[PRCo] Re: Go West Young Man

Fri Oct 17 13:59:20 EDT 2008

The Maritime provinces have suffered an outward migration over past two decades with demise of coal mining and steel industries.  One of the locals commented last month that many went to Calgary and Edmonton area, but then come back to Nova Scotia area to retire.  The area is trying to make a go of it with technology and tourism.

And the Maritime provinces population largely comes from "Americans" who emigrated from the states in 1783, plus Scots after the '45.  There were also French, but many moved to Quebec after fall of Louisburg, and native Indians.  Wonder what prompted the latter to immigrate several millennium ago?  

Americans going north 30 years ago weren't even a speed bump on the population flow.  But it made good propaganda for the media.

John 

> From: fwschneider at comcast.net> Subject: [PRCo] Re: Go West Young Man> Date: Fri, 17 Oct 2008 12:50:53 -0400> To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org> > > I've never had a good piece of bison ... every place I had it, the > "chef" cooked it to the consistency of a Goodrich truck tire. > However, Prudhomme's Lost Cajun Kitchen in Columbia, PA does make > some pretty decent bison mountain oysters.> > Taking the train across the U. S. sort of reminds me of taking a bus > tour around Europe in that it insulates you from what you went there > to absorb. I know I'm speaking with a forked tongue because I > advocate public transport but as a traveler there is nothing nicer > than wandering around the country in a car and being able to stop and > chat with people anywhere and everywhere ... the Ukrainian restaurant > in Manitoba, the small motel in Alberta, helping the guy start his > Model T Ford in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, photographing the lizards > in the Grand Canyon and the mountain goats in Glacier.> > My memories of Cripple Creek, CO include a sign in a store window > that read, "IF YOU ARE OUT OF WORK AND HUNGRY, EAT AN > ENVIRONMENTALIST." I chuckled then. Today I am moving over to > their camp because I see how much damage we have done to the world. > It is difficult to live in balance with nature.> > Most of the people in Calgary as well as other western Canadian > cities came from eastern Canada trying to escape high prices there. > Remember that in the 1960s the French separatists drove the banking > industry and a large population out of Montreal and that group > settled in Toronto. The price of real estate in Toronto went > through the roof. Toronto became a city that stretched along the > lake from Hamilton eastward forever and northward to Barre. When I > built my house in Lancaster in 1973 for $40,000 (plus about $12,000 > in sweat equity and donated land from my father), my wife's uncle > built a home in Barre for over a CDN $250,000. His home was > larger ... it had two baths and two kitchens and might have gone for > $80,000 in Lancaster but not $200,000. Perhaps you can buy a 1400 > square foot home in Toronto for what I paid for my 3100 sq ft home.> > Canada also has a huge population of Chinese that came from Hong Kong > when the British lease ran out in 2000; Calagary, Toronto and > Vancouver received very large immigrant populations of Chinese as a > result. We're not talking hundreds. We tens of thousands added to > each city. Vancouver also has a incredibly large Indian > population ... Asian as opposed to what they would call First Nation.> > Were there a lot of Americans going north to Canada? Probably not > since the draft but we would have to ask our one Canadian list member.> > People have generally changed countries over history for the same > reasons: (1) hunger, (2) better life, (3) religious persecution, (4) > tired of fighting other people's wars, (5) followed someone of > another sex. Those rules generally don't change. If you are > comfortable and happy, you stay put. The last great migration to > Canada that we had was during the Vietnamese confict. We ended the > draft; our men stayed home We pulled three out of four divisions out > of German and there is no reason for our men to bring home German > girls. In fact that slowed long ago because the life style over > there became better than here. If anything, the serviceman might > have been tempted to stay take his discharge over there and stay in > Germany with the girl.> > I have become intrigued by the number of Americans who have chosen to > migrate the opposite direction in recent years. Some of you know > Jack May who has been an officer in the Electric Railroaders > Association, an editor of Headlights, and a trip leader for years. > His daughter married a Russian; his grandkids speak English and > Russian and he goes to Moscow every year or they come to the U. S. A. > to visit. My wife had a teaching colleague whose daughter came > very close to marrying a European .... very very very close. Some > of you know Kevin Farrell, the railroad book dealer from North > Billerica, Mass. His daughter speaks Portuguese and Spanish and has > lived in Europe. Right now she is a professor in Washington DC. I > think the son, however, is living in Europe.> > If you were to ask me what I might do if I were again 21 years old > and know what I know now and it was again 1961? Germany, Austria or > Switzerland might be very nice choices. And with my ancestry, (six > of my eight great grandparents were German), I could emigrate to > Germany without question.> > > On Oct 17, 2008, at 8:47 AM, Dennis F. Cramer wrote:> > > Content-Type: text/plain;> > charset="iso-8859-1"> > Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable> > Well I have not driven across the country yet, but I have taken > > Amtrak => > from Chicago to Seattle, Chicago to Los Angeles and Sacramento to => > Chicago. I have also gone from Seattle to LA. =20> >> > Glacier is wonderful because it is off the beaten path. I have > > stayed => > at Glacier Park Lodge twice and Many Glacier Hotel once. I prefer > > Many => > Glacier for the remote area. (There was a forest fire on the other > > side => > of the mountain while we were there.)> >> >> > I learned to drive on dirt roads. Watch the utility lines for > > headlight => > glare on blind curves and yes you had to dust the inside and > > outside of => > the car, because we did not have ac.> >> > The cuisine I want in Montana walks on 4 legs and is hopefully not a => > cow. (Had some great elk and bison out there.) We were eating > > outside => > of Helena and Liz asked what size steaks they had. The waiter > > responded => > with 12, 16 or 24 oz and they could go much higher if she wished. > > I had => > the bison.> >> > Many of the trolley lines of the west are fascinating, especially > > the => > ones in the smaller towns. Cripple Creek, CO comes to mind. => > http://www.cripple-creek.co.us/Railroads.aspx =20> >> >> > The article on Cripple Creek is from Cripple Creek Railroads by > > Leland => > Feitz. See also Hilton & Due pgs 381-382 (Electric Interurban > > Railways => > in America)> >> >> >> > How many of those new folks in Calgary are US citizens trying to > > escape => > the homeland for one of many reasons?> >> >> >> >> > Dennis F. Cramer =20> >> > Trombone> >> >> >> >> > -- Attached file removed by Ecartis and put at URL below --> > -- Type: image/jpeg> > -- Size: 28k (28850 bytes)> > -- URL : http://lists.dementia.org/files/pittsburgh-railways/ > > manyglacier.JPG> >> >> > -- Attached file removed by Ecartis and put at URL below --> > -- Type: image/jpeg> > -- Size: 451k (462304 bytes)> > -- URL : http://lists.dementia.org/files/pittsburgh-railways/ > > cripplecreek.jpg> >> >> >> > 
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