THE ROMANCE OF THE FRENCH COUNTS AT WHITEWOOD,
ASSINIBOIA.
THE SUGAR BEET ENTERPRISE.
Count Roffignac apparently had command of capital in Old France, and
it was he who was the originator and mainspring of the beet enterprise,
which attracted a great deal of attention throughout the whole country.
It was in 1890 that the Count began to think sugar beet, talk sugar beet,
and generally speaking to try and interest his countrymen in a project
for supplying the prairie country with cheap, home-produced sugar. At
that time about the only thing which was sure of a cash market, was the
wheat. Wheat was always worth cash, much or little, principally little.
Butter, unless one had private customers, or had sufficient to ship to com-
mission agents in large city centres, had to be "traded" (bartered) for
tea, sugar, overalls and such like at the general store. There was no
market for beef, as a general thing, except to the local butcher. Sugar
was anything but cheap, and it can easily be understood that a proposi-
tion to make it at home, as it were, out of an ordinary vegetable, had an
almost dazzling effect on the imagination of some people.
In the spring of 1890 the Count distributed a quantity of sugar beet
seed to farmers for the purpose of trying it out. It was procured from
France, and was a favorite variety in that country known as the Villen-
ovrie, a species that was said to grow, not very large, but to be very rich
in saccharine matter, yielding on an average of 17~ per cent of sugar.
The experiments were apparently quite satisfactory to the Count, for,
put in on land that had been previously cropped, and the season being one
of sufficient moisture, the yield was fairly abundant.
The Count was now supplied with some practical data on which he
could appeal to the farmers for their co-operation. He therefore called
a meeting which duly took place at Whitewood on November 11th, 1890,
and was numerously attended. The Count laid his facts and estimates
before the meeting. A lively interest was manifested in the scheme, the
feasibility and profitableness of which seemed to be shown by the state-
ment made by the Count.
The scheme was supported by the press. For instance the Winnipeg
Free Press, then as now the leading paper in the Great West, said
"This is a matter that was first mooted a considerable time ago. That it
has made any progress at all is creditable in a high degree to the earnest-
ness and perseverance of the gentleman at the back of it, for it will be
generally admitted that the idea of a beet sugar factory in the Northwest,
so far removed from the centres of population, and in a country that was
only opened up the other day as it were, was not one that was naturally
calculated to excite much enthusiasm. But Count Roffignac has per-
severed in his determination and has apparently infused a portion of his
own earnestness and confidence into the breasts of the farmers in the
neighborhood, without whose co-operation it would of course be impos-
sible to do anything."
Referring to the tests that had been made in growing the beet, the
same authority said that they were conducted under the superintendence
of a Mr. Williams, an expert who had for ten years operated a similar
concern in Brazil. There an average of 20 to 22 tons per acre was ob-
tained, for which the price would be, on the basis of the scale adopted in
Quebec, about $5.50 per ton, or say $110 an acre. That scale was $4.00
per ton for beets yielding 15 per cent of saccharine matter, and SOc
additional per ton on each degree of percentage higher than 15 per cent.
It was expected that the percentage of sugar obtainable would be very
high.
During the summer of 1890 Count Roffignac visited France for the
purpose of promoting the scheme, and he told the meeting that he was
successful in getting assurances of all the capital required, and that appli-
cation had been already made for the incorporation of a Company, the
capital of which would be $500,000: and when in full operation it was
expected that employment would be given for three hundred hands. The
machinery would be very costly, and as aids to the enterprise it was
expected that the Government would remit the duty upon it, and that the
C. P. R. would carry it free to its destination.
The Count stated at the meeting that in the opinion of Mr. Williams,
the expert, the climate and soil were perfectly adapted for the cultivation
of the sugar beet and he went on to say "the difficulties which exist in a
new country are always great, but if men of spirit and enterprise sup-
port the efforts made by the company these difficulties can very well be
surmounted and overcome." The meeting unanimously supported a resolu-
tion in favor of the project, in which it was said "that the advent of a beet
sugar factory would be a great boon to farmers of the Northwest and 'would
practically solve the question in favor of mixed farming." The newspaper
added the statement that it would be "not a little to the credit of the new
Northwest if it should succeed in establishing a beet sugar factory in
advance of the old province of Ontario, some of whose residents were
just now (1890) making a move in that direction. Although Whitewood
is scarcely a Canadian trade centre (at that time its population was
barely 200) it is claimed that the business can be made a profitable one
to all concerned in it. The profits of manufacture are liberal, and with
the present prices of sugar maintained the product is expected to bear the
costs of transportation and leave a satisfactory margin to the good. There
would seem to be little doubt however that the advantage to the farmers
in the vicinity would be very great, and it is natural that they should give
it every encouragement."
FAILURE.
But alas! the sugar scheme, which seemed to bask in sweetness and
light on that chill November day in 1890, was not fated to come to frui-
tion. Probably it was foredoomed to failure from the first. The soil is
everything that can be desired but none other than an enthusiast will
claim that the climate is suited for the production of sugar, beet, year in
and year out, without the adventitious aid of irrigation in these seasons,
by no means infrequent, when the moisture is barely sufficient to give a
fair yield of wheat. The cultivation of beets calls for care and labor.
The seed cannot, like the cereals, be sown and then left to practically take
care of itself till the reaping time comes. But the fault was not that of
the farmer. The rock on which the project split was the question of
Government aid. The French capitalist, like the French 'peasant, is a
somewhat canny and cautious man; and if our memory' serves us right
it was figured out that the sugar itself would not 'give a sufficient return.
Some use must be made of the by-product, after the manner say, of the
old West Indies, where the by-product of the sugar cane was~ used for
the production of the finest rum in the world. The Government refused
to permit the manufacture of alcohol in any form, and the scheme never
materialised. The fine factory was never built; the farmers never got
$110 an acre for the sugar beet instead of the ten or fifteen' for their
wheat; the western housewife never preserved her saskatoons with prairie-
made sugar; and Count Roffignac and his associates had their initial ex-
penses for their only reward.
OTHER ENTERPRISES.
It has already been said that some of the Frenchmen raised horses.
Others went into sheep in the Moose Mountain Country to the south. On
one occasion we came across a man herding sheep. "Whose sheep are
they"" we asked. "Count De Soras'." "How many are there"" "Two thou-
sand." And they were good sheep, apparently Shropshire Down grades.
Count Joumillhac also ran sheep; as did also, we think, Messieurs De
Quercize and De Beaudrap. Sheep raising was not found profitable, and
was gradually abandoned. Count De Soras lived for several years in a
pretty little bungalow in Whitewood Town, and was one of Whitewood's
most genial and best-loved citizens. He grew flowers very successfully,
and in the summer his little sheltered bachelor home was quite a picture.
De Wolff once had a half share with the late Alex. Mackenzie in a cattle
ranch.
Mons. Janet never made any claim to noble blood. He was a fair-
complected young fellow, with very refined features, gentle mannered,
and in every way a gentleman. His father was said to be a wealthy cham-
pagne grower in France. His principal venture was in a cheese factory,
making Gruyere cheese. The fact that he should decide to make this
particular kind of foreign cheese gives the measure of the lack of real
business faculty in these highly educated, well-bred, and altogether like-
able sons of France. I think he ran his factory one season. It was a
hard winter, and it was said he lost thirty cows. He told the writer as
he was leaving the country that he was twenty-thousand dollars poorer
for his western experience-a large sum in those days.
One of the most interesting ventures made was the growth of chicory
and its manufacture. Chicory is largely used in France and Englaud as
an admixture with coffee. Baron De Brabant, who was not a French-
man but a Hollander or Belgian, was, we think, largely interested in this
project. This scheme was carried out far enough for the production and
manufacture of a quantity of chicory, which was put up in tins and placed
on the market, but the demand for chicory in the Northwest is negligible,
and so the venture failed, as might have been expected.
Perhaps the last venture was the establishment of a small brush fac-
tory in Whitewood. A number of brushes were made, but the scheme
never assumed any large proportions, and soon died a natural death.
Although failure attended all their efforts, immense credit must be
given them for their pluck and enterprise. Failure was almost inevitable
under the pioneer conditions then prevailing. They were before their
time, and they were by no means alone in their lack of success.
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