Advice About Coming West

Source: THE FREE PRESS, Winnipeg, MB April 7, 1882

(Likely aimed at readers from Eastern Canada.)

Do not come west with a family unless you have enough money to make a fair start.

Do not borrow money to come west. The majority of those who have failed, have been those who came on borrowed money, or without enough funds to ensure a send-off.

After reading this article, select such region as you think you will like best. People generally prefer to keep in the latitude they have lived in.

Come in the spring and get acclimated.

Bring as little baggage and as few heirlooms as possible. They cost money for freight, and in addition, are very likely to be an encumbrance in a new home.

If you are able to do so, you had better first come out and explore the country before bringing your family with you.

Do not attempt to explore too much. We have met people beyond the Missouri River, who had visited nearly all the land grants, and the more they had traveled the more unsettled they were as to where to locate.

Decide upon the climate and locality and then select your land. If you wait too long you are apt to become very much unsettled.

Do not come west not expecting to be homesick for your forests and streams, which present such a contrast to the monotony of endless prairies. It may be very lonely at first, but you will soon plant your own trees, have pleasant surroundings and near neighbours.

Do not come expecting to become rich immediately. Several years of good crops may be required to place you in easy circumstances.

If you are a clerk on a small salary in the city and have a few hundred dollars ahead, give up your clerkship and strike western lands. There is no very great amount of experience required in cultivating these prairies.

If you have abundance of money, settle on the lands in the near west. If your funds are comparatively limited, go on still farther, where as good lands can be purchased at lower figures.