IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) /> ^ >4 1.0 ;.i 11.25 |50 "^l" ■■■ ■^ iiii 12.2 ftetograjiiic Sciences CorpGralion raUi»aon- ving Ver- a words which Ft. (London, s in the Maurepas "Another er Rouge, of its vi- given by )t contain 9 and La positions ^'s account Irye which I he has pers of the t he should irt of even »lished by (ig to Mon. jed in the ed inl73G r. Jeflfry's as still in have copied map which 'he English 1763, so that mation from e of 14th Paubian I Wm. Henry interpreter, ; the Grand inning of the of inipor- ipi-Mlna, a ^hich grows banks of the tot says the • rose (vibur- was built by W. Co., in of Pembina Greek at the point where it empties into the Red River. It was called I'aubna, and [ am told that ti.is word is ^A\l used by some of the old Selkirk settlers instead of Pembina. Henry, in 1800, writes that Fort Paub- na was on a stream named Paubian, and tliat opposite the mouth of the Paubian, on the east side of the Red River (about the present site of St. Vincent) there was still to be seen the remains of an old fort built by Peter Qrant some years pre- viously. He takes particular care to state that Grant's post was the first es- tablishment ever built on the Red River. (He may refer to the first establishment of the N. W. Co () Fort Daer was situated on the north side of the Pembina River, it was a post of the H. B. Co., named after Lord Selkirk, who was also Baron Daer. It was here that some of the set- tlers passed the winter of 1812-13, and suffered untold hardships from cold and want of food. It was built by the set- tlers in the fall of 1812. There is considerable difficulty in identifying some of the tributaries of the Upper Red River, owing to the different names given them at various dates. As an instance, the Wildrice River has been known as Pse. (Sioux), Menomone (Chip- peway), and FoUe Avoine (French). Coming down the ' Rod River again, I find the Roaseau has been so called since at least 1798— the Reedgrass. In 1823 Keating gives it the same name, and says the Indians called it Pekwionusk. As Rosseau is the French word for Reed- grass, it is seen that this name has held to the stream snice the N. W. Co.'s traders first visited it. I find the Scratching and Stinking rivers mentioned as far back as 1816. The Seine River, which falls into the Red opposite this city, was known as the Gernian Creek after 1817, on account of the Germans of the De Meuron regiment, brought here by Lord Selkirk. Kildonan Parish was named in 1817 by Lord Selkirk himself, from the set- tlers' old home in Sutherlandshire, Scot- land. Lower Fort Garry was enclosed by loop-holed walls and bastions in 1841, as noticed by Sir Geo. Simpson in his book. It was built, as far as the houses are concerned, between 1831 and 1833. Gunn's History is the authority for the statement that Sir Geo. Simpson had it built because the French half-breeds at Upper Fort Garry were troublesome. The Death River (Nipuwin-sipt), which enters the Red River on the west side below Selkirk, was so named because 250 lodges of Chippe ways were destroyed there by the Sioux Indians about 1780. The N. W. Co. had a post there a^ tuo time of the consolidation with the H. B. Co. The word Assiniboine is derived from Assine — a stone, and Bwan or Boine, an Indian ; or properly, Sioux Indian. The Assiinbtiines were originally a branch of the Dacota or Sioux confederacy, but they separated and lived by themselves, inhabiting the country along the Assini- boine river. They received the name of Stone Indians from using heated stones to cook their food. I find them called Semi-Poets by the people of the H. B. Co. in 1749. Verendrye gave the name of St. Charles to the river in 1738, in honor of Charles Beauharneis, Governor of Canada. Mackenzie says the river is called Assiniboine from the Nadawasis or Sioux. In Selkirk's statement the name of the river is spelled Ossiniboyne, and the District Ossiniboia. Lt. Chappel, a naval officer, who was '!i Hudson's Bay in 1814, writes as follows : " The infant colony is called by his Lord- uhip (Selkirk) Dana Boia, two Gaelic words signifying Ossian's town, from the resemblance between that and the Indian name of Red river — Asnaboyne." I do not find, however, that he tried to prove that the Assiniboines were originally Scotchmen. At Portage la Prairie on the right bank of the river Verendrye established Ft. La Reine, which became the basis of opera- tions iu the work of pushing the line of trading posts through to the Saskat- chewan by way of Lake Manitoba. The fort was burned by the Crees about 1752. In 1805 Harmon visited the N. W. Coy.'s post at that point, and he describes it as a miserable fort, in a most beautiful location. He mentions that the Indians resorted to the place in quest of sturfj eon. During the Selkirk troubles in 1816 the employes of the N". W. Coy. having cap- tured 600 bags of pemican from the H. B. Coy. at Qu'Appelle, made a redoubt of them here and armed it with 2 brass swivel guns. At Pine Creek the N. W. Coy. built a fort in 1785. which was abandoned in 1794. The remains were seen by Har- mon in 1805. The Souris River was called the River St. Pierre by Verendrye in 1738, and his men ascended it to cross over to the Mis- 6 soari, and thenoe to the Ruoky Muun- tainB. Nu leu than throe forts were at the Souris mouth in 1805. Brandon House of theH. B. Coy., built 1704; Assiniboine House ol the N. W. Coy., situated about one and a half miles above, and which was in full operation when Thompson visi- ted it in 1797; and Ft. Souris, a post of the X. Y. Co. The N. W. Co. had also a trading post 45 miles up the Souris in 1707, named Ash House. About 60 miles above the Souris mouth in 1804 there was an important post of the N. W. Co.— Fort Montagne a la Basse. Harmon says it was from here that he received word that Lewis and Clark, the explorers, were on their way to the Rocky Mountains. The Indians about this post were very troublesome, and on April 10th, 1805, a large party of Crees and Assiniboines encamped about the fort and threatened the traders, throwing bullets over the palisades, while shouting to the people to pick them up as they would need them in a few days, but they did not finally attack it. The fort was on a high bank of the Assiniboine (called Upper Bed Biver by Harmon), and overlooked the plain around to a great extent. Buffalo and antelopes were to be seen frequently from the fort. On our late maps may be found a Boss Creek and Boss Hill in this locality, and no doubt Basse has given place to Boss, as an English pronounciation of a French word. In October, 1804, Harmon was at the mouth of the Qu'Appelle, where the N. W. Co. and X. Y. Co. had each a fort, the first being in charge of a Monsieur Poitraa. Up the Qu'Appelle at the Fishing Lakes, both companies had posts, which were abandoned in 1804. Far up the Assiniboine Ft. Alexandria was built on a small rise of ground, with a plain about ten miles long and two broad stretching along the river opposite, and having a background of clumps of birch, poplar, aspen and pine. The en- closure was sixteen rods in length by twelve in breadth. The houses were well built, plastered within and without, and washed over with a white earth. It was situated in north latitude 52°, west longi- tude 103°. In June, 1801, tlie fort was prepared for an attack of tiie Fall Biver or Gros Ventre Indians. It was strengthened, block houses built over the gates and the baatioiu put in order, the Crees and As- siniboines having gone to attack the (iros Ventres, and a return visit was ex- pected. Many trading posts were supplied from this fort, which, until the last year it was occupied, received its supplius from Lake Superior, via Lakes Manitoba, Winni- pegoosis and Swan Lake. It was abandoned 28th April, 1805. Word was received here only in February, 1805, that a coali- tion had taken place in Montreal the pre- vious autumn between the N. W. and X. Y. Companies. The X. Y. Co. and the H. B. Co. had a number of small posts between Swan Lake and the Assiniboine. One fort was at Bird Mountain, another at Swan Lake which Harmon says was near the site of a post of the H. B. Co., aban- doned several years previous te 1800. A number of trading houses of the differ- ent companies were scattered along the Assiniboine from Brandon up to the head waters. Mackenzies map of 1801 showing Thornburne House, Grant's House, Marlboro House and Carlton House at different points above Brandon. Dog Hill, Moose Biver and Turtle Hills are ' mentioned by Thompson 1707, and still retain these names. Arrowsmith's map of 1857 shews Birdstail Fort at the mouth of that little stream, near Fort Ellis, and Fort Hibemia on the head waters of the Assiniboine above Fort Pelly. Fort Ellis has been called Beaver Creek Fort, as the post is situated near Beaver Creek, a mile or two below the mouth of the Qu'Appelle. There is no doubt that the remarkable echo noticed by all who have been in the valley of the lower Qu'Appelle has given rise to that river's name. The Earl of Southesk writes that there is a tradition that an Indian paddling his canoe down the river heard a loud voice calling to him, and that after he had searched for the person whom he supposed had called to him, he again was saluted with a loud noise. He informed his Indian friends of this strange occurrence and they ever after- wards bestowed on it the name of **Who Calls." Ft. Ellis likely takes it name from the Hon. Edward Ellis, who was chiefly in- strumental in bringing the H. B. Co. and the N. W. Co. into one corporate body. There is a tradition amongst the French half-breeds that the White Horse Plain, about fifteen miles up the Assini- boine from Winnipeg, receives its name from a white horse which roamed around i The I katcl Post Ik the |iM exo from it WH8 Lake 'inni- kdoned (ceivtid , ooali- liti pro- \nd X. |B. Oo. itweeii Gnu ther at in that district many yean afo, and which could not be approached, though many poniona had endeavored to capture him. I received this tradition from a French tr ider some years agijo when trav- elling in the Saskatchewan country, but cannot vouch for its authenticity. Sturgeon Greek evidently gets its name from the presence of sturgeon. Harmon in 1805 writes that the Assini- bonie River being very low and they hav- ing a number of boats and canoes, the brigade drove the sturgeon upon the sand banks, where there is little water, near Pine Creek, and had no diihculty in killing any number of thom they desired. Harmon (1806) in describing the Forks wliore the Upper and Lower Red River formed a junction, i. e. the Assiuiboine and Red River, mentions that, "the country around is pleasant, the soil Ht>- pears to be excellent, and it is tolerably well timbered with oak, basswood, wal- nut, elm, poplar, aspen, birch, etc. Grape vines and plum trees are also suen." The Sand Hills near Melbourne Sta- tion on the C. P. R. were known by the Indians an the Manitou Hills, from the fact that the grass covering them, in placos was so scant, that they retained no snow during; the winter; which pheno- menom the Indians regarded as preter- natural and fixed that idea in the name. This is on the authority of Thompson of the N. W. Oo. Lake Manitoba was in 1740 called Lac des Prairies and later on Lake of the Meadows. The word Manitoba is said by Pere Lacoinbe, an excellent authority on the Cree language, to he derived from Manitewapaw, supernatural or god-like. Other authorities say it means "the place where the spirit dwells," alluding to the narrows of Lake Manitoba, whore the water seldom, if ever, freezes over, owing to the presence of springs or its rapid motion at that point. Verendrye, about 1739, leaving Fort La Reine, pushed up through Lake Manito- ba, established Fort Dauphin on the lake of that name, and Fort Bourbon on the Saskatchewan near its mouth. Winnipegoosis means little Winnipeg. The Saskatchewan (contraction of Kisis- katohewan) was called by the French Poskoyac, or Pasquayah. Henry, in 1776, says the lower part of the river was oalled Bourbon and the upper Pas- quayah. Fort Poscoiac, on Sturgeon Lake, was built before 1775. Bou^inriile, under that date, gives its situation. Cumberland House, on Sturgeon Lake, was established by Samuel Heame as a H. B. Co. postin 1774, and was the first tra- ding house of that company on the waters flowing into Lake WinniiMsg. The N. W. Co. h(^ a post there in loOO, according to Heniy. Ft. oes Prairies farther up the river was in use by the French prior to 1757, when Bougainville describes it. A Mr. Cadotte of Saull St. Mane traded there in 1775 and the place seems to have been frequented for many years after that, as Harmon in 1805 still mentioned it as a N. W. Co's port of considerable importance. Henry l^j^ in 1775, that four different interests were struggling for the Indian trade. Ft. a la Come has been known at different dates as Ft. St. Louis and Nip- peween. Ft. a la Come wasbuilt in 1753 by Mon. de la Come who commanded all the posts in the Interior. Henry says Ft. St. Louis of the N. W. Co. was a short distance above the old French fort, and it was abandoned in 1806. He says that some years before agricultural implements and carriage wheels were found there. Mackenzie writes that James Findlay was there about 1769, and it was then the last of the French settlements being call- ed Nipawee. Nepiwa, means "wet place." Hudson House between Carlton and the Forks, with Carlton and Manchester Houses farther up on the North Branch were established about 1797, Edmon- ton about 1795, and Ft. Pitt 1831. Ft. Providence on the island near the forks, and Sturgeon Ft. just above Provi- dence, the sites of which were visited by Henry in 1808 ; Net Setting River Ft. where Henry found, in 1808, the remains of a whole range of forts, were trading houses below Carlton. The fort which was at the Eagle Hill Creek was burned by the Crees in 1780 after a fight, and Henry found it a heap of ruins in 1800. Fort Brule, which was the scene of an attack in 1793 by the Gros Venties In- dia its, when they burned the H. B. Co. post, but were beaten off from tlie N. W. Co.'s house, was situated about the Battle River. Fort Vermillion, of the N. W. Co., in 1809 had within its walls 36 men, 27 women and 67 children. It was situated in a bottom land directly opposite the Vermillion River. The H. B. Co. had a post at this place in 1808, in charge of 8 Hallette and Lcngmore. Henry men- tions the interchange of visits between the establishments. Fort George, in ruins in 1800, was on the north side of the Saskatchewan, above the Moose River, which flows from the hills of the same name. Fort Augustus was a three days' jour- ney above Vermillion, and here there was also a post of the H. B, Co. in 1808. Henry describes the visit of a hundred Blood Indians to trade at the two forts. From the de- scription given it would appear that this place was where Edmonton now stands, though I cannot tiad in Henry any names given to the forts of the H. E. 0<>v. In 1820-21 the H. B. Goy. had only the following stations on the Saskat- chewan River: Edmonton, Carlton ana Cumberland. The N. W. Coy. had Augustus, Rocky Mountain House and Cumberland. South Branch House was about 15 miles across by land fvoMi the North Branch, and 120 miles above the Forks, as described by Harmon. It was tirat established in 1791 by the H. B. Coy., but in 1794 the Gros Venerea destroyed the H. B. Coy, fort and attacked the post of the N. W. Coy. at the same point, but were driven off with loss. New forts were built in 1804, six miles above the old site. The French in 1762 ascended the Sas- katchewan, likely the South Branch, and built Ft. Jonquiere at the foot of the Rocky Mountains, but the post was not maintained. It is supposed to have been about the site of Calgary. The Bow River is said to take its name from the wood found on portions of its banks which was suitable for the manu- facture of bows. It is more likely that it derives its name from the curve taken by the river in its course. Belly River was so named from the Gros Ventres Indians who lived in that locality. Elbow River gets its name from its shape. Battle River is said by Bishop Tache to have been the scene of many a con- test between the Crees and Blackfeet,and takes the name in consequence. Chesterfield House was established by the Hudson's Bay Co. in 1822, at the Forks of the Red Deer andSouth Branch but it was deserted after a few years, as the Blackfeet attacked the traders on. Bovaral occasions and killed a number o0 them. •r'>- .-.., y. ■^ M^ J 1 off with loss. ' 1804, six miles cended the Sas- South Branch, t the foet of the e post was not ed to have been . take its name I portions of its ! for the manu- ' )ro likely that | It. curve taken | «ecl from the | lived in that I name from its* f Bishop Tache j Fmany a con-f 1 Blackfeet.andj lence. ff established by 1822, at the ISouth Branch r a few year8,|j the traders on d a number of