equipment and recruit skilled labourers. Janet arrived back on the Pipestone in the spring of 1891, and de Seyssel in the following year. Within a year their hopes had been dashed. Disregarding the advice of Mr. F. Dunand, a specialist in cheese production who had accompanied them back to Canada, they built the factory, installed the machinery, and purchased a large herd of cattle. Dunand later declared, "I made cheese in the old country and I knew that a certain kind of milk was necessary to make the Gruyere cheese." If the two entrepreneurs would have tested the soil, they would have learned that it was too alkaline. Cattle, fed on grass grown on this soil, produced milk that would not cure and age properly. Other enterprises initiated by 'the Counts' were similarly unsuccessful. The brush-making factory was closed: and the Kalenterin sheep-ranching and wool enterprise, established in 1888 by de Jumilliac, de Saurras, and de Wolfe, ended shortly after it began. It seems that the markets for wool and mutton were too small to support such a large operation. Control of the fifteen hundred sheep herd was assumed by de Saurras. Devolution of the community of French nobles As each enterprise was discontinued, its director(s) closed his chateau and left the area. The first chateau to be closed in 1889 was Richelieu. Sometime after 1889, following the disassociation of de Jumilhac, de Saurras and de Wolfe, de Jumilhac and possibly de Wolfe left for the Yukon gold fields. De Saurras probably left after 1891, when Kalenterin ranch was closed. De Jangle, who was involved in the horse-raising enterprise with de Roffignac and Farquet, had settled in Whitewood probably in 1888. He opened a general store, and remained in the town until around 1913. The last of the big chateaus to be closed was 'la Rolanderie'. De Roffignac probably shut the doors in 1893 or 1894, and left for parts unknown. De Beaudrap ended the chicory operation in 1899, and returned to France "for family reasons." As for the other aristocrats, it is not known exactly when they left the district. Before 'the Counts' departed, they auctioned off their machinery and many of their household effects at exceedingly low prices. They also sold their land. Alexander Jeannot, for example, purchased the Richelieu homestead, and Dave Kolman the Rolanderie homestead. Whatever land 'the Counts' could not sell to the settlers, they