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The Scotsman in Canada
Works by 'Dr. 'ftryce
Manitoba : Infancy, Growth, and Present Condition
Short History of the Canadian People
The Apostle of Red River
The Remarkable History of Hudson's Hay Company
Three Western Pioneers (Makers of Canada Series)
Romantic Settlement of Lord Selkirk' s Colonists
" Canada " in Nar. and Crit. History of America
The Mound Builders
Everyman's Geology of Western Canada
A Plea for Forestry
School Botany and Agriculture. Parts I 8 II
Articles in Encyclopedias: Britannica, ()th and last edition Canadian Standard Americana
TO LORD STRATHCONA AND MOUNT ROYAL,
WHO SEVENTY-THREE YEARS AGO
ENTERED
THE HUDSON BAY COMPANY,
BECAME A DISTINGUISHED SCOTTISH TRADER,
A GREAT PACIFICATOR IN 1869-70,
A DEFENDER OF THE EMPIRE,
AND
A PUBLIC BENEFACTOR
IN CANADIAN COMMERCE,
EDUCATION AND CHARITIES,
THIS VOLUME IS DEDICATED BY THE AUTHOR,
AS AN OLD FRIEND
OF HIS LORDSHIP IN THE
EARLY SEVENTIES
IN WINNIPEG
Winnipeg, 1911.
CONTENTS
I. NATIONS AND TRIBES OF THE SCOTTISH MOTHER- LAND ...... II
II. THE MEN OF ORKNEY IN RUPERT'S LAND . . 22
III. SCOTTISH FUR TRADERS OF MONTREAL . . 34
IV. THE "LITTLE COMPANY" OF SCOTTISH TRADERS . 47 V. A SCOTTISH EXPLORER OF IMPERIAL MIND —
MACKENZIE ...... 53
VI. BRAVE SCOTTISH EXPLORERS IN WESTERN CANADA . 68
VII. SCOTTISH EXPLORERS IN THE ARCTIC . . 80
VIII. SCOTTISH FOUNDERS OF THE HUDSON'S BAY COM- PANY ...... 96
IX. SCOTSMEN IN THE ASTOR FUR COMPANY . . 104
X. THE SCOTTISH COLONISER, LORD SELKIRK . 114
xi. LORD SELKIRK'S COLONY . . . .123
XII. A DASHING SCOTTISH RED COAT . . . 135
XIII. A FIERY SCOTTISH METIS .... 145
XIV. LORD SELKIRK VISITS HIS SCOTTISH COLONY . 157
XV. THE LIST OF SELKIRK COLONISTS . . 167
Contents
CHAPTER PAGE XVI. SIMPSON — THE SCOTTISH EMPEROR OF THE FUR
TRADERS ...... 178
XVII. SCOTTISH GOVERNORS OF ASSINIBOIA . . 190
XVIII. SCOTTISH BORDER TRADERS . . . 2O2
XIX. ANOTHER IMPERIAL SCOTSMAN— DOUGLAS . . 213
XX. LATER SCOTTISH FUR TRADERS OF NOTE . . 225
XXI. GREAT SCOTSMEN ON THE PACIFIC COAST . . 230
XXII. SCOTTISH OVERLANDERS IN 1862 . . .241
• XXIII. THE SCOTTISH CHURCH IN WESTERN CANADA . 250 XXIV. SCOTSMEN IN OTHER CHURCHES . . . 277
XXV. SCOTTISH AUTHORS IN WESTERN CANADA . . 285
XXVI. A SCOTTISH EMPIRE-BUILDER — LORD STRATHCONA 299
XXVII. SCOTTISH GOVERNORS AND JURISTS . . 312
XXVIII. SCOTTISH LEGISLATORS OF WESTERN CANADA . 328
« XXIX. THREE SCOTTISH-CANADIAN LEADERS OF INDUSTRY
— HILL, MACKENZIE, MANN . . . 343
* XXX. SCOTTISH BUSINESS MEN .... 355 e XXXI. SCOTTISH EDUCATIONALISTS . . . 372
XXXII. SCOTTISH PROFESSIONAL MEN . . . 383
<. XXXIII. SCOTTISH FARMERS OF THE WEST . . . 395
. XXXIV. SCOTTISH SOCIETIES IN WESTERN CANADA . 410
4 XXXV. THE SCOTTISH IMMIGRANT IN WESTERN CANADA . 423
INDEX. ...... 431
8
The Scotsman in Canada
Western Canada^ including toba^ Saskatchewan ^ ^Alberta, British Columbia^ and portions of old Ruperts Land and the Indian Territories.
"By Qeorge "Bryce^ M.A.,D.D., LL.D.
Hon. Professor Manitoba College, ffinnipeg; Member of Royal Commission on Technical Education ; Member of Commission en Conservation of Canadian Resources ; Moderator of General Assembly of Pres- byterian Church in Canada (igoz) ,• President of Society of Canada (1910).
Volume II
The Musson TSook Company^ Limited Toronto Canada London England
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CHAPTER I
NATIONS AND TRIBES OF THE SCOTTISH MOTHERLAND
SCOTLAND has a most composite people, and probably it is because " Auld Scotia " has in her bounds so many strains and racial elements that the Scottish nation possesses, and has always possessed, men of such varied powers and plastic faculties. Not the pure but rather the mixed races have been the most potential peoples of the world. The traditions and passionate race prejudices of the Highlanders, as shown in " Robertson's Historical Proofs of the Highlands," prevented for a long time the real facts concerning race and language being clearly brought out in Scotland.
But the new era of a scientific anthropology, not yet fifty years old, has cleared the marches and laid bare the truth.
The Iberians (Ivernians, Rhys).
It is shown now quite conclusively that about
the close of the Neolithic period a race, at the
present time largely extinct, occupied the British
Isles. In the long graves, or barrows, there are
ii
The Scotsman in Canada
found buried a race of cave-dwellers who had black hair and a dark complexion, a long skull, a straight face, and feeble frame.
This race, called Iberians, whose remains are found in England, Scotland, and Ireland, have been traced on their course of migration from the Straits of Gibraltar coming from Africa and occupying Spain. They even colonised the valleys of the Pyrenees, and their descendants are found to-day as the Spanish Basques. The Basques are probably the only pure Iberians now known. These survivors of a numerous race speak a language of the agglutinative type, somewhat of the class of language spoken by the North American Indian. The Basque language is so difficult that an old saw states that the devil sought to learn it but gave it up in despair. It certainly differs entirely from the Indo-European or Aryan class of languages.
The Iberians surmounted the Pyrenees and occu- pied France, and thence, crossing over the Bay of Biscay, the Straits of Dover, and the Irish Sea, took possession of uninhabited Great Britain and Ireland. Few even of their place-names remain. Perhaps the river Urr, in the south of Scotland, may owe its name to this source, as the word " ur " in Basque means water. We are able to draw these conclusions because the long barrows of the Iberians are found in France, especially in Brittany, at Stonehenge, in Wiltshire — a South of England county— in the Scilly Islands, formerly called the Cassiterides, or Tin Islands,
12
Nations and Tribes
off the coast of Cornwall, and throughout Wales, where Julius Caesar speaks of them as the Silures. Traces of a people, of small dark men, of their bodily type are still found in Galloway and farther north in Scotland, in the Hebrides, especially in the Island of Barra, at various points in the West of Ireland, and, it is said, also in far distant Shetland.
The Goidel, or Gael.
But the prolific mother of nations seems to have sent westward tribes, belonging to the vast district between the Baltic Sea and the river Volga, to exterminate or absorb this weaker race. Tribe after tribe of these Aryans, speaking an entirely different tongue from that of the Basques, sallied forth seeking plunder and new homes. The people of this new language have been called Celts, or Kelts — i.e., the iceXrat of the Greeks, which itself is only a variant of the word yaXarat, the original of the names Gauls, or Gaels.
The Celts were tall, big-boned, had short skulls, were of fair complexion, accompanied with blue eyes, and were red or yellow-haired. Their language in its common forms was connected, it would seem, with the Etruscan or its offshoot the Latin of Italy. As successive bands of Celts hived off from the parent stock at intervals of perhaps hundreds of years they may have changed their spelling and inflections, and thus dialects arose. Parallels to this may be seen in the various emigra- tions which have taken place from the British Isles
13
The Scotsman in Canada
and France, for in the relatively short period of less than four hundred years there have been formed the dialects in Canada and the United States.
The Celts of the British Isles, speaking the Gaelic tongue, seem to represent three leading types, and thus probably three different great migrations, perhaps many centuries apart.
i. The Irish Celts.
In all probability this early Aryan tribe pushed its way westward from Central Europe to the coast of France, crossed over in small vessels to Ireland, and finding there a country sparsely settled by Iberians, seized the land, developed a fair civilisation, and though no doubt slaughter- ing many, yet absorbed a considerable element of the Iberians. It is claimed that it was parties of Irish Celts which were responsible for the great stones of Stonehenge, which from the nature of the rock must have come from either Ireland or Brittany, and were carried up the little river Avon to their present site. Their former contiguity to Italy, as shown by their language, perhaps accounts for a civilisation and progress which made them a Christianised and so far literary people in the early Christian centuries. Their secluded island home protected them from the invading Roman who subjugated Britain.
2. The Caledonians, or Picts. Probably from a more northern seat in Central Europe went north-westward a wandering band of 14
Nations and Tribes
Celts, similar in language and ideals with the early Irish Celts. They seem to have crossed from the Low Countries to the north of Scotland, where the remains of the Iberians are comparatively few. Caithness and its neighbouring districts were more easily accessible than any other part of the British Isles. The same love of high colours and a gaudy dress as seen in the Irish Celts was found in these people of Caledon.
These Caledonians, whom the Romans could not conquer, were known as the Picts, or " painted people." True, this derivation of Pict is disputed, but there is much to be said for it. Holding fast to their mountains, they became a warlike race, and were not amenable to the sweet influences of culture as were the early Irish Celts. It will thus be seen that the antiquity or priority of the Irish as compared with the Pictish Celts is an insoluble question ; probably they were coeval in their occupation of Ireland and Northern Scotland.
3. The Brythons, or Britons or Welsh. What is now properly called England and probably a part of the Lowlands of Scotland seems up to several centuries before the Christian Era to have remained in the hands of the Iberians. At this time another eruption took place in the teeming seed-bed of Central Europe, and the coasts of England were beset by the people who after- wards met Julius Caesar in his invasion just before the Christian Era. They had driven back the older inhabitants to the rock fastnesses of Cambria, as
15
The Scotsman in Canada
Wales was called. The history of these invasions has largely perished, and the evidence for so much as we have given is largely linguistic and archaeo- logical. The long barrows of the Iberians and the round barrows of the Celts still tell their tale. The linguistic argument springs from the use of the letter P.
The following illustrates this : —
|
Test Word. |
Irish Gaelic. |
Pictish Gaelic. |
Latin. |
Welsh. |
|
father |
athair |
athair |
pater |
retain p |
|
whale or sea-pig |
ore first syllable of Orkney. |
— |
porcus |
retain p |
N.B.— It is an interesting fact that the use of the letter p was retained nearly up to the Forth, showing the Brythonic influence. The same thing is found in Galloway, and shows the widespread influence of these Welsh Celts in Caesar's time.
4. The Saxons.
Five centuries of Roman rule in Britain had completely destroyed the manliness and courage of the Britons who had accepted the foreign yoke, as represented by the Roman camps extending from the South of England to the very foot of the Grampians in Perthshire. No doubt the more restless spirits of the Britons had fled to Wales and made common cause with the persistent Silures, whom they had formerly driven thither. 16
n =
Nations and Tribes
The excavation in late years of Roman camps, and even towns with carefully constructed temples, theatres, and systems of elaborate drainage, are showing us that Tennyson's picture of King Arthur's architecture and state in the " Idylls of the King " is not wholly a work of imagination. The withdrawal of the Roman legions from England and the Lowlands of Scotland left the thriving merchants of London and the skilled men of industry helpless to resist any determined foe. The new band of raiders coming' from Northern Germany and farther north, roughly called the Saxons, were the most daring1, bloodthirsty, sand capable intruders who had yet set foot on Albion's devoted shore. Kent was first to give up to the Jutes, a Saxon tribe. Southern England was over- run by the South and West Saxons, and Eastern England by the Middle and East Saxons. Carried on with fire and sword, this conquest was the most relentless which Britain had seen. Churches, temples, books — everything that meant civilisation was destroyed, " root and branch." Every trace of Roman culture or religion was obliterated. For our purpose in the history of Scotland we are chiefly concerned with the Saxon tribe of Angles who established themselves on the north-east coast of England — the Kingdom of East Anglia — and also encroached on the Scottish Lowlands. At the time of the Roman departure, in the middle of the fifth century, the Angles had reached the Forth, and though this Scottish region was far from being subdued, yet Dunedin, the Celtic VOL. II. B 17
The Scotsman in Canada
capital, was in Anglian hands, in full sight of the seat of that Arthur whose name involved the myth or mystery of all the Celtic peoples. About A.D. 600 Edwin, King of Deira, overcame the Anglian king, Ethelfrith of Northumberland, fortified Dunedin, took advantage of the old Celtic place-name Duneadain — i.e., " Fort of the hill slope " — and translating " dun " into his own Saxon tongue of " burgh," with characteristic modesty put his own name first and called the northern capital Edinburgh.
The Scots.
As we have seen, the recall of the Roman legions from England left the subjugated and spiritless Britons of the country helpless. Ireland had during the years of British occupation by the Romans fared well. Its island retreats had been free from outside attack ; religion, and to a certain extent letters, had flourished, and Ireland had a distinct advantage among the Celtic peoples. But the dream of conquest took possession of the Irish Celts. About the time when the Saxons were making their descent on Britain and carrying all before them, even into the Lowlands of Scot- land, the Irish Scots — whose name was derived from " scuite," a wanderer or intruder — made a dash in their wicker boats upon the rocky coast of Argyll in the west of Caledonia, captured a number of the Western Isles, and took such a grip of the country that they were never after- wards displaced. These adventurers founded the 18
Nations and Tribes
kingdom of the Dalriad Scots. As we have seen, these invaders were Celts of a much earlier date than the Brythons ; and though probably of the same age in Northern Caledonia as were the Scots in Ireland, yet they had been so long re- moved from one another that when the great Irish missionary Columba visited the Picts he required an interpreter to speak with the Pictish king*, so greatly had their Gaelic tongue changed in the meantime. By and by the Picts and Dalriad Scots were united by marriage and acquaintance ; and although it took more than two centuries to expel the hated Sassenach rule from the north of the Tweed, yet it did come when Kenneth McAlpine, a true Celt, reigned in Dunedin as the first King of Scots.
The Norsemen.
But while this conflict was going on in the South of Albin, the Norsemen and Danes, of kindred race — the former fair and blue -eyed, the latter dark in complexion — attacked the devoted country from every side, and, conquering the Celts, gave their own names to cape, bay, valley, and town of the captured country. Shetland and Orkney have not a trace of their former people or language, and so it is with other parts of the old kingdom of the Picts. In Shetland are found Lerwick and Scalloway ; in Caithness, Wick and Thurso ; in Sutherland, Golspie, Helmsdale, and Tongue ; in Ross, Dingwall and Tain ; in Bute, Rothesay and Brodick — all Norse names. The
19
The Scotsman in Canada
people of Sutherland and Caithness and of counties farther to the south speak Gaelic in many parts to this day, but in complexion, eye, and appear- ance are Norse, with possibly an intermixture of Celt or even Iberian.
In Orkney and Shetland the Norsemen com- pletely obliterated the British Celt, and there is not a trace of Celtic influence, or a single com- plete Celtic place-name in the Orcadian Isles. Only the word " Orkney " itself is supposed to derive its first syllable ore (a pig) from Gaelic, meaning the sea-pig or whale, which led the Orkneys to be known as the Whale Islands.
Through conquest and intermarriage Scotland at length succeeded in gathering her scattered races into a loosely formed unity within the terri- tory which she to-day holds, but it was exceed- ingly heterogeneous, and the conflict of races, families, rival lords, and different sections led to constant bloodshed and commotion. The fire of patriotism was chiefly kept aglow by the claim of England, continuing from old Saxon times, to be the overlord of the country, under the preva- lent feudal system of the Middle Ages. Blood- shed, murder, and assassination were common occurrences, and Scottish history is a succession of raids, combats, and personal rivalries. The rise of the two national heroes, Wallace and Bruce, and the combining effect of the union of Celt, Pict, Dane, Scot, and Saxon landowner, in resisting King Edward II. at Bannockburn was the first indication of a national unity. 20
Nations and Tribes
The period of the Stuarts was one of disorder ; and of the six Stuart sovereigns from James I . to Mary Queen of Scots only one died a natural death.
Two centuries and a half after Bannockburn Scotland became really one through the mighty, all-absorbing, fusing religious movement of the Reformation, which bound Dane and Pict, High- lander and Lowlander, Orcadian and Islander into a consolidated, religious, and patriotic people.
21
CHAPTER II
THE MEN OF ORKNEY IN RUPERT'S LAND
WE have shown how the Norsemen of the Orkney Isles became Scottish, though the Orkney people in local sentiment have always regarded themselves as a separate people. The writer remembers at a St. Andrew's Society meeting in Winnipeg hearing the members classed as so many of Scottish blood and so many Orkney men. The President, however, who was of Orkney birth, protested against the classification, declaring that he was as good a Scotsman as the best of them. It was early geographic circumstances that led to the great influx of Orkneymen into the Company posts of Hudson Bay. It arose thus. The great Hudson's Bay Company in London was incorporated as a purely English organisation by the " merrie monarch," Charles II., in 1670. His was a royal gift, for he gave away about one- third of a continent, consisting of all the English territory on the streams running into Hudson Bay. This was named after his cousin, Prince Rupert, who became the first Governor of Rupert's Land. The trade was carried on by the yearly trading 22
The Men of Orkney in Rupert's Land
vessel — at times by additional vessels — from London down the Thames, up the East Coast of England and Scotland and through the Pentland Firth, and stopping at Stromness in the Orkney Islands — the last place of call. Here very naturally they took on trappers, fishermen, and labourers from the Orkneymen available. From the Orkneys the course was direct to York, Churchill, and Severn Forts or factories on Hudson Bay.
For about one hundred years after the founding of the Hudson's Bay Company the captains, men, and employees did not leave the shore of Hudson Bay, but carried on business with the Indians who came to them, and often through a window in a safely protected fort. In 1710 Orkneymen went out.
When about the middle of the eighteenth century the Nor' -Wester traders of Montreal were going up the rivers and meeting the Indians, and had built under Frobisher a fort on Sturgeon Lake to cut off the whole Indian trade going to Hudson Bay, Samuel Hearne — called the Mungo Park of Canada — made a dash on behalf of the Hudson's Bay Company five hundred miles inland and built the fort of Cumberland House, a few hundred yards from Frobisher's fort. Then the gage of battle for supremacy was thrown down — and the statement is made by the chroniclers that Hearne returned to the Bay in 1774, leaving his new fort garrisoned " by a number of Orkney men " under an English officer, who held the fort and country for the great Company. The Orkney- man was a sturdy, faithful, inoffensive man, not
23
The Scotsman in Canada
so lively or so expert with a paddle as the French- Canadian voyageur, slower and less emotional than the Highlander, but cautious, deep, and persistent in his course. It was his misfortune that he was not permitted to take with him' to the remote post to which he went as an indentured servant of the Company a spouse from his native island. The Fur Company, for its special work, was better served by sending out, for a term of years, only unmarried men.
But around all the posts came the Indians to trade. They were chiefly Crees. Near Hudson Bay they were the Muskegons, or " Swampy Crees " ; in the forest they were " Wood Crees," and on the open prairies " Plain Crees." The Crees were a steady, reliable race, uncultivated and savage it is true, but having the elements of a firm and trustworthy character. With the women of these tribes the Orkneymen largely inter- married in all parts of Rupert's Land. Whatever the officers of the Company might do, when on better pay they might leave the country and also perhaps leave behind wife and dusky children, the working man could not do this, and so the Orkney labourer of the country remained in the country. His family as it grew up around him received the best education he was able to find at the Mission School beside the fort where he was stationed, or at some remote centre where he had friends. He himself could read and write, and his family generally learned these accomplish- ments, while his wife, pure Cree or half-breed, 24
The Men of Orkney in Rupert's Land
learned the ways of the white woman at the fort and did her best to remember that her husband was a white man. Thus around the shores of Hudson Bay, and afterward in the far interior, grew up bands of " Scotch half-breeds," or on account of their language sometimes called "English" half-breeds. After the formation of the Selkirk colony, of which we shall speak more fully, many of the Orkney men with their savings retired to the banks of the Red River, and there found a community where they felt at home. They received strips of land along the river, where they built log houses after the Red River pattern, tilled the land, caught fish, kept a few cattle, went out with the gun to shoot a duck or a prairie chicken, and " far from public haunts " lived a comfortable life and often saw their children rise to a higher station.
The writer has lived for wellnigh forty years on the banks of the Red River in Winnipeg ; his duties have led him to mingle with these people in their homes, to be present at their public, religious, and other gatherings ; and he can testify that he has come to have respect and regard for them as kindly, confiding, and good citizens.
In later years these native people have received a good education, have learned farming, and many of them are in good circumstances, while some have risen to distinction in different departments of the provincial life. Sometimes it is the Orkney- man himself, who has come out to the West, who has done well ; sometimes it is his children. It
25
The Scotsman in Canada
is but just that we should describe more minutely some of these Orkney-born people, or their de- scendants living to the number of six or eight thou- sand among the people of the Manitoba of to-day. Among the old Scottish families of Red River probably none have been more active or more suc- cessful than that of the Sinclairs. It is well known that this was the family name of the old Earl of Orkney, and that it was of the Sinclairs or St. Clairs that Sir Walter Scott wrote his beautiful ballad of " Rosabelle." One of the Sinclairs was a century ago Governor of York Factory and a prominent officer of the Hudson's Bay Company. In 1844 James Sinclair was chosen as leader of the native people of Red River, both French and English, in the fight against the Hudson's Bay Company's monopoly and tyranny. Sinclair was one of twenty trading half-breeds who engaged in the industry of tallow exportation', from their herds of cattle. He was refused the right by the Com- pany of exporting tallow at a reasonable rate, and on account of his persistence in opposition was prevented by the Company from exporting at all. He and his companions contended that on account of their Indian blood they had native-born rights which no Government or Company could take away. It has been said that James Sinclair became the " Village Hampden," who stood for his own rights and those of his compeers.
At this juncture a man of Orkney blood, who rose to great distinction, came into notice. This was Alexander K. Isbister. Isbister was the son 26
The Men of Orkney in Rupert's Land
of an Orkneyman, named Magnus Isbister, who came out from Scotland in 1 8 1 1 along with the first of Lord Selkirk's settlers to York Factory. The older Isbister was for years in the Hudson's Bay Company's service, between Hudson Bay and Norway House. He married one of the Kennedy family, which had a slight trace of Indian blood. It was Isbister's sad fate to be killed at Norway House by an angry bull. His son Alexander was taken to the Red River Settlement and studied London at the time of James Sinclair's contest with Fort Garry. From Red River Settlement he went to England, graduated in London University, became a barrister, and was the head of the College of Preceptors in London. Being in London at the time of John Sinclair's contest with the Hudson's Bay Company he was appealed to, and in 1847, with five other half -breeds of Red River, forwarded an important memorial to Lord Grey, Secretary for the Colonies. The Company opposed the memorial, but the storm could not be quieted. The French half-breeds of Red River Settlement also forwarded a memorial to the Queen ; this was signed by 947 persons and was written in French. The next five years saw a great amelioration in the Hudson's Bay Com- pany's treatment of the people. This was largely the result of Isbister's persistent advocacy. The patriot rose to great prominence as an educa- tionalist, and dying some thirty years afterward left a capital sum, now amounting to $100,000, as a Scholarship Fund for the University of Manitoba.
27
The Scotsman in Canada
Surely Sinclair and Isbister reflect the highest credit on the name of Scotsman in the region of Rupert's Land.
Two families, Inkster and Tait, were well known in the old Red River Settlement ; their ancestors were from the Orkneys. The Inksters inter- married with the Sinclairs. Both the Inksters and Taits, though not Highlanders, lived among Lord Selkirk's colonists in Kildonan, and are widely married among the leading people of Manitoba. Colin Inkster was one of the Legislative Council or Upper House of the Manitoba Legislature. He is now Sheriff of Manitoba and is universally well regarded. A sister of his is married to Archibald Macdonald, one of the veteran Chief Factors of the Hudson's Bay Company.
Of the Tait family three brothers, William James, and Robert, took an important part in the stirring times of the Riel Rebellion in the Red River, and were strongly loyal and patriotic as became their Scottish blood.
The name Flett is an old Orkney one well represented in Manitoba. A family of Fletts, with numerous branches, grew up in Kildonan and scattered westward. They have been industrious and respectable representatives of the home of their fathers in Orkney. A well-known and intelligent Orkney Chief Trader of the Hudson's Bay Company of this name was for years in charge of Lower Fort Garry, and his family still remain in Manitoba. A large family of the olden time named Setter, of Orkney descent, lived in the 28
The Men of Orkney in Rupert's Land
neighbourhood of Portage la Prairie, and took an active part on the loyal side in the Kiel Rebellion. John George Setter became Sheriff of his district, and there are branches of the family still living in Manitoba.
The leading merchant of Red River Settlement was Andrew McDermott, one of the settlers pf the first year in Lord Selkirk's colony. He was an Irishman, but would seem to fall under the head of the Scoto-Irish, who came from the Green Isle. Though not now in the line of our treatment, he may be here mentioned as having married a woman of Orkney and Indian blood. McDermott was a great favourite of the Selkirk colonists. He was their merchant, contractor, treaty -maker, business manager, counsellor, adviser, and con- fidential friend. To the new immigrant he was always kind, obliging, and trustful. He was in the first Council of Assiniboia in 1835, and was a director of the Canadian Pacific Railway.
One of the most popular and most highly re- garded merchants and public men ever known in the later days of the Red River Settlement and of earlier Manitoba life was Andrew Graeme Ballenden Bannatyne. He was born in Orkney of a good family and came out as a clerk in the Hudson's Bay Company's service about the middle of last century. Learning his duties very quickly, he was too prominent and independent a man to remain in the leading-strings of the Fur Company. He married a daughter of Andrew McDermott, a handsome woman of education and
29
The Scotsman in Canada
ability, and became one of the leading* merchants of .Winnipeg. Though Scottish born, he learned French and spoke it as well as a native. Know- ing the French half-breed people intimately, it was not wonderful that he should be elected by them as their representative in the Dominion Parliament at Ottawa. He was one of the most charitable men in .Winnipeg, was President of the St. Andrew's Society, was Chairman of Manitoba College Board, and always a leading supporter of the Church of his fathers. Several members of his family still remain in Manitoba. Among other families to be mentioned from the Orkneys is that of William Drever, the head of the boatbuilding department of the Hudson's Bay Company. He received a valuable piece of land just north of the Company's land in Winnipeg. One of his daughters married Bishop Pinkham of Calgary, and another Col. McLeod, of the North-West Mounted Police.
The family of Linklater was well known in the Red River Settlement, and Magnus Linklater, a typical Orkneyman, was for years Master of Fort Garry. One of his daughters was married to Major Swinford, a well-known military man of Winnipeg, and another to John McKenny, a trader, and a nephew to the well-known Dr. Schultz, who also, although not a Scotsman himself, married the daughter of a Scotsman named Farquhar. Lady Schultz is still a leading resident of Winnipeg. A man of kindly disposition and much respected in Winnipeg is Mr. William Clark, a Chief Factor 30
The Men of Orkney in Rupert's Land
of the Hudson's Bay Company. A native of Orkney, he has been fifty years in the Red River country. For years he was one of the most reliable officers of the Company, and he is to-day living in well-earned retirement. His wife is a daughter of one of the early Kildonan settlers — Donald Murray.
William Kennedy, who was born in Cumberland House, on the banks of the Saskatchewan River, was the son of Alexander Kennedy, an uncle of Alexander K. Isbister ; Kennedy was one of Lady Franklin's captains, and will be mentioned among great Scottish navigators in Canadian waters.
The son of an Orkneyman, and also nephew of William Kennedy, was one of the greatest men that Red River or Manitoba ever produced. This was John Norquay, who was for years the Premier of Manitoba. Norquay received his higher educa- tion in St. John's College, and early in 1870 became a member of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba. He was young and poor, but showed at once an aptitude for public affairs. Being an Orkney half-breed, he was able to fill a most important place in the affairs of Manitoba. He was a man of commanding presence and polished speech, which was almost as if it had been obtained from reading the best authors. He was a good public speaker, a man of fine disposition, and able to take his place with any class or rank of men. His peculiar service to Manitoba was in reconciling! the Red River people, whose susceptibilities had been roused by the Riel Rebellion and with whose
The Scotsman in Canada
grievances a large number of English-speaking people had sympathised. With these he har- monised the incoming Canadians, many of whom were somewhat blunt and aggressive. He served for a number of years as Premier of the Province of Manitoba and died in early manhood, regretted and missed by all who knew him. The Orkneys and Scotland might well be proud of this their Canadian son. His family occupy various good positions in the country. Among other old timers in the City of Winnipeg were James Spence, an Orkneyman who was an early occupant of the land, and another man from Orkney, well known years ago as a landowner, named Magnus Brown. In later days in Manitoba was W. B. Scarth, who took a leading part in land company busi- ness, and was representative for years of the City of Winnipeg in the Dominion Parliament. Another family of representative Orkney people is that of the Smellies. Dr. Smellie is a leading physician of Port Arthur and Fort William and now a repre- sentative in the Ontario Legislature, while several brothers have made their mark in business in Western Canada. The Moncrieff family of Shet- landers has lived for many years in Manitoba, and one has been well known in journalism.
Such names as Cooper, Gibbon, Harper, Bruce, Johnson, Clouston, Stalker, Stanger, Armit, Sabiston, Fobister, and many others come to mind. Alexander Begg, of Winnipeg, and another Alexander Begg, of Victoria, British Columbia, both Orkneymen, have written books on the West ; 32
The Men of Orkney in Rupert's Land
but they will be spoken of under the head of Literature. For a century and a half the Orcades have been sending out to Western Canada trusty representatives, and there is no part of Great Britain where the affairs of Rupert's Land and Red River are so well known as in these islands of the tempestuous North Sea.
VOL. II. C 33
CHAPTER III
THE SCOTTISH FUR TRADERS OF MONTREAL
NOTHING is more notable in the history of the beginning of trade in Canada, after the turmoil of the conquest of 1759 had somewhat settled down, than the energy and skill with which a band of men — chiefly Scottish — engaged in the opening up of the fur trade by way of the Ottawa River and the Upper Lakes to the great prairies and mountains of the Canadian .West.
This was work of the most adventurous kind, and the pluck, enterprise, and managing ability of the Scotsman in Montreal fully showed itself in this fur trade movement in the North- West.
Moreover, there was a special fitness in this work in tl^e North-West being undertaken by Scotsmen. It is a country with a decided winter, abounding in fur -bearing animals which amid the snows reach their best development and pro- duce the most precious furs. The Scotsman belonged to a northern clime ; his Highland hills — though not to be compared with the Rocky Moun- tains which he was to face — were yet rugged and 34
The Scottish Fur Traders of Montreal
wintry and snow-producing enough to enable him to feel at home in the Canadian West.
In 1770 Thomas Curry, a Scotsman of Mon- treal, was the first to adventure himself on the deserted French route to the Fur Country, west of Lake Superior. Passing* Lake Winnipeg he reached by way of the Saskatchewan the old Lac Bourbon of Verendrye, which we now know as Cedar Lake, north of Lake Wiinnipegosis. Curry was so successful with this first venture in furs that he did not need to go to the West again. He stands as the Scottish pioneer of the fur trade of the West, and, as we shall see, it was he who stirred up the Company trading at Hudson Bay to make a dash into the interior.
The second pioneer of the fur trade was another Scotsman named James Finlay. He was also from Montreal. He is found wintering at Neepawe, on the Saskatchewan River, in the winter of 1771- 1772, thus having advanced up the river beyond Curry's wintering place. With Scottish shrewd- ness he made money on his venture and retired some five years afterward in Montreal as one of the notables of the place. It was his son, James Finlay, jun., who afterwards ascended to the very sources of the Saskatchewan and discovered a tributary to the Peace River,, which is still called ' Finlay River.
At this point it is usual in the description of the development of the fur trade to introduce the name of Alexander Henry, sen., a Montreal trader, and one of the most noted of the pioneers. His
35
The Scotsman in Canada
well-written book, edited by that genial Toronto Scotsman, James Bain, whose demise we regret, is a model of description and may be termed a Western classic. Unfortunately for our purpose, Bain, who was the distinguished Librarian of Toronto Public Library, in editing Henry's " Travels and Adventures in Canada and the Indian Territories," calls his author an English- man, though Dr. Robert Campbell, long the minister of St. Gabriel's Church of Montreal, classes Henry as a Scotsman, and as one who headed the list with £20 for the erection of the Scotch Church in Montreal. Bain in making Henry English states that he was believed to be a relative of the great commentator Matthew Henry, whose monumental work is reverenced by all Scotsmen.
The fur trade drew into it a large number of men of the brightest mind and greatest trading capacity of Montreal. For courage, insight, and executive ability no one surpassed a prominent Highlander, Simon McTavish, who with the brothers, Joseph, Thomas, and Benjamin Fro- bisher, who were Englishmen, pushed out his men and struck at the very source of the fur supply of the Hudson's Bay Company. Intermarried as McTavish was with one of the most popular and well-known of the French families of Quebec, that of an old fur trader, C. J. B. Chaboillez — a sister of his wife being married to Joseph Bouchette, the great surveyor, and another to Roderick McKenzie, the cousin of Sir Alexander — he had 36
The Scottish Fur Traders of Montreal
much influence among the French people. It was the dominating mind of McTavish that drew the merchants of Montreal into the union of 1783- 1784 for the better establishment of the fur trade in the North-West, and McTavish and the Fro- bishers were the leaders of the new Company, acting as agents for the other shareholders. McTavish was born in 1750, and, as we have seen, was a man of great decision of character. When this combination was made there were, how- ever, certain dissatisfied traders. Among them were two Americans, named Pond and Pangman. They applied to a young Englishman, Gregory by name, who with Alexander Norman McLeod — an ardent Highlander — formed an opposition com- pany. McTavish, like the lion rampant on the standard of his country, defied them, and he became known as " Le Premier " and " Le Marquis," names given in derision. On the rise of the second secession from the North-West Com- pany, which took place in 1802, the "Old Emperor " at Montreal extended his agencies to the South Saskatchewan and Missouri River dis- tricts, rented the " posts of the King " down the St. Lawrence, and sent two ships to establish forts on Hudson Bay. His ambition was unbounded. McTavish became a wealthy man, owning the whole Seigniory of Terrebonne besides other lands. At the time of his death he was engaged in building a princely mansion at the foot of the mountain in Montreal. This building, uncompleted, was called the " Haunted House." On the rugged
37
The Scotsman in Canada
face of the mountain may be seen to-day the tomb of the great Scottish lion of the fur trade. This was erected by his nephews, William and Duncan McGillivray, who were also very prominent in the fur trade.
Of these two brothers the more noted was William McGillivray. After the death of Simon McTavish, William McGillivray became the head of the North -West Company. The decision of the Boundary Commissioners that the Grand Portage, the old headquarters of the Companies, at the mouth of the Pigeon River, Lake Superior, was to be included in the United States, com- pelled the traders to move their fort and property to the British side of the boundary-line. This was done and a new fort was established near the mouth of the Kaministiquia River, where jt empties into Thunder Bay. This change took place in 1804 or 1805, and the new fort was called Fort William, after the Hon. William McGillivray. McGillivray received a grant of 11,550 acres from the Crown in the township of Inverness in Lower Canada. He was the Lieut. - Col. of a body of voyageurs in the war of 1812, and McGillivray River in Rupert's Land also com- memorates him. That he was a generous and worthy Scotsman is seen in the record that he was " a liberal supporter of St. Gabriel's Scottish Church in Montreal." But it was Scotsmen also that took the lead in the rival Company of the North-West of which we have spoken. The rallying -point of the oppositionists was the firm of Forsyth and 38
The Scottish Fur Traders of Montreal
Richardson. In this Company were two Forsyths, Thomas and John ; these brothers were from Aberdeen, and they fully illustrated the fact that where the Aberdonians with their financial ability are, there is little room for the Jews.
At the end of the eighteenth century of which we are speaking, " they stood," it is recorded, " foremost among the commercial houses of the City of Montreal." Thomas Forsyth removed to Kingston in Upper Canada, and there did a large business until his death. Hon. John Forsyth was a public man, and was appointed to the Legisla- tive Council of Lower Canada in 1826, and was a director of the two prominent institutions — the Bank of Montreal and the Montreal Fire Insurance Company. He was successful in business, and returned to his native Scotia to spend the closing years of his life.
The junior member of this doughty firm of traders was John Richardson, a native of Banff- shire, Scotland. He was born in 1755, and rose to be the greatest personality among the partners. He was so public -spirited a man that it was said that " Montreal of the period owed more to him! than to any other of its citizens." A recital of all his public services is not here possible. He was the promoter of the Lachine Canal, and saw its completion. He was chairman of the com- mittee which prepared the articles for the estab- lishment of the Bank of Montreal, and was a director of the first Montreal Savings Bank. He was a founder and the first President of the
39
The Scotsman in Canada
Montreal General Hospital, and his services to this charity were so great that his friends erected to his memory the " Richardson Wing of the General Hospital." It was his distinguished honour to be one of the gentlemen appointed by Governor Drummond to collect a subscription, in 1815, for the friends of the slain at the Battle of Waterloo. Surely both Scotland and Canada are honoured in having set to their credit the character and work of so worthy a Scotsman as the Hon. John Richardson.
Virtually a partner of Gregory, who we have seen led off the opposition against McTavish, Fro- bisher and Co., was Archibald Norman McLeod, who in temperament and energy was an unsur- passed example of the Celtic Scotsman. In the Indian Country he was a man of impressiveness, not only to the Indians and to the officers and men of his own Company, but to his opponents as well. He figured, as we shall see, in the Nor'- Wester attacks and persecutions of the Selkirk settlers. Under Col. McGillivray, McLeod was Major of the expedition against Detroit in 1812, which brought glory to British arms. He was the man to drive off, it was said, either by fair or doubtful means, the troublesome free traders who victimised the Indians, and, sad to say, it was stated by Col. Coltman that he was, more than any other man, responsible for the attack by which Governor Semple lost his life at Seven Oaks in the Selkirk Colony in 1816. As to this charge the writer is bound to say that this im- 40
The Scottish Fur Traders of Montreal
putation seems hardly proven. McLeod seldom visited Montreal, but his boast was that he was an operator in the field of action and not a mere defensive soldier. That the ardency of the Celt led him to rashness we admit, but his alertness, decision, and fearlessness cannot but challenge our admiration as Scotsmen.
" The Grants." — The name of Grant is one of the most celebrated in the annals of Scottish achievement and likewise of North- West history. It is not necessary to prove this by any such method as a member of the Grant clan took to prove his antiquity. The ambitious Grant referred to had a Bible with small print, and in one of the earlier chapters of Genesis discerned an in- distinctness in one of the letters of which he took advantage and read it, " There were giants [Grants] in the earth in those days." The clan, which covers a President of the United States, a Principal of Edinburgh University, a Principal of Queen's College, Kingston, and forty-seven men of note in Sidney Lee's " Dictionary of National Biography," does not need to support itself iby any such humorous justification. Peter Grant, the historiographer and one of the best writers of the fur-trading fraternity, is of interest to the people of the Red River Settlement and the .Winnipeg district on account of his being the first to establish a fort on the banks of the Red River. He was born in 1764 in Scotland and entered the Nor'-Wester service in Montreal in 1784, to become a partner within seven years. He was stationed at one of
The Scotsman in Canada
the Nor'-Wester posts in Minnesota in the Red Lake district, and built a fort at Shell River in 1794. He thus gained the reputation of being a fort -builder. Three years after this date he was met by the great surveyor and astronomer David Thompson, but just then he had built the first fort on the east side of Red River, near the International Boundary-line where St. Vincent now stands. Two years afterward Peter Grant was in charge of a fort on Rainy River — of which the records call him the proprietor. After this time he was in charge of the Red River depart- ment and spent a most active life. Peter Grant signed the agreement uniting the Nor' -Westers and X Y Companies, by attorney. Grant retired from the active service to live in " Ste Anne," where the voyageur could still be heard singing his " evening hymn." The old trader died near Lachine in the year 1848.
Another Grant — David — is called an experi- enced old trader who at the split of the old Nor'- West Company was among the X Y traders. James Grant, another of the clan, was clerk and interpreter of the Nor'-West Company in Minne- sota in 1804. Robert Grant, another trader, founded Fort Esperance, probably about 1785, on the Qu'Appelle River.
Two other Grants remain, and they are worthy of greater notice still. These are Cuthbert Grant — father and son. Cuthbert Grant, the elder, was a Scotsman of much force and ability. This trader was sent along with Leroux, who figured in Sir 42
The Scottish Fur Traders of Montreal
Alexander Mackenzie's parties, to found a fort on Great Slave Lake. He was also at Fort Chipewyan when Mackenzie returned from the discovery of the river which bears his name. The astronomer David Thompson mentions him as being present at a meeting of the partners at Grand Portage in 1797. Grant was evidently a leading man of affairs, being agent for the region back of Red River. Thompson and Grant travelled together along the banks of the Assiniboine.
John Macdonald of Garth, a very clever man, but one whose dates are not always reliable, states that he served under Cuthbert Grant at Fort Augustus, but though Grant was middle aged and a good man " he was weak in health." When the spring came Macdonald took his bourgeois Grant, who was quite ill, and, placing an awning over him, had him transported to Cumberland House. From this point the sick man was carried on to the Kaministiquia River, but died at Grand Portage in the summer of 1799.
Cuthbert Grant the Younger. — The writer has not been able to find particulars of the birth and relations of Cuthbert Grant, the younger, other than that he was a half-breed son of Cuthbert Grant, sen., and that probably his mother had a touch of French blood. Young Grant seems to have belonged to the Qu'Appelle district, where a community of Metis, or French-Canadian half- breeds, had grown up around the forts of that rich district. Accustomed to the use of the prairie horses, the gun, and the snow-shoe, they formed
43
The Scotsman in Canada
a sort of guild of their own and actually called themselves Bois-brules, or " The New Nation." We shall see how the Nor '-Westers made use of these young spirits to attack Lord Selkirk's colony. Of this Bois-brules (dark-faced) band Cuthbert Grant was leader. Of his exploits we shall speak more fully in another chapter.
Duncan Cameron. — Among the captains of the Nor'-Westers there were few more adroit, more shrewd, or more aggressive than this scion of a Highland family. His family had lived in New York State, and came over with the United Empire Loyalists to Canada and settled in Glengarry in 1785. He entered the North-West Company, and was always one of their most enterprising agents. Cameron was stationed in the Lake Superior country, and wrote an account of the Nipegon District. Of his great career we shall afterward speak.
Charles McKenzie. — This trader was another Highland youth who entered the Nor'-West Com- panies in 1803. He was one of a party to cross the plains to the Mandans on the Missouri River in the year following. The Canadian traders met on the Missouri the celebrated party of American explorers — Lewis and Clark — who crossed from the Atlantic seaboard and reached the Pacific Ocean. McKenzie made several visits to the Mandans, who are well known as a very intelligent tribe of Indians, cultivating the soil, and living in under- ground houses. This trader was fond of study, and especially delighted in the history of his native 44
The Scottish Fur Traders of Montreal
land — Auld Scotia. As a man of mind he sought to educate his half-breed children, and inveighed bitterly against the Hudson's Bay Company for refusing to admit natives to the higher offices of the Company, however excellent their education or great their capacity might be. He received leave from the Company to settle in Red River. His son Hector McKenzie, formerly well known to the writer in Manitoba, was a man of excellent character and high intelligence. He accompanied one of the exploring expeditions to the North in the capacity of guide.
The most remarkable of the Scottish fur traders of Montreal were two cousins — Sir Alexander and Roderick McKenzie. Of the former, whose posi- tion was so extraordinary and worthy of study, we shall write more at length in a subsequent chapter. We may, however, properly close this sketch of the personnel of the Scottish Fur Com- pany by referring to Roderick McKenzie, the historiographer of the Company and of the fur trade. Roderick McKenzie came out as a High- land laddie to Canada in 1784. He obtained a position as clerk, immediately on arrival, in the North-West Company, and at once made his first journey to the farthest extremity of the Fur Country. On his way the youth stopped at Grand Portage and saw the wonderful meeting* of the partners with all its excitement and novelty. He went on directly to Lake Athabasca, where, under his cousin's direction, he built Fort Chipewyan.
Roderick McKenzie was a great letter-writer,
45
The Scotsman in Canada
kept up a correspondence with his cousin Alex- ander, and also planned to write a history of the Indians and of the fur trade of the North -West. To carry out his plans he obtained many journals from the literary lights among the fur traders and laid the foundation of the interesting recitals which we have in Masson's two invaluable volumes on " The Bourgeois of the North-West Company." After eight years' service Roderick McKenzie re- tired to Eastern Canada in 1797. His " Reminis- cences " extend to 1829, at which time he was living at Terrebonne in Lower Canada. He became a member of the Legislative Council of Lower Canada, and left behind him a number of dis- tinguished descendants.
Ex-Governor Masson has done good service to Scotland and his Scottish relatives and friends by preserving the memory of this bourgeois.
46
CHAPTER IV
THE "LITTLE COMPANY" OF SCOTTISH TRADERS
ONE of the dominant features of the Scottish race is its independence. The right of private judgment has been greatly emphasised in the religion of Scotland. A strong individualism is the reaction from spiritual and intellectual tyranny, and this has been remarkably shown in Scotland. The late Dr. Sprott, of North Berwick, used to tell of seven religious people, in Galloway, who held a select service of their own in a farm- house. A spectator noticed that, after a few weeks, three of the seven met in one room and four in another. One of the seven being asked the cause of this division answered : " Ah, weel, we couldna* just see eye to eye, and we thocht it better to pairt I " The world is now seeing more clearly the importance of collectivism as a reaction from such individualism. This indi- vidualism is thus seen to have been very charac- teristic of Scotchmen. The fur trade showed this tendency even under the new conditions of Scots- men in America. The fur trade union was really a rope of sand, and the Company at Montreal was
47
The Scotsman in Canada
little more than a clearing-house for the partners concerned. Each had his share in the trade, and the Montreal accountants had but to make up the profits or losses of the yearly trade and divide them pro rata among the partners, most of whom were far away in the Fur Country. In 1787 there was an attempt made to centralise the business to a greater extent, but it will be remembered that dissension immediately followed. At the meeting in Grand Portage held by the traders in 1795 matters, as we have seen, assumed a critical aspect, and there was a secession, favoured by Sir Alexander Mackenzie, but from which he with- held himself for three years. Forsyth, Richardson and Co. were, however, the rallying centre of the " New North-West Company," as they wished to call themselves. They for trade purposes in 1795 were called the "X Y Company." This name arose from the practice of the old Company mark- ing its bales " N.W.," and the new Company took X Y, which were the next letters of the alphabet. They were not, however, contractions, and should not be written so. The strong spirit of " Le Premier " McTavish, however, still dominated in the old Company, and they despisingly called their opponents " The Little Company " or " The Little Society." In the wild region of Athabasca the old Company referred to the X Y Company jas the " Potties," probably a corruption of " Les Petits — " The Little Ones," meaning members of of " La Petite Compagnie." This nicknaming was practised..^ the old Company traders themselves 48
"Little Company" of Scottish Traders
by the Hudson's Bay Company, who called their opponents " The Pedlars."
A great spirit took hold of the " Little Com- pany," and this again stirred up the older Company. The X Y Company vigorously dupli- cated every fort, erecting a new building within a stone's throw of the old. In 1797 the X Ys erected a rival house at Grand Portage — the very centre of the old business. A few years later, when the Nor'-Westers built Fort William on the Kaministiquia their opponents erected another within a mile's distance. At the mouth of the Souris River, where Brandon House had been built by the Hudson's Bay Company in 1794, there was, of course, the Nor' -Wester Fort, the X Y Fort, and two free traders' forts — five in all, McCracken and Jussaume, the independent traders, classingi with the others.
" For three years," we are told by Ex-Governor Masson, " there was at this time an uninterrupted succession of troubles, differences, and misunder- standings between the opposing leaders — McTavish, Mackenzie, and their followers." Those who admire " good haters in a cause " might at this time be easily satisfied.
In 1799 Alexander Mackenzie declared his in- tention of leaving the old Company, and next year a letter was read at Grand Portage from " Le Marquis," saying : "I feel hurt at the distrust and want of confidence that appeared throughout all your deliberations last summer."
Soon after the meeting of 1800 Mackenzie
VOL. II. D 49
The Scotsman in Canada
journeyed to his native land, received his knight- hood from the King, and hurried back to Canada to throw himself most fiercely into the fray.
The opposition now became on both sides most unscrupulous. Both parties acted as brigands rather than as gentlemen of station.
What these Scotsmen were capable of in this respect was but a repetition of the good old times among the nobility of Scotland in the days of Bruce, when there were thirteen claimants for the Scottish throne, or of the " parlous " days of the five Jameses, few of whom died peacefully upon their beds.
Records of these days in the North-West such as those of Alexander Henry, jun., show that istrong drink became a constant medium of working upon the Indians — a thing almost unknown before this time in Rupert's Land. Violence, far greater than ever before, became common. The war was carried into far-away Athabasca. We have men- tioned in a previous chapter the defensive steps taken with such determination by Simon McTavish and his Company as he threw down the gauntlet to all — X Y Company, Hudson's Bay Company, and free traders alike — when the war raged from Hudson Bay to the Rocky Mountains.
These were the days of the Scottish giants of the fur trade I Suddenly the death of Simon McTavish took place in 1804, and an agreement was almost immediately reached between the rival Companies .
On the completion of the Union and the forma- 50
"Little Company" of Scottish Traders
tion of the reunited Company several important conditions were agreed on : i . No business other, than that of the fur trade, or what was neces- sarily dependent on it, could be carried on ;by the United Company.
2. No partners were to be allowed to have any private business carried on near the forts.
3. By common consent the selling of spirits to the Indian was to be discontinued and discouraged.
4. The expense incurred by Simon McTavish in his ventures on Hudson Bay would not be borne by the United North -West Company.
It is interesting to peruse the names of the partners of the two Companies which united, and to observe how remarkably Scottish the two Com- panies were in their personnel.
OLD NORTH-WEST COMPANY.
John Finlay D. Thompson John McDonald
Duncan Cameron John Thompson Alexander N. McLeod James Hughes John Gregory Donald McTavish
Alexander McKay Wm. McGillivray John McDonnell Hugh McGillis Duncan McGillivray Charles Chaboillez
Alexander Henry, jr. Wm. Hallowell John Sayer
John McGillivray Roderick McKenzie Peter Grant James McKenzie Angus Shaw Alexander Fraser
Simon Fraser D. C. McKenzie Aeneas Cameron
John D. Campbell Wm. McKay Alexander McDougall
THE NEW NORTH-WEST COMPANY OR X Y COMPANY.
|
Sir Alex. Mackenzie Thomas Forsyth John Richardson John Inglis James Forsyth Alexander Ellice |
John Haldane John Forsyth Leith, Jameson & Co., by Trustees John Ogilvie P. de Rocheblave |
Alex. MacKenzie (2) John Macdonald James Leith John Wills |
The Scotsman in Canada
Of these forty-six prominent men of the fur trade in the two companies there seettn to be only six who are known to be not Scotsmen. These are Hughes, Chaboillez, Gregory, Sayer, Roche - blave, and John Wills.
Those who know the history of Canada of this period will recognise the influential places held by the forty Scotsmen who now combined in a peaceful union. Among them were Legislative Councillors, members of the Legislative Assembly, leaders in society, the chief men in trade and finance in Montreal.
These men in the twenty years which were to follow the happy union were to be celebrated as traders, explorers, fort -builders, benefactors, civic representatives, writers, leaders in all depart- ments of Canadian life.
Truly Scottish energy, business activity — and shall we not say honesty and good citizenship — are here vindicated beyond dispute.
CHAPTER V
A SCOTTISH EXPLORER OF IMPERIAL MIND— MACKENZIE
IT is men of brains who move the world. Men may be shaped in their ends to some extent by their circumstances, but this does not explain the whole matter of human success. There is a power in man — a Divine spirit, it may be — which enables some men, despite their circumstances and despite limitations which hamper and con- fuse others — to compel success and appear as giants among the pigmies of their time. Such men, in our national history, as King Robert the Bruce, John Knox, and Dr. Chalmers are gigantic figures which would have been, not only in Scot- land but in any land in which they were placed, the men to compel their circumstances and to bring forth success.
Among the many able men of the North-Western traders there stood out one who was as a giant among his fellows. This was Alexander Mac- kenzie, afterward Sir Alexander Mackenzie. His greatness in Canada stands to the credit of the Scottish people.
Alexander Mackenzie, though both the place and
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The Scotsman in Canada
date of his birth have been misstated in a number of standard works, was born in Stornoway, the chief town in the Island of Lewis, in the year .1763. As a lad he was fond of the sea, received a fair education, and at the age of sixteen, with the spirit which animated so many of his young countrymen, went abroad to seek his fortune in the world and arrived in Montreal.
We have already spoken of the competition among the fur traders of Montreal, led on the one side by Simon McTavish and the Frobishers, and on the other by Gregory and A. N. McLeod, in- cited to opposition by. the two Americans Pond and Pangman. Whether it was the spirit of oppo- sition to constituted custom and authority or a desire for more speedy advancement, the young Highlander of the Seaforth stock was led to join the weaker Company. The spirit of the lad attracted the attention of his employers and led to his selection, after a few years of experi- ence of his work, as leader of a trading expedi- tion to Detroit, on the border of the United States and the British possessions — a trying position surely for a mere lad just out of his teens.
Already raised at twenty -two years of age to the dignity of a bourgeois — a partner in the Com- pany— he was dispatched to represent the Gregory Company, and was greatly attracted by the bustle of Grand Portage, then the rendezvous of the Montreal fur traders, where the " pork eaters " of the route from Montreal to Lake Superior 54
A Scottish Explorer of Imperial Mind
finished their journey and the " runners of the woods," coureurs de bois, who lived on pemmi- can, took over their merchandise and carried it inland to the far Athabasca region.
Allocations of districts were made here, and Alexander Mackenzie received the region where most responsibility rested — the Churchill or English River — the boundary of the western district which was to become the scene of his great explorations and his fame. Though a keen trader, Mackenzie showed his tact in this diffi- cult region. He fraternised with the neighbouring bourgeois of the older Company, P. Small. In carrying their furs to the first meeting-place of the traders of the district, He a la Crosse, the rival partners joined their brigades and made the solitudes of the watercourses over which they passed resound with the cheerful voyageur songs. This harmony was greatly in contrast with Peter Pond's management of the Athabasca District, where John Ross, a trader of the old Company, was killed. Pond, it is necessary to state, had treacherously deserted the young;er Company and gone over to McTavish.
Alexander Mackenzie had just left the He a la Crosse when the news reached Roderick Mackenzie, his cousin, the master of the place, that Ross had been murdered. So serious was this news that Mackenzie dashed off in a light canoe, manned by five voyageurs, to reach the meeting of the partners while it was still in session at Grand Portage.
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The Scotsman in Canada
Both companies, though rivals, were greatly alarmed at the news which he had brought, and it was now recalled that Pond had been some- what involved in the death of a Swiss trader, Wadin, some five years before.
This alarm drove the two Companies together, and the North-West Company was established in 1787, and thenceforth McTavish, Frobisher, and Gregory became joint agents for the great aggre- gation.
It being now necessary to supersede Pond in the management of his district, all eyes turned to Alexander Mackenzie, although still young, as the man to meet the Athabasca emergency.
Now, as head of the great important Northern District, Mackenzie showed his surpassing ability. Not only did his presence at once restore peace and give confidence, but in the face of the Hudson's Bay Company's opposition which he had to meet did his policy prove successful. It has been sa'id, " At twenty-four Mackenzie had the energy of maturity and the adventurous instincts of youth."
He now turned his attention to the unknown lands beyond, and came face to face with his great life-work.
He selected the new policy of " Advance," and chose a French-Canadian leader, Leroux, and his party of half-breeds and Indians to push out to Great Slave Lake and carry on the trade with vigour. Leroux, under the advice of Mackenzie, chose a well-known Chipewyan, known as the 56
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" English Chief," to go to the far North to induce the Indians to bring1 their furs to his dep6t. He also dispatched an adaptable Highland trader, named Sutherland, well laden with presents, to take another route and bring in the Indians for trade from another direction. Leroux was now known as the lavish monarch of the North. Like all great leaders, Mackenzie had infused his own policy, open spirit, and attractive manner into the whole body of his subordinates.
Another stroke of genius was shown by Mac- kenzie when he chose a new outpost for trade on the Peace River. At a spot where the little Red River flowing from the south enters the Peace River a French-Canadian trader, Boyer, under Mackenzie's direction, founded a new fort and opened trade on what was to be the route to the Western Sea.
Like a great general, Mackenzie now began to plan for a base of supplies from which greater projects might be carried on. Pond had built his first post belonging to the far North at Elk River in 1778 — thirty miles south of Lake Atha- basca. This was only a post by the way for the adventurous Mackenzie . Here one could only rest in inglorious ease, and, like Ulysses in Ithaca —
Strong in will To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield,
Mackenzie could not rest satisfied ; he must out to the far north. His plan was clear,
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but there were drawbacks. The great McTavish of Montreal was a man of strong prejudices, and so still retained an antipathy to those who had not belonged to his section of the Company. Even in the minds of a number of his own Company Mackenzie's rapid promotion had roused jealousy of the young officer. Besides, to go on an expedi- tion to the far interior would incur expense and danger to those who went upon it.
In addition to all this, Pond's cruelty and tyranny had left the district unsettled, and it would be hard to get a competent substitute to take his place while he was absent in the unknown North.
These difficulties were sufficient to deter most men. But genius does not recognise obstacles, except to remove them. Mackenzie's cousin Roderick now belonged to the same Company as Alexander. He was of a poetical spirit and literary disposition, as we have seen. He disliked the fur trade, but could not afford to leave it, though that was in his mind. In a good moment Mac- kenzie suggested to his cousin Roderick the extension of trade to Lake Athabasca.
This pleased both cousins, and accordingly work was begun. The new Fort Chipewyan was built, and Roderick Mackenzie was duly installed as founder and as bourgeois. It was Roderick's dream not only to make Fort Chipewyan the centre of the Northern trade, but also to be the seat of a library for the Northern posts ; and this he did, although under the ribaldry of the 58
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Philistines it was called " The little Athens of the Arctic Regions." It afterward became a well-known library, as General Lefroy tells us in his book on " Magnetic Observations in the Far North."
The position of administrator of a vast remote northern district like that of Athabasca involved a great responsibility, and, to a certain extent, a large amount of liberty. Alexander Mackenzie had exercised that liberty to the full in sending out as never before his " runners " to the far Northern Indians and in now establishing his new depot of Fort Chipewyan.
It would be difficult to hinder the steed that has tasted victory, and which scents a new race, from taking the opportunity offered him.
And now the first dream of the man who has been chiefly a fur trader and head of a district was likely to be accomplished. Alexander Mac- kenzie determined to be the first to reach over- land the Arctic Sea by following down the greatest of Arctic rivers to its mouth. Hearne had reached the Arctic Sea at the mouth of the Coppermine River, and Hearne and his achievements were a great incentive to the young, as yet uncrowned, explorer.
The story of Alexander Mackenzie's expedition has the advantage of being told by the explorer himself. It is not necessary for us to dwell upon the details of the difficulties, disappointments, and preparations of his great journey. Leaving Fort Chipewyan on June 3, 1789, he worked out his plans. For exploratory work in an absolutely wild
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country the opinions of the natives are of the greatest value. Accordingly Mackenzie chose a crew made up of half-breeds and Indians and took as his guide the " English Chief." In his own canoe he was accompanied by four French Canadians — the best of voyageurs. His Canadians were Francois Barrieau, Charles Ducette, Joseph Landry, and Pierre de Lorme. Leroux, being present with him at Fort Chipewyan, piloted the party northward through the district well known to him. The region was wild and dangerous ; within twelve miles in one section of the route there were the rapids called " D'Embarras," " Moun- tain," and " Pelican," followed, as the recital tells us, with fierce rapids, boiling cauldrons, and whirling eddies.
On June 25th, leaving Leroux at Great Slave Lake, the explorer started into the unknown upon his Northern voyage amid volleys from the small arms of the traders and servants who were left behind. This custom was long followed on the departure of the officers of the Company. We omit the details of their meetings with new Indians, passing dangerous rapids, and going through numerous interesting adventures through thirty or forty days of constant travel from Fort Chipewyan. The end of the Northern journey was made when he reached Whale Island in the mouth of the river, where the latitude was taken at 69 7 N. The tide from the ocean rose and fell on the shores of the island. They were a degree or two within the Arctic Circle and found themselves 60
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in the land of the midnight sun. His party was anxious to return, and though it is a matter of regret to all of Mackenzie's admirers that he did not pass through the delta to the open sea, yet he yielded to their desires and began the return journey on July 1 5th.
On August 22nd the returning party reached Great Slave Lake, and on September 12, 1789, arrived at Fort Chipewyan, having concluded the voyage in 102 days.
The great results of this voyage as summarised are : —
1. The discovery of two thousand miles of new country, containing coal, petroleum, salt, and a great quantity of furs.
2. The proper location of the Yukon River.
3. Laying the foundation of a policy of friend- ship toward the Northern Indians, which has been carried out ever since.
As Mackenzie quite expected, the information came to him from his cousin Roderick that the regular traders were not quite in favour of the exploration in which he had been engaged. When he went to the next meeting at Grand Portage he found the traders somewhat cool toward him. He says : " My expedition was hardly spoken of, but that is what I expected."
His rivals, the Hudson's Bay Company, however, looked on the matter differently and undertook an expedition to examine the ground.
Alexander Mackenzie, with his usual suavity, re- ceived the agents of the English Company and
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gave hospitality to their leader — a young man named Turner — in Fort Chipewyan. In 1791 Mackenzie again attended the meeting of the traders iat Grand Portage. But his projects of exploration were not yet completed, and so instead of returning immediately to the far West, he went eastward and crossed the Atlantic to London. Here he spent a portion of a year in astronomical study that he might with greater accuracy use the instruments necessary in his explorations. In 1792, having returned to Athabasca, he began to lay his plans for a dash to the farther West, that he might by crossing the Rocky Mountains reach the Western Sea. Earlier in the season he had dispatched a party to the Peace River to prepare timbers for a house in which he might winter. This was but following up the policy which four years before he had adopted, when he had sent Boyer to the Peace River.
Towards the end of October in 1792 Mackenzie reached Finlay's Fort on the Peace River. This was so called from the younger Finlay who had just arrived to take charge of the new fort. The latter, a young man of promise, would be the connecting link with the Athabasca forts. On his arrival the explorer was received with the firing of guns and much demonstration. In November he sent out parties of Indians to hunt, and went on building his house. His plans for the fur trade were, however, all broken up by an Indian murder, which drove the forest hunters into parts unknown. Waiting restlessly for spring, he saw 62
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that the ice on the Peace River was clear on April 25, 1793. He had obtained a monster canoe, 25 feet long, of 26 inches hold, and 4 feet 9 inches in beam, and yet it was so light that two men could carry it. In this he was to carry his whole party, provisions, goods, presents, ammunition, and baggage — all weighing 3,000 Ibs. His crew consisted of ten persons. They were his lieutenant, Alexander McKay, an experienced traveller ; Joseph Landry, and Charles Ducette, of the Mackenzie River party. Four other French- Canadian voyageurs were ready to go, viz., Baptiste Bisson, Francois Courtois, Jacques Beauchamp, and Francois Beaulieu — the last of whom died in 1872, nearly a hundred years old. He was baptized by Archbishop Tache at the age of seventy. Two Indians completed the list — one of them so lazy that he was called Cancere — the crab.
How simple were the arrangements for this great expedition I How much was accomplished with such insignificant preparations ! The explorer simply records : " My winter interpreter with another person, whom I left here to take care of the fort, and supply the natives with ammunition during the season, shed tears on the reflection of the dangers which we might encounter in our expedition, while my own people offered up their prayers that we might return safely from it."
As our object is chiefly biographical we shall not give a detailed account of the great voyage of Alexander Mackenzie. It was up the Peace River to the Mountains, so danger beset the party at
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every turn as they ascended the river ; bears were to be seen at every landing-place ; the route was once puzzling — once nearly baffling — and beset by hostile Indians who mystified the travellers as to the route ; but at length the carrying-place at the height of land was reached. It was a critical moment when they stood at the Rocky Mountain Divide.
" At this point," says Mackenzie, " two streams tumble down the rocks from the right and flow eastward toward the other lake, and from the left two other streams pour down the rocks and empty into the lakes they are approaching."
From this point the explorers began their western descent of the Rocky Mountains.
For a time they were descending the stream which Simon Fraser afterwards in 1806 followed down to the Fraser River. This descent of Fraser's has always been regarded as one of the most dangerous feats ever undertaken by man. This river, the " Tacouche Tesse," " Nechaco," or Fraser, was so precipitous that Mackenzie decided to leave it. Their guide now led them by rocky heights and by descending streams until they met a chief who had ten years before this time gone to the South with a party of forty of his Indians to meet a great white man. This was probably Captain Cook. Another Indian declared that lately a large canoe (ship) was on the coast in which was a man " Macubah " (Vancouver). Mackenzie knew that now he was coming near those that go down to the sea in ships. Persevering he reached 64
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at last the Pacific Ocean, and here on a rock by the seaside he made with vermilion and melted grease his notable inscription, " Alexander Mac- kenzie from Canada by land, the twenty-second of July, one thousand seven hundred and ninety -three, Lat. 52 20' 48"."
Mackenzie had achieved his great design. It is interesting to know that on the day of his arrival there anchored off Point Maskelyne, two and a half degrees north of his stopping-place, one of Captain Vancouver's vessels.
The return journey was urgent and the higii mountains were reached on August I3th. On the 1 6th the height of land was gained which separates the Columbia from the Peace River, and next day the party was floating down the latter stream.
They landed at the Peace River post, which they had left seventy-six days before. Pushing on, Mackenzie reached Fort Chipewyan, somewhat worn out after his long journey.
In the spring of 1794 the explorer journeyed down the watercourses to Grand Portage, Lake Superior, and turned his back upon the upper country (pays (Ten haut), never to see it again.
His fame as a great explorer had been achieved. From being the towering figure in the fur trade beyond Lake Superior, Alexander Mackenzie found at the Grand Portage assemblage that the influ- ence of Simon McTavish.and the leading partners at Montreal was somewhat against him, but the winterers were all for the young hero of the West. Mackenzie, however, acted cautiously. Dislike of
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" Le Marquis" led Forsyth, Richardson and Co. to break off from the North^West Company, but though the explorer did not then withdraw, the dis- sentients knew very well that his sympathies were all with them. Thus was formed, as we have seen, the X Y, or New North -West Company. Mac- kenzie now withdrew for a season from any close connection with the fur trade, and for a time he obeyed the Royal Command to act as the travelling companion in Canada and the United States of his Royal Highness Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, the father of Queen Victoria. On his return from the coast he had begun his book of travels, but could not settle down to it at Fort Chipewyan. Going over to England the now renowned explorer completed and published his work, " Voyages from Montreal," &c., dedicated to his Most Sacred Majesty George the Third. Mackenzie's service to his country was marked by his being made Sir Alexander Mackenzie. He soon became the head of the New North-West, or " Little Com- pany," this Company, indeed, ;being sometimes called " Sir Alexander Mackenzie & Co." In 1806 Sir Alexander assisted, on the death of Simon McTavish, in welding the rival companies into one again.
In 1812 Sir Alexander married Geddes Mac- kenzie, one of the most beautiful and gifted of Scottish women. Geddes Mackenzie brought to her husband the property of Avoch (pronounced " Auch ") in Inverness-shire.
Quite unexpectedly on March 12, 1820, Sir 66
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Alexander died, having been taken ill in the coach on his return from London. He is buried in the churchyard of Avoch.
His name shines forth brightly among the great men of Scottish blood in Canada.
Sir Alexander accomplished many great things, but the two greatest were his heroic voyages to the Arctic and Pacific Oceans by new routes. His greatest service to the Fur Companies was the courage he inspired in the other explorers to face the problems and difficulties of travelling in the lonely wilderness.
As fur trader, explorer, and authpr he was a great Scotsman.
CHAPTER VI
BRAVE SCOTTISH EXPLORERS
THE spirit of Alexander Mackenzie set on fire many of the younger men of the Fur Com- panies to explore the vast regions of the interior of Rupert's Land. It is the great man who points out the way, but facile and patient followers also do noble work for humanity.
Among those who followed closely in the foot- steps of the Imperial leader was David Thompson, astronomer and surveyor of the North-West Com- pany. There is some question about his nationality. Rev. Dr. Campbell, historian of St. Gabriel's Church, Montreal, states that a Robert Thompson, who was a subscriber to the Scotch Church, was a Scotsman and was said to be the brother of David Thompson, of whom we are speaking. It is stated by another authority that surveyor Thompson was a native of Wales, while Ex-Governor Masson says that David Thompson was educated at the celebrated Bluecoat School in London. Mr. J. B. Tyrrell, in his brief narra- tive of Thompson's journeys, states that the ex- plorer was born in Westminster, London, but gives 68
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no clue to his origin, which was almost certainly Celtic.
Thompson was born in 1770, and it was probably in his nineteenth year that, having been well instructed in mathematics and the use of astronomical instruments, he was engaged in his profession under the Hudson's Bay Company. Five years afterwards he is found returning' from a Western expedition and making the recom- mendation that he be allowed greater opportunity for exploration. Repelled in this request by the Hudson's Bay Company officer in charge, the young man gave up his situation and betook him- self to the meeting of the North-West Company in Grand Portage, and was by them immediately appointed as astronomer and surveyor for the Fur Company. He received orders to survey the International Boundary-line — the 49th parallel — explore the Indian villages on the Missouri, inquire into the national history and archaeology of the Western country, obtain accurately the positions of the Western posts, and to enlist in all these things the assistance of the North-West Company agents. His work was to begin at once, and on coming westward from Grand Portage Thompson availed himself of every opportunity to fix the exact spot on which each of the posts stood, followed the watercourses, which he ex- amined, coming in 1796 to all the posts on Lake Manitoba and the Assiniboine and Red River dis- tricts. His observations are generally accounted to be of much value. In the following year the
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ardent explorer made his great visit to the Mandans, or Troglodytes, of the Missouri River. In 1796 he sought the lake which was the source of the Mississippi River, but failed in finding the true source. After the union of the North-West and X Y Companies in 1805 Thompson was sent £0 the region west of the Rocky Mountains to survey the Columbia and other rivers, spending his time chiefly in the mountain regions . At this time Lewis and Clark, American explorers, having descended the lower parts of the Columbia River, gave by their action much anxiety to the Fur Companies as to the claim the Americans might make out of this. Proposals were in the air for the Americans to occupy the mouth of the Columbia River. In July, 1811, Thompson descended the Columbia River — the first ever to do so — as far as the junction of the Lewis and Columbia, below which Lewis and Clark had been first to reach the sea. Near the junction of the Spokane River and the Columbia Thompson erected a pole, on which was a claim to the country to the north as British territory. However, on going to the mouth of the Columbia River the Canadian ex- plorer found that he had been anticipated for some days or weeks by the Americans. Shortly after this event Thompson, with his wife, a native, daughter of Mr. Small of the North-West Com- pany, and his children left the West country, and he was employed as a surveyor in the Ottawa Valley. He lived for many years after this retire- ment from the Company, Glengarry County, Upper 70
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Canada, being his home. Thompson lived to the great age of eighty-seven years, and was in very poor circumstances. His energy, scientific know- ledge, and ability as a leader, all made him ja worthy member of the great Scottish Company which he so long served.
H. H. Bancroft, a historian of the Pacific Coast, says of the explorer : " David Thompson was an entirely different order of man from the orthodox fur trader. Tall and fine-looking1, of sandy com- plexion, with large features, deep-set, studious eyes, high forehead, and broad shoulders, the intellectual was well set above the physical. In the Westward exploration of the North-West Company no man performed more valuable service or estimated his achievements more modestly than he. These were the qualities of a true Scotsman — even to the characteristic of his being able to endure poverty cheerfully, if that were his lot."
Another great explorer, whose name was given to one of the greatest Canadian rivers, was Simon Fraser. Fraser was born in 1773 on the Hudsof River, when New York was a British colony. He was of Highland stock and the son of a Loyalist who fought under the King's standard. His father, Captain Fraser, having been taken prisoner by the Americans, died from hardships in prison, and his widow with her children fled to Canada. Young Simon left school in Montreal to enter the North-West Company at the age of sixteen, and rose to be a bourgeois in the stormy period of the "Little Company" in 1799,
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having two years before this date been in charge of Grand Portage. After the union of the two companies — the old Nor'-West Company and the new Nor'-West — Fraser was commissioned to cross the Rocky Mountains and deal with the Indians of the West Coast. In 1806 he went upon his mission and established at the head-waters of one of the coast streams a post — New Caledonia — which, it is said, gave this name to the whole region west of the Rocky Mountains. While in the Rocky Mountains an order came to him, borne by two explorers, Quesnel and Faries, commanding him to descend the " Grand River," " Tacoutche Tesse," which was then thought to be the Columbia River. This he was to follow down to the sea and if possible precede the American expedition, which was known to be making for its lower waters. David Thompson was also, as we have seen, under orders from the Company to seek by another route the mouth of the Columbia River.
On May 22, 1807, a start was made down this terrific river. We cannot follow the journey, which was a constant succession of dangerous descents. Fraser writes : "I have been for a long period among the Rocky Mountains, but have never seen anything like this country. We had to pass where no human being should venture." On July 2nd the party reached an arm of the sea and saw the tide ebbing and flowing. The natives prevented the brave explorer from reaching the sea, but, taking the latitude, he saw that the mouth of this river was some four degrees north of that of the 72
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Columbia River. One of the tributaries, whose mouth he saw pouring into the Grand River, he called " Quesnel," after one of his Company, and another was called the Thompson, under the im- pression that Thompson's party was then about the head of it. The whole river has ever since this famous voyage of discovery, 1808, been called the Eraser. After other adventures in the Fur Country Simon Fraser retired to live upon the banks of the Ottawa River ; and here, at St. Andrews, continued until his death, at the great age of eighty-six.
Simon Fraser was a true Celt, quick-tempered, impulsive, and possibly overbearing. He was a man of intrepid spirit, and few could have made the marvellous river descent which he did. He was of the Jacobite immigration to the United States and a Roman Catholic, but his Scottish blood warmed to the land of his fathers, and he was one of a type which honoured Scotland by his devotion to the Crown of Great Britain, even when he knew that Bonnie Prince Charlie and his claims had gone for ever.
John Stuart, born in Scotland, was a com- panion of Simon Fraser. At times age, and precedence of others, tend to lessen the fame of very true men. It was so in this case. John Stuart is of interest to Scotsmen on account of his having been an unc£e of one of our greatest Scotsmen of the present day, Lord Strathcona. He was a man of education, while Fraser was not. Stuart had the training of an engineer. It has long been
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understood among the fur traders that, without in any way detracting from the fame of Fraser, Stuart was the dominating force in the marvellous descent of the Fraser River. A lake high up in the Rocky Mountains is named Stuart Lake, while the branch of the stream from which the Fraser descent party proceeded was called Stuart River. Stuart remained in the Company's service for twenty years after the great discovery of the Fraser River, and became a Chief Factor of the Hudson's Bay Company after the union. He returned to his native land and lived until the year 1841. For executive ability, rapid movement over long distances, and devotion to his Company there is perhaps no one who deserves greater honour as a reliable and useful Scotsman than John Stuart. Douglas. — As the century passed on, explorers of various grades and on different quests came to Rupert's Land and New Caledonia. One of the most interesting and peculiar of these was a Scots- man— David Douglas, to be distinguished from the great Governor Douglas, afterwards to be described. David Douglas was a Scottish botanist, whose name is connected with a notable tree of the Rocky Mountains, the Douglas fir. At Kam- loops there was a hot-blooded countryman of Douglas in charge of the fort. This was Samuel Black. Douglas was possessed of a candour which is a characteristic of a certain class of Scotsmen. He declared to Black that the Hudson's Bay Com- pany was simply a mercenary corporation ; " there is not an officer in it," he said, " with a soul above 74
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a beaver's skin/' Black's Caledonian blood arose in revolt, and he challenged Douglas to a duel. It was fixed for next morning. Bright and early Black tapped at the window of the room in which Douglas was sleeping and cried out, " Mister Dooglas, are ye ready? " Douglas, however, dis- regarded the invitation. That the irascible temper of the Celt sometimes led him into serious trouble was shown in the case of these two men. Douglas was killed in the Hawaian Islands, being tramped on by wild cattle ; and Black, having been accused of using magic by the Shushwap Indians and of causing the death of their chief, was shot by a nephew of the dead man.
Campbell. — A notable man from Perthshire, Scotland, brought out by the Hudson's Bay Com- pany as a shepherd, was another illustration of the large number of Scotsmen who by their own worth and merit have risen to high positions in the New World. This was Robert Campbell, who became a great fur trader, but whose most notable service to his Company and to Western Canada was the discovery of the Yukon River in 1838. Under orders of Governor Simpson, of the Hudson's Bay Company, Robert Campbell ascended the north branch of the dangerous Liard River. Reaching Finlayson's Lake, he was at the reservoir where at high water one portion of the water runs to the Pacific Ocean and the other to the Arctic Sea. With seven trusty companions, Campbell crossed the height of land and saw the cliffs of the splendid river, which he at first called
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Pelly Banks. The Company would have called it Campbell's River, but the discoverer refused the honour. Next year Campbell built two forts — one Fort Frances, so called after Lady Simpson, the other one Pelly Banks. Eight years after the discovery of Pelly Banks, Campbell and a party went down the river and erected another fort long called Campbell's Fort, but now known as Fort Selkirk. This was at the junction of the Pelly and Lewis Rivers. Two years later Campbell journeyed far down this united river — twelve hundred miles — now called the Yukon and came to Fort Yukon — a point which had already been occu- pied by the traders going out of the mouth of the Mackenzie River and sailing up the Yukon. Camp- bell, reversing the process, sailed down the Yukon to the sea, entered the Mackenzie River, and surprised his friends by arriving at Fort Simpson on that stream. Chief Factor Campbell then went to Britain and mapped out the line of his dis- coveries. In 1870 he retired from the Hudson's Bay Company's service and settled at Elphin stone in North-Western Manitoba. He was a rrian of stalwart build and of the highest motive. His courage and modesty blended beautifully in his Scottish character. He was married to a Miss Sterling, a daring Scottish woman, who with her sister came out from Scotland to be married to him, travelling by wagon and water upwards of a thousand miles from St. Paul, Minnesota, to Norway House on Lake Winnipeg. Those were days of Scottish pluck and devotion. 76
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Later Explorations.
The era of Fur Company explorations passed away and that of British and Canadian Govern- ment expeditions came in. The great movement of opening up the West to settlement may be said to have begun with the impulse set on foot by the Red River people which led the British Govern- ment to appoint the great Parliamentary Committee of the British House of Commons in 1857. Two expeditions, one from Britain, the other from Canada, in the same year went west of Lake Superior to examine the interior. These, the British expedition of Palliser and Hector and the Canadian of Hind and Dawson, had in each of them a prominent Scotsman.
James Hector, M.D., born 1834, was the son of Alex. Hector, W.S., of Edinburgh. He was a graduate of Edinburgh University and was the scientist of the British expedition under Palliser. He was a geologist, and Palliser said of him : " Dr. Hector, whose able assistance and exertions mainly contributed to the success of the expedition, was most indefatigable, not only during the general exploration seasons, but also during the several winter excursions, which he prosecuted on snow- shoes, accompanied by dogs drawing provisions in sleighs, exposed to the hardships of an almost Arctic temperature." Dr. Hector was a man of great strength and application. After returning to Britain he was appointed Director of the Geological Survey of New Zealand, was knighted,
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and also became a Fellow of the Royal Society of London. He came over the Canadian Pacific Railway on a visit to his son on the way to Britain. On his journey the son died, and the broken-hearted father gave up his intention of crossing the Atlantic, and went back to the Southern Hemisphere. The greatest sympathy was awakened for him, a subscription was taken up, and a modest monument was erected at Laggan, near the crest of the Rocky Mountains, in com- memoration of the exploration of Dr. Hector. The name Kicking Horse Pass, down which the Canadian Pacific Railway descends on the west side of the Rockies, was given from an incident which happened in Dr. Hector's party on their survey. Dr. Hector was Chancellor of the Univer- sity of New Zealand, and died in 1907 — an ornament to the Scottish nation.
Dawson. — The other explorer was Simon James Dawson. He was Scottish by birth and parentage. He came early in life to Canada and was a civil engineer by profession. In 1857 with Hind, he became a leader of the Canadian expedition which explored the prairie section of Western Canada. Their report was one of the best ever made of the Western country, and this was largely due to the scientific ability of Mr. Hind. In 1868 Dawson undertook to open for the Canadian Government the celebrated Dawson Route, in- cluding the Dawson Road. Forty-five miles from the eastern end of Lake Superior and 1 1 o miles from Lake of the Woods to Red River were wagon 78
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roads ; the intermediate portion of 380 miles was a maze of lakes and rivers and really the old fur traders' route. This Dawson Route was utilised by Hon. Alexander Mackenzie to carry settlers from Port Arthur to Red River in anticipation of the Canadian Pacific Railway. It was also to some extent used by Col. Wolseley in his Red River Expedition of 1870. Dawson took a considerable part in the public life of Canada, and was a useful and well-informed Scotsman.
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CHAPTER VII
SCOTTISH EXPLORERS IN THE ARCTIC
OCOTSMEN have in their native land a some- O what severe climate, a country which is partially unfitted for cultivation, and a soil which, even where arable, returns a reward only after much labour and pains. That a race so aggres- sive, enterprising1, and courageous — so ambitious, determined, and adaptable as Scotsmen are — should have gone abroad and taken a large share in the development of Canada and other countries is surely not surprising. Dr. John Hill Burton, in his " Scot Abroad," shows that in the past centuries, even five hundred years ago and more, Scotsmen left their native land to push their fortunes in France, Germany, and even Russia, and gained distinction in the great fields of reward : those of the author and scholar, the soldier, the statesman, and the artist. It has thus become a byword that Scotsmen, finding their own land too " strait," went " furth of Scotland " and bravely struggled for the prizes open to them, so that it has been said that there are more wealthy Scotsmen in London than there are in Edinburgh, that if there is a bishopric or exalted Church 80
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position to be filled a Scotsman is usually near by, and that in Canada men of Scottish blood have had well-nigh a monopoly of college and University presidencies.
In connection with our subject, it may be said of Scotsmen that though of mixed origin they have in their island home the memories of seafaring ancestors. The Celtic people of Scotland — both Picts and Scots — skimmed over their waters in rude coracles, crossed the stormy seas that beset their native isles from the German Ocean, the fierce Pentland Firth, or the Atlantic spittingi in fretful temper on the Hebrides, and ventured thus in rudely constructed boats and crazy shallops. The tempestuous Irish Sea was their playground. But to every " airt " of Scotland came the in- vaders, the Norsemen in their galleys, the Danes in their ships, and the Saxon tribes in hordes, and made settlements on every shore. Orkney was entirely Norse. Sutherland was the land south of Orkney and had a people of mixed Celtic and. Norse blood. The Hebrides fared in the same way. Strathclyde, with Dumbarton for its capital, was the Western kingdom chiefly of Celts. Gal- loway even retained its Celtic name, but yet saw its people mixed up along the coast with settlers of Norse blood and speech, who took up their abode upon the land, saying, like the Lotus-eaters, " We will no longer roam."
Thus grew up a race of mixed Celtic, Norse, and Danish blood, as shown by the physical features of the people, and even by linguistic
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characters. But this was also the case with certain coasts of England. It was then in later days no wonder that the blood of the North, with its love of adventure and its familiarity with the sea, should lead to early voyages across the Atlantic.
The Great British Navigators.
The greater wealth of England and the need of defending herself from Continental invasion moved the British people to encourage her sea-going people and to begin the building of a fleet to defend her shores from Spaniard, French, or Dutch attacks upon her " tight little island." This led to voyages to the shores of the Canadian Northland before any Scottish captains thought of adventuring themselves across the Atlantic Ocean to American shores. To good Queen Bess of Scottish blood and her British captains will ever remain the glory of exploring the seas and coasts of the regions now known as Northern Canada. True, the great Queen's grandfather, Henry VII., had sent out the Italian navigators, John and Sebastian Cabot, to find Labrador, the Baccalaos (Newfoundland), Cape Breton, and Nova Scotia, but we have few details of their explorations. The Queen did mighty things for England by the encouragement she gave to her great sailor heroes. Her Devonian captains were the wonder of the world. Sir Humphrey Gilbert — half-brother of the celebrated Sir Walter Raleigh — was the first to make application for an expedition to undertake 82
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the search for the North-West Passage. These Devonshire men were kindred in race to the mixed communities of Celto-Norsemen that make up the sea-coast people of Scotland. Being a favourite of the Queen, Gilbert recommended for this hazardous journey a young seaman of little more than thirty years of age, of Celtic blood — as he was originally from Wales — Martin Frobisher, who made three voyages and left his name on Fro- bisher Strait. Frobisher afterwards became an Admiral of the Fleet, of which Sir Francis Drake was the chief. Drake was also a Devonshire man, and in his journey around the world went up the Pacific Coast and saw the mountains upon a spot which some declare to have been within the borders of our British Columbia. Whether this be true or not, it is certain that on his return from circumnavigating the globe Queen Elizabeth came on board his ship, the Golden Hind, and knighted the captain, who had succeeded " in first turning a furrow about the whole world." Another of these Devonshire sea-dogs, born at Plymouth, was John Hawkins, who as a colleague of Sir Francis Drake raised high the banner of English seamanship. We have named these as being prob- ably kindred in blood with those who from the shores of Scotland led the way to the northern shore of what is now the Arctic coast of Canada. After the death of Captain Cook, it is true that Captain Scoresby published an account of Green- land and called attention to Arctic America. Sir John Barrow, an English naval officer, was instru-
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mental in rousing the British Government to devise means of reaching the Arctic. Lieut. Edward Parry was among the officers of the Isabella and Alexander expeditions ; but in 1819 a man, after- ward of world-wide fame, of Lincolnshire, on the East Coast of England — John Franklin — was sent upon a most important search. This was nothing else than making a land journey through Rupert's Land, which afterward became in 1870 a part of Canada. From this time on a succession of notable Scottish captains made their mark in exploring Northern Canada. Among these the man most interesting to Scotsmen was John, afterwards Sir John, Richardson. He was born in Nith Place, Dumfries, in 1787, being a son of a Provost of Dumfries. He was well acquainted with the poet Burns. Richardson passed through Edinburgh University as a physician, and was in 1819 ap- pointed surgeon and naturalist to Franklin's first expedition through Northern Canada, travelling within it 5,500 miles. Six years afterwards he went on Franklin's second expedition, having with him a brilliant young Scottish botanist, Thomas Drummond, who spent six years in the Canadian Northland, but died on his way home to his native land. Richardson, in command of an expedition of his own in 1826, explored the coast of the Arctic Ocean for nine hundred miles from the mouth of the Mackenzie River to that of the Coppermine. He assisted on his return to Britain in making the celebrated " Fauna Boreali Ameri- cana," a biological account of the animals and 84
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plants of Northern Canada. Remaining at home, he was appointed Physician to the Royal Hospital, and had as one of his students Thomas Huxley. As all the world knows, Sir John Franklin went on his last voyage with his two ships the Erebus and Terror in 1845 and never returned. Three years later Richardson was appointed in charge of an overland expedition to find his old chief. Unsuccessful, he returned, and would probably have been appointed Director-General of the Medical Department of the Navy, but his age of sixty-two precluded this, and he retired to spend his life in great literary activity in the Lake Country of Cumberland. A Fellow of the Royal Society and knighted in 1846, he died at the ripe age of seventy-eight, an honour to science and a credit to his native Scotia.
Reference was made to the notable voyage of Captain Parry, afterward Sir Edward Parry. With him was John Ross, born in Galloway, Scotland, the region where Celtic and Norse blood are commingled. Born in 1777, the son of a parish minister in Wigtonshire, and his mother the daughter of a Provost of Dumfries, John Ross was placed in the Navy at the age of nine, and after rapid promotion was in 1 8 1 8 appointed Com- mander of a ship designed to find the North-West Passage. Progressing well up through Davis Strait, the captain made a serious error in judg- ment in retiring, contrary to the opinion of his officers, on account of a reputed range of hills, called the Croker Mountains, which he imagined
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prevented the further progress of his expedition. On his return the sentiment of the Admiralty and of the British public was decidedly against him. With true Scottish pluck he persisted until he was allowed to make another trip to the Arctic, and the ship Victory was put in commission, under his command. This voyage in the ship was pro- vided for him by Felix Booth, a rich gentleman of Stranraer. For four years he remained in the Arctic regions, was compelled to leave his ship, the Victory, in the ice, and return to Britain in his old ship, the Isabella. Four years spent in the ice was sufficient to allow the complete survey of the peninsula of Boothia, which was so called after his patron, and also the region named after King William IV., as well as to reach the presumption that the North-West Passage did not lie in that direction. After his return Ross was knighted and received the gold medals from the Geographi- cal Societies of London and Paris. The last years of the life of Sir John Ross were spent in much controversy with the other Arctic captains ; but his pluck, pertinacity, and assertiveness show him to have been possessed of that " perfervidum ingenium Scotorum," a well-known characteristic of his countrymen.
Along with Sir John Ross on his voyage in the Victory in 1829 was his nephew, James Clark Ross, who was afterward knighted and became a Rear-Admiral in the Royal Navy. Born in Wigtonshire in 1800, James Ross reached his rank of Commander in the Navy in 1827. On Sir John 86
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Ross's great voyage in 1829-33 the most marked event was the discovery in 1831 of the North Magnetic Pole. The immediate glory of this dis- covery belongs to James Clark Ross, who, leaving the ship, made in a four or five days' overland journey, facing a north-west wind, one of the greatest of world discoveries. This sledge journey reached its destination on June i, 1831. The explorer's words are worth quoting : —
The land at this place is very low on this west side of Boothia Felix, but it rises into ridges of fifty or sixty feet high about a mile inland. We could have wished that a place so important had possessed more of mark or note. It was scarcely censurable to regret that there was not a mountain to indicate a spot to which so much interest must ever be attached ; and I could even have pardoned any one among us who had been so romantic or absurd as to expect that the magnetic pole was an object as conspicuous and mysterious as the famous mountain of Sinbad, that it was even a mountain of iron, or a magnet as large as Mont Blanc. But Nature had here erected no monument to denote the spot which she had chosen as the centre of one of her great and dark powers ; and where we could do little ourselves towards this end, it was our business to submit, and to be content in noting in mathematical numbers and signs, as with things of far more importance in the terrestrial system, what we could ill distinguish in any other manner.
The necessary observations were immediately commenced, and they were continued throughout this and the greater part of the following day. The amount of the dip, as indicated by my dipping needle, was 89° 59', being thus within one minute of the vertical, while the proximity at least of this pole, if not its actual existence where we stood, was further confirmed by the action, or rather by the total inaction of several horizontal needles in my possession. There was not one which showed the slightest effort to move from the position in which it was placed.
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As soon as I had satisfied my own mind on this subject, I made known to the party this gratifying result of all our joint labours ; and it was then that, amidst mutual congratulations, we fixed the British flag on the spot, and took possession of the North Magnetic Pole and its adjoining territory in the name of Great Britain and King William the Fourth. We had abundance of material for building in the fragments of limestone that covered the beach ; and we therefore erected a cairn of some magnitude, under which we buried a cannister containing a record of the interesting fact, only regretting that we had not the means of constructing a pyramid of more importance and of strength sufficient to withstand the assaults of time and of the Esquimaux. Had it been a pyramid as large as that of Cheops I am not quite sure that it would have done more than satisfy our ambition under the feelings of that exciting day. The lati- tude of this spot is 70° 5' 17" N. and its longitude is 96° 46' 45" W.
Commander James Ross thus gained a distinc- tion which led to his being appointed in 1838 to the head of a magnetic survey of the United Kingdom. In the following year he was sent on a magnetic and geographical survey in the Antarctic regions in command of two ships — the Erebus and Terror. In 1841 he discovered and named the great volcano of the Antarctic, calling it Mt. Erebus. On his return to Britain much honour was shown him ; not only was he knighted, but D.C.L. of Oxford, F.R.S., and gold medals of London and Paris Geographical Societies were bestowed upon him. He died at the age of sixty -two, leaving behind him an example of courage and perseverance equal to that of his uncle, Sir John, though possessed of a larger amount of Scottish shrewdness and adaptability than his celebrated relation had shown. 88
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It is jocularly remarked that when the North Geographic Pole is discovered a Scotsman will be found there ; but what more need be said of Sir James Ross as a great Scotsman than that he discovered the Magnetic Pole in one end of the earth and the naming Mt. Erebus in the other?
On Sir John Franklin's first journey over the frozen north of Rupert's Land he had as a lieu- tenant a young Orkney gentleman — John Rae — who had been in the service of the Hudson's Bay Company and thus knew the country. John Rae was born near Stromness in the Orkney Islands in 1813. He studied medicine in Edinburgh, and went to the Moose Factory on the Hudson's Bay Company ship from London, and was for a time the Company's surgeon at that fort. His twelve years at the quiet fort on Hudson Bay were spent largely in scientific study. The Hudson's Bay Company had been compelled by public opinion to take part in the northern exploration, and Dr. Rae was detailed to examine the coast between Parry's explorations and those of Ross. He and his party of ten men in two boats surveyed seven hundred miles of coast. It was in the following year that he joined the land expedition in search of Franklin. After being" a short time in charge of Mackenzie River district under the Hudson's Bay Company he was again sent out to seek for the lost explorer, but his long journey of eleven or twelve hundred miles proved fruitless. Not- withstanding this failure, the young Orkney physician had by his daring and original sugges-
The Scotsman in Canada
tions gained the confidence of the British public. The plan he followed on his next attempt was, to use the language of Rupert's Land, " to go light " — i.e., to take little baggage, but to be pro- vided with firearms and fishing tackle, and to gain a living for the party from the game of the country through which they passed. Thus by canoe and boat, unhampered by supplies, they were able to travel much faster. Rae's expedition started up the west side of Hudson Bay in 1853 and wintered at Repulse Bay. In March, 1854, Dr. Rae and his party traced the west coast of Boothia, proved King William Land to be an island, obtained news of Franklin's party, purchased relics of Franklin from the Eskimos, and returned to his winter's quarters about the end of May. At Repulse Bay he succeeded in getting further information of the lost explorer from the Eskimos. He reached York Factory in the end of August following. This was rapid work, before unknown in Arctic exploration. On going to London Dr. Rae received £10,000 — one half of the £20,000 reward offered by the Government for news of Captain Franklin. He was a scientist as well as an explorer, and made a collection of plants and animals in all his long journeys. It is said that in the course of his journeys of exploration he had walked 23,000 miles. The returned ex- plorer was made a Fellow of the Royal Society, an LL.D. of Edinburgh, and even after the transfer of Rupert's Land from the Hudson's Bay Company to Canada, and his retirement from active service, 90
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while living in London, he took a part in Canadian business ; and the writer knew him as a vivacious, enterprising, and patriotic Scotsman. He died in London at the ripe age of eighty.
The Hudson's Bay Company had no title to what was known as the Indian territories lying north and west of Rupert's Land. In 1821 they had secured a monopoly of trade for twenty-one years among the Indian tribes. As the time of their monopoly was drawing to a close, they felt, in order to renew their privilege, the necessity of responding to the public demand for a thorough survey of the territories and for the settlement of the old question of a North-West passage. Accordingly the Company organised an expedi- tion and placed in charge of it Thomas Simpson, a relative of the Hudson's Bay Company Governor, Sir George Simpson. Thomas Simpson had been in the Company's service at Fort Garry in the Red River and had fallen out with the French half- breeds there, and was now, in 1836, placed in charge of the proposed exploration of the Arctic Coast. He was born in 1808 in Dingwall, Ross- shire, Scotland, and graduated as M.A. in Aber- deen University, and was now dispatched to the Arctic Coast. As he was quite a junior employee of the Company the expedition was formally placed under an old officer — Peter Warren Dease — pre- sumably a Scotsman. This appointment greatly displeased Simpson, who was ambitious and some- what jealous in disposition. The partners, however, did a remarkable work, well-nigh completing the
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survey of the North coast, and returned to Red River Settlement to be heartily received. Soon afterward Simpson started for Britain across the plains of Minnesota. He was killed by a gunshot wound in the head at his prairie encampment. Some say it was a suicide, others that he was killed by some of his own party. His body was taken back to the Red River Settlement and was buried in St. John's Churchyard at Winnipeg. Thomas Simpson's ability has been challenged by no one, and his upright, inflexible, though some- what imperious, character was of a type which many Scotsmen admire.
Among those who went on the great search for Franklin was a seaman born on the other side of the Channel from Scotland, but who, according to our principle of including the " Scoto-Irish " element, is entitled to notice in our history. This was Sir Robert John McClure, son of a captain of the 89th Regiment. McClure was an officer on the Terror on her voyage in 1836-37. He also served on the flagship Niagara on the Canadian lakes in 1838-39. He was appointed Captain of the Investigator to go to the Arctic in 1849. Going by way of the Pacific through Behring Straits he reached 125° W. long., and being hindered by ice turned on a journey along Banks' Land. Here, ascending a hill 600 feet high, and looking from the north-east extremity eastward to " Parry's Farthest " and Melville Island, he saw no land but continuous ice between them and him. McClure thus discovered the North-West Passage. 92
Scottish Explorers in the Aretie
It was not till four years later that it was found that the lost Franklin and his companions had discovered another similar passage, which entitled Sir John Franklin to be ranked as the first discoverer of the North-West Passage.
McClure, however, had the good fortune to be the first to announce his discovery, and he was voted in the British Parliament the sum of £10,000. McClure deserved his reward, for the had always shown a strong sense of duty to his country. He was knighted in 1850 for his services to Britain, and died at the age of sixty-six.
Among the captains who went in search of Franklin in Arctic Canada was William Kennedy, who was born of Orkney parents on the banks of the Saskatchewan River. He was in charge of the expedition sent out in the Prince Albert schooner (1851-52). Second in command was Lieut. Bellot, after whom Bellot Strait was named. Captain Kennedy was at one time in his voyage quite near the spot where the relics of Franklin's expedition were afterwards found. He was pre- vented from reaching the coveted Sound by reason of its being filled with islands. It had been his intention to go southward in the direction of King William's Island. Had he gone south he would in all likelihood have made the longed-for dis- covery and have received the reward. After returning from his voyage Captain Kennedy came to Canada, lived for a time in Upper Canada, and afterwards removed to Red River Settlement, where he took an important part in the affairs of
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early Manitoba. He was a kindly, high-minded, intelligent man. He lived to see Manitoba thoroughly established and to see philanthropic institutions, in which he was much interested, founded. He died at St. Andrew's Rapids on the Red River, bearing an honourable name as a Scotsman in the land of Scotsmen. A brass plate placed in St. Andrew's Church, on the banks of the river, by the Womjen's Canadian Society of Winnipeg, marks his memory.
Last and most successful among the captains who took part in the Franklin search was Sir Francis Leopold McClintock, born in 1819, also across the Irish Sea in Dundalk, Ireland, being the son of Henry McClintock of the Dragoon Guards. He served in four Arctic voyages. His efforts to ascertain the fate of Sir John Franklin became a passion with him. On the ship Enterprise, sent out in 1848, he had his introduction to the Franklin quest. On H.M. ship Assistance in 1850 his hopes were strengthened, and he saw during that summer traces of Franklin and his company. In 1857 McClintock made a sledge journey of seven hundred miles and reached the farthest west point yet explored in the Arctic. In that year he was promoted to be commander and in 1861 returned to the Arctic in the Intrepid, one of four vessels sent out during that year in search of Franklin. At this time he was out for two years and rescued McClure and his company. In 1851, as captain, he took charge of the second expedition, com- manding the Fox, of which voyage he has left 94
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an interesting account. In that year he decided the matter of the fate of Franklin, his men, and his ships. He was knighted in 1859, received the freedom of the City of London, and in 1871 became Rear-Admiral. His death took place on November 17, 1907. Ireland and Scotland equally delighted to do him honour.
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CHAPTER VIII
SCOTTISH FOUNDERS OF THE HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY
THE chief promoters of the Hudson's Bay Company were Englishmen of London. The Hudson's Bay Company was founded in 1669, and resulted from the application of two Huguenots, Raddison and Groseilliers, who had been thrown off by the French and who applied to the London merchants for capital and support. These merchants first sent out an American — Captain Gillam — who sailed in the ship Nonsuch Ketch, and on his return gave assurance that a profitable trade could be carried on in Hudson Bay. That no Scotsmen were in the Company in which they became a prominent factor a hundred years afterward is not difficult to explain. The field for Scottish enterprise was fully occupied, as John Hill Burton shows, in other parts of Europe. The account of the part which Scotsmen took in the seventeenth -century wars on the Continent reads like a fairy-tale. Sir Walter Scott's wonderfully correct character Dugald Dalgetty, in his " Legend of Montrose," was based on a real person, Robert Munro, a Scotsman, and his remarkable adven- tures with " McKay's " Scots Regiment in Den- 96
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mark. Scotland was a poor country with an ambitious and self-reliant nobility. They did not fight as mere mercenaries, but they fought chiefly on the side with which they sympathised. The great Protestant leader in Switzerland, Gustavus Adolphus, in the Thirty Years' War drew out their admiration and support. There were thirteen regiments of Scotsmen, besides many other regiments, in his army where the officers were Scotsmen. Such honoured Scottish names as Hepburn, Hamilton, Turner, Lumsden, Forbes, Ruthven, Grant, the Leslies, the Lindsays, and many other Scottish leaders of the army of the great Swedish Lion of the North, gained imperish- able fame. But they had no one to spare for the help of the English traders of the Hudson's Bay, Company.
Similarly afterward in the beginning of the eighteenth century, when the Jacobite rebellion of 1715 broke out, there were still none to seek the Arctic for a sphere of action ; but Scotsmen followed the fortunes of the rightful King of Scot- land whom we call the Pretender, and found opportunities of service on Continental battlefields, choosing usually the side towards which their sympathies went out. No Scottish heart can fail to beat with pride at the military success of the Earl Marischal Keith, who, though a Protestant, entered the service of Spain, but after remark- able achievements of diplomacy made peace with the House of Brunswick, received back his forfeited estates at Kintore, and purchased other estates, but
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returned to spend his life among the brilliant courts of the Continent.
The career of his younger brother, James Keith, was still more remarkable. Of him Carlyle says : " A man of Scottish type, the broad accent, with its sagacities and veracities, with its steadfastly fixed moderation, and its sly twinkles of defensive humour, is still audible to us through the foreign wrappings." He was engaged in the service of Spain, then in that of Russia, in internal affairs, afterwards in Turkey. He had great promotion there, though he received a knee-wound. In 1747 he joined the service of Frederick the Great, and after gaining almost every honour possible, being made a Field-Marshal, he ended his life as the true soldier deserves, being killed by a .cannon- shot at Hochkirche in 1758. Four other Scottish Keiths gained military distinction.
General Patrick Gordon was a Scottish soldier of fortune who set his mark on the history of Russia and of Europe. Another example of marvellous Scottish success was that of Samuel Gray, a skipper of Inverkeithing, who entered the service of Russia and died in the eighteenth century as Admiral Samuel Carlouch Gray, Governor of Cronstadt and chevalier of five orders. He founded the Russian Navy. " As Governor of Cronstadt he was the originator of the fortifica- tions there, and as a French author remarks, the Scotsman built those walls which years afterward checked the career of his fellow-countryman, Sir Charles Napier." 98
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We have surely shown 'why for a hundred years after the great Hudson's Bay Company was founded the thousands of Scotsmen engaged in the battlefields of Europe did not find their way to the service of the great Fur Company, which was suited to their ambition and temperament. But we shall see that, after all, in this period Scottish interest was not wanting in the founding of the Hudson's Bay Company. James the Sixth of Scotland on becoming King of England set afoot a scheme of trade and settlement, as has been shown in Volume I., in Nova Scotia under Sir William Alexander. New World ideas pressed in on him, and the colony of Plymouth Rock and other places were begun in his reign. Thus Charles I. and Charles II. were ruling in England when New World problems were alive. When the promoters of the Hudson's Bay Company were anxious for support and needed a charter they sought the one man of sympathetic mind and court influence who could assist them. This was Prince Rupert, the grandson of the Scottish King James VI. Prince Rupert was the son of the Elector Palatine of Bohemia, and his mother was Elizabeth, the daughter of James VI. This con- nection led to the sympathy of the Scottish nation with that people, and a considerable body of Scottish adventurers, under Sir Andrew Grey, went to Bohemia to assist the Elector in his struggles. Prince Rupert was born in 1619, and in the course of events became a resident of Britain and a member of the courts of Charles I. and
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Charles II. When the Charter was granted through Prince Rupert's influence to the London merchants to trade into Hudson Bay, the vast region was called Rupert's Land, after its patron, a prince having Scottish blood. Prince Rupert was the first Governor. He was likewise a patron of science.
The name of Rupert's Land has now passed away, and only remains as the name of the senior diocese of the Church of England, whose centre is Winnipeg. It is notable, as we shall see, that the present Archbishop Matheson and his prede- cessor, Archbishop Machray, of this diocese have both been of Scottish blood.
Charles II., who granted the Hudson's Bay Com- pany Charter, was a cousin of Prince Rupert, and was likewise of Scottish descent, and was still claimed by the Scottish people as their King. While generally looked upon as a man without a serious side to his life, it is not to be forgotten that he gave a distinguished help to science, and was the founder of what may safely be called the most notable of all English societies, the Royal Society of London.
That the Hudson's Bay Company was a distinct object of interest to the Court at the time of its establishment, and not looked upon as a mere commercial company, is shown by the fact that whenever a dividend was made it was carried and presented in guineas to the King as accruing to the £300 worth of stock standing to his credit. On one occasion this amounted to 225 guineas and on another to 150 guineas.
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Founders of the Hudson's Bay Company
On the death of Prince Rupert, in 1684, the position of Governor was bestowed on Prince James, Duke of York, afterwards James II., who was also grandson of the Scottish James VI. Prince James of York was a man of excellent administrative ability, and remained Governor for three years until, on the death of Charles II., he became King.
To have had a kingly patron and a royal Duke as Governor (and both of Scottish blood) was certainly a great advantage to the rising Com- pany. This was followed by the Governorship of Lord Churchill, afterward Duke of Marl- 'borough. But this was not all. After the dethronement of James II. came the united Sovereigns — William and Mary — both of whom, being descended from James VI., were of " Scottish blood." King William had just returned from his victories in Ireland, wljen a deputation of the Hudson's Bay Company waited upon him to present a loyal address along with the " golden fruit," which is not objectionable even to kings. Their address expressed the prayer " That in all your undertakings your Majesty may be as victorious as Caesar, as beloved as Titus, and (after all) have the long and glorious Reign and Peaceful end of Augustus."
That the kings and princes, all of Scottish blood, should have given their countenance to the adventurers to Hudson Bay was surely a great assistance to the Company, and in a time when such patronage meant much, no doubt gave, a
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prosperity and success to the Fur Company which might not otherwise have been attained.
But the time of royal favour seems to have passed away with the death of Wjlliam III., and others began to covet the privileges given to the traders to Hudson Bay.
The opposition came from a man of undoubted ability and courage, who belonged to the Scoto- Irish element in British life which is included in this history. This was Arthur Dobbs, eldest son of Richard Dobbs of Castletown in the county of Antrim, in the North of Ireland. He was born in 1689, and was noted as a man of great personal energy. In his extensive writings he revived in the memory of the British people the early voyages to discover a path to the riches of the East ; and appealed to the English imagination by picturing the interior of the North American Continent, with its vast meadows, splendid cascades, rich fur- bearing animals, and numberless races of Indians picturesquely dressed, as opening up a field, if they could be reached, of lucrative trade to the London merchants. Dobbs quoted at length from the accounts of the early voyag'es, and asked for the opening up of the North-West Passage. His appeal greatly disturbed the Hudson's Bay Com- pany. In 1720 he became High Sheriff of Antrim, and sat in the Irish Parliament for Carrickfergus in 1727-60, was appointed Engineer-in-Chief and Surveyor-in-General by Sir Robert Walpole. He was a wealthy, kind, and liberal man.
Dobbs, with the co-operation of the British 1 02
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Admiralty, had sent out two vessels, the Furnace Bomb and the Discovery Pink, under Captains Middleton and Moore respectively, to winter in Hudson Bay and make every effort to find the North-West Passage to the Pacific Ocean. Dobbs was not satisfied with the conduct of this expedi- tion, declaring that the Hudson's Bay Company had diverted it in some way from its original purpose.
He discredited Middleton, and then published a book which caught the attention of the English people. Parliament was thus driven to vote £20,000 for discovery, and Dobbs with charac- teristic energy raised £10,000 more, with the result that the Dobbs Galley and the California were sent out in 1746. Henry Ellis has given us an account of this expedition, which returned in 1747 without having found the passage, but giving hope that it might yet be discovered.
All this led to the appointment by the House of Commons of the Parliamentary Committee of 1749, and there ensued a battle royal. Dobbs, however, did not succeed in getting Parliament to grant a new Charter to him and his friends ; but he certainly woke the Hudson's Bay Company from its slumber and caused it to penetrate to the interior of Rupert's Land, to cut off the supplies of furs from the French, and save the trade to Britain.
As we shall see, this new departure all came about within a quarter of a century.
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CHAPTER IX
SCOTSMEN IN THE ASTOR COMPANY
JOHN JACOB ASTOR, a German trader, of New York — the ancestor of the wealthy and celebrated family of the New York Astors of to- day— had a good eye for furs. Beginning trade in Montreal, he, after certain changes had been made in trading regulations, went to New York, but he had a liking for Canada and the fur trade which never left him. With varied success he dealt in furs in the American Fur Company at Mackinaw, and established the South-West Company and the Pacific Fur Company. But Astor with keen insight saw that the only men who could help him through with his larger enterprises were the Scottish traders of Montreal, and he had set his heart on beginning trade on the Pacific Coast at the mouth of the Columbia River.
In 1810 he proposed to the North-West Com- pany of Montreal that they should take a one- third interest in the " Pacific Fur Company." The Nor'-Westers were, however, quietly working out in the same direction through the passes of the Rocky Mountains. They therefore declined his proposals, and immediately gave special orders to 104
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David Thompson, their explorer, to push on to the Pacific by way of the Columbia River.
Astor at once saw the necessity for prompt action. The Scottish traders of Montreal were his only resource, and cost what it might he deter- mined not to be beaten. He made offers of the most flattering kind to a number of the most active and capable men of the North-West Com- pany. The French-Canadian boatmen he knew he could get if their Scottish leaders were available.
Astor 's plan was duplex. One of his expedi- tions was to reach the mouth of the Columbia River on the Pacific Coast by way of Cape Horn, the other would ascend the Missouri River and by a journey of exceptional difficulty cross the Rocky Mountains and descend by a most dangerous route to the Pacific Ocean.
The Cape Horn expedition was the first to start. Four stalwart partners of the North-West Com- pany, induced to forfeit their allegiance, entered upon the scheme with Astor, and they were all men who knew their work — moreover, they were all Scotsmen. They were Alexander McKay, Duncan McDougall, David Stuart, and Robert Stuart. They engaged their voyageurs from among the French-Canadians in Montreal, and left Montreal for New York in the highest of spirits. Highland endurance mingled with French vivacity made themselves felt. The party-masters, clerks, and " engages " went by boat across Lake Cham- plain, portaged their boats into the Hudson River,
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and as they descended to New York repeated the picturesque pageant to which they were accus- tomed upon the Ottawa as they left " la bonne Ste. Anne," on their way to the upper country. With banners flying and rollicking songs in unison, they wakened the echoes on the sleepy banks of Washington Irving's Land, and entered New York, as that writer tells us, declaring that they could " sleep hard, eat dog — in short, do anything." In due course they sailed from New York. Omitting the details of their voyage around the Cape, we find them at the mouth of the Columbia River, arriving under the leadership of Alexander McKenzie in the ship Tonquin. They at once erected a small establishment at the mouth of the river, and called it Astoria. With accustomed push they decided to make a voyagte up the Pacific Coast in the ship Tonquin to open trade with the Indians. Captain Thorn on the long voyage had shown himself incapable, and now in his dealings with the Indians he was especially unskilful. De- pending upon their numbers and on the exposed position of the whites, the Indians saw their advantage after a visit to the Tonquin, and decided to make an attack upon her. Coming on board in great numbers, ostensibly to trade, the savages made their attack on McKay, and he was the first to fall from the blow of a war-club. They created havoc on board the Tonquin, but suddenly a terrific explosion took place from below in the ship, and a hundred of the Indians were killed. 106
Scotsmen in the Astor Company
Duncan McDougall was another of the daring partners sent out by Astor. Along! with Alexander McKay, he began as soon as the Tonquin arrived at the mouth of the Columbia River and the party had been welcomed by Comcomly, the chief of the Chinook tribe, the necessary operation of choosing a site for the fort, and of preparing with busy hands a residence, store-house, and magazine. The partners called the settlement Astoria. After McKay's departure on the Tonquin McDougall assumed full control, and on July I5th received David Thompson and his party of Nor'-Westers, who had been sent forward to forestall the Astorians, but who had been delayed upon the way by un- avoidable circumstances. As soon as the bad news of the blowing up of the Tonquin reached Astoria the Indians became less docile, and McDougall had no force to protect him. Fearing an Indian attack, the trader took a bold step. He summoned the Indians to meet him with the shortest notice. When they were gathered together he took a small bottle from his pocket, held it up before their eyes, and announced that it contained smallpox, of which as all knew they had a deadly fear. He had, he told them, but to draw the cork and the plague would seize them. The Indians were cowed, and McDougall, being held in dread, had no further trouble with them.
Another expedition after that in the Tonquin was sent out by sea to Astoria. In 1811 Astor chartered a ship — the Beaver, sailing under Captain Sowles, for Astoria. She had on board one
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partner, six clerks, and a number of artisans and passengers, well provided for.
As we shall see elsewhere, Astoria was taken by the British, after which McDougall joined the North-West Company in 1813, and remained for years on the coast. He is said to have died a miserable death at the mouth of the Red River.
Donald McKenzie, engaged by Astor at the same time as the great four who have been mentioned as proceeding to the Pacific Ocean on the Tonquin, was a man who became noted in different parts of New Caledonia and Rupert's Land. Donald McKenzie was a thorough Scotsman and the brother of Roderick McKenzie, the cousin of Alexander Mackenzie. He was also a Nor'-Wester and was to take charge of the overland journey to the Pacific Coast which was to co-operate with the Tonquin expedition. This McKenzie did in conjunction with William P. Hunt, an American, representing especially the views and interests of Astor. With them was Robert McLellan, an ex- perienced and daring Missouri trader and a young Scotsman of energy and ability, who was acquainted with the country along the Mississippi River. In a later chapter sketches will be given of these Scotsmen and others who were known as traders on the borders.
The overland party on its way met Daniel Boone, the famous old Kentuckian hunter. The party after tedious river navigation found its way to the heights of the Rocky Mountains and then began the terrific " Mad River " descent on the 108
Scotsmen in the Astor Company
west side of the Mountains towards the Pacific Ocean. The party was now divided ; Hunt and Crooks took command of that down the left bank of the river, while the McKenzie and McMillan party were on the northern side. The provisions soon began to fail, but McKenzie, after many hard- ships, secured boats from the Indians, and the members of the party, with concave cheeks, pro- tuberant bones, and tattered garments, all indi- cating their privations, reached Astoria on January 18, 1812. Hunt made the journey more easily, and with his followers reached Astoria a month after McKenzie.
Ross Cox, Alexander Ross, and Washington Irving have all given us accounts of these fright- ful journeys ; but, as has been pointed out, Irving in his description is not a scientific delineator, but rather a writer of fiction.
Donald McKenzie afterward led a party to the taking of Astoria by the British, and rejoined the North -West Company in 1814. His connection with this affair calls for a little fuller treatment. In the troubles of 1812-15 the fortune of war led to the taking of Astoria by the British, and McKenzie took his part in the transfer. He had gone to the interior ostensibly to trade ; but in a few days the Astorians were surprised to see him return down the Columbia River, his party carrying the British flag. Along with him were two Nor' -Wester partners of note. These were two well-known Scotsmen — George McTavish and Angus Bethune. After their " light " canoes came
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eight others laden with furs, these under the Scottish leaders, John Stuart and James McMillan. They bore a letter to McDougall, the master of Astoria, from Angus Shaw, his uncle, stating that the vessel Isaac Tadd, with letters of marque, had sailed from London, with the frigate Phoebe, to seize Astoria. The whole flotilla of canoes, now led by McKenzie, carried seventy-five men. Though the British vessels had not yet arrived at Astoria, yet, after some negotiation, Astor's fort was handed over by McDougall to the North- West Company. The American colours were hauled down and the British ensign rose up over the fort. Some of the Astorians returned to the East, but the greater number of them joined the North-West Company and remained in the Fur Country.
Two of the Astorians have written excellent accounts of their movement under Astor. These are Ross Cox and Gabriel Franchere.
Britain was now in the ascendant at the mouth of the Columbia River. The Isaac Todd and the Phoebe being assigned to other work on the way out, never reached Astoria. Instead of them the ship Raccoon took possession of the fort and settle- ment. Donald McKenzie had, however, much work to do after he had seen the successful transfer of Astoria to British hands. He was at Fort William in 1816, and traded in the Rocky Moun- tains in the year following. He continued in the Fur Country until the union of the Hudson's Bay and North-West Companies in 1821. Returning
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eastward from Caledonia two years afterward, Mackenzie became Governor of Red River Settle- ment for eight years up to 1833. He died in Maysville, New York State, in 1851, and his descendants are still to be found in that place.
McKenzie was a man of remarkable ability, was noted for his conciliatory disposition, and fully won the reputation of being a " canny Scot."
Among those who arrived before Astoria on the ship Raccoon, of which we have made mention, was a very notable Nor'-Wester, whom we may describe. This was John McDonald — commonly known for years afterward as " McDonald of Garth." There was no one who had more of the Scottish pride of family than this McDonald, claiming as he did to be descended from the " Lord of the Isles." His father had obtained for him a commission in the British Army, but on account of a blemish in his arm', caused by an accident in his boyhood, he failed to pass the entrance examination. The nickname "Bras Croche " — i.e., " Crooked armed " — clung to him through life. In 1791 he had come to Montreal to Simon McTavish, and was soon sent out to Beaver River, north of the Saskatchewan. For four years he passed from post to post. In 1802 he went to the West and built a fort to meet the Kootenay Indians. This was Rocky Mountain House. At the junction of the Red Deer River and South Saskatchewan he erected New Chester- field House. In 1806 he was appointed to the Red River district, where a fort had been established
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two years before. He also founded Fort Esperance on the Qu'Appelle River. McDonald of Garth was truly a fort -builder. In the spring, being at Fort -William, he obtained the news that David Thompson, the surveyor, was in danger from the Blackfoot Indians in the Rocky Mountains, and McDonald and thirty chosen men rushed to the rescue and found Thompson among the Kootenay Indians. McDonald was thus well acquainted with the affairs of New Caledonia. We have seen that the Isaac Todd and Phoebe were expected at Astoria. On this expedition were Edward Ellice, of an Aberdeen family, and John McDonald, who was connected with the Nor'-Westers. Their two ships had reached Rio Janeiro on their mission to Astoria. But they were sent on other work by the Admiral, and the Raccoon went, as has been shown, to the mouth of the Columbia River. After the occupation of their fort, McDonald became senior partner in charge of Astoria, and the name of the establishment was changed to Fort George.
In 1814 McDonald left the Pacific Coast, and coming down the Saskatchewan reached Fort William. At Sault Ste. Marie he found the fort in the hands of the Americans, and with some difficulty reached Montreal. He speaks in his journal, which is published by Masson, of meet- ing in Terrebonne Lord Selkirk's party which was going to the West to oppose the Nor'-Westers.
McDonald spent his last days in the county of Glengarry in Ontario, and died in 1860, between eighty-nine and ninety years of age. He was
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somewhat irritable and set in his prejudices, but was noted for his spirit and courage ; he was a most energetic trader ; indeed, his life was most romantic. He had the zeal of the Highland Scots- man for his own company and his " ain folk."
VOL. ii. H 113
CHAPTER X
THE SCOTTISH COLONISER, LORD SELKIRK
E name of Selkirk is that of a man who J- after a hundred years is coming to his own. A century has vindicated the name, character, motives, and influence of a great Scotsman — a nobleman, a Coloniser, a patriot, and wise Empire - builder.
Thomas Douglas, fifth Earl of Selkirk, belonged to the noble family of Douglas, which appears in different branches and under different titles in Scottish history.
The fifth Earl of Selkirk belonged to St. Mary's Isle, at the mouth of the Dee, which enters Solway Firth at the old town of Kirkcudbright. He was the youngest of seven sons, and had as a ;lad no hope of ever becoming Earl of Selkirk ; but his sickly brothers faded away so soon that at the age of twenty-eight he inherited the title. Thinking before this he should have to make his own way in the world, young Douglas went to the University of Edinburgh and gained the acquaint- ance of a large number of Scotland's leading young men. He was a cotemporary and intimate friend of Sir Walter Scott. His fame as a student in 114
The Scottish Coloniser, Lord Selkirk
the class-room has not come down to us ; but his sympathy, independence of view, charitable dis- position, restlessness of temperament, breadth of interest, and public spirit have caused him to be remembered. He became, along with others, interested in the condition of the poor in Edin- burgh and he took ia part in alleviating their sad condition. He was particularly fond of his own Country -people. In the summer months he for several years visited the Highlands in his native Scotland for the purpose of learning; the Gaelic language, and this that he might know better how to make himself useful as a benefactor to them. He wrote articles on the condition of the poor and on the subject of national defence ; while he published a plan for uniting the people in defence of their country against the French, who were then engaged in the terrible Napoleonic wars. Lord Selkirk was born in 1771, and was at the time of Napoleon's progress and world-destroying campaign at the age of thirty. It was at this time that he was drawn into schemes on behalf of the poor, the unfortunate, and the homeless.
As a young man he was much interested in the cause of liberty in France, and like many of the youth of his time, such as Wordsworth and Coleridge, favoured the revolutionists. But later the cruelty and violence of the leaders and their indiscriminate slaughter alienated his sympathies and turned him, as it did many others, against the revolutionary party.
On succeeding to his title and estate in 1799,
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Lord Selkirk was in a position to do something for humanity. Naturally having spent much time in the Highlands, he was led to think of the miseries there, brought on by the world-shaking Napoleon in the utter prostration of trade which prevailed. Many people of Highland descent, in Canada to-day, have heard the sad tale from their grandfathers of the '* Highland Clearances " — meaning the great movement by which landlords in the north of Scotland withdrew their small holdings from the Highland crofters to make large sheep farms, which would return higher rentals. Poverty had been bad enough, but now to be driven off from their crofts and houses added that of homelessness, the result of cruelty and heart- lessness, to their other miseries. These were but additional exemplifications of Burns's lines written a few years before this time : " Man's inhumanity to man makes countless thousands mourn." The quaint Highland saying, that " a hundred smokes went up one chimney," but expressively stated in Gaelic that only one house stood where formerly there were a hundred.
In 1802, three years after Lord Selkirk had come to his Earldom, he is found writing a letter to the Secretary of State making a request that he might take a number of the suffering High- landers and Irish people to the centre of the North American continent on the banks of the Red River. His mind had been turned to this region by, reading Sir Alexander Mackenzie's newly-published " Voyages " and also by reports from other fur traders. 116
The Scottish Coloniser, Lord Selkirk
This project the British Government did not favour ; but after an extended visit to America in 1802 he planned to take out a colony of his own countrymen to Prince Edward Island, and also to settle a portion of land in the western part of Upper Canada. The settlers were from the Scottish shires of Ross, Argyll, and Inverness, and a few from the Island of Uist. In 1803 Lord Selkirk visited his colony, on the coast of Prince Edjward Island and suc- ceeded in getting the settlers organised and located. Some eight hundred souls, carried out in three ships, made up these settlements, and Lord Selkirk soon brought order out of confusion and gave them their allotments.
His other settlement at Baldoon, on the banks of the St. Clair River in Upper Canada, was most unfortunate. The region was swampy, and the fever and ague prevalent in that district cut off the leader of the colony and most of the settlers. The letters received by the founder in Britain from the colonists in Baldoon were of the most dis- tressing kind. While the Prince Edward Island settlement was successful that of Baldoon was a dismal failure.
Truly the benevolent nobleman began, from the first, to realise that his days were those of " trouble and sorrow." Lord Selkirk's energy and courage were shown by his offer made to the Upper Canada Government to build a main road from Amherstburg to Toronto (300 miles) for £40,000. This was a liberal offer, but was refused by the
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Government of that day, much to the temporary disadvantage of that part of the province.
After all these troubles and failures we find the persevering Scottish nobleman in 1805 writing a considerable volume of nearly three hundred pages on the subject of " Emigration," and giving in the appendix an account of his Prince Edward Island experiment. From a visit to the United States he gained a greater interest in the fortunes of the new settler. He saw how great an effort was necessary to induce British settlers to go to the British colonies instead of the United States. His ardent zeal indeed led him to strive to repatriate in Canada some of those who had gone to the States, and among his Baldoon settlers were some who had returned from thait country.
In carrying out his projects Lord Selkirk was for a time in Montreal, where he came into touch with the fur traders and fur trade magnates of Canada. His rank led to much attention being paid him by these " Lords of the North," as Washington Irving called them. The picturesque departure of the voyageurs from Lachine, the festive gatherings of the partners, the glamour of the Beaver Club, whose members wore gold medals at their banquets bearing the manly motto, " Fortitude in distress," and the enthusiasm and success in their trade, appealed to his imagination.
On his return from America Lord Selkirk turned
his active mind from colonisingi to the dangers
of his country at the hands of the threatening
Napoleon. The simile of Tennyson in representing
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Napoleon as a bird of prey, with " Europe - shadowing wings," though yet unmade, repre- sented the shadow on the mind of Lord Selkirk from which he could not escape, even in this matter. His lordship was so constituted that he could not mope in a gloomy and helpless mood. His active and constructive mind worked out in 1807 a plan of defence for the British Isles. This plan involved the very principle which in an exaggerated form is the army system of Germany, and France, and in a more modified form gives us the citizen -soldiery of Canada and Great Britain of to-day. Lord Selkirk first brought up his plan of defence in his place in the House of Lords and then in a brochure of some eighty pages, published in the following year. It was as follows : " Every young man between the ages of eighteen and twenty-five throughout Great Britain should be enrolled and completely trained to military discipline." He estimated that in the population of Great Britain and Ireland, then put down at eleven millions, upwards of six hundred thousand were between these ages and eligible for this purpose. The training] would proceed in succession. For three months officers would train one -fourth of these within their districts, and so on with the second quarter, till all would have secured twelve weeks' drill in the year. Once a year a general assemblage would take place at a fixed time and the trained men be kept in form by the drill required. .With due regard to the interests of the agriculturists, the beginning
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of summer would be selected as the time of general assemblage." This remarkable proposal, which was published again by his friends in 1857, was regarded as marvellously suited to the conditions of the time. On the publication of this scheme of National Defence Lord Selkirk was made a Fellow of the Royal Society.
The first decade of the nineteenth century seemed to be a time of great intellectual activity. Not only did Lord Selkirk publish his work on " Emigration " and that on " National Defence," but in 1806 he prepared a "Sketch of the Fur Trade." Two anonymous works are also attri- buted to him, and these show his sympathy and constructive ability. One of these was " On the Civilisation of the Indian in British America." This work bears no date, but has all the marks of the opinions which Lord Selkirk had. The other book was entitled " Observations on a Pro- posal for Forming a Society for the Civilisation and Improvement of the North American Indians within the British Boundary" (1807).
A plan is suggested in these pamphlets for the setting apart of a district for the Indians alone, and of establishing schools among them to teach the industrial arts as well as ordinary subjects of education. The writer a4so advocated in these Indian settlements the total suppression of the liquor traffic, which was doing great damage to the Indians. The provisions stated, it will be observed, are the very features of our present system of Indian reservations, industrial schools,
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The Scottish Coloniser, Lord Selkirk
and law for penalising a trader for selling or giving liquor to an Indian, all of which have been in vogue for one -third of a century in Western Canada and which have changed the Indian into a peaceful, industrious, educated, and useful member of Western life.
Another interesting fact of a different kind comes out in the life of Lord Selkirk. He was a student and in harmony with the views of his own family, being a Whig or Liberal in his politics. " His visits to France and the United States," how- ever, he informs us, " caused him to change his mind in regard to Parliamentary reform and the extension of the franchise." He states that it was with regret he withdrew from a movement which in his earlier life he had entirely favoured. While we may regret such a position on the part of this broad-minded and open-hearted peer, yet we cannot fail to respect him for his candour, his thoughtfulness, and his honesty.
We have thus before us the picture of a great and large-hearted Scotsman, who was ambitious to perform great exploits and was desirous of helping his poorer fellow-countrymen in their emigration to North America. But as we trace his history, and that of those whom he sought to assist, we shall be led to see thaj —
Only those are crowned and sainted Who with grief have been acquainted.
We shall follow Lord Selkirk in the great emigration projects to the district now making up
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Western Canada, which have made his name one of world-wide fame.
As we follow the Scottish emigration to the New World we shall call attention to his life, and show how nobly he played his part.
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CHAPTER XI
THE SCOTTISH COLONY ON THE RED KIVER
LORD SELKIRK was a man of visions. Nothing else can explain his tenacity in holding for years without question the plan of placing a, party of his countrymen on the banks of the Red River, in a region which he knew to be fertile, though hard to reach. His Prince Edward Island and Baldoon experiences were but an apprenticeship in the art of raising! up New World communities.
Taken up with his scheme of defence and charity, as we have seen, he did not lose an opportunity in the low price of the stock of the Hudson's Bay Company, which held the lands on which his eye was set, to obtain the area for the establishment of a colony which would bear his name and be a monument of patriotism and disinterestedness. The wars of Napoleon were still continuing, and the labouring classes of England, Scotland, and Ireland were really in a state of pauperism. Commencing in 1808, Lord Selkirk and his relatives had acquired a quantity
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of Hudson's Bay Company stock. Alexander Mackenzie, of whose Imperial and successful voyages we have heard, representing the North- West Company of Montreal, had come to Scotland, married a fair daughter of the House of Seaforth, and become a Scottish proprietor. He kept a watchful eye upon the " eccentric lord," as he and his friends were wont to call Lord Selkirk, for he knew how disastrous ai settlement of white men and their families would be to the fur trade. He knew that when the white man and his family come the deer flee to their coverts, the wolf and the fox are exterminated ; and even the muskrat has a troubled existence when the dog and the cat and the other domestic animals make their appearance. It was a startling thing for the Nor'- Westers to see their very existence threatened by the plans of the " visionary Scottish nobleman." But Lord Selkirk and his friends purchased stock until in May, 181 1, they held, it is said, more than £35,000 worth of stock out of the whole £105,000 of the Company. A meeting was called on May 30th to deal with Lord Selkirk's proposals. Two days before the meeting Alexander Mackenzie, John Inglis, and Edward Ellice — Nor'-Westers — purchased £2,500 worth of stock ; but this was of no avail, and Lord Selkirk bought of the Com- pany 116,000 square miles of land — one half of which is now the Province of Manitoba, the other half being at present included in the States of Minnesota and North Dakota, on the south side of the boundary -line between the United States 124
The Scottish Colony on the JRed River
and Canada. The Nor'-Westers were frantic, but they were for the time being helpless.
Lord Selkirk's scheme was most dazzling and attractive. He was possessor in his own right of a territory in North America four times the size of Scotland. The highest legal opinion had been taken, and it was all in his lordship's favour. A fertile land was lying ready to be tilled by his needy countrymen. His would be a colony of his own countrymen, under the British flag, in a country capable of supporting millions of human beings. But trouble was in store for him. His previous experience had brought him into touch with men of ability in Canada and the United States ; and he secured Captain Miles Macdonell, a Loyalist from the United States who had come to Canada, and who was to be the Governor of the colony. While Macdonell wais making his way from Canada, Lord Selkirk was not idle. Glasgow was a centre of Scottish industry, and to this point was sent Captain Roderick McDonald, who found many difficulties in the way ; but some fifty colonists, led by him, made their way to Stornoway, the rendezvous of the party.
A most effective officer, who had seen service in the fur country and had quarrelled with the Nor'-Westers, willingly entered Lord Selkirk's service. This was Colin Robertson. He was sent to his countrymen in the Island of Lewis and secured a number of recruits for the party at Stornoway. In the year 1811 Miles Macdonell arrived in Scotland from America, and on account
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of his being a Roman Catholic he was sent to Ireland to advance the emigration scheme, sell stock in the Company, and engage a number of workmen as colonists. It seemed much more diffi- cult for Lord Selkirk to get colonists now than it had been with his Prince Edward Island colony of eight hundred in 1803. Now he had an active opposition, which was unknown before. Sir Alexander Mackenzie was doing his best to thwart the scheme. In Inverness the Journal, a1 news- paper of that Scottish town, came out with an article, signed " Highlander," which pictured the dangers of the journey, the hardships of the country, the unreliability of the agents, and the mercenary purpose of Lord Selkirk. Two ships were going out to Hudson Bay with men and merchandise for the trade of the Company, and a third vessel, the Edward and Ann, was to carry the colonists. The emigrant ship was a sorry craft, with old sails and ropes, and a very small crew. On account of the threatened attack of the French fleet, a small man-of-war was sent as convoy to the little fleet of three Hudson's Bay Company ships. Many difficulties met the captains in the east and north of Scotland as the vessels made their way from London around the North Coast of Britain to Stornoway. Here the fiercest opposition began ; the collector of Customs was a .relative of Sir Alexander Mackenzie, and the whole official force seemed against the colonists. Some of them were " given the shilling " on the deck of the ship and were then arrested as 126
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deserters. Miles Macdonell, on the day of the sailing of the ship, having lost a number both of workmen and colonists, wrote to Lord Selkirk : "My Lord, this is a most unfortunate business. ... I condole with your Lordship on all these cross accidents." The day of sailing was July 26, 1811.
It also seemed as if all the forces of the ocean were combined against this devoted party. The journey was very long ; they did not reach their destination at York Factory till September 24th. The voyage had taken sixty-one days, and was the longest and latest passage ever known to Hudson Bay.
The passengers were landed, tents were pitched for their temporary convenience, and in eleven days they saw the ships depart for the home they had left behind.
York Factory was not deemed suitable for the shelter of the colony during the winter. The Hudson's Bay Company officer and Miles Mac- donell proceeded to build what they called the " Nelson Encampment," some distance from the fort. Comfortable log dwellings were soon erected, under Miles Macdonell's direction. As he was a colonial, this was done with expedi- tion. The winter dragged along, scurvy attacked some of the settlers, but the famous remedy of the juice of the spruce-tree cured this. After New Year many deer were killed, and these made good rations. A serious rebellion broke out among the men. This arose from a quarrel between the Irish workmen and those from Orkney.
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Boats were built during the winter, and after waiting for the ice to go out of the Hayes River the party, having been met by several Company officers from the interior, started from York Factory on July 6, 1812, to make their long and dangerous journey to the Red River.
Lack of space forbids the details of the eventful journey up rapids, portages, decharges, and semi- decharges, as they were called when the rapids, more or less difficult, had to be ascended.
The route was of a very rugged and trying character. When they arrived at Norway House, at the foot of Lake Winnipeg, they had traversed thirty -seven portages and endured great hardships. A short delay to obtain rest was made here, then they hastened on, coasting Lake Winnipeg and entering the delta of the Red River. They had nearly fifty miles yet to go before they should reach the Promised Land, but this they soon accomplished and camped on the east side of Red River, opposite the site of the city of Winnipeg of to-day.
Their long voyage from York Factory to their landing-place on Red River was 728 miles, and this had taken them fifty-five weary days.
They landed on August 30, 1812.
This is the red-letter day of the beginning of Lord Selkirk's colony.
At the time of arrival there was Fort Gibraltar,
the trading house of the Nor '-Westers. This was
on the site of the present city of Winnipeg, and
there was a small trading house of the Hudson's
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Bay Company. Miles Macdonell, however, had his iduty to perform. The Nor'-Westers might be counted on as hostile, a few French people lived where he had encamped on the east side of the river, and the Indians looked on with curiosity at the new-comers.
Governor Miles Macdonell now prepared for the official act, the " claiming of the territory for Lord Selkirk."
He summoned three of the Nor'-West officers from Fort Gibraltar, the French Canadians, and the Indians, and he also collected a number of Hudson's Bay Company officers and men as well as his colonists. The patent to Lord Selkirk of his vast estate was then read, and a part of it translated into French for the Canadians. There was an official guard, colours were flying, and the firing of six swivel guns followed the reading of the patent. At the close of the pageant the officers were invited to the Governor's tent and a keg of spirits was turned out for the people.
The next step was to choose a point on which to settle the colonists. After taking a number of the leading men and going up and down the river, a spot was chosen where the trees had been burnt from what is now known as Point Douglas (so called from Lord Selkirk's family name), and here on the site of the north end of the Winnipeg of to-day the Selkirk colony made its beginning. The Indians, under Chief Peguis, gave a hearty welcome to the strangers, while the Nor'-Westers looked on with a critical air, VOL II. I 129
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though they were compelled to admit that Lord Selkirk's claim seemed to be valid.
The first difficulty to be met by Governor Mac- donell was how to provide food and shelter for the colonists during the coming winter.
In a few days, after consulting with the Indians, he came to the conclusion that it would be neces- sary for him to move the whole body sixty miles up the Red River to the vicinity of the great " buffalo plains," where they could obtain plenty of food. The place is to the present day known as Pembina. The Governor succeeded in getting the friendly Indians to accompany them to their anticipated haven of rest. The poor colonists — men, women, and children — had to walk the whole distance, while the Indians, riding unconcernedly on their ponies, guided them. On September i ith the settlers reached Pembina, and Macdonell and three companions, who had succeeded in obtain- ing1 prairie horses, arrived the next day.
A site was chosen on the south side of the angle where the Pembina empties into the Red River. The settlers encamped here, where a store- house had just been built, and great quantities of buffalo meat were brought to them by the French Canadians and Indians. About two weeks after their arrival the second party, consisting chiefly of a few Irishmen, arrived at their camping -place. Orders were now given for the erection of several buildings, so that near the end of November all were habitable, and in a little more than a month later the quarters for the Governor and officers 130
The Scottish Colony on the Bed River
were ready for occupation. A flagstaff having been erected and a certain amount of protection being provided for guarding the place, it was duly named " Fort Daer," after Lord Selkirk's second title. Their winter was on the whole comfort- able, although towards the spring buffalo meat became scarcer.
The winter over, the Scottish exiles trudged their way back to their settlement and made futile attempts to till the soil. They had no implements other than the hoe with which to break up the tough sod of the prairie. They were not farmers, but crofters. Even the fish in the river, which they might have caught to secure themselves food for this year, seemed scarce. The wild fruits, which usually grow in the belts of trees along the river-bank, were not abundant this year ; and the chief food of the colonists was the so-called " prairie turnip," belonging to the pea family." This was abundant, and a succulent weed was also freely used by the colonists.
Thus far the Nor '-Westers had shown no un- friendliness to the new settlers. They had even brought into the country from the south a few cattle, pigs, and poultry, for which Governor Macdonell tendered hearty thanks.
But when, in the winter of 1813, as in that of 1812, they were again compelled to make the long journey to Pembina to seek food for the winter, the French hunters of Pembina began to show some opposition to them, perhaps on account of the building of Fort Daer upon their lands.
The Scotsman in Canada
This winter proved to be very stormy, and deep snow covered the prairie. This made it difficult to reach the buffalo, and the hunters were in great danger of losing their lives, while within their abodes there was scarcity. Early in January, 1814, a most suicidal and unwise action was taken by the Governor. He issued a proclama- tion that no food — pemmican, grain, or vegetable — should be taken from the country, but at the same time he offered to pay for all the food that was necessary for the support of the colonists. An amount of dry buffalo meat was also seized at the Nor'-West Fort, near Brandon House. The Nor'-Westers, the half-breed French, and even the traders of the Hudson's Bay Company, who were none too friendly to the colonists, all regarded the action of the Governor as tyrannical, if not impertinent. It is to be remembered that there had hitherto been no assertion of governmental control in the whole country. Governor Macdonell justified himself somewhat by stating that he was expecting a considerable party of new settlers from Scotland during the approaching summer.
Meanwhile Lord Selkirk, still in Scotland, was keeping a watchful eye on his colony, although separated by a great distance and with most tedious means of communication. But the opposi- tion of Sir Alexander Mackenzie, and the fact that both the Selkirk parties had thus far arrived safely at the Red River, seems to have inspired their patron to greater activity than ever. Accordingly in 1813 he sent out his third party — U '32
The Scottish Colony on the Red River
an excellent band of settlers, about one hundred strong. They crossed in the ship Prince of Wales, bound for York Factory. A very serious attack of ship's fever seized them, and several well-known and influential colonists died. The captain of the ship seems to have lost his judgment, and ran the vessel into Fort Churchill, the nearest port, where, after landing, others of their number died.
On the approach of spring in 1814 the more determined members of this party ventured forth in April — twenty-one males and twenty females — and undertook to walk more than a hundred miles across the icy hills and snow-piled valleys to York Factory. The party went at first in single file, but afterward six abreast. Some gave out and had to be carried, and the cold became intense, but fortunately a sufficient supply of wild partridges was provided for them. The party reached their destination — York Factory — after twenty-one days of the greatest hardship. Fortu- nately this company of colonists were under the leadership of a Mr. Archibald Macdonald, a com- petent and determined man. The party reached Red River on May 27th, and were in time to plant potatoes for themselves and others in the settle- ment, and when the weather became milder the comrades of the party who had been left behind came on to Red River.
The arrival of this third band of Selkirk colonists but served to irritate the Nor'-Westers, who knew that if the colony succeeded their prestige and business in the North-West would certainly be undermined.
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During the summer of 1814 the partners held their annual meeting at Fort William on Lake Superior, and, after discussing' the whole matter of the colony, agreed on a plan of opposition of the most determined kind. The whole body of Nor'-IWester traders were incensed at Lord Selkirk, and they had received the following message from London : " Lord Selkirk must be driven to abandon his project, for his success would strike at the very existence of our trade." And the hearts of the wintering partners responded fully to this inciting command.
The settlers upon their return from Pembina began to occupy their lands and to make provision from the soil for their support. But there were constant threats of attack, expulsion, and opposi- tion, which rendered the future very uncertain indeed. It was especially distressing for Lord Selkirk, because he could not get any informa- tion of the events happening only after several months' interval. But with true Scottish pluck on his part, and perfect courage and devotion on that of Governor Macdonell, and the knowing advice of Colin Robertson, whatever the Nor'- Westers and their allies were threatening to do to them, the leaders felt — perhaps foolishly, but still confidently — that they were standing on their rights. Plainly their attitude said, " Wha daur meddle wi' me? "
CHAPTER XII
THE DASHING HIGHLAND RED-COAT CAPTAIN
WHY do Scotsmen make good soldiers, and why are the Scottish regiments most famous? is a question often asked.
A Scottish la,dy on being asked, replied, " Because they can fight I " This is the truth.
A Scottish Governor, Miles Macdonell, backed with legal opinions, and inspired with the national hardihood, had issued his proclamation of " Embargo," and he proposed to stand by it. Free Traders, Indians, and half-breeds, who all regarded themselves as outside of law, and who were as free in their notions as their prairie winds, made outspoken dissent.
What would come of it?
The answer came from another tribunal four or five hundred miles away from Red River.
The McGillivrays, McLeods, and Camerons of the Montreal Fur Company and many others were Scotsmen too ; and the blood of the Highland clansman was warm even to boiling over. So in August, 1814, in their annual meeting at Grand Portage on Lake Superior, they denounced in
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burning tones the high-handed order of Miles Macdonell, and vowed the destruction of Lord Selkirk's infant colony.
True, the great hall at Fort William resounded during the nights of their meetings with noisy revelry, and rum and music urged them on to extravagance ; but when it came to planning reprisals and driving out the interloper, the same spirit as that of Roderick Dhu against the invasion of the Sassenach stranger animated them, and they chose two of their most warlike and doughty leaders to meet the enemy. The first man chosen was well fitted for his work. He needed finesse to keep within the letter of the law, however much he might transgress the spirit, he must have the Highland pluck to claim the rights of Canadian law as having force in the Indian territories, for an Act of the Imperial Parliament seemed to give authority. He needed also the adroitness and the " illness," as Shakespeare called it, to coax or force according as circumstances might require it. Not too scrupulous, but not rash, not too timid to incite his followers to violence, but not afraid to discourage any evil intention, not too anxious to begin a quarrel unless he saw fair chance to gain his end. The man thus fitted by nature and experience to undertake such a task was Duncan Cameron. He was one of the Loyalist Scots who had come over from the United States to Canada and had grown up from boyhood in the Canadian wilds of the St. Lawrence and the Ottawa, where the intrepid hunter, daring boatman, 136
Dashing Highland Red- Coat Captain
or leader of the lumber shanty was the hero of men. As a young man he had taken part in the war of 1812. He had, moreover, been for years a trader among the Indians on the north shore of Lake Superior as bourgeois of the Scottish Fur Company. He was brave and ambitious, though somewhat vain and decidedly selfish. With him was appointed Alexander Macdonell, who had much influence among the Indians and half-breeds in the western district of the Qu'Appelle River, but Duncan Cameron's was the master-mind. While he claimed to have military standing, it was never clearly made out that he had more than volunteer rank, but when he proceeded on his mission from Lake Superior to Red River he appeared dressed up in the red coat and accoutrements of a captain of the Army. To the Scottish immigrants who had just come from the Old Land he had the prestige of a son of Mars. When he came to Fort Gibraltar, careless of good taste, he had his so-called captain's commission nailed on the gate of the fort, that all who came might read. As bourgeois of the fort he took complete command. Moreover, was he not a Highlander, and could he not speak the language of Eden which the colonists spoke? His first step was to ingratiate himself with his countrymen. He brought the leaders of the colony to his table, treated them freely with " the mountain dew " of their native land, and showed the greatest interest in their concerns. That he was a serpent in the grass they could not believe. When admitted thoroughly
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to their friendship he began to lament their sad condition and to stir them up against the tyranny of Lord Selkirk's Governor, Miles Macdonell.
Very soon also he became more aggressive against the Hudson's Bay Company and its repre- sentatives. His full plan, not revealed at first, was to lead away the colony from the Fur Country, and to take the deserters to Upper Canada. But Miles Macdonell had three-quarters of a dozen of small cannon, and with these he might prevent the colonists — a number of whom were under in- denture to Lord Selkirk — from leaving the colony. In the absence of Governor Macdonell, when the rations were being issued to the colonists from Lord Selkirk's stores, Cameron induced some of the settlers to make a demand from Archibald Macdonald, acting head of the colonists, for the nine field-pieces. Macdonald refused, but the settlers broke open the store -houses and took the cannon to Fort Gibraltar. Macdonald next arrested the leading settler who had taken part in the raid. Cameron then incited the settlers to rescue their leader, and they did so. When Governor Miles Macdonell returned, Cameron, by virtue of his commission as a Justice of the Peace under the Canadian Government, ordered the Governor's arrest.
Upon Miles Macdonell refusing to acknowledge Cameron's authority, the wily captain stated that unless he was given up the settlers would be dis- possessed of their farms and be driven from the settlement. A number of loyal settlers were now 138
Dashing Highland Red-Coat Captain
fired at by unseen marksmen, and they became utterly alarmed.
In most of these happenings the hand of Cameron was not seen. The captain now became more daring, as he was confidently expecting the arrival of Alexander Macdonell, his fellow-plotter, with a band of Indians from Qu'Appelle, and also another party of Chippewa Indians from Red Lake in Minnesota. These failing, an open attack was made in force on the colonists' houses. This violence was continued so persistently that, to save the colonists, Governor Miles Macdonell gave himself up as a prisoner, in response to the warrant of Cameron. This capture gave the captain with the red coat great prestige among the colonists, even among those most devoted to Lord Selkirk. Having produced among the settlers great dis- content, and even fear, Captain Cameron now (disclosed the second feature of the plot. This was nothing less than a most tempting offer to the whole colony to take them down to Upper Canada, a more settled country, and to give land and many advantages to those who were in distress in the Red River Settlement.
To the suffering Highlanders, ill at ease in their surroundings, Cameron was the ideal of sincerity and kindness, when he proposed to transport them free of cost to the unpossessed lands of Canada, and to give each family two hundred acres of free land near a market town.
Moreover, there is evidence that disaffected settlers who had any prominence among the people
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were promised sums of money from £100 to £20 each. The adroitness with which Cameron ap- pealed to the fact that they were not going to a foreign country — the United States — but to land where the British flag was flying also had its influence. The die was at last cast by some 140 out of the whole colony of 200 deciding to accept the offer. This was a dreadful blow to the generous and patient coloniser in his British home, and the galling thing was that it had been a victory for deceit and cunning.
On June i 5th the party departed in the canoes provided for them, drifted down the Red River, which had been their goal since they had left Ross-shire, Sutherland, or the Island of Lewis. And who were the departing settlers? There were Campbells, Sutherlands, McKays, Gunns, McKinnons, Livingstons, Mathesons, McBeaths, Grays, Bannermans, Coopers, and other families, many of the most enterprising and worthy of the settlers. By the end of July they had reached Lake Superior, but their journey, though it had been one of well-nigh five hundred miles, was not half over. In their canoe brigades they went along the base of the rugged cliffs of Lake Superior, through the Sault Ste. Marie River, and then along the shore of Georgian Bay to the old fort of Penetanguishene. They had now reached the region which was to be their future home, and they were taken to lands in different directions. The most compact and noted settlement of them was in the township of West Gwillimbury, some 140
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forty miles north of Toronto. Some of them were dispersed through the townships about Toronto, and a number went west to London to the Talbot Settlement. They made good homes for them- selves and obtained comfort and wealth for themselves and their children. Two of the younger members of the party who came to Ontario were known to the writer. These were Heman Suther- land and John McBeth, who had both risen to the distinction well marked in Scottish settlements of -being " elders in the kirk." McBeth was a large man, weighing 250 Ibs., and it was humorously said that he had been carried all the way from Red River to Toronto. The explana- tion of this was that he had been carried as a baby from Red River to Toronto.
Cameron came away, personally conducting the refugees, but left a legacy of sorrow to the party of fifty or sixty remaining ; for Alexander Mac- donell, who had come from Qu'Appelle to Red River with a party of half-breed horsemen, was to drive the remnant away from their homes and leave not a trace of settlement to mark their memory. Two days after the deserters had gone the little party of some thirteen families sailed sadly down the Red River in boats to find a refuge at Jack River, near Norway House, at the foot of Lake Winnipeg. The Governor's house, the buildings begun by the settlers, and the mill were all burnt to the ground. One daring Highland captain had gone, but another determined Celt remained. This was John McLeod, who, with three
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or four other employees of the Hudson's Bay Com- pany, were left in charge of the Company's stores and blacksmith's shop. This daring McLeod had received no orders to do anything ; but, seeing the damage being wrought by Alexander Mac- donell and his destructive band, determined to show his Scottish grit, and at once began to fortify the blacksmith's shop. With a cart he brought the three-pounder cannon to the shop, cut up lengths of chain to make shot and shell, and care- fully hoarded his supply of powder. The Bois- brule"s assailants came threatening the brave McLeod's improvised fortress, but dared not face his three-pounder gun. The siege continued for several days, and a Hudson's Bay Company gentle- man was killed ; but McLeod saved £1,000 worth of goods for the old Company. The party of half-breeds, finding it useless and somewhat dangerous to remain, retired to their prairie homes and left McLeod unmolested. Though having no authority to do so, he now planned a fort and a Governor's residence, for he knew that other settlers were coming from Scotland that year, and that Lord Selkirk would not desert his colony. He states in his diary that this was the beginning of the Colony Fort, which was called by him Fort Douglas in honour of Lord Selkirk's family name.
But Duncan Cameron, having conducted the
departing colonists to Upper Canada, must needs
return to see the fate of the settlement and to
advance the interest of the Nor'-Westers. Colin
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Robertson, the old leader of the settlers, also came west from Canada to Red River, sought out the refugees at Jack River, and restored them to their holdings on Red River again. These were after- ward joined by the finest of all the bands of settlers — numbering about one hundred — sent out by Lord Selkirk. They were led by a retired Army officer named Robert Semple. Whether Semple was of Scottish blood is a matter of question, although the form of the name Sempill is undoubtedly Scottish. The new Governor had been a great traveller as well as soldier and was a superior man. He was born in the American colonies, and had entered the British Army. On his return to Red River Settlement, Cameron was arrested by Semple and imprisoned ; but on his agreeing to keep the peace, he was allowed to take charge of Fort Gibraltar again. Evidently Cameron could not be trusted, and again his fort was taken and he himself made a prisoner. Governor Semple, being a military man, took strenuous measures, and declared it to be neces- sary to deport Duncan Cameron. The prisoner was sent to York Factory, was held a year at that fort after missingi the annual ship, and after a short stay in Britain returned to Canada. This action of Semple's proved expensive to Lord Selkirk, for Cameron afterward recovered £3,000 for illegal detention, though this ended his con- nection with the West. He settled down in Glen- garry in Upper Canada, and from 1823 to 1828 was a member of the Legislature for that county.
The Scotsman in Canada
His son was Sir Richard Cameron, a New York merchant engaged in the Australian trade. Duncan Cameron had the perfervid tempera- ment of a true Scotsman.
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CHAPTER XIII
A FIERY SCOTTISH METIS
BY the strange irony of fate the leaders of the opposing Scottish factions on the Red River were both removed by force and left the field of action open. Miles Macdonell, as a prisoner at large, was sent east to Canada ; while, in return when the colony was restored, Duncan Cameron was sent as an exile to York Factory on Hudson Bay.
Colin Robertson seems to have been the only survivor of the first actors in the drama.
He brought back the scattered remnant from Jack River, and they were followed by the colonists of 1815 — one hundred in number. The settle- ment now began under new auspices, but every one knows that, since it was a Scottish quarrel, the end was not to be yet. It is not without appropriateness that the Scottish motto, " Nemo me impune lacessit " ('" No one hurts me with impunity "), has become descriptive of Scottish life and Scottish temper. The new party of immi- grants were of the same stock as their prede- cessors. In the list of their families occur the names Sutherland, Poison, Matheson, Murray, VOL. n. K 145
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McKay, Bruce, Gunn, Bannerman, McBeth, and McDonald. They were a sturdy party and were the ancestors of the people of the Kildonan of to-day in Manitoba.
But more pains had been taken to provide leaders for the Selkirk colonists. Robert Semple, the new Governor, being1 a military officer, brought with him a small staff, including Captain Rogers, Lieut. Holte, and others. The Nor'-Westers were led by Alexander Macdonell, A. N. McLeod, a Highland fur trader, and a young native of the mixed race of the country who came into pro- minence at this juncture. Again it was to be a Scottish duel between Governor Semple and this fiery young Scottish Metis, Cuthbert Grant. We do not see it stated anywhere that Robert Semple, the new Governor, was Scottish ; but it is almost certain that he was. The name Semple, or more correctly Sempill, is a Renfrewshire name of old standing. Sir Robert Sempill was made by James IV. Lord Sempill in 1489, and was killed at Flodden, twenty -four years afterward. His son and grandson were respectively Lord Robert Sempill. Robert Sempill (1530-95) was an off- shoot of the Sempills with the bar sinister, and was a celebrated ballad-writer of the Reforma- tion era, and his ballads enjoyed great popularity. Governor Robert Semple was, however, born of British, almost certainly of Scottish, parents in Boston in 1766. The parents were Loyalists and were imprisoned, during the War of Inde- pendence, by the rebels. Young Semple was 146
A Fiery Scottish Metis
connected with mercantile affairs between England and the American colonies. He visited Cape Colony in 1802, London, Spain, and Italy in 1803, and the West Indies and South America in 1810. It is a matter of much interest that in 1813 he was on the Continent and in the rear of the British Army, and was mistakenly arrested as a supposed American spy by Lord Cathcart, the British com- mander. The race of Sempills had several times shown the literary faculty, and Robert Semple wrote four interesting volumes, representing the four foreign journeys mentioned here. These are to be found in the British Museum along with a. novel entitled " Charles Ellis ; or, The Friend." As we shall see, this interesting man was probably too much of a gentleman and a scholar for the rough work to which he had been sent. He was, however, universally held to be a just and honour- able man, though ex-Governor Masson of Quebec, in his " History of the North-West," calls him " a man not very conciliatory, it is true, but intelligent, honourable, and a man of integrity." It will be observed that no one has charged him with want of bravery or decision of character.
For the winter of 1815-16 Governor Semple was compelled to take his colonists to the old wintering-place of Pembina. Returning from there after the New Year, 1816, and after consulting with Colin Robertson, he decided, as we have seen, to arrest Duncan Cameron, the officer at Fort Gibraltar, and send him as a prisoner by way of York Factory on Hudson's Bay to England.
The Scotsman in Canada
The departure of Colin Robertson in charge of Duncan Cameron was a distinct loss to Semple. Though before his departure Robertson had coun- selled the Governor not to interfere with Fort Gibraltar or the Nor '-Westers, yet the Governor most unwisely decided to raze the fort to the ground and with the material, floated down Red River to the site of Fort Douglas, enlarge the Colony Fort. While on the ground of abstract legal right Semple was justified in doing this, yet, with the Nor '-Westers much stronger in men and those of a warlike type, it was simply an act of madness. However, the stockade and buildings were attacked by thirty men, and Gibraltar was soon absorbed into Fort Douglas.
And now like wildfire the news went west, and traders, Metis, and Indians were startled beyond measure. True, Lord Selkirk owned the soil ; but was there not customary right, and did not posses- sion mean something?
The Indians withdrew themselves into an abso- lute neutrality, and the cunning fur traders— chiefly French — saw the storm brewing, and with their wives and half-breed children, ponies, carts, and all their belongings hied them away to the plains where the buffalo dwelt, till the tempest should be past.
The successful result of the plot of the year before, laid and carried out by Duncan Cameron and Alexander Macdonell, had led the North-West traders at their meeting to give instructions for reprisals if any attempt should be made to restore 148
A Fiery Scottish Metis
the colony whose destruction they had planned. It was, however, left to Alexander Macdonell and Archibald Norman McLeod, both old and experi- enced traders, to take the steps necessary.
Now rushed upon the scene, with the suddenness and spirit of a gladiator, a prairie youth of mixed Scottish and Indian blood, ready, like youthful David, to face any Philistine giant.
This was Cuthbert Grant, the younger son pf a Scottish trader, to whom reference was made in an earlier chapter, and who was connected with the native people of the country. The fertile district of the Qu'Appelle River, closely associated with the Swan River, noted for furs, and the region of the Riding and Duck Mountains iwas the favourite hunting-ground of Indian and Com- pany trader alike. Here something of a com- munity grew up, resulting from the intercourse of the traders and trappers, both French and Scottish, with the Indian women. The half-breeds born of the union were a daring, athletic, and restless race. On the paternal side there was some of the best blood of the Highlands and islands of Scotland and of the French traders from Mon- treal. They were chiefly on the maternal side of the Cree nation, one of the most sturdy, brave, and persevering of the Indian peoples. Dwelling on the prairies, they were possessors, even in the earliest times of the fur trade, of the prairie ponies, which had been traded from tribe to tribe from Mexico to the Saskatchewan. The young men were exceedingly good riders, knew the use of
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firearms from their infancy, and were accustomed to the hunting of the buffalo and deer. Their close association with the Nor'-Westers gave them plenty upon which to live, and developed a comradeship and party feeling that was very useful to the traders in carrying on their trade and gathering their furs.
Under such enterprising and reckless leaders as Duncan Cameron, A. N. McLeod, and Alexander Macdonell they became an organised and powerful force. Stirred up as they had been in 1815 to drive off the Selkirk settlers, whom the French traders called " Jardinieres," or clod- hoppers, they began to speak of themselves as the "New Nation." The shrewd bourgeois of the Montreal Company cultivated this feeling for his own ends and praised them as " Bois-brutes " (charcoal faces), or Metis (half-breeds).
Alexander Macdonell planned a campaign in dead earnest. In the spring of 1816 a conference was held with the Cree Indians, when it was suggested that they should join with their half- breed kinsmen in an attack on the settlement. The cautious Indian, however, could not be moved. The Bois-brutes and Nor'-Westers were then stirred to action. This was achieved more effec- tually by the rumours of a similar attack coming from Fort William. The news echoed back from east to west. The step which committed the Bois- brutes was the seizing of a quantity of pemmican and furs belonging to the Hudson's Bay Com- pany which was being carried by boat from 150
A Fiery Scottish Metis
Qu'Appelle down to Fort Douglas. Cuthbert Grant now began freely to announce their inten- tion to seize the fort and destroy the Selkirk Settle- ment. The boast was made that the Bois-brules would bow to no authority in the land. They assembled daily and nightly, had their jovial gatherings, and sang the French war and canoe songs which their fathers had taught them, until there was a growing spirit of nationality noticeable in them.
The following of young Cuthbert Grant con- sisted of some sixty men, most of them youths of his own age. They were all mounted on prairie ponies, and when wearing their blue capotes and red sashes the company had quite a picturesque appearance. Their arms were varied. Some had muskets, others pistols, and still others were content to use the traditional bow and arrow of their Indian ancestors.
The journey to the " Forks," where they would encounter the settlers, was upwards of two hundred miles, and it was chiefly along the banks of the Assiniboine River. On June 19, 1816, they had reached within four miles of Fort Douglas, the colony headquarters. Alexander Macdonell, cautious and cunning, remained at Portage la Prairie, sixty miles from the scene of action, but greatly encouraged the party as he saw them depart disguised as Indians or in most irregular garb. It is true that they expected to join with A. N. McLeod's party from Fort William, there- fore they turned northward across the prairie to
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meet the eastern company. In this way they seemed to be avoiding Fort Douglas.
Governor Semple appears to have been misled by this movement. He knew quite well from letters intercepted by him that the intention was to destroy the fort ; but possibly he was thrown off his guard by their cross movement. At any rate, he went out to meet them in great haste. It is not our purpose to describe the battle. We are simply describing the characteristics and experiences of the two leaders — the trained captain of Scottish men, and the young1 Scottish Metis — when thrust into danger. The Governor ordered a gun to be dragged after his party, which had some arms, but he did not concede that his intentions were hostile.
Probably it was an accident that the first shot was fired, but it was enough, though Cuthbert Grant did not seem to have given any hostile command .
The most melancholy results followed to the Governor's party. He and his staff were all killed, while the half-breeds were scarcely touched. Semple was only wounded at first, and might have recovered, but was shot by an Indian of bad character and bloodthirsty spirit. Cuthbert Grant acted on the whole with consideration and humanity. On the persuasion of John Pritchard, one of the Governor's clerks, he protected the women and children from injury, although he had at first declared that if Fort Douglas with all the public property was not immediately given 152
A Fiery Scottish Metis
up the men, women, and children would all be put to death.
The fort was surrendered to the victorious young commander, and he gave full receipts for all the property, signing them " Cuthbert Grant," acting for the North-West Company ; while a messenger was at once dispatched to the tactful Alexander Macdonell at Portage la Prairie.
The fort was taken possession of by the Bois- b rule's, and was for the night a scene of revelry. The body of Governor Sem'ple was carried to the fort, but the other dead were left lying on the field at Seven Oaks to be devoured by wild birds and beasts.
Two days after the fight McLeod's party from Fort William reached a landing-place on Red River at Nettley Creek. They were proceeding up to the appointed place of meeting", expecting to see Cuthbert Grant and his mounted levy there, when quite unexpectedly some seven or eight boat- loads of men, women, and children, descending the river, met them. These were the colonists whom Cuthbert Grant had driven away with the intention of completely destroying the settlement. They were now on their way to Jack River, where the previous party had gone. McLeod stopped them and compelled them to open all their boxes and packages, including Governor Semple's trunks, which his men carefully examined for papers and letters which might afford them information.
On the arrival of his party at Fort Douglas, McLeod took command, Cuthbert Grant's work
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having now been accomplished. The Bois -bruits enjoyed their life in the fort, and even on the night of the carnage they spent their time in high revel and debauch. The body of Governor Semple at least was given decent burial, and McLeod made a journey with his mounted men to the site of Fort Gibraltar, which Semple had dismantled. Here he found Peguis, the old Indian friend of the settlers, and denounced him for his lack of sympathy with the Nor '-Westers, the old friends of the Indian. McLeod and his fellow-officers also gave the highest approbation to the Bois- brule's, even upholding their brutalities.
For the time being Fort Douglas was in the hands of the Nor'-Westers, and another chapter will relate what happened within it.
Cuthbert Grant was now the hero of the hour. He settled down at St. Francois Xavier, some twenty-five miles west of the " Forks." Here he lived for many years among the Metis, and was the most influential person among them as " Warden of the Plains." He was the one French representative upon the Council of Assini- boia which was organised some years afterward.
The French community of Red River had its bard, Pierre Falcon, the half-breed son of a French trader. He sang the praises of the Bois-brules and of Cuthbert Grant, their leader, especially. The French Canadians have always expressed admiration for the Scottish people, whose blood was in the veins of this their young hero.
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EULOGY OF CUTHBERT GRANT
On the banks of the Assiniboine River in the French parish of St. Francois Xavier in Manitoba, where was the home of Cuthbert Grant, lived near by, till the end of the nineteenth century, the fiery little Pierre Falcon, of mixed French and Indian blood. He was the poet of his countrymen. His admiration of the hero of Seven Oaks was great. One of his poems, referring to the efforts of the traders to turn aside Cuthbert Grant in his high career in 1815-16, is given in the Red River patois, though it almost baffles translation, with a rubric accompanying it.
[A military officer comes to parley with the Red River Bois-Brules.]
[The Captain is not able to pay the price.]
[He says he wishes much to have the Bois-Brules, who are renowned as warriors.]
[He offers Cuthbert Grant, leader of the Bois-Brules, his silver epaulettes as a gift.]
[The Captain declares that he gained his renown among the Spaniards.]
C'est a la Riviere Rouge, Nouvelles sont arrivees, Un general d'armee Qui vient pour engager.
II vient pour engager Beaucoup de Bois-Brules, II vient pour engager Et n'a point d'quoi payer.
II dit qu'il veut emm'ner Beaucoup de Bois-Brules, Us sont en renominee Pour de graves guerriers.
Vous, Monsieur Cuthbert
Grant,
Maitre de regiment, Mes epaulettes d'argent Je vous en fais present.
Moi, General Dickson, Je cherche ma couronne, Je cherche ma couronne Chez Messieurs les Espagnols 155
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[The City of Mexico, says the Captain, has many warriors as well as cannoneers, who wish to crown Cuthbert Grant]
Ville de Mexico, Beaucoup des guerriers Aussi des cannoniers Qui vont vous couronner.
II
[Being refused, " Farewell ! " says the Captain. " You have all left me, or will write on the page : ' Dickson, poor£warrior !'"]
[The disappointed Cap a n continues to the trader of the Fur Company,- " I Bought to be thankful for being sent back to the fort on the Mackenzie River."]
[ " Bourgeois ! " says the Captain, " I ought to thank you, since with your pennies I am able to find my way back under the guidance of two Bois-Brules."]
[The poet asks, "Who has made this song ? " and promises at the end to tell his name]
[To-day at the table we sit to drink and sing : To sing again and again this new song.]
[Friends ! drink, drink ! Celebrate the song of little Pierre Falcon, the maker of songs.] I56
Adieu, mes officiers, Vous m'avez tous laisse, Ou marqu'ra sur papier : " Dickson, pauvre guerrier !
Bourgeois de compagnie Je dois remercier De me faire ramener Au fort de Mackenzie.
Je dois vous remercier Puisque avec vos deniers J'ai pu me faire guider Par deux des Bois-Brules.
Ill
Qui en a fait la chanson ? Un poete du canton : Au bout de la chanson, Nous vous le nommerons.
Un jour etant a table A boire et a chanter, A chanter tout au long La nouvelle chanson.
Amis, buvons, trinquons, Saluons le chanson De Pierriche Falcon, Ce faiseur de chansons.
CHAPTER XIV
LORD SELKIRK VISITS HIS SCOTTISH COLONY
LORD SELKIRK sat in his lordly hall in St. Mary's Isle at the mouth of the Dee on Solway Firth, opposite the town of Kirkcudbright. Its very thick stone wall showed that the Manor House had been an old baronial keep or castle. As he received repeated messages, long in their coming across the trackless prairies and through the middle and eastern States of America and reaching him via New York, the old warlike blood of the Angus and Douglas founders boiled in his veins at the outrages which had been perpetrated upon his colonists.
It was late in the year 1815 when he made up his mind what to do. Then with his Countess, his two daughters, and his only son, Dunbar, a mere boy, he crossed the ocean to hear, on his arrival in New York, of the complete ruin of his colony by the flight and expulsion of the people. About the end of October he reached Montreal, but winter was too near to allow him to travel up the lakes and through the wilds to Red River.
The winter hi Montreal was long, but the
157
The Scotsman in Canada
atmosphere of opposition toward Selkirk in that city, the home of the Nor '-Westers, was more trying to him than the frost and snow. His every movement was watched. Even the avenues of Government power seemed to be closed against him by the influential Nor' -Westers. An appeal to Sir Gordon Drummond could obtain no more than a promise of a sergeant and six men to protect him personally should he go to the far west, and the appointment of himself as a Justice of the Peace in Upper Canada and the Indian territory was grudgingly given.
The active mind of his Lordship was fully occupied during the winter. He planned nothing less than introducing to the banks of the Red River a body of men as settlers, who could, like the returned exiles to Jerusalem, work with sword in one hand and a tool of industry in the other. The man of resources generally finds his material ready made. Two mercenary regiments from Switzerland and the North of Italy which had been fighting England's battles in America had just been disbanded, and Lord Selkirk at once engaged a number of them to go as settlers under his pay to Red River. From the commanding officer of the larger regiment these corps have always been called the " De Meurons." From these two regiments, one in Montreal and the other at Kingston, he engaged a hundred men, each provided with a musket ; and then, with rather more than that number of expert voyageurs, he started, on June 16, 1816, for the North-West. 158
Lord Selkirk Visits Scottish Colony
The route followed by him was up Lake Ontario to Toronto, then across country to Georgian Bay and through it to Sault Ste. Marie. At Drum- mond Island in Georgian Bay, leaving the last British garrison towards the west, he got from the Indians news of the efforts of the Nor'-Westers to involve them in the wars of the whites. The Indians had, however, resisted all their overtures. Lord Selkirk again overtook his party, and in canoes passed through St. Mary's River into Lake Superior. Here a new grief awaited him.
Two canoes coming from Fort William brought him the sad news of the killing! of Governor Semple and his party at Seven Oaks, on the Red River, and also of the second expulsion of his unfortunate colonists. He had been intending to reach Red River by the head of Lake Superior, where the city of Duluth now stands, and then overland to the Red River Settlement. He now changed his plans, and with true Scottish pluck headed directly for Fort William, on the north shore of Lake Superior. He found the fort in possession of a considerable number of Nor '-Westers, and made his encampment on the other side of the river Kaministiquia, opposite the fort. Here much skirmishing took place between the two parties, and assaults were made by each in turn. Lord Selkirk arrested a number of his opponents, sent some of them down the lake by an escort to be imprisoned in Upper Canada, and held a number in durance vile at Fort William. It is needless for us to enter into details of the unfortunate
159
The Scotsman in Canada
Fort William contretemps, except to say that the seizure of the fort afterward brought much trouble and loss to Lord Selkirk.
Moving some miles up the Kaministiquia River, Lord Selkirk established his military encampment, whose site is still pointed out and is still called " Pointe de Meuron." The winter was passed here ; but plans were being* made for a deter- mined attack on the Nor' -Westers and for the recovery of Fort Douglas, which was still in the hands of his enemies. In March, 1817, the De Meurons and voyageurs, led by Captain D 'Orson - nens and other officers, following the fur -traders' route, crossed the snows to the west side of the Lake of the Woods, and then, turning westward, followed close to the present American boundary and reached Red River. Having come some four hundred miles, they cautiously descended the Red River, and instead of landing at the Forks of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers made a detour to a point some miles westward still known as Silver Heights. Their approach had been conducted with the greatest stealthiness . Being old soldiers, they prepared their apparatus for attack, made scaling ladders, and, completely surprising the Nor'- Westers in the fort, captured Fort Douglas, and were ready to place it in the possession of Lord Selkirk on his arrival.
In May, 1817, Lord Selkirk bade farewell to his winter quarters at Fort William, and follow- ing the fur-traders' route arrived at Fort Douglas in the last week in June. 160
Lord Selkirk Visits Scottish Colony
His arrival at the fort was a notable event and brought great joy to his beleaguered colonists, who were in the gravest doubt concerning the future. Friend and foe regarded his arrival as an event of the greatest importance to the future of the colony and the fur trade.
There is no one of the Selkirk colonists or their descendants living to-day who saw Lord Selkirk in Fort Douglas ; but a number who were known to the writer several years ago, and who have now passed away, remembered the man and his appearance quite distinctly. He was tall in stature, slender in form, refined in appearance, and dis- tinguished in manner. He had a benignant face, and his manner was easy and polite. He easily won the hearts of all his colonists. To the Indians he was especially interesting. They caught the idea that being a man of title he was in some way closely connected with their Great Father the King. Because of Lord Selkirk's generosity to them in making a treaty involving a subsidy to them the Indians called him " The Silver Chief," as being the source of their treaty money. i
A number of the settlers who had come in the Governor's party in 1815 had seen the founder in their native Kildonan in Scotland, where he had visited them, and encouraged them, before their long journey to the colony. To his un- fortunate settlers and their affairs he first turned his attention.
He gathered his colonists on the spot where the church and burial-ground of St. John's may VOL. II. L 161
The Scotsman in Canada
be seen to-day. " The parish," said he, " shall be Kildonan." " Here you shall build your church, and that lot," he continued, pointing to the prairie across the little stream called Parsonage Creek, " is for a school." He was thus planning to carry out the devout ambition of the greatest religious leader of the Scottish people, John Knox — " A church and a school for every parish."1
Perhaps the most interesting! episode during Lord Selkirk's visit was his treaty-making with the Indians. The plan of securing a strip of land on each side of the river has been said to have been as much as could be seen by looking under the belly of a horse out upon the prairie. This was about two miles. Hence the river lots were generally about two miles long.
His meeting with the Indians was after the manner of a great " Pow-wow." The Indians are fluent and eloquent speakers, though they indulge in endless repetitions.
Peguis, the Sauteaux chief, befriended the white man from the beginning. He denounced the Bois- brules. He said, " We do not acknowledge these men as an independent tribe." In consequence of this friendliness Peguis and his band settled on the banks of the Red River below Fort Garry, and have only lately moved to a reserve on the west shore of Lake Winnipeg.
" L'Homme Noir," the Assiniboine chief, among
other things, said, " We have often been told
you were our enemy, but we hear from your own
mouth the words of a true friend." Robe Noire,
162
Lord Selkirk Visits Scottish Colony
the Chippewa, tried to express himself in lofty style : " Clouds have overwhelmed me. I was a long time in doubt and difficulty, but now I begin to see clearly."
While Lord Selkirk was still in his colony the very serious state of things on the banks of Red River and the pressure of the British Government) led to an appointment, by the Governor-General of Canada, of a most clear-headed and peace- loving man as Commissioner. This appointment was all the more pleasing on account of Mr. W. B. Coltman, the Commissioner, being a resident Canadian of Quebec. Coltman was a man in a thousand. He was patient and kind and just. Though he had come to the colony prejudiced against Lord Selkirk, he found his Lordship so fair and reasonable that he became much attached to the man who was represented in Montreal and the far east as a selfish and aggressive tyrant.
Commissioner Coltman's report covered one hundred pages, and it was in all respects a model. He thoroughly understood the motives of both parties, and his decisions led to a perfect era of peace, and, moreover, in the end to the union of the Hudson's Bay and Nor'-West Companies.
Lord Selkirk's coming was like a ray of sun- shine to the colonists of Red River. Being himself of an intensely religious disposition, he received favourably the reminder of the people of his promise to them of a minister. They also told him that the elder who cafrie out in 1815, James Sutherland, who had been licensed to baptize and
163
The Scotsman in Canada
marry, had been carried away by main force by the Nor'-Westers to Canada in 1818, so that they were without religious services. They always con- tinued, however, to have prayer -meetings and to keep up the pious customs of their fathers. This practice long survived among them. In repeating his promise of a clergyman, Lord Selkirk said to them, " Selkirk never forfeited his word."
His work being done among the colonists, he left them, never to see them again. He went south from Fort Douglas to the United States ; visited, it is said, St. Louis, to find out the relations of a white man named Tanner, who had been stolen from his parents in the State of Ohio, and had been taken to the banks of Red River. In this he showed his sympathetic and obliging disposi- tion. Coming to the eastern States and then north, he rejoined, in Montreal, his Countess and children, who had during his absence lived in the greatest anxiety. One of his daughters, afterwards Lady Isabella Hope, told the writer more than sixty years later that she, as a girl, remembered seeing1 her father as he returned from this long journey, coming around the island into Montreal Harbour, paddled by French voyiageurs in swift canoes to his destination.
Unfortunately, his attention was immediately called to a number of unjust and vexatious law- suits and actions brought against him in the courts of Upper Canada. These legal conflicts originated from the troubles about the two storm-centres, Fort William and Fort Douglas, where the chief 164
Lord Selkirk Visits Scottish Colony
opposition had taken place. The influence of the Nor '-Westers was so great in Montreal that the United Empire Loyalists, the governing body at that time in Upper Canada, sympathised with them against the noble philanthropist. Justice was un- doubtedly perverted in Upper Canada in the most shameless way. Weak in body at the best, Lord Selkirk, by reason of his losses, misfortunes, and legal persecutions, began to fail in health. With the sense of having been unjustly defeated, and anxious about his colonists in Red River, he returned to Britain to his beloved St. Mary's Isle. A copy of a letter to him from Sir Walter Scott, his old friend, is in the hands of the writer ; but Sir Walter states that he himself was too ill at the time to lend him aid in presenting his case before the British public.
Heart-broken, Selkirk gave up the struggle. With his Countess and family he went to the South of France, and died on April 8, 1820, at Pau ; and his bones lie in the Protestant Cemetery of Orthes, near by.
But Lord Selkirk had not fought in vain. He had broken down, single-handed, a system of organised terrorism in the heart of North America ; for the Nor'-Westers never rose to strength again. They united in a few years with the Hudson's Bay Company.
He established a colony that has thriven, because of being composed of men, women, and children who took prime hold of the land on which they settled ; and while other piarts of
165
The Scotsman in Canada
North America occupied by the Hudson's Bay Company were lost to Great Britain on the ground that fur -trade occupation does not in international law stand as real settlement, yet this Selkirk colony held the West for Britain and Canada as their possession.
That the British flag flies over Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta to-day is due to the establishment of the Selkirk colony. The Earl of Selkirk cherished a lofty vision. No doubt he made mistakes in action, in judgment, and in a too great optimism ; but if we understand him aright, he bore an unstained and resolute soul. Scottish men and women all over the world are an example, that while adaptable and able to carve their way to success, yet they can suffer for an ideal, and are able to make any loss or any sacrifice rather than let go that which they hold to be of the highest mental, moral, or spiritual value. So was it, we maintain, with Lord Selkirk :—
Only those are crowned and sainted Who with grief have been acquainted ; Making nations nobler, freer.
In their feverish exultations,
In their triumph and their yearning,
In their passionate pulsations,
In their words among the nations
The Promethean fire is burning.
But the glories so transcendent That around their memories cluster, And on all their steps attendant Make their darkened lives resplendent With such gleams of inward lustre. 166
CHAPTER XV
LIST OF SELKIRK SETTLERS
NOTE A. — These lists are obtained chiefly from entries of ship -passengers ; and evidently mistakes were made by ship clerks in copying or spelling.
1 . Take, for example, Haman Sutherland, son of James Sutherland. He came to Canada, and was in 1868 known to the author. No father would call his son Haman. His name was Heman, after one of David's sweet singers.
2. Again the ship's list has Michael Hayden Smith ; this man was called as a witness in the Selkirk trials in Upper Canada. His name was Michael Heden, and he was a blacksmith.
NOTE B. — It is to be remembered that there were three ships that sailed in the year 1 8 1 1 . Two of these contained Company employees ; the third ship carried the colonists. The author has never seen a list of the first band of settlers of 1 8 1 1 . Perhaps it may be found in Lord Selkirk's papers, now being copied. The labourers were sent to other posts, though some of them after- ward removed to the Selkirk Settlement.
167
The Scotsman in Canada
A.
List of men who arrived at Hudson Bay, 1811, and left York Factory for the interior in July, 1812. (This list is given in No. 33 Man. Historical Society Publications.)
1 Colin Campbell
2 John Mackay
3 John McLennan
4 Beth. Bethune
5 Donald Mackay
6 William Wallace
7 John Cooper
8 Nicol Harper
9 Magnus Isbister 10 George Gibbon n Thos. McKim
12 Nat. Corcoran
13 John Green
14 Pat Quinn
15 Martin Jordan
16 John O'Rourke
Whence.
Argyle
Ross-shire
Ross-shire
Ross-shire
Ross-shire
Ayr
Orkney, settled near Toronto
Orkney, Father of James Harper,
Kildonan
Orkney, Father of A. K. Isbister Orkney Sligo
Crosmalina Sligo Killala Killala Killala
B.
Owen Keveny's party (list found in Archives, Ottawa). Every man on this list of seventy-one was engaged by Keveny, some in Mull, Broan, Sligo, and other places. The following are known to have come. They reached York Factory 1812, and arrived at Red River October 27, 1812 : —
1 Andrew McDermott, became the famous Red River Mer-
chant
2 John Bourke, a useful man
1 68
List of Selkirk Settlers
3 James Warren, died of wounds in 1815
4 Charles Sweeny
5 James Heron
6 Hugh Swords
7 John Cunningham, father of Jas. Cunningham, ex-M.P.P. of
Headingly
8 Michael Hayden Smith— Michael Heden, blacksmith
9 George Holmes
10 Robert McVicar
1 1 Edward Castelo
12 Francis Heron — A descendant attended Manitoba College
13 James Bruin
14 John Mclntyre
15 James Pinkham
16 Donald McDonald
17 Hugh McLean
c.
A most interesting party was the Churchill com- pany, which landed from the ship Prince of Wales, which was convoyed by H.M.S. Brazen, at Churchill, in August, 1813. Some persons marked on this list CY walked from Churchill to York in April, 1814, and reached Red River Settle- ment in 1814. The whole list is taken from the Manitoba Historical Society Transactions, No. 33. Those names marked CY are so marked on the authority of the Archives at Ottawa. This party arrived in two sections at Red River. It was a strong party and of good material. Attacked by ship fever, many died at Churchill, and arriving, unfortunately, at the time of Duncan Cameron's operations, the most of the remainder removed to Upper Canada. The march of those, whose
169
The Scotsman in Canada
names on the list are marked CY, over more than one hundred miles of ground from Churchill to York Factory was a notable occurrence : —
1 George Campbell, Archurgle Parish, Creich, Scotland
2 Helen, his wife
3 Bell, his daughter
4 John Sutherland, Kildonan, Scotland, died Sept. 2nd at
Churchill (a very respectable man)
5 Catherine, his wife, CY, Kildonan, Scotland
6 George, his son, CY, Kildonan, Scotland
7 Donald, his son, Kildonan, Scotland
8 Alexander, his son, Kildonan, Scotland
9 Janet, his daughter, CY, Kildonan, Scotland
10 Angus McKay, CY, Kildonan, Scotland
11 Jean, his wife, CY, Kildonan, Scotland
12 Alexander Gunn, CY, Kildonan, Scotland
13 Christine, his wife, Kildonan, died Sept. 2oth, Churchill
14 William, his son, CY, Kildonan
15 Donald Bannerman, Kildonan, died Sept. 24th, Churchill
16 Christine, his wife
17 William, his son, CY, Kildonan
18 Donald, his son
19 Christine, his daughter, CY
20 George McDonald, died Sept. i, 1813, Churchill
21 Janet his wife
22 Betty Grey
23 Catherine Grey
24 Barbara McBeath, widow, Borobal
25 Charles, her son
26 Jenny, her daughter
27 Andrew McBeath, CY
28 Janet, his wife, CY
29 William Sutherland, Borobal
30 Margaret, his wife
31 Christine, his sister,
32 Donald Gunn, Borobal
33 Janet, his wife
List of Selkirk Settlers
34 Transferred to " Eddystine " H.B.Co.
35 George Gunn, son of Donald, CY, Borobal, Parish of
Kildonan
36 Esther, his sister, CY
37 Catherine, his sister, died Aug. 29, 1813, Churchill
38 Christian, his sister
39 Angus Gunn
40 Janet, his wife
41 Robert Sutherland, brother of William, CY, Borobal
42 Elizabeth Eraser, CY
43 Angus Sutherland, Auchraich
44 Elizabeth, his mother
45 Betsy, his sister, died of consumption, Oct. 26, 1814
46 Donald Stewart, Parish of Appin, died Aug. 20, 1813,
Churchill
47 Catherine, his wife
48 Margaret, his daughter
49 Mary, his daughter
50 Ann, his daughter
51 John Smith, Kildonan
52 Mary, his wife
53 John, his son
54 Jean, his daughter, CY
55 Mary, his daughter
56 Alexander Gunn, Kildonan
57 Elizabeth McKay, his niece, CY
58 Betty McKay, his niece
59 George Bannerman, CY
60 John Bruce, Parish of Clyde
61 Alex. Sutherland, CY, Kildonan
62 William, his brother, died
63 Kate Sutherland, his sister
64 Haman (Heman) Sutherland, CY, Kennacoil, settled in
Upper Canada. He and sister, children of James Sutherland, Catechist.
65 Barbara, his sister, CY
66 James McKay, CY
67 Ann, his sister, CY
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The Scotsman in Canada
68 John Matheson, Authbreakachy
69 Robert Gunn (piper), Kildonan
70 Mary, his sister, CY
71 Hugh Banner man, CY, Dackahny, Kildonan
72 Elizabeth, his sister, CY
73 Mary Bannerman, CY
74 Alex. Bannerman, CY, Dackahny, Kildonan
75 Christian, his sister, died Jan.,vi8i4, consumption
76 John Bannerman, died Jan. of consumption
77 Isabella, his sister, CY
78 John McPherson, CY
79 Catherine, his sister, CY
80 Hector McLean, CY
8 1 George Sutherland, CY
82 Adam, his brother, CY
83 John Murray, CY
84 Alex., his brother, CY
85 Helen Kennedy, Sligo
86 Malcolm McEachern, Skibo, Isla (deserted)
87 Mary, his wife
88 James McDonald, CY, Inverness to Port Augustus, died
Aug. 3rd at sea
89 Hugh McDonald, Fort William, Scotland
90 Samuel Lamont, CY
91 Alex. Matheson, CY, Kildonan
92 John Matheson, CY, overseer
93 John Mclntyre, CY, to Fort William, H.B.C. July, 1814
94 Andrew Smith, No. 3, Isla.
95 Edward Shell, Ballyshannon
96 Joseph Kerrigan
97 Mr. P. LaSerre, surgeon, died at sea
D.
List of settlers who came with Duncan Cameron from Red River to Canada, 1815, first prepared by Wm. McGillvray, of Kingston, August 15, 172
List of Selkirk Settlers
1815. About 140 (probably 40 or 50 families) and some single men arrived at Holland River September 6, 1815. Made at York (Toronto), September 22, 1815. (This list though interest- ing could not be made complete ; in fact, it accounts for only about one-half of the party.)
i Old Men
Donald Gunn, wife and daugh- Angus McDonnell, wife and
ter two children
Alexander Gunn and wife Neil McKinnon, wife and two
boys
2 Settlers
Miles Livingston, wife and Wm. Sutherland, wife and one
two children child
Angus McKay, wife and one Angus Gunn, wife and one
child child
John Matheson, wife and one Alexander Bannerman and
child wife
John Matheson, Jr., and wife Robert Sutherland and wife
George Bannerman and wife William Bannerman and wife
Andrew McBeath, wife and James McKay and wife
child
3 Widows
Mrs. Barbara McBeath Mrs. Elizabeth Sutherland
Mrs. Janet Sutherland and two Mrs. Christy Bannerman
boys Mrs. Jeannet McDonell
4 Young Women and Unmarried Jane Gray Jannet Sutherland
Elizabeth Gray Isabella McKinnon
Esther Bannerman Catha McDonnell
Elspeth Gunn Elizabeth McKay
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The Scotsman in Canada
5 Young Men, not Married
John Murray Angus Sutherland
Alexander Murray Norman Sutherland
William Gunn Alex. Matheson
Hugh Bannerman John McPherson
Hector McLean Robert Gunn
George Gunn George Sutherland Charles McBeath
6 Others Mentioned in Archives, Ottawa
John Cooper Haman Sutherland (no doubt
Mary Bannerman (wife of John for Heman) McLean) John Matsurry
Alexander McLellan (Some of the settlers who have gone to Montreal, not included).
E. HONOUR ROLL.
In Martin's Hudson's Bay Company Tenures is found a petition to the Prince Regent, after the troubles of 1 8 1 6, asking for troops, and that steps be taken for the protection of the settlers. As the signers are representative of the several parties who held fast to the Red River Settlement, the memorialists are worthy of the highest honour. Some of those whose names are given here were quite young. It is not quite certain who were the members of the initial party of the first year ; but by a process of exclusion we seem to have obtained those of that party who signed the petition to Lord Selkirk : — 174
List of Selkirk Settlers
Arrivals in First Year — 1812 First Party — Martin Jordan, Mary Bannerman, went to
certain Canada)
oecond(Keveny's) Party — Hugh John Bannerman
McLean, certain Alexander McLean
John Flett, probable John McBeath
Donald Livingston, probable John Sutherland George Ross, probable Alex. McBeath (old soldier)
John Farquharsen, probable Beth Beathen (Bethune), cer-
John McLean (his wife, tain
Margaret McLean (widow)
The party of 1813 wintered at Fort Churchill, and came in two parties in 1814 to Red River Settlement. The greatest number of them left with Duncan Cameron. The following (1814) stayed at Red River and signed the petition to Lord Selkirk, all certain : —
Christian Gunn William Bannerman
William Sutherland George Bannerman
Alexander Sutherland Donald Sutherland
John Bruce George Sutherland
F.
The party of 1815 was perhaps the finest of all those sent out by Lord Selkirk. The following came in 1815. Those who signed the petition to Lord Selkirk are marked (S) : —
One Family —
S. i James Sutherland, elder 2 Mary Poison
authorised by Church of S. 3 James Sutherland Scotland to baptize and 4 Janet Sutherland
marry 5 Catherine Sutherland
6 Isabella Sutherland
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The Scotsman in Canada
One Family —
1 William Sutherland
2 Isabella Sutherland (wife)
3 Jeremiah Sutherland S. 4 Ebenezer Sutherland
5 Donald Sutherland
6 Helen Sutherland
One Family —
1 Widow Matheson
2 John Matheson (son),
schoolmaster
3 Helen Matheson
One Family—
S. i Donald McKay
2 John McKay
3 Catherine Bruce (wife)
One Family —
S. i William Bannerman
2 Barbara Gunn
3 William Bannerman
4 Alexander Bannerman S. 5 Donald Bannerman
6 George Bannerman
7 Ann Bannerman
One Family —
1 Angus Matheson
2 Christian Matheson
One Family —
S. i Alexander Murray
2 Elizabeth Murray (wife) S. 3 James Murray
4 Donald Murray
5 Catherine Murray
6 Christian Murray
7 Isabella Murray
One Family —
S. i George McKay
2 Isabella Mathieson (wife) S. 3 Roderich McKay S. 4 Robert McKay
5 Roberty McKay I76
One Family —
1 Widow Gunn
2 Alex. McKay
3 Adam McKay S. 4 Robert McKay
5 Christian McKay
One Family —
1 John Bannerman
2 Catherine McKay (wife)
3 Alexander Bannerman
One Family —
S. i Alexander Matheson (ser- geant of the passengers)
2 Ann Matheson (wife)
3 Hugh Matheson S. 4 Angus Matheson
5 John Matheson
6 Catherine Matheson
List of Selkirk Settlers
One Family —
1 Alexander McBeth
2 Christian Gunn (wife) S. 3 George McBeth
4 Roderick McBeth S. 5 Robert McBeth
6 Adam McBeth
7 Morrison McBeth
8 Margaret McBeth
9 Molly McBeth
10 Christian McBeth
One Family —
S. i William McKay (brought outmillstones,embarked at Stromness)
2 Barbara Sutherland (wife)
3 Betty McKay
4 Dorothy McKay
5 Janet McKay
One Family —
S. i Alexander Poison
2 Catherine Matheson (wife) S. 3 Hugh Poison
4 John Poison
5 Donald Poison
6 Anne Poison
One Family —
1 Joseph Adams (embarked
at Gravesend)
2 Mary. Adams (wife)
Reginald Green (sergeant of
passengers) S. George Adams Henry Hilliard Edward Simmons Christian Bannerman S. John Matheson John McDonald
Total 84
VOL. II.
M
CHAPTER XVI
SIMPSON— THE SCOTTISH EMPEROR OF THE FUR TRADERS
WHEN Colonel Coltman made his able report on the troubles between the North-West Company, the Hudson's Bay Company, and Lord Selkirk's colonists, it seemed a hopeless thing to expect any reconciliation or pacification of the irritated feelings of the contestants. But in 1820, within twenty-seven days of each other, Sir Alexander Mackenzie, who had been the silent but effective source of the opposition on the part of the Nor '-Westers to the colony, and Lord Selkirk, who, as we have seen, sought peace and rest in the South of France, both died and left the rival Companies leaderless.
Besides this, more than a decade of storm and anxiety and failing trade had taught the com- batants that the beginnings of strife are like the letting out of water. Among the Nor'-Westers was a scion of one of the Scottish fur-trading families of the North-West Company named Edward Ellice. His father, his brother, and himself were known within the fur-trading* circle as " the bear and cubs." If the names were 178
Scottish Emperor of the Fur Traders
deserved, they were hardly the source from which to expect the rise of peacemakers. Besides, the killing of a British officer, his staff, and attendants to the number of twenty at Seven Oaks had produced a sensation of horror among all classes in Britain. The Scottish sense of propriety of the fur traders in Montreal made even the strongest partisans ashamed of such an act of violence.
Accordingly when Edward Ellice made an appeal to the self-interest of his Nor' -Wester confreres, pointing out all the extravagance in the conduct of the fur trade which was leading to a great loss both of money and prestige, even the most violent partisans began to consider whether any reasonable compromise could be reached.
Lord Bathurst, a prominent member of the British Government, hearing of Edward Ellice's plan, and knowing the British sentiment on the subject, sent for " the Peacemaker," and offered to give legal approval in a statute to any financial agreement which the opposing Companies might reach. It is not necessary to mention the equitable arrangements which were made, more than to say that twenty-five Chief Factors and twenty-eight Chief Traders were to be selected alternately from the two Fur Companies, and that due provision would be made for securing the financial rights and claims of every member of the Company to the most humble officer and even the far-away trader within the Arctic Circle. Legislation was obtained giving the United Company, which was to bear the name of the older organisation, the
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Hudson's Bay Company, right to trade in the Indian territories outside of Rupert's Land. This licence then granted was to come before the Imperial Parliament every twenty-one years, dating from 1821, if it was to be renewed. The legislation was accepted.
But the real work of unification could only be brought about by the personality of a man rather than by Acts of Parliament or financial agree- ments. The man wanted was required to be young and unprejudiced, of British rather than Canadian antecedents, and with a view to the strong national peculiarities of the majority of the officers and men of both Companies, it was necessary that he should be a Scotsman. The man was found. A year before the coalition a young man named George Simpson had been sent out by Andrew Colville, Lord Selkirk's brother-in-law, to the favourite haunt of the fur trader in the distant Athabasca. He was the illegitimate son of an uncle of Thomas Simpson, the Arctic explorer, and with this blot on his birth he may be included among such men of action as William the Conqueror and the celebrated Duke of Monmouth. George Simpson had gone to the Athabasca region in 1820, and during his one year of service had visited the Peace River. He now, in one leap, reached the position of Governor of the new Hudson's Bay Company, with all its great influ- ence in Canada and in the Northern country. It was really wonderful that this young Scotsman should have got so soon his seat firmly in the 1 80
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saddle. As soon as possible a great meeting of the Chief Factors was held at Norway House at the foot of Lake Winnipeg. The choice of this point showed how the centre of gravity had moved west from York Factory of the old Hudson's Bay Company, and from Grand Portage on the Lake Superior of the North-West Company.
The young Governor was surrounded by those old traders of the west, who had been able to baffle Indian cunning and deceit, and to carry on competitive trade with each other ; and yet they found themselves compelled to admit the courage, skill, and self-confidence of this raw young Scots- man, who came without family prestige and with only one year's experience in the country to be their leader in a most complicated and disjointed state of business affairs. However, as we know, many of this young Scotsman's fellow-countrymen have done the same thing in other fields of action and under foreign skies. Having received reports from the assembled fur traders present at Norway House, Simpson introduced a bold and radical policy of cutting down establishments, withdraw- ing from unremunerative points, distributing the money-interest to better advantage, and con- ciliating the hostile as well as toning up the dis- couraged. The power of the new Governor was at once felt from Montreal and the Ottawa to the Lake Superior region ; and through the trade stretches of Rupert's Land, east to York Factory, and west to the Rocky Mountains ; while even the valleys and shores of the Pacific Coast gave to
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it an immediate response. True, three years after- ward a trader writes, " The North -West is now beginning to be ruled with a rod of iron " ; but it was inevitable that this should be said of one who was a man of iron, possessed of a shrewd diplomatic faculty which was to pilot him through the mazes of business of the whole Empire of the North for the well-nigh forty years during which he was to be the Emperor of the Fur Traders.
But George Simpson, though a superb man of business and of great executive ability, had an entirely different side to his nature. He was fond of the social life of his native land, and was one of the foremost in developing this among his fellow-countrymen in Montreal, which now became the acknowledged Hudson's Bay Company centre in the New World. The two great national feasting days and holidays of Old Scotia are New Year's and St. Andrew's days. On New Year's Day it has always been a triumph to place " the first fit " in the house of your friend, to celebrate the day with merriment, unfortunately with greater enthusiasm than the state of mind and body makes enjoyable on the following day. St. Andrew's Day has long been a day famous for dining and delight in Scottish song and story wherever Scots- men have been able to assemble. The fame of the enthusiasm and hilarity of the Beaver Hall Club of Montreal exceeds that of even the Highland exuberance of a " Hundred Pipers and a' and a'."
Governor Simpson stood for all the old Scottish 182
Scottish Emperor of the Fur Traders
customs. The love of the picturesque and the appreciation of the pibroch of his native hills of Ross-shire never left him. A fellow-countryman of his, Archibald Macdonald, who had the pen of a ready writer, has left us an account of the Imperial progress made by Governor Simpson in the year 1828. Following Macdonald's narrative, we may reproduce his picture.
The departure on the transcontinental journey of the year mentioned was a great event at York Factory. Two light canoes were very thoroughly fitted up for the journey — tents for camping, utensils for the camp-fire, arms to meet any danger, pro- visions in plenty, wine for the gentlemen and spirits for the voyageurs. Each canoe carried nine picked men, and from Governor Simpson's reputation as a swift traveller it was quite under- stood that their lot would not be an easy one.
On July 28, 1828, fourteen chief officers, factors, and traders, and an equal number of clerks, were gathered together at the Factory to inaugurate the great voyage. The event had brought the whole Indian community about the posts, and probably no greater spectacle had taken place at York Factory since Miles Macdonald and his Scottish settlers, nearly twenty years before, had started for their new home on the Red River. Hayes River resounded with the cheers of the assembled traders and their dependents, while a salute of seven guns made the fir-trees of the Northern station re-echo with the din. The voyageurs then sang in unison one of the famous
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boat -songs for which they were noted, and with pomp and circumstance began their journey.
The approach to Norway House — the fur traders' trysting-place — was also notable.
The fort, though simply a dep6t of import- ance, had a number of Indian settlements within reach of it, and all the denizens of the region were on tip -toe to see the pageant which they knew would be afforded. Indian warriors and trappers were there in larg"e numbers ; the lordly Redman was accompanied on all his journeys by his whole family, for whatever might overtake him his camping-place was his home. Thus groups of old women peered upon the scene from the back- ground, while bevies of Indian children with their accustomed shyness stood awestruck at the spectacle. The " Kitche Okema "—the greatest mortal they had ever seen — was coming.
Before reaching Norway House the party landed from their canoes and attired themselves en regie. Resuming their journey, they sped with flashing paddle through the rocky gorge by which Norway House is reached, quickly turned the point, came in sight of the fort built on a slope rising from the lake, and saw floating from the tall flag- staff of Norway pine, on the top of Signal Hill, the Union Jack with the letters H.B.C.— the flag which had a magical effect on every trader and Indian as he beheld it flying aloft.
The Governor's gaudily painted canoe was easily distinguished by its high prow, on which .sat the French-Canadian guide, who for the time being, 184
Scottish Emperor of the Fur Traders
as pilot, had chief authority. The Governor looked on with interest, while from his immediate neigh- bourhood in his canoe pealed forth the music of the land of the Gael — the bagpipes — as well suited for effect on the rocky ledges surrounding Norway House as on the craggy shore of Ballachulish or the rugged ramparts of Craigellachie. From the second canoe rang out the cheery bugle of the senior Chief Factor, who was really in command of the expedition.
As the canoes came near the shore the effect was heightened by the soft and lively notes of the French-Canadian voyageurs, who were always great favourites with the Governor. The song they sang was one of Old France, of the days when Scottish and French friendship was pro- verbial. It was " A La Claire Fontaine," with the chorus —
II y a longtemps que je t'aime Jamais je ne t'oublerai.
The progress of the Emperor was continued all across the continent. Fort Chipewyan on Lake Athabasca, which was the Governor's first station in the country, was en fete, and the same waving of flags, firing of guns, shouting of Indians and employees, and the sound of singing and bag- pipes, which had attended the arrival and departure of the distinguished traveller, followed him across the continent.
Governor Simpson was, however, a patriot and a strong supporter of British authority, even almost
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to despotism. Two strains of opinion have ever seemed to run through the whole of Scottish history and the Scottish people. The one repre- sented by Sir Walter Scott was an exaggerated admiration of authority on the part of the Crown, the other an equally strong opinion as to the rights of the common people, sung by Scotland's peasant- poet Burns. It is this compensatory duality that has given Scottish character its adaptability. Sir George Simpson was necessarily the defender of privilege. The Crown, the Company, the capitalist, and the officer were to him the important portion of the State on which its stability depended. He was consequently a Tory. This being the case, when rebellion rose among the French Canadians in 1837-38, as it did also in Upper Canada, Governor Simpson was an ardent Loyalist and used all his influence to overcome the rebellion, and as a true and loyal British subject received, in 1839, knighthood from the hands of the young sovereign, Queen Victoria.
Simpson was an ideal Governor. His plan was not to sit in the office in Montreal, give orders, and allow others to carry them out, but he journeyed through the wide Empire of the fur traders and made himself personally acquainted with local conditions. He was Governor for forty years, and it is said made forty canoe-visits over the long fur-traders' route up the rivers and lakes to the interior. At times he went to England and crossed the ocean on the Hudson's Bay Com- pany ship which sailed between London and York '186
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Factory on Hudson Bay. His visit to Red River Settlement was always notable. He could be most affable and sympathetic in his bearing to the colonists. When he was at Fort Garry the humblest of the people had access to his presence. Every complaint, grievance, request, or local diffi- culty was carried to him and dealt with most successfully. It is true that after the Canadian rebellion greater restlessness was shown by the settlers. They had an appointed body called the " Council of Assiniboia " ; but they had no elected rulers, and, indeed, it was this want of repre- sentative government that in the end broke down Hudson's Bay Company rule on the banks of the Red River.
Sir George, however, married a native of the country of attractive manner, and thus no doubt drew closer to himself the thousands of people who formed the colony of Assiniboia. The presence of Lady Simpson at times in Red River Settlement, though their home was in Lachine, no doubt assisted Sir George in his hard task of government .
Sir George was a patron of literature, using his influence in establishing libraries at the Com- pany's posts throughout Rupert's Land. He kept well abreast of the magazine literature of the time, and often and often in his letters referred to some current topic or notable article of the day. He even himself became an author. Two portly volumes, entitled "Journey Round the World" (1847), stand to the credit of the enterprising Governor.
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It is true he was assisted in the literary part of this work by an old protege of his own, Recorder Adam Thorn, who had retired from Red River to London, and of whom we shall speak elsewhere.
Taken altogether, the career of Sir George Simpson was one of very great distinction. He was ever a patriotic Scotsman. Whether he was on his native heather or carrying on the business of the Company among his Scottish associates in Montreal, or dashing along the inland waters of the fur traders' country, he never forgot the customs, history, chivalry, or literature of his native land. He belonged to the " Blackwood " type of Scotsman, living in the period of the remark- able influence of Sir Walter Scott, who by his genius made modern Scotland the land of poetry and romance and a wonderful influence to which all her sons in all parts of the wide world, wherever they made their home, could look back with appre- ciation from the North American colonies, icy snows, or torrid regions of foreign lands where they had gone to trade.
Sir George's achievements, by which he added to the name and fame of Scotsmen, were a remark- able re -organisation and restoration of the fur trade of British North America, which he found in a state of chaos and decline. He was also, on the whole, a kind and skilful administrator of the affairs of the infant colonies of Red River and the Pacific Coast, which have since grown to be the thoroughly loyal British provinces of Western Canada, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, 188
Scottish Emperor of the Fur Traders
Alberta, and British Columbia. To him was largely due the enormous proportion of Scottish officers and men of the Hudson's Bay Company during the fifty years dating from 1821, when Sir George assumed the office of Governor. Out of 263 commissioned officers of the Company, no less than 171 — i.e., some 63 per cent. — were Scots- men. These appointments were all in the hands of the Governor, and it was commonly said that to rise in the service of the country it was a special qualification to have a name prefixed by "Mac."
True, it has always been reported of him that he could not escape from " the witchery of a pretty face " ; but in his public activities, and as head of the governing body of Assiniboia, his sympathy with education, religion, and the com- fort and improvement of the people, were well- marked features of his policy. Whatever may be said, Red River Settlement under the govern- ment of the Hudson's Bay Company was the abode of the best features of that morality which in general characterises Scottish communities.
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CHAPTER XVII
SCOTTISH GOVERNORS OF ASSINIBOIA
THE arrest of Miles Macdonell, the Governor, at the instance of Duncan Cameron in 1815, led to the temporary filling of his place by Alex- ander Macdonell, a Scotsman who left an unenviable name on the banks of the Red River. This work cannot be a true history of Scotsmen if only the good and the wise are described and the unworthy or the unfortunate are ignored or passed by.
Alexander Macdonell seems to have had a facility for business, unaccompanied by morality. On the arrival of Governor Semple he of course ceased to be Acting Governor, but on the death of this Governor, in 1 8 1 6, he again came to the front, and for five or six years, amid the conflict and ruinous condition of things upon the banks of the Red River, lived a life of extravagance and unrestraint. No doubt he had ability, but he was utterly unreliable, and Lord Selkirk and his heirs were for years victimised by this worthless parasite.
The plague of grasshoppers visited Red River
in the year 1818. Some years before the coming
of the colonists a similar destructive visitation had
occurred. Now every green thing was devoured,
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and the colonists fled to Pembina for winter sustenance. Alexander Ross tells us that so destructive and tyrannical was the Governor that the French people gave him the title of " Gouverneur Sauterelle," or Grasshopper Governor, " for," adds the historian of the period, •'•' he proved as great a destroyer within doors as the grass- hoppers in the fields." Macdonell also took advantage of Lord Selkirk's generosity and con- fidence. The founder, as proprietor of the colony, felt himself responsible for the success of his colonists. He supplied them with food, clothing, implements, arms, and ammunition. He erected buildings, including a storehouse, and of his own motion completed Fort Douglas for their shelter. He authorised the establishment of a colony shop, where the colonists might purchase what they chose. This gave Macdonell great opportunities for peculation and deceit. Sir George Simpson, after being with Macdonell at Red River, says in one of his letters : " Macdonell is, I am con- cerned to say, extremely unpopular, despised, and held in contempt by every person connected with the place ; he is accused of partiality, dishonesty, untruth, and drunkenness — in short, by a dis- respect of every moral and elevated feeling." Alexander Ross says of him : " The officials he kept about him resembled the court of an Eastern Nabob, with its warriors, serfs, and varlets, and the names they bore were hardly less pompous, for here were secretaries, assistant-secretaries, accountants, orderlies, grooms, cooks, and butlers."
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Macdonell far outdid anything* Duncan Cameron had attempted.
" From the time the puncheons of rum reached the colony in the fall, till they were all drunk dry, nothing was to be seen or heard about Fort Douglas but balling, dancing, rioting, and drunkenness in the barbarous sport of those disorderly times."
Macdonell's method of keeping account of the consumption of liquors in the Company's shop was unique. It was as follows : "In place of having recourse to the tedious process of pen and ink, the heel of a bottle was filled with wheat and set on a cask. This contrivance was called the 4 hour-glass,' and for every flagon drawn off a grain of wheat was taken out of the hour-glass and put aside till the bouse was over."
This carousal and extravagance led to grave frauds in the accounts of the colonists, and one of Lord Selkirk's executors having crossed over the seas to investigate the grievances, we are told that " false entries, erroneous statements, and over- charges were found which threw the colonists in debt to the Selkirk Estate."
The enforced removal of Macdonell led to the estate sending out two English gentlemen as Governors, the one was a Captain Bulger, who was impractical, short-tempered, and otherwise un- suitable, though a man of upright character and good intentions. He was followed in a year or two by Governor Pelly, who was a relative of the great Company Governor Pelly. But as a
IQ2
Scottish Governors of Assiniboia
man he lacked nerve and decision of character, and after a year or two proved utterly inefficient. Thus far the Governors of Assiniboia had been appointed by Lord Selkirk or his executors, and the plan had been a dismal failure. Now Sir George Simpson suggested that the Governors should be appointed by the Hudson's Bay Com- pany. This was done, and in 1825 the appoint- ment was made of Donald McKenzie, a veteran of the Company, who had seen service from ocean to ocean, under the three Companies — the Nor'- Westers, Astor's Company, and the Hudson's Bay Company. He was a brother of Roderick McKenzie, the fur trader, and among1 the most notable and expert fur-trade officers of all of the Companies he was unexcelled as a leader, and ended his career as Governor of Red River Settle- ment for eight years. After ten years' service he had risen to distinction in the North-West Com- pany, and had been one of four Scotsmen in the Pacific Fur Company upon whom Astor had depended for their skill and experience. No book has had greater fame in the history of Rocky Mountain exploration than Washington Irving's " Astoria." As a record of exact exploration it is very defective, but Donald McKenzie was leader of one of the two parties carried by Irving by some mysterious method across the great Rockies. As one of Astor's partners he was " accustomed to camp life, proficient in Indian strategy, a good shot, and a good fellow." While with Astor he controlled the fierce Indians of the coast, and VOL. II. N 193
The Scotsman in Canada
built a fort among the Nez Percys tribe. He seemed to lead a charmed life. On one occasion, with a small bodyguard, he undertook to search a whole Indian camp, and accomplished it success- fully. The Nez Percys attempted at one time to starve out the traders ; but when McKenzie needed to slaughter a young horse belonging to the Indians for food he did so, leaving the price in a bundle tied to a stake near the head of the dead horse. He thus forced the Indians to deal with him at fair prices. His deeds and escapades among the Shoshones, Walla-Wallas, and Snake Indians have become established traditions among the Rocky Mountain Indians.
In the year 1822 McKenzie left the Pacific slope and made his way across the mountains and prairies to York Factory on Hudson Bay. After taking part in the general affairs of the Company, lie was chosen by Sir George Simpson to rule the colony after it had been taken over from Lord Selkirk's executors by the Hudson's Bay Company in 1825. The greatest trial which Red River Settlement underwent occurred during Governor McKenzie's rule. This was the great flood of 1826. He was living in old Fort Garry and the water rose above the first story of the fort, so that the inmates were driven to the upper story. The flight of the De Meurons an'd Swiss, as well as that of a certain number of the Scottish settlers, occurred after this deluge. The departure of this foreign element seems to have been regarded favourably by the Selkirk colonists, and no doubt 194
Scottish Governors of Assiniboia
by the Scottish Governor, as they were much dis- liked. In 1833 the Governor's term of office ceased, and he and his family retired to Mayville, New York State. The memory of his humour, courage, and diplomatic management lingered long in the minds of the Selkirk settlers.
A third Scottish Gpvernor, Alexander Christie, was named by the Company to succeed Donald McKenzie in 1833. He was one of the Chief Factors who came in at the time of the union of the Companies in 1821. His name has always been well spoken of by the Selkirk colonists. He not only served one term as Governor from 1833 to 1839, but began a second term, after another fur trader had served five years. Governor Christie was interrupted in his second term, after two years' service, by a military Governor, whose appointment was deemed wise on account of Britain's relations with the United States. It was in Governor Christie's regime that two most im- portant events happened in Red River Settlement ; the one was the establishment of the Council of Assiniboia — a concession, though not thorough enough, to the desire for representation of the people on the governing body ; the second was the erection in 1835 of the famous Fort Garry, with its stone wall and stately bastions. Christie is given the credit of having erected it, "a neat and compact establishment." He was a Scottish Presbyterian and was called an " urbane man," but failed to satisfy his fellow-countrymen in their earnest desire to obtain a clergyman of their own
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faith. It is perhaps too much to say, as an historian might, that he " allowed policy to rule his conduct." It is to be remembered that the times were troublous, and perhaps it was neces- sary to " ca' canny."
The succession of Scottish Governors of the colony was continued still unbroken when Duncan Finlayson, who had become a Chief Factor of the Hudson's Bay Company in 1839, followed Governor Christie. Governor Simpson, of the Company, made a most strenuous effort at this time to establish a successful experimental farm, to teach the Selkirk colonists an improved agricul- ture. Failure followed failure, however, until he cried in a rage, " Red River is like a Lybian tiger, which the more we try to tame it, the more gavage it becomes. So it is with Red River : for every step I try to bring it forward, dis- appointments drag it two backward."
Amid the turmoil, sturdy old Chief Factor Fin- layson successfully pushed his way and gained a reputation for sterling1 worth. A contemporary eulogises him as " one who during many years' administration of the affairs of Red River Colony evinced unwearied toil in the development of its resources, and in the amelioration of the general condition of its inhabitants : who by the energy of his rule, and by the wisdom of his policy, established order and maintained peace : and who by officially promoting in the wilderness the benevolent causes, as well of missionary enter- prise as of general education, besides fostering 196
Scottish Governors of Assiniboia
with the hand of power the forms of agricultural industry laid a solid basis, not only for the prosperity of the white man, but also for the Christian civilisation of the aboriginal inhabitants."
These are high encomiums for any man !
After three Governors and a Recorder-Governor, who certainly were not Scottish, the last Governor of Red River Settlement came and for eleven years presided over the affairs of the now somewhat turbulent colony. This was William McTavish, a thorough Highlander and a man who bore him- self with honour to his native land. He had become a Chief Factor of the Hudson's Bay Com- pany in 1851, and seven years after was made Governor. He married a daughter of Andrew McDermott, the old pioneer merchant of the country, and thus became intimately associated with the native people of the land. The period of eleven years during1 which Governor McTavish held sway were the last years of the rule of the Hudson's Bay Company in America. They con- stitute a period of political excitement which led to the rebellion of the Metis, or French half-breed people of the country, and to the sending of a military force under Lord (then Colonel Garnet) Wolseley from Canada to the banks of Red River. Unfortunately, Governor McTavish was, at the time of the trouble, 1869-70, in a state of health which incapacitated him for meeting the insurrection. His helplessness led to the greater portion of the difficulties of that time, but his high character, straightforwardness, and general popularity more
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The Scotsman in Canada
than balanced his shortcomings. His death occurred soon after his leaving1 the country in 1870. The want of energy and listlessness of the Governors simply reflected the state of feeling which dominated the Hudson's Bay Company as a body. During the last years of Governor McTavish's rule the death of the great Governor of the Company, Sir George Simpson, took place in 1 86 1, and he was followed by a Scottish gentle- man, who, in the short space of three years, suc- ceeded in making a considerable stir in the other- wise quiet retreats of Red River Settlement. The new Governor was an out-and-out Scotsman — his name being Alexander Grant Dallas. He had been a merchant in China, had come to Fort Victoria on Vancouver Island, and as a Chief Factor of the Hudson's Bay Company had been in charge there, and had married a daughter of the famous Company magnate, Governor James Douglas, of whom we are to speak again. His marriage brought him into touch with the native people of the country, as Sir George Simpson's marriage had done for him. Dallas had distinguished him- self in Victoria in 1859, by acting with great promptitude and courage during the stormy period of the gold-mining excitement on the Pacific Coast. For the whole winter of 1861-2 he had been looked for at Red River Settlement, and his arrival was heralded with great approbation by the Nor'- Wester newspaper, which was usually opposed to the Hudson's Bay Company. With characteristic energy, the new Governor travelled on horseback 198
Scottish Governors of Assiniboia
between two or three hundred miles over the plains, leaving his family and servants to follow him down the river on the steamboat. The activity of certain persons against the Hudson's Bay Company became so pronounced that Governor McTavish, of Assiniboia, resigned his post and left the responsibility to Governor Dallas, who when in the Settlement was, of course, the superior officer. Dallas saw quite distinctly that it was the auto- cratic system of government which lay at the base of the whole trouble in Red River Settlement. He wrote that he found himself " with all the responsibility and semblance of authority over a vast territory, but unsupported, if not ignored, by the Crown." In this the Governor was perfectly right. There was no local law, no adequate force, and no belief among the people that there was any legal authority for carrying out law. Governor Dallas kept up Scottish customs somewhat after the same style as Sir George Simpson had done. He had a Highland piper, and such a man is often quite as much an influence in Scottish society as the master. The beadle in the kirk and the confidential henchman of the chief are frequently masters of the situation. Governor Dallas's piper was John McLellan, who was also the Governor's valet. In the cool of the evening Piper John was in the habit of playing his pipes, marching to and fro upon the parapet -gallery which was along the north wall of Fort Garry in front of the Governor's house. Dressed up in Highland garb he marched with great " aplomb," with his kilt
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The Scotsman in Canada
and philabeg, wearing a feathered Glengarry cap, and copious ribbons floating from his pipes. He drew crowds of the Indians camping upon the reserve to see him and hear his dulcet strains. Going down to Kildonan Scottish church on Sundays the piper was the observed of all observers. He was likewise a pugilist, and had no objection to a contest of fisticuffs, and was even willing to fight a tame moose, but was pre- vented from what would have been certain defeat. In St. Paul he actually engaged in a fight and attempted to injure a citizen, for which he was arrested.
Governor Dallas remained three years as Governor of the Company in Red River Settle- ment, though afterward as a financier he took an active part in England in reorganising the Hudson's Bay Company. By this action the old Company sold out to a newly organised Hudson's Bay Company for a million and a half pounds, though there was much discontent in the minds of the wintering partners as to their claims upon the Company. Governor Dallas showed the financial ability which is universally conceded to the Scotsman abroad.
It will thus be seen that during the well-nigh forty years, extending from the union of the Fur Companies in 1821 until the passing away of the governing power of the Hudson's Bay Company in 1870, the Scottish Governors-in-Chief Simpson and Dallas occupied the whole period, and of the Governors of Assiniboia that Alex. Macdonell, 200
Scottish Governors of Assiniboia
Miles Macdonell, Semple, Christie, Finlayson, and McTavish — all Scotsmen — occupied forty-two years of the whole fifty-eight years from 1812 to 1870. They all showed marked ability and distinction in their work, they all had the power of dealing with trying and complicated questions, and with the one exception of the " Grasshopper Governor," Alexander Macdonell, they have left a monument of character, of which the Scottish people, either at home or abroad, need have no hesitancy in expressing their fullest approval.
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CHAPTER XVIII
SCOTTISH BORDER TRADERS
THE strong individuality of the Scotsman shows itself in his willingness to colonise and to face the dangers and novelties of a new country. His success is based on two qualities that go to make up this trait of character — namely, courage and adaptability. The Scotsman is not afraid of new conditions, and he has the patience and power of observation required to fit into new circum- stances. In the Fur Country of a century ago it needed remarkable courage to face the environ- ment of the wild beasts and wilder men of the fur trade. There was no law to protect the new- comer, and the Indians, in their ignorant state and constant feuds, were bound to involve the white man in their disputes, and to meet these the fur trader required the wisdom of a Solon, and the resources of a Machiavelli. Accordingly, when several Companies were trading in the same district and young Scotsmen came out and put in their apprenticeship with them, there was a tendency among the bolder spirits to fly off from the main body and carry on a trade for themselves as soon as they could select a good district and compass 202
Scottish Border Traders
resources enough to put up a trading-house or post and get credit enough to carry over business for a year or two. Besides, after the Declaration of Independence, an uncertainty prevailed even up to 1818 as to boundary-lines and rival claims. This gave a great opportunity for the facile trader. Also the large Fur Companies were governed by rules, whereas the private trader was frequently a law unto himself. If the stately Hudson's Bay Company called the Nor'-Westers " Pedlars," they regarded the " free trader " as a knave and vagabond. Very often this conception of " les trait ears libres " was not too strong. These men often gained their ends and made their profits by cunning and falsehood, but most frequently by " whisky." Among those who lived their free life were a number of Scotsmen who gradually became absorbed in Astor's Pacific Fur Company, and afterwards in the American Fur Company. Hah0 a dozen of the most distinguished and most reputable of these we have sought to picture, the more so that their relations were naturally with the Canadian Border Land.
One of the most notable of these border rangers, or free traders in the border country, was Murdock Cameron. He was a Scotsman who had thrown himself into the far west when the Nor'-Westers occupied the territory now in the State of Minne- sota. He was a man of great force of character and had great influence among the Indians. In the wild Indian country he could hold his own. Living on the border-land between the Ojibway
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Indians of Red Lake and the Sioux or Dakotas west of the Mississippi, in cases of his men or goods being injured by either, he combined with the other to protect his interests. Every one states that while living the reckless life in which whisky occupied a place unknown in Hudson's Bay Com- pany annals Cameron was kind and thoughtful to his men. Mr. G. W. Featherstonhaugh, a racy author who wrote " A Canoe Voyage up the Minnesota River," gives an account by a French Sioux half-breed who had formerly been employed by Cameron, in which it is shown that Cameron exhausted every service to save the life of his men who had been lost in the winter storms. Long, the interesting writer who wrote the " Expedition to the St. Peter's," states that Cameron was a sagacious Scotsman who had amassed a good deal of property by trafficking with the Indians. His post was at an enlargement of St. Peter's River called " Lac qui parle." The St. Peter's is a western branch of the Mississippi. From his resi- dence Cameron was called the " trader of St. Peter's River." Being on the border between two Indian nations, his traders were always liable to attack, especially by the Sioux, who lay in ambush along the river. No attack of this kind was ever left unavenged, for Cameron's Highland blood had the temper of centuries of border raid and dashing foray. But his time came at last, as had fate to a family of his countrymen in the olid days of border raids, who boasted that none of his ancestors had died in chambers (i.e., at home) 204
Scottish Border Traders
for ten generations. When Sioux jealousy and hatred could not obtain revenge on the doughty trader, the contemptible spite of the poisoner ended him. Long says that Cameron was poisoned by a Sioux Indian, who administered to him some of the plant used for the purpose of poisoning arrows. Taking ill from the poison in his canoe, the sturdy trader was landed, and died in the woods in 1 8 1 1 . He was taken home by his French half-breed steward, called by Featherstonhaugh " Milor," and was buried on a commanding bluff near "" Lac qui parle," where his trading post stood. So great had his influence been on white and Indian alike, that his power seemed to be regarded after that as of a weird and uncanny spirit. Long after his death the passing voyageur stopped his canoe and went to see " Cameron's grave," and the Indians at their camp-fires — both Sioux and Ojibway — told tales of his prowess.
A contemporary of Murdoch Cameron was Colonel Robert Dickson. He lived at Vermilion, on the Missouri River, and conducted trade with a vigour and distinction which was characteristic of the early borderers. He had not the short- comings of Murdoch Cameron, and, perhaps, had not the brilliancy of that trader. He, too, was, as described by Neill, the historian of Minnesota, a " red-Jiaired Scotsman of strong intellect and good family." He began to trade with the Sioux Indians as early as 1790 and had a great name all over the Missouri country. This became all the more serious to the American Government,
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The Scotsman in Canada
for about the time of the American War of 1812 he remained true to the land of his birth and nation, and was actively engaged in stirring up the Western prairie tribes against the Americans. Some American writers have called him an " Englishman." That he was not, though accord- ing to the story told of the well-known Montreal manufacturer, Mr. W. W. Ogilvie, that would be a (thing of little account. The story goes that Mr. Ogilvie when going on business to Constanti- nople carried a passport which stated that he was a Scotsman. The Ottoman officer on examining his credentials remarked, " A Scotsman ! What is a Scotsman? " " Oh, it is all right ; you see, a Scotsman is just a superior kind of Englishman," replied Ogilvie. Colonel Dickson showed himself to be a high type of man throughout his whole career. He was very humane, and when the Western territories largely favoured the British, he, along with the majority of the Indian tribes, sympathised with them. During the hostilities he again and again saved captured Americans from the fire ordeal of the Indians, and prevented massacres which the latter would willingly have committed. American writers state that as late as 1817 Dickson was in league with Lord Selkirk in stirring up the Sioux in favour of the British, and it will be remembered that Lord Selkirk did make a treaty with some of the Sioux during his visit to Red River. Dickson passed through various dangers in the unsettled section of the Western States and was finally arrested, and on 206
Scottish Border Traders
his release came to settle in Western Canada near Queenston, on the Niagara frontier, where he passed the remainder of his life. Like most of the Western traders, he had taken an Indian wife from among the Sioux, and had a family of four children.
Though, as we have seen, Astor was a man of remarkable ability and foresight, yet it goes without saying that he could not have carried on his plans successfully without able subordinates. The fact that he had difficulty in obtaining these in sufficient numbers explains the disasters which overtook his Astorian settlement. The most able colleague which he possessed was Ramsay Crooks, who was born in Greenock, Scotland, about 1790, and was at the age of sixteen found among the Nor' -Westers. He, however, became independent of the Montrealers, pushed on to St. Louis, and went trading up the Missouri. We have seen that he entered Astor's Pacific Fur Company for a time and figured in the famous journey of the Astorias, which Irving has poetically described. Crooks was a notorious traveller, having some- thing of the verve and activity of his countryman, Sir George Simpson. After Astor's connection with the Pacific Fur Company, Crooks bought out a part of it and continued an energetic career till his death in New York in 1859. His wife was French, being the daughter of one of the famous partners of the Astor Company, Pierre Chouteau, jun., of St. Louis, who was son of one of the noted founders of that city. Though Crooks lived
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out his threescore years and ten, yet he suffered from ill-health all his life. He was the letter- writer of his Company, and he had a clear and incisive style. A " bonny fechter," as so many of his race are, he was open and straightforward in all his dealings. This is a class of character which all true Scotsmen admire.
When Crooks began his business as a fur trader on the Missouri in 1807, four years before he joined Astor's Company, there was associated with him a man of Scottish blood, though born in America, named Robert McLellan. McLellan had qualities that challenged the attention of chivalrous souls. It was said of him " that he was a man of many perilous exploits and hair-breadth escapes, a sure shot, a daring hunter, and altogether a superb example of frontier manhood." He had in his younger days, been in the wars against the Indians in Ohio, and was not young when he first went to the Missouri to trade. He then met a British trader, who had undersold him in trading with the Indians but who willingly joined Crooks in a partnership. Backed by the wealthy Chouteau, who had half shares, Crooks and McLellan, with eighty men, set out on a trading expedition, but they found the Sioux hostile and returned. Their defeat was caused by a rival Spanish fur trader ; however, being unlicensed traders they could expect nothing else. McLellan, with Crooks, as we have seen, joined the Astorians in their famous over- land trip, and was joint -commander of one of the parties. He probably met his death in St. 208
Scottish Border Traders
Louis ; others say it was in an Omaha village on the Missouri, while others contend that he died at St. Graview in that country.
Among the free traders of the Missouri was a Scoto -Irishman named McMillan, born in Vermont, who drifted to the West. He was one of the men mentioned as in command of the great Astorian expedition. Having arrived in Astoria, he was sent back with dispatches to Astor, but he and his party were killed by hostile Indians on the return journey. Another Irish trader was Thomas McCracken, a former soldier in the artillery, who became prominent and joined with Lewis and Clark.
Kenneth McKenzie, who was born at Inverness, Scotland, in 1801, was a relation of Sir Alexander Mackenzie. Young McKenzie came to Canada and entered the North-West Company. How he fared in that Company history does not record, but after the union of the two Canadian Companies we find him chosen President of the American Fur Com- pany in 1827, and we are told that he was "the ablest trader that that Company ever possessed." McKenzie's regard for the " wine of his country," however, seems to have got the better of him when he built a distillery at Fort Union in the Indian Country and carried on a surreptitious trade at that centre. He left the West for a time, but coming back established a wholesale liquor business, which did not succeed. He, how- ever, was a man born to command, and had great executive ability. He was called the " King of VOL. ii. o 209
The Scotsman in Canada
the Missouri," and a trader, describing a visit to him, says, " From the style in which he was dressed I really thought he was a king." He seemed to have a magnetic influence upon the Indians, for they both feared and respected him. He could praise and censure in one breath. His force of character was proved on one occasion when he heard of one of his parties having been attacked by the Indians. On hearing of the disaster he asked whether the horses had been saved? On being told that only the men had escaped, with an oath he shouted, " The men ! If the horses had been saved, it would have amounted to some- thing ! " It is no new thing to see clever Scotsmen make comparative failures. McKenzie's career shows clearly why this happened.
William Laidlaw, also of Scottish descent, was " right-hand man " to McKenzie. He had served in the Canadian North-West Company, was well versed in the fur trade, was a good letter-writer, and was passionately fond of the buffalo hunt. He was a successful manager, although severe, having an ungovernable temper. He gained a competence, but on retiring was lavish in dis- position and died a poor man. So it is not always only the close-fisted Scot that we encounter.
Alexander Cuthbertson, a companion of McKenzie and Laidlaw, was of Scoto-Irish descent, and was born in Pennsylvania. He was a picture of manliness, had a handsome face and keen eye. By his Blackfoot wife he had a handsome and well-to-do family, who made good 210
Scottish Border Traders
use of what he had accumulated for them. He had the sweet oil of temperament to soften the severities produced by his partners.
Daniel Lament, one of the great Fur Company partners, came of the Argyllshire family of that name. He had connections in Canada, and his descendants have reached prominent positions in the United States.
While compelled to recognise at times the intrusion of the affairs and history of the United States Fur Companies into the sphere of our Canadian Scotsmen, we may mention a noted Scoto -Irishman of the border, who was not in any of the Fur Companies, but was mixed up with the trade and public affairs of the British. This was John Johnstone, who was known on Lake Superior, near Sault Ste. Marie, as an independent trader. An Irish gentleman of birth and educa- tion, he had come to Canada, had become a friend of Sir Guy Carleton, his countryman, and had estab- lished himself at La Pointe, on the south side of Lake Superior. He chose as his home a rocky isle which he called '* Contemplation Island." He did not fix his eyes, however, only on the rooks of his surroundings, but became smitten with the beauty of the daughter of Wabogish — the " White Fisher " — an Indian chief of the district. Wabo- gish was doubtful, however, about the white man's offer for his daughter, and advised Johnstone to return for a time to his native land, and if his passion still continued to decide. The suitor visited Ireland, disposed of his property there, and came
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back to claim his bride. He was married, had extensive lands and plantations on which he grew " corn and vegetables. He also had a beautiful garden, a comfortable house, a good library, and carried on an important trade." In the war of 1814 he assisted in the British expedition which took Mackinaw ; but as a reprisal his group of buildings at La Pointe were burnt by the Americans. With his wife and daughter he visited Britain and was received in the highest circles of society there. His daughter afterwards married Henry Schoolcraft, the distinguished author of the great work on the Indian tribes of America. It was in this great Thesaurus of Indian lore that Longfellow found the material for his poem, " Hiawatha."
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CHAPTER XIX
ANOTHER IMPERIAL SCOTSMAN— DOUGLAS
THOUGH the operations of the Hudson's Bay Company were carried on in British Columbia as well as in Rupert's Land, the Rocky Mountains formed such a barrier between the two that British Columbia, Vancouver Island, and the portions of the United States known as Oregon, formed an almost independent suzerainty under the Company. Of necessity the Transmontane region was largely left to a separate management. Thus there developed on the Pacific Coast a man, who in his sphere was as great as was Sir George Simpson — and he, too, was a Scotsman. James Douglas, the son of a scion of the noble House of Angus in Scotland, was born in Demerara on August 14, 1803. On the death of both father and mother the boy returned home to friends in Lanarkshire and was educated in Scotland. When only a boy of twelve years of age he emigrated with his brother to Canada, and, like others of his countrymen, became an apprentice in the North - West Company of Montreal. He grew to great size and strength, and his intellectual qualities entirely kept pace with his physical development.
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He acquired the French language, a necessity for those dealing with the French voyageurs, and did so as though by magic. Of a high determined spirit, he had also a remarkable faculty of dealing with men, savage or civilised. The veteran fur trader, Chief Factor John McLoughlin, of whom we shall speak again, took a fancy to the iad on seeing him in a party on Lake Superior. After the union of the two Fur Companies in 1821, young Douglas remained in that paradise of the fur traders — the Athabasca region. Here he learned to undergo hardship, and in three years he was sent by McLoughlin's wish to the rugged country at the crest of the Rockies, where Fort St. James stood on the mountainous shore of Lake Stuart. The master of the fort here was a warm- hearted and impulsive Irishman, James Connolly. McLoughlin went on to Fort Vancouver, then the great fort of the Columbia River, now near Port- land, Washington State. At Fort St. James young Douglas gained experience of the hardships of the fur traders' life in New Caledonia. But his active mind could not rest satisfied with mere routine. He studied the geography, mountain and river systems of the country, and learned what was still more useful to him, how to carry on busi- ness with the different races of British Columbia, who speak many different dialects. Douglas became proficient in them all. James Connolly had married a handsome Indian maiden of the country, and Douglas learned to love the daughter, Nellie Connolly. No doubt the days of labour passed 214
Another Imperial Scotsman — Douglas
quickly by, and in time Douglas married the fair daughter of the fur trader, who became a Chief Factor of the Hudson's Bay Company in 1825. Nellie Connolly proved a true and clever wife to the young trader and lived to become Lady Douglas. Douglas had many adventures among the wild and revengeful Indians of the mountains. An Indian had murdered one of the Hudson's Bay Company men. Douglas saw that the case was critical, and captured and executed the offender. The Indians, enraged, overpowered his fort, when Douglas seized a musket and was about to defend himself with it. However, a half-breed woman, daughter of old Trader McDougall, spoke out in his defence and declared that the Indian executed had been guilty of murder and deserved death. The effect of the woman's voice was magical. The Indians withdrew ashamed and con- founded. Douglas built a new fort on the river Skeena and called it after the old trader Connolly, who deserved the honour.
Now that Douglas had served his apprentice- ship in what was a hard, but had proved to be a delightful school, he was summoned in 1830 to the West Coast to assist the doughty chieftain, John McLoughlin. In a short time he was pro- moted to be Chief Trader, and in 1840 was made Chief Factor, the ambition of every Hudson's Bay Company clerk or officer. He now entered on a most important work upon the Pacific Coast. He established a number of forts, examined the trade and possibilities of extension in the different de-
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partments of the service, and paid annual visits to all the forts under his care.
While McLoughlin was busy with his farms and local improvements about Fort Vancouver, of which we shall afterward speak, by a mutual consent Douglas attended to all works of negotiation and diplomacy. The energy with which Douglas pushed on trade up the coast aroused the jealousy of the Russians, who were then the possessors of Alaska. The Treaty of 1825 between the English and Russians had provided for the free naviga- tion of all the rivers running into the Pacific Ocean from the British possessions. Douglas had pushed out a fort on the Stikeen River, one of those mentioned in the treaty. The Russian Governor succeeded in inducing his Government to with- draw this privilege, and likewise charged the Hudson's Bay Company with selling firearms and firewater to the Indians of the Stikeen. The Russian Governor erected a small fort at the mouth of the river, and when Douglas and his party appeared in their little vessel, the Dryad, at the Stikeen, forbade entrance. The Dryad withdrew, but sent a request to be allowed to enter the river. The Russian Commander refused, and the Dryad returned to Victoria. But the Scottish blood of Douglas was aroused. The Hudson's Bay Com- pany appealed to the British Government and claimed £20,000 of loss. Negotiations ensued. The loss of money was waived on condition of a lease being given to the Company of Alaska from its southern extremity north to Cape Spencer. 216
Another Imperial Scotsman — Douglas
In return an annual rent of two thousand otter skins was pai'd to the Russian Government, and the lease was again and again renewed. Scottish pluck and skill again won the day.
In the year 1840 it became evident that a settle- ment of the International boundary-line would soon have to be made. The Americans were insisting on the 49th parallel of N. Lat. being adopted as marking the line drawn east and west through the sources of the Mississippi River. It seemed unreasonable to think that the country south of this to the Columbia River, which included Fort Vancouver and forts up the Columbia River and its tributaries to Okanagan and Fort Colville, all occupied for many years by British fur traders, should be claimed as American territory. Douglas, however, was shrewd enough to prepare for any emergency. His confrere McLoughlin, as we shall see, was to play a curious part in the negotiations on this subject, and it was necessary for Douglas to act with decision and skill in preparing for the crisis.
He decided to construct a fort north of the proposed boundary-line of 49° N. Before taking active measures, however, he sailed north to Sitka, the capital of Alaska, to take possession of the country for trade under the new lease and to occupy the two posts on the Stikeen and Taku Rivers. The character of Douglas was well illustrated by an incident on this journey northward. In crossing country from Fort Vancouver to Puget Sound to take the steamer Beaver to Alaska the rapid
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Nisqually River lay across the trail. It was in April and the river was swollen. One of the employees — Lassertes — was swept from his horse by the current and was carried down to the drift of logs and rubbish, to be taken into which would be certain death. Lassertes had seen this and had caught the branches of a fallen tree. The air and the water were very cold and the current so swift that the unfortunate man could do nothing but cling on, and this he would soon fail to do. The party were all appalled by the danger. Douglas could not see a fellow-mortal perish without an effort to save him. On his fine horse he dashed forward, urging him with spur and whip till he nearly reached the opposite bank, then springing from his horse into the water he dashed toward the man and succeeded in gaining a hold of the fallen tree, upon which he crept and descended until he could reach the man in danger. Seizing him by the coat-collar with a Herculean grasp he held him until a canoe could be obtained to come to the rescue. He was a man among brave men.
The new site selected by Douglas for the future chief trading-house, and incidentally capital of the British West Coast, was on Vancouver Island. Adopting the Indian name of the locality, it was first called Fort Camosun, but we know it to-day as the fine city of Victoria. Douglas pointed out the easy access to the harbour from the Gulf of Georgia, and also saw the adjoining sheet of water at Esquimalt, where, landlocked, a navy can ride 218
Another Imperial Scotsman — Douglas
in safety. This selection was made in 1842, and on his return to Fort Vancouver the new site was approved by the factors and traders in council assembled, and orders given for its construction in the following spring. About this time a most startling episode occurred which led to important consequences. Sir George Simpson was at this time on his journey round the world and had returned from the Sandwich Islands, between which and British Columbia there was communication. The world-traveller was on his way back to Sitka before leaving for the Siberian coast. On the approach of his vessel to For,t Taku in Alaska the Governors -in-Chief saw the Russian and British flags at half-mast. This marked a tragedy. The son of Chief Factor McLoughlin had been in charge of the fort and on the previous night a number of Indians had become intoxicated and some dispute over a question of trade had arisen. There were about two thousand savages assembled and the outlook was most serious. The total number of whites in the fort was only twenty-two, and what could they do against the infuriated horde of Indians? Several shots had been fired, and unfortunately young McLoughlin had been killed. On his arrival Governor Simpson interfered ; but the Indians maintained that they had come with no evil intent, and that it was a few young an<d impetuous braves who had made the attack against the will and remonstrances of the " old men." The frenzied state of the Indians was further shown before the eyes of Sir George and the Russian
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Governor by the stabbing of one Indian by another. About a thousand infuriated savages turned out with knives to avenge the crime. The Russian Governor endeavoured to interfere, but would have failed had not the shades of night put an end to the threatened attack. The presence of the two Governors was fortunate. They had seen with their own eyes the danger of giving strong drink to savages, and they immediately agreed to make a treaty on the subject and to prevent the sale of rum at Sitka and at all the other ports upon the coast. The Indians could not at first believe that total prohibition had set in, but so it was. They retired in sullen contempt for the white man, and their opinion of the wisdom and common sense of Governors — especially one of them being Scottish — received a rude shock.
The year 1843 was thus a year of note — " annus imirabilis " — for the West Coast, when the sup- pression of the liquor traffic was accomplished. Notable also for the erection of Fort Victoria by Chief Factor Douglas was this year, the fiftieth since the arrival in 1793 of Vancouver with his ships on the Pacific Coast, and of Alexander Mac- kenzie overland from Canada. The Scottish people of Victoria — through the medium of their fine patriotic organisation, " The Sir William Wallace Society" — celebrated in 1893 the two events — the centenary of Vancouver and Mackenzie's voyages and the half-century from the founding of their charming city of Victoria.
Universal testimony is given of the felicity of 220
Another Imperial Scotsman — Douglas
this early choice of Victoria which was to be the capital of British Columbia. The situation itself is perfect, and as a spectator looks across the Gulf of Georgia he sees " the Olympian Heights," with the glistening water for a foreground and cloud-cut midway above their base, as they often are, they seem translated heavenward. " Never were mountains more aptly named than those by the early explorer Meares."
It was decided that in building Fort Victoria there would be no need of the three coast forts to the north — Taku, Stikeen, and McLoughlin. Fort Simpson, alone, of the northern forts was retained. Before his journey to the north Douglas had put his men to work on the newly chosen site, " culling and squaring timber and six of them to digging a well." He explained fully to the natives of Camosun that his object was to bring them " arms and implements, clothing and beau- tiful ornaments," which they might have in exchange for skins. This was most pleasing to the natives. It was not, however, till Douglas returned from the north with his reinforcements from the dismantled forts that real progress was made in the work of construction. The buildings were completed and the goods for trade were (brought into them. Tidings of the building of the new fort spread fast up along the coast, and the Indians came in bands to see the novelty. It was observed, however, that they had not brought with them their women and children as the Indian generally does on his travels. This
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was looked on by the whites with suspicion, seem- ing to indicate warlike intent. However, Douglas had all told fifty sturdy traders and workers assembled at the fort, and no doubt this prevented any such disturbances as had taken place some thirty years before. Three months after the arrival of the force from the north Fort Victoria was completed, with its " stockade, bastions at the angles, and store and dwelling-houses within."
The possibility of settling Vancouver Island now began to dawn on men's minds. With its traditional policy of seclusion, the Hudson's Bay Company was not regarded as favourable to immi- gration. The Governor of the Company in England, Sir John Pelly, being written to by Earl Grey on behalf of the British Government in 1849, suggested Chief Factor Douglas as the most suit- able man for Governor of the island colony. Instead of this the Government sent out a respect- able man in Richard Blanchard, but gave him no salary, and provided him with no shelter on Vancouver Island. He was compelled for a while to go back to the ship that brought him, after he had been proclaimed Governor. He was a Governor without a people — a New World king without either crown or subjects. He made a journey up the coast to deal with a case of murder among the Indians. Boats and men were sent by the Governor to seize the offender, but the emissaries of the law found the Indian villages all deserted. Governor Blanchard's ill-starred reign soon came to an end, his resignation being 222
Another Imperial Scotsman — Douglas
accepted by Earl Grey. During his stay he had reported to Earl Grey that only one bona fide sale of land had taken place, and this was to W. C. Grant, a Scottish gentleman, who brought out eight men and with them settled in Sooke, some twenty miles from Victoria. The experi- ment was a dismal failure, and we are told that Grant, not being " the right kind of Scotsman to make a good settler," sold the property and left the country in disgust.
It was seen that after all James Douglas was, as Sir J. Pelly had suggested, the natural ruler of the island. Accordingly in November, 1851, the Commissioner arrived and he was sworn in as Governor of the island, the mainland not being included. But while Governor Blanchard had received no salary, Governor Douglas was promised £800 a year in addition to his allowances as Chief Factor of the Hudson's Bay Company.
Douglas thus retained the Governorship of the island from 1851 to 1864; during the latter portion of this time the lease of the island to the Hudson's Bay Company was recalled by the British Government. The mainland of British Columbia had also been held by the Hudson's Bay Company from the British Government. But in 1858, after the great Parliamentary investigation by a Committee of the House of Commons, this lease was cancelled. Douglas in that year became Governor of the mainland as well. Now there was the Crown Colony of Vancouver Island, with Victoria as its capital, and the mainland Province
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of British Columbia, with New Westminster as its seat of government. In 1863 Douglas was knighted, and by Imperial Act in 1866 Vancouver Island and British Columbia were united into the one Province of British Columbia, and remained so till they were admitted into the Canadian Con- federation in 1871. A few years before the Confederation era Governor Douglas retired and was succeeded by a new appointee from the Mother Country. Sir James Douglas passed away, after years of service, honoured and respected by both British and American authorities. His public career was closely associated with the early history of British Columbia. His courage, manliness, Scottish shrewdness, and large and wide vision of public matters seem to the writer to be his outstanding features. It is well for a new country to have a man who can be its patriarch in the early stages of its existence. No doubt restless spirits felt it to be tyranny that one man should exercise such a remarkable sway as he did. He is suitably commemorated by a statue in front of the Parliament buildings of Victoria, and his memory is cherished by the people of the province of which he was virtually the founder.
224
CHAPTER XX
LATER SCOTTISH FUR TRADERS OF NOTE
THE proportion of Scotsmen who rose to leading positions in the Company, such as Chief Factor and Chief Trader, was very great. The following figures are very suggestive. Under the Deed Polls of 1821, 1834, and 1871 there were 263 commissioned officers, and it is estimated that their nationalities were as follows : —
French Canadians ... ... ... ... n
Irish 22
English 59
Scottish 171
Total 263
We have deemed it best to give for reference the year in which they were appointed. It will not be forgotten how good Archdeacon Cochrane in writing to James Hargrave, the great Hudson's Bay Company's forwarding agent at York Factory in Sir George Simpson's time, and who had been complaining of slow promotion to a Chief Trader- ship, said : " Are you likely to get another feather in your cap? I begin to think that your name will have to be changed into Mac Argrave . A VOL. ii. p 225
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1 Mac ' before your name would produce a greater effect than all the rest of your merits put together. Can't you demonstrate that you are one of the descendants of one of the great clans? "
List of Scottish Hudson's Bay Company Officers, Mainly Chief Factors, from 1821 to 1896.
1821 John Macdonald John Thompson James Leith John Haldane Colin Robertson Alexander Stewart James Sutherland John George McTavish George Keith John Dugald Cameron John Stuart Alexander Kennedy John McLoughlin James Keith Angus Bethune Donald McKenzie Alexander Christie John McBean
1823 William Mclntosh
1825 John Rowand,
1827 James McMillan
1828 Allan McDonell Peter Warren Dease
1830 Roderick McKenzie, Sr. 1832 Duncan Finlayson 1834 Peter S. Ogden
1836 John P. Pruden Alex McLeod
1837 Angus Cameron Samuel Black 226
1840 James Douglas
Donald Ross 1842 Archibald McDonald
1845 Nicol Finlayson
1846 John Work John Sieveright
1847 Murdo McPherson George Barnston
1848 John Ballenden
1850 John Rae William Sinclair
1851 Hector McKenzie William McTavish Dugald McTavish James H. Lawson, Factor Ewen Macdonald, Factor
1854 John Swanston John McKenzie
1855 James Anderson, (A)
1856 William McNeill, William F. Tolmie
1859 James Anderson, (B) Roderick Finlayson
1860 William J. Christie Charles Dodd
1861 John M. Simpson James A. Graham
1862 James R. Clare Wemyss M. Simpson Donald A. Smith
Later Scottish Fur Traders of Note
1864 James S. Clouston 1874 John H. McTavish Joseph Gladman Alexander Munro
1866 William McMurray 1875 Roderick McFarlane
1867 Robert Campbell Roderick Ross, Factor Robert Hamilton 1879 Colin Rankin
1869 James G. Stewart Peter Warren Bell
1872 James Bissett Archibald McDonald George S. McTavish 1887 James McDougall
1873 Robert Crawford, Factor 1888 Peter McKenzie William H. Watt, Fac- 1892 William Clark
tor 1896 Alexander Matheson John Mclntyre, Factor. Factor
NOTE i. — In some few cases the nationality is not clearly made out.
NOTE 2. — Short notes are given referring to some of the above, to be found by the dates. In these cases it is when they have not been other- wise more largely noticed in the history.
Notable Officers.
James Leith, Chief Factor of 1821, a Scotsman, in 1838 bequeathed £12,000 to be expended for the benefit of the Indian Missions in Rupert's Land. Leith's family disputed the will, but on the addition of £300 a year being offered by the Hudson's Bay Company the Court decided the will in favour of the Church, and £700 a year is thus provided for the Bishop of Rupert's Land.
George Keith, a Scotsman, became a Chief Factor in 1821. Having spent most of his fur- trading life in the districts of Athabasca, Mac- kenzie River, and the Great Slave Lake, and having
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The Scotsman in Canada
the pen of a ready writer, he wrote at the instance of Roderick Mackenzie interesting tales of the Beaver Indians.
Alexander Kennedy, an Orkney man, became a Chief Factor in 1827, and was in Cumberland House when his son, afterward Captain William Kennedy, one of Lady Franklin's captains, was born. A grandson of this Chief Factor was also Alexander Isbister, the distinguished advocate of the half-breeds of Red River in London in 1847.
Peter Warren Dease, who became Chief Factor in 1828, was the celebrated explorer, who in com- pany with Thomas Sirnpson followed out the coast- line of the Arctic Ocean west of the mouth of the Mackenzie River.
Robert Crawford, an out-and-out Scotsman, who became a Factor in 1873, on retiring from the Hudson's Bay Company went into business, settling at Indian Head, Saskatchewan. He was a man of strong religious disposition, and did much to advance the interests of the Church of his Fathers where he settled.
John Mclntyre, a sturdy Highlander, became a Factor in 1873. He accompanied Sir George Simpson in his great voyage round the world in 1841. He was for many years in charge of Fort William on Lake Superior, where he welcomed a great number of distinguished visitors, and lived to see Fort William the centre of a rising city.
John Sieveright, a worthy Scottish Factor, 1846, passed many years in the fur trade and was in charge of posts at Sault Ste. Marie and on the 228
Later Scottish Fur Traders of Note
Ottawa. He was a pleasing letter writer and a man typical of those who upheld the honour of the Honourable Hudson's Bay Company.
George Barnston, Chief Factor, in 1846, was for many years in charge of the trade in Montreal.
John Ballenden, an Orkney man, became Chief Factor in 1848. He was for a time in charge as Governor of Red River, and rendered dis- tinguished service to the Company and his co- religionists in the Red River Settlement in facilitating the coming of Rev. John Black, the apostle of his Church on the Red River.
James H. Lawson, Factor in 1851, has been connected with the commercial side of Hudson's Bay Company, and has for years lived in Victoria, British Columbia.
Roderick Ross McFarlane, for many years an employee of the Hudson's Bay Company, became a Chief Factor in 1875. He is a native of the Island of Lewis, and in his long residence on the Mackenzie River became an authority on the natural history of that region. He is now a resident of Winnipeg and interests himself in congenial studies.
James McDougall became a Chief Factor in 1887. He did good service in the Upper Country and was in charge when the Hudson's Bay Company withdrew from Alaska.
229
CHAPTER XXI
GREAT SCOTSMEN ON THE PACIFIC COAST
THE men who grew up around Sir James Douglas were sure to be men of resource, and so became men of mark. Though Trader Douglas's superior officer, John McLoughlin, a Scoto -Irishman, was first in the field, yet he was a man who impressed the world much less by his personality than did Douglas. McLoughlin lacked the firmness and decision of character necessary for the protection of the great business interests entrusted to his care upon the coast. Being ;of an impulsive nature, he readily fell in with the interests of the American settlers who came to the Columbia when the territory was claimed by both the British and Americans. Being in charge of Fort Vancouver, he wavered in his allegiance, and so, it is charged, sacrificed the interests of the Hudson's Bay Company. Miss Agnes Laut, a late writer, has sought to reverse the opinion 'Of British and Canadian historians by making McLoughlin a hero, while they regard him as one who forsook his country and flag and profited by becoming an American citizen.
Like Sir George Simpson, McLoughlin had a 230
Great Scotsmen on the Pacific Coast
fondness for show and ceremony, but Sir George Simpson always had the iron hand within the velvet glove, while McLoughlin mistook the outward glitter for what was not gold. He would accom- pany his outgoing expeditions of traders with regal state for fifty miles from Fort Vancouver and dis- miss them with his blessing before he returned to the fort. By his side rode his wife. Says one, describing this pageant : " Upon a gaily capari- soned steed, with silver trappings and strings of bells on the bridle reins and saddle skirt, sat the Lady (Bountiful) of Fort Vancouver, herself arrayed in brilliant colours and wearing a smile which might cause to blush and to hang its head the broadest, warmest, and most fragrant sun- flower. By her side, also gorgeously attired, rode her lord, King of the Columbia, and every inch a King." McLoughlin retired from the Hudson's Bay service in 1845, after being many years a Chief Factor, and took up his abodjC in Oregon City.
Of an entirely different stamp of man was Roderick Finlayson. Born in 1818 in Ross-shire, Scotland, the son of a considerable stock farmer, young Finlayson came to Montreal in 1837 and entered the service of the Hudson's Bay Company. Like Douglas, he was introduced to the West by Chief Factor McLoughlin. Calling at all the chief Hudson's Bay Company's forts on the route across country, he and his companions at last arrived at Fort Vancouver, on the Columbia River, and for the rest of his long life Finlayson was destined
231
The Scotsman in Canada
to become a man of the Pacific Coast. At the age of twenty-two he was one of Douglas's party which went north to take possession of Alaska under the lease given by Russia to the Hudson's Bay Company. Being left by the steamer Beaver at Fort Durham on the Taku, Finlayson was taken by the Indians to be a " Boston man " — i.e., one of the Americans against whom the natives had a grudge. Having been besieged in his fort by the savages, he pointed out their mistake and demanded an indemnity for their baseless attack. He so impressed them that they gave him a valuable bundle of furs to placate him. Finlay- son was afterwards put in charge of the new Fort Victoria, and proved himself to be a very Ajax of the fur traders. Though when at rest he was a peaceably disposed Scotsman, yet once in the fight he was regarded by the Indians as being little short of a demon. When placed in com- mand of Fort Victoria he introduced Mexican cattle into Vancouver Island and subdued a number of these wild animals to be patient yoke -bear ing oxen. The tribes of the island had two objections to these Mexican intruders. The first was that they should be refused free use of them when they desired a royal feast. Their second objection was that by the use of the oxen the Company could dispense with the labour of their squaws, who hitherto had profited by carrying burdens for the Company. Tsonghilam, chief of the Cowichans of the island, and Tsilaetchash, chief of the Songhies, and their braves came to the conclu- 232
Great Scotsmen on the Pacific Coast
sion to attack the fort, kill off the doughty Scots- man, and drive off his Cattle as Finlayson's ancestors with great skill and Highland approval had done in days gone by with the cattle of the Sassenach. A fierce attack with a galling musket fire- was made upon the fort by the Indians. It lasted for half an hour. Finlayson forbade any -reply, knowing that soon they would have ex- hausted their ammunition to no purpose. At length when the fusillade ceased Finlayson appeared upon the parapet of the bastion of the fort and made sport of the peppery attack of their guns. Point- ing to the cedar lodge outside the walls of the fort, he said, " Just as I can blow to pieces yonder lodge, so I can blow you all into the bay." At that moment the nine-pounder opened fire from the fort with astounding noise and with a charge of grape-shot blew the structure to pieces. He then, after warning, fired on the chief's lodge, which was blown to splinters. It is unnecessary to say that before sunset full damages in furs were paid to the man of the infernal machine, and the pipe of peace was duly smoked in sign of future amity. Fort Victoria now became the fur traders' capital, and ships began to sail direct from England to Vancouver Island. In 1859 Roderick Finlayson became a Chief Factor in charge of Fort Victoria. Afterwards possessed of a large property in the suburbs of Victoria City, he lived out a peaceful old age, and there the writer met him in 1887. Finlayson was of large and com- manding stature and had about him the air of
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The Scotsman in Canada
a man " born to command." Elsewhere the writer has said of him : " He lacked the adroitness of McLoughlin, the instability of Tod, and the genius of Douglas, but he was a typical Scotsman, steady, patient and trustworthy. Like an old patriarch, he spent his last days in Victoria, keeping a large extent of vacant city property ; when urged again and again to sell it when it had become valuable, the sturdy pioneer replied that ' he required it to pasture his coo.' "
A contemporary of Roderick Finlayson in New Caledonia was John Tod, a clamant Scots- man. He belonged to the loquacious type of that race, and was the most bizarre of the fur traders. Coming out, as his own journal states, with Lord Selkirk's first party in 1811, he entered the fur trade. He appears upon the scene in the Hudson Bay and Red River dis- tricts, where his oddities attracted general atten- tion. He was dashing and fearless, but excitable and imprudent. Wearied with his peculiarities in Red River Settlement, Sir George Simpson sent Tod to New Caledonia, which was sometimes looked upon as the penal settlement of the traders. In 1840 Tod became officer in charge of Kam- loops, at the junction of the two branches of the Thompson River. On one occasion he showed his daring and resource by counter working an Indian plot to rob the traders on one of their journeys. Tod had heard from a friendly Indian of the proposed plot of three hundred natives. The plotters had already started on their expedi- 234
Great Scotsmen on the Pacific Coast
tion of plunder, when Tod followed and overtook them. Rushing at once, on his reeking steed, among the party he threw his weapons down upon the ground. Assuming the attitude of peace he announced that the deadly smallpox was upon them, and he had come with medicine for their protection. The Indians were cowed. With his tobacco knife Tod then began to vaccinate them, and it is said that when he came to a rascally Indian he made a more effective slash in his arm than was absolutely necessary. The vaccine ran out before one -quarter of the band were inocu- lated, but Tod gained the undying gratitude of his dusky patients. He was a prolific letter-writer. The writer has had the privilege of looking through his correspondence. With his correspondents, chiefly officers of the fur trade, he discussed the gravest questions of theology and casuistry, with- out, however, very much effect upon his distant acquaintances. While Tod was in New Caledonia in charge of Fort Alexandria, so called, it is said, after Sir Alexander Mackenzie, a fiery and deter- mined Scotsman — Chief Factor Samuel Black — was in charge of Fort Kamloops. He was a daring and competent trader, but was surrounded by ignorant and dangerous Indians. Near by the fort lived Tranquille, a chief of the Shushwaps. The chief having died suddenly, the superstitious members of the tribe attributed his death to the magic or " bad medicine " of the white man. A nephew of the dead chief watched his opportunity and shot the trader. A panic prevailed. The
235
The Scotsman in Canada
Hudson's Bay Company officers far and near hastened to Kamloops to meet the frightened and conscience-stricken savages. John Tod came post haste from his fort. McLean immediately left his post of Fort Colville on the distant Columbia. Archibald McKinley and Edward Ermatinger came from Fort Okanagan. McLoughlin dispatched a band of armed men from Fort Vancouver, and Chief Factor Angus Cameron had full commission to act with Tod at Kamloops. All business in New Caledonia was at a standstill, and the greatest anxiety prevailed as to the safety of the whites throughout the whole country.
The Shushwaps summoned a great council, and Nicola, their chief and greatest orator, was there. The chief's speech before the council was a fine example of Indian eloquence. He showed the absolute dependence of the red man upon the white, he pointed out the dastardly character of the murder, and pictured all the earthly and heavenly bodies as gazing on in amazement. Speaking of the departed, he said, " He is dead and we poor Indians shall never see his like again. He was just and generous. His heart was larger than yon mountain, and clearer than the waters of the lake." After further speaking, he closed 'by saying, " And now you must not rest until you have brought the murderer to justice." The murderer was soon secured and put in irons, but on crossing the river he succeeded in upsetting the boat in which he was a prisoner and floated down the stream, but he perished, his death-song 236
Great Scotsmen on the Pacific Coast
being hushed by the crack of firearms from the shore.
A most competent and accomplished young Scotsman, born abroad in India and educated in England, was Alexander Caulfield Anderson, who entered the Hudson's Bay Company at seventeen and reached Vancouver in 1852. At the age of twenty he was appointed to an important district in New Caledonia, and soon after was in charge of Fort Alexandria, on the Lower Fraser River. Sent to the Columbia, he rose in 1854 to be for a time Superintendent of Fort Vancouver. In 1858 he went to Victoria in connection with the gold excitement. His constructive ability was brought into use in the building of a road, so much so that his fame and that of Old Scotland were made permanent by the opening of a great road over rock and mountain by way of Hope and Lake Nicola to Kamloops in British Columbia and on to the Upper Thompson River.
The name McTavish was, as we have seen, a famous one among the fur traders ; and Chief Factor Dugald McTavish sustained well the tradi- tion of capacity and success of the members of his clan. He was a ready accountant, and in time he was sent to York Factory, San Francisco, Honolulu, and other places where the Hudson's Bay Company did business, and where the business ability and uprightness characteristic of so many of his countrymen also made him prominent. After being in charge of the district of British Columbia, he was in 1858 taken to Victoria to assist in the
237
The Scotsman in Canada
business affairs of the Company during the excite- ment produced by the gold find of that year on the Pacific Coast. He was for a time in charge of Fort Victoria. Afterward his great financial ability led to his being sent to Washington to watch over the interests of the Hudson's Bay Com- pany in its Oregon claims before the Commission arising out of the Brito- American Treaty of 1846. On his return to London, after a month's interval, McTavish was appointed by the Company in 1869 to succeed in Montreal Chief Factor Donald A. Smith, a noted Scotsman of whom we shall have much to say, on account of that gentleman having left Montreal to go as Commissioner in connection with the Kiel Rebellion in Red River Settlement. McTavish died of heart disease in 1871, missed and regretted by many of his former associates and fellow-countrymen.
Along with Chief Factor Roderick Finlayson and Dugald McTavish was associated in 1861 on the Board of Management of the Hudson's Bay Com- pany affairs on the Pacific Coast, Dr. William Fraser Tolmie, a Chief Factor and a worthy and respected representative of the Scottish race. Dr. Tolmie. residing in Victoria, continued to be one of the leading men connected with the Western Department of the Company's business, and long remained as one of the most intelligent and culti- vated men of the " Old Trader Circle " of Vancouver Island.
Born in Edinburgh in 1825 and educated at the celebrated Edinburgh Academy, a bright 238
Great Scotsmen on the Pacific Coast
Scottish lad of eighteen, James A. Grahame had the pluck to sail through Hudson Bay to York Factory, proceed to Fort Garry (now Winnipeg) as an appreciative clerk of the Company, and to* hasten on past Jasper House and thence overland to the Columbia River, and to reach Fort Vancouver. Omitting his eight months' stay at Fort Garry, young Grahame had accomplished by almost constant travelling a journey across the Atlantic Ocean, Hudson Bay, and the North American Continent. Thoroughly trained in the fur trade, Grahame's superior education gave him a great advantage in the service, although in excel- lence of temper and disposition he was surpassed by a number of his contemporaries. He became a Chief Factor on the Hudson's Bay Company in 1 86 1. Being regarded as a faithful officer of the Company, he was an overseer at Norway House of the Company's affairs of the Northern District. After visiting London, Chief Factor Grahame was dispatched to British Columbia to superintend im- portant affairs there. Recalled to London, he again came out to Victoria to have charge of the Western District. In 1874 he received his highest appointment of Chief Commissioner of the Hud- son's Bay Company, with residence at Winnipeg. Here he remained for ten years, when he retired to live in Victoria, British Columbia, for the remainder of his days.
One of the most trustworthy Scotsmen ever in the Hudson's Bay Company was Alexander Munro. Born in Ross -shire and not far from Avoch, the
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The Scotsman in Canada
residence of Sir Alexander Mackenzie, young Munro knew something of that noted family. Mr. Munro was Department Accountant of the Com- pany's land upon the Pacific Coast. He retired to live in Victoria in 1890, and was not only the last of the Chief Factors stationed in British Columbia, but the Senior Chief Factor in the Hudson's Bay Company service. He continued to live for nearly twenty years in Victoria. He was a man thoroughly respected for his high character, business habits, benevolent disposition, and devotion to the Church of his fathers. Two of his sons-in-law, R. P. Rithet, Esq., and Captain John Irving, leading business men in British Columbia's business and public affairs, were long influential men in Victoria.
240
CHAPTER XXII
SCOTTISH OVERLANDERS IN 1862
THERE seems to have been a fascination, to those of Scottish race, in seeking out the newer parts of British North America which are now included in Canada. The spirit of adventure was cultivated by the fur trade, and the prizes to the fortunate danced before the eyes of those of Scottish lineage and courage. In 1862 the gold- fields of the Cariboo district in British Columbia attracted the attention of many Canadians. Many from all parts of the world flocked to Victoria and found their way up the Fraser River and by land-carriage to the lure of the goldfields. Ex- posure, scanty food, and the wearisome journey claimed many, who fell by the way and filled a lonely and now unknown grave. A fraudulent advertisement, published in Canada and England, stated that an overland stage route had been established from St. Paul, Minnesota, to the gold- fields of the Cariboo. It is true a branch of the celebrated Burbank stage had been begun, running as far as Georgetown, a settlement on the Red River, some two hundred miles from St. Paul ; but the advertisement did not say that this VOL. II. Q 241
The Scotsman in Canada
left 1,500 miles of land travel still to be provided for to reach Cariboo. For young stalwart Canadians, who came to find out their dilemma at St. Paul, this was, however, no deterrent. At Georgetown 150 Canadians, young and strong, iand many of them of Scottish blood, congregated and took the Hudson's Bay Company steamer Inter- national, then newly built, to make the journey down the Red River to Fort Garry. The steamer was new and untried, the river was shallow, the company, being large, were put on short rations, and the discontent was great. Fort Garry being reached, Governor Dallas, the new Governor of Rupert's Land, and the well-known Bishop Tache, who had been on board, left the travellers going on to the mines, and they began preparation for an overland journey of the great plains. At Fort Garry they were cheered by a service at the fort by the Scottish pioneer minister of the Red River, Rev. John Black, who had then been some ten years in the North-West. To the young adven- turers the bracing air of the West, and their success in obtaining some ninety-six Red River carts, each capable of carrying 800 Ibs., made without a scrap of iron, and in purchasing trained oxen or ponies, filled them with excitement. They engaged a French half-breed guide, Charles Rochette, who knew the route, but who afterwards deserted them. Their long cavalcade having started, the journey was made vocal by the creak- ing of nearly one hundred carts which could be heard half a mile away, until the party halted 242
Scottish Overlanders in 1862
at White Horse Plains, some twenty-five miles along the trail, west of Fort Garry. Here they organised. The captain chosen by the party was a young Scottish Canadian, Thomas McMicking, thirty-five years of age, born at Queenston Heights, near Niagara Falls. He had been educated at Knox College, Toronto, and been engaged in school-teaching and business. After his arrival on the Pacific Coast he was made Sheriff at New Westminster, but was drowned in the Fraser River in 1866 while attempting to rescue his son.
Another leader among the " Overlanders " was Mr. Archibald McNaughton, a young man of Scottish descent who was educated in Montreal and was only nineteen when the company started on its journey. After arriving in the Gold Country, he followed mining for several years, and for more than forty years has held fast to " the Cariboo," has been a Government and municipal officer, as well as spending ten years in the district in charge of the Hudson's Bay Company's business. His home continued to be at the junction of the Quesnel and Fraser Rivers. His wife, Margaret McNaughton, has written an attractive brochure entitled " Overland to Cariboo," to which we are indebted for a number of our facts in this description.
A third of the Scotsmen of this notable expedi- tion was Robert Burns McMicking, who is still living in Victoria, British Columbia, where he has for years held a high and useful position as an expert in telegraphy, telephone, and electric -
243
The Scotsman in Canada
lighting. Born, like the captain of the adven- turers, near Niagara Falls, and named after one of the most noted pioneer clergymen and pro- fessors, Dr. Robert Burns, a Scot of the Scots, young McMicking, at the age of only nineteen, faced the danger and fatigue of the journey with safety. Another prominent member of the " Over- landers " was Mr. A. L. Fortune, who came down the terrible route by the Thompson River, and who has been an important pioneer at Enderby in the Okanagan Country of British Columbia. He was one of the committee chosen to advise with Captain McMicking on the route. He has been a staunch defender of the faith in the Church of his fathers, and has been seen at the Canadian Assembly as a representative Elder.
Another prominent man, who followed this Canadian party, is John Andrew Mara, of Scottish blood, who took up his abode at Kamloops, the junction of the two branches of the Thompson River, and was for many years an active repre- sentative in the Provincial and Dominion Parlia- ments, being for a time the much respected and capable Speaker of the British Columbia Legisla- ture. Four other names, still well known in British Columbia, some of them of Celtic blood, are John Bowron, Gold Commissioner and Govern- ment Agent for the Cariboo ; George Christie Tunstall, a Lower Canadian, Gold Commissioner and in the Lands and Works Department at Kamloops ; John Fannier, distinguished for literary and scientific acquirements and as the 244
Scottish Overlanders in 1862
organiser of the splendid Museum at Victoria ; as well as William Fortune, a prosperous farmer at Tranquille, near Kamloops. These all stand on the Honour Roll of those who crossed the plains in the party of 1862 and have gained the reputation of prosperous men. A detailed account of this remarkable journey across the plains cannot be given, but reference can be made to the prowess and perseverance of the large party on their journey. A hundred and fifty strong, and all armed and full of the spirit of Canadian Scots- men, the presence of bands of Indians on their route caused them no further anxiety than the possibility of their horses being stampeded at night by prowling redskins or some of their possessions being stolen by thieves on the journey. At Fort Ellice, where there is a very deep valley to cross, accidents occurred to both man and beast, while the crossing of the Qu'Appelle River took place on a scow provided by the Hudson's Bay Com- pany, on which a small toll was charged. After the desertion of their guide the leaders themselves took charge of the party. The trail was well marked, and when they reached Fort Carlton, north of Saskatchewan, they procured an abundant supply of buffalo meat. Fort Pitt, on the North Saskatchewan, was reached thirty-seven days after the departure of the company from Fort Garry, and Edmonton, a thousand miles from Fort Garry, after a further journey of twelve days. The party had learned to make temporary bridges, which a writer says would have done great credit to
245
The Scotsman in Canada
Caesar himself. These were made by means of a rope used in hauling logs over the stream which was to be crossed. The patriotic Scottish adven- turers were pleased to see the Union Jack hoisted in honour of their arrival by the Hudson's Bay Company officer on the flagpole of Fort Edmon- ton. A considerable French half-breed settlement was met at St. Anne's, a short distance out of Edmonton, and the wolf-dogs of this settlement made hearty inroads upon their pemmican supply, despite their best efforts to keep them away. A worthy Celt, Colin Fraser, the Hudson's Bay Com- pany Factor at St. Anne's, showed them much kindness and cheered them in the evening by playing the bagpipes and arousing the Scottish spirits of the company. Journeying on, the party passed a most difficult country covered with dense brushwood and continuous swamps, bogs, and muskegs. On August 4th the vanguard of the travellers were overtaken in their encampment by Dr. Symington's party, the active postmaster being W. Sellers, a Scotsman from Huntington in Lower Canada. The party was much excited at seeing the thick beds of coal on the Pembina River, and at reaching the McLeod River, which flows into the great northern stream, the Athabasca. Sixty- five days after leaving Fort Garry the party got their first glimpse of the Rocky Mountains. Cross- ing the Athabasca, the travellers entered the Leatherhead Pass in the Rockies. Their journals speak of the majesty of the mountains, of the grand lightning and thunder storms they witnessed, until, following their difficult trail, they saw Jasper 246
Scottish Overlanders in 1862
House in the distance. At length crossing the height of land, they reached the upper waters of the great Eraser River. Following down this precipitous stream they saw the entrance of two great rivers from the east, the Quesnel and the Thompson. The latter river joins the Eraser at Lytton, which is 180 miles from the sea. The fear of provisions failing the whole party led to a division into two companies and a divergency of routes. Those best provided with food — to the number of twenty — agreed to leave the main body and cross over to the Thompson and thus attempt by road to reach the Cariboo gold district. Messrs. Fannier, Thompson, Pitman, and A. L. Fortune, of the Queenston party, undertook this route, and with them went a German family, Mr. and Mrs. Schubert and their three children. The greater part of the company, however, decided to keep to the Fraser, terrible as the cascades, rapids, and rocky falls were seen to be. Rafts were con- structed for each company coming from the same locality. In this way there was the Scarboro raft, the Ottawa, the Huntington, and the Niagara. For four days the parties fared well enough, but on arrival at the Grand Canyon and terrible whirl- pool, though several portages were made, yet the rapids on being run almost compassed the destruc- tion of the rafts. Strange to say, the rafts all passed down with comparative safety, but the " Toronto party," in a canoe, lost everything of their possessions, saving only their own lives. Here also a canoe of the Montreal company was wrecked. The Goderich party were even more
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The Scotsman in Canada
unfortunate, Mr. Robertson, an expert swimmer, perishing before the eyes of his comrades. Two well-known men, Carpenter, of Toronto, and Leader, of Huron, were also lost in running a canoe down the dangerous Canyon. The Syming- ton-McNaughton party, being eleven days later in arriving at the Yellow Head Cache, had to face the same dangers in descending the Fraser River. They found an enormous uprush of salmon in the river. With the Symington company was the Whitby party, and they took about the same time to prepare their canoes for the dangerous descent. This latter unfortunate company — the Whitby— lost all their canoes and were compelled to build others. At last the great party reached Fort George on the Fraser River.
The Thompson River company in their turn had a land journey to complete before they could reach Thompson River, which they hoped to descend. For two days there was a fairly good trail to follow. They now sent back their guide, Andre Cardinal, and undertook their two weeks' journey with much zest. They had to cut a way through the primeval forest, and this they did at the rate of five miles a day. The river seemed so desperate a channel that they first thought of cutting their road through the heavy forest. Then for a time they used wooden canoes which they constructed. For a while this mode of transit succeeded ; but they reached after seven days impassable rapids. Losing a kind-hearted Scotsman, Strachan, by drowning, the party at length arrived at Kam- loops, having made a portage of eight miles, and 248
Scottish Overlanders in 1862
by another series of rafts, and a good trail, having covered 120 miles. The wonder of this party was the successful journey of Mrs. Schubert and her three children. On the day after the arrival of her party at Kamloops Mrs. Schubert gave birth to a daughter — the first white child to be born there.
On the Fraser and Thompson Rivers six precious lives were lost. Various routes were followed by the remainder of the party of 150. Many went to the Cariboo diggings — some succeeded and others did not. Survivors in various parts of British Columbia have been described. The most of them gained a competence and spent their years as they journeyed to the sunset of life in peace.
The old miner is a feature of the Cariboo Country. James Anderson, a native of Fifeshire, Scotland, has, in the following verses, given his friend a glimpse of the old times : —
Dear Sawney, little did I think
That eighteen sixty seven
Wad see me still in Cariboo
A howkin' for a livin'.
The first twa years I spent out here
Were nae sae ill ava,
But hoo I've lived sin syne, my freen,
There's little need to blaw.
Like footba', knockit back and fore,
That's lang in reaching goal,
Or feather blawn by ilka wind
That whistles 'tween each pole —
Even sae my mining life has been
For mony a weary day
(Will that sun never rise for me
That shines for makin' hay?)
249
CHAPTER XXIII
THE SCOTTISH CHURCH IN WESTERN CANADA
SCOTSMEN are famed all over the world for their religious convictions. They are well instructed in their schools, formerly the parish schools ; and in these the Bible and the Shorter Catechism — a marvellous compendium of doctrine — have a full place. Whatever may be said of religious establishments, there can be no doubt that in the three centuries and more of its history the Scottish Church has produced a well-marked and easily recognised type of religious character quite its own. The Scottish mind, naturally philo- sophical, has, by its teaching of Church doctrines, reared a nation of thinkers. Even in the last century and a half of its history, during which several branches have broken off from the parent tree, it is worthy of note that the divisions have been in the main not doctrinal but on matters of policy. The Confession of Faith, adopted by the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1638, still stands as the doctrinal standard of all branches of belief of the Scottish people. Accord- ingly, Scottish tenacity has shown itself wherever '250
Scottish Church in Western Canada
the Scottish people have settled, and this may be said to be in every quarter of the rworld. A Scottish clergyman relates of himself that travelling on an ocean steamer he made the statement that " whenever you call for him on board a ship on any sea you'll find a Scotsman." He was dared to try the experiment, and going to the stair of the engine-room he called " Sandy 1 " and imme- diately a brawny Scotsman appeared from the depths in answer to the call. Scottish tenacity, some would call it clannishness, shows itself in the Scotsmen's determination to have their national form of worship wherever they settle. The leaders of Lord Selkirk's settlement, of which we have fully spoken, in its formation on the banks of the Red River, had received from Lord Selkirk a promise that a minister of the Scottish Church would follow them. When the party of 1815 were leaving their native land they were promised a minister in the following year, and in the mean- time James Sutherland, a Highland Elder, was sent out, authorised, it is said, by members of the Presbytery of Ross -shire to baptize, marry, and dispense the Sacrament. For three years he re- mained at Red River, the only religious teacher of any Church in Rupert's Land. The death of Lord Selkirk, however, in 1820 prevented his lord- ship from carrying out his solemn promise. For some mysterious reason the Hudson's Bay Com- pany sent out John West, a clergyman of the Church of England, to minister to the Scottish settlers. The Scottish Psalms were used and the
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The Scotsman in Canada
service adapted to the prejudices of the people by the good man and his successors. With un- dying pertinacity the people appealed in every way imaginable to their Mother Church to send them a minister of their own faith. For thirty years and more they had the opposition of the Hudson's Bay Company, but their perfervidutn ingenium won the day, and in 1851, sent out by Dr. Robert Burns, of Toronto — a stalwart in the faith — came John Black, a native of Dumfriesshire, Scotland, but educated in Knox College, Toronto, to repre- sent the Scottish Church, as embodied in the Presbyterian Church of Canada. Mr. Black was an excellent scholar, a most powerful speaker, and a devoted pastor. The Highlanders of the Red River almost to a man gathered about him, and without any help from the parent Church built, after the model of their old Scottish Church in Kildonan, Sutherlandshire, the stone church of Kildonan on the Red River, which was never any burden on the funds of the general Church. Eleven years afterward this pioneer was joined by a fellow- countryman, also educated at Knox College, Toronto, James Nisbet, who founded the Presby- terian Indian Mission where now stands the city of Prince Albert on the Saskatchewan River. By the year 1870, when Manitoba came into exist- ence at the mandate of the Canadian Parliament, two other ministers, William Fletcher and John McNab, made up the four original members of the Presbytery of Manitoba formed in that year. In the following year the first Local Parliament was 252
Scottish Church in Western Canada
held in Manitoba, and the writer went out com- missioned to join the four brethren, to establish Manitoba College and to organise Knox Church, the first Presbyterian Church in Winnipeg1. He is thus able to tell from personal knowledge of the development in Western Canada of the Presby- terian Church of the Scottish Motherland. Before tracing further the growth of the Scottish Church in Rupert's Land, which has now become a part of Canada, it may be well to look at what was going on at the same time on the Pacific Coast, also now a part of Western Canada. Though a cry for help came from the settlers in Vancouver Island and British Columbia in 1858, the year of the gold excitement, it was not until 1861 that the Rev. John Hall, a minister of the Presby- terian Church of Ireland — a Scoto-Irish Church — went out and founded the first Church in Victoria. A congregation was soon formed, and by April, 1863, the foundation of a new Church was laid by Hon. D. Cameron, the Scottish Chief Justice of the colony. In the same year the building was finished and bore aloft upon its steeple the emblematic Scottish thistle. The success of this movement encouraged the newly united Canadian Presbyterian Church to send out the Rev. Robert Jamieson to New Westminster. His memory is still green as the apostle of his Church in British Columbia. Several other missionaries followed, taking up the three cities of Victoria, New West- minster, and Nanaimo for the Church in Canada. The necessities of support led the Church in
253
The Scotsman in Canada
Nanaimo to appeal to the Church of Scotland, which responded, and sent several ministers to the help of British Columbia. The same neces- sities led to the sending to Victoria of the Rev. Thomas Somerville, of the Church of Scotland, as the sole clergyman for that city. Dissatis- faction soon showed itself, however, and St. Andrew's was formed under Mr. Somerville and built as a new church, while the former church was still retained under the Rev. William Aitken. The most prominent successor of the Rev. Thos. Somerville was a Nova Scotian, Rev. S. M. McGregor, during whose pastorate British Columbia entered the Dominion and became a Canadian province.
Returning again to Manitoba, it is found that Manitoba College, begun by the writer in 1871 at Kildonan, was on account of the growth of Winnipeg moved to that city in 1874, and gained a footing as the strongest college in the Western country. The writer had from 1872 associated with him in the college as professor the Rev. Thomas Hart, a minister of the Church of Scotland in Canada, and this several years before the union of the two Presbyterian Churches in Canada. The large number of Scottish Canadian immigrants coming to Western Canada led to the great exten- sion of the Presbyterian Church in Manitoba. In 1874 the Rev. James Robertson, of Highland birth but educated in Canada and the United States, was called to Knox Church, Winnipeg, and, as we shall see, he afterwards became a strong force 254
Scottish Church in Western Canada
in the spread of the Church of Scottish origin. Settlers spread in all directions over the prairies and were followed by energetic missionaries, most of them of Scottish blood and of the fervid spirit of such national religious heroes as Knox, Melville, and Chalmers. During this first missionary decade the Revs. Alex. Fraser, Alexander Matheson, Samuel Donaldson, and Edward Vincent were active members of the Presbytery and worthy foundation -builders. Hugh McKellar, Allan Bell, and D. Stewart were a trio who did yeoman service in the splendid farming district of Portage la Prairie, and at Gladstone. John Scott, Hugh Borthwick, and William R. Ross took hold of Southern Manitoba and laid the foundations of numerous congregations, such as Emerson, Car- man, Morden, and others now self-sustaining and influential. Alexander Campbell, James Douglas, A. H. Cameron, and Alexander Smith all earned a good reputation for work in the later seventies. Such men as McGuire, James Wellwood, Donald McRae, William Hodnett, and Samuel Poison were hard-working pioneers in this decade. A few of them were Scoto-Irish, but almost all of them had the best of Highland or Lowland blood running in their veins. At the beginning of the second decade, after the occupation of Manitoba by Canada, the pioneer, Rev. John Black, died, James Nisbet passing away eight years before him, and Fletcher and McNab, the two members of the original Presbytery, having long since left Manitoba, are also deceased. About the beginning
255
The Scotsman in Canada
of this second decade the Rev. James Robertson, on account of the necessity of greater supervision of the Missions of the Church, was made by the General Assembly Superintendent of Missions. He was a Highlander, educated in Canada, of gigantic frame and great energy. He had met the immi- grants at Winnipeg, the threshold of Western Canada, and knew thousands of them. For the next twenty years he devoted unsparingly his whole life and strength to his work. He was a great organiser, an indefatigable traveller, a Church statesman, a skilful financier, and broad- minded patriot. He passed away in 1902, after more than two decades of service as Superin- tendent .
On the departure of Dr. Robertson from Knox Church, Winnipeg, his successor was Rev. Dr. D. M. Gordon, formerly of Ottawa. After a five years' pastorate, Dr. Gordon left Winnipeg, and at length became Principal of Queen's University, Kingston. About the time of the appointment of Dr. Robertson to the Superintendency the people of North Winnipeg began to feel the need of another Church, and St. Andrew's was formed. To it came, from the far away Halifax in Nova Scotia, the Rev. Charles Bruce Pitblado, a Scots- man born but educated in Halifax. He was ia strong preacher, an earnest social reformer, and a useful citizen. His successor in St. Andrew's was Rev. Joseph Hogg, a Nova Scotian. He was a model pastor and a friend of the poor. A contemporary of Drs. Gordon and 256
Scottish Church in Western Canada
Pitblado in Winnipeg was Dr. John Mark King, formerly of St. James's Square Church, Toronto. So great had the demand become for ministers in the Church that it was found necessary to make Manitoba College a theo- logical institution. The Rev. Dr. King was called by the General Assembly in 1883 to be Primarius Professor of Theology and Principal of the College. He too was a Scotsman of intense earnestness and high scholarship. He passed away in 1898, full of years and honours, beloved by his students and missed by his college. In Kildonan churchyard, where many of the old settlers lie, we have now our Presbyterian Westminster Abbey of Western Canada. Here lie four of our religious leaders : Rev. John Black, D.D., the pioneer of the Church in the West ; Rev. James Nisbet, the pioneer Indian missionary of the Church ; Rev. Dr. J. M. King, the leader in theology of the West ; and the Rev. Dr. James Robertson, the pioneer missionary of the Church. The three first named were Lowlanders born in Scotland, the last was a Scottish Highlander. All of them were thoroughgoing Scottish Canadians, though all born in the land of the heather.
No doubt the union of all the Presbyterian Churches in Canada was a great means of advancing and consolidating the Scottish Church in Canada. In the three provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta, while they were yet Rupert's Land, the Canadian Presbyterian Church was the only Church of Scottish or Scoto-Irish origin ever repre- VOL II. R 257
The Scotsman in Canada
sented. The Church of Scotland in Canada had never come to these provinces, although, as we have seen, it did have representatives of the Colonial Committee in British Columbia as pioneers. But while this was the case, the happy union of 1875 gave a far greater impetus to the whole Church and awakened wide interest in Home and Foreign Mission work, and has in all Canada absorbed all but a few of the Churches which stood out from the Union. Considering the tenacity of the Scottish character, it is a marvel that the union has become so universal and so satisfactory. The occupation of the West by Canada, the founda- tion of Manitoba College, the beginning of Winni- peg and its Churches, and the forward movement in mission work began the second period of exten- sion of this branch Church of the Scottish Motherland.
With the appointment of Dr. Robertson to the Superintendency began the third missionary era in the West. In this third mission period may be placed a number of men, many of them with us still, who have been famous foundation -builders.
Rev. Professor Andrew B. Baird, D.D., a Scottish Canadian, educated at Toronto Univer- sity and Knox College, was sent out as a pioneer missionary to Edmonton in 1881, driving the whole distance of one thousand miles from Winni- peg to that distant post. He laid a firm foundation of what is now the Alberta capital city. He is well known as Professor of History in Manitoba College and as an authority on foreign missons. 258
Scottish Church in Western Canada
Rev. James Farquharson, D.D., was born in Scotland and educated in Toronto University and Knox College. He settled in Pilot Mound, Mani- toba, in 1883, and as pastor and Home Mission Convener for more than twenty years gained a high reputation. He was unanimously appointed Western Treasurer of the Church in Winnipeg.
Rev. S. C. Murray, D.D., was born in New Brunswick, studied at Princeton, and came West by the request of Dr. Robertson. He filled the two important pastorates of Neepawa and Port Arthur. He has been Home Mission Convener and Clerk of the Synod of Manitoba.
Rev. James Lawrence, born in Scotland, came to Manitoba as a catechist-missionary, was ordained, on account of his excellent service, by the Assembly order, and held with great accept- ance the charges of Stonewall and Emerson.
Rev. Alexander Macfarlane, a veteran pioneer, was born in Scotland, studied in Knox College, and was ordained in 1878. He has been an inde- fatigable missionary in Victoria and Clear Springs, and was settled in Dugald. True as steel, he is a well-known figure in the Red River Valley.
Rev. M. C. Rumball, Canadian born, studied in Knox College, settled in High Bluff and Morden, is an experienced and successful Home Mission Convener, and has been Moderator of the Synod of Manitoba.
Alexander McTavish, of Scottish descent, a graduate of Queen's College, has since 1888 borne the burden and heat of the day, having been settled
259
The Scotsman in Canada
at Carnduff, Macdonald, and elsewhere. He has been Moderator of the Synod.
T. C. Court came out as a catechist to Manitoba, attended Manitoba College, completed his course in 1888, and has been continuously in a field now in part known as Wellwood. He has been a con- spicuous example of stability and has been Moderator of the Synod.
Hugjh McKay, D.D., a Zorra Highland man, is the Nestor of Indian Missions in the Church. Going as missionary to a heathen, tribe, he (has seen them become Christian. His Indian school at Round Lake has always been successful. He loves the Indians and has given his life since 1877 for them.
Ewen McKenzie, a Highlander, has since 1888 been the missionary to the Assiniboines at Hurricane Hills. He illustrates the perseverance of the saints.
Charles W. Bryden was born in Nova Scotia, but came to the West, where he was settled in Selkirk, Manitoba, so long ago as 1880. He has been for years one of the faithful band who have struggled for the Christianisation of the Indian.
John A. Carmichael, successor of Dr. Robert- son as Superintendent of Missions, is also a Canadian Highlander. He laid deep foundations while minister of Regina, was Home Mission Con- vener for many years, and fully earned his right to be the Superintendent.
Rev. W. S. Moore is a Scoto -Irishman, who has always served as a missionary in Saskatchewan. 260
Scottish Church in Western Canada
Living much among the Indians, he has been highly appreciated as a preacher by the whites. He dates back to 1886.
Rev. D. G. McQueen, D.D., is a Canadian Scots- man and one of the stalwarts of the West. He was a distinguished graduate of Toronto Univer- sity and Knox College ; he succeeded Dr. Baird in charge of Edmonton in 1887, and has led the work there ever since. He has always been con- nected with the Home Mission work. He was first Moderator of the Synod of Alberta, and has been a tower of strength on the Western frontier.
Rev. Hugh McKellar is a Canadian Highlander, educated in Knox College. He came out to Manitoba in 1874, was sent to Prince Albert, was settled for years in High Bluff, and after returning to Glengarry for several years could not resist the lure of the West, and has come back to remain in Alberta. He is a man of singular spiritual intensity.
Rev. Hugh W. Fraser, D.D., of The First Church, Vancouver, is of Nova Scotian birth and of Highland descent, studied in Manitoba College, was settled at Fort William, Ontario, and Holland, Manitoba ; went to China, and returning from the United States became a British Columbian. As a preacher and social reformer he has made his mark.
Rev. Peter Wright, D.D., is of Scottish birth, and was educated at Knox College. He early took high place as a preacher and platform speaker. He was settled in Ingersoll, Montreal, and Quebec,
261
The Scotsman in Canada
and came to Portage la Prairie in 1889. After noble service in Manitoba he went to British Columbia to spend his latter days and is still at work.
Rev. Donald MacRae, of Victoria, a Canadian Highlander, studied in Montreal College, and came West to labour in Manitoba in 1878. After going to the Pacific Coast he became in 1886 minister of St. Paul's Church, Victoria. He has been a model Presbytery Clerk, a prominent Church worker, and is now an old resident of Victoria.
Rev. John Campbell, Ph.D., Victoria, is an Argyllshire Highlander, who studied in Toronto University and Knox College, Toronto. Settled in Harriston and then at Collingwood, Ontario, he came West to Victoria in 1892, and has since been one of its pastors. He has been an active and successful Church worker.
Rev. W. L. Clay, B.A., Victoria, of Scottish blood, is of Prince Edward Island stock, and studied in McGill University and Montreal College. Settled for a short time in Moose Jaw, Assiniboia, he was called to St. Andrew's Church, Victoria, in 1894, where he has been a worthy sentinel of the truth, and has stood as a representative man on the Pacific Coast. He has been Home Mission Convener and Moderator of the Synod.
Rev. Frederich DuVal, D.D., Winnipeg, is of American birth, but claims to have Scottish blood as well as that of the Huguenots. He studied at Princeton, was pastor of Wilmington and Toledo Churches in the United States, and was 262
Scottish Church in Western Canada
settled in Knox Church, Winnipeg*, in 1890. He has been a strong advocate of a high standing and ideal for the ministry, is a notable preacher, an accurate Church lawyer, and a successful student of social science. He was a Moderator of the General Assembly of the Canadian Presbyterian Church in 1908.
Rev. William Patrick, D.D., now for more than ten years a resident of Winnipeg, was born in Scotland in 1852, educated in Glasgow University, and for some time a pastor of the United Free Church in Dundee, Scotland. He was appointed Principal and Professor of New Testament Litera- ture in Manitoba College. A remarkable Greek scholar, distinguished Church lawyer, and a strong social reformer, he has taken a leading part in the movement toward union of the Presbyterian, Methodist, and Congregationalist Churches.
APPENDIX TO CHAPTER XXIII
The following contains the names and date of ordination of the ministers of the Presbyterian Church in Western; Canada in 1910: —
SYNOD OF MANITOBA. Presbytery of Superior.
Minister. Congregation. Date of Ordination.
S. C. Murray, D.D. Port Arthur, St Paul's Oct. 10, 1885
Robt. Aylward, B.A. Fort Frances, Knox June 2, 1886
J. H. Jarvis Rainy River, Knox Oct. 5, 1897
D. A. Macdonald, B.A. West Fort William, First Jan. 19, 1909
Church J. A. Cranston, M.A. Fort William, St.
Andrews
Jas. McAdie, O.M. Schreiber April 17, 190-
263
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The Scotsman in Canada |
||
|
Presbytery of Winnipeg. |
||
|
Minister. |
Congregation. Date of Ordination. |
|
|
Geo. Bryce, D.D., LL.D. |
Hon. Professor Manitoba |
1871 |
|
College |
||
|
Thos. Hart, D.D. |
Hon. Professor Mani- |
1872 |
|
toba Coll. |
||
|
Alex. McFarlane |
Prairie Grove |
1878 |
|
James Lawrence |
Retired |
1883 |
|
A. B. Baird, D.D. |
Prof. Manitoba Coll. |
1881 |
|
J. B. Duval, D.D. |
Knox, Winnipeg |
1875 |
|
John Hogg, D.D. |
Retired |
1864 |
|
J. A. F. Sutherland |
Retired |
1864 |
|
Alex. Matheson |
Retired |
1860 |
|
J. B. Pitblado, D.D. |
Pastor Emeritus |
1865 |
|
James Carswell |
Retired |
1867 |
|
F. H. Russell, B.A. |
Missionary, India |
1893 |
|
C. W. Gordon, D.D., LL.D. |
St. Stephen's, Winnipeg |
1890 |
|
Wm. Patrick, D.D. |
Principal Manitoba Coll. |
1878 |
|
G. B. Wilson, Ph.D. |
Augustine, Winnipeg |
1900 |
|
Chas. H. Stewart |
St. Paul's, Winnipeg |
1902 |
|
A. J. Hunter, M.D. |
Galician Hosp., Teulon |
1903 |
|
David Iverach, B.D. |
Springfield |
1903 |
|
D. N. McLachlan |
Elmwood, Winnipeg |
1904 |
|
W. A. McLean, B.A. |
St. Giles, Winnipeg |
1895 |
|
Jas. Farquharson, D.D. |
Church Agent |
1882 |
|
E. G. Perry, Ph.D. |
Prof. Manitoba Coll. |
1897 |
|
E. B. Chesnut |
Greenridge and New- |
1880 |
|
bridge |
||
|
R. J. Hay, B.A. |
Norwood |
1905 |
|
J. P. Jones, M.A. |
St. John's, Winnipeg |
1906 |
|
D. F. Smith, B.A. |
Missionary, India |
1906 |
|
H. C. Sweet, B.A. |
Emerson |
1897 |
|
Louis E. Kovachy |
Hungarian Mission, |
1906 |
|
Winnipeg |
||
|
Geo. E. Lougheed, B.A. |
Stonewall |
i89S |
|
Wm. Graham |
Clifton St., Winnipeg |
1895 |
|
J. D. Fleming, D.D. |
Prof. Manitoba Coll. |
1894 |
|
D. Spear, B.A. |
Dominion City and |
1892 |
|
Arnaud |
264
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Scottish Church in Western Canada |
|
|
Minister. |
Congregation. Date of Ordination. |
|
J. A. Bowman, M.A. |
Immigrant Chaplain 1890 |
|
A. McTaggart |
Duff erin Ave., Winnipeg 1903 |
|
F. T. Dodds |
Lake of the Woods, 1906 |
|
Indian Mission |
|
|
H. J. Robertson, B.A. |
Home St., Winnipeg 1901 |
|
J. W. Stevenson, B.A. |
Keewarin 1908 |
|
R. W. Murchie, M.A. |
Morris 1909 |
|
A. G. Sinclair, Ph.D. |
St. Andrew's, Winnipeg |
|
Joseph Hunter |
Sanford |
|
J. F. Douglas |
Dryden 1907 |
|
David Christie, B.D. |
Westminster, Winnipeg |
|
W. L. Findlay, B.A. |
Selkirk |
|
J. S. Muldrew, B.A. |
Point Douglas, Winni- |
|
peg |
|
|
James Whillans |
Balmoral 1910 |
|
J. Irvine Walker |
Riverview, Winnipeg I9°7 |
|
R. Nairn |
Norman 1882 |
|
Hugh Hamilton, B.D. |
Kildonan 1902 |
|
John Carmichael |
Dugald 1885 |
|
Andrew Moffat |
Poplar Point 1908 |
|
Edward Lee |
Little Britain |
|
G. A. Little, B.A. |
Kenora I9°9 |
|
Presbytery of Rock Lake. |
|
|
William Caven |
Placed on Roll by Oct. 18, 1865 |
|
Assembly |
|
|
J. H. Rumball, B.A. |
Knox Ch., Morden Oct. 6, 1889 |
|
Alex. Hamilton, B.A. |
St. Andrew's Church, Sept. 29, 1885 |
|
Boissevain |
|
|
F.J. Hartley, B.D. |
Knox Ch., Roland Nov. 27, 1897 |
|
E. Mason |
Crystal City, Clearwater July, 1897 |
|
J. A. Caldwell, B.A. |
Knox Church, Pilot Nov. i, 1905 |
|
Mound |
|
|
R. A. Clackson, M.A. |
Cartwright May 3, 1905 |
|
John A. Beattie, B.A. |
Miami Oct. 1900 |
|
Charles MacKay |
Darlingford Sept. 9, 1890 |
|
P. E. Scott, B.A. |
St. Andrew's, Manitou May n, 1897 |
|
265 |
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The Scotsman in Canada |
||
|
Minister. |
Congregation. |
Date of Ordination. |
|
G. W. Faryon, B.A. |
Belmont |
Feb. 18, 1898 |
|
David Johnston |
Waskada |
April 8, 1903 |
|
D. Mclvor, B.D. |
Killarney |
June i, 1908 |
|
Alex. Riddell |
Rosebank |
1885 |
|
Robert McKnight, B.A. |
Minto |
1887 |
|
ArchibaldjMcLean |
Baldur |
April 14, 1894 |
|
T. Beveridge, B.A., B.D. |
Deloraine |
June 5, 1892 |
|
James Laing, C.M. |
Holmfield |
1895 |
|
Presbytery of Glenboro. |
||
|
D. M. McKay, B.A. |
Carman |
1897 |
|
J. W. Little, B.D. |
Elgin |
1900 |
|
J. Knox Clark, B.A. |
Glenboro |
1898 |
|
A. McMillan, B.A. |
Nesbitt |
1902 |
|
R. C. Pollock |
Treherne |
1900 |
|
N. Stevenson |
Rathwell |
1897 |
|
A. W. Churchill |
Holland |
1906 |
|
D. D. Millar |
Sperling |
1906 |
|
R. Ashcroft |
Fairfax |
1909 |
|
J. M. Kellock, M.A. |
Cypress River |
1894 |
|
W. C. North |
Elm Creek |
1870 |
|
Presbytery of Portage La Prairie. |
||
|
Farquhar McRae, M.A. |
Burnside |
1878 |
|
A. L. Manson |
Arden |
1888 |
|
R. F. Hall, B.A. |
Neepawa |
1901 |
|
Thurlow Fraser, B.D. |
Portage la Prairie |
1902 |
|
A. McTavish, B.A. |
Macdonald |
1884 |
|
J. H. Courtney |
McGregor |
1891 |
|
W. M. Flemming |
Westbourn |
1885 |
|
E. E. Annand, M.A. |
Plumas |
1899 |
|
W. Carpenter |
McCleary |
1908 |
|
F. C. Peekover |
Sidney |
1908 |
|
T. M. Cord |
High Bluff |
1905 |
|
W. Niven |
Eden |
1907 |
|
I. L. Millar, B.A. |
Indian Mission |
1897 |
|
A. C. Strachan, B.A. |
Gladstone |
1900 |
|
D. M. Vicar, B.D. |
Franklin |
1892 |
|
266 |
|
Scottish Church in Western |
Canada |
|
|
Presbytery of Dauphin. |
||
|
Minister. |
Congregation. |
Date of Ordination. |
|
E. W. Johnston, B.A. |
Gilbert Plains |
l897 |
|
C. H. Monro, M.D. |
Ethelbert |
1900 |
|
D. Flemming, B.A. |
Dauphin |
1889 |
|
Fred Millar, B.A. |
Swan River |
1908 |
|
R. G. Campbell |
Grand View |
1905 |
|
Alex. Kemlo, B.A. |
Durban |
1895 |
|
J. L. King |
Roblin |
1901 |
|
Presbytery of Minnedosa. |
||
|
John McKay |
Retired |
|
|
J. S. Watson, B.A. |
Minnedosa |
l898 |
|
S. McL. Fee, B.A. |
Newdale |
1902 |
|
J. S. Davidson, B.A. |
Shoal Lake |
1892 |
|
R. H. Fotheringham, |
B.D. Pettapiece |
1903 |
|
H. G. Crozier |
Hamiota |
t898 |
|
W. W. McLaren, B.A. Bird Tail Reserve 1905 |
||
|
Alexander Stewart |
Rapid City |
1898 |
|
F. O. Gilbert, M.D. |
Rolling River Reserve |
1906 |
|
H. McCulloch, B.D. |
Oak River |
1898 |
|
W. C. Murdoch, B.A. |
Beulah |
1898 |
|
J. J. Cowan, B.A. |
Clanwilliarn |
1905 |
|
R. Bailey |
Lizard Point Res. |
1902 |
|
C. C. Strachan |
Rossburn |
1905 |
|
Hillis Wright |
Strathclair |
1906 |
|
J. B. McLaren |
Binscarth |
1885 |
|
T. F. Heeny, B.A. |
Basswood |
1901 |
|
M. Donaghy |
Okansee Reserve |
|
|
H. Frier, B.A. |
Russell |
1899 |
|
R. W. Beveridge |
Silver Creek |
1907 |
|
W. Beattie |
Miniota |
1891 |
|
Presbytery of Brandon. |
||
|
T. C. Court |
Wellwood |
1888 |
|
Peter Strang, B.A. |
Virden |
1897 |
|
Jno. A. Cormie, B.A. |
Oak Lake |
1902 |
|
S. E. Beckett, M.A. |
Carberrv, Knox |
1906 |
|
A. Russell, B.A. B.D. |
Lauder |
1893 |
267
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The Scotsman in Canada |
||
|
Minister. |
Congregation. |
Date of Ordiuation |
|
George Lockhart, B.A |
Alexander |
I89I |
|
W. A. May, B.A. |
Douglas |
1904 |
|
A. Hood |
Humesville |
1903 |
|
J. O. Ralston |
Zion |
1901 |
|
W. J. Watt, B.A. B.D. |
Griswold |
1007 |
|
Wm. Johnston |
Routhwaite |
l885 |
|
R. G. Stewart |
Tarbolton |
1908 |
|
Chas. A Campbell |
Hartney |
1890 |
|
A. T. Mclntosh, B.D. |
Pipestone |
1901 |
|
R. M. Hanna, B.A. |
Lenore |
1908 |
|
Geo. Aitken |
Beresford |
1904 |
|
D. T. Townley |
Pierson |
1909 |
|
W. A. Alexander, B.A. |
Hargrave |
1899 |
|
R. S. Laidlaw, B.A. |
Brandon |
1904 |
|
G. A. Edmison, B.A. |
Branden, Knox |
1903 |
|
M. P. Floyd |
Melita |
!898 |
|
J. G. Stephens, B.D. |
Souris |
1901 |
|
SYNOD OF SASKATCHEWAN. |
||
|
Presbytery of Yorkton. |
||
|
Wm. McWhinney |
Crowstand |
Aug. 1903 |
|
Jas. Eraser |
Sheho |
1876 |
|
J. A. Leitch |
Prairie Rose |
i895 |
|
A. Young, M.A. |
Humboldt |
1907 |
|
J. Archibald |
Wishart |
1908 |
|
H. D. Leitch, B.A. |
Yorkton |
1897 |
|
T. C. Frampton |
Theodore |
1907 |
|
J. F. Sellar |
Lanigan |
1909 |
|
A. Murray |
Rokeby |
1905 |
|
W. Western |
Canora |
1909 |
|
A. F. Piercy |
Watson |
1909 |
|
J. M. McLaren |
Saltcoats |
|
|
J. F. Morrison |
Kamsack |
|
|
Presbytery of Arcola. |
||
|
Thos. W. Pritchard |
High view |
1901 |
|
V. B. Demeree, B.A. |
Manor |
1903 |
268
|
Scottish Church in Western Canada |
||
|
Minister. |
Congregation. |
Date of Ordination. |
|
W. J. McQuarrie, B.A. Yellowgrass |
I9°5 |
|
|
T. Corbett |
Redvers |
1888 |
|
A. D. Mclntyre, B.A. Weyburn |
1898 |
|
|
R. S. Leslie, B.A. |
South Weyburn |
1904 |
|
C. N. Paddon |
Stoughton |
1898 |
|
R. F. Hunter, B.D. |
Carlyle |
1898 |
|
William Meikle |
Arcola and Percy |
|
|
Presbytery of Alameda. |
||
|
J. R. Coffin |
North Portal |
1887 |
|
B. Glover, B.A. |
Estevan |
1901 |
|
George Muir |
Gainsboro |
1895 |
|
J. M. Wallace, B.D. |
Carnduff, Calvin |
1898 |
|
A. Miller Skea |
Halbrite |
1900 |
|
W. P. Spooner |
Carievale |
1906 |
|
R. Garside. Ph.D. |
Alameda |
|
|
J. R. O'Brien |
Macoun |
1908 |
|
John Russell |
Oxbow |
1899 |
|
John Jackson |
Bienfait |
1909 |
|
Presbytery of Abernethy. |
||
|
A. A. Laing, B.A. |
Fort Qu'Appelle |
Dec. 1899 |
|
F. A. Clare, B.D. |
File Hills |
July, 1905 |
|
Wm. Bell |
Abernethy |
Jan. 1902 |
|
R. McMillan, B.D. |
Balcarres |
July, 1903 |
|
J. M. Austin |
Seamans |
1891 |
|
A. P. Gillespie, B.A, |
Tantallon |
1884 |
|
W. Stephens |
Strasburg |
|
|
Presbytery of Qu'Appelle. |
||
|
H. McKay, D.D. |
Round Lake |
1877 |
|
E. McKenzie |
Hurricane Hills |
1888 |
|
T. McAfee, |
Indian Head |
Nov. 1898 |
|
D. Oliver |
Moosomin |
1899 |
|
J. Leishman |
Flemming |
1874 |
|
W. B. Tate |
Qu'Appelle |
Oct. 1900 |
|
J. Russell |
Wolseley |
Sept. 1900 |
|
W. P. Adam |
Grenfell |
Dec. 1897 |
|
269 |
The Scotsman in Canada
|
Minister. |
Congregation. |
Date of Ordination. |
|
A. Henderson, M.A. |
Sintaluta |
Sept. 1882 |
|
S. Acheson, M.A. |
Broadview |
Oct. 1876 |
|
D. B. Millard, M.A. |
Ellisboro |
Apr. 1902 |
|
A. Fraser |
Moffatt |
1903 |
|
M. C. Campbell, M.A. |
Wapella |
Nov. 1884 |
|
J. Hamilton |
Glenavon |
Apr. 1900 |
|
R. B. Ledingham |
Windhurst |
June, 1905 |
|
W. J. Black |
Kennedy |
July, 1906 |
J. A. Carmichael, D.D
S. McLean, B.A.
D. J. Scott
Alex. McGregor, B.A.
Wm. Patterson, B.A. Peter Fisher David Ritchie
E. A. Henry, B.A. Walter Ross
Peter Naismith William Waugh
Presbytery of Regina.
Supt. of Missions, May 24, 1875
Winnipeg
Moose Jaw, St. Andrew's Nov. 7, 1899 Pense and Cottonwood May 18, 1898 Tuxford, Huron and Oct. 26, 1897
Pioneer
Lumsden, Forest June 2, 1895
Davidson June 2, 1891
Francis and Pleasant Mar. 20, 1906
View
Regina, Knox Ch. Aug. 18, 1895
Grand Coulee and Sher- June 26, 1906
wood. Condie, Tregarva, and Sept. i, 1896
Ross Plain Rouleau, Adelaide, and Mar. 1905
Long View
|
D. McKeen Reid, B.D. |
Milestone and Caledonia April, 1900 |
|
|
R. B. Heron |
Regina Industrial School Feb. 1908 |
|
|
R. A. Hanley |
Elbow |
Mar. 1907 |
|
W. A. Guy, B.A., B.D. |
Regina |
June 5, 1901 |
|
J. B. Bitcon |
Maple Creek |
April i, 1904 |
|
J. W. Robinson |
Craik |
Mar. 23, 1903 |
|
Geo. T. Bayne |
Pasqua |
July, 1881 |
|
A. C. Reeves, B.A. |
Moose Jaw, St. Paul's |
Oct. 2, 1899 |
|
J. G. McKechnie, B.A. |
Swift Current |
July, 1893 |
|
Percy A. Knott |
Tugaskie |
April, 1904 |
|
M. J. Leith |
Balgonie |
June, 1898 |
|
270 |
Scottish Church in Western Canada
|
Minister. |
Congregation. |
Date of Ordination |
|
J. P. Grant |
Grant |
May 7, 1895 |
|
Bryce Innis |
Morse |
1894 |
|
R. D. Smith |
Drinkwater |
Aug. 12, 1909 |
|
S. P. Rondeau |
Gravelburg |
NOV. 22, 1892 |
|
A. McKenzie |
Willow Bunch |
1899 |
|
Wm. W. McRae, B.A. |
Caron |
|
|
J. H. Hedley, B.A. |
Wilcox |
Dec. 20, 1909 |
Presbytery of Prince Albert.
C. G. Young St. Paul's, Prince Albert 1897
W. W. Purvis, B.A. St. Andrew's, Rosthern 1902
C. W. Bryden, B.A. Mistawasis 1880 R. G. Scott, B.A. Wakaw 1903 W. S. Moore, M.A. East Prince Albert 1886 Lennox Eraser Melfort 1909
Presbytery of Saskatoon.
Wylie Clark Knox Church, Saskatoon 1897
M. F. Munro, B.A., B.D. St. Andrews May 20, 1907
W. Wilson Hanley, Knox Ch.
R. B. Bevis Red Deer Lake
R. C. Hunter Asquith 1898
A. W. Mclntosh St. Thomas, Saskatoon June 28, 1900
Presbytery of Battleford.
S. W. Thomson, B.A. North Battleford 1896
Andrew Little Battleford 190-
E. W. Panton Radisson, Scottville 1873
D. M. McGowan Paynton, Maidstone, 1896
Bresaylor
J. G. Morrison Lashburn, Battleview 1908
R. J. McLean Landis, Wolf e, Traynor,
Coblenz
J. Davey Unity, Round Valley
J. M. Fisher, B.A. Ruddell, Maymont, Field- 1892
ing George Jack Wilkie, Reford
271
The Scotsman in Canada
|
SYNOD OF ALBERTA. |
||
|
Presbytery of Vermilion. |
||
|
Minister. |
Congregation. |
Date of Ordination. |
|
W. F. Gold |
Tefield |
Jan. 21, 1901 |
|
William Simons |
Vermilion |
June i, 1900 |
|
J. A. James |
Wainwright |
May 20, 1903 |
|
A. D. McDonald |
Lamont |
June i, 1895 |
|
J. J. L, Gourlay |
Edgerton |
July, 1895 |
|
G. Arthur, M.D. |
Vegreville Hospital |
April i, 1895 |
|
G. R. Lang |
Vegreville |
July 19, 1888 |
|
A. M. McLellan |
I slay |
Mar. 1905 |
Presbytery of Edmonton.
D. G. McQueen, D.D. First Church, Edmonton June 21, 1887
Alex. Forbes, B.D. Peace River and Grande March, 1895
Prairie T. Thompson Reikie, B.A. Leduc
C. A. Myres, M.A.
W. T. Hamilton John Wood John E. Duclos, B.A. Duncan Maclean J. M. Millar, B.D.
Dec. 20, 1905 Westminster, Edmon- July 27, 1904 ton
Homewood
Stoney Plain
Erskine, Edmonton
Sturgeon
Knox (Strathcona)
Presbytery of Red Deer.
W. F. Allan, B.D. W. H. Jennings, A.M. W. G. Brown, B.D. Wm. Millar, B.A. M. A. McKenzie
Innisfail Bergen Red Deer Handhills Willowdale
Presbytery of Lacombe, Alia.
|
M. White, M.A., B.A. J. Ed. Hogg K. C. McLeod, B.A. A. D. Archibald, B.A. Wm. Hamilton 272 |
Lacombe Wetaskiwin Ponoka Alix, Lamerton |
Mar. 30, 1906
June 28, 1887 Feb. 1888 July 15, 1895
1886 1881
Oct. 1902 1899
July, 1887
Feb. 20, 1202 May 26, 1903 May 16, 1901 Jan. 13, 1904
|
Scottish Church in Western Canada |
||
|
Minister. |
Congregation. Date of Ordination. |
|
|
D. Robertson |
Stetler |
Jan. 6, 1894 |
|
T. Smith, B.A. |
Morningside |
June, 1893 |
|
I. G. Anderson |
Battle River |
June, 1897 |
|
Presbytery of Calgary. |
||
|
J. W. Morrow, LL.B |
St. John's Medicine Hat |
1902 |
|
]. A. Clark, B.A. |
Knox, Calgary |
1898 |
|
J. A. Claxton, B.D. |
Cochrane |
1888 |
|
Hugh McKellar |
Red Deer |
1874 |
|
A. McLaren, M.A. |
Bowell |
1884 |
|
H. G. Gratz, B.D. |
Bancroft |
|
|
R. S. Whidden |
Carstairs |
1879 |
|
A. MacWilliams, B.A |
Grace Church, Calgary |
1888 |
|
A. Mahaffy, B.D. |
St. Andrew's, Calgary |
1895 |
|
J. G. Mclvor, B.D. |
St. Luke's, Okotoks |
1894 |
|
T. R. Forbes |
Canmore |
1880 |
|
F. E. Davey |
Langdon |
1890 |
|
H. Fraser, B.A. |
Eagle Butte |
1902 |
|
C. C. Whiting, B.D. |
Davisburg |
1905 |
|
D. H. Marshall, B.A. |
Didsbury |
1907 |
|
A. Rennie, B.A. |
Gleichen |
|
|
Ferguson Miller, B.A |
St. Paul's, Banff |
|
|
S. B. Hillocks, B.A. |
St. Paul's, Calgary |
1895 |
|
Presbytery of High River. |
||
|
A. C. Bryan, B.D. |
Nanton |
June, 1897 |
|
J. C. Stewart, B.A. |
High River |
Sept. 1896 |
|
P. Henderson, M.A. |
Claresholm |
May, 1903 |
|
J. M. Beaton |
Cayley |
July, 1909 |
|
A. H. Leslie |
Stavely |
1889 |
|
D. Kiltie Allan |
Tongue Creek |
April, 1904 |
|
Presbytery of Macleod. |
||
|
A. M. Gordon, B.D. |
Lethbridge, Knox |
1903 |
|
Robert Boyle, M.A. |
Macleod |
1903 |
|
W. W. Aicheson |
Pincher Creek |
1903 |
|
T. M. Murray |
Coleman |
1905 |
|
Gavin Hamilton |
Cowley |
1889 |
|
W. W. Bryden |
Lethbridge, North Ward |
1908 |
|
VOL. II. |
S |
273 |
|
The Scotsman in Canada |
||
|
Minister. |
Congregation. Date of Ordination. |
|
|
J. R. Munro, B.D. |
Taber |
1882 |
|
A. W. R. Whitemen |
Cardston |
1891 |
|
A. McNeill |
Blairmore |
1899 |
|
J. Lang |
Passburg |
1889 |
|
J. J. Cameron |
Raymond |
1889 |
|
SYNOD OF BRITISH COLUMBIA |
||
|
Presbytery of Kootenay. |
||
|
J. T. Ferguson, M.A. |
St. Paul's, Nelson |
May, 1881 |
|
S. Lundie, B.A. |
St. Andrew's, Phoenix |
April, 1901 |
|
H. R. Grant, B.A. |
Knox, Fernie |
Sept. 1898 |
|
C. O. Main, M.A. J. A. Gillan, M.A. |
Knox, Cranbrook Wilmer |
May, 1004 Oct. 1907 |
|
J. A. Dow, M,A. |
St. Andrew's, Rossland |
Jan. 1898 |
|
P. McNabb |
Knox, Trail |
June, 1892 |
|
R. H. Gilmour |
New Denver |
April, 1900 |
|
T. G. McLeod |
Creston |
Oct. 1898 |
|
M. D. McKee |
Grand Forks |
Dec. 1898 |
|
Presbytery of Kamloops. |
||
|
C. W. Whyte |
Peachland |
Aug. 1890 |
|
D. Campbell, B.A. |
Armstrong |
Dec. 1896 |
|
J. G. Duncan |
Salmon Arm |
Jan. 1882 |
|
W. A. Wyllie, B.A. |
St. Andrew's, Kamloops |
Dec. 1892 |
|
W. J. Allen |
Penticton |
Mar. 1905 |
|
W. L. Macrea |
St. Andrew's, Golden |
1886 |
|
A. W. K. Herdman |
Knox, Kelowna |
May, 1894 |
|
R. G. Vans |
Lumby |
1892 |
|
James Hood |
Summerland |
Jan. 1897 |
|
Logie Macdonnell, M.A. St. Andrew's, Vernon |
Nov. 1906 |
|
|
A. H. Cameron |
Fairview |
Nov. 1874 |
|
W. Akitt |
Glenemma |
May, 1902 |
|
Magnus Henderson |
Zion Church, Ashcroft |
Nov. 190- |
|
M. Melvin, B.A. |
St. John's, Revelstoke |
April, 1908 |
|
A. M. Dallis, B.A. |
Arrowhead |
Nov. 1908 |
|
R. E. Pow |
Field |
Sept. 1904 |
|
274 |
|
Scottish Church in Western Canada |
|
|
Presbytery of Westminster. |
|
|
Minister. |
Congregation. Date of Ordination. |
|
E. D. McLaren, D.D. |
Home Mission Sec. Sept. 8, 1873 |
|
Toronto |
|
|
Geo. A. Wilson, B.A. |
H. M. Supt., B.C. May 29, 1894 |
|
J. M. McLeod |
Retired Nov. 9, 1853 |
|
Alexander Dunn |
Retired April 30, 1875 |
|
John A. Logan |
Fin. Agent, Westmin- Aug. 7, 1887 |
|
ster Hall |
|
|
J. Knox Wright, B.D. |
Chalmers, Vancouver Oct. 18, 1880 |
|
R. J. Wilson, M.A. |
St. Andrew's, Vancouver June 2, 1903 |
|
J. S. Henderson |
St. Andre w's, New Sept. 23, 1893 |
|
Westminster |
|
|
T. Wardlaw Taylor, M.A., |
St. Stephen's, New Nov. n, 1902 |
|
Ph.D. |
Westminster |
|
H. W. Eraser, D.D. |
First Church, Van- May 24, 1887 |
|
couver |
|
|
Fred Inglis, M.D. |
Telegraph Creek May 5, 1905 |
|
John D. Oilman, M.A. |
St. Andrew's, N. Van- June 25, 1901 |
|
couver |
|
|
A. J. McGillivray, M.A. |
St. John's, Vancouver Oct. 31, 1894 |
|
Thos. Osward |
Langley June, 1898 |
|
T. R. Peacock, B.A. |
Central Park Dec. 18, 1902 |
|
E. Turkington |
St. Andrew's, Dawson Mar. 24, 1902 |
|
George Pringle, B.A. |
Hunker Aug. 13, 1902 |
|
C. McDiarmid, B.A. |
Mission Oct. 4, 1894 |
|
Peter Wright, D.D. |
Kitsilano, Van. Aug. 13, 1870 |
|
R. J. Douglas, B.A. |
Cooke's, Chilliwack May, 1899 |
|
A. Dunn, M.A., B.D. |
India Oct. 1898 |
|
D. A. McRea, B.A. |
Surrey Oct. n, 1889 |
|
A. McAuley, B.A. |
Logger's Mission Nov. 1886 |
|
E. C. W. McColl, B.A. |
Pt. Moody, Barnet 1868 |
|
J. W. Woodside, M.A. |
Mt. Pleasant, Vancouver July n, 1907 |
|
James H. White, M.A, |
Richmond May, 1892 |
|
J. H. Millar, B.A. |
Agassiz, Geneva Ch. May 15 190^ |
|
J. H. Cameron, B.A. |
Westminster Ch., South July, 1882 |
|
Vancouver |
|
|
John McKay, D.D. |
Principal, Wesminster Sept. 15, 1902 |
|
Hall |
|
|
275 |
The Scotsman in Canada
Minister.
E. G. Thompson, M.A.
R. G. McKay
R. A. King, B.D.
John S. Ross
John Nelson
J. C. Madill
Prof. G. C. Pigeon, D.D.
Alex. Kenmure,
Wm. Ross, B.A.
David James
G. H. Finlay
Robert Duncanson
J. J. Hastie
Arthur Ross, M.A.
Congregation. Date of Ordination.
Knox, New Westminster Dec. 15, 1904
E. Chilliwack June, 1904
India
Nechaco Valley 1900
G. T. P. Camps
Cedar Cottage June, 1890
Prof. Westminster Hall May 29, 1894
St. Paul's, Vancouver Sept. 18, 1907
South Arm Oct. 17, 1876
Robertson, Vancouver
Hanley Feb. 1908
Kongmoon, China Sept. 24, 1909
Ladner June 27, 1901
White Horse, Y.T. May 29, 1899
Presbytery of Victoria.
D. MacRae J. Campbell, Ph.D. W. L. Clay, B.A. Thomas Menzies T. S. Glassf ord Jos. McCoy, M.A. D. McGillvray, B.A.
C. E. Kidd, B.D. R. W. Collins, B.A. W. J. F. Robertson, B.D. G. W. Ginstep
St. Paul's, Victoria First Church, Victoria St. Andrew's, Victoria St. Andrew's, Courtenay St. Andrew's, Alberni Knox Church, Victoria St. George's, Cumber- land Denman
St. Andrew's, Cedar Hill Nanaimo, St. Andrew's Duncans
1878
i875 1890 1894 1880 1879 1868
1906 1904 1899
276
CHAPTER XXIV
SCOTSMEN IN OTHER CHURCHES
IT would have been natural that the Scottish colony of Lord Selkirk should have had a minister of its own faith and nation. But circum- stances, as we have noted, led in another direction. Accordingly John West and David Jones, both English or Welshmen, ministered to the colonists and acted as chaplains to the Hudson's Bay Com- pany. In 1825 Rev. William, afterwards Arch- deacon, Cochrane and his wife arrived on the banks of Red River. He was a Yorkshireman, a man of gigantic frame, who had a great love of humanity and a deep sense of humour, and made a remarkable impression on the Red River Settlement, and even went outside of the limits of Assiniboia to follow some of his parishioners to Portage la Prairie and found a Mission there. Being a north-country Englishman, he came into close touch with the Scottish people, used their Scottish Psalms, and otherwise adapted the services to their liking. To him is given the credit of laying the foundation of the Church of England in Red River Settlement. Through the liberal legacy of £12,000, left by a Scottish trader of
277
The Scotsman in Canada
the Hudson's Bay Company, the Bishopric of Rupert's Land was founded, and the first Bishop, Rev. David Anderson, an Englishman, arrived in 1849, and after his arrival religious matters were never quite the same to the Scottish colonists. After the return to Britain of Bishop Anderson the second Bishop came in 1865. A Scotsman by birth and education, being born and educated in the city of Aberdeen, Bishop Machray accom- plished a great work for his Church and the country at large in Red River Settlement and afterwards in Manitoba. Nearly six feet four in height and a natural leader of men, though he (was the youngest man who had been made a Bishop up to his time, Robert Machray had already distinguished himself at Aberdeen, and after graduating there became a student of Cambridge, where he passed as a Wrangler. Coming out after his consecration as Bishop in 1865, he found the diocese barely organised. Bishop Anderson had been more of a missionary than an educa- tionalist, but Bishop Machray, after the manner of his nation, became a noted leader in education. He was Chairman of the Board of Education of Manitoba and the first Chancellor of the Univer- sity of Manitoba. In the year after his arrival he revived the Church school, then almost defunct, under the name of St. John's College. Four years after Bishop Machray 's arrival, when Manitoba was formed, substantial stone churches and school-houses had been erected in most of the parishes of the Church of England along the 278
Scotsmen in Other Churches
Red and Assiniboine Rivers. His diocese of Rupert's Land was enormous, but before his death it was divided into many new ones. The Bishop, after the fuller organisation of the Church of England in Canada, became Arch- bishop as well as Primate of all Canada, and was made a Prelate of the Order of St. Michael and St. George. He was a man worthy of the admiration of every Scotsman. During the Riel troubles he showed remarkable courage and decision of character. His ripe scholarship, elevated character, devotion to his religious trust, equanimity and unvarying! courtesy made him a splendid example of the highest Scottish ideal of Christian manhood.
Largely to John Pritchard, on the death of Lord Selkirk, is the Church of England indebted for its first ministers being sent to Red River Settle- ment. But John Pritchard, who was an English- man from Shropshire, married a Scottish woman of Kildonan. Their descendants, some of them Presbyterians, but chiefly of the Church of England, included several ministers of the Church of England.
Bishop John McLean, a fellow-student of Bishop Machray at Aberdeen University, had, like so many of his countrymen, come to Canada, and becoming an Episcopalian, was a well-known preacher in London, Ontario. In seeking teaching strength for St. John's College, Bishop Machray invited his old friend to come to Winnipeg. His offer was accepted, and in 1868 John McLean became
279
The Scotsman in Canada
a Westerner and Archdeacon of Rupert's Land. He taught in St. John's College, but being possessed of marked oratorical gifts, began services and conducted them in Holy Trinity Church, Winnipeg. On the division of the diocese of Rupert's Land John McLean became Bishop of Saskatchewan, with residence at Prince Albert. He was a man of indefatigable energy, went over to England and raised an endowment for his diocese of £10,000 by personal efforts. His diocese is now divided into three.
Among the most active founders of the Church of England in the Canadian West was Rev. James Dallas O'Meara. As his middle name indicates, he was of Scottish descent, his grandfather, Mr. Dallas, being a Presbyterian Elder. Young O'Meara was educated at Toronto University, was Gold Medallist in Philosophy, and coming West to Winnipeg in 1872 became Canon of the Cathedral and a Pro- fessor in Theology in St. John's College. He was a favourite preacher and platform speaker, a most industrious missionary, a very ardent member of St. Andrew's Society, and a true founder of the Church to which he belonged.
Archbishop Matheson is a grandson of John Pritchard, of whom mention has been made. His father was John Matheson, of Kildonan, one of the original Selkirk settlers, who arrived as a boy in the year 1815. Marrying a Miss Pritchard, he had a large family. Though the family is Presbyterian, the Archbishop was brought up by a maiden aunt, Miss Pritchard, who belonged to 280
Scotsmen in Other Chiirches
the Church of England. Educated at St. John's College, young Matheson became a favourite of Bishop Machray. He was made a Professor in St. John's College and a Canon of the Cathedral. A good preacher and a popular man, he became Bishop in succession to Bishop Machray. He is now Archbishop of Rupert's Land and Primate of all Canada. Like his predecessor, he has become Chairman of the Board of Education of Manitoba and Chancellor of Manitoba University. He values greatly his connection with the Selkirk settlers, and is proud of his Scottish origin. Though the clergy of the Church of England are largely non-Scottish, yet other examples of Scottish descent are found among them. Rev. Mr. McMorine, who was pastor of Portage la Prairie, and became a well-known Manitoban, was the nephew of Dr. Cook, a former great leader of Presbyterianism in Quebec City. Canon McMorine studied and graduated in Queen's College, Kingston.
Rev. Robert C. Johnston, Assistant Librarian of Carnegie Library, Winnipeg, is of Scottish birth and education. He is a Scottish Episcopalian, educated in Edinburgh, is a ripe and varied scholar and a popular preacher and lecturer. He has a wide acquaintance with Scottish Song and History and is a very enthusiastic Scotsman.
But it is not only in the Presbyterian and Episcopalian Churches that Scotsmen have made their mark. A number of clergymen in the Methodist Church in Western Canada have added honour to their Church and nationality.
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Among these who, in the old days of Rupert's Land, volunteered to go out and work in the Methodist Mission to the Indians was Rev. George McDougall, of Scottish origin, but belonging to the county of Grey in Western Ontario. In 1860 he took the long and wearisome journey over the prairie from St. Paul to Fort Garry. He pushed on and selected Edmonton, one thousand miles west of Winnipeg, as a centre for doing Mission work among the Cree Indians. He was well known among the Indians, and Christianised a number of bands in Alberta. On a journey over the prairie Mr. McDougall was caught in a severe storm, and, having lost his way, was found frozen to death. He was an active Scottish pioneer.
Rev. John McDougall, a son of Rev. George McDougall, was educated for two years at Victoria College, Cobourg. Young McDougall went to the West and engaged in Indian Mission work at Norway House and Edmonton. He is versed in the Indian tongues and folklore of the various tribes. He has had charge of Indian work for the Methodist Church, and has been employed on behalf of the Dominion Government in both immi- gration and inspectorial work among the Indians. He has had a hand in establishing1 a considerable number of Missions among the Indians. His knowledge of the country made him especially useful in the guiding of troops in the Riel Rebellion of 1885.
Rev. John McLean was born in Kilmarnock, Scotland, in 1857, and educated in Dum- 282
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barton Burgh Academy. Young McLean emigrated to Canada and graduated in Victoria College, Cobourg. He entered the Methodist Church and was ordained as a minister in 1880. He was for several years in charge of an Indian Mission among the Blood Indians of Southern Alberta. Dr. McLean has followed the regular pastorate in his Church in a number of prominent places in the Province of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta. His scientific pursuits and works will be noticed in the chapter dealing with Literary Men among the Scotsmen of Western Canada. Writing under the nom-de-plume of " Robin Rustler," he has followed the old practice of the Blackstonians in anonymous production. He is an honour to the Scottish name and fame in the Church to which he belongs.
Rev. Ebenezer Robson was born of Scottish parents in Lanark County, Ontario. Mr. Robson, whose name is well known in British Columbia, went out in the year 1859. Of Presbyterian parentage, he was ordained into the ministry of the Methodist Church immediately before leaving for the Pacific Coast. The first Methodist Church building in Victoria was opened with much eclat, and the Rev. Mr. Robson as a pioneer was chosen as First President. In 1894 an Industrial Insti- tute on a large scale for the education of young Indians, both men and women, was begun at Chil- liwack, on the Fraser River, and Rev. E. Robson was released from other ministerial duties to become the head of this institution. Mr. Robson
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has been for half a century an example of the sturdy pioneer, and of what a Scottish origin, home, and upbringing can do for a man.
The pioneer of the Baptist Church in the prairie provinces of the Dominion was Rev. Alexander Macdonald, of Winnipeg, who as sole representa- tive of his Church in the newer Canada in the seventies built the first Baptist Church of Winnipeg. A man of Scottish origin and Canadian birth, he has the perseverance and quiet energy of his race, and in the days of small things in Winnipeg stood firmly at his post. Since that day he has been moving further west than Winnipeg, carrying on the work of a pioneer, and, indeed, resembles the old fur-trading pioneer, who always followed the moving frontier to the West. He has performed good service in Edmon- ton and other places.
The cosmopolitan spirit of the Scotsman has shown itself in all the great Protestant Churches of the West ; and in regard to the higher offices of the Church of England in the West the shrewd remark in regard to the high offices of Primates, Archbishops, and Bishops in England has been fully justified in Western Canada, that if there is any high office in the Church or in education calling for an occupant a Scotsman is usually selected for the position.
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CHAPTER XXV
SCOTTISH AUTHORS IN WESTERN CANADA
SCOTLAND has accomplished her full share in the world of authorship. A nation which has produced the world's greatest lyric singer, Robert Burns ; the world's greatest novelist, Sir Walter Scott ; the two greatest historians, Macaulay and Carlyle ; and the two great magazines, Edinburgh Review and Blackwood, need take a second place to none. Canada is yet young in the field of literary production, but even the Canadian West has done something in the realm of letters. As is natural, narrative writing has been the chief form of intellectual effort, although fiction and even poetry have had their devotees in the Canadian Occident, and these have been followed by writers of Scottish origin. The " ancient " on this field is Sir Alexander Mackenzie, to whom we have already devoted a chapter. He in 1801 published in London his " Voyages." This book was smuggled into France and was translated into French for the great Napoleon when he was con- templating an attack on the rear of Canada by way of the Mackenzie River from the Arctic.
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The doyen of the fur trade authors was, how- ever, Alexander Ross, Sheriff of Assiniboia. Ross as a lad emigrated to Glengarry in Canada and joined Astor's expedition to the Pacific Coast. Becoming a Nor'-Wester, he was received as a trader by the Hudson's Bay Company at the union of 1821, and on retiring from the fur trade in 1825 was given a grant of land by Sir George Simpson, where the city of Winnipeg now stands. He became a leader of the Selkirk colonists. He had married the daughter of a chief of the Okanagans of British Columbia, and his family were highly educated, one son, James, a Univer- sity graduate, having been night editor for years of the Toronto Globe. Alexander Ross wrote— and wrote well — three important works — " The Columbia River" (two vols.) in 1849, "The Oregon Trail," and " The Red River Settlement " in 1856. He was a conscientious and good descrip- tive writer, though at times possibly somewhat prejudiced. His books, though rare, still have a living interest.
We are not able to find certainly that Ross Cox had Scottish blood, but the presumption is that he had. He was one of the Astor Company, and his work, in two volumes, entitled " The Columbia River " is a charming account of the ups and downs of the Astorians, as well as a vivid description of his overland journey across the Rocky Mountains and Rupert's Land. It dove- tails well with " A Voyage in 1811-14 "by Gabriel Franchere, who wrote in French a most interest- 286
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ing account of the same events, which was afterwards translated! into English.
Among the first Scottish settlers sent out by Lord Selkirk was Donald Gunn, of Caithness. Employed for a time by the Hudson's Bay Com- pany, he settled down at Little Britain, a mile south of Lower Fort Garry, on the bank of Red River. He married a woman with Indian blood, and a large, intelligent family grew up in his house. Donald Gunn became schoolmaster of the parish, was scientifically inclined, and was a corre- spondent of the Smithsonian Institution. He became after Manitoba was formed, a member of the Legislative Council, and was afterward a stipen- diary magistrate. Some time before his death he had completed a history of his times up to 1835. After his death a journalist, under the direction of Dr. John Schultz, completed the work up to date, and it was in 1880 published at Ottawa,, under the title " History of Manitoba," by Donald Gunn. At Gunn's house one half of the " Red River Library " was stored, and he showed his Scottish zeal by being1 to the end of his life a valiant defender of the authenticity of Ossian's poems.
One of the first men met by the writer on entering Fort Garry in 1871 was Joseph James Hargrave, F.R.G.S. He was in charge of the Financial Office of the Company. Although his father was presumably English, yet the fact of his relatives living in Fifeshire seems to indicate Scottish blood. An ardent exponent of Hudson's
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Bay Company views, Hargrave embarked some- what uncertainly on the treacherous sea of historical literature. He wrote " Red River," a work of 506 pages — a book which, while much of it deals with trivialities, yet contains, from Chapters VI. to XIII., eight chapters valuable to the historian.
Alexander Begg, born in 1840 in Quebec of Scottish parents, was sent home to the Mother Country and educated in part in the greater life of Aberdeen. Trained to a commercial life, he found his way West into Fort Garry about 1868, the time just preceding the Canadian occupation of Rupert's Land ; and he claimed to have intro- duced the Canadian commercial system upon the banks of Red River. He became a partner in the many-sided business of Hon. A. G. B. Bannatyne. A quiet* and attractive man, he took little part in public or party affairs, but, notwithstanding, he was " a chiel amang us takin' notes." He was one of the founders of the Historical and Scientific Society of Manitoba. He was also a strong de- fender of the rights of the old people of the country against the aggressive Canadians who sought to override them. He had the " literary microbe," and wrote a work of descriptive fiction called " Dot it Down," which, aiming at being a picture of Red River society, produced when printed some consternation. His historical works were : (i) "The Creation of Manitoba" ; (2) " Ten Years in Winnipeg " ; (3) " History of the North -West," in three large volumes. 288
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Number 2 of these was little more than a gazetteer. His magnum opus was No. 3, which reflects to the full the view point of the Hudson's Bay Company.
Alexander Begg (2) was almost a contem- porary of No. i ; but was born fifteen years earlier in Caithness, Scotland. Coming to Canada, he entered journalism and was connected for a time with the Toronto Mail. He is said to have come West about the time of Governor McDougall's ill-starred attempt to enter Red River Settlement. Although a Bohemian of the Press, he seems always to have sought the West. He was for some years in British Columbia, and journeyed in 1887 to Britain to arrange for the importation of a thousand Orkneymen to develop the British Columbia fisheries, but the British Columbia Government withdrew from the scheme. Well acquainted with the province, he published in 1894 " The History of British Columbia " (568 pages, illustrated). While the book is reliable and shows a vast deal of detail, it lacks arrange- ment and balance. Mr. Begg passed away before his namesake.
John McLean, a lively but somewhat discon- tented Hudson's Bay Company officer from Scot- land, has left two very interesting volumes of his experiences in the Company. His work was entitled " Notes of Twenty -five Years of Service in the Hudson's Bay Company," 1849. McLean's experiences range from the west — and the centre — to the far north-east of the continent VOL. ii. T 289
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in the inhospitable region of Ungava. He is a very interesting but caustic writer, and thoroughly scourges the Hudson's Bay Company in its system and management. He was sent by Sir George Simpson to Ungava, which in the eyes of the fur traders was the Company's Siberia, for deep reflection and wholesome silence. McLean left the Company in an unhappy state of mind and passed away in poverty in Victoria, British Colurribia.
It would hardly be justifiable to claim as a Western man the Scottish writer of boys' stories, R. M. Ballantyne, although he was for a time, it is said, in Rupert's Land, and became able to write such books as " Hudson's Bay," " Ungava," and others among his vast number of popular and useful volumes for boys.
Rev. Dr. John McLean, a Methodist minister of standing in Western Canada, was born in 1851 in Kilmarnock, Scotland, and graduated in Victoria College, Cobourg, being ordained as a minister in 1880. He was placed among the Blood Indians in Alberta as a missionary, and has held pastorates in Moose Jaiw, Port Arthur, and Morden. He is a devoted student of ethnology, and is acquainted with the language and customs of the far west Indians. He is an able author, having written " The Indians of Canada," " James Evans," " Lone Land Lights," and a number of valuable pamphlets on ethnological subjects. As a magazine writer he has been well known, and is Scottish in thought and tongue.
Di. Charles W. Gordon is the son of a stalwart 290
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Highland minister, who was one of the pioneers of Ontario and a famous Gaelic preacher. His mother was the daughter of Rev. Mr. Robertson, a Congregational minister, and he is said to owe his literary tastes largely to his mother's side of the house. He graduated in Toronto University and Knox College and went as a missionary to the Rocky Mountains, which region exercised a deep influence on his emotional nature. Coming to Winnipeg to take charge of a Mission which has become St. Stephen's Church, he began to have aspirations toward literature. The glamour of the West has always been upon him, and his first book, " Blackrock," took immediately with the people as a religious novel, for which kind of literature there is among Church people a decided demand. His second, and perhaps the best of his series, is " The Sky Pilot," a Rocky Mountain story. These were succeeded by " The Man from Glengarry," which immediately struck a chord among Scottish hearts, prepared by the kailyard scenes of Barrie and Ian Maclaren. In yearly succession have appeared " The Prospector," " The Doctor," and " The Foreigner." His Life of Rev. Dr. Robertson was a work of love for the memory of a man for whom he had all the chivalrous devotion of a Highland follower. It is worthy history. The large circulation of the Ralph Connor series of books has, with their Scottish strain running through them, added to the spread of Scottish ideals and to the regard for Scottish character in the minds of the Canadian people.
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Rev. Dr. John M. King was born in 1829 in Yetholm, Scotland ; his only daughter married Dr. C. W. Gordon. He was a teacher and a theologian rather than an author. His pastoral duties in Toronto and professorial tasks in Mani- toba College kept a fine literary taste from showing itself objectively. A small volume forming a critique of Tennyson's " In Memoriam " showed what he could have done as a poetical exegete but for his otherwise busy and useful life. A portly volume of his sermons and addresses was prepared with sympathetic care by his old friend and admirer Chief Justice Taylor.
Rev. Roderick G. McBeth, of the old Kildonan stock of Lord Selkirk's colonists in Red River Settlement, graduated in Arts and Theology in Manitoba College and Manitoba University, andj occupied pastoral charges in Carman, Manitoba, Augustine Church in Winnipeg, and in First Church, Vancouver. His present charge is in Paris, Ontario. He is the author of two pmall works, one called the " Settlers of Red River " and the other on the " Second Riel Rebellion in 1885," which was useful and timely.
The Rev. Dr. William Patrick, Principal of Manitoba College, is well known as a scholar and distinguished linguist. He was born in Kirkintilloch, near Glasgow, and was first settled as Free Church minister in his native place. He for years edited magazines for his Church, and published a work, showing much study, upon the "Epistle of St. James." 292
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A young Canadian clergyman, Rev. Robert Edward Knowles, born in Ontario, has gained distinction as a writer of fiction. Educated in Arts in Queen's, Kingston, the fact that he took his theological course at Manitoba College, Winni- peg, places him on the list of Western authors. Settled at first in Stewarton Church, Ottawa, and later in the largest and perhaps most distinctively Scottish Church in Canada, Mr. Knowles manifests his Scottish blood in his first novel, "St. Cuth- bert's," which has reached its tenth edition. Year by year he has published and has in his list of prolific production " The Undertow," " The Dawn at Shanty Bay," " The Web of Time," and " The Attic Guest." The last of these has gained the highest encomiums from some of the critics of the author's Motherland.
Three women of Scottish race have made names for themselves and their forbears in the realm of Canadian literature in Western Canada. The first of these is Miss Agnes Laut, born in Ontario in 1871 and reared in Manitoba, the daughter of John and Elizabeth E. Laut. Educated in the public school, she became a successful teacher in the schools of Winnipeg. Desiring to enter the uncertain race for literary fame, Miss Laut spent two years in Manitoba College, and probably on account of indifferent health sought occupation as a journalist on the staff of the Winnipeg Free Press. After going to Ottawa as a newspaper correspondent and travelling widely over Canada, she has taken up her home on the Hudson River
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above New York. She has most industriously written numerous magazine articles, and has now a formidable list of books to her credit as an author. These are " Lords of the North," 1900 ; "Heralds of Empire," 1902; "Story of the Trapper," 1902 ; " Pathfinders of the West," 1904; "Vikings of the Pacific," 1906; "The Conquest of the Great North-West," 1908 ; and " Canada, Empire of the North." Industry and the lure of the wild are strong characteristics of Miss Laut.
Miss Agnes Deans Cameron was born in 1863, the daughter of Duncan Cameron and Jessie Anderson. She grew up in a thoroughly Scottish environment, as any who has met her strong- minded, intelligent mother knows full well. Miss Cameron became a prominent and well-regarded teacher in Victoria, British Columbia. A dispute having arisen concerning some of her pupils, who were accused of dishonesty in connection with their examinations, Miss Cameron took up their cause and pleaded for them. The result of the dis- cussion was that she lost her situation as teacher. She, however, at the next election of trustees ran as a candidate and was elected. Miss Cameron is of a singularly independent mind, and in some attempts at literary work, chiefly in connection with education, showed an original and epigram- matic style of writing which attracted attention. Her career has been in magazine articles, lectures, and book -making. She has a practical turn of mind and an inclination to discuss social 294
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problems, and is interested in the study of national resources, as is shown in her " The Wheatfields of Western Canada." As a lecturer she has con- siderable descriptive power, and her lecture, " From1 .Wheat to Whales," finely illustrated with stere- opticon views, is very interesting. Her book, " The New North/' published in New York in 1909, is a most interesting1 book of travel and has been well received.
Mrs. Nellie Letitia McClung, living in the Manitoba town of Manitou, is a young Canadian woman who has come into fame by writing an attractive book which has had a large circulation. The work is called " Sowing Seeds in Danny," and it has been popular in Britain as well as in Canada. The authoress is the daughter of John Mooney and of Letitia McCurdy, of Dundee, Scot- land. She was born in Ch,atsworth, Ontario, in 1873. Her simplicity of diction and naive and graphic style have helped her to tell a pretty story of rural life in Manitoba and has led to her writing a new book, lately published to run the gauntlet of public criticism and consideration, called " The Second Chance " (1910).
Ernest Seton Thompson (now Thompson-Seton) was born in 1860 of Scottish parents. Young Thompson came to Manitoba and lived for a time near Carberry. He had early an absorbing interest in nature. He would lie out all night studying the habits of birds and animals and watching them early in the morning. Here he cultivated his love for animals. His writings of birds and
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mammals of Manitoba and his appointment to prepare a Natural History Exhibit for the Columbian Exhibition in Chicago kept him in touch with Manitoba. One of his latest works, and one requiring great biological knowledge and perseverance, is " Life Histories of Northern Animals." Three others of his most popular publications are " Animals I Have Known," the " Trail of the Sandhill Stag," and the " Biography of a Silver Fox." He has elaborated a scheme for a Temple of Fame in commemorating the pioneers of Rupert's Land. Mr. Thompson -Seton is also an artist of considerable note.
Robert W. Service has risen rapidly into notice by the publication of two books of poetry, one bearing the name " Songs of a Sourdough " (a helpless old-timer), the other " Ballads of a Cheechako " (which means the hungry new arrival). He was born in England of Scottish parents, and was educated in Glasgow. Going to the Western Coast of America, he entered the Canadian Bank of Commerce, and served awhile till his works were published. He has now retired from labour and has resolved to devote himself to literature.
Charles Mair was born in the county of Lanark in Ontario in 1840, the son of a Scottish settler. After preparation in the Perth Grammar School he entered Queen's College, Kingston. There was born in him the restlessness of a poetic imagina- tion, and his dreams were of different occupations. The young rhymester took a poetic flight in 1868 296
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in publishing " Dreamland and Other Poems," but Canada has not yet reached the stage of taste to appreciate aspiring talent. In the autumn of that year young Mair went west on Snow's sur- veying expedition to the Red River Settlement and became correspondent of the Toronto Globe. The realities of the Riel Rebellion and his being made a prisoner in Fort Garry did not lead to cultiva- tion of the Muses. After peace was restored he became a merchant, first at Portage la Prairie, and afterward in Prince Albert. In 1886 appeared his greatest work, a drama, " Tecumseh," which was well received. Mr. Mair as an employee of the Dominion Government made his home in Alberta. Mr. Mair has published a readable account of a visit to Mackenzie River on a mission of treaty -making with the Indians.
Dr. G. Bryce, born in 1844 at Mt. Pleasant, Brantford, Ontario, was son of George Bryce, J.P., and Katherine Henderson, natives of Perthshire, Scotland, and early settlers of Brant County, Ontario. Educated at Canadian Public Schools and at Toronto University and Knox College, Toronto, he became a pioneer to Manitoba in 1871 and at once began to study the history of Western Canada. In 1879 he was a leader in establish- ing the Historical and Scientific Society of Mani- toba. He visited many of the historic sites, and became acquainted with the Hudson's Bay Com- pany officers and forts from Lake Superior to the Pacific Coast. He was also a leader in the archaeology of Western Canada, and opened a
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number of the burial-places of the Mound Builders. As a teacher of science and an educationalist he introduced the study of science into Western Canada and was a well-known lecturer to the people, literary societies, and teachers' institutes of the wide region from Lake Superior to the Pacific Coast. A list of his works in History and Science is given opposite the title-page of this volume.
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CHAPTER XXVI
A SCOTTISH EMPIRE-BUILDER—LORD STRATHCONA
IN our last chapter we dealt with authors of the Canadian West. We are in the habit of classing them as men of thought. While Scotland has produced a full quota of men and women of this class, the land of brown heath has probably been even more celebrated for its men of action, as our frequent portraiture has already shown. Along with such men as Sir Alexander Mackenzie, Lord Selkirk, and Sir George Simpson we may class Lord Strathcona. It was by no accident that Donald Alexander Smith, the Lord Strathcona of subsequent years, became a fur trader and a prominent Factor in the Hudson's Bay Company and Rupert's Land. He was related to Peter and Cuthbert Grant on his father, Alexander Smith's, side and on his mother's side to the famous brothers John and James Stuart, of the North-West Fur Company, of whom we have written. Donald Smith was born in Forres, in Morayshire, in 1820, and received a good educa- tion for the time. Filled with the tales of the fur trade told by his relations on their return
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to Scotland, and possessed with visions of future greatness, at the age of eighteen he emigrated to the land of the Aurora Borealis, and was sent from Montreal very soon after to spend a generation of time on the shores of Hudson Bay. At Moose Factory and elsewhere, but more especially on the rugged coast of Labrador — a school for the cultivation of the hardy virtues of the fur trader, the explorer, and the daring man of the sea — he spent the years of his apprentice- ship. The inhospitable shore of Labrador, as described in some measure by Cortereal or Cabot, had lost few of its terrors in the nineteenth century, during more than thirty years of which young Smith grew to be a clerk, a Chief Trader, and in 1863 a Chief Factor of the Hudson's Bay Company. His recitals, heard by the writer from his own lips, tell of terribly dangerous and weari- some journeys along the inhospitable coast of Labrador. The frozen coast, the exposure to privation, to hunger and the prospect of miserable starvation, the danger of a boisterous sea and the terrors of, at many points, an uninhabited shore, the uncertainty of Indian and Eskimo intrigue, the cold shoulder shown by many narrow- minded Moravians of the coast, and the difficul- ties of carrying on successful trade when the fishing was poor and the scattered people were in miserable poverty— all joined to make a life not to be measured by mere seasons of time, but by years dragged out by recollections of anxieties; disappointments, and human misery. 300
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Nevertheless, the Hudson's Bay Company was solvent and the Bank of Montreal was good, so that, as was the case when a young1 man of fair education as a clerk turned out well and had fairly rapid promotion, Donald A. Smith, on his recall from a service of more than thirty years to take a prominent place as Chief Factor in Montreal, found awaiting him the savings of such a life- time amounting to, say, £10,000 — a very modest recompense for the years of strenuous toil and exposure on the shores of Hudson Bay and Labrador, which we may speak of as a district extending from Moose Factory to Rigolette. The Chief Factor of little more than five years' standing was expecting to follow out the even tenor of his way in the staid old Hudson's Bay Company House at Montreal, for the Honourable Company from its house in Lime Street, London, to Montreal, Fort Garry, Red River, and Fort Chipewyan, on Lake Athabasca, was a marvellous example of what routine may come to with a history of two hundred years behind it. This was Chief Factor Smith's prospect as he sat in the Hudson's Bay Company offices, Montreal, expecting to do as all other Chief Factors had done, and by and by be carried to Mount Royal Cemetery and lie under the granite with " Requiescat in pace " written above him. But this was not to be with this Scotsman of middle age who had come from Labrador.
The sudden outbreak of the Riel Rebellion on the Red River in the autumn of 1869 startled
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all Canada. The hope of Canada of being able to advance British power and Canadian interest on the prairies of the far west w)as for a time beclouded. The Dominion Government had acted with a singular want of shrewdness and compre- hension. They had even gone on without examining the rights of the residents of Red River Settlement or of the Hudson's Bay Com- pany's officers and retired servants. Ordinary humanity and consideration had been neglected. But to have Fort Garry in the hands of a rebellious band of natives and to have Canadians in prison under the British flag, without being guilty of crime or any pretence at trial, was intolerable. The Hudson's Bay Company Governor at Fort Garry was sick and helpless, the Selkirk settlers were impotent, and the Canadians were not numerous on the banks of Red River. It was plainly through the Hudson's Bay Company that the Dominion Government must act and gain time to restore peace and dispatch 'an expedition to preserve order. Chief Factor Donald A. Smith, though he had never been west of Lake Superior, and had but lately been recalled to Montreal, was the only one in sight who could act at once. Accordingly he was appointed Commissioner and dispatched immediately to the scene of rebellion. On November 2, 1869, Riel and a band of one hundred French half-breeds had occupied Fort Garry entirely unopposed by the Hudson's Bay Company, and in a few weeks his body of insurgents in the fort had become four or five 302
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times as strong. There was no telegraph line nearer than St. Paul, Minnesota, some 450 miles from Fort Garry. By the most rapid transit which the Company could supply Mr. Smith was carried from St. Paul, whither he had gone from Montreal by rail, and reached Fort Garry on December 2 7th. He took up his abode in the office of the Company, contiguous to the residence of the sick Governor. William McTavish. These were within the walls of Fort Garry, and south of them in the other buildings of the fort were quartered Kiel and his horde of followers, while in one of the buildings were some seventy Canadians held as prisoners and being subjected to many indignities. Kiel was now in an awkward dilemma. The Hudson's Bay Company with its hereditary power influencing the minds even of Kiel's followers, who had always been dependants of the Company, could not be disregarded. The situation was a curious one.
Riel, the Rebel leader, and claiming to be Provisional President, was housed in the same enclosure with the Governor of Assiniboia and with Commissioner Smith, representing both the Hudson's Bay Company and the Canadian Govern- ment. Riel sought to induce Mr. Smith to recog- nise his government as provisional, but the Com- missioner avoided this. Moreover, the United States had its eye upon the situation, and it is well known that there was a plentiful sum of money in St. Paul to help any movement to secure Rupert's Land for the United States.
Commissioner Smith had acted with great
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courage and shrewdness. His Commission he had himself left at the boundary -line, 49° N., in Canadian hands. Riel was anxious to see the Commission, and offered to send for it to Pembina, on the boundary-line. This offer Mr. Smith re- fused. A band of loyal half-breeds were sent, however, and obtained it for the Commissioner, although Riel sought to get it from them. How- ever, Mr. Smith obtained and kept his Commis- sion until he could present it to a mass meeting of the people of Red River. This meeting — one thousand strong — was held in the open air at Fort Garry with the temperature at twenty below zero. The meeting decided to send delegates from the people, and the Commissioner settled down quietly to undermine Riel and his crew. This he did with leading people of Red River Settlement. Movements and counter-movements were made, which we need not recite, but some prisoners were discharged, others were seized, until the most monstrous and startling event took place on March 4, 1870, when Thomas Scott, a Canadian, was publicly executed by Riel's direction near Fort Garry. This fiendish act was the beginning ,of the end for Riel. Canada was roused to its centre to avenge the murder, and, as it is the case when war breaks out between two countries that ambassadors retire, Commissioner Smith refused to remain any longer in the country, but returned post haste to Canada. After a tune Col. Wolseley's expedition came up from Canada by way of Lake Superior and Lake of the Woods, when Donald 304
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A. Smith, coming back from Montreal, joined the expedition, and in August arrived with it in Fort Garry, to see the ignominious flight of Kiel, Lepine, and O'Donoghue, the disreputable trio who had been fattening at the Hudson's Bay Company's expense in Fort Garry.
After the organisation of Manitoba, Mr. Donald A. Smith took up his abode in his residence at Silver Heights, six miles west of Fort Garry, and for years was in charge of Hudson's Bay Company concerns in Winnipeg. On the first election for local representatives Mr. Smith was elected Member for Winnipeg, and then for a number of years was representative of Selkirk, the Metropolitan constituency of Manitoba, in the Parliament of the Dominion. He had much to do with the beginnings of the City of Winnipeg. In the year 1879 Mr. Smith ceased to be a Western representative, and was after some time chosen as Member for West Montreal. Since that time he has ceased to be a resident of Manitoba, much to the regret of the people generally, and especially of his old friends in the province.
But the most remarkable period of the life of Donald A. Smith had yet to come.
His residence in Manitoba, with its impassable roads lying between Winnipeg and Silver Heights, over which the Commissioner had to be driven daily for several years, impressed him with the fact that better means of transport were impera- tive. The writer remembers Commissioner Smith saying to him in these desolate years of the VOL. ii. u 305
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seventies, " railways and not ordinary roads " are the only means for our obtaining reasonable transport here. Hence it was that we saw the unusual spectacle of a man approaching the age of sixty undertaking the, to him, entirely new project of building railways.
The patriotic part taken by him in defeating the Macdonald Government on its railway policy in 1872 on account of the "Pacific Scandal," which was a despicable plot to buy up the electorate of Canada, no doubt made Donald Smith more anxious to secure by fair and open means the building of the Canadian Pacific Railway. The Mackenzie Government, which came in in 1873, was bound to supply facilities to Manitoba. They, however, gave up, for the time being, the whole scheme of pushing on the railway from Lake Superior to the Pacific Ocean, and undertook to supply first railway connection between St. Paul and Winnipeg. This involved two undertakings, first to complete the partially built railway from St. Paul to Red River and then down to the Inter- national Boundary-line, and, second, to build a line from the Boundary-line to Winnipeg. Hoping that the American section would be built, the Mac- kenzie Government in 1874 proceeded with vigour to build sixty miles or more and had the greater part of it graded. In the following year the Mackenzie Government proceeded to build the rail- way from Fort William, on Lake Superior, to Winnipeg, and began to build it from the Winnipeg end as well. As the latter portion was of 306
A Scottish Empire-builder
heavy rock-work, many parts of which would take time, the people demanded the connection by way of the United States. The matter was urged with* Western fervour. The Canadian section was prac- tically completed, but the American section lagged. Minnesotan expectations had all been thrown out of joint by the Indian massacre of 1862, and it took many years to restore confidence. The partially built railway was incomplete and some sixty miles remained to be built. Moreover, the company was bankrupt and the bondholders, who lived chiefly in Holland, had reached the end of their tether. All seemed hopeless, and though the clamour of Manitoba was great yet nothing seemed possible to be done toward remedying the case.
Then came the stroke of genius that seized the minds of four men : Donald A. Smith, his cousin, George Stephen, R. B. Angus, then of Montreal, and James J. Hill, a Canadian native, but a leader of trade in St. Paul, Minnesota. It is not certain in whose fertile brain the bright idea first flashed of buying up the St. Paul and Manitoba Railway. Certain it is that three of the four of these men, who could perform exploits, were Scotsmen of Montreal. True, delay took place from 1874 to 1878, but the plan was conceived of buying out the stock of the Dutch bondholders. This was done, and the stock was obtained, it is said, at from 7 to 50 cents upon the dollar. And now came the point when the courage and skill of Donald A. Smith showed itself. He was influential
307
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in the Bank of Montreal, and had the backing of the great Hudson's Bay Company. Bonds to the extent of eight millions of dollars were placed upon the New York Money Market ; they were taken up and the St. Paul and Manitoba Com- pany was lifted out of its state of collapse, the missing link was built, the Government completed the Manitoba end, the means of running the rail- way had been secured, and on December 3, 1878, the last spike was driven and Manitoba, albeit through the United States, became connected by railway with the outside world. Colossal fortunes were realised by these daring and far-seeing men, and who shall say that their pluck and energy did not richly deserve the reward which they received?
But the Mackenzie Government did not rise to the conception of what 'might be done for Western Canada. Their policy of the " amphibious route " by portage, wagon, and boat from Fort William to Winnipeg proved cumbrous, discouraging, and inefficient, although they proceeded with the line of railway from each terminal at Winnipeg and Fort William. For this they deserve credit. But their policy had not the ring of confidence which Canada from ocean to ocean seemed to demand. The failure to grasp the lofty conception required had much to do with their defeat.
As the Maqdonald Government had planned to build the railway by a company in 1872, they now on their return to power revived their former scheme. And now the question was : The man and the capital? Flushed with the success of their 308
A Scottish Empire-guilder
Minnesota venture, the Scottish Syndicate of Mon- treal, with J. J. Hill now so intimately concerned, and one or two Montreal men added, broached the vast project of building a railway not only from Lake Superior to the Pacific Ocean, but also of completing it from Fort William along Lake Superior and on to Montreal. Undoubtedly of this combination Donald A. Smith was the brain. To the writer he has stated that several times in the history of their great enterprise the clouds were lowering and it seemed as if all might be swept away, but Scottish firmness and optimism, backed up by the help of the Dominion Govern- ment, saw them through, and it was a red-letter day indeed when, five years before the contract time for the completion of the Canadian Pacific Rail- way, the last spike was driven by Sir Donald Smith and the first train from Montreal to Van- couver passed through Winnipeg on Dominion Day, 1886, amid the loud acclaims of the people. Henceforth the future of Winnipeg was secured, and the iron bond of the railway served to bind together the hitherto separated provinces of the Dominion. A man of sixty-six might well be excused from attempting great enterprises ; but ten years later, at the great age of seventy-six, Lord Strathcona and Mount Royal, whom his Sovereign had honoured with a peerage, became Canadian High Commis- sioner in London. He has filled this post with the greatest distinction. His princely generosity, his friendliness for Canadians of every type, but especially his attentiveness to his old Scottish
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TJie Scotsman in Canada
associates of Red River Settlement, have bespoken a warm heart and a most fraternal disposition. His great benevolence to educational institutions and hospitals has been most marked, and his generosity and public interest have led to his being " doctored " by all the great Universities of Canada and the Motherland. But Scotsmen are almost invariably patriots. The spirit of the undaunted Wallace and the liberator of his country, Robert Bruce, has taken possession of the Scottish nation. It was, then, a marvellous exemplification of this patriotic feeling when in the South African War, at the time of the Empire's need, this Scotsman gained the name of an " Empire Builder " when he offered her Majesty Queen Victoria to equip and send out at his own expense a mounted regiment of Canadian soldiers. The noble offer was graciously accepted, and a thrill of satisfac- tion went through every Scotsman's bosom that one of their race should be able to do such a thing, and despite the characteristic of " economy " so often charged against the Scotsman, should generously pour forth a million and a half of dollars to meet the whole expense.
Lord Strathcona presents the remarkable picture of a man whose greatest distinctions have come after he had reached the age of fifty. No doubt a sound Scottish body was the fitting habitation for the sane and genial spirit which inhabited it, and this was cultivated by an abstemious and regular life, in which morality, self-control, and religion have been marked 310
A Scottish Empire-builder
features. Blood will tell, and the blood of the Grants and Stuarts is no weak or worn-out flood with which to begin the life of trader, diplomatist, financier, syndicator, business man, educator, benefactor, and patriot.
CHAPTER XXVII
SCOTTISH GOVERNORS AND JURISTS
IT has already been exemplified by such notable instances as those of Sir George Simpson and Sir James Douglas that there is a facility with which Scotsmen rise to places of trust and honour in any part of the world. In Red River we have seen that in the little more than half a century of the existence of that settlement seven of the Governors were Scotsmen.
This early custom seems to have been continued in the Governors and Jurists of Western Canada under Confederation, they having been chiefly Scottish or Scoto-Irish.
The first quasi-Governor of the new Western Province of Manitoba was the Hon. William McDougall, who though, like Moses, was not per- mitted to see the promised land of his dreams except from its borders, nevertheless deserves a place in the history of Western Canada. The son of a Scottish settler of Upper Canada, he followed the profession of the law, and with Hon. George Cartier went in 1868 on a deputation to England to secure the cession of Rupert's Land to Canada. Through the aid of Mr. Gladstone 312
Scottish Governors and Jurists
they found that £300,000 of English money would secure the transfer of their right by the Hudson's Bay Company to Canada. The time for transfer was fixed for 1869, and in anticipation of this William McDougall with his family and officers of Government went through the United States and were stopped at Pembina on the boundary- line of the Manitoba to be. That this Governor- ship should have been his reward for his eloquent advocacy of the acquisition of the Hudson's Bay Company possessions by Canada was universally conceded, though on account of the resistance of Kiel and his followers he returned to Canada and never went back to the West.
When, after negotiations and the sending of a force of British Canadian troops, Manitoba was formally taken possession of, the first Governor of the province was the Hon. Adams G. Archibald, a Nova Scotian, and the descendant of a Scoto- Irish family which had come over to Nova Scotia from the United States at the end of the eighteenth century. The Archibalds held a high place in Nova Scotia and also received promotion as public men in the Mother Country. Adams G. Archi- bald had become a member of the Macdonald administration and was sent out as first Governor of the new Province of Manitoba in 1870. He was a fine-looking, courtly gentleman, well fitted to adorn the position of Governor and preserve the honour that flowed down to him from a deserving ancestry. The troubled state of Manitoba, however, made his stay a short one,
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and in 1872 he retired before his time was half up. He was afterwards made Governor of Nova Scotia, and did honour to that position.
The second Governor of Manitoba was Alexander Morris, who was born in Perth, Upper Canada, in 1826, and was a son of William Morris, a native of Paisley, Scotland. He also had been a member of the Macdonald Cabinet, and was appointed the first Chief Justice of the Province of Manitoba after its organisation. When the vacancy occurred through the retirement of Governor Archibald, the new Chief Justice was appointed Governor, and held the position for his full five years. Governor Morris was useful in many ways to the new province. He undertook and carried to completion the Lake of the Woods Treaty with the Indians of that region, and also conducted other negotiations and concluded other treaties with different Indian tribes of the West. He was also appointed Commissioner for the settle- ment of disputed land titles, and as such rendered valuable service. He, with much perseverance, induced the Legislature to establish the Univer- sity of Manitoba, of which he may in consequence be called " The Founder." He retired to Toronto, where he spent the remaining years of his life, having been elected as a member in the Local Legislature of Ontario.
After the occupation of the Gubernatorial chair for five years by a Frenchman, who succeeded Governor Morris, the position was filled in 1882 by Hon. James C. Aikins, the son of a Scoto-Irish
Scottish Governors and Jurists
settler of York County, Upper Canada. Mr. Aikins entered public life in the Dominion and became a member of the Macdonald Government. For five years he filled the position of Governor with distinction to himself and to the satisfaction of the people. He was the first to decline to use wine in the festivities which took place at Govern- ment House, Winnipeg ; although his successor, Sir John Schultz, followed him in this particular. After retiring from the position of Governor of Manitoba, Mr. Aikins was appointed a Senator of the Dominion, and held that position until the time of his death.
In 1895 the Hon. James C. Patterson, a lawyer of Western Ontario, who was born in 1839, of Scoto-Irish origin, became Governor of Manitoba. He had been Secretary of State and Minister of Militia in the Dominion Cabinet, and his career was placid and uneventful.
Among the officers who came in command of the Ontario Battalion of the Wolseley expedition in 1870 was a young captain named Daniel McMillan. Having returned to Ontario for a year or two, his heart still longed for the West, and he came back to engage in business as a grain merchant and millowner in the new province. He was the son of a Scottish resident of Collingwood, Ontario, and living in Winnipeg, his well-known probity and personal popularity led to his becoming a representative of one of the local constituencies of the City of Winnipeg. He became in time a member of the Liberal Government led by Hon.
315
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Thomas Green way, and was for years Treasurer of the province. His military instincts were always strong, and he did much to encourage the Volun- teers in their drill and service for the country. On the defeat of the Greenway Government in 1899 he still retained his seat of Centre Winnipeg, but was appointed Governor of Manitoba, and has completed his second term of office. On account of his long service as a member and Minister of the Crown he was knighted by the late Queen Victoria. He has taken a prominent part in financial affairs, and was the first Presi- dent of the Northern Bank of Canada. His equanimity of temper, uprightness of character, and stability of purpose have made him one of the most popular of Winnipeg Scotsmen.
The Hon. David Laird was born in 1853, the son of a Scottish settler who had emigrated to Prince Edward Island in the first quarter of the nineteenth century. Brought up according to the good old Scotch model, young David received a Governor of the North-West Territories of the Island newspaper. He entered the local arena of politics, but after Confederation became Minister of the Interior in the Alexander Mackenzie Ministry. In 1876 Mr. Laird was appointed Governor of the NorthnWest Territories of the Dominion, and lived at Battleford, the capital. Here he gained the absolute confidence of the Indians as " the man whose tongue is never forked " — i.e., the man who keeps his word. He negotiated a number of Indian treaties, and has
Scottish Governors and Jurists
been an invaluable servant of the Dominion Government in Indian affairs.
Hon. Thos. Robert Mclnnis was born in 1840 in Western Ontario, the son of John Mclnnis, 0. Scottish immigrant from Inverness, Scotland ; he was educated as a medical man, and bore the M.D., C.M. Coming in early days to British Columbia, he settled in New Westminster. He became a Member of the House of Commons and afterward Senator for British Columbia at Ottawa. Before his death he was Governor of British Columbia, and upheld the interests of his province with all the tenacity of his race.
James Dunsmuir was born at Fort Vancouver, on the Columbia River, in 1851, before the transfer of the Hudson's Bay Company fort had been made to Victoria. The son of Robert Dunsmuir, a Scottish immigrant who had come to push his fortune in the far west, young Dunsmuir was partially educated in Nanaimo, Vancouver Island, and afterward in Ontario. He inherited a part of the large possessions of his father in Lady- smith, Cumberland, Newcastle, and Nanaimo Collieries, was elected to a seat in the British Columbia Legislature, and soon became Premier of the province. In 1906, on the retirement of Sir Henry Joly de Lotbiniere as Governor, Mr;. Dunsmuir was appointed his successor, from which position he resigned in 1909.
Thomas William Patterson was born in Argyll- shire, Scotland, in 1852, and emigrated to Oxford County, Ontario. Going early to British Columbia,
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he became a successful lumberman, and was elected as a member of the Provincial Legislature. He in 1910 was made Governor of the province, and resides in the City of Victoria.
G. W. Brown, of Regina, of Scoto-Irish descent, was born in Ontario in 1860, and moved in the early days to Western Canada. Engaged at first in agriculture, he acquired a considerable quantity of land in the present Province of Saskatchewan, and then, studying law in Regina, gained success. Among other life events he married a Miss Barr, of thorough Scottish descent. On the retirement of Governor Forget in 1910 he was appointed Governor of Saskatchewan. He is a man who uses wealth to the best advantage, and is a generous supporter of educational and other useful social agencies.
Following the Scottish Governors we may now describe a number of the Scottish Jurists who have gained distinction in Western Canada. Back in the old Red River days a very notable man was the first Recorder who sat in judgment upon his fellow-men. This was Adam Thorn, an Aber- donian, who was sent out to be Judge of Assiniboia in the year 1839. He was chosen by Governor Simpson, and was a man after the Governor's own heart. Some discontent was evident at this time among the French half-breeds as well as among the Selkirk colonists on the Red River. The question at issue was whether any one but the Hudson's Bay Company had a right to traffic in furs. Recorder Thorn was a young man in
Scottish Governors and Jurists
Montreal on Lord Durham's staff, and had lived there during the stirring times of the Papineau Rebellion. He was then a young lawyer, was an ardent Loyalist, and had, over a pen name, written strong " Anti-Gallic " letters in the Montreal journals, which were especially severe upon the rebels. He was looked upon by the French Canadians as an enemy of their race. He undertook to have laws and regulations carried out in the Red River which were very irksome to the wild, free horsemen of the plains. A half- breed named Sayer was arrested and brought to trial. His countrymen rose en masse and de- livered him from the hands of the court, despite Judge Thorn's opposition. As they carried away their compatriot the shouts continued, " La Com- merce est libre ! " — Commerce is free ! Recorder Thorn never sat as a Judge again ; but for some five years acted as Clerk of the Court, while the Governor presided. In 1853 he and his family left Red River to settle in London, where he lived to a great age. He wrote much of the two- volume " Journal Around the World," published by Governor Simpson in 1847, and published a remarkable book, in several languages, showing the Messiah's life (thirty-three years) to be the unit of many great events. He was a thorough- going, brainy, determined Scotsman of the stalwart rather than of the adaptable and practical type representative of so many of his countrymen.
During the period of Hon. David Laird's administration as Minister of the Crown a very
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notable Chief Justice was appointed to that position in Manitoba. This was Edmund Burke Wood, a Canadian born of a Scoto-Irish father who came over from Ireland to the United States and after 1812 emigrated to Wentworth County, Upper Canada. The future Justice was born in 1820, and in due course studied law in Brantford, Ontario. Succeeding in gaining a large practice, he entered political life and went to the Pjarlia- ment of Canada as a representative of Brant County. Entering the Ontario Legislature, he became a member of the Sandfield Macdonald Ministry, and was afterward appointed Chief Justice of Manitoba. He was the man for the place. He taught white, half-breed, and Indian that " law meant law." He crushed out contempt for the law, and was a useful member of the community in the rising city of Winnipeg.
The establishment of the Province of Manitoba led to the fuller organisation of courts of justice. Alexander Morris, whom we have described as the second Governor of the province, was but for a short time the first Chief Justice of Manitoba, resigning the position as he did to become Governor. He was followed by two occupants of the office who were not of Scottish blood, but soon a lawyer, well known in Toronto, Thomas W. Taylor, became Puisne Judge and afterward Chief Justice. Judge Taylor was the son of Rev. Dr. John Taylor, a Scottish minister of the United Presbyterian Church in Toronto, who acted as a Professor in the Theological Hall of that body. 320
Scottish Governors and Jurists
Young Taylor was a law official in Osgoode Hall before going to Winnipeg, where he lived for many years. He was a highly conscientious and capable dispenser of justice, and as a religious man took an important part in the courts of the Presby- terian Church. He published several legal and other works, and on retirement came east to Hamilton to live. His record is that of a respectable citizen and learned Jurist who did honour to his Scottish birth.
Among the earlier settlers who came to Manitoba soon after its formation was a young lawyer, John Farquhar Bain, son of the Rev. William Bain, a Church of Scotland minister of Perth, in the county of Lanark, Ontario. John Bain was a young man of good parts, being a graduate of Queen's College, Kingston, (and became a leading member of the Bar of Manitoba. He was appointed a Judge of Queen's Bench in the province, and though of delicate constitution, struggled through many years of alternate travel and work until his death. He was a man of high and inflexible character and adorned the Bench.
In early years in Manitoba a young Scottish Canadian, a graduate of Toronto University who had gained distinction during his college course, was Alexander Dawson, a member of the legal firm of Biggs and Dawson. After successful practice as a lawyer, he was appointed Judge of the County Court, and became noted for his industry and probity as a Judge. He has always taken an interest in education, and was for years VOL. II. x 321
The Scotsman in Canada
a member of the University Council and of the Board of Manitoba College.
The Hon. Hugh John Macdonald was born in 1850 in Kingston and is the son of Sir John A. Macdonald, the former Premier of Canada. He comes of a hardy Scottish stock, and has always gloried in his nationality. Educated in Toronto and Queen's Universities, he studied law in Ontario and emigrated to Winnipeg in 1882, becoming the head of the strong law firm of Macdonald and Tupper. He entered political life as Member for Winnipeg in the Dominion Parliament in 1891. On the reconstruction of the Conservative Cabinet of Canada in 1896 he became Minister of the Interior. Having accepted the leadership of the Conservative Party in Manitoba, he defeated the Greenway Government and formed a new Government in that province. In 1900 he gave up his position as Provincial! Premier to oppose Hon. Clifford Sifton in Brandon for the Dominion House. In this contest he was defeated and since that date has retired to his profession, being now head of the law firm of Macdonald, Haggart and Co. Possessing1 much ability, a fair speaker, and a man of charming! personality, he has those qualities which conduce to popularity. He steadily adheres to the faith of his fathers and is a generous giver to educational and philanthropic objects.
The Hon. Justice John D. Cameron was born
in Oxford County, Ontario, and entered and passed
with the greatest distinction through Toronto
University. Choosing the law as his profession,
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he went West to Winnipeg to practise it. Enter- ing politics he became representative of South Winnipeg in the Legislature of Manitoba and Attorney-General in the Greenway Government. He is regarded as an exceedingly well-read man, and has shown great interest in public education, being appointed in 1908 Commissioner on the affairs of the University of Manitoba. His appointment to the Court of King's Bench for Manitoba was received with general favour.
Robert Hill Myers, Judge of the County Court, is of joint Scottish and English descent. Judge Myers came as a lawyer from Stratford, Ontario, and settled down in Minnedosa, a town of North- Western Manitoba. He was for years a member of the Legislature of Manitoba, and was of con- sistent Liberal principles. In 1903 he was appointed a Judge of the County Court of Mani- toba. His judgments are always carefully pre- pared and command the respect of all classes of the people. Judge Myers has been an active member of the Board of Manitoba College and has acted on the Rhodes Scholarship Committee of the University of Manitoba. He is also Chair- man of the Church and Manse Board Committee of the Presbyterian Church.
Among the most prominent members of the Bar of Manitoba is James Fisher, K.C. The son of a Highland settler of North Easthope Township in Western Ontario, he went to Toronto Univer- sity and graduated with distinction in Mathematics. He was for years a member of the legal firm of
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Ewart and Fisher in Winnipeg, and was elected to the Legislature of Manitoba, representing the county of Russell. After several years of public service he devoted himself entirely to law, and has been for a time the Land Agent of the Great Northern Railway in Winnipeg. He has been for years a prominent member of the Board of Manitoba College, and by his legal talent and uprightness of character has been a most useful member of society.
John S. Ewart is of Scottish descent, was born in Toronto in 1849, and is related to Sir Oliver Mowat. He came to Manitoba in its earliest years, and was a most distinguished member of the Bar of that province. He gained very high distinction in connection with the case of '* Barrett v. the Province " — a plea for the Roman Catholic contention against the Act abolishing Separate Schools in Manitoba in 1890. Mr. Ewart, after a long and distinguished career as a legal prac- titioner in Manitoba, removed to Ottawa, where he has taken up cases as a Supreme Court lawyer. In 1909-10 he was one of the chief legal assistants engaged in gathering the material for the Canadian argument before the Brussels Commission for de- ciding the fisheries question long pending between Canada and the United States. His work in this case has received the commendation of the highest authorities. As a keen and competent legal advocate Mr. Ewart has had perhaps no superior at the Manitoba, or, indeed, at the Canadian, Bar.
James A. M. Aikins, who is of Scoto-Irish 324
Scottish Governors and Jurists
descent, was born in Peel County, Ontario, and is the son of Hon. J. C. Aikins, a former Lieutenant-Governor of Manitoba. He graduated at Toronto University and came early to Winni- peg, Manitoba, where he has become the head of a large legal firm, and has been for many years leading counsel for the Canadian Pacific Railway. He has been a member of the Council of the University of Manitoba, has taken an active part in its affairs, and in 1907 was appointed Chairman of the University Commission. Mr. Aikins has been a prominent member of the Methodist Church, both in its general councils and in the educational part of its work. His legal firm has included in it several of the prominent members of the Manitoba Bar.
Among the rising members of the legal pro- fession in Winnipeg there is none more popular than Mr. Isaac Pitblado, K.C., the son of Rev. C. B. Pitblado, of whom we have made mention. Mr. Pitblado was born in Nova Scotia, began his University course in Dalhousie University and com- pleted it in Manitoba College and University. For a time a partner of Mr. J. A. M. Aikins and now of Hon. Colin H. Campbell, he has taken a leading part in Winnipeg affairs. For years he was Registrar of Manitoba University, and has always been a leader in manly sports. His Scottish blood fully qualifies him to, be a member of the St. Andrew's Society, and he is a prominent curler.
Among the prominent younger men of Scottish descent who have risen to prominence as Jurists is Mr. Justice J. W. Robson, appointed in 1910
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The Scotsman in Canada
a Judge of the King's Bench of Manitoba. He was educated in Regina and Winnipeg, and was a member of the Aikins legal firm. Of singularly clear and fair mind, Judge Robson has received general approval as being one of the youngest judges appointed and one of the wisest.
In the Western provinces many young men of Scottish blood have risen to distinction on the Bench. Among these is John Henderson Lament . Born in 1865 of Scottish descent, a graduate of Toronto University, a lawyer in Prince Albert, he entered the Legislature of Saskatchewan as Attorney-General. He was appointed Judge of the King's Bench in Regina in 1907 and is well regarded.
A young man of Scottish blood, born in Middle- sex County, Ontario, Mr. C. A. Stuart began the practice of law in Calgary, and became a general favourite. Elected to the Legislature of Alberta, he was afterward made Judge of the King's Bench for that province. A distinguished graduate of Toronto University, he was in 1908 appointed Chancellor of the new University of Alberta.
Of a New Brunswick family of Scottish descent, Mr. C. R. Mitchell was a member of a law firm of Medicine Hat in the Province of Alberta. Made a Judge of the Court of King's Bench, he gained a high reputation, but in 1910 became Attorney-General for the province in the Ministry of Hon. Mr. Sifton.
James Alexander Macdonald is of Scottish descent and was born in 1858 in the county of Huron, Ontario. He studied in Toronto Univer- 326
Scottish Governors and Jurists
sity, was admitted to the Bar in Ontario, and emigrated to Rossland, British Columbia, in 1896. Elected to the British Columbia Legislature for two Parliaments, he became leader of the Local Opposition in that body. He resigned his seat and was appointed Chief Justice of the British Columbia Court of Appeal.
Carrying so notable a name, the descendant of a Scottish line and son of the preceding Governor, William Wallace Burns Mclnnis has filled many places of responsibility in British Columbia. Born in Ontario, educated at Toronto University, and a member of the legal profession, young Mclnnis at twenty-five became a member of the Local Legislature of British Columbia. Some years afterward he was elected for one Parliament to the House of Commons at Ottawa. He was made Commissioner of the Yukon for two years, and was then appointed a County Judge in Vancouver in 1909. A man of great versatility and eloquence, he bears with honour the Scottish names bestowed upon him.
Alexander Henderson was born of Scottish blood in Oshawa, Ontario. After graduation at Toronto University, he entered the legal profession and was called to the Bar of British Columbia in 1892, became Attorney -General of British Columbia, and was appointed a Judge in the County Court. In 1907 he resigned his judgeship and was appointed Commissioner of the Yukon. A man of kindly spirit and just mind, he is well fitted to reduce to order the conflicts of that northern territory.
327
CHAPTER XXVIII
SCOTTISH LEGISLATORS OF WESTERN CANADA
THE interest in national affairs, so general among Scotsmen, no doubt accounts for the large number of Scotsmen occupying representa- tive positions of trust in the various countries of the world to which they have gone. The two strains or lines of political ideal broadly repre- sented in Sir Walter Scott of the Conservative type and Robert Burns of the Liberal have shown themselves among Scotsmen everywhere by their taking decided position in the opposing camps of Liberal and Conservative. No doubt the fact of Scotland having a State Church led to the adherents of that Church being largely Conserva- tive, while those of the dissenting1 Churches were chiefly Liberal. However, even where there is no establishment of religion, as in the British colonies, this division is noticeable, however much some may maintain that the theology of the Presbyterian Churches, to which Scotsmen largely belong, inclines to Liberalism in public affairs.
As soon as representative government began in Manitoba in 1870 steps were taken for the election 328
Scottish Legislators
of representatives both to the Dominion and Local Parliaments. One of the first Scottish men who was chosen to represent Marquette County in Manitoba in 1871 was Robert Cunningham. He had come to Manitoba to represent the Toronto Globe, but settled down in Winnipeg, where he became engaged in the publication of a local journal. He was a man of intelligence, and went to Ottawa during a troublous period, so far as Manitoba affairs was concerned. During the heat of his election in Marquette constituency the Scottish poet of the district, who was evidently an ardent supporter, wrote an election squib for circulation, of which the following stanza is a sample : —
If there is in ail the land A wight that's suited to command Warlocks and witches in a band, That man is Robbie Cunningham.
Among the early residents of Winnipeg was Mr. Arthur Wellington Ross, of a Highland family of the county of Middlesex in Ontario. For years a successful teacher in that province, Mr. Ross completed his law course in Toronto and began his legal practice in Winnipeg. He was in the firm of Ross and Killam, his partner becoming afterward Chief Justice of Manitoba. Ross entered the Manitoba Legislature and was for years a member of the Dominion Parliament. He was an energetic business man and did much to advance the interests of Winnipeg.
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The Scotsman in Canada
Reference has already been made to the Hon. Donald Gunn, a Caithness man and Selkirk settler, who became a member of the first Legislative Council of Manitoba. With him was associated Francis Ogilvy, of Portage la Prairie, of Scottish blood, who for the eight years' life of the Council was a Councillor and afterwards became a stipen- diary magistrate. To this same body, as already mentioned, belonged Colin Inkster, a leading man of Orkney blood, who after the abolition of the Legislative Council became Sheriff of Manitoba. President of the Legislative Council of 1871 was a notable man, Hon. James McKay. He was a man whose lineage, as having Scottish, French, and Indian blood in his veins, brought him into touch with all the elements of the population of Red River Settlement. He was a man of great physical strength, and was known as a powerful athlete and mighty hunter. He was, moreover, a natural leader of men. A part of his father's family followed the Scottish Church of his father's people, among them being Rev. John Mackay, Presby- terian Missionary at Mistawasis Indian Reserve, near Carlton House, while the Hon. James McKay followed the religion of his French ancestry and was a Roman Catholic. After the abolition of the Legislative Council Hon. James McKay became a member of the Manitoba Government.
Mention has already been made of Hon. John
Norquay as being a most useful man in Manitoba
politics in uniting together the old elements and
the new. A member of the Assembly and Province
330
Scottish Legislators
of Manitoba, of Orcadian descent, and of fine natural qualities, he passed away all too soon from the field of Manitoba public affairs.
Among the veterans of Manitoba Legislative life was Kenneth McKenzie, who came from Puslinch, near Guelph, Ontario, as early as 1868 and settled at Burnside, near Portage la Prairie. He him- self being a Gaelic -speaking Scotsman and his wife a Lowland woman, the McKenzie home became the abode of hospitality for many a new settler and land-seeker coming to early Manitoba. Even during the strenuous times of the first Kiel Rebellion McKenzie became a representative of the Provincial Council which met to consider the affairs of the disturbed country. He afterwards served a number of years as a member of ,thei Manitoba Legislative Assembly for the constituency o/f Burnside. A prosperous farmer, he obtained large quantities of land in the Portage la Prairie district, and was known by his Scottish acquaint- ances as the " Laird of Burnside." On certain occasions in the Legislative Assembly when a measure was to be " talked out," Mr. McKenzie would entertain the House by a speech in Gaelic, which produced the most uproarious scenes. Examples are given of his Highland enthusiasm and ready wit which relieved the monotony of many a debate.
Senator Robert Watson, referred to in the Canadian " Who's Who " as a Scotsman, Presby- terian, and Liberal, came from his birthplace in Western Ontario to Manitoba in 1874. The
The Scotsman in Canada
building of two mills in Portage la Prairie and Stonewall, Manitoba, stands to his credit. He was elected to represent Marquette County, Manitoba, for three Parliaments — 1882-1887-1891 — in the Dominion House of Commons. He left Dominion politics to become Minister of Public Works for Manitoba from 1892 to 1900. In the same year he was called to the Senate, and has been a useful member of that body.
Hon. Findlay Young is an old resident of Manitoba. Coming from the English-Scottish speaking districts of the Province of Quebec, Mr. Findlay Young took up the work of a farmer near the town of Killarney in Southern Manitoba. He was a member of the Manitoba Legislature and was also a member of the Greenway Government. Afterward he was called to the Senate, and by his equanimity of temper and his industry as a legislator has gained a high reputation as an upright and popular man.
Senator Jas. M. Douglas was born in Rox- borough, Scotland, in 1839. He came to Canada and studied for the ministry of the Presbyterian Church in Toronto University, Knox College, Toronto, and Princeton University. He became a pastor in Ontario, and was for six years a mis- sionary of the Church in India. Coming to Mani- toba, Mr. Douglas was minister in Brandon and at Moosomin, N.W.T. In 1876 he retired to a farm, and was elected for the House of Commons during that year. For some time he has held the position of Senator. Mr. Douglas 332
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is an active representative of the farming com- munity of Western Canada, and has been useful in leading many movements for the amelioration of their condition.
Hon. Colin Campbell, of Scottish descent and Attorney-General for Manitoba, came from Bur- lington, Ontario, to begin the practice of law in Winnipeg. On both sides a Campbell, he ,has shown the adaptability of the Argyllshire High- landers, whom he commemorates in the name of his beautiful Winnipeg residence, " Inveraray." He has been a most successful legal practitioner, is a strong adherent of the Church of his fathers, and is a member of the Board of Manitoba College.
Though not a Member of Parliament, John McDougall, the Sergeant -at -Arms of the Manitoba House of Assembly at Winnipeg, is as well known as the best of them. He is a Scotsman of the Scotsmen. He came to Manitoba in the seventies and was Postmaster in succession to Hon. A. G. B. Bannatyne. He retired to St. Andrew's Munici- pality, and has been for many years Clerk of that (municipality, of which he is a leading personality — in fact, the genius of the place. During the Legislative Session he returns to Winnipeg and instructs the new members in the routine and punctilio of the House. He is a Scotsman of " pairts."
Another of the officials of the Legislature of Manitoba is J. P. Robertson, Provincial Librarian. Born in Perthshire in 1841, he is an out-and-out
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Scotsman. For many years connected with the Press both in Ottawa and Winnipeg, he retired into the more peaceful, but no less exacting, cloisters of the Legislative Library, having lived successfully through " two administrations." His Scottish spirit has found room for its activity in a most sedulous cultivation of the St. Andrew's Society, Clan Stewart, and the raising of the 79th or Winnipeg Regiment of Highlanders. But Mr. Robertson's enthusiasm reaches perihelion as Secretary of the Manitoba Branch of the Royal Caledonian Curling Club. For years he has iwatched over its interests and succeeded in organising what is now thought to be the " Winter Meet," or " Greatest Bonspiel " in the world. Of this mention may be made more fully in a later chapter.
Coming back to Members of Parliament, mention may be made of John Crawford, of Neepawa, born in Huron County in 1856. He was formerly a Member for Beautiful Plains in the Local Parliament, and also from 1902-7 in the Dominion House of Commons. Dr. Thornton, of Deloraine, Member from 1907 to 1910 for that constituency, is an enthusiastic Edinburgh Scots- man, a fine medical practitioner, a good speaker, and a most useful citizen. John A. Campbell, B.A., of Manitoba College and University, was Member of the Legislative Assembly for Dauphin for 1907-10. A competent teacher, a successful lawyer, and a good citizen, he does honour to his nationality and Alma Mater. Dr. B. J. McConnell 334
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is a medical practitioner of Morden, Manitoba, and for two Parliaments member of the Legisla- ture for Morden. A good friend of the Church of his fathers and a most benevolent son of ^Esculapius, he is a typical Manitoban. Dr. Armstrong, also a medical man and member of the Legislature, is the energetic M.P.P. for Gladstone.
Journeying westward from Manitoba to Sas- katchewan, we find a province still more Scottish in its leading attributes than is Manitoba. When Sir Campbell-Bannerman's Cabinet was formed in Great Britain it was remarked by a London daily, in referring to the large preponderance of Scots- men found in it, that in old days the Scotsmen came down to England and drove away their cattle, but left them the land, now, said the news- paper, " They have come down upon us and taken the land as well." So with Saskatchewan.
In dealing with the Province of Saskatchewan, which became autonomous in 1905, we see all the members of the Scott Cabinet, Calder, Mother- well, and Lamont, of Scottish descent. They had, indeed, taken possession of the whole province. Hon. Walter Scott, Premier of Saskatchewan, was born in 1867 near London, Ontario, of Scottish descent and of Scott and Paton blood. He began Western life as a printer and publisher, having had the Standard, Regina, Times, of Moose Jaw, and also the Regina Leader, founded by that eloquent Irishman, Nicholas Flood Davin. Elected to the House of Commons in 1900 and 1904, he was selected to form the first
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Government of Regina ; this Government, always strong, has been twice sustained at the polls, in 1905 and 1908.
Hon. James A. Calder, LL.D., was born in Western Ontario in 1868, of Scottish descent, and grew up as a scholar in the Winnipeg schools. He graduated with high distinction as a student of Manitoba College and University. He was ,a successful teacher, school principal, and inspector in the North-West Territories, and became, on the formation of Saskatchewan, Provincial Treasurer and Commissioner of Education. It has been his duty and privilege to organise a system of public education and to establish the University of Saskatchewan at Saskatoon.
Hon. William Motherwell was born at Perth, Lanark County, Ontario, in 1860, and is of Scottish descent. Young Motherwell began life as a farmer's son, but took the intelligent and praise- worthy course of fitting himself for his life-work by attending the Guelph Agricultural College, of which he is a graduate. Seeking a wider sphere, he emigrated to Western Canada and settled in the district of Qu'Appelle, where he engaged in successful farming. Having taken a strong posi- tion in advancing agriculture, it was not surprising that on the formation of the Province of Sas- katchewan in 1905 he should be chosen for the position of Provincial Secretary and Commissioner of Agriculture. He sits in the Local Legislature for the Humboldt constituency, is an official in the Church of his fathers, and a noted advocate of temperance and agricultural reform. 336
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The fourth member of the Scott Government for Saskatchewan was John H. Lament, B.A., LL.B., a graduate of Toronto University. He was born in 1865, and descended from true children of the heather, Duncan C. Lament and Margaret Robson, of Orangeville, Western Ontario. Emigrating west to the North-West Territories, he settled at Prince Albert and practised the pro- fession of law. On the formation of the new province he was chosen as Attorney-General, representing Prince Albert in the Legislature. He was raised to the Bench as Judge in the Supreme Court of Saskatchewan, and now occupies that place with distinction (see Chapter XXVII.).
In the Parliament of Canada we have already mentioned Senator Douglas as representing the Scotsman's place in the West, but there are others. In the House of Commons one of the hard-working and reliable members is George E. McCraney, B.A., LL.B., of Toronto University. Born in 1868, when it is stated that he is recorded as of Scottish descent, a Presbyterian and a Liberal, we find the source of his success. Mr. McCraney was practising law at the town of Rosthern, but has now removed to the city of Saskatoon, and is serving his second term in the Dominion House of Commons.
One of the pushing medical men of the northern part of Saskatchewan is Dr. Neely, of Scoto-Irish descent. He is a man of great popularity, and was twice elected in the Local House for Hum- boldt, but was chosen for the Dominion Con- VOL. ii. Y 337
The Scotsman in Canada
stituency in 1908. He is a native of Grey County, Ontario, where he formerly followed his pro- fession.
John Gillander Turriff, M.P., a well-known Westerner, was born in 1855 on the St. Lawrence in Quebec Province, but settled in the Moose Mountain District of the North-West Territories, and represented the local constituency for three terms, 1884-91. He has a wide knowledge of Western conditions, and has sat for two Parlia- ments in the House of Commons. With the push of his Scottish ancestors he stands out as a sound Scoto -Canadian.
Travelling westward in search of the men who have sprung from the land of brown heath and shaggy wood we come to Alberta, with its tower- ing Rockies, which far transcend the grandeur of the mountain and the flood of the Mother Country, for Ben Nevis and Ben Lomond do not approach in height the foothills of the Rockies, and are absolutely outclassed by the mighty peaks of " Sunny Alberta." In this land the Scotsman by right has taken up his abode.
Hon. Alexander Cameron Rutherford was born in 1857 and is a graduate of Toronto, McMaster, and Alberta Universities. When Alberta was formed into a province he was called on as Premier to form a Cabinet. He is a native of Carleton County, near Ottawa, and has both Rutherford and Cameron blood in his veins. After graduating at McGill in Law he settled in Edmonton, now the capital of Alberta. As the first Premier of Alberta 338
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he was called on to establish many new institutions, among them the University of Alberta at Strath- cona, and the Alberta Normal School at Calgary. His Government was overwhelmingly sustained in 1905 and 1909. During the year 1910 he re- signed the Premiership. He resides in Strathcona.
In the Rutherford Cabinet the Attorney-General was Chas. W. Cross, a graduate of Toronto University and of a family of Scottish blood in Eastern Ontario. Belonging to the strong legal firm of Small, Cross and Biggar, he was appointed the first Attorney-General for Alberta. He re- signed his position in the Government of Alberta in the year 1910.
It is almost unnecessary to state that the Hon. Duncan McLean Marshall, an influential citizen of Edmonton, Alberta, is of Scottish descent, in- asmuch as he was born in Bruce County, Ontario, in 1872, his father's name beingi John Marshall and that of his mother Margaret McMurchy. On both sides he has the blood of the Gael. From 1891 to 1898 he was one of the most prominent leaders of the Patrons of Industry Movement in Ontario, owning the newspapers Thornbury Standard, Clarksburg Re fleeter, and Bracebridge Gazette.
J. M. Douglas, M.P., the Member for Strath- cona during the Parliament of 1909, is the son of Rev. Jas. Douglas, who was a pioneer Presby- terian missionary at Morris and Portage la Prairie, Manitoba. On both sides of his family he is of Scottish descent. He has been a successful busi-
S39
The Scotsman in Canada
ness man and filled many offices before he succeeded to his present position.
Robt. Menzies Mitchell, M.D., M.P.P. for Wey- burn, Saskatchewan, is of Scottish descent, and was born and educated in Ontario. In 1908 he was elected for the district of Weyburn, Saskatchewan.
Passing on to British Columbia we find that the ubiquitous Scotsman has taken his full share in the founding and development of the Pacific province and in its Legislative Halls. Among the most determined and successful men of British Columbia was Robert Dunsmuir. He and his wife were brainy Scottish people. Coming from Scot- land, with a knowledge of coal-mining in all its phases, he became one of the most wealthy men on the Pacific Coast. His hands were upon the mines, the forests, the railways, and the steam- ships of Vancouver Island. He was a member of the Legislature of British Columbia for years, and his wife survived him to show a remarkable capacity for business in the management of her great possessions.
Hon. John Robson was born in 1824 in Lanark, Ontario, of Scottish parents, and rose through various steps of business development until he became a prominent member of the Legislature and Premier of British Columbia. He was devoted to the Church of his fathers, and really became sponsor for a great part of the money required to erect St. Andrew's Church, Victoria, British Columbia. He was a man of high character, fine ability, and exceedingly popular. He passed away 340
Scottish Legislators
all too soon, his death being caused by an accident on a visit to London, England. He was a worthy Scot.
James B. Kennedy was a native of Ottawa, of Scottish parentage, who went to New Westminster and became one of the notable lumbermen of the Pacific Coast. Taking a very great interest in public affairs, he has filled many public offices and positions in the City Council and the Pro- vincial Legislature, and also as Member of Parlia- ment in the House of Commons at Ottawa. He is a man who has done honour to his Scottish blood in the West.
Hon. William John Macdonald, Senator, iwas born in Skye in the Scottish Hebrides. He joined the Hudson's Bay Company and entered the British Columbia Legislature in 1859, and six years after- ward became member of the Legislative Council of his province. He was called to the Senate on the entrance of the province to Confederation in 1871, has been in public life for nearly half a century, and has filled many important positions.
Hon. John Andrew Mara, of Kamloops, is the eldest son of John Mara, of Toronto. He was among the celebrated band of Canadians who in 1862 came by the westward route to British Columbia. He settled at Yale and took a large part in advocating the entrance of British Columbia into the Canadian Federation. In 1883 he belonged to the Provincial Legislature, and also became a Member of the Dominion House of Commons.
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.William Roderick Ross, M.P.P. of Fernie, is the son of Donald Ross and Ann McKenzie, Scottish residents of Rupert's Land. Young Ross was born in 1869 at Fort Chipewyan in the Atha- basca Region, and was educated at St. John's College, Winnipeg. He has been for several years in the Legislature of British Columbia, and in 1910 became a member of the Provincial Cabinet.
Alexander Henderson is Commissioner — virtually Governor — of the Yukon, where he has reduced confusion to order. To his other successes in life he has added a reputation in military affairs. He is a Major in the Volunteers and was commander of the Canadian Rifle Team at Bisley in 1891 (see Chapter XXVII.).
Hon. Daniel Alexander Macdonald was of Scottish descent, being born in Prince Edward Island in 1858 ; became a member of the Bar in his native island in 1883 ; he went west to Manitoba and was made Judge of the Court of King's Bench in Winnipeg.
John A. McDougall, M.P.P., Edmonton, is more fully described among the successful business men in Chapter XXX.
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CHAPTER XXIX
THREE SCOTTISH-CANADIAN LEADERS OF INDUSTRY
MENTION has been made of the remarkable gift for leadership by which the men of Scottish blood as members of the syndicate which planned and built the Canadian Pacific Railway added glory to the land of their fathers, thousands of miles away from the Scottish kailyards. Mention was also made of one who, in connection with American railways both north and south of the International Boundary, deserves a much fuller notice as a captain of industry. This is the now veteran Railway President, J. J. Hill. He was born at Rockwood in Ontario, not very far from the present city of Guelph, and has always been credited with having Scoto-Irish blood. Born in 1838, he went as a young man to the rising State of Minnesota and settled in its capital. When he first saw St. Paul it was merely a hamlet, but it was at that time somewhat notable a£ being the trading centre through which even from far distant Athabasca and Mackenzie River the fur catch of the Hudson's Bay Company was beginning to find an outlet to the markets of the world by
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The Scotsman in Canada
way of New York. A fur trader from Lower Canada, Norman W. Kittson, had been trading in furs in St. Boniface, opposite Fort Garry, and in his little shop had done a good business as an independent trader. He had intermarried with one of the native French families there, but on the death of his first wife married an English lady, and now found St. Paul and his acquaintance with the Hudson's Bay Company a source of profit and interest. Intercourse with Kittson led James Hill into a knowledge of Northern Minnesota and the fur trading regions beyond. One of the first ventures of the young Canadian was to make a dash into the Hudson's Bay Company territory in the matter of transport, toward which the ad- venturer had ambitions. This meant the control of the navigation of Red River, which runs through Minnesota northward to Lake Winnipeg. Though the Hudson's Bay Company was a British Com- pany, yet it had hi 1862 built the steamer Inter- national, which, as its name implied, was to ply in both countries. It was well known that it was a breach of the laws relating to coasting thus to run a British bottom from port to port in Minne- sota. As the prices of transport were high, Hill conceived the scheme of building a stern-wheel boat of the Mississippi type and running it between Minnesota and Fort Garry, and thus, being a naturalised American citizen, he could replace the Hudson's Bay Company Line, which was violating the coasting laws. Accordingly Mr. Hill built the steamer Selkirk on the Red River, loaded her 344
Three Leaders of Industry
up with merchandise in the spring, and sent her down the river to Fort Garry. Those were the good old days when fabulous prices for transport were received by the people very placidly, and it is said the rates on the merchandise carried by the Selkirk on her first trip nearly met the cost of construction of the new ship. But when the plea in her behalf was put forth that she alone could carry freight and that the International of the Hudson's Bay Company was tied up and could run no more, the popular rage in Red River Settle- ment was so great that the settlers boycotted the Selkirk. It ended in an agreement by which N. W. Kittson, who had become an American citizen, took over both boats, and no doubt was an equitable arrangement, satisfying all parties concerned. The Hudson's Bay Company was thus accustomed to oppose its assailants for a time, and then, as a rich and powerful monopoly, to combine and utilise the rising1 interests in the country. It was not surprising then, as we have seen in our chapter on Lord Strathcona, that when the opportunity arose these American citizens, both of Canadian birth — Norman W. Kittson and James J. Hill — should be prominent factors in securing the St. Paul and Minnesota Railway, which acquisition resulted in all the chief agents in its achievement becoming at one stroke men of wealth. Fur traders, steamboat agents, and railway operators, they became the earliest millionaires in the West. Time and space fail to tell of the marvellous development of the Great
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The Scotsman in Canada
Northern Railway of which this Americanised Canadian, James Hill, became the President. No doubt it had taken thirty or forty years to accom- plish it, but during that period has occurred the enormous flow of population into the North- Western United States. To that development Great Britain, the Scandinavian kingdoms, Germany, and even Canada have contributed their tens and hundreds of thousands. The net- work of the Great Northern Railway is some- thing astounding. It has been a chief factor in opening up Minnesota, Dakota, Montana, and the great State of Washington on the Pacific Coast. It has acquired other railways in the Western United States, and now the two greatest American railway financiers are Pierpont Morgan, of New York, and James J. Hill, of St. Paul. It is not necessary to enter upon the famous financial fight between Harriman and Hill, in which a seeming defeat for Hill has resulted in no diminu- tion of the power and influence of the Canadian- American financier of St. Paul. With his Scottish determination and a Canada-loving tendency Mr. Hill is taking a marked interest in the railway system of Western Canada. Branches of the Great Northern now connect Duluth and St. Paul with Winnipeg, St. Paul with Portage la Prairie, Brandon, and Regina, Spokane with Lethbridge, and the Washington State Railways with Van- couver. It is even hinted that these lines may all be connected with one from east to west, which will make the Great Northern Railway a trans - 346
Three Leaders of Industry
continental railway, with its northern extension reaching to Hudson Bay, in which latter route Mr. Hill has always been a strong believer.
Equally brilliant, and in a certain sense more remarkable than that President Hill, have been the industrial careers of two Canadians, Sir William Mackenzie and Sir Donald Mann, now of Toronto. Sir William Mackenzie, of Scottish descent, was born in 1849 at the little village of Kirkfield in Northern Ontario. Educated in a country school and at Lindsay Grammar School, he became a village school teacher and afterward a country storekeeper, which seemed the ordinary avenues to advancement for Canadians forty years ago. In time the call to the West came to young Mackenzie, as it did to James Hill, and he became a contractor of the Canadian Pacific Railway in the Rocky Mountains.
Sir Donald Mann, also of Highland descent, was born in 1853 in the Scottish district of Acton in Peel County, Ontario, and was educated in the common school. Farming and lumbering were his earlier occupations, and in the latter of these he gained his experience in handling bodies of workmen. Of gigantic figure and commanding presence, " Dan Mann " has proved himself a born leader of men. He went to Winnipeg in 1879, and on the railway construction east of Winnipeg, as well as in the far west in the unparalleled difficulties of the Selkirk Mountains, the young Highland contractor gained the reputation of accomplishing work in the same spirit as a former
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The Scotsman in Canada
contractor and manager of the Canadian Pacific Railway, who said as he led on a gang of men to a job, " There is half a fortune in leading men between the two expressions, ' Come on ' and ' Go on.' "
It was not strange that these two men, plain William Mackenzie and Donald Mann, should gravitate to one another, one having the gift of " higher finance " and the other the endowment of " high executive ability." They had both been trained in the school of stern and dominating exactitude under the hard-headed, logical Scottish method that has from the first dominated the Canadian Pacific Railway. It seems perfectly natural that these two men, in 1886, should find themselves working together and founding the firm now so well known in Canadian financial life as " Mackenzie, Mann and Co., Limited." With skill, rapidity, and success they finished the Calgary and Edmonton Railway, connecting these rival centres in at least an amity of railway service. Similarly they constructed the " Qu'Appelle, Long Lake, and Saskatchewan Railway," and with re- markable speed and efficiency connected Montreal and the Lower Provinces by the Canadian Pacific Short Line through Maine. The successful com- pletion of these somewhat large contracts gave the firm confidence to undertake the planning and building of new railway lines, which should be their own property to manage and develop. In 1896, with an eye on subsequent developments in the prairie provinces, they made arrangements with 348
Three Leaders of Industry
the Greenway Government in Manitoba to con- struct and run a railway line under the name of the " Lake Manitoba Railway and Canal Com- pany." That line of railway, running south- eastward from Winnipeg, was to give egress to Manitoba freight by connecting the south of the Lake of the Woods through North-Western Ontario with Lake Superior. The growth of Manitoba and the necessity of having feeding lines for this railway from Winnipeg to Lake Superior led to negotiations between the Mackenzie -Mann Company and the Manitoba Government by which under the name of the " Canadian Northern Rail- way," Messrs. Mackenzie and Mann entered into a working arrangement by which branch railways in all parts of Manitoba have been built for the convenience of the farmers. In accomplishing this great work William Mackenzie was a frequent visitor to London and became well known in the money markets of the world. With consummate skill he has managed to finance all his under- takings, so that he has gained in London, as a prompt, punctual, and far-seeing dealer in money, the full confidence of men who understand world- finance. Steadily the Canadian Northern Rail- way has gone forward, until now it includes the Canadian Northern Ontario Railway, the Halifax and South-Western Railway, which is a boon to the western shores of Nova Scotia, and the Inver- ness Railway. The Canadian Northern has also obtained another outlet through American terri- tory to Lake Superior in getting control of the
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" Duluth, Rainy Lake, and Winnipeg Railway." The " Canadian Northern " system of railways is of course the outstanding world-achievement of the Mackenzie -Mann Company. Piece by piece this successful combination plainly aims at becoming a transcontinental railway in competi- tion with the Canadian Pacific and Grand Trunk Pacific as a third ocean to ocean line connecting farthest east and farthest west in the Canadian Dominion. What are now the disjecta membra in Nova Scotia, Quebec, and Ontario to Lake Superior in a continuous line, with many branches, through Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta to Edmonton, need but to be connected under the magic wand of these operators in the world of finance to be a Canadian Trunk line. While they are steadily building west of Edmonton through the Yellow Head Pass, the latest develop- ments by which they have entered into relations with the British Columbia Government to connect the lines in Vancouver Island, where the Mac- kenzie-Mann Company controls large interests, to connect Vancouver City and other points in the Pacific Province, plainly reveal the scheme to make this a transcontinental line for Canada. In their railway plans they have shown much skill in choosing the right men for the development of their continental enterprises. It is but fair to mention, as railway managers or business advisers, the following Scotsmen who have aided them in their projects : Mr. D. B. Hanna, a son of the heather, was trained on a Scottish railway and 350
Three Leaders of Industry
served the Grand Trunk Railway and an American railway for a time, but came into especial notice as manager in Manitoba of the Manitoba land North-Western Railway. Entering' the service of the Mackenzie -Mann Company, Mr. Hanna has become General Superintendent and then third Vice-President of the Canadian Pacific Railway. Mr. Hanna by experience in railway management and thorough reliability of character stands pro- minently before the Canadian people as a capable and upright representative of our financial and industrial life.
Another excellent choice of this successful com- bination is that of the General Manager of the Canadian Northern Railway, M. H. McLeod, who has his chief office in Winnipeg. A splendid sur- veyor, an experienced manager, a thoroughly straightforward and upright man, Mr. McLeod stands for what is best in our Western society.
But while the Canadian Northern Railway and its connections might well satisfy the ambition of two such leaders as Messrs. Mackenzie and Mann, yet many subsidiary schemes of use to the public are found to their credit. The great electric works on which Winnipeg now relies for power are situated at Lac du Bonnet, on the Winnipeg River, fifty miles from the city, and on these depend the widespread electric railway system of Winni- peg as well as power for working machinery. The street railway system of the city of Toronto is also in the hands of these enterprising Canadians. Unitedly or personally they have also gone afield
The Scotsman in Canada
to Central America, and have introduced, and still work, the tramway system of San Paolo, as well as supplying electric lighting and driving the industries of that southern city. The waterworks and power system of Monterey in Mexico are like- wise in their hands, while a similar great power is utilised by them for supplying the needs of the great Brazilian city of Rio Janiero. Mr. Mann has also taken a patriotic interest in the Lake Superior region in developing the great iron re- sources of the Atitokan and Moose Mountain localities.
Along with those already mentioned as valuable agents in developing certain portions of the great undertakings of this Canadian Com- pany is a man of much business ability who has been long before the country as a Western developer — indeed, may now be considered almost a veteran. This is Hugh Sutherland, now Executive Officer of the Canadian Northern Rail- way. Born in Prince Edward Island in 1845, Sutherland grew up in Oxford County, Ontario ; and under the Mackenzie Government was in 1874 placed in charge of works on the Rainy River as Dominion Superintendent of Public Works. Having great industrial and administrative ability, he was an invaluable servant of the Dominion Government in a new country like the West. As is well known, the Hon. Alexander Mackenzie was anxious to connect as early as possible the Western prairies with the steamer service of Lake Superior. For this he was greatly criticised, but it was an 352
Three Leaders of Industry
honest effort to hurry forward a practical, although an imperfect, mode of transport. One of the obstacles to the " Waterways route " was Rainy River Falls at Fort Frances. Were those over- come, then a line of steamers might run from the Rainy Lake by way of Rainy River to any part of the Lake of the Woods. To overcome this Mr. Hugh Sutherland carried on for some time the construction of a canal which would avoid these falls. After the defeat of the Mackenzie Government, he was engaged in lumbering, milling, and contracting. Having been elected a Member of the Dominion Parliament for the county of Selkirk in Manitoba, he became the devoted pro- moter and indefatigable advocate of the Hudson Bay Railway from Winnipeg to York Factory. Hoping against hope, fastening his faith as a public man upon the success of a line of steamers of special construction and of a railway line of which forty miles were constructed from Winnipeg northward, Hugh Sutherland struggled in vain for a scheme which is now at last taken up and to be completed by the Government of Canada. His wide experience of the West and his undoubted mechanical and industrial ability have been for several years employed in advancing the schemes of Messrs. Mackenzie and Mann.
These three Canadian captains of industry, Hill, Mackenzie, and Mann, though not ostentatious bestowers of their wealth on much needed social enterprises, yet have always done their share in contributing handsome sums to religious, educa- VOL. ii. z 353
The Scotsman in Canada
tional, charitable, and patriotic objects. While Mr. Hill, having left the country of his birth which believes in royalty and the honours and rank' ibestowed on merit, cannot expect to rejoice in the honours of knighthood, yet Canadians of all classes of society and independent of any political or racial prejudices are glad to recognise, as of true Scottish blood, Sir William Mackenzie and Sir Donald Mann.
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CHAPTER XXX
SCOTTISH BUSINESS MEN
WHEN men come to settle in Canada from such Scottish centres as Glasgow and Aber- deen it is presumable that they know something about business. The extent to which the business of London — the great metropolis of the Empire — is carried on by Scotsmen is univer- sally admitted in London to be surprising. In banking the Scottish banks are unsurpassed for management, for wholesale shop ability three or four establishments might be selected in Glasgow or Paisley which Manchester or Birmingham can hardly equal, but when it comes to pure trading Aberdeen stands well.
In old Red River days the Scoto-Irish merchant, Andrew McDermott, easily stood first, and, as we have mentioned, his Orkney son-in-law, Andrew Bannatyne, came close behind him. The Hudson's Bay Company shop had always a number of Scottish clerks who in the old Red River days " cast up accounts " with much ability. The advent of the Canadian Pacific Railway brought in a number of business managers of high ability, and a number of them were Scotsmen. Con-
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spicuous, as the head of the largest concern in Winnipeg, and of a business requiring the very greatest skill in managing large bodies of men, is Sir William Whyte, the head of the Canadian Pacific Railway in Western Canada. Born in Scot- land in 1843, he began a business life in the office of a Scottish estate and for a time in a Scottish railway. Coming to Canada at the age of twenty, he entered the Grand Trunk service and gained rapid promotion ; he went through every grade of railway work, which admirably fitted him for the great railway work of his later life. Having occupied several positions of superintendency and management on Ontario railways, he became in 1886 General Superintendent of the Western Canadian Pacific. Since 1904 he has been second Vice-President, having the direction of all the Canadian Pacific activities from Lake Superior to the Pacific Coast. But Mr. Whyte is much more than the successful business manager of a great railway. He has been a great social, religious, and educational leader in Winnipeg and Western Canada, he has been among the leaders congregation of the Church of his fathers in Western Canada, he has been among the leaders in its missionary and general activities. As Chairman of the Board of Management of Mani- toba College he has for years done much for the good of the institution. A social favourite, his presence at all festivities has been marked by a high and distinguished stand for everything pure and noble. His gifts and charities have been 356
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notably liberal, and his treatment of the business interests of Winnipeg and the West has been most considerate. His sense of justice and sympathy for labour is so great that the workmen of his Company are willing; to leave their case in his hands whenever he will assume it. He is a noble type of Scotsman.
Among the members of the Canadian Pacific Syndicate living in Montreal, but taking a great interest in the West, is Richard B. Angus, born in Edinburgh in 1831. He has a nephew, Manager of the Bank of Montreal in Regina. As a steady business man at the helm of both the Bank of Montreal and the Canadian Pacific Rail- way, his influence and assistance are much appre- ciated in Western Canada. A former official as Western Passenger Agent for the Canadian Pacific Railway was Robert Kerr. The position filled by him in the early days of the Canadian Pacific Railway in Winnipeg needed a blend of tact and firmness. Mr. Kerr possessed both of these quali- ties. He became General Passenger Agent of the Company in Montreal, and during the year 1910 he retired.
Among the old-timers of Manitoba who have now passed away, but who deserve to be men- tioned, were two brothers, Duncan and Alexander Macarthur. They had both been in the service of the Hudson's Bay Company, and were natives of Morayshire, Scotland. Alexander was the first to come to the West from Montreal. He was a man of fine appearance, and was a cultivated
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and literary man. Being in Manitoba in the time of the Kiel Rebellion, he took a leading part as a Loyalist, and with word and pen did something to influence public opinion against the aggres- sive and vainglorious Riel. He was an expert accountant, but passed away in the second decade of the history of the province. The more sub- stantial and influential brother was Duncan Mac- arthur. He had left the Hudson's Bay Company's finance department and became the Manager in 1872 of the Merchants Bank of Canada, the first Canadian Bank that began business in Winnipeg. After a number of years Mr. Macarthur started a local bank, called the " Commercial Bank pf Manitoba." It did a good business, but was forced out by stronger and less scrupulous interests. Mr. Duncan Macarthur was a brilliant financier and a supporter of every good movement. He entered the Local Legislature for a time, and took a leading part in what was called the " Disallowance of Railways Movement." He was a public-spirited man, generous to his Church, Manitoba College, and all charity. He lived for a time in Chicago, and passed away in 1908.
Perhaps the business man doing at present the largest business in Western Canada is Mr. John D. Macarthur, a railway contractor, born in Lancaster, Glengarry County, Ontario, and, it goes without saying, of the most marked and unexceptionable Highland Scottish descent. Coming years ago to the West, he became a large timber dealer, and in later days, holding other railway contracts, 358
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became one of the chief contractors on the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway. Of a quiet and unassertive manner, he is a man of fine, equable disposition, and generous and of high principles in the different relations of life. To Church, education, and charity he is liberal. On one of his Grand Trunk Pacific contracts he had to deposit a cheque of 10 per cent, of the contract, amounting to $1,300,000.
Douglas C. Cameron, of Scottish descent, was also born in the old county of Glengarry. Mr. Cameron has become one of the most notable citizens of Winnipeg. Coming West in the early days, he was for years the head of a lumber mill in Rat Portage. Possessed of large timber limits, he moved to Winnipeg and occupies Bruce- field, one of the finest residences of the city. Although an unsuccessful candidate at the General Election for Winnipeg in the Dominion, yet there is no citizen more public-spirited or more respected. Honorary Colonel of the 79th High- land Regiment of Winnipeg, and a leader in every good movement, he is now Governor of Manitoba.
Among the most influential and respected business men of Western Canada is Kenneth Mackenzie, until lately a wholesale grocer. Of Scottish descent, a native of Woodstock, Ontario, and bred to his business in Hamilton, Mr. Kenneth Mackenzie is an old resident of Winnipeg). He is noted as a man of probity and high principle. Carrying on a branch business in Edmonton and elsewhere in Western Canada, Mr. Mackenzie has
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been regarded as one of the first business men of the country. He has always been a most liberal giver to Church, Missions, and education, as well as a leading man in the councils of the Board of Trade and other business organisations. He has now retired from business and enjoys a period of well-merited ease.
Alexander Macdonald was born in the West of Scotland and is a fine type of the brainy Scots- man. He came as a youngi man to Winnipeg, and went through the various stages of clerk, partner, and proprietor of one of the largest business con- cerns in Western Canadla. He has his new quarters in a large wholesale establishment in Winnipeg, but has branches in Vancouver, Lethbridge, and elsewhere in Western Canada. He has been Alderman and Mayor of the City of Winnipeg, and always takes much interest as an independent thinker in the politics of the country. He has been a most generous and systematic supporter of the different charities of the city of Winnipeg.
Among the most enterprising and generous members of the mercantile fraternity in Winnipeg was Robert J. Whitla. He was a Scoto-Irish- man, who came from Eastern Canada to Winnipeg in the seventies and built up a large and flourish- ing wholesale business, even when the opportuni- ties were not so good as they now are in Winnipeg. He did not enter public life to any great extent, but as a vigorous speaker and a generous sup- porter of every good cause he had not his superior in the city. He had wandered away from the 360
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Church of his fathers, but was a broadi-minded and deeply religious man. His influence for civic purity and for a high type of life was pro- nounced and unwavering.
That blood will tell, and Scottish blood at that, is shown by the business success of three grand- sons of the celebrated John Gait, the novelist. These three Gaits live in the city of Winnipeg. It is hardly necessary to recall the fact that John Gait, besides being a novelist of some note and author of such popular books in their day as " The Legatee " and " Laurie Todd," was in Canada in the first quarter of last century agent for the Canada Company, that he laid out the city of Guelph and the town of Goderich, besides having his name attached to the town of Gait in Ontario. He had two sons, who both became notable in Canadian life. One was Sir Thomas Gait, late Chief Justice of Ontario, and the other Sir Alex- ander Gait, of Montreal, formerly Finance Minister in the Macdonald Cabinet in the Dominion. George Frederick Gait, a son of Sir Thomas, lives in Winnipeg, and is head of the great grocery firm, his partner being his cousin, John Gait, son of the late Sir Alexander. They commenced early in the history of the city, and their business has grown to great proportions. They have branches of their Winnipeg House in Toronto, Calgary, Edmonton, Prince Albert, and Vancouver. They are connected with numerous local financial institu- tions, and are noted for their interest in all public charitable institutions, especially in the Winnipeg
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General Hospital. Besides this they are most liberal supporters of many sports, and it was largely through them that the Winnipeg Boating Club was financed in order to enable it to win the ribbon in the boatraces at Henley. The other son of Sir Thomas Gait in Winnipeg is Alexander Casimir Gait, K.C., who is a member of the law firm of Tupper, Gait and Tupper, of Winnipeg1. A grand-daughter of the novelist is also married to Mr. J. Stewart Tupper, of the same firm.
Among the most able and rising men of Winnipeg at the present time is Edward Brown, capitalist, who came from the good Scottish county of Huron in Ontario. Mr. Brown, with his brothers, came to Portage la Prairie in Mani- toba a quarter of a century ago, and began a general store business, in which they were very successful. They also dealt largely in the purchase and sale of farm lands, by which they realised great profits through the natural rise of land in the province. In 1905 Mr. Brown was, on account of his ability as a speaker, his social an;d financial position, and high character, chosen as the leader of the Opposition in the Local Legislature of Mani- toba. Owing to the determined opposition given him by the Government he was defeated. At the election for the Local House in 1910 he was again a candidate for election in South Winnipeg, but was defeated by a small majority. Mr. Brown is a most prominent man in the councils of the Church of his fathers, and a generous supporter of everything religious and educational. 362
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One of the oldest business men of Winnipeg, of Scottish descent and of Scottish birth, is John Leslie, the head of a large furniture business. He has attended strictly to business and has not sought prominence in civic government or in politics, either Provincial or Dominion. He is, however, a man of much information, a reader, and a supporter of education, as well as a prominent leader in Church life. He has also filled the highest offices in the Masonic Order, both in the Province of Manitoba and in the wider field of Dominion Masonry. He has been a successful business man, and may be depended on to support most liberally all good public objects.
Coming from the most easterly province of the Dominion — New Scotland — but a descendant of good forbears in " Auld Scotia," is Mr. George R.. Crowe, one of the safest and most reliable financiers of Manitoba. Engaged in the grain business, he is understood to have been success- ful in business, and is a member of companies which require financial specialists to guard them. Mr. Crowe has hitherto shown an aversion for public office, but he is a leader in Church affairs, and a most pronounced advocate of Church Union and of all movements of laymen in the interests of morals and religion.
John McKechnie is one of the veteran iron- workers in Winnipeg. His establishment, known as the Vulcan Ironworks, founded when . Winni- peg was young, ha^. grown to be a great and successful manufactory. John McKechnie has
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always stood for those qualities which his race has fought and suffered for. As an honest man he has the goodwill of everybody, and as a fair and just man he can hardly be excelled. He has always been a strong St. Andrew's Society man, a strong man for his Church, and a leading member of the School Board, which is no small distinction in Winnipeg.
Two brothers, Robert and Andrew Strang, born in Montreal, the former having passed away, were always true to the Scottish traditions passed down by their fathers. They came out from Hamilton to Winnipeg, the former more than forty years ago, the latter in 1873. Robert Strang was a financial agent, and became the head of the Board of Underwriters of the Insurance Guild. Andrew Strang, who was formerly a partner of the chief of early Winnipeg merchants, Andrew Bannatyne, has been a merchant in one connection or another since the earliest days of the province, and is now Collector of Customs for the city. Both of the Strang brothers were strong St. Andrew's Society men.
One of the latest arrivals in Winnipeg, and now head of the local Immigration Department of the Dominion Government — a most important office — is Bruce-Walker, an out-and-out Scotsman, born in Ayrshire in 1861. He arrived in Canada in 1882, and was for twenty years engaged in journalism. Going over to Glasgow, he was for several years Dominion Emigration Agent, and did much to systematise the emigration work there. 364
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He is now engaged in most congenial work in Winnipeg, and in general statistical work, publicity, and advertising, and organising the whole work of the Immigration Department probably cannot be excelled.
In the Post Office service of Manitoba two of the most prominent figures are the Postmasters of Winnipeg and of Portage la Prairie. The former of these is Peter F. Mclntyre. He belongs to a strong Scottish family from the neigh- bourhood of Perth in the county of Lanark, Ontario. Coming to Manitoba in the seventies iwith his .family, he spent several years as a teacher in the Winnipeg schools. His family being printers, he for a time became a printer with them. He was for several Sessions a member of the Local Legislature for North Winnipeg, and became a leading man among his political friends. As the position of postmaster of a city with so great a mail distribution is an important and lucrative one, Mr. Mclntyre was asked by his friends to accept the post which was offered to him by the Dominion Government. In the handsome new Post Office of Winnipeg the accommodation is of the best, and the Postmaster is efficient as any worthy Scot ought to be.
One of the oldest Post Office inspectors is M. McLeod, from Nova Scotia. The oldest post- master of the province is W. W. Miller, of Portage la Prairie, a Scoto-Irish Canadian. Born in Ontario, he has been for many years the leading postmaster of Manitoba. He has also been the
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Chairman of the Educational Board and the lead- ing spirit in the interests of advanced education in Portage la Prairie. Mr. Miller has also been the organiser of one of the largest Sunday Schools in Western Canada, and is not only a philanthropic man of high character, but perhaps the highest embodiment of the no -party man who attends to the interests of the Post Office, the Church, the Sunday School, and the public schools of his town.
Among the leading merchants of Manitoba is Mr. ;Wi. Fraser, of Brandon, whose name betrays him as of Scottish descent. He has been a pioneer in his business and a man of public spirit. Mr. Fraser has been a member of the Legislature, though at present, as his party is not in power, he is attending strictly to his business concerns. He represents the best type of business man in the city of Brandon.
Among business men few stand higher for probity and goodwill than James T. Gordon, a member of the old firm of cattle dealers, Gordon and Ironside. Mr. Gordon, of Scoto-Irish descent, was born in Ontario in 1859, and was a merchant in Pilot Mound, Manitoba. Moving to Winnipeg, he, for a number of years, represented South Winnipeg in the Manitoba Legislature. He has accumulated a great financial reward as well as the highest respect of the community.
Hon. David H. McFadden, also of Scoto-Irish parentage, was born in Ontario in 1856. Study- ing in the Veterinary College in Toronto, he settled in Emerson in Southern Manitoba. Elected to 366
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the Local Legislature, he became a member of the Roblin Ministry.
Among the most successful business men in Manitoba is William Robinson, of Scoto-Irish descent, born in 1859 in Ontario. Coming in early days to Manitoba, he made Winnipeg his home, and studied for a year in Manitoba College. He then engaged extensively in trade and took a leading part in developing the fisheries of Lake Winnipeg. He succeeded in uniting the opposing fishing interests, and became President of the Dominion Fish Company. He is a good citizen and a most generous giver to all worthy objects.
Among the earlier business men of Manitoba was the Hon. Gilbert McMicken, who was born in Wigtonshire in 1815 and died at a good age. Mr. McMicken had lived for years in the county of Essex, Ontario, and was employed in several lines of effort. In 1871, having1 been engaged in the service of the Dominion Government for some time and having performed good work in checkmating the Fenian plots against Canada, Mr. McMicken came to Winnipeg as Deputy Registrar-General. He was a good citizen, a strong supporter of the Church of his fathers, and a patriotic Canadian.
Among early settlers in Winnipeg was Col. Thomas Scott, of Scoto-Irish ancestry, born in the county of Lanark, Ontario, in 1841. He came out as a Volunteer officer under Wolseley, and in 1871 made a remarkably quick passage in the early winter with a contingent of Volunteers from Toronto to Winnipeg. He engaged in
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business, and was elected in 1880 as Member for Winnipeg in the Dominion Parliament. In 1887 he was appointed Collector of Customs in Winni- peg, in which position he remained until his superannuation in 1910. He has been an energetic and public -spirited citizen.
As showing the opportunities given to young men in Western Canada the case of Mr. George Paterson, a youth who went to Manitoba College and then into general business, gives fullest encouragement. Beginning without means, he undertook to use the water-power of the city of Brandon to produce electricity for the city, and at the same time acquired a large farm of some hundreds of acres to cultivate and improve. Everything seemed to work in favour of the young operator. He has become a wealthy man, a bene- factor to his city, and an encouragement to young men of pluck and good habits. He is a good citizen, and it is not necessary to state that he is of Scottish descent.
In Regina, the capital city of Saskatchewan, are many examples of business success. Mr. W. Martin, druggist and bookseller, coming of a Scottish family in the county of Huron in Ontario, began early in Regina, and through all the draw- backs of the capital has held his own and advanced to a competence. His whole family connection, one an M.P. for the Dominion Parliament, and others in the surrounding country have been brilliant examples of success in agriculture. The Martins deserve to succeed as they are friends of every good movement. 368
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A nephew of Mr. Martin is Mr. James Balfour, a leading lawyer in Regina. A leader in religious and educational movements, he has gained success in his business and has participated in the results from the rise of agricultural land on the Regina plain.
One of the most brilliant instances of business success recorded in the Canadian West is that of Mr. John A. McDougall, general merchant and financial agent in Edmonton, the capital of Alberta. Mr. McDougall is of Scottish descent and from the Province of Ontario. In the early seventies he came out as a friendless young man to Winnipeg to go upon a surveying party for the summer months. Duringi the winter months at Winnipeg he took advantage of a six months' course in general education at Manitoba College. Going West in the following year he journeyed by wagon trail for a thousand miles and settled in the little frontier village of Edmonton. Here, opening a small store, he united with another settler in a firm under the name of McDougall and Secord. The fur trade was the attractive and lucrative line of business at the time. This Canadian firm actually pushed out its traders and began at points to oppose the great Hudson's Bay Company itself. Later a strong French firm, the Revillon Freres, with shops in Paris and New York, also seeking furs, came to Edmonton, and McDougall and Secord sold out to them at a good price. Their regular business, along with their profits in land, made McDougall and Secord the
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strongest merchants in Edmonton, and gave them the reputation of being wealthy. Since that time Mr. McDougall accepted the office of Mayor and extricated the city from certain financial difficul- ties, and is now one of the members of Edmonton in the Local Legislature of Alberta. He is noted for his large gifts to religious, educational, and charitable objects.
Among the active business men of Calgary is an old-timer, Major Walker, who is of Scottish descent and hails from the neighbourhood of Hamilton in Ontario. While a large rancher near Calgary he has kept up his early service in the Volunteer Forces, and is thus known as Major Walker. As a man of high character he has done much to maintain the best soldierly qualities on the frontier in the neighbourhood of large reserves of Indians of several tribes. He has also been a moderating! influence in the inevitable clash between the rancher and the incoming settler who desires to farm.
One of the prominent business men of Calgary, who has been largely engaged in the railway service hi that place and elsewhere, is Reuben Rupert Jamieson, born in Ontario in 1856. He served the Canadian Pacific Railway in various capacities for thirty-five years, commencing as telegraph operator and ending as General Super- intendent. He is a man much respected for his administrative ability and uprightness. He is a member of the Ranchmen's Club, Calgary.
Among the most successful business men of 370
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Victoria was Mr. R. P. Rithet, son-in-law of Alexander Munro. Mr. Rithet has business interests in British Columbia, but now lives in San Francisco, where he manages an enormous industry. As a liberal supporter of the Church of his fathers Mr. Rithet was well known in Victoria.
Another son-in-law of the veteran fur trader, Alexander Munro, was Captain Irving, of Scottish lineage, a citizen of Victoria. He was largely interested in the steamboat industry of British Columbia.
Among the most reliable and charitable men of the Hudson's Bay Company was John Lawson, a Factor of the Hudson's Bay Company, who has long been a manager of the old Company's business in Victoria, and was for a time in Winnipeg.
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CHAPTER XXXI
SCOTTISH EDUCATIONALISTS
THE beginnings of education in the old Red River Settlement were witnessed about the year 1833, when the Selkirk colonists received among them a University man from Scotland who was to be the educational leader of the country. It is true that something had been done for the Indian children by the English Church clergyman between 1821 and 1831 ; but the advent of John McCallum, a Scotsman, and a student of King's College, Aberdeen, marked the commencement of the educational era in the Selkirk Colony. McCal- lum's School was the precursor of St. John's College, which, as we have seen, was raised and extended by another Scotsman, Bishop Machray. Founded under Church auspices, the school grew to be an independent institution, controlled by McCallum, with an allowance from the Hudson's Bay Company. McCallum died in 1849, having performed a good work for Red River Settlement, and the forces set in motion by him did much to make the settlers of all classes, as a people, superior in intelligence and education to those under the old Hudson's Bay Company regime. 372
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Reference has already been made to Archbishop Machray's work in establishing on a firm basis St. John's College in 1866. On the transference of Rupert's Land to Canada in 1870 the Scottish people of Kildonan demanded the foundation of a higher institution of learning for Manitoba. The Kildonan School had been, as was to be expected from a Scottish settlement, much the best school in the Selkirk Settlement. Here young men of promise had each in turn grown up to give p. year or two of life to the vocation of local school- master. Indeed, the Scotsman, Donald Gunn, of whom we have spoken, had made the Little Britain School, near Lower Fort Garry, the leading example in the perpetuation of the parish school of his native land. Among those who performed good service for their native parish of Kildonan was the Rev. Alexander Matheson, who left a fine reputation as a teacher. He afterwards went to Knox College, Toronto, for his theological training, and was one of the most acceptable preachers in Ontario and Manitoba for nearly half a century. In 1869 a student and trained teacher of Scottish parentage, David B. Whinster, came to Kildonan from St. Mary's, Ontario, as principal of the local school. A fine disciplinarian and an earnest teacher, he raised its standard to a high pitch of excellence, and greatly increased the attend- ance. He also had much to do in 1871 in framing an Education Bill, which, though not adopted by the First Legislature of Manitoba, yet presented a model for subsequent legislation. In 1871 a
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determined effort was made by the people of Kildonan to obtain an institution of higher educa- tion for the country. The Rev. John Black had, during 1870-71, trained a dozen young men, who were under Mr. Whinster's care, in the elements of Latin, and these were to become the nucleus of the new college. Application was made to the General Assembly of the Canadian Presby- terian Church, which met that year (1871) in Quebec, for the establishment of a college at Kil- donan. This petition was granted, and the present writer, the Rev. George Bryce, of Scottish parentage, born in Mt. Pleasant, Brant County, Upper Canada, a graduate of Toronto Univer- sity and Knox College, Toronto, was appointed to found the college and to be its first professor. He accepted the responsibility, and journeyed to Red River by way of St. Paul, Minnesota, driving four hundred miles over the prairie to Fort Garry. Thus originated Manitoba College, which com- menced work on November 10, 1871, with eleven students. The annual attendance has now reached three hundred, and it is the strongest college of the University Confederation of Winnipeg. In the year 1872, after a visit by the writer to the Synod of the Church of Scotland in Canada, the Rev. Thomas Hart, M.A., was appointed second pro- fessor in Manitoba College, taking the Chair of Classics and French. Professor Hart is the son of Scottish parents who came from Paisley, Scotland, to settle in Perth, Lanark County, Upper Canada. Educated in Queen's University, he has 374
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spent his life as an educationalist, taking1 a pro- minent part in the school and' University work of Manitoba. During the same year there came as professor in St. John's Church of England College, Winnipeg, the Rev. James Dallas O'Meara, a graduate of Toronto University. His father was an Irish clergyman who did good work in the Lake Huron district of Upper Canada ; his mother, nee Dallas, was the daughter of a Scottish Presbyterian Elder of Orillia, Upper Canada. Rising in his Church, he became suc- cessively Canon and Dean O'Meara. He was a good scholar, an eloquent preacher, and a public- spirited citizen. He died suddenly, much lamented by the community.
The name Mclntyre has become noted in con- nection with education in the Canadian West. Well known, and much appreciated for his worth and progressive spirit, is Mr. Daniel Mclntyre, now Superintendent of the Winnipeg schools. Of Highland descent and born in New Brunswick, Mr. Mclntyre early rose to prominence as an educa- tional leader in St. John. Coming to Winnipeg in the early days as a teacher, he became inspector of the city schools, and thereafter reached his present position. Under him the schools of Winni- peg have risen to a height equalled by those of but few cities in Canada. Mr. Mclntyre has been a prominent member of the Advisory Board of Education from 1891 till the present time, and has also been a useful member of the Council of Manitoba University.
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Another of the same clan is Dr. William A. Mclntyre, of Scottish descent, who was born near Perth, Lanark County, Upper Canada. Coming to Winnipeg as a teacher in the public schools, Dr. Mclntyre became interested in the training of public school teachers, and is now principal of Winnipeg Normal School. He has edited a number of school text-books, and has also taken a prominent part in higher education as a member of the Council of Manitoba University. He re- ceived his doctorate from McMaster University, Toronto.
Still another Mclntyre of Scottish descent is Alexander F. Mclntyre, a native of Glencoe, Ontario. Coming* to Manitoba, Mr. Mclntyre became a well-known teacher in the Brandon Collegiate Institute. In the course of time he took his B.A. degree in Queen's University, Kingston, and became vice-principal of the Winnipeg Normal School.
Another member of the staff of the Provincial Normal School is Mr. Sidney E. Lang, of Scottish descent, and formerly an inspector in the Mani- toba educational system. Mr. Lang has edited a number of school text-books, and occupies an influential position in the Provincial system of education.
Of Scoto-Irish descent and born in the Province of Ontario was Robert R. Cochrane, B.A., who was a graduate in Mathematics and Physics in Toronto University. After doing good work in his native province as a High School principal, 376
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Mr. Cochrane came to Winnipeg in 1888 as Pro- fessor of Mathematics in Wesley College. An excellent teacher, he was appointed Professor of Mathematics in Manitoba University. For nearly twenty years he was a member of the Advisory Board of Education of Manitoba. As a member of the University of Manitoba, Professor Cochrane always took a living interest in, and he was for several years Chairman of, the Faculty of Science. He died in April, 1910.
Younger men of Scottish descent or birth who are now making their mark in educational spheres in the Canadian West are numerous.
A well-known educationalist of Manitoba, of Scottish descent, is Dr. Andrew B. Baird, of Mani- toba College. Professor Baird was born near St. Mary's, Ontario, and was educated at Upper Canada College, Toronto. Having taken a dis- tinguished course in Toronto University and Knox College, Mr. Baird studied in Edinburgh, taking the degree of Bachelor of Divinity, and went as a pioneer clergyman to Edmonton, North-West Territory, where he laid the foundation of the Church of his fathers. Appointed as a professor in Manitoba College, he has taken a prominent part in education, and is Librarian of Manitoba College. Among younger men of Scottish descent or birth are Dr. Guthrie Perry and Dr. Dick- Fleming, both professors of Manitoba College who are making their mark as educationalists.
Dr. Walter Murray, of Scottish descent, was born near Sussex, New Brunswick, and graduated
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in New Brunswick University. He was a dis- tinguished Professor of Philosophy in Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia. On the estab- lishment of the University of Saskatchewan in 1907 he was appointed President, and is busily engaged hi building up a notable University, including Arts, Science, and Agriculture, at Saskatoon, Saskatche- wan. Three members of the staff of Saskatchewan University— Dr. Rutherford, Professor Oliver, and Professor Greig — are also of Scottish descent and are doing much toward the development of this promising University.
The influential Secretary of the Department of Education in Regina is Mr. D. McColl. His chief, Hon. J. A. Calder, is described as of Scotch descent, under the head of Legislators. Among the educationalists of the Province of Alberta is the Deputy Minister of Education, Duncan S. Mac- kenzie, a native of Ontario, of Scottish parents and hailing from the county of Bruce. As a well- known teacher in Ontario, and for some years of the Strathcona, Alberta, public schools, Mr. Mackenzie has had much to do with framing the educational system of the new Province of Alberta. Also notable as a pioneer teacher in Alberta, and now as Superintendent of Schools in the city of Edmonton, is Mr. J. McCaig, of Scottish descent. As a member of the Educational Committee in the province, Mr. McCaig has done his full share of work.
Among1 the latest to throw in his lot with the educators of Alberta is Principal Samuel L. Dyde, 378
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of Scottish descent, who has been appointed head of the new Presbyterian College of Alberta, affiliated to the University of Alberta. Educated at Queen's University, Kingston, and in Germany, Mr. Dyde was first a professor in the University of New Brunswick at Fredericton and afterwards Professor of Mental Philosophy in Queen's College, Kingston, which latter position he has filled with credit for twenty-one years. Professor Dyde has published a number of able literary productions.
In the early history of British Columbia there is little to record. While the Scottish race dominated, as we have seen, in the Hudson's Bay Company on the Pacific Coast, yet little atten- tion was paid to the advance of education. The influence of the Church of England was strong, and almost all the earlier educationalists naturally were English. In fact, as is well known, English sentiment and English ideas largely predominated on Vancouver Island. However, on the fuller organisation of the Province of British Columbia, Dr. S. D. Pope, born in 1842, a graduate of the Scottish University of Queen's College, Kingston, became in 1884 Superintendent of Education for the province. To Dr. Pope British Columbia owes much of her educational development.
John Andrew, B.A., and Rev. P. F. McLeod also had a part, in the eighties, in educational matters. Mr. D. Wilson, B.A., and William Burns, B.A., both connected with the land of the heather, became inspectors and assisted in school organisa-
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tion. The first High School in British Columbia was begun in Victoria in 1876 under G. B. Paul, M.A. ; and the second, on Vancouver Island, by Walter Hunter, B.C.L. The first High School in Vancouver was begun in 1890 by Alexander Robinson, B.A., a Nova Scotian of Scoto-Irish descent. He is now Superintendent of Education for the province. One of the most notable friends of education in British Columbia was Hon. John Robson, already spoken of in Chapter XXVIII. A native of Lanark County, Ontario, he for ten years filled the office of Minister of Education for the Western Province, but was cut off pre- maturely in 1894. He was eulogised on his death as "an esteemed friend and valued counsellor, as well as an able and eloquent advocate of our free school system." The remarkable growth of Vancouver City during recent years has caused it to be regarded as the future educational centre of British Columbia. The province has lately de- decided, through a Commission, that the University of British Columbia, which is heavily endowed with land, will be situated at Vancouver. Already by the introductory work of a branch of McGill University in Vancouver, by the erection of the Methodist College in New Westminster, by the establishment of the Presbyterian College in Van- couver, the presage of the University for the province in Vancouver has been clearly seen. The head of Westminster Hall, as the Presbyterian College is called, is Principal John McKay, of direct Scottish descent. A native of Bruce County, 38o
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Ontario, a distinguished graduate of Toronto University, and a student of Glasgow University, Principal McKay gained a reputation as pastor: of Crescent St. Church, Montreal. His energetic work for his college and his hold on the Vancouver people have given him a high place as a successful educator and college -builder. With him are associated^ as educationalists in Westminster, Pro- fessor Pigeon, a young man who graduated in Toronto University and Knox College, and was settled as a clergyman in West Toronto. As a successful man in his profession, and a leader of the younger men of the Church, he has been appointed to Westminster Hall in Vancouver.
The Rev. John A. Logan, a Nova Scotian, who went to the Pacific Coast as a clergyman near Vancouver, has entered on the financial work of the New Westminster College, and his Scottish sagacity will no doubt be evident in this sphere.
A survey of the Canadian West in the four provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and British Columbia will show the remarkable impulse given by educationalists of Scottish blood to Western civilisation and progress. The strenuous attention given by John Knox not only to a kirk in every parish but to a school close beside, and a higher institution of learning in every town, has made the Scottish people the most remarkable educators in the world. Western Canada may fairly claim recognition in this direction. No wise or fair man would minimise the work done by other nationalities in world and nation develop -
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ment, but it is patent that the Scottish people, not only in their leaders, but also in the whole body of the Scottish communities and Scottish elements in the districts of Western Canada, have been the friends and chief supporters of the school, the college, and the University in our diversified Canadian life.
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CHAPTER XXXII
SCOTTISH PROFESSIONAL MEN
The Medical Profession
AMONG the leading professional men of the West those of the medical profession hold a most prominent place. No man is likely to be more necessary or can gain a stronger hold of the affections of the people than the skilful and self-denying physician. Among all the characters depicted by Ian Maclaren in the " Bonnie Brier Bush " none so attracts us as that of Dr. McClure. We may not be able to picture the country doctor in the West with the idealistic skill with which Dr. Watson has painted his hero, but we know of scores of cases where in the midst of poverty, disease, and crime the doctor has been a true messenger of pity and helpfulness. Very often those who are diseased or vicious are poor, and so are unable to reward the doctor for his service or attention. As all the world knows, the ethics of the profession are to refuse help and treatment to no one who asks it, whatever be the financial circumstances or un worthiness of the patient.
Moreover, Scotland has turned out in propor- tion to its population a large share of the greatest physicians. Edinburgh had been a prolific seed-
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bed from which to the ends of the earth a vast number of skilful medical men have gone forth to bless humanity. Such names as Arbuthnot, Simpson, and Lord Lister not only grace the annals of Scotland, but also glorify humanity. Scottish doctors have gone " furth of Scotland " to all of the colonies and to many foreign lands as well. If there have been hard expeditions or explorations or scientific investigations of enter- prises of humanitarian effort, these Scottish exiles who have been led there have been of the same spirit as Dr. Hector in the Rocky Mountains or Dr. Richardson in the barrens of Rupert's Land or Dr. Livingstone in the " Jungles of Africa." Such men are true world-heroes. The doctors of the old Red River Settlement and Vancouver Island — Bunn and Bird and Cowan in the former, Helmcken and Tolmie in the latter — were not all Scottish, but they were men of high training, wide influence, and have been followed in Western Canada, as we shall see, by worthy successors, a large number of whom have been Scottish or of Scottish blood.
Among the oldest practitioners in Manitoba was Dr. James Cowan, of Scoto-Irish descent. For years at Portage la Prairie he served the people, being for a time in public life. As a dignified and successful man he gained a competence which his elder son, Samuel, and his younger son enjoy.
Of old standing in Winnipeg is the well-known physician of Scottish blood and Scottish adapt- ability, Dr. James Patterson. A competent 384
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medical man, a good citizen, and a man of high professional ideals, he has been an official and one of the chief supporters of the Manitoba Medical College at Winnipeg. With the greatest self-denial the doctors of Winnipeg, with little personal emolument, established and developed this school as a most worthy adjunct of the Univer- sity of Manitoba. It is pleasing to the corpora- tion to which Dr. Patterson belongs and its friends to know the high commendation which this school has received from the Investigation Committee of the Carnegie Board.
One of the most brilliant students and physicians, formerly of Winnipeg, but in late years resident in Chicago, has been Dr. Alexander Ferguson. Born of Highland parents in Ontario in 1853, and able with facility to use "the language of Eden," young Ferguson received his first training as a student and then as tutor in Manitoba College, Winnipeg. Studying medicine in Toronto, he returned to Winnipeg, and there gained a high place as a surgeon. He was one of the founders of Manitoba Medical College in 1886, and became Professor of Physiology in the infant institution. In 1889 he visited leading hospitals in Europe, and was a student of the famous Dr. Koch. For the past decade he has been a leading practitioner in Chicago, and pro- fessor in prominent institutions there. He has gained a reputation as a great surgeon and his fame is continental.
Dr. McDiarmid was a resident of Winnipeg in VOL. II. BB 385
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1882, coming to the West as a graduate of Trinity College, Toronto. He gained a good practice in Winnipeg, and became a professor of the young Manitoba Medical College. His subject in the college was Obstetrics. Like his friend Ferguson, he was attracted by the wider sphere afforded him in Chicago.
Crossing to the Pacific Province of Canada we find, as a contemporary of the two physicians named, a young Scotsman, George Lawson Milne, born in 1850 in Morayshire ; he came to Toronto Medical School and went early to practise his pro- fession in Victoria, British Columbia. He has become a medical Nestor on the Pacific Coast, and has been for years Dominion Inspector and Immigration Agent. He sat as a Member for one Parliament in the Local Legislature in Victoria.
Returning to Manitoba, a medical practitioner, who had also political aspirations, was David Howard Harrison, born in London, Ontario, in 1843, with a strain of Scoto-Irish blood, which brings him within our purview. Young Harrison took his degree in medicine in McGill Univer- sity, Montreal, and practised for a number of years in Ontario. Settling in Manitoba in 1881, Dr. Harrison entered a business career, with political aspirations, and became the Member in the Manitoba Legislature for Minnedosa. He was for a short time Premier of Manitoba ; then, following his business instincts, he became for a time a banker. He was an honourable and competent public man. He spent his last days in British Columbia.
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Moving from Eastern Canada to take up his abode in Alberta was Dr. R. Lafferty, a physician of experience and ability. Combining business with his profession, Dr. Lafferty has been for years a resident of Calgary. He has been for some time President of the Board of Health and Inspector of Indian Health on the reserves in the south of the province.
Dr. Marshall Macklin, of Portage la Prairie, is a native of Scarboro, Ontario, and was born of a Scoto-Irish father and Scottish mother. He received his medical training in Trinity College, Toronto, and graduated in 1877. Coming to Manitoba, he gained a large country practice about the town of Portage la Prairie. He was instru- mental in forming the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Manitoba. This body has to do with licensing incoming doctors and regulating the medical profession in the province. Dr. Macklin was long one of its members.
Among the oldest and most influential residents of Brandon, Manitoba, is Dr. James McDiarmid. Of Scottish descent, he may be called the father of the profession in the western part of the province. He has been a most active citizen of the " .Wheat City," and a most faithful supporter of the Church of his fathers. Dr. McDiarmid has occupied positions of trust in the city and has been its Mayor. He is a man of means and influence.
Mentioned in our chapter of Legislators was the name of Dr. Benjamin J. McConnell. Of
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Scottish descent, he was born in Renfrew, Ontario, in 1 86 1. Graduating as M.D. in Queen's College, Kingston, he settled in Morden, Manitoba. He was a prominent founder of the Morden Masonic Hospital. A man of means and of large local influence, Dr. McConnell has been twice elected a member of the Local Legislature of Manitoba.
One of the most brilliant and successful members of the medical profession in Manitoba is Dr. Robert M. Simpson, of Winnipeg. He is of Scoto- Irish descent, and was born in 1864 in Carleton Place, Ontario. Prepared in Manitoba College and Manitoba Medical College, he graduated as a Doctor in Manitoba University in 1886. He is Professor of Medicine in the Medical College. Dr. Simpson has a large and lucrative practice, and is President of the Manitoba Board of Health. In the year 1910 he was elected to the highly honourable position of President of the Board of International Health Officers of North America. He is a popular citizen.
A thorough and enthusiastic medical man of the Province of Manitoba is Robert S. Thornton, of Deloraine. Born in Edinburgh in 1863, he received the best training which the northern metropolis could afford him. Graduating in Edinburgh University, Dr. Thornton emigrated, and settled in 1884 in his present home. A man of extensive reading and taking a great interest in public affairs, Dr. Thornton sat for one Parlia- ment in the Local Legislature. He has been a prominent member of the College of Physicians 388
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and Surgeons and a member also of the Council of Manitoba University. An active member of the Church of his fathers, the doctor is an open- minded and progressive Western Canadian.
Among the most faithful and thorough medical practitioners of the city of Winnipeg is Dr. Todd. As Professor of Surgery in Manitoba Medical College he has the reputation of being a master of his subject and a most competent teacher. He is a graduate of Manitoba Medical College.
One of the most brilliant medical men of the city of Winnipeg is Dr. Edward Montgomery, of Scoto-Irish descent, and a resident as a boy of Stonewall, Manitoba. After teaching school and working diligently as a lad, young Montgomery took a most brilliant career in Natural Science in Manitoba College, and afterwards in Medicine in Manitoba Medical College. Passing as a medallist in Manitoba University, he began his profession in Winnipeg, where he has built up a large practice. Of independent views and broad hopes for humanity, Dr. Montgomery is industrious, earnest, and self-denying in his profession. He is a professor in the Medical College and an attractive lecturer.
Dr. M. Fraser, of Brandon, is the son of a retired Presbyterian minister who ended his days in Brandon, and who belonged to an important Scottish family. Dr. Fraser studied at Manitoba College, and graduated in Medicine as well as in Arts at the University. He has gained a good position in his profession, and as a man and citizen is an honour to his Alma Mater.
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Partners in a prominent medical firm in Van- couver, British Columbia, are Doctors Brydone- Jack and Munro. Both are of Scottish descent, the former being the son of a former President of New Brunswick University, and the latter a graduate of Manitoba University, Winnipeg. Dr. Munro is the Medical Health Inspector for the Dominion and a most popular physician.
Dr. Douglas, of Scottish descent, and a son of Captain Douglas, formerly of Winnipeg, grew up as a boy in Winnipeg, and took his Arts course in Manitoba College and University. He has been a diligent student, and holds the responsible position of Health Officer for the city of Winnipeg.
The Military Profession.
Among those who have devoted themselves to military affairs there have been several men of note in Western Canada who have had the patriotic Scottish fervour in their blood. Among these there were a considerable number who came up to the West with the Wolseley Expedition who have been mentioned under other heads. Among these well-known examples was Col. William Nassau Kennedy, of Scoto-Irish blood, who was born in 1839 at Darlington, Ontario. The impulse he received in the Fenian Raid of 1866 and as a member of the Red River Expedition in 1870 was with him to the end of his life. In 1873 he organised the Winnipeg Field Battery. He became 390
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Registrar of Deeds for Manitoba, and was Mayor of the young city of Winnipeg for two years. In 1884 by the appointment of the Imperial Government he organised the Manitoba Contingent of Nile Voyageurs for the relief of General Gordon. A son of Colonel Kennedy, John N. Kennedy studied in Manitoba College, passed through Kingston Military College, and has risen to a high place as an officer of the Royal Engineers in the British Army. Successful in his work on the Nile, Col. Kennedy was on his return taken ill in London, and died in 1885. He was buried in Highgate with high military honours, the Duke of Cambridge and Lord Wolseley both being in attendance. Col. Kennedy was a man of high character and universally beloved.
One of the best known Canadians is Col. S. B. Steele, born in 1840 in the county of Simcoe, Ontario, and possessed on his mother's side of the warlike blood of the Macdonalds of Islay. Since the Fenian Raid of 1866 Col. Steele has been a soldier, and was in the Red River Expedi- tion of 1870. He rose to the command of the Royal North-West Mounted Police, and in the Saskatchewan Rebellion received medals and honours, after his successful pursuit of Big Bear. In the trying times of the Yukon rush the Colonel was virtually in charge of that country. His greatest distinction was in being chosen as Commandant of the Strathcona Contingent in the Boer War. He received many recognitions of distinction for his work in South Africa, and
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is still in command of the Military District of Winnipeg.
Another Western soldier of distinction is Lieut. - Col. Aylesworth Bowen Perry, of Scottish United Empire Loyalist descent, being further allied to the Scottish race by marriage. Col. Perry was born in Lennox County, Ontario, in 1860, and had the distinction of belonging to the first graduating class of the Royal Military College, Kingston, and carrying off high honours there. He was appointed an officer in the Royal Engineers, but on account of poor health re- signed his position. Entering the Royal North - West Mounted Police, young Perry served in the suppression of the Saskatchewan Rebellion, and became Commissioner of the Mounted Police Force in 1900. He had also been honoured in being in command of the detachment of his force taking part in the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria. Col. Perry is still in the active service, being stationed at the headquarters at Regina.
One of the most steady cultivators of the military vocation in Winnipeg is Col. Henry Ruttan, who is of mixed Huguenot and Scottish blood. He was born in Cobourgf in 1848, and was engineer and contractor on the Intercolonial and Canadian Pacific Railways. He served as an officer in the Fenian Raid and North-WTest Rebellion, and for years was Colonel of the Qoth Regiment of Winnipeg, which regiment the citizens hold hi highest honour. As City Engineer he has done a great work in building up the growing 392
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city of Winnipeg, with all its difficult problems and great developments. He was honoured in 1910 by being elected to the Presidency of the Canadian Society of Civil Engineers.
Diplomacy.
In closing this chapter on professional men, to which many more names might be added, we have one example of the diplomatic profession, who, though an American citizen, was, for the long period of twenty -three years, under both Repub- lican and Democratic Administrations, Consul for the United States in Winnipeg, and was a thoroughly Western man. This was Consul J. W. Taylor, who was born in New York State, and who, though reticent as to his nationality, was a strong Presbyterian and a most ardent devotee at the Shrine of St. Andrew — the Scottish Saint — on his anniversary day. Coming to Minnesota in 1853, Taylor followed the life of a Govern- ment official, and was soon attracted by the possi- bilities of the Red River country, which he visited in the early sixties. Seeing then with almost prophetic vision the greatness which so many of his countrymen have since recognised and the value of the Canadian West, and being an enthusiastic advocate of it, he became familiarly known as "Saskatchewan Taylor." He was, in 1870, by President Grant appointed Consul to Winnipeg. His constant reports to the Bureau at Washington kept before the world the claims of the West.
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He was a universal favourite, sought out the first prairie anemones in the spring to bring them as presents to his friends, and again marked the close of the open season in the autumn by carrying the ripe fruits of the cratsegus and other sprigs to his acquaintances. His ability and stores of knowledge were joined to a modesty and delicacy quite rare. Consul Taylor was noted as an orator, and took a full part in all movements of social advancement. He was the very essence of good- humour and kindness. He passed away, univer- sally regretted, hi 1893, and so much was he regarded as a citizen of Winnipeg that a painted life-size portrait of him hangs in the Winnipeg City Hall among the array of city Mayors.
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CHAPTER XXXIII
SCOTTISH FARMERS OF THE WEST
THE writer need make no apology for intro- ducing our successful farmers in company with professional or mercantile men. Virgil, not long after the Christian Era, wrote his famous classical poem, " The Georgics," in which in well- turned periods he makes the art of the farmer celebrated. The farmer is nearest to the land, and the worker who follows the most historic of occupations, begun when " Adam delved and Eve span," need take no second place in the catalogue of men. The " brown heath and shaggy wood," emblematic of sterility, with its mountains over which no plough can be drawn to leave a furrow, with its " flood " of many lochs, and bogs, and firths, is not an ideal land for the farmer. But Scottish pluck and Scottish thrift have re- claimed " carse lands," and cleared stony wastes, and drained swampy districts until the Lothians, and Aberdeen, and Berwickshire produce the best farmers in the world, and show the highest reach of farming skill and industry in the British Empire. When the Scottish settlers went to Rupert's Land a century ago, they were not the class, whether
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Orkneymen or Highlanders, to develop agricul- ture. Many of them were crofters — that is, they could fish better than they could farm. But Lord Selkirk's executors in 1822, learning that the prairies were fertile, undertook to teach the colonists by example. In the year named they sent out as a model farmer Manager Laidlaw, a Scottish agriculturist, to teach the colonists how to farm. The good scheme was most unwisely carried out. " Hayfield Farm " was chosen at a thoroughly satisfactory spot on the Assiniboine River, west of Fort Garry, and the promoters, " paying a high salary to the manager," " erected ample farm buildings, barns, yards, and stables." Everything was badly managed, and after a few years the " Experimental Farm " was given up, with a total loss of £3,500. Governor Simpson, with Scottish tenacity, next tried the " Assiniboine Wool Company," this time to fail before the first pay- ment for stock was made. So that, as was re- marked, there was "much cry and little wool." Another experiment was undertaken under the name of the " Flax and Hemp Company." The flax grew, a fine harvest was reaped, but there was no market for the product. Surely Scottish shrewdness might have foreseen such a result. But when neither gentleman farming nor linen manu- facture seemed to succeed, it was taken for granted that the wild prairies would supply unlimited pasture for sheep.
In the twenties, however, the second Experi- mental Farm was begun on the Assiniboine, and 396
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to show that it had the full support, both theoretical and financial, of Governor Simpson, a Scottish Hudson's Bay Company officer, Chief Factor McMillan, was appointed manager. An expensive stallion, costing1 £300, was brought from Britain, high-priced American mares were im- ported, and costly implements were purchased. Mismanagement and extravagance also led to this farm being given up, and with a heavy loss. In 1838 a third Experimental Farm was begun, under Captain G. M. Gary, but it soon passed into the limbo of failures.
In the thirties Robert Campbell, a shepherd from West Perthshire in Scotland, along with Burke, one of Lord Selkirk's earliest settlers, was commis- sioned to buy 1,500 sheep in Kentucky and bring them to the prairies of Red River Settlement. Going to the proposed destination they found exorbitant prices prevailing, and went a hundred miles farther. They had to drive their flock some fifteen hundred or more miles, over rough prairies infested with spear grass, and the distance and obstacles led to only 250 of the sheep, and those lame and wounded, reaching the banks of the Red River. The men showed true Scottish pluck, but the scheme was quixotic. Even then the settlers, urged on by Governor Simpson, did not give up, but founded a tallow company, which failed.
Thus farming in Red River Settlement in the old colony days never met with much success. The people could only count on eight bushels of grain a year to be purchased from them by the
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Hudson's Bay Company. This, and a precarious sale in the Indian country, was their whole de- pendence. There was, however, plenty in the land for man and for beast, and a number of enter- prising Scotsmen owned mills which made a flour, if not of the highest grade, yet of a nutritious character.
Those happy millers of Scottish blood were : George Flett, James Inkster, Thomas Logan, Hugh Poison, R. Sanderson, and Cuthbert Grant, our old acquaintance, now settled down to the arts of peace .
The establishment of a newspaper called the Nor' -Wester in 1859 did something to open up the hitherto hermit colony of Red River. News of a farming country of the greatest fertility reached the Press of all Canada. A number of Scottish families from near Guelph in Ontario reached Red River Settlement by way of St. Paul, Minnesota, making a journey of some five hundred miles in their covered immigrant wagons, their eyes being fixed on the North Star as their guide, as they looked out at their camping-places on the lonely trek. These men were John McLean, and in 1862 followed by Farquhar McLean and Kenneth McBain. With the eyes of graziers and farmers they journeyed to Portage la Prairie, and settled there in the " Garden of Manitoba." In 1868 there arrived on the scene another notable farmer from near Guelph, Kenneth McKenzie, whom we have already met as one of the legis- lators of Manitoba in Chapter XXVIII. McKenzie 398
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immediately began farming upon a large scale, and became for many years the chieftain of the clan of husbandmen. He accumulated whole regions of valuable land, and he and his sons were representatives of the best traditions of Scottish farming. Beside him lived a well-known farmer, Hugh Grant, hailing originally from Nova Scotia, but coming from Ontario with his reputa- tion as a farmer well established. He and two other brothers became leading farmers in the Portage la Prairie district. Many of their country- men followed them to that district, which might rank as the Lothians of Manitoba, from its Scottish atmosphere. In the north of this region, main- taming a great grazing farm, was Mr. Walter Lynch, a leading farmer. In Manitoba the Brandon district has always challenged com- parison with the Portage plains. In some particulars the Brandon countryside excels. The experiences of a well known and typical farmer in this district may serve as a picture of hardship and success in the early days of Manitoba. We have chosen James Milliken, who was born in the middle of the last century in Berwickshire. In his Scottish home the love of the farm animals had been a passion with him from his childhood. In 1883 Milliken arrived from Scotland, and at once took up land on Pipestone Creek in the Brandon region. His first crops were bitten by the frost. His market town was twenty-four miles distant, and it took three bushels of wheat to realise one dollar. Failure followed failure, but
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in 1887 a bumper crop of 2,500 bushels of wheat gladdened his heart, and he began to assume the air of a Scottish laird. Three years later wheat had risen to a dollar a bushel, but failure came again. However, Milliken was a prudent farmer, and instead of " putting all his eggs into one basket " he followed mixed farming, with an in- telligent rotation of crops. This Scottish farmer's experience is worthy of recounting on the side of stock-raising, but we refrain. Milliken and his wife and six children, of whom five are girls, now live in their comfortable home, the centre of a farm of 640 acres. They are an intelligent family and much respected. Success in this case has been attained by Scottish pluck and perseverance. Different districts in Manitoba are known as " Scotia," " Scotch Settlement," " New Scotland," and the like. This tells its own tale, for Pilot Mount and Virden, Hamiota, Gladstone, Neepawa, Miami, and many other centres, being fertile regions, are good farming districts, and illustrate the saying that if there is a good thing to be found a Scotsman will be there. Perhaps best known of Scottish farmers and fruit-growers in Manitoba is Mr. A. P. Stevenson, of Nelson. He is commonly spoken of or known as " Sandy Stevenson." Coming to Manitoba as a Scottish lad of twenty in 1874, and knowing how they farm in Perthshire, Scotland, Stevenson home- steaded near Nelson at the foot of Pembina Mountain. Floods and grasshoppers were the enemies of his early efforts at farming. On his 400
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first arrival from Scotland, Stevenson had, in Scarboro, Ontario, passed two years among the apple -growers, and it was probably this experi- ence which led him to experiment in horticulture. Old settlers had decided that no apple other than the crab -apple could be grown in Manitoba. The Experimental Farm at Brandon, with the full resources of Government behind it, has certainly failed to grow apples. It was reserved for this modest but enterprising Scotsman to compel success in apple -growing. Acting intelligently, he sheltered his place well with trees, bushes, and undergrowth ; then he sought out in Minnesota, the State lying south of Manitoba, certain varieties of Russian apples, which had been acclimatised there, where the climate is similar to that of Manitoba. Protecting the trees from mice and rabbits in the winter and from the sun scald in spring, the experimenter succeeded in planting and developing his orchard, and the writer can certify that, on a visit to the Nelson farm, he saw ten or twenty varieties of large and beautiful apples in the autumn season. In a late year Stevenson produced from fifty to a hundred barrels of apples. Many of his neighbours are now learning his secret.
A few years ago Mr. Stevenson was appointed Forestry Inspector for Manitoba by the Dominion Government, and co-operated with the Brandon and Indian Head Experimental Farm in a scheme of tree-planting for the farmers of Manitoba. By skilful methods of soil preparation and cultiva- VOL. n. cc 401
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tion millions of trees have grown up in wind- breaks as protection on the prairie farms. This will stand as this worthy Scotsman's greatest achievement. As Manitoba is a farming province, it is also right to mention the hardships and success of such men as John Gray, of Brandon, James Duthie, and Wm. Laughlin, of Hartney— all good farmers and good Scotsmen.
In Manitoba a number of residents of Winnipeg and other urban centres have carried on farming with great success. Perhaps some of them may have been like Henry Ward Beecher, who had a farm up the Hudson above New York, and said he had not made money from it, but he had gained a great deal of experience. Among these enter- prising business leaders are such men of Scottish blood as Robert H. Bryce, with his "Sturgeon Creek " farm ; William Martin, on the " Plum Coulee " farm ; and George Paterson, of the " Brandon " farm.
It would be doing Manitoba scant justice to fail to mention the Manitoba Agricultural College, near Winnipeg, which is the farmer's friend and mentor. Here the Manitoba Government is said to have spent $600,000 in establishing an institu- tion of the greatest value. Principal Black has all the marks of a man of Scottish blood, and he is assisted by Scottish or Scoto-Irish colleagues, although one of his staff, Mr. S. A. Bedford, long the director of the Brandon Experimental Farm, and now an able professor of the Agricultural College, has not been able to satisfy the writer that he is of Scottish blood. 402
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With its classes for farmers' daughters as well as sons this college is one of the most successful and useful, as well as one of the most popular, institutions of Manitoba.
Whatever may be said in favour of the Manitoba farmers in a greater degree can be declared of those of Saskatchewan. Years ago it was the great home of the buffalo, and to-day it is the paradise of a class of farmers who are exceedingly enter- prising. When it is stated that the Hon. W. R. Motherwell, who is Minister of Agriculture, is a graduate of Guelph Agricultural College as well as a practical farmer, it may be realised how real a thing scientific agriculture is to become in Saskatchewan. North of Regina, in the neigh- bourhood of Lumsden and Forest, is a large settle- ment of Canadians of Scottish blood who have had marvellous success as farmers. Here are the Martins, Balfours, Smiths, Millers, Wilkies, &c., whose great operations in wheat-growing have made the region celebrated. Two brothers, Messrs. Mutch, of Scottish descent, have large possessions in farms, and especially in horses, which they breed with great success. In the south-eastern part of Saskatchewan is a noted farming district along the slope of Moose Moun- tain. Leaving Strathclair, a Scottish settlement, in North-Western Manitoba, through the fine district of Moosomin, where Scottish agricul- turists abound, a party of Canadian Scotsmen went in 1872 and made the Moose Mountain Settlement. Then came the Crerars, the Hislops and Lees,
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the Kippens and McEacherns and McNabs, and a' and a', who built houses on their homesteads, seventy miles from the nearest railway station of Moosomin, which for years was their market town. Afterwards arrived the Maclarens and Lawtons and Hydes, and others who built up the settlement. Later the Eastern branch of the Canadian Pacific Railway gave them an outlet to the twin towns of Oxbow and Alameda, where they marketed their grain, though they were still thirty-five miles distant from the railway. A few years afterward the fertility of the district led to a branch rail- way going through these fine settlements, and the name of their town, Arcola, was given to their new railway line. Among the first settlers of the "trek" of 1882 was a young Scotsman from Stirling, William Henderson Bryce. Of modest manner, but of most determined disposition, Mr. Bryce has risen to be the greatest farmer of the district. Not only has he become a great wheat farmer, but also a most noted breeder of Clydes- dale horses. His importations of high-bred animals from Scotland have reached some thirty or forty thousand dollars, and he has again and again swept the field for prizes at the agricul- tural fairs of Winnipeg and Brandon. Mr. Bryce's farm buildings are equipped with all modern im- provements. He is an Elder in the Kirk and a most substantial citizen.
The future of agriculture in Saskatchewan is secured by the splendid provision being made in the erection of the Agricultural College in con- 404
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nection with the Provincial University at Saska- toon. Not only are many of the professors men of Scottish blood, but especially Professor Ruther- ford, Dean of the College of Agriculture, is a fine example of the patient, thorough, and practical agriculturist, who does credit to the land of the bluebell and heather.
Going westward to Alberta — " sunny Alberta — new problems meet the agriculturist, and here " dry farming " is the method desired for meeting the conditions. The rainfall of 16 inches in the year, or in some localities only 8 inches, requires a change in the modes of farming from those followed in Manitoba ; and while the northern part of the province about Edmonton has a good rainfall, yet the south requires conservation of the moisture as well as the use of irrigation methods in overcoming the drought. Alberta is fortunate in possessing a true man of Scottish blood in George Harcourt, Deputy Minister of Agriculture, who has his headquarters at Edmonton, the capital. He had already won a reputation as an agricultural editor and specialist in Winnipeg before going West to Alberta.
This is a province of great varieties of agricul- ture. Hitherto it has been best known in its southern districts for horse and cattle ranching, though in later years the farmer is replacing the rancher even in Southern Alberta, while farther north grain and mixed farming are being much developed. One of the veteran Scottish-Canadian ranchers of Alberta is Col. Walker, in the neigh -
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bourhood of Calgary. As a soldier, a farmer, and a public-spirited citizen he has been notable. If we seek for a type of the successful Alberta rancher, he is sure to be a Scotsman, and we find one in Bryce Wright, Esq., of De .Winton, near Calgary. Born in Ayrshire, Scotland — a shire noted for its Scottish lore and song, but as well for its famous breed of cattle — Bryce Wright grew up and was well trained on his father's farm. Leaving home, he became under factor on the farm of Col. Anstruther in Fifeshire. Here he had experience in dealing with Shorthorn cattle and Clydesdale horses. Coming in 1886 to Canada, he settled down in De Winton, where he has a farm of eight hundred acres, containing a stud of thirty horses, a herd of forty Shorthorn cattle, and a flock of Oxford sheep. He has been a most useful leader in scientific agriculture, acting as a judge of animals at agricultural fairs, lecturing in provincial agricultural schools, and prominent in breeders' associations. Bryce Wright and his Scottish relative, John A. Turner, are credited with the foundation of the production of Clydesdale horses in the Province of Alberta.
Every part of the province has its good farmers, and many of them have Scottish blood. There is James Ramsay, of Priddie ; Alexander Black- wood, of De Winton ; Charles Stewart, M.P.P., of Sedgewick ; Hugh Mclntosh, of Macleod ; George Duncan, of Innesfail ; and John McPherson, M.P.P., of Spruce Grove. Mr. McPherson is a Canadian Scotsman, born in Brant County, 406
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Ontario, who has become a leader in Alberta. An effusive writer, speaking of the Alberta farmers, many of whom are credited with being fine specimens of men in stature and intelligence, says : —
" To be big, to be good-natured, to be Scotch, to live where the Rockies rear their everlasting peaks into the blue ether, to love good stock, and to have the respect of men, these are things worth striving for, aye, worth living for. Scot- land has contributed more than cattle and horses to the upbuilding of the live-stock industry of the Canadian West. Strange, when one come to consider it, how large is the number of Scots, or men of Scottish descent, whose names are to be written first in the record of those who have a hand in the making of our live-stock history. May their numbers never grow less."
Crossing the mountains to British Columbia Scotsmen, as we have seen, have taken their full part. In farming, however, British Columbia has been less noted than in mining, fishing, and shipping. However, nestling in the great mountain valleys or along the valleys or deltas of the mighty rivers, localities are found where farming and fruit- growing can be carried on with great success.
The price of land being so great in British Columbia, it is not surprising that the chief farmers of the province have been rich men engaged in other business, who had a taste for agriculture or horticulture. Among Scottish merchants are R. P. Rithet, who was mentioned in Chapter XXX.
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A true Scotsman, he has become one of the largest ranchers in the province. The present Lieutenant - Governor, T. W. Patterson, in business as con- tractor, and referred to in Chapter XXVII., has a large ranch on one of the islands of the Gulf of Georgia, and another In the New Westminster district. Two officers of the Hudson's Bay Com- pany, Dr. Tolmie and Mr. A. C. Anderson, both of whom have passed away, and of whom sketches have been already given in Chapter XX., were engaged in farming, the former near Victoria and the latter near Saanich. In the last few years the Okanagan Valley has come into prominence as a fruit-growing district. The pioneer in this de- partment was a Scottish nobleman, Lord Aberdeen, who when Governor-General of Canada took a liking for this upland valley, and began near Vernon the now well-known Coldstream Ranch. His example and influence have led many others to follow him. The land in the lower half of this valley required irrigation, and great works have been built, carrying the water to the points where it was needed. A number of Scottish gentlemen, retired officials from India, have ranches in this region. Many prominent Scotsmen from different parts of Canada have invested monies in the Kelowna, Peachland, Summerland, and Penticton fruit orchards. Scottish pluck and intelligence will no doubt be found taking the lead in making British Columbia the great source of supply for the fruit absolutely necessary for the health and delight of the denizens of the prairie provinces 408
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of Alberta and Saskatchewan ; and British Columbia will dispute with Ontario the super- macy in supplying the midway Province of Manitoba.
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CHAPTER XXXIV
SCOTTISH SOCIETIES IN WESTERN CANADA
BECAUSE the Scotsman is eminently religious, holds strictly to his principles, and is in nature unyielding and hard to move, superficial observers are apt to misjudge and misunderstand him. He has humour, but very little wit. Even the Scoto- Irishman of Ulster differs greatly from the " witty Pat " of the Hibernian or Milesian type. But in the Scottish nature there is a gleeful and sun- shiny side. No nation in the world has such a song literature as Scotland, and the lyric which appeals to the pleasurable and joyful on the one hand, or the pathetic and melancholy on the other, is the special quality of verse most Scottish. It is true Scottish music which accompanies the Scottish verse may not have the compass or com- plexity of the classical music of some of the European nations, but looked at from the stand- point of expression, either of the joyful or the pensive, it stands supreme. The nation that pro- duced a Burns cannot be called of a cold or purely intellectual nature. To Scottish noble and to Scottish peasant alike the social side of life makes a strong appeal. To the Frenchmen the High- 410
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landers with their kilt and jaunty feathered cap, with dirk and philabeg, albeit clothed in the " garb of old Gaul," appear bizarre, if not barbaric. He speaks of them as " Sauvages Ecossais." The Frenchman is the gayest of men, the Highlander is the most passionate and deep-feeling of men. We may admit, as did Ian Maclaren, that the Lowlander is sardonic and logical to a degree, but has also in him depth of feeling and warmth of conviction. It is the love of society, the feeling of " Hae'in a frien' " and of having a " crack thegither " that has led Scotsmen all the world over to celebrate St. Andrew's Day. It is true that logical Scotland, while very tenacious about keeping " the Sabbath day," will not stand for the observance of Saints' days. The Scottish trades- men who, compelled by law, had to keep " All Saints' Day," in the old days, and put up his shutters on that day, objected to do the same a month afterward on St. Andrew's Day (November 30th), asking the question, " Whaur was Saint Aundry when a' the rest were hae'in their day? " The Scottish merchants of Montreal carried their custom of keeping St. Andrew's Day away into the North-Western wilds of Canada before the end of the eighteenth century. Daniel Harmon, a trader of that time, relates that the flag was hoisted at the fort, and the Indians readily fell in with the custom as well as in keeping New Year's Day. Another old custom which was transplanted to Canada was " Hogmanay," which brought an element of pleasure.
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The establishment of St. Andrew's Societies in . Western Canada dates from the time of the Canadian occupation, although some few years before Portage la Prairie Scotsmen observed the day. The Portage la Prairie bard, William Gerrond, thus discoursed : —
All hail to our forefathers,
The brave, the true, the bold, Who left us an inheritance
More precious far than gold !
And may their sons in every land
Forever have to show As good a record as was shown
A thousand years ago !
The writer arrived in Winnipeg near the end of October, 1871. It was in that year that the St. Andrew's Society was organised, and had its first public dinner. Donald A. Smith, now Lord Strathcona, was the first president. The dinner was held in a vacant building on Main Street, near the present Bannatyne Street. The hall served very well, and notwithstanding the severity of the cold, the warmth of Scottish hearts atoned for the weather of that evening. Though a reorganisation took place some eight years afterwards, yet the St. Andrew's Society of Winnipeg has been from that day to this a feature of the city life. Its rooms are always open to receive the members — to any " lonely Scotsman " — its activities go toward assist- ing the new-comer or unfortunate Scotsman with 412
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sympathy and needed help. As its chaplain for many years, the writer recalls with pleasure presidents who have served it : Donald A. Smith, A. G. B. Bannatyne, Col. McMillan, Gilbert McMicken, John Emslie, Robert Strang, J. P. Robertson, John McKechnie, D. C. Cameron, Kenneth McKenzie, John Leslie, D. H. Telford, Henry Cameron, Andrew Strang. The installation of officers was always held with due formality, the chaplain on the nearest Sunday delivered in one of the churches of the city a suitable sermon which the Society attended in a body. At the dinner the addresses were always inspiring, and Scottish song and story poured forth " that nicht " ; the enthusiasm of the occasion was all of the greatest.
Some twenty years ago there was organised in Winnipeg a branch of the Royal Order of Scottish Clans — an international organisation more strongly developed in the United States than in Canada. This is a benevolent and co-operative benefit society. The branch in Winnipeg is called " Clan Stewart, No. 92." It has a Chief, Tanist, Chaplain, Secretary, Treasurer, Henchman, Senes- chal, and other subordinate officers. The order has a beautiful ritual, and a cap and plaid of Stuart tartan with a badge. The Clan has grown to be a powerful society, meeting fortnightly, and aiming at keeping up by papers, lectures, and con- certs the customs, literature, music, and influence of Scotland. The Clan has by its insurance fund been of service to the widows and orphans of deceased clansmen. There is also a Scottish
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Woman's Auxiliary Society. • As having been chaplain from the beginning of the Clan till the present time, the writer can speak of the value of receiving and directing young Scotsmen coming from the Northern land to .Western Canada.
Another organisation in Canada, called " The ^/ Sons of Scotland," has for a number of years existed in Winnipeg as well as in certain other centres of Western Canada. .While the Royal Order of Scottish Clans has not more than six or eight clans in Canada, the Sons of Scotland have had many. The two organisations are based on very much the same principles, both being benefit societies for the members.
The Caledonian Societies in Western Canada, of which the most important are those of Winnipeg and Vancouver, are largely devoted to cultivating athletics. They usually have a great meet in the summertime, when local members and also a number of distinguished athletes from a distance take a part in the Scottish sports. Great crowds turn out to these events, and the opportunity is given on the open field for the display of cap and feather, plaid and kilt, and philabeg and sporran moloch, as well as cairn-gorm dagger, of stockings and neatly made " shoon," all of which display to advantage the muscle and brawn of the contestants and members. Of course the chief events are Scottish : throwing the caber and " stane," the tug-of-war, races, jumping, vaulting, and the like make up the hardy sports. In later years prizes have been given for the best dressed 414
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girls of different ages, and for the best dressed man in Highland costume. Dancing the Highland fling still keeps up the highly vigorous exercise for which the ancient Caledonians were celebrated. Without the " skirl of the bagpipes," however, any Scottish entertainment would be incomplete. While six pipers abreast cannot always be obtained as in the dinner parties in Holyrood Palace hall during the Assembly meetings in Edinburgh, yet Winnipeg has a pipe band of eight or more pipers maintained by Clan Stewart, and this gives spirit to any large Scottish gathering or meet, where it is regarded as a necessity.
It is true the Philistine, and the Englishman, who had occasion to remember the pipes at Bannock- burn, may make sport of the bagpipes after the manner of an announcement made some time ago by a Vancouver newspaper. It said, " We announce that the pipe band will start at 1 1 o'clock to- morrow from Hastings Street for the Caledonian gathering at the park ; we make this announcement in order that ordinary citizens who are not Scotch may take to the woods." Notwithstanding all such criticisms the Scottish heart warms to the plaid and thrills at the slogan of the pipes.
In the city of Victoria there exists a most notable and successful society known as " The Sir William Wallace Society." For years this society has been a rallying-point for the many retired officers and men of the Hudson's Bay Company on the Pacific Coast, for the Scottish merchants, who as usual take a prominent place in the city, and for all sons
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of the heather. This society has by literary means and by a high standard of membership and skilful management advanced the " name and fame of Scotland."
Winnipeg and other parts of Western Canada have during late years celebrated the birthday of Robert Burns by holding a banquet.
Our Monarch's hindmost year but one Was five-and-twenty days begun ; 'Twas then a blast of Januar' win' Blew hansel in on Robin.
This is the bard whom all Scotsmen honour. It is found very convenient in most communities, as winter is getting through, to have a national festival. Burns is everybody's hero. His country- man, Carlyle, has shown in its peerless essay the grounds for Burns having such a grip on the minds of his countrymen. He was a true poet, for he spoke the universal voice of humanity. Lord Rosebery, in 1896, at the great commemoration of the death of Burns, both in Dumfries and "Glasgow, was able, as a man of culture and a scion of an old nobility, to signify the claim of Burns to the world's respect and admiration. And it is this common feeling of humanity and of essential one- ness expressed by such representative Scottish peers as Lord Rosebery, the Earl of Aberdeen, and the Duke of Argyll that makes peer and peasant one, in speaking of themselves, not according to the accident of birth, but by the common feeling of equality, on the roster of " sense and worth " 416
Scottish Societies in Western Canada
simply as Scottish men. These are radical days, and this is the reign of the common people both in the British Isles and Canada ; but respect for character, attainments, and deserved influence is the only just criterion by which a man in public or, private life may be judged. It is accordingly a good sign of the times when, while not defending Burns in all particulars, but doing as Lord Rosebery did, claiming for him considera- tion as a brilliant genius of the race and as an honest man, we unite as Scotsmen are doing, not for mere hilarity, but to inspire lofty aspirations after human freedom and manly equality, in Burns Clubs throughout Western Canada. Burns Clubs now forgather at many points on January 25th from year to year.
Perhaps the crowning success of Scottish nationality in Western Canada is the spread of the great Scottish game of curling. As a former skip of the Winnipeg Granite Curling Club, the writer has peculiar pleasure in recording the re- markable influence exercised by the game of curling in the West. We are, of course, aware of the vast interest taken in the " roarin' game " in Scotland, as illustrated by the Parish Minister in Barrie's " Little Minister," where in the case of one of his important ministerial duties coming into collision with the curling match he feared he would have to give the preference to the game. Parallels to this may perhaps be found in Canada. The Royal Caledonian Curling Club of Scotland has been the nursing-mother of many auxiliaries.
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Among the greatest of these is said to be that of rWestern Canada. The long winter and the con- tinuous supply of ice makes the game of curling one splendidly suited for the Canadian, Middle .West. The writer remembers thirty years ago spending the winter in Britain, and there was only one day's curling in Scotland in that whole season. It is surely difficult to cultivate skill in a game where there is at times so little opportunity for practice. Almost every railway town in Western Canada early in its history erects a commodious building, which is flooded on the interior ground floor and forms an ice sheet which lasts, with some addition, for three or four months. But the club is furnished with good Kilmarnock " stanes," and so the game is still Scottish. In later years the societies and the competitors have become so numerous, that in order to meet the competitions districts have to play off certain primaries, and the winners at these are entitled to go to the great Winnipeg meet. The Winnipeg Bonspiel comes off in the second week of February of each year. At it there are said to be one thousand competitors, who represent a large number who have been played with and been beaten at home. Some seven large buildings, each with from four to eight sheets of ice, are in fine working order for the beginning of the " Spiel." Arrangements have been pro- gressing for months before, and the general officers of the Manitoba branch of the Caledonian have everything prepared. Reduced half-fare rates are given to the curlers from their homes to Winnipeg 418
Scottish Societies in Western Canada
and return, and not only so, but in the middle of the Bonspiel half -rates are also allowed to all who choose to buy them, and these are good for a number of days. Thus thousands come to this great annual event as to a winter fair to see th$ games, and incidentally do business in Winnipeg. The whole city is ablaze with light by night and decorated with flags and bunting. Since the beginning of the annual Bonspiel the central figure, as has been mentioned already, is Mr. John P. Robertson, Librarian of the Parliamentary Library of Manitoba. Of a large staff he is the moving spirit, and lots are cast and competitions carried on in a methodical and orderly way. Curling is a game from which the evils of betting1 have been rigor- ously excluded. While other games by their excessive effort, by their element of chance and sporting, arouse the passions and draw down upon themselves denunciation from all moral and social leaders, curling is free from1 these — a barrel of oatmeal for the hospital or some trifle being all that is played for, and that quite seldom. For the encouragement of this true sport a number of very valuable trophies— cups and medals — are awarded. The game in Canada is not carried on in so vociferous a manner as is the custom in Scotland, although the competition is just as keen and the general interest of the spectators is quite as great as on Linlithgow Loch or other places hi the Northern Country. An oath is rarely heard upon the ice, and in such cases it is the duty of the chaplain to see that a fine is imposed and paid.
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The reason for the dropping out of many of thfle famous old catch-words in Canada, such as " soop 'er up," " Haud off," " Tee high," " be up," anql the like, is accounted for by the fact that the game has become a Canadian national game, and now includes many who are not of Scottish descent: and who do not know the meaning of " besom," as do those of Scottish blood. Often the young Scottish Canadian is unfamiliar with the Scottish tongue, although his speech may have a " sough " of the dialect of the " land o' cakes." The close of the Bonspiel about the middle of February is most suitable. It is the end, to a great extent, of the curling season, for soon after this date the heat of the sun grows stronger and the ice is poor. For farmers, those working in building trades, and others, the Canadian winter is their resting -time ; and it is a great matter to have so absorbing and suitable a game as curling to keep the young or the unemployed from frequent- ing the bar-room or the gambling-house. In the year 1896 the writer was present at the annual meeting of the Royal Caledonian Club, held that year in the Royal City of Perth, Scotland. As representing the Canadian branch, the writer in speaking issued a challenge to a number of Scottish curlers to make a playing trip through Canada, suggesting also that the Canadians might be able to set an example as to how the jgame should be played, even in the presence of those who were adepts at the Scottish sport. In the year 1902 a fine party came out, led by the 420
Scottish Societies in Western Canada
Rev. John Kerr, of Dirleton, Scotland. The visitors played in the leading cities from Halifax to .Winnipeg, and while they were not successful, added much interest in the public mind to the good Scottish game of the " besom and stanes." Then in 1909 a band of Canadian curlers, under the genial leadership of the late Lieutenant - Governor Fraser, who in 1910 passed away in Nova Scotia, went to Scotland and played a com- plete series of games, gaining, as was expected, a victory on the score of the whole tour. A sub- group of the Canadian curlers went on to visit Switzerland, where they also carried off the honours even against competitors from all Europe. Here also, rather than under the head of Scottish Litera- ture, reference may be made to the co-operation in Canada of Scotsmen in maintaining Scottish journals for the cultivation of a spirit of acquaintanceship and interest in things Scottish. The veteran journal, the Scottish American, which circulates largely in Canada as well as in the United States, has been a most notable and interesting paper in its long history. The in- dustrious editor has carefully collected from Old Country sources items of news of every shire and locality, to present them weekly to his fellow- countrymen outside of Scotland. The editorials and literary selections have made a most dignified and thoroughly respectable journal.
As regards Canada we may speak' plainly, as is our duty, of Scottish failures as well as of Scottish successes. In Canada there is no representative
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Scottish journal, though in Winnipeg there are two struggling ones. Scottish failure and lack of reason is represented in the literary world by two unfortunate books, the one " The House of the Green Gables," and the other " The Unspeakable Scot." They may not be worthy of extended notice, but they illustrate the " seamy " side of Scottish life and may be useful as a warning to us. Competition is not always a good thing. Two shops, or two churches, or two National Improve- ment Societies, in a population which can only support one of each is a bad thing. We do not say that Winnipeg and the Canadian West cannot support two Scottish newspapers, but we main- tain that two weak and insufficiently supported Scottish journals in Winnipeg will simply bring discredit to the Scottish name, and end in loss and no glory to the individual proprietors. So also with regard to Scottish societies as co- operative bodies, we should strongly support those organisations which stand for separate phaTes" of Scottish life — St. Andrew's, Scottish Benefit Societies, Caledonian and Burns Clubs — but we must look with disfavour upon organisations which strive to maintain themselves on the Western prairie in such a form as is found in the Caithness, Aberdeen, Inverness, or other county organisations. We object to these as being ephemeral instead of representing the full force and dignity of our world-wide Scottish nationality.
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CHAPTER XXXV
THE SCOTTISH IMMIGRANT IN WESTERN CANADA
THE Scottish people are noted colonisers, and North America has been their favourite place in choosing a home. The Scottish woman is willing to face the greatest dangers and hard- ships, if she may, with her husband, have her " ain biggin'," her " ain hearth," and what she regards as a new-world picture of her " ain countree." She is a helpmeet to her husband rather than an object calling for pity, or a goddess set up for adoration to be served or waited upon. She is her husband's equal, her house is her kingdom!, and with thrift and sedulous care she watches for the return of her " guid man at e'en." Tarn o' Shanter's wife, Kate, was a travesty of a house- wife as she waited for Tarn',
Gatherin' her brows like gatherin' storm, Nursin' her wrath to keep it warm.
The most famous household scene of humble life is that in the " Cotter's Saturday Night." It is reserved to Scotland to have a peasantry industrious, intelligent, and independent. In
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Canada especially has it come about that the type of Scottish home has taken root. It is among Scottish writers especially that such topics have been dealt with as " Annals of a Country Parish," " Essays by a Country Parson," the idealisation of a " Drumtochty," the domestic sketch of a " Window in Thrums," or the rural picture of the " Man from Glengarry." The Scottish immigrant is equally adaptable for the industry of the manufactory of the New World town, where he may make a new " Paisley " or a colonial " Glasgow " ; or be the stock-breeder with his Clydesdales, the shepherd or drover with his collie dog, or the husbandman with his " pleugh " or hayfork. In Western Canada, as we have seen, in every province he has been the successful agriculturist, and in the pursuit of agriculture is there scope found for the sobriety, the independence, and the stability of character which make a nation great. The Canadian West welcomes the Scotsman, coming either from Bonnie Scotland or from the Scottish localities of Old Canada. To those acquainted with the filling up of the West during the last forty years, it brings a smile to the face to hear the man with a decidedly Highland accent tell you that he comes " from the tenth concension of Huron." A lady of Manitoba told the writer of an old Scottish woman visiting in Minnedosa from the county of Oxford in Ontario. She was from the township, settled up largely by the Mackays and other de- scendants of Highland soldiers, where the High- 424
Scottish Immigrant in Western Canada
lander in the time of the Fenian Raid in 1866 said of the Fenians, " They'll mebbe take Canada;, but they'll no take Zorra." This old lady from that township said, in speaking of the wintry weather of Manitoba, " I don't know what they mean here by saying that it's forty degrees below Zorra." Glengarry, in Upper Canada, sent many stalwart and excellent settlers to the West. A Manitoba story is told of the early times where a settlement chiefly Scottish sent to the Theological Professor of Manitoba College, Winnipeg, asking that Sabbath service might be given them in their new home in the approaching winter. The pro- fessor sent back word that the Church authorities were not able during that winter to grant their request, but advised them to meet every Sabbath and take turns in reading a sermon and holding such service as they could. This was done, and each Sunday a different head of a family took the service. In course of time it came to the turn of " L'achlan McGillivray," a stalwart Glen- garryman, who in early life had been a lumberman and log driver up the Ottawa River, and whose Scottish blood had boiled in many a fight. Mc- Gillivray took as his topic the story of David and Goliath. He described the Hebrew boy, David, his device of the stones from the brook, his sling, and the preparations for the fight, and then pictured the huge giant, whom in stature he some- what resembled. Warming up with his subject he rose in excitement to the climax. The stone from wee David's sling was guided to the head
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of the giant, and the stone pierced his brain, and he fell ; David rushed up — and — and — tore his sword from its scabbard, and he wheeled the sword
round his head, and he cut off his — his — 4 d
head, thus using the graphic language of the river driver. This was " big Lachlan's " last invitation to conduct the service.
Many of the early settlers of the West came from about the town of Perth, in the county of Lanark, Ontario. Lanark, for some reason, in the early days was called " Lummocks," arising, some said, from the ineffective effort of a Lanark man in his cups to tell the county from which he came. But the Lanark people were among the most thrifty and successful of the settlers. The town of Perth, in this county, was begun by a colony from Paisley, Scotland, in 1817. From it forty years afterwards a colony had gone to the county of Bruce in Upper Canada and formed the new town of Paisley. Twenty years after that time, on the opening up of the West, a colony of them had emigrated to Manitoba and had begun what was known as the Paisley Settlement, though the name was afterward changed to Pilot Mound. The persistence and intelligence of the " Paisley buddies " are proverbial.
So also Nottawasaga, and Mariposa, and Dunwich, and Inverness, the last in Quebec, and many other Scottish localities in Canada, sent out their Highland Macs to found new settlements in Western Canada, destined through their intelli- gence and thrift to win success. From the northern 426
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country in the seventies came out a number of Scottish crofters. These were chiefly from the Hebrides — Benbecula, North and South Uist, and elsewhere. They were assisted by the British Government. Two of their settlements were in the Hilton and Killarney districts of Manitoba and two in the neighbourhood of Saltcoats and Wapella in Saskatchewan. These colonies had for a time many difficulties . For one of them in the Saltcoats Settlement the writer received for several years $300 a year from an official of the Dominion Government, whose father had been a crofter, to maintain a school for them. This was for several years a successful school. Though the original crofter settlers, being" fishermen rather than farmers, found life hard and uncomfortable in some cases, yet their sons and daughters have become intelligent and successful farmers.
A marked peculiarity has been seen in many of these Scottish settlements in Canada as to the use of intoxicating liquors. The old pioneer looked upon the man who did not take a taste of whiskey as refusing one of God's good gifts. The sturdy old Scottish Highlander or Lowlander rather con- sidered the " teetotaler " as a weakling. The old picture was perhaps attributed to the township of Oro, which has been made celebrated by the young Canadian novelist, Marian Keith. Three High- landers, each with a glass of " Mountain Dew," stood up after the friendly manner of " Burns " and his " Souter Johnny," and they are repre- sented as saying—
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No. i : " This is the best usquebae I tasted forever more whateffer."
No. 2 responded : " So did I neither," while No. 3 concluded : " Neffer did I too." But the notable fact is that through the earnest efforts of godly ministers, and in a New .World environment, the Highland townships from Pictou in Nova Scotia, to Woodville and Elgin and Huron, through Manitoba and on the Rocky Mountains, have become noted for their general abstinence from strong drink, where before both minister and people, at wake or wedding, indulged to the great disadvantage of both. The great Scottish settlements of Lowlanders in Dumfries, Gait, Fergus, Mount Forest, and elsewhere have been the most noted settlements for intelligent and advanced agriculture, where not only thrift but scientific farm- ing prevailed, but now these features have also been carried on to the Portage Plains, Hamiota District, Souris, Moose Mountain, and Lumsden communi- ties in Manitoba and Saskatchewan. Thus the management and skilled farming of the Lothians and Dumfriesshire in the Old Land have followed the race in advanced farming in Ontario and else- where in Older Canada, and have been transferred to and reproduced on the fertile plains of Western Canada. The Scottish emigration to Canada that began in Pictou in Nova Scotia in the decade from 1790 to 1800 was followed to Glengarry from about 1800 to 1810, in the Perth Military settlement in 1810 to 1820, and for three decades after that very largely, especially from 1830 to 428
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1850. But never has it been so great or so attended with success and satisfaction as to the Canadian West in the first decade of the twentieth century. The great agricultural counties of Aberdeen, Fife, and Berwickshire, with others well represented, are sending out their tens of thousands to build up institutions in harmony with British ideals, and yet with the full flavour of our Canadian life.
In the great farmers' societies, where there is the power of organisation to control the country, to protect against railway and elevator aggressiveness and tyranny, the spirit of these Scottish farmers has been roused and their power of combination mani- fested. The Mackenzies and McCuaigs, the Malcolms and Grants, the Shanks and Martins, the Bryces and Mutches have stood out for equal rights for the farming communities. The agricultural colleges in the several Western provinces are all engaged or are laying out plans to engage in making the highest and most useful knowledge available, so that agriculture may not be a mere matter of chance or of unreasoning custom, but ^ a scientific occupation, worthy of being called a profession. To this end the Scottish agricultural immigrant, with his quick power of adaptation, his intelligence and discrimination, will do much to advance the interests of Western Canada. The Church of the fathers, ever the friend of liberty and high education, is present to encourage the farmers in improved farming, in conserving the resources of their country, and in giving oppor-
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The Scotsman in Canada
tunities to their sons and daughters for the most ample education adapted to the farmer's life.
The fact pointed out or alluded to in the chapter on Scottish Canadian authorship, that Scottish scenes and Scottish life in Canada as pictured in fiction by Dr. Gordon (Ralph Connor), Mrs. McGregor (Marian Keith), Mrs. McClung, Robert E. Knowles, and Robert Service are acceptable to the people of Canada, shows how congenial to Canadians is a Scottish life atmosphere. The active agency of Scottish benevolent societies, as also shown in a previous chapter, and the observance annually of Burns's birthday and St. Andrew's Day, as no other national festivals are kept among us, points distinctly to the fact that Scottish literature, customs, and ideals will make Canada a most acceptable home for the Scottish immigrant, whether agriculturist, merchant, or commercial man. While there is no reason why the great opportunities afforded by Nova Scotia to Scottish tenant-farmers should not be taken advantage of ; and while Ontario has even its tone of speech in many localities suggestive of a Scottish flavour ; yet it is to the broad and hospitable West, with its Scottish-like climate, its hearty warmth for the industrious stranger, its liberal expenditure for educational advantages, its predominant religious atmosphere suited to his taste, that the Scottish immigrant will be especially attracted, and where he will find a favourable, remunerative, and socially suitable sphere of action for himself and his children. 430
INDEX
"A CANOE Voyage up the Min- nesota," by F. W. Featherston- haugh, 204
Aikins, Hon. J. C., Governor of Manitoba, 314
Aikins, James A. M., Counsel for the Canadian Pacific Railway, 323
Alberta, Scottish legislators of, 338-40
Angus, R. B., 307
Archibald, Hon. A. G., Governor of Manitoba, 313
Arctic, voyages to, 84-95
Assiniboia, Scotch Governors of, 190-201
Assiniboine River, Experimental Farms on, 396-97
Astor Company, Scotsmen in — McDonald John, 111-13 McDougall, Duncan, 107-108 McKenzie, Donald, 108-11
Astor, John Jacob, 104; competition of, with North West Company for trade on the Pacific Coast, 104-105 ; expeditions sent out by, 105 et scq.
Astoria, taken by the British, no
Athabasca District, Alexander Mac- kenzie manager of, 56
Authors, Scottish, in Western
Canada — Begg, A., 288 Begg, A. (2), 289 Bryce, Dr., 297-98 Cameron, Miss A. D. , 294-95 Gordon, Dr. Charles W., 290-
91
Gunn, Donald, 287 Hargrave, J. J., F.R.G.S.,
287-88
King, Rev. Dr. J. M., 292 Knowles, Rev. R. E., 293 Laut, Miss, 293-94 Mackenzie, Sir Alexander, 285 McBeth, Rev. R. G., 292 McClung, Mrs. N. L., 295 McLean, J., 289 McLean, Rev. Dr. John, 290 Muir, C. , 296-97 Patrick, Rev. D. W., 292 Ross, A., 286 Service, R. W., 296 Thompson-Seton, E., 295-96 Avoch (Inverness-shire), Sir Alex- ander Mackenzie buried in churchyard of, 67
BAIN, James, 37
Baird, Professor A. B., D.D.,
431
Index
pioneer missionary to Edmonton, 258 ; professor and librarian ol Manitoba College, 377
Baldoon, failure of Lord Selkirk's settlement at, 117.
Bannatyne, A. G. B., 29-30
Baptist Church, first, built in Winnipeg by Rev. A Macdonald, 274
Bathurst, Lord, 179
Beaver, ship chartered by Astor for Astoria expedition, 107
Black, Rev. John, first Presbyterian minister in Red River Settlement, 252
Bois-brules (Metis, or French- Canadian half-breeds), 44, 150, 151, 154, 162
Border traders, Scottish, 202-12
"Bourgeois of the North- West Company, The," Masson's, 46
Brown, G. W. (Regina), Governor of Saskatchewan, 327
British Columbia, Scottish legis- lators of, 340-42
Bryce, Dr. , Knox Church organised by> 253 ; literary work of, 297- 98 ; Manitoba College founded by, 374
Brydon, C. W., work of, for the Christianisation of the Indian, 260
Burns, Robert, Lord Rosebery on, 416
Business men, Scottish, in Western Canada, 355-71
CABOT, John Sebastian, 82 Cameron, Duncan, account of the Nipegon District written by, 44 ; work of, in Lord Selkirk's Red River colony, 136-44, 147, 148 432
Cameron, Hon. Justice D., of Court of King's Bench, Manitoba, 321 Campbell, Robert, discovery of the
Yukon River by, 75-76 Campbell, Rev. J., Ph.D. (Vic- toria), 262
Canadian Pacific Railway, comple- tion of, 1886, 309
Cariboo gold-fields, Scottish mem- bers of the expedition to, in 1862, 243-44
Carlyle on James Keith, 98 Carmichael, John A., successor to Dr. Robertson as Superintendent of Missions, 260 Chalmers, Dr., 53 Charles II., Hudson's Bay Company in London incorporated by, 22 ; his Scottish descent, 100 Christie, Alexander, Governor of
Assiniboia, 195-96 Church of England, foundation of, in the Red River Settle- ment by Rev. W. Cochrane 277 Church of England, Scottish clergy
of, in Western Canada — Cochrane, Rev. W., 277 Machray, Rev. Robert, Bishop 01
Rupert's Land, 278-79 Matheson, Archbishop, 280-81 McLean, Rev. J., Bishop of
Saskatchewan, 279-80 McMorine, Rev. Mr., 281 O'Meara, Rev J. D., 280 Churchill, Lord, Governor of
Hudson's Bay Company, 101 Clark, W., of Winnipeg, a Chief Factor of the Hudson's Bay Com- pany, 30-31
Index
Clay, Rev. W. L., of St. Andrew's
Church, Victoria, 262 Columbia River first descended by
David Thompson, 70 Court, T. C., Well wood, 260 Cree Indians, intermarriage of
Orkneymen with, in Rupert's
Land, 24 Curling, 417-21 Curry, Thomas, pioneer of fur trade
of the West, 35
DALLAS, Alexander Grant, Gov- ernor of Assiniboia, 198— 200
Dawson, Alexander, County Court Judge, Manitoba, 320
Dawson, Simon James, prairie section of Western Canada ex- plored and Dawson Route opened by, 78, 79
Deira, King of, Edinburgh named by, 1 8
"Dictionary of National Biography," clan Grant in, 41
Dobbs, Arthur, opposition of, to Hudson's Bay Company, 102- 103
Douglas, David, botanist, 74~7S
Douglas, James: apprentice in North- West, Company of Mon- treal, 213 ; training of, at Fort St. James, 214 ; adventures among the Indians, 215 ; opposi- tion of the Russians to, 216 ; and the International boundary-line, 217 ; bravery of, 218 ; Fort Vic- toria erected by, 220, 22 1 ; Governor of Vancouver Island, 223 ; knighted, 224
Drink, introduction of, among Indians of Rupert's Land, 50 ; VOL II. EE
effects of, among savages at For
Taku, 219-20 Du Val, Rev. F., D.D., Winnipeg,
262 Dyde, Samuel L., Principal of
Presbyterian College of Alberta,
378-79
EDINBURGH, origin of name of, 18
Educationalists, Scottish, in Western Canada, 372-82
Ellice, Edward, 178, 179
" Emigration," work on, by Lord Selkirk, 118
England, Church of, founded in Red River Settlement by Rev. W. Cochrane, 277
"English Chief," work of, for Leroux among Indians of the North, 57 ; guide to Sir Alexander Mackenzie in Arctic Sea expedi- tion, 59
Erebus, Mt., discovered by James Clark Ross, 88
Erebus, Sir John Franklin's ship, 85
"Eulogy of Cuthbert Grant," by Pierre Falcon, 155-56
Ewart, J. S., 322-23
Experimental Farms on Assiniboine River, 396, 397
FALCON, Pierre, 154 ; " Eulogy of Cuthbert Grant "by, 155-56
Farmers, Scottish, of the West- Alberta, 405-407 British Columbia, 407-409 Manitoba, 398-403 Saskatchewan, 403-405
Farquharson, Rev. J. D., Western Treasurer of Presbyterian Church in Winnipeg, 252
433
Index
Featherstonhaugh, G. W., author
of "A Canoe Voyage up the
Minnesota River," 204 Finlayson, Duncan, Governor of
Assiniboia, 196-97 Fisher, James, K.C., 322 Franklin, Sir John, journey of,
through Rupert's Land, 84 ; last
voyage of, 85 Fraser, Rey. Hugh W., D.D., of
the First Church, Vancouver, 261 Fraser, Simon, descent of the
Grand River by, 72; Fraser
River named after, 73 Frobisher, Martin, search for North-
West Passage by, 83
GOIDEL, or Gael, race of, 13-14
Governors, Scottish, of Manitoba, 3I3-I6
Grand Portage included in the United States, 38; meeting of traders at, in 1795, 4-8
Grant, Cuthbert, the elder, 42-43
Grant, Cuthbert, the younger, leader of the Bois-brules, 44, 149, 151, 152, 154; Pierre Falcon's Eulogy of, 155-56
Grant, Peter, fort on banks of Red River first established by, 41 ; agreement uniting the Nor'- Westers and X Y Companies signed by, 42
" Grasshopper Governor, "sobriquet of Alexander Macdonell, 191
Grey, Earl, 222, 223
Gustavus Adolphus, Scottish sup- port of, in Thirty Years' War, 97
HALL, Rev. John, first Presby- terian Church in Victoria founded
by, 253
Hanna, D. B., Vice-President of the Canadian Pacific Railway, 350-51
Hart, Rev. Thomas, M.A., of Manitoba College, 254, 374-75
Hearne, Samuel, fort of Cumber- land i House built by for Hud- son's Bay Company, 23
Hector, James, M.D., Scottish scientist and explorer, 77, 78
Henderson, Alexander, Commis- sioner of the Yukon, 327
" Highland Clearances, the," 116
Hill, J. J., President of the North- ern Railway, 343-47
Hudson's Bay Company : formation of, in 1669, 96 ; Charter granted to by Charles II., 100 ; Royal favour shown to, 101-102 ; oppo- sition to, by Arthur Dobbs, 102- 103 ; Loid Selkirk acquires land of, 124 ; united to North- West Company, 179; opposition of the Russians to, at Alaska, 216 ; list of officers in, 226-27 > notable officers of, 227-29 ; and the Riel Rebellion, 302, 303
IMMIGRANT, the Scottish, in
Western Canada, 423-30 Industry, Scottish-Canadian leaders
of, 343-55
Inkster, Colin, Sheriff of Manitoba, 28
JAMES VI., 99
James, Prince, Duke of York,
Governor of Hudson's Bay
Company, 101 Johnston, Rev. Robert C., librarian
of Carnegie Library, Winnipeg,
281
434
Index
Journals, Scottish, maintenance of, by Scotsmen for interest in things Scottish, 421-22
Jurists, Scottish, 316-27
KENNEDY, William, search for Franklin by, 93-94
Kent, Duke of, Alexander Mac- kenzie travelling companion of, in Canada, 66
King, Dr., Principal of Manitoba College, 257
Knox Church, first Presbyterian Church in Winnipeg, organised by Dr. Bryce, 253
Knox, John, 53
"LAC QUI PARLE," St. Peter's River, 204 ; Murdoch Cameron buried at, 205
Lawrence, Rev. James, Presby- terian minister at Stonewall and Emerson, 259
Legislators, Scottish, 329-35
Leroux, workof , under Sir Alex- ander Mackenzie, 56, 57, 60
" Little Company " of the " Little Society," New North - West Company known as, 48
MACDONALD, Rev. A., Winnipeg,
first Baptist Church in Winnipeg
built by, 274
Macdonald, Hon. Hugh John, 320 Macdonald, J. A., Chief Justice of
British Columbia Court of Appeal,
325 Macdonell, Alexander, 137, 139,
142, 146, 149, 150, 153, 190-92 Macdonnell, Miles, Governor of
Lord Selkirk's colony on Red River, 125, 127, 129, 130, 134,
135. 13%> *39, H5
Macfarlane, Rev. A., of the Red River Valley, 259
Machray, Robert, Bishop of Rupert's Land, 278-79
Mackenzie, Sir Alexander : his early career, 54; Pond superseded by, in management of Athabasca District, 56 ; extension of trade by, to Peace 'River, 57 ; expedi- tion of, to the Arctic Sea, 59-61 ; the results of the expedition, 61 ; a dash for the farther West, 62- 65 ; his knighthood, marriage, and death, 66 ; opposition of, to Lord Selkirk's colonising scheme at Red River, 126, 132
Mackenzie, Geddes, wife of Sir Alexander Mackenzie, 66
Mackenzie & Mann, Messrs., rail- way developments of, and other commercial undertakings, 348-51
Manitoba : University of, Scholar- ship Fund for created by Alex- ander K. Isbister, 27 ; Scottish ministers of Presbyterian Church of, 255 ; Governors of, 313-16
Manitoba Agricultural College, 402-403
Manitoba College, founded by Dr. Bryce, 254, 374 ; made a theo- logical institution, 257
Matheson, Archbishop, Primate of all Canada, 281
McAlpine, Kenneth, first King of Scots, 19
McClintock, Francis Leopold, efforts of, to ascertain the fate of Sir John Franklin, 94-95
435
Index
McClure, Sir Robert John, dis- coverer of the North- West Pas- sage, 92-93
McDougall, John, Sergeant-at-arms of Manitoba House of Assembly,
333
McGillivray, William, Fort William and McGillivray River named after, 38
Mclnnes, W. W. B., County Judge in Vancouver, 326
Mclntyre, W. A., Principal of Winnipeg Normal School, 376
McKay, Hugh, D.D., work of, among the Indians, 260
McKay, John, Principal of West- minster Hall, Vancouver, 380
McKellar, Rev. Hugh, of Alberta, 261
McKenzie, Donald, Governor of Assiniboia, 193-95
McKenzie, Ewen, Missionary at Hurricane Hills, 260
McKenzie, Roderick, historio- grapher of the Scottish Fur Com- pany, 45-46 ; foundation of library by, at Fort Chipewyan, 58
McLeod, Archibald Norman, and General Semple, 40
McLeod, M. H., General Manager of Canadian Northern Railway,
351
McMicking, Thomas, captain of overland party to Cariboo gold- fields, 243
McMillan, Sir Daniel, Governor of Manitoba, 315-16
McNaughton, Margaret, "Overland to Cariboo " by, 243
McQueen, Rev. D. J., D.D., suc-
cessor to Dr. Baird at Edmonton, 261
McTavish, Rev. A., 259
McTavish, Simon, 36 ; establish- ment of forts on Hudson Bay by, 37 ; death of, 50
McTavish, William, Governor of Assiniboia, 197-98
Methodist Church, Scottish clergy
of, in Western Canada — McDougall, Rev. G., 282 McDougall, J., 282 McLean, Rev. J., 282-83 Robson, Rev. E., 283-84
Metis, French-Canadian half-breeds,
43
Milliken, James, farming experi- ences of, in Manitoba, 399-400 Mitchell, C. R., Attorney-General
for Alberta, 325 Montreal, Bank of, and John
Richardson, 39 Moore, Rev. W. S., missionary in
Saskatchewan, 260 Morris, A., Governor of Manitoba,
3H Murray, Rev. S. A., D.D., clerk
of the Synod 01 Manitoba, 259 Murray, Dr. Walter, President of
Saskatchewan University, 378 Myers, R. H. , County Court Judge,
Manitoba, 321-22
NEW North- West Company formed, 48 ; rivalry of, with the North- West Company, 40-50 ; union of, with old Company, 50 ; partners of, 51
Nicola, chief of the Shuswaps, elo- quence of, concerning murder of Samuel Black, 236
436
Index
Nisbet, James, founder of Presby- terian Indian Mission, 252; buried in Kildonan churchyard, 257
Norquay, John, Premier of Mani- toba, 31-32
North Magnetic Pole, discovery of, 87
North- West Passage, search for, by Martin Frobisher, 83 ; discovery of, by Sir R. J. McClure, 92
OLD North-West Company, se- cession of traders from, 48; rivalry with New North-West Company 49-50 ; union of, with new Company, 50 ; partners of, Si
Orkneymen, intermarriage of, with Cree Indians, in Rupert's Land, 24 ; community of, at Red River, 25
Orkneys known as Whale Islands, 20
" Overland to Cariboo," by Mar- garet McNaughton, 243
" Overlanders," journey of, to Cariboo gold-fields, 241-49
PACIFIC COAST, Scotsmen on,
230-40 Patrick, Rev. W., D.D., Principal
of Manitoba College, 263 Patterson, Hon. J. C., Governor of
Manitoba, 315 Patterson, T. W. (Victoria),
Governor of British Columbia,
327 " Pedlars, The," North-West
Trading Company nicknamed,
48-49
Pelly, Sir John, Governor of Hud- son's Bay Company, 22, 23
Pict, derivation of, 15
Pitblado, Isaac, K.C., Winnipeg, 324
" Pointe de Meuron," site of Lord Selkirk's military encampment, 160
Pond, Peter, management of the Athabasca District by, 55
"Potties," X Y Company called in Athabasca, 48
Presbyterian Church, growth of, in Western Canada, 250-63 ; names and dates of ordination of ministers of, 263-276
Presbyterian Churches, union of, in Canada, 257-58
Presbyterian Mission founded by James Nisbet, 252
Professional men in Western
Canada —
The Medical Profession, 383-90 The Military Profession, 390-92 Diplomacy (J. W. Taylor), 393- 94
RAE, John, his search for Franklin, 89-90
Red River, community of Orkney- men at, 25 ; Lord Selkirk's colony at, 123 et seq.
Richardson, Sir John, surgeon and naturalist to Franklin's first expedition to Upper Canada, 84-85
Richardson, John, public work of, in Montreal, 39-40
Riel Rebellion, 301-305
Robertson, J. P., Provincial Li- brarian of Manitoba, 333
437
Index
Robson, J. W., Judge of King's Bench of Manitoba, 324
Rosebery, Lord, on Robert Burns, 416
Ross, James Clark, discovery of North Magnetic Pole by, 86-88 ; Mt. Erebus discovered and named by, 88
Ross, John, trader of the old Com- pany, killed at Athabasca, 55
Ross, Sir John, voyages of, to the Arctic, 85-86
Rupert, Prince, first Governor of Rupert's Land, 22 ; support of, sought by promoters of Hudson's Bay Company, 99
SASKATCHEWAN, Scottish legisla- tors of, 335-38
Scott, Sir Walter, Lord Selkirk a friend of, 114
Scotland, nation and tribes of: Iberians, n ; Goidelor Gael, 13 ; Irish Celts, 14 ; Caledonians, or Picts, 14 : Brythons, or Britons or Welsh, 15; Saxons, 16; Scots, 18; Norsemen, 19
Scottish Border traders, 203-212
Scottish business men in Western Canada, 355-71
Scottish professional men in Western Canada, 383-94
Selkirk, Lord, Sir Walter Scott a friend of, 1 14 ; love for his own country people, 115; settlements of, at Prince Edward Island and Baldoon, 117; meeting of the fur traders in Montreal by, 118; his scheme of National Defence, 119-20; literary work of, 120; history of his colony at Red River,
123 et seq. ; visit of, to his Scottish colony, 157-65 ; death of, 165
Selkirk settlers, list of—
Men who arrived at Hudson Bay in 1811, and left York Factory for the interior in 1812, 168-69 The Churchill Company, 169-72 Settlers who came with Dunbar Cameron from Red River to Canada in 1815, 172-74 Honour Roll, 174-75 Party of 1815 sent out by Lord Selkirk, 175-77
Semple, Governor, of Selkirk Colony, his Scottish ancestry, 146 ; literary work of, 147 ; Fort Gibraltar destroyed by, 148 ; death of, 152
Seven Oaks, Selkirk Colony, death of Governor Semple at, 140, 153
Simpson, George, Governor of Hudson's Bay Company, 1 80 ; his business ability, 181 ; regard of, for Scottish social customs, 182 ; his trans-continental journey, 183-85 ; knighted by Queen Vic- toria, 1 86 ; a patron of literature, 187 ; death of, 198
Simpson, Thomas, exploration of the Arctic coast by, 91-92
Sinclair, James, opposition of, to Hudson's Bay Company, 26
Smellie, Dr., of Port Arthur and Fort William, 32
Societies, Scottish, in Western
Canada — Burns Clubs, 417 Caledonian Societies, 414-15 Royal Order of Scottish Clans, Winnipeg, 413-14
438
Index
St. Andrew's Society, Winnipeg,
412-13 "Sir William Wallace Society,"
Victoria, 415-16 "The Sons of Scotland," 414 Winnipeg Granite Curling Club, 417 et seq.
Souris River, forts of rival Fur Companies at, 49
Stephen, George, 307
Stornaway (Scotland), Sir Alexan- der Mackenzie born at, 54
Strathcona, Lord (Donald A. Smith) : birth of, in 1820, 299 ; years of apprenticeship at Moose Factory and on the coast of Labrador, 300 ; Chief Factor of Hudson's Bay Company in Montreal, 301 ; and the Kiel Rebellion, 302-305; entry of, into Parliamentary life, 305 ; a great railway builder, 306-309 ; High Commissioner in London, 309!; his benevolence and patriot- ism, 310
Stuart, C. A., Chancellor of Alberta University, 325.
Stuart, John, uncle of Lord Strath- cona, 73 ; the dominating force in descent of Fraser River, 74
Sutherland, Hugh, Executive Officer of the Canadian Northern Railway, 352-53
" TERROR," the, Sir John
Franklin's ship, 85 Thirty Years' War, Scottish support
of Gustavus Adolphus in, 97 Thompson, David, nationality of
68 ; the International Boun- dary Line surveyed by, 69; his survey work on the Columbia and other rivers, 70 ; H. B. Bancroft on, 71
Tonquin, ship engaged in Astor Company's expeditions, 106, 107, 108
Tree planting, scheme of, in Manitoba, 401
UNION of Old and New North- West Companies, and conditions of, 50
VANCOUVER ISLAND, James Douglas, Governor of, 223 ; Mexican cattle introduced into by Roderick Finlayson, 232
WHALE ISLANDS, Orkneys known as, 20
Whyte, William, head of the Cana- dian Pacific Railway in Western Canada, 356-57
Winnipeg, Knox Church first Pres- byterian church in, organised by Dr. Bryce, 253
Wolseley, Lord, 197, 304
Wright, Rev. P., D.D., of British Columbia, 262
X Y Company, origin of name of, 48
YORK FACTORY, Lord Selkirk's Red River colonists land at, 127
Yukon River discovered by Robert Campell, 75
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