their good offices.

To send money to New York, Paris or London, it was necessary to buy from them a sixtyday bill drawn on London. This was the only medium of exchange. In 1871 the Dominion Government established a money order office in Winnipeg. This was appreciated, but there was still an urgent need of organized banking institutions. In the same year, 1871, the late Mr. Gilbert McMicken arrived in Winnipeg as receiver-general for the Dominion Government, and opened a savings bank. Very shortly after the opening of the Government savings bank, Mr. Alex. McMicken, son of the receiver-general, opened a private bank in a building which stood on the site now occupied by the Queens Hotel. In December, 1872, the McMicken bank was the only institution of its kind in Manitoba, but on the 10th of that month the Merchants' Bank opened an office in a building on Main street. This was Winnipeg's first chartered bank. From this very modest beginning the present banking system of Winnipeg has grown up, and there are now the following banks in active operation in the city :

Some idea of the recent growth of the banking business of the West-with its central point at Winnipeg-may be gathered from the fact that in 1900 the banks which now have nearly five hundred branches, had only one hundred and thirty-one. An important function of the banking houses of the West is the financing of the grain crop, which they are called upon to perform annually after the harvest season. It is the boast of the bankers that they have never failed to promptly meet the sudden and enormously increased demand for money at this period of the year.

Winnipeg is the natural gateway through which the commerce between Western Canada and territories east and south of Winnipeg. The city has therefore made, and is still making rapid strides as a centre especially of wholesale trade, and is destined to become one of the greatest distributing centres on the continent. It is stated that the annual turnover of the wholesale houses is nearly one hundred million dollars. Naturally enough the exports passing out of Winnipeg are the products of the Northwest, wheat and other grains, cattle, furs, sheep, wool, hogs, horses, oatmeal, flour, hides and wood pulp. The imports are, as is to be expected, manufactured articles from older countries. Winnipeg is a customs port of entry and its imports are increasing in value at the rate of a million or more dollars each year. As illustrating the growth of the city it may be mentioned that buildings of all kinds of a total value of $50,749,580 have been erected within the past six years. It is estimated that no less a sum than twelve million dollars will be expended in the erection of buildings during the present year. Many of the buildings are of considerable architectural excellence, and it is noticeable that with one exception there are no erections of the skyscraper kind, so common in cities in the United States.

The hasty growth of the city has produced a large

number of buildings of careless and unsubstantial construction, and many of these which were erected in the earlier days when Winnipeg was a raw frontier town still stand side by side with and in striking contrast to the well built modern structures.

In spite of marked disadvantages of situation Winnipeg has, in the course of twenty years, grown from a, mere village into a large and prosperous city, and its prosperity has been due almost entirely to the energy and enterprise of its citizens, who at an early date resolved that their city and no other was to be the gateway of the west and the distributing point and financial centre of the great wheat area of Western Canada. Doubtless the excellent climatic conditions of Winnipeg compensate largely for its distance from navigable waters and give it a distinct advantage over its great prototype Chicago. Scarcely has the history of civilization witnessed a more sudden and striking metamorphosis than has taken place in the transformation of the little trading post with its loop-holed fort into a modern city of 130,000 people. The Winnipeg of to-day.with its fine buildings and broad avenues, its churches and colleges, its railways and wholesale houses, is but a promise of the future