It Is Surrounded By A
Very Rich Agricultural District, And The Great Western Railway Passes
Through It.
Seven years ago this place was a miserable-looking village of
between two and three thousand inhabitants; now it is a flourishing town,
alive with business, and has a population of 13,000 souls.
The increase in
the value of property in its vicinity will appear almost incredible to
English readers, but it is stated on the best authority: a building-site
sold in September, 1855, for 150l. per foot, which ten years ago could
have been bought for that price per acre, and ten years earlier for as
many pence.
In Upper Canada there appears to be at the present time very little of
that state of society which is marked by hard struggles and lawless
excesses. In every part of my travels west of Toronto I found a high
degree of social comfort, security to life and property, the means for
education and religious worship, and all the accessories of a high state
of civilization, which are advantages brought into every locality almost
simultaneously with the clearing of the land. Yet it is very apparent,
even to the casual visitor, that the progress of Canada West has only just
begun. No limits can be assigned to its future prosperity, and, as its
capabilities become more known, increasing numbers of stout hearts and
strong arms will be attracted towards it.
The immense resources of the soil under cultivation have not yet been
developed; the settlers are prodigal of land, and a great portion of the
occupied territory, destined to bear the most luxuriant crops, is still in
bush.
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