CITIES, AMERICAN. (WINNIPEG.) 



COLOMBIA. 



175 



tributary from the west. Both these streams 

 are navigable by steamboats, though this meth- 

 od of transportation has been almost entirely 

 superseded by railroads. Before 1870 the 

 place was hardly more than a fortified post of 

 the Hudson Bay Company, known as Fort 

 Garry, the center of a small farming and hunt- 

 ing community of people, mostly half-breeds, 

 called the Red River Colony. An insurrection 

 among these led to the dispatch of an army 

 thither, which made its way through the wil- 

 derness from Fort William, on Lake Superior, 

 and subdued the malcontents. This was in 

 1870. The exploration and advertisement of 

 the value of the region led to emigration there 

 immediately afterward, and the people soon 

 demanded railroad connection with the east. 

 In 1879 a road was completed up the Red river, 

 to connect with a line to St. Paul ; and in 1883 

 the Government line, now incorporated with 

 the Canadian Pacific, was opened between 

 Winnipeg and Port Arthur, on Thunder Bay, 

 the nearest harbor on the north shore of Lake 

 Superior. Under this impetus, and because of 

 a great influx of settlers upon the free prairies 

 of Manitoba and westward, the city grew with 

 extraordinary rapidity, and public and private 

 enterprises were undertaken upon an immense 

 scale. A second railroad to the United States 

 was built, several local lines were constructed, 

 and the Canadian Pacific pushed westward, 

 reaching and crossing the Rocky mountains in 

 1S85. Then came a succession of bad crops, a 

 second insurrection of the half-breeds of the 

 Northwest Territories, and a consequent cessa- 

 tion of immigration. Under this stress, Win- 

 nipeg's inflated prosperity collapsed, and a time 

 of great discouragement and hardship ensued. 

 From this it has now recovered, and business, 

 re-established on a firmer foundation, is steadi- 

 ly advancing. iv Notwithstanding all you have 

 been told about it, you can hardly be prepared 

 to find the frontier trading-post of yesterday 

 transformed into a city of 30,000 inhabitants, 

 with miles of imposing structures, hotels, 

 stores, banks, and theatres, with beautiful 

 churches, schools, and colleges, with tasteful 

 and even splendid residences, with immense 

 mills and many manufactories, with a far- 

 reaching trade, and with all the evidences of 

 wealth, comfort, and cultivation to be found in 

 cities of a century's growth. . . . Situated just 

 where the forests end and the vast prairies 

 begin, with thousands of miles of river [boat] 

 navigation to the north, south, and west, and 

 with railways radiating in every direction, 

 Winnipeg has become the commercial focus of 

 the Canadian Northwest. . . . From there the 

 wants of the people in the West are supplied, 

 and this way come the products of their fields, 

 while from the far north are brought furs in 

 great variety." The buildings of the Provin- 

 cial Government are commodious, but have 

 little architectural pretension. They stand 

 upon the bank of the Assiniboine, and are 

 surrounded by growing trees. Opposite Win- 



nipeg is the suburb St. Boniface, the seat of a 

 Roman Catholic archbishop, where are con- 

 vents, academies, and a theological school. 

 The climate in "Winnipeg is much like that of 

 Minnesota, though rather more severe in win- 

 ter. It is, however, healthful for most per- 

 sons, and its winter rigors do not interfere 

 with either business or pleasure. 



COLOMBIA, an independent republic of South 

 America. (For details relating to area, popu- 

 lation, etc., see " Annual Cyclopaedia " for 1886 

 and 1887.) 



Government. The President is Dr. Rafael 

 Nunez, whose term of office will expire on 

 Aug. 6, 1892. His Cabinet is formed of the 

 following ministers: Of Government, Don 

 Domingo Ospina Camacho; Foreign Affairs, 

 Don Vicente Restrepo ; Finance, Don Felipe 

 Paul ; War, Gen. Antonio B. Cuervo ; Educa- 

 tion, Don Jesus Casas Rojas; Treasury, Don 

 Carlos Martinez Silva; Public Works, Gen. 

 Rafael Reyes. The office of Vice-President 

 has been abolished for the term of the present 

 administration, and Gen. Eliseo Payan put on 

 the retired list and pensioned. 



The United States Minister at Bogota is 

 Dabney H. Maury, and the Colombian Minister 

 at Washington is Don Jose Marcelino Hurtado. 

 The Colombian Consul at New York is Don 

 Climaco Calderon. The American Consul- 

 General at Bogota is John G. AYalker; the 

 Consul at Carthagena, William B. McMaster; 

 at Colon- Aspinwall. Victor Yifquain ; at Me- 

 dellin, William Gordon ; and the Consul-Gen- 

 eral at Panama, Thomas Adamson. 



Finance. The statement submitted to Con- 

 gress for the fiscal year 1888 by the Minister 

 of Finance shows that to the external debt of 

 1,913,000, mostly held in England, there has 

 to be added 806,000 accumulated interest. 

 The internal funded debt amounts to $5,037,- 

 000, while the floating debt, which consists of 

 numerous commitments to railway and other 

 enterprises, amounts to $24.568,000. The 

 total internal debt reaches, therefore, the sum 

 of $29,605,000. In addition, there is an issue 

 of inconvertible paper money amounting to 

 $10,130.000. The revenue for the ensuing 

 fiscal year is estimated at $18,173,700, and the 

 expenditure at $23,852,800, showing a deficit 

 of $5,679,100. 



The gross amount of duties collected at the 

 Colombian custom-houses in 1887 was $4,795,- 

 263, the expenses were $300,951, leaving the 

 treasury $4,494,312 net proceeds. The cus- 

 tom-house at Barranquilla collected $3,098,- 

 000; that at Carthagena, $906,000; Cucuta, 

 $327,000; Buenaventura, 263,000, and Tu- 

 maco, $75,000; none of the other custom- 

 houses collected over $50,000. By decree of 

 June 13, the duties to be collected at Cucuta : 

 in the interior, on imports has been fixed at 25 

 per cent, to date from August 14. 



Army, The strength of the Federal army on 

 a peace footing, for 1889 and 1890, has been 

 fixed at 5,500 men, with their officers; in war- 



