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GEORGE BRYCE L

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A WPER REAP fiePOne THE SOCIETY. CW THE EVE^f;;;
^- , . . OF 2er» NOVEMBER 1885, ^

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The Old Settlers of Red River,

♦ ♦ ♦

Tlieir Arrival and Settlement, and «itlier IVIatters of Interest oonneeted with the

Openhiff-np of the Canadian Northwest. I'aper Read hy Prof. Hi-yce, Li.L.l).,

hefore the Manitoba HiHtori<;al Society,

The following paper on "The Old Set-
tlers of Red River" was read by Rev.
Prof. Bryce before the Historical Society
on Thursday evening: —

On the bank) of the Red River of the
North for well nigh sixty years there
existed the Selkirk Settlement. Fort
Garry, so well known, was its centre for
nearly fifty years of that period. The
fur trader on the Mackenzie River looked
to it as his probable haven of rest when
he should have finished his days of active
service and have retired ; the half-breed
hunter of the plains thought of it as the
paradise to which he mii/ht make his
annual visit, or the place where he might
at last sei^tle, while the Kildonan settler
boasted that there was no place like his
^oasis' in the Northwest wilderness, and
that the traveller who had tasted the
magical waters of Red River would al-
ways return to them a^ain. The Cana-
dian youth read in his school-book of a
far distant outpost. Fort Garry, and
chilled by the very sound of the name,
whispering "cold as Siberia," passed on
to the next subject. The Canadian
statesman dreamt of a Canada from ocean
to ocean, but as he thought of the thous-
and miles (jf impassable rocks and mo-
rasses between him and the fur traders
he could only shudder and say 'Perhaps
sometime!' while the secretary wf the
Hudson's Bay Company House in Mon-
treal or London with darkest secrecy
folded together his epistles, addressed
them ''via Pembina," and then slipt
quietly away to his suburban residence,
knowing that ho had the key in his pock-
et to unlock the door to half a continent,
around which was built an impenetrable
Chinese wall.

EARLY KKCOHMS.

Prof. Keating, one of Major Long's
exploritit^ party which passed through
Red River Settlement in 182.'i, gives us
Botvie account of it. Alexander Ross, the
old sheritt'of Assiniboia, wrote in 1852 a

minute and excellent, though some tell
us a somewhat partial history of the set-
tlement, where he dwelt so long. In 1858
appeared the werk of E. D. Neill, the
historian of Minnesota, in which is a
good account of the Red River people —
those Gibeonitea of the interior— as they
appeared on their freighting journeys ♦■o
St. Paul. Mr. Neill seems disposed
largely to adopt Ross's standpoint. In
the same year Miss Tucker (A. L. O. E.)
gave an interesting and useful account of
the planting of the Church of England
missions in Red River, in her little 'vol-
ume "The Rainbow of the North."
Those intrepid travellers, Lord Milten
and Dr. Cheadle, published in 1865 a
most graphic and timely sketch of their
"Northwest passage by land," not omit-
ting the Red River Settlement. Subse-
quent writers have not failed to avail
themselves of the collected materials of
these distinguiched visitors. So, too,
should be mentioned "Red River" by
Mr. J. J. Hargrave (1871) from the Hud-
son's Bay Company standpoint.

My work this evening is somewhat dif-
ferent from that aimed at by these auth-
ors. I desire to give a more complete ao-
count of the settlers, and to some extent
their personal history, which those writ-
ers were not in some cases able to do,
and in other cases were not disposed to
do. While referring you for the fullest
account extant of Lord Selkirk's life to
Manitoba; "its infancy, growth, and pres-
ent condition", a few words must be
said of

THE FOUNDER

of the Red River settlement. It was as
early as 1802 that thn R^rl of Selkirk, a
man of philanthropi- 'ad liberal views,
stirred by the ace uiits given by Sir
Alexander Mackenzie, (1801), and other
traders to the Indian Country, wrote t«
the British (iovernment of the day, in a
letter, of which we have in the Historical
Society, a copy obtained from the British

Archives for the purpose of relieving
Irish distress and Highland misery, a col-
ony on Red River. It was not till 1811
that Lord Selkirk succeeded in obtaining,
by purchase from the Hudson's Bay Com-
pany, of which in the meantime he had
become a member, the district of Assini-
boia on Red River, comprising ll(i,000
square miles. By way of Hudson Bay
was the route chosen ; and in the letters
of the founder occur the words — words of
still unfulfilled, but no doubt true pro-
phecy : "To a colony in these territories
the channel of trade must be the river of
Port Nelson."

THE HIGHLANDERS.

At this time(1811) there were sad times
in the Highlands of Scotland. Cottars
and crofters were being driven from their
small holdings by the Ducheas of Suther-
land and others, to make way
for large sheep farms. Strong men stood
sullenly by, women wept and wrung
their hands, and children clung to their
distressed parents as they saw their cab-
ins burnt before their eyes. The "High-
land clearances" have left a stain on the
escutcheons of more than one nobleman.
Lord Selkirk, whose estates were in the
south of Scotland, and who had no special
connection with the Celts, nevertheless
took pity on the helpj-as Highland ex-
iles. Ships were pr'- ^., and the fol-
lowing are the numi of highland colo-
nists sent out in the respective years:

In 1811, reaching Red River in 1812. there

were 70

In 1812, reaching Red River in 1813, there

were (a part Highland) lour 20

In 1813, reaching Red River In 1814, there

were 5)3

In 1815, reaching Red River the sa i.e year,

there were 100

Total Selkirk Highlandcolonista. about.. 270
The names of these settlers were those
well known amongst us, as Sutherland,
McKay, McLeod, McPherson, Mathescm,
Macdonald, Livingstone, Poison, Mc-
Beath, Bannerman and Gunn. There
are other names found among those early
comers which have disappeared, and
to which we shall afterwards refer. It
will be noticed that at the end of 1814
the colony amounted to 180 or 200 per-
sons. These were under Governor Miles
Macdonell, late a captain of the Queen's
Rangers, who was also Hudson's Bay
Company Governor. The connection of
the Selkirk colonists with the Hudson's
Bay Company was regarded as a menace
Hy the

RIVAL FUR TRADERS.

the Northwest Company. The two onin-
panies had their rival posts side by side
at many points throughout the Territor-

ies The Nor' wester fort standing imme-
diately at the junction of the lied and
Assiniboine rivers was called Fort
Gibraltar. T' a fort occupied by the
colony was at the foot of Common street
in this city, and was called Fort Douglas.
It is of no consequence ^o our present
object to determine who opened hostili
ties or who was to blame in the contest
of the companies. Strife prevailed, and
through this the colonists suffered. In
1814 arrived on the scene a jauntily
dressed officer of the Nor'west Company
brandishing a sword and signing himself
captain — one Duncan Cameron. This
man was a clever, diplomatic, and rather
unscrupulous instrument of his company,
and coming to command Fort Gibraltar,
cultivated the colonists, spoke Gaelic to
and entertained them with much hospi-
tality, and ended by inducing about one
hundred and fifty of the two hundred of
them to desert Red River ana go' with
him to Upper Canada. Among those who
went were not only persons bearing the
names already mentioned, but others
named McKinnon, Cooper, Smith, Mc-
Lean, McEachern and Campbell, who
have left no representatives on Red River.
By a lonj; and -wearisome journey to Fort
William, and then in small boats along
Lakes Superior and Huron, they reached
Penetanguishene and found new homes
near Toronto, London and elsewhere. To
the faithful half hundred who remained
true to their pledges all honor is
due. Of those early colonists one
name especially occurs to me— that
of Donald Gunn, a native of Caithnes-
shire. He came out with the party of
1813 in the service of the Hudson's Bay
Company, and after spending several
years on the bay married and settled
down in the parish of St. Andrew's. He
was a scho<>l master for a time, was a
great reader, took much interest in the
collections for the Smithsonian Institu-
tion — a society te which this society is
largely indebted — was a collector of sta-
tistics and meteorological data. During
last summer a professor in Boston who
was on the astronomical expedition to
the Saskatchewan between IHoO and 70,
asked me with much interest of "old
Donald Gunn,*' so familiar a fiyure in
former days in Little Britain. His large
family still remain among ub.

THE IRISH.

To many it is known that the Lord
Selkirk colonists were chiefly Highland-
ers; few are acquainted with the fact
that there was among them a fair sprinkl-
ing of Irish peoplo. In t'"M first ship load

lar^e

to York factory, that of 1811, besides the
70 Highlanders, there were some 20 Irish
colonists and employes. In the next com-
pany, that of 1812, most of those sent out
were skilled workmen to erect buildings
and help the settlers— of the 15 or 20
so sent a considerable part were Irish. In
the first ship of 1811 was an Irish lad, who
never deserted his adopted country and
lived and died in our midst. This was
Andrew McDermott. He married in the
country and lived on the banks of Red
River for 69 years. He was a successful
trader, and accumulated a large aiuuuut
of wealth. His large family, in many
branches, live amongst us at
this day. Many a new settler got
a helping hand from him, and
he was a perfect mine of information
about the country — its climate, its set-
tlers, and its resources. His stout, well-
known figure still lingers in the minds of
many of us. In the party of 1812-13
there came to the country also a young
Irish clerk, John P. Bourke. He was an
intelligent and useful officer of the col-
ony. He married a native who had
Scotch and Dakota blood, and his de-
scendants are well known as the Bourke
family; one of them was a few years ago
member in the Legislative Assembly for
St. James. Belonging to this Irish immi-
gration were the following, most of whom
left Red River under the guidance of Mr.
Duncan Cameron, viz. : Patrick Cor-
coran, Patrick McNolty and wife, Mi-
chael Heden, a blacksmith, who, in
troublous times, assumed command of
the artillery in the colonists' hands as
gunner, James Toomey, Hugh Swords,
Martin Jordan, Michael Kilkenny, Mi-
chael Kilbride, one Kerrigan, Joseph
Kenny, and Capt. Macdonnell's body
servant, James Fiynn. All these repre-
sented the Green Isle and seemed to
have taken their full share in the lively
antagonisms of the rival companies.

THE DE iMKURONS.

The arrival of the third party of High-
landers in 1815 reinforced the remnant
who had resisted Cameron's seductive
proposals. The colony a'^ain rose to
three-fourths its original strength. In
1816 the Nor' Westers adopted more ex-
treme measures still to destroy the col-
ony. An atcack was made upon the set-
tlers on lUth J une, and the new Gov-
ernor, Robert Seinple, was killed,
with a number of his attendants, at
a spot a little oti' Main street north, be-
yond the city limits. Lord Selkirk on
the receipt of the news of the colony in
1815 had come to Montreal, and was pro-

ceeding up the lakes to assist his colony
in 1816 when the news reached him on
the way of the skirmish of "Seven Oaks"
and the death of the Governor. He was
at the very time bringing with him as
settlers, a number of disbanded soldiers,,
who have usually been known as the "De
Meurons." The regiments to which these
men belonged were part of the body of
German Mercenaries whicn had been
raised during the Napoleonic wars. The
name of Col. De Meuron, one of the prin-
cipal officers was given to the whole.
These new settlers were not only Ger-
mans, but had among them a number of
Swiss and Piedmontese. In 1813 the De
Meurons had been lying at Malta, and
sailed thence to Canada to take part in
the war against the United States. The
war of 1812 ] 5 having been ended, in
May 1816 orders came for the reduction
of the force, and on 4th June 1816 Lord
Selkirk engaged four officers and eighty
men of the De Meuron regiment in Mont-
real and hastened in boats up the St.
Lawrence. At Kingston twenty more
men, these of the regiment De Watteville,
a body in similar circumstances with the
De Meurons was engaged. The four of-
ficers were Captains D'Orsonnens and
Matthey, and Lieutenants Fauche and
Gratfenreith. The men were promised
certain wa ms, as well as land grants at
Red River. In the autumn of 1816 the
party arrived at Fort William, which they
seized, and the camping place on Thunder
Bay is still called Point De Meuron. Em-
ployed during the winter in opening out
for a distance a military road, the party
under command of Capt. D'Orsonnens, in
early spring pushed on by way
of the north-west angle of the Lake of
the Woods, surprised the Nor'westers,
and retook Fort Douglas from them.
Lord Selkirk arrived at the Red River in
the last week of June, 1817. In accord-
ance with his agreement he settled all the
De Meurons who wished to remain — a
considerable number — along the banks of
the little river, the Seine, which empties
into Red River opposite Point Douglas.
This stream has among the old settlers
always been known as German Creek in
conse<i[uence. Being mostly Roman Cat-
holics they were the first settlers among
whom the priests Provencher and Du-
moulin took up their abode on their ar-
rival in 1818. From the nationality of
the De Meurons the first Roman Catho-
lic parish formed in the country was cal-
led St. Boniface, from Wmifred, or Bon-

iface, the German
aaint. The name

apostle and patron
of the first parish is

now, by legislative enactment, the name
of Winnipeg's chief subuib. and the Ro-
man Catholic Biehopric in 1851 was given
the same name Some severe things
have been said ot the character of the De
Meuron settlers They have been charg-
ed with turbulence, insobriety, and with
having had predatory inclinations towards
their neighbors' cattle. They almost all
left the country after the disastrous year
of 1826, for the United States No doubt
like all bodies of men they had good and
bad among them, but the fact of their
having been disbanded mercenaries would
not incline us to expect a very high mor-
ality of them.

THE SWISH

In the same year (1820) in which Lord
Selkirk went to France, to 6nd, in the
little town of Pau, his death and
burial place, a former ofticer of the De
Watteville regiment— Col. May — a native
of the Swiss Capital of Berne, went as an
agent of Lord Selkirk to Switzerland.
He had been in Canada, but not at Red
River, and accordingly his representa-
tions among the Swiss Cantons were tow
much of the kind circulated by Govern-
ment emigration agents still. He suc-
ceeded in inducing a considerable num-
ber of Swiss families to seek the Red
River settlement. Crossing the ocean by
Hudson's Bay ships they arrived at York
Factory, in August 1821, and were borne
in Hudson's Bay Company York boats to
their destination. Gathered, as they had
been, from the to^ns and villages of
Switzerland, and being chiefly "watch
and clock makera, pastry cooks and musi-
cians," they were ill-suited for such a
y\eyr settlement as that of Red River,
where they must become agriculturists.
They seem to have been honest and
orderly people, though very poor. It
will be remembered that the DeMeurons
had come as soldiers; they were chiefly,
therefore, unmarried men. The arrival
of the Swiss, with their handsome sons
and daughters, produced a flutter of ex-
citement ill the wifeless DeMeuron cabins
along German creok. The result I des-
cribe in the words of a most trustworthy
eye-witness of what took place : " No
sooner had the Swiss emigrants arrived
than many of the Germans, who had came
to the settlement a few years ago from
Canada, and had houses, presented them-
selves in search of a wife, and, having
fixed their attachment with acceptance,
they received those families, in which was
their choice, into their habitations. Those
who had no daughters to afford this intro-
duction, werd obliged to pitch their

I tenti* along the banks of the river, and
eutaul:) the stockades of the fort,
till thi'y removed to Pembina in the bet-
ter prospects of provisions for the win-
ter." The whole affair was a repetition
of the old Sabine Story. In connection
with these De Meurons and Swiss, 1 am
glad to call your attention to a very

KEMABKABLE PARCHMENT

agreement, la the hands of the Histori-
cal Society, which is eleven feet long and
one and a half feet wide, containing the
signatures of forty- nine settlers, of which
twenty- five are those of De Meurons or
Swiss, the remainder being of High-
landers and Norwegians. Among these
names are . Bender, Lubrevo, Quiluby,
Bendowitz, Kralic, Wassloisky, Rhe,
Jankosky, Wachter, Lassota, Laidece,
Warcklur, Krusel, Jolicoeur, Maquet,
and Lelonde. This agreement binds the
Earl of Selkirk or his agents not to en-
gage in the sale of spirituous liquors or
the fur trade, but to provide facilities for
transport of goods from and into the
country, and at moderate rates. The
settlers are bound to keep up roads, to
support a clergyman, and to provide for
defence. The document is not only a
curiosity, but historically valuable. There
is no date upon it, but I have been able
to fix its date. One of the entries among
the signatures is ''For the Buffalo Wool
Company, John Pritchard.'' That com-
pany we know began, and as wb shall
aftei wards see, failed in the years 1821
and 1822. This, accordingly, is the date
of the document marking tne era of the
fusion of the Hudson's Bay Company and
the Nor' Westers and after the arrival of
the Swiss. The De Meurons and Swiss
never took kindly to Red River. So
early as 1822, after wintering at Pem-
bina a number of them, instead
of turning their faces toward Fort Garry,
went up the Red River into Minnesota
and took up farms where St. Paul now
stands on the Mississippi. They wore
the tirst settlers there. Among their
names are those of Garvas, Pierrie, Louis
Masaey and that of Perry, who became
very rich in herds in the early days of
Minnesota. It was the flood of 1826 on
the Red River when Highlanders, De
Meurons, Swiss and French all had to
flee to Sturgeon Creek, Stony Mountain
and Bird's Hill for safety, and when, to
use the words of Horace, "the fishes
built their nests on the tree tops," that
caused the great number of the Swiss and
De Meurons to emigrate, who were seem-
ingly unmindful that the Missouri and
Mississippi can overflow as well as the

en-

Red River or St. Lawrence. In that
memorable departure, in which it is said
the other settlers were willing, like the
Egyptians of old, to give their choicest
possessions in order that they might be
rid of those removing, there were two
hundred and forty-three De Meurons,
Swiss and others who journeyed south-
ward.

"old TIME BOOMS."

Before giving an account of the native
elements of the population which sprang
out of the fur trade it may be well to re-
fer to certain movements growing out of
the coming of the old world immigrants.
It was not in 1881 for the tirsfc time that
a "boom" was seen on the Red River.
The Hudson's Bay Company has been
much blamed for not opening up the
country and encouraging enterprise. We
shall see this to have been an opinion un-
juBt to them. Immediately after the
union of the two fur companies in 1821 a
company to manufacture cloth from butfalo
wool was started. This, of course, was a
mad scheme, but there was a clamor that
work should be found for the hungry immi-
grants. The Company began operations
and every one was to have become rich.
$10,000 of money raised in shares was
depoaited in the Hudson's Bay Company
hands as the bankers of the "Buffalo
Wool Company", machinery was obtain-
ed, and the people largely gave up agri-
culture to engage in killing buffalo and
collecting buffalo skins. Trade was to be
the philosopher's stone. In 1822 the
bubble burst. It cost $12.50 to manu-
facture a yard of buffalo wool cloth on
Red River, and the cloth only sold for
81,10 a yard in London. The Hudson's
Bay Company advanced $12,500 beyond
the amount deposited, and a few years
after was under the necessity of forgiving
the debt. The Hudson's Bay Company
had thus its tirst lesson in encouraging
the settlers. The money distributed to
the settlers through the bankrupt com-
pany bought cattle for the settlers how-
ever, several hundred cattle having been
driven through from Illinois that year.
Lord Selkirk next undertook a Model
Farm for the benefit of the settlers.
Buildings, implements, and also a man-
sion, to cost $3,000, for the manager,
were provided. A few years of misman-
agement and extravagance brought this
experiment to an end a'so, ana the noble
founder was $10,000 out of pocket. Such
was another scheme to encourage the
settlers. Driven to another experiment
by the discontent of the people. Governor
Simpson tried another Model Farm. At

a tine spot on the Assiniboine, farm dwel-
lings, barns, yards, and stables were
eree'^?d and fields enclosed, well bred
caotui were imported, also horses. The
farm was well stocked with implements.
Mismanagement, however, again brought
its usual result, and after six years the
trial was given up, there having been a
a loss to the Company of $17,500.
Nothing daunted the Red River settlers
started the ** Assiniboine Wool Com-
pany," but as it fell through upon the
first demand for payment on the stock, it
hurt nobody, and ended according 'm the
proverb with "much cry and little wool."
Another enterprise was next begun by
Governor Simpe ii, "The Flax & Hemp
Company," but though the farmers grew
a plentiful quantity of these, the under-
taking failed and the crop rotted on the
fields. A more likely scheme for the en-
couragement of the settlers was now set
on foot by the Governor, viz. : a new sheep
speculation. Sheep were purchased in
Missouri, and after a journey of nearly
fifteen hundred miles, only two hundred
and fifty sheep out of the original four-
teen hundred survived the hardships of
the way. A tallow company is said to
have swallowed up from $3,000 to $5,000
for the Hudson's Bay Company, and a
good deal of money was spent in opening
up a road to Hudson's Bay. Thus was
enterprise after enterprise undertaken by
the company, largely for the good of the
settlers. If ever an honest effort was
made to boom an isolated and difficult
colony it was by the Hudson's Bay Com-
pany here. I have not been slow else-
where to point out the part taken by the
company in the later years of the colony
to keep the country closed, but it is fair
to say that having spent so much fruit-
lessly for the colony, it was not strange
that the conclusion should have been
reached that the conditions were against
the colony.

OUTSTANDING MEN.

During these early days some names
deserve notice. Sir George Simpson, the
Governor, was a potentate in Rupert's
Land. From 1821 to 1860 he kept his
position with a strong hand. He was
the soul of energy. He made, for some
forty times, the canoe journey from Mon-
treal to Red River, traveled in 1841 2
overland across America and through Si-
beria, and returned by way of Britain to
Canada, having begirt the earth. His
book was published five years after, but
the work of another hand ihan his own
is evident in its arrangement and prepa-
ration. Sir George seems to have been

at once an autocrat and a shrewd concila-
tor of the people. In 1835, the year in
which Lord Selkirk'u eatatn i<n Red River
was sold to the Hudaim's Bay Company,
a nominated council called the Council of
Aasiniboia waa formed and the Governor
became the president. Sir George's visits
to Red River were awaited with the
greatest interest, and every settler who
had a grievance, however small, aired it
to the Governor. This active and busy
man was knighted for his successful ser-
vices to the country, lived latterly near
Montreal, and passed away in 1860. An-
other early settler worthy of notice was
John Pritchard. First an English clerk
in the Nor' West Company, then a Red
River settler, then a n.anager for Lord
Selkirk, then agent for the Buffalo Wool
Company, this busy man did much for
the colony, and hia numerous descendants
are among us till this day. The name of
Alexander Ross is also worthy of
notice. A young Scotchman, he had en-
tered the service of the Astor Fur Com-
pany in 1811, and went out by way
of Cape Horn to the mouth of the Colum-
bia River. After a time, having left the
Astor service, the young fur trader, hav-
ing married a chief's daughter among the
Okanagan Indians, crossed with his
young wife the Rocky Mountains and
settled on Red River in 1824 or '25.
Colony Gardens, at the foot of Rupert
street, mark his dwelling. He was for
yeari the sheriff of Assiniboia, took an
active part in the colony affairs, published
several very readable books, and was an
influential man among the Kildonan peo-
ple. Most of his sons and daughters
have died, but many of the next genera-
tion remain. Ross, Alexander, James,
William, Jemima, Louisa, and other
streets in this city are called after him-
self and family.

THE BOI,S-B RULES.

Parkman, in his account of Pontiac's
conspiracy, has well shown the facility
with which the French voyageurs and
Indian peoples coalesced. Though a poor
colonist, the French Canadian is un-
ec^ualled as a voyageur and pioneer
runner. When he settles down on some
remote lake or untenanted river with his
Indian wife he is at home. Here he roars
in contentment his "dusky race." The
French half-breed, called also Metis, and
formerly Bois-brule, is an athlttic, rather
good looking, lively, excitable, easy-going
being. Fond of a fast pony, fond of
merry making, free hearted, open handed,
yet indolent and improvident, he is a
marked feature of burder life. Being

excitable he can be roused to acts of
revenge, of bravery and daring. The Mc-
Gillivrays, Grants, McLeods, and Mac-
kaya, who had French, Scotch and Indian
blood were especially determined. The
Metis, if a friend, is true and cannot in
too many ways oblige you. The offspring
of the Montreal traders with their Indian
spouses BO early as 181C numbered sev-
eral hundreds, and possessed a consider-
able esprit-du-corps. They looked upon
themselves as a separate people, and
headed by their Scoto-French half-breed
leader, Cuthbert Grant, called themselves
the New Nation. Having tasted blood
in the death of Governor Semple they
were turbulent ever after. Living the
life of buffalo hunters they preserved
their warlike tastes. Largely increased
in numbers in 1849 they committed the
a;rave offence of rising, taking the law in-
to their own hands, defying all authority,
and rescuing a French half-breed prison-
er named Sayer. This was in the time of
Recorder Thorn. Adam Thom, the judge,
deserves a word of notice. A native of
Scotland, of large frame, great intelli-
gence, and strong will; he had had expe-
rience as a journalist in Montreal. Sent
up to establish law an order,, he certainly
did his best and should have had a pro-
per force to support him. True, excep-
tion has been taken to his decisi'>nB, but
where is the judge who escapes that ?
The old gentleman still lives, upwards of
80 years of age, in London, and has seen
strange things among the Metis since his
departure in 1854. Among the leaders
in this affair — and I am not now pro-
nouncing on the merits of the Sayer case
— was one of the ominous name of Riel,
the miller of the Seine, the father of the
late unfortunate prisoner. The older
Riel was an agitator of the tirst water.
Going on with the Metis it needs not that
I should recite to you the doings in the
rebellion of 1869-70, it was simply the
out-break of the " Seven-oaks " and "Sa-
yer " affair again. — A too generous Gov
ernment overlooked the serious nature of
those events. It was reserved for what
we trust may be the last mani-
festation of this uniuly spirit exis-
tent for three ({uarters of a century
to show itself on the banks of the Sas-
katchewan in 1885. Louis Riel was un-
doubtedly the embodiment of the spirit
of unrest and insubordination in his race.
Tribes and peoples do at times find their
personification in one of their number.
Ambitious, vain, capable of inspiring con-
fidence, in the breasts of the ignorant,
yet violent, vacillating, and vindictive

the rebel cnieftain has died for the turbu-
lence of the Buis-brules, ever their feature
for thp last seventy years

BNOLfSH HALF BBBEDS.

As different as is the patient roadster
from the wild mustang in the English-
speaking half-breed from the Metis. I
have lived many years acquainted with
this people and have found them intelli-
gent, and in many things much beyond
their opportunities. So early as 1775 the
traveller, Alexander Henry, found Orkney
employes in the service oi the Hudson's
Bay Company at Cumberland House.
The Orkney Islands furnished so many
useful men to the company that in 1810,
when ttiH BoiS'brules came to attack the
colony, though the colonists were mostly
Highlanders they were called "Les Or-
canais " Since 1821 the same supply of
employes to the company has continued
and increased with occasionally an ad-
mixture of Caithnessshiremen and other
Highlanders. Accordingly the English-
speaking half-breedt are really of Scotch
descent, almost entirely. From Hudson
Bay to distant Yukon, the steady
going Orkney men have come with
their Indian wives and half-breed children
and made the Red River their home.
I have but to mention such well-known
and respectable names as Inkster, Fobis,
Setter, Harper, Mowat, Omand, Flelt,
Linklater, Tait, Spence, Monkman and
others to show how valuable an element
of our population the English half-breeds
have been, though, of course, we have
those bearing these names as well who
are of pure Orkney blood. I select two
specially outstantiUng names. Alexander
Kennedy Isbister was born in the year
1822 at Cumberland House, the son of a
Hudson's Bay Company officer whose
family afterwards came to Red River. In
1842 he left his native land for England,
and there, his education completed, be-
came a barrister and leading education-
ist. His love for his native country was
such that he fought the battle for the
opening up of the Red River settlement.
His name will ever Ije remembered on
Red River. His generous gift of 1^83,000
to Manitoba University, with his library,
will preserve his name from generation
to generation. One other name I men-
tion here. It is that of the Hon. John
Norquay, who li is, with the competition
of so many energetic and competent new-
comers held for ye its the place of Pre-
mier of Manitoba

HI'DSON's B.\Y ('OMI'.^NY ofpicrk.s.
No element, however, did so much for
Red River of old as the intellisiont and

high-spirited ofticerB of the Hudson's
Bay Company, f)f whom many settled in
the country. There was among them
also a strong Highland and Orkney strain.
In few countries is the speech
of the people generally so correct
as it was in the Red River settlement.
This undoubtedly arose from the influence
of the ■ educated Hudson's Bay Company
officers. At their -istant posts on the
long nights they re..d useful books and
kept their journals. Numbers of them
collected specimens of natural history,
Indian curiosities, took meteorological
observations and the like. Though all
may not have been the pink of perfec-
tion, yet very few bodies of men retained
as a whole so upright a character as these.
I have but to mention such names asPru-
den, Bird, Bunn, Stewart, Lillie, Campbell,
Christie, Kr. nedy, Heron, Ross, Mur-
ray, Mackenzie, Hardisty, Graham, Mc-
Tavish, Bannatyne, Cowan, Rowand,
Sinclair, Sutherland, Finlayson, Smith,
Balsillie, and Hargrave and others, who
have settled on the Red River to com-
mand, 1 know, your assent to my asser-
tion.

THE PENSIONERS.

Most portions of the New World have
grown from additions trom the military,
who have for some reason or other come
to them. So it was in Red River settle-
ment. In 184() the Cth regiment of foot,
some three hundred and fifty strong, was
sent out by way of Hudson's Bay
under Col Crofton in connection with
the Oregon question, then disturbing the
relations of Great Britain and the United
States. Few of the regiment remained
in the country. The troublous state of
aftdira in Recorder Thorn's time induced
the company to send but a number of
pensioners and settlers who should be
settled near the fort, and be useful in
time of emergency as police. It was in
1848 that Col. Caldwell, with fifty six
non-commissioned officers, and men of
whom forty-two were married and had
families, came out by way of Hudson's
Bay, each man being promised twenty
acres of land, and each sergeant forty.
Such namesas Mulligan, Rickards and oth-
ers well-known, beUmg to this period. It
was after their arrival that the Sayor
emeute took place.

THE CENSUS.

The nucleus of 160 Kildonan settlers
in 181G had with it a few Metis already
settled down, but there was a need for
a settlement for the midst of the vast fur
territories. The Nor' West Company
ever opposed to settlement, we learn from

Harmon's book, had a scheme on foot
at this time to establish a native settlement
on Rainy River and had the money sub-
scribed for an educational institution
there. A settlement once established
on Rad River many Socked to it. Thus
it was that in ten years after the death
of Governor Semple there were of
Hi^^hlanders, DeMeurons, Swiss, French
voyageurs, Metis and Orkney half-breeds
not less than fifteen hundred settlers. It
was certainly a motley throng. The Rev.
Mr. West, the first missionary, tells us
that he distributed copies of the Bible in
English, Gaelio. German, Danish, Italian,
atid French, and they were all gratefully
received in this polyglot community.
Though the colony lost by ('esertions as
we have seen, yet it continued to gain by
the addition of retiring Hudson's Bay
Company officers and servants, who took
up land as allowed by the company in
strips along the river after the Lower
Crf>naclian fashion for which they paid
small sums. There were in many cases
no deeds, simply the registration of the
name in the company's register. A man
sold his lot for a horse and it was a mat-
ter of chance whether the registration of
the change in the lot took place or not.
This was certainly a mode of transferring
land free ennuuh to suit an English
radical or evoii hloniy iJeorge The land
reached as far out from the river as could
be seen by looking under a horse, say
two miles, and back of this was the limit-
less prairie which became a species »t
common where all could cut hay, and
where herds could run uncontined.
Wood, water and hay were the three
;*'s of a Red River settler's
life ; to cut poplar rails for
hi? fyncos in spring and burn the dried
r»Tjf< :> the following winter was (|uite
thij /i.M ; , ized thing. There was no
iiidi.w ' :• jnt. to grow surplus grain, as
each KC'ttler could only get a market for
ei'^.i! ' I, ''In of wheat from the Hudsun's
Ba J iiipany. It could not be e.\ ported.
i-'tmJcan from the plains was easy to get;
the habits of the people were simple;
tlieir wants were few, and while the pic-
ture was hardly Aroadiiin, yet ♦^lie new
order of thini/s has borne pretty severely
upon many, b<> that they feel as did the
kindly old lady, the occupant of colony
gardens till two years ago, that hey were
"shut in" by so many people coming to
the country. The census of the whole
Buttlement gave in 184!>, 5,2!>I, and in
IH^i), (i,r)2.'i. The population by natural

increase tnul by additions from the Terri-
tories, United States and Canada had in

1871, when the Dominion census was
taken, reached to about 2,000 whites,
5,000 English half breeds, and 5,000

Metis.

THE PARISH EH.

No municipal government was ever
provided for the people of Red River,
though extensive petitions were for
warded to Britain for changes to be made
in the government of the country. The
Assiniboia Council, however, passed cer-
tain ordinances, appointed road overseers,
and from a slight tariff of 4 per cent, on
imports enough was raised to carry on
public affairs. The local subdivisions of
Assiniboia were largely national and re-
ligious: French and Roman Catholics
taking up a certain portion of river bank,
Church of England half-breeds another,
Scottish settlers and Presbyterians an-
other. This was done sometimes by the
will of the H. B. Company and some-
tunes witho"t it. The first parish was
Kildonan, so set apart and named by
Lord Selkirk on his visit in 1817; the De
Meuron and Swiss settlement (1817-23)
on the Seine, was the next resulting in
the parish of St. Boniface.

The neighborhood of Fort Daer, where
Pembina now stands, was always a famous
resort for the Red River settlers, on ac-
count of the open plains supplying buf-
falo. The agents of Lord Selkirk endeav
ored to induce a number of the French
half-breeds and settlers to leave Pembina
and settlenoar Ft. Garry. In this they large
ly succeeded, although a number of half-
breeds remained there. At St. Jose, a
village in the deep cut of the Pembina
River through the Pembina Mountains,
50 miles west of Red llivor, was a Metis
village in 1802 numbering several liiin-
dred souls. On this partial conscdidation
of the Red River settlements the most
roving of the Boisbrules settled under Mio
leadership of Cuthbert (iraiit on the As-
siniboine, which many of the Metis have
always called the St. Charles, it having
been h(» named by Vorandrye. This set-
tlement was twenty miles from Red
River, at White Horse Plains, in what is
now St. Francois Xavier Parish. The
first Protestant church in the c(tuntry
was at St. .lohn's, which was originnlly
intended largely for the Kildonan set-
tlers. On its ceasing to be their church
the present KilJonan church was built
at what was known nn the ( Jrnnouillierc,
or Frog Plain, in 1804 St. .lohn's was after-
wards known as tlin upper church In
1H24 the church on Image IMaiii beciiuie
tlio nuulouH of what is now known as St.
Paul's Parish. In 18:{1 Ubv. William

Cochrane <

ids, thus b

This churc

Church," I

Parish ch

Church."

missionarj

at what is

work amo

same inde

oppositior

tablished

boine sett

thenucleu

it gather

These are

ments ; fi

overflows

were forii

fer to Cat

tendpd \

Fort (iari

miles : uj

or thirty,

about SIX

settlemei

Agathe,

thirty mi

Winnipe)

Laurent.

there woi

twelve E

1 have

closely ii

gress of

might be

Red Riv

Alexand

(loverno

1835 bui

ernor Fi

govornoi

Caldwell

ernor B

both As

delicate

times of

an ohjec

his hani

departe(

(!ompar

speak o

much f(

the prit

nsus was
)0 whites,
nd 5,000

was ever
ed River,
irere for
be made
y. The
issed cer-
overseers,
r cent, on
carry on
visions of
and re-
Catholics
iv bank,
another,
nans an-
les by the
id soine-
)iiriah was
named by
"; the De
(1817-23)
suiting in

vo:

er, where

a famous
rs, on ac-
ilying buf-
•k endeav
B French
> Pembina
they large
er of half-
t. Jose, a

Pembina
[ountains,
iis a Metis
3ral hitn-
a<didati()n
the most
under liu
>n the As-
f etirt have
it having

This set-
rum Red
n what is
ish. The

country
itrigiMally
>nan set-
ir cliurch
was built
inuillierc,
was after-
roh In

1 bi'c'niuo
VII as St.

William

Cochrane erected the church at the Rap-
ids, thus beginning St. Andrew's Parish.
This church was known as the "Lower
Church," after which time St. Paul's
Parish church was called the ''Middle
Church." It was in 1836 that this zealous
missionary built a church for the Indians
at what is now St, Peter's, and did agDod
work among the poor Aborigines. This
same indefatigable worker, in the face of
opposition from the H. B. Company, es-
tablished in 1867, outside of the Assiiii-
boine settlement, the church which was
thenucleusof Portage la Prairie,and round
it gathered Indins and half breeds.
These are the nuclei of the old settle-
ments ; from them, as room was needed,
overflows took place and new parishes
were formed till at the time of the trans-
fer to Canada in 1871, the settlement ex-
tendpd without serious interupticm fnmi
Fort Garry down Red River for say forty
miles : up Red River for perhaps twenty
or thirty, and wp the Assinibrjine for
abi)ut sixty miles ; there were outlying
settlements of Metis of importance at St.
Agathe, Pembina, Poiiite de Chenes —
thirty miles up the Seine to the east of
Winnipeg, and on Lake Manitoba at St.
Laurent. At the time of the transfer
there were reckoned twelve French and
twelve English parishes.

NOTABLES OF RED RIVKR

1 have already noted some of those
closely identified with the life and pro-
gress of Red River Settlement. Sketches
might bo written of the Go/ernors of
Red River Settlement or Assiiiiboia : of
Alexander McDonell the ''grasshopper"
(Jovernor: of Governor Christie, who in
1835 built the new Fort Garry : of (Jov-
ernor Fiiilayson in 1844 the "peojales'
governor": of the military (Jovernor
CJaidwell and his pensioners : and of (Jov-
ernor McTavish who was goviTiior of
both Assiniboia and Ruper^ii Land, whose
delicate health amidst the troublous
times of Riel's first rebellion made him
an object of sympathy as he let fall from
his hand the wand of ofiioe, with which
departed the rule of the Hudson's Ray
Company as a governing body. Or I might
speak of early missionaries who have done
much for the Red River Sottlemont, To
the priest of 18IH who became the be-

loved and amiable Bishop Provencher,
(1844 1853) or to his worthy successor in
office, June 1853 till now. Arch-
bishop Tache, to Archdeacon Coch-
rane, who has been justly styled
the founder of the Church of Eng-
land in Rupert's Land; to the Venerable
Archdeacon Cowley ; or to Bishop An-
derson, 1849- 18G4 ; or to Bishop Mach-
ray from 18G5 to the present, all of whom
have been self denying and useful men ;
or to that man of apostolic zeal, Rev.
John Black, 1851 1882, the founder of
Presbyterianism on Red River. I might
mention settlers such as Logan, Fonseca,
Barber, Schultz, and others, who arrived
at various times at Red River and whose
names are found marking the streets of
our city, but time forbids me to say
more.

CONCLUSION.

The old Red River life has gone never
to return; a new Kildonan has spread it-
self out inti) Springfield, Sunnyside, Mill-
brook, Grassmore, Brant, Argylo, and
elsewhere; a Boisbrule overflow has taken
place to St. Albert, Batoche, QuAppelle,
and to many a lonely lake and river in
our North west ',)lain8 ; the English half-
breed has hurried west to Edmonton,
Prince Albert, and Battleford, to find a
home like that on his old Red River It
will never be (|uite appreciated by those
from abroad f)f later years what the Red
Riv«r settlement did for us who succeed
it. It marked the slow but sure process
of an influence of christianizifion and
semi civilization of many of our Indians ;
it gave the introduction from j, barbarous
and wandering life to habits of order and
settled work ; it furnished a valuable pio-
neering and trading ageney for the fur
trade, for surveying our plains, and for
our Canadian exploration ; it gave us the
nucluus of our present educational and
relinioua organizatiuns ; it made the H.
B Co not only a trading company, but a
comi)aiiy helping forward in different
linos the improvement of the Indians,
and made them the friends of education
and religion, ami if I read the story of its
history aright it saved to Britain and
Canada, the vast Northwest which would
otlyarwiso hot unlikely have met the fate
of Oregon. Ljjjfv

'^H

cnM

•••»*•••'