
„ Muscowpetung, i.e. — Little Black Boar, from
Qu'Appello Lakes.
„ Pepekens, i.e. — Eagle, from Titihills.
„ Okanes, i.e. — Thigh Bone, from Titihills.
„ Kawakatoos, i.e. — Poor Man, from Touchwood.
After the introductions were over, we took up our positions
on the ground, and watched the dancing, singing, and orations.
There was really a tune in some of the songs, and the music
seemed to us very far superior to that of th'' Chinese, — at least,
as we had heard it at San Francisco. The dancing was in the
centre of the tout, and was joined in by some six or ten at a
time, to the music of the band ; the head man selecting the
dancers. Ho was not a chief, but what we should call a master
of the ceremonies. He was an old man, and wore a dirty white
blanket, and blanket trousers and mocassins; but had nothing on
above his waist, except a dirty white handkerchief tied in a
band round his head. He had several patches of paint in streaks
about his body and arm.f, but was not nearly so well dressed as
some of the other Indians ; for some of the dresses were really
handsome, and of wonderful colouring. Finding wo were in for
a regular " Pow-wow," we took our seats on the ground, and
philosophically resigned ourselves to do anything that might be
required of us, in order that wo might show our love for our
Tnaian fellow-subjects; but at the same time we devoutly hoped
that wo should not bo called upon to taste the great Indian
dulicocy of dog-stew, which was simmering in the cauldron, and
was the nastiest-looking thing in the camp (which is saying a
good deal), or oven to join in the pipe of peace, which we saw
looming in the distance.
The following slight description of some of the dresses will
show how curious the scene was : — Chief Pasquah wore a
Jim Crow hat and feather, a leather jacket trimmed with beads,
rod trousers mado out of a blanket, with black braid round the
ankles, (there being a tear on one side, through which a large
piece of thigh was visible) ; a long piece of drapery was hung
from his shoulders with small flat brass balls attached ; he wore
mocassins on his feet, round his waist was a belt with fire-bag
(to contain matches and tobacco) ; his face was painted a bright
vermilion, his hair was long and black, he carried a pipe in his
hand, and on his breast hung a pair of scissors and a looking
glass in a case — evidently a present. (A few days later I was
given a paper drawn by this chief, in illustration of all the
presents ho had received from the Government ; it is really a
very interesting document, and a great curiosity). Another
chief had an eagle's feather head-dress, fans of feathers, silver
rings on his fore-fingers, face painted yellow with dashes of
vermilion. One old Indian chief was not painted like the others,
but was dressed in darkish clothes, and wore a round black hat,
trimmed with wide gold braid. He was a stranger ; pnd
came as a guest, the representative of a tribe 300 miles away,
sat out the whole performance with great stolidity. WitJ
exception, all had more or less coloured faces, some being pf
bright vermilion down to the nose, and yellow ochre below it ; —
which is quite sufficient to give a hideous expression. Earrings
were the general ornaments ; the hair was mostly worn very
long, and in many cases plaited, but one or two had. it cut so as
make it stand up on end.
Chief Pasquah mado us a speech, remarkable for its apparent
fluency. In this he was followed by a young warrior, during
whose oration the band struck up between each sentence, giving
a single note on the " tom-tom " — a circular instrument, struck
with a stick. The speech of this young warrior was translated
to us by our interpreter, and was an account of the number of
men he had killed. Mr. Macdougall, who had arranged our
interview, advised that we should, before leaving, see how the
Indians keep a record of their fights, and of the number of their
victims. One tall Indian, whom I had noticed before, was
therefore selected. He wore a large linen mantle, and showed
us examples painted on it in yellow, illustrating how he had
killed eighteen Indians, each showing how the deed had been
done.
'^^isimrswi^iss^vfj^m^ismims'!!^
Ivo for our
[itly hoped
lat Indian
|ldron, and
Baying a
Ih we Haw
ruBses will
h wore a
ith beads,
round the
ich a large
was hung
i ; he wore
th fire-bag
ed a bright
)ipe in his
a looking
ater I was
of all the
really a
Another
;hers, silver
dashes of
the others,
Id black hat,
•anger ; pnd
Bs away.
Wit)
18
eing pf
below it ; —
I. Earrings
worn very
it cut so as
its apparent
rior, during
ence, giving
aent, struck
s translated
I number of
rranged our
see how the
iber of their
before, was
and showed
low he had
d had been
47
After witnessing a groat deal of dancing, singing, and
ijchmaking, wo thought it time to move ; so one nf our party
..an ndvauuod, asourreproscntativo, to make aHpee<;h, whicfi was
duly translated to the Indians by our interpreter, and was as
follows . — " Wo, Palefaces from the East, are making a journey
to the Ilocky Mountains, and wo havo come hero tx) enquire into
your welfare. IJut, although Palefacos, wo are the children of
one mother, the Queen of Groat Britain ; and wo have como to
see you, such valiant men, who have fought such great battles.
We are son*y to hear that you aro sometimes hungry, so wo havo
brought you some tea and tobacco, and some vermilion with
which to decorate your squaws ; and we will send you some flour
and bacon on our return. We must now wish you good-bye, and
may the Great Spirit direct you, and keep you in the right
path."
After this followed a great deal of handshaking, and then
wo took our departure from the Indian camp and returned to
Fort Qu'Appello. Our first present to the Indians consisted
only of tea and tobacco, and vermilion for painting themselves ;
the bacon and flour were an after-thought. They, however,
evidently expected a handsome present, for they sent to ask if
they should send a cart to fetch it ; so we made the best of it,
and answered in the affirmative. These gatherings only take
place occasionally, so it was most fortunate for us that wo should
have come across such a sight during our trip to the North
West.
Fort Qu'Appelle is well situated in a deep valley on a flat,
between two lakes. The land in the district is reporti <l to be good,
and it is reckoned to be one of the best openings for settlers, in the
unoccupied part of the North- West. A drive of fifty miles on the
lollowing day gave me a fair opportunity of judging of the country,
and its capabilities. Seated on a *' buck-board," — i.e., a kind of
carriage with four wheels, and no body except a small seat in the
centre, with just room to sit, — one was supposed to be able to
undertake any amount of prairie-driving, whether rough or smooth.
I saw a great variety of country ; some woody, with small tarns
here and there, and good grazing grass between the patches of
scrub — the sort of country which, were I a settler d^^siring to
locate myself in the North. West, I should certainly view with a
favourable eye as being at any rate worth inquiring about ; the
proximity ot water and wood being a great advantage ; and I
should prefer a mixed to an arable farm. Then we came upon the
vide, open, veiling prairie, with not a tree to be seen, nothing but
a sea of waving grass ; but although the latter was of an interior
quality, there were indications that the land was well calculated
for corn growing. This district appeared to me in every way ex-
cellent for an arable farm, and, being what is called " rolling "
prairie, small farming coidd be better carried on here than on the
absolutely flat plain ; and, naturally, the drainage is more perfect.
11
THe p.h.l. flower, »P'tSLt ',S'.,rr, 'S^f tll.SS!
'""' A(t» a.i» .0 »™ .0 a piece of 1,™. ;v.,ic,, "U p™.«Up
for the goi>liers.
distinct variet es of country ',«° .^J-^^JY^touutry and deciae for
to take no one's 'f ^^f.'^Y^itf ^nv dri^^^^^ ^^"er idea of
himself. I J« '^«V'",f i^^''* ^^L tiri '^vc iuBt touched upon,
the prairie of the North-West tlmr^ that i 1^^^^ ^^^^ j ,^^
I wis told that a great deal «f ^"^^^^1 themselves as happy
but few settlers. Those I spoke *« ^^f^^.^^^e They all spoke
and contented and had "" ^J^^, ^^^^^^^^^^^^^
of the length of the winters but *^l "^ ;^^^^^^ and none
and cutting wood sidhcxent ^''^"IJ, "^^^^^'^^^^^
wished to return to then- previous Caiuulun^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^
^e^^^^^^^^:^.''^^^'^ cr^, and hard,
gets one s feet wet , tne ^.^^ ^^^y
and no damp ever I'^'^f Urates so that the pe pi ^^^^^
xnocassins. No rain f^^'^^^/^^ "^^f J^.^rtlble thing. The
but a snow blizzard »^"f ^^'^,^"'T"^^ ,^,0- but on account
thermometer is sometimes forty d^gio^s below ^ ^^^ ^^^^^^^
of the dryness ^c. the at^nc^heilJe^coU^^
as might be imag
gined; and settlers say th^^^^^^^^^
as migtu ue ''"p-^^7 '■"',:,: Quebec Nevertlie"less", T should
great drawback.
TT.vf Ou'Annelle is the ancient treaty-ground of the
Fort yuAppeiie '" +i. .*■ *(,;« vilace or Mooseiaw,
Kegina.
The following ihfbrmation "jay ^ -^^I^J^^^Iw
field of the North-West, said ^'^^^J^^^^^^.'^^tL, xtending
two hundred miles long, by one "J^^^^^ "^j^^^^^^ Qu'Appelle and
from Battleford and Prince Albert^^^^^^^^^^ no t ^^to^c^ ^^pi^ ^^.^^^^
Brandon (m M'^^^*^"^^) ^^*f, ';,, flo„^^^^ There
t:;; IL^UI not'sUut "tith less thali .€300 to dniw upon. Tlus,
would bo expended as follows ;—
■ ,^ju^^^^^e m^m&!m »i^i^i^''i-"^- '
■>
iful, and wild
j, tli'At, sitting
williia arm's
.1 proliably re-
le, being poor,
ed with stones
1 a playground
re, I saw three
3ttle he ought
and decide for
better idea of
touched ui)on.
L up, but I saw
iolves as happy
They all spoke
t feeding cattle
inie; and none
From the time-
;hat one never
isp and hai'd,
vple wear only
iw ocuasioually,
thing. The
; but on account
ut felt as much
lOy prefer this-
leless, T shuuld
iter must be a
ground of the
3, or Moosejaw,
Vest instead of
— Tlie best wheat
Canada, is about
1 wide, extending
o Qu'Appelle and
nds about Prince
\g colony. There
Touchstone Hills,
ll open for settlers,
rict, in the neigh-
i a settler, to do
dmw upon. Tliis
GO
60
50
16
5
30
20
Journey for two, say ...
Homestead fee (100 acres)
Pre-emption land (100 acres), say ... •••
Lumbel- for building a four-room house and )
stable, say ••• ,o ""j -r^ /„ {
One year's supply «f ^^^^ for self and wife (a |
low estimate), say •'
Yoke of oxen, say
Waggon
Plough
Two cows, say
Farm tools ... ;•■ • j,""
Extra cash for seed, contingencies, &c. -
/-«• -curse a sin<^le man can make the necessary deductions from the
*^i curse a aiiioic f.,iri;w the necessary additions.
Mav Thm U.0 fi™i ye*.' is a dead 1«,, »,. far i» an, return .s oon-
Sed Some 'M\L «..w u,,o„ the open prame ti.e i.™t year;
cemeu. oumc »vstem is to be recommended. I see
^c irarpleSf^ an ^^^^^^^^^ the labouring classes into the
Northwest for, except where capitalists or companies enyoy
?K V the settlers have as much as they can do to support them-
S:S'^^>-^ -Xing outside laboul except in the busy times
of the year. railway, we continued our journey to
»-'?v^"rdSb'5te^rrr:s.-
m
ilsi
i:3U8 at tba lowest, hibtusd of A'31&.
^^s^^^m^^^
"■Sr^^^a'SS?^^"'
ul*^
60
r n f 1 . u„f at tlie railway station none liad been dis-
rt;s"v^b,e"r whole /ay.untif "» "-*f ,«»s':•
carried a feather fan We all s^ook aa ^.^
t,-avol» I have ff "» "X ^°™^Jt'vT, e' ceptional one, aad I do
am«> one .s ^/V.h'lbr&r wrong in stating that, wc»t of
not think "»M,"Xm Winnipeg) the land begin, to detorio-
Mooaeiaw (.Wa nnles trom y* m»'p Bt .j
■■"'^•r'r^ZUwline Hat siraLZThr^aakatchewan
We <»V''f.°^ f„i, Thi. was, at that time, the temnnna
Rive.-, on the 2.ith Jnlj- 1 ™ .^^'^ trip must have ended, had
i S Cr tho'Siti"' aSrd by Lr P.ival. car, which
ffl.jitj.ii^^iMiPiyt.JwW'c.;
■ !\UJi<JB^^IiJU-^W ^'- "^'-''^-">-^'----^ '' ^-' '^^^''^^
rifcai
51
I been dis-
3 hundred
ted on an
ood, being
not grow-
how other
th no tree
Moosejaw.
Jree Tribe,
the march
stopped at
IS very tall
ae appear-
ulder, and
ind invited
' forget his
him by one
meanwhile
match was
t instead of
a joke were
the tobacco
on another
the march
, where the
,ns in treaty
of blankets,
the North
the settlers,
ly Company,
and honour-
, and learnt
emies, which
ervations on
Is (after, say,
icroRS a very
' sage-bushes,
s visible. It
s said to have
But in my
e is anything
one, and I do
that, west of
ins to deterio-
) miles.
Saskatchewan
the terminus
ve ended, had
te car, which
the authorities were kind enough to allow to be attached to the
"construction" trains -t.«., trains used by the contractors for
the completion of the line to Fort Calgary under the llocky
Mountains. Medicine Hat " City," as it is now designated
reminded me of an English fair. Most of the so-called hcMises
were tents, though some of the stores were bu.lt of wood. What
the population is I cannot say ; bat I should roughly estimate it
at 1000 0.1 the '2(3th April last, there was not a shop or a
hou^e in the place; now, it is a " City," and already contains
seven hotels some of which, indeed, arc only tents, D>akiug up.
perhaps, half-a-dozen cribs, but they bear the name hotel
over their doors. There are also a number of stores, six billiard-
rooms or halls, a post-office, one or two restaurants and ; a
parlour " " For ice creams," " For cold drinks." Medicine
Hat is expected to become a real city in the future, not from any
reputation of having good farming lands in the neighbourhood,
but because of the proximity of coal in this district As we
travelled on from Medicine Hat, attached to a construction train,
the lands looked miserably poor and dried up ; tbis was the case
until wo reached what was called the Thirteenth Siding (about
120 miles west of Medicine Hat), after which the soil began to
improve, and continued doing so for the remaimler of our joumey ;
but it is not to be compared to Manitoba soil, about which 1 shall
have something to say in my next article.
On our arrival at the Fifteenth Siding we made arrange-
ments with the owner of a buggy and waggon to convey us to
Fort Calvary, i(> niiles further on. This man transtcrrecl his
headquarters when the railway people did theirs, which was
about every two or three days. We passed a long line of traders,
consisting of twelve waggons tie<l together in twos sixteen to
ei-hteen bullocks being attached to each waggon. This .sort ot
locomotion must be very slow, and will soon be supplanted by the
railway; it is, therefore, one of the sights of the North West,
which will shortly be amongst the things of th.' past. It may be
of interest to mention here the extraordinary rapidity with
which railways are made on the other side of the
at the rate of from three to six or seven miles a
withstanding this rapidity, I can testify that
Pacific Railway is well and solidly built, and IS .
constructed in the way some people imagine, by merely laying
down sleepers in the prairie, without any earthwork. In point
of fact, no embankment is the exception, and not the rule ; the
line being raised on a slight embankment for the whole diatance
from Winnipeg to as far as it was completed when we visited it.
Leaving the railwav, we drove for forty miles acrcws the
prairie without seeing the sign of a house and oyer in^liff'^^nj
kiid • and, cro.ssing the Bow River, an-ived at lort Calgary (8.^8
miles' west of Winnipeg), where we took up our quarters in a
tent We passed little or no water in our forty miles drive till
we came to the Bow River, which we had to cross m a terry,
Atlantic, viz. :
day ; but. nut-
the Canadian
by no means
52 ' ' ..
, X 1 i..«,l vnvtU wide The diaries were as follow :—
toll "eWo StrUoU, 100 cc,Ss-4, English ™.,-
Single vehicle and horse
Horse and rider
Horse, mule, or cow ...
Sheep, hog, calf, or colt
For every person except
team driver
60
50
25
25
25
2s.
Is.
Is.
Is.
FofaU aSs'^ot in^a vehiL, over lOOlbs. weight. 15 cents.
_7id. per lOOlbs.
Double the above amount -^fter sunset. ^
inspect a quarter of an acre «*, PO***"Jf '^^ ^v^^s told that there
I was told that snow frequently falls in J^ctoDer, ^ ^^
inquiries, and found that tnere as f . anxious
the potatoes, had taken place on the 20th J ^/part (called the
i, bc.t for tading, and tUt ^ »= »"^h °t it . « J ? j^„,„
i::;^ :i a? J?lrf L°dolto perannnn.pc,-l,00Oac..,;
iii't
l>t^;Hf:rt«|Si|lik3SM«SJ«i&-
How : —
h mouev •
»
»>
15 cents.
er make a
osts, whicli
■e had been
,n going to
three parts
. that thei-e
3 200 miles
as the same
auth, about
tock-raising
jr, who told
! thought it
i come, and
had resided
old me that
a Winnipeg
,t the latter.
y, for when
in keeping
, the climate,
d sometimes
)vember 1st,
e ground till
the year. In
d that it was
ins ploughed
it was more
g a frieud a
ty of making
itting ofi all
[ was anxious
t (called the
•ritory), as 1
I best feeding
h of Calgary
very good tor
exceptionally
I are lot on 21
er 1,000 acres;
53
these ranches vary from 20,000 to 30,000 axjre. in extent. There
Se stJpuTations mlde about the number of cattle to be turned
'"'*' In July the prices of provisions at Fort Calgary, previous
to the completion of the railway, were as follow :- ^^^
l^^f ::: mperib.
1««*, ... Is. per 31b. loaf.
^^?r^ ... 28. per gallon.
^alt butter" ■;.' '•'. - 2s. per lb (and very bad).
Salt butter ... ^ lOd. per lb.
Thf railwk*; was' then 180 miles away as concerns goods
traffic and on its boing opened up, prices would of course drop^
B r+w«nrpmanv plr-es 200 miles and more away from a
falay so'tharth Jpri^es I have quoted are perhaps not pecuhar
'" ^ TaktX^" North West Territory " as a faming district, I
rerv^e rusts "tt-^^ upon arriving at Winnipeg, without
Sy2g tomake inquiries, and the result is m many cases gjuch
aisappomtment^ ^^^ ^.^ ^^^ ^^^^ ^^p ,^ ^^ expectations ;
for instead of getting better the further west we went I was
tor, iMieau ^^ ,,.„?„._„ opinion from personal observation. It
"rwhSbeltUs™ thec.«,or™t, I ^» not «ry favourably
impressed.
ARTICLE VII.
MANlTOnA.
Wk left Fort Calgary late in July, in our two-horso bu-gy and
tHat tho contiiuitor. for thm poil.on of the In . ''» ™' ™P °J
summer It had been our intention to have v.sited ane,ther
Srcamp about 800 mile, west ^;^^r^:^^ttSZ
^tr?;;^^^^e iSo^ei^^r^iJt^^t ^;'th:
"Shb ^ Mr H: iertXer me/ us at the station, and by mea^
of h, vehicle and a wagon on springs, we were conveyed across
le Ven prair^ to this estate' It was rather a rough dnve^
Ev^nTt a Lg distance off we could see tl^^t somethn^ out of
fhe ordinary course of things wa.s being done m this pa .
Houses weiJ in course of erection, the sites for which were well
■ Sen and they therefore looked larger than they m reality were ;
t it is a noticeable fact, that on a prairie, ^^-^^^."^"l^
r'cuUure Thi arm is considered in Manitoba to be well-
^aia'ed^nd the land judiciously selected, v/e saw some
rcell7^i'croT.s of wheat and oats; better than any we had seen m
!i Mn tirWost Territory ; and the oats in particular compared
lt:y^:liSiywiS:;hoiLVeinspectedinS.uithernManito^
[n tho lied Ri4 Valley at a later date. Millers will gne liiteen
55
jucrgy and
iow river,
as tlie ono
atlvancod
stable ono
had been
dit'on near
ge railway
ly mention
ot employ
Columbian
igliout the
111 ; for the
height of
ed another
that of the
i), in order
,n epidemic
1 therefore
s'orth-West
, where we
i-. Rankin's
t over the
tl by means
eyed across
Diigli ilrive.
ling out of
this part.
li were well
jality were ;
een from a
n size. Mr.
I we were to
were taken
methods of
to be well-
saw some
had seen in
ir compared
ilanitoba, or
give tiftcen
a four-wheel wagon with
our private railway car
cents per busliel more for red Fife wheat grown in Manitoba,
than for Ontario wheat. Mr. H. Power pointed out to us ten
moderate sized houses for settlers, which were being built at Mr.
Rankin's expense, with a view to working the land on the half-
profit system — a plan which is much in vogue, and ia gi-adually
becoming popular amongst American farmers further south.
Returning to the railway, we continued our journey to
Brandon, in Manitoba (132 miles west of Winnipeg); and from
here commenced a drive of over 170 miles to Deloraine, and
thence to Manitoba city, where we proposed to take the ordinary
train along the South Western line back to Winnipeg. We hired
two horses at Brandon ; and sent
on, via Winnipeg, to Manitoba
City, where we were to rejoin it in two or three
days' time. This drive was recommended to ua by a
gentleman well acquainted with Manitoba ; who told us that by
thus visiting Southern Manitoba, we should have an opportunity
of seeing some of the finest parts of the country. Brandon itself
is a very rising place, and now boasts of some well laid-out
streets ; on my previous visit to America two years ago, it
consisted of but one house ; and I remember being told of thirteen
travellers having to share one room. It is now a kind of centre
for this part of Manitoba, and contains no less than thirteen
livery stables ; which here are horse dealing repositories, aa well
as places for hiring vehicles.
Leaving Brandon, — close to which flows the Assiniboine
river, — we saw the Brandon Hills in the distance, from which
the wood supply for the town is brought. The soil in this
part appeared to be light and sandy, and the different crops we
passed did not look very good. We saw hemp, potatoes, wheat,
and oats ; the latter were bad, dirty, and weedy ; and the grass
land also seemed poor. Hay-cntting was just commencing, but
the grass was vei-y short ; and it was only in patches here and
there, where the land was a little undulating, that it could be
cut at all. There were very few cattle, but those we did see
looked fat and well. Considering the proximity of a place like
Brandon, I thought very little land was broken in proportion to
the extent of the prairie ; and of what was taken up, hardly any
was fenced in. There were quantities of prairie roses about ;
these flowers are, I think, the pi-ettiest things I have seen in the
North-West, or in Manitoba. In the course of the afternoon we
arrived at a plaee called Plum Creek, twenty-five miles fi-om
Brandon, not having passed anything of much interest on the
"/ay. The prairie was open, flat, and treeless ; and the natiire of
the soil did not vary much in that distance. At Plum Creek
thei-e were a few trees, (as usual, indicating a river) ; and the
place itself was quite a nice little settlement. The Souris river
flows past here, and Plum Creek runs into it. Crossing the
former in a ferry-boat, we found the adjoining lands to be of
oxcelleut quality, but uncultivated : probably they are being
■"gSJ^SBST"
S39ro3»'«St<PKeiL «W^"
66
held by some speculator — otherwise a fine settlement might be
formed here. The eye rested upon one immense open prairie
waiting for cultivation; but there was not a house, nor the sign
of an inhabitant, to be seen for miles. We drove eight miles
south, before coming to a house, or any attempt at cultivation ;
then we reached a settlor's land, whore there was a good crop of
wheat and oats. This man came in June, 1882 ; and the crops
we saw were his first. His house, instead of being made of wood,
was a sod bouse (i.e. built of sods like an Irish cabin), and the
stable was of the same material. Each man, of course, has his
separate taste ; but I am not at all sure but that these sod huts
are warmer than the wooden ones. A stone house is almost
unknown on the prairie. Many of the frame or wooden housen
have one or two furrows ploughed round them, in order to prevent
encroachment by prairie fires. The settlers in the sod hut had
nothing to complain of, except that the wat?r in the well was
bad. They said they were satisfied, and certainly if a number
of children could conduce to it, they had reason to be so. We
drove on again for six miles, without seeing a house, or any
broken land; — the soil in this part was a black loam, two
feet deep, with a sandy sub-soil. The next person we came upon
was a young fellow from Ontario, who, in answer to our enquiries
whether he liked the country, replied, " First-rate." His crops
of the fii'st year's breaking were as follow : — Peas indifferent,
but oats, wheat, and barley all good. At the next place we
stopped we found another Ontario man, who also said that he
liked the country " first-rate." His crops appeared flourishing,
and he said the water in his well was good.
On leaving him we saw no more settlers for eight miles ;
when, at 8.30 p.m., having driven forty-seven miles from Brandon,
we reached ;i framed house, where we asked, and received, jwr-
mission to put up for the night. It was one of the ordinary
settlers' houses, 24 feet by 18 feet; a living-room and a small room
below, and one sleeping-room above. The stabling was good, being
made of turf, and covered with loose straw. The arrangements for
cows ratber amused me ; they were placed in aa enclosvii'e, with a
fire in the centre, which smoked pretty freely ; round this the
cows stood all night whisking their tails, — and thus, aided by the
smoke, managed to keep off mosquitoes. Smoke is a preventive
against these tormenting insects ; and cattle unprotected in this
way would be much annoyed; indeed, if left out in the open
without any fire, they wo\ild stray away for miles before morning.
On examining the well I found the water was bad, as in fact it
very often is in all this part. The settlers informed me that they
liked the country moderately well. They were very hospitable,
and our hostess and her daughters were soon busy preparing our
supper. We had a small stock of provisions with us, and these
were brougat into requisition ; but even without them we should
have got on very well. It must be remembered that we were out
on the open prairie, with uo house within miles of us ; but we
b tnight be
)eii prairie
)r the sign
light miles
altivation ;
)od crop of
the crops
de of wood,
i), and the
Be, has his
se Bod huts
(6 is almost
iden houses
■ to prevent
lod hut had
e well was
\ a number
36 SO. We
mse, or any
loam, two
I came upon
ur enquiries
His c]X)ps
indifferent,
st place we
aid that he
flourishing,
eight miles ',
ova Brandon,
eceived, jwr-
the ordinary
a small room
a good, being
ingements for
osure, with a
»und this the
aided by the
1 a preventive
tectsd in this
; in the open
jfore morning.
[, as in fact it
me that they
ary hospitable,
preparing our
L us, and these
lem we should
it we were out
of us ; but we
WK.
57
made oui-selves as comfortable as we could for the night, though
Sf LTmoTtion was of course very limited, there being only
nnp^mTnstaii-s Our hostess and one daughter slept down
bir^n the i Te room adjoining the living-room; the upstairs
room wi cUvided by a blanket hung across a beam; on one side
room wa» lUY j daughters of the house ; and the
ler W waa shaS^ b^ theTr brother (who had his dog as a bed-
f SlMur Sree^elves, and the driver of our wagon. This
dS'tion wm serfe to ^how the general, and, I must say primx-
tfve aCngement of a settler's house ; but we considered that we
wliSSky than otherwise, for we each got abed toourselvea
?hrSxt moraUig we were up at 4.30 a.m., and soon completed
ourtnilett" Thl preparatioi^k for washing were not extensive ;
our tr"^"!*-„i " the bottom of the stairs for the whole party.
T T^ Cn a heavy dew during the night, and it was a cold
There ^^'^^^^.^J ^*,S^ at this eariy hour the mosquito
r'^'^^km aligh^^^C^^^^ settWs house we called at wa. about
S^rr four ^les away ; here again I examined the water and
three or ^^^^ ^^ '^^^i^^ ^d there was alkali in it, and
^^ Wv tlis ^Tvery common complaint in this district. The well
I ^^^^y.^^V^^J:^ These people only came last year, and very
^trtdtlSn nX^; W oLed to sell their holding
^^^t^Xitl'^apprTaching a district well-known to me by
.- !«!««W Turtle Mountains; ten miles or so to the north
reputation, namely, Turtle iM^ounm, resembling an
f tit reLTof^t tlSs (- th; north side) appeared
Irish bog , tbe oase oi luc u. n ^^
^trX:t:t\TZ ^iTalKttragBin. inhibited by
^^^I< i^™ Ontario- here the wife was busy irrigatmg the
" 'l^'Zl^cX^in^-^-^^^^ -«'« really first-rate; the
garden, and tne crops m ^ i afterwirJs we reached
""■""leufeSave only come so recently into all the country des-
Settlers nave o y ^ ^^^ ^^^ ^^^^ it won) i
cnbed above, that tuey couiu b ^ „ , cultivation
SirX-3" ke^^uSS i, U feet ., .8 fee. ,
!!l
18
and many are much smallor. There is no variety whatever in
Htylo ; every house being of exactly the same pattern, and all built
of wood, with the exception of a few. which are made of turf. 1
had expected to iind some farms of a bettor description in a country
like this, but in thi* respect I waa disappointed ; and I may apply
this observation not to Manitoba only, but to the North- West as
well. There are several large stores at various points, where every-
thing, from kettles und pans and drapeiy, to bread, biscuits, and
oatmeal, is to be bought. From Deloiuine we went eastwards,
along the commission trail (i.e., the uad used by the Commisflioners
when settling the Canadian and United States boundary) in the
direotiou of Manitoba City, the distance of which place from
Deloraine nobody knew, but it was in reality ab<jut one hundred
miles. I was anxious to see the next jjortion of Southern
Manitoba (between Delorauie and Manitoba City), as J was told
it had been settled about five or six years, and I wished jjarticu-
larly to see how the crops would look on land cultivated for a
succession of years, without help from fallowing or manuring ;
therefore I took at the time some careful notes.
Within a few miles of Deloraine there appeai-ed in passing
along to be many signs of alkali ; almost everywhere throughout
the route we took, there was a deficiency of good water ; and for t»0
miles east of Deloraine, what there was was bad, and the creeks
were dried up. The quality of the land between Deloraine and
Wakopa (thirty miles), varies very much, but none of it is deej>
soil. The style of farming was very bad indeed ; the following is.
a description of some of the crops taken as they came :
12.10 p.m. — Oats bad and weedy.
12.30 p.m. — Potatoes very good. Peas poor.
12.35 p.m. — Land very dirty; many holdings abandoned.
12.50 p.m. — Oats and wheat poor and foul — oats very
poor. Swedes foul. Potatoes bad.
1.0 p.m. — Poor wheat and peas.
1.30 p.m. — Rough land round new house. Oats good,
but foul.
2.0 p.m. — Oats poor.
2.10 p.m. — Good potatoes. Oats poor. Hay in cocks.
2.20 p.m. — Wheal moderate. Potatoes bad.
2.30 p.m. — Good hay in bottom land.
2.35 p.m. — Wheat poor. Barley and potatoes good,
2.40 p.m. — Wheat, barley, and swedes jjoor. \/heat
fair.
During the whole of this thirty miles di-ive, haymaking-
seemed pretty general ; but the corn-ci"ops were certainly bad
and backward, and this in a district which had been settled five
years. When compared with what we had seen on the previous
day, on lands with the first or second crop, the result tends to
show that the fertility of the soil is reduced by constant crop-
ping, without the aid of manure, rest, deeper ploughing, or
lateTOT in
d all built
f turf. 1
I a couutry
may apply
,h-WeBt as
lere every-
Bcuits, anil
etxstwardB,
imisHionera
ry) in the
place from
le hundred
' Southern
I was told
ed particu.
vated for a
manuring ;
in passing
throughout
; and for SO
the creeka
loraine and
f it is deep
following is.
tidoned.
ts very
ts good,
n cocka.
good,
\/heat
3, haymaking^
certainly bad
n settled five
I the previous
jsult tends to
onstant crop-
plougliing, or
59
Z';tbT™""-.bS. After leaving W.kop.^^ -.
Slc'»»t^bS>:-o- Sj ..d the sou .g-in Bh-JI- 1
S/for the ™»nt land w» all taken ap, and Md by i>peeu.
''''°'?i j^™ th!. daT o»er a distance of jerenty-Bii miles,
K^eis who hSrrme iri882 had the best crops, those
leaif for want of manure, deeper plougbmg or fallowing At.
ZnZrtt^^i'^^' foHy-Jeven miles from a railway
station, and the prices of provisions were as follow :-
Butter per lb. 25 cents.
Eggs, per doz. 25 cents.
Beef, per lb. 18 cents. ^^ ^
Plour, per cwt. 2 dols. 25 cents.
Milk, 28 cents.
Sugar, 12^ cents.
Bread, 5 cents.
The PT^pSr^rf'^l'inri gare me the following information
whicK^Sesthig, as it endorses the opinion I have prevxouslv
r™s8ed -^' The^best crops of wheat are obtained W well-
Sn and back-set lands^ and, after a second -rtWc.fll,.
fhP soil reouires deeper ploughmg or manuring. Thirty-flje
lusli^ofX^artothLcre is considered* big yield; of oats
65to7VbuThels; and of potatoes, 350 bushels to the acre-60
lbs to the bu hel. Hay^harvest in this jmrt is m July and
Wust and wheat-cutting U the end of August and September^
Ou? driver (whom we again had to share our supper and bed-
roomThTd never been on so long an excursion before, and was
inTh delighted with the outing, entering into everything with a.
"^"^VhtteTdlyt^TefeTpat five a.m.. and started off for
a forty seven Ss- drive to Manitoba City, being told that we
should "arthrough a finer country than any we had previously
i
■ iwtr-itffiinirtBrtiiii nil J
CO
flcen This we found to be the case ; some of it had be«n settled
frnHvo or Hix years, so I shall again have rocourso to my note-
ookf.r observations on the state of the crops ; ««!«« ^j^^^^"^
Iwn histances from a very numerous collection. On hrat ioav.ng
StwSu wo dTve acro^saconsiderablostrotchof uncultiv^^^
mairTo-all Trass, with low hills, bi-oken land, and ponds of
Eei -a LSadtnirably suited for cattle-ranchingpuiTOses.
Suth^m Manitoba ia quite a different country from the itorth-
West H is all much gl-eener, and the prairie grass is longer and
SeV. It i^a great pUy that the district is -t more extensively
settled and that there is so little money m it ;— the settlers
;tomwe saw seemed little '^bove *he labouring clashes, and
apparently had no capital to «P«i>d on their farms We we e
told that the land round Crystal City was some of the best in
Southern Manitoba ; nevertheless a good deal of it was abandoned
and out of cultivation. At Cartwright we bought some oa^s or
our horses at 35 cents (is. ^d.) per bushel of 36 lbs. to the
bushel I subjoin the following extract from my note-book
relative to the crops we passed :—
11 a.m.— Open prairie ; grass good.
11 10 a.m.— Wheat, barley, and oats all good.
ll'45 a.m.— Wheat and barley good, oats good, but bad
in places. Finished seeding May lb.—
This farm had been worked two years.
11.50 a.m.— Barley and oats good; wheat fair
1.30 p.m.— Oats and wheat good. Depth of soil 1»
inches to two feet. ,
Close to this last holding we had a talk with a pettier who told
us that he had cultivate 110 a«res for four consecutive years
with a stmw crop ; and found that the best yield had been after
breakyg the first year ; after four yeai-s his crops began to fail.
SK now reVi-d rest deeper ploughing, or ---Jg;
-wild buckwheat and lambsquarter weed had m«^e their
abearance both being very injurious weed8,-especially the
ffir when allowed to go to sW His farm certainly boked m
a terribly wild condition, and the crops were very bad indeed
We noT!- came to Pembina crossing, and had to descend into a
valley wide at the base, with high banks on each side. We
• cSd^he river by means of a yery ricketty old bridge; and
SSendinTthe opposite bank, came on some pa^icular y good
E but it ap^ared in want of rest, haying been cultivated
for fiVe yeai-8. The following are my notes on the crops of a
farm, taien as we droye along :— •
Wheat and potatoes good.
OatK and wheat, poor.
Oats, fair.
Wheat, bad.
nrtJMableinaie crop* Wetelkedto.sBtUerofliyeyeat. stmdli*
d been settled
so to my noto-
(lecting one or
In first leaving
)f uncultivated
and ponds of
hing purposes,
om the North-
)s is longer and
ore extensively
; — the settlers
ig classes, and
■ms. We were
3 of the best in
was abandoned
t some oats for
E 36 lbs. to the
my note-book
61
.,0 -told u. t-..at after a certain f^ hi. crop, fell off. -J that
weeds were now getting ahead o him It wiu ^^^ ^^^^^
poUtoes were invariably good, *°d this 1 »t" ^j^^^ ^^
Spth of soil turned in Pl^^^ing them^m oompam^ ^^^^
4uii.dfor wheat Wl^^^^^^^^^^ ,f one or two
tmeTtS^es. aS a Jntl-aud^Kl. brought our one hundred
and .eventy mile, dme to a t^Jj^'^;^!,!, Y>ni, finding that it
I had intended this to be my last a^^^^^^^^^ ^^^
would either be too lengthy, "^ ^^f ^'J^^^^^erve a descriptiou of
«,count of Manitoba ^ .^^);^lZtiTZthev paper, which
other interesting part, of ^j^"* P'^I'^^^ft^^'that I hope to wnd •
;;jiytlti$or;;:Swa hir been put to^...
a.
od, but bad
May 26.—
vo years,
lir.
of soil 18
ettler, who told
insecutive years
d had been after
ips began to fail,
f, or manuring ;
iad mode their
— especially the
rtainly looked in
ry bad indeed,
to descend into a
each side. We
old bridge ; and,
)articularly good
been cultivated
on the crops of a
buck-wheat, were
ive years' standing.
r^r"
ARTICLE VIII.
MANITOBA CONTmUED.
TtMB and space will not allow me to give a long account of a
very interesting drive, which I took from Manitoba City, on a
" buck board ;" accompanied by an intelligent and prosperous
farmer The water in his (thirty feet deep) well was excellent.
The lands round Manitoba City are of first-rate quality for
wheat, oats, and barley. I was taken to see what the settlers
call a stock or grazing farm, not many miles distant ; and which
I was told was quite a different country to the corn-growing
lands. I was much interested in what I saw; but what sur-
prised me most was the great amount of wild vetch and prairie
peas which gi'ow here quite two feet high ; constituting, it is
said,' the best feeding stuff in the Dominion. There were
immense quantities, utterly unused for want of stock ; the grasses
were so thick that we could hardly drive through them, and the
vetches (without exaggeration) almost prevented the wheels
from turning. Our horse showed his appreciation of the good
food surrounding him, by continually stopping to have a
mouthful ; and even my companion, the farmer, expressed his
astonishment at the luxuriant growth. We saw tracks of
cattle which had roamed at pleasure ; the whole district, although
owned by someone, seeming to be unoccupied ; and in places,
neighbours had cut hay, taking a patch here and there as suited
them best. All this land is only partially stocked for want of
capital, in choosing a stock farm, it is a good plan to select a
slough (rather lower and damp ground adjoining more hilly
lands), so that the cattle can change about from the lower to the
higher grounds, and f i-om the long to the short grass, and vice
v^sa I saw a good example of this in our drive, but there
were no cattle to make use of it. In selecting corn-growing
lands, take high, open, ixjlling prairie, with some scrub upon it ;
and if possible, in a locality where prairie-roses and flowers do
well and are found in numbers. Upon making inquiry as to
what was considered a fair profit to derive from a 160 acre holding,
I was told that, after paying all expenses, 1,000 dollars (£200)
per annum should be made. But I need hardly explain that
this would be successful farming, of which everyone is not
^ The sight of a well-cultivated garden inducetl us to
63
call at a sottler'B house, and I noticed there the following
ig acconnt of a
toba City, on a
md prosperous
I was excellent.
ate quality for
lat the settlers
mt ; and which
3 corn-growing'
but what sui'-
itch and prairie
istituting, it is
. There were
)ck ; the grasses
1 them, and the
ted the wheels
ion of the good
ing to have a
■, expressed his
saw tracks of
istrict, although
and in places,
[ there as suited
ked for want of
plan to select a
ling more hilly
the lower to the
; grass, and vice
irive, but there
ig corii-growing
e scrub upon it ;
i and flowers do
Ig inquiry as to
160 acre holding,
) dollars (£200)
ily explain that
everyone is not
inducetl us to
All very good.
Fairly good.
crops : —
Potatoes
- Cabbages
Swedes
Carrots
Parsnips
Beetroot
Onions
Parsley
Wild black-currant
Gooseberry
Garden currant
Badish
HuT™ ?^nd, h»d been cultivated for »eve»l yeaM, and
SKir^afrrr^JtK3»
three will act as a cleanser oi the soil ihe aven.ge yaem o
cr ps in the Manitoba City district :s as be^ojj-
(Ls, 60 to 70 bushels per ^^^-^^ ^^ *", '? '^;;;'t P!er b^^^^^^
Barlev 25 to 40 bushels per acre— 30 ^ 60 cents per nusnei.
mS' 30 bushels per acre-75 cents (3s.) per bushel
PotatcK^s 250 to 350 bushels (601bs. per bushel) per acre-
spttltrs. inLy^ Russian Government therefore gave
faith, will not ^g^'V'- w r^V Afresh home. This Clemency
+V.f.tn ten vears m which to seek a tresn ui mi.. 4.^^^
!■""■. '''"ftKUrrlley; ™ 4*0^ the «oil tbe«
Si, ,„w„»b,|,s-..., th,rty..« .quate mile^ ^^.^^
It; ^
m
1?
64
♦«n or twelve to twcnty-five farms. Although they are not
Lkin<,. the best of it, without any ''l^%'f„; ,f. ^' ^^jfj , i,X ,1
elsewhere, should an opportunity occur of tii"'"*?? f'\^" * " ''"'j;'
1-rl. cash Indee'l. I am not sure they are allowed to hell lie
into cash. ^^^I^^k ^ ^ lierds of cattle, their lands
^Xe ISt crS^s, and the/conduct their ^ujning o^.era^
r\Tre^^S:etrt";'.o'^^^
tri^ty of vcgetlbL ^i^flLers'l found the following :-
rpotatoe ; 2,^sunflowers ; 3, poppies; 4, nasturtiums ; .pinks
6 beans- 7 currants; 8, sweetwilliam; 9, pansy; 10, beetioot,
5l' Ss '12, Indian pink; 13, ^^^f^^'j^^^^^"^
15 gooseberry; 16, lettuce; 17, carrots; 18 Iiuich bu^n^
19 wild gooseberry; 20, sage ; 21, sour krout ; 22 rhut^a^^^^
2r3: Thinatster; 24, mignonette ; 'f^'-^-^^y «[;!! ;i^\^^3'o^^;:^:
27 Manitoba cherry ; 28, swedes ; ''2^' b"!.V:^^"t;mter -^^^^^^^^
rear cotton-wood and poplars, with a view to I '^ " ;. ^ J '^^^ ^"•J.'^J
to erow as fire- wood ; plum trees, dwarf mulberrj t^^es, am
apple trees, have also loeen tried ; but the latter do not do we
irManitobk In every case the flowers were beautiful and wel
™n and the vegetables, on the whole, were^ very good and
SeTitable he potatoes being excellent. The Mennonites were
mos fr eAdly; and followed" us about, all anxious to show us
tTe r homes a^nd gardens, and wo soon had the ma, on ty of he
village has been here eight years. i,.4,,„ tV„.miD-h
The opinion I formed in our 170 ™'l^:VH'\\.,rih(S
Southern Manitoba is as follows -I* -^ 'Jl^Jf M^'^.^.^t^ ,«
was a in-eat want of capital amongst the settlers and that tne
apparently all, or almost all, of the same class ; hold ng trom
iSo to 320 ^re. ■ which, in the majority of cases, was too muc
for a nmnVith no capital. Nearly all the houses were built on
oxactrv the same model; framed wooden houses about twenty-
out'Je by eighteen feet, and many -uch smaller ; indeed I
only saw one instance of an attempt at what we shoul.l ca 1 a
farmhouse. Each man is, iu reality, a speculator ux a small waj .
.I^KJ'fflS
^
ley are not
n of favniiii^
)S till! best 1
:)k upon the
intention of
and moving
lioir lioldins^s
to sell. Be
, their lands
•ming o]iera-
failed to see
I amongst a
following : —
ins ; 5, pinks ;
10, beetroot;
14, marigold;
'rench beans;
22, rhubarb ;
1(5, sweotbriar ;
k; 30, peas;
icumber ; 34,
>w well) ; 36,
been made to
.ting them out
n-y trees, and
o not do well
itiful and well
rery good and
jnnonites were
us to show us
iiajm-ity of the
of the'Knglish
show us every-
we managed to
settler in this
drive through
Bnt that there
i, and that the
'ly or properly
.he country was
tors, who were
hemselves were
; holding from
3, was too much
cs were built on
I. about twenty-
aller; indeed, I
e should eall a
I- in a suiuU way.
1 i o„?i TTnvinw taken up 160 acres of homestead, and
^f "" \ nant" V ofp^fn S" hU (making 320 acres in all),
quantity ot buddings an s ^^^^ .^ ^^^^
cvov, b»t r\T V°"™;. S™™. I hokli..g.nda little .took,
""n "^ttlt^fiStc^"" l™f t C^^^^^^^^ thi ho 0»„ oultivato
srz:r:r;rri»'rroi,...p™«...»a^-^^^^^^^
„.d vo,.y <^''^fj;^}::^..^:zz^:^:^^\^Is^X ^}
f®.
-j»«^
fm
„nd hence a neater demandfor meat than for wheat-^owm-. The
r.,1 TTnot so decii nor so suitable for wheat, us that m the Red
Rho • V^?iey SJ stoek-raisinj, it has, in many parts, great
Svnntl^es both from its unduhiting ehar=icte,-, and the nnmber
Tf« Ss and creeks. The present settlers have not enough
of >t« P°^*\;;^f<^^S in stoik; but should they eventually bo
'X*l dilo theY%Ill find that their land is so cut np "..t>'
luigthatTt lilT be impossible to keep the cattle off the
Spf^hout doing c, great deal more fencing than would have
been ke&sary. had the farm been laid out judiciously at first.
TliPrp i<? verv little fencing done at present.
Fox- my part, I should like to see one or two supeinor farms,
of Csav) 2 000 to 3,000 acres apiece, in every t^iwnship ; it this
c ass of farming were encouraged, men with more «4'f 1 ^^^Jf^
be able to adopt a better system, and so sot an example to the
smaller sellers (the majoi-ity of whom are not farmers, but
novtesf^m other trades). This might do a vast amount of
eoodand^ead toa diffusion, not onlyof knowledge, but^.^t dollars;
Sd employment would be obtained for the sons of the poorer
settles for at least a portion of the year. I also think a method
mght be adopted for establishing villages, somewhat on the
Mennonite principles. The houses are now so far apart
S they lcK.k more like hay stacks, or turf heaps, spread
over the^ open prairie, than anything else ; and, un ess a
district becomes thickly populated, the children ure tl^rown
W for want of education, and there s a gr-cat dilhciUty
■ r establishing a church. They say in the States that
? «rchurch°and a s-aloon" ai-e started, a pcn^ulatum soon
tows up round them; and, I believe, n Manitoba, that i a
Ect were thi-osvn open for the formation of a village, and a
church and school erected, settlers would soon strive to locate
+lipmselves within a reasonable distance.
themselves ^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^ ^^^^.j^^^^ and potatoes grow
tuxuHaiiTly upon the land, when first bi.ken ; and fur tpm one
io four years Afterwards, acconling to the depth o sod. Potatoes
espSy grow exceedingly well ; I hardly saw a bad crop m al
Soathem Manitoba. Cattle thrive on the grasses ; but as to
Bheep T saw so few of them, and heard so many conflicting
oSons on the subject, that I was led to assume that they cannot
do wen A grass called spear-ginxss gi^ws m most parts, and
unlls this is cut when young, and the feeding-gi-our.d thus cut
pnSed it undoubtedly works havoc among the sheep, peiie-
tS' throngb the woo"! and into the flesh. Wheilier it actua ly
kUl sheep, I cannot say, but it is obvious that it mus m-i ate
them and prevent their thriving. Thei-e was a great deal of
ihr;pcar-gi-ass both in the North-West and in Manitoba, and I
hearrmany complaints about it. However, T doubt if sheep
have rJaUy^been fairly tried ; but it is probable that the sa me
rirsof^want of capital, and the expense ot foddering th-MU
through the winter, apply to them, as to cattle.
'.3SS§S(igi«ss'
:J0.^''M'-
•owinf?. The
: in the Red
parts, great
the number
not enough
ventually be
cut up ■•vitb
ittle off the
would have
sly at first.
lerior farms,
iliip ; if this
apital would
.niple to the
farmers, but
it amount of
ut of dollars ;
f the poorer
ink a method
owhat on the
) far apart
leaps, sj)read
nd, unless a
are thrown
cat difficulty
States that
ralatiou soon
)ba, that if a
tillage, ami a
rive to locntc
potatoes grow
I for from one
soil. Potatoes
jad crop in all
ies ; but as to
my conflicting
lat they cannot
ost parts, and,
ound thus cut
e sheep, pene-
thcr it actually
-, must in-itat©
, great di-al of
ilanitoba, and I
doubt if sheep
that tlie same
odderlng thom
67
The immediate future of Southern Manitoba is not so
Unas eahuy Mjoj-tly to be c.x.tended west to the Souns,—
Manitoba ^ ty- ^^"f f^^^^^ -^ ^^t the " land-ginxb fever " is
settlers ought to Lo ««'-,'^;';p ^j^^^^ ^y a decided reaction. So
liberal terms. «y '^ ^''^^'^'^V ^i Im4t ^de-ree this ^iU affect
tohndnoino ehu^^tamaW.:^^ been told me as an absolute
f'fid ,,cr ru it will in some ineas ui-e explain, why so many
Skdlliii:^- ^nate been reporte<l as leaving Manitoba for the
^^""^The price of labour in Mamtc.ba is now everywhere much
Ti ^ t .v.,« ., founle of vears ago, from the artizan to the
(£2) to 1; ^"^^ 7^J;*;^^5 ont-door labour in Manitoba, is now
average i.aeowa,e^ - on ^^^ ^^ ^^^.^^^ ^^^^^ ^^^^
*^^"''\\^"o'i 1/veek for boanl and lodging, and 4s. per
I t ;thn.- -so there is not much margin left, especia ly
rttu^rb'^emlbered that^ du..ing the -;;;|er mon^^
employment at any price is very hard " |ff " .^^^^J'^ „\";
.seven mouths' winter, begunung in ^^J'^t'.ber s ets ' f' J^^ ^ ^^^
the 1st November; January and February being the haulcst
months .1 une is the wet month ot the year. „„„h, n„,l
We visited Winnipeg twice, seeing lands to its north, and
also to its s^uth, on the^b,u.ks of the Red River. In my c^u u n
i-rvsir "^^^ ^^ i^s^r fl^^ :ti;^f ^^^^^^
,S;iu;t w\hvell;V. is enough to say that hcv., witlun fafty
•, t Wlnnine.^ I have seen lands with food soil fonr to five
miles of Winnipeg, ^ „„,, npcriected for settlement, merely on
feet deep ; unnoticed, and "'^g ^^f;.*''; ;°' i^;^ -^ ^ matter which
aeeount of the -age for going we^t ^-^^^^^[^^^ ^,,„, „, this
must eventually right itself. ^ ^^^'^^^'f^J ^{' t^^ ^ivev the soil
''^"'J ^^" Sh'Vn7lTtt^l\ tS^^^^^ which I believe
tinually cropped for l^-^.^l'^^^^J^'^^^^^^^ Manitoba, that
the boast of people ^^° ^^*°j *7^''S S^^ it is impossible to
the soil is so good, so deep, ^ndfo "ch, ^^^ j, ^ ^s to
impoverish it ^7 constant culti.auon. I cm d^ y g^^ ^.^^^
tJgoodi.ss, richness an^ -«PP-^' ^ T
Srsl>t:t,^whUsttn^^^
^-^dTlEvrvtrTw^trreii^
rrnortrho:.>:nyfeet^^^^^^^^
best and deepest soil ^'^ Manitoba , but mt^as^«^^^ H^^^
poor crops, and as great an amount of ^J^«es - ^ ,^^^^
iihev weeds, as ever I ^^wn my life. 1 ^s ^^^^ ^^^^^
Tiotfi-om any want of ™'^^"^^-*^^ ^^^^uins-but from want of
bear manuring for a ong time after b^^^^^^ ^^ ^
ordinary care m aUowing ^^^J^ J>;now ' duced in this dis-
positive fact, that some ot ^V'^^^^^P^^./to possess the finest
trict (which is acknowledged on ^^^l^^^fP^'ie owning land
whole country is o the «ame ^ua^ity for «^°f J^^,^,^^ \
far from the actual fact, and must result ^^ ^'^^PP^j^^^ ^^^
have no doubt that a ff^mer with money and e^xpe ,
soon double his capital ^^,^^^^^!^^,^J i^^^U j Ley he would
care about commenc ng after nuddle life ^f \ *^"^y ^^^ ^^t
soon regi-et the comforts and ^^vani^ges «* ^W ^ng ^^
long ago, the Ontar o ^™«^ ^^^^e returned The climate
the New Country ; but many b^J^.^^^^^J/f^rNorth Wes^.; the
of Manitoba is much the same as that of the r^or ^^^
same ^o^g --*-' ^f^J^^^^^^ dry cold,
feedingcattle;-but it must always u ^^^^ ^
«!&■
"1^'
ftnir to five
b, merely on
latter which
some of this
iver the soil
•h I believe
IS been con-
Indeed it is
mitoba, that
tnpossible to
apjree as to
3 Red River
ipping, I can
, many miles
e immediate
black loam,
it to be the
I farming, as
ild oats, and
b is, I think,
3 land would
from want of
1 assert as a
3d in this dis-
)es8 the finest
e owning land
a dead loss to
)ne word more
3 North-West
), the bed of
thing of the
1 and quality
iuntry ; and it
the Red River
throughout the
,n idea is very
apointment. I
perience, would
)t if he would
ancy he would
England. Not
the direction of
1. The climate
)rth Wes'.; the
iting wood, and
iitisadrycold,
, not felt nearly
)f capital would
wn in my sixth
there are many
69
men who have con^menced with nexv^ij nothing ; but^jt mu^st
have been an arduous and/pl"!! task ana o
hardly recommend; eBpecially now that aUthe best la ^^^^
reasonable distance of '^ f^^.y^^^^tSoufd take no one's
previously suggested, ^° ^^^^^^^^ iW as to the various
Advice, but should go '^^'i 3udf Jor hxmselt^^^ .^ ^^^^ ^
localities in which ho wishes *° ««„ „ ' ° r^^^^^^ It may be
be disappointed, in, at any ja^e -- resp- ^^^ J
unnecessary to add, ttiat non« u r , ^^ ^^^_
steadiness, ^"^ frseverance and who can_ n,aK g^^^^ ^
comforts, would have a chance of success , lor ^t
all emigration in f ?l'^]:^i;^;^^tTseries to a close ; and I hope
m some parts ot Britisn yo'^^ ' describe things as I saw
and Manitoba. I have tried ^^^^ *° j^^^ered : and have no
them, and to give what 'I'^^^^^'^^^ljZ^^^ the tide of
thought of endeavo-ing - -^ -^Ee^^^l^ees ; but I have
emigration which must t^wtowa t- ^^^^^^ ^^
an earnest desire not to misrepresent lac , .^^ ^^^_
view these remarks as being ^°^*^y J ^"'eriticisms would be
«ideration, I cannot help thinking that 51^7™ ^. ^^^ ^^
verified by any j^.^-^^^^^^^^
=teS£ tCL^lX =tl We.andthiL, that
in the end they will be surmounted.
i^,^^jui'iif^'>o^a3)fi*asi^J&M
.A.P^P'ElsrDIX.
HENRT
THREE
THE LATE Mr. MEYSEY CLIVE.--Mb_W^
BARNKBYS NARRATIVE OF THEIR
MONTHS' TOUR.
November lOth, 1883.
• J«V''VV'ciSe;i Hay nothing to convince ouv mu ors ot the
ai,d reputiitkm iissure h.m of »n f» ■'"°. r''', ,.»;,,.i,„i,, „f
EnKlialimm i. not cn.ily siiti«h«l, ami l.i>.t "" "
and we have reason to beheve that it ^^ as mr. v.jiv^ Vn„lish
^dable aocouut of the to„v, »">/°' » »^ ^''4^' ■i^'"e„li„„c<l .
HENRT
THREE
1 publish in
be<?inning
resting and
, of ]ii-edon-
nature of a
pany of the
butions will
a Glance at
hveo friends
atlors of the
this journal
neby's name
ig, but also
; curiosity of
ast — because
losing scenes
UB, and who
. Mr. Clive,
on Saturday,
•uck down in
not a mere
;ion witli his
of Corsham.
■al chai'acter-
and to learn
igi-ation field;
ve's intention
jfit of English
n settlements,
lomplish ; but
what his com-
ay look with
i\ for a very
lots and views
ist mentioned,
actives of Mr.
71
Barneby in his trip with the ^;;^ ^'iJ^fyZ^
contributing h.s record * t^'^/Jf^^^t^ Mr. Clive. A sincere
same as those wh.ch '^'^^^^^^ ^"J *^",,^^t^^^ ^o took occasion
desire to servo h.s fellow-countiymen was a ^^^
t observe m our obituary notice a <^-t-gu>slun?^^^ ^^^ ^^^^^^^
^^re^e^lttr^elU^iMrt^^^^
Barneby. , , ,, .v friends between May
The ret^ions traversed by the tnree ", " „. T^infnresauo
and interesting in the woi Id icnm ^ presenting
the most part ^-'^^'^'^^1^ ^''t'X ^^^^^^
features of "^"^'^^'^^■'^"'l ;;,!' ^^des of sla and land-must in
to Colorado-some six tnousand miles ot « ^ ^^^ ^„,t
itself have been a rapid -^^ ^--ij^a of the world
engrossing kind. Almost ^^''^J ,j ^, ^•^^ crossed from
would meet the gaze of the t^a-veu^rs j ^^^^^
continent to,continent an. W ocean to ~ ^^^^^
Colorado canons ^^^ .^^J^J^^^f^^^JracJ minds of this genera-
the first— a new world wh'^^,'^*^''^,^^ mvsterious east was wont
tion of humanity as powerfully a^ the ^ste^^^^^^^ ^^
to attract the ^^-^^X CtV-hf abode of one of W most
Utah and the bait ^ake t uj .^^^ ^^^ wilderness
remarkable coinmun ties tfat^^^^^^ ^^ ^y^^ t
to seek and obtain the"- hbe tj t^-^JJ" ^ ^^ (.^l^en Gate
metropolis of the west, to ^*^^ ^^J^^^J' an inexhaustible fund
of the Pacific. Ca iforma -^P-^-^.^.^y of whose com
of interest for the t*^^<^« ,^"e , " , , ' untrv the El Dorado of
patriots have in times past "I'^.^^^^.^f/^Thfyosemite Valley is
fheir hopes, if not of their f ^'?-*;7; J^I of 1^^^^ trees
a marvel of bold scarps and ''Xt^^JSsLeU of water and
and luxuriant undergrowth, of magnificent s ^
?ofty cataracts, surpassmg ^«y ^^'^^jj^i'';- tlx ^ sense of its
can produce, and impressing ll^'l'^l^f^^.^^oi it with good
vast and novel scenery. ^^""™ive to reproduce its grand
reason, and their painters "tten strn e to p ^^^^^
effects. The remarkable Maripo a GrovMi s w ^ ^^ ^ J
of the route to Southern Calif oin a whe, ^aaingthe
Spanish settlers surroumi the v^i^^^^ J^ ^^
warmth and ^Jf '^o'^'™^ ,' ^„ iourney by one of the steamers
attractions of nature. No 1°"^ 30""^^^ ^ wouldbring our
which ply the eastern aiW the P^^^^^ ^^ Anglo-Saxon
travellers to those y^'l^g/^f/B^ritish Columbia, where the new
energy Y^^eouver Island a^^^^^^^^ ^^.^^ ^, , h
and old dominions of *l"gl J J'.^^'^" .^^ Then eastward again
other across a few miles of pl^eid sea i ^^^
S:^°l„^r^»s^t.l:=irwUe8 wo^d now
wm
n
, *v,o a\ahi of Mr Barneby and his friends ; and hero thev
^°^Vfin,rttom8eWe8intheL^^^^ tho virgin plajns wh.cli
would nnd tnomsoivi-o lovo s of rich aCTicul-
tural Mil, "«''>"e'°'^''''T „tT„« ratorori.ini unci indus-
.bundant »e»lth mto '"o ba™. ot ""yS^/K/wck. It U
trioM man »ho choose, to put h.a»io,uaor ^^^^^^
" '"te " t rr^ at *i. S- s i.^. i..ur„.y Li m-.
!5'" 'LrLSy hI »"i «n TJhland. of oJgor reader of hi»
ai.i„to«.ted -«J- ;i* ™^1„rrynro3 Co Vy, bu'
ixc.o'r.dS'of te^tifyin. what ^^:"'s^,:^„'^^
Then, can be no "?»»»'i'° '»' "°\°J>^* for Mr. Barnoby
and recommondat,on^ Zt b^t^Cown powo » and tho attr.o-
:ilto\?3r/Xee?wiKn:,St„te hL bo»t c.ai» upon tho
attention of our readers.
Me. BAENEBy'8 American Journal.
V December \st, 1883.
W. publish this week the second of M B-e^y^.^ri^^^^^^^^^
spirited contributions, whereof the fiist j;^« P^^^^^^^^^ ^f ^^^
ago ; and we wish once more to call the sP^cml at e ^^^^^
readers to a ^ies of articles which a^e^^^^^ In publishing in the
art If i"ii|s if -„s:csr tt
companion xn t^^^^^V?^^-, ^^Lie emW^^^
purpoaeofcommumcatingtomtending^^ ^^^.^^
Uich he has gained ;j^ ^^^readv be appreciated from the
mature of ^^1.^-'^^^^::^^ ?be traveUerf had an eye for the
first two articles ol tne series. ^^ Wherever they went
Und before they ^-^^'^^^^jy^^Xh first att^^^^^ the^, and
it was the soil a,nd its P^P^^^^f^", ^fli'^ted in their minds with
[ hero thev
laina which
ich agricul-
to poui" its
and indus-
rovk. It is
its greatest
ley that Mr.
.ch as many
lion in that
field a wide
arning ; and
il himself of
eaders of his
mpetcnt and
■age delusive
ompanv, but
1 and heard,
introduction
Mr. Barneby
id the attrac-
aim upon the
's bright and
ished a week
*;ention of our
of great local
Dlishing in the
Iv. Barneby is
aeartily recog-
juivalenttothe
oubt, in order
neighbour and
ihiefly for the
the imormation
America. The
;iated from the
I an eye for the
•ever they went
w;ted them, and
heir minds with
id the contribu-
78
tions without ^i^rBtnX'-^^^^^^^^^^^^
xnain object ^h^ch Mr Banieb ^ ^ P^^^^,^,^ ^j,;,!, ^ ^lan
gleaning from f*'"°^,*„^"P"'''\" during the desirability of settling
^ould wish to have bofore «ms dermg j^^^^^^.i,^,^^ „f the
in any particular locality. ThuHotn^^^ p,„sper6us ;
Salt Lake City we are tohUhatv^^^^^^ ^U^ thoroughly culti.
the lands ai-o well stocked ana i_r K - ^ , ^^^^^ ^^^^
vated to the best adWage^ j.^Jd stance which looked
Francisco " there wore "'™'"" ^J probably by the end of the
as if they ou.^ht to carry ^eop ^bf* P^^;^ J J i, ^^s onW
summer every Wade '.fg^ ass wiu ^^ ,',tivated land.^'
here and there t"'^'^ . ^"^ ,r. .i,V,.o who meddle with mining
Colorado " i« ri^A^'I,"^'^ e'aro no to burtheir fingers." It
Bpeculations had better take care "01*0 ^^^ ^^^^^^^ ^^^^
i„' the same throughout an wo urn p ^.^^ ^^^^^ ^
when they come to the ^^ '« ««^"^ j^f^ „f i^to been sp.^ aiy
^hich the attentum " ^^^^Sd and valuable information,
invited, they will find yet ^^^^^ .^^ another column bears
The correspondence ^hic we p .^ ^^^^^ personal
witness to the interest which has Dten ^^^^^ ^^^^^^ ^^^
reminiscences amongst J^-^^f f. J^^'^tnts of view. We have
regarding the matter f™;^ , J,;*Xr f fom the same part of the
no doubt that ^"yr'^*'^^"^.^'*': the pains t. tell the story of his
earth's surface who would be "^^ ^he Pams ^ J^^ ^^^
adventures would be l^g-^J^^^ ^r /al- «^ ^^ ^^'^t^''
intelligent audience But t*'.*' PP^"' , ^^^ jywn by a
notes,ls we have f'^^^^y.^^^lZnt^^^^^^^ ^"'^
man of culture and '^'^''^"^^""l^P'sTeh practical details of
anxious only to acquire and impart J^ P ,^^,,^^^, .^j t.
knowledge as would mos concern a g^^^ ^^^^^^^ ^^^
Nor is this task achieved "^^^^^^^^^ f^^^^ i^^^k. there is life and
dry catalogue or a common pl^^^^^ ^^^^ tbem rca. .ble
movement m Mr Ban'tby paj , ^^^.^^ ^^^^^^^ ^^
in every sense o^ the word^ .!\f ofinlormation on many points
books from Nor h America, full ot mtoi ^^^^ invariably
of interest to intending settlei^, but tbey ^ t„ be
too gloomy or too glowrng in ^^^/artFcles which we are now
received with perfect confidence. The a^^^ ^
printing ^^^ , ^^^^^3 e^-era Tittle dfscouraging ; but they bear
Lt:gt:ftht\a"m;:f entire good faith and impartiality.
Mb. Baunkby's American Jocunai..
January Uth, 1884.
We print this week the eigl»th and last of Mr^ jo'^rnaUn
5arnV-eries,of ^.ides,e^^^^^^^^^ ^^^„,,,,a. a
North America — thougn, as wc
■.i.
74
flupplemontary letter will contain Mr. Barnoby's reply to various
questions put to him by our corrcspondiMitH during tim progross
of the series. There can bo little need for us to enlarge up(m
the special value of those extremely interesting papers, which
have attracted much attention, and which, wo trust, will bo
re-published in a collected form for the use of intending
emigrants to the North- West. They amply deserve this tieat-
ment, no loss for their readable chai-acter thfui for their |)reci80
and impaHial information. We (luestion whether any unpre-
judiced Englishman has over before supplied such a mass of
practical and trustworthy detail concerning the agricultural
provinces of Canada and Columbia. No do ibt we have had
many treatises of a laudatory kind, produced under the direction
of the Dominion authorities, or at the instance of the large
railway companies ; but the notes whi(;h have been ap|)oaring in
the columns of the Hereford Tiniea for the last two months are
as far removed as possible from these undiseriminating
panegyrics, both in their object and in their method. The most
conspicuous feature in the entire series, from beginning to end,
has been the scrupulous care of the writer to avoid exaggeration,
or undue enthusia.Hm, or more unthinking praiso which might
lead only to disappointment and disaster. Where tho quality of
tho land, or tho climate, or tho resources of any particular
district unquestionably deserved to be praised, praise has not
been wanting ; but Mr. Barnoby has not hesitated to warn his
readers against dangers and drawbacks which a less candiil
writer might have slurred over, but which it is of tho utmost
concera for every emigrant to know. We may point for an
instance to the observations in the eighth article on the differ-
ence between the soil in the Red River Valley and the soil in
Western Manitoba — which undoubtedly justifies Mr. Barnoby's
deprecation of " the rage for going west." It may readily be
understood that those papers will have brought disillusion to
minds which have been carried away by the glowing accounts of
emigration agents, and that they will have tho effect of keeping
at home men who were all but determined upon trying their
fortunes in the New World. Yet on the other hand there is so
much that is really attractive in the description of the deep
black soils of certain parts of Canada, and of the luxuriant
herbage, and rich pasture lands, and abundant vegetation, and
cheap food, and possibilities of handsome profits in some of the
most favourable localities, that it would not be surpi'ising if
many of our readers had received a new impulse to emigrate by
the perusal of these careful and judicious notes.
We must congratulate Mr. Barneby very sincerely on tho
success of his efforts to utilise his voyage to America for the
benefit of his fellow-countrymen, and on the deep interest he has
contrived to give to a simple narative of facts. The writing of
these articles has manifestly been for him a labour of love, and
his reward will consist in the consciousness that he has
' to vnriouB
10 progress
lurf,'o upon
)erH, which
Ht, will be
iiitiMitliiij?
thin iroiit-
leir prooiso
any uiipre-
a masH of
Lf^i-icultural
) liavo hail
lie Jiroction
f tho hvrj,'0
ippcaring in
months are
icrimiimting
. Tho moRt
linjif to ouil,
xai,'p;ei'ation,
^rliich might
10 quality of
yr particular
liso )ms not
to warn his
less candid
' the utmost
loint for an
,n tho diffor-
1 the soil in
[r. Barneby's
ly readily bo
lisillusion to
cr accounts of
,^of keeping
trying their
ad there is so
of the deep
the luxuriant
Bgetation, and
n some of the
) surprising if
;o emigrate by
icerely on tho
nerica for the
interest he has
The writing of
ir of love, and
that he has
76
performed without fee a pWi^ -^- %1^^ ^Z dfjba'^kt
community of which ho .8 a ^''^^^^^.^^t^/jn ^ach individual
all schemes of em jat.on a- t -^;;;^^^^^^^^^^ ^y perfectly
case, iH tho want ot exact ^nowio g -.j^t which it can never
right that h» public -pint »houldl»r«0|nl«a^ ^.^^^^^
■ "T- "■'/" ThS".™ ihirhaveW.ddro.srf to u, though
Bustamed. iho louers wuii>u »•■* iij„ PotmnViv's coed nature,
thev make more or less ^^-and upon M B^^^^ be
ancf impose unon him ^r^f^f'^^^Sf^are-a spontaneous
accepted by Inm for what {^^^y ^'^^^^^^^ ^^^ may always be
compliment and testimony of appreciation. Jt may y ^
assumed, when a '^•^^^'^-^^^i'^VXchhrs appeared in it.
l^lremt'irufhf^fl^^^^^^^^^ interesting facts.
iH
tmm
LETTERS FROM CORRESPONDENTS.
SiE, — It was witli much pleasure that I heard of Mr. W.
Henry Bp.rneby's intention to publish in your widely-circulated
Hereford Times an account of his visit to America with the late
Mr. Meysey Clive and Mr. Arthur Mitchell.
Mr. Barneby states that the information which his friends
and himself endeavoured to collect related " more especially "
to " farming and emigration," and that he hopes what ho
intends publishing may be useful to emigrants. In this respect
the articles will indeed be valuable, for a man of Mr. Barneby 's
character, combined with his sound judgment, will be certain to
furnish a fair and reliable statement as to what came under his
observation. Accurate and trustworthy information as to the
vast regions of " Canada and the North- West " is greatly needed
just now. Professor Tanner's contribution to the subject —
which I am glad to see you are publishing in the Hereford
Times — is a valuable one ; and though it paints the agi-icultural
advantages of Canada in glowing colours, and so flatly contra-
dicts many reports received, it is difficult to doubt its truth and
reliability, coming from such a source. It whets one's appetite,
however, for more information on the question, and increases the
interest in Mr. Barneby's articles.
I cannot help remarking on the pity that more country
gentlemen do not turn their foreign travels to some practical
and publicly useful account, as Mr. Barneby has done. For
myself, ill-health has confined my trips to the shores of the
Mediterranean. Take this instance of Canada alone for an
example. How many mistakes might have been avoided, doubts
removed, and beaefits secured, if only a portion of the tourists
who have travelled through Canada had made n, point of
obtaining the best information procurable on the condition of
the country as an emigrant land, and laid it before their
countrymen on their return. The effort would not have detracted
from the pleasure of theii- excursions, but rather added to it ;
and they would have won the cordial thanks of their fellow-
countrymen. I only hope Mr. Barneby's example will be
widely followed. Public gratitude will wait upon every
endeavour of the kind, and as one of the public I desire to tender
to Mr. Barneby my heartipot fbnnks for the valuable work he
has undertaken.
A LANDLORD.
Herefordshire, November 28th, 1883.
Sir, — I confess that nothing in my Hereford Times of last
week attracted me so much, or gave me so much pleasure to
^rn^M. '.,.^.f»ii^wmss^i6tn^t&i
r
ird of Mr. W.
lely-circulated
I with the late
ch his friends
re especially"
opes what he
In this respect
Mr. Barneby's
II be certain to
ame under his
ition as to the
1 greatly needed
the subject —
1 the Hereford
he agi'icultural
10 flatly contra-
bt its truth and
3 one's appetite,
nd increases the
; more country
some practical
has done. For
le shores of the
la alone for an
avoided, doubts
of the tourists
lade a point of
the condition of
it before their
Dthave detracted
ler added to it ;
i of their fellow-
jxample will be
■ait upon every
I desire to tender
aluable woi'k he
ANDLORD.
ord Times of last
nuch pleasure to
77
read as Mr Barneby's first paper on his North American tonr
I am sure f shall beWesslnl the opinion of tbou^dB ^^^^ ^
-er;^^ip^rt:fd
WfestW is will be widely interesting, and provide a safer
^Tdetll Shir the giowir| accounts of the e-^f- ^^^
or the despaii-ing tales of men who have been to the Jiar west
^^' rMr'trSTwm ^ot think that I am taking too great a
libertv I should like to mention some points on which trust-
tS^Lformat^nise^^^^^^^^^^
iTw'somS^^t sa^^^^^ aU, though, of course it
S poSe tS one or more of them may be outside the scope of
hii^noter The friend to whom I have referred was concerned
if f X fortunes of a family whom he is assisting to emigrate
It'nretnf ttr ucU^^^ Manitoba, but they have not
madrup their/ninas. The questions we were considering are
*^''Vi)~Tn what parts is the soil most fit, by its character and
condition, for plough-culture ? *„^ ,n„id it be
., (2) At what rate could it be bought ? And could it be
rented, without buying ?
(V^ Would there be an opening near an arable farm ot tms
^ ^ kind foi a smart '' vet.."-that is to say, would the
p::^lation be likely to be thick enough, wittnna day s
. ^ ride, to provide such a man with plenty of work ■'
I am aware that it is difficult to answer questions oi^his
Irmd and nerhaps impossible to answer the last of them. Most
experiTnceTas to be bought; but, at any rate I can assui-e Mr
experience ^ information will be eagerly and
?hTn\fuVy te v^d^ta time when so many active men are being
driven to seek ^heir fortunes outside their native country, and
arrperfe Sv\v lling to turn their hands to downngh hard
tlv The^rst plunge is often more impori^ant than the straight
rSVuTng which' fdlows ; and Mr Barneby's very p easant nc^es
win bl immensely useful if they include some plam tips for plain
men on such points as I have mentioned. Q^gERVER.
Church Stretton, Salop, November 26th, 1898.^
Sir -Seeing in your Hereford Times of last week a number
of letSs on the above subject, -^ ^Tonnlnd'L eX
"Observer" asking some questions on behalf of intending emi-
grants! Iventure to reply to the latter.aslhavesomeknowledge
78
in the States and Manitoba, if h?/^P"';% ^^^.^ his hand to
moderate amount of capual and is J/'^^fJ^^^^'^f j.^ i, accom-
work of all kinds connected with agncultur^^ l ^.^^ ^^^
panied by a wife and young ^^^ ^vSi expensi^, unless he can
many discomforts, and probably living ^^P J^\^. ' ^ f^.^^ Eng-
obtaina berth with house on a ^^f.'j^J^ ^''i^",^^^^^^ npon
land. If single, there is little djffic^lty^^^^ i'^.^
a farm at once, and -- -3y putut with^rd work^rLgh
^ay-supposmg he can cheeituliy put p ^^ ^^^^^^,
ityVwm,=v:^tr^^^^^^
rrure, answering " Observer's 'th^^^^^^ ^^ ^^^^^^^
First— As to the part of the countiy ^""'„ mj^ i
by it! Character and condition for plough-cuH^^^^ .^IJje J^^
generally in Iowa, Minnesota, gf °*^;^^J^tn ' ^^ there are what
Excellent for plough culture, ^t course, in p ^^^.^^^
are termed " bluff lands," mean ng hilly am xocy^^ ^^^.^^
suited mostly for r™^g,fjP "Vett 'sute re^^^ is as
in every county -/jknd (and each b^^,^_^^^^ j^^^^^^^
large an area usually as t*^^.,^.*'^'", "«.._.? ^j. Province above
but the generality of the soil m ^^.^f^^^^^^^^au^with a pair
mentioned is a rich, deep loam, f''''\2fj^oneSoZ brougham,
of light horses of the stamptha weuse naone^ho^^^^^^^ ^g^^^^^
or by the sulky plough, when f ^^^^^ ^jr^^'o^e'^^an in a day. It
andiom three to four acres Pl^^^^f ^^f ^^^^nd locatioi and
is not so much a question o ^^^^ -^° ^^^^^^^^^^^^ Few grain
the style of farming that the ^^"^^ .. v but you must be
growing districts, if any, can surpass Manitoba but J^^ ^
freparfd for seven ^^-'^^. ^J^:^Zi^X' ^^^-^ ^ ''
district. , which has a charm for most
Manitoba is under B^\*^«V^n ;bTi;k tS in some respects,
Englishmen ; but 1 am inclined to ttmk that m so ^^ ^^^
from the emigrant farmer's point of ^^^^f^^ '^^-^ j, ^ore
country mainly from its money-making capabftu^s ^^ ^^^^
■ than a'doubtful advantagpmuch as I ic^et to ^^^^^^
this. I'^ tl^e States yon have readiei^^^^^ ^
and much greater facilities foi g-^^^^^^^^Jh^^ J energetic in
market, for the Yankees ^^ave been mucn m b ^^^
pushing their railway system f^^^^J'^^^^^^'^^the States
Canadian Government, and it is seldom now
I have mentioned that farms are ^o^« Jl^'^l\,„TnI b^j^st of
■ miles from a raUway station. At most piaoco v_- -
/'■^■'•■iifSVrftHHirriTfn'i r-""''^ ' •
residence
id fi'om a
nan, both
rgy, some
i hand to
is accom-
e will find
ess he can
'rom Eng-
work upon
to pay his
ork, rough
I to better
to, in some
il is fittest,
The soil
is all most
re are what
cy districts
) soil varies
mber, is as
me larger),
ance above
I with a pair
3 brougham,
ren abreast,
ti a day. It
location and
Few grain
you must be
severity of
to make it
ials ; so that
, is' ill-suited
apply for the
arm for most
ime respects,
looks at the
, this is more
have to state
your produce
iroduce to a
) energetic in
itry than the
iu the States
en or twelve
t cnn boast of
• - 79.
a few hundred inhabitant, in the States dealers are to be found
who will purchase stock, or gram, or hay to be comp
the spot by weight or, ^.^ J- J'-JSLl^Cone^f tL finLt (S
newspapers. ...Ivinta.^es for farmers in favour of
more settled up and the Canadian I'^'^^' '<^ '^^^^^^^^ .jnce rny
winter is severe, though not ot H"i^^ ''" '^^J^j. ^ ^ ^ust
north. All sorts of grain do well "^ t^\^f ^^^^'^f ^ryoJr staple
go further south if yon wish to ^^^^'^ ,^|f ™J fand hog farming.
Lp, and carry on i" -'^l"^-^'- ^^^f , ^^l^:^^^^^ States in thl
Iowa, I believe, now takes the ^-n it the Indian corn flourishes
1.,-anch of agncultural busniess m. n ^^^he ^" .^„^^^ ^^ i aid in
most luxuriantly ; but even here you »"^y ^J^""; ^{ ^^ flie
1881. six rnon^\-' r:^''':rf^lIZJt/^^e same
ground. Yet, as ni the South '\^f'^^^f^Zption, and it is
Utilude, that sauio year such a winter was the eK« p ^
seldom that the inhabitants of I^^f J^^'^^^^^th W^ern portion^of
slpi<'hs above one wintor in f..ur. lu the ^0"^^!. \> s I
£Wes, frorn Sioux City -^^^war^ - ^ ^^^ ^^^^ ,f
found now a ilourislung colony "J /"""?• ^ .^^o have settled in
them members o our leadmg county fanu es, .ho ^^^^^
tl.is district under V|^'"'^'!^ oL^tenownn^ml whose oifices
Bros., of Cambridge University " ; wS An application to
in London are at 4, B'shopsg te-st.. t Wit ru U ^^^^^
these gentlemen for information ;^>\ ^'f l^'r^'^be in vaiA either
,„ invc.stu.ent - this direction is d^sir.w^ ^^^^
in England or America, ^'"^^ ^ J^^'^, ,7belonc.ing to the St. Paul
3S:Ci:frrS,m;::;t:r;:in:lir^t,;aiding intending
^"'^^S regard to " ObserverV --^3^' 'bJ^iv^' ^'^^ '^
,„te can land be ^'^-^^^^^^^^^^'^S^^^-^^^-
difficult, perhaps, to S^' \}^]\^,^^^^;^„ to location and
Land everywhere ---^^^^^^.P^ ^^^e" tW^ are " booming,"
present circumstances. At times, wnen „ generally a
is the Yankees term i*- Pr'%?.?n^^coh^ier My^experieiice
reaction, even in the most ^'•;";;^"i^^,;.:;';rfanns^with house
has led me to the eonclusion ^hat^P^^^J^ ^ ^^^ ^^, ^ ,^„,ii
and shedding upon them can geneialj 13CP ^^^
mu t um
80
T ^f +l,PTn are alwavs roady to sell out for
creature, and many of them are always /^ , ^. j
cash payments and ,«o further J^ *^*,V^^ until
would. lH>wever recommend no emigrant tu^^ ^^^^,^^
he hae l.e.m resident ^^T '^«»*^;«, "^^ J," ,X , has an adviser
something of the ways of the - ''^^^ ^ ' ^ tt a bad plan is
ou whose udgment he can ''''•';''-,^^ J^^^^^^^^^^ ,, it can be done ;
out of the question „r,wards can genevallv be bought,
rente.! .ipou l«f » " ''? J" '"; ■,.,:;, tiL.'fonn of a sli.vre of tl.o
i„ k.ud ™i,u.-e more '»'""'';,[,', „t" ,,„, tl,, more usu.l
««,l,-.«t ,p.-| „,.' ,;,;"";„"; \l>o:,,„,. „t lie i...a «ua. «u,
S T«'::.'c« l:.ft,r;;« ren. B„. .« U,i» U . ..««er fo,-
.^„;':t„"c.W for ..■.n,.,. vet.; My 3v,e..c.;^-^
pei-sons, it .eems to me, should be n . to u tha. s ^^^^^^
lives are not regarded .4 sumv^Kur. vau nractic-d
for men to go t. much ^-l-^; .^ t^'hSl^n b,i^2i fbr all
tampers are their own vet. as J^^'^^ -^j,'„f .^is kind may
ordinary purposes. At the s uv oui ^^ ^^
sK^:^'^;tM:d::;:;of^^^^^
knowledge than 1 have hjui of "j^^j^^^-,^^ DODINGTON.
lAttle Birch, Ross, December 5th, 1883.
T.I Wr- V .rnebT'T^^T^ic account of his visit to the
mi nnu ii i i LBHi i w i L i Ill I' l l wif
out for
itice. I
id until
iS leai'nt
I adviser -
1 plan is
30 done ;
56 this is
llOUgllt,
,o fifteen ■
•egvilated
or town,
;.-s. The
I twenty
miles, or
of which
ly. In a
iiiidei-able
ilways be
it are uot
ire of the
he oldeyt,
ir returns
thau the
lore usual
I tindn the
matter for
lird (juery
Id iiof- lend
te possible
le for .such
a, centre —
d for such
). Animals'
i generally
St }jractic<»l
ers, for all
kind may
)e sorry to
rperiencbor
3T0N.
visit to the
; one meets
I vigour and
an intense
1 , , i\,ite u .1 so 1 «ill vc.tm-o t,, formulate ray c,ne,t,on» ll.u» ,
date of arnving buck in this co in.iy , i" ,i J ^^
»„■, t„.e,.„m,.li.l. tl« ^I'^f ■" ;,*'^„7 5» 'Uud th. cost of
=::;.::»^ t^rr^ri-^io^n'ti one. „.» ..^.^ ».
it is m England. j -^ g_ ,
Preston, Lancashire, December 11th, 1883. ^
S,K -I shall be obliged to you if you will allow me to submit
R[R, 1. SI 1.1' ,° IV,, yi.irr.f.Viv through vox\r cxdumns: —
r.vestmJ."' ^nlA he^ get a fair return for his money I And
would Mr. Barneby advise his om.gratu.n ^;^^^ ^^^ ^^^^.^
Herefoni, December 20th, 188?..
«m-Iam ghul that Mr. Barneby: ia his e^xcellent articles
n-eeiy ;;;ii out L ^^^^^ t: :^s^ ^"^^i^^X
Krl"ltX:kto^eir:^!Se!osdiscrict,«^d to other paxts
f Wo r^ clifrlculty of obtaining .vater for irrigation
o{ Calitorrua s ui i;,^ title "act that the cutting down of
i;;;3;^^^oet^:^^"p-Sding m America) tends to diminish
paju, . _-cv Tiarnebv kiiidlv mention them ( in tne
met with any, will *;^,. ^ '^^^^^ of North America,
niid;;t of so much mdisurimmr.te tmm.if,
faimers like to be well iuforme,l upon these p^U.^ ^^^.^^.^^ ,
Beikeley, Gloucestoi-shire, Decembvr 19th, 1883.
a Tn vonr Hereford Times of laat week a few questions
^"^ "a, C^nplv respecting Upper California, nortli of the
r ^"*^!'bf ''S^ToT£^.'''^s Mr. Barneby does not
Sacramento, by U"e loo j Sacramento, he is probably
seem to have ti-avelled «^^1 ^^^^ ^,^^°^" i,, ^j^e information
unable, from personal obsoivation, w ^
required. i •„ Q„n Francisco one of the "Forty-
short. In company ^vlth ts^o '^jn difficult
to Sacramento ('^^7- \'^^^^-*f ^^^^.^^J.^k e first oy.portunity
to get apassagB J -^-^r^^^^ r:^ t our piSge on a
that offered, and paia tit,!, ^.^i^ ,.,.,,a made "ood running up
handsome little f -^..^^^^^^^ t' ,:; t rme t^o the Sacram^ento
the magnihceut <^lXlK;<n .^^ T^^ hrst day on the river we
river proper our '^^^^^^ l^^J,;^^';! ,„,, The wind died away, and
came to what was ^'^j^^^J^^j^^^;' X largest and mo^t vivacious
left us at the ^^^^^^ ^l^^'l^ ^-^l, .f the world. At dusk we
mosquitos that I evei s.xw in ay ^ ^^^^ ^^^_^^ ^j^^,^^
tied our little craft to a t.ee -""fj;',"^^ ^" ^ ^j^^^ we conld do was
that was altogether out "^ ^^'f, 1"^^^^^^ J^ '^ aiK.stmplnse the
to try -^\;--,--Jr tyllir'langu.^e. Tlirty-four
mosquitoes in, 1 '^ai, n«t ^ j recollection ot that
years have iiassed a^ay, but Y;,^;' tired the river swarm^l
night yet. On the following ^^^JJ'^^^l'^^^ \Z<Ae had denuded
JL Ilmon (tw. yej^ ^li^ ^^^^^ ^a :t sl^-nento City, aiid
^H^S^-nS 11 XJ'tr- ^^^/.-eat'inundation
^^"^.om Sacramento to. .Stockton there is a^ wide stre^^^^^
country, a great part requiring "-^^ -^^rlento "he country
a desirable district to settle n jf^ ^^ °*^7^,,.i, ^u that can be
is fairly well watered, and the ^^/'"^ '/.^J^^^i^ ^,- ^eer, Imi-es.
aesirei: Tl.e flora ^^^^^ :S^:,;S:^ Uinuning birds,
rabbits, and q'^^.^' ^Ji!;^/7,.^';/i,nagin.^^ from the Americu
the most beautiful little t^" „^ » j^ very
Kiver to the ^'^-..-^^^/fJ^ie^Tt a scanty herbage; the
mountainous, with little to be se^n chapperell.
common pine ti.e.,t ^^^^:^^t::^^ 'iousands o\ acres
and gigantic rocks, '•'^f'^;" in mv opinion, will neverenrich
skirting the Siein-a ^^^^^ ^^^ of 'bottom land very
the husbandman. Iheie arc '^"™^ ' ^ ii„ijie to floods,
rich in soil, bnt fi-eqnently mth s^i^ and y ^^^^
The rattlesnake IS ^^^^J^^tStiM of mine, from the
reptile to cope with J" ^'^^ ^^^^^^j;! u.^i^s Bar, on the American
jtssmmmmiimui
mm.
'^,
questions
til of the
does noft
probably
formation
B " Forty-
^ yeiir '41) .
p with the
there was
voyage up
as difficult
|)port unity
*:inge on a
vinning up
iacramento
a river "we
away, and
[, vivacious
t dusk we
t— a thing
nld do was
mphiae the
Tliirty-four
iou of that
^r swarmed
irtd denuded
to City, and
place, with
', which the
, inuudatiou
e stretch of
ii,y opinion,
. the country
that can be
, deer, luwes,
mn\ing birds,
iio Auiericau
iitry is very
herbage ; the
ly chapperell,
luds of acre*
[ never enrich
ciui land, very
ble to floods,
ist dangerous
ine, from the
the American
s . he went to
88
pick it up ; he heard the i-attle of a snake ; instead of taking to his
heels he persisted in securing his bird ; result— the snake struck
him on the left leg. He had with him about one pound of
American Cavendish tobacco, and ate it all, got to his tent, lay for
two davs in a stupor ; when the narcotic had exhausted itself he
woke up, and died almost immediately. But for the tobacco,
probably, he would not have lived forty minutes.
If the soil of Upper California north of Sacramento was
equal to the climate, it wouli be the most desirable place to settle
in that I have ever seen, but seeing the soil lacks what an agricul-
turist requires, it is a most undesirable phwe. And why should an
Englishman degrade himself by taking a naturalisation oath,
wherein he swears to fight against all enemies of the United States,
especially the Queen of Great Britain, when he haa superior fields
open to him where the Union Jack of Great Britain always floats 1
1 would say to those that must make a move, " Don't go to North
America— i.e., the most Northern States, or the Dominion of
Canada, for no man can relish being half-roasted one-half of the
year and frozen the otiier half." If " One Too Many " will think
of Lord Macanlay's Prophetic Vision it may cause him to turn his
face to the south, and take a trip to tlie Antipodes. Forty days
nassace through the Canal will land him on the largest island m
the w'orld, where there is at this time as good a chance for a pushing
man as ever existed at any period, particularly in Queensland
where everything will grow that can be j?rown on the Contmentof
America To " One too Many " I say, " Queensland should bo
your home, but it will be a martyrdom to yourself and enrichment
to your family." Those v/ho have lived in distant lands know
well what Sir Walter Scott felt when he wrote :—
" Breat'ties there a man with soul 80 dead,
Who never to hiiusoK h»th naid. _
'Tula is my own, luy native land.
Arcoed, Doldowlod, Radnorshire,
° December 26th, 1883.
D. LLOYD.
Sir ---I read in your Hereford Time$ of December 29th, 1883,
a few notes written by Mr. W. Henry Barneby, taken from his
iournal of North America, and, being a settler in the North- West,
I was very much interested in them, but I should like to make a
few remaiks on one or two of his statements. Mr. Barneby says
that he would not advise any emigrant, married or single, to start
on a less sum than £300^ and he then proceeds to state how ii
settler migiit start on such a sum.
As I have had three years' experience in the country, two
years of which were passed in the North- West, I hope you will
allow me a small space in which to give my experience as to t^e
best way, in a monetary point of view, for any emigrant to f.tart
Any single man who thoroughly understands farming can
\%
::ij».v'i:'&iMiSI&
84
„„ doubt .t„l on «300 but be wiU '^ tX'K"!". ml
he i«v»t« ti. meuey ^ecor^^B ^f^', SVe»t .„d imme-
ZS wS?"; hk bou rteSaud begio to plough, aud have b,.
ttefflle built in » J- f ^jl^^STp^^rn^nr
"-lfee-beneltr:i^d%';°&^^
.he S;T^,u.HU bound .be ».. a.ou« wa, W o.
.penditu,, o. ,ta*g aja™ (.c-d.„g,^to M. Ba^eby) .
Homestead fee
Pre-emption
House and stables
Oxen
Wagon
Plough
Fumitm-e and farm tools
Journey for two
Two cows
Food for two
£2 (160 acres)
32*
60
50
16
5
20
40
.. 30
.. 60
£315
This is the principal statement that I really do not understand
unles^he in^ends^that the settler should borrow some money at
'^' 7Z a^t^TholntnrtoTaH-I think the following state
j<or anyuuB w „Rpf„l . but I recommend a man to
S::U^"rSSj£.'Ulf bVbr.ettled „„ U. .and and
built a house :— . jcjon
Journey to Winnipeg ... ••• * ^
Homestead fee gQ
House and stables - g
Plough ••• ••• 50
Oxen ... ••• ■•• ••• ■■■ ■ go
Food for one year
£167
Incidental expen8es,harness,finding land,&c. ^^
£187
•Since corrected to £80. See footnote t« Article VI.. page 49.
aful how
r, a man
d imme-
have his
iian iirat
line near
aaturally
ace, near
y west of
yill think
rat seeing
will then
sible man
decidedly
)ney, and
urse to a
lis course,
jh money,
the actual
eby) :—
)
mderstand,
3 money at
iwing state-
id a man to
is land and
£187
85
Leaving a balance of £113 with which to carry on his farm for
the following year. Thifl manner of starting would of course
entailaJeaf d?al of hard work and hard living ; but no man
let hiL 1^ to whatever country he hkes, can hve in clover at
first unfess he has a large capital. I have V-rposely^s^ejo
mention of either a pre-emption, wagon mower, or rake (horse
Twer) because I think the settler can best chooae for himself on
Lch mktte^-B ; but I will give the cost of these, in order that he
may not be overcharged :—
160 acres pre-emption tee
To be paid for in 3 years at lOs. per acre
Wagon
Mower
Rake
£2
80
16
18
8
£124
From mv own experience I should say a man ought to go out to
w .k o7a farm L a year, so that he -y learn the customs and
manners of the people around him ; and also in ^^^t time ne veiy
likely will know wLre he had better settle ; and last, but not
least make a considerable increase in his capital.
A word as to there being no call for labourers at presont
Wagts are enormously high-about £5 per --^^ -^;^*^^J'«^fi
and lodging. If a number of men go out, wages no /o'^bt will
Top a Se ; but there will still be an ^^^^^^^ J,«Xt^°J
men, and even allowing wages to drop to £3 P^^ month, with
board and lodging, surely this leaves great inducements to y^ung
men who could work for a few years and then start as farmers.
Compare this to a labourer's prospects m England !
As regards the land in Manitoba having been neglected
allow me To inform you, sir, that the private speculators and
^jobbers both of 'this country and Eastern Can^a ar the
oaase of this neglect, and, in the opinion l all classes resment
?nthecountiV are; perfect curse, as they keep out bona fide
settlers who 'naturall? would like to take better land, and
nearer the older settlements. ^ ^ BATTISCOMBE.
Woodlands Glasbury, Radnorshire, R.S.O., and of Glan
Llyn Indian Head, North-West Territory, Canada,
January 3rd, 1883.
Sir -As my son left on Saturday last ^o^ his farm in the
Nortt West Territory of Canada, he will be unable to notice Mr
Barneiv's remarks that appeared in the Hereford IhmeH of that
1; ll s therefore, onlffair to ask you to^ let me say that he
Seed the' three statements in Mr Barneby's Jo;^---^- -f ^^^
reason • The Hereford Times is so extensively read, and he is so
very anxious to get Welshmen to emigrate (^e having the high-
eSpinionof th'em as emigi-ants) that, as M. Barneby made
the procedure of taking up land apparently too easy, be was
."iTil'iti rrfi''''^'''"
wr
86
anxious to do a little towarde preventing disappointment, and
r.ri„ disaBter to emigrant farmers. He also thought that
S BrrXwemarks aiut there not being a call for labourers
mUt check that which he and all who are farming m the
Kth-West of Canada desire so much-i.a., the o"»?rat,on of
labourers, and, as far as my son is concerned, especially from
^'^'"Ayt'hT^Sment about land not being taken up m
Manitoba as much as it might be, my son was glad to have a h t
S those rich men in England who have done so much mischief
by buying up the best lands, and holding them "ntil men who
SLfi made money by hard work are compelled to buy these lands
at a large pxS' Jthe original purchaser. This causes gi-ea
injury t? the Colony, as some of the best lands are kept out of
cultivation. ^ BATTISCOMBE.
. Woodlands, Glasbury, January 23rd, 1884.
SiB,-During the time you were publishing Mr. Barnebg
narrative a correspondent asked some questions about a district
north of Sacramento. Seeing by his narrative that Mr. Barneby
Sad not travelled that district, f ventured to give some descrip-
tSnof itin your Hereford Times of December 29th. Since then
I have been^frequentiy asked questions by letter and otherwise
respecting Mr. Barneby's narrative. I take this opportunity to
Inform aU that may 'be concerned to know, that, from past
experTence, I know his narrative to be stamped with truth ; and
it should be remembered that it requires no small amount of
Iral courage to tell the whole truth, n the face of the many
Td varied interests centred in North America at this time The
publL are greatly indebted to Mr. Barneby for the know edge
Ee has imparted-knowledge that will take months and the
expenditure of hundreds of pounds for anyone to acquire practi-
cally. D. LLOYD.
Argoed, Doldowlod, Radnorshire,
January 30th, 1884.
tnent, and
light that
labourers
ing in the
Efration of
ially from
cen up in
have a hit
h mischief
men who
these lands
luses gi'oat
:ept out of
MBE.
Barneby's
t a district
[r. Barneby
ne descrip-
Since then
[ otherwise
ortunity to
from past
truth; and
amount of
f the many
s time. The
I knowledge
bs and the
[uii'e practi-
LOYD.
MR. BARNEBT'S REPLIES TO CORRESPONDENTS.
Sib -In your last issue I brought to a conclusixjn the
articles Which 1 had undertaken to contribute to the Uerefofd
TimeB; in fact, I have so far trespassed .'^P"" /"'^^ ?P^.°« ^'in^
send two papers in excess of my original intention ; but, owing
L the large extent of country traversed it has been -POHSible
to compress the leading facts into a smaller limit I trust tuat
the perusal of these articles will not have proved wearisome to
those of your readers who may have given them their attention.
I now send the replies, as promised, to several correspond-
eats who have sought further information. i„xm^
As regards "Observer's" inquiries of December Ist, Mr.
Marriott Doddington, has, in his excellent letter, answered the
main points, and I very much appreciated his contribution 1
am not however, aware what parts of Manitoba and the North.
West iiat gontlUan has visited, so I will proceed to answer
" Observer's " questions to the best of my ability, trusting that
he will understand that any views I may express are not
intended to be antagonistic, and do not necessarily W J t^«
same districts. (1). As stated in my Article No. VI., the best land
n the North- WU for plough culture (so far as I have seen or
heard) extends from Edmonton and Prince Albert on the north,
to Qu'Appelle and Brandon (in Manitoba) on the south;
some of the lands north of Qu'Appelle being still open for
settlement. (For signs of good land, Ac, in selecting farms see
aS VIII). In Manitoba, I should recommend the southern
^vision and the Red River Valley, b.,t especially the latter.
?2) I should say from five to fifteen dollars (£1 to £3) per acre
would be the price asked for ordinary aettaed lands, ihe
Railway Company offers its lands at two and a half dollars ; and
different Companies have their own prices, with a rebate on
settlement. Renting land is a practice not much ^esor ed .o ;
when it is done, it is generally on the share principle of dividing
The crops (3) . I do not think that there would be any opening
in the country, near an arable farm, for a smart vet. ; or, at any
rate, not sufficient to bring him in a practice worth having^ 1
am sorry that I cannot give a more hopeful rep y than this
but the houses are usually so far apart that it would take a good
many very long days' rides to provide such a man with adequate
work, Iven if his Lrvices were required at all. ^r. ov n.^v^
town a prac tice worth having might possibly be obtained ; but
probably, in the present state of things, the supply m this
urofession is equal to the demand.
^ la reply t^ "J.W.S.," writing from Preston, Lancashire
as to the expense of a visit to the Yosemite:-In the VaUey itself
the cost of living is dear, say. £1 per day; and those who have
jtead of
iderable
at boot-
Lnen are
(1). A
comfort
jads and
ifortable
red from
laths are
)ng3t the
.oubtedly
e caution
:[uired to
ould be —
I to San
the Yose-
Leaving
reach the
Ten days
(although
from San
e were the
L could be
imfortable
o see other
in May is
one person
included) ;
ided) ; food
e Yosemite
I. Servants
be cost for
uld be the
nn for the
t much, less
he expense
d Times of
ito, a much
an furnished
the country
some of the
c description
•th of this in
:e were other
D better, but I
,ir return for
it prove to be
ly, that for a
89
person sixty years of age, although now in full health and vigour,
the complete change of climate, habits of life, &c., and the
disCL Tiforts which must at first be met with, are a serious con-
sideration. I may safely add that in Southern California there
is much apparently waste land now being converted, by means of
irrigation, into excellent vineyards and orange groves ; and
comfortable hor.ses are rapidly springing up. The climate,
although rathor warm in summer, is de'icious m the winter.
Here " One t-jo Many " might make himself a comfortable home,
and possibly with judgment might turn his money to account.
The lands are rapidly increasing in value; but I fancy there
are many places on the western slopes of the Sierra Madre
Mountains, not far from San Gabriel Station on the Southern
Pacific Railway, where they may still be procured at a fair price.
However, in every case, a good water supply from the mountains
must be the foremost consideration, as land without it is prac-
tically useless for either a vineyard or an orange-grove.
In reply to " Looking West,'' there are many parts of
America where the drawbacks alluded to as regards California
do not exist ; it is, however, difficult to know exactly what
" Lookino- West " requires. Assuming that he wishes for
a wheat farm in the States, he cannot do better than Illinois or
Iowa ; but for mixed farming I was somewhat attracted by the
southern part of Wisconsin. If he requires a cattle ranche,
Wyoming is the best locality ; but the ground there is
mostly taken up. Montana is highly spoken of for cattle and
sheep, and in this State there is room and to spare. Washington
Territory is a new field recently opened up, and is reported to
be good for general farming, and to produce first-rate hops. The
main feature in selecting land in Montana is to procure a river
frontage, let it be ever so small. Without this, or water of some
kind, cattle ranching is useless. If possessed of a river rontage
a man can have as much grazing land in tbo rear as he can
utilize, for no one will care to interfere with him there. I have,
perhaps, already said more than enough about Canada; so I need
not further refer to it than to say that it io worth while for a
farmer with capital, who does not care to rough it in Manitoba
or the North. West, to cast an eye to Ontario, where there ara
many improved farms now available, at a cheaper rate than a
few years ago. , ,• i j ■
In reference to Mr. G. C. Battiscombe's letter, published in
the Hereford Times of January 5th, I must own in the first place
that I cannot see its drift. I have certainly said nothing m nay
articles to induce a man to suppose that he can " immediately
take up his homestead and begin to plough, and have his house
and stable built in a few days." No reasonable man would
suppose that he c mid. On the contrary, I have said in the very
article to which he refers (No 71.), that " if a man v.ants to
settle he ought to take no one's advice, but should visit the
country and judge for him'^elf ;" and this recommendation I have
repeated in my concluding article. If married, a man must
90
decide whether to take his wife " land prospecting," or not ; but
I should certainly not advise him to do so, both on account of the
expense, and of the discomforts to which she would be exposed.
I may also mention that there are many married men now living
in Manitoba, and the North. West, who have left their wives
behind them. The ladies, as a rule, do not like the dulness of a
prairie life, and often pi'omise to follow when things are made
more comfortable for them.
As to Mr. Battiscombe's figures, though some of the items
are different, the two estimates, if compared, come to very much
the same in the end.
In my estimate I added, " Of course a single man can
make the necessary deductions, and a married man with a family
the necessary additions." It is of this estimate that Mr.
Battiscombe says, " This is the principal statement that I really
do not understand, unless he (Mr. Bameby) intends that the
settler should borrow money at the very beginning of his new
career." I must express my regret at my statement not being under-
stood, though I do not think I could have made it much clearer ;
but I fail to see that Mr. Battiscombe's statement in reply throws
any fresh light on the subject. I never hinted that a settler
should borrow money at starting, but expressly stated (see
Article VI.) " I am of opinion that a settler, to do well, should
not start with less than £300 to draw upon." Of course, as in
England, the more he has the better. In any case, the first two
or three years of settling must be very hard and rough work ;
and, as I have said, many people consider that a man should
have enough money to keep him two years instead of one: —
I added that it must be remembered, that if he takes up land
in the early spring of one year, he cannot look for any return
from his com crops for at least eighteen months afterw^ards.
The only point, as far as I can make out, on which Mr.
Battiscombe really disagi-ees with me is as to the call for labour.
The expression I used in Articu VI. was as follows : — " I see no
call at present for an influx of the labouring classes into the
North. West ; for, except where capitalists or companies employ
labour, the settlers have as much as they can do to support
themselves, without employing outside labour, except in the
busy time of the year.'' In the present undeveloped state of the
country, it appears to me that every man is anxious to be a
master, and not a labourer ; and that this is the true reason why
wages are so high, and why there is, apparently, a scarcity of
labour to those wto want to procure men's services as in Eng-
land. It must also be remembered that the long winters, with
nothing to do exc3pt feeding cattle and cutting wood, naturally
preclude a farmer keeping more extra hands than absolutely
necessary during that time ; hence, I think I am right in
cautioning labourers not to rush into a country where (until its
resources aif more developed) constant employment is, to say
the least, uncertain.
lot ; but
it of the
sxposed.
living
IT wives
less of a
•e made
91
I speak of the country as it was last autumn, and I think
Articles VII. and VIII. will amply show the deficiency of
capital.
I have also, in Article VIII. quoted the then existing rate
of wages in Manitoba, and I was told by a man that he could get
as many labourers as he wanted. It is also a significant fact that
we found a camp of sixty railway workmen in the North- West,
who had been out of employment for three months, and who
stated that they could not get any work.
In the remarks I have made I have only quoted information
given me by settlers themselves ; and I have written impartially,
as a casual observer travelling through the country, and not as
one interested in any particular locality. Mr. Battiscombe may
see, if he reads my article again, that I have several times
deprecated the way in which land in Manitoba and other parts
has been taken up and held by speculators, Ac. Anyone who
visits the country must see the bad efEects of this on all sides.
W. HENRY BARNEBY.
Bredenbury Court, Bromyard,
January 16th, 1884.
C