The Selkirk settlement and the settlers : a concise history of the Red River country from its discovery, including information extracted from original documents lately discovered, and notes obtained from Selkirk settlement colonists

Bell, Charles

The Selkirk
and the settlers

THE SELKIRK SETTLEMENT

5^3355-

AND THE SETTLERS.

A CONCISE HISTORY OF THE RED RIVER COUNTRY

IF IR o :M ITS IDISOO^VEIR Y ,

I n<-l idling Information Extracted from Original Documents Lately Discovered

and Notes obtained from

SELKIRK SETTLEMENT COLONISTS.

By CHARLES NfBELL, F,R,G-,S,

Honorary Corresponding Member of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society. Hamilton Association, Chicago

Academy of Science, Buffalo Historical Society, Historian of Woiseley's Expeditionary

Force Association, etc., etc.

Author of "Our Northern Waters," "Navigation of Hudson's Bay and Strait," "Some Historical Namrs and

Places of Northwest Canada," "Red River Settlement History,"" Mound-builders in

Manitoba." "Prehistoric Remains in the Canadian Northwest,"

"With the Half-breed Buffalo Hunters," etc., etc.

\ViNM 'KO :
i'tl I'KINTKl) AT THE OKKK'E OK ''THE COMMI IK MAI,, " .IVMKS ST. KAST.

.ae tha ._ ^..ct,1 SS7 .

ery eanv _. me history ot the t ett

F
SblQ,

By CHARLES N. KELL, F.R.U.S.

HISTORY OK FUR TRADE.

About 1736 LaVerandyre, a French-Can-
adian, established on the Red river a
trading post, which was certainly the first
occasion that white men had a fixed abode
in the lower Red River valley. After 1770
the English merchants and traders of
Montreal sent fur traders, with assortments
of goods, into the country west of Lake
Superior, but it was not until the year 1796
that they, with the Hudson's Bay Co.,
established permanent posts on the Red and
Assiniboine rivers^ It is not clear, from
the available records, why the trade of
these districts was neglected, but it was
presumably because the North Saskatch-
ewan and Athabasca rivers afforded a suffi-
ciently extensive field for the force of ad-
venturers engaged in the fur trade. Cer-
tainly from the year 1796, .both the Hudson's
Bay Co. and the Northwest Co. had several
regularly supplied posts on the Red and
Assiniboine rivers, though some of them
were abandoned from time to time, and re-
built in the immediate neighborhood, as was
the case at Pembina and the mouth of the
Souris. For instance, at Pembina in 1796
Peter Grant erected a fort on the east bank
of the Red river directly opposite the
mouth of the Pembina river. In 1798 the
post was on the south bank of the Pembina
at its confluence with the Red and was
under the charge of Charles Chabollier.
Again in 1801 Alexander Henry built a fort
on the north side of the Pembina, a few
hundred yards from the deserted post on
the south side. These were all forts of the
Northwest Co.

' On Sept. 28th, 1803, Alexander Henry
left an assortment of trading goods with
another officer of the Northwest Company
at the Forks, which place was situated at
the point between the Red River and the
Assiniboine, on the north side of the latter.
The next spring a large return of fur was
shipped from this post to Fort William, on
Lake Superior. It was not until 1806 that
a fort of any considerable size was erected
at the Forks, when at that date the North-
west Company built Fort Gibraltar, which
vas in after years the centre of very great
nterest to the Selkirk settlers.

The Hudson's Bay Company claim that
hey had a trading post on the Red River
s early as 1796, and there is every reason
conclude that such a fort was in existence
t a very early date in the history oi the

Red River settlement, apd stood at the
north end of the Slough at what is now
known as East Selkirk village. Mr. Donald
Murray, one of the Selkirk colonists, in-
forms me that he slept at the ruins of
such a place in the fall of 1815, when
arriving in this country. He states
that it was an old post of the
Hudson's Bay Company, and had been called
Ft. William. The chimneys still stood, in
a ruined condition, in 1815. Both the rival
fur companies also had trading posts at
Netley Creek, below Selkirk, on the west
side of the Red River.

A third fur company, called the
X Y Company, numbering amongst
its partners Sir Alexander Mackenzie and
Edward Ellice, competed in the fur trade
on the Red and Assiniboine rivers, between
1800 (perhaps a year or two before) and
1804, when an amalgamation took place be-
tween it and the Northwest Co.

In 1804 a large number of "freemen," or
discharged employees of the different fur-
companies, found their way to the vicinity
of the trading-posts on the Red and Assiui-
boine rivers, a small settlement also
being made by them on the Pembina
river, at the place where it issues from the
Pembina mountains, then called the Hair
Hills. These freemen were nearly all of
French extraction, being either Canadians
or the issue of French-Canadian fathers and
Indian women. It has been claimed that
the first white woman who arrived in the
Red River country was a French-Canadian,
Madame Lajimoniere, who -came to the
Northwest from Three Rivers, Quebec, in
1806. I have found in the unpublished
journal of Alexander Henry, an officer of
the Northwest Company, a record of the
fact that in 1807 an Orkney t^irl, disguised
as a boy, who had followed her lover out
from the Orkney Islands, gave birth to a
child at Pembina. But Henry speaks of
the wives of some of the Northwest Com-
pany's officers residing at the posts on the
Red river from 1800 to 1806 in such terms
that it implies that they were not of Indian
blood, so that investigation may yet show
that white women were here prior to the
above-mentioned two.

After the establishment of Fort Gibraltar
in 1806, it would appear, from the slight
amount of data available, that quite a num-
ber of French-Canadians and Metis settled
on the Red river and erected dwellings,

THE SELKIRK SETTLEMENT AND THE SETTLERS,

where their families resided during the win-
ters and when the men were absent in the
service of the Northwest Company. I can
rind nothing regarding the operations of
the Hudson's Bay Company for some
years after 1808, but it is likely that
they continued to trade on the two rivers as
they, like the Northwest company, had
posts on both streams when the Selkirk
colonists arrived in 1812.

This leads us up to the date when matters
in England were shaping themselves tend-
mg to the formation of a colony on the
banks of the far-distant Red river, which
afterwards resulted in a vast amount of
trouble and considerable bloodshed before
the colonists were allowed to settle down
quietly to agricultural pursuits and in
permanent abodes.

became anxious that their faces should be
turned to some colony of the empire. On
May 24th, 1799, on the death of his father,
he succeeded to the earldom of Selkirk, his
six brothers having died before that date,
the last in 1797, when he took the title of
Lord Daer and Shortcleugh.

From the time Selkirk visited the High-
lands to 1802 he was striving to carry out
some scheme which would bring relief to
the peasantry there. After much corres-
pondence with the British government re-
garding the colonizing of a large tract of
land m the island of St. John, since named
Prince Edward Island, he succeeded in a
practical manner in carrying out his pro-
ject. In August, 1803, 800 selected emi-
grants were landed at the colony, where,
though meeting with very many

LORD .SELKIRK.

Thomas Douglas, fifth Earl of Selkirk,
Baron Daer and Shortcleugh in the Scotch
peerage (1771-1820), was the seventh and
youngest son of Dunbar (Hamilton) Douglas,
the fourth earl. Born at the family seat in
Kirkcudbrightshire, on the 20th June, 1771,
he was educated at Edinburgh university,
associating there with Sir Walter Scott,
who in future years was a firm and stead-
fast fi iend.

As early as 1792 Selkirk interested him-
self in the state of the Highland peasantry,
who were frequently evicted from their
homes and forced to emigrate. He
found, during a lengthened journey amongst
these people, that the country was fast be-
comirit; pastoral, and the conviction was
forced upon him, that emigration was the
only hope left to the Highlanders, and with
the true instincts of a British subject, he

difficulties, they eventually suc-
ceeded beyond their most sanguine
expectations, their descendants to-day num-
bering many thousands of the population of
the island.

Lord Selkirk, after personally superin-
tending the placing of the colony, (which
he revisited the following year) undertook
an extended tour through the United States
and Canada. Letters are on fyle in the
Archives Department at Ottawa which show
that he was endeavoring to establish
settlements in Upper Canada as far west
as the Sault St. Marie. In 1803 he
proposed to the Government of Upper
Canada to construct a wagon road
from his colony of Baldoon, in Kent county,
to Toronto, at a cost of over £40,000, if the
government would give him a grant of cer-
tain crown lands at points along the road;
but the government would not a^ree with

THE SELKIRK SETTLEMENT AND TTIK SETTLERS.

kirn as to valuation of the lands, and the
project fell through. Selkirk wrote a num-
ber of works on "The necessity of a more
effective system of national defence," "Par-
liamentary Reform," etc. The first-named
ran through two, and the last through three
editions.

SELKIRK TURNS HIS ATTENTION TO THE
RED RIVER.

During Selkirk's visit to Montreal he
had been received and entertained by
the resident partners of the Northwest
Fur Co., who took every opportunity of
paying him attention. They afforded him
a very full insight into the management of
their fur trade. It was written in 1817, by
Edward Ellice (who, then a partner of the
Northwest Co., afterwards became, a di-
rector of the Hudson's Bay Co. ) that Sel-
kirk's enquiries were more extended than
was usual in the case of foreign visitors,
but that they little expected that their con-
fidential communications to a person ex-
pressing his admiration at the result of
their exertions, and his sincere friendship
and thankful acknowledgments to them-
selves, should have awakened the
spirit of self-interest, which subsequently
became so apparent, and still less did they
suppose they were placing means in the
hands of a commercial rival, to be applied
first in opposition to their trade, and after
the failure of that experiment in an at-
tempt to effect the ruin of their establish-
ment.

Lord Selkirk went to England and began
to arrange for the carrying out of a grand
project which would give him a control of
the management of the Hudson's Bay Com-
pany. Ellice states that Selkirk
communicated his ideas to a gentle-
man "long interested in the Northwest
Company, and to whom the public are
indebted for a description of the country
and of his own voyage and discoveries."
This was most probably Sir Alexander
Mackenzie, the discoverer of the Macken-
zie River. This gentleman went into the
scheme without any definite object further
than a re-sale of the acquired stock at an
enhanced price, when their management of
the company's affairs had resulted favor-
ably. Owing to bad management the stock
of the Hudson's Bay Co. had fallen from
250 per cent to between 50 and 60; and no
dividend had been paid for years. Large
blocks of stock were purchased, but owing
to disagreement the two associates parted
and Selkirk retained the bulk at least of
the acquired stock, if he did not hold it
all. Lord Selkirk immediately obtained
opinions from some of the highest legal
authorities in England as to the powers pos-
sessed by the Hudson's Bay Co. under their
charter of 1670. A full statement of these
opinions is contained in the reports on the
Ontario boundary question to the Canadian
House of Commons in 1880. In a book

written and published by John Halkett, a
relative of Selkirk, is given a very differ-
ent version of this decision by these same
legal authorities, and much more favorable
to the Hudson's Bay Co. The former seems
to be the most authentic. These onimons
held that the company could exclude
all persons from residing on the lands
granted to them, and not already settled
there. But they were of opinion that the
company cor.ld not dispossess the Canadians
of the posts already occupied by them when
they had been 20 years in quiet possession.
They could not prevent people from using
the navigation of Hudson's Bay or the navig-
able rivers, or where they have been accus-
tomed to pass for the purpose of transport-
ing themselves and their merchandise, nor
to prevent travellers from using wood and
water, or pitching their tents. The com-
pany could not maintain a right to an exclu-
sive trade. They had certain powers to act
in administering justice.

These opinions were given by Samuel
Romilly, G. S. Holroyd, W. M. Cruise, J.
Scarlett and John Bell, but on the other
hand the persons interested in the North-
west Company received opinions more
favorable to them from equally eminent
authorities.

Having extended his purchases of Hud-
son's Bay Company stock to the amount of
nearly £40,000 (the whole amount at that
time being about £100,000) he at once
asserted his controlling influence and re-
placed several members of the committee
by his relatives and friends. The general
conduction of the affairs of the company
immediately improved, but it was not for
some time apparent what was the final ob-
ject of his lordship. In May, 1811, a gen-
eral meeting of the shareholders was called
and those in attendance were informed that
the Governor and committee considered it
beneficial to their general interests to grant
to Lord Selkirk, in fee simple, about 116,-
000 square miles of territory in the Red
River valley, on condition that he should
establish a colony on the grant, and furnish,
on certain terms, from among the settlers,
such laborers as were required by -the com-
pany in their trade. Several shareholders
present (it is asserted by Ellice that all of
them) protested against this grantto Selkirk,
though it is significant that not less than
two of the dissentients were men who were
avowed agents of the Northwest Company,
and Mr. Halkett writes that two of these
persons had purchased their stock only
forty-eight hours before the meeting, their
object being to em harass the Hudson's
Bay Company so that the Northwest
Company would gain an advantage.

The boundaries of the district granted to
Lork Selkirk under these circumstances
were as follows:

"Beginning at the western shores of Lake
Winnipeg at a point on 52° 50' north lati-
tude, and thence running west to Lake

THE SELKIRK SETTLEMENT AND THE SETTLERS.

Winnipegoosis. otherwise called Little
Winnipeg; thence in a southerly direction
through said lake, so as to strike its west-
ern shore in latitude 52°; thence due west
to the place where the parallel 52° inter-
sects the western branch of the Red river,
otherwise called the Assiniboine river;
thence due south from that point of inter-
section to the heights of land which separ-
ate the waters running into the Hudson's
Bay from those of the Missouri and Missis-
sippi rivers; thence iu an easterly direction
along the height of land to the sources of
the River Winnipeg, meaning by such last-
named river the principal branch of the
waters which unite in the Lake Saginagas;
thence along the main stream of those
waters, and the middle of the several
lakes through which they flow, to the
mouth of the River Winnipeg, and thence
in a northerly direction through the middle
of Lake Winnipeg to the p'ace of begin-
ning, which territory is called Assiniboia. "

Certainly this was an extensive and val-
uable free gift, which cost the company,
twenty-five years later, some £25,000 to re-
gain possession of. It must, however, be
borne in mind that an enormous outlay of
money was necessary before the land would be
of any direct value, though the idea appears
to have been entertained by Lord Selkirk
that he could sell the lands in England for a
lump sum. This is indicated in the terms
of the prospectus which he prepared, and to
some extent circulated, though the asser-
tion has been made that it was not intended
for general circulation, but was composed
only for the edification and information of
some friends.

The shareholders who were opposed to
the grant, in their protest took strong ex-
ception in detail, on the following general
grounds: There was no adequate consider-
ation stipulated for between the company
and the earl. The land granted comprised
70,000 superficial miles, containing about
44,000,000 acres of the most valuable arable
land, and constituted no inconsiderable
portion of the company's capital stock.
That if it was necessary to sell the
land it should have been advertised.
That the Earl was not sufficiently bound to
settle the grant and that it would be diffi-
cult to people "a region 2,000 miles from
any seaport, and out of reach of all those
aids and comforts which are derived from
civil society." That no reason could be
seen for the grant but the endowing of
Lord Selkirk's posterity with an immensely
valuable landed estate. That private
'traffic would ensue between the Indians and
the settlers, to the injury of the company's
interests, and the settlement would become
an asylum for deserters from the traders.

This protest was signed on the 30th May,
1811, by Wm. Thwaits, Robert Whitehead,
John Inglis, John Fish, Edward Elllce and
Alex. Mackenzie, but nothing resulted from
it, and Lord Selkirk proceeded to carry out

his long cherished anddifficultundertakingof
transporting, to the banks of the Red river,
a large number of men, women and children.
The magnitude of the operation would have
appalled any less resolute person than
Selkirk, but he had experience in emigra-
tion, and was provided with means to carry
on such a formidable undertaking.

His lordship then issued an advertise
ment or prospectus which would,
in this age of land advertisements, serve as
a model. It describes the quantity and
cheapness of the lands, and points out that
if handled by what is in modern days
termed a "syndicate," they would bring
hundreds of thousands of pounds by retail-
ing in small lots, at an advance price, to
actual settlers, but owing to its remoteness
the whole tract is offered for the lump sum
of £10,000. The titl* is stated to be unex-
ceptionable, but the situation such that im-
mediate settlement must not be looked for,
and that reason is given why the price de-
manded is so low. It is proposed, as an
alternative, to form a joint stock company,
with a capital stock of £20,000, which will
sell land to actual settlers at reasonable fig-
ures. No Americans are to be accepted as
settlers, but special inducements are offered
to people from the highland of Scotland,
and some parts of Ireland, so that they will
not be lost to the Empire by emigration.
Religion is not made the ground of disquali-
fication, an unreserved participation in
every privilege is to be enjoyed by Pro-
testants and Catholics without distinction,
and it is proposed that in every parochial
division an allotment of land shall be
made for the perpetual support
of a clergyman of that persuasion which the
majority of the inhabitants adhere to. The
joint stock company must undertake to pro-
vide settlers with passage to the colony at
moderate rates, £10 being mentioned as an
estimate. Time accomodation is to be
allowed to settlers who would likely be
asked ten shillings per acre for the land, or
a rental of one shilling per annum in per-
petuity. The cultivation of hemp will be
encouraged as well as the growth of fine
wool, the plains affording a fine grass for
pasturage, possessed, in a natural state, by
no other part of British America. The
fleeces f om ten or twelve sheep will pay
for the rent of 100 acres. After ten or
twelve years the returns to the shareholders
may be expected to increase rapidly. "The
amount to which the profits may ultimately
arise seems almost to baffle imagination up-
on any principle of calculation which can
reasonably be adopted." «

Agents were sent to Ireland and the)
Highlands of Scotland to engage a number/
of servants, some for the Hudson's Bay
Company's service, and others to labor in
the colony; these were engaged for a term
of three years and to be sent ahead of the
settlers to prepare for their reception.
They were each to receive, at the expiration

THK SELKIRK SETTLEMENT AND THK SETTLERS.

of their contracts, 100 acres of land free of
cost.

The Hudson's Bay Company appointed
Mr. Miles Macdonm.il, formerly captain in
the British army, to be governor of the
district of Assiniboia, at some point in
which the settlement was to be formed, and
Lord Selkirk also nominated that gentleman
to direct the settlers and look after their
and his interests.

In the summer of 1811 the party, number-
ing about 90 persons, of both sexes and all
ages, gathered from Ireland and the north
of Scotland, were waiting at Stornoway, in
the Island of Lewis, ready for embarkation
on the ships of the Hudson's Bay Company,
which were sent annually to the posts on
the shores of Hudson's bay.

THE NORTHWEST COMPANY.

After the conquest of Canada, in 1761,
the fur countries to the west of Lake
Superior attracted the attention of Montreal
merchants, and traders, in a few years,
began to penetrate into the almost unknown
wilds of the western forests, prairies and
lakes. From the days of the intrepid pio-
neer La Verandrye, the fur trade had been
'•farmed out" by the French authorities,
but with the departed rule vanished the re-
strictions to the fur trade. Many of the
voyageurs and employees of the persons
trading in the interior under the French
licenses, remained on the plains of the Red
and Saskatchewan rivers, in the districts
where the trading posts had been situated,
having become so accustomed to the wild
savage life, and attached to the Indian
women with whom they lived, that they
preferred to adopt the customs and pursuits
of the Indians to returningtotheirold homes
on the St. Lawrence. McKenaie informs
us that for some years after the conquest
the Indians west of Lake Superior were
compelled to go down-to the posts of the
Hudson's Bay Co. at the Bay to obtain
their supplies of manufactured goods, the
trade from Canada being suspended. It
was not until 1766 that the first trader, un-
der the new order of affairs, arrived at the
Kaministiquia river. The next year Thomas
Curry pushed into the interior, with four
canoes laden with goods intended for the
Indian trade, and managed to reach the
Saskatchewan, from whence he returned
the following spring with a large quantity
of fine furs. Within a few years a number
of traders were competing for the furs se-
cured by the Indians of the Saskatchewan
and Athabasca, which trade had, for some
years previously, been carried to York
Factory on the Hudson Bay. The Hudson's
Bay Co. were compelled to take action, and
for the first time since their arrival in the
Bay, in 1670. after securing their charter,
they established a post in the interior.
On their account in 1774, Samuel
Hearne, who afterward explored
north from Churchill to the

Arctic Ocean, erected a fort at Sturgeon
Lake, an expansion of the Saskatchewan,
where ever since the company has main-
tained an establishment. When the Mon-
treal traders shortly after this time visited
the Red and Assiniboine rivers, they found
many French half-breeds, who claimed that
the country belonged to them as successors
of their Indian mothers. The traders were
compelled to pay tribute before they were
allowed to barter. In 1781 some traders at
Portage la Prairie, while preparing their
wintering houses, were attacked by the
Crees and Assiniboines, but with the loss of
three men they drove off the Indians, kill-
ing fifteen warriors and wounding many
others. The post was hastily abandoned.
The year before the Indians, during a
drunken squabble with the traders, as-
sembled at the Eagle Hills, on the Sas-
katchewan, had forced the whites to fly,
after several on both sides had been killed.
The smallpox appeared in 1781 amongst the
Indians all over the Northwest, and
thousands of the natives perished during
that and the succeeding year, completely
ruining the fur trade, and though they had
been reduced to two parties the traders suf-
fered great loss. In 1778 a trader named
Peter Pond represented a joint stock com-
pany and traded in the Athabasca country
with such success that he could find trans-
port to Lake Superior for only one-half of
his furs the following spring, but relying
on the honesty of the natives he left the
balance stored in his wintering house,
where, on his return the next season, he
found them intact. His success led, in
1783-4, to the formation of the original
Northwest Company, the merchants in-
etrested dividing the stock into sixteen
shares. Some traders, not satisfied with
their allotment, formed another company,
in which was interested Alexander Macken-
zie. These two interests competed for the
trade, and rivalry led to such hostile con-
duct that the result was murder and vio-
lence, which terminated in the union
of the companies in July, 1787.
The gross venture in 1788 amounted
to £40,000, covered by 22 shares.
In 1798, a new arrangement was entered
into, the number of shares being increased
to 42, but some of the old partners were
dissatisfied and formed a new company
called the X Y, of which Sir Alexander
McKenzie and Edward Ellice were the chief
members. The rivalry between these
companies, from 1798 to 1804, was very
great, especially on the Red and Assiniboine
rivers, but in the latter year an amalgama-
tion was effected. Alexander Henry, in
his unpublished journal, on the 1st January,
1805, writes at Pembina, where he was the
resident agent of the Northwest company,
"It was high time for amalgamation, as
every Indian on the river was a chief, and
goods were given gratis, except silver
works, strouds, and blankets. All the

Tm: SELKIRK SETTLEMENT AND THE SETTLERS.

Indians wore scarlet coats and had large
kegs and flasks. "

A manuscript inventory of the Northwest
Company, now in the archives of the Man-
itoba Historical Society, shows that the
company had for principal posts, in the
year 1798, throughout the country west of
Lake Superior, th« following situations:

Grand Portage (Lake Superior), Fort
Charlotte (9 miles west of Grand Portage)
Pembina River, Rainy Lake, English River,
Upper Fort Des Prairies, Fort St. Louis,
Cumberland House (the three last on the
Saskatchewan), Fort Dauphin, Swan River,
Athabasca, Churchill River, Red River,
Lake \V innipeg, Slave Lake, and several
posts in what is now Minnesota. The total
amount of the inventories amounted to
£44,819.

It is to be noticed that the Assiniboine,
though called so by the Indians from Assine
(stone) and boine, or poille (Sioux Indian),
was known to the early French traders as
the St. Charles, and to the Hudson's Bay
Company and North west Company employes
as the Upper Red River. The Selkirk
settlers refer to the river as the Osnaboine.
There were a large number of trading posts
on the Assiniboine at the beginning of the
present century — many more than on the
Red River.

This, then, was the condition of affairs on
the Red River. The Northwest Company
had a number of posts, their employss being
principally French Canadians and French
half-breeds, and were opposed in the fur
trade by the Hudson's Bay Company, who,
in the words of Henry, always followed
and never led them. Their traders were
scattered over the Northwest from Lake
Superior to the Pacific where the adven-
turous McKenzie had led them. They, fol-
lowing in the footsteps of their French pre-
decessors and extending their territories,
claimed by right of discovery, the privi-
lege of trading in the land that had re-
mained for long years in their undisputed
possession. The Hudson's Bay Co. while
claiming the whole of the lands to the head
waters of the streams flowing through any
connections into Hudson Bay, had never
ventured to make good their claim by es-
tablishing trading stations in this vast
country. At the date the Hudson's Bay Co.
sent Mr. Hearne to build Cumberland
House, their first inland post, the Montreal
traders were in full possession of the interior
trade, while a period of forty years had
elapsed since the French Canadians under
LaVerandrye had planted their forts on
'Lake Winnipeg and its tributary streams.
Though rivals in trade the officers and men
of the two companies were on good terms;
in many cases, on the Saskatchewan, one
enclosure surrounding the buildings
of both, only a fence or wall
separating the portion assigned to each.
Dances and other jollifications were given
by the presiding officer in either division of

the fort, and the amuse ments were partici-
pated in by the united population. To give
some idea of the number of persons housed
within the walls of such a fort as I have
described I extract from Henry's journal
that at the White Mud River House, on the
North Saskatchewan, in 1810, the North-
west Company had 28 men, 35 women and
72 children, 135 in all, while their neigh-
bors of the Hudson's Bay Company number-
ed 85 souls. It is interesting to note that
amongst the above-mentioned Northwest
people were to be found the names of Le
Pierrie, Cardinalle, Succier, Dumont, Des
Noyer, Nadeau, Deschamps and Parenteau.
I believe all these names are to be found
amongst the French Metis of to-day.

When Lord Selkirk began to arrange for
the planting of a settlement on the banks
of the Red River, the partners of the
Northwest Company, resident in England,
protested against such a course, and
placed every obstacle in their power in
the way of his Lordship, to prevent the
carrying out of his scheme. They acknow-
ledged that they had purchased Hudson's
Bay Company stock within forty-eight hours
of the general meeting at which the governor
and committee announced the bestowal of
the land grant of Assiniboia to Lord Sel-
kirk, and admit it was done as a means to
give them an opportunity to protest against
the grant. They claimed that Lord Selkirk's
object in forming such a colony on the Red
River was to break up their fur trade and
intercept them in their passage from Canada
to the Athabasca and Pacific coast. They
denied the rights of exclusive trade ad-
vanced by the Hudson's Bay Company, and
the legality of the charter of 1670, holding
that the French had possessed the country
before the conquest, and that after 1761
all British subjects came into possession of
the privileges enjoyed by the French traders.
They then, after "obtaining legal opinions,
like Selkirk, from eminent British
authorities, informed both the British
Government and the Hudson's Bay Com-
pany that they were determined to
maintain their rights and possessions,
while they did not acknowledge the power
of jurisdiction or exclusive rights claimed
by the Hudson's Bay Co., and would not do
so, until they received from the government
"a distinct intimation that these rights
were recognized and admitted by govern-
ment, and they would resist any attempts
to seize their property or persons, or to dis-
possess them of their trade, under these
pretences."

This was the position assumed by the
Northwest Co. when the first party of the
Selkirk settlers gathered at Stornoway, in
July, 1811.

THE COLONY GOVERNOR.

Documents published by the Canadian
archives office, inform us that Miles Mac-
donell, who was appointed by Lord Selkirk

THE SELKIRK SETTLEMENT AND THE SETTLERS.

as Governor of the colony, was born in In-
verness, Scotland, in 1767. He in after
years served as ensign in America in the
King's Royal Regiment of New York, re-
turning to Scotland in 1788, where he mar-
ried. In 1794 he was appointed lieutenant
in the second battalion of Royal Canadian
Volunteers, to which his lather, John Mac-
donell, Speaker of the Assembly of Upper
Canada, had been gazetted as captain. Two
years later he received his commission as
captain, and from 1800 to 1802 was sta-
tioned at Fort George (Niagara). On the
reduction of the force he lived in Glengarry,
part of his correspondence being dated at
Cornwall. Some of his grandchildren are
now residing at Brockville, Ont. He died
at Point Fortune on the Ottawa in 1828.
This was the man chosen by Lord Selkirk
to undertake the difficult task of superin-
tending the removal of the colonists to the
prairies of the Red River Valley. His ex-
perience in the wilds of Canada served him
iu good stead later on.

Lord Selkirk, in 1810, wrote to Canada
urging him to proceed to London, where he
would give him an appointment, the nature
of which he could not then communicate.
Capt. Macdonell went to join his lordship
and was immediately placed in charge of
the expedition.

THE COLONISTS EMBARK.

The colony servants and employes had
assembled at Stornoway to the numbei of
125, having been engaged in Ireland, the
Highlands of Scotland, the Orkneys, Glas-
gow and London. Most of these persons
were engaged as clerks and mechanics for
Lord Selkirk and the Hudson's Bay Co.'s
service, and it must be understood that, as
a rule in the after proceedings the Com-
pany's business matters and those of Sel-
kirk's colony were kept entirely distinct
from each other.

The followinginformaticn is extracted from
letters of Capt. Macdonell to Lord Selkirk,
which have only been made public within
this month.

A great deal of difficulty was experienced
in getting the people on board the ships,
which were the Prince of Wales, the Eddy-
stone, and the Edward and Anne. Mac-
Jonell had to apply to the captain of
the convoy for a party of marines, and it
was necessary to go through the ceremony
of having some impressed and put on board
that man-of-war, which was to accompany
them to Hudson's Bay. One man had en
listed with a military recruiting party, but
he was taken from the soldiers and shipped.
Five absconded, and were not recovered.
While the qaptain of the Edward and Anne
was on shore making his clearance from the
custom house, a Captain McKenzie, who
had been agent for the Hudson's Bay Com-
pany at Stornoway the year before, boarded
the vessel with a recruiting party and gave
ealiitiag mj.iay to som^ of tae man, but ha

and the soldiers were ejected from the
ship without the recruits. McKenzie then
awaited the arrival of the collector of cus-
toms and claimed some of the men, but was
not allowed to take them. On this vessel
were men from Glasgow, Ireland, and a few
from Orkney, numbering in all 76. After
mustering the passengers the collector of
customs (whose wife was an aunt of Sir
Alexander McKenzie) read the clause of
the Emigration Act regulating the provi-
sions for passengers, and a public declara-
tion made, that if any were unwilling to go
abroad they might go to the shore. Several
said they were not willing — many went
over the ship's side into McKenzie's boat —
one party ran away with the ship's boat,
but was brought back — one man jumped
into the sea and swam for it until he was
picked up by the recruiting boat. The
revenue cutter's boat was likewise engaged
in taking the unwilling, and to cap the
troubles of Macdonell, the collector took
ashore a number in his own boat. Mac-
donell could not see clearly if the fact of
the men bjing indentured servants excluded
them from the action of emigration act, and
so refrained from following them to compel
them to reship. He blamed Mr. Reid, the
collector, for all the trouble, and claimed
that person was influenced in his conduct
by Sir Alexander McKenzie and other in-
terested persons of the Northwest company
resident in England.

ARRIVAL AT YORK FACTORY.

At length on the 26th July the ships set
sail for York Factory, Hudson Bay, with
105 persons engaged tor colony work and
for the fur trade of the Hudson's Bay Co.,
90 of whom were workmen and 15 clerks
Some of the Irishmen were tur-
bulent during the early part of the
voyage, but the men from Glasgow gave
the niost trouble of all. The voyage cov-
ered 61 days and Macdonell writes that it
was the longest ever known, stormy
weather on the ocean being followed by fine
mild weather with moderate winds when
the bay was entered. The ships' captains
were incompetent, and the Edward and
Anne was wretchedly fitted for the voyage.
The colonists experienced fairly good health
and were drilled with arms, few of them
knowing how to fire off a gun. The effects
of the deserters at Stornoway were auc-
tioned off, and brought £27 sterling.

Messrs. Auld (superintendent) and Cook
(governor at York Factory) afforded the
party every assistance on their arrival and
informed Macdonell that a great number of
the Hudson's Bay Company's officers and
men were interested in the success of the
colony, and were looking forward to joining
it on their retirement from the service.
Orders had been sent to Red River to se-
cure provisions for the people on their arri-
val there in the following spring, the season
being too far advanced to allow of their go-

THK SELKIRK SETTLEMENT AND THE SETTLERS.

ing on that autumn. Macdonell had foreseen
this delay. News had been received that
the Red River had overflowed its banks in
the spring, a circumstance said to be a new
experience in that country.

ARTILLERY.

Two old iron swivel guns had been taken
from the stores of Lord Seaforth at
Stornoway, but Capt. Macdonald, not
satisfied with them, asked for some "sound
brass pieces," 3-pounders, with carriages,
etc., complete. Without doubt these guns
were sent, and transported to Red river, for
carriages in a state of decay and bearing
that date are still to be seen about the old

buildings of Fort Garry. A few years after,
the Northwest Company took possession of
nine cannon stored in the warehouse of
Lord Selkirk at what was termed the
"Government House," which a few months
later became Fort Douglas. These cannon
played a very prominent part in the history
of the Selkirk settlement from 1811 to as
late a date as 1870, when Riel, as President
of the Provisional Government, commanded
the situation largely through being in pos-
session of them. They are now scattered,
most of them being in the custody of private
individuals who use them to adorn their
lawns, or have consigned them to the
lumber heaps of their back yards.

SELKIRK GRINDSTONES.

THE FIRST GRIST MILL.

The stores intended for the settlement
were placed in the York Factory warehouse,
and mention is made by Macdonell of the
grindstones, some of which had, by an
error, been left on board the ships. It is
very probable, hewever, that the old-
fashioned grindstone now in possession
of the Manitoba Historical society, a cut of
which is herewith shown, was one of the*
identical stock landed that > ear. Eacli half is
about two feet in diameter and an inch and
a half thick. One stone being placed on the
other, the primitive handle was grasped by
the operator and the upper stone turned
round smartly, as the grain was poured into
the hole in the centre about the pivot pin,
the flour produced gradually working out-
ward between the stones. While a slow
and laborious process, in comparison with
the roller system of this day, many a bushel
of wheat was, by the exercise of patience
and muscle, run through this old-fashioned
mill, and furnished a strong and wholesome
food to the coloiiists.

WINTERING AT YORK FACTORY.

This first party of colonists was sent from
York Factory over to the Nelson River,
near Flamboro Head, where huts weie
erected for their accommodation, and a new
winter road cut out, reducing the distance
from 28 to 23 miles. The rations issued
daily comprised from one to two pounds of
venison, when obtainable, and a pint of
oatmeal, with an occasional allowance of
pease, barley and molasses. Bacon appears
on the requisitions drawn on the York
storehouse, but it was not used where
fresh meat was procurable. Scurvy soon
appeared, and on the 21st January, 1812,
23 men were down with it, but the exten-
sive use of spruce juice almost entirely re-
moved the evil.

By the 26th October the people moved
into the houses, which were built of logs,
with clay and moss-covered roofs. Plenty
of boards were obtained from an abandoned
house of the company on the opposite or
southern side of the Nelson River, not far
from Flamboro Head, so that; comfortable

THK SELKIRK SETTLEMENT ANJ> THE SETTLERS.

bunks and floors were constructed. Two
fences were erected, for a couple of miles in
extent, on each side of the river, with snares
placed in them for the purpose of catching
deer, which, however, did not arrive that
fall as was usual, but in March and April
a very large number were captured in the
snares, thousands crossing the river in the
early part of May. Supplies of provisions
were hauled on sleds from York Factory
each week, and, though the weather at
times was most severe, no accidents from
freezing happened. Macdonnell had hired
a man named Will Finlay at York in the
autumn, he being a discharged company's
servant. This man gave a great deal of
trouble to Macdonnell, for he instigated
some of the turbulent ones to resist all
authority and to refuse to do any work.

On New Year's day some of the Irishmen
made a violent attack on the Orkneymen,
three of whom were so brutally beaten that
their lives were despaired of for a month
afterward. The trouble arose from the fact
that a pint of rum had been served out to
each individual with which to celebrate the
day.

In February Finlay, who would not obey
orders and refused to do any work, was
removed to a hut built for the purpose
of confining him in, but on the first night he
occupied it thirteen men of the party as-
sembled and burnt the hut to the ground
amidst wild shouts of defiance.

The insurgents were summoned to appear
before Mr. Hillier, a magistrate who accom-
panied the colonists, and Capt. Macdonnell.
Nine of these people were Glasgow men and
the remaining four were young Orkney lads
who had been induced to join them. At
the examination they refused to submit to
the authority of the magistrates and con-
temptuously walked away, claiming that
they were not being treated according to the
promises made them by the agent at the
time of engaging. These malcontents were
given the choice between starving and haul-
ing their own provisions from York Fac-
tory, and were notified that they would be
sent back to Scotland for trial. In the
spring they obtained possession oi firearms,
but Mr. Auld, the superintendent of the
Hudson's Bay Company ejected them from
the fort, and refused to give them any pro-
visions until they surrendered their arms
and submitted, which they did shortly after,
and being separated went to work, and it
was decided not to return them to Scotland,
as their reports would have the effect of
preventing the enlisting of men for the ser-
vice.

Four new boats were built at York during
the winter, after the batteau pattern,
though much difficulty was experienced in
getting the Company's people to depart
from their regular models, which Macdonnell
claimed were not nearly so good, being only
22 feet in the keel, while his were 28 feet
long.

An Irish priest from Killala named
Bourke was the only clergyman with the
party, but he returned to Ireland, from
York, after spending the winter with Capt.
Macdonnell, who considered that while he
might make a good recruiting agent for the
colony in Ireland, did not think "he would
ever make a convert to the Catholic reli-
gion." Macdonuell was anxious to have a
prieat sent out, who would be well recom-
mended, but makes no allusion to supplying
a Presbyterian minister for the people of
that denomination, and who were expected
to be in the great majority in the future
colony.

In writing Selkirk from York, Macdon-
nell presses on His Lordship the necessity of
having martial law established in Assini-
boia, for, "within the tract all traders must
take out a license, which may answer a
good purpose with the Northwest Co." ^He
proposed to organize a company of fifty
men at the first outset, the troops to be
mounted so as to act as infantry or cavalry
as the service might require.

It is probable that the number of this
first party under Macdonnell has heretofore
been over-estimated by historians, for^vhile
most writers on the subject mention 70 as
the number, it is stated by Macdonnell in a
letter to Lord Selkirk, dated 4th July, 1812,
at York Factory, " 22 is my portion out of
49, all that are effective of last year's im-
portation. The people are so fluctuating
that I cannot yet send a list of my party.
A man of one nation is prejudiced against
Agoing with one of another. I shall go on
with any number, take possession of the
tract and hoist the standard." He left on
the 5th July tor the Red River.

ARRIVAL AT RKD RIVER.

It was about August or Sept., 1812, that |
these pioneers arrived at the Red River and
began the erection of dwellings and store-
houses on the west bank, about three-
quarters of a mile north of the mouth
of the Assiniboine; previous to which, _]
however, Governor Macdonnell ordered
all his people to assemble, and read his com-
mission as Lord Selkirk's representative and
governor. Ellice writes that a salute was
fired at the Hudson's Bay fort in the neigh-
borhood, the Indians assembled looking on
in silent wonder.

Though every exertion was put forth to
prepare for the approaching winter, it ap-
pears that some of the party were compelled
to live with the freemen in the neighbor-
hood, and the North-West Company's em-
ployees rendered great assistance to them,
furnishing goods and provisions .for their
support. In the spring of 1813 Governor
Macdonnell also procured from the North-
Westers, potatoes, barley, oats, garden
seeds, four cows, a bull, pigs, fowls, etc.,
articles which the traders could ill afford to
spare, though at each of their posts on the
Red river a quantity of vegetables were
raised for their own use.

10

THE SELKIRK SETTLEMENT AKD THE SETTLERS.

A small party of colonists arrived at
York Factory in the autumn of 1812, and
worked through to the settlement the next
year. There was a strong spirit of insub-
ordination exhibited by these people
on the voyage to York Factory and a con
spiracy was entered into to seize the vessel
and sell her in some foreign country. The
captain armed his men and with the assist-
ance of some cannon loaded with grape shot
subdued the uprising. Most of these emi-
grants were engaged as laborers and ser-
vants, and came from Scotland and Ireland.
Several families were in the party.

Finding, on their arrival at the settlement
on the Red river, that it would be impossi-
ble to provide provisions for them during
the following winter, the colonists were sent
up the Red river to the mouth of the Pem-
bina, where^on the south side, they erected
huts and enclosed them with palisades.
This place was named Fort Daer, after Lord
Selkirk, who was Baron Daer. Here they
had their headquarters, though many of
them were forced to join with the plain
hunters engaged in killing buffalo to supply
the trading posts. The hardships endured
by some were extreme, and as they were not
provided with horses the stalking of buffalo
for their subsistence was a dangerous and
precarious mode of hunting.

The journals of the Northwesters, at the
various posts, contain many notes of the
supplies and assistance afforded to even the
employees of the Hudson's Bay Company in
the early days of this country,, and it may
well be imagined that the colonists, unac-
customed to the life and climate and not
properly clad in suitable garments, suffered
intensely. In reviewing fairly 'the events
that succeeded this generous conduct of the
Northwesters, it will add to one's percep-
tion of the true situation, if these acts are
not lost sight of, for many outrageous
charges have been preferred against the
people of the Northwest company.

The colonists who wintered ut Pembina
returned to the colony in the spring and
continued their efforts to cultivate the
clearings near the bank of the river. Much
of what is now open land or prairie, was at
that date covered with timber or scrubby
bushes. There seems to be no doubt
that Lord Selkirk, or his managers, were
somewhat negligent in not providing horses
for the settlers to work their farms. Horses
were to be had in plenty from the Assini-
boine and other Indians, for the North-
westers for fifteen years previous had
obtained and. regularly used horses at their
establishments, and the free hunters were
equally well supplied. The colonists were
compelled to break the ground with hoes
and clear away the scrub as best they
I, could.

In the early part of this year (1814) a
large number of emigrants sent out by Lord
Selki" k the previous summer, arrived at
the Red River settlement. They had been

landed at Churchill on the 13th August
after an eventful voyage, during which
fever raged on board. They were sent
up the Churchill River about fifteen
miles, where log houses were erected
and to this place during the winter their
rations were drawn on flat sleds from the
fort. Owing to some disagreement about
hunting grouse, which were abundant during
the winter, Mr. Auld, the officer of the
Hudson's Bay Company, demanded and ob-
tained the locks from the guns owned by
the colonists, and they were unable to lay
in stores of these birds.

After a severe winter the larger portion
ef the party were sent to York Factory,
leaving Churchill in April. All their pro-
visions and baggage had to be drawn by
themselves on sleds, snowshoes be-
ing in general use. At York
they arrived, after suffering ter-
ribly, and were then established in huts,
after which time, the spring opening, they
obtained an abundance of fresh venison and
feathered game, upon which they principally
subsisted until they started on the voyage
up the rivers to Lake \Yinnipeg and on to
the colony settlement, after having been
joined by the remainder of the party, con-
sisting chiefly of elderly persons who had
been carried by boats from Churchill to
York later in the spring.

The population of the settlement
was now about two hundred, and
another addition was made to it
the next year (1815), the circumstances
relating to which will be dealt with later
on, as it is here necessary to notice the
first occasion on which the Northwest Co.
and Governor Macdonnell came into con-
flict.

On the 8th of January, 1814, Macdonnell
issued a proclamation, which, after reciting
the fact that the Hudson's Bay Co. had
ceded to Lord Selkirk the territory of
Assiniboia, and that his Lordship had duly
appointed Miles Macdonnell to be gov-
ernor of the same, continued as
follows: "And whereas, , the welfare
of the families at present forming
settlements on the Red River within
the said territory, with those on
their way to it, passing the winter at York
or Churchill Forts, in Hudson's Bay, as
also those who are expected to arrive next
autumn, renders it a necessary and indis-
pensable part of my duty to provide for
their support. In the yet uncultivated
state ot the country, the ordinary resources
derived from the buffalo and other wild ani-
mals hunted within the said territory, are
not deemed more than adequate for the
requisite supply; wherefore it is hereby or-
dered that no person trading in furs or
provisions within the territory for the
Honourable Hudsoa's Bay Com-
pany, the North-West Company,
or any individual or unconnected traders or
persons whatever, shall take out any pro-

THE SELKIRK SETTLEMENT AND THE SETTLERS.

II

visions, either of flesh, dried meat, grain or
vegetables, procured or raised within the
said territory, by land or water carriage, for
one twelve months irom the date hereof,
save and except what may be judged neces-
sary for the trading parties at this preseut
within the territory to carry them to their
respective destinations, and who may on
due application to me obtain a license for
the same. The provisions procured and
raised as above shall be taken for the use of
the colony, and that no loss may accrue to
the parties concerned they will be paid
for by British bills at the customary rates.
And be it hereby further made known, that
whosoever shall be detected in attempting
to convey out, or shall aid or assist in con-
veying out, or attempting to carry out, any
provisions prohibited as above, either by
land or water carriage, shall be taken into
custody and prosecuted as the laws in such
cases direct, and the provisions so taken, as
well as any goods or chattels of what
nature soever, which may be takes along
with them, and also the craft, carriages anct
cattle, instrumental in conveying away the
same, to any part but the settlement on Red
River, shall be forfeited.

Given under my hand at ForJi_J}aer,
(Pembina), the 8th day of JanuaryMSjT,)
[Signed.] MILES MACDONNELL,

Governor.

By order of the Governor.

[Signed.] JOHN SPENCER,

Secretary.

To understand what would be the effect
of the carrying out of the terms of this
proclamation to the Northwest company,
it is necessary to be aware of the fact that a
large number of hunters were kept at their
Red River and Assiniboine posts, to capture
buffalo . and make the dried
meat and pemioan which was shipped to
Lake Winnipeg to, provision the army of
boatmen engaged in. carrying out to Lake
Superior the produce of the winter's trade
throughout the whole vast country west and
north, extending even to the Pacific ocean,
and also to return the incoming crews in the

r autumn to the*upper stations. This supply
of provisions once cut off the fur trade of
the Northwest .Company would be destroyed
or carried on only at and immense an ruinous
expenditure of capital.

Governor Macdonnell took immediate
steps to follow up his proclamation by seiz-
ing provision-stores of the Northwest Com-
pany, and trouble ensued which led to open
antagonism between the rival interests.

THE TROUBLES COMMENCE.

The proclamation of Governor Macdonnell
was posted throughout the district and also
notices of it served on the officers in charge
of liar posts of the Northwest Company.

On the 15th March, 1814, a party of men
at the Selkirk establishment was detailed
to enforce the provisions of the proclama-
tion. Arms were served out by John

Spencer, who had been appointed sheriff by
Governor Macdonnell, and the detachment
was sent to the plain south of Pembina,
near Turtle River, where a band ~~
of Freemen had accumulated a
quantity of pemican and dried meat.
When this armed body arrived on the scene
(it will be noticed that no attention was
paid to the fact that this place was in the
United States) the Freemen were disposing
of these provisions to some traders in the
service of the Northwest Co. A Mr. War-
ren and Michael Macdonnell had charge of
the Selkirk people, and they at once order-
ed their men to fix bayonets and load their
muskets with ball cartridge. This done
they by force seized the provisions and took
them to the Selkirk Settlement.

Again on the 5th of June Sheriff Spencer,
with an armed force, proceeded to
Brandon House, an establishment of
the Northwest Co., and after cutting
down some palisades entered the fort, broke
open the doors of the warehouse and seized
605 packages of pemican and other provis-
ions, the product of the past season's hunt,
which it was intended to transport to Lake
Winnipeg and elsewhere to feed the voya-
geurs from the vast inland districts en route
to Fort William.

It was for these acts of violence, the first — \
which occurred in the district, that Gov.
Miles Macdonnelland his sheriff, John Spen-
cer, were afterwards arrested and sent down
to Canada for trial under a warrant issued by
A. N. McLeod, a justice of the peace for
the Indian Territory, and a partner of the
Northwest Company.

A few weeks after the seizure of the pro-
visions, the traders of the Northwest Com-
pany began to arrive from the detached
posts, only to find that no rations remained
to accompany their brigades of boats to Fort
William. Instead of asserting their su-
periority by force of arms, they quitely
conferred with Governor Macdonnell, and
agreed to return during the next winter any
quantity of provisions he would then give
them to enable them to proceec to Lake
Superior. Macdonnell accordingly handed
over some of their own pemican, and
they went on their journey to the
great gathering of the Northwest Company,
which took place annually at Fort William.
Certainly the Northwesterns restrained
their natural feelings in a wonderful man-
ner in acting so moderately as they did
under the circumstances.

THE NORTHWESTERS DETERMINE TO RESIST.

At the annual meeting of the partners at
Fort William, it was decided to resist all
future attempts of Gov. Macdonnell in inter-
rupting the trade of the Northwest Com- ^
pany, and evidently they also arranged a
scheme which, if successfully carried out,
would break up the Selkirk colony by
depopulating it. Duncan Cameron was
sent to take charge of the Northwest Go's

1-2

THE SKLKIRK SETTLEMENT AND THE SETTLERS.

interests at Ft. Gibraltar, on the Red River,
and Alexander McDonell was despatched in
a like capacity to Brandon Brandon House
and the Qu'Appelle river establishments.

Arriving in August, 1814, at their posts
they learned that in June, Gov-
ernor Macdonnell had sent a party
of 25 men, armed with muskets
and bayonets, up the Assiniboine river, one
day's journey from the colony, where, in
expectation that the Northwest Co. would
send down provisions by boats, they camped
and planted a loaded cannon on the bank
to force a surrender of the stores. They
succeeded a few days afterwards in seizing
90 sacks of pemican. the property of the
North Westers, and in capturing some em-
ployees, who were taken as prisoners to the
settlement, but soon released. On this oc-
casion some of the Selkirk people refused to

strange that from the moment
they arrived at York Factory this tale of
the Indians attacking them had been dinned
into their ears, first by the servants of the
Hudson's Bay Co. (as written by Governor
Macdounell himself), and at this time by the
Northwest people. The truth is, that the
Indians weie almost from the first extremely
friendly to the settlers, hunting for them and
later on offering to fight for them if neces-
sary.

GOVERNOR MACDONNELL ISSUES PROCLAMA-
TIONS.

But Cameron was not allowed to thus
entice away the colonists without resistance
from Governor Macdonnell, who closely
guarded the interests of his noble patron.
On the 21st of October, 1814, two months
aftei Cameron's arrival, Macdonnell issued
and served the following notice:

SKLKIRK SIEVE, OF RAWHIDE, KOK CLKAMNC WHEAT

act as constables, giving as a reason that
the North Westers had saved them from
starving after their arrival at the settlement,
and they were not going to make such a
poor return.

DUNCAN CAMERON.

Duncan Cameron was, as I am informed
by a Selkirk settler still living, "a fine old
gentleman," much liked by the settlers.
He at once afcer his arrival ingratiated him-
self with the Selkirk settlers, invited them
to dine with him, and during the winter, by
promises of lands and employment for them
' in Canada, he succeeded in inducing a
number to consent to abandon the colony,
and accept the offer made by the Northwest
Co., of a free passage. It is alleged that he
also frightened the settlers by pretending
that he had information that the Indians
would attack them during the next summer
it they remained. It was a hard
trial for the settlers, and it is

"DISTRICT OF ASSINIBOIA.
"To Duncan Cameron, acting for the North-
west company at the forks of the Red
river :

"Take notice that by the authority and on
the behalf of your landlord, the Right Hon.
Thomas, Earl of Selkirk, I do hereby warn
you, and all your associates of the North west
company, to quit the post and premises you
now occupy at the forks of the Red river
within six calendar months from the date
hereof."

Similar notices were served an the other
Northwest Company's officers in charge of
posts, and a very bitter feeling engendered in
consequence. Towards spring several col-
lisions took place between the men of the
two companies, each side claiming to be
innocent of the charges made by the other.

THE SETTLERS SEIZE SELKIRK'S CANNON.

Duncan Cameron had arrested Sheriff

THE SELKIRK SETTLEMENT AND THE SETTLERS.

13

Spencer in the autumn and sent him down to
Rainy Lake, and on the 3rd April, 1815,
during the temporary absence of Miles Mac-
donnell from the setclement, he notified
Archibald McDonald, who was acting for
the governor, to hand over to the settlers
the cannon "which had already been em-
ployed to disturb the peace of his Majesty's
loyal subjects in this quarter," not with a
view of making any hostile use of them, but
to place them out of harm's way. He had
by this time seduced the majority of the
settlers from Gov. Macdonnell, and on
leaving this matter to them, the next morn-
ing they broke open the Selkirk warehouse
and forcibly took possession of the nine
cannon stored there, and drew them on
sleds to Fort Gibraltar. On Gov. Macdon-
nell's return, which was shortly after the
seizure of the cannon, he issued a warrant
to search for and recover the stolen pro-
perty, but Cameron would only permit

ern Canada, where many of their descend-
ants may now be found, residing principally
in the counties of Elgin and Middlesex.

After their departure the Northwesters
so worked on the fears of the remaining
settlers, numbering about fifty, that they
became discouraged. Lord Selkirk's
friends have stated that their horses were
stolen, cattle driven away and their persons
threatened with violence, so that about the
25th of June (1815) most of them embarked
in their boats and proceeded down the Red
River and across Lake Winnipeg to Jack
Fish River (now Norway House) where they
remained until August, when they were
joined by Colin Robertson and twenty voy-
ageurs sent by Lord Selkirk from Montreal
to assist the colonists.

SOME COLONISTS RETURN.

They returned to their old home on the
19th August, when they found that most of

FORT DOUGLAS.

four of the searching party to enter
Fort Gibraltar and then refused to allow a
search to be made, enforcing his refusal by
arming his men to resist. Then a large
number of the Selkirk colonists deserted the
settlement and went over to the Northwest
fort, and when one of their number was ar-
rested by the Governor's warrant, • the
deserters, with the Northwest servants,
rescued him by force.

GOVERNOR MACDONNELL ARRESTED.

A series of petty hostilities were engaged
in during the next month, and Governor
Macdonnell was finally arrested under the
wan ant issued by A. N. McLeod the
autumn previous, and carried down to
Montreal for trial, but on his arrival there
the partners of the Northwest Co. decided
not to prosecute him and he was liberated.

SELKIRK COLONISTS ABANDON THE SETTLE-
MENT.

In June 140 ol the Selkirk colonists
packed up and were transported by the
Northwest Company free of charge to \Vest-

their houses had been destroyed. They
re-occupied the remaining dwellings
and exerted themselves to build
anew as well as gather in the
crops left standing, which luckily
had been preserved by the Hudson's
Bay Co.'s men, who remained on the spot to
look after the trading interests of the Com-
pany. Over 1500 bushels of wheat, some
other grain, and a large stock of potatoes
were house-1. It was at this time that the
site of the residence of the Selkirk governor,
with the buildings about it, was named
Fort Douglas, after his lordship.

THE FOURTH PARTY OF EMIGRANTS.

Lord Selkirk's agents were working in
Sutherlandshire, Scotland, and in the spring
ot 1815 a large party of emigrants had been
secured, the majority of them hailing from
the Parish of Kildonan. Some of these people
had sufficient ready money to pay over to
his lordship the sum of £10 for passage to
the Red river. Others, not so fortunate,
agreed to engage as servants for the colony

14

THE SELKIRK SETTLEMENT AND THE SETTLERS.

H

KEY.
1. Fort Rouge — built by LaVerandrye about

1736.
The Forks— built by Northwest Company

about 1803.

Fort Gibraltar — built by Northwest Com-
pany about 1806.

Destroyed by Lord Selkirk's
agents in 1816. Rebuilt by
Northwest Company about
1817; occupied by H. B. Co.
after amalgamation with
Northwest Company in 1821
and on April 18th, 1822, its
name was changed by Sir Geo.
Simpson, the H. B. Co. gover-
nor, to Fort Garry.
Fort Garry, a new tort built by
Governor Pelly, but destroyed
by the great flood of 1826. It
was rebuilt by Governer Pelly
in 182G, and afterwards was
used as buildings for a model
farm.

2. H. B. Go's store.gorj perhaps fort. In

use prior to arrival of Selkirk colon-
ists in 1812.

3. Government House of the Selkirk Col-

ony, afterwards (in the fall of 1815)
it was named Fort Douglas. 1812-
1826.

4. The last Fort Garry built by Governor

Christie in 1835 36.

5. Stables bailt for model farm about 1840.

6. Grove of trees beside present residence of

Ex-Mayor Logan, where Governor
Semple and his party were buried
after the Seven Oakes tragedy in
June, 1816.

7. Hudson's Bay Company's fort fpartly

built by Peter Fidler in 1817,and fin-
ished by James Sutherland in 1819.
It was situated between McDermot
and Notre Dame street east, a few
hundred yards back from the bank of
the Red River. It was in use cer-
tainly in 1821, Joseph Bird being the
chief factor in charge.

THE SELKIRK SETTLEMENT AND THE SETTLERS.

15

until such time as they could pay off their
indebtedness on this score. About seventy-
two persons embarked at Stromness on
board the Hedlow, which set sail on June
17, 1815, in company with two ships of the
Hudson's Bay Co., all the vessels being
under the care of a sloop of war to protect
them from the French privateers. The
colonists were accompanied by James
Sutherland, who, previous to their
departure, had been an elder in
the Established Church of Scotland,
and had been duly licensed to marry, bap-
tise, and perform the duties of a preacher
and spiritual guide to the colonists. He
remained at the settlement for two or three
years and removed to Canada. Landing at
York Factory on the 18th August, they
immediately after set out on the arduous
voyage of some 700 miles to the colony,
which place they reached on the oth of
Novemoer.

GOVERNOR SEMPLE.

With this last-mentioned party of settlers
came Robert Somple, who bad, under a new
arrangement for conducting their busi-
ness in the territories, been ap-
pointed governor in chief by
the Hudson's Lay Co. He was from all
accounts a most amiable man and a warm
friend of the colonists, whose interests he
looked after to the best of his ability under
the distressing circumstance that provisions
were scarce and difficult to obtain. The
colonists were again compelled to proceed to
Fort Daer (Pembina) to winter, and on their
arrival there found that the buffalo were far
distant. Many of them proceeded on orer
a hundred miles dtiringtne early winter to
the locality where the Freemen and Indians
were hunting the buffalo. A miserable
winter was passed by the poor people, who,
of course, were of little service in their new
occupation of running the bison. Once
more the M etis and Indian extended their
hospitality to the Buffering colonists.

Colin Robertson had been selected by
Lord Selkirk to organize an expedition to
the Athabasca in 1815, and that gentleman
proceeded to Montreal and secured a large
number of voyageurs to accompany him to
that remote district, which was outside the
bounds of the territory claimed by the
Hudson's Bay Company as their exclusive
preserve. The object of this move was to
compete with the Northwest Co. in the fur
trade of those regions, and if possible ruin
them. This once gained, the fur trade of
the whole Northwest would practically be
left in their hands. Colin Robertson, how-
ever, only accompanied his brigade as far
Lake Winnipeg, where he met the Selkirk
colonists evicted by Duncan Cameron and
his men. He at once returned to the Red
River with the colonists, as mentioned
above, leaving the Athabasca expedition to
proceed on its way. Of this ill-fated ex-
pedition it is only necessary to say here
that no preparation having been

made for their reception at Athabasca,
they were reduced to the utmost extremity
for food, and while searching for provisions
seventeen out of a party of eighteen
starved to death. The survivors of the
main body, in many cases, owed their lives
to assistance rendered by the North
Westers.

SEIZURE OF DUNCAN CAMERON.

Colin Robertson took an active part in
the scenes enacted in the settlement during
the winter of 1815-16.

In October Robertson made a prisoner of
Cameron and took him to Ft. Douglass, at
the same time taking possession of Ft. Gib-
raltar. The charge laid against Cameron
was that ot having enticed away
the colonists in the early part of
the summer. Having detained him
as a prisoner for some days, and searched
his fort for the cannon and arms taken by
the colonists from Fort Douglas the pre-
vious spring, he was set at liberty. Gunn,
in his history of Manitoba, informs us that
on this occasion Cameron was horse-
whipped while a loaded pistol was held to
his head.

In the early part of March, 1816, Govenor
Semple left the settlement on a tour of in-
spection of the posts of the Hudson's Bay
Co., situated in the interior, and did
not return until some time in June.

CAPTURE OF FORTS GIBRALTAR AND PEM-
BINA.

As soon as Governor Semple disappeared,
Colin Robertson, as acting governor, began
to work mischief. On the night of the 17th
of March, 1816, he headed an armed party
from Fort Douglas, and broke into Fort
Gibraltar, where, on entering the master's
house, he found Duncan Cameron and his
clerks. Making prisoners of them all, Rob-
ertson proceeded to remove everything in
the establishment down to Fort Douglas,
the furs afterward being sent to York Fac-
tory. On the 19th of March more men and
cannon were placed in the Northwest
fort, and, the winter express from
the interior posts arriving, it was
seized and the letters opened by Robertson.
Finding it to be too much trouble to guard
so many prisoners, the Selkirk people lib-
erated most of the Northwest Co. s servants,
who, at this most inclement, season, had to
seek out friends amongst the Freemen on
the plains to secure a living.

Three days after this assault at Fort Gib-
raltar, another armed body of the Selkirk
people captured Fort Pembina, taking about
ten prisoners and a very large quantity
of provisions. At Pembina quantities
of potatoes and other field vegetables
were cultivated yearly by the Northwest
Co. for the use of their posts, their fields
having been first cultivated in 1801. The
prisoners taken here were sent in bonds to
Fort Douglas.

Later on, in April, an attack was made

1(5

THE SELKIRK SETTLEMENT AND THE SETTLERS.

011 the Northwest Company's fort at the
Qu'Appelle River, but Alexander McDonel,
who was in charge, gave the beseigers such
a hot reception that they retired in bad
order.

Though the Northesters had offered no
violence during these aggravated attacks
of Robertson, Alexander McDonel,
always known in the country as "White
Headed McUonel," sent word appealing to
the distant posts, urging the Northwesters
to come to his assistiiice. He was aware
that the guns of fort Douglas commanded
the Red River and his ultimate capture,

at York Cameron was placed on board ship
for England, but owing to the lateness of
the season had to be taken back to James
Bay, where the crew wintered, but proceed-
ed to London in the next summer (1817),
where he was set at liberty, without trial,
neither party desiring to take the case into
an English court on account of the position
of affairs at that time. Cameron afterwards
returned to Canada.

DESTRUCTION OF FORT GIBRALTAR.

In the early part of April the Selkirk
authorities razed Fort Gibraltar to the

A SELKIRK CANNON, SINCE REMOUNTED.

with that of all his provisions and furs,
would follow an attempt to descend the
Assiniboine from Q'uAppelle, and perceived
that it was only by procuring a large force
of men to assist him that he could carry his
produce through to Fort William in the
/Nspring. After gathering a party
together he turned the tables
on Robertson by capturing some
Hudson's Bay Co.'s boats, laden with furs
and pemican, as they descended the Assini-
boine. Messengers carried news of this
event to Fort Douglas and Colin Robertson
started for York Factory in a boat, taking
with him, as prisoner, Duncan Cameron. It
may be here mentioned that on their arrival

ground, carrying away the timbers to Fort
Douglas to strengthen that establishment,
and fire was set to the remains. To-day,
in the river bank, at the point between the
Red and Assiniboine rivers, where Fort
Gibraltar stood, may be seen the charred
wood, ashes and debris of the burnt fort.

In April, also, the colonists returned by
river from Pembina, and began the cultiva-
tion of their patches of cleared land. It
has been frequently referred to that while
the colonists were but poorly supplied with
agricultural teols, using vhe hoe instead of
the plow, that care had been taken by Sel-
kirk to send along cannon and muskets in
abundance.

TIIK SKI.KIKK SKTTI.KMKNT AND TIIK S

This was the state of affairs up to the
middle of June, 1816, when a most deplor-
able and atrocious act was committed,
which again broke up the colony and sent a
score of men to their graves.

THK KILLING OK GOV. SEMPLE AN'U TWENTY
MKN.

On Governor Semple's return to Fort
Douglas, from visiting the inland posts of
the Hudson's Bay Co., in June, 1816, he
again assumed the direction of affairs, which
had been temporarily managed by Colin
Robertson. That he did not altogether ap-
prove of the management during his
absence is learned from the testi-
mony of an eye-witness, yet liv-
ing, in the person of Donald Murray, who
informs me that Robertson was in great
disfavor with the Settlement and Hudson's
Bay Co. officials, and when, on hearing of
the probability of an attack by the North-
westers, he started for York Factory in a
boat, taking Duncan Cameron, a prisoner,
he insultingly hoisted a pemican sack as an
ensign instead of the British flag, which
was the usual one used on such occasions.

Word was received at the settlement that
the Northwesters were determined to de-
stroy both it and the settlers. On the 17th
of June, Peguis, chief of the Swampy In-
dians, residing in the district about the
mouth of the Red river, waited en Governor
Semple to offer the services of his men,
some seventy in number, to assist in
protecting the colonists. This proffered
assistance was declined with thanks by
Semple, who did not foresee the occurrences
of the succeeding two days.

Alex. McDonel sent a party of about sixty
Canadians and half-breeds with a few
Indians, mounted on horseback and bearing
some provisions, across by land from the
Assiniboine, to the Red river, the route
followed faking them along the edge of the
swamps, about two miles out on the prairie
from Fort Douglas, and from that point
gradually drawing nearer to the mam high-
way, which is now the northern continua-
tion of Winnipeg's Main street, until it
joined the latter at a spot known as "Seven
Oaks," on account of seven oak trees grow-
ing there, within a hundred yards or so
south of a small coolie, now called Inkster's
creek. One half of the Metis had arrived
at the coolie and passed on to Frog Plain
(Kildonan church prairie), taking two or
three settlers prisoners to prevent their
giving the alarm, when the remainder were
discovered by a sentinel, placed in the
watch tower of Fort Douglas, with a tele-
scope. He immediately gave an alarm, and
Governor Semple left the fort with a small
party of company's servants to intercept
the Metis, whom he met at Seven Oaks as
they arrived at the highway. Semple had
by this time, been joined by some of his
servants and officials, so that he arrived on
the scene with about 28 companions.

It is difficult to get at the exact truth of
what followed this meeting of the rival
traders. A host of affidavits are on record
made by men on both sides, who, while
agreeing in the main particulars, disagree as
to details. However, herewith is given a
version of the affair emanating from each side.
The first is an affidavit made by John
Pritchard, who had been in the service of
both the X Y and Northwest companies,
but in 1816 was a resident of the Selkirk
settlement. He was the father of the Rev.
S. Pritchaid, and grandfather of the Rev.
Canon Matheson, of this city.

"On the afternoon of the 19th of June,
1816, a man in the watch-house called out
that the half-breeds were coming. The',
governor, some other gentlemen and myself
looked through spy-glasses, and I distinctly
saw some armed people on horseback pass-
ing along the plains. A man then called
out, 'They (meaning the half-breeds) are
making for the settlers,' on which the gov-
ernor said, 'We must go out and meet these
people; let twenty men follow me.' We
proceeded cown the old road leading down
the settlement. As we were going along we
met many of the settlers running to the fort,
crying, 'The half-breeds ! the half-breeds !'
When we were advanced about three-quar-
ters of a mile along the settlement, we saw
some people on horseback behind a point of
woods. On our nearer approach the party
seemed more numerous, on which the gov-
ernor made a halt and sent for a field piece,
which, delaying to arrive, he ordered us to
advance. We had not proceeded far before
the half-breeds, on horseback, with their
faces painted in the most hideous manner,
and in the dresses of Indian warriors, came
forward and surrounded us in the form of a
half moon. We then extended our line and
moved more into the open plain, and as
they advanced we retreated a few steps
backward, and then saw a Canadian named
Boucher ride up to us waving his hand and
calling out, "What do you want?" The
governor replied, 'What do yon want?' To
which Boucher answered, 'We want our
fort.' The governor said, 'Go to :your
fort.' They were by this time near each
other, and consequently spoke too low for
me to hear. Being at some little distance
to the right of the governor, I saw him take
hold of Boucher's gun, and almost immedi-
ately a general discharge of fire arms took
place, but whether it began on our side, or
that of the enemy, it was impossi-
ble to distinguish. My attention was then
directed towards my personal defence.
In a few minutes almost all our people were
either killed or wounded. Captain Rogers,
having fallen, rose up again and came to-
wards me' when, not seeing one of our party
who was net either killed or disabled, I
called out to him, 'For God's sake give
yourself up !' He ran towards the enemy for
that purpose, myself following him. He
raised up his hands, and, in English, and

18

THK SELKIRK SKTTI.KMK.XT AND TIIK SETTI.KKS.

broken French, called for mercy. A half-
breed (son of Col. William McKay) shot
him through the head, and another cut open
his belly with a knife with the most horrid
imprecations. Fortunately for me, a Cana-
dian (named Lavigne), Joining his entreaties
to mine, saved me (though with the greatest
difficulty) from sharing the fate of my friend
at that moment. After this I was reserved
from death, in the most providential man-
ner, no less than six different times on my
way to and at the Frog Plain (the head-
quarters of these cruel murderers), I there
saw Alexander Murray and his wife, two
of William Bannerman's children and Alex-
ander Sutherland, settlers, and likewise
Antony McDonnell, a servant, were prison-
ers, having been taken before the action
took place. With the exception of myself,
nc quarter was given to any of us.
The knife, axe or ball, put a period to the
existence of the wounded; and on the bodies
of the dead were practiced all those barbar-
ities which characterize the inhuman heart
of the savage. The amiable and mild Mr.
Semple, lying on his side (his thigh having
been broken) and supporting his head upon
his hand, addressed the commander of our
enemies, by inquiring if he was Mr. Grant;
and being answered in the affirmative, 'I
am not mortally wounded,' said Mr. Sem-
ple; 'and if you get me conveyed to the
fort, I think I should live. ' Grant promised
he would do so, and immediately left him
in the care of a Canadian, who afterwards
told that an Indian of their party came up
and shot Mr. Semple in the breast. I en-
treated Grant to procure me the watch, or
even the seals, of Mr. Semple, for the pur-
pose of transmitting them to his friends,
but I did not succeed. Our force amounted
to twenty-eight persons, of whom twenty-
one were killed and one wounded, the
governor, Captain Rogers, Mr. James
'"hite, surgeon, Mr. Alexander McLean,
settler, Mr. Wilkinson, private secretary to
the governor, and Lieutenant Holt, of the
Swedish navy, and fifteen servants were
killed. Mr. J. P. Bourke, storekeeper, v>as
wouuvled, but saved himself by flight.
The enemy, I am told, were sixty-two
persons, the greater part of whom were the
contracted seivanta and clerks of the North-
west company. They had one man killed,
and one wounded. The chiefs, who headed
the party of our enemy, were Messrs. Grant
and Fraser, Antoine Hoole and Bourrassa;
the two former clerks and the two latter
interpreters, in the service of the Northwest
Company."

The above declaration and the following
are published in a book entitled "State-
ment respecting the Earl of Selkirk's set-
tlement, etc.," written by Selkirk's rela-
tive, a Mr. Halkett, a director of the Hud-
son's Bay Co. committee, and it is from this
source that most historians have drawn
their information relating t9 the Selkirk
side of the case.

The man named Boucher, mentioned by
Pritchard in his affidavit, was taken as a
prisoner to Montreal, and while there made
the following declaration, on the 29th Ang.,
1816, before a justice of the peace:

"Voluntary declaration of Francois Fir-
min Boucher, accused on oath of having, on
the 19th of last June, killed at the colony
of the Red River, twenty-one men, ainoiit.'
whom was Gov. Semnle, says: 'That he
did not kill any person whatever; that he
was sent, four days before the death of Gov-
ernor Semple, by one of the partners of the
Northwest Company, Mr. Alexander Mc-
Donell, from Portage la Prairie, to carry
provisions to Frog Plain, about three leagues
lower than the fort at the Forks of Red
River. That he and his companions, to
avoid being seen by the Hudson's Bay set-
tlers, passed at a distance from the Hud
son's Bay fort. That, with a view of
weakening the Hudson's Bay party, the
Bois-Brutes wanted to carry away some of
the Hudson's Bay settlers — and, assisted by
the deponent to interpret for them in Eng-
lish, they went and carried one oft. That,
as they proceeded towards Frog Plain, they
observed a group of Hudson's Bay people —
upon which a certain number of the men in
the service of the Northwest Company,
called Bois-Brules, joined the deponent and
his companions. That these, thinking the
Hudson's Bay people meant them harm, (be-
cause they advanced with their muskets in
their hands) the Bois-Brules wanted to fire
on them; but the deponent opposed their
doing so. That at last he advanced alone
to the Hudson's Bay party to speak to
them, and came so near Governor Semple,
that the latter took hold of the butt end of
the deponent's gun, and ordered his
people to advance; that they, not
obeying him, and the deponent saying
that if they fired they were all dead men.
Governor Semple sai.l that they must not
be afraid, that this was not a time for it.
and that they must fire. Immediately the
deponent heard the reports of two muskets
fired by the Hudson's Bay people. That at
this moments the deponent threw himself
from his horse, still holding the mane, and
that the horse being afraid, dragged him in
this manner about the distance of a gun
shot, where he remained. That, from the
moment when he was thus carried away by
his horse, the firing became general between
the people of the No-thwest and the Hud-
son's Bay. That the fire was begun by
those of the Hudson's Bay. That the men
in the service of the Northwest Company
were about sixty-four in number (of whom
thirty were at the beginning of the firing, I
assembled for the purpose of taking the
Hudson's Bay fort by famine. He is ui**
certain, by whose orders, but supposes it
was by the chiefs, that is, Mr. McDonell,
Mr. Grant, Antonie Oulle and Michael
Bourassa. That he heard Mr. McDonell
enjoin them to avoid a meeting with the

THK SKI. K IKK SKTTI.KMKNT AM- TMK SKTTI.KKS.

Hudson's Bay people. That after the firing
was over he saw a Bois-Brule naniec" Vas-
seur near Governor Seniple, then wounded
in the knee and the arm, who
was taking care of him, and
who, notwithstanding, had taken his belt or
sash, his pistols and his watch, and after-
wards carried them away. That he him-
self had at the moment saved one Pritchard
from being killed, and also Francois Des-
champs and several other Bi'ules wanted to
kill him."

Mai>y of the settlers are of the opinion
that the first shot fired was by Lieut. Holt,
whose gun went off by accident, thus pre-
cipitating the conflict.

In all 21 persons were killed, the remain-
ing eight escaping into the woods, which at
that time extended from the highway to
the river bank, and making the.r way to
Fort Douglas, one or two swimming the
Red River and passing up the east side
until opposite the fort. It is to be noticed
that only one actual settler was
killed.

At the fort all was confusion, the settlers
— men, women and children — crowding
into the houses within its walls. Mr.
Bourke managed to regain the fort with the
cannon and a small remnant of the men he
took out, and the tale they told struck
terror into the hearts of all, who expected
an attack would be made immediately by
the Northwesters. An anxious night was
passed, but no attack came, the Bois Brules
having a wholesome dread of the cannon
possessed by the colonists.

John Pritchard had been taken as a pris-
oner to the camp ground of the main body
of the Metis, which was situated where the
Kildonan ferry landing now is, I am in-
formed by Mr. Donald Murray, whose
parents had also been taken prisoners on
their farm, two lots above that point, on
the morning of the tragedy. He begged
of Cuthbert Grant, the leader, to be allowed
to go to Fort Douglas. After obtaining
permission from Grant, he met with a re-
fusal from the rest of the party; but after
giving a promise to return, and agreeing to
bear a message to the fort people that they
must leave the next day for Lake Winni
peg, lie was allowed to depart. Grant ac-
companied him as far as Seven Oaks, where
the bodies of the killed lay upon the ground,
but as it was after nightfall when he passed
there, he was spared the sight of the horrible
scene.

Arriving at Fort Douglas, he informed the
settlers that the Metis demanded that the
colonists should depart, and had promised
that if all public property was given up to
them, they would give a safe escort to the
people and allow them to take all their per-
sonal effects. Two other parties of North-
westers were daily expected to arrive in the
Red River, one coming from the Saskatche-
wan and the other from Lake Superior, and
it would be necessary to send some of the

Bois-Brules with them to explain the posi-
tion of affairs.

The colonists at first refused to agree to
the terms of capitulation, and Sheriff Mc-
Donell, who was in charge ot the settle-
ment, decided to hold to the fort as long as
the men were inclined to protect it. In the
morning, however, after they had more
fully considered their situation, the settlers
concluded to depart, and after several visits
of the sheriff to the Metis camp an arrange-
ment was agreed on.

HOW THE INDIANS ACTED.

A number of Indians under Peguis were
camped on the east side of the river and
took no part in the troubles, but their sym-

¥s,thies were plainly with the colonists,
hey went out the morning after the en •
gagement and brought in the bodies of the
killed, or as many as could then be found,
for a small number, I am informed by
eye-witnesses, were concealed in the
heavy brush in the vicinity, as
wounded men had crawled into
thickets and there died. Mrs. Kauf-
man, who yet lives in Kildonan east, in-
forms me that she saw the Indians bring in
the dead bodies to Fort Douglas with carts,
and that Governor Semple and the doctor
were buried in board coffins, and the others
wrapped up in blankets, the whole number
being interred in one large grave in a grove
of trees on the south side of the creek
southwest of the fort, and quite near the
spot whereon now stands the residence of
ex-Mayor Logan. She says the body of one
man was naked, the clothes having been
stolen before the Indians found it. Mr.
Donald Murray also informs me that when
the burial took place, Chief Pegins stood
near by, with the tears streaming down his
face, and he repeatedly expressed his great
sorrow at the sad occurrences taking place.
Donald Murray states positively that all
these bodies were removed, some yeais
after, to St. John's church graveyard, but
he is not now able to locate the site of their
reinterment. He remembers distinctly that
on the morning the settlers handed over the
fort to the metis, all the ammunition for
the cannon was carried down to the river
and thrown into the water from the end of
a boat moored in the stream.

FORT DOUGLAS CAPITULATES AND THE COL-
ONISTS DEPART.

An inventory of the Hudson's Bay Co. s
property being taken, Cuthbert Grant gave
a receipt on each page, worded as follows:
"Received on account of the Northwest
company by me, Cuthbert Grant, clerk for
the Northwest company, acting for the N.
W. company."

In two days all was ready, nnd the col-
onists, to the number of nearly two hun-
dred, embarked in their boats and once
more started for Jackfish House, at the
north end of Lake Winnipeg. It would ap
pear that more or less plundering of the

•20

THE SELKIRK SETTLEMENT AND THE SETTLERS.

effects of the settlers took place before their
departure.

On reaching the neighborhood of Netley
Creek, the exiles and their escort of Metis
met about one hundred Northwesters, under
the command of A. N. McLeod, a partner
of the Northwest Company, who had just
arrived in a number of canoes
from Ft. William to assist Duncan
Cameron and Alexander McDonel,
the evident intention being to retaliate for
the taking of the Northwest forts during
the paevious winter, and to evict the colon-
ists and destroy the settlement. McLeod
was a justice of the peace for the Indian
territories and had also been gazetted a
major in the British army in 1814, when
commanding a corps of voyageurs raised by
the Northwest Company during the Ameri-
can war. He issued warrants and subpoenas
for Pritchard, Bourke and three others, all
of whom were taken down to Fort William.
Gunn is authority for the statement that
the Northwest partners spoke kindly to the
colonists and urged them to go to Canada,
offering them a free passage, but the major-
ity of the disheartened settlers had resolved
to return to Scotland and overruled the de-
sire of a minority to accept the proposition
of the Northwesters. After a short deten-
tion at Netley creek the colonists re-
embarked and proceeded on to Jackfish
liver (Norway House), where they arrived
safely, remaining there until the winter,
when, after Lord Selkirk's successes at Fort
William in 1816 and the capture of Fort
Douglas by his people in the spring of 1817,
they returned once more to the Red river.

Leaving the posts on the Red and Assini-
boiiie rivers in the hands of their people the
partners of the Northwest Company started
on their return to Fort William,
and on their way down the Red river
met the partners and brigades from the
north. These people had reached La Bas
de la Riviere (Fort Alexander) only to find
that no provisions had arrived from Pern-
bina or Brandon House, and they at once
startrd for the Red river to discover the
cause.

Lord Selkirk had not been idle this
spring, and at an even date with the de-
struction of the colony, was taking active
steps, in Canada, to reinforce his people in
the Red River country, but his movements
must be described at length.

LORD SELKIRK CAPTURES FORT WILLIAM.

tumn of 1815 Lord Selkirk and
his'family arrived in Montreal, where he
was placed in full possession of information
concerning the dispersion of his colonists
at Red River during the previous summer,
when Duncan Cameron had induced 160 of
them to accept a free passage to Canada and
driven the remaining 40 to Jackfish River.
After bringing the matter before Sir Gordon
Drummond, the governor of Lower Canada,
and urging him to interfere with the North-

westers without any more success than the
English partners of the Northwest Co. had
met with from the British government
when they had petitioned against the ac-
tion of Lord Selkirk in the Red River coun-
try, his lordship proceeded to raise a force
of men, trained to arms, which he intended
to convey to Assiniboia. At this time sev-
eral regiments of mercenaries, which had
been recruited in Germany and
other continental countries, were being dis-
banded in Canada, the American war being
closed, and there taking place a large re-
duction in the number of troops serving in
Canada. Lord Selkirk enlisted in his own
service at Montreal 4 officers and 80 men
of the De Meuron regiment, and at Kings-
ton 20 men of the Watteville regiment. These
men, fully armed and clothed in the uni-
forms of the British army, were reinforced
by more than an equal number of voya-
geurs.

Lord Selkirk was appointed a justice of
the peace both for Upper Canada and the
Indian Territories, and a bodyguard of a
sergeant and some soldiers of the 37th
Regiment was allowed him by the Governor
after a statement that he expected an at-
tempt would be made to assassinate him.
That doubts were entertained by the
authorities as to the use his lordship inten-
ded to make of this detachment may be
learned by an examination of the ordei s
given to the soldiers, one part of which
reads as follows: "You are particularly
ordered not to engage yourself, or the party
under your command, in any dispute
which may occur between the Earl of Sel-
kirk, his engagees and employees, and those
of the Northwest company, or to take any
part or share in any affray which may arise
out of such disputes. By such interference
on your part you would not only be disobey-
ing your instructions, but acting in direct
opposition to the wishes and instructions of
the government, to the countenance, sup-
port and protection of which each party has
an equal claim. The Earl of Selkirk has
engaged to furnish the party under your
command with provisions during the time
of your absence. You are on no occasion
to separate from your party, but to return
with his lordship, and on no account to
suffer yourself or any of your detachment to
be left at any settlement or post in the
Indian country."

All being in readiness, this formidable
body started via Toronto, Lake Simcoe and
Georgian bay for the Red River settlement
some time in June, 1816.

A month before this date Miles Macdon-
nell, the ex -governor of Assiniboia, who had,
as a prisoner, been sent down to
Montreal by the Northwest partners
in the summer of 1815, had preceded
Lord Selkirk, with several canoes belonging
to the Hudson's Bay Company, and pushed
through to the interior, arriving at Lake
Winnipeg shortly after the Semplc tragedy.

THE SELKIRK SETTLEMENT AND THE SETTLERS.

SOEXE OP THE SEVEN OAKS FICHT.

v^,_ J

[AITOGUAPHS from Original Dot-uments Now in Mr. Bell's Possession.)

TIIK SKI.KIKK SKTTI.K.MKNT AND THK SKTTI.KI:-.

He immediately returned to Lake .Superior,
and in the latter part of July met Lord
Selkirk with his force near SaultSte. Marie.
His Lordship at once decided to push on to
Fort William, the stated original intention
having been to reach Assiniboia via Fond
du Lac (Dulv.th,) Red Lake and down the
Red River, a route frequently followed by
the Northwesters in the early days of the
fur trade, but this would have been impos-
sible with the boats passed by Lord Sel-
kirk, and it is most probable that he had
always intended to seize Fort William, and
the present position of affairs afforded an
excellent pretext.

Before leaving Sault Ste. Marie his lord-
ship wrote Sir John Sherbrooke that he in-
tended to interfere as a justice of the peace,
and arrest the perpetrators of the outrage.
If he had heard of the action of his own
people in the Red River country during the
preceding spring, when they destroyed the
forts of the Northwesters, seized their per-
sons and provisions, and erected batteries
of cannon on the banks of the rivers to pre-
vent the passage of their boats, he care-
fully omits any mention of them in his com-
munications to the Canadian authorities,

The Northwesters at Fort William, in the
early spring, had received intelligence of
the seizure of their provisions and destruc-
tion of forts Gibraltar and Pembiua, and
A. N. McLeod was despatched with about
60 men in light canoes to protect their in-
terests in that quarter and carry in provis-
ions to supply the brigades from the north.
As before related, this party arrived immedi-
ately after the killing of Semple and his
men. McLeod evidently sympathized with
Cuthbert Grant in the way he had managed
aftdirs, for he made presents to the Metis
who had been engaged in the fight.

On the 12th August (1816) Lord Selkirk
arrived at the Kaministiquia and passing up
the river he encamped on the east side half
a mile above Fort William.

The Northwesters were busily engaged
in making ready for the interior the outfits
of goods intended for the winter's trade.
The Northwesters claim to have had
fully 500 men collected there at that
date, the post being tne great meeting
point where the brigades arriving from
Montreal landed their merchandise and re-
ceived in return the bales of furs brought
down from the interior posts, which were
strungo along in lines reaching to
the /Pacific. Fort William itself con-
sisted of a score of well
constructed houses used as officers', clerks',
and men's quarters, messrooms, stores, pow-
der magazine, workshops, etc., etc., the
whole being surrounded by a palisade fully
lo ft. in height with a watch tower over the
gate. It was built in 1803, when the com-
pany moved their headquarters from Grand
Portage, which place was in the United
States south of the international boundary.
It was named after William McGillivray, a

chief partner of the Northwest Co:npanv.

Lord Selkirk had no sooner encamped
than cannon were landed and pointed at
Fort William, while a demand was made
on Win. McGillivray, who was in charge,
for the release of John Pritchard and others
of the Hudson's Bay Co.'s people then in
the fort. These were immediately allowed
to depart, McGillivray stating that he did
not hold them as prisoners, but that two
other persons whom he had arrested were on
their way to Montreal for trial.

From Pritchard, Nolin and others of his
rescued people his lordship procured the
details of the events which happened
at the settlement, and he issued a warrant
for the arrest of Wm. McGillivray.

SELKIRK ARRESTS THE NORTHWEST PART-
NERS.

This warrant was served the next day on
Mr. McGillivray in the fort, and without
hesitation he went over to the Selkirk
camp, accompanied by K. McKenzie,
another partner, and Donald McLaughlin,
the party being received at the Forl Wil-
liam landing by a guard of 20 soldiers, and
on their arrival at the Selkirk landing they
were met by the soldiers of the 37th Regi-
ment under arms, who conducted them to
Lord Selkirk. When one remembers the
instructions given to the men of the 37th
Regiment, it seems that this was a very ir-
regular proceeding; but Selkirk's object
clearly was to impress on the Northwesters
the idea that he was acting with the assent
of the Canadian Governor.

McGillivray s friends offered bail, but
were informed that they also were prisoners
charged, like all the partners of the North-
west Company present at the annual meet-
ing of 1814, with being responsible for the
troubles at Red River. Warrants were
issued for the arrest of other Northwest
officials, the mode of executing which are
best described by two officers of the De
Meuron regiment, who had left Montreal in
May on leave of absence with McLeod and
other partners of the Northwest Company,
to witness the occurrences that would fol-
low Lord Selkirk's advent with his armed
force, so that the authorities would receive
an impartial account from disinterested pei-
sons.

AX ACCOUNT BY WITNESSES.

"Charles Brumby, lieutenant in His Maj-
esty's Regiment de Meuron, and John Theo-
dore Misani, also lieutenant in the same
regiment, respectfully depose and say: That
in the beginning of May last, they left
Montreal, in company with Messrs. Alex-
ander McKenzie, Archibald Norman Mc-
Leod, and Robert Henry, on a journey to
the Indian Territories in North America,
that being arrive.} at the distance of about
titty miles from the forks of the Red river,
in the Indian Territories, on the 23rd of
June last, in the morning, they met a num-
ber of persons coming from that place,

THK SKLKIRK SKTTI.K.MKNT AM> TIIK SKTTI.KKS.

among whom were several of the colonists
of the settlement of Lord Selkirk, who in-
formed them that a battle had been fought
between the colonists and the half-breed
Indians, at the distance of a mile and a half
below the fort on the place of residence of
Robert Semple, Esquire, agent of the Hud-
son's Bay Company (called by them. Gover-
nor Semple), at the forks of the Red river,
and they understood this battle was fought
on the 19th of the said month; that the de-
ponents proceeded until they reached
the place where they understood that
the said Robert Semple had a post
or establishment, and there saw a number
of Indians (called half-breeds) and other
Indians assembled there; and that the de-
ponents remained there but a few hours,
and returned to Riviere aux Morts (Netley
''reek. Ed. ), situated at the distance of
about 54 miles from the said forks of the
Red River, on their way back to Fort Wil-
liam, that on their arrival at Riviere aux
Morts they saw John McDonald, who was
arriving from his wintering grounds, and
also Simon Frazer, who arrived in canoes;
that these two persons could not have been
coming troin Red River, if they had come
by water from that quarter; and that the
said John McDonald gave these deponents
directions to take some of his provisions on
their return to Fort William, at a place he
pointed out to them; that they also met at
the same place John McLaughlin, whom
they had left at Fort William when they
passed it; that they met John McGillivray
in Lake Minipic (Winnipeg. Ed.) on the
27th clay of the said month, as they were
going to Fort William, coming, as it ap-
peared to these deponents, and as
he informed them, from his winter-
ing quarters that the several
persons above - named appeared to
be entirely ignorant of what had
taken place at the forks of the Red River
on the 1 9th of June, and these deponents
verily believe that they were not, and could
not have been at that place at the time;
that these deponents were informed that
the persons concerned in the Northwest
trade generally received their provisions at
a place called La bas de la Riviere, that is,
the entry of the River Winipic, and that
the reason of several of them going up the
river as far as the Riviere aux Morts was
their disappointment in not receiving their
provisions at the usual place; that when
these deponents left Montreal, on the 1st or
2nd of May last, they saw Mr. William
McGillivray at that place, and they found
him at Fort William on their return from
Red river, where they arrived on the 10th
of July last; that on the 13th day of
August the deponents, being at Fort Wil-
liam, saw two of the boats that had come
thr preceding day with a party of men
under the Earl of Selkirk; that these two
boats were full of soldiers; that D'Orson-
nens was in the first boat and Lieut. Fauche

in the second: that on their landing near
, the gate of the fort a person of the name of
McNabb and another person of the name of
Allen, both of whom had come in the said
boats, approached the gate of the fort with
Capt. D'Orsonnens, who was armed with a
sword and pistol, and there spoke to seve-al
of the partners of the Northwest Company,
who stood at the gate; that some words
passed between them, and these deponents
heard some of the Northwest Company say:
"Yes, but we cannot admit so many people
in the fort at once. " That one-half ot the
gate was then shut partly. That immedi-
ately on uttering the above mentioned
words Capt. D'Orsonnens called to the men
in the boats, "en evant, aux armes, vites!''
upon which the men in the boats jumped
out, and, with muskets and fixed bayonets,
rushed into the fort, a bugle at the same
time sounding the advance; that a number
of the men (voyageurs) in the service of the
Northwest Co., who stood near the gate,
ran towards their encampment; that these
deponents observed several of the soldiers
dragging Mr. John McDonald towards the
boats, swearing at him, and using violence,
and heard him cry out, ''don't muraer me."
That these deponents entered the fort,
where they saw Mr. Allen, and asked him
the cause of .such proceedings, who answer-
ed that all would be soon explained, and
that the person who had ordered these
measures would answer tor the conse-
quences, or words to that effect; that a few
minutes afterwards, Capt. Matthey arrived
with a reinforcement of soldiers, which the
deponents conceived to have been called for
by the sound of the bugle; that there were
two pieces of cannon in the fort, which the
soldiers planted in the square, and pointed
at the gate, and this armed
party was immediately in possession
of the fort, as no resistance whatever was
offered them; that the deponents did not see
any of the persons in the fort armed at the
time it was so taken possession of by the
said armed party; that on the same day the
partners of the Northwest Company who
were in the fort, nine in number, were ar-
rested, and the deponents saw several of
them conducted as prisoners out of the tort
with a guard, and they returned about
eight o'clock in the evening, and the next
day they were put in close confinement,
with sentries over them; that on the even-
ing of the 13th the troops marched out of
the fort, after having been assembled in the
square by the sound of the bugle, with the
exception of 20 men under the command of
Lieutenant W. Gratfcnreid, who remained
in the fort as a guard for the night; that
sentries were posted in several places, and
the place had the appearance of a military
post; that the next morning Captain
Matthey returned to the tort with a number
of armed soldiers, and told Mr. \V m. Mc-
Gillivray on his arrival that he had brought
a reinforcement, as they understood that

•24

Tin; SKI.KIKK SETTLEMENT ANI> THE SKTTI.KKS.

the gentlemen who had been arrested the
preceding day, instead of confining them-
selves to their own rooms, had been going
about, and that arms had been preparing, or
words to that effect; chat a short
time after the Earl of Sel-
kirk appeared to take command ;
and some days after, he took his quarters in
a house formerly occupied by the gentle-
men of the Northwest Co., and some of his
people were also quartered in other apart-
ments and buildings within the fort. That
the deponents also understood that on the
following days the books and papers of the
Northwest Co. had been sei/ed and searched,
and saw at one time, Mr. Allen, Mr. Mc-
Nabb, Mr. McPherson and Capt. D'Orson-
nens, searching for papers and sealing up
trunks in different rooms. The deponents
also saw some of the soldieis employed in
making gun carriages in a workshop, form-
erly used by the carpenters and men of the
Northwest Co. That on the 22nd of Aug-
ust a canoe arrived from Montreal with dis-
patches, that the papers or despatches the
men brought were taken away from them,
and the canoe searched: that some of the
things in it were placed in charge of a
soldier of the 37th regiment, one of the
bodyguard of the said Earl of Selkirk: that
it appears to these deponents, that from the
taking of the fort, as above mentioned, un-
til the time the deponents left it, the trade
and business of the Northwest Co. was en-
tirely stopped: that the deponents under-
stood the Northwest Co. were not allowed
to send any goods or furs out of the fort,
nor could they employ the men in their ser-
vice, some of whoine were destined to go
into the interior of the country with goods
and ammunition for the natives, and to sup-
ply their different trading posts; others to
go down to Montreal with furs and other
articles for exportation, as the deponents
understood."

(Signed) CHARLES BRUMBY, Lieut.
THEODORE MISAM, Lieut.

Sworn at Montreal the 16th of Sept.,
1810.

Lieut. Fauche, one of Selkirk's UeMeu-
ron officers who returned from Ft. William,
and which came under his notice, entirely
agrees with that given above.

THE NORTHWESTERS PROTEST.

The partners of the Northwest company
being confined as prisoners, signed a solemn
protest to the acts committed by Selkirk
and his armed associates, the persons sign-
ing being Win. McGillivray, Kenneth
Mackenzie, John Macdonell, John Mc-
Laughlin, Hugh McGillis, and Daniel
Mackenzie. It is needless to say that no
attention was paid to this protest. Lord
Selkirk took possession of all the stores and
merchandisp of the Northwest company as
a means to destroy their business which he
now had the means of doing, the chiefs
of the company being in his

hands. No outfits were allow-
_ ed to be taken into the

interior. Two clerks were nominated by
the Northwest partners to look after their
interests; but Selkirk gave them no satis-
faction, and finally refused to confer with
them. One of these clerks, named Yanders-
luys, afterwards made affidavits of what
transpired, and I am informed by an old
settler that some years after he came into
collision with Mr. Halkett, brother-in-law
of Selkirk, who wounded him with a pistol
in Montreal.

Lord Selkirk's friends have written a
great deal in attempting to prove that he
was most careful in keeping within the law
in all his proceedings, but no explanation
is given of the use lie made of the soldiers
of the 37th Regiment who had received
such strict orders to remain neutral at all
times and in all situations.

NORTHWESTERS SENT AS PRISONERS TO
MONTREAL.

On the 18th of August Lord Selkirk
placed the prisoners in charge oJ Lieut.
Faucbe and shipped them off to Canada.
Unfortunately, when Hearing Sault Ste.
Marie, one of their boats was swamped in a
squall, and nine persons, out of the twenty-
one it contained, were drowned, K. Me-
Kenzie being one of the lost. Arriving at
York (Toronto), the Governor directed that
the prisoners should be taken to Kingston,
where the Attorney-General and judges were
then on circuit. At Kingston the judges
directed them to be taken to Montreal, and
on arriving there they were all released on
bail. The crimes charged against them
were no less than high treason, conspiracy
and murder.

Lord Selkirk, after the departure of the
partners, fitted out canoes belonging to the
Northwesters with property found in the
fort, and having seduced some employes and
coerced others, sent them inland to the
Hudson's Bay Company's posts.

WARRANTS ISSl'EH FOR ARREST OK SELKIRK.

Wm. McGillivray, after his release on
bail, secured warrants for the arrest of Sel
kirk, Capt. Matthey, and some others, for
their high-handed acts in seizing the North-
west Company's property in Upper Canada
(Fort William being within Canada and far
east of the Indian territories.) A deputy-
sheriff with a posse was sent up to Fort
William, and arrested Selkirk and the other
persons named in the warrants, but they
called in the ever-ready De Meurons, who,
with fixed bayonets, tinned the tables by
making the law officers prisoners, and after-
wards ejected them from the fort. Selkirk
refused to recognize the warrants, and went
on seizing all the establishments of the
Northwesters about Lake Superior, and
went so far as to take possession of the
goods and furs stored in the post at Fond
du Lac (Duluth), which being on American
soil, had paid the U. S. customs duties.

THE SELKIRK SETTLEMENT AND THK SETTLKKS.

Here, also, prisoners were made and taken
to Fort William.

SEIZURE OF RAINY LAKE POST.

One party of Selkirk's men, under com-
mand of Fidler went inland to Rainy Lake
to the Northwest Co.'s post there (now Fort
Francis) and demanded its surrender, but
Dease, who was in charge, drove them off'.
Selkirk then sent an officer and band of De
Meurons with two cannon to invest the
place, the officer informing Dease that if he
did not surrender he could not be answer-
able for the conduct of his soldiers. Run-
ning short of provisions Dease had to cap-
itulate and his post was turned into an
establishment of Lord Selkirk, who removed
some of the buildings across the. river to the
U. S. side, apparently not feeling safe on
the Canadian side, which was the territory
of Upper Canada. This fort was the key to
the whole Northwest Territories and its
possession fully deprived the Northwesters
of any chance of carrying on their trade
from Lake Superior.

This state of affairs continued during the
winter. Lord Selkirk remained about Lake
Superior, the Northwesters held Fort Doug-
las and the Red river posts, and the Selkirk
colonists wintered at Jack Fish River at
the north end of Lake Winnipeg, but in the
early spring a general activity was mani-
fested by all parties.

THE DE MECRON'S ADVANCE.

In February (1817) Lord Selkirk, from
his headquarters in the Northwest com-
pany's Fort William, despatched Capt.
D'Orsonnens with a large band of his sol-
diers fully armed and equipped, to the
Red River, the expedition going by way of
the Rainy River, Lake of the WToods, and
from the Northwest Angle striking across
the country by land in the direction of what
is now known as the Dawson road, but ar-
riving at a point on the Red River some
distance south of the entrance of the As-
siniboine. Following down the Red River
the party diverged to the west and came
to the Assiniboine in the neighborhood of
St. James' parish, where they made scaling
ladders and prepared to assault Fort Doug-
las, then occupied by the Northwesters.
Taking advantage of a wild stormy night,
the leader, guided by friendly Indians and
whites, marched to the fort and quietly
placing the ladders in position scaled
the walls and quickly overpowered
the occupants. All the princi-
pal inhabitants were made prisoners
and the others were turned out to shift for
themselves, which they did by going to the
tenfs of their friends, the freemen, living
along the banks of the Red and Assiniboine
rivers.

The fort taken, news was dispatched in
all directions, and the exiled colonists at
Jackfish river were informed that they
miaht return to their homesteads, when

they would be protected by the DeMeuron
soldiers. A few colonists started at once on
snowshoes for Fort Douglas, and arrived
before the warm spring sun broke np the
ice on the rivers and lakes, but it was not
until June that the main party arrived on
the site of their former homes, when they
were joined by Lord Selkirk and his men
from Fort William.

TIMES OF SCARCITY.

To find food for such a large number of
people taxed the energetic Selkirk, and the
river was largely drawn on for the fish it
contained, and from all accounts the poor
colonists had a very hard time of it until
the small quantity of seed they planted in
the spring brought forth a harvest, which
this year was an enormous one for the acre-
age under crop. But the demand
exceeded the supply, and in the
autumn the settlers were again
compelled to leave the settlement and pro-
ceed to their old time winter quarters at
Pembina, in order to be within reach of the
buffalo. During the winter many of them
were forced to travel on foot to the Mis-
souri Coteau in search of food, the buffalo
having disappeared from the country bor-
dering on the Red River.

AT LAST THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT INTER-
FERES.

Notwithstanding the frequent appeals
made to it in England by the partners of
the Northwest Company, and in Canada by
Lord Selkirk, the British Government had
invariably remained passive, and seemingly
declined to interfere between the rival in-
terests, or declare the legality or illegality
of the claims of either party. The North-
westers notified the Government that they
held the claims of Lord Selkirk as illegal,
and would resist to the utmost, by force if
necessary, any attempt of his lordship to
interfere with their trading operations.

After calmly reviewing the whole circum-
stances of the proceedings at Red River,
one must arrive at the conclusion that
neither party can be wholly blamed for the
dire results of the actions of the chief
officials on either side. Governor
Miles Macdonnell, assuredly acting under
the instructions of Lord Selkirk, annoyed
the Northwesters in their trade, and fol-
lowed it up by acts of violence to the per-
sons and property of people employed by
the Northwest Co. The Northwesters re-
senting this, retaliated. The crowning act
of the whole disturbance, the killing of
Gov. Semple and his men, without doubt
was the result of chance. The North-
westers were under orders to pass at a dis-
tance from Fort Douglas, and were doing so
when Semple foolishly went out with a
party inferior as to point of numbers, and
rashly brought on the conflict. Semple
evidently belieyed he was in the right and
that the Northwesters were interlopers in

26

THE SELKIRK SETTLEMENT AND THE SETTLERS.

the country, while on the other hand the
Northwesters had occupied the country and
had spent great sums of money in exploring
and opening up the tur countries, reaching
to the shores of the Arctic and Pacific,
years before the Hudson's Bay Co. at-
tempted to follow them, as the Cana-
dians had followed in the footsteps of the
French, who, to certain distances .had pene-
trated forty years before the Hudson's Bay
Co. had ventured to establish a single post
inland from the shores of the Bay. The
Company laid claim by a lately-discovered
interpretation of a royal charter a hundred
and fifty years old, while the North-
westers held by right of
discovery and occupation. At last the Im-
perial Government were forced to recognize
the situation, and on February 6, 1817,
at the very date when Selkirk was sending
his armed forces from Fort William to Fort
Douglas the Governor General of Canada was
instructed in the following terms:

"You will also require under similar pen-
alties the restitution of all forts, buildings
or trading stations, with the property which
they contain, which may have been seized
or taken possession of by either party, to the
party who originally established the same,
and who were in possession of them pre-
vious to the recent disputes between the
two companies. You will require also the
removal ot any blockade or impediment by
which any party may have attempted to
prevent the free passage of traders or others
of His Majesty's subjects or the natives of
the country with their merchandise, furs,
provisions and other effects, throughout the
lakes, rivers, roads and every other usual
route or communication heretofore used for
the purpose of the fur trade in the interior
of North America, and the full and free
permission of all persons to pursue their
usual and accustomed trade without hind-
rance or molestation. "

COMMISSIONERS ARE SENT TO RED RIVER.

Col. Coltman and Major Fletcher were
appointed by the Governor-General of Can-
ada to proceed to the fur countries to see
that these instructions were carried out and
secure full information regarding the acts ot
both parties.

On arriving at Fort William in the early
summei the Commissioners found that the
sheriff, who had been arrested and impris-
oned by Lord Selkirk when he attempted to
serve a warrant on him, hud, on the depart-
ture of his Lordship for Red River, secured
his release and officially taken possession of
the place and returned it to the Northwest
Co. This sheriff afterwards sued Selkirk
for damages and was awarded £500 dam-
ages. Arrived at the Red River they im-
mediately executed their commission by
compelling each party to restore to the
other the property and forts taken by force
during the disturbances. After collecting
information and taking depositions from

many persons they returned to Canada an d
made an exhaustive report.

SELKIRK EXTINGUISHES THE INDIAN TITLE.

Before Selkirk left the settlement he held
a meeting with his colonists, when he gave
as free grants the lands which
had been improved by the settlers.
He also settled his De Meurons
in the neighborhood of Point Douglas, and
so disposed them that on an alarm being
given they could be assembled for offensive
and defensive purposes.

Promises were made to the colonists,
some of which were never kept, but whether
through the. neglect of Lord Selkirk or his
inability to carry them out is not very clear.
One grievence long held by some of the set-
tlers was the breaking of his promise that a
Presbyterian clergyman should be sent out
to them. His lordship had never, it ap-
pears, taken any steps to extinguish the In-
dian title to the lands he had acquired from
the Hudson's Bay company, and now,
chiefly through the influence of Chief Pe-
guis, he managed to collect 'together the
head men of several petty bands of Indians,
who claimed the lands along the Assini-
boine and Red River as their hunting
grounds. Though some of these were com-
paratively new-comers, for their residence
was of but a few years' date, their claim to
the land was undoubtedly good by right of
conquest and occupation. On the 18th of
July, 1817, the Indians assembled and con-
veyed to his lordship "all that tract of land
adjacent to Red River and Assiniboine
river, beginning at the mouth of the Red
river and extending along the same as far
as the Great Forks, at the mouth of Red
Lake river, and along the Assiuiboine river
as far as Muskrat river, otherwise called
Riviere des Champignons, and extending to
the distance of six miles from Fort Douglas
on every side, and likewise from Fort Daer,
(at Pembina) and also from the Great Forks,
and in other parts extending in breadth to
the distance of two English statute miles
back from the banks of the said rivers, on
each side," the consideration bein£ that
Selkirk should deliver annually, on the 10th
October, to the Saulteau and Cree Indians
at The Forks of the Assiniboine and at
Portage la Prairie, respectively, one hun-
dred pounds of good tobacco. This deed
was signed by five Indians, Lord Selkirk,
Miles Macdonnell, Thomas Thomas, James
Bird and five others.

This business attended to, his lordship
took his departure tor Canada via Minne-
sota and overland.

IN THE CANADIAN COURTS.

Much discussion had taken place in
Canada over the troubles in the fur coun-
tries during 1816-17, the Montreal papers
being the common medium through which
writers ventilated their views on the situa-
tion. On Selkirk's arrival in Upper Canada
from the Red River country in 1817 he

THE SELKIRK SETTLEMENT AND THE SETTLEKS.

27

found awaiting him four charges, made
against him by the partners of the North-
west Company. These, were for having
stolen eighty-three muskets at Fort Wil-
liam; the forcible taking possession of Fort
William in 1816; an assault and false im-
prisonment of the deputy sheriff'; resistance
to legal arrest. The magistrates dismissed
the first charge and accepted bail for his ap-
pearance to answer for the others. Com-
missioner Coltman had taken bail from Sel-
kirk to appear at Montreal, but the courts
there changed the trial to Upper Canada.

In September, 1818, his lordship was tried
at Sandwich on a charge of "a con-
spiracy to ruin the trade of the
Northwest Company," on which occasion
a disagreement arose between the grand
jury and the Attorney-General, John Bev-
erley Robinson, on the latter's claim of a
right to attend the grand jury and examine
the witnesses. The trial never came off
and Selkirk left for England. After his
departure a true bill was found at York and
verdicts were given against him of £500 for
the imprisonment of Deputy- Sheriff Smith,
and £1500 for the false arrest and imprison-
ment of McKenzie, one of the Northwest
Co. 's partners, at Fort William. It is
probable that the Northwesters brought
great influence to bear on the authorities in
Canada to prevent the trial of some of
their employees, but several of those
charged with crimes were actually tried by
jury before Chief Justice Powell, at Yoik,
in October, 1818, but verdicts of "not
guilty" were rendered.

SELKIRK'S DEATH.

On his return to England, in 1818, Lord
Selkirk seems to have become broken down
in health, and crossed over to the
continent in search of rest, and
a milder climate than England
affords, but he never recovered from the
effect of the troubles encountered in Amer-
ica. He died on the 8th April, 1820, at
Pau, in the south of France, surrounded by
his wife and daughters.

NAVAL OPERATIONS ON LAKE WINNIPEG.

Even after the trials in Canada in 1818,
the Northwesters were arrested by force in
the fur country. In 1818 William Williams
was sent out from England to Red River as
an official of the Hudson's Bay Co., winter-
ing that year at Cumberland House, on the
Saskatchewan. The next summer he ap-
plied his knowledge of naval operations (he
had been a sailor) to the fitting out of a
small schooner for service on Lake Winni-
peg. Arming the vessel with cannon, and
manning it with the ever-ready DeMeuron
soldiers, left by Selkirk as peaceable tillers
of the soil, the new governor proceeded to
Grand Portage, at the mouth of the Sas-
katchewan river, which he took possession
of, so as to seize the brigades of the North-
west Co., as they arrived from the interior,
en route to Fort William.

Unaware of the surprise that awaited
them, the Northwesters arrived at the port-
age and made preparations to cross over
it. The soldiers then made prisoners of five
partners of the Northwest Company, be-
sides a large number of the junior officials
and voyageurs. The officers were Angus
Shaw, J. G. McTavish, J. D. Campbell,
Wm. Mclntosh and Mr. Frobisher. The
first two were sent to England; Campbell
was forwarded via Moose Factory and the
Ottawa River and Montreal, while Fro-
bisher and some of his men were kept in
confinement at York Factory until October,
when they managed to escape, and finding
an Indian canoe, started for the interior,
reaching Lake Winnipeg in safety, but
without arms or provisions. They suffered
so dreadfully from exposure and hunger
that poor Frobisher died in misery in No-
vember. The remainder of the party, leav-
ing the body unburied, after a few days'
travel, reached a Northwester's fort at
Moose Lake.

PROGRESS OF THE SETTLEMENT.

The Northwesters' Fort Gibraltar could
not be restored to them by the commission-
ers, for the simple reason that it had
been totally destroyed, in 1816,
by Selkirk's men, but after
the Governor - General's proclamation
was enforced the Northwesters went to
work and speedily erected a new fort bear-
ing the old name and occupied it until the
coalition of the companies in 1821.

At Fort Douglas, and lower down the
Red River, the Selkirk colonists began to
till the ground and erect new dwellings.
Many of the De Meurons crossing the river
to take land on its east side.

In 1818, when there was every prospect
of a bountiful harvest, the grasshoppers ap-
peared and destroyed the crops, leaving the
colonists in a state of despondency, which
was not lessened by the arrival of some
French families from Lower Canada, ac-
companied by two priests, as the more per-
sons there would be to feed the greater the
difficulty in obtaining provisions. Once
again, in the autumn, the people made their
way to Pembina, in search of that never-
failing resource to them — the buffalo. By
this time the colonists were more versed in
the manner of chasing the "wild cattle of
the plains," and iu consequence of the near
approach of the animals to Pembina an
abundance of food was obtained.

In 1819 the Canadians settled at Pembina,
while the colonists returned to the
settlement at the Forks, where, though
they sowed and planted, they reaped not,
for the grasshoppers bred early and soon
devoured all the green herbage, so that no
alternative offered but to travel up to
Pembina, as they had so often done before.
Almost in despair they settled for the
winter on the banks of the Pembina, but
during the ensuing winter they secured

•28

THE SELKIRK SETTLEMENT AND THK SETTLERS.

plenty of provisions, saving enough to take
back a supply of pemican for consumption
during the seeding time at the settlement
in 1820. But the plague of locusts still was
upon them, and during the winters of 1820-
21, and 1822-23, they were forced back to
Pembina. The last season, however, they
saved part of their crops.

COALITION OF THE RIVAL COMPANIES.

In 1821, chiefly through the efforts of
Edward Ellice, (afterwards the Rt. Hon.),
the Hudson's Bay and Northwest Com-
panies consolidated their interests under
the title of the first named, securing from
the British government, on 6th December,
1821, certain exclusive privileges or trading
rights, in the Indian Territories, which
included all the lands to the

tion the route to Canada was abandoned for
the transport of goods, all the business of
the company being done by way of Hudson's
Bay, and so it was, that the Canadians,
40 years after, knew little or nothing of the
Red River country or its people. The com-
pany practically ruled the Northwest under
Sir George Simpson, until his death about
1860 — though in 1835 a council was chosen
from the people resident in the settlement.
He was a man of great tact, and managed
admirably the affairs of a colony, composed
as it was of English, Scotch, Irish, French,
Metis and Indians, with their conflicting in-
terests. He annually made the voyage to
Red river from Montreal in a bark canoe
propelled by the paddles of a large crew of
trained and hardy voyageurs, and on one
occasion continued his journey by passing

SIR GEORGE SIMPSON.

north and west of the Hudson's Bay
territories in British North America, for a
term of 20 years. It may here be said that
before the expiration of this period, namely
in 1838, this license was superseded by one
for a further term of 21 years, dating from
1838. It was when the second license was
about to expire, and a renewal was asked
for, that the Canadian government pressed
a claim for the Hudson's Bay Territories,
and contested the legality of the company's
charter, sending representatives to England
for that purpose, the agitation being kept
up from 1857 to 1869, when the transfer
took place.

In 1821 the means of both companies were
nearly exhausted through competition and
extravagance, and both parties welcomed a
termination of the strife. After the coali-

over the great prairies of the Northwest
and the Rocky Mountains, across Behriug's
strait, through Russia in Asia and Europe,
and on to England, from whence he sailed
back to Montreal — the first man to pass
around the world north of the equator.

SWISS IMMIGRANTS.

In the autumn of 1821 a party ot immi-
grants from Switzerland arrived at York
Factory. They were induced to leave Eu-
rope in the hope that they would make
quiet, steady and peaceable settlers, but on
their arrival in the colony, in the early
winter, after a very arduous journey at an
inclement season, it was found that most of
them were rather of the artizan class than
agriculturists. On the flyleaf of a church
register kept by the Rev. John West, and

Tun SELKIRK SETTLEMENT AND THK SETTLERS.

•2!)

now on deposit in the English Church ar-
chives, is a memorandum that 171 colonists
left Europe for the settlement in 1821, and
six children were born on the voyage, leav-
ing a total of 177. Next year eight of these
left for Canada or the United States, and
fourteen were dead. Nearly all these peo-
ple left the country four years later.

A NEW GOVERNOR.

From the date of Semple's death in
1816, to 1822, Alexander McDonell was,
when circumstances permitted, acting as
governor of the colony. In 1822 Captain
Bulger entered on the duties of the gover-
nor's office, George Simpson (afterwards Sir
George) being the governor-in-chief.

structed, occupied Fort Gibraltar, and it
will be interesting to notice here that the
marriage register of the Rev. John West,
under date of April 18, 1822, contains an
entry of the solemnization of a marriage,
George Simpson attesting as witness, at
Fort Gibraltar, the next six entries made
being of marriages at Fort Garry, one
ot which was witnessed by Simpson, while a
star is placed opposite the first entry,
drawing attention to a foot note,
which reads that Fort Gibraltar
is "now named Fort Garry." Without
doubt, on that date Simpson changed the
name to remove any feeling of resentment
still existing amongst the Northwestern
element at the occnpation of it by the new
company.

INTERIOR FORT GARRY, 1875.

In 1822 Mr. Halket, a relative and execu-
tor of Lord Selkirk, visited the colony and
enceavored to arrange its affairs, but the
continual trouble experienced by the settlers
made this an almost hopeless task. He,
however, managed to ameliorate their con-
dition somewhat by throwing off one-fifth of
their debts. An arrangement was made
whereby goods were sold at the following
advance on invoice 'cost : First 33:\ was
added, then this value was increased by 58
per cent., to make the retail cost to the con-
sumer.

FORT GARRY'S ORIGIN.

The Hudson's Bay Company, as recon-

Nicholas Garry, a member of the Hud-
son's Bay Company's Council, visited the
country about this date, his name appear-
ing, with that of Simpson, as witness to the
marriage of Thomas Isbester with Mary
Kennedy at Norway House on the 12th of
August, 1821.

BUFFALO WOOL COMPANY.

While Gov. Bulger acted as governor of
the colony many schemes were entered into
by the settlers, such as the formation of the
"Buffalo Wool Company." The wool of the
buffalo was to be utilized for domestic pur-
poses and export, while the hides of the

30

THE SELKIRK SETTLEMENT AND THE SETTLERS.

animals were to be tanned. It is sufficient
to say that it was a failure, the concern
winding up, with a loss of over $12,000, in
the year 1825.

Even in 1823 but tew plows were in use,
the hoe being the common implement used
in farming operations. Gov. Bulger, re-
presenting tho Selkirk heirs, met with some
opposition from the fur-trading authorities
of the Hudson's Bay Co. , who prevented
the settlers from trading horses, leather and
provisions from the freemen, but on a pro-
per representation being sent to England
these restrictions were removed, though
trading in furs was considered a species of
high treason, when indulged in by the
colonists.

GOV. FELLY.

Gov. Bulger resigned in 1823 and was
succeeded by Capt. R. P. Pelly, the fur
interests being watched over by Donald
McKenzie.

The company now issued, as a circula-
tory medium, notes of the value of one
pound, five shillings and one shilling. It
may be said that silver coins were unknown
in the country until troops arrived in 1846.

Soon after Capt. Felly's advent a large
band of cattle was brought into the coun-
try and sold to the colonists. An experi-
mental farm was started at Haytield on the
east side of the Red River, about three
miles above the entrance of the Assiniboine,
but, like the Buffalo Wool company affair,
gross mismanagement occurred, and it
proved an utter failure after a sinkage of
$10,000 was made.

THE FIRST RED RIVER CART.

At this time the famous Red River cart
was in common use. I find in an unpub-
lished journal of a fur trader that the first
cart ever used on the Red River plains was
made in the Northwesters' fort at Pembina
in 1801, when the wheel was a solid block
of wood, about three feet in diameter.

The next year an improvement was made
in the wheels, as announced in the following
paragraph I have extracted from the manu-
script referred to : "They (the carts) are
about four feet high and perfectly straight,
the spokes being placed perpendicularly
without the least bending outwards, and
only four in each wheel; the carts will carry
about five pieces (450 pounds), and are
drawn by one horse." Little improvement
was afterwards made in these primitive car-
riages, and even to-day an occasional cart,
drawn by an ox or a horse, may be seen
parading the main business street of the
capital of the Canadian Northwest.

Gunn informs us that in 1825 iron was
worth four shillings a pound in the settle-
ment, and it cost £4 sterling to get the iron-
work of a plow.

THE GREAT FLOOD.

In the spring of 1826 the Red river over-
flowed its banks, and spread over the coun-
try for a great distance. The settlers were

compelled to fly in haste to the
Little Stony Mountain. Their

houses, which were almost invariably
erected on the first or lower bank of the Red
river, were washed away. The previous
winter had been a very severe one, the free-
men residing about Pembina losing many ot
their people by exposure and starvation,
notwithstanding the efforts of the colonists
to supply them with food, under the direc-
tion of Donald McKenzie, the head officer
of the Hudson's Bay Co. Now it was the
turn of the colonists to suffer, as had often
been the case before. Not until the flood
reached to sixteen feet over usual high
water mark did the raging waters show any
sign of abating, and though the torrent first
surged over the river banks on the 2nd of
May, it was not until the middle of June
that the waters receded to below the level
ot the banks of the stream. Nearly every
possession was scattered and ruined, and the
wretched people met to consider what course
they should pursue. Finally the Scotch and
French decided to begin anew the erection
of houses, with the intention of remaining
in, the country, but the DeMeurons and
Swiss, almost to the last individual, deter-
mined to leave the settlement. On the
23rd June, assisted by the Hudson's Bay
company's officials with provisions, 243
persons started for Fort Snelling in the
neighborhood of where now stands St. Paul,
Minnesota. They arrived in safety at their
journey's end, after passing through the
lands of the warlike Sioux, and many of
their descendants are to-day among the
most prominent and prosperous of the West-
ern States.

The colonists who remained set to work
with a will, and, while some erected new
dwellings, on the highest bank of the Red
River, others sowed what little seed had
been preserved. The harvest was a gener-
ous one, and the following winter was
passed by the people in enjoyment of an
abundance of provisions.

THE COUNCIL OF ASSINIBOIA.

For some years after matters in the colony
were very quiet, the harvests being good
and provisions in plenty. It was in 1835
that Sir George Simpson became the presi-
dent of an executive body known as the
government or council of Assini-
boia. This council was composed
originally of the governor of Rupert's Land,
the governor of the Selkirk colony (who
was also a chief factor in the Hudson's Bay
Co.), the Roman Catholic bishop, two
clergymen of the English church, several
retired officers of the company, and a few
residents of the colony.

MISSIONARIES.

In 1820 the Rev. John West arrived in
the settlement frotn England to serve as
chaplain for the Hudson's Bay Company,
and immediately visited ?.the company's
posts throughout the country, marrying and

THE SELKIRK SETTLEMENT AND THE SETTLERS.

31

baptizing the people. The first entry in
the baptism register, which is still in exis-
tence, is dated September 9, J820, being
that of William, son of Thomas and Phoebe
Bunn. He administered the rite of baptism
on 239 occasions before the close of 1822,
and during that time married 54 couples.
The clergyman's fees were, for marriages, 5
shillings; for burials, 2 shillings and 6 pence,
and for certificates, 2 shillings and 6 pence.
In the autumn- of 1823 the Rev. D. Jones
replaced Mr. West, with the title of assist-
ant chaplain, but after August 18, 1825, he
assumed the title of chaplain. The registers
contain entries made by George Harbidge,
missionary school- master. In 1825 the Rev.
W. Cockran arrived in the settlement, and
shortly after settled at the rapids, in St.
Andrews parish, Mr. Jones at the time re-
siding at what is now known as St. John's,
though it then formed a part of Kildonan.
It was not until the 28th of October, 1853,

settlers. Besides an experimental farm, one
of these was the growth of flax, but while
the plant grew well, and abundant harvests
were gathered, the result of the venture
was a failure, on account of scarcity of
laborers and absence of skilled workmen.
The next undertaking was the formation
of "The Tallow Company" in 1832. Nearly
500 head of cattle were secured in the set-
tlement and placed under the care of herd-
ers who were inexperienced and incompetent,
with the result that 111 animals were lost
during the first year. Though the investors
had been promised great profits from the
hide and tallow export trade,none appeared,
and the company was broken up in 1834.

In 1833 a joint stock herding company
was formed with a capital of £1,200. Two
men were sent to Missouris for sheep to
start a ranche, but owing to personal dis-
agreement between them thpy pushed on to
Kentucky to make their purchase. Some

FIRST ANGLICAN CHCRCH.

that St. John's church was consecrated by
that name. From 1821 to 1830 a large
number of retired officials and servants of
the company became residents of the settle-
ment, most of them taking up land north of
Fort Garry along the Red river. Owing to
the attitude of the French Metis to the
Hudson's Bay Company, Governor Simpson
in 1831-34 erected, in the heart of the Eng-
lish settlement, the establishment ever since
known as the Lower or Stone Fort.

A SPECULATION MANIA PREVAILS.

The Selkirk settlers were greatly in debt to
the Selkirk heirs, and as the market for
farm produce was extremely limited, they
were unable to pay oft' the existing indebt-
edness. Several schemes were entered into
• in the hope that the export of farm produce
would increase the direct revenue of the

1,475 sheep were purchased at from five to
seven shillings each, and the drove started
for Red River. Overdriven and illused by
the carelessness of those in charge only 251
were surviving at the end of the journey.

Having gone through this experience of
sheep raising, something else must
be undertaken, so, in 1837 Cap-
tain Gary was brought out from
England by the H. B. Company with
a full staff of servants, and outfits of the
most improved farming • implements. The
buildings of old Fort Garry were utilized as
farm houses and barns, the farm itself being
situated on the lands adjoining, or what are
to-day known as the Hudson's Bay Flats.
From 1837 to 1847 the farm flourished to a
small extent, but old settlers inform me
that the employees engaged there ate the
bulk of the produce raised, and that the

32

THK SELKIRK SETTLEMENT AND THE SKTTLKUS.

costly experiment ended in the breaking up
of the farm, after great loss to the Hudson's
Bay Company.

Some time before, during the existence of
the experimental mania, the Company im-
ported from England, via Hudson Bay, the
celebrated stallion Fireaway, whose de-
scendants are still highly prized by the Red
River people.

In 1835 the Hudson's Bay Company pur-
chased from the Selkirk heirs all their rights
in the colony, with the lands included in
the grant made to Lord Selkirk in 18.11,
the price paid being variously stated at
from £36,000 to £86,000.

LAW MAKING.

In the same year (1835) the council of As-
siniboia was called together, when Sir Geo.
Simpson explained that the time had arriv-
ed when it was necessary make laws for the
government of the population, which had
risen to about 5,000 souls. Accordingly,
the territory was divided into four districts,
in each of which quarterly courts, presided
over by a magistrate, were established.
These courts hail power to pronounce final
judgments in civil cases where the debt
or damage claimed did not exceed five
pounds. Appeals might be allowed at the
discretion of the magistrate to a supreme
court, which was the council of As-
siniboia itself. In cases involving
claims of more than ten pounds, and in
all criminal cases, a jury was to decide
by its verdict the facts in dispute.

The council also levied an import duty of
seven and one-half per cent, on all goods
brought into the country, and while guard
ing the fur-trading interests, they also
placed an export duty on provisions and live
stock, the growth or produce of the colony.
A gaol was constructed immediately after
the passing of these laws, the sum of £300
having been given as a gift to the colony by
the fur-trading branch of the Hudson's Bay
Co.

On the 28th April, 1836, the first trial by
jury took place, when one Louis St. Dennis
was convicted of theft and sentenced to be
flogged in public. The sentence was at once
carried into effect, to the indignation of the
assembled crowd, who expressed their feel-
ing by throwing stones at the flogger.

TRADE WITH THE UNITED STATES.

About this date the Red River people
were beginning to open up a traffic with
the American settlements on the Mississ-
ippi, and several men had established stores
on their own account. Andrew McDermot
and Robert Logan, who names are borne by
estates and street in the city of Winnipeg
of to-day, were among the most prominent.
Trading in furs was, however, strictly pro-
hibited. The French were, as a rule, the
hunters of the country, gathering in great
camps for the purpose of proceeding to the
buffalocountry, situated towards theMissouri
river. The camps were icgulated by certain

unwritten laws, called for by the necessities
of the situation. Chiefs were elected who
sternly enforced the rules agreed to by all
who enjoyed the protection afforded by the
presence, in the Sioux country, of a semi-
military force. Cuthbert Grant, the old
Northwester, was denominated the
"Warden of the plains." Many an en-
counter took place between the Metis and
the Indians, but almost invariably the
latter were beaten with great loss, and they
finally sued for peace with the mixed
bloods. Much trouble arose at times be-
tween the Company and the Metis on
account of the fur trading proclivities of
the latter.

The English and Scotch settlers, while
perhaps indulging to a limited extent in
buffalo hunting, were the agriculturists of
the colony and bowed to the dictum of the
legal authorities moie readily than their
French neighbors and friends.

In 1839 Adam Ihom appeared in the
settlement as recorder of Rupert's Land.
He acted as a judge in the colony and was
paid by the company until the year 1854,
when he departed.

THOMAS SIMPSON, THE ARCTIC EXPLORER.

The next year Thomas Simpson, who had,
with Mr. Dease, made most valuable ex-
plorations from the mouth of the McKenzie
river, eastward along the coastline of the
Arctic ocean, when proceeding across the
plains- south of Pembiiia, en route to Eng-
land to make his report, was either killed
by his companions or committed suicide,
(the actual facts have never yet been
revealed.) His body was brought
back to the settlement and

some degree of obscurity surrounds
the circumstances attending his burial. It
is claimed that owing to the strong preju-
dices of the Scotch on account of his sup-
posed suicide, the remains were not given
Christian burial. Having searched the
burial register of the St. John's church, I
find therein an entry signed by Win. Cock-
ran, the resident Anglican clergyman, to
the following effect: "Thomas Simpson,
chief trader, Hudson's Bay Co.'s service.
Oct. 15th, 1841. About 32 years. " It was
impossible for the clergyman to have made
the entry without performing the duties of
his office.

AN INDIAN HUM..

The first execution in Assiniboia took
place on the 5th September, 1845, when a
Saulteau Indian killed a Sioux, who was
visiting Fort Garry, by shooting him, the
bullet, after passing through the Sioux's
body entered that of a Saulteau, who also
fell dead. The murderer »vas hung from a
scaffold erected over the gaol gate, which
building stood a little to the northwest of
Fort Garry.

BRITISH TKOOPS.

Various reasons have been given for the
necessity for the presence of British troops

THE SELKIRK SETTLEMENT AND THE SETTLERS.

in Assiniboia. It is likely that the compli-
cations arising out of the settlement of the
Oregon boundary line induced the British
governmen to despatch, via York Factory,
the 6th Royal regiment (347 men) under
Col. Crofton, in 1846; though it is possible
that the insecurity of the Hudson's Bay Co.
in their exclusive fur trading privileges
caused the company to represent strongly
to the government the necessity for the
presence of troops. The 6th regiment de-
parted in 1848, and were suc-
ceeded by a force of 70 pen-
sioners the sameyear.areinforcement coining
out the following season. These pensioners
were commanded by a Major Caldwell, who
also acted as governor.

MONOPOLY IX FURS DISAPPEARS.

Jin the spring of 1849 a serious disturb-
ance took place on the occasion of the trial
of a French half-breed named Wm. Sayre,
on the charge of illegally trading for furs
with the Indians, contrary to the laws of
the land, founded on the terms of the Hud-

KILDONAN CHUBCH.

son's Bay Company charter of 1670. On
the 17th May, when the trial took place,
the Mttis gathered in force. They were
armed, and plainly avowed their intention
of resisting the punishment of the prisoner
if he was found guilty of the charge. No
violence was offered to any person by the
crowd, but the authorities recognized that
they would be unable to enforce the de-
cision of the court if it should prove un-
favorable to the prisoner, and, although he
pleaded guilty, he was allowed to depart, on
some quibble of his claim to having received
permission from an official to trade. The
verdict was received by the waiting crowd
as an admission by the company that the
monopoly in the fur trade was broken, and
with loud cries they fired salutes from their

guns and congratulated themselves on their
victory.

AMERICANS PURCHASE INDIAN LANDS.

The Americans extinguished the Indian
title to the lands along the upper Red river
in 1851, Governor Ramsay, of St. Paul,
Minnesota, visiting Pembina for that pur-
pose. Much disappointment was experienced
by those settlers of the colony who claimed
land on the American side of the boundary
on the grounds of squatters' rights when
they failed to get their claims recognized.

THE FLOOD OF 1852.

A flood, almost as extensive as that whic
ruined the settlers in 1826, was experience
in 1852, the damage ensuing being much
greater than on the former occasion, as the
colonists possessed more destructible pro-
perty and the population was vastly larger.
Every assistance was rendered to the suffer-
ers by the governor and the bishop of
Rupert's Land, the clergy generally doing
all in their power to encourage and help the
people. The Rev. John Black had arrived

REV. JOHN BLACK.

the previous year to become pastor to the
Presbyterians, and he labored faithfully
then as he did until his death in 1882.

COURT JUDGES.

In 1854 Mr. Thorn was succeeded as clerk
to the court (the position of recorder having
been abolished) by Judge Johnson, who
held the office until 1858, when Dr. Bunn
was installed, attending to the duties until
his death in 1861." Governor Wm. Mc-
Tavish then filled the position for a year,
until John Black took over the office.

POPULAR AGITATIONS.

As the population of the settlement in-
creased, in like ratio did the difficulties of
administering the laws. The most of the
people became dissatisfied with the form of

34

THE SELKIRK SKTTLEMKNT AND THE SETTLERS.

government existing, which was practically
the creation of the Hudson's Bay Company.
By the year 1857 a considerable trade was
carried on between the colony and the
United States, where the people, in their
annual trips to St. Paul, had presented to
them the evidences of the westward march
of civilization and settlement in the West-
ern States of the Union.

PETITIONS TO CANADA.

Petitions were sent in 1857 to the legisla-
tive assembly of Canada, praying that the
Canadian Government would take steps to
open up communication between Upper
Canada and the Red River, via Lake Su-
perior, and extend to the settlers the pro-
tection of Canadian laws and institutions.
The Canadian Assembly took immediate
action in the premises, and, as the Hudson's
Bay Company were then asking from the
Imperial Government an extension of their
license for exclusive trading privileges in
the Indian territories, they protested the
claims of the company and asked that the
Red River country be handed over to Can-
ada. Representatives were sent by Canada
to England and negotiations were entered
into with the Imperial Government. An
immense mass of correspondence on this
matter has been published by both the
Dominion Government and that of Ontario
in connection with the settlement of the
western boundary of Ontario. It was not
until 1869 that an amicable settlement of
the question was arrived at.

CANADA TAKES POSSESSION.

The Hudson's Bay and Indian territories
became part of Canada and the Hudson's
Bay Company received as an equivalent
£300,000, and extensive land grants.

Troops were sent to Red River in 1857,
the Royal Canadian Rifles furnishing the
detachment, which consisted of 120 men.
This force left Red River in 1861, via York
Factory.

THE FIRST STEAMBOAT.

An event occurred in 1862 which created
great excitement in the settlement. A steam
boat of the flat-bottomed build, which had
been constructed on the Upper Red River
made its appearance at Fort Garry, bearing
several passengers of note and a goodly as-
sortment of freignt. The delight of the
settlers was almost unbounded as they
viewed the good ship Anson Northup, the
first steam-propelled craft to ply the waters
of the Red River.

SIOUX MASSACRE IN MINNESOTA.

In 1862 the Sioux Indians in Minnesota,
taking advantage of the American civil war,
took to the war path and massacred many
of the settlers in the State. Great fears
were entertained by the Red River settle-
ment people that an attack would be made
on them, but the Sioux were too wily
to take such a step, and had arranged
to retreat across the International

line when hard pressed by the U. S. troops.
On the suppression of the uprising large
numbers of these Indians crossed into As-
siniboia, and on the 4th March, 1864, Major
Hatch, the officer commanding the Amer-
ican troops stationed at Pembina formally
applied to Mr. Dallas, who was governor of
the Red River Settlement, for permission to
cross with his soldiers for the purpose of at-
tacking the refugee Sioux on British soil.
Gev. Dallas, within twenty-four hours,
granted permission, only stipulating that
no blood should be shed in the houses or
enclosures of the settlers, but Major Hatch
never availed himself of the opportunity.
Many American writers have fallen
into the error of stating

that Governor Dallas refused Hatch's
request, but the writer has in his
possession copies of the correspondence
which passeed between the gentlemen to
the above effect. The truth appears to be
that Major Hatch forwarded the corres-
pondence to Washington, and was immedi-
ately ordered to refrain from crossing the
boundary line. During the Indian troubles,
communication between St. Paul and Fort

SENATOR SCHULTZ.

Garry was almost entirely cut ofl'. Dr.
Schultz, in a speech delivered in the Cana-
dian House of Commons, described a jour-
ney made by him from St. Paul to the settle-
ment, when on encountering bands of the
Sioux, the explanation that he was a British
subject acted as a certificate for free pas-
sage. Many of the Sioux who crossed to
the north of the line never returned to the
United States, though they have never been
recognized by government as other than
foreign Indians.

NEW-COMERS ON THE SCENE.

In 1863 a change was made in the affairs
of the Hudson's Bay Co., by the sale to a

THE SELKIRK SETTLEMENT AND THE SETTLERS.

new company of all the property and
privileges of the old concern.

Canadians and Amei leans had arrived in
the settlement, principally after 1857, when
the surveys and explorations conducted by
officials of the Canadian government drew
attention to the country. Numerous ex-
ploring expeditions had passed through the
Northwest en route to the far north from
the time Sir John Richardson descended
the McKenzie river. Back, Simpson and
Dease, Lefroy and others had made more or
less extended explorations in the
geographical and scientific fields, so that
gradually information was reaching the
outside world of the land that was soon to
be thrown open for settlement under the
sheltering care of the Dominion of Canada.

A SHORT-LIVED GOVERNMENT.

In 1867 a provisional government was or-
ganized by Mr. Thomas Spence, the terri-
tory embraced in the scheme being that
portion of the present province of Manitoba
situated about Portage la Prairie, but when
the originators sent home a petition asking
for recognition by the Imperial Govern-
ment, they were informed that the whole
proceeding was illegal, and the scheme fell
to the ground. The district mentioned was
outside the territory included within the
bounds of Assiniboia. No serious attention
has ever been paid to this movement, the
whole matter being now treated as a huge
joke.

DISTRESS IN THE COLONY.

A grasshopper visitation took place in
1868 and the people were much distressed
for provisions. A committee was formed
and subscriptions poured in from Great
Britain, Canada and the United States to
pay for the wheat and other provisions de-
spatched overland from Minnesota to Fort
Garry. The Canadian government proceed-
ed to construct a road from Fort Garry to
the Lake of the Woods as a means to afford
relief and employment to the settlers, but
trouble occurred between the French
Metis and the officials in charge of the
work.

A CANADIAN GOVERNOR.

In 1869 the arrangements for a transfer
of the Hudson's Bay Territories to Canada
were concluded and it was announced
that the Hon. William Macdougall had
been appointed as the first governor to the
province about to be formed by Canada.
He proceeded to Pembina with a numerous
retinue, having great stores of furniture,
firearms, ammuRition, etc., and on his
arrival there found that many of the resi-
dents of the settlement, and especially the
French, opposed to his entry, the latter
being very much annoyed that surveys were
being made by Canadian officials, while the
people of the settlement had never been
communicated with by either the Imperial
or Canadian governments or the Hudson's
Bay Company regarding the transfer. Mr.

Macdougall announced himself as governor,
and issued proclamations, to which no at-
tention was paid.

THE KIEL GOVERNMENT.

Meetings were held at Fort Garry and
elsewhere, guards were placed by the French
to prevent Governor Macdougall and his
people from coming into the country, and
then the French took possession of Fort
Garry, Louis Riel acting as their chief.
More meetings were held, some of them at-
tended by representatives of the English-
speaking people, but the final result was
thac Louis Riel formed a provisional govern-
ment and ruled the land until the end of
August, 1870, when General Wolseley
ousted him from the fort on the arrival of
the regulars and volunteers sent from East-
ern Canada, via Lake Superior, for that
purpose.

It is beyond the scope of this paper to re-
fer in detail to the proceedings of the Riel
government, it only being necessary
to say that the Selkirk settlers, in all cir-
cumstances, remained loyal to the British
crown.

After 1870 the tide of emigration turned
toward Manitoba, and while the country is
gradually becoming dotted over with the
new settlers, none of them are more res-
pected than the old Selkirk settlers and
their descendants, and none of them have
suffered the trials and hardships endured by
the pioneers.

SELKIRK SETTLEMENT SURVIVOR**.

The writer has come into contact with
many of the original settlers who came out
with the various parties via \ork Factory
to take up lands on the Red River nnder
the auspices of Lord Selkirk, and has se-
cured much information of a general nature
regarding life in the Selkirk settlement in
the days of its infancy. During this sum-
mer I have personally interviewed the last
survivors of the original colony who were
old enough on the date of their
arrival to remember the events
that transpired in connection with
the trouble between Lord Selkirk and the
Northwest Fur company. Herewith I give
the substance of the information obtained
from these old people at, in cases, many
conversations held with them, and wherever
possible I use their own words. In the case
of Mr. Murray, who is A wonderfully clear-
minded and physically active old gentleman,
the information, as regards dates and
occurrences given by him, have
been compared with original docu-
ments in my possession, and with such
data as is contained in the official church
registers of St. John's church. In every
case his memory has been proved to be
singularly perfect, even the most minute
details of his evidence being borne out by
the records. It is then safe to accept his
statements where contemporary written
records are wanting, and it is particularly

THE SELKIRK SETTLEMENT AND THE SETTLERS.

THE SELKIRK SETTLEMENT AND THE SETTLERS.

37

noticeable that the other survivors of the
first] settlement, whom I have conversed
with, have referred aie to Mr. Murray as
the, one who Is the best authority living.
Canon Matheson, of St. John's college,
kindly procured for me from his father,
Mr. John Matheson, the particulars
given by him regarding certain points of
history in dispute, or not before recorded, in
connection with the history of the settle-
ment.

DOKALD MURRAY, OF KILDONAN, MANITOBA.

My name is Donald Murray; I was born
at Kildonau, Sutherlandshire, Scotland, in
or about the year 1801. I came to this
plaee in 1815, with Lord Selkirk's fourth
party of colonists, and I have lived here
ever since. I remember perfectly well Lord
Selkirk's being here in 1817, but I was then
too young to be now able to recall anything
in particular about him personally.
I employed for many years after
Michael Lambert, the bugler of the
party of DeMeurous that came
up with his lordship. I reiwember, how-
ever, that Lord Selkirk held a great meet-
ing with the colonists close to the spot
where the Kildonan ferry now is, by the
church lot. This was after we returned
from Jack Fish jRiver, now called Norway
House, where we had taken refuge after the
destruction of the settlement by the North-
west men in 1816. At this meeting new
arrangements were made with all the set-
tlers as to their lands. Before leaving
Scotland the agreement was that we should
pay five shillings an acre for our lands, but
at this meeting Lord Selkirk gave them to
us free of charge. Some of the arrange-
ments made at this meeting were, however,
never carried out. His lordship
left us in August, going down

by land through the United States.
When Governor Miles Macdonald finally
left the colony for Canada, [He was pres-
ent as late as 1817, when he signed the In-
dian treaty with Selkirk. — ED.] where he
afterwards died, a young settler and I went
to him and said, "Now, Governor, you
know you have in your possession many
papers relating to Lord Selkirk's grants of
land and other matters, which are of great
value to us colonists. Will you not give
them to us before you leave?" "No,
Donald," says he, "they were given into
my charge, and I must keep them." [The
papers referred to are likely those now
filed in the Dominion archives office at Ot-
tawa.—ED.]

I remember Governor Semple well. He
was a very fine man, one of the best that
ever came to the settlement. He was a
portly gentleman, rather stout and short;
He arrived here in the autumn, and during
the winter went west to visit the rarious
posts in the interior, returning in the
spring, soon after which he was killed.
Whilst at the colony he always lived at
Fort Douglas. The Seven Oaks massacre
took place near the bridge which is close to
where Sheriff Inkster's house stands. The
half-breeds were coming on purpose to des-
troy the settlement and kill the settlers.
They nad been sent by "White-Headed
McDonel," as Alexander McDonel was
invariably called. After Lord Selkirk
arrived McDonel fled to the States
and we never heard of him again.
I knew CuthJ>ert Grant, the leader
of the half - breeds at the time
of the massacre, well in after years, indeed,
he was quite a friend of mine, and after my
marriage often came to visit me at my
house. He always spoke quite treely of the
intention of the half-breeds to destroy the
colony. Had he acted according to his in-
tention we should certainly all have been
killed, but after the massacre of Semple
and his party, he acted very kindly towards
us, allowing us to takje away all our pro-
perty, or as much as we conveniently could.

The day after the massacre, the Indian
Peguis obtained leave to bring in all the
bodies in his carts and bury them, which
he did. Governor Semple and 19 others
were buried near the fort on Point Douglas,
close to where Alexander Logan's house
now stands. Pegius was very sorry for the
death of Gov. Semple. I myself saw him
cry like a child as he lowered the body into
the grave. This was certainly the morning
of the day after the fight. The statement
that the bodies were allowed to lie out on
the prairie for a fortnight, and that they
were mutilated and partially eaten by the
wolves, is false. Between the years 1820
and 1830 the remains of those killed were
taken up and removed to St' John's church-
yard, but no stone was erected over them
and I could not now point out the spot
where they were re-interred.

38

THE SELKIRK SETTLEMENT AND THE SETTLERS.

I came out in 1815 with my parents. Two
brothers of mine had come out a couple of
years before us, but they had been sent down
to Canada by the Northwest Co. people
before our arrival in the settlement. We
had a fine voyage out and no sickness among
the people. We left Thurso, as near as I
can recollect, early in June, and landed at
York Factory, as I clearly remember, on
August the 17th. We arrived at the settle-
ment I suppose about the end of October.
It was a very cold, snowy fall, and we had a
hard and stormy journey up from York.

The morning after the Semple murder my
father and mother were taken prisoners by
the French, as they were working in their
field (now lot 25, Kildonan). They had
come down from Fort Douglas that morning
to work, having been at the fort for some
days on account of the reports cir-
culating that the French were coming to
attack the settlement. They were living in
a house which was one of the two erected
by my brothers, who had gone to Canada
with the settlers led away by Duncan Cam-
eron. My parents were kept as prisoners
until the next day.

I think John Matheson (living at Grass-
mere now), George Bannerman, John Poison
and myself are the only four males alive now
of the original colonists; but I think there
are several females yet surviving. One is
Mrs. Kaufman, who lives in Kildonan, on
the east side of the river. [Adam McBeth,
of Qu'Appelle, and his brother, both living
yet, were infants when they arrived, but
should be mentioned as original settlers, and
there may be a few similar cases. — ED.]

Fort Douglas was carried away by the
flood of 1826. It stood on the northeast
side of the little creek that empties into the
Red River near where Mr. Logan's house
now stands on Point Douglas, but its site is
now a long way out in the river, or at least
from the present high bank.

The Northwest Co.'s fort was called Gib-
raltar, and stood on the Assiniboine point,
at the mouth of that. river, but it has now
all gone into the river a good many years,
I think. I do not know of any traces of
any earlier fort, known as Fort Rouge,
standing near its site. The Hudson's Bay
Co., however, had a fort which stood close
to where Notre Dame street east is
now. This was the fort which
Dr. Bryce was unable to locate when he
wrote his book about the old forts. This
fort was built by Peter Fidler about 1817-18,
but he went to Brandon House in the latter
year, and it was first occupied by one James
Sutherland, who finished it in 1819. As
nearly as I can locate its position, it was
situated between what is now McDermott
and Notre Dame streets eaat, but perhaps
nearer Notre Dame than the other. It was
near the rise in the ground and a few hun-
dred yards from the Red river. It was
about square, the principal entrance facing
exactly to th jioint between the two rivers.

At the farther end, opposite to this gate,
stood the master's house, which was
larger than the others, ranged down
each side of the pallisaded enclosure, about
four on each side, but I do not remember
exactly how many there were. There was
a walk behind, between them and the pal-
isades, and an open court-yard in the
centre. I think there was also a small
powder magazine behind the master's
house. I often slept in this fort, and in
1818, when I went to Brandon House, I

FIDLER'S FORT.

1. Master's House.

2. Houses on southwest side.

3. Houses on northeast side.

4. Powder Magazine.

5. Main Gate, facing Assiniboine Point.

started from it. I do not recollect that it
had any particular name other than "the
company's fort." It was quite distinct from
Fort Garry, and stood at the same time as
Forts Douglas and Gibraltar. I forget just
when it disappeared, but it probably stood
till the flood of 1826, and was then swept
away, like the remains of Fort Douglas.then
owned by Mr. Logan. If you doubt that
this fort was there, just find out about a
marriage ceremony I was at in it. I was
the only guest from the colony invited when
the following persons were married by the
Rev. John West : James Bird, the chief
factor, to a daughter of Thomas Thomas;
Thomas Thomas, a retired chief factor, to
Miss Monture; and Joseph Bird, a son of
James, to a swampy Cree woman. (Rev.
John West's marriage register, now in St.
John's Church, shows these entries, and are
dated atRedRiverColony-Ed.) lalso remem-
ber Joseph Bird, a half brother of the late
Dr. C. J. Bird, who was speaker in the
Manitoba parliament in 1874, built three
York boats there in 1819, and those boats,
with one made by a boat-builder who was
here then and whose name I cannot at this
moment call to mind, were taken to York
for freight. Just ask old John Matheson if
he does not remember that his father
worked on that fort for Peter Fidler. I re-
member seeing him. [See testimony of
Jno. Matheson. — Ed.]

Fort Garry was built by Governor Pelly
in 1825, but was washed away the year

THK SELKIRK SETTLEMENT A.NU TIIK SETTLERS.

after by the flood. It was a fine fort, and
stood near old Fort Gibraltar. Directly
after the flood the Company built houses on
the Assiniboine west of Gibraltar, and it
was afterwards palisaded. A French Can-
adian named Basil, or Jacko Laurence, took
the contract for the stockade, which was a
very fine one.

After the last Fort Garry (part of which
yet remains) was built by Governor Christie
in 1835-36, the old fort on the point
was used as the farm buildings,
and some stables were erected by Captain
Gary north of them, near wher« the Broad-
way bridge now is, at least they were be-
tween the point and that place. (Cellar
holes and burnt plaster may be seen to-day
at this place. — Ed.) Capt. Gary had the
celebrated stallion Fireaway there in charge
for the Hudson's Bay Co., and when he left
the settlement he took Fireaway with him
to the States, having purchased him from
the company, much to our sorrow. I
freighted to York for Capt. Cary during
two or three years after 1844.

Fort Garry for years was only called
"The Company's fort" by the settlers, and
it was not until the last fort was erected
that it was regularly called Fort Garry,
though, of course, that was its proper name
for years before.

The Hudson's Bay Company used an old
building, that stood about 200 or 300
yards north of Fort Gibraltar, as a stable.
That was after the companies joined. I do
not know if they ever had a fort there be-
fore, but they used that old building as a
stable when they moved up and occupied
the Northwest Company's fort about 1821.

Before we came to the ccuntry the Hud
son's Bay Company had a store on the east
bank of the Red river, opposite to the
mouth of the Assinihoine, I think on the
property where Mr. N.W.Kittson afterwards
had his trading store. The Company may
have had a fort there, but I only know for
a fact that they had some kind of a store.

The abandoned Hudson's Bay Company's
fort at Selkirk in 1815 was on the east
side of the Red river, at the end of the big
island at the swamp. The chimneys then
stood about six feet high. It was called
Fort William. There was also a small post
four miles south of Netley creek.

In 1818 I saw the company's Brandon
House post, which was perhaps a mile or
more west of the mouth of Souris river, to
which place I walked one day, and it was
on the south side of the Assiniboine. The
Northwest fort was directly across the
Assiniboine from it, on the north side.

The country about the Lower Fort Garry
was called the Red Deer plain. [Called the
same in Henry's journal of 1800, the St. An-
drew's Rapids also being termed the Red
Deer Rapids.— ED.]

When Governor Semple left Fort Doug-
las to meet the French he had with him
only a few men, but" the settlers, coming

into the fort and hearing of his departure,
took their guns and went after him. Some
joined him, but others were only half way
when the fighting began. Mr. Bourke was
on horseback going after the governor, but
when he heard the shots he turned back for
a cannon, which he took out, and saved
some of the people who escaped the massa-
cre. Chief Peguis, who had 70 warriors,
shortly before the massacre offered his ser-
vices to the governor for the defence of the
colony, but the governor declined, not
thinking there was any danger. The
morning after the massacre, before
Fort Douglas was given up to the French,
we took all the ammunition for the cannons
and threw it into the river, from the end of
a boat which was tied to the shore. The
cannon balls must now be in the mud at
the bottom of the river, quite a long way
from the present bank, as the river is much
wider now than it was then. An Irishman,
named Paddy Clabby, saved a fine sword,
which may have been Governor Semple's,
by carrying it down from the fort to the
river and sinking it in the water, attached
to a line, the other end of which was tied to
one of the boats we started for Jack fish
river in. In this way the sword was towed
along unperceived by the French, until it
could with safety be taken aboard.

Plenty of muskets came out with
the first settlers, but I never
heard of them being served out
to the colonists. They were stored in Fort
Douglas, and one day, in Governor Bulger's
time, when I was a constable, I and my
companion had them all out in the court
yard and cleaned them. I have never heard
of the colonists being drilled to arms. Two
brass field pieces came out with some of the
settlers. One time when Mr. Halket, a
relative of Lord Selkirk, and a member of
the Hudson's Bay Company's Committee,
was out here, he took the wheels of one of
the gun carriages, which were of English
oak, iron bound, and very strong, to trans-
port his boat to Lake Manitoba, which lay
in the route of the trip he was taking.
These wheels were left at the mouth of the
White Mud River, where they rotted away.

Lord Selkirk was a tall, slender man,
probably six feet in height. He had never
before been in the Red River country when
I saw him in 1817.

I do not remember ever having heard of
Lord Selkirk's sending out any reindeer
from Norway, but he did send out a herd of
Orkney cattle.

I remember Duncan Cameron of the
Northwest Company, who was a fine old
gentleman, much liked by the people, also
his brother Reynold, who died at Pembina.

In 1816, Colin Robertson did not agree
well with the officials in the settlement.
They did not like him, neither did the
settlers. As he started off with a boat con-
taining fur for Lake Winnipeg, in derision
he hoisted a pemican sack in-

40

THE SELKIRK SKTTI.,EMEST AND THE SETTLEKS.

stead of a British flag as was usual.
This was before the Semple affair.
After the massacre the Northwesters occu-
pied Fort Douglas, but erected new houses
at Fort Gibraltar in 1817-18 after Col. Colt-

was a back gate on the north side by which
wood was taken in. The fort stood twenty
or thirty yards back from the rivers, which
at that time were much narrower than now.
Lord Selkirk gave a free grant of fifty

man, the commissioner, came here. Fort
Gibraltar was positively situated on the
very point of land between the rivers,
although the main face and principal gate-
way overlooked the Assiniboine, There

acies to an old French half breed named
Joseph Plant, near my place. Plant was
frozen to death near Pembina, ia the winter
of 1826, when a lot of the French, who
were starving on the plains beyond Pern-

THK SH.KIKK SKTTI.KMKNT AND TIIK SKTTI.KKS.

U

bina, started for the settlement. It was
mild at first, but began to rain. The wind
changing its directicr. brought snow and
drift, so that they lost the trail. All per-
ished there except a son of Plant, who ran
ahead to Grande Pointe, some miles south
of Pembina. Though he managed to start
a fire, his clothes being wet and he ex-
hausted, he was overcome and died beside
the fire, his body being afterwards found
near the remains of the small fire. Another
son of Plant, who had not been with the
party, later on sold the property to John
Sutherland, from whom, a few years ago, I
purchased it. Old Plant was much liked
by the settlers, to whom he was always a
very good friend.

Of course I remember Sir George Simp-
son well. After I married and had a house,
he often called upon me, and was very kind
and friendly, though, perhaps, I am the
only man who ever defied his authority.
This took place one time at York Factory
when he was walking arm in arm with Sir
John Franklin. I wanted a gallon of
whisky which had been promised to me, but
which he refused to give me. He ordered
me to go with the boats for the settlement,
which I refused to do until I got my
whisky, telling him that Iwas a colonist and
not one of the Company's servants. We
were, however, very good friends afterwards.
I think the seasons have changed greatly.
I can assure you we have had seasons when
the strawberries were ripe by June 1 . Now
they are never ripe before July 1. I think
we then had far more birds than now,
especially wild fowl and pigeons. I remem-
ber when I used to see flocks of pigeons fol-
lowing the course of the river, which were
so large that the front of each flock was out
of sight in the north, while the tail was out of
sight in the south; but they nevei come now.
[In 1871, standing on the spot where now is
the junction of Main and Lombard streets,
I fired into great Hocks of pigeons passing
overhead and killed numbers of them. — Ed.]

I have killed Buffalo at Pembina with a
knife, having no gun to shoot them. Those
were hard days for us.

I commenced freighting to York in 1844.

I was appointed a magistrate in 1852,
and acted as such tor 18 years, when I
retired on account of my deafness.

I remember perfectly the case of the
Orkney girl you have written about, who is
mentioned, you tell me, in Alexander
Henry's journal. Of course I was not in
this country in 1807 when the affair oc-
curred, but I knew well the man Scart,
who was connected with it, and the story
was common talk for many a year after we
arrived in the country. I will tell you
what I know about it. The girl came out
from Orkney to James Bay in the
service of the Hudson's Bay Company, and
was dressed in man's clothes. For years
her sex was not discovered by any of the

people who associated with her. When she
was at a post of the company, at James
Bay, she was for two years at the Partridge
House, with a man named John Scart, who
used to find her, on his return from hunt-
ing, sitting by the fire crying; and she did
very little work, appearing to be much
troubled in mind. After that she and Scart
were sent inland to Brandon House post, on
the Assiniboine River, where they occupied
the same cabin in the fort, for in those days
a log hut was usually given to each two
men. Scart was the right-hand man of
Mr. Goodwin, the master at Bran-
don House for the Hudson's Bay
Company, and the latter frequently
asked Scart to his house of an evening to
take a dram of grog and consult with him.
[Henry's unpublished journal contains entry,
on 19th of August, 1800, that Robt. Good-
win was in charge of the Hudson's Bay
Company's boats for Assiniboine river points.
-ED.]

One night Scart had been at the master's
house until late at night, and on his return
to the cabin discovered the true sex of his
partner. He at once told the frightened
woman that he would go to Mr. Goodwin
with the news, but she fell on her knees
and begged him not to reveal her identity.
After much persuasion he consented to keep
the secret, and they continued to live to-
gether under the same conditions as before,
and it was not for a long time after that she
lost her honor. She was finally separated
from Scart by being sent to Pem-
bina to act as cook for the master
there, who went by the name of "Mad Mc-
Kay. " It was when there that she made a
discovery as to her condition, and went
over to Mr. Henry at the Northwest fort,
and was the next morning delivered of a
child, to the great surprise of all the people
in the country, who had never suspected
that she was a woman. [Henry's journal
contains a note that on the 15th December,
1807, a young Orkney girl, who had
passed as a boy in the H. B. Co.'s
service, went to Henry and gave birth to a
child. She had followed her lover out from
Orkney and he was then at Grand Forks. —
ED.]

The girl was sent back to Orkney with
her child. Scart, who always acknowledged
the above facts, lived for many years after-
wards, dying finally at the Image Plain,
below Kildonan. The story was current
amongst the early settlers, who
knew Scart and Mad McKay, and
this was undoubtedly the first
white woman who lived in the Red River
country. I knew both Baptiste Lajimonieie
and his wife, but I never before heard that
it was claimed that she was the first white
woman in this country. I have often won-
dered why some person did not write about
the Orkney girl, and am glad you are doing

THK SKLKIKK SKTTLKMKXT ANT> TMK XKTTI.KKS.

GEORGE BANNERMAN, KILDONAN,
MAN.

I was horn in the Scotland Highlands
about 1805, and came to Red River with my
pare jits in 1815.

I remember the time Governor Semple
and his people were killed by the French.
The bodies were buried near Fort Douglas
the day after they were killed. They were
buried in one grave near some trees, but I
never heard tha't the remains were taken
away from there. I remember Cuthbert
Grant, who treated us settlers well, but
my memory is not as good as that
of Donald Murray, who can give
you more information than I can.

The first bricks were made by a man
named Hedger, in the flats between Broad-
way and the fort.

There was a small Indian mound in the
vicinity of Seven Oaks, outside the old road.

The first mission buildings erected by the
Rev. John West were situated just where
the old school house now stands, between
the brewery and the college creek.

A person going to Fort Garry would say
he was going to the Forks, but thinks it was
a general term applied to all the district
near the mouth of the Assiniboine.

JOHN MATHESON, OF GRASSMERE,
MAN.

The following particulars were obtained
from his son, the Rev. Canon Matheson, of
St. John's college:

John Matheson was born on October 15,
1814, in the parish of Kildonan, Sutherland-
shire, Scotland. He sailed with his parents
for York Factory in June, 1815, and arrived
at Fort Douglas on Christmas day, of the
same year. He was too young to be aware,
from personal knowledge, but can speak
definitely on the following points:

His deceased brother was piesent twice
at the burying of Governor Sernple, the last
time being wnen the bodies were removed
from beside Fort Douglas to St. John's
churchyard.

Peter Fidler did build a fort nearer the
main river than the present one, in the
vicinity of Broadway, before 1826, and he
knows his father worked for Fidler.*

THE LATE ROBERT MACBETH.

Mr. Robert Macbeth was born in Suther-
landshire, Scotland, in 1801. He came out
to the Red River with his parents about
1815, as colonists to the Selkirk settlement.
He was a successful trader, and for many
years a member of the Council of Assini-
boine under the Hudson's Bay Company's
administration, as well as a magistrate. He
was married to Mary Maclean, whom he
survived 23 years. He died on the 20th
August, 1886, leaving a family of eight to
morn his death : Adam, Alexander, Rob-
ert, John and Roderick, and Mrs. Angus
Henderson, Mrs. John McKay and Mrs.
Augustus Mills.

THK SKLKIHK SKTTI.KMKNT AND THK SKTTKKRS.

JOHN POLSON, OF KILDONAN, MAN.

I was born in IS'O or thereabouts, in
Kildonan, Scotland, and came out with
Lord Selkirk's settlers in 1815.

I remember well the seven oak trees
which gave the name to the locality, <vhere
Governor Sernple and his men were killed
by the half breeds, in 1816, and have many

were buried in one large grave, on the
afterwards removed to St. John's church-
yard. One body, of a man that was killed
then, was buried on McDonald's lot, in St.
Johns, and the grave was cared for a long
while, but is now plowed over and the site
lost sight of.

There was an Indian burial mound on the

southwest side of what is now called Logan's
crook, and on the property to-day owned
by ex-Mayor Logan. There was a clump of
trees at the spot when the grave was dug.
I do not remember that their bodies were
a time shot pheasants (grouse) from their
branches.

Governor Semplc and «ome of his people

south side of Seven Oaks creek, near the
trail, but it, also, has been plowed over.
When people spoke of the Forks, in old
times, they referred to the point of land
on the north side of the Assiniboine, where
that stream flows into the Red. I never
heard the south side called the Forks. I
have always lived on this lot, and have

44

THK SKI.MRK SKTTI.KMKNT AND TIII: SKTTLKK.S.

never been farther away than Portage la
Prairie or Pembina since the troubles
in 1816.

I remember Fort Gibraltar well,
it faced the Red River and the Assiniboine.
The rivers were far narrower than they are
now. I think I could have thrown a stone
across the Red River here then. I remem-
ber that bricks were made at St. John's by
a man who came out with the Rev. Mr.
West.

MRS. KAUFMAN, KILDONAN EAST.
MAN.

I was born in Caithness, Scotland, in
1806, and came out here in 1815 with my
parents, who were Selkirk colonists. My
name was Elizabeth (Betty) McKay before I
married Wollrich Kaufman, a DeMeuron
soldier, who came up with Lord Selkirk in
1817. Winnipeg was always a great camp-
ing ground for the Indians.

I saw Governor Semple and his dead
companions buried in one1 grave on the
south side of the creek near Fort Douglas,
where a grove of trees stood. The gover-
nor and the doctor were buried in coffins,
and the others wrapped up in blankets, the
day after the massacre. Mr. Sutherland's
body was stripped quite naked, but it is
not true that they all lay out on the prairie
for some days.

I remember that Lord Selkirk came here

and held a meeting of the settlers. He was
tall and straight, very lordly in appearance,
but not strong looking. Before we left
Scotland His Lordship promised us a cow
each, and a plow between two, but after-
wards we had to pay for all these things.

My brother, Selkirk McKay, was born on
the way from York Factory, at Painted
Stone, being the first white child born in
that colony. He was called a fter Lord
Selkirk.

I knew Cuthbert Grant very well, for he
was very kind to us settlers.

I remember the stockade fort Donald
Murray speaks of. It was between Fort
Douglas and the Northwest fort. I cannot
now tell you where it was, for the ground is
all covered with houses, but I think it was
near the high ground between the forts.
This fort was existing at the same time as the
colony fort and the Northwest Company's
place.

Go to Donald Murray, he can tell you far
more than any of us about these things.

[Father Dugast, of St. Boniface, has writ-
ten most interesting notes of the history of
Mme. Lajimoniere, a French -Canadian
woman who arrived at Pembina, from Mon-
treal, in 1806, and it has been stated by
several writers that she was the first white
woman in the Red River country. The
above evidence proves these statements to
be not founded on fact, and though they
have been made in good faith, it is well they
should be denied. — En.l

THE LAST OF FORT CURRY.

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CARDS OR SLIPS FROM THIS POCKET

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