| 1883. | 1890. | 1894. | 1901. | |
| Bushels. | Bushels. | Bushels. | Bushels. | |
| Wheat | 5,686,355 | 14,665,769 | 17,172,883 | 50,502,085 |
| Oats | 9,478,965 | 9,513,443 | 11,907,854 | 27,796,588 |
| Barley | 1,898,430 | 2,069,415 | 2,981,716 | 6,536,155 |
| Flax | No statistics collected | 366,000 | 266,420 | |
| Rye | ” | ” | 59,924 | 62,261 |
| Peas | ” | ” | 18,434 | 16,349 |
| Potatoes | ” | ” | 2,035,336 | 4,797,433 |
| Other roots | ” | ” | 1,841,942 | 2,925,362 |
The enormous development of the wheat-growing industry is shown by these and the following statistics:—
| Wheat inspected in Winnipeg. | ||
| 1902 | 51,833,000 | bushels |
| 1903 | 40,396,650 | ” |
| 1904 | 39,784,900 | ” |
| 1905 | 55,849,840 | ” |
| 1906 | 66,636,390 | ” |
These figures do not include the wheat ground into flour and sent by way of British Columbia to Asia and Australia, nor the wheat retained by the farmers for seed. The Dominion government maintains an experimental farm of 670 acres at Brandon. The fisheries are all fresh-water, principally white-fish, pickerel and pike. Large quantities of fresh fish caught in lakes Winnipeg and Manitoba are exported to all parts of the United States.
Communications.—The region of the Red River and Assiniboine valleys was opened up by the fur traders, who came by the waterways from Lake Superior, and afterwards by the water communication with Hudson Bay. While these early traders used the canoe and the York boat,[1] yet the steamboat played an important part in the early history of the region from 1868 till 1885, when access from the United States was gained by steamers down the Red River. The completion of the St Andrew’s Rapids canal on Red River, and the Grand Rapids canal on the Saskatchewan river will again give an impetus to inland navigation on the tributaries of Lake Winnipeg. Lake Manitoba also affords opportunity for inland shipping.
The broad expanse of prairie-land in the western provinces of Canada is well suited for the cheap and expeditious building of railways. The first connexion with the United States was by two railways coming down the Red River valley. But the desire for Canadian unity led the Dominion to assist a transcontinental line connecting Manitoba with eastern Canada. The building of the Canadian Pacific railway through almost continuous rocks for 800 miles was one of the greatest engineering feats of modern times. Immediately on the formation of the Canadian Pacific railway company branch lines were begun at Winnipeg and there are eight radial lines running from this centre to all parts of the country. Winnipeg is thus connected with Montreal on the east, and Vancouver on the west, and is the central point of the Canadian Pacific system, having railway yards and equipment equalled by few places in America. In opposition to the Canadian Pacific railway a southern line was built from Winnipeg to the American boundary. This fell into the hands of the Northern Pacific railway, but was purchased by the promoters of the Canadian Northern railway. This railway has six radiating lines leaving the city of Winnipeg, and its main line connects Port Arthur on Lake Superior with Edmonton in the west. The Canadian Northern railway has a remarkable network of railways connecting Winnipeg with every corner of Manitoba. The Great Northern railway has also three branch lines in Manitoba and one of these has Winnipeg as its terminus. The grand Trunk Pacific railway, the great transcontinental line promoted by the Laurier government, passes through Manitoba north of the Canadian Pacific, coming from the east deflects southward to pass through Winnipeg, and then strikes northward in a direct line of easy gradients to find its way through the Rocky Mountains to its terminus of Prince Rupert on the north coast of British Columbia.
History.—The first white settlement in Manitoba was made by Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, Sieur de la Verendrye (d. 1749), who, gradually pushing westward from Lake Superior, reached Lake Winnipeg in 1733, and in the following year built a fort not far from the present Fort Alexander. In October 1738 he built another at Fort Rouge, at the junction of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, where is now the city of Winnipeg. After the British conquest of 1763 the west became the scene of a rapidly increasing fur trade, and for many years there was keen rivalry between the Hudson’s Bay Company, with its headquarters in England, and the North-West Company of Montreal. French and Scottish farmers and fur-traders gradually settled along the Red River, and by their frequent marriages with the Indians produced a race of metis or half-breeds. From 1811 to 1818 Lord Selkirk’s attempted colonization greatly increased the population; from the time of his failure till 1869 the settlers lived quietly under the mild rule of the Hudson’s Bay Company. In that year the newly formed Dominion of Canada bought from the company its territorial and political rights. A too hasty occupation by Canadian officials and settlers led to the rebellion of the Metis under Louis Riel, a native leader. The rebellion was quieted and Sir Garnet Wolseley (now Lord Wolseley) was sent from Canada by the lake route, with several regiments of troops—regulars and volunteers. The Manitoba Act constituting the province was passed by the Canadian parliament in 1870. (See [Red River Settlement]; and [Riel, Louis].)
The admixture of races and religions, and its position as the key to the great West, have ever since made Manitoba the storm centre of Canadian politics. In the charter granted by the Canadian parliament to the Canadian Pacific railway a clause giving it for twenty years control over the railway construction of the province led to a fierce agitation, till the clause was repealed in 1888. Till 1884 an equally fierce agitation was carried on against Ontario with regard to the eastern boundary of Manitoba. (See [Ontario].) In both these disputes the provincial leader was the Hon. John Norquay, in whose veins ran a large admixture of Indian blood. In 1890 changes in the school system unfavourable to the Roman Catholic Church led to a constitutional struggle, to which was due the defeat of the Federal ministry in 1896. Since 1896 its rapid material progress has produced numerous economic problems and disputes, many of which are still unsolved.
(G. Br.; W. L. G.)