Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XI.djvu/120

 112 MANISTEE MAIS' ISTEE, a N. W. county of the lower peninsula of Michigan, bounded W. by Lake Michigan, and watered by the Manistee river ; area, about 550 sq. m. ; pop. in 1870, 6,074. The surface is level, the soil fertile, and there are extensive forests of pine. The chief pro- ductions in 1870 were 5,517 bushels of wheat, 10 509 of Indian corn, 4,743 of oats, 29,360 of potatoes, 12,730 Ibs. of butter, and 565 tons of hay. There were 1 manufactory of engines and boilers, 2 of sash, doors, and blinds, 1 of cigars, and 20 saw mills. Capital, Manistee. M IMSTKK, a city and the county seat of Ma- nistee co., Michigan, on Lake Michigan, at the mouth of Manistee river, 135 m. N. W. of Lan- sing ; pop. in 1870, 3,343 ; in 1874, 4,894. It is one of the chief lumber manufacturing points on the lake. The mills, about 20 in number, are situated on Manistee lake, an expansion of the river above the city. There are also an extensive tannery and seven shingle mills. Manistee has some fine residences, a good union school, and several churches. It was incorporated in 1869. MANITOBA, a province of the Dominion of Canada, situated between lat. 49 and 50 30' N., and Ion. 96 and 99 W. It is bounded S. by Minnesota and Dakota, and on all other sides by the Northwest territories, and is 135 m. long E. and W. by 104 m. in breadth, form- ing nearly a parallelogram; area, 14,340 sq. m. It is divided into four counties, Lisgar, Mar- quette, Provencher, and Selkirk, which are subdivided into parishes. The capital and chief town is Winnipeg, on the N. bank of the As- siniboin or Assiniboine river, at its confluence with the Red, which has about 3,000 inhabi- tants, and contains within its limits Fort Garry, the American headquarters of the Hudson Bay company. The population of the territory now embraced within the province in 1823 was about 600; in 1843, 5,143; in 1849, 5,291; in 1856, 6,523 ; in 1870 (census taken Dec. 24), 11,963, of whom 5,757 were French half-breeds, 4,083 English half-breeds, 1,565 whites, and 558 Indians; in 1874, about 20,000. The half-breeds include all having any intermixture of Indian blood, and are the descendants of Indian mothers and French Canadian, English, or Scotch fathers, the Scotch element predom- inat'mtf over the English. The distinction of French and English in the census is based .rather upon language than lineage. Since 1870 a considerable immigration, particularly from Ontario, has set in. The principal settlements are on both banks of Red river, from about 20 m. X. to 15 m. S. of Winnipeg, and along fthe Assiniboin for about 20 m. W. of that town. N. of the half-breed settlements on Red river is a village of settled and Christian In- dians of the Swampy Cree tribe. The western- most settlement on the Assiniboin is at Prairie Portage (Portage-la-Prairie), 67 m. above Win- nipeg. Besides the Indians enumerated there arv uncivilized Saulteaux and Maskegons, or Swarapies, in the province, and some Sioux who have been driven from Minnesota. The MANITOBA half-breeds are a handsome race, large, strong, and well made; they are generally swarthy, but many exhibit no sign of Indian extraction. Intrepid and indefatigable travellers, they mani- fest the Indian instinct in the ability to find their way through forests and across prairies. Many are employed by the Hudson Bay com- pany as boatmen, guides, and sledge drivers; others are farmers ; while a large proportion, especially of the French, pay comparatively little attention to agriculture, but pursue the buffalo in summer and winter on the plains W. and S. W. of the province. In general they are intelligent and hospitable, but prod- igal of their earnings, fond of pleasure, in- clined to drunkenness and indolence, and res- tive of restraint. Those engaged in farming, with a settled mode of life, have acquired more stable and provident traits of character than the hunters. The general surface is a level prairie, 80 ft. above Lake Winnipeg and 700 ft. above the sea. It is broken by the Big ridge and Pembina mountain, ancient beaches of that lake which is supposed at one time to have extended over this region. The Big ridge, rising in places 60 or 70 ft. above the gen- eral level, commences near Lake Manitoba, N. of the Assiniboin river, and runs nearly par- allel with that stream to the Red river, cross- ing which below Winnipeg, it continues in a S. E. direction to German creek, and thence a little W. of S. to the Roseau river, which it crosses near the United States boundary and 46 m. above its mouth. The Pembina moun- tain enters the province near the 98th merid- ian, and runs N. to the Assiniboin, just below Prairie portage. It marks the ascent from the general level to the hilly and undulating prai- rie on the south and west, which is about 100 ft. higher. West of Pembina mountain, and a little S. of the Assiniboin river, are the Blue hills, 300 to 400 ft. above the plain. Stony mountain, W. of Red river, and about 15 m. N. of Winnipeg, rises 60 ft. above the sur- rounding prairie. The valley of Red river through most of its course is liable to inunda- tion in spring, and on several occasions suffered severely. N. E. and E. of the Bij ridge, along the border of the province, tl country is marshy and swampy, forming of the marshy region that extends from 1 Winnipeg S. E. to Rainy lake. Marshes occur at other points both E. and W. of river. The only important lakes are Winni] and Manitoba (from which the province derive its name), a small portion of the S. part of t" former occupying the N. E. and of the latt the N. W. corner. The principal stream is Red river of the North, which, rising in Mil nesota, flows N. for 140 m. of its course through the province, and empties into Lake Winnipeg. It is navigable by steamers into Minnesota. Red river divides Manitoba into two unequal parts, about a third lying on the E. and two thirds on the W. bank. The chief tributaries from the east, commencing at the