14. Pioneer Writing / I. T. Lennox
April 26, 1899
The Souris River crossing the border from North Dakota in 1-1-27,
threads its torturous course for many miles through the Municipality of
Arthur on its way to join the waters of the Assiniboine and the Red
Rivers. Its banks are sufficiently wooded to relieve the monotony of
the surrounding prairie and wheat land. As it winds along with many a
twist and turn, it passes by numerous farm houses nestled along its
banks, built by settlers who had an eye for the beauti¬ful nature and
not merely the almost universal desire for the accumulation of wealth.
Leaving the town and driving in a southerly direction along the
Peninsula from which a magnificent view of Melita and the surrounding
country may be had, one soon arrives at the home of I. T. Lennox
beautifully located on the eastern bank of the river commanding a
splendid view of the Souris Valley. Mr. Lennox is a native of Simcoe
County, Ontario having carried on business in Barrie near which he also
owned and managed an excellent farm.
He came to this country first in 1885 during the Riel Rebellion, being
First Lieutenant in a company of volunteers fitted out to quell the
distur¬bance. His experience of the country at that time was so
favourable that after returning to Ontario in July of 1885, he came
back to Manitoba in the fall of the same year and took up land in 1-26
in the Waskada district. Mr. Lennox remained in this district for six
years and said that the land is excellent and that he raised as much as
30 bushels to the acre. The princi¬pal drawback was the distance from
the market but this will probably be removed in the near future, as a
charter was granted during the last session of the Provincial House to
the Waskada, and North Eastern railway and land in the district has
been selling very fast in anticipation of the advent of the railroad.
Mr. Lennox left the Waskada district owing to lack of transportation
facilities and bought land in 3-27 about three miles from Melita where
he now owns three quarters of a section in which also Mr. Lennox has
raised as much as 30 bushels of wheat. In 1890 Mr. Lennox bought lots
in Deloraine and built on them investing $3,000 and later in Melita
investing $2,500 which enterprise has added greatly to the appearance
of the respective towns. Mr. Lennox has great faith in the capabilities
of this portion of the province as a wheat growing country and
considers the climate to be much better and more healthful than that of
Ontario.
He further states that he has seen more loss through rust in Ontario
than he ever saw in Manitoba from frost or drought, and that the land
here produces a greater acreage of wheat than in the east and with less
expense. Mr. Lennox thinks that one man can handle twice as much crop
in Manitoba as he can in Ontario and that all that is necessary to make
the country flourish is a greater competition in railways and also a
larger business centre in the western part of the province to compete
with Win¬nipeg in the matter of trade.
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