h
and highly productive.

The first man to choose his plantation was Dr. W. P. Peirce of
Hoopeston, Ill., who, it so chanced, was chairman of the committee on
allotment. Dr. Peirce's contract was No. 2, and it was dated in January,
1899. But few contracts were made before April of that year. Contract
No. 1 was not on the ground, and no one present knew who was the
holder. The allotment was well conducted, and went on quite rapidly. It
was eagerly watched by a large group of interested spectators,
impatiently awaiting their turn. Some tried to extract inside
information from the surveyors, who were supposed to know the relative
value of every square foot of the land, but the majority either made
their choice blindly, with knowledge of nothing save the proximity of
the tract to the town, or trusted to the meagre information they had
acquired regarding the character of the land in different localities
during their tramps in the few days since their arrival.

It was a strange scene. Men of all ages and occupations, coming from
nearly every one of the United States, and several other countries,
strangers until a few days before, were crowded together in a large
tent, each anxious to do the best possible for himself, and yet in few
instances discourteous to his neighbor. It was a good-natured,
well-behaved crowd, and there was no friction in the proceedings. The
colonists were satisfied that the plan of allotment was a fair one;
there was no complaint about anything except the restricted choice.
Monday night saw the allotment well advanced, and Tuesday it was
finished. Everybody then on the ground who wished to make a selection
for himself or those whom he represented had been accommodated, and the
committee's duties were at an end. Nearly seven thousand acres of
plantation land had been allotted.

[Illustration: ROBERT C. BEAUSEJOUR.

(_One of the Early Colonists._)]

As soon as they had selected their land from the map the colonists
scurried out into the surrounding country to find it. The woods were
full of men hunting their plantations. It was no easy matter to find
them, since there was nothing to go by but the numbered stakes of the
surveyors. These were anything but plain guides to the uninitiated, and
even the more understanding were sometimes baffled by reason of
indistinct figures or missing stakes. The result was that many viewed
other people's land for their own, while some, conscious of their
helplessness,