MANITOBA 



MANITOTJLIN ISLANDS 



23 



the prairies, the average depth being about 18 to 24 

 inches ; the native horses graze out of doors all 

 the winter. Ploughing generally begins during 

 April. The harvest takes place in August and 

 September. Trees are found along the rivers and 

 streams, and in greater abundance in the eastern 

 and northern parts of the province ; but Manitoba 

 is not well wooded. 



The population in 1891 was 154,442 Presby- 

 terians, 39,001 ; Church of England, 30,852 ; Metho- 

 dists, 28,437; Roman Catholics, 20,571 ; Baptists. 

 16,112. Pop. in 1886, 108,640, classified as fol- 

 lows: of English origin, 25,949; Irish, 21,180; 

 Scotch, 25,676 ; Indians, 557") ; half-breeds, 7985 ; 

 French, 6821; Germans, 11,082; Icelanders, 2468. 

 Among the principal cities and towns are Winni- 

 peg ( 1891 ), 25,642 ; Portage-la-Prairie, 3363 ; Bran- 

 don, 3778 ; and Selkirk, 1000. The chief industry is 

 agriculture; the soil is of remarkable depth and 

 fertility, and in favourable seasons the crops are 

 large, considering the imperfect methods of culti- 

 vation practised. Manitoba wheat and flour are 

 regarded as the finest in the continent. Much of 

 it is lionght up by American millers, the product 

 being mixed with flours made from grain produced 

 in the United States. Other grains succeed admir- 

 ably, and an endeavour is being made to encourage 

 the growth of tlax. Vegetables and roots are un- 

 usually prolific and of great size. Wheat-growing 

 was for some few years the staple industry ; but 

 the farmers are now engaged more in mixed farm- 

 ing, including dairy-farming and the raising of 

 cattle and sheep. Fruit-growing is not carried on 

 to any extent, although many of the smaller 

 varieties such as the strawberry, block and red 

 currant, rasplierry, gooselicrry, and cranberry 

 appear to be indigenous. In minerals the province 

 is not very rich, but coal is found in southern 

 Manitoba, although it is not yet worked to any 

 extent. Manufactures of various kinds are increas- 

 ing ; and Winnipeg is to a large extent the distrib- 

 uting centre for the western part of the Dominion. 

 l!ig game is still found in the less accessible parts 

 of tlie province moose, bear, and some kinds of 

 deer. Small game is plentiful principally prairie 

 chicken and wild duck. Close times are provided 

 for the protection of all the principal wild animals 

 and birds. A considerable fishing industry in 

 carried on in the rivers and lakes, and white-fish 

 and pickerel are caught in large quantities. 



Of the imports into the province, nearly half 

 comes from the United States. The exports, 

 animals and their produce, are sent to Britain 

 and the United States. 



The government is administered by a lieutenant 

 governor, appointed by the governor-m-council. He 

 led by an Executive! 'ouncil and a Legislative 

 Assembly of forty members elected by the people. 

 There is only one House of Parliament in Mani- 

 toba. The province is represented by four members 

 in the Dominion Senate and by seven in the House 

 of Commons. Serious difficulty arose between the 

 Canadian government and the provincial adminis- 

 tration in regard to education. The Catholics of 

 Manitoba had till 1890 separate schools, but in that 

 year denominational schools were abolished by the 

 local Act, which established free non-sectarian 

 schools supported by rates. Agitation for their res- 

 toration was vigorously carried on ; the Dominion 

 government interfered to protect the privileges of 

 the Catholic minority, and ultimately in 1896 a 

 compromise was arrived at. 



In Manitoba the Dominion government offers 

 free grants of land 160 acres to every male 

 settler above eighteen years of age, and to even- 

 female who is the head of a family. There is still 

 a eonsiderable quantity of government land undis- 

 posed of in the north western and north-eastern 



parts of the province. The Canadian Pacific Rail- 

 way Company, the Canada North-west Land Com- 

 pany, the Manitoba and North-western Railway 

 Company, and the Hudson Bay Company have a con- 

 siderable quantity of land for sale in different parts 

 of the province, the price ranging from 2.50 

 up to $7 or 8 per acre, according to locality and 

 contiguity to railways and settlements. A large 

 land grant has also recently been promised to 

 the Hudson Bay Railway Company. Improved 

 farms are to be had on reasonable terms at moder- 

 ate prices. The Dominion Lands Commissioner 

 is established in Winnipeg, and there are land 

 and immigration agents in different parts of the 

 province. 



Manitoba is in communication by rail with the 

 Atlantic seaboard and the Pacific, and with all 

 parts of Canada and the United States. The 

 construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway 

 completed in 1885 has naturally been of immense 

 advantage to the province. The first railway to 

 Manitoba was a continuation of the United 

 States system from Pembina to Winnipeg, and 

 was opened in 1879. The Northern Pacific Rail- 

 way has direct connection with Winnipeg and 

 Brandon ; and a railway is projected from Winni- 

 peg to Hudson Bay. 



Until 1868 what is now known as Manitoba 

 formed a portion of the territory under the control 

 of the Hudson Bay Company. The first agricul- 

 tural settlement in the country was formed in 1812, 

 under the auspices of the Earl of Selkirk, who 

 took out a party of Highlanders in that year. 

 They were located at Kildonan and Selkirk, on 

 the Red River, about 20 miles north of the site 

 of the present city of Winnipeg. In 1868 the 

 company gave up their exclusive rights to the 

 government of the territory, on certain con- 

 ditions among others a money payment of 

 300,000 and a considerable grant of land. The 

 province of Manitoba was constituted by an 

 Act passed in 1870. One of the first events of 

 importance that happened in Manitoba was the 

 Kiel rebellion in 1869-70. It arose out of a feeling 

 of some of the inhabitants that their position and 

 rights had not teen sufficiently considered in the 

 transfer already mentioned. The rebellion col- 

 lapsed in 1870 on the arrival at Fort Garry, the 

 site of the present city of Winnipeg, of the expe- 

 dition under Colonel (afterwards Lord) Wolseley. 

 Most of the leaders in the rebellion were subse- 

 quently amnestied. The progress of Manitoba 

 from an agricultural point of view has been some- 

 what remarkable, but its political history has been 

 comparatively uneventful, excepting for the exist- 

 ence of occasional friction between the provincial 

 and Federal authorities since 1880, in connection 

 with railway extension in the province. After pro- 

 tracted negotiations these differences have, how- 

 ever, been disposed of. 



References may be made to the following works: 

 Bryce's Manitoba : It Infancy, Growth, and Present 

 Condition (1882) ; Christie's Manitoba Deieribed ( 1885 ) ; 

 Macoun's Manitoba and the Oreat North-west (Loud. 

 1883); Grant's Ocean to Ocean (1878); Fream's Cana- 

 dian Agriculture (1885); Official Handbook to Canada 

 (Lond. 1890); Haydon and Selwyn's North America 

 (18831; A Canadian Tour ( 1886 ) ; The Statistical Year- 

 book of Canada (Ottawa, 1890). 



Jlaniton. See ANIMAL-WORSHIP, Vol. I. p. 



288. 



Milllitoil. a summer-resort at the base of Pike's 

 Peak, Colorado, 6296 feet above the level of the 

 sea. It is the Saratoga of the west, with soda 

 springs ami several large summer hotels. Pop. 1303. 



Mailftoulin Islands, a chain of islands in 

 Lake Huron,- separating it from Georgian Bay. 

 The principal are Grand Manitoulin (80 miles long 



