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Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc.. peuvent *tre film*s * des taux de r*duction diff*rants. Lorsque le document est trop grand pour *tre reproduit en un seui clich*. il est film* * partir de I'angle sup*rieur gauche, de gauche *.droite. et de haut en bas. en prenant le nombre d'images n*cessaire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la m*thode. 1 2 3 4 5 6 fmm m m «'>3^-.x'"' ■'■■ '\ r'Vi t *CaI^1a ix) It ) ^ ^/: THE BED-RITER SETTLEMENT. 99 Origtnah THE RED RIVER SETTLEMENT. BY W. H. W., RICE LAKE, ONTARIO. Few chapters of history are more interest- ing than those which describe the progress of British colonization. They record scenes of as thrilling adventure, of as cublime daring, of as heroic valor ar, any ever witnessed or. earth. The settle aaent of the Red River of the North is no exception to these remarks. At the beginning of the present century the trade of the great fur-producing regions of the north and north-west was divided be- tween the Hudson's Bay and North "West Companies. Between those companies an intense and bitter rivalry existed — a rivalry that could be appeased only by the destruc- tion of one o^ the other. About this time, Thomas Douglas, Earl of Selkirk, was the Governor of the Hudson's Bay Company. He was a man of indomitable energy, and of dauntless intrepidity. With the skill of an experienced general, he prepared for the inevitable coniflict. He perceived that by obtaining control of the Red River, he would have a strong basis fox future opera- tions, and thus possess great advantages over his antagonists. For this purpose, he re- solved to establish a colony of his country- men in that important strategic point. l..e offer of free grants of one hundred acres of land each, and of the continuance of their civil rights and religions privileges — the latter an important consideration with a true North Briton — indaceu a large number of hardy Highlanders to seek their fortunes in the North-west. In the year 1812, the first brigade of the colonists reached Red River. , ^ stern wel- come awaited them. Hardly had they arrived, when an armed band of North- westers, painted and plumed in the Indian style, appeared upon the ground, and by their significant gestures (for their language was unknown) warned the colonists to de- part. The latter were compelled, not only to submit, but to purchase, by the sacrifice of their arms and trinkets, the services of their conquerors as guides to the town of Pembina, within the territory of the United States. Undaunted by this failure, they returned in the spring to the Red River, built log- houses, and sowed their seed. They were undisturbed till the following year. By this tJme the dvfcree had gone forth from the Councils of the North-West Company, Delcnda est Carthago — the colony must be exterminated. It was done, but not with- out shedding of blood. The flourishing settlement became a heap of ashes, its in- habitants exiles in the wilderness. Reinforced by a new brigade from Scot- land, the banished settlers returned to their ruined homes. Many hardships ensued. Desertions became so numerous that the very existence of the colony was perilled. But in June, 1816, there fell upon it a more crushing blow than any that it had yet re- ceived. A body of three hundred mounted North- Westers, armed to the teeth, and be- grimed with war-paint, attacked the settle- ment. A little band of twenty-eight men went forth to parley. Twenty-one of them were slain, the settlement sacked ar.d burned, and the colonists hunted from their own hearths like beasts of prey. Hereupon Lord Selkirk a^umed the offensive. With a battalion of Swiss mer. cenaries, whom he had brought from Eu- rope, he marched against the head-quarters of the rival company at Fort William, on Lake Superior, which stronghold he cap- tured, and then, nothing discouraged) led the exiles back to the thrice-forsaken colony, which he re-established on a new and solid basis, advancing agricultural im- plefi^ents, seed, grain, and stock. But the summer was already half gone. The har- vest was scanty, famine was impending, and the hapless colonists fled southward to Pembina at the approach of winter. Their hardships were incredible. They were forced to subsist upon the precarious p|^ ducts of the chase. They suffered every- thing but death, and were reduced to the uttermost extremity. mm 100 THE NEW DOMINION MONTHLY. " O that long and dreary winter I O the cold and cruel winter I Ever thicker, thicker, thicker, Froze the ice on lake and river, Ever deeper, deeper, djeper, Fell the snow on all tlie landscape. All the earth was sick and famished. Hungry was the p.ir about them. Hungry was the sky above them, And the hungry stars In heaven. Like the eyes of wolves, glared at them." But even such a winter as this must pass, and in the spring the colonists returned for a fifth time to their abandoned habitations. Fortune seemed, at last, to smile upon their efforts. The crops were ripening around the little settlement. Hope beat high in every heart. But an unforeseen catas- trophe awaited them. A cloud of grass- hoppers, like the Egyptian plague of locusts, darkened the air and covered the ground, and in a single night devoured every green tuing. Strong men bowed themselves. The sturdy Highlanders, who had gazed undismayed upon the face of death, wept as they thought of the inevitable sufferings of their wives and little ones. Another weary march, and a miserable winter at Pembina was their fate. Again, in the spring, that forlorn hope .returned to their devastated fields. But agrioul'ure was impossible. The larvae of the previous season, multiplied the grass- hoppers a thousand-fold. They covered the ground, they filled the air, they pol- luted the water, they put out the fires in the fields with their numbers. The effluvia of their dead bodies infested the atmosphere. Pembina must succour the hapless colonists yet another winter. The story of their mishaps becomes wearisome. Anyone less determined, say less dogged, if you will, than Ldrd Selkirk, would have abandoned the colony for ever. Tfot so he. His resolution rose with the difficulties of the occasion, and surmounted every obstacle. He led back his little com- pany — those advance skirmishers of the great army of civilization — to the scene of their blasted hopes. H? bought two hun- dred and fifty bushels of seed wheat from MiflBoari, a distance of twelve hundred miles, at a cost of $5,000. It was sewn, and, by the divine blessing, after eight years of failure, the harvest was happily reaped. The colony now struck its roots deep into the soil. It grew and flourished. Recruits came from Scotland, Germany, Switzer- land. They suffered many privations, and encountered some disasters, but none worse than those of the winter of 1825-6. It was a season of unprecedented severity. Thirty- three persons perished with hunger and •old, and many eattie died. With the spring thaw, the river rose nine feet in a single day. For three days ever/ house had to be abandoned. The inhabitants fled to the hills. They beheld their houses, barns, crops, fences — everything they pos- sessed — swept on the rushing torrent to Lake Winnipeg. The waters continued to rise for nineteen days. The disheartened colonists proposed abandoning for ever the luckless settlement. At this crisis, tidings of the abatement of the flood was brought. They rushed en masse to the water side. It was indeed so. They accepted the deliver- ance as from God. They resolved to re- main where they were. A new beginning had again to be made ; every trace of the settlement had disappeared. Since then, no serious drawback to the prosperity of the settlement has occurred, although it has experienced many fluctua- tions. The want of an outlet for their surplus produce led to some ill-advised manufactur- ing speculations. Among other visionary schemes, was one to manufacture cloth from the wool of the buffalo. A huge fac- tory was erected, and machinery and work- men imported from England. Results — a grand failure. The cloth cost far more than it would sell for. A sheep's wool company was then formed. Fifteen thousand sheep were pi^r chased in Kentucky, two thousand miles away. So severe was .;he journey, that only two hundred and fifty-one reached Bed River, and these soon died of exhaus- tion. A flax manofacturing company and a THE RED RIVER SETTLEMENT. 101 tallow exportation company -veere also suc- cessively formed and abandoned. In planting this remote colony, Lord Selkirk expended nearly half a million of dollars, and in promoting these various schemes for its advancement, the Hudson's Bay Company has sunk a vast amount more. However the control of that gigantic mo- nopoly may have retarded the ultimate de- velopment of the North-West territory, cer- tainly it has done much to plant the germs t of civilization, not only at the Red River, but at their numerous forts, factories, and trading stations, from Labrador to Fuget's Sound. / It is a matter of congratulation, that this now flourishing little colony, in the planting and maintenance of which so mueh of British energy and British capital has been expended, will probably be soon annexed to this New Dominion. It were a disaster and a disgrace were it to pass into the possession of a foreign power. It holds the key of Trans- American travel through the liritish possessions, and in the hands of another would cut us off for ever from all free communication with the magnificent territory of the Saskatchawan, and the flourishing colonies of the Pacific coast. That in the vast and fertile regions of the North-West may be perpetuated for ever the constitutional liberties and religious privileges which, as British subjects, we to- day enjoy, and that on their boundless prairies and mountain slopes millions yet unborn may dwell in peace and prosperity, beneath the sheltering fold of the broad, free banner of England, is the devout aspi- ration of every patriotic Canadian. I cannot close this paper without casting a thought into the future, as men drop pebbles into deep wells, to hear what echo they return. I behold in imagination a grand Confederation of States, stretching from ocean to ocean, watered by the grand- est Tike and river system iu the world, and presided over, it may be, by a descendant of the august lady who to-day graces the most stable throne oa earth I At the rate of inoie««n>f%