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DISTRICT OP KEWATIN, PLAN OP WINNIPEG, AND OF THE DAWSON ROUTE, VIEW OP PORT GARRY, AND OTHER ILLUSTRATIONS. BY J. C. HAMILTOJSr, M.A., LL.B. CANADIAN COPYRIGHT EDITION. BELFORD BROTHERS 1876. W\p\rr\\L^TorJ , Cro ' Thf ncwg has flown frne mouth to mouth : The North for ance has banged the South."" —Old Scotch Sono. " It is indeed n Land woi'th flghtintf for," — Db. W. H. Russell. Entered according to the Act of the Parliament of Canada, in the year one thouHand eight htindred and seventy-six, by James Cleland Han»ilton, in the Office of the Minister of Agriculture. UUNTRR, KOBE AKI) CO., PRINTF.RS, 26, WELLINGTON HTKK.KT, TORONTO. INTRODUCTION. Two centuries have passed since a Jacobite poet published his " Proposition for the Advancement of Experimental Philosophy," wherein he sketched a plan for the establish- ment of a Philosophical College. Of its score of professors, four were to b<3 always travelling beyond the seas " to give a constant account of all things that belong to the learn- ing, and especially natural experimental philosophy, of those parts." They were to take a solemn oath never to write any- thing to the College, but what, after a diligent examination, they believed to be true. It is in the spirit here indicated that the writer took up his pen, on Lake Superior and the R«d River of the North, and began these sketches, now presented collectively, but much of which first appeared in a Toronto journal. He endeavours to tell you plainly what he saw and gathered in a summer trip from the capital of Ontario over the beautiful Northern waters and some of the mineral regions, rich with hidden treasures, of the " North Shore." From these he will ask you to pass, b}'^ lake, rail and river, to the Prairie Province, and to hear of the immense fertile region of which it is the key, and which a popular writer, IV INTRODUCTION. traversing its broad plains when in their winter slumber, has called the "Great Lone Land." The traveller here finds a region larger than many European States, which, though unsurpassed in climate and resources, has remained, as a great hunting reserve, untouched by the wave of civilization, which has spread along its southern, and beyond its eastern and western limits. He may enter the little quadrilateral, carved out of this great North land, which has become a part of the Dominion, with the bison on its coat of arms, and bearing the name of that Great Spirit, the guardian of its plains and rivers, the Manito of its wild children — their " speaking God" — Manitoba. Our readers will leani of its city and villages, its broad prairies through which flow rivers that drain the richest soil ; of the men of various hue, speech and origin, who are gathering in its valleys and finding happy homes in this wonderful West. We will refer to the gieat Companies, of which the most famous re- ceived its charter about the time that Cowley framed his college scheme, whose servants followed the chase, and were ever friends of the Red man, but who found even this broad land scarcely broad enough for them, few as they were, and strove to the death for mastery and undi- vided gain. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. PAIJE Toronto to Thunder Bay — Modes of Travel — Owen Sound — The " Frances Smith "— Gitche-Gumee— The North Shore— Thunder Bay and Cape— Prince Arthur's Landing— Fort William— R. C. Mission —The Dawson Road — Railway along the Kaministifiuia 1 CHAPTER II. Thunder Bay to Red River— Duluth— Superior City— Duluth to Fargo —The St. Louis River— The Northern Pacific Railway— "The Last Turn "—The Mississippi— Scenery — Fargo 11 CHAPTER III. Down the Red River — Its Sources and Tributaries— Tlie Prairie — Red Lake River — Grand Forks— Frojf Point — The Roseau— What the Geologists say — An Ante-Diluvian — Emerson — Whitehaven— The " Nigger"— A " Buck "—Metis— Point Gruette— Scratching River- Settlements — Mennonites — Sunset — Governor M'Dougall and his Guard— Cawtain Cameron and his "Blawsted Fence "—Butler— Wol- seley- Good Night — Verses 17 CHAPTER IV. Winnipeg— For. Garry — City and People— The Barracks— Fort Osborne —Hudson's Bay Company Reserve — A Gala Day— Winnipeg Institu- tions a nd Environs —Artesian Wells — Water Works— Illustrations- Garry Pets — Train Dogs— Deer Lodge— Silver Heights— Indians, Carts and Shagynappi — Police— Plan of City 34 CHAPTER V. Geographical Position of Manitoba— Three Divisions— Red River— The Roseau Valley — The Assiniboine — Its Parishes— Pembina Railway- Emerson— Mennonite Country and Settlements —Point du Chene — Caleclonia- Millbrook — Railway from Thunder Bay— Lake Winni- peg—Icelanders — Peguis — Whitwold— ( Uandeboye — Grassmere- Vic- VI lUiNTKNTS. PAUB t<»ria-KMckwood -New Penitentiary— WtHxUandH— Meadow Lea- Other SettlenientH — Portace la Prairie -liunwide — WeHtbounie — Paleutine - The Danes — Canal — Fanning in Maniuette - MuttHra. l^ynch, Shannon and Othent— Railway— iJufferin— West Lynne— Boyne Settleinent— Pembina MountainH— Coal -DimenHionn of Pro- vince—Mode of Snrvey— Our Map 48 CHAPTER VI. Indians and llalf-Breeds— Treaties and Reserves— Governor Morris ami Commissioners A National (iiievanccj— Cree and Sanlteaiix Orators — The QifAjtiwlle Treaty -(Jrand Result Prosnects of the Indians —Rev. Mr. McDotigall at Bow River— His Death -The Sioux— Half-Breeds, how Dealt with — Commissiects of the Metis- Opinions of Mr. Machar and Others- Buffalo Hunting 64 CHAPTER VII. Government and Civil Institutions — Ori^dn— Dominion Parliament- Cabinet— N<»rth West Council— Kewatin— Local Legislature— Black Rodand Lords— Constitutional Change— Courts— Chief Justice Wood's Charge -Public and other Schools— Educational Endowment— Reli- gion— Rifle Association —Agricultural Associatitm- Literary Pursuits —Population 83 CHAPTER Vin. Climate-Productions— Health— Elevation of Red River Valley— Iso- thermal Line— Opinions of Professor Wharton, General Hazeu, Gov- ernor Ramsey and other Americans— Cereals — Opinions of Professors Hind and Macoun, Mr. Dawson and othei-s — The Winters — Red River Courting — Opinions of Immigrants — The Dawson Route— The Tele- graph —Steam CJijmmunication through C'anada a Necessity — Progress and Prospects of the Through Route 96 CHAPTER IX. Manufactures, Imbour, Trade and Markets — Lumber Mills — "Kittson" Line— American View— Imports for 1874— Ditto to July, 1875— Prices Current — Trade of Winnipeg with North-West — Prospects— Coal, Minerals— Fish and Game — Timber and Fruit Trees — Various Indus- tries—Outfit of Settler 140 CHAPTER X. The Grasshopper Plague : its History and Incidents — Remedies — Illus- trations — Opinions of Messrs. Riley, Taylor, Spencer, Machar, Nim- mons and Mennonit'js : how treated in Minnesota and elsewhere — Prospects 157 CONTENTS. ▼tt CHAPTER XI. PACK From the Old to the Stone Fort P»»int OakH- Hoped thftt Fled -The FloodH H- Hoiiei f-PreiMlM, Douglas- FroR Plains Meveu Tait^H Creek - Kildonan-The Half-Prei'dM, their Hoiuen antl PrcmpectH— Hay Privile^'e— the Stone Fort- Penitentiary- Selkirk and the ('. P. P. CnmHinK A new City —Steamboats— Pegiiis Trade— ( 'la ndelM)5'e Settlenieut- Old Friem(» 1«»9 CHAPTER XIT. The Hudson's Pay Company- The Selkirk Settlement- The Fur Trn.le —Northern NinirodM — The North-We«t Company— Fort William- Little York The (hand P(»rta>,'e- Earl Selkirk— Bohl Adventurers- War of 1812 Speech of Mr. Dawson, M. P. P.— Fight at Fro^ Plains —Fall of (Governor Semple and Party— Trials at Quebec and York in 1818— Song of Pierre Falcon— De Keinhard's Case- Assiniludne a Cn>wn Colony- Its Population— Union of the C'ompanies-- Effect on Indians and others— Evidence of Col. Crofton and Admiral Back- Governors and Judges of Assiniboia— The (Joods Trade— Hard Bar- gain—Statistics of Trade— St. Paul and St. Louis get a Slice 184 CHAPTER XIII. Across tlie Prairie— Garry to Fargo— Boatman do not Tarry!— St. Norbert — Delorme's — ^lusic— Ray of Sunshine— Drivers— Indians- Blackbirds — Wildacre— Wright's— A Beautiful Animal The Senator Snores- Orion— Sunrise— Above the Marais— Pembina— "Old Mid- nights" -The " Guttesland "— The Mennon Bold— " Old Jake "— Carrie— Other Companions — Troubles by the Way— Senatorial Wis- dom— Fargo 220 CHAPTER XIV. The Pembina Branch— New Civilization- Sioux Massacre of 18<)2 — Sneech of Dr. Schultz— What the Bishons say — Indian Keven^e and Pluck— Little Crow— A Temperance jVfission — Noisy Girl— ISIiime- sota Chippewas— The Totems or Insignia of Tribes— Cust«tms and Numbers— Eastward Bound— Mont^ Men— Kincardine, Goderich, Sarnia— Soldiering — Practical Information to Immigrants and Tour- ists — Adieu 241 V .1 t( t] THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE. CHAPTER I. TORONTO TO TIIUNnKR HAY — MODES OK TRAVKL — OWEN HOUND — THK •' FRANCES HMITH" — OITfllE-OUMEE — THE NORTH SHORE — TlirN- DER HAY AND t'Al'E — l'RIN«'K ARTHUR's LANDIN(» — FORT WIL- LIAM — R. C. MISSION — THE DAWSON ROAD — RAILWAY ALONO THE KAMINISTIQUIA. " The f/reatcst hlemiuj in a p/casant frienii/' We had pulled half way thronf,di long vacation ere decid- ing on leaving " cap and gown and store of learned pelf" Then the route must be considered. There is the Collinir- wood steamer, also the Beatty line from Sarnia, the Windsor boats, the " Ward" steamers at Detroit, the "all rail " route. Desiring to enjoy the lake breezes, and to test the working of the narrow gauge road, a pleasant evening found us in the parlour-car of the " Toronto, Grey and Bruce," bound for Owen Sound, there to take the Frances Smith for Thunder Bay. The progress of Ontario cannot be more marl :od any where than by one who on this road passes rising towns and well- tilled fields where late the forest waved un- touched. We reach Owen Sound by 10 p. m., but find that the vessel is not yet come to hand. A load of Men- 2 TirK IMIAIUIE PllOVINCE. ^ ! ! nonitcs to Duluth took an extra day, so we have a few hours to see the tine harbour, the mountain, and good folk of "the Sound." Right glad were we at last to spy the smoke stack and side-wheels of the vessel as she steamed into the harbour. Cai)t. Tait Robertson so(jn welcomed the i>arty who were to tind their home with him across two lakes ; and the gallant vessel was off at good speed — all well i)leased with the accommodation, and, we may say, not dissatisfied with each other, as the liap[)y manner in which the hours sped away soon showed. It is not the intention of the writer to dwell much on this })art of his trip, as many of his readers have, to some extent, become familial' with this way to Thunder Bay. At the Village of Killarney we first see Indians in their bark-covered conical tepees or tents, dotted over the rocky shore. At Garden River we glide in beautiful water past log-houses of white and red men, and at both these places we run out and buy ])retty baskets and mats of scented grass, bark and porcupine quill work. Through many a glassy bay, past many a lovely island and wood-covered nook our vessel glides. While the sun shines, we watch her course. Darkness falls, then fair friends charm away the silence — nmsic and songs fill the cabin, and we move in the mazes of ciuadrilles, waltzes, galops and Sir Roger. We come to wjiters studded with cedared isies, that re- mind us of dear Yohocucaba, in the Muskoka region,* * This is a beautiful hunuuer retreat in Lake Joseph. The so Indian-like name was IngtMiionsly formed by adding together the first two letters in the names of five of the foundcT.s of the Yo-ho-cu-ca-ba Club. JtJsto pcr/tetua / SAULT STE. MARIK. 3 and arc in sight of two towns, diviiled by the Sault Ste. Marie River ; on the north is the capital of our Algonia District, a scattered town. We see the bishop's residence near the water, and the school in which Indian boys and girls of the Ojibway nation are taught. One of these three islands, near the North Shore, is the romantic grave of the late Colonel John Prince, who was, when he died, judge of this immense sparsely populated region. We cross and are in the short canal, have time to run through the little Michigan city on the South Shore, pass into the grassy enclosure with flag holding U. S. colours, and see Fort Brady, with its park of artillery, white officers' (quar- ters and barracks, with two companies of Uncle Sam's infantry. Close to the present canal, also on the American side, is the great excavation destined to be the sliip canal. Its locks will be 80 feet wide, aftbrding 18 feet of water, and admitting vessels of the largest size on the lakes. Soon we are on the stormy waters of Lake Superior, the big sea water, Gitche-Gumee of Longfellow's " Hiawatha." Our vessel has on this trip no time for side excursions passing Michipicoten and Nepigon Bay. We are much interested in the little red houses on the rocks which we are told form Silver Islet. At the wharf, where we stop a few minutes, a score of men with spade and pick were taking up hard rocks that foimed the wharf and tide-breaker; their foreman informed us that these rocks, till lately considered refuse, can now, by improved machi- nery, be made to yield many dollars' worth of ore to each ton. A busy place is this Silver Islet, with crushing mills, i ; 4 TirR PRAiRir-: province. store-houses, and clap-board dwellings, all owned by a great American Company, and under charge of the able and ingenious manager, Captain Frue. Fifty stamps are being worked, and from 100 to 150 tons of ore crushed per day. The yield is reported by the Company to be in value from 836,000 to $40,000 per month, the whole cost of getting out, crushing and wash- ing the ore by Captain Frue's process amounting to only $2.25 per ton, while eight ounces of silver are, on an aver- age, extracted from that (quantity of rock of low grade. The Frances Smiith has no time to lose. Her whistle sounds, we gather a few specimens of the white quartz rock and are off, soon pass the great headland of Thunder Cape, and are in Thunder Bay, in sight of the rising vil- lage of Prince Arthur's Landing. The Queen's Hotel, a large frame house, faces us, with guests from many a (quarter. The site of the village, which now contains probably 1,000 souls, is very fine : on the west side the Kaministiquia, emptying with its three mouths into the bay ; McKay's Mountain, rising 1,200 feet high, and the Welcome Islands ; opposite are Pie Island, of 31,000 acres in extent, with an altitude of 850 feet, having on its western end the strange round cap or dish-shaped protuberance whence it takes its name. Thunder Cape rises behind us 1,400 feet high, and be^'-ond is the great lake whose waves, unceasing and monotonous, lash the shore. As we pass the west end of Pie Island a hut may be seen which marks the place where silver ore was lately found, and a mine is being sunk by Professor Ames and some PRINCE ARTHURS LANDING. other Aiuerican.s. At the cast end of thu village is a little river — McViear's Creek — round which are piles of lumber and log and clap- board houses. Close to the creek is the bark conical wigwam of an Indian. Along the shore boys pick u[> agates. The village site, with its scattered white houses, gradually rises. We pass up Arthur street, leaving the reservation for a park of some ten acres on our left, and the commodious grounds, residence and offices of Mr. D. J). Van Norman, Sti[)endiary Magistrate and Registrar, on the right, the land rising gradually, so that after a half-mile walk we are on high ground, with a line view of the harbour, village and surroundings. This street we have been on turns to the left, and, in the course of a few rods further, runs into the well-known road, the Dawson route to Manitoba. Prince Arthur's Landing received its name from Colo- nel Sir Garnet VVolseley, in honour of His Royal High- ' ness, then in Canada. It was at this, then insigniticant hamlet, that the Expeditionary force, on its way to Red River, disembarked on the 25th May, 1870. The inhabitants of the Landing are such as an adven- turous wild life, the outskirts of civilization, and the speculation in minerals and lands bring together, to which, in the season, are added tourists from far and near ; from Nova Scotia — from many other ])arts of the Do- minion. But here [)asses a black-robed man — a priest from the Mission up the river. Tliis half-score of rough fellows are navvies from the railway line. Three young gentlemen, undergraduates of Yale, with their 6 THR PRATRIE PROVTNC.'K, guns and li.sliing tackk", '.vure here. They had seen the falls of the Kaministiquia, and fished there and elsewhere in the region, and were about to start for ])rairie chicken shooting on the plains of Minnesota. The number of saloons and drinking places in the village was astonish- ing. All seemed onl}'^ too well patronized. Strong rough fellows from the woods often pass, with coarse brown dress and unshaved faces. One stout man of more than middle age, whose hair hung in curls, in which grey and black were equally mingled, was pointed out. He was a graduate of Cambridge, but, years ago, gave himself up to a roving life and dissipated ways. He discovered several mines, made large sums by selling his rights, which were soon spent in sprees on the South Shore. His countenance still retains many traces of intelligence, and we saw him last as a deck passenger on the way to Du- luth, addressed with some attention and civility by those who knew him. When not actively engaged he lives a hermit life. How the inhabitants of the Landing spent their time was a matter of amusement. At the hotels and like places of resort, and not at offices or shops, we must seek them. One talks of Silver Islet, another of Shuniah, the Cornish, 3 A, the Bruce mines. Thunder Bay, or She- bandowan, and each [)ulls from his pocket a specimen of the ore or quartz supposed to contain silver, as " blende" or "native," or in sulphates and other forms. Various as the specimens may be, and to the unskilled, scarcely differ- ing in structure and appearance, yet our friends here will at once name the mine whence the\' come. FORT WTLTJAM. len of mde " Three tuf^s ply in the harbour of Prince Artlnir, and form in summer thejchief means of communication between the Landing and the Fort. Owing to the nature of the bot- tom, it is necessary to take a circuitous course of a mile or so into the bay, pass the two smaller mouths of the Kaministiquia River, and enter the tliird, which, after a half- hour's puffing of the little steamer, brings us in sight of the ancient fort of the great Hudson's Bay Com- pany, now in charge of Captain Mclntyre and employes, among whom we see white men, Indians and half-breeds. The river is here just broad enough for the lake steanier to turn in, and runs swift and dark in its hed, the fort being on the right. It is not long since the place was guarded with a high stockade fence, and block-houses pierced with port-holes. These have given way to a neat picket that divides the grounds from the road that skirts the river's side. Two small cannon stand as watch-dogs, one on either side the gate. Within the few acres that form the square of the fort are wide stoi-e-rooms, one of stone, very thick and substantial ; others of wood, the shop for retail dealing, and two neat dwelling-houses. Vast in value have been the pelts here stored, and hence sent to the selling agents of the fur companies, during the last hundred years of their reign and dealings here. Fort William was years ago the main depot of the great Noi-th Western Company, which united with the Knglish Cor- poration in 1821. Before the factor's pretty vine-clad house was a garden blooming with flowers of many varie- ties, and a rockery that particularly attracted our atten- 8 TIIK T'HAIKrE PROVINCE. tion. Its formation was of large (luaitz and other min- eral-bearing rocks, in which slione clearly traces of silver, lead, iron and copper, and blocks of the beautiful amethysts that are found throughout this wonderful region, but chiefly at Amethyst Harbour, near the mouth of McKen- zie River, some twenty miles east of Prince Arthur. The river banks are low at the fort — probably about ten feet above the ordinary level of the water. Two miles farther up they rise to double this height. On the left bank is the Catholic Mission of the Immaculate Concej)tion, with Indian reserve twenty -five miles square. Above the Mission, ten miles distant, are the extensive lumber works of Mr. Adam Oliver, the residences of the Messrs. McKel- lar, and the wharf on which is piled many a ton of steel rails, ready for the track of the Canada Pacific Railway, the terminus whereof is here placed by the powers that be. The bank is high, and affords a level bed on which the track has been graded for about half the forty-seven miles that are to form the connecting chain between Thun- der Bay and Lake Shebandowan. The contractors, Messrs Sifton and Ward, had a large force employed in getting out trees and making cuttings, and were to be so engaged during the winter. The work on the lock at Fort Frances is also being expeditiously carried out. Government surveyors have reported favourably on the route via Sturgeon Falls and the head of Rainy Lake. The contractors named have also in hand the Red River end of this section of the great road, but the middle part of it, being over rough land full of en- THE RAILWAY TERMINUS. 9 m out. |y on Lcainy the „ but of cu- '^ ginooriny dirticulties, is not yet located. There is much tine hind in the free j^'ant sections of the Kaminis- tiquia valley, where one hundred families have establish- ed themselves during the past few months. Along the banks, as far as we went, was a rich alluvial soil. This large increase of settlers is no doubt partially due to the grasshopper plague in Manitoba, of which we will speak hereafter. Very amusing to the visitor is the jealousy existing be- tween this region and Prince Arthur. " Why," say resi- dents of the latter, " require vessels to run up the Kani- inistiquia to the Railway, when at the Landing in Thun- der Bay is a splendid natural harbour, safe for vessels of any burden, and not so soon closed by the ice ? " " Your harbour," say the gentlemen of the river, " cannot be safe till well dredged and a great breakwater made to ward ofi' the winter storms." To secure their ends, the Prince Ar- thurites were passing a by-law to devote a sufficient sum — $32,000 — to continue the railway to the Landing, so we hope all parties will soon be satisfied. There will in time be a spreading population both at the Landing and up the river. We cannot afford to let Manitoba be drained long into the United States through the Pembina route. A through line of rail must ere long connect Thunder Bay with the Kewatin District and Red River. In summer this will be a pleasant and pop- ular mode of ingress to the Prairie Province. We met several who had gone over the Dawson Road to Garry, and who told with interest of its varied scenery 10 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE. ii and incidents by sta^e, (>j)en boats and small steamers, over lakes and rivers, during the five hundred miles of the course of this Government road. W. H. Carpenter & Co. had the contract from the Canadian Government for the conveyance of persons and goods on this route during the summer months, but it is closed as soon as the frost sets in. They received an annual subsidy of $76,000 in addi- tion to the fares they made. The charge for each passen- ger from Prince Arthur to Winnipeg was $10 ; to return it was $15. Moals were provided at rude stations at thirty cents each. It is understood that the Dominion Govern- ment will soon take the control of the route into their own hands. There are many rich mineral deposits al- ready discovered in the region through which this road runs. Valuable tracts of timber, especially near the Lake of the Woods and on the banks of Rainy River, will be brought into access from Winnipeg as soon as the railway is constructed. The grain crop of the Province will also by this route seek shipment on Lake Superior. For fuller accounts of the region traversed by this road we can only refer readers to the several interesting nar- ratives which have appeared, especially that of Professor Hind's expedition of 1857. This route, however, goes from the north-west angle of the Lake of the Woods by land to Red River, while Professor Hind and Colonel Wolselej' followed the longer and more romantic course from that point by Winnipeg River to the lake, and up Lake Wirmipeg and Red River to Fort Garry. rnei's, )fthe fc Co. )r the igthe t sets addi- assen- bum it thirty overn- ) their jits al- ls road le Lake will be ailway ill also IS road ig nar- •ofessor r, goes ods by Colonel course ce, and CHAPTER 11. TirUNUEH HAY TO KKI) RIVEU — DULl'TH — SUPKRIOR <*1TY — DrLrXH TO FAIUK)- THE ST. LoL'IH KIVKR — TlIK NolJTUKKV I'ACIKH' KAIL- WAY — "THK last turn" — THE MISSISSI IM'I — SCENERY — KAROO. A PLKASANT sail of oij^'litoon hours in the Manitoba, an excellent vessel of the Sarnia line, brings us in sight of this little city, at the western end of Lake Superior, and cree})ing up the stony and almost treeless hill that rises beliind. It is a straggling town, that grew too fast, where the town-lot fever struck deep and had many victims. The Northern Pacific Railway runs from Duluth to the Missouri River. Great were the hopes raised in the hearts of the Duluthians as this railway was being con- structed and Jay Cook reigned. But the day came, the money king fell from his greenback throne, the road got into the sheriff's hands, and the little city came to a sud- den halt. The land fever had its crisis — many of the stores are vacant. " To let " is on some of the pretty houses that lie on the hillside, and vacant lots are a drug in the market. For its future, Duluth must depend on the development of the grain trade to be produced by the prairies through which the Northern Pacific runs, and the mineral resources in which, no doubt, the whole sur- rounding region abounds, and its connection by Red River boats, stages and pro})osed railway with the^British 12 THK PHAIRIK PUOVINCK. Fertile lielt to tlie North West. A nan'ow-''au«^e rail- road is beiii«j .surveyed, to run northerly .seventy-five niileH to a rieh iron region. At a distance of six miles, across the St. Louis Bay, in the State of Wisconsin, is Su|)eiior City — witli a fate similar to that of Duluth. From Duluth to Fargo, on the Red River, is 254 miles. For some distance, the Northern Pacific runs along the cour.se of the St. Louis, wliich opens with a long marshy mouth into Lake Superior. The soft bed soon gives place to a rocky bottom of the most rugged appearance, in whicli, in the wet season, the river runs a foaming tor- rent. Now its bed is nearly dry, with liere and there a little waterfall and rapid. The ground along its banks is deceitful — full of sand and boulders. At .several places we find our train passing through the air with no aj)i)arent support from terra Jirma. We thus rest on wooden stilt- like frame-work, of which one end ])ierces the ground, the other supports the roadway. To the unaccustomed the j)o.sition is anything but assuring. However, railways nmst be built, and when stone and iron are scarce timber must answer instead — and does till the crash comes, as come it surely will. At the old Indian town of Fond du Lac, fifteen miles fi'om Duluth, where a century ago our great Nor'- West Comi)any had an imj)ortant fort and depot — but that was while this region was still British — the river runs a beautiful glassy stream, then spreads into a crystal lake, with bushy isles and banks of grass and rushes. The grand and rugged scenery now begins, end- ing at Thompson, where the road ciow.ses the St. Louis. Li 111 I i v^ii rail- inty-five ix miles, jiisiii, is luth. )4 miles, long the marshy ►n gives (Cuvjince, ling tor- there a banks is (laces we ij)})arent len stilt- und, the lied the railways I timber omes, as Tund du ago our ort and ritish — ads into ass and ns, eiid- uis. In TIIK NOIITMMKN I'ACIKK UAII-WAV. m this short distance, about ei^ht miles, wc pass ami sue the Dalles of the St. Louis in thtur l»road and unhewn bedsot" slate, foaming and seething in a thousand whirlpools. Pine-cl.'id hills hang over them. Then the aspect changes — the wild waters gather into a ([uiet stream, and glide past, with surface scarce broken by a ripple. Our Yale friends take the road for St. Paul's, which branches from the Northern Pacific, twenty-four miles from Duluth. Doubtless the prairie chickens will soon groan for their coming. We have now left the St. Louis and enteiod a beautiful land. Great elms spread their arms on either side. No scant has nature here shown in her wild garden. In rows and in groups stand the elms, and as the train goes swiftly through, the nearer trees seem to recede, and those behind to move on in a majestic dance of giants. We think of the German legend, the Erl-King, that holds out its enchanted limbs and cries " Come hither, come hither, my child ! " or do these giants of the plain resent this encroachment on their beautiful domains, and shake their arms and struggle to pursue as the train goes whist- ling and rattling through their avenues ? The scene still changes — beautiful lakes in smiling meadows of luxuriant verdure appear one after another. Wild ducks and geese swim upon them, while pigeons and blackbirds are plenti- ful. We look for signs of inhabitants, but they are few. Fences are seldom seen. The great meadows that skirt the grassy lakes and ponds are swampy, and will not be cropped till the drier and richer prairie land has been exhausted. Lake, pond, meadow and park, as demesnes r u TIIK IMtAIUrK I'lloVINri:. hi of soin«5 ;(r<(nt noltlrmim, ju'l' pji.ssud in rapid review, Imt nature alone has been tlie unrivalled gardener. Cedars and hanlwoods come in view ore we reaelj Brainerd, a little city in the torest, one hundred and fifteen miles on our way. Here are the workshops of the road, a largo liotel and handsome white hoard building, also put up by the Railway Company as a temporary home for emigrants. Each altcrnato section or square mile along the line be- longs to the Company, who offer strong inducements to settlers. The main street has a few buildings and stores, but the most noticeable features are its billiard and drink- ing saloons. Over one, beside which grows a tree, is the name, " The Last Turn." This is the spot where two Indians, in 1873, last turned their poor eyes on the light of this world. Accused of ravishing a young woman, murdering her, and destroying her remains by fire, they wore arrested. A lot of roughs sat playing cards and drinking, and as the play lagged, one jumped up and cried, " To the jail ! the Indians ! " The result was soon reached. This tree was the gallows, and this saloon sign their only monument. Wldch were the more guilty, the I)oor struggling victims, or those who yelled round them and shot at them as they hung, eternity alone will reveal. The unfortunate girl's name was Ellen McArthur. She was quarter Chippewa, and was walking over the prai- rie towards her uncle's when met by the two scoundrels, her murderers — Gegeance and Tibiscogushekweb. The meaning of this last name is " The same sky further off." Before this, these fellows had killed one Bearman, of i li THK MISSISSIIMM, IT) large oveal. She prai- idrels, The • oft-." n, of Little Falls. The railroad now crosses the UpptM* Missis- sippi, a yellow stream tlovviiig through iniuldy l>anks of Home eighty feet in height. It was spanned by a wooden bridge of the stilt and girder kind, but we pj sed over on a scow. About the end of July a lieavy train was on the bridge and nearly over, when the timbers cracked. Down went the cars, re of wsted eaped urned The xpedi- ry be- L- came e also Int for , used The Ibvowu us in occa- The ised in milies ad his glory, 'c talk PASTIME ON SHIFBOARI). 81 of old times, and of the "Company" which hite ruled all we saw ; compared notes as to the future. Two go to see the beauties of the Saskatchewan. One will renew his acquaintance with the buffaloes. Others will look up locations, quarter sections, town lots, ar d otherwise seek pleasure and fortune. State-room doors open and shut with " good-night ! " The old vessel still puffs on in a wheezy way in the still damp air. We awake in the morning and find we are laid up in the As.sinii)oine, under the martello towers of the old fort where Scott fell — where Captain Butler played his provoking game of billiards while Kiel looked on, and where Wolseley won his laurels. Our notebook has furnished a means of recreation. Would the indulgent reader see some vacation verses sug- gested by the scenes we have passed through, and indited as we floated down ? THE RED RIVER OF THE NORTH. 'Neath high arched skiea of clearest she^n, Sweeping thro' prairies' boundless green, Where branching ehns and poplars throw Dark shadows on the flood below ; Through the great rival nations' land, Uniting them with silver band, A Queen thou art of wide domain, Red River of tho Northern Plain. Thy crown is of the azure hue Of sun-set sky and pearly dew ; Thy tresses of tho ivy made, Twined with the willows' lighter shade ; 32 i i; J Hi j THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE. The Bois des Sioux, the small Marais, Unite to make thy girdle gay ; The Roseau comes with garlands, fain To deck the Queen of Northern Plain. A Naiad Queen — thy bounteous hand Refreshes oft the parched land ; The cattle bellow forth thy praise, The blackbirds laud ihee in their lays : The plover, mallard and wild-goose. The slow-paced bear, the antler'd moose, Come, lave and drink, a thankful train. Queen River of the Northern Plain. Pray tell us of those ancient men, The Sioux, the Blackfeet, the Cheyenne, Whose forms majestic by thy face Reflected were — a stately race ; Whose children, as by thee they stand, Scant remnant of a noble band, To match tiieir sires will strive in vain ; Bold rovers of the Northern Plain. Then tell us of the men who came In humble guise and holy name, Who bore the cross, and taught that loss Was gain, and gain on earth was dross With H'.m before whose sacred throne The red and white man count as one ; Good men ! ye sought for heaven to gain, The wild men of the Northern Plain. But ah ! my Muse, in shame and tears, With downcast eyes, of after years She tells. By lust and lucre nurs'd, Came wrongs and cruel deeds that curs'd MSTIME ON SHIPBOARD. The land, and made the red man full And fade, who had been king of alP Shall Canada permit the stain To rest upon the Northern Plain ? Astrean Muse, thy tears repel. And of the years approaching tell ''Fair Queen, thy virgin shores shall be The home of thousands blest and free From despot's rod, from priestcraft's s'nare ; Thy waters pure their freight shall bear • Long will they laud thy glorious reign ' Queen River of the Northern Plain " and fall into the Red River. '"'"'^"'^ P''*'"^ 34 THE PRAIRIE PROVING' K. CHAPTER IV. WIXNIPEO — FOKT GARRY — CITY AND PEOPLE — THE BARRACKS — FORT OSBORNE — HUDSON BAY COMPANY RESERVE — A GALA DAY — \VINNI- PEO INSTITUTIONS AND ENVIRONS — ARTESIAN WELLS — WATER WORKS — ILLUSTRATIONS — GARRY PETS — TRAIN DOGS — DEER LODGE — SILVER HEIGHTS — INDIANS, CARTS AND SHAGYNAPPI — POLICE — PLAN OF CITY, The Old Fort faces the Assiniboine just before its junc- tion with the Red River. We are under the shadoAV of high stone walls, seamed with cracks, and evidently, of no modern origin. They form a rectangle of five hundred and ten feet in breadth, and six hundred feet long. A gateway opens in the middle of the wall dicing the Assini- boine ; through this we see a grass plot, having at its further extremity a two-and-a-half storied house, with staiis ascending from the exterior to the second story ; on each side are four wooden houses, some of old logs axe- hewn, others clapboarded. Each corner of the enclosure is guarded by a round stone tower. These were erected in 1840. Passing to the east side we find a store, which opens to Garry or Main Street, and is filled with goods of every variety, from fierce hunting and bowie-knives, many- barrelled pistols and rifles, to pretty articles for ladies' toilets and boudoirs. This store has been thus opened to the street since Riel ruled. Tlien the eastern side was all closed ill by the higli wall, made of hewn pine logs laid KS — FORT — WINN I - I, — WATER ;EK lodge 1 — POLICE its junc- shadow dently, of himdred long. A e Assini- Infj at its lae, with ^d story; llogsaxe- jnclosure |e erected le, which goods of }s,many- pr ladies' Ipciied to was all lojzs laid '!'"™i:,J;;*|i i FORT rjAHHV ; SCOTT. 35 hoi"i/oiitaliy, wliicli encloses now tVoin tliis store to tlie tower on the north-west corner the newer p.-irt of tlie fort, which was so enLarged about 1850. These logs show the tooth of time, which has eaten holes in many to their centres into which the hand could be pushed. Here and there we see where the red man's lead has pic ed the wood. At this side, too, fell, after a mock trial, Thomas Scott on the 4th of March, 1870, pierced, but not killed, by rebel bullets. His body was ])laced within a rude coffin and carried within the fort. His friends asked for it and were refused, and why ? Because the assassins had done their work so unskilfully that the man still spoke in his cofHn, and so continued till night fell — then the knife ended his torture. Chains taken from the fort were placed around the coffin ; Dr. Schultz's stolen cutter was used as a hearse ; Kiel's minions in this carried the remains down the Red River to where the Seine joins it in St. Boniface, and pushed it through a hole in the ice to its last resting-place in the deep mud of the river, where doubtless it still lies. On the north side of the fort, facing the city, the wall is the highest. In its centre is a castellated gateway ; within is the large frame house formerly occupied by the Govei-nor of the Company, now by the Hon. Alexander Morris, Lieut.- Governor of the Province, and a store-house and oftices. Some trees and shnibs surround this, and a large garden ; but the grasshoppers were there before me, in contem})t of high walls and massive towers. A rental of $'2,0{H) a year is })aid to the Company for that i)art of these pre- ae THE PRATT^IE PROVINCE. i i i> niisos occu])i<3(l l>y tlic Licutonant-Govcnior. [Our fron- tispiece view of the fort shows the sides facing the rivers, and is from a sketch made on the spot by Mr. Verner. The smaller views are from excellent photographs by Mr. S, Duffin, of Winnipeg.] Passing along Main Street, we see on each side many substantial houses, dwellings, offices, stores and warerooms ; some of these are of white brick ; among such on our left are the Custom House and Dominion Land Office, and Mr. Hespeller's block. A large brick hotel was here erected, but its walls were not sufficiently sunk, and the whole structure will soon have to be taken down. Main Street extends from the fort to Burrows Avenue, a distance of nearly two miles, following in main the Red River, but taking a short cut along the base of the triangle that forms Point Douglas. From the Fort to the Wolsely House, now the Presbyterian College, this street is fjiirly built up, and the land bordering upon it is held at figures that would astonish those who saw the poor little village of Winnipeg as described by Cap- tain Butler five years ago. The triangle referred to, bounded by Main Street and Red River, holds the old village, and is mostly built upon. The Point Douglas road runs through it from the river westerly, and streets branch off either side of it. West of Main Street the city is also fast filling up with frame houses of all sizes. Every mechanic seems to have his own homestead, however small. First is erected towards the middle of the lot a small house, just sufficient for immediate necessity ; in time a two-story addition is added in front, and the part first fron- vers, irner. \f Mr. >t, we »ftices, Drick ; liniou brick iently taken Arrows a main le base ke Fort :Jollege, or upon lo saw y Gap- ed to, he old ouglas streets he city Every owever e lot a in time it tirst TTTY OF WTNNIPKf}. 87 erected forms the rear of tlio completed mansion. Mer- chants and others whohave succeeded well — and there are many such in the city — have erected, or are now erecting, more pretentious and comfortable residences. Many of the stores on Main Street are handsome buildings and well pro- vided — but as happens, especially in new places, where each builds to suit his fancy, present wants, and pocket, there is no uniformity in s^ze or proportions. This time may remedy. Some of the surveys are unsymmeti'ical and have lots, even in outlying parts, absurdly small in pro- ])ortion. This might well be provided against by legis- lation. One of the finest of the recently erected stores is that of J. H. Ashdown & Co. The building is 72 x 28 feet, three stories high, and is built of the handsome light- coloured brick of Manitoba, with stone basement, the cor- nices, window caps, &c., being of galvanized inm. The materials used in the building were procured in Manit(^^)a, at a cost of some Sl-J,0()(). The principal of the firm, Mr. J. H. Ashdown,arrived in Manitoba, previous to the Red River rebellion, with scarcely any capital. The stock contained in the building is valued at about $50,000 and keeps four- teen salesmen and workmen fully employed. We will only mention further among the brick build- ings, the Ontario Bank, Merchants' Bank, the store of the Hon. A. G. B. Bannatyne, the new Post Office, and the stores of Dr. Schultz, Mr. McMicken, and Higgins & Young, and residence of the Chief Justice. So great has been the demand for jjlaces of l)usiness that many buildings in the i\ ,!: :iH TIIK PJtAIKIK I'UOVINCK. ycmii*,^ city h;ivo jilrcjidy, ^;iy liy tlircc or foiii' yc'irs' rcntnl, or even loss, rcpuid their total cost to thoir owners. Main Street lias a [>laMk sidewalk IVom tlu; Foit to Bur- rows Avenue ; is graded, surlaee diwi^ed, but insuttieicntly so, and su[)plied in many plaees with water cisterns, to use in case of fire. The city lias several hotels and far too many saloons. The chief hotels are the Grand Central and the Exchange. Turn we again ; and following, as the sun is setting, the strains of music, pass to Fort Osborne, on the banks of the Assiniboine, we find that the strains proceed from a band of some fifteen performers, regimentaled in the uniform of Canadian Militia, standing in the parade ground of an enclosure, in which we see a sergeant putting his scpiad through evening drill, and a lot of jolly fellows playing football, and are kindly welcomed by some young Canadian officers, among whom we may mention Captain Herchuier and Lieutenant Nash. The enclosure is sur- rounded by a high white fence, and on each side of the parade ground within are half-a-dozen neat wooden build- ings, forming the officers' and men's quarters, stables, etc. About one hundred officers and men were here stationed, including a battery of artillery. The time of half of the men was about expiring, ;(nd a like number recruited in " Canada," as the older Provinces are called in Manitoba, have just come through by the Dawson road to take their [)laces, making the trip from Fort William in six days, the soldiers having aided much in working their passage. Behind the barracks, Colony Creek runs down to the As- FOKT OSHOKNK; Hl'DSON MAY COS UKSKKVR. :j!) ssage. e As- Hinihoine, ami licyond it is a vviiul-mill with sails sot. Wo saw several others round the country, hut most of them have heen dismantled and their machinery taken farther West, steam mills here taking theii* places. Between the barracks and the heart of the city is a lar:1 U'^- thrown up which Professor Ames pronounced to be Silurian. It has distinct traces of ocean sliells and crustacefe imbedded in it, and is one of the many proofs thnt ages ago this valley was the bed of the ocean, and has been upheaved by volcanic agency. Dr. Owen, so long ago as 1848, described Lower Silurian limestone as found at the Stone Fort, and in his Report to the American Government gave an extensive list of fossils imbedded in it. A continuous stream of the purest water lately rose from a spot in the river's bank at Point Douglas, when the railway engineers were boring to find a proper bottom for the proposed bridge across Red River. Besides the wild men from the plains, we see, here and there, other former denizens of the wilds — the pets of Garry. In the half acre attached to the Ontario Bank is a pretty i-ed doe. Young black bears are often seen chained in the gardens. Foxes peep from their holes, but run in as far as the cord will allow as we approach. A young cinnamon Bruin has his lair behind one of the warehouses. A pair of Buffalo calves were expected in soon by one of the traders. Every house of any preten- sions has its show of stuffed birds, skins and horns. In some the only carpets are the soft furs of bear, wolf, buffalo, mink, and badger. The priests at St. Boniface are skilled in the curing of birds' skins, and have many specimens. These important-looking big dogs that walk with measured ivond svhieli cannot Ik; mistMkon, are " train dogs," who, as soon as the snow falls, will b(; i IH 44 TliK FKAIKIE PllOVINCE. harnessed to tobogans with sh}, and run witli bags of flour, pemmiean and the like, many a mile, and at no slow pace. At Prince Arthur we first met a pair of these fellows enjoying their summer holidays with otium c/UAn (li(jti!ti<'rctMl for tho .spokes ; tliu hitter, of dry oak, are then inserted and ►soon clasped firndy by the drying hub. No ii'on, not a nail can be seen in the vehicle. Iron was a heavy and dear article to convey inland. Three years ago a keg of nails cost $25. It can now be had for i?3.50. No cruel wooden yoke is used, but the ox is harnessed with sluuiynappi — home-made harness of buffalo or ox hide, and collar such as we use for horses. One rein to the horns suftices to guide the patient beast, which moves over the soft prairie with half a ton weight at a quick walk, living only on the grass and water, that grows or runs spontaneously, at each resting-place. No shoes are on either pony or ox. Stony roads would soon ruin the hoofs and shake such vehicles to pieces, but tlic way of these men is along the river beds and over the yielding sod of the prairie, as it spreads far and wide to the Rocky Mountains. Here we find specimens occasionally of cer- tain free-traders, often Americans, who, for good reasons known to themselves, prefer to keep clear of Uncle Sam's marshals. They have had little difficulties, ending in the shooting and scalping of red skins — or have run off a few ponies — or, being Government agents,have set up a trading post on their own account with goods that poor Lo should have had. These fellows are shyer now of the Queen's possessions than they were before the Mounted Police took possession of the Nor'-west, having first themselves, with patient, hearty labour, built their forts. We hear of the good work and fame of this force on all hands. 0[)en TIIK MOrNTEI) POI.KK ; HOOP-tTp. 4: wliiskcy traHut with tlic Indians is stopped on the phiins. Both tiaJers and Indians foarand lespeet the iuave tiiiee hundred who guard the far Nor'-west. The preservation of* peace and the developcnient of the V^ alley of the Saskatchewan and its triimtaries depend much on the proper increase and maintenance of this citizen soldiery. But a few months since a large band of marauders lived in free and glorious style at Hoop-up as they styled their den in the Bow River country, Tliey were armed to the teeth and well fortified. Now their fort is deserted, and they are scattered in Montann. Half a score of their number were caught and tined, one in $500 and three months' imprisonment, and his stock of robes confiscated, at Fort McLeod, for selling liquor to redskins. Three were still awaiting trial. The consciences or love of freedom of their comrades suggested that discretion was the better part of valour, so Hoop-up is empty. None of this force is now stationed within the Province, but is divided between Fort Pelly, Fort M('L SBT- ILWAY Jt'lH— OOl) — KTTLK- I'ALKS- IKHSKH. - WEST AL— I>I- c 23vd cneral, of the lies in equal- vinee from the southern boundary till it enters Lake VV^innipofT at a distance of about forty miles north of the City of VVinnipe show the entire crop of the County of Marquette to be about 40,000 bushels in 1875. In the neighbourhood of Lake Manitoba some of the leading farmers are gathering valuable herds together, and the more enterprising of them are already reaping con- siderable advantage from investments made a few years ago in the impoi'tation of thorough -bred bulls. Of these, Mr. Walter Lynch was among the most prominent. Some \'' 50 thf: prairie provinc^e. of his .sales liavo been remarkably <^ood, coiisiclering the circumstances ; such as a heifer calf at $300 and eight bull calves Jit about an average of $150 each. He has in yard still, we believe, seven cows and six calves, all the product of one Durham bull and three cows imported in 1871^. Messrs. Shannon, Newcome, and others in this neigh- bourhood also have considerable herds of grade cattle. Messrs. Hugh Grant, K. McKenzie, M.P.P., Hon. Mr- Ogiltree, Paschall Breland, of White Horse Plains ; Thos. Lumsden, of St. Francois Xavier ; John Taylor, M.PP. ; W. Tait and W. B. Hall, of Headingly, and John F. Grant, of St. Charles, are also extensive farmers and breeders of horses and cattle. It may be mention- ed that it was at this village of Headingly that the strange career of the so-called Lord Gordon, or Lord Glen- cairn, ended in 1874. After perpetrating enormous frauds in England and the States, and almost causing an interna- tional squabble, he was arrested here by Alexander Munro, a Toronto detective. The story entitled "Glencairn: a Dramatic Story in Three Acts," is told in Chambers s Journal for November, 1875, and ends thus. Munro says :— " I told him that I had come to arrest him, and that I had a warrant. He asked if it was another case of kid- napping, and I said it was not, but everything regular, and I showed him the warrant. He said it was all right, and, just glancing at it, professed himself ready to go ; only he wished to be allowed to put on warmer clothes. He got dressed, and was all ready to go, with the excep- a Ihes. 3ep- LORD GORDON 1 HEADTNGLY. 67 I tion of a Scutch cap, whicli ho wished to f^ot horn the bed- room. T closeiy followed him. On entering the bed-room he laid hold of a loaded pistol, and, declaring that he would not move a step further, he j^ut the pistol to his head. I made a rush to prevent his shooting, l)ut it was too late. He pulled the trigger and shot himself through the head. He sank down and died almost immediately." The author, who is Dr. W. Chambers, in concluding this drama of real life, says : — " In none of the printed proceedings or elsewhere is there a scrap of intelligence concerning the real name or the relatives of this remarkable person. No one seems to know whc or what he was, who were his ^.i^rents, or where he was born. He altogether remains a mystery. It would be curious to know if any one lamented his lost oppor- tunities of well-doing or mourned his deplorable fate." THIRD DIVISION. The third division of the Province is that west of the Red and south of the Assiniboine Rivers, having at its south-easterly extremity the villages of Dufferin and West Lynne ; near its centre, the Boyne settlement, on the River lies de Bois, of about forty families, who have excellent grain and grass lands ; and west of these, the rolling land called the Pembina Mountains, and the river of the same name. Poplar is here the most abun- dant tree, though groves of oak are found. " The soil is fertile, though not so deep or inexhaustible as that of the Red River Valley, and rests on a gravelly drift sub- .vr^^" ; 58 THE PriAiniE PROVINCE. soil. Tlio rain-ikll of this region is probably slightly less than that of the Red River Valley, but appears to be sutticient for agricultui'al purposes." (Report of Mr. G. M. Dawson to the North-west Boundary Commis- sioners, 1875, page 288.) It is in this region, and still more in the more western valley of the Souris River, one of the triljutaries of the Assiniboine, at a distance of two hundred and fifty miles from Red River, that large depo- sits of lignite have been found, and it is hoped that ere long the fires of Winnipeg will be hence supplied with fuel in convenient form and at moderate ctost. A charter for a Provincial railwav, the " Manitoba Southern," to connect this sorth-west part of the country with the capita], has already been obtained. If the canal referred to be constructed, the carriage of tins fuel will be also facilitated. In one place in the Souris Valley Mr. Dawson found the lignite seven feet three inches in thick- ness : " The lignite (page 91 of the Report referred to) is continuously visible for at least two hundred feet along the face of the bank, and seems to preserve uniformity of character and thickness. It is quite black on freshly fractured surftices, and in many places the structure of the original wood is still quite discernible." On the op- posite side of the same river valley, and elsewhere along the stream, seams of lignite of good quality are described in the same Report, which continues thus : " The whole of these deposits, though in some places showing a dip amounting to a few degrees in one direction or other, appear to have no determinate direction of inclination, ] COAT,; WATKR-COITRSKS ; A15KA OF IM?OVT\('K. 59 long nity shly e of |op- ong bed e of dip ler, lion, ■ but over lai'^T {ii'cus to ' as nearly as possible linrizon- tal." This coal region v'< 1 be nearer to Red River, and prol)ably of more convenient access, than the great beds of coal well known to exist in the Saskatchewan Valley. The various streams that course through the Province and flow into its two niain arteries have been referred to in this or in other parts of this narrative. They are in- vahiable to the agriculturist and l)reeder of cattle. Their banks m overed witli verdure, and their course may be marl- d ./, the windinfj lines of ti'ees and shrubs that spi i i^-: 1. ) on either side. In dimensions, the Province measures from the United Sti :. line to its northern boundary 102 miles; from east to west it is 120 miles. Its total area is of about 13,900 square miles, or nearly nine millions of acres. Proposals have been made for enlai'irement to the north and on either side, but no definite arrangement for this end has yet been agreed on. To facilitate an understanding of the Map, we may say the lands, as surveyed, are laid oft' in quadrilateral town- ships containing thirty-six sections of one mile square in each, together with road allowances of one chain and fifty links in width between all townships and sections. The townships are numbei'ed consecutively from one to seventeen, from the southern boundary noi'therly. Ranges of townships, each six miles broad, are numbered east and west resjjectively, from the " principal Meridian," which will be seen on the Map to enter the Province at a dis- tance of about ten miles west fi'oni Pembina, and thence •■.J:i 1 j 60 THK PUAtHIE PROVINCE. puss nj» till it cruHses the l><)uri(lary line bi'twcun tlio two lakes. The mode of division is simple and convenient. Tlie Diagram on the map shows how each township is laid out in sections, and how they are numbered. As soon as a new settlement is formed, the neighbours gather together and choose a name, which, being commu- nicated to the Land Office, is generally adopted as that of the township ; thus townshij) 14, in the fourth range east, became, at the request of the Messrs. Muckle and Gunn, Clandeboye ; and anothei* twelve miles furtlier north, Whitewold. Millbrook is the last which has thus been christened, and is eighteen miles east from Winnipeg, in tlie sixth range. There are three Government Land Offices, viz., at Win- nipeg, Westbourne and Emerson, where all necessary in- formation, including lists of lands open for sale or settle- ment, may be obtained. Offices for the registration of deeds are established, and the system of land conveyance is, like that in Ontario, simple and inexpensive. The homesteaosts, iieth the [e to l^ree- con- 'hese and Ithen lians^ The efforts of the Government have been unceasing in exam- ining and disposing of all these claims, and, thus ftir, marked with eminent success. Let us first refer to the Indians. The first treaty made with them since Lord Selkirk induced the Croes and Chippewas to cede the " Old Settlers' Belt," in 1817, was "''>cted by Governor Archi- bald in 1871, and included s ne Province of Manitoba. The Indians dealt with were 3,374 of the last-named tribes. Next, a great tract lying north and west of the Province, and inhabited by less than 1,000 Chippewas, was ceded. On the 3rd of October, 1873, a third treaty was made at the north-west angle of the Lake of the Woods with the Saulteaux tribe of Ojibways, inhabiting the country between Manitoba and Ontario, said to num- ber 3,000. By this treaty 55,000 square miles, now forming the Kewatin District, were secured for settle- ment, railway and lumbering purposes. This was mo.st important, as the railway to connect Thunder Bay and Red River will pass through this region ; so does also the Dawson route. It has most valuable timber and mineral deposits, which are thus opened to enterprise. On the loth of September, 1874, a fourth treaty was made at Qu'Appelle Lakes, by which 75,000 square miles were ceded. The Indians concerned were about 3,000 Crees, Saulteaux and mixed breeds. The lands in this treaty extend from those in the second treaty to the South Sas- katchewan River and Cypress Hills on the west, the Red Deer River on the north, and the United States boundary on the south. B £i GO THE PKAIllIE PROVINCE. By a fifth treaty, made in the fall of 187o, the Indian title to the territory cast of Lake Winni])ego8is, and on either side of Lake Winnipeg, has been extinguisiied. The Governor and party making this treaty went from the Stone Fort through Lake Winnipeg in October. We take the following from his Report : — "The journey is of interest, as having been the first occasion on which a steam vessel entered the waters of * Berens River ' and of the ' Nelson River,' the waters of which river fall into the Hudson Bay, and as having demonstrated the practica- bility of direct steam navigation through a distance (jf 8()() miles from the City of Winnipeg to ' Norway House.' I n)ay mention here that the prevalence of timber suitable for fuel and building purposes, of lime and sandstone, of much good soil, and natural hay lands on the west shore of the Lake, together with the great abundance of white tish, sturgeon and other tish in the Lake, will ensure, ere long, a large settlement." As the lands lying between those in the third treatv and the Province of Ontario were granted previously, it will be seen that in the immense tract of the North- West, from Thunder Bay to Cypress Hills, with Manitoba in the centre, the Indians have been peace- ably dealt with, and little or no cause of uneasiness need be feared from them. On the contrary, they will be found, wh(!ther hunting, acting as guides, wandering over the plains, or on theii' reserves learning the arts of civilization, while fairly dealt witli, and paid their annual allowances honestly, the friends of the white population. It is certainly matter for congratulation that this great and COMMISSIONERS ; A NATIONAL GRIEVANCE. G7 [ndian rid on [islied. ti'tjm . We f is of liicli a and of ito the actica- mce of Jouse.' Liitable ,one, of b shore white re, ere twee 11 were e tract Hills, peace- need bund, er the ation, ances It is t and valuable territory, more extensive in area than many European States, has been tlius ha|)i)ily incorj)orated with the older provinces of the Dominiim.* In nciTotiatino: treaties, the Lieutenant-Governor is the chief commissioner. He is L;'enerally accompanied by Hon. Mr. Christie, Mr. S. J. Dnwson, or Col. J. A. N. Provencher, Indian Commissioner in Manitoba, instructed direct from Ottawa, and by some half-breed gentlemen, such as ILjn. James McKay, Mr. Charles Nolin, and Mr. Pierre Levailler, who can speak the languages, and hiive had fre(iuent dealings with the aborigines. A com[)any of troops from Fort Osborne, ;it Winnipeg, go as escort. The I'ed man takes a long time to talk, retire, hold coun- cil, and pow-wow before he can l)e brought to terms. The items of former treaties are known and discussed all over the territory. Debates in Parliament, and controversies as to them in the leading papers, are carried to the chiefs by their educated h:ilf breed friends, and the orators of the aborigines come prepared with data to support argu- ment. 'i'he terms of the treaty being agreed on, are i-educed to w^'iting, ex[)lained to the recognised chiefs of l)ands by interpreters, and signed by all concerned. That made at the North-West Angle is so signed by Kee-ta-kay-|)i-nais and twenty-three brother chiefs, all making theii- marks. The Indians sometimes evince a l)r<)therly regard for their * Since the fir«t fuur treaties were luade, it has liecu ili.senvereil that tlie trilie.s dealt with were larger than then .suppo.sed, and an addition of one- fifth may ''e made to the nuni])er,s stated. G8 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE. i 'I I half-breod relations, and stii)ulate that hunting ground privileges be secured by treaty to them. At the Qu'Ap- pelle negotiations, these Cree and Saulteaux children of the plains showed that they had been considering the Hudson Bay Company's affairs, and found as much diffi- culty to understand why they got the £300,000 from Canada as many of our readers have exi)ericnced. It was, in fact, tlieir national grievance. "They claimed," says Governor Mollis, "that the sum paid to the Coni- patiy should be |)aid to them." He adds that he explained the nature of the arrangement with the Company, and their further demand, also objected to, for a valuable reserve in the territory of these tribes. It ai)})ears that the pow-wow was then adjourned, and that it took three days after his Honour's explanations were given for these simple folk to discuss and understand British justice. We can imagine the earnest bands collecting by their tent fires at the Calling Waters, harangued by the Cree chief, " Loud Voice," and the Saulteaux Mee-may, on the same theme as had been discussed by our statesmen at West- nnnster and Ottawa ten years ago. The Crees for a time refused to treat, but the Saulteaux were more good-na- tured and came to terms. The connnissioners congratulated tliemselvos that they had a good escort under Colonel Osborne Smith. They were far from home, surrounded by many hundred bar- barians in their native wilds, each tribe jealous of the other. The Crees were very cross, and showed knives and ))istols; but at last, influenced by example, and by i ^ i THE QU APPELLE TREATY. no L'OUlld Ll'Ap- eii of g the I cliffi- from (1. It imed," Coin- ilained V, and iliuil >l e ■s that : three r these ustice. h' tent chief, same AVest- tinie od-na- .t they They d bar- of the knives lid by half-breeds favourable to the Company, they also by their chiefs joined in the indenture. In an interesting narrative* by an eye-witness of these proceedings, we gather the following as to the main point discussed ; the Indians said, " A year ago these people (the Company) drew lines and measured and marked the land as their own — why was this ? We own the land, the Mm niton gave it to us. There was no bMrgain ; they st<»l(> from us and now they steal from you. When they wert; small the Indians treated them with love and kindness ; now there is no withstanding them, they are first 'm every- thing." Governor Morris asked, '' Who made all men ? — the Manitou. It is not stealing to make use of His '.;ifts.' The Indian Pah-tah-kay-we~nin, replied thus beautifully. " True, even I, a child, know that God gives us land in difterent places, and when we meet together as friends, we ask from each other and do not tpiarrel as we do so.'' 8ays the narrator, ■" State policy not philanthropliy, ari'l that ^ iefly, will effect philanthrophy's noblest work — the teen g and hardly used peoples of the Old World will here iind a home, their moiety and fee — even as their life -so plain that in the beautifid words of Pah-tah-kay- w -nin, ' Even I who am a little child know that.' Ft was done, a little crov/ding — the low-toned voices and laughter of the Indians, a touch of the pen and an empire changed hands ! " The Saul teaux and Ojibways or Chip|>ewas take their * Nows on the Qu' Appelle Treaty by F. L. Hunt, Canadian Month!, 't, ^rarcll, m76, page 173. i1 i 70 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE. r HS 1 W4' ' nariies from tlio skill with which tliey guide canoes — mak- ing them lea/p over the rapids. Tlie scene, wlien treaty-making is going on, is often higldy picturescjuc and tlic speeches abound in imagery. We cm give space for but one other exam[)le. At tiie c- lisli thcnisclvoH on tho banks (»f our hujuitifiil rivi-r. A stock raiser from across the mountains had arrived with sovoral hundred head of cattle. And now on tlie very hills, where two years ago I .saw herds of bullalo, the domestic cattle ,!,'ently irra/e, i-etjuiring neither shelter n(jr f(jdder from their master all the year round." It is with unfoi^MiL'd .sorrow that we huve luariit'il, since |)('iinin<^' the above, of tlie sad end of tliis worthy >trvnnt of the cliureh and state. Alioiit the 'iotii of Jaim;ny, 187G, his hor.se eaiiie riderless to tlie eainp; hut tlie mis- sionary liad peri.shed in the severe eold of a snow storm. Mr. MeDougall was universally esteemed, and had '^wnt knowledge of the West and inthience with the native tribes. He was a Seotchmau, and at his death alM)ut fifty-five years of ai,''C, during; early life he was in ni'T- eantile business. His ministerijil eareer be<;an in bS^O, it Rice liake Indian Mission, near Cobour<^', Ontario. He was afterwjirds at Garden River and Rama Settlements. In 1800 he went to Rossville Mission, at the North end of Lake Winni{)eg, and remained in the North-West till his death. As the Indians retreated with the butl'alo, he followed, goin<,^ to the Saskatchewan in l(S(j4 and opening new fields for mi.ssionaiy enterprise. He bad great faculty for learning the different Indian dialects, and had all the attributes of a hunter and i)ioneer. lie was at home in the .saddle or the snujky tent, among the red men, who had confidence and regard, amounting to love for him. This he fully returned. When the small- pox decimated wliole tribes, in the terrible manner de.s- IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 1.1 ■^ lii 12.2 US lU u liO u& |L25 mu ||.6 < 6" » Photographic Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. MSM (716)873-4903 m v ^ ^ :\ ^v \ 4 76 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE. ■ill .! cribed by Butler and other travellers, he and his family did not shrink from their duty. Three of his own house- hold were cut off and he himself bore the marks of the disease till his death. The tale of this part of the devoted missionary's career is full of touchinled with that of Livingstone. Ilis career in the North-Wcst gained the conunendation of Lieutenant- (lovernor Morris and of the Minister of the Interior and the Premier, who have all referred to it in late reports and addresses. Mr. McDougall intended, it is said, on the close of his important pioneer work, to return to Ontario, to which a host of friends, of all denominations, would have welcomed him ; but his familiar face will not again be met in our streets. At the Council Chambers in the West, his clear and unbias.sed judgment will be missed, and tliose who used to call for it will sigh as they sny — (( His voice is silent in your Council Hall For ever." From the report of the Minister of the Interior, laid before Parliament in February, 1870, we tind that the number of British Indians in Manitoba, the North- West, and Ivewatin, now under treaty, is 13,944. Those not yet treated with are: in Rupert's Land, 5,170; from Peace River to the United States, 10,000. There are also 1,450 Sioux, who are part of that once great nation, and in 1803 fled to our territory from Minnesota, and will be sioirx; ojibways; oamblinu. 77 laid the V^est, not from also and 11 be referred to again in chapter XIV. They have caused un- easiness at Portage La Prairie. A reserve was assigned to them on the Little Saskatchewan and inducements offered to them to settle there, but they in 1875 and the previous year comi)lained that the locusts liad des- troyed their little crops and came to the region near Lake Manitoba, to fish and gain subsistence by occa_ sionally working, begging, or worse resorts, among the settlers. It will probably be necessary to induce them to remove from the settlement in order to quiet the uneasiness of the whites. They are feared as nmch for the havoc which they and their confederates have wrought in the quiet villages of Minnesota, as for the pilfering habits that are now their chief cause of an- noyance. They are, however, regarded as in physic jue and intelligence the best S[)ecimens of the race to be met with. There are other Sioux farther west in our terri- tory who are on as friendly terms with the Goverinnent as could be desired. The love for intoxicants is deej) and [)revalent in this unfortunate race. They eagerly swal- low the vilest decociions, and baiter all they have for rum. Next to this is their passion for gambling. Thus occupied, they become greatly excited, and pass hour after hour till every article i)ossessed, the la.st blanket, hatchet, knife, or mocassin, is gone. A striking picture by Mr. F. A. Verner, of Toronto, which our readers may see at the ' Centennial,' thus represents a i)aity of Ojibway Indians engaged. The scene is laid neai- Fort Frances, in the Kewatin district. The players have no i'k il 1 t-] li 7^s THE PllATKIE PROVINCE. I' cauls. A few balls in the closed hand are used instead, and the game is " guess liow many." HALF BREEDS. The Act of 1870, which constituted the government of Manitoba, reserved lands to the extent of 1,4()(),()()() acres for the Ijenefit of the families of the half-breed residents. It was also provided that each head of a family of this class should have 160 acres, and each child then born 1J)0 acres of land granted to him or her. As surveys were proceeded with, provision was made for this demand but no grants have yet been actually made. Various diiiiculties arose ; some half breeds were found to be living with Indians, having the same habits, and claiming [)ensions and other government aid as members of tribes, which was inconsistent with their claims as half breeds. Wearied with the delay and too often improvi- dent, many of the half-breeds have signed agreements now held in hundreds by Winnipeg merchants and speculators thei'e and elsewhere, purj)orting to barter away this their bii'thriglit. The price given was generally small, seldom more tlmn 840 and that in truck or barter. Government has decided to grant the lands direct, to those entitled under the Act, leaving them to settle the matter as they may with the holders of the assignments. The Provincial Legislatuie also enacted that such assignments are to be of validity only as giving liens on the land when granted for the amount paid and interest. Last summer two gen- tlemen were appointed commissioners to make personal half-breeds; numbers; religion. 7!) investigation and report the names of all halt'-ljreeds en- titleil to ''rants. As soon as these lands have been con- veyed, their .sale and purcha.se will be extensively and legitimately carried on. An unlimited choieeof the finest land at low price and with only such burden in respect of settlement duties as the Government niav .see tit to impose for the protection of the country from too exces- sive speculation, will be offered. These commi.ssioners, Messis. Matthew Ryan and J. M. Machar made their report in the autumn of IS?'), and patents will no doul)t .soon be i.ssued to all entitled, who are of sufficiently mature age, and proper pn)visi()n will be !iiade as to minors. Mr. Machar favours me with some interestin'' data, the result of his observation and enquiry as follows — The total number of the Manitoba Metis, of all extrac- tions, is about 1(),()()() ; of French origin somewhat over half; of the rest, the Scotch number about five-sixths; Engli.sh, Irish and others, one sixth. The Scotch were principally from Orkney, some from Caithness and Suth- erland. About two-thirds of the race are en^x^iiTod in farm- ing of a rude and unskilful kind, on the banks of the Red and^'Assiniboine Rivers. Nearly one thou.sand of l.he Manitoba half-breeds have already moved Westwnrd and may be found near Carlton, Qu'Ap|)elle, St. Laurent, Edmonton and Prince Albert ; so that their numl)er in the Province is, after making alhnvance for natural in- crease, certainly no greater than in 1870. As to Religion they were then classed thus — 15 I 1,^ \m m ^i i II 80 THE PRAIIIIE PllOVINCE. Roman Catholics 5,000 Church of Enghmd 4,300 Presbyterians 700 About one-third are traj)i)ers, boaters, coureurs des bois> voyageurs and Hudson Bay eni[)loyees. Five per cent, of the whole live like Indians — the rest " like Christians." The Indian physique generally preponderates, but this is less marked in those of Scotch and English jiarentage. Mr. Machar thinks that in longevity they are on as high a level as whites, and that the amount of lunacy, idiocy, il- I'jgitimacy and crime among them is less in proiiortion than in most civilized countries. There seems little more absorption or amalgamation of blood now among them. They are so large a community that there is ample op- portunity for intermarriage among themselves, and mar- riages of whites and Indians are at present of raie occur- rence. The Metis present a strange mixture of complexions, from the fair skin and soft curling locks of a Northern Euro[)ean origin, to the dingy hue and straight black hair of the Indians. Their language is as various as their origin, a curious medley of Chi p])ewa,Cree, French, Gaelic and English. They move across the plains in long pro- cessions with ox and pony carts, the creaking of whose unoiled wooden axles is heard a mile off, with the dis- cipline of a caravan, and in garbs which show the Indian and European taste commingled. When the buffalo sea- sons arrive captains of parties are chosen, and all go to- gether in strict discipline, having rules which are carefully BUFFALO-HUNTING; RULES OF THE CHASE. 81 2s bois* cent, of itians." this is outage, s high a iocv, il- portion le more nr them. D iple op- d iiiar- (X'cur- exions, orthern black as their Gaelic ig pro- ' whose lie dis- Indiaii ilo soa- oo to- irefuUy enforced to avoid surprise from treacherous Indians, and to combine all means in the hunt of the great bison. The usual place of rendezvous was White Horse Post, near the south end of Lake Manitoba, whenc. the gay cavalcade of men, women and children, with carts and iimumerablo dogs, would start out. An interesting writer says of this race : — " Nomadic as to one half of his origin, pas- toral and agricultural as to the other, a hunter by his Indian blood, a citizen from his European instincts, thrifty, indolent, staid, mercurial, as father or mother predomin- ates in his nature, the Red River half-breed has a story as curious as any which while away the winter nights in the chimney corner of his ancestral Highland home." Back from the hunt, none so happy iis he, the robes are sold, the pemmican stored away, and then comes the gay season, with its music and merry dance and song. The half- breeds live generally on amicable terms with the Indians, are social and hospitable, and are to a considerable extent educated. As the carrying facilities of the country are developed, and a steady market for gi-ain and other farm produce is created, they will no doubt settle down to a much greater extent as agriculturists and graziers than they have ever yet had inducements to do, as have al- ready Mr. Pierre Delorme and many other intelligent men of his class, the names of some of whom are mentioned as farmers on the banks of the Assiniboine. Heretofore the chase has been to them a necessity as well as a pas- time, which they pursued with wonderful success. They have now, to secure the buffalo, to go to a distance of ':fl" .1 I ' N in I I li ^iil I 82 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE. from three to five hundred miles west of Red River, and in a few years, so great is the wanton destruction of that animal, that unless some decisive means for preservation be adopted, it will be practically out of reach of those who desire to adhere to homes and attachments in Mani- toba. It is estimated that fully 16(),()0O buffalo have annually been killed for some years past. None have been .seen ea.st of Red River since about 18G5. It should not be forgotten that the mixture of Indian blood is by no means confined to the Nor'- West. Factors, partners, com- manders and other officers of the great companies, who took native wives, have for ages, on retiring from active life, settled in our older [novinces, where they and their descendants are often met with in the circles of wealth, influence and respectability, the offspring showing the maternal origin in their hois-hride complexion, dark eyes and straight falling hair. We find, too, that miscegenation has gradually but certainly taken place among all the tribes, settled on reserves near centres of civilization. Many of the Iroquois at Caughnawaga, opposite Lachine, and elsewhere on the St. Lawrence, have as much the ai)pearance of French Canadians as of Indians. CHAPTER VII. 'I I OOVKUXMKNT AM> (JIVIL INSTITUTIONS — ORKilN — DOMINION I'AK- LIAMENT — UAIJINET— NOHTH WKST COUNCIL — KEWATIN — LO LORDS — (,'ONSTITUTIONAL t'llANOE — COURTS — CHIEF JUSTICE VVOOD's CHAROE — PUBLIC AND ()THER SCHOOLS — EDUCATIONAL ENDOWMENT — RELIOlON — RIFLE ASSOCIA- TION — AORICULTUKAL ASSOCIATION — LITERARY PURSUITS— I'orU- LATIOX. By the Dominion Act, 3*) Vic. c. 3, under whicli the Pro- vince was carved out of Rupert's Land and the North West Territory, provision was made for the estabhsh- ment of its government, as also for that of the part of the territory not included within the limits of the Province. Manitoba was given a representation in the Canadian Senate of two members. The Hon. M. A Hirard, of St. Boniface, and Hon. John Sutherland, of Kildonan, were appointed such Senators. To the Canadian House of Com- mons four elective members came from the Prairie Pro- vince, and these are in the present, being the second, parliament of the Dominion : Messrs. John Schultz, M.D., Donald A. Smith, A. G. B. Bannatyne and Joseph Ryan, re[)resenting respectively Lisgar, Selkirk, Prove ncher and Marquette, the several sections forming the North, Mid- dle, South and Western parts of the Province, into which it is divided for electoral purposes. The Local Government is in the hands of a Lieutenant- Governor, appointed by the Governor-General, and of an m I :! h 1 1 < U )V il '-5 : )* ? f| 34 TIIK PUAIIIIE PHOVIWCE. Executive Council, the members of which must ulsu be members of the Provincial Parliament. The present members and the offices filled by each are as follows : — The Hon. R. A. Davis, Premier and Treasurer; Hon. James McKay, President of the Council ; Hon. J. Royal, Minister of Public Works, and H(m. J. Nonjuay, without [(ortfolio. Hon. Colin Inkster was President of the Coun- cil, but resigned when lately appointed sheriff. The legislative power was, till the fourth of February, lH7(i, vested in the Lieutenant-Governor and two Houses — the Legislative Council, of seven members appointed l»y the Lieut-Governor, and the Assembly of twenty- four members elected by the people. The Legislative Council was deemed a .source of useless expense in a country so new and undeveloped as Manitoba. The ef- forts of its venerable members were insufficient to raise its dignity, or make its existence appear a political ne- cessity. The example of Ontario, which had happily dispensed with Black Rod and Lords in miniature, was quoted, and on the Province coming to Ottawa for " bet- ter terms," the abolition of this little Chamber was in- sisted on. The Province will now receive $90,000 an- nually from the Dominion to provide for its general governmental expenses. The important constitutional change referred to was voted by both Houses, the Hon. Dr. O'Donnell only pro- testing, and intimating his intention of appealing to the Supreme Court. The Lieutenant-Governor gave the royal assent to the Act as stated on the 4th of February. His THE PROVINCIAL LEGESLAIURh. So Honour thus referred to this event in his speech to tlie menilxTs : " I have watched with deep interest your ac- tion with regard to the measure for carrying out the public V)usiness with the aid of a single clianiher only. The members of the Legislative Council have dis|)lay(Ml a spirit of devotion to the interests of the people in vot- ing for the extinction of their offices as Councillors, which they were entitled to hold for life. I sympathize with those in both Houses who Jissented, as I am aware, to the change with reluctance and hesitation, regarding as they did, the Upper Chamber as a check and protection, but yet did so in the belief th.at the necessities of the Pro- vince required the step to be taken." And in conclusion Governor Morris said : " I have now the honour to bid you farewell, and do so with more than ordinary earnest- ness, in view of the passing away of a body of men to whom I tender my heartiest acknowledgment for the uniform courtesy I have received at their hands." The English and French lanjjuaffes are both used in the Legislature. It is hoped that the use of the French language will soon be dispensed with, in so far at least as the printing of proceedings is concerned. The expense so occasioned is a considerable item, and little needed, as most, if not all, of the members can read English. The appearance of this little Legislatui'e, especially in its first session, was such as tended to amuse spectators accustomed to more august gatherings of the i)eoplo's rei)resentatives. Ancient English forms and precedents were followed as far as circumstances permitted ; but ' if. A > i', M ' ' it 1 m ' 'j- ^^-J 86 TIIK PUAMUK PUOVINCK. ! tlit'io weiv, uiiion^' the inein))cr.s of iaixeyriiitlis of ar;;uinont The favourite flress of one, of taste akin to (jiaril)ahli, was a rc. 11 m ._._.',M- THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE. ing, a country which, though at present but sparsely set- tled, is destined, I believe,to become the home of thousands of persons, by means of whose industry and energy that which is now almost a wilderness will be quickly trans- formed into a fruitful land, where civilization and the arts of peace will flourish. It is for us to labour to the ut- most of our power in order to bring about, as speedily as possible, the settlement of the North-west Territories, and the development of their resources, and at the same time to adopt such measures as may be necessary to insure the maintenance of peace and order, and the welfare and hap- piness of all classes of Her Majesty's subjects, resident in the Territories." His Honour then refers to the fact that in expectation of the early appointment of a separate Lieutenant-Gov- ernor and Council for the North-west, the present Coun- cil act only provisionally, saying : — " A new Council is to be organized, partly nominative by the Crown, and partly elective by the people, with the view of exercising its functions under the presidency of a resident Governor within the Territories themselves. T am confident that that Council will take up the work you began, and have so zealously endeavoured to carry out, and I trust that they will prove successful in their eftbrts to develop the Territories, and attract to them a large population. " Though you had many difiiculties to contend with, you surmounted most of them, and will have the gratifi- cation of knowing that you, in a large measure, contributed GOVERNMENT OF THE TERRITORIES. 89 to shape the policy which will prevail in the Government of the TeiTitories, and the administration of its affairs." The Council, in reply, expressed the satisfaction they felt for his Honour's approval of their efforts, the confidence that their successors would cordially take up the work they had begun to develop the Territories ; they recorded their pleasure at the conclusion of the Indian treaties. They then expressed their friendly feeling to the Presi- dent, and conclude thus : — " When we retire from the Council we will continue, in whatever sphere in life we may occupy, to be actuated by the same feelings of warm attachment to the Sovereign and loyal devotion to our country." The Government of the Territories soon to supersede the present Council is that provided by the Act of 1875, 38 Vic. cap. 49, under which the Dominion Government were authorised to appoint a Lieutenant-Governor and a Council of five members — three of whom to be stipendiary magistrates — Messrs. McLeod and Ryan have been ap- pointed such magistrates. The other appointments will, no doubt, soon be made, and the proposed Government established with seat probably at the Forks of Battle River and the Saskatchewan, near Carlton House, five hundred miles west from the Province, which is already marked as an important place in the future. Three thousand carts went past it on the trail last season, and a considerable settlement is springing up round the qnar- tev^ of the mounted police. The stage company having the line between Winnipeg and Fargo have made pro- i I !• M J , t: I i :!■■ 'il'i 90 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE. j)().sals to put weekly stages on the route between Win- nipeg and Carlton House. That part of the Territory north and east of the Pro- vince has, however, been recently detached from the western portion and erected into a district called Kewa- tin, or the North Land, to be under the immediate con- trol of the Lieutenant-Governor of Manitoba. So much of this district as may not prove to be in Ontario, will no doubt ultimately be incorporated with the Province of Manitoba. As stated before, executive authority through- out the North-west is enforced by the mounted police, an excellent force of three hundred officers and men. The following are their stations for the year 1876 : — Head- (juarters of the force, Livingstone or Fort Pelly ; A troop, Fort Saskatchewan ; B troop, Cypress Hills ; C troop, with artillery, Fort McLeod, Old Man's River ; D and E troops, Fort Pelly ; F troop, the Elbow, Bow River, Judicial authority over this immense region is vested in the Manitoba Court of Queen's Bench. The stipen- diary magistrates and the inspectors, or officers in charge at headquarters of the police, have authority to arrest and, in a limited extent, to try summarily. These powers will continue under the new regime. The im- portance of the position of the Court in such a country as this can not be overestimated. Lynch law is un- known. The lawless find themselves more comfortable in Montana and Nevada than within the domain of the British lion. This cannot be better illustrated than by quoting part of the charge of Chief Justice Wood to the THE "AROUS-EYE" OF JUSTICE. !)1 grand jury at its session in Winnipeg in the month of October, 1875. Were any excuse necessary for so occu- pying the reader's attention, we would say that the his- tory of the hist few years is that of [>eace and prosperity advancing to make these plains their tributaries — Justice with strong arm and steady voice "drills the raw world for the march of mind : " " Were the Province alone concerned, I should at once dismiss you and the petit jury to your homes, for all the issues of fact in the cases in the civil docket, although numerous, will be tried without the intervention of a jury. Four cases appear in the calendar for ortences committed in the North West Territory, and beyond the bounds of the Province, but over which by statute this Court has jusdiction, of men charged with murder of several Indian men, women and children at Cypress Hills, in North West Territory, in the month of May, IST^J We all recollect the shudder of horror with which, short- ly after the bloody tragedy, we received the intelligence of the wanton and atrocious slaughter by a band of whites, chiefly from Fort Benton, of the Assiniboine In- dians peacefully encamped at Cypress Hills, whose first intimation of danger was the sharp rattle of the deadly repeating rifle from a treacherous and concealed foe. Three persons, charged with complicity in this murder, are indicted, having been brought upwards of one thous- and miles and lodged in Winni[)eg gaol." "These cases have the greater importance as the crimes involved were committed far away from the abodes of m Hi i m 1 92 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE. civilization, and where it might be supposed the arm of Britisli justice would not reach. It is at considerable disadvantage that the persons charged are at last brought before a Court of Justice. Public law and order and the interests of justice alike demand that we should deal firmly but cautiously in all these cases. We must let it be known from the Rocky Mountains to the boundaries of Ontario and Quebec that all are under the protection of and answerable to British law, and that however far removed from settlement, and however remote from the habitation of the white man, the commission of crime may take place, the Argus eye of justice will find it out, and the law will apprehend, bring to trial and punish the offender." EDUCATION. Public schools are in operation in the Province, under competent teachers, controlled by a board appointed by the local government. The Province gives an annual grant of $7,000, which provides a sum of from SI 20 to ^150 for eacli school, which is generally supplimented by sub" scriptions. There are a Protestant and a Roman Catholic superintendent. Higher and grammar school education is sufficiently provided for by St. Boniftice College, under control of Archbishop Tachd, which has been established for many years, by the Church of England College of St. Jolin, and " Manitoba College," under charge of the Pres- byterians, all which prepare boys for entrance to univer- sities and give instruction in theology. There is also a arm of derable Drought md the Id deal b let it ndaries >tection ver far om the ' crime it out, ish the under ied by annual o^loO >y sub" itholic cation under lished of St. Pres- niver- ilso a EDUCATION ; AGRICULTURAL AND RIFLE ASSOCIATIONS. 93 Wesleyan Institute. There are in Winnipeg and else- where in the Province day and boarding schools for girls. For the purpose of creating a permanent provision in aid of education, two sections, or 1,280 acres, are set apart, under a Dominion statute, in ^.very town- ship as surveyed. The provision thus made, if honestly utilized, will in time [)roduce a magnificent educa- tional endowment. No provincial university has yet been founded, but the subject has been discussed. Manitoba College sends young men to finish their cur- riculum at Toronto University. A young gentleman trained at St. John's lately took his B.A. degree at C'am- Ijridge, where he gained a sizarship. At a recent public meeting in Winnipeg, one of the speakers proposed that a college affiliated to the great unsectarian University of Toronto should be established in ManitoVja. Another suggested that the existing colleges of Manitoba, St. John and St. Boniface, might be affiliated under a board of regents incorporated as a university. It is hoped that when the time for action comes, large and enlightened views in respect to higher education will prevail. The cause will certainly not be promoted by conferring any pretentious powers of conferring degrees, so called, on ))rovincial colleges for many years to come. It is scarcely needful to remark that there is no religion established by State. All forms of worship are practised on an equal basis. The Provincial Agricultural Association sti'ives to in- troduce good breeds of cattle, and to obtain and encourage M I i 94 THE PRAIUIE PROVINCE. the uiiltivcation of grains most suited to the soil and climate. The order of Good Templars has many branches, in which much interest is manifested. Among other public institutions the Province has a Ritle Association, consisting of some two hundred mem- bers. This Association was formed in the summer of 187-, the president being Major A. Irvine, of the Do- minion Forces in Manitoba. The position is held for the year 187(3 by the Hon. A. G. B. Bannatyne, M.P. The ranges of the Association are at St. Boniface on the east side of the Red River, about one mile trom Winnipeg. The annual matches are well attended, and are conducted after the manner of a miniature Wimbledon. The scores of tlie competitors show that Manitoba is worthy of a representation in the annual team sent by the Dominion to Win\bledon. This institution is botn flourishing and public-spirited. At the matches for 1875 the amount given in prizes w. . 81,075, of which $400 were contri- buted by the Dominion Government. Under a plan con- trived by Captain E. Brokovski, executive officer for the past three years, marksmen are enabled to shoot after the most recent rules and shape of bull's eye adopted at Wimbledon, on the old iron section target. The Associa- tion is now rei)resented in the Dominion Rifle Association by tive Manitoba members^ including three Members of Parliment, the Mayor of Winnipeg and the Collector of Customs. Newspaper and other literary work has its head-quar- ters in Winnipeg. Emerson has a weekly sheet. The THE CENSUS. 95 magazines of the older provinces receive many able and interesting contributions from Manitoba. Mutual Improvement Societies have sprung up in every Nnllage, whose weekly meetings., with literary and musi- cal exercises, are looked forward to with plcjusure, and attended with profit, in the long winter evenings. The population of the Province at the census taken in 1870 was made up thus : — French half-breeds 5,094 English do 4,07G Christian Indians 581 Other persons 1 ,(il 4 Total population, not including pagan Indians. .11,905 As to religion, the Roman Catholics claimed then aljout tive hundred in excess of the Protestants. With the sub- sequent rapid growth of Winnipeg, and the large increase by immigration of Mennonites, Icelanders, Danes and people from the other Provinces, Ontario especially, and the States, to the rural districts, it is estimated by Sur- veyor-General Dennis that the population of the Province is now about 32,000. The Manitobans, including mem- bers of the Provincial Government, however, claim that the population is now 30,000. The growth has been greatly checked by the grasshopper plague, as is else- where explained. '1,! . ; I ii m i I I CHAPTER VIII. ;LIMATE — PRODUCTIONS — HEALTH — ELEVATION OF RED RIVER VAL- LEY — ISOTHERMAL LINE OPINIONS OF PROFESSOR WHARTON, GENERAL HAZEN, GOVERNOR RAMSAY AND OTHER AMERICANS- CEREALS — OPINIONS OF PROFESSORS HIND AND MACOUN, MR. DAW- SON AND OTHERS — THE WINTERS — RED RIVER COURTING — OPI- NIONS OF IMMIGRANTS— THE DAWSON ROLTE — THE TELEfJRAPH — STEAM COMMUNICATION THROUGH CANADA A NECESSITY — PROGRESS AND PROSPECTS OF THE THROUGH ROUTE. " Here Plentifs liberal horn shall pour Of fruits for thee a copious shower, Rich honours of the quiet plain. ^^ —Spectator, No. 100. Mr. Blodgett, in his well-known work on the Clima- tology of the United States, says : — " The increase of temperature westward from the sources of the Mississippi in Northern Minnesota, is quite as rapid as it is south- ward to New Mexico; and the Pacific borders at the 50th parallel are milder in winter than Santa Fe. In every condition forming the basis of national wealth, the continental mass westward and north-westward from Lake Superior is far more valuable than the interior in lower latitudes, of which Salt Lake and Upper New Mexico are the prominent known districts." The elevation of Lakes Traverse and Big Stone, into which gather the streams tliat form the sources of the Minnesota and Red Rivers is CLIMATE ; RAINFALL. })7 K VAL- [AKTON, ICANS— H. DAW- IK — OPI- KAPH — ROUKESS 9G0 feet. The sources of the small streams here joiiuiig, and much of the State of Minnesota, are fully 1,400 feet above sea level. Where we embarked at the crossing of the North Paci* fie Railway the river was 10(/ feet lower than Lake Tra- verse, and it enters Lake Winnipeg at an elevation of 710 feet. As the Province is a plain, seldom many feet above the river, we are led to trace the effect of this position of its surface as compared with that of lands having a higher level. We ({uote from the interesting work of Dr. Hurlburt, published in 1872 :* " The summer isothermal of 70°, which at the Atlantic coast crosses Long Island in latitude 41°, passes through Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, Cleveland and Chicago, rises on the Sas- katchewan to latitude 52° (in longitude 110°), but sinks again on the high plateau of the desert areas of the United States to latitude 35°, in longitude 105'; rises to latitude 47° in Oregon and falls again to lati- tude 30° through California. The isothennal of 65' for the summer, which, on the Atlantic coast, is off Boston (in latitude 42°), rises through Canada to the north of Quebec, crosses the Red River at latitude 50°, in the 97th meridian, and Mackenzie's River near the GOth parallel. " The continent, which is nearly two miles high in Mexico, spreads out like a fan northward, retaining a high altitude through the United States, but fiilling to 800, 600 and even to 400 feet in British America. * The Climates, Productions and Resources of Canada. By J. Beaufort Hurlburt, M.A., LL.D. G m i.i i I ' 98 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE. |i i r M M One mile in height (5,280 feet) causes a fall of fifteen de- grees in temperature. Hence the anomaly of a milder climate going north.** Between the Laurentian highlands in the east and the Rocky Mountains a great summer wave of warmth passes far to the north, reaching the highest latitude near the ea.stern base of the latter range ; while in winter a com- pensating and long continued flood of cold air invades the whole region of the plains and the eastern and western Hanking ranges. — Mr. G. M. Dawson's report, 1875 ; sec 64G. We learn from the same source that, at Winnipeg, the average fall of rain during the spring and summer months is 16 inches. Mr. Dawson adds : " It would ap- pear not only on theoretical grounds, but as the result of experience, that the rainfall of the Red River Valley, {issisted by the water remaining in the soil from the spring floods, is, as a rule, amply sufficient for agricul- tural purposes ;" sec 662. The annual mean temperature at Wmnipeg is 32.59. The mean temperature for each month, as supplied by Prof. Kingston, of Toronto University (same report ; sec. 708), from three years' observations, is as follows : January 2.91 July 65.87 February 2.99 August 64.75 March , 9.00 September 51.29 April 30.21 October 40.01 May 51.18 November 14.58 June 63.64 December 56 SUMMER TEMPERATITHE. 0?) sn de- iiilder d the passes ar the , CO ra- les the restern 5 ; sec eg, the ummer lid ap- j result Valley, om the gricul- 32.59. lied by •t ; sec. 15.87 14.75 »1.29 tO.Ol .4.58 .56 The summer temperatures are those of chief importance for agricultural purposes. The (;olul)lished by the Unite THK PRAIRIE PROVINCE. inigation. The pastoral interests are valuable all over this region." General Hazen concludes thus : — " The building up of new and i)opulous States, such as Wisconsin, Iowa, and Missouri, will no more be seen on our present domain, and all calculations based upon such a thing are false while all extraneous influences brought to bear upon emi- gration to carry it west of the 100th meridian, excepting in a few very restricted localities, are wicked beyond ex- pression, and fraught with misery and failure." Surely if emigrants from the British Isles were honestly advised, they would seek our well watered valleys of the fertile belt, whose climate is in no place too cold for the development and comfort of an active race ; they would not turn from the territory where exist the free laws and settled Government of the British Dominion, to try ex- periments of irrigation in Colorado, or to trust to the fitful climate and arid soil of Kansas and Nebraska. Another American writer says : — " The United States embrace nearly the entire desert areas of North America, so merciful have they been to their northern and southern neighbours in drawing the boundary line." The Hon. Alex. Ramsey, then Governor of Minnesota, visited the Selkirk Settlement in 1851, and in an address delivered at St. Paul, on his return, gave a glowing pic- ture of what he had seen and learned of our Fertile Belt. He further said : — " I hesitate not to ascribe to the whole of the upper plains on both branches of the Saskatchewan river, an agricultural value superior naturally to the fields m OPINIONS OF GOVERNOR RAMSEY AND OTHERS. 103 over ip of , and main, false I emi- jpting id ex- nestly of the •or the would vs and ry ex- o the ia. States nerica, iithern lesota, ddress Ig pic- Belt. whole lewan fields of New England in their pristine conditions It has mineral coal in abundance to supply fuel for a population of the densest character." It is beyond the limits of this work to discuss this in- teresting subject more minutely. We only ask our readers to remember that Manitoba is, though the coldest part of it, still well within the great Canadian Fertile Belt, which extends northward above Lake Winnipeg and westward through the vast Saskatchewan, Bow. and Peace River Val- leys to the Pacific. Besides the European emigrants each season entering the Province, there are many from the United States who pronounce themselves uniformly satisfied with our land for the production of grain and root crops. The Emerson Colony, settled near the southern l:)oundary of Manitoba, is a case in point, being composed of former residents of Northern Wisconsin. Professor Hind gives an interesting account of various farms on the Assini- boine, in 1857. One of these was Mr. Gowler's, ten miles from Winnipeg, since that deceased. " His barn, which was very roomy, was crammed with wheat, bar- ley, potatoes, pumpkins, turnips and carrots." He had grown fifty-six measured bushels of wheat to the acre, had a splendid crop of melons, and smoked strong tobacco cropped in the neighbourhood. — page 150, vol. I. It is as growers of cereals and root crops that the Mani- toba farmer will excel. It is hoped that in time hardy varieties of apples, pears and the like fruits, may be in- troduced, but, as may be remarked in our notes elsewhere* few such trees have yet succeeded ; nor has their loss been •'} M 104 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE. ! i i: H felt so much as might be supposed, the supply of small fruit being abundant. Mr. Taylor, the excellent American Consul at Wiimipeg, and other gentlemen of intelligence, do not despair of success in this department ; but it is useless to expect roots and slips from comparatively warm regions to thrive or pass through the trials of the Nor'-west winters. Plums, cherries and the like small fruit grow luxuriantly. The success of the country as a grower of grain is evidenced on all sides. Specimens of its wheat lately sold in New York were pronounced worth fifteen cents per bushel more than eastern grain. The soil, an alluvial deposit of great depth, is rich in the necessary qualities. It is ploughed in the fall, and the seed is sown as soon as the frost is out of the upper crust in the spring. As the season advances the frozen ground below gradually melts and supplies refreshing moisture to the roots. When summer has once set in, the days are long and warm, but the nights have always an exhilirating coolness. The samples of grain exhibited have equalled the best in Ontario. The average pro- duction of wheat is between thirty and forty bushels to the acre. Weary months have not to be spent in chop- ping, logging and burning trees and stumps. Two pair of oxen will, with a strong plough, break the sod which a winter's frost mellows and prepares for the harrow and seed. Reaping machines are used to great advantage on the level fields. Vegetables and roots are of wonder- ful size. Hay is cut on the prairie, self sown. Though the raiser of stock in Manitoba will require to lay up a CATTLE BREEDING ; WHEAT GROWING. 105 :ourid Lsture days an 3ited pro- ishels chop- air of ich a ' and tage Inder- lough lup a large amount of dry fodder for the winter, yet he can do so at the cost of curing only. In the rich grass meadows of the Roseau and other places, where protected by trees from the wind, Indian ponies pass the whole winter under the open sky without injury. Elsewhere stabling is necessary. Farther west, in the Saskatchewan valley, the snow-fall is less, and cattle live all winter on the un- cured herbage in the field. It is a theory that seems established by experiment, that all grains reach perfection at the northern limit of their growth. Two is the average of grains to the cluster in the Eastern States, but three in Manitoba. Recent accounts by Professor Macoun, who, in the summer of 1875, visited the Peace River country, prove that in that far Nor'-west, wheat, tlie most important of crops, reaches its highest perfection, though cultivated but rudely by half-breeds, producing five and even six grains to the cluster. Comparing the productiveness of Manitoba, wherewith we have within our limits mainly to do, with that of the States of North America, in which wheat is largely grown, and we there find the production as follows : — Red River Valley, 30 to 35 bushels to the acre. Minne'sota " 17 to 20 Wisconsin " 14 " " Pennsylvania 15 " " Ohio 15 It will be remembered that the quality of the grain is f ' it H 106 THE PKAIRIE PliOVINCE. also .superior to that of the more southern latitudes. Mr. G. M. Dawson (sec. 644 of Report) makes this calcula- tion : — Tiiking one half of the area of the Red River Valley, 3,400 square miles, equalling 2,176,000 acres, and for simplicity of calculation, supposes it to be entirely sown with wheat. Then at even 17 bushels to the acre, the crop of this valley would amount to 40,992,000 bushels. THE WINTERS WITH REFERENCE TO HEALTH AND VEGETATION. People of lower latitudes are disposed to shrug their shoulders when they speak of Manitoba winters, and to think them a succession of Nor'-westers. Wits among our southern neighbours too jest with this for a theme. The Danhury Newsman says, in a modest postcript to a letter from Fort Garry, in amusing exaggeration, which in some localities passes for wit : — " The weather is so cold up here that a young man of industrious habits requires sixty cords of hard- wood for courting a Red River girl during the month of January. The stoves are fourteen feet long and nine high." Minnesota with a climate as cold and more subject to winter winds, or blizzards, has long been the resort of in- valids, the dryness of the atmosphere being especially favourable to consumptives. We met many in Manitoba of weak constitution who had been induced to settle there by reason of the uniformity of the climate, and can record the satisfaction with which they, and indeed, nearly all THE WINTERS; SNOW-FALL 107 we met spoke, especially of the winter. The snow talis to a depth of from one to three feet, and remains dry and crisp for five months, without the frequent thaws that occur in the Province of Ontario and Lake States. Senator Sutherland, from Kildonan, stated before a committee of Parliament in March, 1875, in effect that the people of Manitoba had not of late raised more grain than was needed for home consumption, but they would soon be able to raise great quantities for export; grain-giowing would be most profitable foi- many years ; in Manitol ihe average yield of wheat was fully thirty bushels per acre ; root crops yielded enormous returns ; frost seldom att'ected the growth, except slightly in the spring. Grasshop})ers had affected the crops within the last few years ; but for forty years previous to that time he had not known them to be in the country to any great extent, and he did not think they would return this year. The report of the Committee on Immigration and Co- lonization, of the House of Commons, at Ottawa, presented on the 10th of April, 187G, contains some matters of in- terest and importance regarding the region under discus- sion, the result of careful inquiry. We take from the report as follows : — " The Committee have carefully examined Professor John Macoun, of Albert Uuiver- sity, Belleville, who accompanied Mr. Fleming, Chief Engineer of the Pacific Railway Survey, across the Con- tinent to the Pacific Coast, in the capacity of botanist, with reference to the agricultural capabilities of the North-west Territ(jry, particularly including the Peace •r JOS THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE. :; 'ill n;: u River districts and the Province of British Columbia. He showed very clearly that vast areas in those hitherto but little known regions, contain agricultural resources of unbounded fertility, coupled with climatic conditions favourable to their development. He also showed the presence of very large deposits of coal and other valuable minerals. " The Committee also examined Mr. Henry McLeod, an Engineer of the Pacific Survey, who crossed the Conti- nent to the middle of the Rocky Mountains. He cor- roborates the evidence of Professor Macoun, in reference to the great fertility of the soil and adaptability of the country for extensive settlement." A complete report of this region has not been published by Professor Macoun ; but we may state that the result of his evidence, and of statements made by him is as follows : — He had found that the entire district along the Peace River for a distance of seven hundred and sixty miles, in a belt one hundred and fifty miles wide on each side was as suitable for the cultivation of grain as that of Ontario. He had brought samples of wheat weighing sixty-eight pounds, and of barley weighing fifty-six pounds, to the bushel. The climate was even more suit- able than in Ontario, for there were no wet autumns nor frost to kill the young grain. There were but two seasons — sunnner and winter. He said in illustration, that on a Thursday last October, 1875, the heat was so great that he had to shelter himself by lying under a cart, while on the next Sunday winter set in in full vigour and con- PROFESSOR MACOUN S ACCOUNT. 109 fl as each at of hing /■-six suit- nor sons on a that e on con- tinued steadily. The plants he found in that region wore the same as those on Lake Erie, and further discoveries satisfied him that the two arejis were similar in tvery resi)ect. The ice in the rivers broke up in April. Stock raising was not difficult, because the grass remained fresh and green up to the very opening of winter. He had seen thousands of acres of it three and four feet lonjj; on levels two hundred feet above the Peace River. He es- timated that there were 252,0()(),()0() acres of land in that region adapted to the growth of cereals. He had tested the temperature and showed by figures that the average summer heat at Fort William, Fort Simpson, Edmonton, and throughout that region, was similar to that of Toronto, Montreal, and higher than that of Halifax. He was posi- tive that the climate was uncommonly suitable for agri- culture, and stated that the farther one went north the warmer the summer became. There was no doubt they were abundantly long enough to ripen wheat thoroughly. Besides the peculiar excellence of that country for cereals, he had found thousands of acres of crystalized salt, so pure, that it was used in its natural state by the Hudson Bay Company. Coal abounded in the richest veins, and was so interstratified with hematele or iron ore, yielding fifty per cent., that no locality could be better for manu- facturing. Thousands of acres of coal oil fields were found. The tar lying on the surface of the ground was ankle deep ; miles and miles of the purest gypsum l)eds cropped out of the river banks ; coal beds abounded on the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains and ex- 1 ')^ 110 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE. i!i I \Vn I i i i tencled in large seams through(jut the country at their base for a distance of one hundred miles. In short, Professor Macoun believed the North-West to be the ricliest part of Canada, and prophesied that it would yet be the home of millions of })eople prosperous and ha{)py. The Committee proceed to refer to the evidence of Se- nator Sutherland to the effect above stated, and conclude thus : — " The winters in the North- West, except on the Pacific Coast, appear to be rigorous ; but the climate is reported to be singularly healthy, and the seasons for agricultural operations do not appear to be widely different in the Province of Manitoba, from what they are in On- tario, but infjict very similar. The presence of what are termed summer frosts in the North -West Territory, ap- pears to be precisely similar in character to those which prevail over a very large extent of the northern part of this Continent." Peoj^le along the St. Lawrence, will be surprised when they learn that on the eighteenth of April, 1876, when the ice was yet piled mountains high, round Victoria Bridge, ploughing had begun at Bat- tle River, and the steamer Northcote was getting up steam for Edmonton, on the Saskatchewan, near the Rocky Mountains, and on the Red River, the season's na- vigation was also begun. So quickly does the winter pass into summer, that there were then at Winnipeg trotting races on the ice of the Assiniboine ; boating on the Red River, skating in the rink, and cricket playing on the |jrairie ; all within the radius of a mile. OPENING OF NAVIGATION. Ill ^pril, up the Is na- pass bting Ked the Red River navigation opened about the same time the previous year. Though navigation will close annually about the end of October, yet there will be no difficulty in running the railway trains over the track on the plains of the Pro- vince. The frost and snow so open the soil that the labour expended upon it goes much further than in Europe and elsewhere where the surface is not covered with snow. There is abundance of work that can be better done in the winter than in summer, such as fenc- ing and cutting wood from swamps, into which horses and men easily penetrate on the ice-bound surface, and con- veying produce to market, with a speed and in quantities which would not be possible on wheels. Saw mills cease working, but the men employed are soon off to the logging camps, hewing and hauling the logs to the ice-bound streams that will in spring carry them to Winnipeg or Emerson. We have elsewhere stated the favourable report which Colonel Crofton gave, after a year's residence at Fort Garry, and could readily multiply evidence of the like impartial and intelligent persons. In the vessel in which our party went dow.? the river to Winnipeg were several farmers, one an old Scotchman from near Miramichi in Quebec. He seemed charmed with the country, nor had he tired of it when we afterwards met him in our wanderings. He lamented the time he had lost on the banks of the St. Lawrence in clearing his poor land of trees and in m iai ,|l!|, 112 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE. yojii'H since, removing the stones, the only sure cro]), for they came up with every jiloughing. He heard till about the grassho|)[)ers and what they had done, and yet was determined to take uj) a free claim, erect his cabin on a ((uarter section, and having done that^ and made such other preparations as were deemed needful, he would sell out his old farm for what could be got, and let the family follow. This, he said, would without doubt lead to many of his former neighbours soon joining him. Mr. Lilies, of West Pilkington, Ontario, in the autumn of 1875, received a letter from one of his four sons then in Manitoba, which is so life-like that we will copy it. He says: "Don't fear of us starving in Manitoba; we are doing better here than we could do in Ontario, despite the ravages made by the grasshoppers. Two of us have cleared one hundred and sixty dollars per month all sum- mer, burning lime and selling it at 45c per bushel ; an- other has averaged $5 per day with his team, sometimes teaming to the new penitentiary, and sometimes working on the railroad. The fourth works at his trade, waggon making, in Winnipeg for $G0 per month, steady employ- ment. Our potato crop is splendid, our peas are excel- lent, and we had one field of wheat that suffered no intrusion from the pest. The weather is mild, prairie chickens are very numerous, and our anticipations as re- gards a good time next year are big." Mr. Jacob Y. Shantz, an old and respected resident of Berlin, in Ontario, was consulted by his persecuted coun- trymen in Russia as to a home in the West. A few V sum- an- times iggon iploy- jnt of ANALYSIS OF THE SOIL. 118 samples of Manitoba soil were sent to Senator Eniil Klotz of Kiel, who had them analyzed by Professor F]mmerling, an eminent chemist, who, in April, 1872, gave an analysis of this soil as compared with the richest in Holstein. Senator Klotz wrote with the result. Part of his ref)ort we copy as follows : — " Kiel, 4th May, 1872. " After considerable delay, I succeeded in obtaining the analysis of the Manitoba soil from Professor Emraerling, Director of the Chemical Laboratory of the Agricultural Association of this place. Annexed I give you our analysis of the most productive soil in Holstein, whereby you will see how exceedingly rich the productive qualities of the Manitoba soil are, and which fully explains the fact that the land in Manitoba is so very fertile, even without manure. The chief nutrients are, first, nitrogen, then potash and phosphoric acid, which predominates there ; but what is of particular import- ance is the lime contained in the soil, whereby the nitrogen is set free, and ready to be absorbed in vegetable organisms. The latter property is defective in many soils, and when it is found defective, recourse must be had to artificial means by putting lime or marl (a clay which contains much lime) upon the same. ' ' According to the analysis of the Manitoba soil, there is no doubt that, to the farmer who desires to select for his future home, a country which has the most productive soil and promises the richest harvests, no country in the world offers greater attractions than the Province of Manitoba, in the Dominion of Canada. "analysis of the holstein soil and MANITOBA soil compared. Holstein Excess of properties Soil. of Manitoba Soil. Potash 30 198-7 Sodium 20 138 Phosphoric Acid 40 294 Lime 130 5526 Magnesia 10 G'l Nitrogen 40 446*1 H "(Sd.) EMIL KLOTZ." ' . (• ;M, 11^ ! 114 THE I'llAlUIE PllOVINCE. We now know how suti.sfactory this has proved to the intelligent ininiigrunts. The fucilitics of Manitoba, as compared with Minnesota, are being put to a imictical test by the Mennonites — while many have settled in the Red River Valley, others have selected homes, for the present at least, in Minnesota and other Western States. STEAM COMMUNICATION TIUIOUGH CANADA A NECESSITY. Canada fell heir to a great estate when these Western plains became hers. Her duty was proportionately great. She was, however still struggling to complete the Inter- colonial Road, to connect the older Provinces with the Atlantic sea-ljoard. Each Province was also heavily en- gaged in works of internal improvement. The whole, population of the Dominion was exceeded in number by that of each of several of the United States, yet the con- struction of a railway to the Pacific, through a region, of which little was known was urged as a necessity to be undertaken at all hazards and at any cost. It cannot be denied that much has been done in gathering definite information, as to this immense undeveloped territory, and discovering practicable routes. An army of geolo- gists, surveyors and engineers is still at work on the various sections into which the great route is divided. It will be seen, how disadvantageously Manitoba must struggle until she obtain direct steam communication with Ontario. Her development is retarded and the farther West is left isolated and comparatively valueless. Farmers may sow and reap, but the country will, to a great ex- tent, " smother in its own fat." STEAM COMMUNICATION NEKDEl). 115 Befurc .steam was used on Red River, tliousands of carts went yearly to Miiuie.sota, untroubled by custom.s orticers. Now, that means of tratfic is almost entirely stopped, much to the annoyance of the half-breeds for- merly so enf^aged. The free navigation of Red River was unfortunately not provided for in the treaty of Washington. The Yukon, Porcupine and Stikine, in the distant and sterile wilds of Alaska, were opened, but this great commercial road was not thought of, or its con- sideration was tabled by influence of the " Adventurers of England " and Kittson & Co. Coasting and trade restrictions are onerous, and the result is that the St. Paul Company charge what they please, and their vessels are loaded to the water's edge. Produce not required for home consumption will .scarce repay the cost of removal to markets by the present ex- pensive and crowded ways of transport. The " Dawson Route," in its present state, and until immen.sely im- proved, with its many necessary changes, risks and de- lays, can be practically of little use for freight. Few passengers, save those interested in the works at Fort Frances, the lumber business at the Lake of the Woods, and a company of soldiers passed through by this road in 1875. The Minnesota Railroad, with its dangerous, .stilt- like structure, and the monopolist " Kittson Line " being preferred. As a Minnesota newspaper states : — " The freiofhts from Moorehead, Minn., to Manitoba increased from barely 1,400 tons, in 1874, to more than 3,800 tons, in 1875— more than doubled : and all the travel to and lis "i til II ii 116 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE. M • :li 'Ii from Winnipeg went with the freight Ijy rail and over the Northern Pacific road." The Pembina branch first, and so soon as through con- nection to Lake Superior can be made with the American North Pacific road, is looked to as the means of immediate relief. This line was referred to in debate in Parliament on 14th February, 187G. Hon. Mr. Letellier de St. Just, Minister of Immigration, said : "The rails will be at Pem- bina in the spring, the Northern Pacific Railway only having fifteen miles of embankment and fifty miles of track-laying to do." Senator Girard — " They have only fifteen miles from Glyndon to Crookston to build." Hon. Mr. Letellier — " To reach the boundary line. If when the American line was laid, the Canadian Govern- ment were not prepared to go on with their work, then gentlemen opposite might well reproach them for not hav- ing the rails." He described the different links in the road to Manitoba, and said that this continuous road and water way would do all that was required for some time to come. " Even with the accommodation that existed at present, immigration had been pouring fast into Mani- toba, and when all links in the road were completed the Government would have two very fine modes of commu- nication, sufficient to bring any amount of population, and at a lower cost than by rail alone. This showed that the Government had done something, and that the facilities were far ahead of those of old Upper and Lower Canada." THE DAWSON ROUTE. 117 ver the rh. con- nerican aediate iament t. Just, ,t Pem- ly only liles of js from ine. If jovem- k, then ot hav- he road 1 water ihne to sted at Mani- bed the ommu- iilation, showed lat the Lower But the patriotic Canadian cannot with patience see much of the trade of this immense region drawn, as it will be, to enrich our southern neighbours. Sympathies, too, would soon follow the path of interest. The branch of the great Canada Pacific Railway to the harbours of Lake Superior must be pushed to comple- tion, and the natural advantages offered by the water stretches of the Kewatin and Thunder Bay districts must also be made serviceable to commerce. THE DAWSON ROUTE. As to the present " Dawson Route," the main stages and the distances from Prince Arthur's Landing, are to Clandeboye 16 miles. Matawin 24 " Brown'sLane 32 " Shebandowan • 45 " Kashaboiwe 64 " Height of Land 74 " Baril 93 " BruU 101 " French 115 " Pine (fe Deux Rivieres 132 " Maligne 152 '' Island 162 " Nequaquon 187 " Kettle Falls 207 " Fort Frances 252 " II ^1 '^m II 118 THE PRAIKIE PROVINCE. 1 It^ N.-W. Angle 377 miles. Winnipeg 477 " These distances were those given to Government by Mr. Dawson ; people living along the route say they should be about live per cent. more. It will be noticed that the greater part of this road is by water. When the canal is completed at Fort Frances the^e will be uninterrupted water communication begin- ning at one hundred miles from Winnipeg of about 200 miles through Rainy Lake and River and the Lake of the Woods. The distance will be from Winnipeg hut half that by the crooked Red River to Lake Superior. Steam tugs of various sizes are now used on the larger water stretches, open row boats large enough to hold twenty persons are also employed. Better vessels will in due time be supplied. To construct, equip and keep up the Dawson Road has occasioned great annual outlay, epecially in some of its early years, so the offer of Messrs. Carpenter & Co. to work it for an annual bonus of $76,000 was accepted, but their contract has v>erminated, Govern- ment having again, very wisely as we thirk, taken the working into their own control, and intending to use the water stretches in connection with the railway till, at any rate, the latter be completed. The vast interests involved in the region between Thunder Bay and Red River, the fact tha.t during the present and the next few years public money to the ex- tent of so me millions of dollars will be spent to open up HISTORY OF THE DAWSON ROUTE. 119 communication through this region, as part of the national highway from ocean to ocean, and from the greatest gra- nary of the continent to the lakes, make it proper to ask the intelligent reader's further attention to the subject. The Dawson route has already had an interesting his- tory. It was not long since deemed a military necessity. Its existence was demanded in order to secure the North West to Canada. The Hudson's Bay Company looked on its construction with jealousy, as is abundantly evident from the correspondence between the Company's officers and Government officials, in 1868-9, when the hundred miles between Ked River and the Lake of the Woods were in part constructed. Had this Dawson route not been available for Colonel Wolsely's little army, Rupert's Land might have fallen a prey to Riel and O'Donoghue's French half- breeds and Fenians or perhaps have remained in the hands of the " Adventurers of England." The accompanying plan and sectional view, in so ftir as they relate to this route, and some of the following statements of fact are furnished by Mr. Oliver A. How- land, who passed over and spent some time upon it, in 1874, and has given the subject careful consideration. On the plan the reader may see at a glance the old North West voyageurs' track from the Grande Portage otf L'Isle Royale, westward, the Dawson road and the line of the Canada Pacific Railway as now proposed. The ideal route during the season of navigation, for cheap transportation of the produce of the North West, would H- 2? t I 1:1 iA r ' \ \\ Xy ! 120 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE. seem to be one consisting of, first, a link of railway of 100 miles long over the level country between Red River and the Lake of the Woods ; next, by steamers over the waters of that lake and of Rainv River and Lake to the first falls of the Seine River, making 200 miles of excellent navigation, broken only by the twenty-eight feet of lockage at Fort Frances, and scarcely inferior in capacity to that of the Uppci St. Lawrence, and thence by rail 180 miles to Thunder Bay. This would involve transhipments at the termini of the water stretch ; but when grain can be and is daily transhipped by the elevators, at Montreal, at a cost of eight cents per ton of thirty- three bushels, it is difficult to discover how an item of sixteen cents per ton could turn the scale in favour of the all-rail route. Even immigrants and other passengers might be carried on such a line, without disadvantage in point of time, and at a saving of cost in competition with an American rail route ma Duluth. From a common point on Lake Superior the distances would be, to Fort Garry via Duluth, 150 miles lake navigation and 480 rail ; to Fort Garry via Thunder Bay, 250 miles lake and inland navigation and 280 miles rail ; in other words, an excess of 100 miles of navigation on the Thunder Bay route against an excess of 200 miles of railway by Duluth. As passenger steamers travel at rather more than half the speed of passenger trains, there would thus be a slight advantage in point of time in favour of the suggested route ; so that practically a highway over which our immi- sn^ants could travel to the prairies as quickly and more Iihalf light ested mmi- more \ .4' c^- ,1»t •l^« , Main If J ^a/f 7^^£/e^ 80 Allies, y *'^t5Vi^//;5//;W t/Z^r/lfiuk jRatl^^r/u^c trjJVe^ua^i/Mf /^o/ta^& :^1^0X/iVef^ eons ufth tJie Canada J^r/eiyic ^iZl . r?/ o^^Mnitol^a. I ?,9 ( f it' ,f ct S eft c;?;> /,5A/lles ^/%{- ^:^6^^./l^e^ H iSi f 'if! ! h THE "PUBLIC mind" PERPLEXED. 125 cheaply than by the American route, and by which grain and other freight could be carried thence on terms defy- ing competition by any all-rail route on our own territory or elsewhere, could thus be obtained by the construction of 280 miles of rail. The " public mind," perplexed by a confusion of motives on this subject, desiring to forward the colonization of Manitoba, and anxious, on the other hand, not to be diverted from the project of a direct line to the Pacific, has permitted the latter motive to have the greater weight. The feeling and clamour so raised b.'tve the tendency to drive on the construction of the " all-rail " route with, perhpps, too little regard to our present capa- city and to the neglect of other and natural advantages. In the meantime, and until some Canadian route is com- pleted, the Northern Pacific and the " Kittson Line " con- tinue to carry the traffic of Manitoba through Minnesota and down Red River for $40 per ton, pocketing $500,000 per annum by the process and crippling the progress of settlement in that Province. The point must not be overlooked that, in adopting the through line, 450 miles long, as the colonization route in preference to one nearly 200 miles shorter (as regards construction), we delay the opening of the route in about the same proportion. Guided by the experience of the Intercolonial road, it seems as likely to be seven years as four before a train will pass on the rails from Thunder Bay to Fort Garry, and therefore for so long we shall be unable to interfere and raise the siege of Manitoba. Is this prospect satisfactory ? The best remaining hope of alleviating the position of the 12(3 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE. .!l iiitiii 1 i, ' ^ ■ f ( • } k 1 ^ ( .) 1 ^ ii Province, for some years to come, is by making the most of that part of the Dawson route between Lac des Mille Lacs rid Rat Portage, where it is tapped by the terminal sections of the railway — sections which are likely to be completed fur in advance of the remainder of the road. A lock of nine feet lift would join Nameaukan Lake to Rainy Lake, and extend that noble chain of waters to a point 220 miles eastward of Rat Portage, and within 130 miles of the eastern extremity of Lac des Milles Lacs. This length of 130 miles is practically broken into three subdivisions by three tremendous accumulations of lock- age (for particulars of which we refer to the plan), and which render a continuous canal too serious an under- taking to be entered upon at present ; but by the con- struction of seven locks of about ten feet lift, three on the Maligne River, and four at the outlet of Baril Lake, with a cutting of about a quarter of a mile in length to join Baril Lake to Lac des Mille Lacs, and a dam at the outlet of the latter lake to raise it (two feet) to the level of the former, and some channel improvements, the navigation may be rendered otherwise continuous. The three great portages — Neqiiaquon, between Nameaukan and Ne- quaquon or Cross Lakes, Pine Poiiage, between Sturgeon and Kaogasikok Lakes, and Great French Portage bet. 'veen Kaogosikok and the Windegoostigon Lakes, would, in the aggregate, require the building of about nine miles of railway. The main obstacle to the success of this route, the transhipments, amounting in all to eight in number be- lal A to V a WATER STRETCHES; CONNECTING LINKS. 127 tween Rat Portage and Lae des Mille Lacs, at the esti- mate of eight cents per ton, would involve only a ehari,'e of sixty-four cents per ton of thirty-three bushels on tho carriage of wheat, supposing that no improvement V)o found practicable in the manner of transhipment. But, if the cars could be ferried over the broken sections from Lac des Mille Lacs to Nameaukan Lake, running over the intermediate portages, the actual transhipments would then be reduced to two in number, one at the beginning and the other at the end of the great water stretch of 220 miles terminating at Rat Portage. But even without this improvement, a route consisting of only 180 miles of rail- way and 340 miles of excellent navigation, though broken into four sections and burdened with the full addition of sixty-four cents per ton for elevating, should still be aVjle to carry grain and passengers at rates which would Vje an immense improvement on the terms of the present monopoly. It is improbable that there will be anything in the construction of these nine miles of railway and seven or eight locks to prevent these works being accomplished by the time the Pacific Railway sections to Lac des Mille Lacs and from Rat Portage to Fort Garry are ready for the iron; and it is certain that by the simultaneous o|)en- ing of the line proposed in connection with those two sec- tions of the Canada Pacific Railway, a competitive reduc- tion would be at once accomplished in the traffic rates up- on all routes to Manitoba, such as, in a few years, would amply recoup an expenditure of 8500,00(/ on the water 1 i I I 128 THK PUAIRTR PROVINCE. ii !i;i stretches and their intermediate links, besides immensely fHcilitatinnr the early settlement and development of the Prairie Provinc3 nnd the other Provinces which will ))e created out of the great Nor' -West. Tlie water route, once established to this extent, would certainly never be suffered to fall into disuse. The trade of the North West, growing incessantly, would not only encDurage its maintenance, but would soon demand its further improvement. The examples of all great parallel rail and water routes on this continent suggest the proba- V)ility of the much abused Dawson route, now regarded as but the humble precursor of the railway, becoming in the end the almost unrivalled carrier of the trade of the great North West. The possibility of attaining such re- sults by using the means nature has placed before us, seems to make the subject, at all events, worthy of more ])atieiit consideration than it has yet received. It should be remembered that the magnificent Winni- peg River, through which the Lake of the Woods empties into Lake Winnipeg, has, for ages, been used as a high- way by voyageurs. As Mr. Dawson remarks * : — " Men, women and children have passed by hundreds up and down the Winnipeg, and the boats of the Hudson's Bay Company, some of them the most unwieldy tubs imagin- able, are constantly used on its waters. In former times the whole trade of the northern posts of the continent i' J 4- * See Canadian Parliamentary Report, 22nd March, 1871, by S. J. Daw- won, C.E., as to the Red River Expedition, and as to Strictures published in England by an Officer of the Force. AN EXTHAORDINAUY "NARHATIVE. 12!) passed by the Winnipeg. At the very time the expe- ditionary force was passin^^ two frail and poorly manned canoes, the one occupied by a very fat newspaper editor, and the other by a gentleman who had his wife witli him, passed over all the ra[)idf', portages and whiil pools of the Winnipeg without its occurring to the occupants that they were doing anything extraordinary." That the navigation of this river may in time bo opened to grain vessels, which will thus carry the produce of the Ked River and Saskatchewan Valleys to the water stretches of the Dawson route, is confidently alleged by engineers of ability. Thus the reader will at once see the immense iinportance and interest which will, in the near future, attach to the development of the natural resources of this region. We may probably be referred, in answer, to the reports published by those interested in writing itp the glory of the expedition of 1870, especially to the extraordinary " Narrative " by an " Officer of the Force," published in an Edinburgh Magazine. We have only to say that, so far as facts are concerned, we prefer to rely on the state- ments of the able engineers of Canada and of the civil servants who accompanied tlio expedition, rather than on those of an officer who does not hesitate to slander the public men of Canada, and that in terms too gross to be repeated. It is well known that if that officer had not been ably supported by the civil force and the many intelligent British and Canadian officers with the expe- dition, and had his judgment in some important matters ;!i m 130 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE. I; i I i not been overruled by the General in chief command, he would never have got further than Lake Shebandowan, The difficulties of the route are not to be compared to those of the expedition of 1847, when Colonel Crofton took 383 persons, men, women and children, with cannon and heavy stores, from Fort York in Hudson's Bay to Fort Garry. In his evidence before the Imperial House of Commons, elsewhere referred to. Colonel, now Lieut. - General Crofton, says of the route in question : — " I would undertake to take my regiment by it. I did worse than that, for I took artillery from Fort York in Hudson's Bay, to Red River, 700 miles by the compass, over lakes and rivers, and that is a much ivorse route than the other. I am quite sure of it, for I have gone both." Had Colonel Crofton been in command in 1870, he would not, despite the earnest advice of those who knew that of which they spoke, have insisted on dragging boats up the rocky foaming bed of the Kaministiquia, where they were torn and bruised, their equipments lost, the men wearied with such arduous and worse than useless labour, and a great additional expense occasioned. When he returned to England he would, we think, also have avoided exaggerating the difficulties of the expedition, in order to raise his own merits in public esteem, and even though Governor Archibald held the seat for which his ambition craved, his pen would not have been employed to lampoon our statesmen, nor would it have endeavoured to detract frora the well-earned praise of those who, with WHAT THE ROUTE HAS COST. 131 him, carried the expedition to a bloodless and successful issue. We refer thus shortly to the article mentioned, as seems necessary. It must be considered cum grano. The writer is a very gallant officer, though his feats have not yet been those of a Hannibal, or even a Napier of Magdala. He has doubtless since seen cause to regret his ill-advised statements and aspersions, if indeed he conde- scends to think at all about that summer trip over the Dawson Route. As misapprehension exists with regard to the past expenditure on the Dawson Route, much being, in Parlia- ment and elsewhere, charged to management, which be- longed to the account for construction, building of boats, gr?.tuities paid to Indians, losses by the Red River insur- rection^ and conveyance of troops and police, we will here give a synopsis of the figures relating to the period when Mr. Dawson was Superintendent, which is as follows : — 18<)7-8 18(38-9 .... 1869-70 1870-1 1871-2 1872-3 1873-4 Outstanding, including estimated cost of works in progress Total expenditure Total Expenditure. S cts. 1,000 00 19,113 1.? 161,125 34 160,423 40 305,577 84 259,803 27 242,844 85 1,149,887 82 145,000 00 1,294,887 82 Total I iVENUE. $ cts. 60,705 06 46,178 44 12,492 00 108,239 88 233,615 38 !*, > 1 1 ; ■a 132 THE PBAIRIE PROVINCE. Gross expenditure $1,294,887 82 Off working expenses 496,074 85 Expended on construction, plant, building, &c $798 ,812 97 Working expenses $496,074 85 Revenue paid and accounts accrued 233,615 38 Actual cost of working expenses over returns for above period $282,459 47 Take the year ending with June, 1873, and the official returns show that the above sum of $259,803 was made up of and chargeable to three accounts, thus : — Construction of Route $113,06G 00 Fort Garry Road 32,000 00 Staff and maintenance 114,637 00 Total spent in 1872-3 $259,803 00 Let us look on our maps, and we will see, parallel to this route, the great railway from Duluth, westward, to Red River, over which now passes practically all the traffic of our North- West. It was begun at about the same time as our Dawson road, but 8,000 men were put to work upon it, whereas 300 men only worked on our lino, and they for very broken and liniifced periods. Any account of the projected routss for the through transit of this region would be very defective, if it did not refer to the more southern railway route proposed by various engineers, and notably by the gentleman from whom the '* Dawson Route " took its name — Mr, Simon J. Daw- son, civil engineer, and now member of the Legislature of Ontario for the Algoma District. He led the explor- ing expedition, of which Professor Hind was a member. •^-*i'ft.. RAILWAY LINE PROPOSED EY MR. DAWSON. 133 in 1857; and in 1870 had charge of the 700 men voyageura, boatmen, raftsmen, teamsters, whites, red men and half-breeds, forming the pioneers and working force that accompanied the Uttle army. The course suggested by him is shown on our chart. The more northerly line cannot be considered as so definitely determined on, that some deviation may not be made in its course before its main construction is pro- ceeded with. It will be noticed that Mr. Dawson's line uses the Narrows of the Lake of the Woods, at a place about two miles north of the American boundary, in preference to Rat Portage. The numerous islands in the channel render bridge construction at the Narrows, in Mr. Dawson's view, a matter of but little difficulty, and the rocky land on either side of Rat Portage, with much necessary tunnelling and blasting, would be avoided. In an able report on " The Shortest Route for a Rail- way between Lake Superior and Fort Garry," dated 22nd December, 1873, and which Mr. Dawson still refers to with confidence, he states that from Thunder Bay to Sturgeon Falls on the Seine River, a distance of about IGO miles, the ground is in some parts rather broken, but that from reports of surveyors, he is warranted in saying that it is quite practicable, and that he has himself been over a great part of it. Mr. Dawson says that the line referred to should have the preference if, as he thinks will be the case, it be found practicable, and among the advantages to be probably obtained in adopting this route he enumerates the following : — ■t':\ 134 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE. li:!^ I I hi ■ f is ** 1st. It would be the shortest which could be adopted between Lake Superior and Fort Garry. '* 2nd. It would be further south, on a lower lev^el and, conse- quently, in a better climate than any other line which could be projected, within British territory, between the same points. " 3rd, It would lead to the development of a country rich in timber, having valuable minerals and, in some parts, presenting fine agri- cultural land, and thus create a local traffic, which it would be needless to look for in lines further to the north. "4th. At some points, it would touch on and for a great part of the way be contiguous to navigable waters which would render a wide extent of country tributary to its trafl&c. " 5th. It would be easy of construction, inasmuch as the present line of communication would afibrd the means of carrying men, supplies and materials to various points, thus admitting of work being carried on simultaneously, at moderate intervals of distance throughout its whole extent. '* 6th. Every link of it would become available and yield a re- turn, as made. Thus, when Shebandowan was reached, on the one side, and the Lake of the Woods on the other, the expense at present involved in maintaining teams of horses, for transportation, would be done away with. Fort Garry would at once become easy of access, and the traflfic would rapidly increase as the road was extended. " 7th. It might be made to form a portion of the Great Pacific road, by being extended to Nipigon Bay and the eastward, and, even between Nipigon Bay and Fort Garry it would still, I am warranted in believing, be the shortest practicable route. "Moreover, it should not be lost sight of that, in bringing the main Pacific line by the route indicated, the expense of a branch would be altogether avoided. " 8th. In the summer season, the shortest line between Fort Garry and Lake Superior, other circumstances being equal, would command the traffic of the West. Now, a line from Thunder Bay ADVANTAGES OF A MORE SOUTHERN LOCATION 135 to Fort Garry, by the route suggested, would be 375 miles in length, or to make full allowance for deviations, say 390 miles. This would on the one hand be shorter, by about fifty miles, than a line from Nipigon Bay, and on the other nearly, if not quite, a hundred miles shorter than the route by the Northern Pacific and projected Pembina line. In fact, as regards Fort Garry, the Thun- der Bay line w^ould have an advantage of 300 miles over the route by Duluth. That is, taking Thunder Bay as the starting point, to go by water to Duluth 200 miles, and thence by rail to Fort Garry 500 miles, would be 700 miles as against 390 miles by the route under consideration. " But other circumstances would not be equal, for there is a tract of navigable waters on the Thunder Bay route which, when heavy and bulky articles of agricultural produce come to be carried, can- not be left out of consideration, and I do not hesitate to say that, if a railroad is run from Lake Superior to the North- West Terri- tories, at a distance from and in a way to ignore these navigable waters, the day will come when the error will be seen and felt. " Apart from the comparative advantages arising from a saving in distance, probable easier grades, a lower general level, a better climate and a region in which are mines, forests of valuable timber and areas of agricultural land to be developed, there are others of scarcely less importance ; and among these, I would call attention to the excellence of Thunder Bay as a harbour. Well sheltered on all sides, it is at the same time easy of access to sailing vessels, as well as steamers. It opens early in spring, as compared to most of the other ports on Lake Superior, and, in the fall, never freezes to an extent to impede navigation, till the middle of December. " Last spring was unusually late, but Thunder Bay was open on the 9th May, while Duluth was blocked with ice for a fortnight longer, and Nipigon Bay did not open till the 23rd of May." 136 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE. ( "A If 1 I 111 I i3 -I II ! i I :'-.-i*ki I ' PROGRESS OF THE RAILWAY CONSTRUCTION. The line of this railway from Fort William towards Lake Shebandowan, for a distance of twenty-two miles, and at the Red River end, eastward from Selkirk to Cross Lake, twenty -five miles, has been graded and made ready for the rails, and so the matter of actual construction rests, at the beginning of the season of 1870. As the road will not follow the windings of lakes and rivers, but run north of the " Dawson Route," its length from Red Rive^' to Fort William is estimated at but 414 miles. The tele- graph line has already been erected all this distance and still farther westward 500 miles past Fort Pelly or Living- stone to Battle River, or, following the curves of the pro- posed railway track, nearly 700 miles from Selkirk. The first telegram from \^hat far-off station was received at Winnipeg on the sixth of April, 1876. The telegraph will so follow the surveyor and precede the laying of the iron. Connection through the " Narrows " of Lake Manitoba with the interior water system and summer communica- tion on it by steamers, would fully meet the require nents of the case for many a day, so far as the Red River country is concerned. Companies of surveyors locating the road bed at various points between Fort Pelly and Nipissing give gratifying reports that the engineering difficulties in construction will be much less than antici- pated. Forty mile stretches on either side the Winnipeg River unfortunately offer great difficulties, and render progress there slow. It may possibly, on this account, be PROGRESS OF THE C. P. RAILWAY. 137 yet deemed advisable to swerve southerly from the line between Rat Portage and Selkirk, as laid down on our map, and strike the Pembina branch nearer Winnipeg. However delayed may be the route westerly from Mani- toba through the passes of the Rocky Mountains, yet a continuous steam route through British territory to Red River should be practicable before the end of this decade. The Linited States have mainly grown for many years through railway enterprise opening up their western lands. But foreign capital and imported muscle built most of their railways. The Canada Pacific Road is destined to pass through a region unsurpassed for fertility, and by a route of more than two days travel from ocean to ocean shorter than any other to the Pacific. Much of the young Cana- dian population has for the last ten years or more been lured over the Border, and may be found in Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, Colorado, Kansas and Cali- fornia. Our prairie land was locked up by the Hudson's Bay Company ; now, r»,s we see, it is admitted to be the best of all. Open it to the world by steam communication over our own soil, and let our countrymen know that they can carry their grain to Fort William steamers at moderate cost, and they, and many Americans with them, will swarm over and soon fill up the Prairie Province. They will be but the more patriotic after experiencing the " new civili- zation" of the Western States, with trials by Judge Lynch, the sad and ill eflfect of American-Indian treat- \ f r%- 138 THE T'VIAIRIE PROVINCE. Nf m ' 1 \ ■ 1 ^ i 14 \A I ment and more " politics to the acre " than are for the good of any country. It is estimated that the amount of money brought into Canada by immigrants during the year 1875 was $906,000, and the amount of settlers' effects entered $433,000, making a total of $1,339,000; but, of course, the amounts not reported would very considerably swell this sum. Of the whole amount $380,000 was brought in by the Mennonites. It cannot be denied that true economy would advise a generous expenditure to prepare '"^e country for the reception of such additions to its inhabitants. The British Commissioners of Emigration, in 1871, re- ported that " Canada can not absorb more than between 30,000 and 40,000 emigrants a year, and the excess be- yond that number can obtain employment only in the labour market of the United States." It appears from the admissions of their most reliable men that emigrants can no longer obtain good wheat lands in the Western States at first cost, certainly none so good as in our great Fertile Belt. It is in the interests alike of the Mother Countrv and of the older Provinces to guide their surplus population to these possessions, which only need to be made known to be appreciated, and strong arms to develop their riches. With steam communication, the land would at once rise in value, and all near railroads would be eagerly sought for. Thus a great part of the cost of construction would be made by sale of the large reserves which the Dominion Govern- I c f f I t c r PROGRESS OF THE C. P. RAILWAY. 139 ment hold. In parts of Ohio, where wheat brings ninety cents per bushel, unimproved land sells, as we learn, at from $30 to $50 per acre. In Iowa, where wheat was but fifty cents per bushel, such lands of equal fertility can be bought for one-sixth of the price paid in Ohio. Elsewhere the result has been much the same as to all lands worth cultivating, when traversed and opened to market by rail- ways. What cause for doubt then can there be as to the rich river valleys of our Fertile Belt ? ff il. \t I' I W'} iiiii Ni i !' ■^i 1 1^ CHAPTER IX. MANUFACTUHES, LABOUR, TRADK AND MARKETS — LUMBER MILLS — " KITTSON " LINE — AMERICAN VIEW — IMPORTS FOR 1874 — DITTO TO JULY, 1875 — PRICES CURRENT — TRADE OF WINNIPEG WITH nor'- WEST — PROSPECTS — COAL, MINERALS — FISH AND GAME — TIMBER AND FRUIT TREES— VARIOUS INDUSTRIES — OUTFIT OF SETTLER. There are several steam flour mills in the neighbour- hood of Winnipeg, and within its limits, one woollen factory, three saw mills, and two sash and planing factories. The most extensive of the lumber establish- ments are those of Messrs. McCaulay & Jarvis, which were at work day and night and capable of turning out 50,000 feet in the twenty-four hours. This firm has two mills — the saw-mill supplied with logs floated down the Red River many a mile. Two circular saws are in con- stant operation here, driven by a Waterous engine of fifty horse-power. Near the saw mill is the sash, shingle, and picket factory, driven by a Minneapolis engine of fifty horse power. The yards are piled high with cut lumber of all dimensions, and there will be no scarcity of building material. The fires are fed entirely with saw-dust, carried, as it falls, to the furnaces by an endless chain The mill and factory give employment to nearly one hundred men ; the pay is from S3 to $1 50 a day. The produce sells in the mill yards at the MANUFACTURES ; KITTSON MONOPOLY. 141 ^ i rates given in the price list copied below. The raw ma- terial used is brought a long way on rafts, and is mostly from Minnesota forests, but some of it comes, by tbe Ho- seau and Red rivers, from the Lake of the Woods region. The greater part of these pine lands is owned or controlled by an American company witb whom McCauley & Jarvis have made arrangements, under which, they assert, that they can for ten years yet hold a monopoly of this most profitable business. Logs of clear otutf cost them about SI 2 per M. feet. It was late iu the season of 1875 before a supply of logs could be got in, but by dint of employing a large force and running the saws night and day, tlie mills succeeded in turning out the astonishing quantity of 3,340,000 feet of lumber during the summer, The run- ning expenses of the concern averaged about $1,500 week- ly. During the winter the firm's lumbermen were get- ting out five million feet of logs, of which one-fifth would be from the region of South-east Manitoba, the remainder from Minnesota. There seems ample room for investment in manufac- tures of furniture, which is imported from the States, Ohio especially. When, too, we see the boats and scows of the Kittson line of steamers, which has, by recent arrangement, swallowed the " Merchants' line," their late rivals, and so again practically monopolized the carrying trade, loaded down with wares and products, carried often two thousand miles before reaching their destination, we feel convinced that capitalists will find in this growing city and rapidly filling Province, most profitable means of in- f • 142 THE PHAIUIK I'UOVINX'K. i 'H ff vestment in nianutactures of many kinds. The " Kittson line," or Red River Transportation Company, has for stock- holders Hudson's Bay officials and St. Paul merchants. They have been accustomed to charge such freights as that one trip at high water repaid to the Company the whole cost of the vessel. Until railway communication comes to its relief, the Red River region will thxis be held like the cow in the story, the adventurers of England at one end, Kittson, Sibley & Co. at the other, and the restive creature will be milked between them. [;M I I h :^ AN AMERICAN VIEW OP RED RIVER TRADE. It is not to be wondered at that our wide awake neigh- bours comment on the growing importance of the Nor'- west trade, with interest scarcely less than our own. To illustrate this we refer to a late issue of the St. Paul Press, which, after giving certain details from the cus- toms returns, continues thus : — " We have frequently had occasion to refer to the mag- nitude of trade between Manitoba and Minnesota, of which ample evidence is afforded by the statistics of navigation of the Red River of the North. The goods represented by these sums were transported on Minnesota railroads and on Minnesota steamers to their place of destination, as were also nearly all immigrants to Manitoba, besides the products of that country seeking market here and abroad, and also travellers therefrom. The aggregate, therefore, of benefit derived by Minnesota from inter- course with Manitoba cannot easily be estimated." Ml! ii -V- IMPORTS AND CUSTOMS. 14:i The following is, for the Province, a statement of i\w value of imports, duty collected, kc, during the fiscal year ending 3()th Juno, 1874: IMPORTH. M TOTAL VALIK. GREAT BRITAIN. H '■J 2 i i »3 =: H 8 o a X •< Dutiable (loodu $ Free Ouoils 1,472,220 381,130 875,708 148,012 554,100 227,171 1,852 5,36(t 7,208 2,287 2,287 38,267 38,207 07,471 07 Total 9 1,853,660 1,024,020 781.277 07,471 07 More recent reports of the customs of the port of Win- nipeg for the year ending June 30, 1 875, show that the total imports at that port for the year amounted to $1,243,- 309, of which the United States, principally Minnesota, furnished 1781,323, and Great Britain, $457,449. Th*^ amount of duties collected at Winnipeg for the same per- iod was $172,600. In addition to the goods which y vMed these duties, Manitoba merchants also imported from Ontario and Quebec,during the fiscal year, goods on which duty had been paid to the amount of $180,000. During last season a party with outfit goods and provisions, in charge of Mr. 0. E. Hughes, of Kew, Stobart &; Co., Win- nipeg, went with boats by Lake Winnipeg, to open direct trade between Winnipeg and the Far West. We since learn that Mr. Hughes has succeeded in es- tablishing a trading post at Cross Lake, one hundred miles north-west of Norway House, and about five hundred miles from Winnipeg, where he is doing a large and in- creasing business. r ,1 ',V ■ i:^, ,1 , .1 1 ■ 1 ■; \"- ■ 1- : i r !: -1 144 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE. Mr. J. J.Healy, an extensive trader of the Bow and Belly Rivers region, the last stronghold of the buffalo, visited Winnipeg in the autumn of 1875 for the purpose of open- ing direct trade. He sent 2,500 buffalo robes that season to Montreal in bond, via Benton and the United States railroads, and stated that 100,000 robes were exported from the Bow River country in 1874. There is an immense business done in his region hy traders — mjstly Americans. Mr. Healy estimated it at one million of dollars annually. The natural outlet for this is through the Red River valley. Other extensive traders are making arrangements to bring their furs from this region to the Winnipeg market. We learn from a late number of the Free Press, " that the competition will, it is likely, be unusually sharp, as some large Montreal and Toronto buyers, who have never been here, contemplate coming this year. The stock of goods held by the merchants for this particular trade will not be less than before, and is likely to be increased by the addition of at least one more dealer who has bought heavily for this trade. Few have any idea of the vast- ness of this interest and the amount of money expended here for furs ; but some idea may be had from the fact that the entries of fur exports at this port alone amounted for the year ending June, 1875, to $588,958, a respectable offset to our imports of about $2,000,000 in the case of a new country." The follov/ing is the price list of the Winnipeg markets, in September, 1875 : — '^Mk. WINNIPEG PRICES CURRENT. 145 Wheat, per bushel 81 Barley, none, worth Flour, per cwt 2 Pollard, " 1 Bran, " 1 New Potatoes, per bushel Onions, " 2 Beef, per lb Mutton, " Veal, " Pork, " Sausage " Chickens, each Turkeys, per lb Beans, per bushel 8 Bacon, per lb Shoulders, " Ham, " Pork, per barrel 25 Eggs, per dozen... Butter (fresh), per lb '' (salt— imported) per lb Cheese, (imported) " " (home-made) N Pemmican, per lb Buffalo tongues, each DriedMeat, perlb Salt, per barrel 1 Mutton tongues, per dozen 1 White Fish, each Mackerel, perlb Salmon, " LakeSuperior Trout Herring, per cwt 6 Apples (green), per barrel <» " (dried), per lb Peas, split Smoked Venison 00 @ SI 25 85 (( 1 00 50 (( 3 75 50 :( 2 00 50 (i 2 00 00 a 1 00 00 iC 2 50 09 (( 18 10 (' 20 12 (( 16 16 (( 18 16 (( 25 16 iC 20 00 <( 16 25 a ;i 50 15 i i 18 m a 10 18 a 20 00 i b 30 00 2:. n 30 25 <( 30 80 C( 40 00 (( 20 one. 18 i( 00 50 l( 00 15 a 00 50 i I 00 00 (( 00 08 (( 00 10 t( I2h 15 (( 00 08A ii 00 50 (I 8 00 00 <• 8 00 12i n 20 15 i i 00 00 li 20 Mill I'^infi 146 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE. Wood, per cord 32 50 (5). 4 50 Hay, perton 8 00 "10 00 Buffalo Ptobes, (prime winter) 7 50 "15 00 Buff alo Leather, per skin 2 'iO "3 00 MooseLeather, " 6 00 " 7 00 Deerskin. " 5 00 " 00 Sinews, each 12^ " 00 Beaver's Tails, each 100 " 00 We take these autumn prices as being the average for the year, but as spring came on some articles advanced, especially ^heat, which was quoted in March at $1 75c. to $2 25c. per bushel. LUMBER MARKET. Common lumber • $25 00 Select 30 00 Stock 12 to 14 inches 28 00 Dimension lumber 12 to 20 feet 25 00 No. 1 fencing, 6-inch , 30 00 No. 2 do 25 00 No. 1 clear 55 00 No. 2 do 40 00 No. 1 flooring 45 00 No. 2 do 40 00 Square pickets 30 00 Flat do 25 00 Lath per thousand 5 00 Shingle double XX 6 00 Shinglex 5 00 A shingle 4 00 These were the net cash prices. FUR MARKET IN DECEMBER, 1875. Beaver, per lb. $1 00 to 2 50* Bear, per skin 2 00 12 00 Fisher 5 00 9 50. IS| ^i .,J FUR MARKET; WAGES. 147 Lynx $1 00 to 3 00 Marten 1 50 6 50 Mink 1 00 2 75 Otter 6 00 10 00 Skunk 40 75 Wolverine 2 00 3 00 Redfox 1 00 1 50 Crossfox 1 50 8 00 Silverfox 25 00 75 00 Muskrat 12 22 Wolf 1 00 3 00 As to workingmen's wages — Mr. H. Linton, superin- tendent of roads, has twenty men under him ; the best get $2 a day, and so down to $1.70 ; man and team get $5 a day. Living is so dear, he considers ^2 here not better than $1.50 in Toronto. Common board and lodg- ing cost $5 a week. Domestic service is also well paid for, at $10 to $16 per month in private families, and still more in the hotels. There is a good demand for money, which can be in- vested, on excellent real estate security, at 12 per cent, per annum. More enterprising capitalists will find ample scope in the timber regions surrounding the Roseau and Winnipeg Rivers and Lake of the Woods. This lake discharges its waters by the Winnipeg River, which will afford numerous and ample water powers ; the vertical descent from lake to lake being three hundred feet. The Indians and traders now look to Winnipeg and the Hudson's Bay forts for their market and supplies. Let companies of agriculturists and traders occupy con- venient positions in the interior, and they will find ample 148 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE. 1 i , ' 1 11 1 II i [ii: li demand for all their flour and like produce, receiving furs in exchange, and thus the difficulty raised, as to the expense of shipment, will be obviated. Lands of some thousands of half-breeds will soon be in the market at low figures, as many of this class will not settle down, the lands reserved at present for them must be thrown open. We only thus glance at this land question as one of interest, and refer to the means that far-seeing and energetic persons with some capital and united eftbrt are beginning to use, at once to increase their fortunes and open up the vast resources of these fertile plains. The carrying trade of the city from the States and Provinces to the south and east is in the hands of the company mentioned, who have steamers and many scows which they tug; but we learn that three or more steamers are being constructed by private enterprise for the Red River grain trade and will be launched soon. The " Kitt- son Line " managers are alert and determined to hold to their monopoly, and will therefore probably buy up these yf els as they have those of other rivals. r. Schultz has a small steamer that plies in the rivers. '^( internal trade and navigation a good steamer was in 1875 put on Lake Winnipeg. Lakes Manitoba and Winnipegosis will also be navigated by vessels of light draught. The steamers Colville and Northcote will con- tinue to ply on Lake Winnipeg and the Saskatchewan. The extent of the water system immediately available is marvellous. Some obstructions in the Red River, between Winnipeg and the lake, impede navigation when •' w EXTENT OF NAVIGABLE WATERS. 149 the water is low, but can be removed at trifling expense, and we will then hear, as a common occurrence, of steamers floating from above Edmonton down the Saskatchewan to the northern end of Lake Winnipeg, which they will enter at a distance of 300 miles from the mouth of Red River, then coasting by the Icelandic and other settle- ments along the lake shores, entering the Red River laden with grain and all other produce of the farm, with salt, coal, kerosene and various minerals from the teem- ing Nor' -West, and with fish from the lakes, passing the bridges of the great Canada Pacific Railway, reaching the Lower and Upper Fort, and so on to the American Northern Pacific Railroad at Fargo ; or the course may be turned westerly after passing Fort Garry. The Assi- niboine may, and will no doubt ultimately, he opened to the Pembina mountains and Souris valley regions, a dis- tance of 250 miles to the west. If the proposed canal be constructed, the water of Lake Manitoba will be raised and made more serviceable for trading purposes than it now is, and a further extensive and valuable water stretch, through that lake and Win- nepegosis, will be made available. While Winnipeg will probably retain the pre-eminence, many another town will spring up along the course of stream and lake and add to or take from the cargo as the vessels pass. VARIOUS INDUSTRIES. In addition to the cultivation of grain, referred to else- j 150 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE. k j l'^' Mil w where, the farmer will find Manitoba unsurpassed as a grazing country. Horses, cattle and sheep flourish and increase abundantly. Excellent horses and graded bulls were long since introduced. High stepping steeds and fat cattle may be seen on all sides, and are held at high figures. Sheep were introduced fort}'^ years ago, and are not subject to the rot and other diseases of warmer cli- mates. Mr. Thos. Spetice says in his pamphlet on Mani- toba (page 30) : " Beyond all question, wool would be the best crop to raise for some time to come, for exporta- tion, as the freight on two hundred dollars worth oi wool will not be worth more than on five dollars worth of wheat. TIMBER AND FRUIT TREES. Many are starting orchards and have satisfactory suc- cess with the plum and such smaller fruit, which is in- digenous ; with the apple only partial success is yet reported, as stated elsewhere. No special inducement to plant forest trees, such as has been tried in some of the prairie States, has yet been offered to settlers, a rea- sonable supply of timber for the purposes of settlement having been so far found available in Manitoba. The Minister of the Interior has, however, announced that a scheme to induce the planting of prairie land with trees will be immediately adopted, and cuttings of trees suited to the country furnished to settlers at cost through the Government land agencies. It is to be hoped that this will be generally taken advantage of, and that an 1 ' { '^'^ FOREST CULTURE. 151 amelioration of the climate will so result, as has been the case most markedly in formerly exposed lands in the Western States after being so protected by wind-breaks. Our Government will, to a great extent, in encouraging this culture, follow the example set in the United States. The lav/ there provides that the settlers may 1. Enter public land up to the extent of IGO anres for timber culture. 2. He must break and plant one-quarter of the land entered. 3. One-fourth of this area must be planted within two years, one-fourth more within three years, and the re- maining half within four years from the date of entry. 4. The trees must be not less than twelve feet apart each way, and must be kept in a healthy and growing state for eight years next succeeding the date of entry ; and on the above conditions being fulfilled, the person will be entitled to a patent. The State of Minnesota has also passed a law to en- courage this industry. From an essay lately published by the Hon. L. B. Hodges, Superintendent of tree planting on the St. Paul and Pacific Line of Railway, it is ascertained that in Minnesota alone, up to the middle of January last, the enormous area of 170,307 acres had been entered under the Acts encouraging tree planting ; and that the success attending the operations so far had satisfactorily proved that this new industry, if prudently and patiently fol- lowed up, is even a surer source of wealth than wheat '4 V 152 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE. % if i' I llj'l Ml \i I Ml growing, and without the additional expense and anxiety connected with the latter. Surveyor-Generaj Dennis, in lately laying a scheme for encouraging forest culture before the Minister of the In- terior, quotes from the above mentioned essay, thus : Mr. Hou,; es i>- jvit that in Minnesota forest trees pro- perly cared fo*\ Mt an expense in all not exceeding live cents per tree, iiave ^ ^en known to turn out one cord of wood per tree within sixteen years from the planting. He mentions instances of cottonwood, in Minnesota, of seventeen years' growth, from fifty to sixty feet in height and sixty to eighty inches in circumference. The most desirable varieties for propagation, as proved in Minnesota, are the white willow, the cottonwood, Lom- bardy poplar, box elder and balm of Gilead. Of these, the cottonwood is the most valuable, being very hardy and of wonderfully rapid growth. To the various trees for culture mentioned above, should be added, says the worthy Surveyor-General, the following varieties indigenous to the Province, that is to say : the poplar, aspen, ash-leaved maple and elm, the rapid growth of which, under ordinary circumstances, proves that they would abundantly repay for cultivation. Mr. Hodges asserts as undoubted facts : 1. That, at a trifling expense, the stockyard and build- ings on the bleakest prairie homestead may be surrounded within five years by a belt of trees, forming a wind-break, affording an effectual protection. 2. That a grove of trees can be grown as surely as a iii' ^M,., TREES ; COAL ; MINERALS. 153 crop of corn, and with far less expense in proportion ♦^.o its value. 3. That ten acres properly planted to timber, and ^ o- perly cultivated, will, in five years, supply fuel in abun- dance for a family, and also fencing for a farm of one hundred acres. 4. That apparently worthless prairie lands can, by the planting and cultivation of timber thereon, be sold for .f 100 per acre within twenty y ■*..- 5. That the net profits of lanc^ p" o>erly planted and cultivated with trees will, with' " te "? years, realize at the rate often to one as compared wit:, the profits attending the raising of wheat. Other propositions, even more forcible than those above, are put forth in the essay mentioned, and the author states his ability to prove all he alleges. It is hoped that Manitoba settlers will follow the ex- ample set them in Minnesota. COAL, MINERALS AND FISH. The valuable region north of the Red River has yet to be fully made known. That it will be found replete with mineral and other wealth there is no doubt. Hon. Dr. Schultz, in moving, in the House of Commons, on 22ud March, 1876, for Returns of imports and exports through posts on Hudson and James Bays, speaks of the present and possible trade of thkt country as follows — (Page 773, Hansard Reports) : — " There is in these bays themselves and on their shores the possibility of .i great trade for » ■ ^1 ■« ' «mw>M I L. • 154 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE. .1 I •i ' i "I il!^ Canada. From very credible sources he (Dr. Schultz) learned that at Paint-Hills and on Paint Islands, in James Bay, there is a vein of magnetic iron ore, which, when examined by a [)ractical English miner in 1865, was pro- nounced to be one of the largest and most valuable veins of that mineral in existence. Graphite or plumbago, in a very pure state, is also found at the same place. Galena is very abundant along the east coast, and a quantity sent to England was found, when assayed, to contain 80 per cent, of lead and 8 per cent, of silver. Coal is also said to exist near the Little Whale River, and the Esqui- maux report iron mines on the mainland near Hudson's Straits. All this mineral wealth is especially valuable because found on the shores and near the excellent har- bours of these bays. There is also a very large fishing interest in these regions. Immense numbers of white porpoise or arctic whales annually visit the Hudson's and James Bays, where they enter the rivers, and could in these rivers, as well as on the shores of the Bay be profit- ably fished. The Hudson's Bay Company, who carried on business in two of these rivers, captured 7,749 of these fish, which yielded 768 tons of oil, worth upwards of £27,000 stg. in the London market. Porpoise skins are also a valuable article of trade, a very superior sort of leather being made from them. On the islands of the bay, seals are to be found in great numbers, as well as the walrus and the polar bear. Salmon are abundant in the rivers, which drain the range known as the South Bel- chers, and cod fish are also found about Hudson's Strait." GAME ; FISH ; SALT SPRINGS. 155 Game and fish aro abundant in the Province, and of great vaiiety. The valuable resources of Lakes Winnipeg and Manitoba will soon be developed by the hardy men from Northern Europe and Iceland who have selected their shores as their homes. Saline springs, producing salt of excellent quality, are common near Lake Mani- toba and elsewhere, and will be of much value, in a coun- try in which the curing of meat will soon be an extensive and lucrative business. The prairie will for many years continue to be the home of feathered and other game in great variety. We refer our readers to what has been, in other parts of this narrative, stated as to the productive- ness of the farther West and of the region north and east of the present limits of Manitoba. The immigrant is advised to come to Manitoba early in the summer season, not later than in June, though much of the land is locked up at present in reserves for In- dians, half-breeds, railway construction, and for particu- lar nationalities or companies whose agents have obtained the right of selection of large adjacent tracts on condition of speedy settlement, yet no one who desires to settle as a farmer will find difficulty, for years to come, in obtaining his farm of 160 acres. These reserves are shown on our map. An office charge of $10 and three years' actual residence, cultivation and improvement of a reasonable part will be required, and then will be obtained a deed in fee. A quarter section near by will, meantime, if he so desire, be reserved with right to purchase at Government upset price — now one dollar an acre. The planting of I' i ' Ilil p loG THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE. i ' i t v. jji' land successfully with trees will probably soon be con- sidered equal to actual occupation for the purpose of secur- ing a homestead, as stated, but the deed will not issue till six yeard expire from the time of locating. To buy the necessary outfit of a farmer, put up a log house and stable, and lay in provisions till the home supply may be ex- pected to come insufficiently, will require a sum variously estimated at from six hundred to one thousand dollars. For further particulars on this head, see the " Practical Information," which concludes our last chapter. Mil ! ! : i I i •!! 11 e, ly 'S. al CHAPTER X. THE GRASSHOPPER PLA(;UE: ITS HISTORY AND INCIDENTS — i.uMKDIEH — ILLUSTRATIONS — OPINIONS OF MESSRS, RILEY, TAYLOR, SPBNCER, MACHAR, NIMM0N8 AND MENNONITES : HOW TREATED IN MINNE- SOTA AND ELSEWHERE — PROSPECTS. Everywhere wc saw traces and heard sad tales of the grassho[>pers. Many of the farmers let their fields lie waste rather than plant for them to eat as they had done for two years. In the gardens of Government House and of the Penitentiary, in the old fields at Kildonan and along the banks of both rivers we saw the etfects ot' the ravages. The garden of Deer Lodge was destroyed in a few hours. Mr. McKay had the insects swept up and so filled two bushel baskets. They were scalded in hot water and fed to pigs. It is difficult to form an adequate idea of the numbers that came down and devoured every i^reen thing which they found. One calculating individual gives the following account of his experience : — " When I saw them travelling on the street I took occasion to count a few of them, and found that there were at least twenty to the square foot on an average. That would give sixteen hundred and two millions to the square niilo. Now, allow- ing that they were placed, one behind the obhei* in a row, and each to occupy one inch of space (and allos^ ing that at present they cover say twenty miles in width north fir" 1 atiiii U -f 1 1 i "1 ' if 158 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE. and south, and one hundred miles east and west), there would be twelve hundred and sixty-seven thousand three hundred and sixty millions of hoppers in the Province ; placed as aforesaid, they would encircle the earth seven hundred and ninety-one times, and have one hundred and eighty-two millions to spare ; or, in other words, they would form a band around the earth sixty-six feet wide. The insects which are found on this continent are of three kinds : first is the Galoptenus Spretus, distinguished by its length of wings, which extend, when closed, one- third of their length beyond the tip of the abdomen ; second, the Calojptenus fenior rubrum, or common red- legged grassho))per, with shorter wings ; third, the Pacific migratory locust, Oedipoda atrox, more than an inch in length, with several roundish brown spots on back and wings, and a dark fuscous spot behind the eye, which is seldom seen on this side of the Pacific slope. Their habits and the treatment required by each are the same. The first mentioned species, the Spretus, or Hateful, locust, is that which invades and devastates the prairies. Their natural breeding ground is in the arid plains of Colerado, U^ah, Idaho and Montana, to the south and west of the Mississippi. They are generally, therefore, called Rocky Mountain locusts. From its more northern position, Manitoba is much less liable to their visitation than regions farther South, in the United States' terri- tories and the swivrms which, invade this Province are not so dense or destructive. Much attention and learning has of late years been bestowed on this subject in Minnesota r e e f > In d '. THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN LOCUST. 159 and elsewhere in that part of our neighbours' territory most subject to the pest. We are indebted to the labours of Professor C. V. Riley, (State entomologist of Missouri) and to a report lately published by the authorities of Minnesota, for our illustrations and some of the remarks exi)laining them.* Here is the famous ras- cal of life size, as he .'■ resting himself after a loug flight, or digesting the dinner of herbs to which he has so unceremoniously helped himself Next we see three fe- male locusts who have pierced nest holes in the surface of the prairie, which they cover. Rocky Molxtain Locaax : — a, a, a, female i» different positions, ovipositinj? ; b, egff pod extracted from cfround with the end broken open, showing how the e!,^K« are arranfred ; c, a few eK'!,'s lyin;^ loose on the <,'round ; d, e, shows the earth jiartially re- moved to illustrate an et,'g:-mass already in place, and one being placed ; /, shows where such a mass has been covered up. * See Seventh Annual Report, lH7o, on the Noxious, Beneficial and other Insects of the State of Missouri. By C. V.Riley. M.A., Ph. D. Pul)lishH.l l)y Egan & Carter, Jeffei'sou City, Mi.ss(juri, U. S. 100 THE PRAIRIE PROVT^X'E. I ^1 There are usually from thirty to one hundred eo-o-s in this mass. From these eggs the young locust emerges— kicking off a thin white skin which enshrouds it— and the larva is at once a locust. As it grows its skin distends till it bursts, and the locust comes forth in a new trarment. It is now called a pupa ; the knobs on its back gradually grow into wingfc, when it is a full-armed locust. The fol- lowing picture shows these several stages in the develop- ment of the locust aftei" it leaves the ^gg : How voraciously the3'oung locust feeds ; and what a destructive creature he is before, as well as after, his wings appear, we need not recount. All records of the grass hopptr plague prove that their visitations are periodical, that they do not come further east than the Lake of the Woods, and that, in many years, they will not be seen in Manitoba, or if at all, to no mischievous extent. The Jesuit history of missions in California states, that the year 1722 was disastrous. They came again in 1746, continuing three years ; next in 1753, 1754 ; afterwards in 1765, 17G6 and 1767. During this century the periods of greatest destruction were 1828, 1838, 1846 and 1855. The locust s extended theselvesin one year over a surface com - prised within thirty-eight degrees of latitude, and in the broadest part eighteen degrees of longitude. — See article Rocky Mct'ntain Loctst ; — a, newly- hatched larva ; b, full grown larva ; c, Itujia. ^ ' LOCUSTS, THEIR HABITS AND CURK. 161 on Grasisko'ppers and Locusts of America in Smithsonian Reports for 1858, page 200. Since the settlement uf Min- nesota, there have been six grasshopper years, 1856, 1857, 1865, 1873, 1874, and 1875. The history of Red River settlement presents a similar pro})ortion of years of suf- fering and exemption. Since Lord Selkirk's settlement in 1812, the locusts have appeared in 1818 and 1819; then not till 1857 and 1858 ; next in 1864 and 1865, doing little in- jury ; then in 1867, 1868, 1869 and 1870, and again in these last three years. In 1872, they came too late to do much damage to the wheat which was then ripening. The last four years have been very unfortunate, there being but one full crop — the average loss being fully one half the crop. Mr. Taylor, the United States Consul, who has given much attention to this subject, estimates that, with the extension of settlement in Manitoba, the average annual loss in locust years will be reduced to ten per cent., the rate observed in the States west of the Mis- sissippi, still more exposed to the pest. Among the means to be used for their destruction, Mr. Taylor first enume- rates natural remedies. It is a curious fact that the im- munity of any particular district may turn upon the fact of a bright sun and clear sky, through which thc}^ move on, while the sun shines in the warm air, but settling down and taking refuge in the shrubs and grass as rain approaches — " Thy crownt/J are as the locusts, and thy captains as the gi-eat grasshoppers, which camp in the hedges in the cold day ; but when the sun arises they flee away, and their place is not known where they are." — 162 THE PRAIRIE PROVI>X'E. i^J iir Nahum iii. 17. Among other descriptions of them in holy writ, the most wonderful is that in the second chap- ter of Joel, to which we refer our readers. Processor Hind met them near the Qu'Appelle river in July, 1858 : — " Here we observed during the morning the grass- hoppers descending from a great height, perpendicularly, like hail — a sign, our half-breeds stated, of approaching rain." They were, he adds, excellent prognosticators — a thunder storm soon came on. But, to revert to our im- mediate subject, the means of relief from the pest. (1) A fly, resembling the house fly, deposits its larvte between the head and body, which penetrate and destroy the gi^asshopper. This fly is the Tachina or Sarcophaga. (2) The Ichneumon, Pimpla instigator, deposits its eggs in t le egg-sack of the locust, and when the larva of the Ichneumon fly comes out it sucks the eggs of the locust, destroying them. (3) The red parasites, found near the base of the wings eat into the back, and destroy the insect. These were very frequently observed. Birds — the blackbird, crow, domestic fowl, &c. — make havoc of them. Beasts, too, are used to trample them, when they fall in the evening, in the European plains. In Hungary and elsewhere, horses, camels, cattle, &c., are driven over and trample them. It is suggested that the disappearance of the buffalo has tended to increase their number, as the •:i.''(4s and young grasshoppers are most numerous on the piths which these animals would take. Next in order are ^.numerated mech* nical means, which, if on a sufflciently large scale and i)ersevered in, have been found, to some , M.^ HOW TO ESCAPE THE PLAGUE. 10.3 extent, successful. When the soil is ploughed early and deep the eggs are destroyed and the ravages are lessened. The crops should be planted early and may be harvested in time to anticipate the pest. Government may also aid a general effort, as has been for ages done in China, Greece, Italy, Hungary, France and Russia. In Minnesota this has been tried. The bounty system was partially and tardily applied, but with very successful results in Le Sueur, Blue Earth and other counties. Blue Earth county j-.aid in 1875, S31,225 for 15,766 bushels; Todd county, S833 for 130 bushels ; Meeker, S959 for 293 bushels ; Brown, 81,600 for 4,525 bushels; Sibley, 88,784 for 439,225 pounds, and Nicollet county $25,000 for 25,000 bushels of the full- grown locusts. The total damage to crops by the locust invasion of 1875 is estimated at 82,000^000. There is no crop which may be grown with assurance of immunity in a locust year. They prefer unripe cereals and juicy grasses, and, unless hard pressed, will pass ..>eas and beans. These are a valuable and generally sure crop and may be planted as a fringe round the fields, and, especially if a ditch full of w r can be added to this green wall, will so protect th< 'ther grain by diverting the young insect before iJ; is winged, its most hungry and dangerous stage, from passing the bairier, the more rash and daring intruders fl uidering into the water and being drowned. If the Manitoba people had used such efforts last year unitedly, where settled close together as at Kildonan, they would have gained much in the result. It must not be supposed that all the crops were de- 1G4 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE. =1 it;:. stroyed. No better wheat and potatoes can anywhere be found than were in 1875 harvested at Portnge la Prairie, and along the Red Paver between Fargo and Pembina, and in the neighbourhood of St. Joe, at the south-west corner of the Province. All this is spring-sown, in rich well-drained soil. Efforts in the infested regions, made by settlers and their families during the few hours in which the locust rested, such as building tires, surrounding the field or garden with a ditch into which the insects fall and drown, beating with bushes, &;c., have been successful in saving large parts of the crops. The Consul and Mr. Spencer, Collector of Customs at Winnipeg, are among my authorities for this statement. Since the harvest season we have had favourable ac- counts from many places where partial crops were saved. In the Bo 'ne settlement in the centre of the Province, a large acreage was harvested^ yielding 35 bushels to the acre. In the Pembina Mountain region also a fair crop was cut. Mr J. M. Machar, one of the Government com- missioners who, last summer, spent some months in the Province, gives the following as his experience : — *' Between the Assiniboine and the southern shore of Lake Manitoba there lies a district of about ten miles square, chiefly settled and farmed by emigrants from On- tario. Last fall these farmers harvested, in spite of the grasshoppers, a two-thirds crop, which is better than an average crop in Ontario. Instead of, as in the parishes of Bale St. Paub and Francois Xavier, sowing nothing, as did many of their neighbours, or lazily watching the w^ I i IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) /> 1.0 1.25 |io ^^" ii^H lit 1^ £? HA Photographic Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. I45M (716)872-4303 4 ■1? <^ <^\^\ IfH /o:i Wif /o/ >> iO/ /oo fi9 SH m .97 ^6 ^r\ oJitAf// y ..~s>- vtVd*""^ ///tr I'M n . r' Ji Ji t^ j^ ^. O'ntvtt l)finlln/o/M, -/ hlavh Townshifi is i „ Si'cHon " »' Contain lief Moiinleil Pttliif Hint Itinti/H, Trutln He fr^y V^'l W, >// ■'vvt, ^ ^ 1 A .■ 1 n Tif- fM „ t f-i(tf trail. r /^•' -x^ Mills Hri^hfa uli'iyp t/if Sty) .^^J S6 .9J .9i MAP OF Tflhl JSND IMRT OF THE DISTHET OF A i, W\ MIJ i^^ ^^iT ,4 k. HIIKWINO Li. [TOEY .1 THE TO^VWSHIPS A. SETTLEMENTS pRAWN FROM THE LATEST GOV. MAPS, SURVET^' &REFORTS I^OK V. (•(• ^ THE I»I{AIRIE PHOVINCE Scale i 11' J .Milcti fa theJrifh 5J ' 4n .V, »^ i=^=ij- »o Mitf» id TOWNSnfH DJAr7HAM Shewing ttw manner of NUMBEHTWO THE SKCTIONH 7fi-/6 ,A GEXVestnuwott m. ^.1- 5^ 1 1 ;?M- 1 ^5 St,(h It ?!* ^l id- ^ ^ — r— / . .. .- I 1)!h t9^ if- ltl»lt t^ TnloUf'. Jiarh Townahift is bAfileii Sr/iinre „ HcrHnn „ I . " " Contains bi^t arren I Inferences - - ; Atoiiiiteit Po/iif Stations marked thus '■ H()iir/ti, Tfoiln a r „ „ - I'uHt Ofj'ires . . „ . .J, t'lifirrliCH . . . ,, i> A////S „ . „ Hri^htH II h'jvf tttf Sea ore marhffl in flf^t 6 -"V, l_ "^lafft^i ' T'r. of Wales W^ .>■ J''- >:i S2 Jf i!) ,Phf "i^^inl ^ _• _/r' V^ 0^, I, '"^^^ ftoHe 1 bantered accnrih'ng ittttie Arf of Parlinttwnt < of Canada in dte yfar /fijb by .Tas.neland HtnuUtoti . { xn the Off we af the Mtnisier of ^ioriruthtt.' . I ALEX^ CRAIG. STEAM LITH. TORONTO. Itie, \\r ■ 1 'i^ 1 4\_i j 1 / /i svia XBu^^ 1 * -JL. h 1^1 ! /J /^ /.v -'^ ^^^ ^ w^ s7„i:^ .lyffcQiYTn ^^< \ J03 iO'Z lOi 'A ''"^ r ■ ' ■ s" "VI l^ynq^^USf^ULe^ IV in I f " J ' — 'i. r- -.4 J^ i. . \, IV i -ju [ ,1 SiifUjL I ltd tit nn lOO .9.') .9fi ''^^ .9H 96 dt if) 96 .9.J I ! if;. \ ■' m FIGHTING THE LOCUSTS ; EATING THEM. 165 grasshoppers devour what they had sown, as did most of the others, these brave men sowed in hope, and when the enemy appeared, turned out and fought him. I saw a forty -acre field of splendid wheat at Portage Creek, the propei'ty of a family of New Brunswickers named Green. They spread a swath of straw right across the middle of the field. Then, through the long June days, the whole family — four stalwart young men and three young ladies, daughters of the farm, but as truly refined as any of the graduates of our cit}- boarding schools — armed themselves with boughs, and forming in line, drove the ' hoppers ' before them into the straw. It seems that the brutes have their own idea of comfort, and like to have a bed under them. At all events, they concluded to roost there. When evening came a match was ai)plied, and in five minutes nothing was left of the invaders but their horny coverings, which at the time of my visit in August, still littered the ground in millions. Of course I am not prepared to say whether the ' hoppers ' were as numerous in that section as they were on the Red River, where, in June, I saw them sweep all before them ; but in view of these results, and of the successful campaign of last sum- mer in several of the Western States, one cannot help thinking that whatever Government may do should be in the direction of encouraging and helping people to hel]) themselves." We did not meet any who had tried the edible quali- ties of the grasshopper, but Dr. Riley declares in favour of such diet, and describes the most epicurean methods of K \ I 1.' . 1 .1 J'' fl ^;i r.i i 1G6 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE. preparing it. The insects yield, he says, an agreeable nutty flavour when, the legs and wings being removed, they are fried in butter. Palatable soup may also be made from them. The Indians catch, roast and eat them, and in the East, the Arabs esteem them a delicacy. Dr. Riley does not regard John the Baptist as so badly off in the way of dainties, as we are accustomed to con- sider that prophet of the wilderness, whose food was locusts and wild honey. That the farmers of Minnesota and Dakota were wise, in sowing as usual in the spring of 1875, we had ample proofs as we passed from Winnipeg along their broad fields ripening with a rich harvest. The vessel in which we sailed from Duluth carried in her hold 5,000 barrels of Minnesota wheat flour, and had to leave as many more for the next boat to carry. Mr. Nimmons, who settled in 18G9 about six miles north-west of Winnipeg, furnishes a worthy example, which some older settlers would have done well to follow. He has a fine farm of 320 acres, or half a section, and last autumn found a ready market in Winnipeg for some hundreds of bushels of potatoes. Starting without capi- tal he struggled on through difficulties, and then had nearly 100 acres broken, and 50 acres under heavy crops of barley, wheat, oats, peas, turnips and potatoes, for all of which he obtained good prices. A sample of his last year's wheat of 66 pounds to the bushel has gone to the Centennial. When asked how he had escaped the grass- hoppers, he answered that he had fought them in every HOPES FOR THE FUTURE. 167 stage of their growth, commencing the previous fall by ploughing and reploughing their eggs under the ground, thereby preventing them hatching ; but, of course they came on to his fields last summer from the uncultivated prairie in myriads. These he battled against by fire, and by driving, so successfully as to save nearly his entire planting. Mr. x^immons summed up the matter by stat- ing it as his belief that the grasshoppers may be met and conquei-ed by hard work and common sense means ; and that in closely- settled neighbourhoods, if each occupant does his share, a fair crop may always be counted upon. As this opinion tallies with the experience of Messrs. Tristan and Morgan, of Headingly, and that of many others, and indeed is but to repeat the history of the plague in other lands, we have no doubt it is correct. It is generally hoped that but little of this plague will be felt for some years in Manitoba. The grounds for such confidence are the historical facts as to its periodicity stated, the great numbers of the parasites found on speci- mens examined, and the fact that the locusts flew ofi" without depositing their eggs. In lands where nature has dealt with less lavish hand, the farmer might well hesitate to embark his means and labour in tillage, but the great returns which the marvellous rich, deep soil of this Province will yearly produce, will doubtless allow an ample margin for periodical losses from this plague, and these losses too may be anticipated, and to a great extent met and lessened, by united skilful eflbrt, when the lands 168 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE. become settled, as no doubt they soon will be, with indus- trious fanners using all modern means of agriculture. The Mennonites, coming from a land where this i)est is not unknown to settle here, should convince us that it is not to be too much dreaded. No settlers can be found more shrewd and capable of selecting a good home and forming opinions as to agricultural matters, than the}'. They are quickly occupying the beautiful townships as- signed them on either side of Red River, between Win- nipeg and Pembina. ♦.■■ 1 '. ( M *) I ndu8 )est i.s b it is found e and they, ps as- Win- CHAPTER XL FROM THE OLD TO THE STONE FORT — POINT DOUOLAS — FROCJ PLAINS SEVEN OAKS — HOPES THAT PLED — THE FLOODS — TAIT's CREEK — KILDONAN — THE HALF-BHEEDS, THEIR HOMES AND PROSPECT** — HAY PRIVILEGE — THE STONE FORT — PENITENTIARY — SELKIRK AND THE C. P. R. CROSSING — A NEW CITY — STEAMBOATS — PEOUIS — TRADE — CLANDEBOYE SETTLEMENT — OLD FRIENDS. Through the kindness of Mr, John Rowan, engineer in charge of the C. P. R. construction here, I enjoyed, behind his fine bays, a visit on the 18th of August to several places of interest. Our way was along the west side of the Red River northerly. Leaving the new market bridge, we drove on Main street for half a mile between rows of neat frame houses, past the Wolseley House, late an hotel, now the College of the Presbyterian Church, in which Professors Bryce and Hart are doing a good work. Main street is here a fine level two chain, or L32 feet road, well tjraded and surface-drained. A few minutes more bring US to the Shultz-Pritchard estate, which runs from Main Street back about two miles. Next is the Magnus-Brown estate of the like extent, with its broad Burrows'-avenue and some houses and gardens. After this is a property of some chains in width which has not been put in the market, and then a plot of thirty acres of flat prairie which has been selected for a cemetery. Between this part of Main Street and the river are the pretty residences of Dr. Shultz, Mr. A. W. Burrows, and r ii lijii f 170 THE niAIRIE PROVINCE. ! I others, and behind them are scon embowered in trees, the house of Bishop Machray and the English Cathedra), Church and College of St. John. These are beyond Point Douglas, and form a village of some extent and much natural beauty. We also see, on the stime side, the sub- stantial residence of Mr. Inkster. Near this was fought, in the days when the Nor'-west and the Hudson's Bay Company strove for mastery, the battle in which twenty of the adherents of the latter Company fell. This, with Kildonan and its history, will be referred to again as we come to speak of the Hudson's Bay Company and the fur trade. The region, over which we are now pa.ssing, is indeed the classic ground of the Province. Five miles more of driving on the level, varied only by an occasional coulee, or gully, formed by spring floods in the plain, bring us to the Scotch Settlement uf Kildonan, with its stone church and school-house, where the Rev. Dr. Black, the venerable pioneer of the Presbyterian Church in Manitoba, officiates. The country adjacent is well fenced and farmed, and in the hands of the most independent class in the Province, many of them dfjscendants of the emigrants who came out under Lord Selkirk. Before us was here seen a narrow line of vapour hug- ging the ground, isolating the trees, and making them leap fantastically from the ground. This is the mirage of the prairie. We were never on this drive without the sight of trees, mostly poplars, with tufts of willows, hazelwood and vines. They line the river's edge, and that of every HOPr.S THAT PLED; TAIT's CUKEK : FLOODS. 171 Htreain that runs into it; in the prairie, too, little ^reen clumps appear every half mile, and in some places an un- dergrowth of young trees has sprung up thickly. This hns been the result of but a few years. Old .settlers say, that not long ago the prairie grass and (lowers were the only green things vi.sible. To the left, at a distance of eight miles, we see the white brick walls and towers of the new Provincial Penitentiary in course of erection. The rising ground on which it stands is Stony Mountain. (This and Pembina Mountains .so called, are really not mountains or even hills, but parts of the plain elevated a few score feet above the main surface in broad terraces.) The object in placing this building so far away from Winnepeg is, ])robably, that the inmates may work quar- ries of .stone. We now paiss the residence of Mr. Stewart, a retired officer of the Company, who accompanied Dr* Rae in his Polar journey, and here we notice that the ground is marked ovor at regular intervals with small numbered stakes. We are, in fact, in an embryo city that perished unborn. A trial survey of the Canada Pacific was made here in 1871, when it was proposed to run the line south of Lake Manitoba, along the Assiniboine. Forthwith, the sanguine proprietor laid out his land in lots, called streets after his relatives and friends, and made ready for fortune. The great road, however, after due consideration, did not aj^prove of the lay of the land, looked for higher ground, and its engineers withdrew to find the ])roper height of land at Selkirk or Mapleton a place twelve miles further down the river. 172 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE. li!^ ' Ini iiir -w 'r^ 4.f' * i ■ ■ i V '■ • t I :■ ;| I (I, :t '§! We cross Tait's Creek, not a very great landmark, you may say, but a very important one nevertheless. And why ? Here the waters of the flood were stayed. It is also, as we know, solemnly agreed and provided that the great road shall pass through the Province. Why, then, lay it more than a score of miles away from its only city, its centre in every respect ? Patiently, read the answer, • lear reader. As we now enter upon higher land, observe, and you will find that the river's banks take a bolder aspect, with a stony bottom. Three times, in the memory of men still living, has the Red River co\ered all the plain over which we have trotted. In 1826, 1852 and 1861 its waters crept up and up till boats were used in the Fort at Garry ; The foundation of one of the stone towers was so undermined that it still leans over from the per- pendicular; The dwellers in these level lands lied to higher plains, or took refuge in upper stories of strong houses, and saw their household goods and fences swim- ming round them in sad confusion. The high land, on which we now travel, continues to the Eagle's Nest, ten miles below the Lower or Stone Fort. This the skilled eye selected as the appropriate bed of the great road, and through it our readers may, ere many months pass, iiear its whistle. But is the ambitious little city to be in yearly danger of the rising angry waters ? Nay, say its inhabi- tants, the banks are wider, the river's course is broader, the country lias become dryer. This, too, said to me a good priest at St. Boniface, as he pointed to the banks and assured me there was now ample room, and that no ! * K_ THE HALF-BREEDS AND THEIR HOMES. 173 cause existed to fear anything more than a slight wetting of the surface. The fall to Lake Winnipeg is about half a foot per mile in the course of the stream. When the wind blows on the lake, its effect is felt far up the river, damming it back and raising its waters ; and this is still more the case when in spring its surface is covered with a heavy coat of ice. Thus far we have gone along the high-road — the king's road of old maps — at a distance lately of a mile or more from the river. Now we run to its side. We have left a quiet prairie where houses and people are scarce ; now we pass house after house, all of a like simple style — of hewn logs, one, or one and a half stories in height, with shingled or thatched roof, doors near the ground, round mud-built oven and root-house in the garden, and cattle shed in rear. Dark-looking and plainly dressed women and black-eyed children, all seeming to prefer sc^uatting on the grass, floor, or even the bare black gi'ound to using any chair or stool — scarce articles here — the dark hair falling in twists down the back, tied with bows of gay ribbons ; feet moccasined or bare. The whole river's bank, for mile upon mile, seems a long street with houses on but one side. Thus, in old days, the half-breeds, descendants of hardy traders and settlers who married squaws, 8ett1e 1 ' '\ ; a new house was often built beside the parents' and the land divided longitudinally. The farm lot extended back two miles. For a like extent in rear ench settler was accustomed every fall to go out with his scythe and ox- cart, and cull the best of the long grass. Thus arose the peculiar title called "hay privilege." The Dominion Government has, dealing justly and generously, confirmed these old settlers in their title to the whole tract of land held or used behind each residence, so that the lots front- ing on the Red and Assiniboine Rivers are often of only a few chains in width, but four miles in depth. This will be found an inconvenience, as tlie country settles in rear, but will be cured in time by new arrangements of con- tiguous sub-divisions. Much more like their wilder than their Saxon parents are most of these simple people in their rustic homes. The men move with a swinging, slouching tread, their toes often turned in. They love fishing and hunting. Though possessed of the finest land on the continent, it lies idle, or if tilled, it is in the most meagre fashion. The peasant women — pretty brunettes when young, too soon look old and haggard through ex- posure and dislike to wearing any sufficient covering from the sun. They are more skilful than squaws in the making and embroidering of moccasins and white moose-skin slippers and basket work. A retiring race, they feel the pressure of the white man's course. Before long they will have melted away from the Red River and Assiniboine, and must be sought at the far interior forts, ' by the banks of the Saskatchewan and Peace rivers and HI 1 < ■ THE TELEGRAPH; THE STONE FORT. 175 tlieir tributaries. Their pleasant riverside sites are, one by one, passing into the hands of new comers. Yet while we thus refer to the Metis as a class, let us not forget that there are, and will continue to be, a large nuin- ber of able men and valued members of society, of this mixed race, in the Red River country. In the Houses of Legislature, as traders and business men, and as fair cul- tivated ladies in hospitable homes, we meet them. We may mention especially, of French half-breeds, the Hon. Charles Nolin, lately Provincial Minister of Agriculture and Emigration ; Pascal Breland, Pierre DeLorme, an J Mr Gingras, all prosperous merchants and traders ; and of the English and Scotch half-breeds, Hon. John Norquay, Hon. John Sutherland, Senator ; Hon. James McKay, and Mr. R. Tait, the m.iller. The newer element is represented in the Provincial Parliament by six out of twenty-four members, the others being of this old stock. Again we seek the higher road, sacring the blackbirds and hearing the whistle of the prairie hen as we pass. Along the well-beaten track are poplar poles on which are carried the single wire that can in a moment tell our case ten thousand miles away : thus does the telegraph precede the train. On some of the green |)osts we see bunches of leaves, the dying sap making a last effort at animation. Ox carts go creaking past, poor Lo sulks silently along, the ground squirrel drops into his hole, and the hawks soar higher as they hear our wheels. Here and there is a white patch on the black ground, where the alkaline solutions held in this wonderful deep soil, have ^1 H 17(3 THE PRATRIE PROVINCE. Jill n !v '§ 1* ¥ I \ i V ': ! - ! ii' ■ [ t .i p w come to the surface and dried. It is noon as we approach a stone enclosure evidently planned for the like design as the old Fort, at Garry ; this is the Lower or Stone Fort. Its walls are not so high as those of the other, and are evidently incomplete, as they are not coped, but crumble at top. They are of limestone, which is abun- dant in the bed of the river close by. Small towers grace and guard the corners. It faces the river, and con- tains half-a-dozen store-houses and a general shop. The area within is probably of three acres. At the north side is an oblong building, of no great size, of hewn logs, and doubly surrounded with walls. This is the miniature temporary Penitentiary of the young Province. Within are accommodations for the twenty-three prisoners and the guards. We never entered any place where more neatness, cleanliness and order prevailed. Most of the prisoners were out in the yard and garden, clad in white, with " P. P." stamped on them, working under orders of armed guards. All were male. Among them were three Sioux Indians, from the Portage band, all restless fellows when brought in. They each attempted to escape, but now are among the best workers. We were shown a pair of stout boots made by one of them. The Warden, Mr. Bedson, conducts the establishment with little expense to Government, and with honour to himself. At his pretty residence, "Daisy Lodge," across the road, we saw the giant head and antlers of a moose, and a great variety of skins of wild beasts and birds, and e.^perienced true Nor -west hospitality. iiLU SELKIRK AND THE "CROSSING. 177 Mr, Bedson will, no doubt, make his mark in the Prai. rie Province. An Englishman without fortune, he was ser- geant in the army when eighteen, and came to Win- nipeg as quartermaster-sergeant in the Second Battalion, under Colonel Wolseley. This officer, having made his way from Thunder Bay, arrived at the Stone Fort on the 22d of August, 1870 ; only the Regulars were with him, the Militia Com|>anies being still struggling through the Winnipeg. The advance was however made up the Red River. Riel's headquarters in Fort Garry were reached on the 24th, but the bird had flown; the Union JaC' was hoisted, and Manitoba became in fact, what it had been in name only before, a Canadian Province. The large garden of the prison had little living in it, save a tame bear fretting at its chain. The grasshopj^ers had here nibbled many a sweet morsel, and left all bare behind them. A second growth was, however, making fair progress. In sight of the Stone Fort, with a connnanding view of it and the river, is the summer residence of Mr. Thomas Howard, M.P.P., a very pretty place. The banks are here high and clean ; passing uj) we see the neat English Church (St. Clements) between our path and the river. We notice a bit of canvas tiut- teiing in the wind, and, approaching, tind it is the cover- ing of an Indian child's grave. Traces of other graves are visible. The body having been interred, the grave was covered and guarded with a fence of small logs [>laced over and around it ; such articles as the deceased was sup- posed most to need in tiie next world were then [placed :| i-.ii 178 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE. I i ,! on top, and all was covered with the cloth raised in the usual shape of graves with us. Alas ! poor ghosts ; soon destined to be scared from your resting place by the shrill whistle of boat and steam-car, and all traces of your tombs obliterated by the advancing tide of the white man ! The river now curves to the east, but soon returns in banks 700 feet apart, forming a semi-circle. This is Sugar Point. Here, in spring, the ice floe coming down is broken, and the force of the stream is les- sened. The chapel we see, marks the place of the crossing of the great Canada Pacific Railroad. A rope is stretched from bank to bank to aid the passage of the scow that serves for ferry. The work of Sifton & Farewell (the contractors on this end of the line), is seen in the long clearing through the trees and the telegraph line extending westerly. Mr. Sifton's substantial wooden house and some workshops are here, and the com- pany's shed is seen on the opposite bank. The banks are adorned with beautiful groves of soft maple, elm, oak and poplar. The stream must be here bridged, and that will be a large item of cost, owing to the length and the fact that a draw must be provided to permit of the passage of the lake and river craft. Twenty miles above is Lake Winnipeg, a great inland sea, with an area of 9,000 square miles, into which flow mighty rivers ; on the North-west, the Saskatchewan ; on the East, the Win- nipeg and Beren's River ; and on the South, the Red River, on whose broad banks we stand. Hardy Ice- landers are settling on its westerly shores, attracted by > 'J 2 j'.d ''n !;« H I 'It. fs'^iy; ih :: I5' I ! I k , i ST. PETERS; DYNEVOR; LAKE SHIinnNG. 181 its unHurpassed fisheries and rich soil. But let us look further about " the crossing. " Already is heard the noise of the hammer and l)lack- smith. Several residences and stores are up or in course of construction. The Pembina branch passing up from Winnipeg will, as just decided by the Government, soon, on the opposite or easterly end of the bridge, crossing here, join the main line from Thunder Bay. The surround- ings seem to mark the site of what may in future become an important city of the Province. The ground, which, rising fully twenty feet above the river bed, forms a dry, well-wooded plateau, has for many acres around, been se- cured and laid out in lots by some Winnipeg capitalists A prettier or more promising location can scarcely be conceived than this, called Mapleton on the Government map, but by its founders Selkirk, in honour of the old nobleman, who induced so many of his hardy countrymen to seek fortune in this then unknown region. North of Selkirk, between the river and its left bank, is a lagoon of a mile in length, now the resort of wild fowl, but destined to be a harbour and dockyard for the lake shipping. A beautiful wooded island is at its northerly end. We come in sight of St. Peter's Church, in the parish now called Dynbvor. Eight miles above, on the east highland, before the river forms three branches and is lost in the lake, is the site of the prospected town of Peguis, which may wait further notice from the historian of the future. Yet this region above Selkirk is already no terra incognita, A steamboat was launched on the i 1 i' II n 182 TEE PRAIRIE PROVINCE. V t:'; ! ' '■ '., ' k », ■ ', t i:,!. M 'tiis irii'H lake near by, and made her trial trip during my stay in the Province. Arrangements are also being made by the Government and the Company to place vessels of light draught on Lakes Manitoba and Winnipegosis. In July, 1875, the Company's steamer " Northcote " successfully made her first trip to Edmonton, on the Saskatchewan. But little blasting and dredging is needed to make the river easily navigable for larger crafts from Winnipeg to the lake of that name. Over the prairie and through woods and willow bushes of some growth, to the west of the river, we push oui- way some seven miles, seeking the Clandeboye settle- ment and Muckle's Creek. A wild, rolling land, in which many fat catcle and a flock of a hundred sheep are graz- ir.^ ; prairie chickens start up under the horses* feet, and hawku circle above them. Passing the track of the great road as surveyed, on the now proposed route through the Narrows of Lake Manitoba, and under the telegraph wire, we come in two miles more to the houses and barns of Messrs. Alexander Muckle, J.P., and Robert Muckle, a beautiful and romantic place, uniting the desiderata of good land, prairie, wood and water privileges. The creek that passes through the estate is twenty feet in depth and navigable by Red River steamers. On its bank, within gunshot of the house, were wild duck and plover. A hawk flew down almost at our feet and tried to carry ofl" one of Miss Minnie's chickens. He last rested on a tree near by, whence he fell screaming, pierced with deadly lead from Mr. A. Muckle's gun. His wings are I li i '' i stay in ) by the of light [n July, essfuUy 3hewan. ake the lipeg to bushes ish oui" settle- i which e graz- iet, and le great igh the egraph i barns ickle, a rata of 3 creek )th and within er. A I carry ted on 1 with gs are RURJLL HOMES. 183 now spread in our sanctum far away from the fatal tree. We refer thus to the beautiful home of these kind friends and their amiable mother, as there are many readers in Ontario, Quebec and elsewhere who will be interested in learning of their happiness and prosperity. This, too, furnishes a ready example of one of the thous- ands of choice sites for rural homes, with rich grain, mea- dow and pasture land, that lie ready for the ind astrious immigrant. jii 4 I i •' 1 [ ' fli' r- I ! CHAPTER XII. THE HUDSON RAY OOMPANY — THE SELKIRK SETTLEMENT — TlfK FTR THADK— NOHTHEUN NIMROT)S — THE NORTH-WEST (JOMPANV— FORT WILLIAM — LITTLE YORK — THE ORANDE I'ORTAOE — EARL SELKIRK - B(»LI) ADVEVTURERS — WAR OF 1812 — Sl'EEf'H OF MR. I'AWSON, M.P.P. — FIOHT AT FROO PLAINS — FALL OF GOVERNOR SEMPLEAND PARTY — TRIALS AT YORK AND QUEBEC IN 1818— SONO OF PIERRE FALCON — DE REINHARD's CASE — ASSINIBOINE A (JROWN COLONY — ITS POPULATION — UNION OF THE COMPANIES — EFFECT ON IN- DIANS AND OTHERS — EVIDENCE OF COL. CROFTON AND ADMIRAL BACK — f;OVERNORS AND JUDGES OF ASSINIBOIA— THE GOODS TRADE — HARD BARGAIN — STATISTICS OF TRADE — ST. PAUL AND ST. LOUIS GET A SLICE. m ! 1** 1 The chronicles of the fur trade in the North-west are di- vided into four periods : — First. From the Treaty of Utrecht in 1714 to 1763, in the hands of the French ; Second, From 1563 to 1821, when the Canadian and the English companies held joint and rival sway ; Third, From 1821, when the companies united, until 1870, when the North-west became part of the Dominion ; Fourth, The present period, in which the company's trade in land and goods will equal or exceed its fur trade, the last hav- ing ceased to be a monopoly. The history of this trade is full of romance and adven- ture. It was carried on by men who feared exposure, hardship anp danger as little as did those who, seeking a KAllLY FUR TUADKUS ; (iUANl) I'OllTAfiE. l.S. •UK FUR — FORT SELKIRK F'AWSON, ll'LEAXD F PIERRE COLONY T ON IN- \DMIRAL DS TRADE AND ST. are di- eaty of French ; ian and Third, 0, when Fourth, in land LSt hav- adven- :posure, eking a short way to El Dorado, braved the open Polur sua. It was he«,'iui l>y French adventurers hefore the American Revol- ution. Sir Alexander Mackenzie, in his history of this trade, jiublished in 1801, remarks that it recjuires less time tor a civilized peoj)le to deviate into the manners and customs of savage life, than for savages to rise into a state of civilization. Such was the event with those who accompanied the natives on their hunting or trading excursions, they he- came attached to the Indian mode of life, and l late Premier of Canada, and by Archbishop Tachd, of St. Boniface. This was in 1731, He penetrated west to the Swan River and Saskatchewan regions, and was soon followed by others. Says Mackenzie, page XI, " The Hudson's Bay Com- pany in the year 1774, and not till then, thought proper to move from home to the east bank of Sturgeon Lake, in latitude 53 deg. 56 min. north, and long. 102 deg. 15 min. west . . . From this period to the present time* they have been following the Canadians to their ditferent establishments." At page LXXIII, he says: " The Fronch had two settlements upon the Saskatchewan, long before and at the conquest of Canada, the first at the Pasquia, near Carotte River, and the other at Nepawi, where they had agricultural implements and wheeled carriages." Much ill-will towards the English had been instilled into the Indians by the French, and for some years after tlie cession of Canada to England, fear of the aborigines de- fc. I TEi: NORTH-WEST COMPANY. 189 of the rly to long: I from (1 to so 3h has nan of d and of this hat of a, and 1731, piewan Oom- 3roper ke, in )g. 15 time- f'erent ronch efore' iquia, they ges." into • the s de- terred the English from going far into the country and the fur trade languished. Good prices were a strong inducement, and in twenty years an army of traders and of their employees were so again engaged. The young men of Canada looked to em- ])loyment in this trade as their surest means to advance- ment and competency. In the year 1793 the merchants engaged in the trade formed, says Mackenzie, a junction of interests, under the name of the North West Company. The management was entrusted to Messrs. Benjamin and Joseph Frobisher and Mr. Simon McTavish. Mr. Peter Pond was after- wards added to their number. The trade was so consoli- dated and directed by able men, and the company thus formed was for thirty-eight years, and till its consolida- tion with the Hudson Bay Company, one of the most powerful combinations in Canada. Their trade was car- ried in schv^oners on the great lakes. The old French posts and forts were in their hands. Fort William, on the Kaministiquia, became one of the most important of their forts. In its ancient store-rooms, which have wooden or stone walls as thick as those of the old houses in Quebec, may still be seen arms of ancient make, gilt knee and shoe buckles, and other dress articles such as the partners, commanders and other officers of the Com- pany in the time of the Georges wore. A high [)alisade, of posts set on end, surrounded the enclosure, and was only removed, and replaced by a neat [)icket fence, within a few years by the present officer in charge. The ser- i i HI Ill » . '; 190 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE. |i|i Mi 1 ' ' 1 ■ ' '■ .■ 1 \ l;; . ' i i ; If ) i I vants of this Company were estimated at 5,000 men, with sixty trading posts, in 1815. They passed along the North shore, through the Village of Penetanguishene, and County of Simcoe, down Yonge Street, the main entry to Toronto (then Little York) from the north, and which roadway they helped to construct, as by it their goods often found their way to Lake Ontario. Our chart of the region between Lake Superior and Manitoba, shews the course of the old voyageurs westward from the Grand Portage ; following the Rainy Lake and river stretches. The international boundary now pursues this route, running, in an arbitrary course, across the Lake of the Woods to the North- West Angle, then falling southerly till it strikes parallel No. 49. Part of the lake, and of the land on its western shore, is thus put under the American flag. We have no arrangement with that nation to hinder their erecting a fort or custom-house on this important projection into our territory, nor any pro- vision to facilitate improvements, or management of the water courses. As the country settles and this route increases in im- portance, a new difficulty, such as that of the Haro straits, may arise. We humbly hope that the next noble and learned commissioners v/ho undertake to negotiate trea- ties, in which Canada is concerned, will have more accu- rate knowledge of the geography and history of the regions in question than did those who, acting on imperial instructions, and, so far as their limited knowledge guided them, in imperial interests, have heretofore settled our TREATT-MAXING ; WAH OF 1812. 191 international boundaries, by giving away whatever was in dispute, or specially coveted. "But, to return to the story, In 1788, says Mackenzie, the gross amount of the ad- venture for the year did not exceed £40,000, but, by the exertion, enterprise and industry of the proprietors, it was brought, in eleven years, to triple that amount and upwards, yielding proportionate profits, and surpassing, in short, anything known in America. In 1798, the shares were increased to forty-six, and new partners were admitted. Most of the furs were sold in England. Some were sent to China and the East through the United States, or in ships of the East India Company, and traded for tea and other commodities ; but a loss of £40,000 was experienced in the latter venture in the four years pre- ceding 1796. The employees of the North West Company had no insignificant part in the war of 1812. A military |tost, for the protection of the fur trade, was established by order of the Company and General Brock, on the Island of St. Joseph, in Lake Huron, under command of Captain Roberts. On the fifteenth of July, Roberts set out with his little army of forty-two regulars, three artillerymen and one hundred and sixty voyageurs, half of whom only were armed with guns, and two hundred and fifty Indians. On the seventeenth, they landed near Mackinac, which was garrisoned by sixty soldiers under command of Lieutenant Hancks. The garrison was summoned to surrender, which they did with little delay. Apart from the value I 1!):^ THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE. J r lir ' i ( i i l\ :i!t ! iii;! I , of the acquisition in itself, says the historian McMillan, the occurrence had an excellent effect in retainina' the North West Indians in the British interests. In an interesting debate as to the north westerly boundary of Ontario, in the Legislative Assembly at Toronto, on the 4th of February, 1876, Mr. S. J. Dawson, uiuiuber for Algoma, thus refers to this great partner- shi)» : *' At the time of the formation of this Company, there were in Canada a number of men remarkable for their energy and enterprise ; many of them were the descend- ants of those whose fortunes had been lost at CuUoden, and even some of the Scottish chiefs who had been pre- sent at that memorable conflict, were then in the country Thev were men accustomed to adventure, and had been trained in the stern school of adversity. They joined the North West Company, and soon gave a different com- ])lexion to the affairs of the North West. Under their management order succeeded to the anarchy which had prevailed under the French regime. Warring tribes and rival traders w^ere reconciled. Trading posts sprung up on the Saskatchewan and Unjiga ; every post became a centre of civilization, and explorations were extended to the shores of the Arctic Sea and the coasts of the Pacific Ocean. It has been tie custom to ascribe to the Hudson's Bay Company the admirable system of management which brought peace and good government to the then distracted regions of the North- West, but it was due to these adventurous Scotchmen. Sir Alexander Mackenzie --==-14=- THE X. Y. COMPANY; THE HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY. 193 traced out the great river which now bears his name, and was the first to cross the Rocky Mountains and reach the Pacific Ocean. Fraser followed the river now called after him, and, a little later, Thompson crossed further to the south and reached Oregon by the Cc^liim- bia." It will be seen in another chapter that on the da\- in which this discussion took place in T I'onto, an impor- tant constitutional change was made at Winnipeg — the abolition of its Upper House or Legislative Council. Disagreements arose, in time, among the partners and some of them, among whom were Sir Edward Ellice and Sir Alexander Mackenzie, formed another, styled the X. Y. Company. This only increased the causes of trouble among the adherents, and had a bad effect on the trade and evil example to the Indians. ] IT THE HUDSON S BAY COMPANY. The famous charter incorporating Prince Rupert, Chris- topher, Duke of Albemarle, son of General Monk, to whom the race of Stuarts owed so much, William Earl of Craven, Henry, Lord Arlington — of " Cabal " fame, or in- famy — Anthony, Lord Ashley, unworthy ancestor of good Lord Shaftesbury, Sir John Robinson, and twelve others, knights, baronets, esquires and citizens, as " The Gover- nor and Company of Adventurers of England trading into Hudson's Bay for the discovery of a new passage into the South Sea, and for the finding some trade for furs HI i. i : 1 1- ,. Ill: i>. !!• iitll in 1 11 • i! 194 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE. minerals, and other considerable commodities," wa« dated the second day of May, 1670, in the twenty-second year of King Charles the Second. Judicial and executive authority was so conferred on the Company, together with the sole trade in all seas, straits, lands, &c., that lie within the entrance of Hudson's Straits, or the rivers that enter them, not already occupied by any other English subject, or other Christian Prince or State, yielding therefor two elks and two black beavers, whensoever the king or his heirs should visit the said territory. For the political history of the Hudson's Bay Company we have here no space. History tells us how the Canadian, traders spread over the Southern part of the territory and even followed up the English to the hunting grounds between the lakes and Hudson's Bay. A deadly rivalry arose. Hunters and voyageurs strove together for the mastery of important posts and hunting grounds, and blood was frequently shed. In the midst of this sad state of affairs, Lord Selkirk became Governor of the Company, and formed a scheme for settling the Red River Valley with his hardy countrymen. The first colony came in the autumn of 1812, and sottled between Fort Garry and Kildonan, the parish which we have described elsewhere, and which is five miles north of the present city of Winni- peg. These hardy Highlanders suffered for many years from the storm that raged between the two companies. The Earl had come out at the invitation of the Hudson's Bay Com- pany, and obtained an immense tract of land from them. He built a fort and store at the river bank, the name of jiii. LORD SELKIRK; TROUBLES AJVD BLOODSHED. 195 which is still preserved in that of Point Douglas, now a most important part of Winnipeg, which he till his death supplied by shipments from England of arms, ammunition, clothing and food. The foundation of the old fort may yet be traced on the Logan Estate, near the river's bank. The half-breeds and retainers of the North- West Com- |)any, with their strong French Canadian feeling, were jealous of outside interference. The new comers were twice driven to take shelter at Pembina, where was Fort Darr, a Hudson's Bay post. In their absence, their home:- were destroyed. In 1815, a large body of emigrants arrived and found their friends in \. ^verty and wretchedness. The settle- ment was for a time forsaken, some going to Hudson's Bay forts, but others toiled, with women and children, a weary journey over what is now the " Dawson route " to Fort William, thence made their way by Penetanguishene to Canada West, where their descendants may yet be found. The next year evil feelings had culminated. On the 19th of June, an encounter took place on Frog plains, between Fort Douglas and Kildonan, on the west bank of the river, in which Mr. Robert Semple, then governor of the Selkirk settlement and fort, and twenty-one others — five officers and sixteen men — of his party, were killed. At the time of this attack, Lord Selkirk was on his way to Rupert's Land, and heard of the affair when in New York. Peace had come for a time in Europe and he had induced some disbanded soldiers to follow him. His company consisted of eighty men and four officers of iHl \y f :i 190 THL PRAIRIE PROVINCE. I! li^ II 1^ the De Meuron regiment, a score of the men of tho Wat- teville regiment, and a few Glengarry men. They passed up by Penetanguishene and the North shore, and encamp- ed on the left bank of the Kaministiquia River, opposite Fort William. Here his Lordship soon found straorsilers from Red River, who had known of, and some wIk^ had suffered from, the acts of the Nor'- West Company- 's peo- ple, and who laid informations before him as a Justice of the Peace, charging a number of those in the Fort as guilty of larceny, riot and murder. There were in and about the neighbourhood of Fort William, engaged in the fur and goods trade, about two hundred French Canad- ians and half as many Indians. Lord Selkirk soon com- menced hostilities, but under cover of his office as a Jus- tice of the Peace. He had been enjoined by the Canad- ian authorities not to use the old soldiers with him in any aggressive operations. His veterans, nevertheless, with constables' warrants in their hands, arrested such of the incriminated adherents of the Company as they could seize, and when the rest took shelter within the liigh wooden palisades of the fort, they broke open the gate, their companions flocked across the river and soon took possession of the post, which they held till May, 1817. The prisoners were brought to York, now Toronto, and tried before the full Court of King's Bench, in the month of October, 1818. Before proceeding to give any details of these interesting trials, we may refer shortly to the high and patriotic, if somewhat arbitrary, character of Lord Selkirk. Desirous of securing a happy home for his TIIK SFJ.KIHK SKTTI.KMKNT. 11)7 ^ Wat- passed ticamp- pposite ai^uflers or? 10 had 's peo- ;tice of •"oi't an in and i in the Canad- 1 com- a Jus- ^anad- in any , with of the could 16 high J gate, 1 took , 1817. o, and month details le high e Lord ■or his countrymen and for those who had served in the wars iA' liis king, or were turned out of ancestral liomes hy " im- proving" landlords, who thought shee[)-fiirming more pio- titphle than tenant culture, he could find no })hu'e in Europe, as he thought, safe from the destroyer- -war. He also seems to have feared to settle near the American border, and hoped in the rich prairies of the Winnipeg basin, to find a secure home. He was lavish of both time and treasure, and yet was witness of much trouble and suffering among his faithful followers. He died in France in 1820. The territory which was granted to him by the company's deed, dated 12th June, 1811, is described thus : — " Beginning on the western shore of Lake Winnipeg at a point 32 degrees 30 minutes North latitude; thence run- ning due west to Lake Winnipegoshish ; thence in a south- erly direction through said lake, so as to strike its west- erly shore in latitude 52 degrees ; then due west to the place where the parallel of 52 north latitude intersects the west branch of Red River, otherwise called the Assiniboine River, then due south from that point to the height of land which separates the waters running into Hudson's Bay from those of the Mississip^ and Missouri Rivers; then in an easterly direction along the height of land to the source of the River Winnipeg ; thence along the main stream of those waters and the middle of the several lakes through which they pass to the mouth of the Winnipeg River, and tlience in a northerly direction through the middle of Lake Win- si . I I ; J urn TIIK IMJAIUIK I'KOVINCI-:. 'I, II 11 i' I Tiipeg to the place of bc^itiniiiL^ on tlio wcstoni slioro of that lake." It will bo noticed that a large and valuable part of this territory is now included in the limits of the State of Minnesota and Dakota Territory. That arose, as we know, as a result of treaty-making by English dii)loma- tists with our acute American cousins. In 1830, the Company repurchased from Lord Selkirk's heirs, for £84,000, the ])art of the land to which they laid title, being that above described, with the exception of portions meantime deeded to settlers. Lord Selkirk, during his stay, obtained a valuable ces- sion from the Indians by treaty, made on the eighteenth of June, 1817, with the five chiefs of the Crees and Chip- pewas. Two miles on either side of Red River, from its mouth to Red Lake River, now in Minnesota ; and the like extent on either side of the Assiniboine, from its junction at Fort Garry to Muskrat River, were given up to the settlers. This land is now marked on the map and known as the "Old Settlers' Belt." In Indian par- lance, this belt was described as the distance, on either side the rivers, that might be seen under a horse's belly. The Indians always asserted, when any question arose as to the terms of this transaction, that they, or their fathers, only agreed to give Lord Selkirk a lease for twenty-two years. The treaties made with them, since the creation of Manitoba, have put an end to such discus- oxwiio. ^gj, SELKIRK CAUSES CELEBRES. Detailed accounts of the proceedings in these then ex- ) i THK SKLKFRK CAFSKS CKLKIMn'.S. l!)0 loro of of til 19 tate ol' as wc plonia- ilkirk's icy laid Dtion of ble ces- hteenth d Chip- rom its xnd the rom its iven up le map ian par- ler side tn arose or their Base for n, since discus- ihen ex- citin<,' and celebrated, hut now iilniusl loiMot(rn, luit yet important trials, arc ^dvcn in two rare Ijooks |)ul)lisl»c(l in Montreal, in 1819. The indictments were iind(»r jMitliority of an Act passed in the forty-third year of (Jcorore the 'I'hird, whereby cognizance of offences committed witliin the Indian territories, or ()arts of America not ivlthin the limits of Upper or Lower Canada, or of any civil govern- ment of the United States of America, was given to Lower Canada ; but the Governor of that Province was autho- rised, when convenience and justice so required, to trans- mit any persons (;harged with such offence to Upper Can- ada, for trial there. The Court was presided over by Chief Justice Powell, find Judges Campbell and Boulton. The Crown counsel were Attorney-General (afterwards Chief Justice), Sir John Beverley Robinson, niid Solicitor- General H. J. Boulton. Messrs. Samuel Sherwood, L. P. Sherwood, and W. W. Baldwin, father of the Hon. Robert Baldwin, were counsel for the prisoners. As related in the ev'dence of the case against Paul Brown and Francois F. Bouolier, the story is a sad and cruel one. Governor Scmple, learning of the approach of the half-breeds, and that they had arrested three of his men, hastily left Fort Douglas with about thirty in his party, to go towards the settlement at Kil- donan. They were soon met on Frog Plains by the half- breeds on horseback, instigated by the North West Com- pany. Angry words passed between Semple and Francois F. Boucher. Semple ordered his followers to arrest i' 200 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE. Ill; am fV ^'i t :;ih3 1' 1 ■ 1 1^ Bouchei", who slid oft* his hoiso and ran away. The men on either side were vaiiously armed with guns, tomahawks, bows, arrows and spears. Two shots were fired, by which Mr. Semple and Mr. Holte,his lieutenant, who was by him, fell. The first shots might have been accidental, but their report and the sight of blood raised a savage desire for ruthless extirpation. Immediately a volley was poured in, by which nearly all the Selkirk party were killed or wounded, as they had gathered round the Governor and Mr. Holte. Michael Heden one of the company, and the most important witness for the Crown, in his evidence says : " I was very much frightened when I saw Mr. Holte and Governor Semple fall. A short time after, I saw the wounded men crying for mercy, but the half-breeds rode up to them and killed them. Their bodies were, by friendly Indians, brought into Fort Douglas next day fearfully mutilated. The attack- ing party was under Cuthbert Grant, a Scotch half-breed, and a chief clerk of the North-West Company." John Priichard, one of Semple's followers, tells how he saw Lieutenant Holte fall ; also, Sinclair, Bruce, and Mc- Lean. Captain Rogers ran towards the attacking party, calling out that he surrendered and praying them to spare his life. Thomas McKay, a half-breed, shot him through the head, and another Bois-brul^, ripped him open with a knife. The half-breeds were painted in a hideous manner, and as they attacked gave the war whoop, like Indians. Pritchard was insulted and threatened, but his life was spared at his earnest entreaty. Cuthbert Grant told him SURRENDER OF FORT DOUGLAS. 201 that his party had intended to surround Fort Douglas and shoot all who ventured out. A peremptory surrender was insisted on, and Pritchard carried this message as Grant's ultimatum to the fort. Mr. McDonnell was, after Semple fell, in command, and seeing resistance futile, this was agreed to. An inventory was taken of the property, which was signed by Grant, to whom the fort was aban- doned, on the twenty-second ; the Hudson Bay people proceeding down the river to a Hudson Bay fort on Lake Winnipeg. Cuthbert Grant was one of the four chiefs of the half- breeds, the others being Bostonnais Pangman, Wm. Shaw and Bonhomme Montour. In 1816, there was no house but Fort Douglas at Bed River ; the others were burned down by the Nor- West Company's half-breeds, and the settlers, em]">loyed in the day time on their lands, used to come up to the fort by the river's bank to sleep. The evidence of the witness Heden, who was a black- smith, was impeached, especially as to his statement that the Bois-brul^s fired first, and it was alleged that he had said : " We cannot blame the half-breeds, for our side fired first, and if we had gained the day we should have done the same, or as bad, to them." Chief Justice Powell charged the Jury, who, after some deliberation, gave a ver- dict of not guilty. Similar verdicts were given in the other cases, among which we may only mention that against John Cooper imd Hugh Bannonnan, charged with stealing cannon from m ' !* 1 V \ i i "^ ! s:i! f "■'l Iff ll I ■ r I'i 202 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE. the dwelling house of Earl Selkirk, on the third of April, 1815. Much latitude seems to have been given in the admis- sion of evidence at the trials. It showed clearly an ex- asperated state of feeling — that the people went about armed, and that hostile rivalry between the two com- panies existed. Earl Selkirk did not appear at the trials at York. He seems to have felt, and probably with reason, that public feeling in Canada in favour of the Nor'-West Company, would be too strong for him and his cause An interesting discussion as to the boundary of Upper Canada, now Ontario, is reported. These proceedings, and those in the trial at Quebec, soon to be referred to aftbrded ground for the argument advanced by some, that the whole of the present Province of Manitoba, and much more to the west, and between it and Hudson's Bay, might of right have been claimed as part of the great Province of Ontario. This and other interesting matters will soon be submitted to the arbitration agreed on between that Province and the Dominion. TRIALS AT QUEBEC. til ; j ■ 1 4 5 ;! - . 'j 1 , 1 \ '' 'l ^ 4 ■ ' U & k. Two other trials, arising out of the same troubles, took place before Chief Justice Sewell and Judges Perrault and Bowen, at Quebec, in May and June, 1818. Charles de Reinhard, formerly a sergeant in the De Meuron regiment, who had entered the service of the North West Company, having, with Mainville, a half-breed, arrested *J>w<^ MURDEll OF OWEN KEVENY. 203 Owen Keveny, an intelligent retainer of the other Com- pany, murdered him in a dastardly manner in the dalles of the Winnipeg river, near Rat Portage. Enquiry was made for Keveny, when the murderer answered that he would not return again, that he was well hid — " il nc re- viendra plus, il est hien caehS." De Reinhard was found guilty, and sentenced to death in the old fashioned man- ner, including the direction that his body be anatomised — a thoughtful provision for the medical profession. Exception was taken to the ruling of the Court on the trial, that the dalles of the Winnipeg were not in Indian territory, but within the limits of Upper Canada, and so not under the cognizance of the Court. The judges delayed the execution of the sentence un- til the opinion of the Imperial authorities could be ob- tained. They seem to have disagreed with the Quebec Court. The result was that De Reinhard was released from custody. The facts and the stigma still remain. The only excuse he could allege was, that he acted under orders from his superiors, and that was, in those rude times, too often consideued sufficient to justify any acts by the faithful servants of the Company, however unlawful or cruel. The other case was that of Archibald McLellan, a partner in the North- West Company, who was charged as an accessory to the murder of Keveny. He was ac- quitted by the jury. Cuthbei't Grant and Joseph Cadotte seem not to have been brought to trial. Owing to the destruction of tlic Canadian Parliamentary documents by ^>m^ 204 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE. * '■ i i [ il' I i I i N fire in Montreal, and to the like loss of the Quebec Court records, it has been a matter of difficulty to trace the post verdict proceedings accurately. Through the kind offices of Colonel Gugy, of Quebec, a search in the records kept in the gaol of that city has been made, and the following entries found there, viz. : — " Charles de Reinhard, Archi- bald McLellan, Cuthbert Grant, Joseph Cadotte, com- mitted on the 19th March, 1818. By virtue of a writ of habeas corpus, removed from the common gaol of the City and District of Montreal therein detained under a charge by a bill of indictment found against them for having unlawfully and maliciously, and of their malice aforethought, killed and murdered Owen Keveny, in the Indian territory." All but De Reinhard were bailed on the 4th of April, 1818, by order of the Court of King's Bench. As this record shows, which continues thus : De Reinhard was, " by the Court of Oyer and Terminer, sentenced to be hanged on Monday, the first of June. Respited till 26 June ; second respite 2nd October ; third respite ,first Friday in March next. On the 10th October, 1821, pardoned by His Royal Highness." This was n the second year of the reign of George the Fourth. These trials were long and ably conducted. Attorney - General Uniacke and Solicitor-General Marshall appeared for the Crown in both cases. Messrs. George Vanfelson, Andrew Stuart, and Valliere de St. Real were counsel for the prisoners. The most remarkable feature brought out in the evidence is, that the so-called savages were less bloody than the Metis, or as they are more generally M" DE REJN hard's TRIAL ; PIERRE FALCON's SONG. 205 called the Bois-hruUs, and white employes of the con- tending companies. A band of Ojibways, in 1815, aided and guarded the poor Selkirk settlers to the fort on Lake Winnipeg and hindered their utter destruction at Red River, when that seemed inevitably decreed by the bar- barous half-breeds in the interest of the North West Com- pany. Keveny was found by his intending murderers living and trading happily among the Indians. He was made prisoner and carried away beyond their observation, and then murdered with Mainville's gun and De Rein- hard's sword. '* Make the prisoner believe that he is going to Lac la Pluie ; we cannot kill him here among the Indians," said one conspirator to the other. When tiiey had got to where the river makes an elbow, an ex- cuse was made for the party to go on land. Then De Reinhard said to Mainville, " We are far enough from the Indians; you may tire when he comes near enough to embark." The murder was then committed and the body hidden in the woods. After the onslaught, in which Governor Semple fell, the colony was dispersed ; Init, on the arrival of the old soldiers — some of whom ])reccded and some went in with his lordshiji — it gathered again. The Earl died in France in 1820. A union of tlie two companies was brought about the next year through the agency of Sir Edward Ellice and Lord Bathurst. The dis- turbing element being removed, ])eace was restored. We are indebted to Professor Bryce, of Manitoba Col- lege, for the following translation or paraphrase of a curi- ous fragment of Bois-brul^ literature celebrating the i ■ M Af 20() THE PRAIRIK PllOVINCE. % U. I* Battle of Frog Plains. It was the extempore production of Pierre Falcon, an almost entirely illiterate half-breed, composed, it is said, and sung as he rode away after the battle. This old bard was living in the Province till within a recent period, had a small official position under the Hudson's Bay Company, and is said to have been re- spected by his people. Our readers may find the original French words and an interesting article on the settlement in the Gaiiadiau Monthly Magazine for 1874, p. 279 : — SONG WRITTEN BY PIERRE FALCON. " Come listen to this song of truth ! A song of the brave Bois-brul^s, Who at Frog Plain took three captives, Strangers come to rob our country. *' When dismounting, there to rest us, A cry is raised — the English ! They are coming to attack us, So we hasten forth to meet them. " I looked upon their army, They are motionless and downcast ; So, as honour would incline us, We desire with them to parley. " But their leader, moved with anger, Gives the word to fire upon us ; And imperiously repeats it, Rushing on to his destruction. " Having seen us pass his stronghold. He had thought to strike with terror The Bois-brules : ah ! mistaken. Many of his soldiers perish, duction f- breed, fter the Qce till 1 under )een re- original tlement !79:— (( (( UNION OF THE COMPANI?:S. 207 But a few escaped the slaughter, Rushing from the field of battle, Oh, to see the English fleeing ! Oh, the shouts of their pursuers ! Who has sung this song of triumph ? The good Pierre Falcon has composed it, That the praise of these Bois-brules Might be evermore recorded." The North Vv est Company was not incorporated, nor had they any charter save the agreement of the partners. They claimed no territorial rights, but those of landlords of the sites actually occupied. They had no courts, nor did their officers claim judicial powers beyond those of justices of the peace, which some of them held by ap- pointment of the Canadian Executive. The Hudson's Bay Company cannot be considered to have acquired, when this North West Company joined it, any further exten- sion of territorial authority than the latter Company en- joyed, which was subservient to Canada. The Hudson's Bay Company's operations were long con- fined to the regions north of the Manitoba lakes. They did not enter the Saskatchewan valley till shortly before 1780, nor the Red Uiver valley before 1805, and yet, when Canada came to treat for the occupation and settle- ment of the great Fertile Belt, she was asked to consider that the claims of the Company thereto wei'e valid, as if it had been all occupied by them since 1G70, and the |)rice demanded was in the like proportion, and finally agreed to, as we shall now briefly explain. Wc refer to this as if if ,: 208 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE. m m\ Hr V ,', if » t I a matter of historical int' rest. The contract has been made, some details only have yet to be completed. Among these is the laying off reserves round many important posts ; a matter which the public should regard with in- terested vigilance. This union of contending parties was a fortunate thing for all concerned. The united Company was so enabled to put more restraint on their own employees, and, by p.xample and police, preserve better order among the In- dians and half-breeds. Causes of dispute still sometimes arose. In 184(), Colonel J. F. Crofton was sent from England to Red River, with eighteen officers and three hundred and twenty-nine men, under secret instructions, and re- mained more than a year. They were intended to ward against threatened Indian troubles and to deter filibus- tering expeditions from Canada and the States. This little army went by Fort York, and thence by boats up Lake Winnipeg and Red River. The evidence of Colonel Crofton, as given before a Committee of the Imperial House of Commons, on 19th May, 1857, is valuable, being that of a disinterested wit- ness. Still living in mature old age but totally blind, and now of the rank of Lieut-Gen. in the British army. We refer to it shortly. He says : '' Since the junction of the two Companies, the issue of spirits in barter for fur gradually ceased, and I think about ten j^ears before I arrived in the colony, it had altogetner ceased ; and from that time the Indian lace were increasing, as shown J has been Among mportant with in- ate thing enabled and, by the In- )metimes England hundred and re- to ward r filibus- 3s. This boats up before a on 19th sted wit- ly blind, sh army, junction arter for rs before ed ; and IS shown EVIDENCE OF COLONEL CROFTON AND ADMIRAL HACK. 209 by the census : before that they had l)een decreasing. 1 am sure that justice was practically administered — there was no crime. T attribute this to the absence of spirits. " I tliink," he adds, " the Hudson's Bay Company's oth- cers have an experience of natives — half-breeds and In- dians — that no other body can have, and I think they managed them exceedingly well." The Comj.a'xy's gov- ernment of Red River he characterized as patriarchal in every sense. A question (No. 3334) asked this witness was: "What do you suppose would be the result of having any loose form of government among the Indians ? " He answered : " I think they would kill one another. The Americans would soon use them up if they were there." Rear Admiral Sir George Back, who accompanied Sir John Franklin and Sir John Ross in some of their expe- ditions, and spent much time at Hudson's Bay Company's posts, says before the same committee : " The Indians seemed always to feel that they could fall back upon the clemency and the benevolence of the white man, at any extremity. The feeling of the Indians towards the officers of the Company was very good. I never knew an instance to the contrary." Colonel Crofton also expressed a high opinion as to the fertility of the country. The climate he thought not more severe than that of Upper Canada. '' The season opens about the first week in April and closes about the middle of November."..." The finest weather is what is 210 THE I'UAIIUE PROVINCE. t^ \u lifeMI rallod tlic Fall, wliicli cxtenils from August to the middle of Noveiubcr." To question 3201, " Had you an opportunity of seeing any agriculture while you wore there if" he answered: — "A great deal. They grew oats, barley, and wheat chief- ly, but all sorts of vegetables. The wheat ripened in ninety days from sowing. It ripened very perfectly. It was the finest I ever saw." He goes on to speak of the extent of the fei'tile region as being the prairie land from Red River to the base of the Rocky Mountains. "It is," he says, "fit for agricul- ture. It might maintain millions." It is unnecessary to cite the evidence of the author of " The Groat Lone Land " and other travellers further to prove the friendly feeling that has ever existed in the natives towards the officers of the Company, and which will doubtless remain. As long as the region is under the sway of Canada just and liberal treatment will surely be enforced and have its reward. The control of the Company's affairs was vested by the charter in a Governor, Deputy-Governor and five Direc- tors, annually elected in London by the stockholders. Their powers in Rupert's Land were exercised by a Gover- nor, the same person often holding office for many years. Sir George Simpson was the first appointed after the union in 1821, and held office till his death, in 1860. Mr. Alexander Grant Dallas succeeded him, and was followed by Mr. Wm. McTavish, in 1864. Mr. Donald A. Smith, M.P. for Selkirk, is now Governor of the Company. (JOVKliNcmS, .iri)f}KS, AND IM'IOF'LK OK ASSINII'.ni A. 211 he middle of seeinsf iwered : — Gtat chief- ipeiied in ectly. It ile region base of ' agricuJ- uthor of irther to d in the id which is under ill surely i by the e Direc- :holders. ^ Gover- y years, ■ter the 0. Mr. ollowed Smith, 7- Till IS.'J}) the (iovcriior wns Judw sdso. A Ki'coniiM' was then apjiointcd, Mr. Abram Thom, who presided till lcS54, with some intermission, during \/hich Colonel Caldwell, in chnrgc of somc! ti'oops at the sottlenicnt, acted with much ability. Mr. Frank (Jodshali Johnson, a Montreal lawyer, was next Governor of Assiniboia and Recorder ; then Dr. Bunn, who was ecpially skilled in law and physic. Judge John Black was ajipointcd in 18()2 and held office till the creation of thy Province of Manitoba, when the appointment or its Judges came under the control of the Dominion Government, as stated in another chapter. The population of the colony in 181G is stated at 20'), in 1823 at GOO, in 1843 at 5,143, in 1858 at 8,000, and in the next ten years about 4,000 were added. Various families have, at different times, moved from the original site to Portage La Prairie and elsewhere in the Province. Till its entering the Canadian Confederation, the settle- ment, including fifty miles in depth east and west of the river, was ruled by the Council of Assiniboia — with the Governor of the Company, and the Recorder, at its head, and formed in every respect a Crown Colony. As Mr. Dawson argues in the speech referred to, tlie Hudson's Bay Company established this colony in conformity with the conditions of their charter. The Imperial Government- maintained troops there as it had done in Canada : it cor- responded with the Governors of that colony, both directly and through the Hudson's Bay Company, and in every way recognised it as a colony. J.I ■ ll 1 'r 5li 212 THK PIUIUli: PliOVINOK. /Vft^'i' tliti miioii of i\\o. two coiiiiKuiios tho people of tliis settloineiit were long the only whites in tiie country, save the .servants of the Company and the oucaHional mission- ary or adventurer. Their young peo[)le united in mar- riage with the natives, daughters of Cree, C^hippewa and other chiefs ; and \vc Hnd among the well-to-ch) half- breeds the names of the old Scotch Highbinders. Native instinct has led the cliildren to till the farm, while the French Metis prefers the chase. The strong fibre of the Scottish mind has not generally given way but has often raised the Indian to its own level, and many traits of character will be found in the Bois-bruMs of the North- West which seem to have V)een derived from the half-wild and sometimes cruel followers of the heroes of Waverley. Owing to the exceeding richness of the soil carelessness in farming has resulted. The same land is for many years in succession cropped with wheat. Manure used to be got rid of by burning or by drawing it to the ice that it might Hoat away. The amount of imports to the Red River settlement for a number of years before Confederation was $100,000 per annum ; but it is estimated that as much more, entering from Hudson's Bay, was distributed along the interior. On the other hand, the annual average export of furs fit)m the various possessions of the Company was at this period about $1,800,000, oi- nearly six times the value of imports to all their posts which amounted to about $300,000. The amount of cultivated land in Rupert's Land in 1866 was but 20,000 acres, as Mr. Dodds estimated in his address ii > ASSIXinOTA AND TFfK II. R COMPANY. 218 lu of this try, Huvo mission- in nuir- ewa and ;lo lialf- Nativo /hWo the •e of the las often traits of 3 North- lalf-wild '^averley. Blessness ny years id to be e that it ment for 1,000 per enteri no- interior. iva fit)m is })eriod imports i){). The 8GG was address )jc refi d to. TheC( soon to 00 reierreu to. iiie i^ompany professed to sell laud to half-breeds and other settlers at 7s. f)d. an aero, but the consideration was seldom paid, and the possession of those who did not interfere with the fur trade was not often (piestioned. Windmills were used to grind the grain, and there were then eighteen of these mills in the settlement. Mutual advantage brought about the union of the rival companies, the united Com])any so continuing till 18G9, when its im])erial sway passed by hard bargain to the Domini(tn, the company retaining its forts, trading posts, and valuable reserves round them, as also a certain amount of land in each township. It cannot be doubted that the North- West Company was of much benefit to Canada. Its catch of peltries was yearly carried to Montreal, which was one of the great fur marts of the world. The older corpora- tion having swallowed up its rival, ])elti'ies that formerly found their market in the Canadian metiopolis, were sont by way of Hudson'sBay to England. Every avenue of com munication with Canada was closed, and reports, often en- tirely false and unfavourable to the country and its trade, were spread in order to secure a continuance of the rich profits enjoyed from the monopoly. This monopoly was rigidly enforced by the ofiicers of the Company, who even assumed the right to fine and imprison the free trader who ventured to oflter a skin for sale to any but themselves. Persons still living, among them Mr. A. G. B. Bannatyne, M.P. for Provencher, were so imprisoned for trading un- licensed. The goods trade was an important pendant of the fur trade, as rigidly guarded as a monopoly. As to N t:i 214 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE. J I'l 1 1 1 ii ■ ) the •orofit and r ature of this trade, we have the words of Mr. James Dodds, in an address to the shareholders of the Company, at the London Tavern, in March, 1866 : — " Our goods trade was entirely barter, an enormous truck system, and formerly, from the ignorance of the Indians, tne disposed of our goods at twenty times their veal value. Now that this charm of our exclusive right has been dis- pelled, traders come up from the States and traverse the country, and a number of pushing and successful mer- chants have established themselves on the Red River." That " The Adventurers " and the Indians were very good friends, and that the latter were very serviceable and well managed, cannot be doubted after reading the above. The stock of the Company is reported to be ten millions of dollars. They employ as much in the fur trade. Sir Edward EUice stated in 1857 that the annual profits were twelve pci- cent. Such profits were made, though the Com- pany's affairs were conducted in an expensive manner. Much capital was sunk in the erection of the great forts, with walls and towers, several of which we have described or mentioned, and in keeping up costly establishments. Many of theseare now far away from the wilder regions in which game is found. An inexpensive trading house here and there will, now at least, answer all the requirements of the trade. Within the last score of years the merchants of Mani- toba have been successful in securing a part of this rich traffic, but with limited capital and the fear of the Company constantly before? them, their efforts were hampered till territorial jurisdiction was taken from the Company, and 3» ■wo mju i wi ii. THE FUR TRADE. 215 words of lolders of ., 1866 :— ous truck : Indians, real value. \ been dis- iverse the ssful mer- River." were very iceable and the above, en millions trade. Sir Tofits were h the Com- 7Q manner, i forts, with escribed or mts. Many IS in which 3e here and fients of the nts of Mani- >f this rich le Company impered till mpany, and the present system of legal institutions and mounted police introduced. The factors' license is now no longer requi- site ; all fur traders are on an equality. Capital is being largely embarked in this enterprise, both by traders indi- vidually and by an incorporation which revives in its name and head-quarters the Company that succumbed in 1821. Prices of furs have ranged continuallj^ with an upward tendency, while the demand is increasing. Buffalo robes which ten years ago sold for five or six dollars now sell for nearly double these figures, and there is a similar rise in the value of other furs. Access to the fur- trading regions is yearly becoming more easy and less expensive. Old voyageurs spent many months in gfiinincr points now reached in a few lays, and goods and supplies are transported from Montreal or Toronto to Winnipeo- for one-tenth the sum that their carriage by rivers, lakes, and portages cost a few years since. The saving in time is proportionately great. Canadians may, therefore, well congratulate themselves on the gain that has thus arisen to them since Confederation — or, shall v e rather say, the annual loss thus averted ? — in the recovery of at least a large proportion of this valuable trade. It would be a mistake to imagine that the spirit guid- ing the Company's affairs is changed. Though excluded from their self-asserted mono})oly of the staple article of commerce, they hold their lands in Ine exclusive spirit of persons whose interest it is to drain the country's re- sources, and not ot those having a desire to devcloj) its agricultural and other pernuinent interests. As inmiigra- |r ' I'i ' . j '"S n^ PM ■if i 1 Is' « ^^1 - ( \ ■ ! \ 1 i V. 21G THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE. tion advances and centres are formed, irritation and trouble will arise. Under article five in the deed of sur- render, the Company is entitled to one-twentieth of all land in the great Fertile Belt as it is surveyed and set out into townships. In carrying out this agreement, the Company have assigned to them, in every fifth township as surveyed, two sections, or 1,280 acres, and, in every other townshij) 560 acres ; and this applies to all lands, whether arable or mineral. All this is in addition to the sum of £300,000 stg. paid, and to the land in and around every fort or trading post occupied. What the Company pretend to have lost, as to the fur trade monopoly, they have more than gained by their treaty and statutory title to these lands which will be made yearly more and more valuable by the labour of inmiigrants, and the expenditure for public works, and opening of the country at the expense of the Dominion and Provincial exchequers. We have referred to the thousand lots, the finest pro- perty in Winnipeg, now held by this Corporation at such prices as force settlers to {)urchase further from the rivers rather than pay their figures. ]t seems quite mysterious how they obtained so large a block here, even under the terms of the statutory agreement. Some of these lots are claimed by old residents, by reason of prior occupation, and they will not tamely submit to be ejected. At Fort William we were pointed to a tract of beautiful land, on the banks of the Kaministiciuia, which the astute factor claims for the Company, and which will be rendered very THE COLOSSUS OF THE NORTH-WEST. 217 tion and ed of sur- etli of all ed and set 3ment, the township in every all lands, ion to the ,nd around to the fur 1 by their ch will be ! labour of vorks, and Dominion finest pro- Lon at such I the rivers mysterious under the ese lots are occupation, At Fort il land, on itute factor dered very valuable by the completion of the Tlumder Bay Branch of the Canada Pacific Railroad. So doubtless, it \,ill be at Fort Frances, and in each Province, Territory and District where this Corporation has the smallest post. When the immigrant gets to the forks of tlie Saskatche- wan and to the banks of the Peace River, if he find a coal mine or open an oil well, " The Adventurers' " agent will be there soon after, with a claim to the choicest locations. Well may the Manifcoban exclaim : — " He doth bestride the narrow world Like a Colossus : and we petty men Walk under his huge legs, and peep about, To find ourselves diahonourable graves ! " Other trading corporations are , generally limited as to the time during which, and the amount of land, they may hold in mortmain. This Company is untrammelled. Another hard bargain will probably be forced on the Do- minion and Manitoba, to place matters on an equitable footing. When such is made, let us hope it will be less one-sided than was the last. TABLE OF FUR TRADE SALES. The following is a comparative statement of furs sold in London by the Hudson's Bay Company and Messrs. C. M. Lampson & Co., their agents, compiled by Mr. Wil- liam Macnaughtan, fur commission merchant, New Y(jrk, and will be worth considerinir :- 14 ))i ft iii'^ 1 1 J. 21cS THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE. 1872. 1873. 1874. 1875. Beaver 204,073 165,536 173,855 185,200 Muskrat 2,828,299 2,350,643 2,253,024 1,835,593 Bear 11,645 10,683 9,710 12,102 Otter 16,086 15,817 15,460 20,107 Fisher 9,176 5,835 5,434 7,210 Marten 84,050 85,104 94,143 166,512 Mink 111,742 85,826 98,852 109,647 Silver Fox 1,147 1,275 1,237 1.515 Cross Fox 5,097 4,550 4,183 4,652 Red Fox 54,818 50,162 62,303 83,091 KittFox i;3,200 8,250 7,845 15,190 Grey Fox 19,733 22,407 19,388 25,934 Lynx 13,658 6,671 9,054 14,833 Wildcat 4,382 9,208 6,149 10,316 HouseCat 5,415 6,442 8,183 11,547 Raccoon 325,9-18 384,923 390,854 464,673 Wolf 3,475 7,981 15,729 6,075 Badger 3,256 5,076 4,94x 5,552 Opossum 106,451 167,201 133,440 166,337 Skunk 137,647 188,603 175,873 298,800 Much of the Company's trade now passes through Winnipeg. The steamers " Northcote" and " Colville" on the Saskatchewan and Lake Winnipeg, belong to the Com- pany; One other matter of importance may be well hert; referred in connection with the fur trade, viz : the market ^r grain and the necessaries of life so created, in the interior. For many .years the demand will be generally equal to the supply, as it often now far exceeds it, causing a large importation through Winnipeg and more westerly points. The settler, miller and clothier, need not wait for the steamer or railcar, but may exchange their productions for the lighter furs that will be more L* i'*^'^: AMERICAN FUK TRADERS. 219 1875. 85,200 ^35,593 12,102 20,107 7,210 66,512 09,647 1.515 4,652 83,091 15,190 25,934 14,833 10,316 11,547 64,673 6,075 5,552 166,337 }98,800 through 3" on the le Com- ^ell hei e iz : the created, will be exceeds )eg and jlothier, :change je more easy of transport, and increase in value, as they move each mile eastward. ST. PAUL AND ST. LOUIS GET A SLICE. For years before Confederation, long cp.valcades of half-breed ox and pony carts with furs for barter came annually by the Mississipi Valley to St, Paul. Hunters from the settlement, too, roamed without restraint, over the United States territory, and generally brought their peltries to Hudson's Bay oiores. In 1844, Mr. Norman W. Kittson, of St. Paul, established a trading post at Pembina. The Company strove in vain to break up his establish- ment, and went so far as to arrest Mr. Kittson for in- fringement of their chartered privileges, but did not press the charge. The trade, thus tapped, soon grew into importance. Iii 1850, $15,000 worth of fun, were sold. Five years latei they roached 840,000, at an : xpenditure of $24,000. The fur trade of St. Paul with British territory, before the time of Confederation, much exceeded $100,000 a year. On the establishment of steam navigation on Red River, by the fortunate company of which Mr. Kittson is still a director, the Pembina post was given up, and Mr. Kittson's name, as far as the fur business was concerned, disappeared in that of a St. Louis fii-m, Pirre Clioteaux & Co., who now do a large business in furs gatliered from both sides of the boundary. 1; 1 i'N' ll K i I it 'i CHAPTER XITl ACROSS THE PRAIRIE— GARRY TO FARGO — BOATMAN DO NOT TARRY ! — ST.NORBERT—DELORME's— MUSIC—RAY OF SUNSHINE— DRIVERS — — INDIANS — BLACKBIRDS — WILDACRE — WRIGHT's — A BEAUTIFUL ANIMAL— THE SENATOR SNORES — ORION — SUNRISE — ABOVE THE MARAIS — PEMBINA — " OLD MIDNIGHT's " — THE " GUTTESLAND " THE MENNON BOLD — " OLD JAKE " — CARRIE — OTHER COMPANIONS — TROUBLES BY THE WAY — SENATORIAL WISDOM — FARGO. ALO^^G RED RIVER SOUTHERLY. Our trip down the Red River has been told, and we have made the reader acquainted, to some extent, with the Dawson Route. It remains to tell of the stas^e road from the Prairie capital to the American Northern Pacific. This is the only means of access from the south-east dur- ing the cold season, and will, till railway communication be completed, be of manifest importance. The office of Carpenter & Blakely's St. Paul Stage Com- pany is near the old post office, and here, for $15 in sum- mer, while the river opposition lasts, and for $24 in win- ter, may be obtained the necessary ticket. This company carries the mail for the United States and Canada, for which service it receives something over $25,000 a year. The same company have made proposals to run stages from Winnipeg along the Assiniboine, to Fort Pelly or i 11 ii r tarry! [IIVERS — AUTIFUL OVE THE LAND )) [PANIONS we have ith the ad from Pacific. st dur- lication e Com- n sum- ri win- mpany da, for I year, stances illy or CROSSING THE ASSTNIBOTNE ; ST. NORBERT. 221 even Carlton. The careful traveller will not fail to fill ;i handbasket with provisions fir the way. At earl}^ dawn, towards the end of Auojnst, we are called, and soon find the two-horse waggon filled with men travellers. There is trouble in the stables, horses are sick, and we are to take the first fifteen miles thus, and then to get a four-horse stage the rest of the way. Oft' we go in the cool morning, a light rain falling, and the wonderful black loam sticking in lum})S to the wheels and horses' hoofs. Our way is ])ast the spot where Scott was shot, under the towers of the old Fort, and we haul up on the bank of the Assiniboine. No bridge or means of crossing is apparent, but the driver has an idea, and, like Chieftain to the Highlands bound, cries, " Boatman, do not tarry!" But long lie calls, till from the opposite bank — a hundred yards across — moves towards us an open scow. How propelled, and why it should come across at all, is a mystery. Down we slide over the mud and are on board. A little man with red- dish hair seems at once ferryman and co-traveller. His carpet bag he throws in with ours and announces that he has done with the ferry, and is oft" to the land of freedom. He shows us the modus operandi of the craft. A cable runs across from bank to bank ; attached to this by a pulley from bow and another from stern, the scow lies in the current, which is the pi-opellirig power ; the pulley rope is hauled in on the end of the boat which is desired to go forward, the rope on the other end being loosened, so the scow swino-s oft* at an angle of about thirty degrees ■ I I'll' i!-v I'l M I. III! II 222 THE PRAIUIK PIIOVINCE. 1 1 1 1 M : ;! and the current slowly pushes it over. To return, the op- posite tactics are ado])ted. At St. Boniface, over the Red River, there was, till within a few months, a similar mode of ferryage ; now a heavy wire takes the place of the rope and a hidden wheel under the vessel is moved by steam. These contrivances may do for a time, good ft)lk of Garry, but are i 3'^ no Liieuns satisfactory. Should the rope of the one give '''-V who would pull the stage and horses out of the mud int which they would soon be capsized ? Should the wire cable give way, its weight would render unmanageable and perhaps sink the St. Boniface ferry. Bridges are much needed over both rivers. The Dominion Government has offered .$25,000 towards defraying the expenses of a bridge to connect the city with the Pembina Railway station at St. Boniface, so before many months, a safe crossing will, doubtless, be pro- vided — the city contributing such further outlay as may be needed. Up the bank again, and we are in the prairie on the west side of the Red River. The chickens don't like the misty weather, and we start but one covey before reach- ing the hamlet of St. Norhert, where a diminutive mail bag is left. Near this lived relations of Riel, now spend- ing his years of banishment in New England. Roads lieavy and horses fagged, but we reach the end of the first fifteen miles' stage in time for breakfast at DELORMES. Good Pierre Delorme, come forth, and ban jour to J^' le op- Red mihir of the d by folk d the and :m he A BUFFALO-HUNTER TURNED GRAZIER. 223 you — a tall French half-breed, with curly hair tuniin«^ silvery, moustachoed but beard shaven. In early life a buffalo hunter and trader, you left, as September came on, this pretty place by the river's bank, for the far off plains, taking tents and guns, wife and family, and return- ing in the spring with pony and ox-carts laden with skins and pemniican. A tall man and large hearted— surrounded by children, from the full-grown blushing damsels with plaited hair, who prepare our breakftist, to the little tod- dler that peeps from behind a door, bv becomes more docile ere we leave. Count them, and the; /ou will see to how large a tract this good family vil] be entitled un- der the " Manitoba Act," since he and e ory pair of bright eyes among the household will get p '}) for a quarter sec- tion of as good rich meadow land as the world affords. Talk with Pierre, as he comes to the door and points to his herd of many cows, log barns and great stacks of hay. He looks across the river to cottages among the bushes, and these are his. His hay farm contains already fifteen hundred acres. He has a grade bull from the States, and has given up buffaloes to raise fat cattle for the Garry market, where they fetch good figures. He has half a dozen sheep that seemed rather lean, and were the only live mutton we saw on the road ; the long pi'airie, and sharp-pointed rye grass and low ground is not well adapted to them, but they do well in other parts of the Province and produce great fleeces. As to the fruit, he has plenty of small fruit; he had also planted some apple trees in a place sheltered with poplars, but the frost w in It 1 1 II' Pil 224 THE EMIATIITE PROVINCE. cut them down ; tl«ey Jire springing up, and ho liopos to succeed with them or witli some hardier variety in time. Good potatoes and onions were in the garden. Delorme is of plain habits, does not smoke, and shakes his head when we talk of Scott. " All right but for that," he says. He perhaps thinks of what we elsewhere heard. His brother, who dwelt in the Pembina region, had also been a trader, but offended an implacable red man, and was left by him stark dead but a year ago. Mr. Delorme was a member of the first Dominion Parliament, but gave up politics for which he had no taste. In fact, the good Bois-brul^ felt quite bewildered in Ottawa, soon resigned his seat, and went back to his home on la chere Riviere Rouge. He is, however, still one of his Honour's advi- sers, being a member of the North-west Council, as stated in a previous chapter. His house is a model of the better class of the Metis, so we will glance at it : — A story-and-a-half high, of logs, but clap-boarded with- out, having a large sitting-room, off which are half a dozen doors opening into dining-room, little parlour and bed- rooms. A table, chest of drawers, sewing machine, and half a dozen chairs with seats of wood or shagynappi, and box stove, are in the reception-room, into which the outer door opens direct. No carpets are seen — a city luxury. Neatly served, plain and substantial was our morning meal, and then we roamed about, scaring the golden plover, blackbirds and sni])e, for the stage had not yet arrived from above. The mercantile men lay down for a snooze. A pony is brought to the door, and we find it iSi. 'i^' 3S to iime. lakes hat," eard. also and oi'ino gave A KKJ) JlIVKIl FARM HOUSK. 225 saddled with a jn-ctty honic-made affaii* of skin richly wrought with beads. The senator sat or walked ahout, and smiled as he pondered on the coming greatness of the Dominion. One, more prying, opens the parlour door, and finds to his astonishment an excellent cottage piano of London make. Such an instrument nuist have some one to use it. The pretty girl with ])laited hair has milked her cows and washed the dishes. Coy and shy, with little understanding of our rude tongue, yet soon she came, did honour to the teaching of the good nuns of St. Boniface, her instructors, gave us with tine expression a " Wedding March," and was at the last notes of a " Ray of Sunshine" as the stage drew up, and we shook hands with many thanks and adieux to the fair musician and the whole family now laughing around us. The stage that has just passed down took two days and live hours from Fargo, but was heavily loaded. We left Delorme's at 10.30, and had a heavy four- horse stage with canvas cover, seating nine persons, and with room beside driver for two more. Twelve miles in this run — but there was little run in the ])oor horses. They had lived on grass only for three weeks ; oats had been sent from St. Paul, but the low water in the river had impeded the work of the " Kittson Line," and no grain could be got. Such oats as the now country had started, had fattened the " hoppers." Sadly hung the pcjor steeds' heads and angry waxed the drivers. He who first took the lines was a young fellow, and was by no means » , ^\'W I ill ll li' f, ':, r M 22n THE PUAIRIE PROVINCE. cultivated in profanity. His oaths were many and vile — attacking the parentage of the patient animals, their heads, their tails, their hoofs, the fleecy clouds that hung over them, and the black wash through which they trod — all terribly strung together. The second driver hold- ing the four lines, had a particular antipathy to the off wheeler. He breathed profanity and spat out horrid curses from between the coarse red bristles that lined his jaws. Can lie, Saxon though you call him, be of better mettle than this band of dark aborigines whom we have just passed ? They have taken down the poor smoked buffalo hide that formed their tent ; a squaw carries it and other articles in a bundle on her stooping back. Other squaws have similar loads, and strange to say, an old man with wrinkled face also bears his bundle ; but then he is not a chief or brave. Beside them trots a large black dog, having strapped on his back a buffalo robe, and seem- ing proud of the business. Still we move along the telegraph line, and always in sight of the elms that mark the river. This wire and the high posts supporting it are valued land-marks to the plain-driver, who, when untrodden snow covers the ground and fills the air, can, by driving from post to post, still keep his course. To lose the way then on the prairie might prove no matter for jest. Wild ducks are on the lakelets and streams, paying us little attention. Many cattle are passed, all feeding one way, with tails to the wind. Ponies are scattered among them, the first letter of the owner's name branded on their TllK STAGK AND ITS OCCUPA.irs. 227 1 vile their hung one haunches. But who are the passengers? First, the worthy HC!iator, who falls asleep at 11 a.m.; the ex-terry- man, who chews his (piid and thinks of home ; a young Detroit merchant traveller, who dozes off at noon ; another, who has a pet dog, with which and the .m. are oo miles from Garry, in the garden and substantial story and a-half log house of Wm. Wright, an old P]nglishman, who, with his good Cor- nish wife, has lived here for four years, Wright ])urchasod -i half-breed's claim, with the present house and barn, i'or S4()(), and took up the adjoining (]uarter section as a tVee-grant settler. Corn is in the V>«i- AT THE MARAIS. 1 came 1 found ind ox- lift the atching Seven icre, an en pio- cleus of y had a ly rich side of nber of front a twenty :)f Mcn- From js trade Marai.s h inn 11- 1 Garry, lOuse of L)d Cor- ]"> resent Ijoining in the garden in tassel, but turned brown and dead by the late frost, potatoes growing well but tops nipped. The 'hop- pers were here three days . and destroyed sixteen acres of grain. They darkened the air and covered the ground The only wild animals that touch his fowl and pigs are an occasional fox or prairie wolf The sunset was very fine this evening. For hours the mists had been rising from the distant margin of the prairie in wonderful shapes, making cities, palaces and castles of snowy whiteness. Over them was the rich splendour of the sunlight break- ing through thick clouds of every conceivable form, colour and shade, and between them and above was the expanse of deep, deep blue. The stage had not come, so we took tea, fanned off the mosquitoes, talked of 'hoppers, of In- dians, of half-breeds, of game, and of the " husky " dogs. A squaw worked silently about the house. But what is that pretty animal that comes with a driver ? His general build is that of a colley dog, yet the head, with its ears and beautiful restless brown eye, was, as was the tail, that of the fox or wolf. His legs and feet were small and well made. He was playful yet snappish, and quick to turn and run when attacked. His colour, a tawny white. He, with four others, were, when pups, brought in by an Indian to Norway House, and said to be the cross offspringof wolf and fox ; we surmised, however, that an Esquimaux dog, rather than a wolf, had been one of the jnirents. Crosses between wolf and dog are not un- common among the Indians, the Oreos especially, and in the far off Hudson Bay forts, are said to be unequalled in I If 1^ 230 THE PIIAIRIE PROVINCE. strength, fierceness and endurance, and are therefore used in making long sled journeys. Then the travellers tell us of the storks they have shot on the upper waters of the river flowing beside us, of the cranes of the Sand hills, the bitterns of Scripture that may be seen running and playing with each other near Otter Lake — cunning fellows, that can count up to ten, but if one man out of a loss company leaves the waggon, in hopes of crawling up his absence from his comrades, is remarked by the watch- ful birds, and away they go to the liead waters of the Mississippi, So passes the evening till bed time. The good senator takes a couch, the ex-ferryman retires to the stage coach, the others get a big mattress and quilts on the floor ; mosquitoes, the pet dog and cat, the dog that is half wolf and half fox, and visions of prairie wolves trouble for a time, but soon comes "nature's sweet restorer." The senator snores, we follow the timely example, nor wake till we hear the stage hoi'ses' bells in the early morning. ABOVE THE MARAIS. The Pleiades were up, watching the silent air ; The seeds and roots in earth were swelling for summer fare, —Keats. Orion was guarding the west. For an hour yet tlie skirmishers of old Sol appear in the eastern horizon. Then he himself lea})s out very red and large, rises with balloon-like vault above the green edging of Red River, drives through a skirting of white clouds and soars into the clear blue sky. Wo pass a canij) of Indians, twelve tents picturesquely grouped, men, women, children and tiv v^^. PEMBINA ; MENNONITES. 281 jfore used ellers tell waters of the Sand 1 running —cunning n out of a awling up he watch- ;ers of the ime. The tires to the lilts on the that is half trouble for ,orer." The , nor wake y morning. er fare, —Keats. ur yet tlie !rn horizon. 3, rises with Red River, [ soars into ans, twelve liildrcn and ponies scattered here and there ; also more Mennle of men lying on a ludr hrd in one corner, who got up and made known to the female department thathungry visitors would soon he with tliem. The place was new and very poorly provided. Tlirowing myself on a mattress I waited. Soon in came the Mer- cantiles, then the smart boy, lastly old Jake, canying Carrie, followed by her mother. The team had entirely given in, were unhitched and led to the station. Jake roused a pair of stout oxen and was otl' for the w^aggon, which the stout beasts pulled up in time. Tlie Mennon- ites had remained stationary, puffing their meerschaums — good old Midnights ! The senator had settled in his mufflers to a nap, when an inquisitive gopher jumped on his knee and spoiled his slumbers, The ex-ferryman, too, slept and dreamed of the scow on the Assiniboine. Our stopping place was where the Upper Marais joins the Red River. After midnight we were off with fresh horses, all but the driver inside the coach, making ourselves as comfort- able and getting as many naps as possiVjle. The eleventh statreofhorsesbrouo'htus to Grand Forks. The Red River is here joined by its second largest tributary, the Red Lake River, much increasing its volume. Here the Kitt- son line of boats have their repairing and dock yarrls. A pretty village, with prairie behind, wood and river in front. A number of Chip])ewa tents were in sight. Their owners, with tomahawks in hand, and some with faces striped with paint, were sitting in blankets round the 288 TUK PRATRIK PROVTNrE. 11 i Hudson Uay store, tlio only <»no now in this rcoion, sctutli of the lino, tluis sliowing their contidcnee, wliicdi is uni- versal among the tribes, in the great Company. Soon we pass large fields, some in fallow ])reparing for spring graiJi ; in others tine crops of wheat were being cut with horse- machines. The twelfth run of twenty-two miles brought us to Frog Point at tea time. Goose River was reached before ten p.m. We see good fields of wheat and potatoes, We listen to Gidley's stories ; learn wisdom from the senatoi' — the ex-ferryman and smart boy togetlier promise to give up the use of the " weed," so well had the senator discoursed, in that kind and mellifluous manner that be- comes him, of its baneful effect. Brightly shone the sun of the Sabbath morning ; many and gay were the black- birds, and merry was their whistle ; f^iir was the prjiirie, with its long grass and varied flowers, as we ended our last course from point to point of tne Queen River of the North ; came in view of the pretty town of Fargo, and were greeted by mine host of the Head Quarters Hotel. We had made the trip of about 250 miles in three days and four hours. Our last station was the sixteenth. Shall we say with Tom Hood, " The greatest pleasure of all the rout Is the pleasure of having it over." SOMtll is iiiii- m we j^rniii ; liorse- ouglit :,at()(.;s, ni the romisG lenator lat be- lie Sim black - )rairie, led our of the ^o, and Hotel. ;e days i. Shall ^, 4^ ^ IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 I.I ■so ■^™ i^H ■tt l&i 12.2 lU u lAO m 2.0 11-25 HI 1.4 I 1.6 Hiotographic Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (716) •73-4503 M 4: A •S^ :\ ;V :\ \ ^^ 4S ^\^\ 1 Im 1 1 i 1 u\ i ! ■; I • CHAPTER XIV. THE PEMBINA BRANCH— NEW CIVILIZATION — SIOUX MASSACRE OF 1802 — SPEECH OF DR. SCHULTZ — WHAT THE BISHOPS SAY — IN- DIAN REVENGE AND PLUCK — LITTLE CROW — A TEMPERANCE MISSION — NOISY GIRL — MINNESOTA CHIPPEWAS — THE TOTEMS OR INSIGNIA OF TRIBES — CUSTOMS AND NUMBERS — EASTWARD BOUND — MONTR MEN — KINCARDINE, GODERICH, SARNIA — SOLDIERING — PRACTICAL INFORMATION TO IMMIGRANTS AND TOURISTS — ADIEU. THE PEMBINA BRAJJCH. Our course has been along the Dakota or western side of the river. Tlie railway is to run on the other side. As to its prospects, a few words : — A branch of the St. Paul and North Pacific Railway already runs from Glyndon to the Red Lake river at Crookston. The directors of this road have agreed to recommend its immediate com- pletion to Pembina, on the border. It is hoped that the financial condition of the company will permit of this being done shortly. The country to be passed through offers little difficulty to the engineer. The road bed over part of the line, from Pembina to near St. Boniface, opposite Winnipeg, is ready for the rails, of which thousands of tons have been carried into the Province. We visited the northern end, then constructed to about twelve miles from Garry, late in August, 1875. Driving over the St. Boniface ferry, we 242 THE PilAilllE J»KOVrNCE. v. i: I ! If f 41 I passed the brick cathedral of Bishop Tachd, with the com- modious residences and schools, in shaded lawns, attached (which are shown in one of our illustrations), drove up the YO'cud that skirts the river till it diverges into the prairie. Chickens sprung up in covies ; the mare stood well as we blazed away with two-barrelled gun, then picked up the pretty brown grouse and off again, driving through long grass, to find another flock. A long black ditch was finally reached. One end of this ran into a coulee — Anglice, gully — the other led to the " Pembina Bj-anch," already seen as a long dark line two miles away. These ditches, connecting with the streams and coulees form an extensive and very valuable system of drainage, which will soon bring thousands of acres of rich, but wet land into cultivation. We were soon driving among light-haired Swedes and Germans, who were busy with spade and barrow scooping out ditches four feet broad by as many deep ; the earth piled in the middle forms the road bed, the ditch running along the whole course. It is noticeable that this mode of construction is ado[)ted for the purpose of keeping tlie road bed at once dry, and high enough to be above the snow fall. When the American and Canadian ends of this line meet together, what will be the position of the prairie capital ? By rail to St. Paul in twenty-two hours ; thence to Chicago in twenty hours; thence to Toronto in nineteen hours ; or from Wiimipeg to Toronto, direct in sixty -one hours. i j^ THE SrOUX MASSACRE IN MINNKSOTA. 243 As to telegraphic communication, that is, as we have seen, completed from the south and east not only to Winnipeg, but to Battle River and Carlton, five hundred miles west of Red River.* and e arth ig the THE SOURCES OF THE RED RIVER. It was the Sabbath, and we stayed for the Monday morning train at Fargo. The Red River runs under its long bridge. We strolled in the afternoon up its sedgy banks. Had we time, we would have liked to wander on past Fort Abererombie and Breckenridge to the main southern source of this river — Lake Traverse. Beyond this lake and divided from it by but a marsh, is Big Stone Lake> whose waters run through the Miiniesota River southerly. The region thus bounded, and on to Mankato, south-west of St. Paul, was but thirteen years ago the theatre of the Sioux Massacre. The greater contest between the north and south States diverted our attention from the terrible story of the barbarities inflicted in cold blood by the in- furiated savages on the settlers of this devoted region. For weeks the unequal struggle went on. New Ulm and other rising villages were destioyed, women and young children falling victims in scores, till a sufficient force was gathered and placed under Col. Sibley. Dr. Shultz thus refers to this strife in an interesting * Lord Dnflfenn in his speech at the in-oroKiitioii of Parlianient, at the end of the Si»riny Session of 187(», stated this distance at 700 miles west of Red Rivei'. The figures so yi\t'n arc in-ithahly so made up hy the curves of the proposed railway's course. I 244 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE. > ! speech on Indian affiiirs in the North-west Territories, delivered in the House of Commons, at Ottawa, on the 31st of March, 1873 :— "Ten years ago, this tribe of Sioux were in as profound a state of peace with the United States as the Crees are now with us; but a grievance had been growing ; the con- ditions of tlieir treaties had not been carried out; remon- strances to tlieir agents had been pigeon-holed in otticial desks; warniiii-s fvijm half-breeds and traders who knew their language had been pooh-poohed by the apostles of red-tape, till, suddenly, the wail of the massacie of '(i3 echoed through the land. Western Minnesota was red with the blood of the innocent, and for hundieds of miles the prairie horizon was lit with burning dwellings, in which the shriek of childless women had been silenced by the tomahawk of the savage. The military power of the United States was of course called into requisition ; but the movement of regular troops was slow, while that of the Indian was like the * pestilence which stalketh in darknciss.' Where least expected — where farthest re- moved from military interference ; in the dead of night they ap[)eared, and the morning sun rose on the ghastly faces of the dead, and the charred remains of their once happy homes. " Trained soldiers, in the end, overcame the savages; but not until a country as large as Nova Scotia had been de- populated ; not until the terror had diverted the stream of foreign emigration to more southern fields, and not un- til three military expeditions, in three successive years, ^^^ itories, on the :>found les are lecon- 'omon- ofHcial knew ties of of '03 as red f miles igs, in lenced wer of ition ; that Iketh st re- night lastly once s; but in de- ireani )t un- years, THE SIOUX MASfiAf'RR IN MINNESOTA. 245 liad traversed the Indian country, at an expenditure to the United States Government of ten millions of dollars, and necessitated, since that time, the maintenance of ten military posts, with permanent garrisons of three thousand men." Thirty-eight of the worst of the red miscreants were tried, found guilty, and on the 26th day of February, 18G3, executed on one gallows at Mankato. Many others were imprisoned, and the Minnesota band of Sioux was dispersed. We purpose thus referring to^ these events shortly as they relate to the history and prospects of Manitoba. Aftei- their defeat, Little Crow, the Chief, with his broken bands, settled at Devil's Lake, in Dakota, half way between the Northern Pacific Railway and our territory. Friendly Indians suffered with, and for the sins of the others. During the winter that followed they had little but frozen roots to eat, and hundreds of them perished from starvation. The Sioux reserves in Minnesota were broken up and the nation was scattered as vagabonds, although many of its people had made much progress in civilization. A band of about sixty Sioux families entered Manitoba and sought British protection. They were assigned to a reserve, but pay unwelcome visits to white settlements. Much annoyance has been last summer felt from them at Portage La Prairie, sixty miles west of Winnipeg. Some half a dozen of them here, in open day, and in sight of the village, in July, 1875, killed one of their own number — a bad Indian they said he was. There was no sufficient 24G TIIK I'KAIHIK IMIOVINCK. ii'il 1' 1 t 1 ' '• 1'" t force to arrest and brinj^ to justice, ami the {[u'lvX \Hui] hi of the Portage were made uneasy. Arrangements liave been made by our Government and accepted by this band under which they will soon be placed on a reserve suited to thera, and su[)i)lied with means tending towards their education and civilization. The following pastoral was lately issued by Dr. Machray, the Bishop of Rupert's Land to the Clergy and Laity of the Chuich of England in his diocese : — "Dear Brethren, — Our Church is establishing a mission for a tribe of outcast Sioux Lidisms, who have found for about thirteen years a refuge under the British flag, in this Province^ and who are now about to be set- tled by the Government of the Dominion of Canada on reserves. Their history is dark and sad, but they have been quiet since they resided here ; still the tragedy in Minnesota which drove them from the United States, was one of the most terrible in Indian warfare. The Ameri- can Church, through Bishop Whipple, has taken a deep interest in the tribes, and has some very flourishing missions among some of the branches. There is, therefore, every promise of our mission having a ready welcome, and so of being privileged to bring these poor heathens to the knowledge of our God and Saviour. " I add a few words from the noble-hearted Bishop of Minnesota, Bishop Whipple, who dared all things for these red men, when to speak a word for them was enough to be branded as a traitor and enemy of the white settler. " ' I feel a deep pity for this poor people. They have OPINIONS OF TIIK CLERGY. 247 0| 1<3 of nt and )on b(! I with tion. tchray, aity of ling a c) have Britinh be set- ada on y have jody in es, was Ameri- a deep rishing jrefore, fie, and to the ihop of r these ugh to tier. y have Hiniied deeply in acts of bloodshed, but were more sinnod jigainst. I belic5ve that like wrongs would have led any (Christian nation to commence a war. They had an In- dian paradise. They sold it to us. In the first treaty they were greatly wronged. Afterward, they sold 8()(),0()0 acres of their reserve, and after waiting four years, and not having received anything, they began war. It is all a sad, sad story, which brings a blush of shame to my cheeks. I believe it might have hoen all avoided. They have lost all, and are now literally men of the trembling eye and wandering foot — homeless, dying, without know- ing so much as that there is a Saviour ! ' " The Church Missionary Society has given a vote to- wards buildings, and a yeaily sum of £100 towards the missionary's salary. We ho])e for some help from one or two churches in Canada, but must do what we can our- selves." In a letter of the 3rd of March, 1876, to the New York Time8, Bishop Whipple refers in plain and severe terms, to the subject of American Indian treatment, pronouncing the system " a web of blunders, full of shameless fraud and lies." He continues thus : — " Morth of us there is another nation of our own race Since the American revolution they have expended no money in Indian wars. They have lost no lives by Indian massacre. The Indians are loyal to the Crown. It is not because these Indians are of another race. It is not because there is less demand for the Indian's land. It is not because their policy is more generous. We expend ten dollars for their one. It is because with us the Indian is used by corrupt men as a key to unlock the public treasury. In Canada they are I ll 24S TIIK IMIAIIUK IMIOVINCK. 'ii| I ■ i r. i ' iii l»>*''i f}j tho wurds of a Cliristian nation. 'I'licy sdIocL ^txxl mun aH a^t^nts. Thoy give tho Indians pursonal rights of pru])orty. Thoy niako thoni amenablu to tho hiw — crime does not go unpunished." With good cause, indeed, may the excellent Bishoj) of Minnesota lament, and all good men mourn with him ; but tho remedy lies at Washington, and in the hands and hearts of the people. Were the rogues of high and low degree, from guilty state sc(;retarios to free traders at Benton and Hoop-up, brought to justice ; had the goods and the moneys by Congress intended for the Indians, to any fair extent, reached them ; had treaties been made, but to be trampled on ; had those who should have guarded the red man's rights, not [)oisoned him with rum, and then robbed him of annuity, furs and land ; Sioux massacres and Blackfeet wars would be as unknown to the South as they have been to the North of the boun- dary. Let the spirit of the great nation rise in this its year of pride, to the level that its founder prayed for, and let its hand .strike, as Jackson would have struck, and the " white man may yet pass without escort by the Yellow- stone or over the Black Hills, as securely as he now may along the Assiniboine or over our Pembina Mountains. It is not many years since the Sioux and Chippewas were at enmity. At Fargo a Chippewa brave showed an example of the wonderful endurance for which the race was famed. Tied to a stake and slowly burning, he was scalped ; the wet scalp struck in his face, yet he uttered no cry. At St. Paul an angry Sioux followed a Chippewa into a store, shot him there, and escaped. "Let him go ; I S' INDIAN (MrSToMS; MTTI.K CUOW ; "notsy cnuL." 249 ko thuiii ihoj) of h him ; ids and ,nd low iers at D goods ians, to I made, d have m with I land ; known ) boun- this its ■or, and ind the Tellow- w may ains. ppewas wed an he race he was littered ippewa im go ; lot tliem kill each other, so they lot us alone," was the verdict of the Minnesota people. Little Crow, chief of the defeated Sioux, after his defeat sent i)resents to wes- tern tribes and revisited B\jrt Garry and St. Joseph in I)erson in order to enlist sympathy and obtain ammunition. He found neither. He was then dressed in a black coat with velvet collar, a breech-clout of broadcloth, had a fine lady's shawl wrapped round his head and another round his waist, and carried a seven-shooter. A ball from the rifle of a Mr. Lampson, who met Little Crow as he was journeying from St. Joe, put an end to the career of this able but cruel savage. We heard of the sufferings and cruelties of this terrible time still on all hands. Meeting an American officer, we asked whether such a catastrophe (jould again arise along the Red River. " No," he said> " there is little danger. The hostile tribes are further west, and still remember their severe punishment. There are garrisons at Pembina and other posts, and on the banks of the Missouri are a cordon of posts." A TEMPERANCE MISSION. Let us look at this party of three Indians and two scjuaws that follow a white man into the smoking car of our train at Brainerd. The white man sits beside the younger woman and they all chat together in Chippewa. He is a U. S. Dei)uty Marshal, and these are witnesses going with him from Leech Lake, in Northern Minnesota, to St. Paul, to give evidence in a case of indictment for selling licpior to Indians. A descri[»tion of the dam- I \4 il 1 1!| hi Id' li 2.)() THE PIIAIRTR PROVING K. Bel of uiglitLM^n smniiiers may suffiw. Her long name trariHlatcfl means " Noisy (Jirl." Her foreliead is hound witli a dirty hatidkerehief, a short V)lack chiy [)ipc is gen- erally in her mouth. Her hair is long and hlaek, forehead low, lips thick, colour, copper; she wears silver earrings, white and black beads and black rings ; her y tJie general law of thi3 lan i i. llil P fit if fl^ii: m '^m < 1, t' I ! * ^^ Capt. Robinson, of the Beatty line, bound for Sarnia. Pass- ing between Isle Roy ale and the Grand Portage, evening brings us to Prince Arthur's Landing; noon of the fourth finds us at Sault Ste. Marie ; in another day we reach Kincardine, a busy town of 3,500 souls, with immense salt works, many substantial stores and residences, and an air of thrift and prosperity. The weather has been blustery, and the tables are not always well filled with guests at meal time, but 5,000 barrels of flour taken on at Duluth steady our vessel. Next we come to Goderich, standing high up over its excellent harbour ; early on the sixth we are at Sarnia, which, with its street railway and many new buildings, seems quickly gaining a city-like appear- ance. Here we disembark, and take the Great Western Railway. We have run a race from Duluth with the Sovereign, a trim propeller of the Windsor lino, which still ketps its own ahead of us. At Sarnia and at various stations on the line, our train is boarded by jolly companies of red- coats, men and ofl[icers, going to the annual militia drill for Central Ontario, at London. More regiments there meet us coming from other regions, and the station has quite a war-like appearance. We roll past fields in which reapers are yet gathering the harvest, which is generally stated to be of unusual abundance, even for this, the garden of the province, and we at last arrive at the city of our choice, where friends greet us and our vacation trij) is over. PRACTICAL INFORMATION. Mr. E. Brokovski, of Toronto, formerly editor of the I PRACTICAL INFORMATION. 253 the Manitoba Gazette, kindly furnishes the following list of questions, lately propounded by himtoan old and respected resident of that Province, and the answers received; which our readers may consider as eminently reliable. Q. — How long have you resided in Manitoba and been engaged in agricultural pursuits there ? A — Eighteen years. Q. — What opinion have you as to the adaptability of the climate and soil of Manitoba for agricultural purposes ? A — The climate and soil of Manitoba are well adapted for agricultural purposes. Q. — What is the average depth of the vegetable deposit or top soil on the farm you now cultivate ? A. — Average depth of soil on my farm is about eighteen inches. Q. —Has it been customary for you to apply manure or artificial mat- ter to any extent in tillage and crop raising ? A. — I am not in the habit of applying manure except for root crops ; it is not absolutely necessary to do so ; but it pays. Q. — Give list of grains, etc., which you have successfully cultivated ? A. — I have raised successfully, wheat, oats, barley, peas, rye, etc., etc. Q. — What has been your success in raising garden produce? A.-- Have succeeded admirably with all kinds of garden produce ; also* strawberries, currants, asparagus, rhubarb, etc. Q. — Give the average yield per acre and the minimum and maximum weights of grain per bushel. A. — Wheat yields in some instances sixty bushels per acre ; but averages twenty -five or thirty bushels, with in- ferior cultivation, and weighs over sixty pounds per bushel. I prepared for the Centennial Exhibition a bushel of grain weighing sixty-nine pounds to the bushel ; oats weigh over forty pounds ; barley over fifty pounds. Q. — Give average quantities of the amount of seed generally sown by yod per acre, of the diflferent classes of grain ? A.— I sow two bushels of wheat to the acre ; three bushels of oats ; three of barley, and one and a half of peas. Q. —State how often you have sown any one class of grain in the same soil for consecutive seasons, and if so, did this result in deterioration of u 11 iv,l 254 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE. quality ? A. — Three successive crops of wheat can be raised on my land without deterioration to the soil or grain. Thirty successive crops have been raised on some of the points of Red River, where the vegetable de- posit is eight feet deep. Q. — Wliat is the cost per acre for breaking prairie soil ; and the cost per diem in this respect for a team of horses or oxen ? A. — The cost for breaking soil is $5 per acre. Horse teams are worth $5 per day ; oxen, $2. Q. — Give the earliest and latest dates at which you have commenced ploughing for spring crops ; also, the dates at which you have harvested ? A. — Have commenced ploughing as early as the 12th of April ; and com- menced harvesting by 28th July. Average time is April 25th, and August 12th. Q. — Give the ordinary prices of the following livestock : horses, oxen, milch cows, sheep, pigs, and domestic fowls ? A — Horses are worth from $300 to $400 a span ; oxen, $120 to $180 per yoke ; cows, from $30 to $50 each ; sheep, $6 ; pigs (half grown) $5 ; chickens, 37 cents ; turkeys, $1 50 each. Q. — What is the average time (if at all) at which you have housed your live stock for winter, and about what time have you generally turned them out for pasturage in the spring ? A. — Usually commence stabling cattle about middle of November, and turn them out about 1st of April. Q. — Give a rough estimate of the amount of capital required by emi- grants for the suitable location or settlement of a quarter section of land in Manitoba, at a moderate outlay ? A. — $1,000 is the veiy least that an emigrant should attempt to settle with on a quarter section of new land, Q. — Do you regard the climate of Manitoba as healthy ? A. — Ex- tremely healthy. Q. — Have your grain or root crops ever suffered from any pest or in- sect other than grasshoppers? A. — Grasshoppers are the only pest we are troubled with. Q. — How often have your crops lieen a total failure through the ra- vages of grasshoppers ? A. — One total failure a?i(l four partial failures. EXPERIENCE OF OLD RESIDENTS. 255 >n my land crops have ;etable de- 1 the cost —The cost per day ; ammenced larvested ? ; and com- 25th, and 'ses, oxen, are worth from 130 J7 cents ; /e housed generally commence about 1st d by emi- an of land least that an of new A.— Ex- est or in- y pest we ;h the ra- failures. of this do I intend to place your usual ex- -I intend cultivating all of my land that Q. — In the sprmg tent of land under crop ? A. is broken up. Q. — Do you find a ready sale at fair prices for all your farm and gar- den products ? A. — A ready sale at good prices for all kinds of produce. Last summer T sold $30 worth of peas from two quarts of seed of garden peas ; sold in pod at $4 per bushel ; got from $3 to $4 per bushel for new potatoes ; and in the fall sold potatoes at $1 per bushel. Wheat is now worth $2 25 ; oats, $1 50 ; barley, $2 ; potatoes, $1 50. No garden produce for sale. The Hermitage, Headingly, Manitoba, Jan. 28th, 1876. W. B. Hall. A communication from Mr. Burrows, who is widely known as an extensive dealer in land in Winnipeg, for- merly of the Dominion Land Office, and who is full of well-grounded enthusiasm as to the future, has reached us. Though many of the points referred to are already placed before our readers, yet they are of so much prac- tical interest that we give the following from Mr. Bur- rows' letter, as an excellent summary of the advantages offered to settlers on Government lands in Manitoba : — 1. Each individual settler over 18 years of age is entitled to a free grant of 160 acres on completion of settlement duty for three years. 2. In addition, the homestead settler is allowed a pre-emption or credit of three years upon an adjoining 160 acres, at one dollar per acre. 3. Each settler may purchase the balance of the section (640 acres) for cash at the Government price of one dollar per acre. 4. There are still large quantities of valuable land within reason- 25(j TIIK FMIAFRFE PROVTNCK. m -'i i:': 1 ' il' wr i» j able distancu of Winnipeg open for settlement or location ; such as tlio greater part of seven townships in Ranges 2 and 3 east, on the west side of Hed River, commencing from the outside of the Half- breed Reserve near Point Grouette, 30 miles south of Winnipeg, and extending thence to the boundary line at Pembina. Again, on tlje east side of Red River, along the Pembina Branch Railroad, are Mix townships, including the greater part of the late reserve of Emerson, most of which are still available for settlement. Again, west of this city we find parts of several townships, in and near the settlements of Victoria, Woodlands, &c., and between Shoal Lake and LakeManitoba,open for location,all within 60 miles of this city. Then passing further west,beyond the line of Rat Creek and Lake Manitoba, we find hundreds of thousands of acres of the richest lands available to the settler. On the southern trail of this district the land is mostly prairie, but having an abundant supply of wood contiguous, (m the slopes of the Riding Mountains, and is already dotted with nuclei of settlement at many points as far as Shoal Lake West. Westerly of Lake Manitoba the land is abundantly dotted with groves t)f considerable extent. This whole district centreing for the present around Portage La Prairie, Palestine, Burnside, 4&c., already possesses a good market in the wants of the Mounted Police, rail- road and telegraph construction survey, exploration, trading and settlement parties. Of the 3,000 carts estimated to have passed west over the Portage between Lake Manitoba and the Assiniboine River last season, fully one-third were laden with flour, oats, barley and vegetables. Truly this want will soon find a local supply nearer home, but ere long some point on the south shore of Lake Mani- toba, coTuuianding its navigation, will loom forward and speedily take rank as a city of the Prairie Province. This section, as proven by exporieneo in the past, is calculated to attract settlement much before a more heavily wooded district, and must soon be supplied with railway i-oinnumication, which will be readily funished by American capital on tlie completion of the Pembina branch. HINTS TO EMiailANTS AND TOrniSTS. •257 In addition to the free grant districts roforrod to, it is nndor- stood that the half-breed reserves will bo distributed diiriuir the coming summer. If this much-to-be desired cousuuinuition is reached, then the greater part of the l,400,0tK) acres, comprising some 54 townships of our finest lands surrounding Winnipeg, wdl be thrown upon the market and probably sold at about the Government price in consequence of the hard times and consecpiont scarcity of money. This will furnish an opportunity, scarcely like- ly to happen again, of securing farming lands at a merely nominal price, that in a few years will be the most valuable land in the Do- minion. The Pembina Mountain district to which you refer is deservedly attracting attention, and is rich in every re<|uisite of sottlenient. Pioneered by a valuable class of settlers, mills, schools and stores are being supplied, and altogether the settlers are displaying a de- gree of enterprise and vim that must soon carry them to the front rank of our new communities. Yours, &c., A. W. BUKROWH. Winnipeg, Feb. 22nd, 1876. The tourist will find no route offering more induce- ments than that we have described. With a, couple of blankets, waterproof boots, and strong, warm clothing, he may, on landing at Prince A.rthur, and examining its interesting mineral region, pay a visit to the Giand Portage and Isle Royale ; then pass up the Kaministi(juia, see the Old Fort and Mission and the beautiful Kakahoka Falls, which are higher than Niagara ; jjass on hy the Dawson route, through Kewatin, stopping at Rainy River and the Lake of the Woods, to enjoy tlieir romantic scenery and drop his line in their clear waters. He will find good M IV 258 THE PRAIRIE PROVINCE. ■:•) use for gun and rod on the louto tlirough lj(jtli piairieand lake regions of Manitoba and Minnesota. The " through ticket " from Toronto to Winnipeg cost last year but $34. Great inducements are offered to emigrants to Manitoba, as stated in a previous chapter. Their passage from Europe is aided by the Dominion Government on terms which may be ascertained on api)lication to any of the agents, who can be found in any city of considerable size in Canada oi- Europe. The traveller from our older Provinces can go by the " all-rail " route through Chicago and St. Paul, the ticket from Toronto costing about $50 ; but that described in our first chapters, taking boat at Colling wood, Owen Sound, Windsor, Sarnia or Southampton, is cheaper and more pleasant. Excellent mealsand accommodation are supplied on the boats. After leaving them at Duluth, meals are extra, but can always be had at moderate prices. Be- tween Fargo and Winnipeg a provision basket may well be carried. By all means avoi ' the gamblers, thimble- riggers and three-card mont(^ men — insinuating rogues who infest the route of the Northern Pacific Railway, sometimes in the guise of smart merchant travellers, some- times in that of bluff hearty farmers or of mechanics, and so fleece the unwary. The quiet traveller will never be molested, but will receive as much courtesy as he gives to those with whom he mingles. The settler should enter the Province as early in the spring as possible. It is not advisable to buy teams or waggons on the route, but the Ontario farmer who is so supplied, will fare pleasantly, by bringing his team by boat and rail to Fargo, then FINIS AND ADIEU. 259 iiie and .hrough mt$34. mitoba, Europe s which agents, size in 'ovinces and St. 3ut that igwood, cheaper tion are h, meals !es. Be- lay well himble- rogues tailway, s, some- lies, and lever be gives to d enter [t is not but the asantly, o, then liarnessing up, and driving in over tho stage road. Horses can be bought at Emerson and elsewhere near the border, at from $00 to $150, and farm waggons at from $05 to $85 ; also oxen, which do best for breaking the prairie, at $150 per yoke. Cows cost $35 to $45 each. The Government land and emigration agents at Emerson will always be at hand to give correct information. Those who proceed on to Winnipeg, or go by the Daw- son route, will there find the like facilities on a larger scale. Finally ; to avoid trouble at the Custom House, each emigrant should procure, from the nearest United States Consulate to which ho resides in Ontario or Quebec, a Con- sular certificate to the effect of the goods being personal effects in transit from one Canadian port to another, for which a fee of from $1 to $2 50 will be charged accord- ing to contents of invoice, which he must produce when obtaining certificfite. No delay of any moment will occur in entering the Province of Manitoba, if the emigrant will take the precaution to have his invoice or list of goods certified by the Customs authorities at the port in Canada from which he starts. The production of the cer- tified invoice is all that is necessary. No fees are charged for this certification, the possession of which enables the emigrant to pass his goods at the Custom House in Mani- toba without further trouble. We wish you all a very ha[)py journey, and adieu ! .J S ■' ! • ADVKRTTSEMEXTS. IMPERIAL BAN^K_OF CANADA. C.A.I>IT.A.L $1,000,000. HEAD OFFICE TORONTO. ^ircttorB. IT. S. TTOWI.AN]), Esq., President. T. R. MIOIlRirT, Esq., Vicc-PvcHidcuf, St. ( ^atliarines. JOHN SMlTJr, Esq. T. R. WADSWORTir, Ehq. Hon. J. R. "^.EN.SON, St. (.'atharineH. WM. RAMSAY, IOsq. ROliT. (.'ARRIE Esq. P. HUGHES, Esq. .JOHN EISKEN, Esq. IJ. R. WIIVKTE, '.'ashier. BKA\4'IIKH. ST. CATHARINES, INGERSOLL, PORT COLBORNE, WELLAND. AGENTS IN CANADA: BANK OF MONTJ{EaL. AOENTS IN NEW YORK: It. BELL & O. F. SMITHERS. AGENTS, LONDON, ENGLAND: Mkhhk.s. BOSANQUET, SALT & Co. Sterling Exchange, Gold and Currency Drafts bought and sold- A HATI.VOH l»KI>AKT!HK.\T Is open in connection with ttu; R.ank, sums of .$4.00 and upwarrls received on deposit, and interest allowed at current ratcH. ^W. F. ROSS & Co., SUCCESSORS TO CORNELL & CO., Watches and Gold Je-^ellery, 83 KING STREET EAST, re O Tl O IsT T O. We send goods to all parts of Canada, C.O.D., per Express. !■ I ADVERTISEMENTS. CANADIAN €4)I*YK10IIT UDITION. ■ t it ,M 9, I!, , r'-^ MEMOIR OF NORMAN MACLEOD, D.D Minister of Barony Parish, Glasi,'ow ; One of Her Majesty's Chaplains ; Dean of uw (-hapel Hoyal; F)«fan of the Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the 'I'histle. IJV HIS IIROTHER, THE REV. DONALD MACLEOD, B.A. ! One of Her Majesty's Chaplains, Editor of " Good Words," &c. Complete in 1 VOL., DEMY, 8vo., with PORTRAIT, CLOTH, GOLD ana BLACK, $250; HALF CALF, $400; FULL MOROCCO, Gilt Edges, $600. The following extract is from* the *' Memoii" itself; it shows what Dr. Macleod thought of such a work as the present : — ^''From his Journal^ Oct. nth, 4:45 a.m. " Have l)een reading a little of ' Brainard.* Next to the BIBLK Ciiristian Biography is the most profitable. In as far as it is true, it is a revelation of the living God, through His living Chu;ch." The following extract is taken from a letter of Dean Stanley's,: — " He was the chief Ecclesiastic of the Scottish Church. No other man during the last thirty years in all spiritual ministration so nearly filled the place of Chalmers ; no other man has occupied so high and imj)ortant a position in guiding the Ecclesiastical movements of their country since the death of Robertson, we might almost say, since the deith |of Carstares. * * * Macleod represented Scottish Protest- antism more than any other single man. Under and around him men would gather who would gather round no one else. When he spoke it was felt to he the voice, the best voice of Scotland." BELFORD BROTHERS, PubUshers, TORONTO. i. D.D laplainH ; I," &c. LOTH, GOLD iL t shows what 4:45 a.m. HE BIBLE s true, it is a ANLKY s,: — No other 3n so nearly so high and i^nis of their ly, since the ish Protest- d him men he spoke it ers, DNTO. ADVEUTISEMENTS. BKOKOVSKI & CO.. WINNIPEQ, MANITOBA fm^ I omntission j|cn|hante AND manufacturers' AGKNTS. Consignments received and prompt returns made. CAIN & STEIKHOFF, Muin Ht., Winnipo);, Saddlers & Harness Makers. A H]>lundik'to assortment of ^'em'ral and commercial Stationery, Printers' and Book- binders' Material, licatlier, &e., always in stock. Account I'ooks, Wallets, I'ocket Books, liill Cases, Diaries, &c., mannfactnretl of the best material, close prices. WILLIAM DRYSDALE & CO,, PUBLISHERS, BOOKSELLERS AND STATIONERS. Orders for Books promptly attended to. Slailed at published prices, free of postaKc. Catahj^nes furnished on api>lii;ation. 232 ST. JAMES STREET, MONTREAL. Nortli-West Fm-nit^ire House Has always on hand a full assortment of FUllNITUllE, Wholesale and lietail. PICTUKK FRAMES made to order. CHKOMOS mounted, &c. MAIN ST., WINNIPEG. (McDermott's Block.) McLENAGHAN & MALLOCH, General Dry Goods Merchants MAIN STKEET, WINNIPEG, MANITOBA. A\ K.VI>EKIi:.\CRI> TAILOR A.M> MILLI\KK ©\ THE PREMISES. R(!ARS\VELL, Law Bookseller, Law Stationer, &c., Toronto, Ontario. Books . and Law Forms can be mailed to Manitoba and British Columbia at four cents a i)ound. Catalogues free. ADVKUTISKMKNTS. HALF-BREED LANDS IN MANITOBA rinters, LHAL. luifiuturcrs, NTO. Ts' nnd Tidok- iiUt'ts, I'ockt't i)rict'rt. :ONERS. )()staKO. Ise and lletail. !^IPEG. It iH probable, accunltn^' to aimouiict'iiunt nf tlii' Doiiiinloii (lovenuntMit, that during,' the HiniiiiRTnf lH7t;, the Half- Mn-f.l lit'si'ists in Manitnba (i.lutM of IIM) acroH each), Home 54 TownHhlps, tir One Million Pour Hundred Thousand Acres, will be patented to the KJ'iintet's. Tliese plots, lyiiiy near the Red and A.ssinib(.iiie llivers ; an far as l'o[)lar Point Westward, l>eyond Selkirk to thi> North, and near Knierson on the South ; make in all the most valuable tract of hind in the Xorth-wt-st. The allotment of Scri[» (100 acreH each) abo\it 200,000 ACRRBI to the Half-Breed heads of families and old settlers, whieli may be located anywhere on U(»vernment lands, will also, it is promised, be distributed to them without delay. The K'reater part of this immense acreage will then be thrown upt)n a market unable from its limited capacity to absorb it, and consenuently will l)e sold at absurdly l'>w prices. It is jmibable that these lands may then be purchased at from '.\0 to W cents per acre. A. W. BuuKOWrt, Winnipeg, Manitoba, will undertake, for intendiny investors, the purchase of these lands, after the issue of Scrii» and Patents, and guarantee satisfaction. For thi.s he possesses unusual advanta,i,'e.s in his extensive ac([uaintance with the settlers, through his former connection with the Land Office in Manitoba, when the original census^ofjthe Half-Breed and Old Settlers was revised liy personal attendance for the basis of these grants. He is also fully accpiainted with the value and (piality of all the land referred t(». (^ITY LOTS in Winnipeg and outside TOWN PLOTS, also llIVKll FRONT, and ([uarter section FARMS for sale on favourable terms. ants SES. rio. Books t four cents Mes^jus. MORPHY, MORPHY & MONKMAN, Barristers, Toronto. WALKER & PENNOOK, - - " Ottawa. GILMOR & HOLTON - - - Advocates, Montreai-. J. H. FLOCK, Esq., .... Barrister, London, 1 1., ADVERTISEMENTS. m !S;i n- M i ) ;i:iis, 11: s I' I ^ GHOW^TH. Daily Witness - Tri-Weekly Witness Weekly Witness Northern Messenger Totals I §75. 12,300 3.000 16,700 21,500 1876. 12,590 3.200 26,700 47.000 - 53,500 89,490 Total Increase in One Year 35,990. JOHN DOUGALL & SON, Publishers. ADVERTISEMENTS. J. M. McGkEGOR Auctioneer and Real Estate Agent. 1S76. 12,590 3.200 !6>700 ^7^000 (9,490 0. )N, ihers. iNTHSAL, a. Military Land Warrants and HalJ-Breed Sc.Hp, TRANSFERS BOUGHT AND SOLD. ''Daily Free Press" Office, JOHN SCHULTZ, DEALER IN Let W OFFICE— MAIN STREET, WINNIPEG, NEXT TO ONTARIO BANK. Twenty thousand acres of Land in Settlement Belt for sale on easy terms ; also CITY LOTS in Winnipeg, Selkirk, and Portage la Prarie ; and IMPROVED FARMS near Winnipeg for Sale or Lease. DETROIT SEED CO., Growers and Importers of all kinds of SEEDS, PLANTS, &C. Everythin'£ for the GARDEN. SEEDS sent by Mail in papers, &c. SEED BOXES on Commission. CATALOGUE Free on Application. 20 k 22 Michigan Av., ADVERTISEMENTS. li^^ '1 ^> tsi'"'! ir li '4 :U w s ■;! WINDSOR AND LAKE SUPERIOR ;,^. ox w THE BEST ROUTE TO MANITOBA And the ISTorth-^West. Connects in the West with the Northern Pacific Railway and the Dawson Road, and at Windsor with the leading American and Canadian Railways and the Montreal Steamers. The first-class fast sailing and elegantly equipped Steamern, ASIA, AND SOVEREIGN, Will, during the Season, make regular weekly trips from WINDSOR and DETROIT to FORT WILLIAM, PRINCE ARTHUR'S LANDING and DULUTH, calling both ways at all intermediate ports, presenting to PLEASURE SEEKERS, SHIP- PERS, and EMIGRANTS TO MANITOBA, Many important advantages in TIME, ECONOMY and CONVENIENCE not afforded by other Lines. I'''or Informatioro as to Freight cr (Passage apply to MONTREAL { ^^^^d^ZTl ''" ^T. CATHARINES { «^Nkelon, M.P.R KINGSTON— J. Swift & Co. WINDSOR— G. W. Gibdlestone. TORONTO— G. E. Jaqueb & Co. SAIINIA— W. J. Keays. GEORGE CAMPBELL, Manager, Windsor. ADVERTISEMENTS. ^lENCE not THE CHAMPION MEAT MARKET, N". P, Clark, Proprietor. The best quality , and anything you want in the line. A fine assortment of FAMILY VEGETABLES ALWAYS ON HAND. Prompt delivery in all parts of the City. Remember the Old Stand. New Lumber Yard. We offer to the Citizens of Manitoba a full assortment of DRY PINE LUMBER. In our Yard, between the Ferry and the Emigrant Buildings. FA VOURABLE. -Call CLARK & McLURE. PRICES FAVOURABLE. — Call and examine our Lumber before purchasing elsewhere. THOMAS SCOTT, Agent. Hardware, Stoves, and Tinware, PAINTS, OILS, PUTTY, AND GLASS, IMMIGRANTS' and EMIGRANTS' OUTFITS Cheap, but of the best quality, at McMICKEN Sd TA.YL0R'S, M.AIN ^TREET WINNIPEG Contractors and Builders should call on us. Agents for MiLBURN Waggon Co. ; HAYXEti Bkos.' Pianos ; Babcook Extinguishing Co. BROKOVSKI & HARRIS, MANITOBA LAND, §fal iutatf, General and lotwardittg l^gentju. Investments and all description of Locations made. Loans by Mortgage negotiated. Agents for the purchase and sale of Half-breed Land Scrip, River Farms and Volun- teer Warrants. Titles searched. Passengers, Freight, and Live Stock forwarded. Information furnished to intending Settlers and Emigrants for Manitoba. Copies of Maps and Plans may be had on application. E. Brokovski, Main St. , Winnipeg, Man. T. N. Harris, Union Block, Toronto, Ont. f m j!^ ii*?i pi: .! b 'i !:■ : it' ;^ H: i M ADVERTISEMENTS. Selkirk Mills and Sash and Door Factory. MACAULAY & JARVIS, MANUFACTURERS AND DEALERS IN ALL KINDS OP Pine and Hardwood Lnmlssr, LATH, SHINGLES, PICKETS. DOORS, Sash, Mouldings, Balusters, Blinds, Newels, Flooring, Siding, cfec., 9 C. W. RADIGER & BROTHER, "Wliolesale and Eetail G-rocers, Wmm AW® IFIMI MBE@M41iFfi'« AND IMPORTERS. TOB-A.COOS -A.1>TID Oia--A.IiS ADVERTISEMENTS. actory. s, ta!bit, >, Vding, &c.. :r, r — TI: Manitoba Free Press, DAILY & WEEKLY. KENNY & LUXTON, Publishers. WM. F. LUXTON, Editor & Manager. Daily issued every lawful clay at .5 p. M. ; and Weekly every Saturday. SUBSCRIPTION RATES. Daily, 25 cents per v^^eek ; Weekly, §2.50 per annum. The FREE PRESS is the only daily published in Manitoba ; and the Weekly Edition has a larger circulation than all other papers in the Province combined. KENNY & LUXTON, Winnipeg. D. M. FEERY & CO., ocers, SEED MERCHANTS, ^» ii^lillS '» DETROIT, 3 . MICHIGAI^ * 5- i '1 \f. i • ' I ADVERTISEMENTS. George Ptf fillips, |r., f.f .S. « COB., CITY SURVEYOR, WINNIPEG, Who has for a number of years been employed on the Government Surveys in the Settlement Belt, and has recently made the Official Survey and Plan of the City of Winnipeg, is at all times prepared to do any kind of surveying or engineering work. Orders by Mail or otherwise promptly attended to. OjBpce on the Corner of MAIN and THISTLE STREETS, WINNIPEG, MANITOBA. APOTHECARIES' HALL, GARRY STREET, opp. NOTRE DAME STREET. DEUGS, CHEMICALS, PATENT MEDICINES, ESSENTIAL OILS, TOILET ARTICLES, PERFUMERY, and everything usually found in a First- Class Drug Store. The Trade supplied with Bottled Oils, Essences, Dyes, Patent Medicines, etc. A specialty made of the supply and prejjaration of all VETERINARY MEDICINES, of which a full Stock is always on hand. Manufactory of the DEX- TER CONDITION POWDERS-sold Wholesale and Retail. Tratlers, Surveyors and others supplied with Drugs, Medicines, &c. , packed so as to be safely transporteil to any part of the Province or North-west. Dr. CURTIS J. BIRD, Proprietor, BAIN & BLANGHARD nAlS i^TKEET, M'l.\x\ll*ECi. John F. Bain. Jedley Blanchard. THOS. iNGLES, Ji«|itftt & €Ml ^nginttr, Office over Dr. Bird's New Drug Store, MAIN ST., - - WINNIPEG. CLARK & WEEDON, IIM lgf4fl AillfS, Provincial Aqent of the Confederation Life Ass. (Established 1873.) WINKIPEG, Man. Send for Circular issued monthly, containing list of Land for sale in Town and Countrj-. WiLLOioHBY Clark. Louis Wekdok. GARRl' ST., S . D U 1^' F I N , Pttotograplier, MAIN ST., WINNIPEG, Views of Fort Garry, Winnipc