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; l;, ,v|l|ii
THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE;
SKETCHES OF TRAVEL
LAKE ONTARIO TO LAKE WINNIPEG,
AN ACCOUNT OF THE GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION, CLIMATE,
CIVIL INSTITUTIONS, INHABITANTS, PRODUCTIONS
AND RESOURCES OF THE RED RIVER VALLEY ;
WITH MAP OF MANITOBA AND PART/OF THE NORTH-WEST TERRITORY AND
DISTRICT OF KEWATIN, PLAN OF WINNIPEG, AND OF THE DAWSON ROUTE,
VIEW OF FORT GARRY, AND OTHER ILLUSTRATIONS.
*
BY
J. 0. HAMILTON, M.A., LL.B.
-
CANADIAN COPYRIGHT EDITION:
BELFORD BROTHERS
1876.
' The news has flown frae mouth to mouth :
The North for ance has banged the South. "
OLD SCOTCH SONG.
It is indeed a Land worth fighting for."
DR. W. H. RUSSELL.
Entered according to the Act of the Parliament of Canada, in the
year one thousand eight hundred and seventy-six, by James
Cleland Hamilton, in the Office of the Minister of Agriculture.
HUNTKR, ROSE AND CO., PRINTERS,
25, WELLINGTON STREET,
TORONTO.
INTRODUCTION.
Two centuries have passed since a Jacobite poet published
his (< Proposition for the Advancement of Experimental
Philosophy," wherein he sketched a plan for the establish-
ment of a Philosophical College. Of its score of professors,
four were to be always travelling beyond the seas " to give
a constant account of all things that belong to the learn-
ing, and especially natural experimental philosophy, of
those parts."
They were to take a solemn oath never to write any-
thing to the College, but what, after a diligent examination,
they believed to be true.
It is in the spirit here indicated that the writer took up
his pen, on Like Sup3rior and the Red River of the North,
and began these sketches, now presented collectively, but
much of which first appeared in a Toronto journal.
He endeavours to tell you plainly what he saw and
gathered in a summer trip from the capital of Ontario over
the beautiful Northern waters and some of the mineral
regions, rich with hidden treasures, of the " North Shore."
From these he will ask you to pass, by lake, rail and river,
to the Prairie Province, and to hear of the immense fertile
region of which it is the key, and which a popular writer,
iv INTRODUCTION.
traversing its broad plains when in their winter slumber,
has called the "Great Lone Land."
The traveller here finds a region larger than many
European States, which, though unsurpassed in climate
and resources, has remained, as a great hunting reserve,
untouched by the wave of civilization, which has spread
along its southern, and beyond its eastern and western
limits.
He may enter the little quadrilateral, carved out of this
great North land, which has become a part of the Dominion,
with the bison on its coat of arms, and bearing the
name of that Great Spirit, the guardian of its plains and
rivers, the Manito of its wild children their " speaking
God" Manitoba, Our readers will learn of its city and
villages, its broad prairies through which flow rivers that
drain the richest soil ; of the men of various hue, speech
and origin, who are gathering in its valleys and rinding
happy homes in this wonderful West. We will refer
to the great Companies, of which the most famous re-
ceived its charter about the time that Cowley framed
his college scheme, whose servants followed the chase, and
were ever friends of the "Red man, but who found even
this broad land scarcely broad enough for them, few as
they were, and strove to the death for mastery and undi-
vided gain.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
PAGE
Toronto to Thunder Bay Modes of Travel Owen Sound The
"Frances Smith " Gitche-Gumee The North Shore Thunder Bay
and Cape Prince Arthur's Landing Fort William R. C. Mission
The Dawson Road Railway along the Kaministiquia 1
CHAPTER II.
Thunder Bay to Red River Duluth Superior City Duluth to Fargo
The St. Louis River The Northern Pacific Railway "The Last
Turn "The Mississippi Scenery Fargo 11
CHAPTER III.
Down the Red River Its Sources and Tributaries The Prairie Red
Lake River Grand Forks Frog Point The Roseau What the
Geologists say An Ante-Diluvian Emerson Whitehaven The
" Nigger" A " Buck "Metis Point Gruette Scratching River-
Settlements Mennonites Sunset Governor M'Dougall and his
Guard Captain Cameron and his "Blawsted Fence" Butler Wol-
seley Good Night Verses 17
CHAPTER IV.
Winnipeg Fort Garry City and People The Barracks Fort Osborne
Hudson's Bay Company Reserve A Gala Day Winnipeg Institu-
tions a nd Environs Artesian Wells Water Works Illustrations-
Garry Pets Train Dogs Deer Lodge Silver Heights Indians,
Carts and Shagynappi Police Plan of City 34
CHAPTER V.
Geographical Position of Manitoba Three Divisions Red River The
Roseau Valley The Assiniboine Its Parishes Pembina Railway
Emerson Mennonite Country and Settlements Point du Chene
Caledonia Millbrook Railway from Thunder Bay Lake Winni-
peg Icelanders Peguis Whitwold Clandeboye Grassmere Vic-
vi CONTENTS.
PAGE
toria Rock wood New Penitentiary Woodlands Meadow Lea
Other Settlements Portage la Prairie BurnsideWestbourne
Palestine The Danes Canal Farming in Marquette Messrs.
Lynch, Shannon and Others Railway Dufferin West Lynne
Boyne Settlement Pembina Mountains Coal Dimensions of Pro-
vince Mode of Survey Our Map 48
CHAPTER VI.
Indians and Half -Breeds Treaties and Reserves Governor Morris and
Commissioners A National Grievance Cree and Saulteaux Orators
The Qu'Appelle Treaty Grand Result Prospects of the Indians
Rev. Mr. McDougall at Bow RiverHis Death The Sioux
Half-Breeds, how Dealt with Commissioners Number, Religion
and Prospects of the Metis Opinions of Mr. Machar and Others-
Buffalo Hunting (
CHAPTER VII.
Government and Civil Institutions Origin Dominion Parliament
Cabinet North West Council Kewatin Local Legislature Black
Rod and Lords Constitutional Change Courts Chief Justice Woo<Ts
Charge Public and other Schools Educational Endowment Reli-
gion Rifle Association Agricultural Association Literary Pursuits
Population ^
CHAPTER VIII.
Climate Productions Health Elevation of Red River Valley Iso-
thermal Line Opinions of Professor Wharton, General Hazen, Gov-
ernor Ramsey and other Americans Cereals Opinions of Professors
Hind and Macoun, Mr. Dawson and others The Winters Red River
Courting Opinions of Immigrants The Dawson Route The lele-
graph Steam Communication through Canada a Necessity Progress
and Prospects of the Through Route
CHAPTER IX.
Manufactures, Labour, Trade and Markets Lumber Mills " Kittspn"
Line American View Imports for 1874 Ditto to July, 1875 Prices
Current Trade of Winnipeg with North-WestProspectsCoal,
Minerals Fish and Game Timber and Fruit Trees Vanous Indus-
triesOutfit of Settler l<
CHAPTER X.
The Grasshopper Plague : its History and Incidents Remedies Illus-
trations Opinions of Messrs. Riley, Taylor, Spencer, Machar, Nim-
mons and Mennonites : how treated in Minnesota and elsewhere
Prospects l0 '
CONTENTS. Vll
CHAPTER XI.
From the Old to the Stone Fort Point Douglas Frog Plains Seven
Oaks Hopes that Fled The Floods Tait's Creek Kildonan The
Half-Breeds, their Homes and Prospects Hay Privilege the Stone
Fort Penitentiary Selkirk and the C. P. R. Crossing A new City
Steamboats Peguis Trade Clandeboye Settlement Old Friends 169
CHAPTER XIT.
The Hudson's Bay Company The Selkirk Settlement The Fur Trade
Northern Nimrods The North-West Company Fort William
Little York The Grand Portage Earl Selkirk Bold Adventurers-
War of 1812 Speech of Mr. Dawson, M. P. P. Fight at Frog Plains
Fall of Governor Semple and Party Trials at Quebec and York in
1818 Song of Pierre Falcon De Reinhard's Case Assiniboine a
Crown Colony Its Population Union of the Companies Effect on
Indians and others Evidence of Col. Crofton and Admiral Back
Governors and Judges of Assiniboia The Goods Trade Hard Bar-
gain Statistics of Trade St. Paul and St. Louis get a Slice 184
CHAPTER XIII.
Across the Prairie Garry to Fargo Boatman do not Tarry ! St.
Norbert Delorme's Music Ray of Sunshine Drivers Indians
Blackbirds Wildacre Wright's A Beautiful Animal The Senator
Snores Orion Sunrise Above the Marais Pembina "Old Mid-
nights" The " Guttesland "The Mennon Bold" Old Jake "-
Carrie Other Companions Troubles by the Way Senatorial Wis-
dom Fargo 220
CHAPTER XIV.
The Pembina Branch New Civilization Sioux Massacre of 1862
Speech of Dr. Schultz What the Bishops say Indian Revenge and
Pluck Little Crow A Temperance Mission Noisy Girl Minne-
sota Chippewas The Totems or Insignia of Tribes Customs and
Numbers Eastward Bound Monte* Men Kincardine, Goderich,
Sarnia Soldiering Practical Information to Immigrants and Tour-
ists Adieu . . . . 241
THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE.
CHAPTER I
TORONTO TO THUNDER BAY MODES OF TRAVEL OWEN SOUND THE
" FRANCES SMITH" GITCHE-GUMEE THE NORTH SHORE THUN-
DER BAY AND CAPE PRINCE ARTHUR'S LADING FORT WIL-
LIAM R. C. MISSION THE DAWSON ROAD RAILWAY ALONG THE
KAMINISTIQUIA.
" The greatest blessing is a pleasant friend."
WE had pulled half way through long vacation ere decid-
ing on leaving " cap and gown and store of learned pelf."
Then the route must be considered. There is the Colling-
wood steamer, also the Beatty line from Sarnia, the
Windsor boats, the " Ward " steamers at Detroit, the "all
rail" route. Desiring to enjoy the lake breezes, and to
test the working of the narrow gauge road, a pleasant
evening found us in the parlour-car of the " Toronto, Grey
and Bruce," bound for Owen Sound, there to take the
Frances Smith for Thunder Bay.
The progress of Ontario cannot be more marked any
where than by one who on this road passes rising towns
and well-tilled fields where late the forest waved un-
touched. We reach Owen Sound by 10 p. m., but find
that the vessel is not yet come to hand. A load of Men-
2 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE.
nonites to Duluth took an extra day, so we have a few
hours to see the fine harbour, the mountain, and good
folk of "the Sound." Right glad were we at last to spy
the smoke stack and side-wheels of the vessel as she
steamed into the harbour. Capt. Tait Kobertson soon
welcomed the party who were to find their home with
him across two lakes ; and the gallant vessel was off at
good speed all well pleased with the accommodation,
and, we may say, not dissatisfied with each other, as the
happy manner in which the hours sped away soon showed.
It is not the intention of the writer to dwell much on
this part of his trip, as many of his readers have, to some
extent, become familiar with this way to Thunder Bay.
At the Village of Killarney we first see Indians in their
bark-covered conical tepees or tents, dotted over the rocky
shore. At Garden River we glide in beautiful water past
log-houses of white and red men, and at both these places
we run out and buy pretty baskets and mats of scented
grass, bark and porcupine quill work. Through many a
glass v bay, past many a lovely island and wood-covered
nook our vessel glides. Wliile the sun shines, we watch her
course. Darkness falls, then fair friends charm away the
silence music and songs fill the cabin, and we move in
the mazes of quadrilles, waltzes, galops and Sir Roger.
We come to waters studded with cedared isles, that re-
mind us of dear Yohocucaba, in the Muskoka region,*
* This is a beautiful summer retreat in Lake Joseph. The so Indian-like
name was ingeniously formed by adding together the first two letters in the
names of five of the founders of the Yo-ho-cu-ca-ba Club. Esto perpetua !
SAULT STE. MARIE. -3
and are in sight of two towns, divided by the Sault Ste.
Marie River ; on the north is the capital of our Algoma
District, a scattered town. We see the bishop's residence
near the water, and the school in which Indian boys and
girls of the Ojibway nation are taught. One of these
three islands, near the North Shore, is the romantic grave
of the late Colonel John Prince, who was, when he died,
judge of this immense sparsely populated region. We
cross and are in the short canal, have time to run through
the little Michigan city on the South Shore, pass into the
grassy enclosure with flag holding U. S. colours, and see
Fort Brady, with its park of artillery, white officers' quar-
ters and barracks, with two companies of Uncle Sam's
infantry. Close to the present canal, also on the American
side, is the great excavation destined to be the ship canal.
Its locks will be 80 feet wide, affording 18 feet of water,
and admitting vessels of the largest size on the lakes.
Soon we are on the stormy waters of Lake Superior, the
big sea water, Gitche-Gumee of Longfellow's " Hiawatha."
Our vessel has on this trip no time for side excursions
passing Michipicoten and Nepigon Bay. We are much
interested in the little red houses on the rocks which
we are told form Silver Islet. At the wharf, where we
stop a few minutes, a score of men with spade and pick
were taking up hard rocks that formed the wharf and
tide-breaker; their foreman informed us that these rocks,
till lately considered refuse, can now, by improved machi-
nery, be made to yield many dollars' worth of ore to each
ton. A busy place is this Silver Islet, with crushing mills,
4 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE.
store-houses, and clap-board dwellings, all owned by a
great American Company, and under charge of the able
and ingenious manager, Captain Frue.
Fifty stamps are being worked, and from 100 to 150
tons of ore crushed per day. The yield is reported by
the Company to be in value from $36,000 to $40,000 per
month, the whole cost of getting out, crushing and wash-
ing the ore by Captain Frue's process amounting to only
$2.25 per ton, while eight ounces of silver are, on an aver-
age, extracted from that quantity of rock of low grade.
The Frances Smith has no time to lose. Her whistle
sounds, we gather a few specimens of the white quartz
rock and are off, soon pass the great headland of Thunder
Cape, and are in Thunder Bay, in sight of the rising vil-
lage of Prince Arthur's Landing. The Queen's Hotel, a
large frame house, faces us, with guests from many a
quarter. The site of the village, which now contains
probably 1,000 souls, is very fine : on the west side the
Kaministiquia, emptying with its three mouths into the
bay ; McKay's Mountain, rising 1,200 feet high, and the
Welcome Islands ; opposite are Pie Island, of 31,000 acres in
extent, with an altitude of 850 feet, having on its western
end the strange round cap or dish-shaped protuberance
whence it takes its name. Thunder Cape rises behind
us 1,400 feet high, and beyond is the great lake whose
waves, unceasing and monotonous, lash the shore. As
we pass the west end of Pie Island a hut may be seen
which marks the place where silver ore was lately found,
and a mine is being sunk by Professor Ames and some
PRINCE ARTHURS LANDING. 5
other Americans. At the east end of the village is a little
river Me Vicar's Creek round which are piles of lumber
and log and clap-board houses. Close to the creek is the
bark conical wigwam of an Indian. Along the shore
boys pick up agates. The village site, with its scattered
white houses, gradually rises. We pass up Arthur street,
leaving the reservation for a park of some ten acres on
our left, and the commodious grounds, residence and
offices of Mr. I). D. Van Norman, Stipendiary Magistrate
and Registrar, on the right, the land rising gradually, so
that after a half-mile walk we are on high ground, with
a fine view of the harbour, village and surroundings. This
street we have been on turns to the left, and, in the
course of a few rods further, runs into the well-known
road, the Dawson route to Manitoba.
Prince Arthur's Landing received its name from Colo-
nel Sir Garnet Wolseley, in honour of His Royal High-
ness, then in Canada. It was at this, then insignificant
hamlet, that the Expeditionary force, on its way to Red
River, disembarked on the 25th May, 1870.
The inhabitants of the Landing are such as an adven-
turous wild life, the outskirts of civilization, and the
speculation in minerals and lands bring together, to
which, in the season, are added tourists from far and near ;
from Nova Scotia from many other parts of the Do-
minion. But here passes a black-robed man a priest
from the Mission up the river. This half-score of
rough fellows are navvies from the railway line. Three
young gentlemen, undergraduates of Yale, with their
6 THE PRATRIE PROVINCE.
guns and fishing tackle, were here. They had seen the
falls of the Kaministiquia, and fished there and elsewhere
in the region, and were about to start for prairie chicken
shooting on the plains of Minnesota. The number of
saloons and drinking places in the village was astonish-
ing. All seemed only too well patronized. Strong rough
fellows from the woods often pass, with coarse brown
dress and unshaved faces. One stout man of more than
middle age, whose hair hung in curls, in which grey and
black were equally mingled, was pointed out. He was
a graduate of Cambridge, but, years ago, gave himself
up to a roving life and dissipated ways. He discovered
several mines, made large sums by selling his rights, which
were soon spent in sprees on the South Shore. His
countenance still retains many traces of intelligence, and
we saw him last as a deck passenger on the way to Du-
luth, addressed with some attention and civility by those
who knew him. When not actively engaged he lives a
hermit life. How the inhabitants of the Landing spent
their time was a matter of amusement. At the hotels and
like places of resort, and not at offices or shops, we must
seek them. One talks of Silver Islet, another of Shuniah,
the Cornish, 3 A, the Bruce mines, Thunder Bay, or She-
bandowan, and each pulls from his pocket a specimen of
the ore or quartz supposed to contain silver, as " blende "
or "native," or in sulphates and other forms. Various as
the specimens may be, and to the unskilled, scarcely differ-
ing in structure and appearance, yet our friends here will
at once name the mine whence the} 7 come.
FORT WILLIAM. 7
Three tugs ply in the harbour of Prince Arthur, and
form in summer thejchief means of communication between
the Landing and the Fort. Owing to the nature of the bot-
tom, it is necessary to take a circuitous course of a mile
or so into the bay, pass the two smaller mouths of the
Kaministiquia River, and enter the third, which, after
a half- hour's puffing of the little steamer, brings us in
sight of the ancient fort of the great Hudson's Bay Com-
pany, now in charge of Captain Mclntyre and employe's,
among whom we see white men, Indians and half-breeds.
The river is here just broad enough for the lake steamer
to turn in, and runs swift and dark in its bed, the fort
being on the right. It is not long since the place was
guarded with a high stockade fence, and block-houses
pierced with port-holes. These have given way to a neat
picket that divides the grounds from the road that skirts
the river's side. Two small cannon stand as watch-dogs,
one on either side the gate. Within the few acres that
form the square of the fort are wide store-rooms, one
of stone, very thick and substantial ; others of wood, the
shop for retail dealing, and two neat dwelling-houses.
Vast in value have been the pelts here stored, and hence
sent to the selling agents of the fur companies, during the
last hundred years of their reign and dealings here. Fort
William was years ago the main depot of the great North
Western Company, which united with the English Cor-
poration in 1821. Before the factor's pretty vine-clad
house was a garden blooming with flowers of many varie-
ties, and a rockery that particularly attracted our atten-
THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE.
tion. Its formation was of large quartz and other min-
eral-bearing rocks, in which shone clearly traces of silver,
lead, iron and copper, and blocks of the beautiful amethysts
that are found throughout this wonderful region, but
chiefly at Amethyst Harbour, near the mouth of McKen-
zie River, some twenty miles east of Prince Arthur. The
river banks are low at the fort probably about ten feet
above the ordinary level of the water. Two miles farther
up they rise to double this height. On the left bank is
the Catholic Mission of the Immaculate Conception, with
Indian reserve twenty-five miles square. Above the
Mission, ten miles distant, are the extensive lumber works
of Mr. Adam Oliver, the residences of the Messrs. McKel-
lar, and the wharf on which is piled many a ton of steel
rails, ready for the track of the Canada Pacific Railway,
the terminus whereof is here placed by the powers that
be. The bank is high, and affords a level bed on which
the track has been graded for about half the forty-seven
miles that are to form the connecting chain between Thun-
der Bay and Lake Shebandowan. The contractors,
Messrs Sifton and Ward, had a large force employed in
getting out trees and making cuttings, and were to be so
engaged during the winter. The work on the lock at
Fort Frances is also being expeditiously carried out.
Government surveyors have reported favourably on
the route via Sturgeon Falls and the head of Rainy
Lake. The contractors named have also in hand the
Red River end of this section of the great road, but
the middle part of it, being over rough land full of en-
THE RAILWAY TERMINUS.
gineering difficulties, is not yet located. There is much
fine land in the free grant sections of the Kaminis-
tiquia valley, where one hundred families have establish-
ed themselves during the past few months. Along the
banks, as far as we went, was a rich alluvial soil. This >
large increase of settlers is no doubt partially due to the
grasshopper plague in Manitoba, of which we will speak
hereafter.
Very amusing to the visitor is the jealousy existing be-
tween this region and Prince Arthur. " Why," say resi-
dents of the latter, " require vessels to run up the Kam-
inistiquia to the Kailway, when at the Landing in Thun-
der Bay is a splendid natural harbour, safe for vessels of
any burden, and not so soon closed by the ice ? " " Your
harbour," say the gentlemen of the river, " cannot be safe
till well dredged and a great breakwater made to ward off
the winter storms." To secure their ends, the Prince Ar-
thurites were passing a by-law to devote a sufficient sum
$32,000 to continue the railway to the Landing, so
we hope all parties will soon be satisfied.
There will in time be a spreading population both at
the Landing and up the river. We cannot afford to let
Manitoba be drained long into the United States through
the Pembina route. A through line of rail must ere long
connect Thunder Bay with the Kewatin District and
"Red River. In summer this will be a pleasant and pop-
ular mode of ingress to the Prairie Province.
We met several who had gone over the Dawson Road
to Garry, and who told with interest of its variod sceaery
10 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE.
and incidents by stage, open boats and small steamers,
over lakes and rivers, during the five hundred miles of the
course of this Government road. W. H. Carpenter & Co.
had the contract from the Canadian Government for the
conveyance of persons and goods on this route during the
summer months, but it is closed as soon as the frost sets
in. They received an annual subsidy of $76,000 in addi-
tion to the fares they made. The charge for each passen-
ger from Prince Arthur to Winnipeg was $10 ; to return it
was $15. Meals were provided at rude stations at thirty
cents each. It is understood that the Dominion Govern-
ment will soon take the control of the route into their
own hands. There are many rich mineral deposits al-
ready discovered in the region through which this road
runs. Valuable tracts of timber, especially near the Lake
of the Woods and on the banks of Rainy River, will be
brought into access from Winnipeg as soon as the rail way
is constructed. The grain crop of the Province will also
by this route seek shipment on Lake Superior.
For fuller accounts of the region traversed by this road
we can only refer readers to the several interesting nar-
ratives which have appeared, especially that of Professor
Hind's expedition of 1857. This route, however, goes
from the north-west angle of the Lake of the Woods by
land to Red River, while Professor Hind and Colonel
Wolseley followed the longer and more romantic course
from that point by Winnipeg River to the lake, and
up Lake Winnipeg and Red River to Fort Garry.
CHAPTER II.
THUNDER BAY TO RED RIVER DULUTH SUPERIOR CITY DULUTH
TO FARGO THE ST. LOUIS RIVER THE NORTHERN PACIFIC RAIL-
WAY " THE LAST TURN " THE MISSISSIPPI SCENERY FARGO.
A PLEASANT sail of eighteen hours in the Manitoba, an
excellent vessel of the Sarnia line, brings us in sight of
this little city, at the western end of Lake Superior, and
creeping up the stony and almost treeless hill that rises
behind. It is a straggling town, that grew too fast, where
the town-lot fever struck deep and had many victims.
The Northern Pacific Railway runs from Duluth to the
Missouri River. Great were the hopes raised in the
hearts of the Duluthians as this railway was being con-
structed and Jay Cook reigned. But the day came, the
money king fell from his greenback throne, the road got
into the sheriff's hands, and the little city came to a sud-
den halt. The land fever had its crisis many of the
stores are vacant. " To let " is on some of the pretty
houses that lie on the hillside, and vacant lots are a drug
in the market. For its future, Duluth must depend on
the development of the grain trade to be produced by the
prairies through which the Northern Pacific runs, and
the mineral resources in which, no doubt, the whole sur-
rounding region abounds, and its connection by Red
River boats, stages and proposed railway with the^British
12 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE.
Fertile Belt to the North West. A narrow-gauge rail-
road is being surveyed, to run northerly seventy -five
miles to a rich iron region. At a distance of six miles,
across the St. Louis Bay, in the State of Wisconsin, is
Superior City with a fate similar to that of Duluth.
From Duluth to Fargo, on the Red River, is 254 miles.
For some distance, the Northern Pacific runs along the
course of the St. Louis, which opens with a long marshy
mouth into Lake Superior. The soft bed soon gives
place to a rocky bottom of the most rugged appearance,
in which, in the wet season, the river runs a foaming tor-
rent. Now its bed is nearly dry, with here and there a
little waterfall and rapid. The ground along its banks is
deceitful full of sand and boulders. At several places we
find our train passing through the air with no apparent
support from terra firma. We thus rest on wooden stilt-
like frame-work, of which one end pierces the ground, the
other supports the roadway. To the unaccustomed the
position is anything but assuring. However, railways
must be built, and when stone and iron are scarce timber
must answer instead and does till the crash comes, as
come it surely will. At the old Indian town of Fond du
Lac, fifteen miles from Duluth, where a century ago our
great Nor'-West Company had an important fort and
depot but that was while this region was still British
the river runs a beautiful glassy stream, then spreads into
a crystal lake, with bushy isles and banks of grass and
rushes. The grand and rugged scenery now begins, end-
ing at Thompson, where the road crosses the St. Louis. In
THE NORTHERN PACIFIC RAILWAY. 13
this short distance, about eight miles, we pass and see the
Dalles of the St. Louis in their broad and unhewn beds of
slate, foaming and seething in a thousand whirlpools.
Pine-clad hills hang over them. Then the aspect changes
the wild waters gather into a quiet stream, and glide
past, with surface scarce broken by a ripple. Our Yale
friends take the road for St. Paul's, which branches from
the Northern Pacific, twenty-four miles from Duluth.
Doubtless the prairie chickens will soon groan for their
coming. We have now left the St. Louis and entered a
beautiful land. Great elms spread their arms on either
side. No scant has nature here shown in her wild garden.
In rows and in groups stand the elms, and as the train
goes swiftly through, the nearer trees seem to recede, and
those behind to move on in a majestic dance of giants.
We think of the German legend, the Erl-King, that holds
out its enchanted limbs and cries " Come hither, come
hither, my child ! " or do these giants of the plain resent
this encroachment on their beautiful domains, and shake
their arms and struggle to pursue as the train goes whist-
ling and rattling through their avenues ? The scene still
changes beautiful lakes in smiling meadows of luxuriant
verdure appear one after another. Wild ducks and geese
swim upon them, while pigeons and blackbirds are plenti-
ful. We look for signs of inhabitants, but they are few.
Fences are seldom seen. The great meadows that skirt
the grassy lakes and ponds are swampy, and will not be
cropped till the drier and richer prairie land has been
exhausted. Lake, pond, meadow and park, as demesnes
14 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE.
of some great nobleman, are passed in rapid review, but
nature alone has been the unrivalled gardener. Cedars
and hardwoods come in view ere we reach Brainerd, a
little city in the forest, one hundred and fifteen miles on
our way. Here are the workshops of the road, a large
hotel and handsome white board building, also put up by
the Railway Company as a temporary home for emigrants.
Each alternate section or square mile along the line be-
longs to the Company, who offer strong inducements to
settlers. The main street has a few buildings and stores,
but the most noticeable features are its billiard and drink-
ing saloons. Over one, beside which grows a tree, is the
name, " The Last Turn." This is the spot where two
Indians, in 1873, last turned their poor eyes on the light
of this world. Accused of ravishing a young woman,
murdering her, and destroying her remains by fire, they
were arrested. A lot of roughs sat playing cards and
drinking, and as the play lagged, one jumped up and
cried, " To the jail ! the Indians ! " The result was soon
reached. This tree was the gallows, and this saloon sign
their only monument. Which were the more guilty, the
poor struggling victims, or those who yelled round them
and shot at them as they hung, eternity alone will reveal.
The unfortunate girl's name was Ellen McArthur. She
was quarter Chippewa, and was walking over the prai-
rie towards her uncle's when met by the two scoundrels,
her murderers Gegeance and Tibiscogushekweb. The
meaning of this last name is " The same sky further off."
Before this, these fellows had killed one Bearman, of
THE MISSISSIPPI. 15
Little Falls. The railroad now crosses the Upper Missis-
sippi, a yellow stream flowing through muddy banks of
some eighty feet in height. It was spanned by a wooden
bridge of the stilt and girder kind, but we passed over
on a scow. About the end of July a heavy train was on
the bridge and nearly over, when the timbers cracked.
Down went the cars, drawing the engine, with its engi-
neer and brakesman and six others to destruction, few of
whom lived to see another day. Those who did may see
and admire, if they can, another bridge, twin brother of
the last, completed across the chasm. Terrible was the
scene as the confused crashing heap went, with the cries
of broken and drowning men into the waters. The rest of
our ride was over the prairie. The quality of the land
we had passed was poor, light or swampy now it im-
proves, becomes loamy, and as we come nearer Red River,
we see the deep black soil which is universal along the
bed of that river. Due north are the head waters of the
Mississippi and Red River ; the little streams and lakes
that form the beginnings of these two great rivers, in many
places but a few rods apart, yet the waters of the one will
go to the Southern Ocean ; of the other, to Hudson's Bay.
At Detroit Lake we are much tempted to stay and try our
hand on the ducks that cover the beautiful water. At
Glyndon, two hundred and forty-one miles from Duluth,
the St. Paul and Pacific Railroad crosses the Northern
Pacific and goes north as far as Crookston, a distance of
seventy miles. Twelve miles more bring us into the
straggling little city of Moorhead ; but we keep our seats,
16 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE.
pass over a long bridge that spans the Red River of the
North, alight at the Headquarters Hotel, with its long
two-storied balcony, and find ourselves in snug quarters
and at the western end of our trip. Our course will to-
morrow be northerly down the river.
CHAPTER III.
DOWN THE RED RIVER ITS SOURCES AND TRIBUTARIES THE PRAIRIE
RED LAKE RIVER GRAND FORKS FROG POINT THE ROSEAU
WHAT THE GEOLOGISTS SAY AN ANTE-DILUVIAN EMERSON
WHITEHAVEN THE * ' NIGGER " A " BUCK " METIS POINT
GRUETTE SCRATCHING RIVER SETTLEMENTS MENNONITES
SUNSET GOVERNOR M 'DOUG ALL AND HIS GUARD CAPTAIN CAME-
RON AND HIS " BLAWSTED FENCE " BUTLER, WOLSELEY GOOD
NIGHT - VERSES.
MOOKHEAD is on the Minnesota, and Fargo on the
Dakota or west side of the Red River of the North. They
are straggling villages. The latter is a seat of law, with
large court-house and gaol ; Dakota is not yet organized
as a State, but is a territory under Federal control. The
prairie extends on all sides, and through it, between the
two towns, and dividing State and Territoiy, flows the
dull and muddy stream. The rain of the previous day
had formed a tenacious mud. The International was ready
for her passengers in the early morning. This vessel is
of the scow-built, light water kind used on these waters,
where, in the dry season, the bottom often lies at twenty
or thirty inches from the surface scow-built, with round
nose, propelled when floating by a horizontal wheel at the
rear ; and when stuck on the stones or mud, pulled off by
a cable, one end of which is attached to a tree on the bank,
the other to a capstan turned by the " Nigger" engine,
c
18 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE.
The International is the oldest vessel of the Kittson line,
and carried Captain Butler in July, 1870, when he went to
spy the land for ColonelWolseley, and then to see the "Great
Lone Land " beyond. She is in length one hundred and
forty feet ; breadth, about one-third of length ; three-
decked the lowest for freight, engine, deck passengers,
cattle, &c. ; the second, with cabin, state-rooms and covered
promenade ; the third has the wheel-house and open deck.
Than Captain Seger and Mr. Joseph Smith, the purser,
none could be more attentive to passengers, and, what we
also admired, civil and kindly to the crew of thirty or
more that worked the craft and the scows, which some-
times ran on in the more rapid current, but were more
generally lashed to our side. We started with one such,
laden with bags and barrels, over fifty tons, for Garry, but
at Grand Forks exchanged these for two barges, laden
each with fifty tons of rails for the Canada Pacific. The
Red River rises in Otter Tail Lake and Traverse Lake, in
Minnesota ; passes between Moor head and Fargo ; its
breadth for its first 100 miles varies from 150 to 300 feet.
A strange rover is he as he winds through this wonderful
prairie land for 700 miles, joined here and there by twenty-
three smaller streams, the largest of them being the Assini-
boine, entering at Winnipeg ; the Bed Lake River, which
joins the Red River at Grand Forks ; and the Roseau River,
which drains the wooded country between the Lake of the
Woods and Red River, at Pembina entering the Dominion,
and finally lost in Lake Winnipeg, where its waters mingle
with those of the Saskatchewan, Winnipeg, and other
THE RED RIVER. 19
rivers, and thence pass into Hudson's Bay by Nelson
River.
The head of steam navigation on the Red River is about
46 degrees 23 min. The river is five feet deep at the
mouth of Sioux Wood River, at Cheyenne six feet, thence
to Goose River nine feet, with an intervening rapid with
but five feet of water on it. From Goose River to Red
Lake River twelve feet thence to Lake Winnepeg fifteen
feet. These measurements are in its ordinary state ; when
we passed down, the water was lower ; when the spring
floods come, and the snow, melting on the prairie, flows
in, the river swells in compass, in many places overflow-
ing the banks. As we passed slowly around various
curves, Captain Smith pointed to several coulees with
little water in them, which are at such times swollen to
rivers, up which the vessel may float, and even shorten
her course in Red River, by, to borrow a surveyor's phrase,
passing along the bases of triangles.
The sun rises ere we pass far from Fargo. Very pretty
is the sight as we cleave our devious way between stately
elms, cotton-woods and oaks,1that line the banks, but so
winding, that our prow points as often towards the Ant-
arctic as the Arctic pole. Among our passengers we find
a Government officer on his way to the Indian country ;
two Montreal gentlemen, who have no doubt an eye to
prospecting in lands and the fur trade ; a young civil en-
gineer, and a fair lady who has joined hand and heart,
and goes to find a home in the little capital ; a young
banker, who will take charge of a branch of one of our
20 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE.
Ontario banks just opened there; and others, whom plea-
sure or hope of gain bring to see the Prairie Province.
Beautiful is the scene as the vessel winds along. Willows
sweep our side as she creeps on, hugging the bank for
deeper water or to get room for the next turn. Nature
has with lavish hand studded the banks for half our way
with clusters of stately elms, ash, oak, maple, basswood,
poplar and cotton- wood, that spread their branches over a
rich vegetation long grass, wild plum and cherries, prairie
roses, the white blossom of the wild hop, wild tea, the wind-
ing convolvulus ; the dark green of ivy and grape vines
hang from the trunks ; clusters of the pink squaw berries,
Scotch thistles of great size ; beautiful flowers of many
varieties purple, white and yellow dot the green carpet.
This lining of the prairie is of varying depths, from
fifty or one hundred yards to a mile, and through it we
may see the sky. The upper deck is generally on a level
with the land, but sometimes, as at Frog Point, the banks
rise as high as the top of the smoke-stack. During the
numerous stoppages of the vessel we run up to view the
land see a rich meadow stretching before us. On the
river's bank may be seen the log house of a settler, and
in grass to their knees, as Wordsworth has it.
" The cattle are grazing,
Their heads never raising,
Forty feeding as one."
Hard indeed was it at once to realize the vastness of the
prairie a sea of waving grass extending from us to the
THE PRAIRIE. 21
Missouri measured by miles not acres, coursed through
by numerous rivers, of which the Red River of the North
with its tributaries is but one, for ages the home of the
red man and the bison ; its soil enriched and enriching
year by year with the ashes of the prairie grass ; its ver-
dant outskirts only yet touched by civilization, destined
to be the happy home of millions of the Saxon race. As
we run over it, coveys of prairie chickens start up or run
chirping to the parent birds. Our feet scatter the little
mounds of the gophers or ground squirrels ; but the air is
hot as it sweeps over the broad level, and we return to
the bushes that skirt the river, to be thence soon escorted
to the boat's deck by a lively band of mosquitoes.
On board again, we lie in wait for the chance hawk or
pair of ducks, which we pop at with revolvers to the little
damage of the birds, however. The young men jump
over to one of the scows, set up a target and practise with
their revolvers. Some puff the fragrant weed, or read, or
while away an hour in whist or euchre ; run out as the
vessel again rubs her broad nose on the bank, to view
the prairie, and find to our sorrow that the poor cottage
we hoped had been left, is still in sight from a different
standpoint; we have gone circling round through the
prairie. The water is low; fat cattle stand in it switching
the flies off with their dripping tails. The " Nigger " is
oft-times called into play. We cannot expect to see Garry
before Saturday evening, although we left Fargo on Tues-
day morning. The Government officer says " That won't
do for me," and leaves us at Grand Forks to take the four-
22 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE.
horse stage which will carry him in in thirty hours. We
hear complaints of monotony.
The sun sets, the trees are high enough to conceal the
best part of his glory, and from them now come in my-
riads buzzing swarms with spear bills that seize on every
exposed part. We take refuge from them on the upper
deck, where the cool breeze stops their humming, and at
last retire to our berths discomfited. Still disturbed from
above and from beneath, we dream of rivers that run
straight through flowery meads, of mines with "pockets"
of gold and gems, of town lots that are such in fact as well
as on paper, where prices e'er go up and taxes are un-
known. But the music breaks out with threatening hum-
hum and troubles move below, and we open our eyes with
thoughts on murderous raids intent. As each night grows
on, a great reflecting lamp is set on either side of the prow
to light the way. Beautiful and strange is the sight as
the lamps throw their white weird light on the weeping
willows, clinging vines, and shadowy poplars which we
p ass iik e a theatric show with ever-shifting scenes. The
moon sails above and below each bank the varying pano-
rama is reflected in the water. The wheel-house rose on
the upper deck. Its roof was a favourite vantage-ground
from which on clear evenings to look on the glorious sun-
set of the prairi j, of a varied beauty and magnificence
surpassing description.
On the last day of the trip some rain fell. The woods
also generally receded from the banks, leaving them cov-
ered, however, with willows, bushes and vines. The mos-
PEMBINA, THE ROSEAU. 23
quitoes were not so assiduous in their attentions. Pem-
bina is reached in the early morning. At the Hudson
Bay post of West Pembina the Customs officer welcomes
us to Her Majesty's dominions.
From the east the Roseau river now comes in with
slow, reluctant motion, to swell the tide flowing to the Bay
of Hudson. It has drained the lake of the same name
which lies a few miles south of the boundary, and some
great muskegs, or swamps, which form in winter the pas-
ture ground for hundreds of ponies of the Indians of the
Eeserve. They paw away the snow and reach the long
rich grass, and are in better condition in the spring than
when turned out in the autumn. Then starting on a
southerly course, the Roseau runs for awhile still in Min-
nesota, with the e vident intention of joining Rainey River
and the Mississippi ; but the way is blocked with sand
and detrital matter, so he tacks about, passes swiftly for a
dozen miles over a gravelly bed the rapids of the Roseau,
where are many excellent mill sites and finally zigzags
into Red River past this beautiful well-wooded Indian
Reserve of 13,500 acres, and forming its northern boun-
dary, bearing many great pine logs, hewn from the Pine
river, Roseau and Lake of the Woods forests, to the saw-
mills of Garry. This reluctance to travel northward
seems inbred, not only in the Roseau > but in the Red
River and most of the waters of any size hereabout. If
we listen to what the geologists say, we will hear a won-
drous tale. They fetch out instruments and find that our
mitlot into r Lake Winnipeg is but seven hundred and ten
24 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE.
feet or so above the level sea. We'are here on the Inter-
national, some eight hundred feet high but following up
the Red River till its sources in Lake Traverse separate from
those of the Minnesota, we ascend to but nine hundred
and sixty feet above salt water. Elevate this northern
end of Red River Valley, or lower the other extremity but
a few hundred feet, and the course would be changed
the canoe here launched would float to the " Father of
Waters," pass St. Paul's at an elevation of but six hun-
dred and seventy feet, and at last feel the warm sun of
New Orleans.
This and other more startling sights might have been
witnessed in pre- Adamite times. We might indeed have
taken passage on an iceberg, and ridden from the North
Sea all over this beautiful valley, then but a rocky ocean
bed. The breadth of the submergence is estimated to have
been from the high lands east and south of the Lake of the
Woods to hills west of Manitoba Lake, or perhaps farther
west, with a height given by Mr. G. M. Dawson at 1,428
feet. He says :
" The river valleys and lower levels frequently show
tile or boulder-clay, while the summits of the plateaus
are generally covered with shingly deposits, which appear
to consist chiefly of beach material like that of the flanks
of the Rocky Mountains, and may have been carried here
by small icebergs from the mountains themselves, or by
shore ice."
A "superficial current," mingling wifch a "deep nor-
thern flow," like tho Arr.tiV onrrcnt and Gulf Stream on
TESTIMONY OF THE ROCKS, 27
the Newfoundland Banks, was what bore them on, rolling
great boulders with them, of which some of the most
marked specimens are found in the region of the Lake of
the Woods. One such, says the geologist referred to, of red
granite, and actually lying in the groove it had made in
the lake bed, was found to be eleven feet long by seven feet
high.
The traveller may become acquainted with this and
other old antediluvians by diverging from the Dawson
route and calling at Buffalo Point, in the south-west mar-
gin of the lake. Some of them form fine perched blocks.
How long have they sat waiting to tell their strange story
of flood and earthquake, of the subsidence of the ocean
bed, and the formation of new courses for great rivers ?
Their tale would be of the crossing of the Straits by the red
man while Carthage was yet a flourishing city ; ere Nero
looked on his burning capital ; while rude barbarians,
clothed in skins of beasts, dwelt in the British Isles. In-
dian boys may then have played round these old relics
as familiar landmarks, and, in summer evenings, jumped
from them, laughing, into the water. They tell us of the
time when French rule was claimed from these parts
down to the Mexican Gulf, and all the intervening region
jvas called in honour of a Louis ; of the chase of great
beasts, and fierce struggles between the Ojibway and
the Sioux; of the hardy traders and hunters who passed
from the dalles of the Winnipeg to the old town, their
chief depot at the Two Mountains, now a great city ; of tho
28 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE.
quarrels of the rival Companies, and the passage of the gal-
lant Wolseley.
As we look on the stream, up whose course our thoughts
have passed, we recall the concluding words of Bryant's
" Story of the Fountain : "
" Haply shall these green hills
Sink, with the lapse of years, into the gulf
Of ocean waters, and thy source be lost
Amid the bitter brine 1 or shall they rise,
Upheaved in broken cliffs and airy peaks,
Haunts of the eagle and the snake, and thou
Gush midway from the bare and barren steep 1 "
But let us revert to the things that now are. Lo, with
his squaws and papooses of all ages, is seen on the banks-
sometimes dressed as poor white men dress, but generally
with a blue or white blanket over his shoulders, hair long
and unkempt, complexion very dark, figure generally of
light build, and countenance of low expression. Here and
there are a few cords of wood which squaws have cut and
piled for sale to the passing steamboats. On one a
" buck " stands, waving a blue blanket over his head as
we approach, signalling his desire to effect a sale. Among
the trees we see here and there the residences of this poor
.remnant of brave nations: sometimes they are daubed with
mud more often the wigwam conical in shape, is made
of sailcloth or birch bark, supported on saplings ten feet
high, not closed at top, as the smoke from the fire within
must get out there or by the door in front, which gene-
rally faces the river. Sometimes we see Indian boys fish-
INDIANS, METIS OR BOIS-BRULES. 29
ing oftener see that lines or nets have been set to catch
the great catfish which abound in this muddy river, and
are of excellent quality, clear of flesh and with spotted
skins. This band has decreased since 1871, and now num-
bers 480 souls. They have a dozen houses built the
major part of them live in skin tents. They are docile.
Men of lighter though not less dirty hue are sometimes
visible with the red folk. These are " half-breeds," or
more shortly, " Breeds " and " Metis," from the Spanish
American mestee or mustee, as are called all whose blood
is mixed. They are also called bois brules, from their
dark complexion, like scorched wood. The growing town
of Emerson, whose wooden houses we see from the vessel,
and the village of Whitehaven are passed, and the set-
tlers' cottages are often seen, log-built, plastered with mud,
and thatched with the long bluejoint hay of the prairie,
which is said to wear as well as shingles. At Scratching
River is laid out on paper the town called Morris, in
honour of the popular Lieutenant-Governor of the Pro-
vince. At Point Gruette the Crooked Rapids are passed,
twenty-five miles from Garry by land, but so circui-
tous is our course that we have yet nearly twice that dis-
tance by water. As to these and other so-called rapids
on this river, they seem so named by contradiction so far
as locomotion is concerned, as they are but places where
the current is roughened by passing over stones, and we
always go slowly and get ready to work the " Nigger."
Let us not forget the pretty cottage on the left bank, be-
low DufFerin. Here Captain Cameron for a time resided,
30 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE.
He was aide-de-camp to the Hon. Wm. McDougall, C. B.,
who came, to be first Governor of the Province, but got
no further than the Hudson Bay post at Pembina, being
there held in surveillance by Kiel's band of half-breeds
during the month of November and till the 18th of Decem-
ber, 186y. He wearied of the business and returned to
Ottawa. The gallant captain ventured on to the River
Sale, which here runs into Red River. Three score of
half-breeds were before him with a barricade a "blawsted
fence " he called it, and would, Romulus-like, have leaped
it, but that was not to be. His horses' heads were turned
southerly. Discretion was the better part of valour. The
captain lived to be a major, and to command the expedi-
tion which in 1874 settled the international boundary be-
tween this territory and the States. Mr. Provencher came
thus far at the same time, and met the like fate. He also
survived the discomfiture, and is now Indian Agent for
Manitoba. The cottage and a larger house near by, used
as a depot for emigrants, belong to Government. The
broad faces and stout forms of Mennoiiites, dressed in brown
homespun men, women and children here greet us in
numbers. We have elsewhere seen and heard of them occa-
sionally, as many have settled near the river's banks. The
purser informed us that several parties of them passed in
by boats this season. They have generally large families
children of every age up to puberty. One man had his
second wife and twenty -three children.
The sun falls, leaving the west in a blaze of glory.
Preparations are made for the last night 011 board. We talk
PASTIME ON SHIPBOARD. 31
of old times, and of the " Company " which late ruled all
we saw ; compared notes as to the future. Two go to see
the beauties of the Saskatchewan. One will renew his
acquaintance with the buffaloes. Others will look up
locations, quarter sections, town lots, and otherwise seek
pleasure and fortune. State-room doors open and shut
with "good-night!" The old vessel still puffs on in a
wheezy way in the still damp air. We awake in the
morning and find we are laid up in the Assiniboine, under
the martello towers of the old fort where Scott fell where
Captain Butler played his provoking game of billiards
while Kiel looked on, and where Wolseley won his laurels.
Our notebook has furnished a means of recreation.
Would the indulgent reader see some vacation verses sug-
gested by the scenes we have passed through, and indited
as we floated down ?
THE RED RIVER OF THE NORTH.
'Neath high arched skies of clearest sheen,
Sweeping thro' prairies' boundless green,
Where branching elms and poplars throw
Dark shadows on the flood below ;
Through the great rival nations' land,
Uniting them with silver band,
A Queen thou art of wide domain,
Red River of the Northern Plain.
Thy crown is of the azure hue
Of sun-set sky and pearly dew ;
Thy tresses of the ivy made,
Twined with the willows' lighter shade ;
32 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE.
The Bois des Sioux, the small Marais,
Unite to make thy girdle gay ;
The Roseau comes with garlands, fain
To deck the Queen of Northern Plain.
A Naiad Queen thy bounteous hand
Refreshes oft the parched land ;
The cattle bellow forth thy praise,
The blackbirds laud thee in their lays :
The plover, mallard and wild-goose,
The slow-paced bear, the antler'd moose,
Come, lave and drink, a thankful train,
Queen River of the Northern Plain.
Pray tell us of those ancient men,
The Sioux, the Blackfeet, the Cheyenne,
Whose forms majestic by thy face
Reflected were a stately race ;
Whose children, as by thee they stand,
Scant remnant of a noble band,
To match their sires will strive in vain ;
Bold rovers of the Northern Plain.
Then tell us of the men who came
In humble guise and holy name,
Who bore the cross, and taught that loss
Was gain, and gain on earth was dross
With Him before whose sacred throne
The red and white man count as one ;
Good men ! ye sought for heaven to gain,
The wild men of the Northern Plain.
But ah ! my Muse, in shame and tears,
With downcast eyes, of after years
She tells. By lust and lucre nurs'd.
Came wrongs and cruel deeds that curs'd
PASTIME ON SHIPBOARD. 33
The land, and made the red man fall
And fade, who had been king of all !
Shall Canada permit the stain
To rest upon the Northern Plain ?
Astrean Muse, thy tears repel,
And of the years approaching tell
" Fair Queen, thy virgin shores shall be
The home of thousands blest and free,
From despot's rod, from priestcraft's snare ;
Thy waters pure their freight shall bear ;
Long will they laud thy glorious reign,
Queen River of the Northern Plain."
NOTE. The Bois des Sioux, Marais and Roseau are three of the
many rivers that drain the northern part of this immense prairie
and fall into the Red River.
34 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE.
CHAPTER IV.
WINNIPEG FORT GARRY CITY AND PEOPLE THE BARRACKS FORT
OSBORNE HUDSON BAY COMPANY RESERVE A GALA DAY WINNI-
PEG INSTITUTIONS AND ENVIRONS ARTESIAN WELLS WATER
WORKS ILLUSTRATIONS GARRY PETS TRAIN DOGS DEER LODGE
SILVER HEIGHTS INDIANS, CARTS AND SHAGYNAPPI POLICE
PLAN OF CITY.
THE Old Fort faces the Assiniboine just before its junc-
tion with the Red River. We are under the shadow
of high stone walls, seamed with cracks, and evidently of
no modern origin. They form a rectangle of five hundred
and ten feet in breadth, and six hundred feet long. A
gateway opens in the middle of the wall facing the Assini-
boine ; through this we see a grass plot, having at its
further extremity a two-and-a-half storied house, with
stairs ascending from the exterior to the second story ;
on each side are four wooden houses, some of old logs axe-
hewn, others clapboarded. Each corner of the enclosure
is guarded by a round stone tower. These were erected
in 1840. Passing to the east side we find a store, which
opens to Garry or Main Street, and is filled with goods of
every variety, from fierce hunting and bowie-knives, many-
barrelled pistols and rifles, to pretty articles for ladies'
toilets and boudoirs. This store has been thus opened to
the street since Riel ruled. Then the eastern side was all
closed in by the high wall, made of hewn pine logs laid
.-"
FORT GARRY ; SCOTT. 35
horizontally, which encloses now from this store to the
tower on the north-west corner the newer part of the
fort, which was so enlarged about 1850. These logs
show the tooth of time, which has eaten holes in many
to their centres into which the hand could be pushed.
Here and there we see where the red man's lead has
pierced the wood. At this side, too, fell, after a mock trial,
Thomas Scott on the 4th of March, 1870, pierced, but
not killed, by rebel bullets. His body was placed within
a rude coffin and carried within the fort. His friends
asked for it and were refused, and why ? Because the
assassins had done their work so unskilfully that the
man still spoke in his coffin, and so continued till night
fell then the knife ended his torture. Chains taken from
the fort were placed around the coffin ; Dr. Schultz's
stolen cutter was used as a hearse ; Kiel's minions in this
carried the remains down the Red River to where the
Seine joins it in St. Boniface, and pushed it through
a hole in the ice to its last resting-place in the deep mud
of the river, where doubtless it still lies. On the north
side of the fort, facing the city, the wall is the highest. In
its centre is a castellated gateway ; within is the large
frame house formerly occupied by the Governor of the
Company, now by the Hon. Alexander Morris, Lieut. -
Governor of the Province, and a store-house and offices.
Some trees and shrubs surround this, and a large garden ;
but the grasshoppers were there before me, in contempt of
high walls and massive towers. A rental of $2,000 a
year is paid to the Company for that part of these pre-
36 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE.
mises occupied by the Lieutenant-Govemor. [Our fron-
tispiece view of the fort shows the sides facing the rivers,
and is from a sketch made on the spot by Mr. Verner.
The smaller views are from excellent photographs by Mr.
S. Duffin, of Winnipeg.] Passing along Main Street, we
see on each side many substantial houses, dwellings, offices,
stores and warerooms ; some of these are of white brick ;
among such on our left are the Custom House and Dominion
Land Office, and Mr. Hespeller's block. A large brick
hotel was here erected, but its walls were not sufficiently
sunk, and the whole structure will soon have to be taken
down. Main Street extends from the fort to Burrows
Avenue, a distance of nearly two miles, following in main
the Red River, but taking a short cut along the base
of the triangle that forms Point Douglas. From the Fort
to the Wolsely House, now the Presbyterian College,
this street is fairly built up, and the land bordering upon
it is held at figures that would astonish those who saw
the poor little village of Winnipeg as described by Cap-
tain Butler five years ago. The triangle referred to,
bounded by Main Street and Red River, holds the old
village, and is mostly built upon. The Point Douglas
road runs through it from the river westerly, and streets
branch off either side of it. West of Main Street the city
is also fast filling up with frame houses of all sizes. Every
mechanic seems to have his own homestead, however
small. First is erected towards the middle of the lot a
small house, just sufficient for immediate necessity ; in time
a two-story addition is added in front, and the part first
CITY OF WINNIPEG. 37
erected forms the rear of the completed mansion. Mer-
chants and others whohave succeeded well and there are
many such in the city have erected, or are now erecting,
more pretentious and comfortable residences. Many of the
stores on Main Street are handsome buildings and well pro-
vided but as happens, especially in new places, where each
builds to suit his fancy, present wants, and pocket, there
is no uniformity in size or proportions. This time may
remedy. Some of the surveys are unsymmetrical and
have lots, even in outlying parts, absurdly small in pro-
portion. This might well be provided against by legis-
lation. One of the finest of the recently erected stores
is that of J. H. Ashdown & Co. The building is 72 x 28
feet, three stories high, and is built of the handsome light-
coloured brick of Manitoba, with stone basement, the cor-
nices, window caps, &c., being of galvanized iron. The
materials used in the building were procured in Manitoba,
at a cost of some $15,000. The principal of the firm, Mr. J.
H. Ashdown, arrived in Manitoba, previous to the Red River
rebellion, with scarcely any capital. The stock contained
in the building is valued at about $50,000 and keeps four-
teen salesmen and workmen fully employed.
We will only mention further among the brick build-
ings, the Ontario Bank, Merchants' Bank, the store of the
Hon. A. G. B. Bannatyne, the new Post Office, and the
stores of Dr. Schultz, Mr. McMicken, and Higgins & Young,
and residence of the Chief Justice. So great has been the
demand for places of business that many buildings in the
38 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE.
young city have already, say by three or four years' rental,
or even less, repaid their total cost to their owners.
Main Street has a plank sidewalk from the Fort to Bur-
rows Avenue ; is graded, surface drained, but insufficiently
so, and supplied in many places with water cisterns, to use
in case of fire. The city has several hotels and far too
many saloons. The chief hotels are the Grand Central
and the Exchange.
Turn we again ; and following, as the sun is setting, the
strains of music, pass to Fort Osborne, on the banks of
the Assiniboine, we find that the strains proceed from a
band of some fifteen performers, regimentaled in the
uniform of Canadian Militia, standing in the parade
ground of an enclosure, in which we see a sergeant putting
his squad through evening drill, arid a lot of jolly fellows
playing football, and are kindly welcomed by some young
Canadian officers, among whom we may mention Captain
Herchmer and Lieutenant Nash. The enclosure is sur-
rounded by a high white fence, and on each side of the
parade ground within are half-a-dozen neat wooden build-
ings, forming the officers' and men's quarters, stables, etc.
About one hundred officers and men were here stationed,
including a battery of artillery. The time of half of the
men was about expiring, and a like number recruited in
" Canada," as the older Provinces are called in Manitoba,
have just come through by the Dawson road to take their
places, making the trip from Fort William in six days, the
soldiers having aided much in working their passage.
Behind the barracks, Colony Creek runs down to the As-
FORT OSBORNE ; HUDSON BAY CO/S RESERVE. 39
siniboine, and beyond it is a wind -mill with sails set. We
saw several others round the country, but most of them
have been dismantled and their machinery taken farther
West, steam mills here taking their places.
Between the barracks and the heart of the city is a large
tract a square through which, on the city map, we find
that ten streets run from north to south, and five crossing
these. It contains twelve hundred lots, of which we think
quite one thousand are vacant ; yet the city is spread-
ing out in other directions, and even along the Portage
road, beyond this tract. This seems anomalous. Let us
ask the cause. We are told, " Oh, that is the Hudson
Bay Company's property they ask more than other pro-
prietors ; in fact, value their lots as highly as good resi-
dence property in Toronto, and annex terms as to im-
provements ; so people buy and build elsewhere. Such is
the present apparent state of affairs. The patent deed to
" the Governor and Company of Adventurers of England
trading into the Hudson's Bay " (the Company's corporate
name), conveying this 450 acres of land between the As-
siniboine and Red Rivers, is dated 5th June, 1873, and
is made pursuant to the Order in Council of June 23rd,
1870, whereby the North-west Territory and Rupert's
Land were admitted into the Dominion. At an auction
sale of lots in their reserve west of Main street, on Octo-
ber loth, 1874, the Company sold fifty-eight building lots
for $25,695.
Some irritation exists in the Province at the generous
manner in which the great Company was treated, mid tho
40 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE.
alleged arbitrary manner in which they hold these lands
in the centre of a growing population, and other lands
round every fort or trading post, and a slice out of every
township ; but more of this hereafter. The Portage road
was being graded diagonally across this tract from the main
street, cutting up the lots as laid out. The Company are
in litigation with the city as to this. Other " Company "
grievances are heard of, but they are of local importance.
The 17th of August, 1875, was a gala day in Garry,
when its beauty and its chivalry, including the Masonic
and Orange fraternities and firemen, in full regalia, assem-
bled at the laying of the corner stone of the city market.
In the absence of the Governor off to treaty with In-
dians, but from whom a congratulatory letter was read
by Mayor Kennedy, and received with applause, for His
Excellency is deservedly held in much popular esteem by
all Chief Justice Wood was called on for a speech, and
we had the pleasure of hearing his " big thunder " in the
young prairie city. Well did he refer to the wonderful
growth, prosperit}^ and future of Manitoba, and its one
city, Winnipeg ; to the rivers that flowed by, and the
beautiful and great lake into which their waters enter
one and a half times as large as Lake Ontario. He
showed that Winnipeg was at once the geographical cen-
tre of Manitoba and the commercial and political hub of
the Nor'-west, and predicted its future greatness. Excel-
lent speeches were also made by the Premier, Mr. Davis,
and that good friend of Manitoba, Mr. J. W. Taylor, Uni-
ted States Consul at Winnipeg. Near this spot is the
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COURT HOUSE ; LEPINE ; NEWSPAPERS. 41
frame building used for Court-house, Gaol, and Parliament
House. The city is much in need of better accommoda-
tion for all these purposes. Here we saw a tall, well-look-
ing French half-breed, Ambroise Lepine, Kiel's Adjutant-
General, undergoing, with some impatience, the sentence
of imprisonment for his share in the Scott tragedy, and
refusing to live in banishment, or to accept the terms on
which alone he can regain his political status. In the
next cell were two Americans awaiting extradition on
a charge of murder.
On Sunday Winnipeg is remarkably quiet and orderly.
In the early morning, the St. Boniface ferry is loaded
with well dressed French-speaking folk on their way to
mass at St. Boniface. The other denominations have
each their church edifice in the town. There are many
public and private schools, and a Young Men's Christian
Association, with free reading-rooms. Several newspapers
among them the Free Press, a daily and weekly, and the
Standard a weekly are ably conducted. The gentlemen
of the city have a club, where we had the pleasure of meet-
ing and forming the acquaintance of several of the mer-
chants, lawyers, and legislators of the Province. Winnipeg
is a city the only city of the Province and has its Civic
Council ; and that worthy body, following the fashion of
its more eastern prototypes, spends more time in personal
bickerings and disputes than in legislating for the public
weal, yet it is gradually working out a system of fire pro-
tection, drainage, and other needed improvements. Blue-
coated police parade the streets. Society, too, has its
42 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE.
cliques and coteries, up-towri and down-town divisions.
A main cause of differences is the rancour still existing
from the effects of the Kiel rebellion and Scott tragedy.
The assessors' rolls for 1875 show about 2,000 males and
1,000 females as real estate owners ; many are non-re-
sidents. The population of the city numbers about 6,000
souls.
In 1875 the value of real property was... $1,808,567
personal " " ... 801,212
Total assessment $2,609,719
Protestant heads of families, 1,003 ; Catholic heads of
families, 145.
Among the heaviest ratepayers were the following, as-
sessed for real and personal property : Hudson's Bay
Company, $595,000 ; Hon. Mr. Bannatyne, $84,000 ; Mr.
McDermott, $78,876 ; Mr. Macaulay, $44,500 ; Mr. Alex.
Logan, $53,000.
The water supply is generally obtained from the rivers,
delivered at the houses in barrels drawn by mules or oxen.
Wells, unless sunk to the rock, are alkaline. In many
places flowing wells of excellent water exist. To make
such, the ground is bored for a depth of from 25 to 100
feet ; then rock is met, and below it is a sandy bed hold-
ing good water. The well must be tubed round to prevent
alkaline infiltration. When so completed the water rises
in abundance to within a few feet pf the surface. Such
a well has just been sunk at the new penitentiary on
Stony Mountain. At a depth of 100 feet rock was
WATER SUPPLY ; GARRY PETS. 43
thrown up which Professor Ames pronounced to be
Silurian. It has distinct traces of ocean shells and
crustacese imbedded in it, and is one of the many proofs
that ages ago this valley was the bed of the ocean, and
has been upheaved by volcanic agency.
Dr. Owen, so long ago as 1848, described Lower Silurian
limes-tone as found at the Stone Fort, and in his Report to
the American Government gave an extensive list of fossils
imbedded in it.
A continuous stream of the purest water lately rose
from a spot in the river's bank at Point Douglas, when
the railway engineers were boring to find a proper bottom
for the proposed bridge across Red River.
Besides the wild men from the plains, we see, here and
there, other former denizens of the wilds the pets of
Garry. In the half acre attached to the Ontario Bank is
a pretty red doe. Young black bears are often seen
chained in the gardens. Foxes peep from their holes, but
run in as far as the cord will allow as we approach. A
young cinnamon Bruin has his lair behind one of the
warehouses. A pair of Buffalo calves were expected in
soon by one of the traders. Every house of any preten-
sions has its show of stuffed birds, skins and horns. In
some the only carpets are the soft furs of bear, wolf,
buffalo, mink, and badger. The priests at St. Boniface
are skilled in the curing of birds' skins, and have many
specimens. These important-looking big dogs that walk
with measured tread which cannot be mistaken, are
" train dogs," who, as soon as the snow falls, will be
44 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE.
harnessed to tobogans with shagynappi, and run with
bags of flour, pemmican and the like, many a mile, and at
no slow pace. At Prince Arthur we first met a pair of
these fellows enjoying their summer holidays with otium
cum dignitate, but were shown the sled and harness in
which they have often gone as far as Duluth and back.
The tobogan is made of sound white birch wood, eight
feet long, and shaped like a straight moccasin, with a turn
up before and behind, width two feet, with canvas sides
some eight inches high, resembling a canoe, but the bottom
projects out behind to carry baggage. The harness is of
the Dutch species, sufficient for the purpose ; the absence
of shafts sometimes causes the last dog's hind legs to get
into trouble. When all is ready for a start, the dogs,
generally four or five to a team, at the driver's order, fall
into place, and away they go to distant posts, often
travelling fifty miles a day, at a rate of six miles an
hour.
The Portage Road, so called because leading towards
Portage La Prairie, is of two chains' breadth, and running
westerly, passes through a beautiful part of the city
and environs, having the verdant banked Assiniboirie
whose waters are of much lighter colour than the Red
River on the left. On the right we soon come to the
large establishment of Hon. James McKay, called Deer
Lodge ; the house with double verandah and extensive
outbuildings, on the roofs of which are displayed a dozen
pairs of antlers of red deer, elk and moose. Mr. McKay
is, in physical proportions and politically, one of the most
SILVER HEIGHTS ; INDIANS ; RED RIVER CARTS. 45
noted men in the Province : a member of Government, and
an Indian Treaty Commissioner, a trader and contractor.
Six miles out are the " Silver Heights," so called as the
land rises in beautiful rolling bluffs marked with shining
poplar and maple. The plain we drive on is dotted over
with many an ox or pony cart and little tent of traders, or
servants of the Company, some hundreds of which had
gone or were now about to start with winter supplies to
far distant posts and stations. Many of them will travel
3,000 miles ere they again tent out here. But here are
tepees of different construction and ownership. Two
stalwart Indians in their blankets stand at the door of
smoke-blacked tents ; one has red leggings ; the other has
a tuft of feathers. This is a brave he has killed his
men. Each feather is for a scalp torn off. Another
young warrior comes strutting on ; red-legginged, with
worked moccasins, and red-handled tomahawk in hand.
His squaw follows with a heavy bundle on her back.
Papooses shy little black-eyed fellows were playing
about, some throwing a ball. This was a band of Crees
from the Red Hills. The Winnipeg racecourse, a mile in
circumference, may be seen from the Portage Road. While
all the requirements of civilized, even fashionable life can
be obtained, though at enhanced expense, in Garry, we
are attracted most by the more romantic part of the place
and people red men and half-breeds ; the former in their
well-known blankets over rough European dress ; the
latter in European costume, moccasined, driving their pony
and ox carts. The Red River cart is am generis, made
46 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE.
wholly of wood ; the hubs, of green timber, are pierced for
the spokes ; the latter, of dry oak, are then inserted and
soon clasped firmly by the drying hub. No iron, not a
nail can be seen in the vehicle. Iron was a heavy and
dear article to convey inland. Three years ago a keg of
nails cost $25. It can now be had for S3. 50. No
cruel wooden yoke is used, but the ox is harnessed with
shagynappi home-made harness of buffalo or ox hide,
and collar such as we use for horses. One rein to the
horns suffices to guide the patient beast, which moves
over the soft prairie with half a ton weight at a quick
walk, living only on the grass and water, that grows or
runs spontaneously, at each resting-place. No shoes are
on either pony or ox. Stony roads would soon ruin the
hoofs and shake such vehicles to pieces, but the way of
these men is along the river beds and over the yielding
sod of the prairie, as it spreads far and wide to the Rocky
Mountains. Here we find specimens occasionally of cer-
tain free-traders, often Americans, who, for good reasons
known to themselves, prefer to keep clear of Uncle Sam's
marshals. They have had little difficulties, ending in the
shooting and scalping of red skins or have run off a few
ponies or, being Government agents, have set up a trading
post on their own account with goods that poor Lo should
have had. These fellows are shyer now of the Queen's
possessions than they were before the Mounted Police
took possession of the Nor'-west, having first themselves,
with patient, hearty labour, built their forts. We hear of
the good work and fame of this force on all hands. Open
THE MOUNTED POLICE ; HOOP-UP. 47
whiskey traffic with the Indians is stopped on the plains.
Both traders and Indians fear and respect the brave three
hundred who guard the far Nor'-west.
The preservation of peace and the developement of the
Valley of the Saskatchewan and its tributaries depend
much on the proper increase and maintenance of this
citizen soldiery. But a few months since a large band of
marauders lived in free and glorious style" at Hoop-up as
they styled their den in the Bow River country. They
were armed to the teeth and well fortified. Now their fort
is deserted, and they are scattered in Montana. Half a
score of their number were caught and fined, one in $500
and three months' imprisonment, and his stock of robes
confiscated, at Fort McLeod, for selling liquor to redskins.
Three were still awaiting trial. The consciences or love
of freedom of their comrades suggested that discretion
was the better part of valour, so Hoop-up is empty.
None of this force is now stationed within the Province,
but is divided between Fort Pelly, Fort McLeod, Carl ton,
Edmonton, and Cypress Hills.
CHAPTER V.
GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION OF MANITOBA THREE DIVISIONS RED
RIVER THE ROSEAU VALLEY THE ASSINIBOINE ITS PARISHES
PEMBINA RAILWAY EMERSON MENNONITE COUNTRY AND SET-
TLEMENTS POINT DU CHENE CALEDONIA MILLBROOK RAILWAY
FROM THUNDER BAY LAKE WINNIPEG ICELANDERS PEGU IS
WHITWOLD CLANDEBOYE GRASSMERE VICTORIA ROCK WOOD
NEW PENITENTIARY WOODLANDS MEADOW LEA OTHER SETTLE-
MENTS PORTAGE LA PRAIRIE BURNSIDE WESTBOURNE PALES-
TINE THE DANES CANAL FARMING IN MARQUETTE MESSRS.
LYNCH, SHANNON AND OTHERS RAILWAY DUFFERIN WEST
LYNNE BOYNE SETTLEMENT PEMBINA MOUNTAINS COAL DI-
MENSIONS OF PROVINCE MODE OF SURVEY OUR MAP.
THE Province of Manitoba was established on the 23rd
of June, 1870, by order of the then Governor-General,
Lord Lisgar, in Council, under authority of the Act of the
Dominion Parliament passed 12th May, 1870. It lies in
the middle of the North American continent, nearly equal-
ly distant from the Pole and Equator, and Atlantic and
Pacific. Its southern boundary is the northern limit of
Minnesota and Dakota, being the parallel of forty -nine
degrees north latitude, along which it extends from the
ninety-sixth to the ninety-ninth degree of West longitude.
In shape a parallelogram,bounded on the north by the par-
allel of fifty degrees thirty minutes North latitude, which
runs through the southern extremities of Lakes Winnipeg
and Manitoba. The Red River courses through the Pro-
DIVISIONS OF THE PROVINCE. 49
vince from the southern boundary till it enters Lake
Winnipeg at a distance of about forty miles north of the
City of Winnipeg, and about one hundred miles from the
United States boundary. At the south-eastern extremity
the Roseau enters, draining a rich pasture land and con-
necting Red River with a valuable wooded country, which
is generally rich, but much of it will require draining. The
Roseau Rapids will afford many excellent mill sites. They
extend for a distance of about fifteen miles, through
which the stream runs swiftly over a gravelly bed. The
Assiniboine,rising in the western territory .winds northerly
past the village and English settlement of Portage La
Prairie, which has several stores and mills ; thence easter-
ly between banks along which are many beautiful spots
occupied by old half-breed families, originally from the
Selkirk settlement, and by the more modern residences of
later settlers. It so winds through the parishes of High
Bluff, Poplar Point, Baie St. Paul, Francois Xavier, Head-
ingly, St. Charles and St. James, till it joins the Red River
at Fort Garry. Near Pigeon Lake is, as described in
Mr. Shantz's narrative, the Hudson Bay Company's post,
known as "White Horse Post," where they carried on farm-
ing on an extensive scale, 9,870 bushels of grain having
been raised in 1871 on two hundred and ninety acres of
land. The Company also then maintained here about
500 head of cattle. The Province is by these rivers divided
into three sections.
50 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE.
FIRST DIVISION.
The first is that east of the Red River, with the fast
growing town of Emerson at its south-western corner,
through which the Pembina branch of the Pacific Railroad
will run. Capital and enterprise are here at work. A
sale of town lots was had in Winnipeg in December 1875 ;
the number of lots sold was fifty-one, and the prices ran
from $25 to $57, the average per lot of the entire sale
being about $40. We next pass five townships reserved
for French Canadians resident in the United States whom
it is proposed to induce to come to Manitoba. Then
we come to the Mennonite country the Rat River
Reserve it is called which begins at a distance of eighteen
miles from the southern boundary, in the sixth range of
townships east of the river, and extends north and west
across the river, there called the Pembina and Scratching
River Reserves, embracing in all twenty-five townships.
The Mennonites who came in 1874, with the exception of
about thirty families, settled on the Rat River Reserve, and
a considerable number of the arrivals of last year joined
them, so that there are now upon this reserve about five
hundred families. The other thirty families settled at
Scratching River. The Rat River settlers broke about
three thousand acres of land, and sowed the same last
spring, but suffered severely from the grasshoppers. The
thirty families that settled at Scratching River escaped
the grasshoppers and had good crops. The Pembina Re-
serve has been only recently made, and has upon it about
three hundred families. The Mennonites have given the
MENNONITE SETTLEMENTS. 51
following names to their settlements, viz. : Blumenhof,
Hochfeld, Blumenort, Bergthal, Schonthal, Chorlitz, Ro-
sen thai, Tannenan, Stein bach, Grunfeld, Schonweise, Stein-
rich. Four other villages are not yet named. The near-
est of the above, Schonthal, is twenty-five miles ; the
farthest, Steinrich, is thirty-three miles south-east from
Winnipeg. Passing northerly, we cross the little River
Seine, which doubtless received its name, Seine River, or
German Creek, from the hardy old continental soldiers
who followed Lord Selkirk to this region, and which flows
past the village of Point de Chines, north-westerly,
through a rich soil, of which a large portion requires to be
drained, and s enters Red River below St. Boniface. Cale-
donia is a flourishing settlement of nearly one hundred
souls, three miles north of Point de Chenes, and twenty-
eight from Winnipeg, on the Dawson Road, with a good
supply of growing wood for all purposes. Ten miles from
this is the yet younger Millbrook settlement. The rail-
way from Thunder Bay will pass through the northern
half of the section of the Province in which we now are
on its way to cross the Red River below Sugar Point.
SECOND DIVISION.
The second geographical division is that west of Red
River and north of the Assiniboine, through five town-
ships of which the railway must also pass on its course
by the Narrows of Lake Manitoba to the Saskatchewan
Valley.
In the north-east corner of this, on the banks of Lake
52 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE.
Winnipeg, is the Icelandic settlement, which includes
Great Black Island.
The Icelanders, as might be expected, require to be
situated on the shores of an expanse of water. Here
they will be congregated in long narrow villages close to
and parallel with the shore, for convenience of fishing,
boating, &c., having their farming and pasture lands
in the rear, which latter, respectively, it is presumed,
will be held, more or less, by each community or vil-
lage in common, as we learn from the Report of Sur-
veyor-General Dennis. It is hoped that this branch of
a hardy and intelligent race will do justice to the ^ood
character given them by Lord Dufferin in his interesting
" Letters from High Latitudes." They are said, indeed,
thoroughly to enjoy and appreciate the advantages afford-
ed to them on Canadian soil, and though not so well pro-
vided at the outset as the Mennonites, are equally wel-
come. The first instalment was of three hundred who
arrived in October, 1875, and proceeded to their locations.
The shore plot assigned them consists of a double row of
lots, each lot 300 feet square with a road allowance or
street along in front and rear, with cross streets (between
lots) connecting these at convenient distances.
Near the Lake, in the parish of St. Peter's, now called
Dynevor, is laid out the prospective town of Peguis, so
called in honour of a former Chief of the Swampy Crees.
South-west of this are Whitewold and Clandeboye. The
central portion contains the fine and rapidly filling town-
ships of Grassmere, Greenwood, Rockwood, Victoria,
STONY MOUNTAIN ; PENITENTIARY. 53
Woodlands and Meadow Lea. In Rock wood is Stony
Mountain, " It is," says Professor Hind, writing in 1858,
"a limestone island of Silurian age, having escaped the
denuding forces which excavated the Red River valley."
* * * " Viewed from a distance Stony Mountain re-
quires little effort to recall the time when the shallow
waters of a former extension of Lake Winnipeg, washed
the beach on its flank ; or threw up as they gradually re-
ceded, ridge after ridge, over the level floor of the lake,
where now are to be found wide and beautiful prairies
covered with a rich profusion of long grass." The moun-
tain is of some fifteen hundred acres in extent, raised by
gradual ascent till its highest part is sixty feet above the
plains. About one-fifth of this area is the government
reserve of well-wooded land, known as Stony Mountain
Park. The new Provincial Penitentiary is erected on a
bluff surrounded by the park. It is of white brick,
which is seen on the plain for many miles, the foundation
is of native limestone, the plan and arrangements are
similar to those of the Toronto Central Prison, The at-
mosphere is here clear and bracing on the warmest summer
day. The view is extensive and varied. "From the
roof," says a recent visitor, "may be seen the city of
Winnipeg looking immense in its long stretch of Main
Street, and scarcely broken from the parishes of St, Boni-
face, St, James and St. Charles, St, John and Kildonan,
and St. Paul, as they stretch on either side in an unbroken
line of dwellings along the Assiniboine and Red Rivers,
while in other directions may be discovered the home-
54 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE.
steads of Grassmere, Rockwood and Victoria, hanging
out from the woodlands over the Prairie for miles."
North-west from Portage La Prairie are the settle-
ments of Burnside, Westbourne, Woodside, Totogan and
Palestine, and some townships reserved for Danish im-
migrants on the borders of Lake Manitoba, Portage
Creek and the stream running through swampy land
a few miles east of it, called Rat Creek, are said to
have sometimes at high water actually connected the
Assiniboine and Lake Manitoba, which is less than
fifty feet above the level of Lake Winnipeg, and twenty-
six miles from the Assiniboine. Government has caused
a survey to be made, for the purpose of testing the practi-
cability of here joining these waters ; and Mr. Hermon,
P.L.S., reports their relative level to be such as to admit
of turning those of Lake Manitoba into the Assiniboine-
To regulate its depth and for the creation of water power
both objects of great importance Mr. H. B. Smith'
C.E., proposes that a ship canal of seven feet in depth'
and having a breadth at bottom of 100 feet, be cut, with
an average grade of six feet three inches in the mile. A
darn would also be laid across Partridge Crop River, the
only outlet of the Lake, to raise its surface. This would ele-
vate the lake and river surfaces three feet. The cost of
canal and locks is estimated at $878,400. At present the
navigation of the Assiniboine is impossible at low water,
owing to rapids at a few miles from Winnipeg, and to occa-
sional rocky and sand shoals and large boulders ; but at
high water Red River steamers have ascended as far as the
THE ASSINIBOINE ; PORTAGE LA PRAIRIE. 55
Portage. The stream is winding and slow in its course,
and so suffers from evaporation and absorption that its
volume is larger beyond the Province limits than at its
confluence with Red River. It was through the region
between Lake Manitoba and Red River that the first
trial survey of the Pacific Railway ran, and many too con-
fidently invested here largely in wild lands, which have
as yet brought no return to speculative purchasers, as the
track is to run through the firm bottom said to exist at
the " Narrows " of the Lake, and no sufficient demand has
yet arisen to make these lands saleable. Such lands will,
however, ere long find a market, as this region between
Lake Manitoba and the Assiniboine River is being rapidly
brought under cultivation. Some of the settlers in this
neighbourhood had last year considerable crops, producing
on the average twenty to twenty -five bushels per acre
(after feeding the grasshoppers), for which they received
highly remunerative prices : oats commanding $1 per
bushel ; wheat, $1 50 to $1 75 ; barley, $1 50 to $2 ; and
potatoes, 75 cents. The returns of the hired threshing
machines, as we learn from a late number of the Free Press>
show the entire crop of the County of Marquette to be
about 40,000 bushels in 1875.
In the neighbourhood of Lake Manitoba some of the
leading farmers are gathering valuable herds together, and
the more enterprising of them are already reaping con-
siderable advantage from investments made a few years
ago in the importation of thorough -bred bulls. Of these,
Mr. Walter Lynch was among the most prominent. Some
56 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE.
of his sales have been remarkably good, considering the
circumstances ; such as a heifer calf at $300 and eight bull
calves at about an average of $150 each. He has in yard
still, we believe, seven cows and six calves, all the product
of one Durham bull and three cows imported in 1872.
Messrs. Shannon, Newcome, and others in this neigh-
bourhood also have considerable herds of grade cattle.
Messrs. Hugh Grant, K. McKenzie, M.P.P., Hon. Mr-
Ogiltree, Paschall Breland, of White Horse Plains ;
Thos. Lumsden, of St. Francois Xavier ; John Taylor,
M.P.P. ; W. Tait and W. B. Hall, of Headingly, and
John F. Grant, of St. Charles, are also extensive farmers
and breeders of horses and cattle. It may be mention-
ed that it was at this village of Headingly that the
strange career of the so-called Lord Gordon, or Lord Glen-
cairn, ended in 1874. After perpetrating enormous frauds
in England and the States, and almost causing an interna-
tional squabble, he was arrested here by Alexander Munro,a
Toronto detective. The story entitled " Glencairn : a
Dramatic Story in Three Acts," is told in Chambers' s
Journal for November, 1875, and ends thus. Munro
says :
" I told him that I had come to arrest him, and that I
had a warrant. He asked if it was another case of kid-
napping, and I said it was not, but everything regular,
and 1 showed him the warrant. He said it was all right,
and, just glancing at it, professed himself ready to go ;
only he wished to be allowed to put on warmer clothes.
He got dressed, and was all ready to go, with the excep-
LORD GORDON ; HEADINGLY. 57
tion of a Scotch cap, which he wished to get from the bed-
room. I closely followed him. On entering the bed-room
he laid hold of a loaded pistol, and, declaring that he would
not move a step further, he put the pistol to his head. I
made a rush to prevent his shooting, but it was too late.
He pulled the trigger and shot himself through the
head. He sank down and died almost immediately."
The author, who is Dr. W. Chambers, in concluding this
drama of real life, says :
" In none of the printed proceedings or elsewhere is
there a scrap of intelligence concerning the real name or
the relatives of this remarkable person. No one seems to
know who or what he was, who were his parents, or where
he was born. He altogether remains a mystery. It would
be curious to know if any one lamented his lost oppor-
tunities of well-doing or mourned his deplorable fate."
THIRD DIVISION.
The third division of the Province is that west of
the Red and south of the Assiniboine Rivers, having
at its south-easterly extremity the villages of Dufferin
and West Lynne ; near its centre, the Boyne settlement,
on the River lies de Bois, of about forty families, who
have excellent grain and grass lands ; and west of these,
the rolling land called the Pembina Mountains, and the
river of the same name. Poplar is here the most abun-
dant tree, though groves of oak are found. " The soil is
fertile, though not so deep or inexhaustible as that of
the Red River Valley, and rests on a gravelly drift sub-
58 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE.
soil. The rain-fall of this region is probably slightly
less than that of the Red River Valley, but appears to
be sufficient for agricultural purposes." (Report of Mr.
G. M. Dawson to the North-west Boundary Commis-
sioners, 1875, page 288.) It is in this region, and still
more in the more western valley of the Souris River, one
of the tributaries of the Assiniboine, at a distance of two
hundred and fifty miles from Red River, that large depo-
sits of lignite have been found, and it is hoped that ere
long the fires of Winnipeg will be hence supplied with
fuel in convenient form and at moderate cost.
A charter for a Provincial railway, the "Manitoba
Southern," to connect this south-west part of the country
with the capital, has already been obtained. If the canal
referred to be constructed, the carriage of this fuel will be
also facilitated. In one place in the Souris Valley Mr.
Dawson found the lignite seven feet three inches in thick-
ness : " The lignite (page 91 of the Report referred to) is
continuously visible for at least two hundred feet along
the face of the bank, and seems to preserve uniformity
of character and thickness. It is quite black on freshly
fractured surfaces, and in many places the structure of
the original wood is still quite discernible." On the op-
posite side of the same river valley, and elsewhere along
the stream, seams of lignite of good quality are described
in the same Report, which continues thus : " The whole of
these deposits, though in some places showing a dip
amounting to a few degrees in one direction or other,
appear to have no determinate direction of inclination,
COAL ; WATER-COUKSES ; AREA OF PROVINCE. 59
but over large areas to be as nearly as possible horizon-
tal." This coal region will be nearer to Red River, and
probably of more convenient access, than the great beds of
coal well known to exist in the Saskatchewan Valley.
The various streams that course through the Province
and flow into its two main arteries have been referred to
in this or in other parts of this narrative. They are in-
valuable to the agriculturist and breeder of cattle. Their
banks are covered with verdure, and their course may be
marked by the winding lines of trees and shrubs that
spring up on either side.
In dimensions, the Province measures from the United
States line to its northern boundary 102 miles ; from east
to west it is 120 miles. Its total area is of about 13,900
square miles, or nearly nine millions of acres. Proposals
have been made for enlargement to the north and on
either side, but no definite arrangement for this end has
yet been agreed on.
To facilitate an understanding of the Map, we may sa7
the lands, as surveyed, are laid off in quadrilateral town-
ships containing thirty-six sections of one mile square in
each, together with road allowances of one chain and fifty
links in width between all townships and sections.
The townships are numbered consecutively from one to
seventeen, from the southern boundary northerly. Ranges
of townships, each six miles broad, are numbered east and
west respectively, from the " principal Meridian," which
will be seen on the Map to enter the Province at a dis-
tance of about ten miles west from Pembina, and thence
60 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE.
pass up till it crosses the boundary line between the two
lakes. The mode of division is simple and convenient.
The Diagram on the map shows how each township is
laid out in sections, and how they are numbered.
As soon as a new settlement is formed, the neighbours
gather together and choose a name, which, being commu-
nicated to the Land Office, is generally adopted as that of
the township ; thus township 14, in the fourth range east,
became, at the request of the Messrs. Muckle and Gunn,
Clandeboye ; and another twelve miles further north,
Whitewold. Millbrook is the last which has thus been
christened, and is eighteen miles east from Winnipeg, in
the sixth range.
There are three jGovernment Land Offices, viz., at Win-
nipeg, Westbourne and Emerson, where all necessary in-
formation, including lists of lands open for sale or settle-
ment, may be obtained. Offices for the registration of
deeds are established, and the system of land conveyance is,
like that in Ontario, simple and inexpensive.
The homesteads entered in the Province till the end of
1874 numbered 2,537, of which 283 were entered in 1872,
878 in 1873, and 1,376 in 1874, representing 405,920
acres. Notwithstanding the grasshopper plague of the
last summer, 500 homestead entries, representing 80,000
acres, were made in Manitoba up to the end of October,
1875 ; pre-emption entries, in connection with homesteads,
of 61,500 acres were made ; 5,000 acres were sold for cash,
and 17,000 were disposed of under military bounty
warrants. Lands which have been reserved in favour of
LAND AGENCIES ; FREE DISTRICTS. 61
certain companies, on condition of early settlement, are
shewn on the map. Some being within others beyond
the present limits of the Province.
To summarize : the settlements formed in and near the
Province, and named as above since Confederation, not
including those of the Mennonites, Danes and Icelanders,in
each land district, with the agents' names, are as follows:
DISTRICT No. 1. WINNIPEG.
DONALD CODD, Agent.
SETTLEMENTS.
Township 14 Range 1 W Argyle.
8 " 1E&W Riviere Sale.
13 "IE Grassmere.
13 2E Rockwood.
12 2W Union.
14 2 E Victoria.
15 " 2 E Greenwood.
16 2 E Dundas.
9 4E Prairie Grove.
10 5E Plympton.
11 4 E Springfield.
11 5 E Smmyside.
" 10 " 6 E Millbrook.
10 7 E Richland.
12 6E Cook's Creek.
17 4E Whitewold.
" 14 " 2W Woodlands.
13 2 W Meadow Lea.
13 3W Poplar Heights.
" 13 " 4W Ossowo.
16 " 3 & 4 W Simonet.
17 " 3&4W Belcourt.
" 12 " 5 W Melbourne.
14 4 E Clandeboye,
62 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE.
Township 15 Kange 2 W Fivehead.
14 "IE ..Brant.
DISTRICT No. 2 DUFFERIN.
GEO. NEWCOMB, Agent.
Emerson P.O.
SETTLEMENTS.
Township 1 Range 2 E Dufferin.
7 . " 6E Clear Spring.
6 " 4 & 5 W Boyne.
" 3 " 2 E Almonte.
" i " 3 E Hudson.
" 2 " 3E Franklin.
1 4 E Belcher.
2 4 E Parry.
3 "IE White Haven.
" 2 " 2E Marais.
" 3 " 3 E ..Mellwood.
DISTRICT No. 3. WESTBOURNE.
A. MILLS, Agent.
SETTLEMENTS.
Township 12 Range 8 W Burnside.
"13&14 " 9W Westbourne.
" 13 " 11 W Golden Stream.
14 " 9W Totogan.
< 14 " 10W Woodside.
14 " 11 W Palestine.
; 15 " 14 W Beautiful Plain.
" 14 " 12 W Livingstone.
Mr. Donald Codd is General Agent for Dominion
OUK MAP; ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. 63
Lands, both in this Province and the North-West
Territory.
Our Map has been carefully framed from the most
recent and reliable sources. Our readers are referred
to it for other geographical details in regard to the
Province.
We beg here to acknowledge the kindness of Surveyor-
General Dennis, who has given us much reliable informa-
tion regarding land and other matters in Manitoba,
CHAPTER VI.
INDIANS AND HALF-BREEDSTREATIES AND RESERVES GOVERNOR
MORRIS AND COMMISSIONERS A NATIONAL GRIEVANCE CREE AND
SAULTEAUX ORATORS THE QU'APPELLE TREATY GRAND RESULT
PROSPECTS OF THE INDIANS REV. MR. MCDOUGALL AT BOW
RIVER HIS DEATH THE SIOUX HALF-BREEDS, HOW DEALT WITH
COMMISSIONERS NUMBER, RELIGION AND PROSPECTS OF THE
METIS OPINIONS OF MR. MACHAR AND OTHERS BUFFALO
HUNTING.
WHEN the famous bargain was made, in 1870, between
the Imperial and Canadian Governments and the Hudson
Bay Company, which, in so far as that corporation's ques-
tionable title was concerned, added three millions of
square miles to the area of the Dominion, it was not an
estate without incumbrance that we got.
The Company still retained their forts, trading posts,
and certain important reserves ; and as to the twentieth
part of each township, we had to settle the claims of the
Indian owners, survey, and then hand it over in fee to
the Company. The rights of old settlers under agree-
ments with the Company were also respected and con-
firmed, and, indeed, in many cases much enlarged. These
were mainly in regard to farms facing the Red and
Assiniboine rivers. The people of mixed blood then
raised further claims. Their half-brothers, the Indians^
had also a paramount title which none disputed. The
INDIAN TKEATY-MAKING. 65
efforts of the Government have been unceasing in exam-
ining and disposing of all these claims, and, thus far,
marked with eminent success. Let us first refer to the
Indians. The first treaty made with them since Lord
Selkirk induced the Crees and Chippewas to cede the " Old
Settlers' Belt," in 1817, was effected by Governor Archi-
bald in 1871, and included all the Province of Manitoba.
The Indians dealt with were 3,374 of the last-named
tribes. Next, a great tract lying north and west of the
Province, and inhabited by less than 1,000 Chippewas,
was ceded. On the 3rd of October, 1873, a third treaty
was made at the north-west angle of the Lake of the
Woods with the Saulteaux tribe of Ojibways, inhabiting
the country between Manitoba and Ontario, said to num-
ber 3,000. By this treaty 55,000 square miles, now
forming the Kewatin District, were secured for settle-
ment, railway and lumbering purposes. This was most
important, as the railway to connect Thunder Bay and
Red River will pass through this region; so does also the
Dawson route. It has most valuable timber and mineral
deposits, which are thus opened to enterprise. On the
15th of September, 1874, a fourth treaty was made at
Qu'Appelle Lakes, by which 75,000 square miles were
ceded. The Indians concerned were about 3,000 Crees,
Saulteaux and mixed breeds. The lands in this treaty
extend from those in the second treaty to the South Sas-
katchewan River and Cypress Hills on the west, the Red
Deer River on the north, and the United States boundary
on the south.
66 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE.
By a fifth treaty, made in the fall of 1875, the Indian
title to the territory east of Lake Winnipegosis, and on
either side of Lake Winnipeg, has been extinguished.
The Governor and party making this treaty went from
the Stone Fort through Lake Winnipeg in October. We
take the following from his Report : " The journey is of
interest, as having been the first occasion on which a
steam vessel entered the waters of * Berens River ' and of
the ' Nelson River,' the waters of which river fall into the
Hudson Bay, and as having demonstrated the practica-
bility of direct steam navigation through a distance of
360 miles from the City of Winnipeg to ' Norway House.'
I may mention here that the prevalence of timber suitable
for fuel and building purposes, of lime and sandstone, of
much good soil, and natural hay lands on the west shore
of the Lake, together with the great abundance of white
fish, sturgeon and other fish in the Lake, will ensure, ere
long, a large settlement." As the lands lying between
those in the third treaty and the Province of Ontario were
granted previously, it will be seen that in the immense tract
of the North- West, from Thunder Bay to Cypress Hills,
with Manitoba in the centre, the Indians have been peace-
ably dealt with, and little or no cause of uneasiness need
be feared from them. On the contrary, they will be found,
whether hunting, acting as guides, wandering over the
plains, or on their reserves learning the arts of civilization,
while fairly dealt with, and paid their annual allowances
honestly, the friends of the white population. It is
certainly matter for congratulation that this great and
COMMISSIONERS ; A NATIONAL GRIEVANCE. 67
valuable territory, more extensive in area than many
European States, has been thus happily incorporated with
the older provinces of the Dominion,*
In negotiating treaties, the Lieutenant-Governor is the
chief commissioner. He is generally accompanied by
Hon. Mr. Christie, Mr. S. J. Da arson, or Col. J. A. N.
Provencher, Indian Commissioner in Manitoba, instructed
direct from Ottawa, and by some half-breed gentlemen,
such as Hon. James McKay, Mr. Charles Nolin, and Mr.
Pierre Levailler, who can speak the languages, and have
had frequent dealings with the aborigines. A company
of troops from Fort Osborne, at Winnipeg, go as escort.
The red man takes a long time to talk, retire, hold coun-
cil, and pow-wow before he can be brought to terms. The
items of former treaties are known and discussed all over
the territory. Debates in Parliament, and controversies
as to them in the leading papers, are carried to the chiefs
by their educated half-breed friends, and the orators of
the aborigines come prepared with data to support argu-
ment.
The terms of the treaty being agreed on, are reduced
to writing, explained to the recognised chiefs of bands by
interpreters, and signed by all concerned. That made at
the North- West Angle is so signed by Kee-ta-kay-pi-nais
and twenty-three brother chiefs, all making their marks.
The Indians sometimes evince a brotherly regard for their
* Since the first four treaties were made, it has been discovered that the
tribes dealt with were larger than then supposed, and an addition of one-
fifth may be made to the numbers stated.
68 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE.
half-breed relations, and stipulate that hunting ground
privileges be secured by treaty to them. At the Qu'Ap-
pelle negotiations, these Cree and Saulteaux children of
the plains showed that they had been considering the
Hudson Bay Company's affairs, and found as much diffi-
culty to understand why they got the 300,000 from
Canada as many of our readers have experienced. It
was, in fact, their national grievance. " They claimed,"
says Governor Morris, " that the sum paid to the Com-
pany should be paid to them." He adds that he explained
the nature of the arrangement with the Company, and
their further demand, also objected to, for a valuable
reserve in the territory of these tribes. It appears that
the pow-wow was then adjourned, and that it took three
days after his Honour's explanations were given for these
simple folk to discuss and understand British justice.
We can imagine the earnest bands collecting by their tent
fires at the Calling Waters, harangued by the Cree chief,
" Loud Voice," and the Saulteaux Mee-may, on the same
theme as had been discussed by our statesmen at West-
minster and Ottawa ten years ago. The Crees for a time
refused to treat, but the Saulteaux were more good-na-
tured and came to terms.
The commissioners congratulated themselves that they
had a good escort under Colonel Osborne Smith. They
were far from home, surrounded by many hundred bar-
barians in their native wilds, each tribe jealous of the
other. The Crees were very cross, and showed knives
and pistols ; but at last, influenced by example, and by
THE QU'APPELLE TREATY. 69
half-breeds favourable to the Company, they also by their
chiefs joined in the indenture.
In an interesting narrative* by an eye-witness of these
proceedings, we gather the following as to the main point
discussed ; the Indians said, " A year ago these people
(the Company) drew lines and measured and marked the
land as their own why was this 1 We own the land, the
Manitou gave it to us. There was no bargain ; they stole
from us and now they steal from you. When they were
small the Indians treated them with love and kindness ;
now there is no withstanding them, they are first in every-
thing." Governor Morris asked 3 " Who made all men ?
the Manitou. It is not stealing to make use of His gifts.'
The Indian Pah-tah-kay-we-nin, replied thus beautifully,
" True, even I, a child, know that God gives us land in
different places, and when we meet together as friends,
we ask from each other and do not quarrel as we do so.''
Says the narrator, " State policy not philanthrophy, and
that briefly, will effect philanthrophy's noblest work the
teeming and hardly used peoples of the Old World will
here find a home, their moiety and fee even as their
life so plain that in the beautiful words of Pah-tah-kay-
we-nin, c Even I who am a little child know that.' It
was done, a little crowding the low-toned voices and
laughter of the Indians, a touch of the pen and an empire
changed hands ! "
The Saulteaux and Ojibways or Chippewas take their
* Notes on the Qu' Appelle Treaty by F. L. Hunt, Canadian Monthly,
March, 1876, page 173.
70 THE PEAIR1E PROVINCE.
names from the skill with which they guide canoes mak-
ing them leap over the rapids.
The scene, when treaty-making is going on, is often
highly picturesque and the speeches abound in imagery.
We can give space for but one other example. At the con-
clusion of the treaty at the North- West Angle referred
to as related by Governor Morris, Ma-we-do-pi-nias came
forward, drew off his glove and spoke as follows :
" Now you see me stand before you all, what has been
done here to-day has been done openly before the Great
Spirit, and before the nation, and I hope that I may never
hear any one say that this treaty has been done
secretly, and now, in closing this Council, I take off my
glove, and in giving you my hand, I deliver over my
birth-right and lands, and in taking your hand, I hold fast
all the promises you have made, and I hope they will last
as long as the sun goes round and the water flows." To
which the Governor replied, " I accept your hand, and
with it the lands, and will keep all my promises in the
firm belief that the treaty now to be signed will bind the
red man and the white man together as friends forever."
Each treaty provides that one or more reserves, generally
of sufficient area to allow a square mile to each family of
five, shall be set apart for the tribe ; each chief gets a pre-
sent of some coveted articles, and about $25 or so per
annum. Each head man receives about $15 and every
other man, woman and child a less sum also clothing,
powder and shot to each band. Each chief receives a flag,
and a medal which must not be of base metal or it will
PROGRESS OF CIVILIZATION. 71
be refused with disdain. Medals so given have descended
as heirlooms from father to son for several generations-
one such is now said to be held by Pahtahquahong Chase,
an hereditary Chief of the Ojibway Nation, and Presi-
dent of the Grand Council of Indians of Ontario, who is
a clergyman, and, on a recent visit to Paris, preached in
the English chapel. His grandfather received from
George III a silver medal, which has now descended to
his grandson. When the Prince of Wales visited Canada,
this Chief read to him the address prepared by the In-
dians. Those who work on their reserves are also given
farming implements, seed, and cattle sufficient to start
them in husbandry. It is also provided that a school be
established in each reserve as soon as it can be prac-
tically sustained and attended. The introduction and sale
of intoxicating liquors is strictly prohibited.
Some bands, says Colonel Provencher, have made
astonishing progress, particularly if we consider the means
at their command. One half, at least, of the bands at
St. Peter and Pembina, near the Red River, Fort Alex-
ander, on Lake Winnipeg, and Fairford, above the " Nar-
rows " of Lake Manitoba, are at present addicted to
agriculture, and are sufficiently civilized to warrant us in
believing that in fifteen or twenty years they will be able
to do without assistance from Government (Report of
Department of Interior for 1874, page 56). The impor-
tance of this work to Manitoba and to the cause of huma-
nity makes it proper to consider Colonel Provencher's in-
teresting report for the year 1875 as to two of the bands-
72 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE.
He refers thus to that settled near the mouth of the Red
River :
" The band at St. Peters is the most numerous, the best settled,
and most progressive of all the bands which have been party to
Treaty No, 1. It numbers 1,943 souls, and their reserve is of
15,200 acres in area. More than half of the band consists of half-
breeds, for many years settled on the banks of the Red River, who
compose the Parish of St. Peters. There are in that parish 130
proprietors of 15,000 acres of land, of which about 2,000 are under
cultivation ; 120 houses, valued at $30,000, and ] 90 other buildings,
having an approximate value of $28,500. Moreover, 55 families
are settled outside of the reserve, where they have their farms,
houses, &c. The balance of the band, to the amount of 160 fami-
lies, make a living from hunting, fishing and voyaging. The first
of these occupations has the least to do with the resources of those
Indians. Fishing, though not the element of a large trade, con-
tributes, nevertheless, to the support of a great many families at a
time of the year when they would lack all other means to procure
the necessaries of life. "
As to the Fort Alexander band, he states :
" This band numbers 506 persons, settled at the mouth of the
Winnipeg River. Their reserve, surveyed during the Fall of 1873,
embraces 7,500 acres, on both sides of the river. They have made
remarkable progress, if consideration is taken of their isolated posi-
tion, and of the want of communications with the settlements of
the Province, who could have set them an example. These Indians
have no less than 45 houses, well and strongly built, of the value
of $12,000, and farm about 1,000 acres of land. They have not as
yet suffered from that ruinous plague, the grasshoppers. For many
years tfyey have had a school, originally supported by the Mission-
ary Society of the Church of England, and at present by the Indian
Department. This one school not being sufficient for the require-
ments of teaching, principally on account of the extent of the re-
OTHER TREATIES PROPOSED. 73
serve, they have built another school-house in the hope that the
Government would assist them as well in the finishing of the build-
ing as in the payment of the teacher's salary. From last accounts,
about 36 children attended the school already established, and 30
more are of age to attend the other school when built."
The estimated expense of the Indian Department of
Manitoba and the North- West for the financial year end-
ing with June, 1876, is $180,000. For the following year
it is calculated by the Department that $249,000 will be
required, which will include $80,000 for expenses in con-
nection with proposed new treaties $5,000 to procure
farming implements for the Sioux, and a small sum to aid
in publishing a Chippewa grammar or dictionary. When
we consider the extent of the valuable territory peaceably
secured and opened to the immigrant, it will be admitted
that the sum payable, and all pains that can be employed
in civilizing and Christianizing these aborigines will form
but a trifle compared with the value to accrue to our own
and future generations. The Government has now agents
in the farther West, sounding the Peigans, Blackfeet,
Crees, Stonies and other tribes, and preparing the way
for treaty and civilization. One of these, a well-known
missionary of the Wesleyan Church, writing, in October,
1875, from Bow River, near the Rocky Mountains, stated
that he had been travelling on the prairie for three
months, had visited 497 tents, including nearly 4,000
natives, all of whom, with one exception, received the
Governor's message with gratitude, and will anxiously
await the coming of the Commissioners. This gentleman,
74 THE PKAIRIE PROVINCE.
the Rev. George McDougall, refered, in his letters, in the
highest terms to the behaviour and utility of the mounted
police; also glowingly described the rich valley of the
Bow River, and its attraction to American traders who
are reaping rich harvests from its furs.
As the letter referred to is in many respects important
and interesting, we will make some extracts from it,
thus :
"Near the confluence of the Red Deer and Bow Rivers, I found
the Plain Assiniboine camp, numbering seventy tents, a people
speaking the same language as our Mountain Stonies. They ap-
peared greatly delighted with our visit, and expressed astonishment
when 1 told them that I had a son living among their kinsmen of
the mountains, and that numbers of them could read the Great
Spirit's Book.
"I found that on several points the Indians were quite united.
1st. That they would receive no presents from the Government
until a time for treaty was appointed, 2nd. Although they all
seemed anxious to avoid collision with the white man, yet they
expressed a firm resolve to oppose the introduction of telegraph
lines and the making of roads ; and such was the state of the na-
tive mind that a rash act on the part of a white man, or some slight
depredation committed by an Indian, would have involved the
whole country in an Indian war. But to the credit of the poor red
men let it be written, that no sooner was the Queen's message read
and explained to them than they said : " That is all we wanted."
If the intelligent public only knew the false reports that have been
invented and circulated by interested white men, who, reckless of
all consequences, would delight in involving the Government in a
war between races, they would not be surprised at the vitiated
state of the Indians.
"A great change has come over the scene in the last fifteen
REV. GEORGE MCDOUGALL. 75
months. Men of business had found it to their interest to estab-
lish themselves on the banks of our beautiful river. A stock raiser
from across the mountains had arrived with several hundred head of
cattle. And now on the very hills, where two years ago I saw
herds of buffalo, the domestic cattle gently graze, requiring neither
shelter nor fodder from their master all the year round."
It is with unfeigned sorrow that we have learned, since
penning the above, of the sad end of this worthy servant
of the church and state. About the 25th of January,
1876, his horse came riderless to the camp; but the mis-
sionary had perished in the severe cold of a snow storm.
Mr. McDougall was universally esteemed, and had great
knowledge of the West and influence with the native
tribes. He was a Scotchman, and at his death about
fifty-five years of age, during early life he was in mer-
cantile business. His ministerial career began in 1850, at
Rice Lake Indian Mission, near Cobourg, Ontario. He
was afterwards at Garden River and Rama Settlements.
In 1860 he went to Rossville Mission, at the North end
of Lake Winnipeg, and remained in the North- West till
his death. As the Indians retreated with the buffalo,
he followed, going to the Saskatchewan in 1864 and
opening new fields for missionary enterprise. He had
great faculty for learning the different Indian dialects,
and had all the attributes of a hunter and pioneer. He
was at home in the saddle or the smoky tent, among the
red men, who had confidence and regard, amounting to
love for him. This he fully returned. When the small-
pox decimated whole tribes, in the terrible manner des-
76 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE.
cribed by Butler and other travellers, he and his family
did not shrink from their duty. Three of his own house-
hold were cut off and he himself bore the marks of the
disease till his death. The tale of this part of the devoted
missionary's career is full of touching incidents, such as
would move the most hard-hearted to sympathy. His
name will, in the future history of missionary zeal, be
coupled with that of Livingstone. His career in the
North-West gained the commendation of Lieutenant-
Governor Morris and of the Minister of the Interior and
the Premier, who have all referred to it in late reports
and addresses. Mr. McDougall intended, it is said, on the
close of his important pioneer work, to return to Ontario,
to which a host of friends, of all denominations, would
have welcomed him ; but his familiar face will not again
be met in our streets. At the Council Chambers in the
West, his clear and unbiassed judgment will be missed,
and those who used to call for it will sigh as they say
" His voice is silent in your Council Hall
For ever."
From the report of the Minister of the Interior, laid
before Parliament in February, 1876, we find that the
number of British Indians in Manitoba, the North- West,
and Kewatin, now under treaty, is 13,944. Those not
yet treated with are: in Rupert's Land, 5,170; from
Peace River to the United States, 10,000. There are also
1,450 Sioux, who are part of that once great nation, and
in 1863 fled to our territory from Minnesota, and will be
SIOUX ; O JIB WAYS ; GAMBLING. 77
referred to again in chapter XIV. They have caused un-
easiness at Portage La Prairie. A reserve was assigned
to them on the Little Saskatchewan and inducements
offered to them to settle there, but they in 1875 and
the previous year complained that the locusts had des-
troyed their little crops and came to the region near
Lake Manitoba, to fish and gain subsistence by occa.
sionally working, begging, or worse resorts, among the
settlers. Tt will probably be necessary to induce them
to remove from the settlement in order to quiet the
uneasiness of the whites. They are feared as much
for the havoc which they and their confederates have
wrought in the quiet villages of Minnesota, as for the
pilfering habits that are now their chief cause of an-
noyance. They are, however, regarded as in physique
and intelligence the best specimens of the race to be met
with. There are other Sioux farther west in our terri-
tory who are on as friendly terms with the Government
as could be desired. The love for intoxicants is deep and
prevalent in this unfortunate race. They eagerly swal-
low the vilest decoctions, and barter all they have for
rum. Next to this is their passion for gambling. Thus
occupied, they become greatly excited, and pass hour
after hour till every article possessed, the last blanket,
hatchet, knife, or mocassin, is gone. A striking picture
by Mr. F. A. Verner, of Toronto, which our readers may
see at the 'Centennial,' thus represents a party of
Ojibway Indians engaged. The scene is laid near Fort
Frances, in the Kewatin district. The players have no
78 THE PRATRIE PROVINCE.
cards. A few balls in the closed hand are used instead,
and the game is " guess how many."
HALF BREEDS.
The Act of 1870, which constituted the government
of Manitoba, reserved lands to the extent of 1,400,000
acres for the benefit of the families of the half-breed
residents. It was also provided that each head of a
family of this class should have 160 acres, and each
child then born 190 acres of land granted to him or her.
As surveys were proceeded with, provision was made for
this demand but no grants have yet been actually made.
Various difficulties arose ; some half breeds were found
to be living with Indians, having the same habits, and
claiming pensions and other government aid as members
of tribes, which was inconsistent with their claims as half
breeds. Wearied with the delay and too often improvi-
dent, many of the half-breeds have signed agreements now
held in hundreds by Winnipeg merchants and speculators
there and elsewhere, purporting to barter away this their
birthright. The price given was generally small, seldom
more than $40 and that in truck or barter. Government
has decided to grant the lands direct, to those entitled
under the Act, leaving them to settle the matter as they
may with the holders of the assignments. The Provincial
Legislature also enacted that such assignments are to be
of validity only as giving liens on the land when granted
for the amount paid and interest. Last summer two gen-
tlemen were appointed commissioners to make personal
HALF-BREEDS; NUMBERS; RELIGION. 79
investigation and report the names of all half-breeds en-
titled to grants. As soon as these lands have been con-
veyed, their sale and purchase will be extensively and
legitimately carried on. An unlimited choice of the finest
land at low price and with only such burden in respect
of settlement duties as the Government may see fit to
impose for the protection of the country from too exces-
sive speculation, will be offered". These commissioners,
Messrs. Matthew Ryan and J. M. Machar made their
report in the autumn of 1875, and patents will no doubt
soon be issued to all entitled, who are of sufficiently
mature age, and proper provision will be made as to
minors. Mr. Machar favours me with some interesting
data, the result of his observation and enquiry as follows
-The total number of the Manitoba Metis, of all extrac-
tions, is about 10,000 ; of French origin somewhat over
half ; of the rest, the Scotch number about five-sixths ;
English, Irish and others, one sixth. The Scotch were
principally from Orkney, some from Caithness and Suth-
erland. About two-thirds of the race are engaged in farm-
ing of a rude and unskilful kind, on the banks of the Red
and Assiniboine Rivers. Nearly one thousand of the
Manitoba half-breeds have already moved Westward and
may be found near Carlton, Qu'Appelle, St. Laurent,
Edmonton and Prince Albert ; so that their number in
the Province is, after making allowance for natural in-
crease, certainly no greater than in 1870. As to Religion
they were then classed thus
80 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE.
Roman Catholics 5,000
Church of England 4,300
Presbyterians 700
About one-third are trappers, boaters, coureurs des bois>
voyageurs and Hudson Bay employees. Five per cent, of
the whole live like Indians the rest " like Christians."
The Indian physique generally preponderates, but this is
less marked in those of Scotch and English parentage.
Mr. Machar thinks that in longevity they are on as high a
level as whites, and that the amount of lunacy, idiocy, il-
legitimacy and crime among them is less in proportion
than in most civilized countries. There seems little more
absorption or amalgamation of blood now among them.
They are so large a community that there is ample op-
portunity for intermarriage among themselves, and mar-
riages of whites and Indians are at present of rare occur-
rence.
The Metis present a strange mixture of complexions,
from the fair skin and soft curling locks of a Northern
European origin, to the dingy hue and straight black
hair of the Indians. Their language is as various as their
origin, a curious medley of Chippewa,Cree, French, Gaelic
and English. They move across the plains in long pro-
cessions with ox and pony carts, the creaking of whose
unoiled wooden axles is heard a mile off, with the dis-
cipline of a caravan, and in garbs which show the Indian
and European taste commingled. When the buffalo sea-
sons arrive captains of parties are chosen, and all go to-
gether in strict discipline, having rules which are carefully
BUFFALO-HUNTING; RULES OF THE CHASE. 81
enforced to avoid surprise from treacherous Indians,
and to combine all means in the hunt of the great bison. The
usual place of rendezvous was White Horse Post, near the
south end of Lake Manitoba, whence the gay cavalcade
of men, women and children, with carts and innumerable
dogs, would start out. An interesting writer says of
this race : " Nomadic as to one half of his origin, pas-
toral and agricultural as to the other, a hunter by his
Indian blood, a citizen from his European instincts, thrifty,
indolent, staid, mercurial, as father or mother predomin-
ates in his nature, the Red River half-breed has a story as
curious as any which while away the winter nights in the
chimney corner of his ancestral Highland home." Back
from the hunt, none so happy as he, the robes are sold, the
pemmican stored away, and then comes the gay season,
with its music and merry dance and song. The half-
breeds live generally on amicable terms with the Indians,
are social and hospitable, and are to a considerable extent
educated. As the carrying facilities of the country are
developed, and a steady market for grain and other farm
produce is created, they will no doubt settle down to a
much greater extent as agriculturists and graziers
than they have ever yet had inducements to do, as have al-
ready Mr. Pierre Delorme and many other intelligent
men of his class, the names of some of whom are mentioned
as farmers on the banks of the Assiniboine. Heretofore
the chase has been to them a necessity as well as a pas-
time, which they pursued with wonderful success. They
have now, to secure the buffalo, to go to a distance of
82 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE.
from three to five hundred miles west of Red River, and
in a few years, so great is the wanton destruction of that
animal, that unless some decisive means for preservation
be adopted, it will be practically out of reach of those
who desire to adhere to homes and attachments in Mani-
toba. It is estimated that fully 160,000 buffalo have
annually been killed for some years past. None have
been seen east of Red River since about 1865. It should
not be forgotten that the mixture of Indian blood is by no
means confined to the Nor'-West. Factors, partners, com-
manders and other officers of the great companies, who
took native wives, have for ages, on retiring from active
life, settled in our older provinces, where they and their
descendants are often met with in the circles of wealth,
influence and respectability, the offspring showing the
maternal origin in their bois-brule complexion, dark eyes
and straight falling hair. We find, too, that miscegenation
has gradually but certainly taken place among all the
tribes, settled on reserves near centres of civilization.
Many of the Iroquois at Caughnawaga, opposite Lachine,
and elsewhere on the St. Lawrence, have as much the
appearance of French Canadians as of Indians.
CHAPTER VII
GOVERNMENT AND CIVIL INSTITUTIONS ORIGIN DOMINION PAR-
LIAMENT CABINET NORTH WEST COUNCIL KEWATIN LOCAL
LEGISLATURE BLACK ROD AND LORDS CONSTITUTIONAL CHANGE
COURTS CHIEF JUSTICE WOOD'S CHARGE PUBLIC AND OTHER
SCHOOLS EDUCATIONAL ENDOWMENT RELIGION RIFLE ASSOCIA-
TION AGRICULTURAL ASSOCIATION LITERARY PURSUITS POPU-
LATION.
BY the Dominion Act, 33 Vic. c. 3 ; under which the Pro-
vince was carved out of Rupert's Land and the North
West Territory, provision was made for the establish-
ment of its government, as also for that of the part of the
territory not included within the limits of the Province.
Manitoba was given a representation in the Canadian
Senate of two members. The Hon. M. A. Girard, of St.
Boniface, and Hon. John Sutherland, of Kildonan, were
appointed such Senators. To the Canadian House of Com-
mons four elective members came from the Prairie Pro-
vince, and these are in the present, being the second,
parliament of the Dominion : Messrs. John Schultz, M.D.,
Donald A. Smith, A. G. B. Bannatyne and Joseph Ryan,
representing respectively Lisgar, Selkirk, Provencher and
Marquette, the several sections forming the North, Mid-
dle, South and Western parts of the Province, into which
it is divided for electoral purposes.
The Local Government is in the hands of a Lieutenant-
Governor, appointed by the Governor-General, and of an
84 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE.
Executive Council, the members of which must also be
members of the Provincial Parliament. The present
members and the offices filled by each are as follows :
The Hon. R. A. Davis, Premier and Treasurer; Hon.
James McKay, President of the Council ; Hon. J. Royal,
Minister of Public Works, and Hon. J. Norquay, without
portfolio. Hon. Colin Inkster was President of the Coun-
cil, but resigned when lately appointed sheriff.
The legislative power was, till the fourth of February,
1876, vested in the Lieutenant-Go vernor and two Houses
the Legislative Council, of seven members appointed
by the Lieut. -Governor, and the Assembly of twenty-
four members elected by the people. The Legislative
Council was deemed a source of useless expense in a
country so new and undeveloped as Manitoba. The ef-
forts of its venerable members were insufficient to raise
its dignity, or make its existence appear a political ne-
cessity. The example of Ontario, which had happily
dispensed with Black Rod and Lords in miniature, was
quoted, and on the Province coming to Ottawa for " bet-
ter terms," the abolition of this little Chamber was in-
sisted on. The Province will now receive 890,000 an-
nually from the Dominion to provide for its general
governmental expenses.
The important constitutional change referred to was
voted by both Houses, the Hon. Dr. O'Donnell only pro-
testing, and intimating his intention of appealing to the
Supreme Court. The Lieutenant-Governor gave the royal
assent to the Act as stated on the 4th of February. His
THE PROVINCIAL LEGISLATURE. 85
Honour thus referred to this event in his speech to the
members : " I have watched with deep interest your ac-
tion with regard to the measure for carrying out the
public business with the aid of a single chamber only.
The members of the Legislative Council have displayed
a spirit of devotion to the interests of the people in vot-
ing for the extinction of their offices as Councillors, which
they were entitled to hold for life. I sympathize with
those in both Houses who assented, as I am aware, to the
change with reluctance and hesitation, regarding as they
did, the Upper Chamber as a check and protection, but
yet did so in the belief that the necessities of the Pro-
vince required the step to be taken." And in conclusion
Governor Morris said : " I have now the honour to bid
you farewell, and do so with more than ordinary earnest-
ness, in view of the passing away of a body of men to
whom I tender my heartiest acknowledgment for the
uniform courtesy I have received at their hands."
The English and French languages are both used in
the Legislature. It is hoped that the use of the French
language will soon be dispensed with, in so far at least as
the printing of proceedings is concerned. The expense so
occasioned is a considerable item, and little needed, as
most, if not all, of the members can read English.
The appearance of this little Legislature, especially in
its first session, was such as tended to amuse spectators
accustomed to more august gatherings of the people's
representatives. Ancient English forms and precedents
were followed as far as circumstances permitted ; but
86 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE.
there were, among the members of mixed blood, some
more accustomed to the chase of the bison than to fol-
lowing orators through labyrinths of argument. The
favourite dress of one> of taste akin to Garibaldi, was a
red flannel shirt and moccasins. When Mr. Archibald
first appeared in glorious array, to take his gubernatorial
seat in the Legislative Council Chamber, an astonished
legislator ejaculated ; "Tiens! Ce n'est pas un homme ;
cest un faisan dore." We find the spirit of Ontario
in the statute book and judicature, as well as in the
forms of the Legislature. This is the more apparent
since Lieu tenant-Govern or Archibald left the Province
and the present Chief Justice was appointed.
The Ontario lawyer finds himself at home in the Courts
of Manitoba. English law, as to civil rights, has been in-
troduced by local enactment as it stood in 1870. The law
as to criminal offences is that of the Dominion. The
Court of Queen's Bench Chief Justice Hon. E. B. Wood,
Justices McKeagney and Betournay, who, as other Can-
adian Judges, hold office by appointment of the Governor-
General in Council, and during good behaviour holds its
sessions thrice a year in Winnipeg, having legal and equit-
able, civil and criminal jurisdiction in all matters. In re-
gard to costs, civil cases are divided into a higher and
a lower scale. Through the over-ruling influence of the
Chief Justice, the code to which he was in practice ac-
customed, as set out in the Ontario Common Law Pro-
cedure Act and the General Orders of the Ontario
Court of Chancery, has been adopted. Mr. Cary, a
THE COUKTS; THE NORTH-WEST COUNCIL. 87
cultivated gentleman, is at once Prothonotary, Master
in Chancery, Clerk of Records and Interpreter of the
Court. The judges sit separately exercising original jur-
isdiction, and in banco together on appeals, &c. The Pro-
vince is divided into several judicial districts, in which
county courts are held by the judges named, as occasion
arises. The Chief Justice practically acts as Chancellor
He complains that he has not enough of work to occupy
his time. The bar has some able representatives.
THE NORTH-WEST COUNCIL.
The Lieutenant-Governor is also Lieutenant-Governor
of the North-West Territory, and is aided by a council,
the members of which are the Honourable Messieurs M.
A. Girard, D. A. Smith, H. J. Clarke, Q.C., Pascal Breland,
Alfred Boyd, J. C. Shultz, M.D., Joseph Dubuc, A. G. B.
Bannatyne, W. Fraser, R. Hamilton, J. Royal, Pierre De-
lorme, W. R. Bown, James McKay, Wm. Kennedy, J. H.
McTavish and Wm. Tait ; F. G. Becher, Esq., being the
Clerk.
The last meeting of this body took place on the 2-tth
of November, 1875, at Winnipeg. The Governor, in his
opening address, reviewed the proceedings of the Council
since its formation in March, 1873, quoting part of the
address then delivered, thus :
" The duties which devolve upon you are of a highly
important character. A country of vast extent, which is
possessed of abundant resources, is entrusted to your keep-
88 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE.
ing, a country which, though at present but sparsely set-
tled, is destined, I believe,to become the home of thousands
of persons, by means of whose industry and energy that
which is now almost a wilderness will be quickly trans-
formed into a fruitful land, where civilization and the arts
of peace will flourish. It is for us to labour to the ut-
most of our power in order to bring about, as speedily as
possible, the settlement of the North-west Territories, and
the development of their resources, and at the same time
to adopt such measures as may be necessary to insure the
maintenance of peace and order, and the welfare and hap-
piness of all classes of Her Majesty's subjects, resident in
the Territories."
His Honour then refers to the fact that in expectation
of the early appointment of a separate Lieutenant-Gov-
ernor and Council for the North-west, the present Coun-
cil act only provisionally, saying :
" A new Council is to be organized, partly nominative
by the Crown, and partly elective by the people, with the
view of exercising its functions under the presidency of
a resident Governor within the Territories themselves.
I am confident that that Council will take up the work
you began, and have so zealously endeavoured to carry
out, and I trust that they will prove successful in their
efforts to develop the Territories, and attract to them a
large population.
" Though you had many difficulties to contend with,
you surmounted most of them, and will have the gratifi-
cation of knowing that you, in a large measure Contributed
GOVERNMENT OF THE TERRITORIES. 89
to shape the policy which will prevail in the Government
of the Territories, and the administration of its affairs."
The Council, in reply, expressed the satisfaction they
felt for his Honour's approval of their efforts, the confidence
that their successors would cordially take up the work
they had begun to develop the Territories ; they recorded
their pleasure at the conclusion of the Indian treaties.
They then expressed their friendly feeling to the Presi-
dent, and conclude thus :
" When we retire from the Council we will continue,
in whatever sphere in life we may occupy, to be actuated
by the same feelings of warm attachment to the Sovereign
and loyal devotion to our country."
The Government of the Territories soon to supersede
the present Council is that provided by the Act of 1875,
38 Vic. cap. 49, under which the Dominion Government
were authorised to appoint a Lieutenant-Governor and a
Council of five members three of whom to be stipendiary
magistrates Messrs. McLeod and Ryan have been ap-
pointed such magistrates. The other appointments will,
no doubt, soon be made, and the proposed Government
established with seat probably at the Forks of Battle
River and the Saskatchewan, near Carlton House, five
hundred miles west from the Province, which is already
marked as an important place in the future. Three
thousand carts went past it on the trail last season, and
a considerable settlement is springing up round the quar-
tern of the mounted police. The stage company having
the line between Winnipeg and Fargo have made pro-
W) THE PEAIRIE PROVINCE.
posals to put weekly stages on the route between Win-
nipeg and Carlton House.
That part of the Territory north and east of the Pro-
vince has, however, been recently detached from the
western portion and erected into a district called Kewa-
tin, or the North Land, to be under the immediate con-
trol of the Lieutenant-Governor of Manitoba. So much
of this district as may not prove to be in Ontario, will nc
doubt ultimately be incorporated with the Province of
Manitoba. As stated before, executive authority through-
out the North-west is enforced by the mounted police, an
excellent force of three hundred officers and men. The
following are their stations for the year 1876 : Head-
quarters of the force, Livingstone or Fort Pelly ; A troop,
Fort Saskatchewan ; B troop, Cypress Hills ; C troop,
with artillery, Fort McLeod, Old Man's River ; D and E
troops, Fort Pelly ; F troop, the Elbow, Bow River,
Judicial authority over this immense region is vested
in the Manitoba Court of Queen's Bench. The stipen-
diary magistrates and the inspectors, or officers in charge
at headquarters of the police, have authority to arrest
and, in a limited extent, to try summarily. These
powers will continue under the new regime. The im-
portance of the position of the Court in such a country
as this can not be overestimated. Lynch law is un-
known. The lawless find themselves more comfortable
in Montana and Nevada than within the domain of the
British lion. This cannot be better illustrated than by
quoting part of the charge of Chief Justice Wood to the
THE "ARGUS-EYE" OF JUSTICE. 9T
grand jury at its session in Winnipeg in the month of
October, 1875. Were any excuse necessary for so occu-
pying the reader's attention, we would say that the his-
tory of the last few years is that of peace and prosperity
advancing to make these plains their tributaries Justice
with strong arm and steady voice " drills the raw world
for the march of mind : "
" Were the Province alone concerned, I should at once
dismiss you and the petit jury to your homes, for all the
issues of fact in the cases in the civil docket, although
numerous, will be tried without the intervention of a
jury. Four cases appear in the calendar for offences
committed in the North West Territory, and beyond the
bounds of the Province, but over which by statute this
Court has jusdiction, of men charged with murder of
several Indian men, women and children at Cypress Hills,
in North West Territory, in the month of May, 187^.
We all recollect the shudder of horror with which, short-
ly after the bloody tragedy, we received the intelligence
of the wanton and atrocious slaughter by a band of
whites, chiefly from Fort Benton, of the Assiniboine In-
dians peacefully encamped at Cypress Hills, whose first
intimation of danger was the sharp rattle of the deadly
repeating rifle from a treacherous and concealed foe.
Three persons, charged with complicity in this murder,
are indicted, having been brought upwards of one thous-
and miles and lodged in Winnipeg gaol."
"These cases have the greater importance as the crimes
involved were committed far away from the abodes of
92 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE.
civilization, and where it might be supposed the arm of
British justice would not reach. It is at considerable
disadvantage that the persons charged are at last brought
before a Court of Justice. Public law and order and the
interests of justice alike demand that we should deal
firmly but cautiously in all these cases. We must let it
be known from the Rocky Mountains to the boundaries
of Ontario and Quebec that all are under the protection
of and answerable to British law, and that however far
removed from settlement, and however remote from the
habitation of the white man, the commission of crime
may take place, the Argus eye of justice will find it out,
and the law will apprehend, bring to trial and punish the
offender."
EDUCATION.
Public schools are in operation in the Province, under
competent teachers, controlled by a board appointed by
the local government. The Province gives an annual
grant of $7,000, which provides a sum of from $120 to $150
for each school, which is generally supplimented by sub~
scriptions. There are a Protestant and a Roman Catholic
superintendent. Higher and grammar school education
is sufficiently provided for by St. Boniface College, under
control of Archbishop Tache', which has been established
for many years, by the Church of England College of St.
John, and " Manitoba College," under charge of the Pres-
byterians, all which prepare boys for entrance to univer-
sities and give instruction in theology. There is also a
EDUCATION ; AGRICULTURAL AND RIFLE ASSOCIATIONS. 93
Wesleyan Institute. There are in Winnipeg and else-
where in the Province day and boarding schools for girls.
For the purpose of creating a permanent provision in
aid of education, two sections, or 1,280 acres, are
set apart, under a Dominion statute, in every town-
ship as surveyed. The provision thus made, if honestly
utilized, will in time produce a magnificent educa-
tional endowment. No provincial university has yet
been founded, but the subject has been discussed.
Manitoba College sends young men to finish their cur-
riculum at Toronto University. A young gentleman
trained at St. John's lately took his B.A. degree at Cam-
bridge, where he gained a sizarship. At a recen^
public meeting in Winnipeg, one of the speakers proposed
that a college affiliated to the great unsectarian University
of Toronto should be established in Manitoba. Another
suggested that the existing colleges of Manitoba, St. John
and St. Boniface, might be affiliated under a board of
regents incorporated as a university. It is hoped that
when the time for action comes, large and enlightened
views in respect to higher education will prevail. The
cause will certainly not be promoted by conferring any
pretentious powers of conferring degrees, so called, on
provincial colleges for many years to come.
It is scarcely needful to remark that there is no religion
established by State. All forms of worship are practised
on an equal basis.
The Provincial Agricultural Association strives to in-
troduce good breeds of cattle, and to obtain and encourage
94 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE.
the cultivation of grains most suited to the soil and
climate. The order of Good Templars has many branches,
in which much interest is manifested.
Among other public institutions the Province has a
Rifle Association, consisting of some two hundred mem-
bers. This Association was formed in the summer of
1872, the president being Major A. Irvine, of the Do-
minion Forces in Manitoba. The position is held for the
year 1876 by the Hon. A. G. B. Bannatyne, M.P. The
ranges of the Association are at St. Boniface on the east
side of the Red River, about one mile from Winnipeg.
The annual matches are well attended, and are conducted
after the manner of a miniature Wimbledon. The scores
of the competitors show that Manitoba is worthy of a
representation in the annual team sent by the Dominion
to Wimbledon. This institution is both flourishing and
public-spirited. At the matches for 1875 the amount
given in prizes was $1,075, of which $400 were contri-
buted by the Dominion Government. Under a plan con-
trived by Captain E. Brokovski, executive officer for the
past three years, marksmen are enabled to shoot after the
most recent rules and shape of bull's eye adopted at
Wimbledon, on the old iron section target. The Associa-
tion is now represented in the Dominion Rifle Association
by live Manitoba members, including three Members of
Parliment, the Mayor of Winnipeg and the Collector of
Customs.
Newspaper and other literary work has its head-quar-
ters in Winnipeg. Emerson has a weekly sheet. The
THE CENSUS. 95
magazines of the older provinces receive many able and
interesting contributions from Manitoba.
Mutual Improvement Societies have sprung up in every
village, whose weekly meetings., with literary and musi-
cal exercises, are looked forward to with pleasure, and
attended with profit, in the long winter evenings.
The population of the Province at the census taken in
1870 was made up thus :
French half-breeds 5,694
English do 4,076
Christian Indians 581
Other persons 1,614
Total population, not including pagan Indians. .11,965
As to religion, the Roman Catholics claimed then about
five hundred in excess of the Protestants. With the sub-
sequent rapid growth of Winnipeg, and the large increase
by immigration of Mennonites, Icelanders, Danes and
people from the other Provinces, Ontario especially, and
the States, to the rural districts, it is estimated by Sur-
veyor-General Dennis that the population of the Province
is now about 32,000. The Manitobans, including mem-
bers of the Provincial Government, however, claim that
the population is now 36,000. The growth has been
greatly checked by the grasshopper plague, as is else-
where explained.
CHAPTER VIII.
CLIMATE PRODUCTIONS HEALTH ELEVATION OF RED RIVER VAL-
LEY ISOTHERMAL LINE OPINIONS OF PROFESSOR WHARTON,
GENERAL HAZEN, GOVERNOR RAMSAY AND OTHER AMERICANS
CEREALS OPINIONS OF PROFESSORS HIND AND MACOUN, MR. DAW-
SON AND OTHERS THE WINTERS RED RIVER COURTING OPI-
NIONS OF IMMIGRANTS THE DA WSON ROUTE THE TELEGRAPH
STEAM COMMUNICATION THROUGH CANADA A NECESSITY PROGRESS
AND PROSPECTS OF THE THROUGH ROUTE.
" Here Plenty' 's liberal horn shall pour
Of fruits for thee a copious shower,
Rich honours of the quiet plain."
SPECTATOR, No. 106.
ME. BLODGETT, in his well-known work on the Clima-
tology of the United States, says : " The increase of
temperature westward from the sources of the Mississippi
in Northern Minnesota, is quite as rapid as it is south-
ward to New Mexico; and the Pacific borders at the
50th parallel are milder in winter than Santa Fe. In
every condition forming the basis of national wealth, the
continental mass westward and north-westward from Lake
Superior is far more valuable than the interior in lower
latitudes, of which Salt Lake and Upper New Mexico are
the prominent known districts." The elevation of Lakes
Traverse and Big Stone, into which gather the streams
that form the sources of the Minnesota and Red Rivers is
CLIMATE ; RAINFALL. 97
960 feet. The sources of the small streams here joining,
and much of the State of Minnesota, are fully 1,400 feet
above sea level.
Where we embarked at the crossing of the North Paci-
fic Railway the river was 100 feet lower than Lake Tra-
verse, and it enters Lake Winnipeg at an elevation of
710 feet. As the Province is a plain, seldom many feet
above the river, we are led to trace the effect of this
position of its surface as compared with that of lands
having a higher level. We quote from the interesting
work of Dr. Hurlburt, published in 1872 :* " The summer
isothermal of 70, which at the Atlantic coast crosses
Long Island in latitude 41, passes through Pittsburg,
Pennsylvania, Cleveland and Chicago, rises on the Sas-
katchewan to latitude 52 (in longitude 110), but
sinks again on the high plateau of the desert areas
of the United States to latitude 35, in longitude 105;
rises to latitude 47 in Oregon and falls again to lati-
tude 30 through California. The isothermal of 65 for
the summer, which, on the Atlantic coast, is off Boston
(in latitude 42), rises through Canada to the north of
Quebec, crosses the Red River at latitude 50, in the 97th
meridian, and Mackenzie's River near the 60th parallel.
" The continent, which is nearly two miles high in
Mexico, spreads out like a fan northward, retaining a
high altitude through the United States, but falling to
800, 600 and even to 400 feet in British America.
* The Climates, Productions and Resources of Canada. By J. Beaufort
Hurlburt, M.A., LL.D.
G
98 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE.
One mile in height (5,280 feet) causes a fall of fifteen de-
grees in temperature. Hence the anomaly of a milder
climate going north.''
Between the Laurentian highlands in the east and the
Rocky Mountains a great summer wave of warmth passes
far to the north, reaching the highest latitude near the
eastern base of the latter range ; while in winter a com-
pensating and long continued flood of cold air invades the
whole region of the plains and the eastern and western
flanking ranges. Mr. G. M. Dawson's report, 1875 ; sec
646.
We learn from the same source that, at Winnipeg, the
average fall of rain during the spring and summer
months is 16 inches. Mr. Dawson adds: "It would ap-
pear not only on theoretical grounds, but as the result
of experience, that the rainfall of the Red River Valley,
assisted by the water remaining in the soil from the
spring floods, is, as a rule, amply sufficient for agricul-
tural purposes ; " sec 662.
The annual mean temperature at Winnipeg is 32.59.
The mean temperature for each month, as supplied by
Prof. Kingston, of Toronto University (same report ; sec.
708), from three years' observations, is as follows :
January 2.91 July 65.87
February . 2.99 August 64.75
March 9.00 September 51.29
April 30.21 October 40.01
May 51.18 November 14.58
June... . 63.64 December..., .56
SUMMER TEMPERATURE. 99
The summer temperatures are those of chief importance
for agricultural purposes. The cold of winter has no ef-
fect upon those annuals for which the summer is long-
enough and warm enough to secure their maturity. But
the frosts of winter have a powerful effect in pulverizing
the soil, and the snowy covering protects the ground from
the winds and sun of the late months and early spring ;
then the gradual melting of the snow fills the soil with
moisture, so necessary for seeds and plants, presenting
such a contrast to many countries in the south of Europe
and many Western States, where the ground, exposed for
months without such a covering, is too dry for vegeta-
tion, or, if the wheat does spring, it is exposed on the
bare surface and " winter-killed." As to the rainfall,
Dr. Hurlburt adds (page 12): "Through the valley of
the St. Lawrence it is for the three summer months
from eight to ten inches ; many parts of it, with Mani-
toba and British Columbia, have nearer twelve than ten.
With the greater heat, which causes a rapid evaporation,
these copious rains are of vast importance, and explain
the extraordinary growth of vegetation throughout these
countries."
The Mississippi marks the Eastern boundary of the
great treeless region that extends thence to the Pacific
slope. The dryness of the air, want of regular rains, cold
nights and alkaline soils, render most of this vast region
of the United States unsuited for the growth of the most
valuable grains and grasses. Fifteen years ago, one of
their own writers, Professor Wharton, stated that they
100 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE.
had reached the western limit of arable land. Such has
been the uniform testimony of their scientific men, save
such as wrote in the interest of the promoters or unfortu-
nate bond-holders of the North Pacific Railway, and endea-
voured to guide emigration to their almost worthless land
west of Red River. Gen. W. B. Hazen, wrote thus
in a letter which was widely published by the United
States press, and remains uncontradicted, from Fort
Enford in Dakota Territory, January 1, 1874 " Respect-
ing the agricultural value of this country, after leaving
the excellent wheat growing valley of the Red River
of the Worth, following westward 1000 miles to the Sierras,
excepting the very limited bottoms of the small streams,
as well as those of the Missouri and Yellow Stone, from a
lew yards in breadth to an occasional waterwashed valley
of one or two miles This country will not produce
the fruits and cereals of the east, for want of moisture,
and can in no way be artificially irrigated, and will not in
our day and generation sell for one penny an acre, except
through fraud or ignorance I will say to those hold-
ing the bonds of the Northern Pacific Railroad, that, by
changing them into good lands now owned by the road
in the Valley of the Red River of the North, and East of
that point, is the only means of ever saving themselves
from their total loss."
In a late letter to the New York Tribune, General
Hazen wrote fully and to the like effect as above stated.
We extract as follows, from his long communication :
" Much has been said of the agricultural advantages of
GENERAL HAZEN'S VIEWS. 10]
the Black Hills, but Prof. Jenney's expedition reports
that on the llth of June they encountered a snow storm
there ' of such severity as to baffle all efforts to proceed/
and on the 10th of September, ' ice on still water froze
half an inch thick/ With these facts, remembering the
altitude of this region is 1,000 feet above the sea, intel-
ligent men are able to judge for themselves the desire-
ableness of this section for agriculture The
reports in the office of the General Land Commissioner at
Washington show that the Surveyor-General of New
Mexico and Arizona estimates that an amount not to ex-
ceed one acre in seventy can be cultivated in those Terri-
tories, and that ' cultivable is synonymous with irrigable/
In Colorado, the various Surveyors-General have placed
their estimates from one acre in thirty to one in sixty,
while Mr. N. C. Meeker's letters would appear to put it
somewhere within these limits. The grazing interests here
are, however, much more valuable than the agricultural,
a fact just dawning upon the Greeley colony. The arable
lands of Utah correspond in quantity very nearly to those
of New Mexico, while the report of General John Day,
Surveyor-General, places those of that State as one acre
in sixty. The proportion of arable land in Montana and
Idaho is somewhat greater than in the other middle ter-
ritories, but the same necessity for irrigation exists in all
of them alike, as well as in the western half of Texas,
Indian Territory, Kansas, and Nebraska. The eastern
portion of Dakota, including the Valley of the Red River
of the North, is most excellent and requires no artificial
102 THE PRAIEIE PROVINCE.
irrigation. The pastoral interests are valuable all over
this region."
General Hazen concludes thus : " The building up of
new and populous States, such as Wisconsin, Iowa, and
Missouri, will no more be seen on our present domain,
and all calculations based upon such a thing are false
while all extraneous influences brought to bear upon emi-
gration to carry it west of the 100th meridian, excepting
in a few very restricted localities, are wicked beyond ex-
pression, and fraught with misery and failure."
Surely if emigrants from the British Isles were honestly
advised, they would seek our well watered valleys of the
fertile belt, whose climate is in no place too cold for the
development and comfort of an active race ; they would
not turn from the territory where exist the free laws and
settled Government of the British Dominion, to try ex-
periments of irrigation in Colorado, or to trust to the
fitful climate and arid soil of Kansas and Nebraska.
Another American writer says : " The United States
embrace nearly the entire desert areas of North America,
so merciful have they been to their northern and southern
neighbours in drawing the boundary line."
The Hon. Alex. Ramsey, then Governor of Minnesota,
visited the Selkirk Settlement in 1851, and in an address
delivered at St. Paul, on his return, gave a glowing pic-
ture of what he had seen and learned of our Fertile Belt.
He further said : " I hesitate not to ascribe to the whole
of the upper plains on both branches of the Saskatchewan
river, an agricultural value superior naturally to the fields
OPINIONS OF GOVERNOR RAMSEY AND OTHERS. 103
of New England in their pristine conditions It has
mineral coal in abundance to supply fuel for a population
of the densest character."
It is beyond the limits of this work to discuss this in-
teresting subject more minutely. We only ask our readers
to remember that Manitoba is, though the coldest part of
it, still well within the great Canadian Fertile Belt, which
extends northward above Lake Winnipeg and westward
through the vast Saskatchewan, Bow, and Peace River Val-
leys to the Pacific. Besides the European emigrants each
season entering the Province, there are many from the
United States who pronounce themselves uniformly satisfied
with our land for the production of grain and root crops.
The Emerson Colony, settled near the southern boundary
of Manitoba, is a case in point, being composed of former
residents of Northern Wisconsin. Professor Hind gives
an interesting account of various farms on the Assini-
boine, in 1857. One of these was Mr. Gowler's, ten
miles from Winnipeg, since that deceased. " His barn,
which was very roomy, was crammed with wheat, bar-
ley, potatoes, pumpkins, turnips and carrots." He had
grown fifty-six measured bushels of wheat to the acre,
had a splendid crop of melons, and smoked strong tobacco
cropped in the neighbourhood. page 150, vol. I.
It is as growers of cereals and root crops that the Mani-
toba farmer will excel. It is hoped that in time hardy
varieties of apples, pears and the like fruits, may be in-
troduced, but, as may be remarked in our notes elsewhere*
few such trees have yet succeeded ; nor has their loss been
104 THE PRAIKIE PROVINCE.
felt so much as might be supposed, the supply of small
fruit being abundant. Mr. Taylor, the excellent American
Consul at Winnipeg, and other gentlemen of intelligence,
do not despair of success in this department ; but it is
useless to expect roots and slips from comparatively warm
regions to thrive or pass through the trials of the Nor'- west
winters. Plums, cherries and the like small fruit grow
luxuriantly. The success of the country as a grower of
grain is evidenced on all sides. Specimens of its wheat
lately sold in New York were pronounced worth fifteen
cents per bushel more than eastern grain. The soil, an
alluvial deposit of great depth, is rich in the necessary
qualities. It is ploughed in the fall, and the seed is
sown as soon as the frost is out of the upper crust in
the spring. As the season advances the frozen ground
below gradually melts and supplies refreshing moisture
to the roots. When summer has once set in, the days
are long and warm, but the nights have always an
exhilirating coolness. The samples of grain exhibited
have equalled the best in Ontario. The average pro-
duction of wheat is between thirty and forty bushels
to the acre. Weary months have not to be spent in chop-
ping, logging and burning trees and stumps. Two pair of
oxen will, with a strong plough, break the sod which a
winter's frost mellows and prepares for the harrow and
seed. Reaping machines are used to great advantage
on the level fields. Vegetables and roots are of wonder-
ful size. Hay is cut on the prairie, self sown. Though
the raiser of stock in Manitoba will require to lay up a
CATTLE BREEDING ; WHEAT GROWING. 105
large amount of dry fodder for the winter, yet he can do
so at the cost of curing only. In the rich grass meadows
of the Roseau and other places, where protected by trees
from the wind, Indian ponies pass the whole winter
under the open sky without injury. Elsewhere stabling
is necessary. Farther west, in the Saskatchewan valley,
the snow-fall is less, and cattle live all winter on the un-
cured herbage in the field.
It is a theory that seems established by experiment,
that all grains reach perfection at the northern limit of
their growth. Two is the average of grains to the cluster
in the Eastern States, but three in Manitoba. Recent
accounts by Professor Macoun, who, in the summer of
1875, visited the Peace River country, prove that in
that far Nor'-west, wheat, the most important of crops,
reaches its highest perfection, though cultivated but rudely
by half-breeds, producing five and even six grains to the
cluster. Comparing the productiveness of Manitoba,
wherewith we have within our limits mainly to do, with
that of the States of North America, in which wheat is
largely grown, and we there find the production as
follows :
Red River Valley, 30 to 35 bushels to the acre.
Minnesota " 17 to 20 " "
Wisconsin " 14
Pennsylvania 15 "
Ohio 15
It will be remembered that the quality of the grain is
106 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE.
also superior to that of the more southern latitudes. Mr.
G. M. Dawson (sec. 644 of Keport) makes this calcula-
tion : Taking one half of the area of the Red River
Valley, 3,400 square miles, equalling 2,176,000 acres, and
for simplicity of calculation, supposes it to be entirely
sown with wheat. Then at even 17 bushels to the acre,
the crop of this valley would amount to 40,992,000
bushels.
THE WINTERS WITH REFERENCE TO HEALTH AND
VEGETATION.
People of lower latitudes are disposed to shrug their
shoulders when they speak of Manitoba winters, and to
think them a succession of Nor '-westers. Wits among
our southern neighbours too jest with this for a theme.
The Danbury Newsman says, in a modest postcript to a
letter from Fort Garry, in amusing exaggeration, which
in some localities passes for wit : u The weather is so cold
up here that a young man of industrious habits requires
sixty cords of hard- wood for courting a Red River girl
during the month of January. The stoves are fourteen
feet long and nine high."
Minnesota with a climate as cold and more subject to
winter winds, or blizzards, has long been the resort of in-
valids, the dryness of the atmosphere being especially
favourable to consumptives. We met many in Manitoba
of weak constitution who had been induced to settle there
by reason of the uniformity of the climate, and can record
the satisfaction with which they, and indeed, nearly all
THE WINTERS; SNOW-FALL. 107"
we met spoke, especially of the winter. The snow falls
to a depth of from one to three feet, and remains dry and
crisp for five months, without the frequent thaws that
occur in the Province of Ontario and Lake States. Senator
Sutherland, from Kildonan, stated before a committee of
Parliament in March, 1875, in effect that the people of
Manitoba had not of late raised more grain than was
needed for home consumption, but they would soon be
able to raise great quantities for export ; grain-growing
would be most profitable for many years ; in Manitoba the
average yield of wheat was fully thirty bushels per acre ;
root crops yielded enormous returns ; frost seldom affected
the growth, except slightly in the spring. Grasshoppers
had affected the crops within the last few years ; but for
forty years previous to that time he had not known them
to be in the country to any great extent, and he did not
think they would return this year.
The report of the Committee on Immigration and Co-
lonization, of the House of Commons, at Ottawa, presented
on the 10th of April, 1876, contains some matters of in-
terest and importance regarding the region under discus-
sion, the result of careful inquiry. We take from the
report as follows : " The Committee have carefully
examined Professor John Macoun, of Albert Univer-
sity, Belleville, who accompanied Mr. Fleming, Chief
Engineer of the Pacific Railway Survey, across the Con-
tinent to the Pacific Coast, in the capacity of botanist,
with reference to the agricultural capabilities of the
North-west Territory, particularly including the Peace
108 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE.
River districts and the Province of British Columbia. He
showed very clearly that vast areas in those hitherto but
little known regions, contain agricultural resources of
unbounded fertility, coupled with climatic conditions
favourable to their development. He also showed the
presence of very large deposits of coal and other valuable
minerals.
" The Committee also examined Mr. Henry McLeod, an
Engineer of the Pacific Survey, who crossed the Conti-
nent to the middle of the Rocky Mountains. He cor-
roborates the evidence of Professor Macoun, in reference
to the great fertility of the soil and adaptability of the
country for extensive settlement."
A complete report of this region has not been published
by Professor Macoun ; but we may state that the result
of his evidence, and of statements made by him is as
follows : He had found that the entire district along
the Peace River for a distance of seven hundred and sixty-
miles, in a belt one hundred and fifty miles wide on each
side was as suitable for the cultivation of grain as that of
Ontario. He had brought samples of wheat weighing
sixty-eight pounds, and of barley weighing fifty-six
pounds, to the bushel The climate was even more suit-
able than in Ontario, for there were no wet autumns nor
frost to kill the young grain. There were but two seasons
summer and winter. He said in illustration, that on a
Thursday last October, 1875, the heat was so great that
he had to shelter himself by lying under a cart, while on
the next Sunday winter set in in full vigour and con-
PROFESSOR MACOUN'S ACCOUNT. 109
tinned steadily. The plants he found in that region were
the same as those on Lake Erie, and further discoveries
satisfied him that the two areas were similar in every
respect. The ice in the rivers broke up in April. Stock
raising was not difficult, because the grass remained fresh
and green up to the very opening of winter. He had seen
thousands of acres of it three and four feet long on
levels two hundred feet above the Peace River. He es-
timated that there were 252,000,000 acres of land in that
region adapted to the growth of cereals. He had tested
the temperature and showed by figures that the average
summer heat at Fort William, Fort Simpson, Edmonton,
and throughout that region, was similar to that of Toronto,
Montreal, and higher than that of Halifax. He was posi-
tive that the climate was uncommonly suitable for agri-
culture, and stated that the farther one went north the
warmer the summer became. There was no doubt they
were abundantly long enough to ripen wheat thoroughly.
Besides the peculiar excellence of that country for cereals,
he had found thousands of acres of crystalized salt, so
pure, that it was used in its natural state by the Hudson
Bay Company. Coal abounded in the richest veins, and
was so interstratified with hematele or iron ore, yielding
fifty per cent., that no locality could be better for manu-
facturing. Thousands of acres of coal oil fields were
found. The tar lying on the surface of the ground was
ankle deep ; miles and miles of the purest gypsum beds
cropped out of the river banks ; coal beds abounded
on the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains and ex-
110 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE.
tended in large seams throughout the country at their base
for a distance of one hundred miles. In short, Professor
Macoun believed the North- West to be the richest part of
Canada, and prophesied that it would yet be the home of
millions of people prosperous and happy.
The Committee proceed to refer to the evidence of Se-
nator Sutherland to the effect above stated, and conclude
thus : " The winters in the North- West, except on the
Pacific Coast, appear to be rigorous ; but the climate is
reported to be singularly healthy, and the seasons for
agricultural operations do not appear to be widely different
in the Province of Manitoba, from what they are in On-
tario, but in fact very similar. The presence of what are
termed summer frosts in the North- West Territory, ap-
pears to be precisely similar in character to those which
prevail over a very large extent of the northern part of
this Continent."
People along the St. Lawrence, will be surprised
when they learn that on the eighteenth of April,
1876, when the ice was yet piled mountains high,
round Victoria Bridge, ploughing had begun at Bat-
tle River, and the steamer Northcote was getting up
steam for Edmonton, on the Saskatchewan, near the
Rocky Mountains, and on the Red River, the season's na-
vigation was also begun. So quickly does the winter pass
into summer, that there were then at Winnipeg trotting
races on the ice of the Assiniboine ; boating on the Red
River, skating in the rink, and cricket playing on the
prairie ; all within the radius of a mile.
OPENING OF NAVIGATION. Ill
Red River navigation opened about the same time the
previous year.
Though navigation will close annually about the end
of October, yet there will be no difficulty in running the
railway trains over the track on the plains of the Pro-
vince. The frost and snow so open the soil that the
labour expended upon it goes much further than in
Europe and elsewhere where the surface is not covered
with snow. There is abundance of work that can be
better done in the winter than in summer, such as fenc-
ing and cutting wood from swamps, into which horses and
men easily penetrate on the ice-bound surface, and con-
veying produce to market, with a speed and in quantities
which would not be possible on wheels. Saw mills cease
working, but the men employed are soon off to the logging
camps, hewing and hauling the logs to the ice-bound
streams that will in spring carry them to Winnipeg or
Emerson.
We have elsewhere stated the favourable report which
Colonel Crofton gave, after a year's residence at Fort
Garry, and could readily multiply evidence of the like
impartial and intelligent persons. In the vessel in which
our party went down the river to Winnipeg were several
farmers, one an old Scotchman from near Miramichi in
Quebec.
He seemed charmed with the country, nor had he tired
of it when we afterwards met him in our wanderings.
He lamented the time he had lost on the banks of the
St. Lawrence in clearing his poor land of trees and in
112 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE.
years since, removing the stones, the only sure crop,
for they came up with every ploughing. He heard all
about the grasshoppers and what they had done, and yet
was determined to take up a free claim, erect his cabin
on a quarter section, and having done that, and made
such other preparations as were deemed needful, he
would sell out his old farm for what could be got, and let
the family follow. This, he said, would without doubt
lead to many of his former neighbours soon joining him.
Mr. Lilies, of West Pilkington, Ontario, in the autumn
of 1875, received a letter from one of his four sons then in
Manitoba, which is so life-like that we will copy it. He
says: "Don't fear of us starving in Manitoba; we are
doing better here than we could do in Ontario, despite
the ravages made by the grasshoppers. Two of us have
cleared one hundred and sixty dollars per month all sum-
mer, burning lime and selling it at 45c per bushel ; an-
other has averaged $5 per day with his team, sometimes
teaming to the new penitentiary, and sometimes working
on the railroad. The fourth works at his trade, waggon
making, in Winnipeg for $60 per month, steady employ-
ment. Our potato crop is splendid, our peas are excel-
lent, and we had one field of wheat that suffered no
intrusion from the pest. The weather is mild, prairie
chickens are very numerous, and our anticipations as re-
gards a good time next year are big."
Mr. Jacob Y. Shantz, an old and respected resident of
Berlin, in Ontario, was consulted by his persecuted coun-
trymen in Russia as to a home in the West. A few
ANALYSIS OF THE SOIL. 113
samples of Manitoba soil were sent to Senator Emil Klotz
of Kiel, who had them analyzed by Professor Emmerling,
an eminent chemist, who, in April, 1872, gave an analysis
of this soil as compared with the richest in Holstein.
Senator Klotz wrote with the result. Part of his report
we copy as follows :
" KIEL, 4th May, 1872.
" After considerable delay, I succeeded in obtaining the analysis
of the Manitoba soil from Professor Emmerling, Director of the
Chemical Laboratory of the Agricultural Association of this place.
Annexed I give you our analysis of the most productive soil in
Holstein, whereby you will see how exceedingly rich the productive
qualities of the Manitoba soil are, and which fully explains the fact
that the land in Manitoba is so very fertile, even without manure.
The chief nutrients are, first, nitrogen, then potash and phosphoric
acid, which predominates there ; but what is of particular import-
ance is the lime contained in the soil, whereby the nitrogen is set
free, and ready to be absorbed in vegetable organisms. The latter
property is defective in many soils, and when it is found defective,
recourse must be had to artificial means by putting lime or marl (a
clay which contains much lime) upon the same.
" According to the analysis of the Manitoba soil, there is no
doubt that, to the farmer who desires to select for his future home,
a country which has the most productive soil and promises the
richest harvests, no country in the world offers greater attractions
than the Province of Manitoba, in the Dominion of Canada.
"ANALYSIS OF THE HOLSTEIN SOIL AND MANITOBA SOIL COMPARED.
Holstein Excess of properties
Soil. of Manitoba Soil.
Potash 30 198'T
Sodium 20 13'8
Phosphoric Acid 40 29 '4
Lime 130 552'6
Magnesia 10 6'1
Nitrogen 40 446'1
H "(Sd.) EMIL KLOTZ."
114 THE PRAIRIE PEOVINCE.
We now know how satisfactory this has proved to the
intelligent immigrants. The facilities of Manitoba, as
compared with Minnesota, are being put to a practical
test by the Mennonites while many have settled in the
Red River Valley, others have selected homes, for the
present at least, in Minnesota and other Western States.
STEAM COMMUNICATION THROUGH CANADA A NECESSITY.
Canada fell heir to a great estate when these Western
plains became hers. Her duty was proportionately great.
She was, however still struggling to complete the Inter-
colonial Road, to connect the older Provinces with the
Atlantic sea-board. Each Province was also heavily en-
gaged in works of internal improvement. The whole,
population of the Dominion was exceeded in number by
that of each of several of the United States, yet the con-
struction of a railway to the Pacific, through a region,
of which little was known, was urged as a necessity to
be undertaken at all hazards and at any cost. It cannot
be denied that much has been done in gathering definite
information, as to this immense undeveloped territory,
and discovering practicable routes. An army of geolo-
gists, surveyors and engineers is still at work on the
various sections into which the great route is divided.
It will be seen how disadvantageously Manitoba must
struggle until she obtain direct steam communication with
Ontario. Her development is retarded and the farther
West is left isolated and comparatively valueless. Farmers
may sow and reap, but the country will, to a great ex-
tent, " smother in its own fat."
STEAM COMMUNICATION NEEDED. 115
Before steam was used on Red River, thousands of
carts went yearly to Minnesota, untroubled by customs
officers. Now, that means of traffic is almost entirely
stopped, much to the annoyance of the half-breeds for-
merly so engaged. The free navigation of Red River
was unfortunately not provided for in the treaty of
Washington. The Yukon, Porcupine and Stikine, in the
distant and sterile wilds of Alaska, were opened, but this
great commercial road was not thought of, or its con-
sideration was tabled by influence of the " Adventurers of
England " and Kittson & Co.
Coasting and trade restrictions are onerous, and the
result is that the St. Paul Company charge what they
please, and their vessels are loaded to the water's edge.
Produce not required for home consumption will scarce
repay the cost of removal to markets by the present ex-
pensive and crowded ways of transport. The " Dawson
Route," in its present state, and until immensely im-
proved, with its many necessary changes, risks and de-
lays, can be practically of little use for freight. Few
passengers, save those interested in the works at Fort
Frances, the lumber business at the Lake of the Woods,
and a company of soldiers passed through by this road in
1875. The Minnesota Railroad, with its dangerous, stilt-
like structure, and the monopolist " Kittson Line " being
preferred. As a Minnesota newspaper states: "The
freights from Moorehead, Minn., to Manitoba increased
from barely 1,400 tons, in 1874, to more than 3,800 tons,
in 1875 -more than doubled : and all the travel to and
116 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE.
from Winnipeg went with the freight by rail and over the
Northern Pacific road."
The Pembina branch first, and so soon as through con-
nection to Lake Superior can be made with the American
North Pacific road, is looked to as the means of immediate
relief. This line was referred to in debate in Parliament
on 14th February, 1876. Hon. Mr. Letellier de St. Just,
Minister of Immigration, said : "The rails will be at Pem-
bina in the spring, the Northern Pacific Railway only
having fifteen miles of embankment and fifty miles of
track-laying to do."
Senator Girard " They have only fifteen miles from
Glyndon to Crookston to build."
Hon. Mr. Letellier " To reach the boundary line. If
when the American line was laid, the Canadian Govern-
ment were not prepared to go on with their work, then
gentlemen opposite might well reproach them for not hav-
ing the rails." He described the different links in the road
to Manitoba, and said that this continuous road and water
way would do all that was required for some time to
come. " Even with the accommodation that existed at
present, immigration had been pouring fast into Mani-
toba, and when all links in the road were completed the
Government would have two very fine modes of commu-
nication, sufficient to bring any amount of population,
and at a lower cost than by rail alone. This showed
that the Government had done something, and that the
facilities were far ahead of those of old Upper and Lower
Canada."
THE DAWSON ROUTE. 117
But the patriotic Canadian cannot with patience see
much of the trade of this immense region drawn, as it
will be, to enrich our southern neighbours. Sympathies,
too, would soon follow the path of interest.
The branch of the great Canada Pacific Railway to the
harbours of Lake Superior must be pushed to comple-
tion, and the natural advantages offered by the water
stretches of the Kewatin and Thunder Bay districts must
also be made serviceable to commerce.
THE DAWSON ROUTE.
As to the present " Dawson Route," the main stages
and the distances from Prince Arthur's Landing, are to
Clandeboye 16 miles.
Matawin 24 "
Brown'sLane 32 "
Shebandowan 45 "
Kashaboiwe 64 "
Height of Land 74 "
Baril 93 "
Brul6 101 "
French 115 "
Pine & Deux Rivieres 132 "
Maligne 152 "
Island 162 "
Nequaquon 187 "
Kettle Falls 207 "
Fort Frances , 252 "
118 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE.
N.-W. Angle 377 miles.
Winnipeg 477 "
These distances were those given to Government by
Mr. Dawson ; people living along the route say they should
be about five per cent. more.
It will be noticed that the greater part of this road is
by water. When the canal is completed at Fort Frances
there will be uninterrupted water communication begin-
ning at one hundred miles from Winnipeg of about 200
miles through Rainy Lake and River and the Lake of the
Woods. The distance will be from Winnipeg but half
that by the crooked Red River to Lake Superior.
Steam tugs of various sizes are now used on the larger
water stretches, open row boats large enough to hold
twenty persons are also employed. Better vessels will in
due time be supplied. To construct, equip and keep up
the Dawson Road has occasioned great annual outlay,
epecially in some of its early years, so the offer of Messrs.
Carpenter & Co. to work it for an annual bonus of $76,000
was accepted, but their contract has terminated, Govern-
ment having again, very wisely as we think, taken the
working into their own control, and intending to use
the water stretches in connection with the railway till,
at any rate, the latter be completed.
The vast interests involved in the region between
Thunder Bay and Red River, the fact that during the
present and the next few years public money to the ex-
tent of so me millions of dollars will be spent to open up
HISTORY OF THE DAWSON ROUTE. 119
communication through this region, as part of the national
highway from ocean to ocean, and from the greatest gra-
nary of the continent to the lakes, make it proper to ask
the intelligent reader's further attention to the subject.
The Dawson route has already had an interesting his-
tory. It was not long since deemed a military necessity.
Its existence was demanded in order to secure the North
West to Canada. The Hudson's Bay Company looked on
its construction with jealousy, as is abundantly evident
from the correspondence between the Company's officers
and Government officials, in 1868-9, when the hundred
miles between Red River and the Lake of the Woods
were in part constructed.
Had this Dawson route not been available for Colonel
Wolsely's little army, Rupert's Land might have fallen a,
prey to Riel and O'Donoghue's French half-breeds and
Fenians, or perhaps have remained in the hands of the
" Adventurers of England."
The accompanying plan and sectional view, in so far
as they relate to this route, and some of the following
statements of fact are furnished by Mr. Oliver A. How-
land, who passed over and spent some time upon it, in
1874, and has given the subject careful consideration.
On the plan the reader may see at a glance the old
North West voyageurs' track from the Grande Portage off
L'Isle Royale, westward, the Dawson road and the line
of the Canada Pacific Railway as now proposed. The
ideal route during the season of navigation, for cheap
transportation of the produce of the North West, would
120 THE PKAIRIE PROVINCE.
seem to be one consisting of, first, a link of railway of
100 miles long over the level country between Red River
and the Lake of the Woods ; next, by steamers over the
waters of that lake and of Rainy River and Lake to the
first falls of the Seine River, making 200 miles of excellent
navigation, broken only by the twenty-eight feet of lockage
at Fort Frances, and scarcely inferior in capacity to that of
the Upper St. Lawrence, and thence by rail 180 miles to
Thunder Bay. This would involve transhipments at the
termini of the water stretch ; but when grain can be and
is daily transhipped by the elevators, at Montreal, at a
cost of eight cents per ton of thirty-three bushels, it is
difficult to discover how an item of sixteen cents per ton
could turn the scale in favour of the all-rail route. Even
immigrants and other passengers might be carried on such
a line, without disadvantage in point of time, and at a
saving of cost in competition with an American rail route
via Duluth. From a common point on Lake Superior
the distances would be, to Fort Garry via Duluth, 150
miles lake navigation and 480 rail ; to Fort Garry via
Thunder Bay, 250 miles lake and inland navigation and
280 miles rail ; in other words, an excess of 100 miles of
navigation on the Thunder Bay route against an excess of
200 miles of railway by Duluth.
As passenger steamers travel at rather more than half
the speed of passenger trains, there would thus be a slight
advantage in point of time in favour of the suggested
route ; so that practically a highway over which our immi-
grants could travel to the prairies as quickly and more
:
M
Q n S
life l\ If,-
ll\ Iff*
THE "PUBLIC MIND" PERPLEXED. 125
cheaply than by the American route, and by which grain
and other freight could be carried thence on terms defy-
ing competition by any all-rail route on our own territory
or elsewhere, could thus be obtained by the construction
of 280 miles of rail. The " public mind," perplexed by a
confusion of motives on this subject, desiring to forward
the colonization of Manitoba, and anxious, on the other
hand, not to be diverted from the project of a direct line
to the Pacific, has permitted the latter motive to have the
greater weight. The feeling and clamour so raised have the
tendency to drive on the construction of the " all-rail "
route with, perhaps, too little regard to our present capa-
city and to the neglect of other and natural advantages.
In the meantime, and until some Canadian route is com-
pleted, the Northern Pacific and the " Kittson Line " con-
tinue to carry the traffic of Manitoba through Minnesota
and down Red River for $40 per ton, pocketing $500,000
per annum by the process and crippling the progress of
settlement in that Province. The point must not be
overlooked that, in adopting the through line, 450 miles
long, as the colonization route in preference to one nearly
200 miles shorter (as regards construction), we delay the
opening of the route in about the same proportion.
Guided by the experience of the Intercolonial road, it
seems as likely to be seven years as four before a train will
pass on the rails from Thunder Bay to Fort Garry, and
therefore for so long we shall be unable to interfere and
raise the siege of Manitoba. Is this prospect satisfactory ?
The best remaining hope of alleviating the position of the
126 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE.
Province, for some years to come, is by making the most
of that part of the Dawson route between Lac des Mille
Lacs and Rat Portage, where it is tapped by the terminal
sections of the railway sections which are likely to be
completed far in advance of the remainder of the road. A
lock of nine feet lift would join Nameaukan Lake to
Rainy Lake, and extend that noble chain of waters to a
point 220 miles eastward of Rat Portage, and within 130
miles of the eastern extremity of Lac des Milles Lacs.
This length of 130 miles is practically broken into three
subdivisions by three tremendous accumulations of lock-
age (for particulars of which we refer to the plan), and
which render a continuous canal too serious an under-
taking to be entered upon at present ; but by the con-
struction of seven locks of about ten feet lift, three on the
Maligne River, and four at the outlet of Baril Lake, with
a cutting of about a quarter of a mile in length to join
Baril Lake to Lac des Mille Lacs, and a dam at the outlet
of the latter lake to raise it (two feet) to the level of the
former, and some channel improvements, the navigation
may be rendered otherwise continuous. The three great
portages Nequaquon, between Nameaukan and Ne-
quaquon or Cross Lakes, Pine Portage, between Sturgeon
and Kaogasikok Lakes, and Great French Portage between
Kaogosikok and the Windegoostigon Lakes, would, in the
aggregate, require the building of about nine miles of
railway.
The main obstacle to the success of this route, the
transhipments, amounting in all to eight in number be-
WATER STRETCHES; CONNECTING LINKS. 127
tween Rat Portage and Lae des Mille Lacs, at the esti-
mate of eight cents per ton, would involve only a charge
of sixty-four cents per ton of thirty-three bushels on the
carriage of wheat, supposing that no improvement be
found practicable in the manner of transhipment. But, if
the cars could be ferried over the broken sections from
Lac des Mille Lacs to Nameaukan Lake, running over
the intermediate portages, the actual transhipments would
then be reduced to two in number, one at the beginning
and the other at the end of the great water stretch of 220
miles terminating at Rat Portage. But even without this
improvement, a route consisting of only 180 miles of rail-
way and 340 miles of excellent navigation, though broken
into four sections and burdened with the full addition of
sixty-four cents per ton for elevating, should still be able
to carry grain and passengers at rates which would be
an immense improvement on the terms of the present
monopoly.
It is improbable that there will be anything in the
construction of these nine miles of railway and seven or
eight locks to prevent these works being accomplished by
the time the Pacific Railway sections to Lac des Mille
Lacs and from Rat Portage to Fort Garry are ready for
the iron; and it is certain that by the simultaneous open-
ing of the line proposed in connection with those two sec-
tions of the Canada Pacific Railway, a competitive reduc-
tion would be at once accomplished in the traffic rates up-
on all routes to Manitoba, such as, in a few years, would
amply recoup an expenditure of $500,000 on the water
128 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE.
stretches and their intermediate links, besides immensely
facilitating the early settlement and development of the
Prairie Province and the other Provinces which will be
created out of the great Nor'-West.
The water route, once established to this extent, would
certainly never be suffered to fall into disuse. The trade
of the North West, growing incessantly, would not only
encourage its maintenance, but would soon demand its
further improvement. The examples of all great parallel
rail and water routes on this continent suggest the proba-
bility of the much abused Dawson route, now regarded
as but the humble precursor of the railway, becoming in
the end the almost unrivalled carrier of the trade of the
great North West. The possibility of attaining such re-
sults by using the means nature has placed before us,
seems to make the subject, at all events, worthy of more
patient consideration than it has yet received.
It should be remembered that the magnificent Winni-
peg "River, through which the Lake of the Woods empties
into Lake Winnipeg, has, for ages, heen used as a high-
way by voyageurs. As Mr. Dawson remarks * : " Men,
women and children have passed by hundreds up and
down the Winnipeg, and the boats of the Hudson's Bay
Company, some of them the most unwieldy tubs imagin-
able, are constantly used on its waters. In former times
the whole trade of the northern posts of the continent
* See Canadian Parliamentary Keport, 22nd March, 1871, by S. J. Daw-
son, C.E., as to the Red River Expedition, and as to Strictures published in
England by an Officer of the Force.
AN EXTRAORDINARY " NARRATIVE." 129
passed by the Winnipeg. At the very time the expe-
ditionary force was passing, two frail and poorly manned
canoes, the one occupied by a very fat newspaper editor,
and the other by a gentleman who had his wife with
him, passed over all the rapids, portages and whirlpools
of the Winnipeg without its occurring to the occupants
that they were doing anything extraordinary."
That the navigation of this river may in time be
opened to grain vessels, which will thus carry the produce
of the Ked River and Saskatchewan Valleys to the water
stretches of the Dawson route, is confidently alleged by
engineers of ability. Thus the reader will at once see the
immense importance and interest which will, in the near
future, attach to the development of the natural resources
of this region.
We may probably be referred, in answer, to the reports
published by those interested in writing up the glory of
the expedition of 1870, especially to the extraordinary
" Narrative " by an " Officer of the Force," published in
an Edinburgh Magazine. We have only to say that, so
far as facts are concerned, we prefer to rely on the state-
ments of the able engineers of Canada and of the civil
servants who accompanied the expedition, rather than on
those of an officer who does not hesitate to slander the
public men of Canada, and that in terms too gross to be
repeated. It is well known that if that officer had not
been ably supported by the civil force and the many
intelligent British and Canadian officers with the expe-
dition, and had his judgment in some important matters
130 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE.
not been overruled by the General in chief command, he
would never have got further than Lake Shebandowan.
The difficulties of the route are not to be compared to
those of the expedition of 1847, when Colonel Crofton
took 383 persons, men, women and children, with cannon
and heavy stores, from Fort York in Hudson's Bay to
Fort Garry. In his evidence before the Imperial House
of Commons, elsewhere referred to, Colonel, now Lieut. -
General Crofton, says of the route in question : " I would
undertake to take my regiment by it. I did worse than
that, for I took artillery from Fort York in Hudson's
Bay, to Red River, 700 miles by the compass, over lakes
and rivers, and that is a much worse route than the other.
I am quite sure of it, for I have gone both."
Had Colonel Crofton been in command in 1870, he
would not, despite the earnest advice of those who knew
that of which they spoke, have insisted on dragging boats
up the rocky foaming bed of the Kaministiquia, where
they were torn and bruised, their equipments lost, the
men wearied with such arduous and worse than useless
labour, and a great additional expense occasioned. When
he returned to England he would, we think, also have
avoided exaggerating the difficulties of the expedition, in
order to raise his own merits in public esteem, and even
though Governor Archibald held the seat for which his
ambition craved, his pen would not have been employed
to lampoon our statesmen, nor would it have endeavoured
to detract from the well-earned praise of those who, with
WHAT THE ROUTE HAS COST.
131
him, carried the expedition to a bloodless and successful
issue.
We refer thus shortly to the article mentioned, as
seems necessary. It must be considered cum grano.
The writer is a very gallant officer, though his feats have
not yet been those of a Hannibal, or even a Napier of
Magdala. He has doubtless since seen cause to regret his
ill-advised statements and aspersions, if indeed he conde-
scends to think at all about that summer trip over the
Dawson Route.
As misapprehension exists with regard to the past
expenditure on the Dawson Route, much being, in Parlia-
ment and elsewhere, charged to management, which be-
longed to the account for construction, building of boats,
gratuities paid to Indians, losses by the Red River insur-
rection, and conveyance of troops and police, we will here
give a synopsis of the figures relating to the period when
Mr. Dawson was Superintendent, which is as follows :
TOTAL
TOTAL
1867-8
$ cts.
1,000 00
$ cts.
1868-9
19,113 13
1869-70
16] 125 34
66 705 06
1870-1
160,423 40
46,178 44
1871-2
305,577 84
12,492 00
1872-3
259,803 27
1873-4 . ...
242,844 85
108 239 88
Outstanding, including estimated cost
of works in progress
1,149,887 82
145,000 00
Total expenditure
1 294 887 82
233 615 38
132 THE PKAIRIE PROVINCE.
Gross expenditure , $1,294,887 82
Off working expenses 496,074 85
Expended on construction, plant, building, &c $798.812 97
Working expenses $496,074 85
Revenue paid and accounts accrued 233,615 38
Actual cost of working expenses over returns for above period $262,459 47
Take the year' ending with June, 1873, and the official
returns show that the above sum of $259,803 was made
up of and chargeable to three accounts, thus :
Construction of Route $113,066 00
Fort Garry Road 32,000 00
Staff and maintenance 114,637 00
Total spent in 1872-3 $259,803 00
Let us look on our maps, and we will see, parallel to
this route, the great railway from Duluth, westward, to
Red River, over which now passes practically all the
traffic of our North-West. It was begun at about the
same time as our Dawson road, but 8,000 men were put
to work upon it, whereas 300 men only worked on our
line, and they for very broken and limited periods.
Any account of the projected routes for the through
transit of this region would be very defective, if it did
not refer to the more southern railway route proposed by
various engineers, and notably by the gentlemanfromwhom
the " Dawson Route " took its name Mr. Simon J. Daw-
son, civil engineer, and now member of the Legislature
of Ontario for the Algoma District. He led the explor-
ing expedition, of which Professor Hind was a member,
RAILWAY LINE PROPOSED BY MR. DAWSON. 133
in 1857 ; and in 1870 had charge of the 700 men
voyageurs, boatmen, raftsmen, teamsters, whites, red men
and half-breeds, forming the pioneers and working force
that accompanied the little army. The course suggested
by him is shown on our chart.
The more northerly line cannot be considered as so
definitely determined on, that some deviation may not be
made in its course before its main construction is pro-
ceeded with. It will be noticed that Mr. Dawson's line
uses the Narrows of the Lake of the Woods, at a place
about two miles north of the American boundary, in
preference to Rat Portage. The numerous islands in the
channel render bridge construction at the Narrows, in
Mr. Dawson's view, a matter of but little difficulty, and the
rocky land on either side of Rat Portage, with much
necessary tunnelling and blasting, would be avoided.
In an able report on " The Shortest Route for a Rail-
way between Lake Superior and Fort Garry," dated 22nd
December, 1873, and which Mr. Dawson still refers to
with confidence, he states that from Thunder Bay to
Sturgeon Falls on the Seine River, a distance of about
160 miles, the ground is in some parts rather broken, but
that from reports of surveyors, he is warranted in saying
that it is quite practicable, and that he has himself been
over a great part of it. Mr. Dawson says that the line
referred to should have the preference if, as he thinks
will be the case, it be found practicable, and among the
advantages to be probably obtained in adopting this route
he enumerates the following :
134 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE.
" 1st. It would be the shortest which could be adopted between
Lake Superior and Fort Garry.
" 2nd. It would be further south, on a lower levrel and, conse-
quently, in a better climate than any other line which could be
projected, within British territory, between the same points.
" 3rd, It would lead to the development of a country rich in timber,
having valuable minerals and, in some parts, presenting fine agri-
cultural land, and thus create a local traffic, which it would be
needless to look for in lines further to the north.
" 4th. At some points, it would touch on and for a great part of
the way be contiguous to navigable waters which would render a
wide extent of country tributary to its traffic.
" 5th. It would be easy of construction, inasmuch as the present
line of communication would afford the means of carrying men,
supplies and materials to various points, thus admitting of work
being carried on simultaneously, at moderate intervals of distance
throughout its whole extent.
' ' 6th. Every link of it would become available and yield a re-
turn, as made. Thus, when Shebandowan was reached, on the one
side, and the Lake of the Woods on the other, the expense at
present involved in maintaining teams of horses, for transportation,
would be done away with. Fort Garry would at once become easy
of access, and the traffic would rapidly increase as the road was
extended.
"7th. It might be made to form a portion of the Great Pacific
road, by being extended to Nipigon Bay and the eastward, and,
even between Nipigon Bay and Fort Garry it would still, I am
warranted in believing, be the shortest practicable route.
" Moreover, it should not be lost sight of that, in bringing the
main Pacific line by the route indicated, the expense of a branch
would be altogether avoided.
" 8th. In the summer season, the shortest line between Fort
Garry and Lake Superior, other circumstances being equal, would
command the traffic of the West. Now, a line from Thunder Bay
ADVANTAGES OF A MORE SOUTHERN LOCATION 135
to Fort Garry, by the route suggested, would be 375 miles in
length, or to make full allowance for deviations, say 390 miles.
This would on the one hand be shorter, by about fifty miles, than
a line from Nipigon Bay, and on the other nearly, if not quite, a
hundred miles shorter than the route by the Northern Pacific and
projected Pembina line. In fact, as regards Fort Garry, the Thun-
der Bay line would have an advantage of 300 miles over the route
by Duluth. That is, taking Thunder Bay as the starting point, to
go by water to Duluth 200 miles, and thence by rail to Fort Garry
500 miles, would be 700 miles as against 390 miles by the route
under consideration.
" But other circumstances would not be equal, for there is a tract
of navigable waters on the Thunder Bay route which, when heavy
and bulky articles of agricultural produce come to be carried, can-
not be left out of consideration, and I do not hesitate to say that,
if a railroad is run from Lake Superior to the North- West Terri-
tories, at a distance from and in a way to ignore these navigable
waters, the day will come when the error will be seen and felt.
"Apart from the comparative advantages arising from a saving
in distance, probable easier grades, a lower general level, a better
climate and a region in which are mines, forests of valuable timber
and areas of agricultural land to be developed, there are others of
scarcely less importance ; and among these, I would call attention
to the excellence of Thunder Bay as a harbour. Well sheltered on
all sides, it is at the same time easy of access to sailing vessels, as
well as steamers. It opens early in spring, as compared to most of
the other ports on Lake Superior, and, in the fall, never freezes to
an extent to impede navigation, till the middle of December.
" Last spring was unusually late, but Thunder Bay was open on
the 9th May, while Duluth was blocked with ice for a fortnight
longer, and Nipigon Bay did not open till the 23rd of May."
136 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE.
PROGRESS OF THE RAILWAY CONSTRUCTION.
The line of this railway from Fort William towards
Lake Shebandowan, for a distance of twenty-two miles,
and at the Red River end, eastward from Selkirk to Cross
Lake, twenty-five miles, has been graded and made ready
for the rails, and so the matter of actual construction
rests, at the beginning of the season of 1876. As the road
will not follow the windings of lakes and rivers, but run
north of the " Dawson Route," its length from Red River
to Fort William is estimated at but 414 miles. The tele-
graph line has already been erected all this distance and
still farther westward 500 miles past Fort Pelly or Living-
stone to Battle River, or, following the curves of the pro-
posed railway track, nearly 700 miles from Selkirk. The
first telegram from that far-off station was received at
Winnipeg on the sixth of April, 1876. The telegraph
will so follow the surveyor and precede the laying of the
iron.
Connection through the " Narrows " of Lake Manitoba
with the interior water system and summer communica-
tion on it by steamers, would fully meet the requirements
of the case for many a day, so far as the Red River
country is concerned. Companies of surveyors locating
the road bed at various points between Fort Pelly and
Nipissing give gratifying reports that the engineering
difficulties in construction will be much less than antici-
pated. Forty mile stretches on either side the Winnipeg
River unfortunately offer great difficulties, and render
progress there slow. It may possibly, on this account, be
PROGRESS OF THE C. P. RAILWAY. 137
yet deemed advisable to swerve southerly from the line
between Rat Portage and Selkirk, as laid down on our
map, and strike the Pembina branch nearer Winnipeg.
However delayed may be the route westerly from Mani-
toba through the passes of the Rocky Mountains, yet a
continuous steam route through British territory to Red
River should be practicable before the end of this decade.
The United States have mainly grown for many years
through railway enterprise opening up their western lands.
But foreign capital and imported muscle built most of their
railways. The Canada Pacific Road is destined to pass
through a region unsurpassed for fertility, and by a route
of more than two days travel from ocean to ocean shorter
than any other to the Pacific. Much of the young Cana-
dian population has for the last ten years or more been
lured over the Border, and may be found in Michigan,
Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, Colorado, Kansas and Cali-
fornia.
Our prairie land was locked up by the Hudson's Bay
Company ; now, as we see, it is admitted to be the best
of all. Open it to the world by steam communication over
our own soil, and let our countrymen know that they can
carry their grain to Fort William steamers at moderate cost,
and they, and many Americans with them, will swarm
over and soon fill up the Prairie Province. They will be
but the more patriotic after experiencing the "new civili-
zation " of the Western States, with trials by Judge
Lynch, the sad and ill effect of American-Indian treat-
138 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE.
ment and more " politics to the acre " than are for the
good of any country.
It is estimated that the amount of money brought
into Canada by immigrants during the year 1875 was
$906,000, and the amount of settlers' effects entered'
$433,000, making a total of $1,339,000; but, of course,
the amounts not reported would very considerably
swell this sum. Of the whole amount $380,000 was
brought in by the Mennonites. It cannot be denied that
true economy would advise a generous expenditure to
prepare the country for the reception of such additions to
its inhabitants.
The British Commissioners of Emigration, in 1871, re-
ported that " Canada can not absorb more than between
30,000 and 40,000 emigrants a year, and the excess be-
yond that number can obtain employment only in the
labour market of the United States."
It appears from the admissions of their most reliable
men that emigrants can no longer obtain good wheat
lands in the Western States at first cost, certainly none so
good as in our great Fertile Belt. It is in the interests
alike of the Mother Country and of the older Provinces
to guide their surplus population to these possessions,
which only need to be made known to be appreciated,
and strong arms to develop their riches. With steam
communication, the land would at once rise in value, and
all near railroads would be eagerly sought for. Thus a
great part of the cost of construction would be made by
sale of the large reserves which the Dominion Govern-
PROGRESS OF THE C. P. RAILWAY.
139
ment hold. In parts of Ohio, where wheat brings ninety
cents per bushel, unimproved land sells, as we learn, at
from $30 to $50 per acre. In Iowa, where wheat was but
fifty cents per bushel, such lands of equal fertility can be
bought for one-sixth of the price paid in Ohio. Elsewhere
the result has been much the same as to all lands worth
cultivating, when traversed and opened to market by rail-
ways. What cause for doubt then can there be as to the
rich river valleys of our Fertile Belt ?
CHAPTER IX.
MANUFACTURES, LABOUR, TRADE AND MARKETS LUMBER MILLS
" KITTSON " LINE AMERICAN VIEW IMPORTS FOR 1874 DITTO
TO JULY, 1875 PRICES CURRENT TRADE OF WINNIPEG WITH
NOR'-WEST PROSPECTS COAL, MINERALS FISH AND GAME
TIMBER AND FRUIT TREES VARIOUS INDUSTRIES OUTFIT OF
SETTLER.
THERE are several steam flour mills in the neighbour-
hood of Winnipeg, and "within its limits, one woollen
factory, three saw mills, and two sash and planing
factories. The most extensive of the lumber establish-
ments are those of Messrs. McCaulay & Jarvis, which
were at work day and night and capable of turning out
50,000 feet in the twenty-four hours. This firm has two
mills the saw-mill supplied with logs floated down the
Red River many a mile. Two circular saws are in con-
stant operation here, driven by a Waterous engine of fifty
horse-power. Near the saw mill is the sash, shingle, and
picket factory, driven by a Minneapolis engine of fifty
horse power. The yards are piled high with cut lumber
of all dimensions, and there will be no scarcity of
building material. The fires are fed entirely with
saw-dust, carried, as it falls, to the furnaces by an
endless chain. The mill and factory give employment
to nearly one hundred men ; the pay is from $3 to
$1 50 a day. The produce sells in the mill yards at the
MANUFACTURES ; KITTSON MONOPOLY. 141
rates given in the price list copied below. The raw ma-
terial used is brought a long way on rafts, and is mostly
from Minnesota forests, but some of it comes, by the Ro-
seau and Red rivers, from the Lake of the Woods region.
The greater part of these pine lands is owned or controlled
by an American company with whom McCauley & Jar vis
have made arrangements, under which, they assert, that
they can for ten years yet hold a monopoly of this most
profitable business. Logs of clear stuff cost them about
$12 per M. feet. It was late in the season of 1875 before
a supply of logs could be got in, but by dint of employing
a large force and running the saws night and day, the
mills succeeded in turning out the astonishing quantity
of 3,340,000 feet of lumber during the summer, The run-
ning expenses of the concern averaged about $1,300 week-
ly. During the winter the firm's lumbermen were get-
ting out five million feet of logs, of which one-fifth would
be from the region of South-east Manitoba, the remainder
from Minnesota.
There seems ample room for investment in manufac-
tures of furniture, which is imported from the States,
Ohio especially. When, too, we see the boats and scows
of the Kittson line of steamers, which has, by recent
arrangement, swallowed the " Merchants' line," their late
rivals, and so again practically monopolized the carrying
trade, loaded down with wares and products, carried often
two thousand miles before reaching their destination, we
feel convinced that capitalists will find in this growing city
and rapidly filling Province, most profitable means of in-
142 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE.
vestment in manufactures of many kinds. The " Kittson
line," or Red River Transportation Company, has for stock-
holders Hudson's Bay officials and St. Paul merchants.
They have been accustomed to charge such freights as
that one trip at high water repaid to the Company the
whole cost of the vessel. Until railway communication
comes to its relief, the Red River region will thus be
held like the cow in the story, the adventurers of England
at one end, Kittson, Sibley & Co. at the other, and the
restive creature will be milked between them.
AN AMERICAN VIEW OF RED RIVER TRADE.
It is not to be wondered at that our wide awake neigh-
bours comment on the growing importance of the Nor'-
west trade, with interest scarcely less than our own. To
illustrate this we refer to a late issue of the St. Paul
Press, which, after giving certain details from the cus-
toms returns, continues thus :
" We have frequently had occasion to refer to the mag-
nitude of trade between Manitoba and Minnesota, of which
ample evidence is afforded by the statistics of navigation
of the Red River of the North. The goods represented
by these sums were transported on Minnesota railroads
and on Minnesota steamers to their place of destination,
as were also nearly all immigrants to Manitoba, besides
the products of that country seeking market here and
abroad, and also travellers therefrom. The aggregate,
therefore, of benefit derived by Minnesota from inter-
course with Manitoba cannot easily be estimated."
IMPORTS AND CUSTOMS.
143
The following is, for the Province, a statement of the
value of imports, duty collected, &c., during the fiscal
year ending 30th June, 1874 :
02
j
H 2
i
%
e- >:
IMPORTS.
j
s
H
E
s
gg
QQ
1 rf
1
s
o
b l
p
Dutiable Goods $
Free Goods
1,472,220
381,439
875,703
148,912
554,106
227,171
1,852
5,356
2,287
38,267
67,471 97
Total $
1,853,659
1,024,620
781,277
7,208
2,287
38,267
67,471 97
More recent reports of the customs of the port of Win-
nipeg for the year ending June 30, 1875, show that the
total imports at that port for the year amounted to $1,243,-
309, of which the United States, principally Minnesota,
furnished $781,323, and Great Britain, $457,449. The
amount of duties collected at Winnipeg for the same per-
iod was $172,600. In addition to the goods which yielded
these duties, Manitoba merchants also imported from
Ontario and Quebec,during the fiscal year, goods on which
duty had been paid to the amount of $180,000. During
last season a party with outfit goods and provisions, in
charge of Mr. 0. E. Hughes, of Kew, Stobart & Co., Win-
nipeg, went with boats by Lake Winnipeg, to open direct
trade between Winnipeg and the Far West.
We since learn that Mr. Hughes has succeeded in es-
tablishing a trading post at Cross Lake, one hundred
miles north-west of Norway House, and about five hundred
miles from Winnipeg, where he is doing a large and in-
creasing business.
144 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE.
Mr. J. J.Healy, an extensive trader of the Bow and Belly
Rivers region, the last stronghold of the buffalo, visited
Winnipeg in the autumn of 1875 for the purpose of open-
ing direct trade. He sent 2,500 buffalo robes that season
to Montreal in bond, via Benton and the United States
railroads, and stated that 100,000 robes were exported
from the Bow River country in 1874.
There is an immense business done in his region by
traders mostly Americans. Mr. Healy estimated it at
one million of dollars annually. The natural outlet for
this is through the Red River valley.
Other extensive traders are making arrangements to
bring their furs from this region to the Winnipeg market.
We learn from a late number of the Free Press, " that the
competition will, it is likely, be unusually sharp, as some
large Montreal and Toronto buyers, who have never been
here, contemplate coming this year. The stock of goods
held by the merchants for this particular trade will not
be less than before, and is likely to be increased by the
addition of at least one more dealer who has bought
heavily for this trade. Few have any idea of the vast-
ness of this interest and the amount of money expended
here for furs ; but some idea may be had from the fact
that the entries of fur exports at this port alone amounted
for the year ending June, 1875, to $588,958, a respectable
offset to our imports of about $2,000,000 in the case of a
new country."
The following is the price list of the Winnipeg markets,
in September, 1875 :
WINNIPEG PRICES CURRENT. 145
Wheat, per bushel $1 00 @ $1 25
Barley, none, worth 085 " 100
Flour, per cwt 250 " 375
PoUard, " 150 "200
Bran, " 1 50 " 2 00
New Potatoes, per bushel , 000 " 100
Onions, " 2 00 " 2 50
Beef, per Ib 009 " 018
Mutton," 016 " 020
Veal, " 12 " 016
Pork, " 016 " 018
Sausage " 16 " 25
Chickens, each 016 " 020
Turkeys, per Ib 000 " 016
Beans, per bushel 325 " 350
Bacon, per Ib 015 " 018
Shoulders, " 12^ " 10
Ham, " 18 " 20
Pork, per barrel 25 00 " 30 00
Eggs, per dozen 025 " 030
Butter (fresh), per Ib 025 " 030
' (salt imported) per Ib 030 " 040
Cheese, (imported) " 00 " 20
(home-made) None.
Pemmican, per Ib Q 18 " 000
Buffalo tongues, each 050 " 000
Dried Meat, per Ib 015 " 000
Salt, per barrel 150 " 000
Mutton tongues, per dozen 100 " 000
White Fish, each 008 " 000
Mackerel, perlb 10 " 12|
Salmon, " 015 " 000
Lake Superior Trout 008^ " 000
Herring, per cwt 650 " 800
Apples (green), per barrel 600 800
" (dried), per Ib 12i " 020
Peas, split 015 " 000
Smoked Venison 00 "
146 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE.
Wood, per cord $2 50 @ 4 50
Hay, perton 800 "1000
Buffalo Robes, (prime winter) 750 "1500
Buffalo Leather, per skin 200 " 300
Moose Leather, " 6 00 " 7 00
Deerskin. " 5 00 " 00
Sinews, each 012^ " 000
Beaver's Tails, each , 100 " 000
We take these autumn prices as being the average for
the year, but as spring came on some articles advanced,
especially wheat, which was quoted in March at $1 75c.
to $2 25c. per bushel.
LUMBER MARKET.
Common lumber $25 00
Select 30 00
Stock*12 to 14 inches 28 00
Dimension lumber 12 to 20 feet 25 00'
No. 1 fencing, 6-inch 30 00
No. 2 do 25 00
No. 1 clear 55 00
No. 2 do 4000
No. 1 flooring 45 00
No. 2 do 40 00
Square pickets 30 00
Flat do 25 00
Lath per thousand 5 00
Shingle double xx = 6 00
Shingle x 500
A shingle 4 00
These were the net cash prices.
FUR MARKET IN DECEMBER, 1875.
Beaver, per Ib $1 00 to 2 50-'
Bear, per skin 2 00 12 00
Fisher .. 5 00 9 50
FUR MARKET; WAGES. 147
Lynx $1 00 to 3 00
Marten.., 1 50 6 50
Mink 1 00 2 75
Otter 6 00 10 00
Skunk 40 75
Wolverine 200 300
Kedfox 1 00 1 50
Cross fox 1 50 8 00
Silver fox 25 00 75 00
Muskrat 12 22
Wolf , 1 00 3 00
As to workingmen's wages Mr. H. Linton, superin-
tendent of roads, has twenty men under him ; the best
get $2 a day, and so down to $1.70 ; man and team get
$5 a day. Living is so dear, he considers $2 here not
better than $1.50 in Toronto. Common board and lodg-
ing cost $5 a week. Domestic service is also well paid
for, at $10 to $16 per month in private families, and still
more in the hotels.
There is a good demand for money, which can be in-
vested, on excellent real estate security, at 12 per cent,
per annum. More enterprising capitalists will find ample
scope in the timber regions surrounding the Roseau and
Winnipeg Rivers and Lake of the Woods. This lake
discharges its waters by the Winnipeg River, which will
afford numerous and ample water powers ; the vertical
descent from lake to lake being three hundred feet.
The Indians and traders now look to Winnipeg and
the Hudson's Bay forts for their market and supplies.
Let companies of agriculturists and traders occupy con-
venient positions in the interior, and they will find ample
148 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE.
demand for all their flour and like produce, receiving
furs in exchange, and thus the difficulty raised, as to
the expense of shipment, will be obviated. Lands
of some thousands of half-breeds will soon be in the
market at low figures, as many of this class will not settle
down, the lands reserved at present for them must be
thrown open. We only thus glance at this land question
as one of interest, and refer to the means that far-seeing
arid energetic persons with some capital and united effort
are beginning to use, at once to increase their fortunes and
open up the vast resources of these fertile plains.
The carrying trade of the city from the States and
Provinces to the south and east is in the hands of the
company mentioned, who have steamers and many scows
which they tug; but we learn that three or more steamers
are being constructed by private enterprise for the Red
River grain trade and will be launched soon. The " Kitt-
son Line " managers are alert and determined to hold to
their monopoly, and will therefore probably buy up these
vessels as they have those of other rivals.
Dr. Schultz has a small steamer that plies in the rivers.
For internal trade and navigation a good steamer was
in 1875 put on Lake Winnipeg. Lakes Manitoba and
Winnipegosis will also be navigated by vessels of light
draught. The steamers Colville and Northcote will con-
tinue to ply on Lake Winnipeg and the Saskatchewan.
The extent of the water system immediately available
is marvellous. Some obstructions in the Red River,
between Winnipeg and the lake, impede navigation when
EXTENT OF NAVIGABLE WATERS. 149
the water is low, but can be removed at trifling expense,
and we will then hear, as a common occurrence, of steamers
floating from above Edmonton down the Saskatchewan
to the northern end of Lake Winnipeg, which they will
enter at a distance of 300 miles from the mouth of Red
River, then coasting by the Icelandic and other settle-
ments along the lake shores, entering the Red River
laden with grain and all other produce of the farm, with
salt, coal, kerosene and various minerals from the teem-
ing Nor' -West, and with fish from the lakes, passing the
bridges of the great Canada Pacific Railway, reaching the
Lower and Upper Fort, and so on to the American
Northern Pacific Railroad at Fargo ; or the course may
be turned westerly after passing Fort Garry. The Assi-
niboine may, and will no doubt ultimately, be opened to
the Pembina mountains and Souris valley regions, a dis-
tance of 250 miles to the west.
If the proposed canal be constructed, the water of Lake
Manitoba will be raised and made more serviceable for
trading purposes than it now is, and a further extensive
and valuable water stretch, through that lake and Win-
nepegosis, will be made available.
While Winnipeg will probably retain the pre-eminence,
many another town will spring up along the course of
stream and lake and add to or take from the cargo as
the vessels pass.
VARIOUS INDUSTRIES.
In addition to the cultivation of grain, referred to else-
j
150 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE.
where, the farmer will find Manitoba unsurpassed as a
grazing country. Horses, cattle and sheep flourish and
increase abundantly. Excellent horses and graded bulls
were long since introduced. High stepping steeds and
fat cattle may be seen on all sides, and are held at high
figures. Sheep were introduced forty years ago, and are
not subject to the rot and other diseases of warmer cli-
mates. Mr. Thos. Spence says in his pamphlet on Mani-
toba (page 30) : " Beyond all question, wool would be the
best crop to raise for some time to come, for exporta-
tion, as the freight on two hundred dollars worth of wool
will not be worth more than on five dollars worth of
wheat.
TIMBER AND FRUIT TREES.
Many are starting orchards and have satisfactory suc-
cess with the plum and such smaller fruit, which is in-
digenous ; with the apple only partial success is yet
reported, as stated elsewhere. No special inducement
to plant forest trees, such as has been tried in some of
the prairie States, has yet been offered to settlers, a rea-
sonable supply of timber for the purposes of settlement
having been so far found available in Manitoba.
The Minister of the Interior has, however, announced
that a scheme to induce the planting of prairie land with
trees will be immediately adopted, and cuttings of trees
suited to the country furnished to settlers at cost through
the Government land agencies. It is to be hoped that
this will be generally taken advantage of, and that an
FOREST CULTURE. 151
amelioration of the climate will so result, as has been the
case most markedly in formerly exposed lands in the
Western States after being so protected by wind-breaks.
Our Government will, to a great extent, in encouraging-
this culture, follow the example set in the United States.
The law there provides that the settlers may
1. Enter public land up to the extent of 160 acres for
timber culture.
2. He must break and plant one-quarter of the land
entered.
3. One-fourth of this area must be planted within two
years, one-fourth more within three years, and the re-
maining half within four years from the date of entry.
4. The trees must be not less than twelve feet apart
each way, and must be kept in a healthy and growing
state for eight years next succeeding the date of entry ;
and on the above conditions being fulfilled, the person
will be entitled to a patent.
The State of Minnesota has also passed a law to en-
courage this industry.
From an essay lately published by the Hon. L. B.
Hodges, Superintendent of tree planting on the St. Paul
and Pacific Line of Railway, it is ascertained that in
Minnesota alone, up to the middle of January last, the
enormous area of 170,307 acres had been entered under
the Acts encouraging tree planting ; and that the success
attending the operations so far had satisfactorily proved
that this new industry, if prudently and patiently fol-
lowed up, is even a surer source of wealth than wheat
152 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE.
growing, and without the additional expense and anxiety
connected with the latter.
Surveyor-Generai Dennis, in lately laying a scheme for
encouraging forest culture before the Minister of the In-
terior, quotes from the above mentioned essay, thus :
Mr. Hodges asserts that in Minnesota forest trees pro-
perly cared for, at an expense in all not exceeding five
cents per tree, have been known to turn out one cord of
wood per tree within sixteen years from the planting.
He mentions instances of cottonwood, in Minnesota, of
seventeen years' growth, from fifty to sixty feet in height
and sixty to eighty inches in circumference.
The most desirable varieties for propagation, as proved
in Minnesota, are the white willow, the cottonwood, Lom-
bardy poplar, box elder and balm of Gilead. Of these,
the cottonwood is the most valuable, being very hardy
and of wonderfully rapid growth.
To the various trees for culture mentioned above,
should be added, says the worthy Surveyor-General, the
following varieties indigenous to the Province, that is to
say : the poplar, aspen, ash-leaved maple and elm, the
rapid growth of which, under ordinary circumstances,
proves that they would abundantly repay for cultivation.
Mr. Hodges asserts as undoubted facts :
1. That, at a trifling expense, the stockyard and build-
ings on the bleakest prairie homestead may be surrounded
within five years by a belt of trees, forming a wind-break,
affording an effectual protection.
2. That a grove of trees can be grown as surely as a
TREES ; COAL ; MINERALS. 153
crop of corn, and with far less expense in proportion to
its value.
3. That ten acres properly planted to timber, and pro-
perly cultivated, will, in five years, supply fuel in abun-
dance for a family, and also fencing for a farm of one
hundred acres.
4. That apparently worthless prairie lands can, by
the planting and cultivation of timber thereon, be sold
for $100 per acre within twenty years.
5. That the net profits of lands properly planted and
cultivated with trees will, within ten years, realize at the
rate of ten to one as compared with the profits attending
the raising of wheat.
Other propositions, even more forcible than those above,
are put forth in the essay mentioned, and the author
states his ability to prove all he alleges.
It is hoped that Manitoba settlers will follow the ex-
ample set them in Minnesota.
COAL, MINERALS AND FISH.
The valuable region north of the Red River has yet to
be fully made known. That it will be found replete with
mineral and other wealth there is no doubt. Hon. Dr.
Schultz, in moving, in the House of Commons, on 22nd
March, 1876, for Returns of imports and exports through
posts on Hudson and James Bays, speaks of the present
and possible trade of that country as follows (Page 773,
Hansard Reports) : " There is in these bays themselves
and on their shores the possibility of a great trade for
154 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE.
Canada. From very credible sources he (Dr. Schultz)
learned that at Paint-Hills and on Paint Islands, in James
Bay, there is a vein of magnetic iron ore, which, when
examined by a practical English miner in 1865, was pro-
nounced to be one of the largest and most valuable veins
of that mineral in existence. Graphite or plumbago, in a
very pure state, is also found at the same place. Galena
is very abundant along the east coast, and a quantity
sent to England was found, when assayed, to contain 80
per cent, of lead and 8 per cent, of silver. Coal is also
said to exist near the Little Whale River, and the Esqui-
maux report iron mines on the mainland near Hudson's
Straits. All this mineral wealth is especially valuable
because found on the shores and near the excellent har-
bours of these bays. There is also a very large fishing
interest in these regions. Immense numbers of white
porpoise or arctic whales annually visit the Hudson's and
James Bays, where they enter the rivers, and could in
these rivers, as well as on the shores of the Bay be profit-
ably fished. The Hudson's Bay Company, who carried on
business in two of these rivers, captured 7,749 of these
fish, which yielded 768 tons of oil, worth upwards of
27,000 stg. in the London market. Porpoise skins are
also a valuable article of trade, a very superior sort of
leather being made from them. On the islands of the
bay, seals are to be found in great numbers, as well as the
walrus and the polar bear. Salmon are abundant in the
rivers, which drain the range known as the South Bel-
chers, and cod fish are also found about Hudson's Strait."
GAME ; FISH ; SALT SPRINGS. 155
Game and fish are abundant in the Province, and of
great variety. The valuable resources of Lakes "Winnipeg
and Manitoba will soon be developed by the hardy men
from Northern Europe and Iceland who have selected
their shores as their homes. Saline springs, producing
salt of excellent quality, are common near Lake Mani-
toba and elsewhere, and will be of much value, in a coun-
try in which the curing of meat will soon be an extensive
and lucrative business. The prairie will for many years
continue to be the home of feathered and other game in
great variety. We refer our readers to what has been, in
other parts of this narrative, stated as to the productive-
ness of the farther West and of the region north and east
of the present limits of Manitoba.
The immigrant is advised to come to Manitoba early in
the summer season, not later than in June, though much
of the land is locked up at present in reserves for In-
dians, half-breeds, railway construction, and for particu-
lar nationalities or companies whose agents have obtained
the right of selection of large adjacent tracts on condition
of speedy settlement, yet no one who desires to settle as
a farmer will find difficulty, for years to come, in obtaining
his farm of 160 acres. These reserves are shown on our
map. An office charge of $10 and three years' actual
residence, cultivation and improvement of a reasonable
part will be required, and then will be obtained a deed in
fee. A quarter section near by will, meantime, if he so
desire, be reserved with right to purchase at Government
upset price now one dollar an acre. The planting of
156 THE PEAIRIE PROVINCE.
land successfully with trees will probably soon be con-
sidered equal to actual occupation for the purpose of secur-
ing a homestead, as stated, but the deed will not issue till
six years expire from the time of locating. To buy the
necessary outfit of a farmer, put up a log house and stable,
and lay in provisions till the home supply may be ex-
pected to come in sufficiently, will require a sum variously
estimated at from six hundred to one thousand dollars.
For further particulars on this head, see the " Practical
Information," which concludes our last chapter.
CHAPTER X.
THE GRASSHOPPER PLAGUE : ITS HISTORY AND INCIDENTS REMEDIES
ILLUSTRATIONS OPINIONS OF MESSRS. RILEY, TAYLOR, SPENCER,
MACHAR, NIMMONS AND MENNONITE8 : HOW TREATED IN MINNE-
SOTA AND ELSEWHERE PROSPECTS.
EVERYWHERE we saw traces and heard sad tales of the
grasshoppers. Many of the farmers let their fields lie
waste rather than plant for them to eat as they had done
for two years. In the gardens of Government House and
of the Penitentiary, in the old fields at Kildonan and
along the banks of both rivers we saw the effects of the
ravages. The garden of Deer Lodge was destroyed in a
few hours. Mr. McKay had the insects swept up and so
filled two bushel baskets. They were scalded in hot water
and fed to pigs. It is difficult to form an adequate idea
of the numbers that came down and devoured every green
thing which they found. One calculating individual gives
the following account of his experience : " When I saw
them travelling on the street I took occasion to count a
few of them, and found that there were at least twenty
to the square foot on an average. That would give sixteen
hundred and two millions to the square mile. Now, allow-
ing that they were placed, one behind the other in a row,
and each to occupy one inch of space (and allowing that
at present they cover say twenty miles in width north
158 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE.
and south, and one hundred miles east and west), there
would be twelve hundred and sixty-seven thousand three
hundred and sixty millions of hoppers in the Province ;
placed as aforesaid, they would encircle the earth seven
hundred and ninety-one times, and have one hundred and
eighty-two millions to spare ; or, in other words, they
would form a band around the earth sixty-six feet wide.
The insects which are found on this continent are of
three kinds : first is the Galoptenus Spretus, distinguished
by its length of wings, which extend, when closed, one-
third of their length beyond the tip of the abdomen ;
second, the Caloptenus femor rubrum, or common red-
legged grasshopper, with shorter wings ; third, the Pacific
migratory locust, Oedipoda atrox, more than an inch in
length, with several roundish brown spots on back and
wings, and a dark fuscous spot behind the eye, which is
seldom seen on this side of the Pacific slope. Their
habits and the treatment required by each are the same.
The first mentioned species, the Spretus, or Hateful,
locust, is that which invades and devastates the prairies.
Their natural breeding ground is in the arid plains of
Colerado, Utah, Idaho and Montana, to the south and
west of the Mississippi. They are generally, therefore,
called Rocky Mountain locusts. From its more northern
position, Manitoba is much less liable to their visitation
than regions farther South, in the United States' terri-
tories and the swarms which, invade this Province are not
so dense or destructive. Much attention and learning has
of late years been bestowed on this subject in Minnesota
THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN LOCUST.
159
and elsewhere in that part of our neighbours' territory
most subject to the pest. We are indebted to the labours
of Professor C. V. Riley, (State entomologist of Missouri)
and to a report lately published by the authorities of
Minnesota, for our illustrations and some of the remarks
explaining them.*
Here is the famous ras-
cal of life size, as he .sits
resting himself after a long
flight, or digesting the dinner of herbs to which he has so
unceremoniously helped himself. Next we see three fe-
male locusts who have pierced nest holes in the surface of
the prairie, which they cover.
ROCKY MOUNTAIN LOCUST : a, a, a, female in different positions, ovipositing ; b,
egg pod extracted from ground with the end broken open, showing how the eggs are
arranged ; c, a few eggs lying loose on the ground ; d, e, shows the earth partially re-
moved to illustrate an egg-mass already in place, and one being placed ; /, shows where
such a mass has been covered up.
* See Seventh Annual Report, 1875, on the Noxious, Beneficial and other
Insects of the State of Missouri. By C. V. Riley, M. A. , Ph. D. Published
by Egan & Carter, Jefferson City, Missouri, U. S.
160 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE.
There are usually from thirty to one hundred eggs in
this mass. From these eggs the young locust emerge^-
kicking off a thin white skin which enshrouds it and the
larva is at once a locust. As it grows its skin distends
till it bursts, and the locust comes forth in a new garment
It is now called a pupa, ; the knobs on its back gradually
grow into wings, when it is a full-armed locust. The fol-
lowing picture shows these several stages in the develop-
ment of the locust after it leaves the egg :
How voraciously the young
locust feeds; and what a
destructive creature he is
f \L k e f re > as well as after, his
**$te\, wings appear, we need not
-*** recount.
ROCKY MOUNTAIN LOCUST : a, newly-
hatched larva : 6, full grown larva ; c, ft records of the oraSS
hopper plague prove that their visitations are periodical,
that they do not come further east than the Lake of
the Woods, and that, in many years, they will not be seen
in Manitoba, or if at all, to no mischievous extent.
The Jesuit history of missions in California states, that
the year 1722 was disastrous. They came again in 1746,
continuing three years ; next in 1753, 1754 ; afterwards in
1765, 1766 and 1767. During this century the periods of
greatest destruction were 1828, 1838, 1846 and 1855. The
locust s extended theselvesin one year over a surface com -
prised within thirty-eight degrees of latitude, and in the
broadest part eighteen degrees of longitude. See article
LOCUSTS, THEIK HABITS AND CURE. 161
on Grasshoppers and Locusts of America in Smithsonian
Reports for 1858, page 200. Since the settlement of Min-
nesota, there have been six grasshopper years, 1856, 1857,
1865, 1873, 1874, and 1875. The history of Red River
settlement presents a similar proportion of years of suf-
fering and exemption. Since Lord Selkirk's settlement in
181 2, the locusts have appeared in 1818 and 1819; then not
till 1857 and 1858 ; next in 1864 and 1865, doing little in-
jury ; then in 1867, 1868, 1869 and 1870, and again in
these last three years. In 1872, they came too late to do
much damage to the wheat which was then ripening.
The last four years have been very unfortunate, there
being but one full crop the average loss being fully one
half the crop. Mr. Taylor, the United States Consul,
who has given much attention to this subject, estimates
that, with the extension of settlement in Manitoba, the
average annual loss in locust years will be reduced to ten
per cent., the rate observed in the States west of the Mis-
sissippi, still more exposed to the pest. Among the means
to be used for their destruction, Mr. Taylor first enume-
rates natural remedies. It is a curious fact that the im-
munity of any particular district may turn upon the fact
of a bright sun and clear sky, through which they move
on, while the sun shines in the warm air, but settling
down and taking refuge in the shrubs and grass as rain
approaches " Thy crowned are as the locusts, and thy
captains as the great grasshoppers, which camp in the
hedges in the cold day ; but when the sun arises they flee
away, and their place is not known where they are."
162 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE.
Nahum iii. 17. Among other descriptions of them in
holy writ, the most wonderful is that in the second chap-
ter of Joel, to which we refer our readers. Professor
Hind met them near the Qu'Appelle river in July, 1858 :
" Here we observed during the morning the grass-
hoppers descending from a great height, perpendicularly,
like hail a sign, our half-breeds stated, of approaching
rain." They were, he adds, excellent prognosticators a
thunder storm soon came on. But, to revert to our im-
mediate subject, the means of relief from the pest.
(1) A fly, resembling the house fly, deposits its larvae
between the head and body, which penetrate and destroy
the grasshopper. This fly is the Tachina or So.rcophaga.
(2) The Ichneumon, Pimpla instigator, deposits its eggs
in the egg-sack of the locust, and when the larva of the
Ichneumon fly comes out it sucks the eggs of the locust,
destroying them. (3) The red parasites, found near
the base of the wings eat into the back, and destroy the
insect. These were very frequently observed. Birds
the blackbird, crow, domestic fowl, &c. make havoc of
them. Beasts, too, are used to trample them, when they
fall in the evening, in the European plains. In Hungary
and elsewhere, horses, camels, cattle, &c., are driven over
and trample them. It is suggested that the disappearance
of the buffalo has tended to increase their number, as the
eggs and young grasshoppers are most numerous on the
paths which these animals would take. Next in order are
enumerated mechanical means, which, if on a sufficiently
large scale and persevered in, have been found, to some
HOW TO ESCAPE THE PLAGUE. 163
extent, successful. When the soil is ploughed early and
deep the eggs are destroyed and the ravages are lessened.
The crops should be planted early and may be harvested in
time to anticipate the pest. Government may also aid a
general effort, as has been for ages done in China, Greece,
Italy, Hungary, France and Russia. In Minnesota this has
been tried. The bounty system was partially and tardily
applied, but with very successful results in Le Sueur, Blue
Earth and other counties. Blue Earth county paid in
1875, $31,225 for 15,766 bushels; Todd county, $333 for
130 bushels ; Meeker, $959 for 293 bushels ; Brown, $1,600
for 4,525 bushels ; Sibley, $8,784 for 439,225 pounds, and
Nicollet county $25,000 for 25,000 bushels of the full-
grown locusts. The total damage to crops by the locust
invasion of 1875 is estimated at $2,000,000.
There is no crop which may be grown with assurance
of immunity in a locust year. They prefer unripe cereals
and juicy grasses, and, unless hard pressed, will pass peas
and beans. These are a valuable and generally sure crop
and may be planted as a fringe round the fields, and,
especially if a ditch full of water can be added to this
green wall, will so protect the other grain by diverting
the young insect before it is winged, its most hungry
and dangerous stage, from passing the barrier, the more
rash and daring intruders floundering into the water and
being drowned. If the Manitoba people had used such
efforts last year unitedly, where settled close together as at
Kildonan, they would have gained much in the result.
It must not be supposed that all the crops were de-
164 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE.
stroyed. No better wheat and potatoes can anywhere
be found than were in 1875 harvested at Portage la Prairie,
and along the Red River between Fargo and Pembina,
and in the neighbourhood of St. Joe, at the south-west
corner of the Province. All this is spring-sown, in rich
well-drained soil. Efforts in the infested regions, made by
settlers and their families during the few hours in which
the locust rested, such as building fires, surrounding the
field or garden with a ditch into which the insects fall and
drown, beating with bushes, &c., have been successful in
saving large parts of the crops. The Consul and Mr.
Spencer, Collector of Customs at Winnipeg, are among my
authorities for this statement.
Since the harvest season we have had favourable ac-
counts from many places where partial crops were saved.
In the Boyne settlement in the centre of the Province,
a, large acreage was harvested, yielding 35 bushels to the
acre. In the Pembina Mountain region also a fair crop
was cut. Mr. J. M. Machar, one of the Government com-
missioners who, last summer, spent some months in the
Province, gives the following as his experience :
" Between the Assiniboine and the southern shore of
Lake Manitoba there lies a district of about ten miles
square, chiefly settled and farmed by emigrants from On-
tario. Last fall these farmers harvested, in spite of the
grasshoppers, a two-thirds crop, which is better than an
average crop in Ontario. Instead of, as in the parishes
of Baie St. Paul, and Francois Xavier, sowing nothing, as
did many of their neighbours, or lazily watching the
FIGHTING THE LOCUSTS ; EATING THEM. 165
grasshoppers devour what they had sown, as did most of
the others, these brave men sowed in hope, and when the
enemy appeared, turned out and fought him. I saw a
forty-acre field of splendid wheat at Portage Creek, the
property of a family of New Brunswickers named Green.
They spread a swath of straw right across the middle of
the field. Then, through the long June days, the whole
family four stalwart young men and three young ladies,
daughters of the farm, but as truly refined as any of the
graduates of our city boarding schools armed themselves
with boughs, and forming in line, drove the ' hoppers '
before them into the straw. It seems that the brutes
have their own idea of comfort, and like to have a bed
under them. At all events, they concluded to roost
there. When evening came a match was applied, and in
five minutes nothing was left of the invaders but their
horny coverings, which at the time of my visit in August,
still littered the ground in millions. Of course I am not
prepared to say whether the ' hoppers ' were as numerous
in that section as they were on the Red River, where, in
June, I saw them sweep all before them ; but in view of
these results, and of the successful campaign of last sum-
mer in several of the Western States, one cannot help
thinking that whatever Government may do should be
in the direction of encouraging and helping people to help
themselves."
We did not meet any who had tried the edible quali-
ties of the grasshopper, but Dr. Riley declares in favour
of such diet, and describes the most epicurean methods of
166 THE PEAIRIE PROVINCE.
preparing it. The insects yield, he says, an agreeable
nutty flavour when, the legs and wings being removed,
they are fried in butter. Palatable soup may also be made
from them. The Indians catch, roast and eat them, and
in the East, the Arabs esteem them a delicacy.
Dr. Riley does not regard John the Baptist as so badly
off in the way of dainties, as we are accustomed to con-
sider that prophet of the wilderness, whose food was
locusts and wild honey.
That the farmers of Minnesota and Dakota were wise,
in sowing as usual in the spring of 1875, we had ample
proofs as we passed from Winnipeg along their broad
fields ripening with a rich harvest. The vessel in
which we sailed from Duluth carried in her hold 5,000
barrels of Minnesota wheat flour, and had to leave as
many more for the next boat to carry. Mr. Nimrnons,
who settled in 1869 about six miles north-west of
Winnipeg, furnishes a worthy example, which some
older settlers would have done well to follow. He
has a fine farm of 320 acres, or half a section, and last
autumn found a ready market in Winnipeg for some
hundreds of bushels of potatoes. Starting without capi-
tal he struggled on through difficulties, and then had
nearly 100 acres broken, and 50 acres under heavy crops
of barley, wheat, oats, peas, turnips and potatoes, for all
of which he obtained good prices. A sample of his last
year's wheat of 66 pounds to the bushel has gone to the
Centennial. When asked how he had escaped the grass-
hoppers, he answered that he had fought them in every
HOPES FOR THE FUTURE. 167
stage of their growth, commencing the previous fall by
ploughing and reploughing their eggs under the ground,,
thereby preventing them hatching ; but, of course they
came on to his fields last summer from the uncultivated
prairie in myriads. These he battled against by fire, and
by driving, so successfully as to save nearly his entire
planting. Mr. Nimmons summed up the matter by stat-
ing it as his belief that the grasshoppers may be met and
conquered by hard work and common sense means ; and
that in closely-settled neighbourhoods, if each occupant
does his share, a fair crop may always be counted upon.
As this opinion tallies with the experience of Messrs.
Tristan and Morgan, of Headingly, and that of many
others, and indeed is but to repeat the history of the
plague in other lands, we have no doubt it is correct.
It is generally hoped that but little of this plague will
be felt for some years in Manitoba. The grounds for
such confidence are the historical facts as to its periodicity
stated, the great numbers of the parasites found on speci-
mens examined, and the fact that the locusts flew off
without depositing their eggs. In lands where nature
has dealt with less lavish hand, the farmer might well
hesitate to embark his means and labour in tillage, but
the great returns which the marvellous rich, deep soil of
this Province will yearly produce, will doubtless allow an
ample margin for periodical losses from this plague, and
these losses too may be anticipated, and to a great extent
met and lessened, by united skilful effort, when the lands
168 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE.
become settled, as no doubt they soon will be, with indus-
trious farmers using all modern means of agriculture.
The Mennonites, coming from a land where this pest is
not unknown to settle here, should convince us that it is
not to be too much dreaded. No settlers can be found
more shrewd and capable of selecting a good home and
forming opinions as to agricultural matters, than they.
They are quickly occupying the beautiful townships as-
signed them on either side of Red River, between Win-
nipeg and Pembina.
CHAPTER XI.
FROM THE OLD TO THE STONE FORT POINT DOUGLAS PROG PLAINS
SEVEN OAKS HOPES THAT FLED THE FLOODS TAIT's CREEK
KILDONAN THE HALF-BREEDS, THEIR HOMES AND PROSPECTS
HAY PRIVILEGE THE STONE FORT PENITENTIARY SELKIRK AND
THE C. P. R. CROSSING A NEW CITY STEAMBOATS PEGU1S
TRADE CLANDEBOYE SETTLEMENT OLD FRIENDS.
THROUGH the kindness of Mr. John Rowan, engineer in
charge of the C. P. R. construction here, I enjoyed, behind
his fine bays, a visit on the 18th of August to several
places of interest. Our way was along the west side of
the Red River northerly. Leaving the new market bridge,
we drove on Main street for half a mile between rows of
neat frame houses, past the Wolseley House, late an hotel,
now the College of the Presbyterian Church, in which
Professors Bryce and Hart are doing a good work. Main
street is here a fine level two chain, or 1.32 feet road, well
graded and surface-drained. A few minutes more bring
us to the Shultz-Pritchard estate, which runs from Main
Street back about two miles. Next is the Magnus-Brown
estate of the like extent, with its broad Burrows'-avenue
and some houses and gardens. After this is a property
of some chains in width which has not been put in the
market, and then a plot of thirty acres of flat prairie
which has been selected for a cemetery.
Between this part of Main Street and the river are the
pretty residences of Dr. Shultz, Mr. A. W. Burrows, and
170 THE PKAIRIE PROVINCE.
others, and behind them are seen embowered in trees, the
house of Bishop Machray and the English Cathedra),
Church and College of St. John. These are beyond Point
Douglas, and form a village of some extent and much
natural beauty. We also see, on the same side, the sub-
stantial residence of Mr. Inkster. Near this was fought,
in the days when the Nor'-west and the Hudson's Bay
Company strove for mastery, the battle in which twenty
of the adherents of the latter Company fell. This, with
Kildonan and its history, will be referred to again as
we come to speak of the Hudson's Bay Company and the
fur trade. The region, over which we are now passing, is
indeed the classic ground of the Province. Five miles
more of driving on the level, varied only by an occasional
coulee, or gully, formed by spring floods in the plain,
bring us to the Scotch Settlement of Kildonan, with its
stone church and school-house, where the Rev. Dr. Black,
the venerable pioneer of the Presbyterian Church in
Manitoba, officiates. The country adjacent is well fenced
and farmed, and in the hands of the most independent
class in the Province, many of them descendants of the
emigrants who came out under Lord Selkirk.
Before us was here seen a narrow line of vapour hug-
ging the ground, isolating the trees, and making them
leap fantastically from the ground. This is the mirage of
the prairie.
We were never on'this drive without the sight of trees,
mostly poplars, with tufts of willows, hazelwood and
vines. They line the river's edge, and that of every
HOPES THAT FLED; TAIT'S CKEEK ; FLOODS. 171
stream that runs into it ; in the prairie, too, little green
clumps appear every half mile, and in some places an un-
dergrowth of young trees has sprung up thickly. This
has been the result of but a few years. Old settlers say,
that not long ago the prairie grass and flowers were the
only green things visible. To the left, at a distance of
eight miles, we see the white brick walls and towers of
the new Provincial Penitentiary in course of erection.
The rising ground on which it stands is Stony Mountain.
(This and Pembina Mountains so called, are really not
mountains or even hills, but parts of the plain elevated a
few score feet above the main surface in broad terraces.)
The object in placing this building so far away from
Winnepeg is, probably, that the inmates may work quar-
ries of stone. We now pass the residence of Mr. Stewart,
a retired officer of the Company, who accompanied Dr
Rae in his Polar journey, and here we notice that the
ground is marked over at regular intervals with small
numbered stakes. We are, in fact, in an embryo city that
perished unborn. A trial survey of the Canada Pacific
was made here in 1871, when it was proposed to run
the line south of Lake Manitoba, along the Assiniboine.
Forthwith, the sanguine proprietor laid out his land in
lots, called streets after his relatives and friends, and made
ready for fortune. The great road, however, after due
consideration, did not approve of the lay of the land,
looked for higher ground, and its engineers withdrew to
find the proper height of land at Selkirk or Mapleton a
place twelve miles further down the river.
172 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE.
We cross Tait's Creek, not a very great landmark, you
may say, but a very important one nevertheless. And
why ? Here the waters of the flood were stayed. It is
also, as we know, solemnly agreed and provided that the
great road shall pass through the Province. Why, then,
lay it more than a score of miles away from its only city,
its centre in every respect ? Patiently, read the answer,
dear reader. As we now enter upon higher land, observe,
and you will find that the river's banks take a bolder
aspect, with a stony bottom. Three times, in the memory
of men still living, has the Red River covered all the plain
over which we have trotted. In 1826, 1852 and 1861 its
waters crept up and up till boats were used in the Fort
at Garry ; The foundation of one of the stone towers was
so undermined that it still leans over from the per-
pendicular; The dwellers in these level lands fled to
higher plains, or took refuge in upper stories of strong
houses, and saw their household goods and fences swim-
ming round them in sad confusion. The high land, on
which we now travel, continues to the Eagle's Nest, ten
miles below the Lower or Stone Fort. This the skilled
eye selected as the appropriate bed of the great road, and
through it our readers may, ere many months pass, hear
its whistle. But is the ambitious little city to be in yearly
danger of the rising angry waters ? Nay, say its inhabi-
tants, the banks are wider, the river's course is broader,
the country lias become dryer. This, too, said to me
a good priest at St. Boniface, as he pointed to the banks
and assured me there was now ample room, and that no
THE HALF-BREEDS AND THEIR HOMES. 173'
cause existed to fear anything more than a slight wetting
of the surface. The fall to Lake Winnipeg is about half
a foot per mile in the course of the stream. When the
wind blows on the lake, its effect is felt far up the river,
damming it back and raising its waters ; and this is still
more the case when in spring its surface is covered with
a heavy coat of ice.
Thus far we have gone along the high-road the king's
road of old maps at a distance lately of a mile or more
from the river. Now we run to its side. We have left a
quiet prairie where houses and people are scarce ; now we
pass house after house, all of a like simple style of hewn
logs, one, or one and a half stories in height, with shingled
or thatched roof, doors near the ground, round mud-built
oven and root-house in the garden, and cattle shed in rear.
Dark-looking and plainly dressed women and black-eyed
children, all seeming to prefer squatting on the grass,
floor, or even the bare black ground to using any chair or
stool scarce articles here the dark hair falling in
twists down the back, tied with bows of gay ribbons ; feet
moccasined or bare. The whole river's bank, for mile
upon mile, seems a long street with houses on but one
side. Thus, in old days, the half-breeds, descendants of
hardy traders and settlers who married squaws, settled
close together for mutual protection, near the water,,
where they caught their meat, and in which, in light
canoes or dug-outs, they sped in quest of game or for sup-
plies and to barter at the Fort.
Their holdings were narrow, and as families increased,
174 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE.
a new house was often built beside the parents' and the
land divided longitudinally. The farm lot extended back
two miles. For a like extent in rear each settler was
accustomed every fall to go out with his scythe and ox-
cart, and cull .the best of the long grass. Thus arose the
peculiar title called "hay privilege." The Dominion
Government has, dealing justly and generously, confirmed
these old settlers in their title to the whole tract of land
held or used behind each residence, so that the lots front-
ing on the Red and Assiniboine Rivers are often of only
a few chains in width, but four miles in depth. This will
be found an inconvenience, as the country settles in rear,
but will be cured in time by new arrangements of con-
tiguous sub-divisions. Much more like their wilder than
their Saxon parents are most of these simple people in
their rustic homes. The men move with a swinging,
slouching tread, their toes often turned in. They love
fishing and hunting. Though possessed of the finest land
on the continent, it lies idle, or if tilled, it is in the most
meagre fashion. The peasant women pretty brunettes
when young, too soon look old and haggard through ex-
posure and dislike to wearing any sufficient covering from
the sun. They are more skilful than squaws in the
making and embroidering of moccasins and white
moose-skin slippers and basket work. A retiring race,
they feel the pressure of the white man's course. Before
long they will have melted away from the Red River and
Assiniboine, and must be sought at the far interior forts,
"by the banks of the Saskatchewan and Peace rivers and
THE TELEGRAPH; THE STONE FORT. 175
their tributaries. Their pleasant riverside sites are, one
by one, passing into the hands of new comers. Yet
while we thus refer to the Metis as a class, let us not
forget that there are, and will continue to be, a large num-
ber of able men and valued members of society, of this
mixed race, in the Red River country. In the Houses of
Legislature, as traders and business men, and as fair cul-
tivated ladies in hospitable homes, we meet them. We
may mention especially, of French half-breeds, the Hon.
Charles Nolin, lately Provincial Minister of Agriculture
and Emigration ; Pascal Breland, Pierre DeLorme, and Mr
Gingras, all prosperous merchants and traders ; and of the
English and Scotch half-breeds, Hon. John Norquay, Hon.
John Sutherland, Senator; Hon. James McKay, and Mr.
R. Tait, the miller. The newer element is represented
in the Provincial Parliament by six out of twenty-four
members, the others being of this old stock.
Again we seek the higher road, sacring the blackbirds
and hearing the whistle of the prairie hen as we pass.
Along the well-beaten track are poplar poles on which
are carried the single wire that can in a moment tell our
case ten thousand miles away : thus does the telegraph
precede the train. On some of the green posts we see
bunches of leaves, the dying sap making a last effort at
animation. Ox carts go creaking past, poor Lo sulks
silently along, the ground squirrel drops into his hole, and
the hawks soar higher as they hear our wheels. Here and
there is a white patch on the black ground, where the
alkaline solutions held in this wonderful deep soil, have
176 THE PRATRIE PROVINCE.
come to the surface and dried. It is noon as we approach
a stone enclosure evidently planned for the like design as
the old Fort, at Garry ; this is the Lower or Stone
Fort. Its walls are not so high as those of the other,
and are evidently incomplete, as they are not coped, but
crumble at top. They are of limestone, which is t n bun-
dan t in the bed of the river close by. Small towers
grace and guard the corners. It faces the river, and con-
tains half-a-dozen store-houses and a general shop. The
area within is probably of three acres. At the north side
is an oblong building, of no great size, of hewn logs, and
doubly surrounded with walls. This is the miniature
temporary Penitentiary of the young Province. Within
are accommodations for the twenty-three prisoners and
the guards. We never entered any place where more
neatness, cleanliness and order prevailed. Most of the
prisoners were out in the yard and garden, clad in white,
with " P. P." stamped on them, working under orders of
armed guards. All were male. Among them were three
Sioux Indians, from the Portage band, all restless fellows
when brought in. They each attempted to escape, but
now are among the best workers. We were shown a pair
of stout boots made by one of them. The Warden, Mr.
Bedson, conducts the establishment with little expense to
Government, and with honour to himself. At his pretty
residence, "Daisy Lodge," across the road, we saw the giant
head and antlers of a moose, and a great variety of skins
of wild beasts and birds, and experienced true Nor'-west
hospitality.
SELKIRK AND THE "CROSSING." 177
Mr. Bedson will, no doubt, make his mark in the Prai.
rie Province. An Englishman without fortune, he was ser-
geant in the army when eighteen, and came to Win-
nipeg as quartermaster-sergeant in the Second Battalion,
under Colonel Wolseley. This officer, having made his
way from Thunder Bay, arrived at the Stone Fort on the
22d of August, 1870 ; only the Regulars were with him,
the Militia Companies being still struggling through the
Winnipeg. The advance was however made up the Red
River. Riel's headquarters in Fort Garry were reached
on the 24th, but the bird had flown ; the Union Jack
was hoisted, and Manitoba became in fact, what it had
been in name only before, a Canadian Province. The
large garden of the prison had little living in it, save
a tame bear fretting at its chain. The grasshoppers
had here nibbled many a sweet morsel, and left all
bare behind them. A second growth was, however,
making fair progress. In sight of the Stone Fort, with
a commanding view of it and the river, is the summer
residence of Mr. Thomas Howard, M.P.P., a very pretty
place. The banks are here high and clean ; passing up
we see the neat English Church (St. Clements) between
our path and the river. We notice a bit of canvas flut-
tering in the wind, and, approaching, find it is the cover-
ing of an Indian child's grave. Traces of other graves are
visible. The body having been interred, the grave was
covered and guarded with a fence of small logs placed
over and around it ; such articles as the deceased was sup-
posed most to need in the next world were then placed
178 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE.
on top, and all was covered with the cloth raised in the
usual shape of graves with us. Alas ! poor ghosts ; soon
destined to be scared from your resting place by the shrill
whistle of boat and steam-car, and all traces of your tombs
obliterated by the advancing tide of the white man !
The river now curves to the east, but soon returns
in banks 700 feet apart, forming a semi-circle. This
is Sugar Point. Here, in spring, the ice floe coming
down is broken, and the force of the stream is les-
sened. The chapel we see, marks the place of the
crossing of the great Canada Pacific Railroad. A rope
is stretched from bank to bank to aid the passage
of the scow that serves for ferry. The work of Sifton
& Farewell (the contractors on this end of the line),
is seen in the long clearing through the trees and the
telegraph line extending westerly. Mr. Sifton's substantial
wooden house and some workshops are here, and the com-
pany's shed is seen on the opposite bank. The banks are
adorned with beautiful groves of soft maple, elm, oak and
poplar. The stream must be here bridged, and that will
be a large item of cost, owing to the length and the fact
that a draw must be provided to permit of the passage of
the lake and river craft. Twemty miles above is Lake
Winnipeg, a great inland sea, with an area of 9,000
square miles, into which flow mighty rivers ; on the
North-west, the Saskatchewan ; on the East, the Win-
nipeg and Beren's River ; and on the South, the Red
River, on whose broad banks we stand. Hardy Ice-
landers are settling on its westerly shores, attracted by
ST. PETER'S; DYNEVOR; LAKE SHIPPING. 181
its unsurpassed fisheries and rich soil. But let us look
further about " the crossing. "
Already is heard the noise of the hammer and black-
smith. Several residences and stores are up or in course
of construction. The Pembina branch passing up from
Winnipeg will, as just decided by the Government, soon, on
the opposite or easterly end of the bridge, crossing here,
join the main line from Thunder Bay. The surround-
ings seem to mark the site of what may in future become
an important city of the Province. The ground, which,
rising fully twenty feet above the river bed, forms a dry,
well-wooded plateau, has for many acres around, been se-
cured and laid out in lots by some Winnipeg capitalists
A prettier or more promising location can scarcely be
conceived than this, called Mapleton on the Government
map, but by its founders Selkirk, in honour of the old
nobleman, who induced so many of his hardy countrymen
to seek fortune in this then unknown region. North
of Selkirk, between the river and its left bank, is a
lagoon of a mile in length, now the resort of wild fowl,
but destined to be a harbour and dockyard for the lake
shipping. A beautiful wooded island is at its northerly
end. We come in sight of St. Peter's Church, in the
parish now called Dynevor. Eight miles above, on the
east highland, before the river forms three branches and
is lost in the lake, is the site of the prospected town of
Peguis, which may wait further notice from the historian
of the future. Yet this region above Selkirk is already
no terra incognita. A steamboat was launched on the
182 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE.
lake near by, and made her trial trip during my stay in
the Province. Arrangements are also being made by the
Government and the Company to place vessels of light
draught on Lakes Manitoba and Winnipegosis. In July,
1875, the Company's steamer " Northcote " successfully
made her first trip to Edmonton, on the Saskatchewan.
But little blasting and dredging is needed to make the
river easily navigable for larger crafts from Winnipeg to
the lake of that name.
Over the prairie and through woods and willow bushes
of some growth, to the west of the river, we push our
way some seven miles, seeking the Clandeboye settle-
ment and Muckle's Creek. A wild, rolling land, in which
many fat cattle and a flock of a hundred sheep are graz-
ing ; prairie chickens start up under the horses' feet, and
hawks circle above them. Passing the track of the great
road as surveyed, on the now proposed route through the
Narrows of Lake Manitoba, and under the telegraph
wire, we come in two miles more to the houses and barns
of Messrs. Alexander Muckle, J.P., and Robert Muckle, a
beautiful and romantic place, uniting the desiderata of
good land, prairie, wood and water privileges. The creek
that passes through the estate is twenty feet in depth and
navigable by Red River steamers. On its bank, within
gunshot of the house, were wild duck and plover. A
hawk flew down almost at our feet and tried to carry
off one of Miss Minnie's chickens. He last rested on
a tree near by, whence he fell screaming, pierced with
deadly lead from Mr. A. Muckle's gun. His wings are
RUKAL HOMES. 183
now spread in our sanctum far away from the fatal
tree.
We refer thus to the beautiful home of these kind
friends and their amiable mother, as there are many
readers in Ontario, Quebec and elsewhere who will be
interested in learning of their happiness and prosperity.
This, too, furnishes a ready example of one of the thous-
ands of choice sites for rural homes, with rich grain, mea-
dow and pasture land, that lie ready for the industrious
immigrant.
CHAPTER XII.
THE HUDSON BAY COMPANY THE SELKIRK SETTLEMENT THE FUR
TRADE NORTHERN NIMRODS THE NORTH-WEST COMPANY FORT
WILLIAM LITTLE YORK THE GRANDE PORTAGE EARL SELKIRK
BOLD ADVENTURERS WAR OF 1812 SPEECH OF MR. DAWSON,
M.P.P. FIGHT AT FROG PLAINS FALL OF GOVERNOR SEMPLE AND
PARTY TRIALS AT YORK AND QUEBEC IN 1818 SONG OF PIERRE
FALCON DE REINHARD'S CASE ASSINIBOINE A CROWN COLONY
ITS POPULATION UNION OF THE COMPANIES EFFECT ON IN-
DIANS AND OTHERS EVIDENCE OF COL. CROFTON AND ADMIRAL
BACK GOVERNORS AND JUDGES OF ASSINIBOIA THE GOODS TRADE
HARD BARGAIN STATISTICS OF TRADE ST. PAUL AND ST.
LOUIS GET A SLICE.
THE chronicles of the fur trade in the North-west are di-
vided into four periods : First, From the Treaty of
Utrecht in 1714 to 1763, in the hands of the French ;
Second, From 1563 to 1821, when the Canadian and
the English companies held joint and rival sway ; Third,
From 1821, when the companies united, until 1870, when
the North-west became part of the Dominion ; Fourth,
The present period, in which the company's trade in land
and goods will equal or exceed its fur trade, the last hav-
ing ceased to be a monopoly.
The history of this trade is full of romance and adven-
ture. It was carried on by men who feared exposure,
hardship anp danger as little as did those who, seeking a
EARLY FUR TRADERS ; GRAND PORTAGE. 185
short way to El Dorado, braved the open Polar sea. It was
begun by French adventurers before the American Revol-
ution. Sir Alexander Mackenzie, in his history of this
trade, published in 1801, remarks that it requires less
time for a civilized people to deviate into the manners
and customs of savage life, than for savages to rise into a
state of civilization.
Such was the event with those who accompanied the
natives on their hunting or trading excursions, they be-
came attached to the Indian mode of life, and lost all
relish for their former habits and native homes. In the
earliest history of New France we find them hunting and
fishing on the Saguenay, Tadousac being their chief trad-
ing post. The Ottawa country next was penetrated, and
thence they passed to the west and north of the great
lakes. Some became a kind of pedlers, coureurs des bois,
and were middle men between the Montreal merchants and
the Indians. Setting off from Lachine in birch bark canoes,
the frailest yet most fit vessels for so great a journey, when
propelled by these skilful voyageurs, laden with goods
to the water's edge, they were absent for from a year to
eighteen months, during which time they merrily toiled
with paddle over the rivers and along the margins of
lakes, carried great burdens across portages, finding their
food on the land or in the water, with gun and spear, or
subsisting on pemmican, the flesh of the buffalo, boiled
fine and mixed with its tallow, and occasionally flavoured
with wild berries. Sometimes Indian corn similarly pre-
pared took the place of the buffalo meat.
186 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE.
They were careless of danger and never knew fatigue.
Trading posts and stations were established at important
centres, some of which were in time surrounded with pal-
isades and armed.
Owing to the great length of the journey it was also
divided ; those who hunted or dealt direct with Indians,
meeting those who dealt with the capitalists of the trade
at certain trading posts. In time the Grand Portage on
the north shore of Lake Superior was made a chief depot
and place of exchange. This was the case before, and
when the Nor'-West Company was established. Here the
" Northmen' ' or " Winterers" as were called those from
the Indian country, with their furs, met the canoe men;
"Pork-eaters," also "Goers and Comers," they were
named, who performed the journey between the Grand
Portage and Montreal. The Northmen were regaled with
luxuries from the larder of the Pork-eaters and the
Company, settled their accounts, and after a fortnight of
pleasure were off again for another long trip to the fur
regions. Thus meeting only occasionally, and then in this
wild place, with civilized men, it was not strange that the
Northmen forgot the manners of their eastern fathers,
lived when away as did the Indians, took their daughters
as wives, and became the fathers of the Metis, the hardy
mixed race found in Manitoba and the territories, and
which now numbers many thousands.
Mackenzie gives an instance of the strength of the ca-
noe men, stating that he had known some of them set off,
carrying two packages of ninety pounds each, and return
NORTHMEN ; GOERS AND COMERS ; OLD FORTS. 187
with two others of the same weight in the course of six
hours, being a distance of eighteen miles over hills and
mountains.
The traders from the far off Athabasca country did not
come to the Grand Portage, but were met by the Pork-
eaters at Rainy Lake, where they got supplies and ex-
changed ladings.
A half military discipline was observed, and much re-
spect paid by these people to the men in command, whe-
ther en route, or at the forts and posts.
Twelve hundred men, says Mackenzie, were sometimes
assembled at the Grand Portage, indulging in the free
use of liquor and often quarrelling with each other, yet
always shewed the greatest respect to their employers,
who were comparatively few in number.
The south end of this great carrying place is now in the
State of Minnesota, where its north-east corner juts into
Lake Superior, due west of Isle Royale, and at the distance
of thirty miles from Fort William.
It ended at Pigeon River, where the voyageurs again
took canoes and passed on by the series of lakelets and
streams that lead to Rainy Lake, and thence to the Lake
of the Woods.
The country was all under French sway, and so con-
tinued till the Treaty of Versailles, in 1763. Among their
many forts were Fort Charles, at the Lake of the Woods ;
Fort Dauphine, at the head of Lake Manitoba, and Fort
de la Reine on the Assiniboine ; Fort Bourbon, at the
head of Lake Winnipeg, and Fort Rouge on the site of
188 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE.
the present town of Winnipeg, a few rods north of the
present Fort Garry. Thence they extended westerly to
the Saskatchewan and the north, and this was long
before the Hudson Bay Company had wandered from
their more northern regions, or dreamt of the claim to so
great and valuable a part of the continent, which has
been the creation of later years.
The Sieur Varennes de la Verandrye, a Frenchman of
distinction, was the first white person who explored and
described the Lake Winnipeg region. The family of this
traveller is yet represented in Lower Canada by that of
Sir Etienne Paschal Tache', late Premier of Canada, and
by Archbishop Tache', of St. Boniface. This was in 1731,
He penetrated west to the Swan River and Saskatchewan
regions, and was soon followed by others.
Says Mackenzie, page XI, " The Hudson's Bay Com-
pany in the year 1774, and not till then, thought proper
to move from home to the east bank of Sturgeon Lake, in
latitude 53 deg. 56 min. north, and long. 102 deg. 15
min. west . . . From this period to the present time-
they have been following the Canadians to their different
establishments." At page LXXIII, he says: " The French
had two settlements upon the Saskatchewan, long before'
and at the conquest of Canada, the first at the Pasquia,
near Carotte River, and the other at Nepawi, where they
had agricultural implements and wheeled carriages."
Much ill-will towards the English had been instilled into
the Indians by the French, and for some years after the
cession of Canada to England, fear of the aborigines de-
THE NORTH-WEST COMPANY. 189
terred the English from going far into the country and
the fur trade languished.
Good prices were a strong inducement, and in twenty
years an army of traders and of their employees were so
again engaged. The young men of Canada looked to em-
ployment in this trade as their surest means to advance-
ment and competency.
In the year 1793 the merchants engaged in the trade
formed, says Mackenzie, a junction of interests, under the
name of the North West Company. The management
was entrusted to Messrs. Benjamin and Joseph Frobisher
and Mr. Simon McTavish. Mr. Peter Pond was after-
wards added to their number. The trade was so consoli-
dated and directed by able men, and the company thus
formed was for thirty-eight years, and till its consolida-
tion with the Hudson Bay Company, one of the most
powerful combinations in Canada. Their trade was car-
ried in schooners on the great lakes. The old French
posts and forts were in their hands. Fort William, on
the Kaministiquia, became one of the most important
of their forts. In its ancient store-rooms, which have
wooden or stone walls as thick as those of the old houses
in Quebec, may still be seen arms of ancient make, gilt
knee and shoe buckles, and other dress articles such as
the partners, commanders and other officers of the Com-
pany in the time of the Georges wore. A high palisade,
of posts set on end, surrounded the enclosure, and was
only removed, and replaced by a neat picket fence, within
a few years by the present officer in charge. The ser-
190 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE.
vante of this Company were estimated at 5,000 men,
with sixty trading posts, in 1815. They passed along
the North shore, through the Village of Penetanguishene,
and County of Simcoe, down Yonge Street, the main entry
to Toronto (then Little York) from the north, and which
roadway they helped to construct, as by it their goods
often found their way to Lake Ontario.
Our chart of the region between Lake Superior and
Manitoba, shews the course of the old voyageurs westward
from the Grand Portage ; following the Rainy Lake and
river stretches. The international boundary now pursues
this route, running, in an arbitrary course, across the
Lake of the Woods to the North- West Angle, then falling
southerly till it strikes parallel No. 49. Part of the lake,
and of the land on its western shore, is thus put under
the American flag. We have no arrangement with that
nation to hinder their erecting a fort or custom-house on
this important projection into our territory, nor any pro-
vision to facilitate improvements, or management of the
water courses.
As the country settles and this route increases in im-
portance, a new difficulty, such as that of the Haro straits,
may arise. We humbly hope that the next noble and
learned commissioners who undertake to negotiate trea-
ties, in which Canada is concerned, will have more accu-
rate knowledge of the geography and history of the
regions in question than did those who, acting on imperial
instructions, and, so far as their limited knowledge guided
them, in imperial interests, have heretofore settled our
TREATY-MAKING ; WAR OF 1812. 191
international boundaries, by giving away whatever was in
dispute, or specially coveted. But, to return to the story,
In 1788, says Mackenzie, the gross amount of the ad-
venture for the year did not exceed 40,000, but, by the
exertion, enterprise and industry of the proprietors, it
was brought, in eleven years, to triple that amount and
upwards, yielding proportionate profits, and surpassing,
in short, anything known in America. In 1798, the
shares were increased to forty-six, and new partners were
admitted. Most of the furs were sold in England. Some
were sent to China and the East through the United
States, or in ships of the East India Company, and traded
for tea and other commodities ; but a loss of 40,000 was
experienced in the latter venture in the four years pre-
ceding 1796.
The employees of the North West Company had no
insignificant part in the war of 1812. A military post,
for the protection of the fur trade, was established by
order of the Company and General Brock, on the Island
of St. Joseph, in Lake Huron, under command of Captain
Roberts.
On the fifteenth of July, Roberts set out with his little
army of forty-two regulars, three artillerymen and one
hundred and sixty voyageurs, half of whom only were
armed with guns, and two hundred and fifty Indians. On
the seventeenth, they landed near Mackinac, which was
garrisoned by sixty soldiers under command of Lieutenant
Hancks. The garrison was summoned to surrender,
which they did with little delay. Apart from the value
192 THE PKAIR1E PROVINCE.
of the acquisition in itself, says the historian McMillan,
the occurrence had an excellent effect in retaining the
North West Indians in the British interests.
In an interesting debate as to the north westerly
boundary of Ontario, in the Legislative Assembly at
Toronto, on the 4th of February, 1876, Mr. S. J. Dawson,
member for Algoma, thus refers to this great partner-
ship :
" At the time of the formation of this Company, there
were in Canada a number of men remarkable for their
energy and enterprise ; many of them were the descend-
ants of those whose fortunes had been lost at Culloden,
and even some of the Scottish chiefs who had been pre-
sent at that memorable conflict, were then in the country-
They were men accustomed to adventure, and had been
trained in the stern school of adversity. They joined the
North West Company, and soon gave a different com-
plexion to the affairs of the North West. Under their
management order succeeded to the anarchy which had
prevailed under the French regime. Warring tribes and
rival traders were reconciled. Trading posts sprung up
on the Saskatchewan and Unjiga ; every post became a
centre of civilization, and explorations were extended to
the shores of the Arctic Sea and the coasts of the Pacific
Ocean. It has been the custom to ascribe to the Hudson's
Bay Company the admirable system of management
which brought peace and good government to the then
distracted regions of the North- West, but it was due to
these adventurous Scotchmen. Sir Alexander Mackenzie
THE x. Y. COMPANY; THE HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY. 193
traced out the great river which now bears his name,
and was the first to cross the Rocky Mountains and
reach the Pacific Ocean. Fraser followed the river now
called after him, and, a little later, Thompson crossed
further to the south and reached Oregon by the Colum-
bia."
It will be seen in another chapter that on the day in
which this discussion took place in Toronto, an impor-
tant constitutional change was made at Winnipeg the
abolition of its Upper House or Legislative Council.
Disagreements arose, in time, among the partners and
some of them, among whom were Sir Edward Ellice and
Sir Alexander Mackenzie, formed another, styled the X. Y.
Company. This only increased the causes of trouble
among the adherents, and had a bad effect on the trade
and evil example to the Indians.
THE HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY.
The famous charter incorporating Prince Rupert, Chris-
topher, Duke of Albemarle, son of General Monk, to
whom the race of Stuarts owed so much, William Earl of
Craven, Henry, Lord Arlington of " Cabal " fame, or in-
famy Anthony, Lord Ashley, unworthy ancestor of good
Lord Shaftesbury, Sir John Robinson, and twelve others,
knights, baronets, esquires and citizens, as " The Gover-
nor and Company of Adventurers of England trading into
Hudson's Bay for the discovery of a new passage into the
South Sea, and for the finding some trade for furs
194 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE.
minerals, and other considerable commodities," was dated
the second day of May, 1670, in the twenty-second year
of King Charles the Second. Judicial and executive
authority was so conferred on the Company, together with
the sole trade in all seas, straits, lands, &c., that lie within
the entrance of Hudson's Straits, or the rivers that enter
them, not already occupied by any other English subject,
or other Christian Prince or State, yielding therefor two
elks and two black beavers, whensoever the king or his
heirs should visit the said territory.
For the political history of the Hudson's Bay Company
we have here no space. History tells us how the Canadian,
traders spread over the Southern part of the territory
and even followed up the English to the hunting grounds
between the lakes and Hudson's Bay. A deadly rivalry
arose. Hunters and voyageurs strove together for the
mastery of important posts and hunting grounds, and
blood was frequently shed. In the midst of this sad state
of affairs, Lord Selkirk became Governor of the Company,
and formed a scheme for settling the Red River Valley
with his hardy countrymen. The first colony came in
the autumn of 1812, and settled between Fort Garry and
Kildonan, the parish which we have described elsewhere,
and which is five miles north of the present city of Winni-
peg. These hardy Highlanders suffered for many years from
the storm that raged between the two companies. The Earl
had come out at the invitation of the Hudson's Bay Com-
pany, and obtained an immense tract of land from them.
He built a fort and store at the river bank, the name of
LOKD SELKIRK; TROUBLES AND BLOODSHED. 195
which is still preserved in that of Point Douglas, now a
most important part of Winnipeg, which he till his death
supplied by shipments from England of arms, ammunition,
clothing and food. The foundation of the old fort may
yet be traced on the Logan Estate, near the river's bank.
The half-breeds and retainers of the North- West Com-
pany, with their strong French Canadian feeling, were
jealous of outside interference. The new comers were
twice driven to take shelter at Pembina, where was Fort
Darr, a Hudson's Bay post. In their absence, their homes
were destroyed.
In 1815, a large body of emigrants arrived and found
their friends in poverty and wretchedness. The settle-
ment was for a time forsaken, some going to Hudson's Bay
forts, but others toiled, with women and children, a weary
journey over what is now the " Dawson route " to Fort
William, thence made their way by Penetanguishene to
Canada West, where their descendants may yet be found.
The next year evil feelings had culminated. On the 19th
of June, an encounter took place on Frog plains, between
Fort Douglas and Kildonan, on the west bank of the river,
in which Mr. Robert Semple, then governor of the Selkirk
settlement and fort, and twenty-one others five officers
and sixteen men of his party, were killed.
At the time of this attack, Lord Selkirk was on his
way to Rupert's Land, and heard of the affair when in
New York. Peace had come for a time in Europe and
he had induced some disbanded soldiers to follow him.
His company consisted of eighty men and four officers of
196 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE.
the De Meuron regiment, a score of the men of the Wat-
teville regiment, and a few Glengarry men. They passed
up by Penetanguishene and the North shore, and encamp-
ed on the left bank of the Kaministiquia River, opposite
Fort William. Here his Lordship soon found stragglers
from Red River, who had known of, and some who had
suffered from, the acts of the Nor'- West Company's peo-
ple, and who laid informations before him as a Justice of
the Peace, charging a number of those in the Fort as
guilty of larceny, riot and murder. There were in and
about the neighbourhood of Fort William, engaged in the
fur and goods trade, about two hundred French Canad-
ians and half as many Indians. Lord Selkirk soon com-
menced hostilities, but under cover of his office as a Jus-
tice of the Peace. He had been enjoined by the Canad-
ian authorities not to use the old soldiers with him in any
aggressive operations. His veterans, nevertheless, with
constables' warrants in their hands, arrested such of the
incriminated adherents of the Company as they could
seize, and when the rest took shelter within the high
wooden palisades of the fort, they broke open the gate,
their companions flocked across the river and soon took
possession of the post, which they held till May, 1817.
The prisoners were brought to York, now Toronto, and
tried before the full Court of King's Bench, in the month
of October, 1818. Before proceeding to give any details
of these interesting trials, we may refer shortly to the high
and patriotic, if somewhat arbitrary, character of Lord
Selkirk. Desirous of securing a happy home for his
THE SELKIRK SETTLEMENT. 197
countrymen and for those who had served in the wars of
his king, or were turned out of ancestral homes by " im-
proving " landlords, who thought sheep-farming more pro-
fitable than tenant culture, he could find no place in
Europe, as he thought, safe from the destroyer war. He
also seems to have feared to settle near the American
border, and hoped in the rich prairies of the Winnipeg
basin, to find a secure home. He was lavish of both time
and treasure, and yet was witness of much trouble and
suffering among his faithful followers. He died in France
in 1820. The territory which was granted to him by the
company's deed, dated 12th June, 1811, is described
thus :
" Beginning on the western shore of Lake Winnipeg at
a point 32 degrees 30 minutes North latitude; thence run-
ning due west to Lake Winnipegoshish ; thence in a south-
erly direction through said lake, so as to strike its west-
erly shore in latitude 52 degrees ; then due west to the
place where the parallel of 52 north latitude intersects the
west branch of Red River, otherwise called the Assiniboine
River, then due south from that point to the height of land
which separates the waters running into Hudson's Bay
from those of the Mississipi and Missouri Rivers ; then in an
easterly direction along the height of land to the source of
the River Winnipeg; thence along the main stream of those
waters and the middle of the several lakes through which
they pass to the mouth of the Winnipeg River, and thence
in a northerly direction through the middle of Lake Win-
198 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE.
nipeg to the place of beginning on the western shore of
that lake."
It will be noticed that a large and valuable part of this
territory is now included in the limits of the State of
Minnesota and Dakota Territory. That arose, as we
know, as a result of treaty-making by English diploma-
tists with our acute American cousins.
In 1836, the Company repurchased from Lord Selkirk's
heirs, for 84,000, the part of the land to which they laid
title, being that above described, with the exception of
portions meantime deeded to settlers.
Lord Selkirk, during his stay, obtained a valuable ces-
sion from the Indians by treaty, made on the eighteenth
of June, 1817, with the five chiefs of the Crees and Chip-
pewas. Two miles on either side of Red River, from its
mouth to Red Lake River, now in Minnesota ; and the
like extent on either side of the Assiniboine, from its
junction at Fort Garry to Muskrat River, were given up
to the settlers. This land is now marked on the map
and known as the "Old Settlers' Belt." In Indian par-
lance, this belt was described as the distance, on either side
the rivers, that might be seen under a horse's belly.
The Indians always asserted, when any question arose
as to the terms of this transaction, that they, or their
fathers, only agreed to give Lord Selkirk a lease for
twenty-two years. The treaties made with them, since
the creation of Manitoba, have put an end to such discus-
THE SELKIRK CAUSES CELEBRES.
Detailed accounts of the proceedings in these then ex-
THE SELKIRK CAUSES CELEBRES. 199
citing and celebrated, but now almost forgotten, but yet
important trials, are given in two rare books published in
Montreal, in 1819.
The indictments were under authority of an Act
passed in the forty-third year of George the Third,
whereby cognizance of offences committed within the
Indian territories, or parts of America not within the
limits of Upper or Lower Canada, or of any civil govern-
ment of the United States of America, was given to Lower
Canada ; but the Governor of that Province was autho-
rised, when convenience and justice so required, to trans-
mit any persons charged with such offence to Upper Can-
ada, for trial there. The Court was presided over by
Chief Justice Powell, and Judges Campbell and Boulton.
The Crown counsel were Attorney-General (afterwards
Chief Justice), Sir John Beverley Robinson, and Solicitor-
General H. J. Boulton.
Messrs. Samuel Sherwood, L. P. Sherwood, and W. W.
Baldwin, father of the Hon. Robert Baldwin, were counsel
for the prisoners. As related in the evidence of the case
against Paul Brown and Francois F. Boucher, the story is*
a sad and cruel one. Governor Semple, learning of the
approach of the half-breeds, and that they had arrested
three of his men, hastily left Fort Douglas with about
thirty in his party, to go towards the settlement at Kil-
donan. They were soon met on Frog Plains by the half-
breeds on horseback, instigated by the North West Com-
pany. Angry words passed between Semple and Francois
F. Boucher. Semple ordered his followers to arrest
200 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE.
Boucher, who slid off his horse and ran away. The men
on either side were variously armed with guns, tomahawks,
bows, arrows and spears.
Two shots were fired, by which Mr. Semple and Mr.
Holte, his lieutenant, who was by him, fell. The first shots
might have been accidental, but their report and the sight
of blood raised a savage desire for ruthless extirpation.
Immediately a volley was poured in, by which nearly all
the Selkirk party were killed or wounded, as they had
gathered round the Governor and Mr. Holte. Michael
fleden one of the company, and the most important witness
for the Crown, in his evidence says : "I was very much
frightened when I saw Mr. Holte and Governor Semple
fall. A short time after, I saw the wounded men crying
for mercy, but the half-breeds rode up to them and killed
them. Their bodies were, by friendly Indians, brought into
Fort Douglas next day fearfully mutilated. The attack-
ing party was under Cuthbert Grant, a Scotch half-breed,
and a chief clerk of the North-West Company."
John Pritchard, one of Semple's followers, tells how he
saw Lieutenant Holte fall ; also, Sinclair, Bruce, and Mc-
Lean. Captain Rogers ran towards the attacking party,
calling out that he surrendered and praying them to spare
his life. Thomas McKay, a half-breed, shot him through
the head, and another Bois-brul^, ripped him open with a
knife. The half-breeds were painted in a hideous manner,
and as they attacked gave the war whoop, like Indians.
Pritchard was insulted and threatened, but his life was
spared at his earnest entreaty. Cuthbert Grant told him
SUKRENDER OF FORT DOUGLAS. 201
that his party had intended to surround Fort Douglas
and shoot all who ventured out. A peremptory surrender
was insisted on, and Pritchard carried this message as
Grant's ultimatum to the fort. Mr. McDonnell was, after
Semple fell, in command, and seeing resistance futile, this
was agreed to. An inventory was taken of the property,
which was signed by Grant, to whom the fort was aban-
doned, on the twenty-second ; the Hudson Bay people
proceeding down the river to a Hudson Bay fort on Lake
Winnipeg.
Cuthbert Grant was one of the four chiefs of the half-
breeds, the others being Bostonnais Pangman, Wm. Shaw
and Bonhomme Montour.
In 1816, there was no house but Fort Douglas at Red
River ; the others were burned down by the Nor- West
Company's half-breeds, and the settlers, employed in the
day time on their lands, used to come up to the fort by
the river's bank to sleep.
The evidence of the witness Heden, who was a black-
smith, was impeached, especially as to his statement that
the Bois-brul^s fired first, and it was alleged that he had
said : " We cannot blame the half-breeds, for our side
fired first, and if we had gained the day we should have
done the same, or as bad, to them." Chief Justice Powell
charged the jury, who, after some deliberation, gave a ver-
dict of not guilty.
Similar verdicts were given in the other cases, among
which we may only mention that against John Cooper
and Hugh Ban nerman, charged with stealing c<> >/<>> from
202 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE.
the dwelling house of Earl Selkirk, on the third of April,
1815.
Much latitude seems to have been given in the admis-
sion of evidence at the trials. It showed clearly an ex-
asperated state of feeling that the people went about
armed, and that hostile rivalry between the two com-
panies existed. Earl Selkirk did.not appear at the trials
at York. He seems to have felt, and probably with reason,
that public feeling in Canada in favour of the Nor'-West
Company, would be too strong for him and his cause
An interesting discussion as to the boundary of Upper
Canada, now Ontario, is reported. These proceedings,
and those in the trial at Quebec, soon to be referred to
afforded ground for the argument advanced by some,
that the whole of the present Province of Manitoba, and
much more to the west, and between it and Hudson's
Bay, might of right have been claimed as part of the
great Province of Ontario. This and other interesting
matters will soon be submitted to the arbitration agreed
on between that Province and the Dominion.
TRIALS AT QUEBEC.
Two other trials, arising out of the same troubles, took
place before Chief Justice Sewell and Judges Perrault
and Bowen, at Quebec, in May and June, 1818. Charles
de Reinhard, formerly a sergeant in the De Meuron
regiment, who had entered the service of the North West
Company, having, with Mainville, a half-breed, arrested
MURDEtt OF OWEN KEVENY. 203
Owen Keveny, an intelligent retainer of the other Com-
pany, murdered him in a dastardly manner in the dalles
of the Winnipeg river, near Rat Portage. Enquiry was
made for Keveny, when the murderer answered that he
would not return again, that he was well hid " il ne re-
viendra plus, il est bien cache" De Reinhard was found
guilty, and sentenced to death in the old fashioned man-
ner, including the direction that his body be anatomised
a thoughtful provision for the medical profession.
Exception was taken to the ruling of the Court on the
trial, that the dalles of the Winnipeg were not in Indian
territory, but within the limits of Upper Canada, and so
not under the cognizance of the Court.
The judges delayed the execution of the sentence un-
til the opinion of the Imperial authorities could be ob-
tained. They seem to have disagreed with the Quebec
Court. The result was that De Reinhard was released
from custody. The facts and the stigma still remain.
The only excuse he could allege was, that he acted
under orders from his superiors, and that was, in those
rude times, too often considered sufficient to justify any
acts by the faithful servants of the Company, however
unlawful or cruel.
The other case was that of Archibald McLellan, a
partner in the North- West Company, who was charged
as an accessory to the murder of Keveny. He was ac-
quitted by the jury. Cuthbert Grant and Joseph Cadotte
seem not to have been brought to trial. Owing to the
destruction of the Canadian Parliamentary documents by
204 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE.
fire in Montreal, and to the like loss of the Quebec Court
records, it has been a matter of difficulty to trace the post
verdict proceedings accurately. Through the kind offices
of Colonel Gugy, of Quebec, a search in the records kept
in the gaol of that city has been made, and the following
entries found there, viz. : " Charles de Reinhard, Archi-
bald McLellan, Cuthbert Grant, Joseph Cadotte, com-
mitted on the 19th March, 1818. By virtue of a writ of
habeas corpus, removed from the common gaol of the
City and District of Montreal therein detained under a
charge by a bill of indictment found against them for
having unlawfully and maliciously, and of their malice
aforethought, killed and murdered Owen Keveny, in the
Indian territory." All but De Reinhard were bailed on
the 4th of April, 1818, by order of the Court of King's
Bench. As this record shows, which continues thus :
De Reinhard was, " by the Court of Oyer and Terrniner,
sentenced to be hanged on Monday, the first of June.
Respited till 26 June ; second respite 2nd October ; third
respite ,first Friday in March next. On the 10th October,
1821, pardoned by His Royal Highness." This was ri
the second year of the reign of George the Fourth.
These trials were long and ably conducted. Attorney-
General Uniacke and Solicitor-General Marshall appeared
for the Crown in both cases. Messrs. George Vanfelson,
Andrew Stuart, and Valliere de St. Real were counsel for
the prisoners. The most remarkable feature brought out
in the evidence is, that the so-called savages were less
bloody than the Metis, or as they are more generally
DE REINHARD'S TRIAL ; PIERRE FALCON'S SONG. 205
called the Bois-brtiles, and white employes of the con-
tending companies. A band of Ojibways, in 1815, aided
and guarded the poor Selkirk settlers to the fort on Lake
Winnipeg and hindered their utter destruction at Red
River, when that seemed inevitably decreed by the bar-
barous half-breeds in the interest of the North West Com-
pany. Keveny was found by his intending murderers
living and trading happily among the Indians. He was
made prisoner and carried away beyond their observation,
and then murdered with Mainville's gun and De Rein-
hard's sword. " Make the prisoner believe that he is
going to Lac la Pluie ; we cannot kill him here among
the Indians," said one conspirator to the other. When
they had got to where the river makes an elbow, an ex-
cuse was made for the party to go on land. Then De
Reinhard said to Mainville, " We are far enough from the
Indians ; you may fire when he comes near enough to
embark." The murder was then committed and the body
hidden in the woods. After the onslaught, in which
Governor Semple fell, the colony was dispersed ; but, on
the arrival of the old soldiers some of whom preceded
and some went in with his lordship it gathered again.
The Earl died in France in 1820. A union of the two
companies was brought about the next year through the
agency of Sir Edward Ellice and Lord Bathurst. The dis-
turbing element being removed, peace was restored.
We are indebted to Professor Bryce, of Manitoba Col-
lege, for the following translation or paraphrase of a curi-
ous fragment of Bois-brute literature celebrating the
206 THE PEAIRIE PROVINCE.
Battle of Frog Plains. It was the extempore production
of Pierre Falcon, an almost entirely illiterate half-breed,
composed, it is said, and sung as he rode away after the
battle. This old bard was living in the Province till
within a recent period, had a small official position under
the Hudson's Bay Company, and is said to have been re-
spected by his people. Our readers may find the original
French words and an interesting article on the settlement
in the Canadian Monthly Magazine for 1874, p. 279 :
SONG WRITTEN BY PIERRE FALCON.
" Come listen to this song of truth !
A song of the brave Bois-brule's,
Who at Frog Plain took three captives,
Strangers come to rob our country.
" When dismounting, there to rest us,
A cry is raised the English !
They are coming to attack us,
So we hasten forth to meet them.
" I looked upon their army,
They are motionless and downcast ;
So, as honour would incline us,
We desire with them to parley.
u But their leader, moved with anger,
Gives the word to fire upon us ;
And imperiously repeats it,
Rushing on to his destruction.
" Having seen us pass his stronghold,
He had thought to strike with terror
The Bois-brule's : ah ! mistaken,
Many of his soldiers perish.
UNION OF THE COMPANIES. 207
" But a few escaped the slaughter,
Rushing from the field of battle,
Oh, to see the English fleeing !
Oh, the shouts of their pursuers !
" Who has sung this song of triumph ?
The good Pierre Falcon has composed it,
That the praise of these Bois-brules
Might be evermore recorded."
The North West Company was not incorporated, nor
had they any charter save the agreement of the partners.
They claimed no territorial rights, but those of landlords
of the sites actually occupied. They had no courts, nor
did their officers claim judicial powers beyond those of
justices of the peace, which some of them held by ap-
pointment of the Canadian Executive. The Hudson's Bay
Company cannot be considered to have acquired, when
this North West Company joined it, any further exten-
sion of territorial authority than the latter Company en-
joyed, which was subservient to Canada.
The Hudson's Bay Company's operations were long con-
fined to the regions north of the Manitoba lakes. They
did not enter the Saskatchewan valley till shortly before
1780, nor the Red River valley before 1805, and yet,
when Canada came to treat for the occupation and settle-
ment of the great Fertile Belt, she was asked to consider
that the claims of the Company thereto were valid, as if it
had been all occupied by them since 1670, and the price
demanded was in the like proportion, and finally agreed to,
as we shall now briefly explain. We refer to this as
208 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE.
a matter of historical interest. The contract has been
made, some details only have yet to be completed. Among
these is the laying off reserves round many important
posts ; a matter which the public should regard with in-
terested vigilance.
This union of contending parties was a fortunate thing
for all concerned. The united Company was so enabled
to put more restraint on their own employees, and, by
example and police, preserve better order among the In-
dians and half-breeds. Causes of dispute still sometimes
arose.
In 1846, Colonel J. F. Crofton was sent from England
to Red River, with eighteen officers and three hundred
and twenty-nine men, under secret instructions, and re-
mained more than a year. They were intended to ward
against threatened Indian troubles and to deter filibus-
tering expeditions from Canada and the States. This
little army went by Fort York, and thence by boats up
Lake Winnipeg and Red River.
The evidence of Colonel Crofton, as given before a
Committee of the Imperial House of Commons, on 19th
May, 1857, is valuable, being that of a disinterested wit-
ness. Still living in mature old age but totally blind,
and now of the rank of Lieut-Gen, in the British army.
We refer to it shortly. He says : " Since the junction
of the two Companies, the issue of spirits in barter for
fur gradually ceased, and I think about ten }^ears before
I arrived in the colony, it had altogether ceased ; and
from that time the Indian race were increasing, as shown
EVIDENCE OF COLONEL CROFTON AND ADMIRAL BACK. 209
by the census : before that they had been decreasing. I
am sure that justice was practically administered there
was no crime. T attribute this to the absence of spirits.
" I think," he adds, " the Hudson's Bay Company's offi-
cers have an experience of natives half-breeds and In-
dians that no other body can have, and I think they
managed them exceedingly well." The Com}. any 's gov-
ernment of Red River he characterized as patriarchal in
every sense.
A question (No. 3334) asked this witness was : " What
do you suppose would be the result of having any loose
form of government among the Indians ? "
He answered : " I think they would kill one another.
The Americans would soon use them up if they were
there."
Rear Admiral Sir George Back, who accompanied Sir
John Franklin and Sir John Ross in some of their expe-
ditions, and spent much time at Hudson's Bay Company's
posts, says before the same committee: "The Indians
seemed always to feel that they could fall back upon the
clemency and the benevolence of the white man, at any
extremity. The feeling of the Indians towards the officers
of the Company was very good. I never knew an instance
to the contrary."
Colonel Crofton also expressed a high opinion as to the
fertility of the country. The climate he thought not
more severe than that of Upper Canada. " The season
opens about the first week in April and closes about the
middle of November."... "The finest weather is what is
210 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE.
called the Fall, which extends from August to the middle
of November."
To question 3201, " Had you an opportunity of seeing
any agriculture while you were there ? " he answered :
"A great deal. They grew oats, barley, and wheat chief-
ly, but all sorts of vegetables. The wheat ripened in
ninety days from sowing. It ripened very perfectly. It
was the finest I ever saw."
He goes on to speak of the extent of the fertile region
as being the prairie land from Red River to the base of
the Rocky Mountains. " It is," he says, "fit for agricul-
ture. It might maintain millions."
It is unnecessary to cite the evidence of the author of
" The Great Lone Land " and other travellers further to
prove the friendly feeling that has ever existed in the
natives towards the officers of the Company, and which
will doubtless remain. As long as the region is under
the sway of Canada just and liberal treatment will surely
be enforced and have its reward.
The control of the Company's affairs was vested by the
charter in a Governor, Deputy-Governor and five Direc-
tors, annually elected in London by the stockholders.
Their powers in Rupert's Land were exercised by a Gover-
nor, the same person often holding office for many years.
Sir George Simpson was the first appointed after the
union in 1821, and held office till his death, in 1860. Mr.
Alexander Grant Dallas succeeded him, and was followed
by Mr. Wm. McTavish, in 1864. Mr. Donald A. Smith,
M.P. for Selkirk, is now Governor of the Company.
GOVERNORS, JUDGES, AND PEOPLE OF ASSINIBOIA. 211
Till 1839 the Governor was Judge also. A Recorder
was then appointed, Mr. Abram Thorn, who presided
till 1854, with some intermission, during which Colonel
Caldwell, in charge of some troops at the settlement,
acted with much ability. Mr. Frank Godshall Johnson,
a Montreal lawyer, was next Governor of Assiniboia and
Recorder ; then Dr. Bunn, who was equally skilled in
law and physic. Judge John Black was appointed in
1862 and held office till the creation of the Province of
Manitoba, when the appointment of its Judges came
under the control of the Dominion Government, as stated
in another chapter.
The population of the colony in 1816 is stated at 200,
in 1823 at 600, in 1843 at 5,143, in 1858 at 8,000, and
in the next ten years about 4,000 were added. Various
families have, at different times, moved from the original
site to Portage La Prairie and elsewhere in the Province.
Till its entering the Canadian Confederation, the settle-
ment, including fifty miles in depth east and west of the
river, was ruled by the Council of Assiniboia with the
Governor of the Company, and the Recorder, at its head,
and formed in every respect a Crown Colony. As Mr.
Daw son argues in the speech referred to, the Hudson's Bay
Company established this colony in conformity with the
conditions of their charter. The Imperial Government
maintained troops there as it had done in Canada : it cor-
responded with the Governors of that colony, both directly
and through the Hudson's Bay Company, and in every
way recognised it as a colony.
212 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE.
After the union of the two companies the people of this
settlement were long the only whites in the country, save
the servants of the Company and the occasional mission-
ary or adventurer. Their young people united in mar-
riage with the natives, daughters of Cree, Chippewa and
other chiefs ; and we find among the well-to-do half-
breeds the names of the old Scotch Highlanders. Native
instinct has led the children to till the farm, while the
French Metis prefers the chase. The strong fibre of the
Scottish mind has not generally given way but has often
raised the Indian to its own level, and many traits of
character will be found in the Bois-brule's of the North-
West which seem to have been derived from the half- wild
and sometimes cruel followers of the heroes of Waverley.
Owing to the exceeding richness of the soil carelessness
in farming has resulted. The same land is for many years
in succession cropped with wheat. Manure used to be
got rid of by burning or by drawing it to the ice that it
might float away.
The amount of imports to the Red River settlement for
a number of years before Confederation was $100,000 per
annum ; but it is estimated that as much more, entering
from Hudson's Bay, was distributed along the interior.
On the other hand, the annual average ex port of furs from
the various possessions of the Company was at this period
about $1,800,000, or nearly six times the value of imports
to all their posts which amounted to about $300,000. The
amount of cultivated land in Rupert's Land in 1866 was
but 20,000 acres, as Mr. Dodds estimated in his address
ASSINIBOTA AND THE H. B. COMPANY. 213
soon to be referred to. The Company professed to sell land
to half-breeds and other settlers at 7s. 6d. an acre, but the
consideration was seldom paid, and the possession of those
who did not interfere with the fur trade was not often
questioned. Windmills were used to grind the grain, and
there were then eighteen of these mills in the settlement.
Mutual advantage brought about the union of the rival
companies, the united Company so continuing till 1869,
when its imperial sway passed by hard bargain to the
Dominion, the company retaining its forts, trading posts,
and valuable reserves round them, as also a certain amount
of land in each township. It cannot be doubted that the
North- West Company was of much benefit to Canada. Its
catch of peltries was yearly carried to Montreal, which was
one of the great fur marts of the world. The older corpora-
tion having swallowed up its rival, peltries that formerly
found their market in the Canadian metropolis, were sent
by way of Hudson's Bay to England. Every avenue of com-
munication with Canada was closed, and reports, often en-
tirely false arid unfavourable to the country and its trade,
were spread in order to secure a continuance of the rich
profits enjoyed from the monopoly. This monopoly was
rigidly enforced by the officers of the Company, who even
assumed the right to fine and imprison the free trader who
ventured to offer a skin for sale to any but themselves.
Persons still living, among them Mr. A. G. B. Bannatyne,
M.P. for Provencher, were so imprisoned for trading un-
licensed. The goods trade was an important pendant of
the fur trade, as rigidly guarded as a monopoly. As to
N
214 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE.
the profit and nature of this trade, we have the words of
Mr. James Dodds, in an address to the shareholders of
the Company, at the London Tavern, in March, 1866 :
" Our goods trade was entirely barter, an enormous truck
system, and formerly, from the ignorance of the Indians,
we disposed of our goods at twenty times their real value.
Now that this charm of our exclusive right has been dis-
pelled, traders come up from the States and traverse the
country, and a number of pushing and successful mer-
chants have established themselves on the Red River."
That " The Adventurers " and the Indians were very
good friends, and that the latter were very serviceable and
well managed, cannot be dou bted after reading the above.
The stock of the Company is reported to be ten millions
of dollars. They employ as much in the fur trade. Sir
Edward Ellice stated in 1857 that the annual profits were
twelve per cent. Such profits were made, though the Com-
pany's affairs were conducted in an expensive manner.
Much capital was sunk in the erection of the great forts, with
walls and towers, several of which we have described or
mentioned, and in keeping up costly establishments. Many
of theseare now far away from the wilder regions in which
game is found. An inexpensive trading house here and
there will, now at least, answer all the requirements of the
trade. Within the last score of years the merchants of Mani-
toba have been successful in securing a part of this rich
traffic, but with limited capital and the fear of the Company
constantly before them, their efforts were hampered till
territorial jurisdiction was taken from the Company, and
THE FUK TRADE. 215
the present system of legal institutions and mounted police
introduced. The factors' license is now no longer requi-
site ; all fur traders are on an equality. Capital is being
largely embarked in this enterprise, both by traders indi-
vidually and by an incorporation which revives in its
name and head-quarters the Company that succumbed in
1821. Prices of furs have ranged continually with an
upward tendency, while the demand is increasing. Buffalo
robes which ten years ago sold for five or six dollars
now sell for nearly double these figures, and there is a
similar rise in the value of other furs. Access to the fur-
trading regions is yearly becoming more easy and less
expensive. Old voyageurs spent many months in gaining
points now reached in a few days, and goods and supplies
are transported from Montreal or Toronto to Winnipeg
for one-tenth the sum that their carriage by rivers, lakes,
and portages cost a few years since. The saving in time
is proportionately great. Canadians may, therefore, well
congratulate themselves on the gain that has thus arisen
to them since Confederation or, shall we rather say, the
annual loss thus averted ? in the recovery of at least a
large proportion of this valuable trade.
It would be a mistake to imagine that the spirit guid-
ing the Company's affairs is changed. Though excluded
from their self-asserted monopoly of the staple article of
commerce, they hold their lands in the exclusive spirit of
persons whose interest it is to drain the country's re-
sources, and not of those having a desire to develop its
agricultural and other permanent interests. As immigra-
216 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE.
tion advances and centres are formed, irritation and
trouble will arise. Under article five in the deed of sur-
render, the Company is entitled to one-twentieth of all
land in the great Fertile Belt as it is surveyed and set
out into townships. In carrying out this agreement, the
Company have assigned to them, in every fifth township
as surveyed, two sections, or 1,280 acres, and, in every
other township 560 acres ; and this applies to all lands,
whether arable or mineral. All this is in addition to the
sum of 300,000 stg. paid, and to the land in and around
every fort or trading post occupied.
What the Company pretend to have lost, as to the fur
trade monopoly, they have more than gained by their
treat} r and statutory title to these lands which will be
made yearly more and more valuable by the labour of
immigrants, and the expenditure for public works, and
opening of the country at the expense of the Dominion
and Provincial exchequers.
We have referred to the thousand lots, the finest pro-
perty in Winnipeg, now held by this Corporation at such
prices as force settlers to purchase further from the rivers
rather than pay their figures. ]t seems quite mysterious
how thev obtained so large a block here, even under the
terms of the statutory agreement. Some of these lots are
claimed by old residents, by reason of prior occupation,
and they will not tamely submit to be ejected. At Fort
William we were pointed to a tract of beautiful land, on
the banks of the Kaministiquia, which the astute factor
claims for the Company, and which will be rendered very
THE COLOSSUS OF THE NORTH-WEST. 217
valuable by the completion o(' the Thunder Bay Branch
of the Canada Pacific Railroad. So doubtless, it will be
at Fort Frances, and in each Province, Territory and
District where this Corporation has the smallest post.
When the immigrant gets to the forks of the Saskatche-
wan and to the banks of the Peace River, if he find a
coal mine or open an oil well, " The Adventurers' " agent
will be there soon after, with a claim to the choicest
locations. Well may the Manitoban exclaim :
" He doth bestride the narrow world
Like a Colossus : and we petty men
Walk under his huge legs, and peep about,
To find ourselves dishonourable graves I "
Other trading corporations are t generally limited as to
the time during which, and the amount of land, they may
hold in mortmain. This Company is untrammelled.
Another hard bargain will probably be forced on the Do-
minion and Manitoba, to place matters on an equitable
footing. When such is made, let us hope it will be less
one-sided than was the last.
TABLE OF FUR TRADE SALES.
The following is a comparative statement of furs sold
in London by the Hudson's Bay Company and Messrs. C.
M. Lampson & Co., their agents, compiled by Mr. Wil-
liam Macnaughtan, fur commission merchant, New York,
and will be worth considering :
218
THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE.
1872.
1873.
1874.
1875.
Beaver
204,673
165,536
173,855
185,200
Muskrat
2,828,299
2,350,643
2,253,024
1,835,593
Bear
11,645
10,683
9,710
12,102
Otter
16,086
15,817
15,460
20,107
Fisher
9,176
5,835
5,434
7,210
Marten
84,056
85,104
94,143
166,512
Mink
111,742
85,826
98,852
109,647
Silver Fox
1,147
1,275
1,237
1515
Cross Fox
5,097
4,550
4,183
4,652
Red Fox
54,818
50,162
62,303
83,091
KittFox
13,200
8,250
7,845
15,190
Grey Fox
19,733
22,407
19,388
25,934
Lynx
13,658
6,671
9,054
14,833
WildCat
4,682
9,208
6,149
10,316
House Cat
5,415
6,442
8,183
11,547
Raccoon
325,948
384,923
390,854
464,673
Wolf
3,475
7,981
15,729
6,075
Badger
3,256
5,076
4,94i
5,552
Opossum
106,451
167,201
133,440
166,337
Skunk
137,647
188,603
175,873
298,800
Much of the Company's trade now passes through
Winnipeg. The steamers " Northcote" and " Colville" on the
Saskatchewan and Lake Winnipeg, belong to the Com-
pany; One other matter of importance may be well here
referred to in connection with the fur trade, viz : the
market for grain and the necessaries of life so created,
in the interior. For many years the demand will be
generally equal to the supply, as it often now far exceeds
it, causing a large importation through Winnipeg and
more westerly points. The settler, miller and clothier,
need not wait for the steamer orrailcar, but may exchange
their productions for the lighter furs that will be more
AMEKICAN FUR TRADERS. 219
easy of transport, and increase in value, as they move
each mile eastward.
ST. PAUL AND ST. LOUIS GET A SLICE.
For years before Confederation, long cavalcades of
half-breed ox and pony carts with furs for barter came
annually by the Mississipi Valley to St. Paul. Hunters
from the settlement, too, roamed without restraint, over
the United States territory, and generally brought their
peltries to Hudson's Bay stores. In 1844, Mr. Norman W.
Kittson, of St. Paul, established a trading post at Pembina.
The Company strove in vain to break up his establish-
ment, and went so far as to arrest Mr. Kittson for in-
fringement of their chartered privileges, but did not press
the charge.
The trade, thus tapped, soon grew into importance. In
1850, $15,000 worth of furs were sold. Five years latei
they reached $40,000, at an expenditure of $24,000. The
fur trade of St. Paul with British territory, before the
time of Confederation, much exceeded $100,000 a year.
On the establishment of steam navigation on Red
River, by the fortunate company of which Mr. Kittson is
still a director, the Pembina post was given up, and Mr.
Kittson's name, as far as the fur business was concerned,
disappeared in that of a St. Louis firm, Pirre Choteaux.
& Co., who now do a large business in furs gathered
from both sides of the boundary.
CHAPTER XIII
ACROSS THE PRAIRIE GARRY TO FARGO BOATMAN DO NOT TARRY!
ST.NORBERT DELORME'S MUSIC RAY OF SUNSHINE DRIVERS
INDIANS BLACKBIRDS WILDACRE WRIGHT'S A BEAUTIFUL
ANIMAL THE SENATOR SNORES ORION SUNRISE ABOVE THE
MARAIS PEMB1NA " OLD MIDNIGHT'S "THE " GUTTESLAND "
THE MENNON BOLD " OLD JAKE " CARRIE OTHER COMPANIONS
TROUBLES BY THE WAY SENATORIAL WISDOM FARGO.
ALONG BED RIVER SOUTHERLY.
OUR trip down the Red River has been told, and we have
made the reader acquainted, to some extent, with the
Dawson Route. It remains to tell of the stage road from
the Prairie capital to the American Northern Pacific.
This is the only means of access from the south-east dur-
ing the cold season, and will, till railway communication
be completed, be of manifest importance.
The office of Carpenter & Blakely 's St. Paul Stage Com-
pany is near the old post office, and here, for $15 in sum-
mer, while the river opposition lasts, and for $24 in win-
ter, may be obtained the necessary ticket. This company
carries the mail for the United States and Canada, for
which service it receives something over $25,000 a year.
The same company have made proposals to run stages
from Winnipeg along the Assiniboine, to Fort Pelly or
CROSSING THE ASSINIBOTNE ; ST. NORBERT. 221
even Carl ton. The careful traveller will not fail to fill a
handbasket with provisions for the way.
At early dawn, towards the end of August, we are
called, and soon find the two-horse waggon filled with
men travellers. There is trouble in the stables, horses
are sick, and we are to take the first fifteen miles thus,
and then to get a four-horse stage the rest of the way.
Off we go in the cool morning, a light rain falling,
and the wonderful black loam sticking in lumps to
the wheels and horses' hoofs. Our way is past the spot
where Scott was shot, under the towers of the old
Fort, and we haul up on the bank of the Assiniboine.
No bridge or means of crossing is apparent, but the driver
has an idea, and, like Chieftain to the Highlands bound,
cries, " Boatman, do not tarry ! " But long he calls, till
from the opposite bank a hundred yards across moves
towards us an open scow. How propelled, and why it
should come across at all, is a mystery. Down we slide
over the mud and are on board. A little man with red-
dish hair seems at once ferryman and co-traveller. His
carpet bag he throws in with ours and announces that he
has done with the ferry, and is off to the land of freedom.
He shows us the modus operandi of the craft. A cable
runs across from bank to bank ; attached to this by a
pulley from bow and another from stern, the scow lies in
the current, which is the propelling power ; the pulley
rope is hauled in on the end of the boat which is desired
to go forward, the rope on the other end being loosened,
so the scow swings off at an angle of about thirty degrees
222 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE.
and the current slowly pushes it over. To return, the op-
posite tactics are adopted. At St. Boniface, over the Red
River, there was, till within a few months, a similar
mode of ferryage ; now a heavy wire takes the place of the
rope and a hidden wheel under the vessel is moved by
steam. These contrivances may do for a time, good folk
of Garry, but are by no means satisfactory. Should the
rope of the one give way, who would pull the stage and
horses out of the mud into which they would soon be
capsized ? Should the wire cable give way, its weight
would render unmanageable and perhaps sink the St.
Boniface ferry. Bridges are much needed over both
rivers. The Dominion Government has offered $25,000
towards defraying the expenses of a bridge to connect the
city with the Pembina Railway station at St. Boniface, so
before many months, a safe crossing will, doubtless, be pro-
vided the city contributing such further outlay as may
be needed.
Up the bank again, and we are in the prairie on the
west side of the Red River. The chickens don't like the
misty weather, and we start but one covey before reach-
ing the hamlet of St. Norbert, where a diminutive mail
bag is left. Near this lived relations of Riel, now spend-
ing his years of banishment in New England. Roads
heavy and horses fagged, but we reach the end of the first
fifteen miles' stage in time for breakfast at
DELORMES.
Good Pierre Delorme, come forth, and bon jour to
A BUFFALO-HUNTER TURNED GRAZIER. 223
you a tall French half-breed, with curly hair turning
silvery, moustachoed but beard shaven. In early life a
buffalo hunter and trader, you left, as September came
on, this pretty place by the river's bank, for the far off
plains, taking tents and guns, wife and family, and return-
ing in the spring with pony and ox-carts laden with skins
and pemmican. A tall man and large hearted surrounded
by children, from the full-grown blushing damsels with
plaited hair, who prepare our breakfast, to the little tod-
dler that peeps from behind a door, but becomes more
docile ere we leave. Count them, and then you will see
to how large a tract this good family will be entitled un-
der the " Manitoba Act," since he and every pair of bright
eyes among the household will get scrip for a quarter sec-
tion of as good rich meadow land as the world affords.
Talk with Pierre, as he comes to the door and points to
his herd of many cows, log barns and great stacks of hay.
He looks across the river to cottages among the bushes,
and these are his. His hay farm contains already fifteen
hundred acres. He has a grade bull from the States, and
has given up buffaloes to raise fat cattle for the Garry
market, where they fetch good figures. He has half a
dozen sheep that seemed rather lean, and were the only
live mutton we saw on the road ; the long prairie, and
sharp-pointed rye grass and low ground is not well
adapted to them, but they do well in other parts of the
Province and produce great fleeces. As to the fruit, he
has plenty of small fruit; he had also planted some
apple trees in a place sheltered with poplars, but the frost
224 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE.
cut them down ; they are springing up, and he hopes to
succeed with them or with some hardier variety in time.
Good potatoes and onions were in the garden.
Delorme is of plain habits, does not smoke, and shakes
his head when we talk of Scott. " All right but for that,"
he says. He perhaps thinks of what we elsewhere heard.
His brother, who dwelt in the Pembina region, had also
been a trader, but offended an implacable red man, and
was left by him stark dead but a year ago. Mr. Delorme
was a member of the first Dominion Parliament, but gave
up politics for which he had no taste. In fact, the good
Bois-brule' felt quite bewildered in Ottawa, soon resigned
his seat, and went back to his home on la chere Riviere
Rouge. He is, however, still one of his Honour's advi-
sers, being a member of the North-west Council, as stated
in a previous chapter. His house is a model of the better
class of the Metis, so we will glance at it :
A story-and-a-half high, of logs, but clap-boarded with-
out, having a large sitting-room, off which are half a dozen
doors opening into dining-room, little parlour and bed-
rooms. A table, chest of drawers, sewing machine, and
half a dozen chairs with seats of wood or shagynappi, and
box stove, are in the reception-room, into which the outer
door opens direct. No carpets are seen a city luxury.
Neatly served, plain and substantial was our morning
meal, and then we roamed about, scaring the golden
plover, blackbirds and snipe, for the stage had not yet
arrived from above. The mercantile men lay down for a
snooze. A pony is brought to the door, and we find it
A BED RIVER FARM HOUSE. 225
saddled with a pretty home-made affair of skin richly
wrought with beads. The senator sat or walked about,
and smiled as he pondered on the coming greatness of the
Dominion.
One, more prying, opens the parlour door, and finds
to his astonishment an excellent cottage piano of London
make. Such an instrument must have some one to use
it. The pretty girl with plaited hair has milked her
cows and washed the dishes. Coy and shy, with little
understanding of our rude tongue, yet soon she came, did
honour to the teaching of the good nuns of St. Boniface,
her instructors, gave us with fine expression a " Wedding
March," and was at the last notes of a " Kay of Sunshine"
as the stage drew up, and we shook hands with many
thanks and adieux to the fair musician and the whole
family now laughing around us.
The stage that has just passed down took two days and
five hours from Fargo, but was heavily loaded.
We left Delorme's at 10.30, and had a heavy four-
horse stage with canvas cover, seating nine persons, and
with room beside driver for two more. Twelve miles in
this run but there was little run in the poor horses.
They had lived on grass only for three weeks ; oats had
been sent from St. Paul, but the low water in the river
had impeded the work of the " Kittson Line," and no
grain could be got. Such oats as the new country had
started, had fattened the " hoppers." Sadly hung the poor
steeds' heads and angry waxed the drivers. He who first
took the lines was a young fellow, and was by no means
226 THE PKAmiE PROVINCE.
cultivated in profanity. His oaths were many and vile
attacking the parentage of the patient animals, their
heads, their tails, their hoofs, the fleecy clouds that hung
over them, and the black wash through which they trod
all terribly strung together. The second driver hold-
ing the four lines, had a particular antipathy to the off
wheeler. He breathed profanity and spat out horrid
curses from between the coarse red bristles that lined his
jaws. Can he, Saxon though you call him, be of better
mettle than this band of dark aborigines whom we have
just passed ? They have taken down the poor smoked
buffalo hide that formed their tent ; a squaw carries it and
other articles in a bundle on her stooping back. Other
squaws have similar loads, and strange to say, an old man
with wrinkled face also bears his bundle ; but then he is
not a chief or brave. Beside them trots a large black
dog, having strapped on his back a buffalo robe, and seem-
ing proud of the business.
Still we move along the telegraph line, and always in
sight of the elms that mark the river. This wire and the
high posts supporting it are valued land-marks to the
plain-driver, who, when untrodden snow covers the
ground and fills the air, can, by driving from post to post,
still keep his course. To lose the way then on the prairie
might prove no matter for jest.
Wild ducks are on the lakelets and streams, paying us
little attention. Many cattle are passed, all feeding one
way, with tails to the wind. Ponies are scattered among
them, the first letter of the owner's name branded on their
THE STAGE AND ITS OCCUPANTS. 227
haunches. But who are the passengers ? First, the
worthy senator, who falls asleep at 11 a.m. ; the ex-ferry-
man, who chews his quid and thinks of home ; a young
Detroit merchant traveller, who dozes off at noon ; another,
who has a pet dog, with which and the driver he dis-
courses on the box, and a chiel who is taking notes, and
inly praying that the next time he comes this way oats
may be as abundant as oaths. Consider the lilies as they
grow, covering the ponds, from which the black heads of
young duck peep, and forming hiding places for the brown
mud hens. These bushy yellow flowers are wild arti-
chokes, and these opening disks sunflowers. That cloud
of blackbirds scurries- away from a hawk, which rests on
a telegraph pole till we pass. Impudent little robbers
are they. The farmers can't find boys enough to scare
them from the fields, so they plough a furrow and sow it
thick with grain steeped in strychnine. The next turn
of the sod covers their bodies. We end the second stage
at 1 p.m.
The sky cleared, and the new team moved on well. The
driver was an old man, and more modestly profane ; used
but two forms a curse and adjuration which he con-
sidered sufficient for the occasion. He has credit for
powers equal to his fellow-drivers on an emergency. The
next Jehu was like him. The fifth, a decent young fel-
low, who swore monotonously, and was sad, quite discon-
solate indeed, about the horses. If they do not get grain
very soon he will quit his seat, with its " $25 a month and
found," and go to shooting prairie chickens, which fetch
228 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE.
twenty cents a piece in Garry or Fargo. We soon came
to Sale or Stinking River, so called from the weed found
in its muddy bed ; pass many good new waggons and ox-
carts of stout polite Mennonites, who bow to us or lift the
hat.
In the next ride we pass, by a long bridge, Scratching
or Briar River, which flows into the Red River. Seven
miles or so from this, on Plum Creek, is Wild-acre, an
Ontario colony, mainly from Napanee, having been pio-
neered by Mr. George Wild, and forming the nucleus of
a prosperous settlement. Early last summer they had a
large area ready for cultivation. The land is very rich
and rolling, with good wood supply on the east side of
Red River. In their vicinity a considerable number of
Mennonites have settled, and along the river front a
number of Ontarians have secured farms. Some twenty
miles west the bulk of last year's immigration of Meii-
nonites have settled, as stated in another chapter. From
this section of country a very large and prosperous trade
must settle towards Winnipeg in a few years.
We go down a large dry ditch, the bed of the Marais
River in wet seasons, by "Little Lake," filled with innu-
merable wild fowl, and at 7 p.m. are 55 miles from Garry,
in the garden and substantial story and a-half log house of
Win. Wright, an old Englishman, who, with his good Cor-
nish wife, has lived here for four years.
Wright purchased a half-breed's claim, with the present
house and barn, for $400, and took up the adjoining
quarter section as a free-grant settler. Corn is in the
AT THE MARAIS. 229
garden in tassel, but turned brown and dead by the late
frost, potatoes growing well but tops nipped. The 'hop-
pers were here three days and destroyed sixteen acres of
grain. They darkened the air and covered the ground
The only wild animals that touch his fowl and pigs are
an occasional fox or prairie wolf. The sunset was very
fine this evening. For hours the mists had been rising
from the distant margin of the prairie in wonderful shapes,
making cities, palaces and castles of snowy whiteness.
Over them was the rich splendour of the sunlight break-
ing through thick clouds of every conceivable form, colour
and shade, and between them and above was the expanse
of deep, deep blue. The stage had not come, so we 'took
tea, fanned off the mosquitoes, talked of 'hoppers, of In-
dians, of half-breeds, of game, and of the " husky " dogs.
A squaw worked silently about the house. But what is
that pretty animal that comes with a driver ? His general
build is that of a colley dog, yet the head, with its ears
and beautiful restless brown eye, was, as was the tail,
that of the fox or wolf. His legs and feet were small and
well made. He was playful yet snappish, and quick to
turn and run when attacked. His colour, a tawny
white. He, with four others, were, when pups, brought
in by an Indian to Norway House, and said to be the
cross offspring of wolf and fox ; we surmised, however, that
an Esquimaux dog, rather than a wolf, had been one of
the parents. Crosses between wolf and dog are not un-
common among the Indians, the Crees especially, and in
the far off Hudson Bay forts, are said to be unequalled in
230 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE.
strength, fierceness and endurance, and are therefore used
in making long sled journeys. Then the travellers tell
us of the storks they have shot on the upper waters of
the river flowing beside us, of the cranes of the Sand
hills, the bitterns of Scripture that may be seen running
and playing with each other near Otter Lake cunning
fellows, that can count up to ten, but if one man out of a
less company leaves the waggon, in hopes of crawling up
his absence from his comrades, is remarked by the watch-
ful birds, and away they go to the head waters of the
Mississippi. So passes the evening till bed time. The
good senator takes a couch, the ex-ferryman retires to the
stage coach, the others get a big mattress and quilts on the
floor ; mosquitoes, the pet dog and cat, the dog that is half
wolf and half fox, and visions of prairie wolves trouble for
a time, but soon comes "nature's sweet restorer." The
senator snores, we follow the timely example, nor wake
till we hear the stage horses' bells in the early morning.
ABOVE THE MARAIS.
The Pleiades were up, watching the silent air ;
The seeds and roots in earth were swelling for summer fare,
KEATS.
Orion was guarding the west. For an hour yet the
skirmishers of old Sol appear in the eastern horizon.
Then he himself leaps out very red and large, rises with
balloon-like vault above the green edging of Red River,
drives through a skirting of white clouds and soars into
the clear blue sky. We pass a camp of Indians, twelve
tents picturesquely grouped, men, women, children and
PEMBINA; MENNONITES. 231
ponies scattered here and there ; also more Mennonites.
We see a four foot post with small staff nailed to it. This
marks the boundary between the Queen and Uncle Sam.
Here is the old Hudson Bay fort a few wooden houses
surrounded by fences. We come to West Lynn, passing
this we are in the town of Pembina, where our baggage is
examined, at 6 '30 a.m., a place of some 500 inhabitants,
that was settled by British, thinking they would be on the
Queen's soil, but in time found that they had been mistaken.
The less said of the poor hotel the better. We pass over
the Pembina River, adashing stream, on foot, the lightened
stage following on the rotten wooden bridge that totters
under it. Then find on the right the United States fort
and barracks of Pembina, the white boarded houses pret-
tily showing among the trees. The mercantiles break
out with the " Star- Spangled Banner" as we pass the
flag. We are now joined in company by Mr. Wm. Gidley,
manager of the northern half of the stage road ; by a lady
and her little girl, whose merry eyes and chattering en-
deared little Carrie to us ; by a smart Ontario boy, who
had been two years in the Province, and was going home
for a visit ; and by two Mennonite gentlemen, intelligent,
plainly dressed, having broadcloth overcoats lined with
dressed sheepskin, the woolly side next the person. They
were on a business trip to St. Paul, but would soon
return.
Eight hundred families, in all about four thousand five
hundred of their country folk, have settled on Manitoba
soil, as stated in Chapter V. Others rested on their way
232 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE.
in Ontario, but will, doubtless, soon join their brethren
here, and if they report favourably, many more will follow
from Russia. Our two companions passed the time in
chat, or with their pipes and a religious book which one
of them had. We asked them how they liked Manitoba.
"O," said they together, brightening up, " a guttes-land,
a sch ones-land." '"A guttes-land ' you say, and I believe
you, old Mennons," said the ex-ferryman, rousing himself,
" and you broad-brims have the best of it ; you get a free
passage from Quebec, and then squat here close to the
river, with one hundred and sixty acres, a free gift to
each of you, and the railroad soon to pass your doors.
Then you have no fighting, no lawyer's bills, and I guess
but little doctor's stuff to swallow or pay for, you'll soon
make this a land of Goshen." " How's that about fight-
ing and doctors," put in the smart boy, while the two
Mennonites looked on, half understanding and much
amused. " Why, these old sober-sides are a sort of Dutch
quakers," replied the ferryman, "but I would not advise you
to tackle any of their boys without taking their measure
well. If they don't strike from the shoulder, they may
squeeze like the bears of Russia, from which they came,
being invited to leave because they won't go soldiering
for the Czar. I'm told they settle their disputes by
friendly arbitration, hate the smell of gunpowder, and as
to physic the very women are stronger than our average
American men. When I was coming down on the old
International, one of the fraus borrowed a mattress, dis-
appeared down the hatchway about noon, but was up
THE MENNON BOLD. 233
again before sunset with a little Mennon in her arms,
whose first squall was heard about Pembina. Ask purser
Smith and he'll tell you all about it."
"They are indeed a remarkable people; have been
harshly treated ; they deserve our sympathy and will make
good settlers," said the Senator.
" Those are the people that should set up for women's
rights. They could enforce their doctrines," said Mer-
cantile No. One. " Yes," said the Senator, " I have no
doubt they will create a new civilization in this home
which they take to so readily. We don't grudge the
ten or twelve dollars a head, and the land and other fa-
vours extended to them, and if report speak true, your
western people rather envy us the acquisition of this stout
fraternity." " As to that," said Mercantile No. Two, " the
investment ain't a bad one if we are to take the Castle
Garden view that each healthy immigrant is directly
worth one hundred dollars or more to the country, and
these emigrants who settled along our Union Pacific road
were found even more solid than that ; nearly every head
of a Mennonite family having brought cash with him to
stock his homestead. The storekeepers look on them as a
god-send their pockets-were full of thalers and kreutzers.
"But pardon me," he continued, "is it not a somewhat
peculiar policy, one that only William Penn or George
Fox, the Quakers, and you Canadians, would have hit
upon, thus to settle non-combatants and give them so
many square miles at the door of the country, round
234 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE.
the land and water highways, which we Yankees may
some day take a fancy for."
Before the Senator had time to clear his throat for a
reply, the smart boy, who could not sit many minutes
quiet, but varied his amusements with the perpetration of
practical jokes, singing snatches of songs, and firing off
his revolver at stray prairie hens and blackbirds, broke
out with a rattling ditty as follows :
THE MENNON BOLD.
A beautiful home has the Mennon bold ;
His harvest he reaps and he sells it for gold ;
From lawyers' bills and from doctors' pills,
He is free as the winds of western hills.
The prairie land is a beautiful land,
The chosen home of the Mennonite band.
He never would fight for Gortschakoff,
And the word of the Czar was " Drill, or be off ! "
O'er Gitche-Gumee, then away came he,
With his frau and his kind, to the land of the free.
The prairie land is a beautiful land,
The chosen home of the Mennonite band.
The Metis may laugh by the River Rat,
At his sheep-skin coat and his broad-brim hat ;
But he drives his steer, and he drinks his beer ;
And a happy home is the home he has here .
The prairie land is a beautiful land,
The chosen home of the Mennonite band.
Three stages after entering " foreign soil " are passed
monotonously ; weather fair, and horses still hay fed only
HORSES ; DRIVERS ; OLD JAKE ; OLD PAT. 235
but in some of this prairie hay are found wild pea
vines, which were eagerly eaten, and gave some spirit to
the stock.
The road manager was on his settling tour, and we had
at several stations to wait for more than an hour while
he was passing accounts with the station-keeper. A good,
hearty, bluff fellow, and specimen of a western boy as
one would care to meet is Gidley. " Monte " men and
cross Indians had better keep shy of his burly arm and
" little shooter," yet we were sorry to see that he, too, had
what must be regarded as the language of the road. This
driver he praised for good management arid glossy skin
of his four steeds ; the next he scolded for careless habits.
The passengers beside him he would amuse with stories ;
but praises, scolds and stories were all filled in, bedecked
and jewelled, so to speak, with varied oaths and curses.
It is said that Nor'-west horses are so used to this that
they will not go well without the proper language of the
road. Drivers of " bull-teams " on the Missouri plains
have credit for being able to swear continuously for fifteen
minutes and not repeat the same expression. The red
man supposes the oft-heard words refer to the oxen. One,
when met on the plains, and asked if he had seen a train
pass, could not understand or answer till the motion of
the whip and driver's language were imitated, when he
quickly pointed to the trail, saying, " Ugh, Agh, Gee, Haw,
G D ! "
The eighth stage of sixteen miles brought us to Kelly's
Point at half-past 7 p.m. The next eleven miles' run
236 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE.
was more full of the peculiar troubles incident to
staging on the plains than all the others. The four
spiritless steeds were in command of " Old Jake," a
grizzled little man, who limped up with a sad counte-
nance. His oaths were low and deep, often broken
off half complete. On an ordinary occasion they would
have stirred the most weary jade to activity, but now,
as he looked at the black-clogged wheels and low-hung
heads, he sighed in despair : " What's the use," he would
say, "in exerting oneself or pushing the beasts who
have had no corn for so long ; they are like a man shut
off from his grog, sir ; " so he would close his lips with a
grim shake of the head and drop the whip. In an hour
we had not made more than two miles. The rain fell
slowly, the air was warm, and the roads sticky. Remem-
ber that McAdam is unknown, and corduroy only met at
bridge and swamp crossings. The Prairie Road is but the
track over the grassy plain. Hard and glittering in dry
weather, but heavy and sticky when wet. As darkness
fell, mosquitoes came in buzzing clouds. Every exposed
part was simultaneously attacked. The coach was like
an angry beehive. All, from little Carrie to the grave
senator, had to fight them, and still the swarms were not
lessened. The Mennonites Old Midnights, the smart
boy now called them put up the long collars of their
sheep-lined coats and smoked philosophically. I escaped
and sat beside old Jake. The nigh wheeler, " Old Pat,"
was failing, and the old man was in sad pickle. Two of
us at last started on foot, plodding on for three miles till
GRAND FORKS! GOOSE RIVER; FARGO. 237
we came to the station ; pushed open the door and struck
a light ; roused up a couple of men lying on a rude bed
in one corner, who got up and made known to the female
department that hungry visitors would soon be with them.
The place was new and very poorly provided. Throwing
myself on a mattress I waited. Soon in came the Mer-
cantiles, then the smart boy, lastly old Jake, carrying
Carrie, followed by her mother. The team had entirely
given in, were unhitched and led to the station. Jake
roused a pair of stout oxen and was off for the waggon,
which the stout beasts pulled up in time. The Mennon-
ites had remained stationary, puffing their meerschaums
good old Midnights ! The senator had settled in his
mufflers to a nap, when an inquisitive gopher jumped on
his knee and spoiled his slumbers, The ex-ferryman, too,
slept and dreamed of the scow on the Assiniboine. Our
stopping place was where the Upper Marais joins the Red
River.
After midnight we were off with fresh horses, all but
the driver inside the coach, making ourselves as comfort-
able and getting as many naps as possible. The eleventh
stage of horses brought us to Grand Forks. The Red River
is here joined by its second largest tributary, the Red
Lake River, much increasing its volume. Here the Kitt-
son line of boats have their repairing and dock yards. A
pretty village, with prairie behind, wood and river in
front. A number of Chippewa tents were in sight. Their
owners, with tomahawks in hand, and some with faces
striped with paint, were sitting in blankets round the
238 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE.
Hudson Bay store, the only one now in this region, south
of the line, thus showing their confidence, which is uni-
versal among the tribes, in the great Company. Soon we
pass large fields, some in fallow preparing for spring grain ;
in others fine crops of wheat were being cut with horse-
machines. The twelfth run of twenty-two miles brought
us to Frog Point at tea time. Goose River was reached
before ten p.m. We see good fields of wheat and potatoes,
We listen to Gidley's stories ; learn wisdom from the
senator the ex-ferryman and smart boy together promise
to give up the use of the " weed," so well had the senator
discoursed, in that kind and mellifluous manner that be-
comes him, of its baneful effect. Brightly shone the sun
of the Sabbath morning ; many and gay were the black-
birds, and merry was their whistle ; fair was the prairie,
with its long grass and varied flowers, as we ended our
last course from point to point of the Queen River of the
North ; came in view of the pretty town of Fargo, and
were greeted by mine host of the Head Quarters Hotel.
We had made the trip of about 250 miles in three days
and four hours. Our last station was the sixteenth. Shall
we say with Tom Hood,
" The greatest pleasure of all the rout
Is the pleasure of having it over."
CHAPTER XIV.
THE PEMBINA BRANCH NEW CIVILIZATION SIOUX MASSACRE OF
1862 SPEECH OF DR. SCHULTZ WHAT THE BISHOPS SAY IN-
DIAN REVENGE AND PLUCK LITTLE CROW A TEMPERANCE
MISSION NOISY GIRL MINNESOTA CHIPPEWAS THE TOTEMS OR
INSIGNIA OF TRIBES CUSTOMS AND NUMBERS EASTWARD BOUND
MONTE MEN KINCARDINE, GODERICH, SARNIA SOLDIEEING
PRACTICAL INFORMATION TO IMMIGRANTS AND TOURISTS ADIEU.
THE PEMBINA BRANCH.
OUR course has been along the Dakota or western side
of the river. The railway is to run on the other side. As
to its prospects, a few words : A branch of the St. Paul
and North Pacific Railway already runs from Glyndon to
the Red Lake river at Crookston. The directors of this
road have agreed to recommend its immediate com-
pletion to Pembina, on the border. It is hoped that the
financial condition of the company will permit of this
being done shortly.
The country to be passed through offers little difficulty
to the engineer. The road bed over part of the line, from
Pembina to near St. Boniface, opposite Winnipeg, is ready
for the rails, of which thousands of tons have been carried
into the Province. We visited the northern end, then
constructed to about twelve miles from Garry, late in
August, 1875. Driving over the St. Boniface ferry, we
242 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE.
passed the brick cathedral of Bishop Tactic*, with the com-
modious residences and schools, in shaded lawns, attached
(which are shown in one of our illustrations), drove
up the road that skirts the river till it diverges into the
prairie. Chickens sprung up in covies ; the mare stood
well as we blazed away with two-barrelled gun, then
picked up the pretty brown grouse and off again, driving
through long grass, to find another flock. A long black
ditch was finally reached. One end of this ran into
a coulee Anglice, gully the other led to the " Pembina
Branch," already seen as a long dark line two miles away.
These ditches, connecting with the streams and coulees
form an extensive and very valuable system of drainage,
which will soon bring thousands of acres of rich, but wet
land into cultivation.
We WQTQ soon driving among light-haired Swedes and
Germans, who were busy with spade and barrow scooping
out ditches four feet broad by as many deep ; the earth
piled in the middle forms the road bed, the ditch running
along the whole course. It is noticeable that this mode
of construction is adopted for the purpose of keeping the
road bed at once dry, and high enough to be above the
snow fall.
When the American and Canadian ends of this line
meet together, what will be the position of the prairie
capital ? By rail to St. Paul in twenty-two hours ; thence
to Chicago in twenty hours; thence to Toronto in nineteen
hours ; or from Winnipeg to Toronto, direct in sixty-one
hours.
THE SIOUX MASSACRE IN MINNESOTA. 243
As to telegraphic communication, that is, as we have
seen, completed from the south and east not only to
Winnipeg, but to Battle River and Carlton, five hundred
miles west of Red River.*
THE SOURCES OF THE RED RIVER.
It was the Sabbath, and we stayed for the Monday
morning train at Fargo. The Red River runs under its long
bridge. We strolled in the afternoon up its sedgy banks.
Had we time, we would have liked to wander on past Fort
Abercrombie and Breckenridge to the main southern
source of this river Lake Traverse. Beyond this lake
and divided from it by but a marsh, is Big Stone Lake?
whose waters run through the Minnesota River southerly.
The region thus bounded, and on to Mankato, south-west
of St. Paul, was but thirteen years ago the theatre of the
Sioux Massacre. The greater contest between the north
and south States diverted our attention from the terrible
story of the barbarities inflicted in cold blood by the in-
furiated savages on the settlers of this devoted region.
For weeks the unequal struggle went on. New Ulm and
other rising villages were destroyed, women and young
children falling victims in scores, till a sufficient force was
gathered and placed under Col. Sibley.
Dr. Shultz thus refers to this strife in an interesting
* Lord Dufferin in his speech at the prorogation of Parliament, at the end
of the Spring Session of 1876, stated this distance at 700 miles west of Red
River. The figures so given are pmlialtly so maiU' up ly thr curves of the
p i-o posed railway's course.
244 THE PKAIRIE PROVINCE.
speech on Indian affairs in the North-west Territories,
delivered in the House of Commons, at Ottawa, on the
31st of March, 1873 :
" Ten years ago, this tribe of Sioux were in as profound
a state of peace with the United States as the Crees are
now with us ; but a grievance had been growing ; the con-
ditions of their treaties had not been carried out ; remon-
strances to their agents had been pigeon-holed in official
desks ; warnings from half-breeds and traders who knew
their language had been pooh-poohed by the apostles of
red-tape, till, suddenly, the wail of the massacre of '63
echoed through the land. Western Minnesota was red
with the blood of the innocent, and for hundreds of miles
the prairie horizon was lit with burning dwellings, in
which the shriek of childless women had been silenced
by the tomahawk of the savage. The military power of
the United States was of course called into requisition ;
but the movement of regular troops was slow, while that
of the Indian was like the ' pestilence which stalketh
in darkness.' Where least expected where farthest re-
moved from military interference ; in the dead of night
they appeared, and the morning sun rose on the ghastly
faces of the dead, and the charred remains of their once
happy homes.
" Trained soldiers, in the end, overcame the savages; but
not until a country as large as Nova Scotia had been de-
populated ; not until the terror had diverted the stream
of foreign emigration to more southern fields, and not un-
til three military expeditions, in three successive years,
THE SIOUX MASSACRE IN MINNESOTA. 245
had traversed the Indian country, at an expenditure to
the United States Government of ten millions of dollars,
and necessitated, since that time, the maintenance of ten
military posts, with permanent garrisons of three thousand
men."
Thirty-eight of the worst of the red miscreants were
tried, found guilty, and on the 26th day of February,
1863, executed on one gallows at Mankato. Many others
were imprisoned, and the Minnesota band of Sioux was
dispersed. We purpose thus referring to^ these events
shortly as they relate to the history and prospects of
Manitoba. After their defeat, Little Crow, the Chief,
with his broken bands, settled at Devil's Lake, in Dakota,
half way between the Northern Pacific Railway and our
territory. Friendly Indians suffered with, and for the
sins of the others. During the winter that followed they
had little but frozen roots to eat, and hundreds of them
perished from starvation.
The Sioux reserves in Minnesota were broken up and
the nation was scattered as vagabonds, although many of
its people had made much progress in civilization.
A band of about sixty Sioux families entered Manitoba
and sought British protection. They were assigned to a
reserve, but pay unwelcome visits to white settlements.
Much annoyance has been last summer felt from them at
Portage La Prairie, sixty miles west of Winnipeg. Some
half a dozen of them here, in open day, and in sight of
the village, in July, 1875, killed one of their own number
a bad Indian they said he was. There was no sufficient
THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE.
force to arrest and bring to justice, and the quiet people of
the Portage were made uneasy.
Arrangements have been made by our Government and
accepted by this band under which they will soon be
placed on a reserve suited to them, and supplied with
means tending towards their education and civilization.
The following pastoral was lately issued by Dr. Machray,
the Bishop of Rupert's Land to the Clergy and Laity of
the Church of England in his diocese :
"DEAR BRETHREN, Our Church is establishing a
mission for a tribe of outcast Sioux Indians, who have
found for about thirteen years a refuge under the British
flag, in this Province, and who are now about to be set-
tled by the Government of the Dominion of Canada on
reserves. Their history is dark and sad, but they have
been quiet since they resided here ; still the tragedy in
Minnesota which drove them from the United States, was
one of the most terrible in Indian warfare. The Ameri-
can Church, through Bishop Whipple, has taken a deep
interest in the tribes, and has some very flourishing
missions among some of the branches. There is, therefore,
every promise of our mission having a ready welcome, and
so of being privileged to bring these poor heathens to the
knowledge of our God and Saviour.
" I add a few words from the noble-hearted Bishop of
Minnesota, Bishop Whipple, who dared all things for these
red men, when to speak a word for them was enough to
be branded as a traitor and enemy of the white settler.
" ' I feel a deep pity for this poor people. They have
OPINIONS OF THE CLERGY. 247
sinned deeply in acts of bloodshed, but were more sinned
against. I believe that like wrongs would have led any
Christian nation to commence a war. They had an In-
dian paradise. They sold it to us. In the first treaty
they were greatly wronged. Afterward, they sold 800,000
acres of their reserve, and after waiting four years, and
not having received anything, they began war. It is all
a sad, sad story, which brings a blush of shame to my
cheeks. I believe it might have been all avoided. They
have lost all, and are now literally men of the trembling
eye and wandering foot homeless, dying, without know-
ing so much as that there is a Saviour ! '
" The Church Missionary Society has given a vote to-
wards buildings, and a yearly sum of 100 towards the
missionary's salary. We hope for some help from one or
two churches in Canada, but must do what we can our-
selves."
In a letter of the 3rd of March, 1876, to the New York
Times, Bishop Whipple refers in plain and severe terms,
to the subject of American Indian treatment, pronouncing
the system " a web of blunders, full of shameless fraud
and lies." He continues thus :
" Worth of us there is another nation of our own race. Since the
American revolution they have expended no money in Indian wars.
They have lost no lives by Indian massacre. The Indians are loyal
to the Crown. It is not because these Indians are of another race.
It is not because there is less demand for the Indian's land. It is
not because their policy is more generous. We expend ten dollars
for their one. It is because with us the Indian is used by corrupt
men as a key to unlock the public treasury. In Canada they are
THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE.
the wards of a Christian nation. They select good men as agents.
They give the Indians personal rights of property. They make them
amenable to the law crime does not go unpunished."
With good cause, indeed, may the excellent Bishop of
Minnesota lament, and all good men mourn with him ;
but the remedy lies at Washington, and in the hands and
hearts of the people. Were the rogues of high and low
degree, from guilty state secretaries to free traders at
Ben ton and Hoop-up, brought to justice ; had the goods
and the moneys by Congress intended for the Indians, to
any fair extent, reached them ; had treaties been made,
but to be trampled on ; had those who should have
guarded the red man's rights, not poisoned him with
rum, and then robbed him of annuity, furs and land ;
Sioux massacres and Blackfeet wars would be as unknown
to the South as they have been to the North of the boun-
dary. Let the spirit of the great nation rise in this its
year of pride, to the level that its founder prayed for, and
let its hand strike, as Jackson would have struck, and the
white man may yet pass without escort by the Yellow-
stone or over the Black Hills, as securely as he now may
along the Assiniboine or over our Pembina Mountains.
It is not many years since the Sioux and Chippewas
were at enmity. At Fargo a Chippewa brave showed an
example of the wonderful endurance for which the race
was famed. Tied to a stake and slowly burning, he was
scalped ; the wet scalp struck in his face, yet he uttered
no cry. At St. Paul an angry Sioux followed a Chippewa
into a store, shot him there, and escaped. "Let him go ;
INDIAN CUSTOMS ; LITTLE CROW ; " NOISY GIRL." 249
let them kill each other, so they let us alone," was the
verdict of the Minnesota people. Little Crow, chief of
the defeated Sioux, after his defeat sent presents to wes-
tern tribes and revisited Fort Garry and St. Joseph in
person in order to enlist sympathy and obtain ammunition.
He found neither. He was then dressed in a black coat
with velvet collar, a breech-clout of broadcloth, had a fine
lady's shawl wrapped round his head and another round
his waist, and carried a seven-shooter. A ball from the
rifle of a Mr. Lampson, who met Little Crow as he was
journeying from St. Joe, put an end to the career of this
able but cruel savage. We heard of the sufferings and
cruelties of this terrible time still on all hands. Meeting
an American officer, we asked whether such a catastrophe
could again arise along the "Red River. " No," he said*
"there is little danger. The hostile tribes are further
west, and still remember their severe punishment. There
are garrisons at Pembina and other posts, and on the
banks of the Missouri are a cordon of posts."
A TEMPERANCE MISSION.
Let us look at this party of three Indians and two
squaws that follow a white man into the smoking car of
our train at Brainerd. The white man sits beside the
younger woman and they all chat together in Chippewa.
He is a U. S. Deputy Marshal, and these are witnesses
going with him from Leech Lake, in Northern Minnesota,
to St. Paul, to give evidence in a case of indictment
for selling liquor to Indians. A description of the dam-
250 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE.
sel of eighteen summers may suffice. Her long name
translated means " Noisy Girl." Her forehead is bound
with a dirty handkerchief, a short black clay pipe is gen-
erally in her mouth. Her hair is long and black, forehead
low, lips thick, colour, copper; she wears silver earrings,
white and black beads and black rings ; her dress is Euro-
pean, but without a hat, and with a blanket to throw over
her, and moccasins on her feet. She is a Marten. These red
folks are not of the staid deportment described in older
narratives. They laugh and chat together, and seem to
enjoy their pipes and the prospect of a visit to the State
capital, where we hope they will tell the truth through
their interpreter. This Leech Lake fair one is, as we
stated, a Marten such is the division or clan of the tribe
to which she belongs.
Knowing of the old custom of tribal division, we wished
to test how far the Indians actually carried it into prac-
tice, and got the interpreter to ask his friends, who
seemed to appreciate and understand the matter fully,
and immediately replied. The interpreter spoke of the to-
tems, or insignia, as the " marks " of the tribal division.
The Chippewa nation is divided into thirteen tribes or
clans, distinguished by the names of animals, being The
Bear, Loon, Marten, Bull-pout Fish, Sandhill Crane, Stur-
geon, Lynx, Wolf, Reindeer, Diver-duck, Kingfisher, Bald
Eagle and Goose. There are, as the officer in charge in-
formed us, 30,000 Chippewa Indians ofi/ the Government
pay roll in Minnesota. Many more do not get Govern-
ment support. When on their reserves their own laws
MONTE MEN; MOORHEAD ; HOMEWARD BOUND. 251
and customs prevail, but when not there they are bound
by the general law of the land.
FROM THE RED RIVER EASTWARD.
At all the stations, and in the cars, are posted up warn-
ings against sharpers 'and three-card monte* men, yet we
heard on all sides of the harvest these fellows were reap-
ing. A father and son, who were on the boat as we went
down the river, had lost, in betting at St. Paul Junction,
one a watch, the other the cash he was to buy his farm
with. The smart boy was not smart enough for the oc-
casion, and, trying to win, left part of his savings in an
unscrupulous rogue's pocket.
On Sunday evening we walked over the bridge to
Moorhead to find a church. The saloons and taverns
were all open, bars and billiard-tables occupied as usual
and without concealment, but we could find no open place
of worship. The parsons seemed to be off for their va-
cation.
The prairie to the west of Fargo caught on fire, and as
night fell burned with a strange lurid light. The smoke
rose up in a broad cloud between us and a beautiful rosy
sunset. On Monday morning we are again spinning
along through the park-like region, through which wild
pigeons fly, and we pass many ponds full of ducks.
We cross the Mississippi on a new bridge, and see again
the rocky banks and beautiful dalles of the St. Louis,
entering Duluth at sunset. Very early, on the second of
September, we steam off in the good propeller Ontario,
252 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE.
Capt. Robinson, of the Beatty line, bound for Sarnia. Pass-
ing between Isle E-oyale and the Grand Portage, evening
brings us to Prince Arthur's Landing; noon of the fourth
finds us at Sault Ste. Marie ; in another day we reach
Kincardine, a busy town of 3,500 souls, with immense salt
works, many substantial stores and residences, and an air
of thrift and prosperity. The weather has been blustery,
and the tables are not always well filled with guests at
meal time, but 5,000 barrels of flour taken on at Duluth
steady our vessel. Next we come to Goderich, standing
high up over its excellent harbour ; early on the sixth we
are at Sarnia, which, with its street railway and many
new buildings, seems quickly gaining a city-like appear-
ance. Here we disembark, and take the Great Western
Railway.
We have run a race from Duluth with the Sovereign,
a trim propeller of the Windsor line, which still ketps its
own ahead of us. At Sarnia and at various stations on
the line, our train is boarded by jolly companies of red-
coats, men and officers, going to the annual militia drill for
Central Ontario, at London. More regiments there meet
us coming from other regions, and the station has quite a
war-like appearance. We roll past fields in which reapers
are yet gathering the harvest, which is generally stated to
be of unusual abundance, even for this, the garden of the
province, and we at last arrive at the city of our choice,
where friends greet us and our vacation trip is over.
PRACTICAL INFORMATION.
Mr, E. Brokovski, of Toronto, formerly editor of the
PKACTICAL INFORMATION. 253
Manitoba Gazette, kindly furnishes the following list of
questions, lately propounded by himtoan old and respected
resident of that Province, and the answers received; which
our readers may consider as eminently reliable.
Q- How long have you resided in Manitoba and been engaged in
agricultural pursuits there ? A. Eighteen years.
Q. What opinion have you as to the adaptability of the climate and
soil of Manitoba for agricultural purposes ? A The climate and soil of
Manitoba are well adapted for agricultural purposes.
Q- What is the average depth of the vegetable deposit or top soil on
the farm you now cultivate ? A. Average depth of soil on my farm is
about eighteen inches.
Q. Has it been customary for you to apply manure or artificial mat-
ter to any extent in tillage and crop raising ? A. I am not in the habit
of applying manure except for root crops ; it is not absolutely necessary
to do so ; but it pays.
Q. Give list of grains, etc., which you have successfully cultivated ?
A, I have raised successfully, wheat, oats, barley, peas, rye, etc., etc.
Q. What has been your success in raising garden produce? A.--
Have succeeded admirably with all kinds of garden produce ; also*
strawberries, currants, asparagus, rhubarb, etc.
Q. Give the average yield per acre and the minimum and maximum
weights of grain per bushel. A. Wheat yields in some instances sixty
bushels per acre ; but averages twenty-five or thirty bushels, with in-
ferior cultivation, and weighs over sixty pounds per bushel . I prepared
for the Centennial Exhibition a bushel of grain weighing sixty-nine
pounds to the bushel ; oats weigh over forty pounds ; barley over fifty
pounds.
Q. Give average quantities of the amount of seed generally sown by
you per acre, of the different classes of grain ? A. I sow two bushels
of wheat to the acre ; three bushels of oats ; three of barley, and one
and a half of peas.
Q. State how often you have sown any one class of grain in the same
soil for consecutive seasons, and if so, did this result in deterioration >t
254 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE.
quality ? A. Three successive crops of wheat can be raised on ray land
without deterioration to the soil or grain. Thirty successive crops have
been raised on some of the points of Red River, where the vegetable de-
posit is eight feet deep.
Q. What is the cost per acre for breaking prairie soil ; and the cost
per diem in this respect for a team of horses or oxen ? A. The cost
for breaking soil is $5 per acre. Horse teams are worth $5 per day ;
oxen, $2.
Q. Give the earliest and latest dates at which you have commenced
ploughing for spring crops ; also, the dates at which you have harvested ?
A. Have commenced ploughing as early as the 12th of April ; and com-
menced harvesting by 28th July. Average time is April 25th, and
August 12th.
Q. Give the ordinary prices of the following livestock : horses, oxen,
milch cows, sheep, pigs, and domestic fowls ? A. Horses are worth
from $300 to $400 a span ; oxen, $120 to $180 per yoke ; cows, from $30
to $50 each ; sheep, $6 ; pigs (half grown) $5 ; chickens, 37 cents ;
turkeys, $1 50 each.
Q. What is the average time (if at all) at which you have housed
your live stock for winter, and about what time have you generally
turned them out for pasturage in the spring ? A. Usually commence
stabling cattle about middle of November, and turn them out about 1st
of April.
Q. Give a rough estimate of the amount of capital required by emi-
grants for the suitable location or settlement of a quarter section of land
in Manitoba, at a moderate outlay ? A. $1,000 is the very least that
an emigrant should attempt to settle with on a quarter section of new
land.
Q. Do you regard the climate of Manitoba as healthy ? A. Ex-
tremely healthy.
Q. Have your grain or root crops ever suffered from any pest or in-
sect other than grasshoppers? A. Grasshoppers are the only pest we
are troubled with.
Q. How often have your crops been a total failure through the ra-
vages of grasshoppers ? A. One total failure and four partial failures.
EXPERIENCE OF OLD RESIDENTS. 255
Q. In the spring of this year do you intend to place your usual ex-
tent of land under crop ? A. I intend cultivating all of my land that
is broken up.
Q. Do you find a ready sale at fair prices for all your farm and gar-
den products ? A. A ready sale at good prices for all kinds of produce.
Last summer I sold $30 worth of peas from two quarts of seed of garden
peas ; sold in pod at $4 per bushel ; got from $3 to $4 per bushel for
new potatoes ; and in the fall sold potatoes at $1 per bushel. Wheat is
now worth $2 25 ; oats, $1 50 ; barley, $2 ; potatoes, $1 50. No garden
produce for sale.
W. B. HALL.
The Hermitage,
Headingly, Manitoba, Jan. 28th, 1876.
A communication from Mr. Burrows, who is widely
known as an extensive dealer in land in Winnipeg, for-
merly of the Dominion Land Office, and who is full of
well-grounded enthusiasm as to the future, has reached
us. Though many of the points referred to are already
placed before our readers, yet they are of so much prac-
tical interest that we give the following from Mr. Bur-
rows' letter, as an excellent summary of the advantages
offered to settlers on Government lands in Manitoba :
1. Each individual settler over 18 years of age is entitled to a
free grant of 160 acres on completion of settlement duty for three
years.
2. In addition, the homestead settler is allowed a pre-emption
or credit of three years upon an adjoining 160 acres, at one dollar
per acre.
3. Each settler may purchase the balance of the section (640
acres) for cash at the Government price of one dollar per acre.
4. There are still large quantities of valuable land within reason-
256 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE.
able distance of Winnipeg open for settlement or location ; such as
the greater part of seven townships in Ranges 2 and 3 east, on the
west side of Red River, commencing from the outside of the Half-
breed Reserve near Point Grouette, 30 miles south of Winnipeg,
and extending thence to the boundary line at Pembina. Again,
on the east side of Red River, along the Pembina Branch Railroad,
are six townships, including the greater part of the late reserve of
Emerson, most of which are still available for settlement.
Again, west of this city we find parts of several townships, in and
near the settlements of Victoria, Woodlands, &c., and between
Shoal Lake and LakeManitoba,open for location, all within 60 miles
of this city. Then passing further west, beyond the line of Rat Creek
and Lake Manitoba, we find hundreds of thousands of acres of the
richest lands available to the settler. On the southern trail of this
district the land is mostly prairie, but having an abundant supply
of wood contiguous, on the slopes of the Riding Mountains, and is
already dotted with nuclei of settlement at many points as far as
Shoal Lake West.
Westerly of Lake Manitoba the land is abundantly dotted with
groves of considerable extent. This whole district centreing for the
present around Portage La Prairie, Palestine, Burnside, &c., already
possesses a good market in the wants of the Mounted Police, rail-
road and telegraph construction survey, exploration, trading and
settlement parties. Of the 3,000 carts estimated to have passed
west over the Portage between Lake Manitoba and the Assiniboine
River last season, fully one-third were laden with flour, oats, barley
and vegetables. Truly this want will soon find a local supply nearer
home, but ere long some point on the south shore of Lake Mani-
toba, commanding its navigation, will loom forward and speedily
take rank as a city of the Prairie Province. This section, as proven
by experience in the past, is calculated to attract settlement much
before a more heavily wooded district, and must soon be supplied
with railway communication, which will be readily f imished by
American capital on the completion of the Pembina branch.
HINTS TO EMIGRANTS AND TOURISTS. 257
In addition to the free grant districts referred to, it is under-
stood that the half-breed reserves will be distributed during the
coming summer. If this much-to-be desired consummation is
reached, then the greater part of the 1,400,000 acres, comprising
some 54 townships of our finest lands surrounding Winnipeg, will
be thrown upon the market and probably sold at about the
Government price in consequence of the hard times and consequent
scarcity of money. This will furnish an opportunity, scarcely like-
ly to happen again, of securing farming lands at a merely nominal
price, that in a few years will be the most valuable land in the Do-
minion.
The Pembina Mountain district to which you refer is deservedly
attracting attention, and is rich in every requisite of settlement.
Pioneered by a valuable class of settlers, mills, schools and stores
are being supplied, and altogether the settlers are displaying a de-
gree of enterprise and vim that must soon carry them to the front
rank of our new communities.
Yours, &c.,
A. W. BURROWS.
Winnipeg, Feb. 22nd, 1876.
The tourist will find no route offering more induce-
ments than that we have described. With a couple of
blankets, waterproof boots, and strong, warm clothing, he
may, on landing at Prince Arthur, and examining its
interesting mineral region, pay a visit to the Grand
Portage and Isle Royale ; then pass up the Kaministiquia,
see the Old Fort and Mission and the beautiful Kakabeka
Falls, which are higher than Niagara ; pass on by the
Dawson route, through Kewatin, stopping at Rainy River
and the Lake of the Woods, to enjoy their romantic scenery
and drop his line in their clear waters. He will find good
258 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE.
use for gun and rod on the route through both prairie and
lake regions of Manitoba and Minnesota. The " through
ticket " from Toronto to Winnipeg cost last year but $34.
Great inducements are offered to emigrants to Manitoba,
as stated in a previous chapter. Their passage from Europe
is aided by the Dominion Government on terms which
may be ascertained on application to any of the agents,
who can be found in any city of considerable size in
Canada or Europe. The traveller from our older Provinces
can go by the " all-rail " route through Chicago and St.
Paul, the ticket from Toronto costing about $50 ; but that
described in our first chapters, taking boat at Collingwood,
Owen Sound, Windsor, Sarnia or Southampton, is cheaper
and more pleasant. Excellent meals and accommodation are
supplied on the boats. After leaving them at Duluth, meals
are extra, but can always be had at moderate prices. Be-
tween Fargo and Winnipeg a provision basket may well
be carried. By all means avoid the gamblers, thimble-
riggers and three-card monttf men insinuating rogues
who infest the route of the Northern Pacific Railway,
sometimes in the guise of smart merchant travellers, some-
times in that of bluff hearty farmers or of mechanics, and
so fleece the unwary. The quiet traveller will never be
molested, but will receive as much courtesy as he gives to
those with whom he mingles. The settler should enter
the Province as early in the spring as possible. It is not
advisable to buy teams or waggons on the route, but the
Ontario farmer who is so supplied, will fare pleasantly,
by bringing his team by boat and rail to Fargo, then
FINIS AND ADIEU. 259
harnessing up, and driving in over the stage road. Horses
can be bought at Emerson and elsewhere near the border,
at from $60 to $150, and farm waggons at from $65 to $85 ;
also oxen, which do best for breaking the prairie, at $150
per yoke. Cows cost $35 to $45 each. The Government
land and emigration agents at Emerson will always be at
hand to give correct information.
Those who proceed on to Winnipeg, or go by the Daw-
son route, will there find the like facilities on a larger
scale.
Finally ; to avoid trouble at the Custom House, each
emigrant should procure, from the nearest United States
Consulate to which he resides in Ontario or Quebec, a Con-
sular certificate to the effect of the goods being personal
effects in transit from one Canadian port to another, for
which a fee of from $1 to $2 50 will be charged accord-
ing to contents of invoice, which he must produce when
obtaining certificate. No delay of any moment will occur
in entering the Province of Manitoba, if the emigrant will
take the precaution to have his invoice or list of goods
certified by the Customs authorities at the port in
Canada from which he starts. The production of the cer-
tified invoice is all that is necessary. No fees are charged
for this certification, the possession of which enables the
emigrant to pass his goods at the Custom House in Mani-
toba without further trouble.
We wish you all a very happy journey, and adieu !
ADVERTISEMENTS.
IMPERIAL BANK OF CANADA,
$1,000,000.
HEAD OFFICE ------ TORONTO.
H. S. ROWLAND, ESQ., President.
T. R. MERRITT, ESQ., Vice-President, St. Catharines.
JOHN SMITH, ESQ. T. R. WADSWORTH, ESQ.
HON. J. R. BENSON, St. Catharines.
WM. RAMSAY, ESQ. ROBT. CARRIE ESQ.
P HUGHES, ESQ. JOHN FISKEN, ESQ.
D. R. WILKIE, Cashier.
BRANCHES.
ST.-CATHARINES, INGERSOLL, PORT COLBORNE, WELLAND.
AGENTS IN CANADA: BANK OF MONTREAL.
AGENTS IN NEW YORK: R. BELL & C. F. SMITHERS.
AGENTS, LONDON, ENGLAND: MESSRS. BOSANQUET, SALT & Co.
Sterling Exchange, Gold and Cnrrency Drafts bought and sold.
A SAVINGS DEPARTMENT
Is open in connection with the Bank, sums of $4.00 and upwards received on deposit,
and interest allowed at current rates.
W. F. [ROSS & Co.,
SUCCESSORS TO
CORNELL & CO.,
Watches and Q-old Jewellery,
83 KING STREET EAST,
T o :R o :NT T o.
We send goods to all parts of Canada, C.O.D., per Express.
ADVERTISEMENTS.
CANADIAN COPYRIGHT EDITION,
MEMOIR OF
NORMAN MACLEOD, D.D.
Minister of Barony Parish, Glasgow ; One of Her Majesty's Chaplains ;
Dean of the Chapel Royal ; Dean of the Most Ancient
and Most Noble Order of the Thistle.
BY HIS BROTHER, THE
REV. DONALD MACLEOD, B.A,,
One of Her Majesty's Chaplains, Editor of " Good Words," &c.
Complete in 1 VOL., DEMY, 8vo., with PORTRAIT, CLOTH, GOLD
and BLACK, $2.50; HALF CALF, $4.00; FULL
MOROCCO, Gilt Edges, $6-00.
The following extract is from the "Memoir" itself ; it shows what
DR. MACLEOD thought of such a work as the present :
"From his Journal, Oct. nth, 4:45 a.m.
" Have been reading a little of ' Brainard.' NEXT TO THE BIBLE
Christian Biography is the most profitable. In as far as it is true, it is a
revelation of the living God, through His living Church."
The following extract is taken from a letter of DEAN STANLEY'S^:
"He was the chief Ecclesiastic of the Scottish Church. No other
man during the last thirty years in all spiritual ministration so nearly
filled the place of Chalmers ; no other man has occupied so high and
important a position in guiding the Ecclesiastical movements of their
country since the death of Robertson, we might almost say, since the
death of Carstares. * * * Macleod represented Scottish Protest-
antism more than any other single man. Under and around him men
would gather who would gather round no one else. When he spoke it
was felt to be the voice, the best voice of Scotland."
BELFORD BROTHERS, Publishers,
TORONTO.
ADVERTISEMENTS.
BROKOVSKI & CO,
WINNIPEG, MANITOBA
(
ommission m[lmnte
AND MANUFACTURERS' AGENTS.
Consignments received and prompt
returns made.
J. G. MACKENZIE & Co.,
IMPORTERS
And Wholesale Dealers in
L
iiijh mtcl fow
owp
381 & 383 ST. PAUL STREET,
MONTREAL.
CAIN & STEINHOFF,
Main st. , Winnipeg,
Saddlers & Harness Makers,
A splendid stock of Harness, Saddles, Bridles,
Whips, etc., always on hand.
WH.
IMPORTER AND MANUFACTURER OF
GUNS, RIFLES & PISTOLS,
Dealer in English Breech and Muzzle Loading
Shot Guns. Repairing promptly executed.
Garry St. Winnipeg.
A. G. B. BANNATYNE,
MAIN ST., WINNIPEG,
G. EJAQUES&CO,
WINES AND LIQUORS.
LOTS FOR SALE IN WINNIPEG AND SELKIRK.
i
Have special facilities for shipping to
MANITOBA,
Via Duluth, Ft. William or St. Paul.
Get their Rates before making any passenger or
freight engagements.
: Offices 50 Front st., Toronto; 103 Common st.,
and 10 St. Nicholas st., Montreal.
HIGGINS & YOUNG,
Wholesale and Retail
a R o o
Boo ts, Shoes, Glassware, &c.
| HIGGINS, YOUNG & PEEBLES,
Wholesale and Retail
Staple & Fancy Dry Goods,
THE ROYAL FOOD
AND INVALIDS,
Nutritious, Delicious and Economical.
Sold everywhere.
Prepared by
KENNETH CAMPBELL & GO.
Montreal.
THE COOK'S FRIEND
1RAKING
.For raising all kinds of Bread, Biscuit, &c.
"BEST IN USE,"
RETAILED EVERYWHERE.
Manufactured only by
W. D. McLAEEN,
MONTREAL.
ADVERTISEMENTS.
C BISHOP & CO.,
Lithographers til Printers,
i6g SAINT " JAMES ST.,
MONTREAL.
BROWN BROTHERS,
Stationers, ^ookbinto anfo ount oh manufacturers,
WALLET, DIARY AND POCKET BOOK MAKERS,
66 & 68 KING STREET EAST, TORONTO.
A complete assortment of general and commercial Stationery, Printers' and Book-
binders' Material, Leather, &c. , always in stock. Account Books, Wallets, Pocket
Books, Bill Cases, Diaries, &c., manufactured of the best material, close prices.
DHYSDALE & CO.,
PUBLISHERS, BOOKSELLERS AND STATIONERS.
Orders for Books promptly attended to. Mailed at published prices, free of postage.
Catalogues furnished on application.
232 ST. JAMES STREET, MONTREAL.
N or th. -"West Fiirnitnre Honse
Has always on hand a full assortment of FURNITURE, Wholesale and Retail.
PICTURE FRAMES made to order. CHROMOS mounted, &c.
(McDERMOTT's BLOCK.) MAIN ST., WINNIPEG.
McLENAGHAN & MALLOCH,
General Dry Goods Merchants
MAIN STREET, WINNIPEG, MANITOBA..
A\ EXPERIENCED TAILOR AXD MILLINER ON THE PREMISES.
RCARSWELL, Law Bookseller, Law Stationer, &c., Toronto, Ontario. Books
. and Law Forms can be mailed to Manitoba and British Columbia at four cents
a poimd. Catalogues free.
ADVERTISEMENTS.
HALF-BREED LANDS IN MANITOBA
It is probable, according to announcement of the Dominion Government, that
during the Summer of 1876, the Half-Breed Reserves in Manitoba (plots of 190 acres
each), some 54 Townships, or
One Million Four Hundred Thousand Acres,
will be patented to the grantees. These plots, lying near the Red and Assiniboine
Rivers ; as far as Poplar Point Westward, beyond Selkirk to the North, and near
Emerson on the South ; make in all the most valuable tract of land in the North-west.
The allotment of Scrip (160 acres each) about
3OO,OOO ACRES !
to the Half- Breed heads of families and old settlers, which may be located anywhere
on Government lands, will also, it is promised, be distributed to them without delay.
The greater part of this immense acreage will then be thrown upon a market unable
from its limited capacity to absorb it, and consequently will be sold at absurdly low
prices. It is probable that these lands may then be purchased at from 30 to 50 cents
per acre.
A. W. BURROWS, Winnipeg, Manitoba, will undertake, for intending investors,
the purchase of these lands, after the issue of Scrip and Patents, and guarantee
satisfaction. For this he possesses unusual advantages in his extensive acquaintance
with the settlers, through his former connection with the Land Office in Manitoba,
when the original census ]ofjthe Half-Breed and Old Settlers was revised by personal
attendance for the basis of these grants. He is also fully acquainted with the value
and quality of all the land referred to.
CITY LOTS in Winnipeg and outside TOWN PLOTS, also RIVER FRONT,
and quarter section FARMS for sale on favourable terms.
MESSRS. MORPHY, MORPHY & MONKMAN, BARRISTERS, TORONTO.
" WALKER & PENNOCK, OTTAWA.
GILMOR & HOLTON, - - ADVOCATES, MONTREAL.
T. If. FLOCK, ESQ., .... BARRISTER, LONDON.
ADVERTISEMENTS.
QHOWTH.
Daily Witness -
Tri-Weekly Witness
Weekly Witness
Northern Messenger
Totals
12,300
3,000
16,700
21,500
12,590
3-200
26,700
47,000
53,500 89,490
Total Increase in One Year 35,990.
JOHN DOUGALL & SON,
Publishers,
MONTREAL, 0.
ADVERTISEMENTS.
J. M. McGKEGOR,
Auctioneer and Real Estate Agent
Military Land Warrants and Half-Breed Scrip,
TKANSFERS BOUGHT AND SOLD.
Daily Free Press' Office
JOHN SCHULTZ,
DEALER IN
OFFICE MAIN STREET, WINNIPEG,
NEXT TO ONTAEIO BANK.
Twenty thousand acres of Land in Settlement Belt for sale on easy terms ; als<
CITY LOTS in Winnipeg, Selkirk, and Portage la Prarie ; and IMPROVEl
FARMS near Winnipeg for Sale or Lease.
DETROIT SEED CO.,
Growers and Importers of all kinds of
SEEDS, PLANTS, &c.
Everything for the GARDEN. SEEDS sent by Mail in papers, &c. SEED
BOXES on Commission. * CATALOGUE Free on Application.
20 & 22 MICHIGAN Av.,
ADVERTISEMENTS.
WINDSOR AN D LAKE SUPERIOR
THE BEST ROUTE TO MANITOB,
the ]NTorth.-"West.
Connects in the West with the Northern Pacific Railway and the Dawson
and at Windsor with the leading American and Canadian Railways and the Mon1
Steamers. The first-class fast sailing and elegantly equipped Steamers,
ASIA, AND SOVEREIGN,
Will, during the Season, make regular weekly trips from WINDSOR and DETRO]
to FORT WILLIAM, PRINCE ARTHUR'S LANDING and DULUTH,
both ways at all intermediate ports, presenting to PLEASURE SEEKERS, SHIP-
PERS, and
EMIGRANTS TO MANITOBA,
Many important advantages in TIME, ECONOMY and CONVENIENCE nc
afforded by other Lines.
For Information as to Freight or (Passage apply t<.
TvmxmvDT? A T J Gr- E. JAQUES & Co.
MONTREAL | w McCAULAY .
KINGSTON J. SWIFT & Co.
TORONTO G. E. JAQUES & Co.
Q rp P A TTT A T? TTVTF^ / S- NEELON > M.P.P.
' \ Capt. J. C. GRAHAM.
WINDSOR G. W. GIRDLESTONE.
SARNIA W. J. KEAYS.
GEORGE CAMPBELL, Manager, Windsor.
ADVERTISEMENTS.
THE CHAMPION MEAT MARKET,
Clark, Proprietor.
The best quality, and anything you want in the line. A fine assortment of
FAMILY VEGETABLES ALWAYS ON HAND.
Prompt delivery in all parts of the City. Remember the Old Stand.
NEW LUMBER YARD.
We offer to the Citizens of Manitoba a full assortment of
DRY PINE LUMBER.
In our Yard, between the Ferry and the Emigrant Buildings.
PRICES FAVOURABLE. Call and examine our Lumber before purchasing
elsewhere.
CLARK & McLURE. THOMAS SCOTT, Agent.
Hardware, Stoves, and Tinware,
PAINTS, OILS, PUTTY, AND GLASS,
IMMIGRANTS' and EMIGRANTS' OUTFITS Cheap, but of the best quality, at
McMICKEIST & TA_YLOR'S,
M.AIN ^TREET WINNIPEG
Contractors and Builders should call on us. Agents for MILBURN WAGGON Co. ;
HAYNES BROS.' PIANOS ; BABCOCK EXTINGUISHING Co.
BROKOVSKI & HARRIS,
MANITOBA LAND,
fteal $&Uti, fttntral and ^wwariling fj^tnt*.
Investments and all description of Locations made. Loans by Mortgage negotiated.
Agents for the purchase and sale of Half-breed Land Scrip, River Farms and Volun-
teer Warrants. Titles searched. Passengers, Freight, and Live Stock forwarded.
Information furnished to intending Settlers and Emigrants for Manitoba. Copies of
Maps and Plans may be had on application.
E. BROKOVSKI, T. N. HARRIS,
Main St., Winnipeg, Man. Union Block, Toronto, Ont.
ADVERTISEMENTS.
Selkirk Mills and Sash and Door Factory.
MACAULAY & JARVIS,
MANUFACTURERS AND DEALERS IN ALL KINDS OF
Pine and Hardwood
LATH, SHINGLES, PICKETS, DOORS,
Sash, Mouldings, Balusters, Blinds, Newels, Flooring, Siding, &c.,
C. W. RADIGER & BROTHER,
"Wholesale and Retail Grocers,
AND
IMPORTERS.
TOB-A.OOOS
ADVERTISEMENTS.
Manitoba
Free Press,
DAILY & WEEKLY.
KENNY & LUXTON, PUBLISHEES.
WM. F. LUXTON, EDITOR & MANAGER.
Daily issued every lawful day at 5 P.M. ;
and Weekly every Saturday.
SUBSCRIPTION RATES.
DAILY, 25 cents per week ; WEEKLY, $2.50 per annum.
The FEEE PRESS is the only daily published in Manitoba ; and the Weekly
Edition has a larger circulation than all other papers in the Province combined.
KENNY & LUXTON, WINNIPEG.
D. M. FEEEY & CO.,
SEED MERCHANTS,
DETROIT,
MICHIGAN
ADVERTISEMENTS.
CITY SURVEYOE, WINNIPEG,
Who has for a number of years been employed on the Government Surveys in the
Settlement Belt, and has recently made the Official Survey and Plan of the City of
Winnipeg, is at all times prepared to do any kind of surveying or engineering work.
Orders by Mail or otherwise promptly attended to.
Office on the Corner of MAIN and THISTLE STREETS,
WINNIPEG, MANITOBA.
APOTHECARIES' HALL,
GARRY STREET, opp, NOTRE DAME STREET.
DRUGS, CHEMICALS, PATENT MEDICINES, ESSENTIAL OILS,
TOILET ARTICLES, PERFUMERY, and everything usually found in a First-
Class Drug Store. The Trade supplied with Bottled Oils, Essences, Dyes, Patent
Medicines, etc. A specialty made of the supply and preparation of all VETERINARY
MEDICINES, of which a full Stock is always on hand. Manufactory of the DEX-
TER CONDITION POWDERS sold Wholesale and Retail. Traders, Surveyor*
and others supplied with Drugs, Medicines, &c. , packed so as to be safely transported
to any part of the Province or North-west.
Dr. CURTIS J. BIRD, Proprietor,
BAIN & BLANCHARD
MAI* STREET, WINNIPEG.
JOHN F. BAIN. JEDLEY BLANCHAKD.
S - 13 U F F I N ,
Photographer,
MAIN ST., WINNIPEG,
Views of Fort Garry, Winnipeg, and North-west.
Printed lists on application, and
orders filled by post.
THOS, m&im,
gtrtfjitttt & dtiMl
Office over Dr. Bird's New Drug Store,
MAIN ST., - - WINNIPEG.
CLARK & WEEDON,
Provincial Agent of the Confederation Life Ass.
(Established 1873.) WINNIPEG, Man.
Send for Circular issued monthly, containing list
of Land for sale in Town and Country.
WlLLOUGHBY CLARK. LOUIS WERDON.
FRED. J. HOSKIN,
jwd fehattp
MAIN ST., WINNIPEG, Man.
AMERICAN CURRENCY bought and sold.
COLLECTIONS promptly attended to.
Deposits received on interest.
G. D. NORTHGRAVES,
fllaktr anft
DEALER IN
WATCHES, CLOCKS, and JEWELLEBY
GARRY ST.? 6VWy deSCriP . ti011 - WINNIPEG
H. S. DONALDSON & BEO.,
DEALEES IN
Boohs, Stationery, Fancy Goods, Clocks, Watches and Jewellery.
Watches and Jewellery repaired.
Sign of the BIG BOOK and WATCH, MAIN ST., WINNIPEG-
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