5' 4

made out a total valuation of over $30,000,000, and in 1883
the figures rose to $32,883,270, the point at which inflation
in this respect ceased, and a. decided turn in the other direc—
tion set in. In 1882—3 the city had a population of over
25,000, made up largely of a floating class, thousands of
whom had to live in tents. The decline in population set in
during the year last named, and in 1884 the decline in assessed
value of property came also,'when the total figures dropped to
$27,444,700. This went on until 1886 when the figures
went down to $19,286,905, and the city’s population did not
exceed 19,000. The addition of solid buildings had mater—
ially increased the actual value of city property, but inflated
values in 1886 were only a dream of the past. The specula—
tive driftwood of the boom had all left. the city; the half—
breed rebellion of the North Saskatchewan in 1885 had
given the city a hard blow in a temporary sense, although it
afterwards turned out to be a great advertisement of the vast
resources of the Canadian North—West. The people left
were those who meant to stay. They were all more or less
engaged in the work of laying the foundations of a great city
in Winnipeg, for while there was many a tight squeeze for
the remaining citizens after the collapse of inflation, the de—
cade of the eighties was after all

THE PERIOD OF ORGANIZATION

The boom of 1881—2 was not all effervescent trash, for
genuine progress was made during those two years, especially
1881. A carefully compiled pamphlet on the city’s business
published in the beginning of 1882, the gist of which was
afterwards recapitulated in an annual report of the Board of
Trade, gave some very interesting if not startling figures.
The figures therein given included the following: Over fifty
mercantile houses doing more or less of a wholesale or job—
bing business; thirty—three commercial travellers on the road
representing Winnipeg houses. The aggregate of wholesale
business done in 1881 was placed at $6,236,000, and the total
mercantile business of the city at) $20,120,000, the value of
imports from outside Canada at $2,994,838, and the customs
duties collected at $652,898.28, a wondrous showing for a
city which two years previously had only about 12,000 popu—
lation.

Possibly Winnipeg would have. dwindled to much smaller
proportions after the collapse of the boom, had it not been
for the energy and enterprise displayed by the new C. P. R.
syndicate. Before the close of 1883 the main line construc-
tion was nearing the South Saskatchewan, and the C. P. R.
South—Western branch was open as far as Manitou, 100
miles. By the close of 1884 communication with Port
Arthur on Lake Superior was open, and the constructors
westward were laying rails at the foot of the Rocky Moun—
tains. By the close of 1886 a clear all—rail route over this
road was completed from Montreal to the Pacific coast. This
energy stimulated the citizens of Winnipeg and under all the
presence of depression, they kept steadily organizing the
business affairs of their city. In 1883 the great new roller
mill of the Ogilvie Company was completed and in full
swing, as was also the roller mill of the Hudson’s Bay: Com—
pany, and the city mill of Captain, now Sir D. H. McMillan,
was remodelled and fitted with roller machinery. That year
Winnipeg was raised to the position of grain inspection centre

 

for Manitoba, and the late Majior Clark appointed the first
inspector. Next year a hide and leather inspector was also
appointed. Later on. a Grain Exchange was organized, and
has since grown into the great mart that it is. In 1887 a
plethoric crop of all products was reaped, and through Win—
nipeg were exported over 10,000,000 bushels of wheat, be—
sides other products in such abundance as to bring the total.
exports from that crop up to an aggregate of nearly $11,000,—
000. Before the close of the decade the railway monopoly
held by the C. P. B. Company, which had been such a fruit—
ful cause of discontent, was swept away by Dominion legis—
lation, and when the city entered on the decade of the nineties
the Northern Pacific Railway was into the city and spread-
ing its lines over the Province, thus giving the railway com—
petition by the south so long clamored for.

Winnipeg went back considerably during 1883-4-5
after the collapse. of the boom, but when the nineties were
entered all was gained back, and more added, and the city
had entered upon its

PERIOD OF SOLID PROGRESS

Solid progress indeed was made in 'Winnipeg during the
closing decade of the past century. In 1893 a Bank Clear—
ing House was established in the city, and that has since fur.-
nished the most reliable of all proofs of the city’s progress.
Taken beside the figures of grain exports, a perfect index to
the trade feeling, not, only in the city but the whole North-
West, can be had. Grain exporting had commenced as early
as 1878, when about 11,000 bushels of the wheat crop of
1877 went up the Red River in steamboats to go east via
Duluth. When the C. P. R. opened to Port Arthur in 1884,
furnishing the first all—Canadian route for freight to Eastern
Canada, the country had over 4,000,000 bushels of wheat of
that year’s crop to go out. The big crop of 1887 marked
another important export point, and in 1894 the export fig—
ures had risen to 15,000,000 bushels, while the bank clear—
ing returns made a total of $35,540,647. The crop of 1895
was an enormous one, and the exports from the same aggre~
gated 29,000,000 bushels, and the clearing house returns for
the year footed up to $55,873,630. The year 1896 brought
probably the poorest. crop in, the history of the North—West,
and exports dropped to about 14,000,000 bushels, while bank
clearing returns increased in aggregate for the year to
$64,146,438.
record went to the aggregate of $84,435,832, while the ex—
ports from that year’s wheat crop went up to 22,000,000
bushels. The crop of 1898 increased the year’s exports of
wheat only about 1,000,000 bushels, while the. clearing house
returns for the year went up to $90,674,325. In 1899 a
good crop increased exports therefrom to over 30,000,000

During the following year the bank clearing

bushels, and the clearing house returns for the year went up
to $107,786,814. The year 1900 brought a partial failure
of crop, and wheat exports for the year went down to a, little
over 17,000,000 bushels; yet the clearing house returns for
the year showed only a trifling falling off, the aggregate fig—
ures being $106,956,792.

So the century closed in these matters, while. other
branches of business prospered in keeping. During the last
three years of the century closed, building operations in, the
city called for an annual expenditure of at least $750,000,