17. Pioneer Writing / John Williams
July 19, 1899.
One of the earliest settlers of the Melita district and one whose long
experience of the country has enabled him to form reliable opinions of
its pos¬sibilities, is John Williams. Mr. Williams left his native home
in Flintshire, Wales in the year 1881 and set out to seek his fortune
in Canada. He at first located at Hamilton, Ontario, where he started
with a capital of two hundred and a half. Not satisfied, however, with
the prospects in Ontario he left in the fall of 1882 and came out to
Manitoba settling on the section of land where he now resides — five
miles south of the village of Melita. Mr. Williams enjoys the
distinction of being the earliest living settler on what is popularly
known as the Peninsula. His farm is beautifully located on the banks of
the Souris and includes besides wheat land, an abundance of pas¬ture,
wood and water. On his section of land he has already broken about 220
acres. Since making his home here Mr. Williams has always taken an
active interest in the Agricultural Society and Farmers In¬stitute
having been a director of the former for many years and President for
three years. At present he is and has been for a number of years
Secretary of the Farmers Institute and was at one time President. His
impressions of the country are best told in his own words in the
following communication:
"To the editor of the Progress: Complying with your request for a few
of my experiences as one of the first settlers in this part of the
province and my opinion as to the suitability as a place of settlement
I would beg to offer the following: I arrived in Man¬itoba in November
1882 walking from Brandon to old Deloraine. The ground was covered with
two or three inches of snow. Houses on the road were then few and far
apart and accommodations very limited indeed. I struck Sourisford on
December 16, 1882 having paid a man $5.00 per day and his expenses for
driving me over there with one horse and a jumper from Deloraine. Next
day I took a trip on the Penin-sula as far as 14-3-27, my present
homestead. The only dwelling on the Peninsula in those days was a
little shanty 8' x 10' belonging to the late F. B. Gerry which was
burnt down in the conflagration of '86. I made entry for my homestead
on January 19, 1883 and in the following spring I put in about ten
acres of wheat, paying $1.25 for seed on breaking that some
enterprising easterner had done in '82.
That crop was totally destroyed by hail on July 29th, pretty hard on a
tenderfoot wasn't it? Hail has kindly and consistently given me the go
by from that day to this. It would be tiresome to give the particu¬lars
of every year that has gone by since. Suffice it is to say that my lot
has been similar to that of the average settler. Ups and downs
alternately with per¬haps the downs coming a little heavier if not
oftener than the ups. The incomer of today can form no adequate idea of
the hardships and privations that the people who came in the early
'80's had to undergo. They travelled all sorts of conditions of roads
to Brandon, Virden, Boissevain through the snow of winter and the mud
of summer, but these pioneers had faith in the country then and what
has transpired since shows that it was not misplaced. The names of a
good many men occur to my mind whom I knew in the early days as men of
very limited means but who are now well endowed with this world's
goods. This goes to prove that a man who is able and willing to work
and possesses a modicum of good sound horse sense may reasonably expect
to get along in this part of the province at least.
That the land is productive does not admit of doubt. Wheat grown on
some of my neighbours' farms has exceeded the mark of 40 bushels to the
acre, my own has not gone higher than 38. A com¬parison between '82 and
'99 shows that progress has been made on the narrow strip of land known
as the Peninsula, though it is really an island Mr. Editor. The former
years saw the first sod turned, the latter will probably see 30,000
bushels of wheat grown for export besides other grains. In '82 only one
small shanty was seen on the territory in question, '99 can show 20
farm houses. Formerly in our peregrinations over the province we had to
be guided by instinct, now we boast the straightest and best piece of
road in the southwest. When it is remembered that it was not until 1891
that a railway came within a reasonable distance I think the showing
made is very credible. It is expected that the near future will see
greater and more improvements than the past, and that fortune is only
beginning to smile on us. So note it be, we deserve all the smile she
has to bestow."
John Williams |
