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TJie Country Gentkman^s Magazine 



evil which is growing yearly worse, removal 

 to " other regions where the resources of 

 nature, her open spaces, and her fertility are 

 far ahead of human industry." But where 

 shall we go ? The fields are many and in- 

 viting, and from all of them there seems 

 wafted to our shores the appeal, " Come and 

 replenish the earth and subdue it, for long has 

 it here been waiting for your advent, the skill 

 of your brain and the toil of your hands, and 

 rich are the harvests with which it will reward 

 your toil." Each field has its own special 

 excellences and attractions, a nd each has its 

 own peculiar drawbacks, for Paradise has 

 disappeared from earth since Adam left his 

 Eden home. It becomes, then, a diflicult 

 and delicate matter for a man to decide be- 

 tween the rival claims of so many fields, and 

 it would be presumptuous for any one to as- 

 sert that the particular land which he favours 

 is pre-eminently the best for emigrants 

 indiscriminately. The quality of the 

 sphere largely depends upon the character, 

 wants, talents, tastes, and aptitudes of 

 the emigrant ; and, therefore in regard to 

 all details which meet his peculiar case, each 

 man must judge for himself. In coming to 

 such a decision, however, one may be of con- 

 siderable service to his fellows by giving 

 them the newest, fullest and most reliable in- 

 formation regarding those parts of the world 

 with which he is most familiar, and which in 

 his judgment afford the outlets for the de- 

 velopment of talent, industry and capital 

 which an old and densely populated country 

 like ours so much requires. In the hope of 

 being able to guide some who may be on the 

 outlook for a new field of life and labour, to 

 a wise and profitable selection, I shall lay 

 before your readers an account of my visit to 

 the New North West ; what I have seen and 

 heard there ; and the conclusion to which 1 

 iiave arrived from the facts that have come 

 under my own personal observation, and the 

 statements I have received from the most 

 competent witnesses. 



I had heard and read a good deal about 

 the attractions of Minnesota, " the North 

 Star State ; " and it was suggested to me that 

 I might take some part in organizing a colony 



to settle there. Before deciding, however, 

 to take part in such a responsible enterprise, 

 in the exercise of that caution for which we 

 Scots are proverbial, I resolved to go out 

 and see the land for myself, and bring back 

 a faithful report on the subject. In due time 

 arrangements were completed ; and, after a 

 pleasant run across the Atlantic, along the 

 Grand Trunk Railway of Canada, and up 

 through Lakes Huron and Superior, I 

 landed at Duluth, which is at present the 

 eastern terminus of the Northern Pacific 

 Railway, and so found myself in Minnesota. 

 This state is only fourteen years old, and 

 already is one of the greatest illustrations of 

 American enterprise. It extends from Lake 

 Superior on the east to the Red River on the 

 west; and varies in breadth from 250 to 350 

 miles ; while it stretches from Manitoba on 

 the north to Iowa on the south, a distance of 

 nearly 400 miles. The extent of country 

 thus embraced numbers, it is said, as many 

 square miles as New England and New York 

 combined. My expectations had been con- 

 siderably excited by the descriptions which 

 I had read of the country, its healthiness, 

 beauty, and fertility ; but they were somewhat 

 damped by a pamphlet which was put into 

 my hands as soon as I landed in Canada, which 

 denounced in no measured terms the glowing 

 descriptions which have been given of Min- 

 nesota, its climate, and capabilities ; calling 

 them " United States' lies," and declaring that 

 " farming in Minnesota is niggering of the 

 worst description." I found out afterwards 

 that this was only a specimen of the bitter 

 jealousy cherished by the Canadians against 

 the States. Indeed they are perfectly en- 

 raged to witness such an exodus of people 

 from Britain passing beyond their dominion 

 into the States ; and are doing everything in 

 their power to prevent its continuance, and 

 this pamphlet was one of the means employed 

 for that purpose. But it will not succeed, 

 for the fact that the largest proportion of 

 emigrants who have left our shor.;s for many 

 years have passed by Canada and gone into 

 the States, is proof positive that there is some- 

 thing more attractive for them there. In 

 1866 the number who went to the Colonies 



