WHAT MR. PHELPS SAW. – INTERESTING INFORMATION CONCERNING THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE.

The Charms and Attractions of Winnipeg-A Few Notes on the Experimental Farm-

The Great Sanderson Farm-Warm Greetings From Old Friends-

A Great Country and an Enjoyable Visit

[Welland Telegraph, 2 October 1891]

Since Mr. John Phelps, Welland’s well known and popular miller returned from his visit to Canada’s great wheat garden, the prairie province of Manitoba, he has been enthusiastic over the glories of the country, and more than ever convinced that when Canada’s great resources in that section are once developed, the ethereal blue dome will cover no land more favored with choice advantages or blessed with greater prosperity. It is Mr. Phelps’ delight to recount the sights he saw and enjoyed, to speak of the friends he met, and to extoll upon the great prospects and probabilities of the near and bright future of the place he visited. John’s wide circle of friends in the counties of Welland, Lincoln and Monck, know him as a bright and valuable conservationist, but when he talks of Manitoba and gets thoroughly warmed up to his subject, words of enthusiasm flow with such rapid eloquence and interesting detail, lending such additional charm to his stories, that one can almost imagine that they are in the midst of the great province with its miles of golden grain, while the soft cadence of the narrator’s musical voice as it rises and falls in accordance with the proper emphasis on a particular subject, makes one think they can hear the echo of the laden wheat heads as they rustle under the influence of the undulating waves of the balmy prairie breezes. A.K. Scholfield, Esq., of Port Colborne, and Mr. J. Hindson, Mr. Phelps’ father-in-law were the companions, and no trio ever enjoyed the beauties of nature more than they.

Taking the Canada Pacific main line at North Bay they went directly to Winnipeg, a city which in ten years has risen from a collection of huts to a populous metropolis of palatial buildings. Nearly two days were spent here in sight seeing, but so brief a period was inadequate for a proper survey of the many places of interest in which the city abounds, with its magnificent hall, its volunteers monument, erected in honor of the brave boys who fell for their country’s honor in quitting the Riel rebellion, its fine public buildings, its massive business structures of white brick and Selkirk stone, its monument to the late Premier Norquay, whose memory is kept green in the reverence and esteem of the people, its electric railway and its beautiful park. Considering the rapidity of its growth and the substantial character of everything connected with it, Mr. Phelps thinks the city of Winnipeg is entitled to be catalogued among the wonders of the world. The city itself, says Mr. Phelps, is a most noble monument to the national policy of the late Sir John A. Macdonald, whose fostering care of the country’s interests developed and is still developing its great resources. It is a demonstration of the utility of that great artery of commerce, the Canadian Pacific Railway, to which the government lent deserving aid in the face of short sighted opposition that verged on rebellion.

In speaking of the rapid rise of some of the business men, Mr. Phelps instanced the case of Mr. George Rogers, who located in Winnipeg about 10 years ago. Without any capital to start Mr. Rogers commenced business in a small way, by selling tea. He had a good business head, was a shrewd buyer and a pushing salesman, with a keen perception of what opportunities were likely to be made advantageous, and governed himself accordingly. Mr. Rogers prospered and made money, not through the rulings of “Luck,” but by perseverance and tenacity of purpose. He now owns five business establishments, doing a thriving trade in dry goods and boots and shoes. Mr. Phelps met Mr. James Lamont, nephew of Mr. S. Lamont, of Welland, who occupies a good position as manager of Mr. Rogers’ boot and shoe establishment, and from whom many interesting details were learned concerning Winnipeg’s progress. He was the acme of courtesy to the visitors, making their short stay very pleasant with kind attention and piloting them to places which awakened more than ordinary interest. Mr. Lamont likes Winnipeg, and speaks in glowing terms of the good prospect the place affords to business men. As an example of what is being done there, he related the fact that last November the firm banked $26,000 from one month’s business in the boot and shoe trade. Mr. Phelps, Mr. Scholfield and Mr. Hindson feel greatly gratified to Mr. Lamont for his efforts in catering to their pleasure and entertainment.

Among other friends Mr. Phelps met Mr. E. Hooker, who is doing a good trade and laying up treasures with the  result of a brick yard in the city and a planing mill at Selkirk. Another familiar face was that of Mr. Wm. Walker, late of Thorold, who is now buying grain for a couple of Toronto firms. Mr. Phelps says his time was too short, and although he saw a good deal of the city, he did not see as much of it as he would have liked to. But old father time hustles along just as fast in Manitoba as it does in Welland, and the visitors found it necessary to hie away to Brandon to complete their visit.

When John talks of the country surrounding Brandon he fairly bubbles over with enthusiasm, and can find no words in the English vocabulary eloquent enough to emphasize his words sufficiently to convey the admiration he feels. Brandon, though considerably smaller than Winnipeg, and its establishment of more recent, is characterized by the same rapid development as its eastern neighbor. It is growing fast and it is growing substantially. Its schools and public buildings are fine structures of architectural beauty, and a magnificent city hall is now in course of erection. Mr. Phelps here met quite a number of people who formerly lived in the Niagara district; all of them are doing well with possessions and prospects in their present homes. He met the Zink brothers, formerly of Wellandport, now prosperous wholesale and retail boot and shoe merchants. The farm of Mr. Samuel Nunn, a native Pelhamite, containing 640 acres and situated about 20 miles from Brandon, was an attraction which he says was worth travelling the whole distance to see. Mr. Scholfield calls it the “Model Farm,” and Mr. Phelps acquiesces in the  name, with the assertion that it is one of the finest and best kept and cultivated farms of the country. Mr. Nunn has been there nine years and can show the results of his nine years labor in substantial improvements. He had not yet threshed when our visitors were there, but from 240 acres of wheat and 80 acres of oats he expected a large yield, as it was all harvested in a fine condition. Last year he had 2,500 bushels of wheat and 4,800 bushels of oats from a smaller area than given to those crops this year. He has plenty of stock and fine buildings. He intends going into stock more extensively, his farm being well adapted for that business. He now possesses one pasture field of 120 acres containing a spring of water that never runs dry. Mr. Nunn struck a good thing and appreciates it. One of the sights of the locality is the Great Sanderson farm, situated 4 miles form Brandon, where 2,100 acres were sown in wheat this season, requiring 13 binders and 42 men for two weeks to harvest. The experimental farm two miles from the city was visited. The property is comprised of 750 acres and contains five different soil formation in its hills and valleys. Tests of every description in the interest of Manitoba farming are being made, but the institution is of too recent inauguration to allow of many satisfactory and practical results being yet obtained. Different varieties of grain are tested in various modes of cultivation on the different soils, and when all the experiments have been fully tested and reported upon, the result will be of immeasurable benefit to the Manitoba farmer. One of the interesting experiments is the growing of almost every variety of trees known to the temperature latitudes, with a view of determining what will thrive best under exposure to Manitobian climate, and which will be furnished farmers for the ornamentation and protection of their premises. As a souvenir of the farm, our friends brought away a big potato and a little box full of soil. The latter is quite ordinary looking, and to the casual observer don’t exhibit any more virtue than a handful picked up on one of Welland’s streets, but it is the genuine Manitoba dirt, dried out considerably of course, and when John finds a corner for it in one end of his potato patch, moistens it with purified water from the Welland canal, and breathes into the atmosphere surrounding it some of the spicy portions of his tales of Manitoba adventures, then look out for five pound potatoes and turnips as big as mill stones.

Mr. Geo. Hindson, of Rapid City, was visited, who drove his friends to various places in the district. They covered 490 miles behind a pair of bronchos over the rolling prairie roads, one day making 70 miles. The smallest farm in that section is 260 acres, but these are few, most of them containing 320 acres and more, all giving evidence of prosperity, and their owners rejoicing with good crops. The fact that there was considerable damage by frost in some sections is not disguised, but the wheat acreage has been so great that a few hundred acres of frost bitten wheat is scarcely missed. The greatest yield of oats this year appears to be in the neighborhood of the Souris River, in Southern Manitoba, where one man threshed 800 bushels off three acres-a pretty big yield, but vouched for by documentary evidence.

Mr. R. Brown, an old resident of Thorold township, has a fine farm of 320 acres in Southern Manitoba, and was delighted to meet Mr. Phelps, insisting upon his remaining a day with him, which invitation was accepted. Mr. John Wright, one of Humberstone’s former residents, was visited and found happy in the possession of 1,900 acres of fine land near Virden and doing well. Mr. Phelps mentions many more old friends who greeted him warmly and made his visit pleasant, but lack of space, a short pencil and the seasonable rush of fall fair literature prevents further enumeration.

With all its drawbacks, and it has them as well as every other country, Manitoba may be truthfully characterized as the garden province, and among all the farmers with whom Mr. Phelps conversed, he found none who were anxious to return to the 100 acre farm of Ontario.

The wise policy of the Dominion government in assisting the Canadian Pacific Railway Company is just commencing to bear fruits and open up a mine of untold wealth to the country, and the annexationist who goes to Manitoba to preach his traitorous doctrine will find a cool reception.

[Related TALE-Early Citizens: ALICE ELIZA PHELPS]

[Related TALE-Early Citizens: JOHN PHILLIPS PHELPS]