IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) A ^ >V t'l 1.0 1.1 I^|2j8 12.5 £f |£& 12.0 m I *^ y /^ Hiotographic Sciences Corporation sv %. i\ <^ 23 WIST MAIN STREET WE«STER,N.Y. I45S0 (7l6)t73-4S03 ^K^"^ %U^ V ;\ V ,..m^M WBWPw* . 1,- -» ' IT- ' ,i — t.'-jf. %, ■f *:^ '4i' ■#% 1 ^C'7 '*L \ ti 1' I %, \ i! . -I. "■ '' ii:; 't"' ■n ■ iHt. .. INTRODUCTORY REPORT. 1 -i 'I a'- ■0- ,1 ■■ 1 The Hon. ADAMS G. ARCHIBALD, i.t, 'l',-:'..i .'■''■ LIEUT.-GOVERNOR, Manitoba. Sir, ij .v.. Before entering into the questions contained in the written instruct- tions, under which I acted, and before attempting to state an opinion upon the existing situation of affairs in the Saskatchewan, I will briefly allude to the time occupied in travel, to the route followed, and to the general circumstances attending my journey. Starting from Fort Garry on the 25th October, I reached Fort EUice at junction of Qu'Appelle and Assineboine Rivers on the 30th of the same month. On the following day I continued my journey towards Carlton, which place was reached on the 9th November, a detention of two days having occurred upon the banks of the South Saskatchewan.River, the waters of which were only partially frozen. After a delay of five days in Carlton, the North Branch of the Saskatchewan was reported fit for the pr sage of horses, and on the morning of the 14th November I proceeded on my vvest- em journey towards Edmonton. By this time snow had fallen to the depth of about two inches over the country, which rendered it necessary to abandon the use of wheels for the transport of baggage, substituting a light sled in place of the cart which had hitherto been used, although I still re- tained the same mode of conveyance, namely the saddle, for personal use. Passing the Hudson Bay Company Posts of Battle River, Fort Pitt and Victoria, I reached Edmonton on the night of the 26th November. For the last' 200 miles the country had become clear of snow, and the frosts, not- withstanding the high altitude of the region, had decreased in severity. Starting again on the afternoon of th*^ 1st December I recrossed the Sas- katchewan River below Edmonton and continued in a South-Westerly di- rection towards the Rocky Mountain House, passing through a country, w^hich even at that advanced period of the year, still retained many traces J 1 I Its Slimmer beauty. At mid-day on the 4th December having passed the orgos of the Three Medicine Hills, I came in sight of the Rocky Moun- Tains, which rose i'rora the Western extremity of an immense plain and stretched their great snow-clad peaks far away to the Northern and Southern horizons. Finding it impossible to procure guides for the prosecution of my journey South to Montana, I left the Rocky Mountain House on the 12th December and commenced my return travels to Red River along the valley of the Saskatchewan. Snow had now fallen to the depth of about a foot, and the cold had of late begun to show symptoms of its winter intensity, Thus on the morning of the 5th December my thermometer indicated 22 ® below z^ro and again on the 13th 18 ® below zero, a degree of cold which in itself was not remarkable, but which had the effect of rendering the sad- dle by no means a comfortable mode of transport. Arriving at Edmonton on the 16th December I exchanged my horses for dogs, the saddle for a small cariole, and on the 20th December com- menced in earnest the winter journey to Red River. The cold, long de- layed, now began in all its severity. On the 22nd December my thermo- meter at 10 o'clock in the morning indicated 89 ® below zero, later in the day a biting wind swept the long reaches of the Saskatchewan River, and Tendered travelling on the ice almost insupportable. To note here the long days of travel down the great valley of the Saskatchewan, at times on the frozen river and at times upon the neighbouring plains, would prove only a tiresome record. Little by little the snow seemed to deepen, day by day the frost to obtain a more lasting power, and to bind in a still more solid embrace all visible Nature. No human voice, no sound of bird or beast, no ripple of stream to break the intense silence of these vast solitudes of the Lower Saskatchewan. At length early in the month of February I quitted the valley of Saskatchewan at Cedar Lake, crossed the ridge which separ- ates that sheet of water from Lake "Winnepegossis, and descending the latter Lake to its outlet at Water-hen River, passed from thence to the Northern extremity of the Lake Manitoba. Finally on the 18th February I reached the settlement of Oak Point on South shore of Manitoba and two days later arrived at Fort Garry. In following the River and Lake route from Carlton, I passed in suc- cession the Mission of Prince Albert, Forts a la Corne and Cumberland, the posts of the Pas, Moose Lake, Shoal River and Manitoba House, and with a few exceptions, travelled upon ice the entire way. The journey from first to last occupied 119 days and embraced a disv tance of about 2,700 miles. * \ I have now to offer the expression of my best acknowledgments to the Officers of the various posts of the Hudson Bay Company passed en route. To Mr. W. J. Christie, of Edmonton, to Mr. Richard Hardistry, of Victoria, as well as to Messrs Hackland, Sinclair, Ballenden, Trail, Turner, Belanger, Matheison, McBeath, Munro and McDonald, I am indebted for much kindness and hospitality, and I have to thank Mr. W. J. Christie for infor- mation of much value regarding statistics connected with his District. I have also to offer to the Revd. Messrs Lacombe, McDougall,^and Nisbetthe expression of the obligations w^hich I am under, towards them, for uniform kindness and hospitality. ..^ W -^ "^ 7" 'X V ^^me^d GENERAL REPORT. Having in the foregoing images briefly alluded to the time occupied in travel, to the route followed, and to the general circumstances attendina- my journey, I now propose entering upon the subjects contained in the written instructions under which I acted, and in the first instance to lay before you the views which I have formed upon the important question of the existing state of affairs in the Saskatchewan. The institutions of Law and Order, as understood in civilized commu- nities, are wholly unknown in the regions of the Saskatchewan, insomuch as the country is without an executive body whatever and destitute of any means to enforce the authority of the Law. I do not mean to assert that crime and outrage are of habitual occur- rence among the people of this Territory, or that a state of anarchy exists in any particular portion of it, but it is an undoubted fact that crimes of the most serious nature have been committed, in various places, by persons of mixed and native blood, without any vindication of the Law being possible, and that the position of affairs rests at the present moment not on the just power of an Executive Authority to enforce obedience, but rather upon the passive acquiescence of the majority of a scant population who hitherto have lived in ignorance of those conflicting interests, which, in more popu- lous and civilized communities, tend to anarchv and disorder. But the question may be asked if the Hudson's Bay Company repre- sent the centres round which the half-breed settlers have gathered, how then does it occur that that body should be destitute of governing power, and unable to repress crime and outrage ? To this question I would re- ply that the Hudson's Bay Company being a commercial corporation, de- pendent for its profits on the suffrages of the people, is of necessity cautious in the exercise of repressive powers, that, also, it is exposed in the Saskat- chewan to the evil influence which Free Trade has ever developed among the native races, that, furthermore, it is brought in contact with tribes long remarkable for their lawlessness and ferocity, and that, lastly, the ele- ments of disorder in the whole Territory of Saskatchewan are, for many causes, yearly on the increase. But before entering upon the subject into Ss ■^ fl i vt .«JP' #■■-■■ w^ !l l\ Ich this IjihI considtM'ation would Ifiid ino. it will ))»' ndviNublt'! to ylauco tht' ViiriouN (deiriciits which ('(tuiprist' Ihf population ol'this Western r»»- lon, In point of nuniht'iH, and in the power which they i)oss('S8.ot' coni- mittint;' depredations, the aboriginal racew claim I ho loremost place aniony' the inhahilants oi' the SaskatcUewan. These 'tiihoB, like the Indians oi other i^ort ions ol' liuperl's Land and the North Wcwt, carry on th(^ pur- suits oriuintini?, l)riufrinjr the produce of their hunts to liarter lor the yoods of the Hudson's Hay ('onipany. but, unlike the Indians of more Northern regions, they subsist almost emirely upon the buHalo, and they carry on among' themselves an unceasing warfare which has long become traditional. Accustomed to regard murder as honoral>le war, robl)(M-y and pillage as the traits most ennobling to manhood, free from all restraint, these warring tribes of CriM^s, Assiniboines, and lUackleet form some of the most savage among even the wild races of Western America. j Hitherto it may be said that the Crees have looked upon the white man as their friend, but latterly indications have not beeu wanting to foreshadow a change in this respect — a change which I have found many causes to ac- count for, and which, if the Saskatchewan remains in its present condition, must, I fear, deepen into more, positive enmity. The bulfalo, the red man's sole means of subsistence, is rajpidly disappearing ; year by year the prairies, which once shook beneath thd tread of countless herds of bisons, ar« be- coming denuded of animal lifel and year by year the atlliction of starvation comes with an ever increasinj^i intensity upon the land. There are men still living w^ho remember to have hunted buffalo on the sh6res of Lake Manitoba. It is scarcely twelve years since Fort EUice, on the Assiniboine, Hirer, formed one of the principal posts of supply for the Hudson's Bay Company ; and the vast prairies which flank the Southern and Western spurs of the Touch-wood Hills, now utterly silent and deserted, are still white wath the bones of the migratory herds, which, until lattdy, roamed over their surface. Nor is this absence of animal life confined to the plains of the Qu'Appelle and of the Upper Assiniboine — aU along the line of the North Saskatchewan, from Carlton to Edmonton House, the same scarcity prevails, and if further •illustuition of this decrease of buffalo be wanting I would state that, during the present winter, I traversed the plains from Red River to the Rocky Mountains without seeing even one solitary ani- mal upoii 1,200 miles of prairie. The Indian is not slow to attribute this lessening of his principal food to the presence of the white and half-breed settlers, whose active competition for pemican (valuable as .supplying the transport service of the H. B. Co.,) has led to this all but total extinction of the bison. Nor does he fail t' ■ trace other grievances — some real, some imaginary — to the same cause. Wherever the half-breed settler or hunter has estab- lished himself he has resorted to the use of poison as a means of destroying the wolves and foxes which were numerous on the prairies. This most pernicious practice has had the effect of greatly embittering the Indians against the settler, for not only have large nun > hers of animals been use- lessly destroyed, inasmuch as fully one-half thr animals thus killed are lost to the trapper, but also the poison is frequent i y communicated to the In- dian dogs, and thus a very important mode ol winter transport is lost to the ' \ / ^{■■k. ^^p^ »»*; (•!! \ red mail. 1 1 is usNovti'tl, too, that horH»'s aio soiiu'timoN poisoned by eat gTaH8».'H which have hecoiue tainted by the presence of strychnbie, and though this hitter assertion may not l)e true, yet its etlects are the same, as ' the Indian I'ully beUeves it. In consequence of these losses a threat has ^>e(Mi niiuK}, very generally, hy the natives, against the hall-br«'eds, to the etlect that ii' the- us(! ol" poison was persisted in the horses belonging to the settlers would ))e shot. Another increasing source of Indian diiscontent is to be found in the po- licy pursued by the American Government in their setth'ment of the coun- tries lying South of the Saskatchewan. Throughout the Territories of Dakota and Montana a state of hostility has long existed botwe«'n the Americans and the tribes of Sioux, Blackfeet, and I'eagin Indians. This state of hos- tility has latterly been characterized, on the part of the Americans by a war of extermination ; and the policy of "clearing out" the rtnl man has now become a recognized portion of Indian warfare. Some of these acts of ex- termination lind their way into the public records, many of them never find publicity. Among the ibrmer the attack made during th(» spring of 1S70 by a large party of troops upon a camp of Peagin Indians close to the British boundary line will be fresh in the recollection of Your Excellency. The tribe thus attacked was suffering severely from small-pox, was sur- prised at day break by the soldiers, who, rushing in upon the tents, de- stroyed 170 men, women, and children, in a few moments. This tribe forms one of the four nations comprised in the Blackfeet league, and have their hunting grounds partly on British and partly on American territory. I have mentioned the presence of small-pox in connection with these In- dians. It is very generally believed in the Saskatchewan that this disease was originally communicated to the Blackleet Tribes by Missouri traders with a view to the accumulation of robes, and this opinion, monstrous though it may appear, has ])een somewhat verified by the "Western Press when treating of the epidemic last year. As I propose to enter at some length into the question of this disease at a later portion of this repo 1 1 now only make allusion to it as forming one of the grievances which tl j Indian affirms he sufl'ersat the hands of the white man. ,, In estimating the causes of Indian discontent as bearing i pon the fu- ture preservation of peace and order, in the Saskatchewan, an t as illustrat- ing the growing difficulties which a commercial corporation ike tin Hud- son's Bay Company have to contend against, when acting in a .egal capacity, I must now allude to the subject of Free Trade. The p'licy of a Free Trader in furs is essentially a short-sighted one — he dot^s not care about the future — the continuance and partial well-being of the Indian is of no consequence to him. His object is to obtain possession of whatever furs the Indian may have at the moment to barter, and to gain that end he spares no effort. Alcohol, discontinued by the Hudson's Bay Company in their Saskatchewan district for many years, has been freely used of late by Free Traders from Red Kiver : and as great competition always exists be- tween the traders aud the employes of the Company, the former ha^e not hesitated to circulate among the natives the idea that they have suffered much injustice in their intercourse with the Company, The events which took place in the Settlement of Red River during the winter of '60 and '70 # S*«.£?aSB'' i 6 also tended to disturb the minds of the Indians — they have heard of Singes of Government, of rebellion and pillage of property, of the occu- pation of forts belonging to the Hudson Bay Company, and the stoppage of trade and ammunition. Many of these events have been magnified and distorted — eVil disposed persons have not been wanting to spread abroad among the natives the idea of the downfall of the Company, and the threat- ened immigration of settlers to occupy the hunting grounds, and drive the Indian from the land. All these rumours, some of them vague and wild in the extreme, have found ready credence by camp fires, and in Council lodge, and thus it is easy to perceive how the red man, with many of his old con- victions and beliefs rudely shaken, should now be more disturbed and dis- contented than he has been at any former period. In endeavouring to correctly estimate the present condition of Indian affairs in the Saskatchewan the efforts and influence of the various mission- ary bodies must not be overlooked. It has only been during the last twenty years that the Plain Tribes have been brought into contact with the indi- viduals whom the contributions of European and Colonial communities have sent out on missions of religion and civilization. Many of these indi- viduals have toiled with untiring energy and undaunted perseverence in the work to which they have devoted themselves, but it i:? unfortunately true that the jarring mterests of different religious denominations have sometimes induced them to introduce into the field of Indian theology that, polemical rancour which so unhappily distinguishes more civilized com- munities. , . ^ : To fully understand the question of missionary enterprise, as bearing upon the Indian tribes of the Saskatchewan valley, I must glance for a moment at the peculiarities in the mental condition of the Indians which render extreme caution necessary in all intercourse between him and the whitf man. It is most difficult to make the Indian comprehend the true nature of the foreigner with whom he is brought in contact or rather I should ;ay that having his own standard by which he measures truth and falsehoo I, misery and happiness, and all the accompaniments of life, it is almost impossible to induce him to look at the w^hite man, from any point of view ")ut his own. From this point of view everything is Indian. English, 1 ench, Canadians andJlmericans are so many tribes inhabiting various part of the world, whose land is bad, and who are not possessed of buffalo — 1 r this last desideratum, they (the strangers) send goods, mis- ; sions, etc., to he Indians of the Plains. — " Ah!" they say, if it was not for our buffalo wl ere would you be ? You would starve, your bones would whiten the pra ries." It is useless to tell them that such is not the case, they answer " Avhere then does all the pemican go to that you take away in your boats and in your carts?" With the Indian, seeing is believing, and his world is the visible one in which his wild life is cast. This being understood, the necessity for caution in communicating with the native will at once be apparent — yet such caution on the part of those w^ho seek the Indians, as missionaries, is not always observed. Too frequently the language suitable for ci^alized Society has been addressed to the Red man. He is told of G-overnments, and changes in the political world, successive religious systems are laid before him by their various advocates. To-day /* f • i f I 'i \ -I i [' u i I 'i * 14 he is told to believe one religion, to-morrow to have faith in another.^ it any wonder, that applying his own simple tests to so much conflictiiij^ testimony, he becomes utterly confused, unsettled and suspicious — to the White man, as a white man, the Indian has no dislike, on the contrary he is pretty certain to receive him with kindness and friendship, provided always that the new-comer will adopt the native system, join the hunting camp, and live on the plains, but to the white man as a settler, or hunter on his own account, the Crees and Black feet are in direct antagonism. Ownership, in any particular portion of the soil by an individual is altogether foreign to men, who, in the course of a single summer, roam over 500 miles of prairie. In another portion of this report, I hope to refer again to the Indian que'stion, when treating upon that clause in my instructions which relates exclusively to Indian matters. I have alluded here to mis- sionary enterprise, and to the Indian generally, as both subjects are very closely connected with the state of affairs in the Saskatchewan. Next in importance to the native race is the half-breed element in the population which now claims our attention. The persons composing this class are chiefly of French descent — origi- nally of no fixed habitation, they have, within the last few years, been in- duced by their clergy to form scattered settlements along the line of the North Saskatchewan. Many of them have emigrated from Red River and others are either the discharged servants of the Hudson's Bay Company, or the relatives of persons stfll in the employment of the Company. In contradistinction to this latter class they bear the name of "Free Men," and if freedom from all restraint, general inaptitude for settled employment, and love for the pursuits of hunting be the characteristics of Free Jden then they are eminently entitled to the name they bear. With very few exceptions they have preferred to adopt that exciting but precarious means of living — the chase, to follow the more certain methods of agriculture. Almost the entire summer is spent by them upon the plains, where they carry on the pursuit of the buffalo in large and well organized bands, bringing the produce of their hunt to trade with the Hudson's Bay Company. In w^inter they generally reside at their settlements, going to the near- er plains in small parties, and dragging in the frozen Buffalo meat for the supply of the Company's posts. This preference for the wild life of the prairies by bringing them more in contact with their savage brethren, and by removing them from the means of acquiring knowledge and civilization has tended in no small degree to throw them back in the social scale, and to make the establishment of a prosperous colony almost an impossibility — even starvation, that most potent inducement to toil, seems ] owerless to promote habits of industry and agriculture. During the winto ; season they frequently undergo periods of great privation, but like tht Indian they refuse to credit the gradual extinction of the buffalo, and persist in still depending on that animal for their food — were I to sum ap the general character of the Saskatchewan half-breed population, I would say: They are gay, idle, dissipated, unreliable and ungrateful, in a measure brave, hasty to form conclusions, an(' quick to act upon them, possessing extra- ordinary power of endurance, and capable of undergoing immense fatigue, A hi' A: p M =i n % scarcely over to be depended on in critical moments ; superstitious and lorant, having a very deep rooted distaste to any fixed employment, op- posed to the Indian, yet widely separated from the vv^hite man — altogether a race presenting, I tear, a hopeless prospect to those who would attempt to frame, from such materials, a future nationality. In the appendix will be found a statement showing the population and extent of the half-breed settlements in the "West. I will here merely remark that the principal settlements are to be found in the Upper Saskatchewan, in the vicinity of Edmonton House, at which post their trade is chiefly carried on. Among the F'rench half-breed population there exists the same politi- cal feeling which is to he found among their brethren in l^anitoba, and the same sentiments which produced the out-break of 1869-70, are undoubtedly existing in the small communities of the Saskatchewan. It is no easy mat- ter to understand how the feelinp- of distrust towards Canada, and a cer- tain hesitation to accept the Dominion Grovei'nment, first entered into the mind of the half-breed, but undovhtedly such distrust and hesitation have, made themselves apparent in tht Upper Saskatchewan, as in Red River, though in a much lees formid ible degree, in fact, I may fairly close this notice of the half-breed } opulation by observing that an exact counterpart of French political feeling in Manitoba may be found in the Territory of the Saskatchtvvan, but kept im abeyance both by the isolation of the various setth ments, as well as by a certain dread of Indian attack which presses eqviaJly upon all classes. The next element of which I would speak is that composed of the white settler, European and American, not being servants of the Hudson's Bay Company. At the present time this class is numerically insignificant, and were it not that causes might at any moment arise which would rapidly develop it into consequence it would not now claim more than a p issing notice. These causes are to be found in the existence of gold throughout a large extent of the Territory lying at the Eastern base of the Rocky Mountains, and in the effect which the discovery of gold fields would have in inducing a rapid movement of miners from* the already over ^vorked fields of the Pacific Statess and British Columbia. For some years :>ack indications of gold, in more or less quantities, have been found in almt xt every river running E&st from the Mountains. On the Peace, Arthaba ca, McLeod, and Pembina Rivers, all of which drain their waters into the x.rctic Ocean, as well as on the North Saskatchewan, Red Deer and Bow j'iver, which shed to Lake Winnipeg, gold has been discovered. The obstaclvs which the miner has to contend with are, however, very great, and precludi^ anything but the most partial examination of the country. The Blackfeet are especially hostile towards miners and never hesitate to attack them nor is the miner slow to retaliate ; indeed he has been too fre- quently the aggressor and the records of aold discovery are full of horrible atrocities committed upon the red man. It has only been in the neigh- bourhood of the P^orts of the Hudson's Bay Company that continued wash- ing for gold could be carried on. In the neighbourhood of Edmonton from three to twelve dollars of gold have frequently been " wash^ '' in a single day by one man, but the miner is not satisfied with what he calls " dirt washing," and craVes for the more exciting work in the dry diggings where, if the "strike" i8gx)od, the yield is sometimes enormous. The dif- ficulty of procuring provisions or supplies of any kind has also prevented f I ! w^K. i rv^ I 9 " Prospecting" parties from examining the head waters of the numei streams which form the sources of the North and South Saskatchewt It is not the high price of provisions that deters the miners from penetrat-* ing these regions but the absolute impossibihty of procuring any. Not- withstanding the many difficulties which I have enumerated a very deter- mined effort will in all probability be made, during the coming summer, to examine the head waters of the north Branch of the Saskatchewan, A party of miners, four in number, crossed the mountains late in the autumn of 1870, and are now wintering between Edmonton and the Mountain House, having laid in large supplies for the coming season. These men speak with confidence of the existence of rich diggings in some portion of the country lying within the outer range of the mountains. From conversa- tions which I have held with these men ns well as with othcu"S who have partly investigated the country, I am of opinion that there exists a very strong probability of the discovery of gold fields in the Upper Saskatche- wan at no distant period. Should this opinion be well founded the effect which it will have upon the whole Western territory will be of the utmost consequence. Despite the hostility of the Indians inhabiting the neighbourhood of such discoveries, or the plains or passes leading to them, a general influx of miners will take place into the Saskatchewan and in their track will come the waggon or pack horse of the merchant from the towns of Benton or Kootenais, or Helena. It is impossible to say what effect such an influx of strangers would have upon the plain Indians ; but of one fact we may rest assured, namely, that should these tribes exhibit their usual spirit of robbery and murder they would quckly be exterminated by the miners. I. i Everywhere throughout the Pacific States and along the central terri- tories of America, as well as in our own colony of British Columbia, a war of extermination has arisen, under similar circumstances, between the miners and the savages, and there is good reason to suppose that the proverbially hostile tribe of Blackfeet Indians would form no exception to a rule which with more peaceful nations has been of invariable occurrence. Having in the foregoing remarks reviewed the various elements which compose the scanty but widely extended population of the Saskatchewan^ outside the circle of the Hudson's Bay Company, I have now to reler to that body, as far as it is connected with the present condition of affairs in the Saskatchewan. - As a governing body the Hudson's Bay Company has ever had ic '^ontend against the evils which are inseparable from monopoly of trade combined with monopoly of judicial power, but so long as the aboriginal inhabitants were the only people with whom it came in contact its authority could be preserved ; and as it centered within itself whatever knowledge and en- lightenment existed in the country its officials were regarded by the aboriginals as persons of a superior nature, nay, even in by gone times it was by no means unusual for the Indians to regard tine ])osses8ion of some of the most ordinary inventions of civilisation on the part of the officials ol 2 , ■ t • 'i- -•^ m 10 Comppny as clearly demonstrating a close affinity between these gen- femen and the Manitou, nor were these attributes of divinity altogether distasteful to the officers who found them both remunerative as to trade and conducive to the exercise of authority. When, however, the Free Traders and the Missionary reached the Saskatchewan, this primitive state of affairs ceased — with the enlightenment of the savage came the inevi- table discontent of the Indian until there arose the condition of things to which I have already alluded. I am aware that there are persons who w^hile admitting the present unsatisfactory state of the Saskatchewan ascribe its evils more to mistakes'Committed by officers of the Company, in their management of the Indians, than to any material change in the char- acter of the people ; but I believe such opinion to be founded in error. It would be impossible to revert to the old management of affairs. The In- dians and the half breeds are aware of their strength and openly speak of it, and although I am far from asserting that a more determined policy on the part of the officer in charge of the Saskatchewan District would not be attended by better results, still it is apparent that the great isolation of the posts, as well as the absence of any lighting element in the class of ser- vants belonging to the Company, render the Forts on the Upper Saskatche- wan, to a very great degree, helpless, and at the mercy of the people of that country. Nor are the engaged servants of the Company a class of per- sons with whom it is at all easy to deal. Recruited principally from the French half-breed population, and exposed, as I have already shown, to the wild and lawless life of the prairies, there exists in reality only a very slight distinction between them and their Indian Brethren, hence it is not sur- prising that acts of insubordination should be of frequent occurrence among these servants, and that personal violence towards superior officers should be by no means an unusual event in the Forts of the Saskatchewan ; indeed it has cbily been by the exercise of manual force on the part of the officials in charge that the semblance of authority has some- times been preserred. This tendency towards insubordination is still more observable among the casual servants or "Trip men" belonging to the Company. These persons are in the habit of engaging for a trip or journey, and frequently stlect the most critical moments to demand an increased rate of pay, or to 'desert e» wflsse. > ■ At Edmonton House, the Head Quarters of the Saskatchewan District, and at the Posts of Victoria, and Fort Pitt, this state of lawlessness is more apparent than on the lower portion of the river. Threats are frequently made use of by the Indians and half-breeds, as a means of extorting favor- able terms from the officers in charge, the cattle belonging to the Posts, are uselessly killed, and altogether the Hudson's Bay Company may be said to retain their tenure of the Upper Saskatchewan upon a base which appears insecure and unsatisfactory. In the foregoing remarks I have entered at some length into the ques- tion of the materials comprising the population of the Saskatchewan with a view to demonstrate that the condition of affairs in that Territory is the na- tural result of many causes, which have been gradually developing them- selves, and which must of necessity undergo still further developments if left in their present state. I have endeavoured to point out how from the -% ^•«r V ■r \ re- ravages 11 growing wants of the aboriginal inhabitants — from the conflicting natur^' the interests of the half-breed and Indian i)opulation, as well as from th^ natural constitution of the Hudson's Bay Company, a state of society has arisen in the Saskatchewan which threatens at no distant day to give rise to grave complications ; and which now has the effect of rendering life and property insecure, and preventing the settlement of those fertile regions which in other respects are so admirably suited to colonization. As matters at present rest the region of the Saskatchewan is without law, order, or security, for life or property ; robbery and murder for years have gone unpunished ; Indian massacres unchecked, even in the close vi- cinity of Hudson's Bay Company Posts, and all civil and legal institutions are wholly and entirely unknown. I now enter upon that portion of Your Excellency's Instructions which has reference to the epidemic of Small Pox in the Saskatchewan. It is about fifty years since the first great epidemic of Small Pox swept over the gions of the Missouri and the Saskatchewan, committing great among the tribes of Sioux, G-ros-Ventres and Flat Heads upon American Territory ; and among the Crees and Assiniboines of the British. The Blackfeet Indians escaped that epidemic, while on the other hand the As- siniboines, or Stonies of the Qu'Appelle Plains were almost altogether des- troyed. Since that period the disease appears to have visited some of ihe Tribes at intervals of greater or less duration, but until this and the pre- vious year its ravages were confined to certain localities, and did not extend universally throughout the country. During the summer and early winter of '69 and '70 reports reached the Saskatchewan of the prevalence of Small Pox,of a very malignant type among the South Peagin Indians, a branch of the great Blackfoot Nation. It was hoped however that the decease would be confined to the Missouri River and the Crees who as usual were at war with their traditional enemies, were warned by Missionaries and others that the prosecutions of their predatory expeditions into the Blackfeet Country would in all probability carry the infection into the North Saskat- chewan. From the South Peagin tribes, on the head waters of the Missouri, the disease spread rapidly through the kindred tribes of Blood, Blackfeet and Lurcee Indians, all which new tribes have their hunting grounds north of the Boundary Line. Unfortunately for the Crees, they failed to listen to the advice of those persons who had recommended a suspension of hostilities. With the opening of spring the war parties commenced their raids, a band of 17 Crees penetrated, in the Month of April, into the Black- feet country, and coming upon a deserted camp of their enemies in which a tent was still standing they proceeded, to ramsack it. This tent contained the dead bodies of some Blackfeet, and although these bodies presented a very revolting spectacle, being in an advanced stage of decomposition, they were nevertheless subjected to the usual process of mutilation, the scalps and clothing being also carried away. For this Act the Crees paid a terrible penalty — scarcely had they reached their own country before the disease appeared among them in its most virulent, and infectious form. Nor were the consequences of this raid less disastrous to the whole Cree Nation. At the period of the year to which LrJi^iL. 13 ide, the early summer, these Indians usually assemble together from Ferent directions, in large numbers, and it was towards one of those nu- merous assemblies that the returning war party, still carrying the scales and clothing of the Blackfeet directed their steps. Almost immediately upon their arrival the disease broke out amongst them, in its most malig- nant form. Out of the 17 men who took part in the raid, it is asserted that not one escaped the infection and only two of the number appear to have survived. The disease once introduced into the camp, spread with the ut- most rapidity, numbers of men, women, and children fell victims to it dur- ivig the month of June — the cures of the medicine men were found utter- ly,' unavailing to arrest it and as a last resource the camp broke up into small parties. Some directing their march towards Edmonton and others to Victoria, Saddle Lake, Fort Pitt and along the whole line of the North Saskatchewan. Thus at the same period, the beginning of July, Small Pox of the very worst description was spread throughout some 500 miles of territory, appearing almost simultaneously at the Hudson Bay Company's Posts from the llocky Mountain House to Carlton. It is difficult to imagine a state of pestilence more terrible than that which kept pace with these moving parties of Crees during the summer months of 1870. By streams and lakes, in willow copses, and upon bare hill sides, often shelterless from the fierce rays of the summer sun, and exposed to the rains and dews of night, the poor plague stricken wretches lay down to die. No assistance of any kind, for the ties of family were quickly loosened and mothers abandoned their helpless children upon the way side, fleeing onward to some fancied place of safety. The district lying between Fort Pitt and Victoria, a distance of about 140 miles, was perhaps the scene of the greatest suft'e ring. In the immediate neighborhood of Fort Pitt, two camps of Crees es- tablished themselves, at first in the hope of obtaining medical assistance and failing in that, for the officer in charge soon exhausted his slender store, they appear to have endeavoured to convey the infection into the Fort, in the belief that by doing so th'ey would cease to suffer from it themselves. The dead bodies were left unburied close to the stockades, and frequently Indians in the worst stage of the disease might be seen trying to force, an entrance into the houses, or rubbing portion of the scab from their persons against the door handles and w ^ /low frames of the dwellings. It is singular that only three persons within the fort should have been infected with the disease, and I can only attribute the comparative immunity enjoyed by the resi- dents at that post to the fact that Mr. John Sinclair had taken the precau- tion early in the sumiier to vaccinate all the persons residing there, having obtained the vaccine matter from a Salteaux Indian who had been vaccin- ated at the mission of Prince Albert, presided over by Rev. Mr. Nesbit, sometime during the spring. In this matter of vaccination a very impor- tant difference appears to have existed })etween the Upper and Lower Sas- katchewan. At the settlement of St. Albert near Edmonton the opinion prevails that vaccination was of little or no avail to check the spread of the disease, while on the contrary residents on the lower portion of the Sas- katchew^an assert that they cannot trace a single case in which death had ensued after vaccination had beon properly performed. I attribute this dif- **?sij|'* ift^ 4 f i r la "^H contain in- fection of the most virulent description. « The portion of Your Excellency's Instructions which has reference to the Indian tribes of the Assiniboine and Saskatchewan regions now claim my attention. The aboriginal inhabitants of the country lying between Red River and the Rocky Mountains are divided into tribes of Salteaux, Swampies, Crees, Assiniboines, or Stonies of the Plains, Blackfeet and Assiniboines of the Mountains. A simpler classification, and one which will be found more useful when estimating the relative habits of these tribes, is to divide them into two great classes of Prairie Indians and Thickwood Indians — the first comprising the Blackfeet with their kindred tribes of Bloods, Lurcees, and f' n ! J Cj i! 16 fine, as also the Creos of the Saskatchewan, and the Assiniboines of the ippelle ; and the last being composed of the Rocky Mountain Stonies. tiie Swampy Crees, and the Salteaux of the country lying- between Manitoba and Fort Ellice. This classification marks in reality the distinctive charac- teristics of the Western Indians. On the one hand we find the Prairie Tribes subsisting almost entirely upon the buffalo, assembling together in largo camps, acknowledging the leadership and authority of men con- spicuous by their abilities in war or in the chase, and carrying on a per- petual state of warfare with the other Indians of the plains. ' / On the other hand we find the Indians of the Woods subsisting by fishing r and by the pursuit of moose and deer, living together in small parties, ad- / mitting only a A'ery nominal authority on the part of one man professing to entertain hostile feelings towards certain races, but rarely developing siich feelings into positive hostilities — altogether a much more peacefully disposed people, because less exposed to the dangerous inlluence of large assemblies. Commencing with the Salteaiix, I find that they extend Westward from Portage la Prairie to Fort Ellice, and from thence North to Fort Pelly and the neighbourhood of Fort a la Oorne, where they border and mix with the kindred race of Swampy or Muskego Crees. At Portage la Prairie and in the vicinity of F'ort Ellice a few. Sioux have appeared since the outbreak in Minnesota and Dakota in 1862. It is probable that the number of this tribe on British territory will annually increase with the prosecution of rail- road enterprise and settlement in the Northern portion of the United States. At present, however, the Sioux are strangers at Fort Ellice, and have not yet assumed those rights of proprietorship which other tribes, longer resi- dent, arrogate to themselves. The Salteaux, M'^ho inhabit the country lying West of Manitoba, par- take partly of the character of Thickwood and partly of Prairie Indians — the buffalo no longer exists in that portion of the country, the Indian camps are small, and the authority of the chief merely nominal. The language spoken by this tribe is the same dialect of the Algonquin tongue which is used in the Lac la Pluie District and throughout the greater portion of the Settlement. Passing North-West from Fort Ellice we enter the country of the Cree Indians, having to the North and East the Thickwood Crees, and to the South and West the Plain Crees. The former, under the various names of Swampies or Muskego Indians, inhabit the country West of Lake Winnipeg, extending as far as Forts Pelly and a la Oorne, and from the latter place, in a North- Westerly direction, to Carlton and Fort Pitt. Their language, which is similar to that spoken by their cousins, the Plain Crees, is also a dialect of the Algonquin tongue. They are seldom found in large numbers, usually forming camps of from four to ten families. They carry on the pursuit of the Moose and red deer, and are, generally speaking, expert hunters and trappers. Bordering the Thickwood Crees on the South and West lies the (iountry of the Plain Crees — a land of vast treeless expanses, of high wi \. ^Ik \. 17 «? rolling prairieb, ol' wooded tracts lying in valleys ol' many streams, in a word the land of the Saskatchewan. A lino running direct from the Touchwood Hills to Edmonton House would mea- sure 500 miles in length, yet would lie altoiiether within the country of the Plain Crees. They inhal)it the prairies which extend from the Qu'Appelle to the South Saskatchewan, a portion of territory, which was formerly the land of the Assiniboine, but which became the country of the Crees through lapse of time and chance of war. From the Elbow of the South Branch of the Saskatchewan the Cree nation extends in a West and North West direction to the vicinity of the Peace Hills, some lifty miles south of Edmonton. Along the entire line ther^' exists a state of perpetual warfare during the months of Summer and Autumn, for here commences the territory over which roams the great Blackteet tribe, whose southern boundary lies beyond the Missouri liiver, and whose western limits are guarded by the giant peaks of the llocky Mountains. Ever since these Tribes became known to the fur traders of the Noith West and Hudson's Bay companies there has existed this state of hostility amongst them. The Crees having been the first to obtain firearms from the White traders, quickly extended their boundaries, and moving from the Hudson's Bay and the region of the Lakes overran the pliAis of the Upper Saskatchewan. Fragments of other tribes scattered at long intervals through th»; present country of the Crees attest this conquest, and it is probable that the whole Indian territory lying between the Saskatchewan and the American Boundary Line would have been dominated over by this tribe had they not found themselves opposed by the Grreat Blackleet Nation, which dwelt along the sources of the Missouri. Passing w^est from Edmonton we enter the Country of the Rocky Mountain Stonies, a small tribe of Thickwood Indians dwelling along the source of the North Saskatchewan and in the outer nuiges of the Kocky Mountains. A fragment no doubt from the once powerful Assiniboine nation, which has iound a refuge amidst the forests and mountanis of the West. This tribe is noted as possessing hunters, and mountain guides of great energy and skill. Although at war with the Blackfeet, collisions are not frequent between them, as the Assiniboines never go upon war parties ; and the Blackfeet rarely venture into the wooded country. Having spoken in detail of the Indian tribes inhabiting the lire of fertile country lying betw^een Red River and the Rocky Mountains \\ only remains for me to allude to the Blackleet with the confederate tiioes of Blood, Lurcees and Peagins. These tribes inhabit the great plains lying between the Red Deer River and the Missouri, a vast track of country, which with few exceptions is arid, treeless anu sandy — a portion of the true American dcM^rt, which extends from the Fertile Belt of the Saskatchewan to the borders of Texas. 'With the exception of the Lurcees the other confederate tribes speak the same lan- guage — the Lurcees, being a branch of the Chipwagans of the North, speak a language peculiar to themselves, while at the same time understanding and speaking the Blackfeet tongue. At war with their hereditary enemies, the Crees, upon their northern and eastern boundaries — at war with Kootanais and Flathead tribes on South and West— at war with Assiniboines on V ; % \ I .li 19 lonth-Earit and North West. — carryiiij? on pr«»dntory oxcurwionH nc^ainst the AmericaiiH on the MiwHouri, this Blackte«t nation forms a people of whom it may truly be said that they are against every man, and that every man i« againHt them. EHHentially a wild, lawless, errnig race, whose natures have received the stamps of the region in which they dwell ; whose knowhulge is read from thk^ great hook which Day, Night and the Desert unfolds to them ; and who yet possess a rude eloquence, a savage pride, and a wild love of freedom of their own. Nor are there other indications wanting to lead to the hope that this tribe may yet be found to l)e capable of yielding to influences to which they have heretofore been strangers, namely, JusUoe and Kindness. Inhabiting as the lilackfeet do a large extent of country which from the arid nature of its soil must ever prove useless for purposes of settle- ment and colonization, I do not apprehend that much dilRculty will arise between them and the Whites, provided always that measures are taken to guard against certain possibilities of danger, and that the Crees are made to understand that the Forts and settlements along the Upper Sas- katchewan must be considered as neutral ground upon which hostilities cannot be waged against the felackfeet. As matters at present stand, whenever the Blackfeet venture in upon a trading expedition to the Forts of the Hudson's Bay Company they are generally assaulted by the Crees and savagely murdered. Pere Lacombe estimates the number of Black- feet killed in and around Edmonton alone during his residence in the West, at over 40 men. and he has assured mo that to his knowledge the Blackfeet have never killed a Cree at that place, except in self-defence. Mr. W. J. Christie, Chief Factor at Edmonton House, confirms this state- ment. He says, " The Blackfeet respect the whites more than the Crees do, that is, a Blackfoot will never attempt the life of a Cree at our forts and bands of them are more easily controlled in an excitement than Crees. It would be easier for one of us to save the life of a Cree among a band of Blackfeet than it would be to save a Blackfoot in a baud of Crees." In consequence of these repeated assaults in the vicinity of the forts, the Blackfeet can with difficulty be persuaded that the Whites are not in active alliance with the Crees. Any person who studies the geographical position of the posts of the Hudson's Bay Company cannot fail to notice the immense extent of country interven- ing between the North Saskatchewan and the American Boundary Line, in which there exists no fort or trading post of the Company. This blank space upon the maps is the country of the Blackfeet. Many years ago a post was established upon the Bow River, in the heart of the Blackfeet Country, but at that time they were even more lawless than at present, and the position had to be abandoned on account of the expenses necessary to keep up a largt garrison of servants. Since that time (nearly 40 years ago) the Blackfeet have only had the Rocky Mountain House to depend on for supplies, and as it is situated far from the centre of their country it only receives a portion of their trade. Thus we find a very active business car- ried on by the Americans upon the Upper Missouri, and there can be little doubt that the greater portion of robes, Buffalo leather, &c., traded by the Blackfeet finds its way down the waters of the Missouri. There is also another point connected with American trade amongst the Blackfeet 1 \ ft- «.4| 19 to which I tlosivt^ to draw special attention. IndiaiiH visiting the Rod Mountain House duriuy- the Fall of 1870, have spoken of the existence t)l' a tradinjy post of Americans from Fort Itentim, upon the lielly River, sixty milew within the British Boundary Line. They have asserted that two Amerituii traders, well known on the Missouri, named Culverston and Healy, have established themselves at this post, for the purpose of tram - , . ' These facts speak for themselves, f : . Without doubt if the natural outlet to the trade of the Saskatchewan, namely the River Saskatchewan itself, remains in its presvMit neglected state, the trade of the Western Territory will seek a new soxirce, and Benton will become to Edmonton what St. Paul in Minnesota is to Manitoa. With a view to bringing the regions of the Saskatchewan into a state of order and security and to establish the authority and jurisdiction of the Dominion G-overnment, as well as to promote the colonization of the country known as the " Fertile Belt" and, particularly to guard ttgainst the deplor- able evils arising out of an Indian War, I would recomrnend the following course for the consideration of Your Excellency. First — The appointment of a Civil Magistrate or Commissioner, after the model of si ailar appointments in Ireland and in India. This official would be requii-ed to make semi- annual tours through the Saskatchewan for the purpose of holding courts ; he would be assisted in the discharge of his judicial functions by the civil magistrates of the Hudson's Bay Company who have been already nomiated, and bj* others yet to be appointed from amongst the most iniluential and respected persons of the French and English half-breed population. This officer should reside in the Upper Saskatchewan. r*. Second. — The organization of a well equipped force of from 100 to 150 men, one third to be mounted — specially recruited and engaged for service in the Saskatchewan ; enlisting for 2 or 3 years service and at expiration of that period to become military settlers, receiving grants of land but still remaining as a reserve force should their services be required. Third. — The establishment of two Government Station? one on the Upper Saskatchewan in the neighb' )urhood of Edmonton, th« other at the junctions of the North and South Blanches of the River Saskatchewan be- low Carlton. The establishment ol these stations to be foil .wed by th'^ ex- tinguishment of the Indian Title, v ithin certain limits, t^. be determined by the geographical features of the Uicality — for instance, say from longitude of Carlton House eastward tojuct on of two Saskaschewans, the Northern and Southern limits being the river banks— Again, a lildmonton, I would \ i 1. fi 22 tecommend the Government to take possession of both banks of the Sask- atchewan River, from Edmonton House to Victoria, a distance of about 80 miles, with a depth of, say, from 6 to 8 miles. The Districts thus take^^ possession of, would immediately become available for Settlement, Govern- ment Titles being given at rates which would induce immigration. These are the three general Propositions, with a few additions to be mentioned hereafter, which I believe will, if acted upon, secure Peace and order to the j*askatchewan, encourage settlement, and open up to the influences of ■iivilized man one of the fairest regions of the Earth. For the sake of clear- ness, I have embodied these thres suggestions in the shortest possible forms. I will now revise the reasons which recommend their adoption, and the benefits likely to accrue from them. "With reference to the first suggestion, namely the appointment of a Resident Magistrate, or Civil Commissioner. I would merely observe that the general report which I have already made on the subject of the State of the Saskatchewan, as \\ ell as the particular statement to be found in the Appendix marked D. will be sufficient to prove the necessity of that ap- pointment. With regard however, to this appointment as connected with the other suggestion of military force, and Government stations or Districts, I have much to advance. The first pressing necessity is the establish- ment, as speedily as possible, of some Civil Authority which will give a dis- tinct and tangible idea of Government to the native and half-breed popula- tion, now so totally devoid of the knowledge of what Law and Civil (tov- ernment may pertain to. The establishment of such an authority, distinct from and independant of the Hudson Bay Company, as well as from any Missionary body situated in the countiy, would inaugurate a new series of events, a commencement as it were of civilization in these vast regions, free from all associations connected with the former history of the country, and separate from the rival systems of Missionary enterprise, while at the same time lending countenance and support to all. Without some material force to render obligatory the ordinances of such an authority matters would I believe become even worse than they are at present, where the wrong doer does not appear to violate any law, because there is no law to violate. On the other hand I am strongly of opinion that any military force which would merely be sent to the Forts of the Hudson's Bay Company would prove only a source of useless expenditure to the Dominion Govern- ment, leaving matters in very much the same state as they exist at present, affording liti ' protection outside the immediate circle of the Forts in ques- tion, holding out no inducements to the establishment of new Settlements. and liable to be mistaken, by the ignorant people of the country, for the hired defenders of the Hudson's Bay Company. Thus it seems to me that Force without distinct Civil Government would be useless, and that Civil Government would be powerless, without a material Force. Again as to the purchase of Indian Rights upon certain localities, and the formation of settlements, it must be borne in mind that no settlement is possible in the Saskatchewan until some such plan is adopted. People will not build houses, rear stock, or cultivate land in places where their cattle are liable to be killed, and their crops stolen. It must also be remembered that the Saskatchewan offers at present not only a jdPP^ >* I .■.'•JL I * i 23 magnificent soil and a fine climate, but also a market for all farming prC^ duce at rates which are exorbitantly high. For instance — flour sells from £2 10s. to <£6 per the 100 lbs. ; potatoes os. to Is. a bushel ; and other com- modities in proportion. No apprehension need be entertained that such settlements would remain isolated establishments. There are at the pres- ent time many persons scattered through the Saskatchewan who wish to / become farmers and settlers, but hesitate to do so in the absence of protec- tion and security. These persons are ol'd servants of the Hudson's Bay om- pany who have made money, or hunters, whose lives have been passed in the G-reat West, and who now desire to settle down. Nor would another class of settler be absent. Several of the Missionaries in the Saskatchewan have been in correspondence with persons in Canada who desire to seek a Z' home in this Western land, but who have been advised to remain in their present country until matters ha\e become more settled along the Saskat- chewan. The advantages ot the localities which I have specified — the junc- tion of the branches of the Saskatchewan River, and the neighbourhood of Edmonton may be stated as follows : — Junction of North and South branch — a place of great future military and commercial importance, commanding- navigation of both rivers — enjoys a climate suitable to the production of all cereals and roots, and a soil of unsurpassed fertility — is situated about mid- way between Red River and the Rocky Mountains, and possesses abundant and excellent supplies of timber for building and fuel — is below the pre- sumed interruption to steam navigation on Saskatchewan River, known as "Coal Falls," and is situated on direct cart road from Manitoba to Carlton. ^ Edmonton, the centre of the Upper Saskatchewan, also the centre of large population (half-breed) — country lying between it and Victoria very fertile — is within easy reach of Blackfeet, Cree, and Assiiiiboine country — summer frosts often injurious to wheat, b.it all other crops thrive well, and even wheat is frequently a large and pre ductive crop — timber for fuel plenty and for building can be obtained in large quantities 10 miles distant — coal in large quantities on bank of river, and gold at from 3 to 10 dollars a day in sand bars. . j. . , ^r Only one other subject remains for consideration (I presume that the establishment of regiilar mail communication and ^team navigation would follow the adoption of the course I have recommended), and, therefore, have not thought fit to introduce them ; and to that subject, I will now allude before closing this Report, which has already reached proportions very much larger than I had anticipated. I refer to the Indian ([uestion and the best mode of dealing with it. As thfe military protection of the line of the Saskatchewan against Indian attack would be a practical impossibility with- out a very great expenditure of money it becomes necessary that all pre- cautions should be taken to prevent the outbreak of an Indian war, which if once commenced could not fail to be productive of evil consequences, I would urge the advisability of sending a Commissioner to meet the tribes of the Saskatchewan during their summer assemblies. It must be borne in mind that the real Indian Question exists many hundred miles West of Manitoba in a region where the red man wields a power and an influence of his own. Upon one point I would recommend 11 il ': i i^ V .11 2-4 articular caution, and that is in the selection of the individual for this pur- pose. I have heard a good deal of persons who were said to possess great knowledge of the Indian character, and I have seen enough of the red man to estimate at its real worth the possession of this knowledge — knowledge of Indian character has too long been synonymous with knowledge of how to cheat the Indian — a species of cleverness which, even in the science of chicanery, does not require the exercise of the highest abilities. I fear that the Indian has already had too many* dealings with persons of this class, and has now got a very shrewd idea that those who possess this knowledge of his character have also managed to possess themselves of his property. With regard to the objects to be attended to by a Commission of the kind I have referred to, the principal would be the establishment of peace between the warring tribes of Crees and Blackfeet. I believe that a peace duly entered into, and signed by the chiefs of both nations, in the presence and under the authority of a Grovernment Commissioner, with that show of ceremony and display so dear to the mind of the Indian, would be lasting in its effects. Such a peace should be made on the basis of resti- tution to Grovernment in case of robbery. For instance — during time of peace a Crec steals five horses from a Blackfoot. In that case the particu- lar branch of the Cree nation to which the thief belonged would have to •give up ten horses to Government, which would be handed over to the Blackfeet as restitution and atonement. The idea of peace on some such understanding occurred to me in the Saskatchewan, and I questioned one of the most influential of the Cree chiefs upon the subject. His answer to me was that his band would agree to such a proposal and abide by it, but that he could not speak for the other bands. I would also recommend that medals, such as those given to the Indian chiefs of Canada and Lake Superior many years ago, be distributed among the leading men of the Plain Tribes. It is astonishing with what religious veneration these large silver medals have been preserved by their owners through all the vicissitudes of war and time, and with what pride th« well polished effigy is still pointed out, and the words "King G-eorge" snouted by the Indian who has yet a firm belief in the present existence of that monarch. If it should be decided that a body of troops should be despatched to the West I think it very advisable that the officer in command of such body should make himself thoroughly acquainted with the Plain Tribes, visiting them at least annually in their camps, and conferring with them on points connected with their interest. I am also of opinion that if the Government establishes itself in the Saskatchewan, a third post should be formed after the lapse of a year at the junction of tfie Medicine and Red Deer Rivers in Latitude 52 ® 18' North, and Longitude 114 ® 15' West, about 90 miles South of Edmonton. This position is well within the Blackfeet country, possesses a good soil, excellent timber, and commands the road to Benton. This post need not be the centre of a settlement, but merely a Military, Customs, Missionary, and Trading establishment. In the Appendix marked "G" will be found memoranda regarding the movement of troops, formation of posts, length of marches, etc. Such, Sir, are the views which I have formed upon the whole question of the existing state of affairs in the Saskatchewan. They result from the %. tN =;.•#, a %> I thought and experience of many long days of travel through a large portic of the region to which they have reference. If I were asked from what point of view I have looked upon this question, I would answer — From that point which sees a vast country lying, as it were, sUently awaiting the ap- proach of the immense wave of human life which rolls unceasingly from Europe to America. Far off as lie the regions of the Saskatchewan from the Atlantic sea-board on which that wave la thrown, remote as are the fer- tile glades which fringe the Eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains, stili that wave of human life is destined to reach tli se beautiful solitudes, and to convert the wild luxuriance of their now useless vegetation into all the requirements of civilized existence. And if it be matter for desire that across this immense continent, resting upon the two greatest oceans of the world, a powerful nation should arise with the strength and the manhood which race and climate and tradition would assign to it : A nation which would look with no evil eye upon the old mother land from whence it sprung, a nation which, having no bitter memories to recall would have no idle prejudices to perpetuate ; then surely it is worthy of all toil of hand and brain, on the part of those who to-day rule, that this great link in the chain of such a future nationality should no longer remain undeveloped — a prey to the conflicts of savage races — at once the garden and the wilder- ness of the Central Continent. W. F. BUTLEE, Lieutenant, QQth Regiment. Manitoba, 10th March, 1871 ■1 ' ■ ■'.'. '■ '.M.f ■■i'- \ 26 APPENDIX A. Settlements (Half-breed) in Saskatchewan. " Prince Albebt." — English half.breed. A Presbyterian Mission presid- ed over by Rev. Mr. Nesbit. Small post of Hudson's Bay Com- pany with large form attached. On north branch of Saskatche- wan River, 35 miles above junction of both branches, a fine soil, plenty of timber, and good wintering ground for stock ; 50 miles east of Carlton, and 60 west of Fort a la Come. "Whitefish Lake. —English — "Wesleyan Mission — only a few settlers — soil good — timber plenty — situated north east of Victoria 60 miles. Lac La Biche. — French half-breed, Roman Catholic Mission. Large farm attached to Mission with Water Grist Mill, &c. Soil very good and timber abundant ; excellent fishery, situated at 70 miles north west from Fort Pitt. ViCTOBlA. — English half-breed, Wesleyan Mission, large farm, soil good, alogether a rising little colony ; situated on north branch of Saskatchewan River, 84 miles below Edmonton Mission, pre- sided ever by Rev. J. McDougall. St. Albert. — French half breed, Roman Catholic Mission and residence of Bishop (Grandin) ; fine church building, school and convent, etc. Previous to epidemic 900 French, the largest settlement in Saskatchewan ; very little farming done, all hunters, &c., situat- ed 9 miles north of Edmonton, orphanage here. Lac St. Anne. — French half-breed, Roman Catholic, settlers mostly emi- grated to St. Albert. Good fishery, a few farms existing and doing well. Timber plenty and soil (as usual) very i^ood ; 50 miles north west from Edmonton. 27 I \i nS o « A « « ^ -t^ 0) ^ 0) , .a pq h^ fH M HH .u P (^ 55 b1 03 &^ ^ Ph © <1 -S -2 M m «M o OQ Ol rQ -+J 0) > c3 fcfi a •iH SI »1 «> o ^ o o o CO ^ to j ^ ■»a • 1 I <0 Ji 1 S PQ H • 3) : .a •g ~ C OD 43 9 an a 5?! o o §p O O Q "5 »« O Q O O M C^J 00 ■^ I— 1 O Tf M CO e^ i a fcc a eo 9 o OQ o o o (M o Id pi Pi o Ph n a ua n f . ir: 28 APPENDIX C. Names of persons whose appointment to the Commission of the Peace would be recommended, All officers of Hudson's Bay Company in charge of Posts. Mr. Chanletain of St. Albert Mission, Edmonton. Mr. Brazeau, ' ' " Mr. McKenzie, of Victoria. Mr. Ecarpote, Senr., residing near Carlton. Mr. Wm. Borwick, St. Albert Mission, Edmonton. Mr. McGrillis, residing near Fort Pitt. i I i 29 APPENDIX D. List of some of the crimes which have been committed in Saskatchewan without investigation or punishment. Murder of a man named Whitford near Rocky Mountains. Murder of G-eorge Daniels by G-eorge Robertson at White Mud River, near Victoria. Murder of French Half-breed by his nephew at St. Albert. Murder of two Lurcee Indians by Half-breed close to Edmonton House. Murderous attack upon a small party of Blackfeet Indians (men, wo- men, and children) made by Croes near Edmonton in April, 1870, by which several of the former were killed and wounded. This attack occurred after the safety of these Indians had been purchased from the Crees by the officer of the H. B. Co. in charge at Edmonton, and a guard provided for their safe passage across the rivers. This guard composed of French half- breeds from St. Albert, opened out to right and left when attack commenced and did nothing towards saving the lives of the Blackfeet, who were nearly all killed or wounded. There is now living close to Edmonton a woman who beat out the brains of a little child aged two years on this occasion ; also a half-breed man who is the foremost instigator to all these atrocities. Beside these murders and acts of violence, robbery is of continual occur- rence in the Saskatchewan. The outrages specined above have all taken place during the last few years.