Wtf^
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 |i 'MN 11. (' 1h>NM:i.L. M I) . C M
 
 MANITOBA AS I SAW IT. 
 
 FROM 1869 TO DATE. 
 
 With Flash-Lights on the First Riel 
 Rebellion 
 
 BY 
 
 JOHN H. O'DONNELL. M.D.C.M. 
 
 TORONTO: 
 
 THE MUSSON BOOK COMPANY 
 
 LIMITED
 
 Copyrighted Canada, 1909 by The Musson Book Company, Limited, 
 Toronto.
 
 F 
 
 
 TO 
 
 Alexander Hugh Ferguson 
 
 SURGEON. CHICAGO 
 
 THIS BOOK 
 
 IN FRIENDSHIP 
 
 IS INSCRIBED. 
 
 8G9591
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 Chapter No. Page. 
 
 1 — From Montreal to St. Cloud 9 
 
 2 — From St. Cloud to Sauk Centre 13 
 
 3 — First Important Information from Winnipeg 15 
 
 4 — Our Meeting with Mr. Turner and Mr. Sanf ord 19 
 
 5 — Crossing into British Territory 21 
 
 6 — The People of Winnipeg Excited 25 
 
 7 — I was a Neutral Observer 28 
 
 8— The Schultz Blunder 32 
 
 9— The Deputation to Ottawa 37 
 
 10 — The Arri\-al of the Commissioner 40 
 
 11 — Hon. Joseph Howe and McDougall's Commission 44 
 
 12 — Arrival of Lieutenant-Governor Archibald 48 
 
 13 — Attorney-General Clark Early Made Himself Unpopular 52 
 
 14 — The Personnel of the First Legislature 57 
 
 15 — School Legislation 65 
 
 16 — Arrival of the Wolseley Expedition 69 
 
 17 — Winnipeg the Western Headquarters of H. B. Company 73 
 
 18— The University 77 
 
 19 — Lieutenant-Governor Cauchon 81 
 
 20 — Sir Daniel McMillan 85 
 
 21— The "Hotel" Premier of Manitoba 88 
 
 22 — Premier Greenway 91 
 
 23 — Premier Roblin 94 
 
 24 — Two Prominent Western Men 98 
 
 25— Mr. A. McT. Campbell 100 
 
 26 — Hon. Edmund Burke Wood 101 
 
 27 — Colonel Eankin's Reception by Kiel 104 
 
 28— Mr. D. E. Sprague 107 
 
 29 — Dr. Wm. Cowan 110 
 
 30— Mr. A. R. McKenzie Ill 
 
 31 — Hon. Alex. Murray 112 
 
 32— Hon. David Mar Walker 113 
 
 33 — Mr. A. W. Austin 115 
 
 34— Mr. William Whyte 116
 
 35— Chief Jiistico Howell 117 
 
 36 — Riol 'fl Departure from the Country 118 
 
 37 — Messrs. Arcliihald and Campbell 128 
 
 :58 — Mayors of Winnipeg 131 
 
 39 — Mr. Alexander McDonald 142 
 
 40— Sir Charles Tupper 146 
 
 Appemlix 153 
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 John II. O 'Donnell, M.D.C.M Frontispiece 
 
 Major-General Cameron Page 12 
 
 Prairie Transportation, 1869 16 
 
 Hon. Senator Turner 20 
 
 Group of Hudson Bay Company's Factors 26 
 
 Sir John Schultz 32 
 
 His Grace Archbishop Taehe 40 
 
 Lieutenant-Governor Archibald 42 
 
 Hon. Francis Ogiltree 54 
 
 Hon. Colin Inkster, Sheriff : 56 
 
 John H. McTavish 60 
 
 Chief Justice Dubuc 78 
 
 Lieutenant-Governor Cauehon 82 
 
 Hon. Wm. Hespeler 92 
 
 C. N. Bell 96 
 
 F. J. C. Cox 98 
 
 A. McT. Campbell 100 
 
 Chief Justice Wood 102 
 
 D. E. Spraguo 107 
 
 Harold C. H. Sprague 108 
 
 A. R. McKenzie Ill 
 
 A Scene in Winnipeg Suburbs 130 
 
 Alexander McMicken 136 
 
 Sir Chas. Tupper 146 
 
 Prairie Transportation, 1909 154 
 
 His Grace Archbishop Lynch, Toronto 156
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 In placing before the public an account of 
 incidents occurring in Manitoba from eighteen 
 hundred and sixty-nine to date, the writer has, 
 in order to avoid the difficulties incidental to 
 such an undertaking, confined himself to per- 
 sonal observation, in so far as the historical 
 facts appear, such as reference to the details of 
 the First Eiel Rebellion, and the organization of 
 the new Province of Manitoba, the framing of 
 the first Acts placed upon the Statute Book,, 
 with general remarks on their application, and 
 the persons more intimately associated with 
 such measures passed during the first and sub- 
 sequent Parliaments. 
 
 In Manitoba, just starting out on its career 
 as a sequence of a Rebellion, political issues de- 
 velop strong sympathies, and in some in- 
 stances prejudices. The writer deems it of the 
 first importance that references to public men 
 shall be written with justice and with entire 
 freedom from political bias. It is hardly to be 
 expected that the writer's estimate will, in 
 every case, meet with universal acceptance. It 
 is hoped, however, that no reader will dispute 
 the fact that there has been an honest attempt 
 to do justice to the character and actions of 
 every man mentioned in this volume.
 
 Manitoba as I Saw It 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 FROM MONTREAL TO ST. CLOUD. 
 
 In September, 1869, having had induce- 
 ments which I considered advantageous held 
 out to me for some time, urging me to come 
 west to Fort Garry, Rupert's Land, and, after 
 giving the subject careful consideration, I 
 decided to take the step. So, after having made 
 the necessary preparation to surmount pos- 
 sible contingencies, I took the west-bound train 
 at the St. Bonaventure Station (Montreal) 
 September, 1869, for the ''Great Lone Land." 
 
 On reaching Toronto, Ontario, the city was 
 en fete to welcome His Royal Highness, Prince 
 Arthur, Duke of Connaught, on his first visit to 
 Canada. I spent a few days in the beautiful 
 Queen City, securing needed information, after 
 which I passed on to Guelph, where I re- 
 mained long enough to consult a gentleman who 
 had been many years in the Hudson's Bay 
 Company's service, and the information gained 
 at that interview was of the greatest possible 
 value to me later on.
 
 10 Manitoba as I Saw It. 
 
 I again took the west-bound train to Sarnia, 
 crossing into tlie State of Michigan; went by- 
 train to Grand Haven; and from there to Mil- 
 waukee by l)oat, and on to La Crosse by train, 
 where I took a Mississippi River boat to St. 
 Paul, Minnesota. The steamer was large and 
 very comfortable. The autumn rains had 
 swollen the river to nearly the capacity of its 
 banks, and in some places flooded the adjoin- 
 ing countryside. There had been a few sharp 
 frosts, and the foliage that fringed the banks 
 of the great river was, indeed, too beautiful for 
 my pen to describe. There was a large pas- 
 senger list, returning to their homes in St. 
 Paul and adjacent country, from visiting East- 
 ern friends. The trip up the river was slow, 
 but delightfully enjoyable, and I reached St. 
 Paul tired. The journey up to that stage had 
 been most inspiring. 
 
 A suital)le rest, and then the "solemnities" 
 of the occasion began; which were to prepare 
 for a drive across four hundred miles of prairie, 
 and the time of year made frosts and snow- 
 storms quite possible; and from reports, other 
 obstacles not easily overcome. 
 
 I called at the office of Messrs. Hill, Griggs & 
 Company, and presented a letter of introduc- 
 tion to Mr. James J. Hill. After carefully per-
 
 From Montreal to St. Cloud. 11 
 
 using the letter, he greeted me cordially, and 
 remarked: "I am inclined to think you will 
 have difficulty in reaching Fort Garry. The 
 half-breeds are up in arms, and, if reports are 
 correct, will not permit Governor McDougall 
 to enter the Red River Settlement. I will see 
 a gentleman who is at present in the city, Mr. 
 William Gomez Fonseca, a man of influence in 
 "Winnipeg, and ask him to call and see you dur- 
 ing the evening. You can rely upon any- 
 thing he says, and if he asks you to become 
 one of his party, I have every reason to be- 
 lieve you will reach your destination with 
 very little difficulty." 
 
 The gentleman, Mr. William Gomez Fonseca, 
 called, and said that Mr. Hill's introduction 
 was all that was necessary to put himself at 
 my service, and he would guarantee to see me 
 safely to the ''Land of Promise." After a 
 lengthy conference, we agreed upon terms, and 
 complete arrangements were made for our jour- 
 ney northwards. 
 
 We took the train to St. Cloud, to begin our 
 travel with Red River carts, two covered light 
 spring wagons, changes of horses, and suitable 
 tents. At St. Cloud Lieutenant-Governor Mc- 
 Dougall and party, including some members of 
 his intended Council, were waiting for their
 
 12 Manitohd as I Saw It. 
 
 luggage to arrive, which delayed us ten or 
 twelve days. 
 
 I was with the party, but not of it, and it con- 
 sisted of Governor McDougall and Secretary, 
 Miss McDougall and servants. Captain Cam- 
 eron, wife, and servants; Dr. A. G. Jacques, 
 Mr. Richards, Major Wallace, Mr. Charles Mair 
 and wife, and others; also the men necessary 
 to look after the pitching of tents, and to man- 
 age a well-equipped camp.
 
 MAJoR-GIiXERAI. CAMHRi iN
 
 CHAPTER n. 
 
 FEOM ST. CLOUD TO SAUK CENTRE. 
 
 At times the nights were cold, but the weather 
 was fine, and traveling pleasant. 
 
 During our stay at St. Cloud, and while the 
 Governor's freight and luggage were being re- 
 moved from the ears to the carts and wagons, 
 for transportation across the prairie to Win- 
 nipeg, I observed a man always present. So 
 constant was his attendance, that I asked him if 
 he belonged to Governor McDougall's party. 
 He answered in French: "Non, Monsieur." 
 After leaving St. Cloud, I did not see him again 
 until we reached Grand Forks. 
 
 On the prairie, the first day out, we went into 
 camp early, so as to familiarize ourselves with 
 camp methods, and to test our skill in arrang- 
 ing tents, camp fires, beds, and tethering our 
 horses. A good supper, and the fatigue of the 
 day prepared us for refreshing sleep, which we 
 enjoyed without interruption, arising at 6 a.m. 
 punctually; and the second day began. The 
 weather was cloudy and cool, fine, excellent 
 for traveling. The trail was good, and we 
 made excellent time, reaching Sauk Centre 
 early after midday, where we had two and a 
 half hours' rest, and dinner.
 
 14 Manitoba as I Saw It. 
 
 It was here that I got the first direct inf orraa- 
 tion from Winnipeg which I thought import- 
 ant, but Governor McDougall made light of it. 
 I was approached by two gentlemen from Fort 
 Garry — Major Robinson and Mr. Charles 
 House, who were on their way to St. Paul. They 
 said the natives were up in arms, had formed a 
 camp at La Riviere Salle, and intended to pre- 
 vent the Governor and party entering Rupert's 
 Land, and advised me to return to St. Paul. 
 
 I consulted the gentleman with whom I was 
 traveling (Mr. William Gomez Fonseca), who 
 asserted we would reach our destination who- 
 ever failed, and I believed him from what Mr. 
 J. J. Hill had said of him that we would, and 
 we did. 
 
 I conversed with Mr. Richards, one of 
 the Governor's Executive-to-be, and while he 
 was impressed, Mr. McDougall said he felt 
 sure he could make it plain to the half-breeds 
 that his mission was peace, and there would be 
 no trouble. Mr. Charles Mair, a personal 
 friend of the Governor, then in the Government 
 service, and acquainted with the Red River 
 Settlement people, talked the matter over with 
 the Governor, and appeared not to be much con- 
 cerned; and all faced the North cheerfully, as 
 if on a pleasant outing.
 
 CHAPTER m. 
 
 FIRST IMPORTANT INFORMATION FROM WINNIPEG. 
 
 During the next few days our journey was 
 delightful; the trail was smooth and dry, the 
 days sunny, the sky without a cloud, the nights 
 frosty, and the broad prairie dotted with beau- 
 tiful little lakes, which swarmed with every de- 
 scription of wild fowl — swan, pelican, the dif- 
 ferent varieties of geese — the grey goose and 
 the white wavy (Arctic goose) — and every 
 known variety of duck, were to be seen on those 
 long-to-be-remembered Minnesota Lakes. 
 
 One of Governor McDougalPs party had a 
 fine gun, and created much amusement one day. 
 After lunching pleasantly, appeasing that ap- 
 petite prairie traveling always gives, he went 
 over to the edge of a small lake to shoot a 
 brace of mallards. After adjusting his mon- 
 ocle, he took good aim and fired one barrel at 
 a bird sitting, and the other as the flock rose, 
 but not a feather was ruffled. Some of his more 
 intimate friends of the party chaffed him un- 
 mercifully for shooting before flushing the 
 bird. He, however, accepted the badinage with 
 that stoical, cynical smile, always an excellent 
 weapon of defence used by the refined English 
 gentleman. He at times turned the tables on
 
 If) Manitoba as I Saw It. 
 
 his tormentors so cleverly that they were glad 
 to cry quits. 
 
 We were now traveling on through that por- 
 tion of the country which suffered so terribly 
 during the Sioux Indian massacre, where whole 
 families were wiped out by those cruel savages, 
 who have now been brought into subjection by 
 the United States troops. 
 
 We arrived at the Otter Tail crossing (the 
 head waters of the Bed Eiver) just as the sun 
 was sinking indescribably beautiful below the 
 horizon. Autumn sunset on the prairie is some- 
 thing to remember, and not likely to be for- 
 gotten. 
 
 There was a comfortable stopping place — the 
 first time we were able to secure a house to 
 sleep in since leaving St. Cloud. We had an 
 excellent supper and breakfast. The morning 
 was sharp, but no wind, and the trail was good, 
 and all started out cheerfully. 
 
 During the evening at the Settlement, the 
 probability of our meeting some opposition to 
 our entering Rupert's Land was discussed, but 
 Governor McDougall had no fears, feeling quite 
 sure that all would be well. 
 
 The evenings were perceptibly colder as we 
 traveled northwards, and we continued to make 
 good time, considering that the next comfortable
 
 First Information from Winnipeg. 17 
 
 stopping place was at Fort Abercrombie, where 
 we secured good meals and comfortable sleep- 
 ing rooms, but many of the party preferred 
 sleeping in their tents, which they did. 
 
 The ice was floating in the river, but, not- 
 withstanding, some of the party crossed, and 
 were hospitably entertained by the officers of 
 Fort Abercrombie, and returned at a seasonable 
 hour highly pleased with their reception. 
 
 At the hotel, I was much interested in the re-- 
 cital of the Honorable Joseph Howe's visit to 
 Fort Garry, by two Americans, and what they 
 had to say about the reception that awaited Gov- 
 ernor McDougall at the boundary — forty-ninth 
 parallel of latitude. 
 
 Mr. Howe and party crossed us on their way 
 east, somewhere between Fort Abercrombie, 
 and a place called Morris, the then terminal of 
 the railroad in the direction of Grand Forks. 
 There was a daily stage line from the Fort to 
 Morris, where most of the travelers took the 
 train when traveling east. The gentleman with 
 whom I was traveling (Mr. William Gomez Fon- 
 seca) was anxious to go on quickly, as it was 
 getting cold, and a blizzard was possible. We 
 therefore made an early start, and towards 
 evening it began blowing and snowing in a way
 
 18 Manitoba as I Saw It. 
 
 that was anything but pleasant, and we called 
 in our distress at the Catholic Mission between 
 Fort Abercrombie and Georgetown, where 
 there was a small Hudson's Bay Post. The 
 good priest took us in, and not only housed and 
 fed us, but he nearly roasted us, so anxious was 
 he to make us comfortable.
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 OUR MEETING WITH MR. TURNER AND MR. SANFORD. 
 
 Leaving the Mission, our next stopping-place 
 was Georgetown. At midday we passed round 
 a small clump of trees, and were pleased to 
 find two gentlemen just preparing to start after 
 having finished their midday meal, leaving 
 us a fine fire on which to prepare our dinner. 
 The gentlemen were Mr. James Turner and Mr. 
 Sanford, of Hamilton, Ontario. They were 
 supporters of the Federal Government, and 
 were both elevated to the Senate later on. They 
 felt sure that my escort would get through all 
 right, ])ut not Mr. McDougall ; giving some rea- 
 sons which I carefully noted. 
 
 We crossed the Red River the following 
 morning with some difficulty, owing to the 
 floating ice. However, the ferryman seemed 
 to understand just what to do, and I was very 
 pleased when we were safely over. We were 
 three days traveling after that before we saw a 
 house. 
 
 The wild fowl had forsaken the small streams 
 and lakes, and gone south, and the prospect 
 was not enchanting.
 
 20 Manitoba as I Saw It. 
 
 The evening of the third day after leaving 
 Georgetown, we were preparing our evening 
 meal, when two horsemen came galloping quick- 
 ly toward us, and asked if they might boil some 
 water to brew some tea. They seemed in a 
 hurry, and my guide asked them in French, why 
 they hurried, and they said they were anxious 
 to reach home to repair shelter for their horses 
 and cattle, as it was getting late, and we might 
 have winter any day. I recognized in one of 
 them the man I had seen in St. Cloud, who ap- 
 peared to observe so closely all Mr. McDou- 
 gall's goods. I learned on enquiry from the gen- 
 tleman (Mr. William Gomez Fonseca) who was 
 transporting me northward, that he was one of 
 the sympathizing half-breeds of the Red River 
 Settlement, and his name was Elezear Lajemo- 
 niere. I learned later on why he scrutinized 
 Mr. McDougall's baggage so closely, and why 
 he was so anxious to reach the Red River Set- 
 tlement before the others. 
 
 After the passing of the two men, I felt less 
 easy in my mind, and began to reflect seriously 
 on the event of not being able to enter British 
 territory. Mr. William Gomez Fonseca was 
 cheerful, but thoughtful, and talked but little 
 as we approached the boundary line. We ar- 
 rived at Pembina just at sundown, and halted 
 at the Custom House.
 
 ni)\. si-;\ATt )R TrKMik.
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 CROSSING INTO BRITISH TERRITORY. 
 
 The officer was genial and talked very freely 
 with my guide, and without hesitation declared 
 the Governor and party would not be permitted 
 to reach Fort Garry, and would be sent back 
 across the line into American territory. 
 
 We were permitted to cross into British ter- 
 ritory, and I was much relieved in mind. We 
 called at the house of an old person, a white 
 man married to an Indian woman, the daugh- 
 ter of a chief, and I suppose a princess; she 
 hardly looked the part, and the house was not 
 princely, but they did their best to make us 
 comfortable. Our host seemed to think it amus- 
 ing that Governor McDougall should even think 
 it possible to reach Fort Garry, and outlined 
 very clearly the preparations the half-breeda 
 had made, and spoke of the church at La Riviere 
 Salle being used as barracks by them, and 
 the roadway had been barricaded; but said to 
 my guide: ''You and your party will be al- 
 lowed to pass on without doubt." That assur- 
 ance made us more hopeful. He said: ''Your 
 friend had better dress more like the people, 
 and put on a Hudson Bay sash around his over-
 
 22 Manitoba as I saw It. 
 
 coat, and a pair of moccasins." The sugges- 
 tion was adopted, which I think was wise. 
 
 I must say here, that two days before reach- 
 ing Pembina, Captain Cameron, his wife and 
 servant, with two men, left the party, traveled 
 quickly in advance, and crossed at Pembina, 
 and after a brief stay at the Hudson Bay Post, 
 traveled on in the direction of Fort Garry. 
 Our host with the Indian wife saw them, but 
 felt sure they would be returned to the Ameri- 
 can side. 
 
 Our first night in Rupert's Land was re- 
 freshing. We had rested well, and started at 
 nine o'clock towards what we hoped would be 
 the end of our journey. Twelve miles further 
 on, we were met by twenty horsemen fully 
 armed. They spread across the trail, and we 
 at once stepped down. They knew our guide 
 (Mr. William Gomez Fonseca), and after a 
 short parley, they shook hands with us, and 
 seemed friendly enough. They told us that 
 Captain Cameron and his party had been 
 turned back at La Riviere Salle, and an escort 
 of eight armed men were to see them into Ameri- 
 can territory; after which they would join the 
 twenty-four horsemen, and their duty was to 
 prevent the Governor and his party from enter- 
 ing into British territory.
 
 Crossing into British Territory. 23 
 
 We camped that night at Scratching River, 
 and were kindly and nicely treated in the house 
 of a native settler, and after breakfast we 
 started to face the barricade at La Riviere 
 Salle, which we reached about four p.m. We 
 were halted, our horses taken by the bridle, 
 and quickly led up to St. Norbert Church, 
 where the army was bivouacked. 
 
 The ladies were taken into the Convent, and 
 were kindly treated by the Gray Sisters, given 
 good meals and nice rooms for the night. Rev. 
 Father Richot received the men of our party 
 cordially, gave us a splendid supper and ex- 
 cellent bed, and also a breakfast, which we all 
 heartily enjoyed with that kind of an appetite 
 which can be only acquired by a few days ' travel 
 over the prairie. 
 
 The time had arrived for us to be brought be- 
 fore the President of the impromptu Govern- 
 ment, who was to decide whether we were to be 
 deported, or permitted to pass on to Fort 
 Garry. His name was John Bruce, and he was 
 not by any means a formidable person in ap- 
 pearance. His secretary, Louis Riel, was a 
 young man with a full head of hair and in- 
 clined to be wavy, deep-set eyes, an unpleasant 
 mouth, alert, a nervous temperament, vicillat- 
 ing and exceedingly vain.
 
 24 Manitoba as I Saw It. 
 
 We were asked a few questions, and after a 
 short conference with Father Richot, the secre- 
 tary gave us a pass through the guards at Fort 
 Garry, and we were allowed to proceed. 
 
 We started on the last stage of our journey, 
 and reached Fort Garry November 3rd, 1869, 
 about 5.30 p.m. The guards accepted our 
 passes, and the gentleman (Mr. William Gomez 
 Fonseca) to whom we were indebted for safely 
 landing us at our destination, took us to his 
 home, and made us comfortable, for which we 
 were devoutly thankful.
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE PEOPLE OF WINNIPEG EXCITED. 
 
 The people of the Settlement were very much 
 excited, and all were uncertain as to what the 
 outcome of it all was to be. I called upon Dr. 
 Schultz, whose house was the rendezvous of all 
 the Canadians; and with his usual placid dis- 
 position, unless he spoke upon the surroundings, 
 you would look upon him as a disinterested 
 spectator. 
 
 Some days after I came to Winnipeg, a pub- 
 lic meeting was called to discuss the situation. 
 It was convened in a large building used as a 
 fire hall. The French natives were well repre- 
 sented; some American traders and some local 
 business men; some settlers from the adjoining 
 parishes. The hall was packed to the doors. 
 
 Mr. A. G. B. Bannatyne was called to the 
 chair. The Chairman said he felt certain that 
 everyone present, who had the welfare of the 
 Settlement at heart, was aware that present con- 
 ditions could not long continue; the tension 
 was becoming unbearable, and he hoped that 
 the meeting would discuss the business in a 
 dispassionate manner, and say nothing to irri- 
 tate or give offence, and to allow every person 
 to speak freely his convictions without interrup-
 
 26 Manitoba as I Saw It. 
 
 tion. Dr. Schultz was clearly championing the 
 side of the Canadians that were then in the 
 country. The English speaking people, old 
 settlers, appeared neutral ; if they had any lean- 
 ing they did not show it. The few American 
 traders were with the natives, and were inclined 
 to be turbulent. The French natives were bit- 
 terly opposed to everything and anything Dr. 
 Schultz said, but he spoke with deliberation, 
 clearly set forth that he was of the opinion that 
 the Hudson Bay Company were not using their 
 influence to pacify the disaffected people, but 
 were tacitly aiding and abetting the natives. 
 
 The Doctor's remarks were bitterly resented 
 by an English speaking half-breed, Mr. James 
 Ross, who was an eloquent speaker, and re- 
 butted the charges in a very masterly manner. 
 He spoke perfect English, and was in every way 
 the lion of the meeting. Dr. Schultz in reply 
 said that many of the Hudson Bay Company's 
 servants, and the Chairman of this meeting, 
 could no longer throw dust in the eyes of the 
 Canadians who were loyal, and the settlers (the 
 natives) would do well to be advised in time — 
 they were facing a great danger that would be 
 disastrous and possibly ruin many; but the 
 results were already seen by all loyal Cana- 
 dians.
 
 The People of Winnipeg Excited. 27 
 
 The officials of the Hudson Bay Company, so 
 far as I could observe, were absolutely loyal, 
 and I am of the opinion they were the real pro- 
 tectors of the Canadians during their imprison- 
 ment. 
 
 Mr. J. H. McTavish was the man who per- 
 haps had more influence over the French half- 
 breeds than any man in the Settlement. He was 
 loyal and a friend of the Canadians, and acted 
 in their interests. He was an officer of the 
 Hudson Bay Company, and if they were not in 
 accord with the Canadian Government he would 
 have said nothing. Mr. Donald A. Smith (now 
 Lord Strathconn), had every confidence in Mr. 
 McTavish. The late Mr. Arthur Hamilton was 
 of the same opinion. 
 
 I took rooms, and my wife and I began house- 
 keeping in rather unfavorable surroundings.
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 I WAS A NEUTRAL OBSERVER. 
 
 I observed as much as possible, a neutral 
 standpoint, being careful to express no opinions, 
 although many leading questions were put to 
 me, upon which I could but answer evasively, as 
 I had not been long enough in the country to 
 form an opinion on the matters in dispute. 
 
 I became acquainted at St. Cloud with a Mr. 
 Burdick, who was in the service of the Hudson 
 Bay Company, and he introduced me to most of 
 the leading men in Winnipeg, and they spoke 
 freely to me, which gave me a very good in- 
 sight how the different factions were lining up, 
 with a fair idea as to why Governor McDougall 
 would not be allowed to enter the country, and 
 also that the natives were very well informed in 
 regard to Governor McDougall 's powers and 
 movements, and why they were running very 
 little risk in keeping them out of the country, 
 also upon what they based their assumption, as 
 I shall be able to show you later on. 
 
 By this time the weather was becoming very 
 cold, and the rivers had frozen up, but there 
 had been very little snow np to this point. 
 
 The Ottawa Government, during the earlier
 
 / Was a Neutral Observer. 29 
 
 part of the season, had sent Mr. Snow, a Domin- 
 ion Land Surveyor, to the Bed River Settle- 
 ment, to begin surveying the country, before 
 the transfer had been made to Canada, although 
 the terms of the treaty between the Hudson Bay 
 Company and the Dominion had been agreed 
 upon according to Act 19. I may here remark 
 the beginning of the surveying was the spark 
 which started the Rebellion. The original sur- 
 veys were not made from base lines, but the 
 lines were drawn from the junction of the Red 
 and Assiniboine Rivers, running back four 
 miles, and varying and deviating lines drawn, 
 not the same as the survey of the Province of 
 Ontario, consequently the new lines of survey 
 bisected the lots in many places, and in some 
 instances passed through their buildings, or 
 left their buildings on their neighbor's farm. 
 They were very much alarmed, feeling that 
 their property, which they had occupied so long, 
 was to be rendered valueless, or to be deterio- 
 rated in value ; and perhaps that fear had been 
 taken hold of by some unscrupulous persons to 
 exaggerate the supposed grievance for their 
 own purposes. The results were that the half- 
 breeds warned Mr. Snow to desist. Mr. Snow 
 had a large camp and many men, and it would 
 have been a great loss to him to do so. The
 
 30 Manitoba as I Saw It. 
 
 laborers of the party began making demands 
 which he could not well accede to, and some of 
 them threatened to throw him into the river. 
 The more troublesome men were sent to Winni- 
 peg to be paid off. They were summoned before 
 a Magistrate, charged with using violent and 
 threatening language, and were fined. Thomas 
 Scott, who was of the Snow Survey, was one of 
 the party that was fined, and perhaps that was 
 the beginning of his ill-luck and tragic death. 
 Those who knew him, described him as a cheer- 
 ful, kindly man, trusted and very much liked by 
 his acquaintances. After this he accepted a sit- 
 uation in the village, where he remained until he 
 was enrolled with other Canadians in the house 
 of Dr. Schultz. 
 
 It was then announced that Colonel J. S. 
 Dennis was on his way to Winnipeg, and he had 
 full powers from the Government to deal with 
 all public matters connected with the Snow 
 party of surveyors, as Governor McDougall had 
 not been allowed to remain in the territory. He 
 was escorted by the detaclmaent of armed na- 
 tives, of which I have already spoken. 
 
 After this Governor McDougall crossed into 
 Canada, raised the Canadian flag, and issued his 
 proclamation, which was distributed in Winni- 
 peg, and through the Settlement; however, the
 
 I Was a Neutral Observer. 31 
 
 half-breeds being aware that Governor McDon- 
 gall had not his commission were not very mudi 
 impressed.
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE SCHULTZ BLUNDER. 
 
 There had been a slight fall of snow, and a 
 letter was received from Colonel J. S. Dennis, 
 with instructions to guard the Government 
 stores. For that purj^ose the Canadians were to 
 organize and arm themselves, and under no cir- 
 cumstances to fire a shot unless attacked. 
 
 The Canadians formed a Company at once, 
 with Dr. Lynch of the Snow Survey, as Captain, 
 and assembled at Dr. Schultz's house, and the 
 Canadians were at this time within easy call, 
 and most of them came in during the evening. 
 
 Colonel Dennis passed on to the Stone Fort, 
 and instructed his party as to their duties so 
 far as the stores were concerned, and then made 
 his way out of the country and back to Ottawa. 
 
 There was a building in the rear of Dr. 
 Schultz's house used for storing Government 
 supplies, to be used by Mr. Snow and his men 
 in the survey camps ; and when the half-breeds 
 began congregating at Fort Garry, then it was 
 that Dr. Schultz, together with Mr. Snow and 
 some of his party, deemed it advisable to call 
 the Canadians together for the purpose of 
 guarding and protecting the Government stores. 
 It was a great mistake. The value of the pro-
 
 SIR jOUX scmi.TZ.
 
 The Schultz Blunder. 33 
 
 visions therein stored was inconsiderable, and 
 their destruction or removal by the Metis was 
 of small moment. Why establish a guard? The 
 half-breeds then in arms had the opportunity 
 for which they were waiting. Men supposed to 
 be armed, headed by Dr. Schultz, congregated 
 in his house, intending no doubt to drive the 
 natives from Fort Garry; that was the half- 
 breeds' conclusion. "While they had the num- 
 bers they evidently thought it best to take the 
 initiative, and they did, and the result is now 
 history. 
 
 It does not require stretching one's imagina- 
 tion to see that if the Canadians had remained 
 in their individual lodging houses or homes, 
 away from Dr. Schultz 's residence, and attend- 
 ed as usual to their daily duties as they had 
 been doing, the cause for an attack upon them 
 would have been removed. The rebellious half- 
 breeds could not well attack individual peace- 
 ful citizens ; and the cause of the uprising would 
 have been barren. Should they have marched 
 upon the Schultz house, and finding but himself 
 and family, it is unlikely they would have made 
 them prisoners. The wily O'Donohue would 
 have vetoed that. They would scarcely go 
 about from house to house, making individual 
 arrests of men, having nothing more formid-
 
 34 Manitoba as I Saw It. 
 
 able on their persons than a pipe and tobacco 
 pouch; that would have been silly. But when 
 they surrounded the Schultz home they found 
 sixty people and some small arms; they made 
 them prisoners. The rest is history. 
 
 The segregating of the Canadians was the 
 Schultz blunder. The killing of Scott was the 
 outrageous blunder made by the half-breeds. 
 The reader may judge for himself who started 
 the Red River Rebellion. Was Dr. Schultz a 
 hero? 
 
 The natives were increasing in numbers, and 
 about the first of December were inclined to be 
 aggressive, and began making small ''sorties" 
 pretty close to where the Canadians were con- 
 gregated, and this state of affairs continued for 
 two or three days, when they openly avowed 
 their purpose of taking the Canadians prison- 
 ers. At this time the house was practically 
 guarded, the citizens outside were much 
 alarmed for the safety of the few Canadians, 
 and a deputation waited upon Riel (who had 
 been declared President), with a view to their 
 safety. Riel would not listen to anything like 
 reason, and said he would fire on the building 
 and raze it to the ground, with all in it, unless 
 they surrendered unconditionally, which the 
 Canadians would not do. Finally the efforts of
 
 The Schultz Blunder. 35 
 
 Mr. A. G. B. Bannatyne with others, got Riel 
 to commit himself in writing, that if they sur- 
 rendered, their lives and property would be 
 si:)ared. 
 
 After some consideration, terms were then 
 agreed upon, and the Canadians, numbering 
 about sixty, were taken to Fort Garry (then in 
 possession of the Riel party), as prisoners, men 
 and women. 
 
 Dr. Schultz, Mrs. Schultz and Mrs. Mair were 
 allowed to accept an invitation to lodge in the 
 house of Mr. J. H. McTavish, in the Hud- 
 son Bay post; and Dr. O'Donnell and his 
 wife were allowed to accept rooms with Dr. 
 "Wm. Cowan's family, the chief factor in 
 charge of Fort Garry. Two days after Dr. 
 O'Donnell was taken from Dr. Cowan's house 
 and lodged with the other prisoners, but 
 Dr. Schultz was allowed to remain with his 
 wife with Mr. McTavish 's family until two 
 days prior to his escape, when he was placed 
 in the building where the other prisoners 
 were, but in a room by himself. The morning of 
 the second day he had escaped, supposedly by 
 letting himself down from the window by two 
 straps of shaginappie attached to two gimlets 
 bored into the casing. The gimlets were not 
 sufficiently strong to bear his weight, and he
 
 36 Manitoba as I Saw It. 
 
 fell some distance to the ground; so it was said. 
 
 Dr. Schultz was comfortably housed and 
 boarded during his stay in Fort Garry, in fact 
 the guest of Mr. and Mrs. J. II. McTavish, and 
 tlierefore suffered less than three days in prison 
 proper, and then had a room to himself and his 
 meals sent to him from Mr. McTavish 's house. 
 The other prisoners were placed in overcrowded 
 rooms, had to sleep on the floor, and had black 
 tea without milk or sugar, and during the first 
 few weeks were fed on coarse meat, pemican 
 and bannock. After that time the citizens were 
 permitted to send regular meals to them during 
 the remainder of their term as Riel 's prisoners. 
 
 At this time the Doctor was on his way out of 
 the country in a dog cariole (the most comfort- 
 able winter conveyance in the Northwest) to 
 Duluth and on to Toronto, Montreal and 
 Ottawa.
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE DEPUTATION TO OTTAWA. 
 
 The Riel party kept strict guard over the 
 prisoners you may be sure; and the natives 
 from every part of the Settlement were drum- 
 med up to discuss the situation, and to decide 
 what was the best course to pursue. A deputa- 
 tion had been sent to Ottawa with a Bill of 
 Rights, which was presented to the Federal 
 Government by the Reverend Father Richot 
 and A. Scott, an American. 
 
 For some time the prisoners were unable to 
 know anything that was taking place, but some 
 of the prisoners could speak French, and were 
 able to keep fairly well posted on outside 
 movements. 
 
 Mr. Arthur Hamilton, a surveyor of the Snow 
 party, spoke French fluently, and memorized 
 everything the guards said that was of import- 
 ance. Some of the guards were always at the 
 Riel Council meeting, and would relate what 
 had taken place at the meeting to the night 
 guards, when the prisoners were supposed to 
 be asleep; by which, with Mr. Hamilton's 
 knowledge, we were able to forecast what was 
 likely to take place, correctly, and did, as a 
 rule ; but the knowledge which we were gaining
 
 38 Manitoba as I Saw It. 
 
 was not reassuring or calculated to elevate our 
 spirits. 
 
 Mr. Hamilton had formed an opinion that 
 Riel was a dangerous crank (half lunatic), that 
 O'Donohue had great influence over him, and 
 that influence was bad; also that M. Lepine 
 was a man honest in his folly, and was doing 
 all in his power to keep Riel within bounds. 
 
 Every Sunday morning, and sometimes dur- 
 ing the week, a priest from the St. Boniface 
 Cathedral came and said mass, and preached 
 to the natives, charging them as to their duty 
 in the present crisis. It was not always the 
 same priest, but all spoke along pacific lines, 
 some less so than others, but Mr. Hamilton was 
 of the opinion, that it was due to an improper 
 conception of the gravity of the situation. 
 Others of the prisoners were in some instances 
 incensed at the wording of the sermons, and 
 felt certain the priests were in sympathy with 
 the half-breeds, and were not using their influ- 
 ence in endeavoring to allay the turbulence in 
 the minds of the half-breeds. It must be 
 remembered that the natives were being in- 
 structed by their own spiritual advisers, and 
 would naturally be in sympathy with them. 
 There was one priest, a Frenchman, and while 
 I am not aware of his personal sympathy with
 
 The Deputation to Ottawa. 39 
 
 the uprising of the natives during the imprison- 
 ment, after we were released I have thought 
 his views rather radical.
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE ARRIVAL OF THE COMMISSIONER. 
 
 About this time delegates from each of the 
 parishes were selected, both English and 
 French, and were summoned by the Provisional 
 Government, and they met in Fort Garry. At 
 such a time, and meeting in a hostile camp, 
 very little could be expected; nothing that did 
 not bear the permissive stamp of Riel. 
 
 A Commissioner was sent from the Federal 
 Government at Ottawa, to Winnipeg, in the per- 
 son of Mr. Donald A. Smith (now Lord Strath- 
 cona), who met with the leading men, both Eng- 
 lish and French, of the Settlement, and Riel 
 and those associated with him, and it was 
 through his influence and that of Reverend 
 George Young, and the late Archbishop McRae 
 and Mr. A. G. B. Bannatyne, that the life of 
 Major Boulton (then under sentence of death 
 by Riel) was spared. This cruel upstart, how- 
 ever, with the coward's characteristics, brave 
 only when powerful, was but checked in his 
 murderous design, and soon after fixed upon 
 poor Thomas Scott for his victim. Scott was 
 tried by a so-called Court-Martial, in a language 
 that he did not understand, convicted and sent-
 
 HIS C.kACI'; ARCIIIUSIIOI' TAClllv.
 
 The Arrival of the Commissioner. 41 
 
 enced to death, and was executed on March 
 4th, 1870, and when some of his associates 
 begged for Scott's life, Kiel's reply was: *'He 
 was a dangerous man. He first quarrelled 
 with his employer. Snow, was convicted and 
 fined for threatening language, and afterwards 
 escaping from prison was recaptured with the 
 Canadians who had assembled at the Kil- 
 donan Church with the avowed object of recap- 
 turing Fort Garry from the Provisional Govern- 
 ment. I cannot spare his life." Such was the 
 reply of the President of the Provisional 
 Government, Kiel, 
 
 Mr. Donald A. Smith (Strathcona) returned 
 to Ottawa, and made his report on the condition 
 of affairs in the Red River Settlement. The 
 report was clear and explicit, defining every- 
 thing to be considered by the Federal Govern- 
 ment. They saw the force of it, with the result 
 that the General Wolseley Expedition was sent 
 as soon as it was possible. 
 
 The Expedition reached Winnipeg after much 
 fatigue and hardship, arriving at Fort Garry 
 early in September, 1870, when Kiel's army had 
 settled down to their farms, and become good 
 citizens, and his Executive fought in the way to 
 be expected, to wit, they ran away, but Riel 
 lived to fight another day, with the result that
 
 42 Manitoba as I Saw It. 
 
 he was captured and hanged as a rebel. If he 
 had been tried at that time, and dealt with as 
 he eventually was, it would have saved many 
 valuable lives, and saved the Dominion of Can- 
 ada over eight millions of dollars, but the man 
 who signed the warrant for his arrest was dis- 
 missed from the Commission of the Peace. 
 
 Honorable Adams George Archibald was 
 made Governor of Manitoba, and arrived in 
 Winnipeg a few days after the Wolseley Expe- 
 dition ; and the preliminary steps were taken to 
 establish the Government of the new Province. 
 The Governor appointed Mr. Alfred Boyd, of 
 Redwood Place, Provincial Secretary; Mr. 
 Max A. Gerard, Provincial Treasurer ; in order 
 to legally transact the business of the country 
 until after the elections, which were to take 
 place after a proper census had been taken and 
 Electoral Divisions had been arranged for the 
 Provincial election, and four Electoral Districts 
 by the Dominion Government. 
 
 It will be remembered at this time that Bishop 
 Tache had not yet returned from Rome, where 
 he had been for several months on official busi- 
 ness, ha^dng left the Settlement before the cause 
 of the uprising had appeared upon the surface. 
 I feel sure, from what I afterwards learned of 
 his powerful influence over the natives, that he
 
 LlKUT.-GOVHKN'oK ARC 11 1 BALD
 
 The Arrival of the Commissioner. 43 
 
 would have been able to sufficiently control them, 
 and settle diplomatically the questions in dis- 
 pute before any violence was resorted to. That 
 he was deeply grieved at what had taken place, 
 I am sure, but Eiel felt his power over his fol- 
 lowers to be greater than that of the Bishop's, 
 and so it proved; Kiel having the Hudson Bay 
 Company's fort, and in possession of the stores 
 where he could deal out rum, brandy and wine, 
 dry goods and all sorts of provisions to them 
 ad libitum, was the weapon used by the cun- 
 ning Kiel to defy the good prelate, well knowing 
 that an appeal to their stomach had a much 
 greater force than an appeal to their already 
 elastic conscience, and would last so long as the 
 supplies held out. 
 
 From that on, up to the approach of the 
 Wolseley Expedition, it was "high life below 
 stairs" with this silly bombast. From the time 
 the prisoners were released Riel never left the 
 Fort without a mounted guard escort, and his 
 efforts to appear a military potentate were, to 
 say the least, not only amusing, but grotesque. 
 Occasionally he wore a purple silk vest, and at 
 other times a black vest with buttons covered 
 with purple silk. They were left off, however, 
 after Bishop Tache's return. I understand the 
 natives objected to his wearing purple.
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 HON. J. HOWE AND M'DOUGALL^S COMMISSION. 
 
 The prisoners having been released, and some 
 having returned to Ontario and other Eastern 
 Provinces, the old business men of Winnipeg, 
 and men of influence throughout the parishes, 
 began talking freely to those of us who had 
 settled down to make Winnipeg our home. From 
 them we learned, referring to the incident of 
 not allowing the Honorable William McDougall, 
 the Lieutenant-Governor, to come in, that it was 
 due to the information given to well known 
 sympathizers of the French half-breeds, by the 
 Honorable Joseph Howe, who had preceded Mr. 
 McDougall to the Red River Settlement, and had 
 said at a private dinner party given in his 
 honor, that the Government had not given the 
 Honorable Mr. McDougall his commission, but 
 had promised to send it to him on his arrival 
 at Fort Garrj' . Many of the guests at that dinner 
 were in touch with the leaders of the natives, 
 and they, of course, grasped that news from a 
 Cabinet Minister w^th avidity. The result was, 
 that as soon as Mr. Howe had got out of the 
 country, the statement was communicated to 
 the Riel party, and they then knew their ground. 
 This was hinted plainly to us at our noonday
 
 Howe and McDougaWa Commission. 45 
 
 lunch on the prairie, near Georgetown, Minne- 
 sota, by Mr. James L. Turner and Mr. San- 
 ford, both gentlemen supporters of the Domin- 
 ion Government, and who afterwards were both 
 elevated to the Dominion Senate. 
 
 With this knowledge, and from such a source, 
 you can readily understand that they had no 
 fear of results detrimental to their cause in 
 refusing McDougall entrance into the country, 
 knowing that he had not his commission and 
 was not vested with proper authority to issue a 
 Royal Proclamation. 
 
 The Eastern mail matter all came through by 
 way of St. Paul, and from Pembina had to pass 
 through the half-breed settlements, and in 
 most cases were carried to the Winnipeg office 
 by half-breeds, and under the censorship of the 
 Kiel combination. They knew all the move- 
 ments of the persons directing the Dominion 
 affairs in the Red River Settlement, and that 
 news came from a Minister of the Crown. 
 
 The Plonorable Mr. McDougall was not 
 allowed to enter Rupert's Land. He did not 
 have his commission when he made the attempt. 
 
 When the Riel party were dispersed, and the 
 country tranquil, Honorable William Mc- 
 Dougall was not reappointed Governor, and 
 now you can ask yourself the question: Was
 
 46 Manitoba as I Saw It. 
 
 he fairly treated by the Government of that 
 day? 
 
 When Mr. McDougall was appointed, the 
 Government was to be a Governor and Council. 
 Captain Cameron, son-in-law of Sir Charles 
 Tiipper; Mr. Provencher, a Montreal news- 
 paper man of some ability ; Mr. Richards, from 
 Ontario; Major Wallace, and one or two others, 
 were to be of the Council; the others to be 
 named from persons living at the time in the 
 country; but after the uprising it was deemed 
 advisable by the Federal Government to create 
 the Province of Manitoba, under the provisions 
 made and provided in the British North 
 America Act. 
 
 The first Governor was appointed in the per- 
 son of Honorable Adams George Archibald, a 
 man of ability, of genial manner and great tact. 
 He reached Fort Garry September 30th, 1870, 
 and set about the work of organizing the new 
 Pro%'ince, with caution and most excellent 
 judgment, after first having met and obtained 
 the views of some of the leading men of the 
 several parishes, who were in a position to give 
 him information that would assist him in carry- 
 ing out the mission in which he was engaged. 
 
 During the latter portion of the summer or 
 beginning of autumn, Mr. Joseph Royal and
 
 Howe and McDougalVs Commission. 47 
 
 Mr. Joseph Dubuc reached St. Boniface, and a 
 short time after Mr. H. J. Clark reached Win- 
 nipeg. They most likely had some hopes or 
 promises that under the new regulations there 
 would be a place made for them, which after- 
 wards proved to be the case. They were each 
 provided with French constituencies, and elect- 
 ed at the first general election.
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 THE ARRIVAL OF LT.-GOVERNOE ARCHIBALD. 
 
 Lieutenant-Governor Archibald associated 
 with him in conducting the Government Mr. 
 Alfred Boyd and Mr. Max A. Gerard, the former 
 as Provincial Secretary, the latter as Pro- 
 vincial Treasurer, until the elections could be 
 held, and representative government fully 
 established. 
 
 The first elections were held December 20th, 
 1870, and on the 10th of January, 1871, follow- 
 ing, the first regular Cabinet was formed as 
 follows : 
 
 Honorable Alfred Boyd, Minister of Public 
 Works and Agriculture; Honorable Max A. 
 Gerard, Provincial Treasurer; Honorable H. J. 
 Clark, Attorney-General; Honorable Thomas 
 Howard, Provincial Secretary; Honorable 
 James McKay, President of the Council. 
 
 The first session of the Legislature took place 
 on Wednesday, March 15th, 1871, when Honor- 
 able Joseph Royal was elected the first Speaker. 
 About forty-three Bills were passed, and many 
 of them were important Acts. The Education 
 Act is amongst the number, being an Act to 
 establish a system of education in this Prov- 
 ince, and to establish Public Schools, the dual
 
 Arrival of Lt. -Governor Archibald. 49 
 
 system having been inaugurated, Catholic and 
 Protestant. 
 
 Among the more important Acts passed of 
 the forty- three enumerated were : 
 
 ''The Interpretation Act," 
 
 "The Supreme Court Act," 
 
 ''The Registration of Deeds Acts," 
 
 "Police Act," 
 
 "The License Act," 
 
 "The Medical Act," 
 
 "Bishop of St. Boniface Act," 
 
 "Bishop of Rupert's Land Act." 
 
 "St. John's College Act," 
 
 "St. Boniface College Act," 
 and others of less importance. 
 
 The Legislative Council was summoned with 
 the other branch of the Legislature to meet on 
 the 15th March, 1871. The members of the 
 Council were sworn in the previous day in the 
 office of the Provincial Secretary : 
 
 Honorable J. McKay, Honorable Dr. J. H. 
 O'Donnell, Honorable C. Inkster, Honorable S. 
 Hamlin, Honorable S. Dauphenais, Honorable 
 F. Ogletree, Honorable D. Gunn. 
 
 The Honorable James McKay was named 
 Speaker of the Council, and Thomas Spence 
 appointed Clerk.
 
 50 ■ Manitoba as I Saw It. 
 
 Dr. J. C. Schultz ran for Winnipeg, and was 
 opposed by Donald A. Smith (now Stratlicona). 
 
 At first we had dual representation. Mr. 
 Smith was elected by a large majority, consid- 
 ering the small number of votes in each Elec- 
 toral Division ; the natives nearly all voting for 
 Mr. Smith. 
 
 Most of the Canadians then in the country 
 regretted Dr. Schultz 's defeat. Mr. Smith 
 showed himself a man of great ability, free from 
 prejudice and just in his deductions. 
 
 The Federal Government appointed Judge 
 Francis Johnson, a Commissioner, to report at 
 Fort Garry, and inquire into the Eebellion 
 Losses Claims. So far as concerned Mr. John- 
 son's ability he was admirably fitted for the 
 work, being an excellent French scholar and 
 especially learned in the law. He appeared to 
 go carefully into all the cases that came before 
 him, and made an excellent report to the Gov- 
 ernment ; but many were much disappointed at 
 the awards. The Canadians were of the opinion 
 that Dr. Schultz 's compensation was much in 
 excess of his losses, while some received but a 
 small percentage of their actual losses. Those 
 who were in a position to know, were of the 
 opinion that most of the Doctor's goods were 
 disposed of before he and the others were made
 
 Arrival of Lt.-Governor Archibald. 51 
 
 prisoners, and that his losses were from being 
 thrown out of business, but were really in a 
 measure made up by increased prices and quick 
 sales for the large consignment of goods that 
 came down the Red River immediatly after the 
 arrival of the Wolseley Expedition; but Dr. 
 Schultz, with that placid individuality, had a 
 pleasant word for everyone, and seldom spoke 
 of his gains or losses, but keeping his eye on 
 whatever point he was endeavoring to make, 
 kept his own counsel, and generally succeeded. 
 Judge Johnson was a man of great ability, 
 but insufferably vain, and if that vanity were 
 appealed to in the proper manner I am afraid 
 his conscience would have forsaken him, even 
 if a deserving man was being sacrificed.
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 ATTORNEY-GENERAL CLARK EARLY MADE HIMSELF 
 UNPOPULAR. 
 
 Attorney-General Clark made himself un- 
 popular early. He no sooner assumed office 
 than he felt he was the law, instead of legal 
 director, and so expressed himself; but the 
 working out of his early conceived idea one day 
 received a severe jolt. 
 
 A soldier from the Barracks was one day in 
 the *'01d Emerling" Hotel, and engaged in a 
 friendly game of cards with a French half- 
 breed, and suggested that they play for money 
 just to make it interesting. The soldier, after 
 winning the little money the native had, was 
 spending it at the bar. The man left the hotel, 
 and meeting the Attorney-General, told of his 
 loss, and the ''Law" had to take its course. 
 Honorable H. J. Clark called the nearest police- 
 man, and ordered him to take the soldier out of 
 the hotel to the station and lock him up. An- 
 other soldier nearby saw the arrest, and at 
 once ran off to the Barracks and reported. In 
 a very short time a number of soldiers marched 
 to the jail where the prisoner was, and de- 
 manded his release, which was refused. They 
 at once seized a long piece of timber and using 
 it as a battering ram, smashed the door and took
 
 Attorney-General Clark Unpopular. 53 
 
 the prisoner back to the Fort, and on the way- 
 saying: "We'll hang the Attorney-General on 
 the Barracks gate some day," The Attorney- 
 General looked upon the whole affair as a warn- 
 ing which he should take, and he did. 
 
 The Attorney-General assumed the leader- 
 ship of the House, but as a matter of fact there 
 was no Premier. The members of the Cabinet 
 were individually responsible to the Lieutenant- 
 Governor, and all Bills brought before the 
 House were carefully gone over by the Gover- 
 nor and a few trusted members of the Assembly 
 and two members of the Legislative Council, 
 and suggestions made. 
 
 Of the personnel of the Legislative Council I 
 have very little to say. Honorable James Mc- 
 Kay, the first Speaker, was a half-breed; cau- 
 tious, of excellent judgment in some instances; 
 but had implicit faith in the advice of the clergy 
 and not likely to oppose the views of the Arch- 
 bishop. I must say in fairness he considered 
 those opposed to him, and was at all times will- 
 ing to discuss public questions with his oppon- 
 ent, with a degree of justice, and at times won- 
 derful adroitness. He was a quasi-king among 
 the half-breeds, and had great power over al- 
 most all the Indian tribes, speaking several
 
 54 Manitoba as I Saw It. 
 
 Indian tongues with fluency. He was a man of 
 means, treated the Indians generously, and was 
 the peacemaker in many of their disputes, and 
 his word was law unto them. 
 
 The two French members of the Council, 
 Honorable Solomon Hamlin and Honorable 
 Francis Dauphenais, were honest, kindhearted 
 men, unable to read or write, and voted on 
 almost all questions in accordance with the 
 wishes of their advisers. 
 
 Honorable Francis Ogletree was a Canadian ; 
 very well read, fair in debate, and had a good 
 knowledge of civic legislation, having been a 
 County Councillor in Ontario for many years. 
 He was absolutely free from prejudice, and not 
 easily swayed from his opinion by any argu- 
 ment. 
 
 Honorable Donald Gunn was very old, but 
 his intellect was in no way impaired. He was 
 born in the Orkneys; very well read, and in 
 narrating past events or happenings in the Set- 
 tlement, or indeed the whole of Rupert's Land — 
 he was a veritable encyclopedia. He had, 
 through his own energy and application, ac- 
 quired a very good knowledge of astronomy, 
 was very well up in meteorology, and respected 
 by all classes of the people.
 
 HON 1-"KA\C"IS tX.HI.TKKK
 
 Attorney-General Clark Unpopular. 55 
 
 Honorable Colin Inkster was a son of the 
 late Jolm Inkster, of Seven Oaks, Kildonan. He 
 was a hardy old Norseman from the North of 
 Scotland, for many years in the Hudson Bay 
 service; and the greatest treat you could give 
 a distinguished visitor to the Settlement, was 
 to give him an evening with happy, hearty, 
 warm-hearted, intelligent John Inkster, of 
 Seven Oaks. Honorable Colin, the present 
 sheriff, in firmness is like his father. He had 
 opinions on all subjects up for discussion and 
 irrespective of opposition, always stood by 
 those opinions, as I have good reason to know, 
 having frequently been opposed to him in de- 
 bate ; but he was a fair and honorable opponent, 
 and I am pleased to say I number him now 
 among my best friends. He is a gentleman of 
 the old school ideals, and would honor any 
 position in which he might be placed. 
 
 Honorable Colin Inkster opposed Dr. Schultz 
 for the Commons the first Dominion elections, 
 but was defeated. Dr. Schultz carried the seat 
 by a small majority. 
 
 Honorable J. H. O'Donnell opposed the abo- 
 lition of the Legislative Council, which was 
 brought about in the main by the late Honorable 
 Joseph Royal and one or two others. I am of 
 the opinion that it was a mistake at the time,
 
 56 Manitoba as I Saw It. 
 
 when so many conflicting interests had yet to 
 be adjusted. The French half-breeds are the 
 ones that have suffered most severely.
 
 iiii\ coi.ix i\ Ksri<;K'. siii-:rii'1'"
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 THE PERSONNEL OF THE FIRST LEGISLATURE. 
 
 Mr. Thomas Spence was appointed Clerk of 
 the Legislative Council, a position he filled with 
 considerable ability. He was a very well edu- 
 cated Scotchman from Edinburgh, and came 
 to Canada when a young man, living in Mon- 
 treal for a few years. 
 
 Some years previous to the purchase of 
 Rupert's Land from the Hudson Bay Company 
 by the Dominion Government, he came to the 
 Red River Settlement (Fort Garry), and made 
 his home in the Cathedral Town of St. Boniface. 
 He was an excellent clerk, in fact, could do any- 
 thing acceptably in an office; was a good en- 
 grosser, a fairly good draughtsman, and 
 sketched in landscape. Mr. Spence had quite a 
 few of the characteristics of "Wilkins Micawber ; 
 he was always living in great expectations, and 
 when they were not materializing he became de- 
 pressed, and would tell dramatically how shame- 
 fully his services had been overlooked by the 
 Federal Government. It was never very appar- 
 ent as to what those services consisted of, but 
 it was an excellent text for considerable elo- 
 quence on his part, mingled with an occasional 
 tear; but a friendly suggestion of a ''yard of
 
 58 Manitoba as I Saw It. 
 
 clay" and a little of the cup ''that cheers," and 
 he felt sure that his great services would be 
 duly considered by the Government. His Grace, 
 the late Archbishop Tache, thought much of 
 him, as having in many ways great ability, and 
 always befriended him when it was necessary. 
 
 Mr. Victor Beaupre was Usher of the Black 
 Rod at that time. 
 
 The first Legislative Assembly of Manitoba, 
 was composed of twenty-four members only. It 
 is doubtful if any Legislative Assembly in any 
 Province of Canada at that time had as many 
 men of ability, and that have figured so con- 
 spicuously in Canadian public affairs, and so 
 many that hold positions of trust and promin- 
 ence to-day, as did that first Assembly of that 
 Western Province. 
 
 The first members of the Legislative Assem- 
 bly were : 
 
 Mr. Donald A. Smith (Strathcona), Dr. 
 Curtis J. Bird, Mr. John H. McTavish, Alfred 
 Boyd (of Eedwood), Joseph Royal, Joseph 
 Dubuc, Max A. Gerard, Kenneth MeKenzie, 
 John Sutherland (of Kildonan), Thomas Bunn, 
 John Norquay, Thomas Howard, all men that 
 have figured prominently in Canadian public 
 affairs, and some having attained the highest
 
 Personnel of the First Legislature. 59 
 
 positions in tlie gift of the Government, which 
 they occupy to-day. 
 
 Edmund Bourke, of St. James; H. J. Clark, 
 Joseph Lemay, Pierre Delorme ; Dr. Cowan, of 
 Portage la Prairie ; P. Brehmd, Louis Sclimidt, 
 Frederick Bird, John Taylor (Headingly), E. 
 H. G. G. Hay, A. McKay, George Klyne, all 
 men more or less prominent in their respective 
 locations. 
 
 Following are a few remarks on these first 
 members of the Legislative Assembly: 
 
 Donald A. Smith (Lord Strathcona) ; every 
 line of Canadian history from 1870 must be 
 closely allied to his name, and a synonym for 
 the progress and greatness of Manitoba and the 
 Northwest of Canada. 
 
 Dr. Curtis J. Bird, born in the Settlement, of 
 English parents, learned in his profession, hav- 
 ing recently received his training in Guy's 
 Hospital, London, England; a man of culture 
 and refinement, and a clever diagnostician, was 
 of a retiring disposition, but his general read- 
 ing had been l)road, and his judgment always 
 for the best; was for a time Speaker of the 
 House. 
 
 John Norquay, I need only mention his name 
 to awaken the most kindly, generous impulse 
 in the minds of all who ever knew him. Great,
 
 60 Manitoba as I Saw It. 
 
 big, hearty, broad-minded, eloquent, noble John 
 Norqiiay. When speaking upon any subject 
 touching upon the old and native population, 
 his eloquence equalled the best efforts of D'Arcy 
 McGee. Had he been less generous, he would 
 have remained longer in power. 
 
 Thomas Bunn was a son of the late Dr. 
 Bunn, a distinguished member of the medical 
 profession here, a man of great erudition. His 
 son inherited the quickness of perception and 
 judicial mind of his father, and was a good 
 speaker, ornate and convincing, and never spoke 
 in the House unless thoroughly conversant with 
 the subject before the chair. 
 
 John H. McTavish, an officer of the Hudson 
 Bay Company, a thorough business man, and 
 from his intimate knowledge of the people of 
 the Settlement and their requirements, rendered 
 very valuable services in framing the new laws 
 and adapting them to the requirements of the 
 legal changes th^t were necessary under the 
 new regulations. 
 
 Alfred Boyd, a wealthy Englishman, of Red- 
 wood, St. John's Parish. He was the first Pro- 
 vincial Secretary; a man of good education, a 
 gentleman of refinement, and readily adapted 
 himself to the duties of his office. He was an
 
 Jl_)li.\ 11, .\KTA\1SII.
 
 Personnel of the First Legislature. 61 
 
 excellent office man, and did good work in com- 
 mittee; a clever cartoonist, and drew many 
 laughable sketches of members of the House 
 that were grotesquely funny. 
 
 Edmund Bourke, born in this country, of the 
 Parish of St. James. He is one of several 
 brothers, all looked upon as men of sterling in- 
 tegrity. He had opinions on all subjects before 
 the House, and always voted in accordance with 
 those opinions. 
 
 Joseph Royal, the first Speaker of the Assem- 
 bly, a gentleman of courtly bearing, had some 
 ability as a newspaper writer, and was a fair 
 speaker. Pie occupied several positions in the 
 Government, at one time Attorney-General. He 
 ultimately became Lieutenant-Governor of the 
 Northwest Territories, which practically closed 
 his public career. 
 
 Joseph Dubuc, a man of quiet, unassuming 
 manner, and his whole course has been one of 
 progression. At different times he occupied 
 positions in the Provincial Cabinet, until he was 
 elevated to the Bench. As a lawyer he was 
 looked upon as fair and honest, and never subtle 
 or endeavoring to get an unfair advantage, and 
 as a Judge his judgments were looked upon as 
 among the best, and many think as a judge of
 
 62 Manitoba as I Saw It. 
 
 fact he stands pre-eminent. At present he is 
 Chief Justice of Manitoba. 
 
 Max A. Gerard, a French gentleman of the 
 old school, a man of good reasoning powers and 
 a great favorite with all who knew him. He 
 was the first Provincial Treasurer, and later on 
 became Premier of the Province. He was not 
 given the fullest support of those of his own 
 nationality, and feeling that, he retired. On 
 resigning he said : "Since it is the wish of those 
 whose support I had every reason to expect, I 
 obey their wishes. I am the first French Prem- 
 ier of the Province, and it is my opinion I will 
 be the last." Certainly up to this time his 
 words have been prophetic. 
 
 Thomas Howard, a son of a distinguished 
 member of the medical profession in Montreal. 
 He came up with the Wolseley Expedition, and 
 became Provincial Treasurer. He assumed the 
 Chesterfield manner, a good diner out, and was 
 harmless and amusing. 
 
 Mr. D. A. Ross has been for many years an 
 active participant in all that pertains to the 
 City and Provincial development. 
 
 He was for several years a prominent mem- 
 ber of the City Council, and very many of the 
 permanent improvements bear his impress. 
 
 Almost from the first he has been on the
 
 Personnel of the First Legislature. 63 
 
 Board of the City's Public Schools, and has 
 worked hard for compulsory education and the 
 best class of school building, and in no instance 
 has he neglected to raise his voice for the ad- 
 vancement of our Public School System. 
 
 He is at present the representative in the 
 Provincial Parliament of the Electoral Consti- 
 tuency of Springfield, and has shown himself 
 to be an active and painstaking member. He is 
 a brother of the late A. W. Ross, who represent- 
 ed an Electoral District in Manitoba for sev- 
 eral years in the Canadian House of Commons, 
 and was a prominent figure in Winnipeg in 
 1882. 
 
 Dr. Cowan, Portage la Prairie, a man of good 
 business ability, and an excellent committee 
 man; a very useful and efficient member. 
 
 Kenneth McKenzie, of Westbourne, an excel- 
 lent Scotch farmer, imported the first herd of 
 thoroughbred Shorthorn cattle to the country; 
 in short, was a model farmer. He was always 
 listened to in the House and his opinion was 
 valued. Plis word was never questioned, and 
 it was a loss to the Province when he retired 
 from politics. 
 
 Mr. Molyneux Singean was appointed the 
 first Clerk of the Legislative Assembly. He 
 represented as correspondent some Eastern
 
 64 Manitoba as I Saw It. 
 
 newspaper and was with the Wolseley Expedi- 
 tion. As a young man he had been a Lieutenant 
 in the British Army, a gentleman of pleasing 
 manner, good ability, and considered a clever 
 writer. He was up to the time of his death 
 always in Government employ ; his last position 
 being Usher of the Black Rod, Ottawa.
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 SCHOOL LEGISLATION. 
 
 One of the most imi3ortant measures passed 
 in tlie first session of the Manitoba Legislature 
 was "The School Act," being an Act to estab- 
 lish a system of education in the Province, and 
 establishing Public Schools; the dual system 
 having been inaugurated — Catholic and Protes- 
 tant, not separate schools as they have gener- 
 ally been called. 
 
 Previous to the passing of the Public School 
 Act, all schools were denominational, being 
 managed and financed by their respective 
 churches, namely: Catholic, Anglican, Presby- 
 terian, Methodist; and gave good satisfaction 
 in so far as results were obtained. 
 
 When the Bill came up for discussion in the 
 House the speeches were very mild indeed, and 
 the measure passed both Houses of the Legisla- 
 ture and became law. Public Schools were duly 
 established, and for a time worked well. Later 
 Church organizations and Eastern newspapers 
 began discussing the Manitoba School affairs, 
 and not being conversant with the subject wrote 
 in error, and in a manner calculated to cause 
 turbulence in the minds of the people. The 
 politicians saw their opportunity, picked up the
 
 66 Manitoba as I Saiv It. 
 
 **cue" and the game was on, and played with 
 much skill on both sides for political purposes, 
 until settled by the Government of Canada. 
 
 The great mistake in framing the first ** Pub- 
 lic School Act" was in not having a uniform 
 curriculum, a standard up to which all teachers, 
 Catholic and Protestant, had to come, and a 
 uniform system of school inspection. Nothing 
 could then have arisen to cause discussion. 
 
 It was a relief to the majority of the people 
 of Canada when the Federal Government took 
 up the question and settled it for all time, inso- 
 far as the Province of Manitoba is concerned. 
 The School system as it now stands, is per- 
 haps quite equal to any Public Schools in opera- 
 tion on the continent. Our system is neither 
 secular nor denominational. I am of the opin- 
 ion if they are to have a name they should be 
 called Protestant. However, they are not ultra, 
 and there is very little friction, if any, on that 
 score. The inspection of schools in the country 
 appears very generally satisfactory at present, 
 with the exception of Winnipeg and Brandon, 
 in which cases the Archbishop, not being in 
 accord with the system, the Catholic School 
 Board erected separate school buildings, so that 
 the Catholic ratepayers are doubly burdened 
 in paying rates both for their own and the
 
 School Legislation. 67 
 
 Public Schools. Where there are grounds for 
 complaints they will ultimately evolve them- 
 selves into harmony, and the deep-toned mur- 
 mur of discontent here and there will become 
 like a ripple on the surface of water, becoming 
 less and less until it disappears altogether. 
 
 In the City of Winnipeg the Public Schools 
 are up to a high standard. The buildings are 
 roomy, well heated and sanitary, ventilation 
 good, and the rooms kept thoroughly clean; an 
 efficient teaching staff; large average attend- 
 ance and the discipline of the best. 
 
 Mr. Daniel Mclntyre, the Superintendent, is 
 a thorough educationalist, and supervises the 
 school working with excellent tact and judg- 
 ment. The teachers are selected with great care 
 and placed in departments best suited to their 
 individual ability. 
 
 In consequence of the rapid growth of the 
 city it is not easy to i)rovide school space with- 
 out overcrowding, but by the superior skill dis- 
 played, Mr. Mclntyre seems to surmount the 
 difficulty. So great is the increase of pupils 
 yearly that it is found necessary to build one or 
 two large school buildings every year in order 
 to have sufficient accommodation — even then, 
 at times, it becomes necessary to rent a build- 
 ing or two to meet the demand.
 
 68 Manitoba as I Saw It. 
 
 Notwithstanding the heavy demands made 
 annually upon the ratepayers for school build- 
 ings very few objections have been raised for 
 the outlay, free schools being looked upon as 
 such a boon.
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 THE ARRIVAL OF THE WOLSELEY EXPEDITION. 
 
 The arrival of the Wolseley Expedition, of 
 course, put matters on a quasi basis of law and 
 order, but it was naturally to be expected that 
 a bitter feeling would still exist between the 
 Loyalists and the half-breeds who took part in 
 the uprising. Chagrin at their defeat pervaded 
 the minds of the natives, and the overbearing 
 attitude assumed by the Canadians was the 
 cause of an occasional rencontre, that ended 
 disastrously on one particular occasion, and 
 caused much ill-feeling to again spring up in 
 the minds of the French natives and a bitter 
 hatred of all Canadians. 
 
 A French half-breed, a Mr. Goulet, who was 
 looked upon as a leading rebel, came into a 
 saloon not far from Fort Garry, where a few 
 Canadians and retired soldiers were drinking. 
 He was recognized and a quarrel ensued. 
 Goulet was driven from the hotel. In his fright 
 he ran away, pursued by a few men whose 
 hatred overcame their judgment. After run- 
 ning rapidly until he reached the brink of the 
 Red River, and feeling, no doubt, that his 
 pursuers intended him grievous bodily harm, 
 Goulet plunged into the stream, and in his at-
 
 70 Manitoba as I Saw It. 
 
 tempt to swim across to save himself, got but 
 a short distance when he sank from exhaustion 
 and was drowned. 
 
 It was a most regrettable thing, but might 
 have occurred under other circumstances which 
 would have been thought but the outcome of a 
 drunken brawl. The men who drove Goulet to 
 his grave were of no credit to either party, and 
 were a class having no standing in the com- 
 munity, and should have been severely pun- 
 ished, but they were not legally dealt with, 
 which stands to the discredit of those who were 
 parties to the outrage. 
 
 At this time we had no newspaper worthy of 
 the name here, and no Government can succeed 
 without a Government organ. 
 
 Mr. Eobert Cunningham, a very clever 
 writer, who was at one time attached to the 
 Toronto Globe, about this time came to Fort 
 Garry. He was a Scotchman from Aberdeen, 
 thoroughly educated in newspaper work, a good 
 Parliamentary reporter, and his advent was 
 hailed with delight, and he was at once secured 
 to write up the policy of the Government; and 
 aided Governor Archibald materially in carry- 
 ing out his ideas of administration along lines 
 of pacifying the various discordant elements, 
 unifying opposing factions, which had much to
 
 Arrival of the Wolseley Expedition. 71 
 
 do with starting the newly created Province of 
 Manitoba out upon its career, taking up its 
 responsibilities as the poorest and smallest part 
 of the Dominion. That Mr. Cunningham suc- 
 ceeded well as the first editor of marked ability 
 is now a matter of history. 
 
 Mr. Robert Cunningham afterwards repre- 
 sented in the House of Commons the Electoral 
 Division of Marquette (Manitoba), and his 
 voice was always heard in the interest of Mani- 
 toba and the Northwest. Mr. Donald A. Smith 
 (Strathcona) always spoke of him in terms of 
 praise, and thought him a man of more than 
 average ability. 
 
 After the opening of the first session of the 
 first Parliament of Manitoba, the next event to 
 be mentioned was the State Dinner at Govern- 
 ment House. The reader must not imagine it 
 one of those perfunctory dinners of State where 
 everyone looks bored, wearing that fixed smile 
 wbich suggests the idea of ''Why did I accept 
 the invitation? How glad I shall be when it is 
 over, that I may make my escape!'* It was 
 nothing of the sort; it was superlatively inter- 
 esting. The favored of the Court, who were in 
 juxtaposition to His Honor, wore the most 
 recent evening dress. All Canadians, of course, 
 dressed appropriately, but the other members
 
 72 Manitoba as I Saw It. 
 
 wore their ordinary holiday attire, common to 
 the country, which was in many instances, very 
 picturesque. At that table was seen the broad- 
 cloth capot of the Hudson Bay Company, with 
 polished brass buttons, Hudson Bay sash and 
 moccasins; some in Scotch tweed suits; others 
 in frock coats, and the most surprising thing 
 was the ease of manner displayed by all. The 
 table manners were all the most fastidious 
 could desire, and the conversation edifying, and 
 a gentleman of the press of Montreal, who sat 
 beside me, remarked ''If all dressed the part, 
 they would appear well at a Vice-Eegal State 
 Dinner anywhere."
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 WINNIPEG THE WESTERN HEADQUAETEES OF HUDSON 
 BAY COMPANY. 
 
 Winnipeg was the central point around which 
 focussed all the people coming into the country. 
 It was the postal distributing office, and the 
 traveling headquarters of the Hudson Bay 
 Company, as well as for all "free traders" of 
 every description, and the people who came 
 from Eastern Provinces and who were accus- 
 tomed to municipal advantages, began to clamor 
 for an Act to incorporate the City of Winnipeg. 
 The most of the property was owned by a few 
 old settlers and old traders, who foresaw they 
 would be taxed to pay for all municipal im- 
 provements, and they naturally objected, A 
 Bill of Incorporation was framed by an Ontario 
 barrister, Mr. Francis Evans Cornish, the first 
 Mayor of Winnipeg, and in due course was 
 introduced in the Assembly, and after a good 
 deal of useless discussion was thrown out on a 
 technicality. This aroused the population to an 
 intense degree of excitement little dreamed of. 
 
 An indignation meeting was called the follow- 
 ing day in the open air. Violent speeches were 
 delivered, which aroused the more turbulent 
 ttiii^members of the community, who were terribly
 
 74 Manitoba as I Saw It. 
 
 wrought up. Extravagant language was used 
 and threats were made, and a resolution put and 
 carried to the effect that the whole population 
 were to meet at three o'clock in the afternoon, 
 and march in a body to the Bar of the House 
 (then in session), and demand the reintroduc- 
 tion of the Bill of Incorporation of the City of 
 Winnipeg. Dr. Bird, the Speaker at that time, 
 was called by an emissary of those in favor of 
 the Bill, ostensibly to see the Reverend John 
 Black's wife, at night. He had driven but a 
 short distance when he was taken from his trap 
 and maltreated most shamefully, to the disgrace 
 of all Canadians who took part in the affair. 
 
 At the time appointed nearly the whole popu- 
 lation assembled, some out of curiosity, but 
 most of them were inclined to be violent, and 
 declared unless their demands were acceded to, 
 they would tear down the Parliament House 
 about the heads of its members. They marched 
 in good order, filling both yard and street in 
 front of the Assembly and the Legislative 
 Council. 
 
 They sent a messenger to the Bar of the 
 Legislative Council that the Speaker address 
 them. The speaker. Honorable James McKay, 
 deputed Honorable Dr. O'Donnell to speak to 
 them. The Doctor advised them to go to their
 
 Western Headquarters of H. B. Co. 75 
 
 homes peaceably, and if they prepared a new 
 Act of Incorporation sufficiently different from 
 the one that was rejected, to constitute a new 
 Bill, handing it to the Clerk of the Council, it 
 would be introduced and would be carefully 
 considered by that body. 
 
 Mr. F. Evans Cornish, barrister, the spokes- 
 man of the party, agreed to this suggestion, and 
 called for three cheers for Honorable Dr. 
 O'Donnell and the Legislative Council, and 
 three groans for the Legislative Assembly, 
 which were given with vim, and the crowd dis- 
 persed quietly. 
 
 The Bill of Incorporation in its new form was 
 presented to the Clerk of the Legislative Coun- 
 cil, introduced and passed without amendments. 
 The following day it was sent to the Lower 
 House for consideration, and within a few min- 
 utes the ]^eople gathered in large numbers, 
 filed into the Assembly Chamber, stood at the 
 Bar, and demanded the passing of the Act. A 
 short consultation took place between Attorney- 
 General Clark and the Speaker, and the Ser- 
 geant-at-Arms informed the deputation that the 
 Government had decided to consider the Bill at 
 its next sitting, which they did, and it passed 
 with a few unimportant amendments.
 
 76 ' Manitoba as I Saw It. 
 
 Such was the feeling of the people at that 
 time that it would have been very unwise for 
 the Government to have refused their demand.
 
 CHAPTER XVIIL 
 
 THE UNIVEKSITY. 
 
 An Act to establish a University was intro- 
 duced February, 1877, and passed both Houses 
 of the Legislature with little or no opposition. 
 The first officials of the University were: Chan- 
 cellor, Archbishop Machray; Vice-Chancellor, 
 Honorable Joseph Royal ; Registrar, Mr. E. W. 
 Jarvis; Bursar, Mr. Duncan McArthur. 
 
 Students having studied in either of the Sec- 
 tarian Colleges could write for a degree, after 
 giving the necessary proofs that they had pur- 
 sued the studies prescribed in the curriculum 
 to the satisfaction of the Board of Studies. 
 
 The University Act, was, of course, to be con- 
 sidered absolutely non-sectarian. The first 
 Chancellor was the late Archbishop Machray, the 
 best man possible for the i)osition. At the time 
 of his death Chief Justice Dubuc was Vice- 
 Chancellor, and in direct line for the Chancellor- 
 ship, and should have received it. They ap- 
 pointed Archbishop Matheson Chancellor, an 
 excellent man for the j^osition in all respects. 
 Chief Justice Dubuc is a Frenchman and a 
 Roman Catholic. Is that the reason he was not
 
 78 Manitoba as I Saw It. 
 
 made Chancellor? It gives one that impression. 
 If that is so, the University is practically 
 Protestant. 
 
 ' ' It has been said that the introduction of the 
 University Act was mainly due to the Lieuten- 
 ant-Governor, at the time Honorable Alexander 
 Morris. He was a man of high ideals, anxious 
 to signalize his term of office by some great 
 achievement, and found in the creation of the 
 University an object worthy of his ideals." 
 Governor Alexander Morris did signalize his 
 term of office by an action worthy of Ms ideals, 
 but it was not the University Act. 
 
 More than two years had elapsed before a 
 Justice of the Peace could be got to take a depo- 
 sition and sign a warrant for the arrest of Kiel, 
 Lapine and others. When at last a Magistrate 
 did issue the warrant, Lieutenant-Governor 
 Alexander Morris sanctioned the cancellation 
 of the Commission of the Peace held by that 
 Magistrate for signing the warrant. The intel- 
 ligent reader will judge for himself and accord 
 him the amount of glory to be attached to that 
 act of His Honor. It must be said in extenua- 
 tion that he was not a very strong man, and his 
 frequent indisposition rendered his judgment 
 at times very difficult to account for. 
 
 Governor A. G. Archibald, on the contrary,
 
 L iiip:!-" .11 siK I-; I'l m ^
 
 The University. 79 
 
 was a man of great tact. At that early day, 
 distant from city markets, it was difficult to 
 obtain luxuries for elaborate entertaining. Not- 
 withstanding, he gave a dinner nearly every 
 Thursday evening, bringing together people of 
 the most discordant political views, and every- 
 things passed off so pleasantly that those social 
 gatherings were looked forward to with a great 
 deal of pleasure, and it did much to allay public 
 ill-feeling. Governor Archibald was a most 
 charming conversationalist, and all who assem- 
 bled at his board left with "he is a jolly good 
 fellow" smile on his countenance. He was un- 
 doubtedly the right man for the place at the 
 time, and in that respect it was better that 
 Mr. McDougall failed to reach the position. He 
 lacked the discrimination and tact that was 
 absolutely required at the time, and I have since 
 wondered why the Federal Government made 
 the selection, especially as he was an opponent. 
 After the arrival of the Wolseley Expedition 
 Winnipeg was policed by soldiers detailed from 
 the Barracks. After the troops were withdrawn 
 and up to the time that Winnipeg was incorpo- 
 rated, the police were api)ointed by the Pro- 
 vincial Government, and of a class that suited 
 Attorney-General Clark's purpose, irrespective 
 of the wishes of the people.
 
 80 Manitoba as I Saiv It. 
 
 The Chief of the Police was a henchman of 
 the Attorney-General, and was ordered to go to 
 a camp of Indians, who were on the river bank, 
 and order them to stop the beating of their 
 ' ' tumtiims ' ' and move out in the early morning. 
 The Indians looked upon this man as an in- 
 truder, and refused to obey. No treaty having 
 been made at that time, the Chief of Police lost 
 his temper, and fired his revolver into a tent 
 where there were women and children, and 
 wounded an Indian woman. The Aboriginals 
 became excited, and, happily, in the excitement 
 the policeman made his escape. 
 
 It so happened that the Indian Commissioner 
 from Ottawa was in Winnij^eg at the time, and 
 had the Chief of Police arrested. He was 
 brought before the Grand Jury. Attorney-Gen- 
 eral Clark did not have any evidence to submit 
 and no bill was found.
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 LIEUT.-GOVEKNOE CAUCHON. 
 
 Lieutenant-Governor Joseph Cauchon suc- 
 ceeded Mr. Morris, and entered upon his duties 
 under very painful circumstances ; his wife was 
 very seriously ill on reaching Winnipeg, and 
 grew rapidly worse, and had hardly got settled 
 in Government House when she died. Madame 
 Cauchon was a very charming woman, very 
 beautiful and highly accomplished. Her death 
 was very much regretted by all classes of the 
 community. She was buried at the St. Boniface 
 Cathedral. The funeral was very imposing and 
 largely attended by all classes of the people, 
 irrespective of creed or nationality. 
 
 Government House was presided over by the 
 sister of the deceased, Miss Nolan, for a year or 
 more, when His Honor married Miss Le Moyne, 
 a French lady from Ottawa. She presided at 
 Government House with dignity and tact, and 
 became a general favorite. She entertained 
 with judgment and grace, which is natural to 
 the cultured French lady. Her dinners, balls, 
 soirees, musicales, children's parties and after- 
 noon teas were appreciated, and did much to 
 allay the friction that had arisen as a result of 
 the late uprising. 
 
 Governor Cavichon was democratic, and a
 
 82 Manitoba as I Saw It. 
 
 finished entertainer. He had been Mayor of 
 Quebec City for several terms, and nearly all his 
 life in politics. Almost constantly either enter- 
 taining or being entertained, he had become a 
 perfect host; he had a fund of humor and an 
 immense faculty as a storyteller, telling stories 
 that produced side-splitting laughter. His long 
 political career gave him an insight into public 
 affairs which made it easy for him to be an 
 ideal Lieutenant-Governor. His health ulti- 
 mately failed, and he was succeeded by Honor- 
 able James Cox Aikins. 
 
 Lieutenant-Governor Aikins, previous to his 
 appointment, had been many years in public 
 life, for several years a member of Sir John A. 
 Macdonald's Government. His mind was judi- 
 cial, and he was throughout his term of office, in 
 every sense of the term, a Constitutional Gover- 
 nor. The social side of Government House was 
 very quiet, he entertaining very little. His con- 
 scientious views practically caused him to elim- 
 inate dancing, etc., and, as a result, his social 
 functions were not numerous, but enjoyable to 
 elderly and church-going people. 
 
 His term of office having expired, he retired 
 with the respect of all classes of people, who 
 believed he had filled the office with dignity and 
 judgment.
 
 LIEUT. GOVERNOR CAUCHOX
 
 Lieut.-Govenior Cauchon. 83 
 
 Honorable Dr. J. C. Schultz succeeded Gover- 
 nor Aikins. 
 
 Honorable Dr. Schultz had served in the 
 House of Commons for several years, when his 
 Iiealth began to fail, and Sir John A. Macdonald 
 elevated him to the Senate of Canada, a position 
 held by him until he received the appointment 
 of Lieutenant-Governor of Manitoba, a position 
 held by him for nearly seven years, up to the 
 time of his death. 
 
 When he assumed office he was in poor health 
 and remained an invalid until he was removed 
 by death. His official term was characterized 
 by nothing in particular. He was at all times 
 placid, discreet, plausible and non-committal. 
 The social side of life at Government House was 
 very neutral, due most likely to the Governor's 
 health. He had been a long sufferer, and his 
 death was not unexpected. 
 
 Governor Schultz was succeeded by Mr. Pat- 
 terson, at one time a Cabinet Minister. He was 
 a barrister from Windsor, and had represented 
 a constituency in the Western part of Ontario. 
 He was a society man and entertained lavishly, 
 but Government House was less popular than 
 it would have been had Mrs. Patterson been 
 with him to preside at social functions. 
 
 Governor Patterson was the first Lieutenant-
 
 84 Manitoba as I Saw It. 
 
 Governor of Manitoba to accept invitations at 
 social gatherings in private houses, which he 
 did generally, and thereby became very popular 
 with the younger and more democratic side of 
 society. The old school families thought it 
 infra dig, while holding the Queen's Commis- 
 sion, and did not approve of it. The precedent 
 which he originated has been followed by his 
 successor and bids fair to continue. He was not 
 at any time thought a man of great ability, but 
 did what was expected of him in accordance 
 with the Constitution, and was seldom spoken 
 of after his term of office expired.
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 SIR DANIEL MCMILLAN. 
 
 Lieutenant-Governor Sir Daniel McMillan 
 came West with the Wolseley Expedition in 
 1870 as Captain of a Company; a young man, 
 unassuming, dignified, affable, and with a man- 
 ner that impressed one. He was an agreeable 
 conversationalist, but not verbose. He settled 
 in Winnipeg, and has resided in that city unin- 
 terruptedly since. He has always taken a lively 
 interest in all matters pertaining to the pro- 
 gress of the City and Province. He was en- 
 gaged in business for several years, and was 
 considered an excellent business man, and his 
 opinion was always sought and valued on all 
 public questions. 
 
 In politics he was always a Liberal, and rep- 
 resented Winnipeg Centre for several terms in 
 the Provincial Legislature. Honorable Thomas 
 Greenway took him into his Cabinet as Pro- 
 vincial Treasurer, a position he held for several 
 years ; and he was looked upon as a very efficient 
 Cabinet Minister, and a strength to the Gov- 
 ernment. He succeeded Governor Patterson, 
 and has performed his duties at Government 
 House very satisfactorily to the Federal Gov- 
 ernment, and was reappointed a second term, at
 
 86 Manitoba as I Saw It. 
 
 the close of five years, which was thought a mis- 
 take. Most of the "old Grit party" do not be- 
 lieve in a second term, and think it should be 
 discontinued. Although the Provincial Govern- 
 ment is Conservative, Sir Daniel in his official 
 capacity has always been considered absolutely 
 neutral, and the social side of Government 
 House has been all that could be desired by the 
 most fastidious society critic. 
 
 Captain Cameron (now Major-General), was 
 one of Lieutenant-Governor McDougall's party, 
 and was to have been one of the Executive. He 
 had been an officer in the British Army and had 
 served in India, and although a man of medium 
 size, he had the bearing, every inch, of a soldier. 
 He was exceedingly practical, and demonstrated 
 the fact whenever an occasion arose. Crossing 
 the prairie, at times a train became fast in one 
 of the many sloughs, but he always knew the 
 most ready way to extricate them. Captain 
 Cameron was a reserved man, but had excellent 
 ideas, and was conversant with almost any sub- 
 ject, giving one the impression that he was 
 widely read, and had read understandingly, and 
 he possessed an agreeable, placid manner; was 
 an excellent listener and a quick observer, tak- 
 ing in the most salient points of a conversation, 
 which at times amused him when others did not
 
 Sir Daniel McMillan. 87 
 
 see the humor. It was thought by those who 
 knew him well, that it was unfortunate that he 
 was unable to reach Fort Garry, believing that 
 his advice would have been of great value at 
 that stage of the country's history.
 
 CHAPTER XXL 
 
 THE '* hotel'' PKEMIEB OF MANITOBA. 
 
 The Honorable Robert Atkinson Davis, at one 
 time Premier of Manitoba, was unfamiliar with 
 Parliamentary usage, but developed rapidly, so 
 much so, that he soon became fairly well posted 
 in political adroitness; but he always had the 
 countenance of an innocent abroad. On arriv- 
 ing at Winnipeg, and having some means, he 
 looked about for an investment that would yield 
 the greatest returns, and soon decided that the 
 hotel business would be the most profitable. 
 He purchased the Emerling Hotel, which then 
 stood on the site of the present Mclntyre Build- 
 ing; and proceeded to do business, and from 
 appearances amassed money very rapidly. 
 
 He was a man of few words, but was all things 
 to everybody, disagreeing with none, and as a 
 result he became known to the whole population, 
 and thought to be a most agreeable man, and if 
 on an occasion it was learned that he was agree- 
 ing with two men of widely different views, 
 and was taxed with it, he invariably had a 
 plausible excuse and smoothed away the little 
 ripple by asking them to have a glass of port 
 wine that had been sent to him from Montreal 
 by an old Scotchman, claiming the wine had
 
 The "Hotel" Premier of Manitoba. 89 
 
 been in his friend's cellar for over thirty years, 
 and the two politicians on the way home agreed 
 that Mr. Davis was the prince of good fellows. 
 
 In consequence of a small divergence from 
 the lines laid down by the leaders of the differ- 
 ent political parties, it so happened that Mr. 
 Davis received the nomination, and was elected 
 to a seat in the Legislature, and in course of 
 time became Premier of the Province of Mani- 
 toba. 
 
 At the opening of the first session after Mr. 
 Davis became Premier, the hall was filled with 
 the elite of Manitoba, anxious to observe the 
 ease of manner always possessed by the Honor- 
 able R. A. Davis. He, as a rule, dressed a little 
 different from the average man, in short, in a 
 style of his own. On this occasion he wore a 
 dress coat, closely fitting, tightly buttoned, and 
 in the centre of his immaculate shirt front wore 
 a gold nugget, in which was set a diamond that 
 was brilliant and of great dimensions. I over- 
 heard some ladies remark that he was an origi- 
 nal dresser. I believed them; even in his ex- 
 alted position he followed his own ideas rather 
 than fashion. He was not an eloquent speaker, 
 but speaking slowly took up a good deal of the 
 time of the House. When speaking on a Gov- 
 ernment measure, he always began his speech
 
 90 Manitoba as I Saw It. 
 
 by saying: "Mr. Speaker, the Government of 
 which I am the head" — and when speaking of 
 Her Majesty, the Queen, always spoke of her as, 
 *'Our Sovering Lady the Queen," and in ad- 
 dressing an opponent would in reply say: "I 
 certingly don't agree with the Honorable gen- 
 tleman opposite." 
 
 When he became Premier the appointment 
 was sharply criticized by some of the leading 
 politicians. One of the local papers said: ''His 
 only equipment for the position was a slate 
 pencil and a saloon ; and a person having busi- 
 ness to transact with the Provincial Treasurer's 
 Department, if he were not in, they would be 
 sure to find him at the Davis House." 
 
 When his term of office expired, he gave up 
 politics, sold what property he had, and left the 
 country, settling in Chicago. His administra- 
 tion was what might have been expected, in no 
 particular creditable to himself or his colleagues 
 and retarded the progress of the country. He 
 was not aiming for glory; he was in office for 
 what there was in it for himself, making the 
 most of his position, having no reputation to 
 lose.
 
 CHAPTER XXIL 
 
 PREMIER GREENWAY. 
 
 Honorable Thomas Greenway was distinctly 
 a prominent figure in Manitoba politics. He 
 was leader of the Liberal party in the Legisla- 
 tive Assembly of Manitoba for more than 
 twenty years. He was Premier of the Province 
 for twelve years, and all measures of import- 
 ance passed during that i)eriod bear the impress 
 of his far-seeing judgment. In every sense, he 
 was one of Manitoba's greatest men on all sub- 
 jects pertaining to the interests of the Province. 
 His speeches were well thought out, and deliv- 
 ered in that logical, forcible manner peculiarly 
 his own, leaving a lasting impression upon the 
 minds of his listeners. 
 
 I shall never forget his arraignment of the 
 Honorable Premier Norquay, on the settlement 
 of the boundary between Ontario and Manitoba. 
 It was a masterly effort, completely shattering 
 the findings in Mr. Norquay 's eloquent appeal, 
 which was probably his greatest effort. It was 
 an effort of giants. It is doubtful if two such 
 legislators will again come to the surface in 
 Manitoba for a very long time. 
 
 Honorable Mr. Greenway was of the people, 
 with the people of Manitoba and the West in
 
 92 Manitoba as I Saw It. 
 
 all things pertaining to their welfare and pro- 
 gression. He ought to be, and no doubt will be, 
 ranked well up on the column among Canada's 
 greatest statesmen. 
 
 Honorable William Ilespeler landed in Win- 
 nipeg in the month of June, 1873, in charge of 
 the German-Eussian Mennonite Delegation. In 
 the following year he was appointed Commis- 
 sioner of Immigration and Agriculture by the 
 Dominion Government for Manitoba and the 
 Northwest Territories; from which position he 
 resigned in 1883, having been appointed Ger- 
 man Consul for Manitoba and the Northwest 
 Territories, by the German Government, which 
 position he held until 1908. For his services 
 during twenty-five years he received two deco- 
 rations from the Emperor of Germany. 
 
 During the time of Mr. Hespeler's Consular 
 services he was elected to the Manitoba Legis- 
 lature in the year 1899, for the Electoral Divis- 
 ion of Rosenfeldt, and was then elected Speaker. 
 He has also been a member of the Board of the 
 Winnipeg General Hospital for the last thirty- 
 three years, and President of the Board since 
 1888. 
 
 Honorable Hugh John Macdonald in 1897 
 undertook the leadership of the Conservative 
 party in Manitoba, and opposed Mr. Green-
 
 IIOX \VM IIUSPKl.IiK.
 
 Premier Greenway. 93 
 
 way's Government in a general Provincial Elec- 
 tion, in which he had such success that he and 
 his supporters were put in a position to take 
 possession of the Treasury Benches. He advo- 
 cated Government control or ownership of rail- 
 ways, which was the policy which carried him 
 into power, notwithstanding the legal firm of 
 which he was a member were solicitors for Can- 
 ada's largest railway corporation. Mr. Mac- 
 donald resigned the Premiership of Manitoba 
 and accepted a nomination in the constituency 
 of Brandon. Mr. Macdonald was opposed by' 
 the Honorable Clifford Sifton, who carried the 
 constituency by a very large majority, and since 
 that time Mr. Macdonald has adhered closely 
 to his legal practice, not again entering the 
 political arena.
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 PREMIER ROBLIN. 
 
 Honorable R. P. Roblin, the present Premier, 
 succeeded the late Dr. Harrison, who was Prem- 
 ier for but a short time after the defeat of the 
 Norquay Government. 
 
 Mr. Roblin is a Canadian by birth, of Ger- 
 man descent. He is a fluent speaker, and has 
 all the pertinacity of his race. He has for a 
 number of years been closely identified with the 
 grain trade, and is looked upon as a far-seeing 
 dealer, and one of the leading grain men of the 
 Northwest. He has a large farm near Carman, 
 claims to work for the best interests of the 
 farming community; has a cheerful, happy dis- 
 position, but one must not bank on his good 
 nature. He can be sufficiently aggressive, a 
 good fighter, and rather a formidable opponent, 
 as those on the left of the speaker can testify. 
 As a citizen, it may be said, that he is progres- 
 sive, frugal and active ; whatever he undertakes 
 he does with all his might, and never says, 
 *'Hold, enough." 
 
 THE WINNIPEG GRAIN EXCHANGE. 
 
 The Winnipeg Grain Exchange is an associa- 
 tion conducting the grain business of the Cana-
 
 Premier Roblin. 95 
 
 dian West, and having its headquarters in a 
 magnificent building especially erected for that 
 purpose at a cost of $650,000. Fully ninety-five 
 per cent, of the whole grain raised in Manitoba, 
 Saskatchewan and Alberta, which seeks a mar- 
 ket in Eastern Canada and Europe, is handled 
 by the members of this Exchange, which in 
 addition to the facilities for an exchange mar- 
 ket, conducts a regular trading room where 
 grain for future delivery is bought and sold, 
 and the facilities for transacting business are 
 most complete. Quotations made in the leading 
 markets of the world are regularly and almost 
 instantaneously received by special wires, and 
 the quotations and records of sales and pur- 
 chases made on the Exchange's floor are imme- 
 diately wired to the leading markets in Eastern 
 Canada and the United States. 
 
 In connection with the Grain Exchange trad- 
 ing there is a grain clearing house where all 
 trades made upon the floor of the Exchange are 
 cleared regularly each day. The daily clear- 
 ances have reached instances as high as six 
 million bushels. 
 
 It would be utterly impossible to move or 
 finance the Western grain crops without such 
 an institution, and the Exchange meets the 
 necessities of the situation, and comprises in its
 
 96 Manitoba as I Saw It. 
 
 membership three hundred country elevator 
 owners, terminal elevator owners, exporters, 
 commission men, millers, track buyers, brokers 
 and transportation officials. 
 
 Mr. C. N. Bell has been Secretary of the 
 Board of Trade since 1887, and Secretary of 
 the Grain and Produce Exchange since its or- 
 ganization. 
 
 Since the grain inspection system came into 
 force in Manitoba, he has been Secretary of 
 the Western Grain Standards Board, the Grain 
 Survey Board and the Board of Grain Exam- 
 iners. He was Secretary of the Eoyal Commis- 
 sion on Shipment and Transportation, which 
 important body is studying and reporting upon 
 the whole national system of transportation of 
 the products of the country to the markets of 
 the world. 
 
 He has been delegate to many Boards of 
 Trade and other business conventions in Can- 
 ada, and also to the Congress of the Chambers 
 of Commerce of the Empire. 
 
 Mr. C. N. Bell is widely read and has at all 
 times perfect control of liimself, never becomes 
 the least impatient in business, however great 
 the cause ; always ready and willing to give in- 
 formation in business hours, and an authority 
 on everything connected with the grain trade
 
 C \ HICI.l,
 
 Premier Rohlin. 97 
 
 of the Nortliwest, and the statutes which govern 
 it. lie is one of Canada's most useful men, and 
 anytliing he undertakes is certain to be well 
 done.
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 TWO PROMINENT WESTERN MEN. 
 
 Mr. George D. McVicar came to Manitoba 
 before the first Riel Rebellion, and accompanied 
 Dr. Sclmltz across the country to Duluth, both 
 making their way out of the country, after Dr. 
 Schultz got out of his confinement in Fort 
 Garry. 
 
 Mr. McVicar, on his return to the Red River 
 Settlement, gave me a full detailed account of 
 their journey from the Settlement to Duluth, 
 and on to Ontario. He was among the first to 
 import agricultural implements into the coun- 
 try, and I believe the first to import sewing 
 machines. He was a man of sterling merit, 
 absolutely reliable in every respect. His widow 
 and family at present reside in "Winnipeg. 
 
 Mr. Fred J. C. Cox was born in Huddersfield, 
 Yorkshire, England, and educated in Hamburg, 
 Germany ; married Miss Lillie Erb, daughter of 
 L. H. Erb, of Winnipeg. 
 
 Mr. Cox has always taken keen interest in 
 the development of Manitoba and the progress 
 of the City of Winnipeg. He has resided here 
 since 1881. 
 
 He has been Secretary of the Northwest Com- 
 mercial Travelers' Association of Canada, the
 
 Tivo Prominent Western Men. 99 
 
 past nine years. He has been a member of the 
 City Council six years, Chairman of the Legisla- 
 tive Committee for five years, Chairman of the 
 Health Committee and Chairman of Police Com- 
 mission. 
 
 He is a clear headed business man, a quick 
 thinker, a thorough accountant and watches with 
 shrewdness all the city's business, and is an 
 active, assiduous worker in the public interest. 
 
 Mr. Cox is a man of quick perception, has 
 clear-cut, well-defined opinions on all matters 
 affecting the public, and once he is well satisfied 
 as to the correctness of his theories, adheres to 
 those opinions and argues them with great 
 adroitness.
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 MR. A. m't. CAMPBELL. 
 
 Mr. A. McT. Campbell is the Manitoba Man- 
 ager of the Manitoba Branch of the Canada 
 Life Assurance Company. The business in 
 force in Manitoba, the oldest of the Western 
 branches, exceeds those of any of the others, as 
 does also the value of new business being 
 written. He is the "Dean of the Western Man- 
 agers, and it is largely due to his energy, ability 
 and personal popularity, that Manitoba ranks 
 so high." Mr. Campbell, who is well known 
 from Winnipeg to the Coast, has been Manager 
 for Manitoba since 1895. 
 
 Mr. McTavish Campbell's father was for 
 many years a chief factor of the Honorable 
 Hudson Bay Company, and during his long resi- 
 dence in the City of Winnipeg he has become 
 thoroughly familiar with the business of Mani- 
 toba and the whole Northwest, especially the 
 financial interests and the best methods of in- 
 vestment. He is a close reasoner, discreet, emi- 
 nently cautious, and his opinion is valued highly 
 in financial circles. 
 
 In social life he is a refined gentleman of the 
 old school, pleasant and agreeable, and his 
 presence at any social gathering always insures 
 the success of the affair.
 
 A. McT. CAMPHHLL.
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 HON. EDMUND BURKE WOOD. 
 
 Honorable Edmund Burke Wood was ap- 
 pointed Chief Justice of Manitoba on the 11th 
 of March, 1874. 
 
 After his elevation to the Judicial Bench of 
 Manitoba he effected some important changes 
 in the legal procedure of the Manitoba Courts, 
 and delivered many well prepared judgments 
 which attracted much attention at that time. 
 
 The first case tried by Judge Wood after 
 taking his seat on the Bench, is the best known 
 of all cases that ever came before him, "the 
 cause celebre," of the Queen vs. Ambrose Le- 
 pine, for the murder of Thomas Scott, whose 
 tragical death was a prominent event in con- 
 nection with the Red River Rebellion of 1869 
 and 1870. 
 
 The prisoner's counsel repudiated the juris- 
 diction of the Court over the offence charged in 
 the indictment; the Crown demurred to the 
 prisoner's plea, after which the case was argued 
 before the two puisne judges, who allowed the 
 matter to stand over from term to term without 
 pronouncing judgment. Upon Honorable E. B. 
 Wood's accession to the Bench, the case was at 
 once brought before him. The trial, which in-
 
 102 Manitoba as I Saw It. 
 
 volved grave questions, both of law and fact, 
 lasted about two weeks. At the close of the 
 argument he pronounced judgment for the 
 Crown on the demurrer without leaving his 
 seat. 
 
 He (the Judge) decided that both the Court 
 in Manitoba and the Court in the old Provinces 
 of Canada, and since Confederation in Ontario 
 and Quebec, have concurrent jurisdiction on 
 such offences as that charged, and over the par- 
 ticular case in question. 
 
 Eminent jurists in the Eastern Provinces un- 
 hesitatingly gave it as their opinion that Chief 
 Justice Wood's law was unsound, but his de- 
 cision was upheld by the law officers of the 
 Crown in England, and his written judgment 
 was pronounced a remarkable specimen of 
 forensic learning and acumen. 
 
 Honorable Edmund Burke Wood, to take him 
 all in all, was one of Canada's greatest men. 
 He was a veritable encyclopedia of Canadian 
 history, and outside of that he was a man of 
 very great experience and widely read. He was 
 an excellent classic, eminently mathematical in 
 his deductions, in short, a very close reasoner, 
 an excellent judge of men, and one of Canada 's 
 greatest public speakers. 
 
 In private life he was one of the most genial
 
 iiii-.i' .uMi>.i: wiHii)
 
 Hon. Edmwid Burke Wood. 103 
 
 of men, very witty, most entertaining. At the 
 time he was appointed Chief Justice of Mani- 
 toba just such a man was required for the place 
 and his record will live in the history of the 
 Province.
 
 CHAPTER XXVII 
 COLONEL Rankin's reception by riel. 
 
 An amusing incident occurred early in 1870 
 when Colonel Rankin, from Windsor, Ontario, 
 came to Fort Garry, to interview Riel, and give 
 him some advice that would be of great use to 
 him. He first called upon an officer of the Hud- 
 son Bay Company, and informed him of his 
 mission. The Hudson Bay man did not think it 
 wise for him to "beard the lion in his den," 
 and he did not think he would have cause to con- 
 gratulate himself on the result of his interview. 
 
 The Colonel walked up to Riel's quarters, 
 with all the assurance of a man accustomed to 
 command, and gave his card to the g-uard at the 
 door. After some minutes he was ushered to 
 the great man's presence. 
 
 Mr. Riel said: "Be seated, Mr. Rankin." 
 
 "Colonel Rankin, Monsieur." 
 
 "You are not Colonel here. You have no 
 rank in my presence. What is your business in 
 as few words as possible? Are you accredited 
 with instructions from the Ontario Government 
 or from any organization that would warrant 
 me in giving you an official audience?"
 
 Col. Rankin's Reception by Riel. 105 
 
 "No, but I am in close touch with the Federal 
 Government, and any report that I would make 
 to the Government would have great weight, 
 and they would give it careful consideration." 
 
 "You think the Government of Canada would 
 look upon any report that you would make as 
 quasi official?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "You may say officially that you had an in- 
 terview with Riel, the leader of the Metis, and 
 he said you had but twenty-four hours to get 
 out of the country, and further, if after that 
 you were taken north of the forty-ninth parallel 
 of latitude, you would be arrested and tried by 
 Court-Martial, and dealt with according to the 
 findings of the Court. You say you are a mili- 
 tary man ; it will not be necessary to explain to 
 you what that means. Batice, show this gentle- 
 man out." 
 
 The Colonel made haste to consult the Hud- 
 son Bay Company officer whom he had first 
 interviewed, who said laughingly, "A horse, a 
 horse, my Colonel's commission for a horse!" 
 
 The Colonel said : ' ' My dear sir, it is serious. 
 Don't jest, please. What shall I do I Can you 
 help me out ? ' ' 
 
 "We will see the Postmaster. The mail
 
 106 Manitoba as I Saw It. 
 
 leaves for Pembina in two hours. He will most 
 likely arrange a passage for you that far." 
 
 The Postmaster sent the old man on his way 
 presumably happy, but he had the countenance 
 of the man "who never smiled again." 
 
 The Colonel was supplied with hospital com- 
 forts to enable him to guard the mail as far as 
 Pembina.
 
 D. E. SPRAGUE.
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 MR. D. E. SPKAGUE. 
 
 Lumbering as an industry commenced about 
 the year 1872. Previous to that time the modest 
 requirements of the settlers were supplied by 
 means of the whipsaw or the most primitive 
 kind of saw mill. The first introduction of 
 what may be regarded as a modern saw mill 
 was erected in 1872 by Macaulay & Sprague, on 
 the banks of the Red River Ijetween Notre Dame 
 and Lombard streets ; a small portable mill was 
 built the same year by Dick & Banning in the 
 same vicinity. At this time only a few million 
 feet of lumber was manufactured here, the logs 
 coming from the Roseau and Red Lake Rivers. 
 The bulk of the lumber which was required in 
 what was considered the extraordinary develop- 
 ment of Winnipeg came down the Red River by 
 flatboat or raft from Moorehead, to which point 
 it had been shipped from Anoka, Minneapolis, 
 Duluth and other American lumbering districts. 
 Subsequently mills were built by D. E. Sprague, 
 who had retired from the Macaulay & Sprague 
 Company, Hugh Sutherland & Bros., Jarvis & 
 Burridge and Clarke & Sutherland. The only 
 one of these plants remaining is the mill built
 
 108 Manitoba as I Saw It. 
 
 in 1882 by Mr. Sprague, and which has been 
 running continuously ever since. It may be 
 said of this mill that when built it was up to 
 date in every particular; to this may be added 
 the further distinction of having installed in it 
 the first horizontal bandmill for sawing slabs 
 ever introduced into the West, if not into Can- 
 ada. 
 
 Mr. D. E. Sprague is in the truest sense of the 
 word a Canadian, quiet and unassuming in man- 
 ner, courteous always, but a countenance indi- 
 cating decision of character and unlimited firm- 
 ness. He has always been in the front rank of 
 anything pertaining to Manitoba interests and 
 Winnipeg progression. Having amassed a 
 large fortune by strictly adhering to a business 
 that he thoroughly understands, and having 
 kept his business within the limits of his capital 
 and his whole capital within his interests, he 
 is now among the largest taxpayers in the City 
 of Winnipeg. He is head of the Sprague Lum- 
 ber Company, which is one of the most exten- 
 sive west of Ontario, employing a great many 
 laborers, skilled and otherwise, who must be 
 the sole means of support of many hundreds 
 of people. 
 
 Mr. Sprague 's son, Mr. Harold C. H. 
 Sprague, who is Assistant Manager of the
 
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 Mr. D. E. Sprague. 109 
 
 Sprague Lumber Company, is as fine, hand- 
 some, and muscular a specimen of manhood as 
 one could wish to see. He is assiduously apply- 
 ing himself to his duties with an earnest desire 
 to master the details of the business, and will, I 
 have no doubt, ultimately make a worthy suc- 
 cessor to liis father. 
 
 Upon the completion of the Canadian Pacific 
 Railway and other railway lines, the lumber 
 industry developed from the manufacture of a 
 few million feet of lumber per annum by mills 
 located in Winnipeg, to the manufacture of 
 hundreds of millions annually by mills located 
 from Port Arthur to Vancouver, and distribut- 
 ed over the intervening territory from the in- 
 ternational l)oundary in British Columbia to 
 Edmonton in Alberta, and constituting, as it 
 does now, one of the most important industries 
 in Western Canada.
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 DR. WILLIAM COWAN. 
 
 Dr. William Cowan was the Chief Factor in 
 charge of Fort Garry in 18G9 and 1870, retir- 
 ing from the service of the Hudson Bay Com- 
 pany after the creation of the Province of Mani- 
 toba. Dr. Cowan was a graduate in medicine 
 of the University of Glasgow, Scotland ; a gen- 
 tleman of refined tastes, and learned in his 
 profession. He was an excellent conversation- 
 alist, and possessed with a fund of quiet wit ; 
 saw the ridiculous quickly, and was an excellent 
 story teller; could call up the personality of 
 persons with whom he had associated in a very 
 amusing manner. 
 
 During the time the Metis had control of 
 Fort Garry the Doctor behaved in a very dis- 
 creet manner, courteous to all, but never dis- 
 cussed or expressed an opinion pro or con on 
 questions over which the opposing parties were 
 contending. Dr. William Cowan was one of 
 nature's noblemen.
 
 A. R. McKENZIE
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 MR. A. B. m'kENZIE. 
 
 In eighteen sixty-nine, during the time that 
 Fort Garry was in the possession of the Metis, 
 Mr. A. R. McKenzie was the storekeeper of the 
 Fort. He said that Riel's men would go down 
 into the Hudson Bay Company's cellar, with 
 pitchers and small pails, and would not take 
 the time to draw the Hudson Bay rum by way 
 of the taps, but would break the heads off the 
 barrels and dip their vessels in the rum and 
 walk away. He said the Governor of the Com- 
 panj'^ and officers were in great fear that in 
 their excitement from drinking the strong 
 spirits that they might in their frenzy do some- 
 thing dreadful or perhaps kill some of the pris- 
 oners. It was indeed an anxious time for the 
 Company's officers. 
 
 Mr. McKenzie 's statement, to anyone know- 
 ing him, goes a long way towards proving the 
 Hudson Bay Company innocent of the charge 
 of aiding and sympathizing with the uprising. 
 
 Mr. McKenzie is now a successful farmer in a 
 place called Oakville, seventeen miles south of 
 Portage la Prairie. Mrs. McKenzie is a daugh- 
 ter of the late Chief Factor Flett, formerly of 
 Lower Fort Garry.
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 HON. ALEXANDER MURRAY. 
 
 Honorable Alexander Murray was born in 
 Manitoba and educated at St. John's College. 
 
 Mr. Murray has lived here all his life, and 
 has advanced ideas with regard to the best 
 methods of developing the country. He was 
 Speaker of the Assembly for one Parliament 
 during the Norquay regime, and his rulings 
 were strictly according to *'May" and were 
 never questioned. His perfect knowledge of 
 everything connected with the country has been 
 of great value, and his advice is always sought 
 by intending purchasers throughout Manitoba 
 and the West. 
 
 He has been for some years connected with 
 the Land Department of the Provincial Govern- 
 ment, and is a very useful and efficient officer.
 
 CHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 HON. DAVID MAE WALKEE. 
 
 Honorable David Mar Walker, Senior 
 County Court Judge of Manitoba, born in or 
 near Simcoe, Ontario, was admitted to the Bar, 
 Osgoode Hall, Toronto. 
 
 He came to Fort Garry as an officer with the 
 Sir Garnet Wolseley Expedition, 1870. After 
 leaving the service he began the practice of 
 law in Winnipeg, and after a time was elected 
 to represent St. James in the Legislative 
 Assembly. 
 
 An amusing incident connected with his elec- 
 tion is worth repeating. His opponent was a 
 citizen of the Electoral District, and the con- 
 test was carried on with considerable earnest- 
 ness. At the last meeting before the day of 
 polling, a man reputed to be an excellent 
 speaker, was called upon by the Chairman to 
 speak in behalf of the opposing candidate. He 
 had memorized one of Lord Beaconsfield's 
 speeches, and delivered it very deliberately with 
 variations, to the great amusement of the au- 
 dience. In replying, Mr. Walker said, that 
 although Lord Beaconsfield was not present, 
 they had just heard one of his best Parliament- 
 ary speeches delivered by the last speaker, and
 
 114 Manitoba as I Saw It. 
 
 it was very well spoken, but he would have been 
 better jjleased if his opponent had selected one 
 a little less lengthy. 
 
 Mr. Walker was elected, became a member of 
 the Government, was for a time Attorney-Gen- 
 eral, and later on was elevated to the Bench. 
 His whole course since entering Manitoba has 
 been one of credit to himself and friends, who 
 are legion throughout the Dominion.
 
 CHAPTER XXXIII. 
 
 MR. A. W. AUSTIN. 
 
 Mr. A. W. Austin (now of Toronto) came to 
 Winnipeg early, and established the first street 
 railway or horse cars, as they were called, em- 
 ploying a great number of men and three or 
 four hundred horses. This was maintained by 
 Mr. Austin for several years, until the time 
 approached when Winnipeg should have elec- 
 tric street cars, when Mr. Austin sold out his 
 interests, and soon after the electric street rail- 
 way became an established fact. 
 
 Mr. Austin sold out a great deal of his Win- 
 nipeg property and returned to Toronto, where 
 his vast business interests demanded his pres- 
 ence. Mr. Austin's departure was a public loss 
 to our city; a public spirited gentleman, a 
 kindly disposition and very charitable. 
 
 He pays Winnipeg a visit occasionally, and 
 always has a good word for the city of his early 
 triumphs.
 
 CHAPTER XXXIV. 
 
 MR. WILLIAM WHYTE. 
 
 Mr. Wm. Wliyte, Second Vice-President of 
 the Canadian Pacific Railroad, has probably 
 from his position and inclination, done more 
 to people and develop Manitoba and the West 
 than any other man in the country. Having 
 lived in the AVest, and knowing all the details 
 of its development up to this date, he must have, 
 with his advice to the company, assisted in 
 having branch lines in parts of the rural dis- 
 tricts where railway facilities could assist the 
 greatest number, until at the present time there 
 is hardly a place settled in Manitoba where a 
 farmer could not drive with a load of grain in 
 one day to a station or village. 
 
 Aside from his official duties he is a public 
 spirited citizen of Winnipeg, always ready to 
 assist any progressive enterprise.
 
 CHAPTER XXXV. 
 
 CHIEF JUSTICE HOWELL. 
 
 Honorable Chief Justice Howell of the Mani- 
 toba Court of Appeals, came to Winnipeg at an 
 early date, and formed a law partnership with 
 Mr. Heber Archibald, the law firm of Archi- 
 bald & Plowell. Mr. Howell was always a stu- 
 dent, and a persevering worker, and soon be- 
 came a barrister of note in the profession, and 
 for the last fifteen or twenty years he has been 
 considered the leader of the Bar, and it sug- 
 gested itself to the Government that his ability 
 was needed on the Bench, and he was elevated 
 to the position of Chief Justice of the Court of 
 Appeals of Manitoba. 
 
 It was a position justly merited, a position 
 he will fill with distinction. I have heard law- 
 yers say his elevation to the Bench was a great 
 loss to the Bar of the city.
 
 CHAPTER XXXVI. 
 
 riel's departure from the country. 
 
 After RiePs departure from the country, and 
 the case of Ambrose Lepine having been dis- 
 posed of, the country increased in population 
 but slowly. Transportation was of the most 
 primitive description, immigration was limited 
 to those who had secured positions in the coun- 
 try that awaited their arrival, and those of an 
 adventurous turn of mind, who had sufficient 
 means to overcome any obstacle that might 
 arise. This condition continued until the years 
 1880, 1881 and 1882, when people of all classes 
 rushed into the country to participate in the 
 great "boom," which proved so disastrous to 
 hundreds who came to "get rich quick," and 
 lost all their money. Many a man in good cir- 
 cumstances previously was ruined, and but very 
 few that came out of that lamentable craze 
 made any money, or were free from loss. The 
 country's growth and financial standing was 
 very much retarded and immigration practi- 
 cally stopped. 
 
 Following so closely after the Western Riel 
 Rebellion of 1885 gave another check to the 
 country's healthy progress, but that Rebellion 
 advertised the country; that uprising brought
 
 Kiel's Departure from the Country 119 
 
 many officers and men of education with the 
 regiments that were stationed throughout the 
 West, who saw the fertility of the soil, the vast- 
 ness of the country, with a fairly good idea of 
 its illimitable possibilities, and they returned 
 to their Eastern homes only to be dissatisfied, 
 and to set about maturing plans to enable them 
 to return to this, the greatest of all countries on 
 the globe, and many of them came back during 
 the next year. 
 
 Up to this time the transportation was not of 
 the best, and the Government policy of immi- 
 gration appeared not of a kind that invited the 
 best class of immigrants. They came in slowly, 
 it could not be called a rush. 
 
 The land regulations were complained of by 
 settlers, but evidence was apparent that banks 
 and other monied corporations had faith in the 
 country and were putting up permanent office 
 buildings ; railroads were projected in every di- 
 rection throughout the country, that gave us to 
 understand that wealthy, thinking men were 
 beginning to look upon the country as a country 
 worth developing, and a most desirable place 
 for safe investments. 
 
 Immigration increased somewhat, and busi- 
 ness houses in the East began establishing 
 branches in Winnipeg and in some outside dis-
 
 120 Manitoba as I Saw It. 
 
 tricts ; commercial travelers began pushing their 
 way into remote settlements, and good settlers 
 began selecting locations upon which they 
 might found homes for their families. This 
 was the condition that prevailed for a length 
 of time, when the General Elections came on, 
 and resulted in a change of Government, the 
 Conservatives retiring and the Liberal party 
 assuming power with Wilfrid Laurier (now Sir 
 Wilfrid) as Premier. 
 
 When the Honorable Clifford Sifton entered 
 the Cabinet, taking the Interior Portfolio, a 
 banquet was tendered him by his friends in 
 Winnipeg. It was held in the old Manitoba 
 Hotel, and was largely attended by the most 
 prominent men in the city, of both parties. 
 
 On that occasion Mr. Sifton said it was under- 
 stood on his entry into the Government that he 
 was to have a free hand in the management of 
 immigration, as the system required complete 
 change of method, or reorganizing. 
 
 This statement or pledge was well received 
 by all classes of people in the West, irrespective 
 of party, and all waited in expectation to ob- 
 serve the realization of their hopes. 
 
 Within the year it was apparent that the 
 Minister of the Interior was perfecting a vigor- 
 ous immigration policy. The surplus popula-
 
 RieVs Departure from the Country 121 
 
 tion from all parts of the world were turning 
 their attention to Western Canada, instead of 
 pouring into the United States, as they had 
 been doing. It was but a year or two, when 
 instead of people selling their homesteads or 
 leaving them, in Manitoba, and taking up lands 
 in Dakota and Minnesota, practical farmers, 
 well-to-do in their own country, were selling 
 out and coming to Western Canada from the 
 United States, bringing with them capital, 
 stock and agricultural implements and making 
 new homes for themselves and famihes. 
 
 In conversation with one of these Americans 
 I asked him why he left his own country where 
 he had been living in easy circumstances, to set- 
 tle in the West of Canada. His reply was that 
 he had sold his land in the States for sufficient 
 money to buy three times as many acres, and 
 much better land in Canada, than the farm he 
 had left, which enabled him to place his sons 
 on farms around, where their small children 
 could have the advantage of excellent schools 
 quite convenient. 
 
 There was another consideration ; ' ' We have 
 as good laws in the United States as you have 
 in Canada, but they are not administered in 
 the same way, I observe all laws on your Sta- 
 tute Books are strictly put into force, as occa-
 
 122 Manitoba as I Saw It. 
 
 sion requires, while in our country many laws 
 are a dead letter. I have, therefore, come to 
 the conclusion that our lives and property are 
 better conserved here than in the United 
 States." 
 
 Mr. Sifton was about eight years in Sir Wil- 
 frid Laurier's Cabinet, and during that time 
 immigration steadily increased until at the 
 present the population from the Eastern boun- 
 dary of Manitoba to the Rocky Mountains has 
 nearly doubled and business is in a very healthy 
 state. The advantages to be gained by the set- 
 tler in Manitoba and the West have been so well 
 advertised that immigration will continue to 
 pour into the country and of a better class from 
 henceforth. 
 
 Some of the best families of the United King- 
 dom are represented in Manitoba and the West- 
 ern Provinces ; sons having purchased tracts of 
 land for ranching and agricultural pursuits; 
 many of the daughters of old and distinguished 
 families have married young English, Scotch 
 and Irish men from their own country, and 
 grace the Western home in a manner that bodes 
 well for the future population of Greater 
 Canada. 
 
 It is not an uncommon thing to find graduates 
 from the great Universities: Oxford, Cam-
 
 Riel's Departure from the Country 123 
 
 bridge, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Trinity Uni- 
 versity, Dublin, engaged in agricultural pur- 
 suits, making it a success, and their wives and 
 daughters love the freedom and exhilaration of 
 the i^rairie. 
 
 Many of the Old Country ladies throughout 
 the West are highly cultured, and from their 
 isolation they have more time to read, and read 
 more understandingly than the society women 
 of the city. The former are well up in the litera- 
 ture of the day, and able to discuss all ques- 
 tions of public interest intelligently and fluent- 
 ly. Many are well up in botany, with a fair 
 knowledge of the surface geology of the country 
 around them. The society women of the cities 
 and towns read light literature and society pa- 
 i:»ers and popular magazines using the same 
 phrases, which causes them in time to become 
 narrow minded and less interesting than those 
 of broader reading and sufficient knowledge to 
 profit by their observation. 
 
 Throughout the country districts of Manitoba 
 their modest houses or cottages are tastefully 
 decorated with pretty bric-a-brac brought from 
 their old homes in the older Provinces, or from 
 the Old Country; pretty flowering vines and 
 well assorted flowers deck their lawns. Their 
 sons and daughters are reared in the open air;
 
 124 Manitoba as I Saw It. 
 
 the boys, fine, athletic youths, able to take a 
 hand at anything from lassoing a wild steer to 
 bringing down a fleeing prairie wolf at four 
 hundred yards; the daughters healthy, active 
 and as easy in the saddle as in the drawing 
 room, racing across the plain with an abandon 
 charming as it is surprising. 
 
 Such is the condition in Manitoba, where 
 proper selection of location has been made by 
 the right kind of settlers. With the Canadian 
 Pacific Railroad branching out in all directions, 
 also the Great Northern, the Canadian Northern 
 and the Grand Trunk Pacific Railroads, the 
 country is lined in all directions; so much so 
 that the days of hardships for the new settler 
 have practically passed. 
 
 Surely this is the country to invite the young, 
 healthy and intelligent people to settle and 
 make homes for their families. 
 
 The Icelandic immigrant is by far the best, 
 and rapidly becomes Canadianized. Every Ice- 
 lander who is healthy in mind and body must 
 be able to read and write at the age of twelve 
 years. He is honest, quick to learn and ener- 
 getic, and has good application. When he lands 
 in the Canadian West he seeks employment, 
 and as soon as he has earned sufficient money 
 he dresses himself well, and as near like the
 
 Riel's Departure from the Country 125 
 
 young people of his own age as possible, in 
 order to appear as near like the young Cana- 
 dians as he can. As to the young Icelander 
 girls, after two years in the country it is very 
 difficult to be certain whether they are Icelandic 
 or young English girls. 
 
 The Icelanders prosper; they identify them- 
 selves with municipal and other public interests 
 and they are Canadians in reality. "We now 
 have among them lawyers, doctors, teachers, 
 contractors, merchants, business men of all 
 kinds, clerks, telegraph operators, mechanics, 
 railroad men, steamboat captains and, to be 
 short, the Icelander is to be found in all walks 
 of life. 
 
 AVhen they first came to Manitoba they were 
 placed in a little colony, Gimli, but they grad- 
 ually left, and all the young took up the general 
 industrial pursuit of the country. The young 
 were sent to school, and altogether the results 
 are very gratifying. 
 
 The Icelandic women, too, are found every- 
 where; teachers, dressmakers, milliners, sten- 
 ographers, and in every industry suitable for 
 ladies. 
 
 The young Icelanders are taking Canadian 
 wives, and Canadians are marrying Icelandic 
 women, who in appearance are fair and very
 
 126 Manitoba as I Saw It. 
 
 like the young English girl. It will be but a 
 very few years, two generations or less, when 
 all that race will be Canadians. 
 
 That is the great consideration in selecting 
 immigrants to fill up our vast fertile prairies. 
 It is the plain duty of the Federal Government 
 to cease segegrating or placing grants so that 
 any set of people should live in small colonies. 
 
 The Galician is a hardy, industrious individ- 
 ual, but they are not allowed to learn English 
 at school until they have learned to read in their 
 own language, and up to that time they will not 
 send them to school ; and living in small colonies 
 or villages, they are apt to quarrel amongst 
 themselves, and at their wedding feasts there 
 are, as a rule, some injured, and in some in- 
 stances murdered. Then they, when left to 
 themselves, living in colonies, always remain 
 Galicians, retaining all their vicious habits and 
 prejudices, and never become Canadians. The 
 same applies to all Continental immigrants. 
 
 What is the remedy? The Federal Govern- 
 ment should cease making grants of land to 
 immigrants of any nationality for settlement in 
 colonies, but should allow them to take up their 
 homesteads and pre-emption the same as Cana- 
 dian settlers. 
 
 The Provincial Governments should compel
 
 Riel's Departure from the Country 127 
 
 every child of a school age who is not able to 
 read and write the English language to attend 
 school and to be taught the simple rules of 
 arithmetic. That, at all events, would be the 
 first step towards Canadianizing the foreigner 
 or getting him to understand the advantage it 
 would be to himself to have that much education. 
 
 Wherever a small settlement of any nation- 
 ality is placed, it is certain to retain some of 
 the prejudices and shortcomings and even 
 superstitions common to the place from whence 
 the settlers came, which will prevent them for 
 several generations from adopting Canadian 
 ways, and make of them a foci liable to generate 
 discord and strife. That applies to all nation- 
 alities. 
 
 It also applies to all organizations, whether 
 for social, commercial, or for any purpose 
 where whole communities are sufficiently organ- 
 ized to act as a unit; where occasion requires, 
 in a vast country like this, and located in differ- 
 ent places, they will ultimately become an em- 
 barrassment, if not a menace, to the peace of the 
 State.
 
 CHAPTER XXXVII. 
 
 MESSES. ARCHIBALD AND CAMPBELL. 
 
 Mr. Heber Archibald came here early, and 
 began the i^ractice of law, and after a time 
 Mr. H. M. Howell, now Chief Justice of the 
 Court of Appeal, was taken in, forming the 
 legal firm of Archibald & Howell, which con- 
 tinued until Mr. Howell was elevated to the 
 Bench. 
 
 Mr. Archibald is a B.A., Toronto University, 
 widely read and conversant with all public 
 questions affecting the general welfare of 
 Manitoba and the West. He is considered a 
 very sound lawyer, and has always been known 
 to advise his clients against litigation where it 
 was in their best interest. While in the active 
 practise of his profession he was at his office 
 adhering to his business closely, and has 
 amassed a very large fortune by close applica- 
 tion, business integrity and ability. Mr. Archi- 
 bald has a tranquil, somewhat serious counten- 
 ance ; underlying is a strong vein of humor, and 
 he enjoys the society of his friends in a very 
 marked degree. He is kind hearted and gives 
 liberally to deserving charities, and he is among 
 Winnipeg's best citizens. 
 
 On his arrival in Winnipeg Mr. Isaac Camp-
 
 Messrs. Archibald and Campbell. 129 
 
 bell entered the legal firm of Archibald, Howell 
 & Hough. 
 
 Several years elapsed when Hough and 
 Campbell became the legal firm, which is one of 
 the most important in the city. Mr. Campbell 
 was City Solicitor until his time became fully 
 occupied by his own practice, when he relin- 
 quished the City Solicitorship. 
 
 Mr. Campbell is a quiet, unassuming gentle- 
 man who has read widely and understandingly 
 and a lawyer of erudition. He is a Liberal in 
 politics. He is a pleasing public speaker, fluent, 
 logical and convincing. He is of the Old School, 
 eminently sociable and agreeable, and would fill 
 any position in the gift of the people or Crown 
 with dignity and ability. 
 
 Mr. E. L. Barber, an American, came here at 
 an early date from one of the New England 
 States, and has resided here uninterruptedly up 
 to the present. He was doing business as a gen- 
 eral merchant in Winnipeg for many years. The 
 past ten years he has been doing a large real 
 estate business. 
 
 Mr. Barber is of a jovial disposition, an ex- 
 cellent conversationalist, well posted on all 
 Western questions, and has observed Winnipeg 
 grow from its inception, and has enthusiastic 
 and unbounded faith in Winnipeg, Manitoba
 
 130 Manitoba as I Saw It. 
 
 and the West. He married Miss Logan, a de- 
 scendant of Chief Factor Logan, Hudson Bay 
 Company. His family all reside in the West, 
 but not all in Winnipeg. 
 
 Mr. Stuart Mulvey came to the country a 
 subaltern in the Wolseley Expedition. When 
 the troops were withdrawn he remained in the 
 country and identified himself with its interests, 
 but principally with the educational, and for 
 several years before his death he was Secretary 
 Treasurer of the City School Board. 
 
 He was a good citizen, much respected and of 
 undoubted ability ; a logical, forcible speaker. 
 
 Mr. William Fisher Luxton was a prominent 
 man in the early history of the City of Win- 
 nipeg. He was practically the founder of the 
 Free Press, and his columns were always used 
 in the interests of the city and Province of 
 Manitoba. Mr. Luxton had strong, well defined 
 opinions on all public questions, to which he 
 adhered with great pertinacity^, sometimes to 
 his detriment. He was a man of abilitj^, strictly 
 honest, honorable, a good citizen, and but few 
 deserve so well for the city and Province.
 
 CHAPTER XXXVIII. 
 
 MAYOKS OF WINNIPEG. 
 
 From the date of its incorporation, in the 
 year 1873 down to the year 1908. 
 1874 — Francis Evans Cornish, Q.C. 
 1875 — William Nasseau Kennedy. 
 1876 — William Nasseau Kennedy. 
 1877— Thomas Scott. 
 1878— Thomas Scott. 
 1879 — Alexander Logan. 
 1880 — Alexander Logan. 
 1881— Elias George Conklin. 
 1882 — Alexander Logan. 
 1883— Alexander McMicken. 
 1884— Alexander McMicken. 
 1885 — Charles Edward Hamilton. 
 1886 — Henry Shaver Westbrook. 
 1887 — Lyman Melvin Jones. 
 1888 — Lyman Melvin Jones. 
 1889— Thomas Ryan. 
 1890— Alfred Pearson. 
 1891— Alfred Pearson. 
 1892— Alexander McDonald. 
 1893— Thomas William Taylor. 
 1894— Thomas W. Taylor. 
 1895— Thomas Gilroy.
 
 132 Manitoba as I Saw It. 
 
 1896 — Richard Willis Jameson. 
 1897— William F. McCreary. 
 1898— Alfred J. Andrews. 
 1899— Alfred J. Andrews. 
 1900— Horace Wilson. 
 1901— John Arbuthnot. 
 1902— John Arbuthnot. 
 1903— John Arbuthnot. 
 1904— Thomas Sharpe. 
 1905 — Thomas Sharpe. 
 1906 — Thomas Sharpe. 
 1907 — James H. Ashdown. 
 1908 — James H. Ashdown. 
 1909— W. S. Evans. 
 
 CITY OF WINNIPEG. 
 
 The City of Winnipeg is the Capital of the 
 Province of Manitoba, and is situate at the junc- 
 tion of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers. It is 
 almost midway between the Atlantic and Pacific 
 Oceans; forty miles south of Lake Winnipeg 
 and sixty miles north of the boundary line be- 
 tween Canada and the United States of Amer- 
 ica. Winnipeg is the commercial and whole- 
 sale centre of the Northwest ; and the very com- 
 plete railway systems branching in every direc- 
 tion afford great facilities for trade to the re-
 
 Mayors of Winnipeg. 133 
 
 tailer in the Province and Northwest. By rea- 
 son of its position the city offers a most desir- 
 able inducement as a location for the establish- 
 ment of manufacturing industries. 
 
 The city is noted for its wide and well paved 
 thoroughfares, and beautiful boulevarded and 
 residential streets. It is the educational centre 
 of the Province, and the school system is con- 
 sidered as complete as can be made. 
 
 The government of the city is carried on un- 
 der the powers of a charter from the Provincial 
 Legislature. The Council is composed of a 
 Mayor, four Controllers forming the Board of 
 Control, and fourteen Aldermen. The Mayor 
 and Controllers are elected annually from a 
 vote of the entire city. One Alderman is elect- 
 ed annually from each of the seven Wards into 
 which the city is divided and holds office for a 
 term of two years. The Mayor is Chief Magis- 
 trate of the city. Persons eligible for election 
 as Mayor and Controller must be owners of 
 property rated on the assessment roll of the 
 city to the value of two thousand dollars, over 
 and above all encumbrances against the same, 
 and for Aldermen must be rated in a like man- 
 ner to the amount of five hundred dollars. The 
 election is held annually on the second Tuesday
 
 134 Manitoba as I Saw It. 
 
 in December, and nominations on the first Tues- 
 day in December. 
 
 The Board of Control is the executive body, 
 and as such deals with all financial matters, 
 regulates and supervises expenditures, reve- 
 nues and investments, directs and controls de- 
 partments, nominates all heads of departments, 
 prepares specifications, advertises for tenders 
 and awards all contracts for works, materials 
 and supplies required, inspects and reports to 
 the Council upon all municipal works being car- 
 ried on or in progress within the city, and gen- 
 erally administers the affairs of the city, except 
 as to the Public Schools and Police Department, 
 the former being under control of the Public 
 School Board, elected annually by the ratepay- 
 ers and the latter under the Board of Police 
 Commissioners, which consists of the Mayor, 
 the County Court Judge, Police Magistrate and 
 two Aldermen appointed by the Council. 
 
 The public parks of the city are placed under 
 the control and supervision of a Public Parks 
 Board, composed of the Mayor, two members of 
 the Council and six ratepayers appointed by 
 the Council. For the purpose of providing for 
 the expenditures required for park purposes, a 
 rate of one-half of one mill on the dollar is lev- 
 ied on the general assessment of the city.
 
 The Hudson Bay Company. 135 
 
 THE HUDSON BAY COMPANY. 
 
 In the days of the Red River Settlement the 
 Hudson Bay Company added to their functions 
 as the chief trading body of the community, the 
 business of banking, to the limited extent re- 
 quired by the inhabitants. Money could be 
 deposited with the Company, and it is not on 
 record that any interest was allowed ; the Com- 
 pany issued their own notes in denominations of 
 one shilling, five shillings, one pound and five 
 pounds sterling, and these notes passed readily 
 from hand to hand and supplied all the currency 
 needs of the settlement. It is probable that no 
 one ever asked the question: ''How and where 
 are these notes payable?" Had such a question 
 been asked the answer would have been found 
 on the notes themselves. They were payable at 
 York Factory, by a sixty days' sight draft on 
 the Hudson Bay Company in London. The fact 
 that the question never once arose adds addi- 
 tional testimony, if such were wanted, to the 
 unbounded confidence reposed in the Hudson 
 Bay Company by all classes of the community. 
 If "The Company" issued the notes they must 
 be all right. 
 
 There is no knowing whether the Hudson Bay 
 Company might or might not have continued to 
 be the bankers of the new Province of Manitoba
 
 136 Manitoba as I Saw It. 
 
 if they had so desired. Their charter is a wide 
 one and might have been made to cover much 
 more than the trading rights they have con- 
 tinued to exercise. They made no effort to do 
 so, however, and early in the seventies the need 
 of more extensive banking facilities began to 
 be felt. 
 
 Mr. Alex. McMicken, who is still a leading 
 citizen of Winnipeg, was the first to open an 
 office devoted wholly to banking. In a building 
 formerly occupied by the Hudson Bay Com- 
 pany, about what is now the corner of Portage 
 avenue and Fort street, he established a busi- 
 ness that for a considerable time afforded all 
 the facilities that were at the time required by 
 the rapidly growing population. It was in Sep- 
 tember, 1871, that the convenience of issuing 
 cheques first became known to Winnipegers, 
 and so well was the business managed that in a 
 very short time all the banking of the future 
 city was in Mr. McMicken 's hands. 
 
 The first chartered bank in Winnipeg was 
 the Merchants Bank of Canada, which, under 
 the management of the late Mr. Duncan Mac- 
 Arthur, in December, 1872, opened an office 
 nearly opposite the building till recently occu- 
 pied as the Post Office. 
 
 The premises were most unpretentious, con-
 
 A LKX A .\ DICK M cM I C K. KN
 
 The Hudson Bay Company. 137 
 
 sisting of a very ordinary frame building, with 
 rooms for the manager in the upper story, no 
 vault, and very insufficient accommodation for 
 the clerks. Such as they were, however, they 
 sufficed for several years to supply all the wants 
 of the people. 
 
 No single fact shows more clearly the gi- 
 gantic strides that the Canadian West has 
 made than the development of banking business 
 in Winnipeg. In 1871 one branch of a chartered 
 bank in a wretched shack on Main street, to- 
 gether with a private banker, supplied all the 
 banking facilities required for not only the City 
 of Winnipeg but for the whole of the North- 
 west. To-day a line of palatial buildings on 
 Main street house the institutions that, aided 
 by hundreds of branches through the Province, 
 keep a staff of employees many times more 
 numerous than the whole population of Winni- 
 peg in 1872, busy in supplying the needs of the 
 community in this one branch of business. 
 
 From nothing in 1872 Winnipeg has risen to 
 the third rank in the clearings of the Dominion, 
 being exceeded only by Montreal and Toronto. 
 
 The banking house of Alloway & Champion, 
 Winnipeg, was established in 1879 by Messrs. 
 W. F. Alloway and H. T. Champion. 
 
 It is the only private bank in the city. Their
 
 138 Manitoba as I Saw It. 
 
 business has been conducted in a quiet, unob- 
 trusive manner, keeping pace with the growth 
 of the city, and they are at present well up in 
 the line of Main street's permanent financial in- 
 stitutions. They have a branch office, a fine 
 structure, on Main Street north. 
 
 PUBLIC PAKKS. 
 
 There are now eleven public parks in "Win- 
 nipeg, with a total area of about 315 acres, pur- 
 chased at a cost of $140,000. This includes a 
 large Suburban Park of an area of 282 acres, 
 which is situate on the banks of the Assiniboine 
 Eiver, in the municipality of St. Charles, about 
 three miles from the City Hall. This park 
 property was acquired in 1903, and considerable 
 improvements are now under way. 
 
 During the year 1907 about four miles of 
 driveways were completed and considerable un- 
 derbrushing and clearing done. This year the 
 Parks Board anticipates to instal a water works 
 system and erect a pavilion, and it is expected 
 that the park will be formally opened to the 
 public in July next. The herd of buffalo owned 
 by the city are kept in this park, as are also a 
 number of other native animals. 
 
 BKOOKSIDE CEMETERY. 
 
 This cemetery is owned by the city and main-
 
 The Hudson Bay Company. 139 
 
 tained under the supervision of the Public 
 Parks Board. Lot owners are assured of per- 
 petual maintenance of plots. 
 The population of the city in 1908 was 118,000. 
 
 PUBLIC LIBRARY. 
 
 Carnegie Library, AVilliam avenue, between 
 Dagmar and Ellen streets. J. H. McCarthy, 
 Librarian. Phone 4445. 
 
 The Winnipeg Public Library Building is a 
 handsome two-storey structure, built of native 
 dressed stone at a cost of $100,000, towards 
 which a donation of $75,000 was made by Mr. 
 Andrew Carnegie. The building was completed 
 in August, 1905, and formally opened by His 
 Excellency the Governor-General and Lady 
 Grey on October 11, 1905. 
 
 The Library contains at present about twenty- 
 one thousand carefully selected volumes at the 
 service of any resident of the city. 
 
 The Reading Rooms, which are open to all 
 comers, are stocked with a very adequate sup- 
 ply of daily and weekly newspapers and with 
 all the leading magazines published in the Eng- 
 lish language. Any book in the Library can be 
 obtained for use in the building by anyone who 
 require it. 
 
 During last year 11,000 readers borrowed
 
 140 Manitoba as I Saiv It. 
 
 200,000 books for home reading, while 60,000 
 volumes were issued as books of reference. The 
 Juvenile Department has on the reading tables 
 a complete assortment of boys' and girls' pa- 
 pers in addition to several standard magazines, 
 while the open book shelves contain 2,000 care- 
 fully selected titles suitable for young people's 
 reading. 
 
 The Library is open every day, except Domin- 
 ion Day and Christmas Day, from 9 :30 a.m. to 
 9:30 p.m., except Sundays and holidays, when 
 the hours are from 2 p.m. to 9 p.m. Juvenile 
 Department from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. on school 
 days and from the general opening hour until 
 6 p.m. on other days. 
 
 Branch depots have been established to bring 
 the benefits of the Library within convenient 
 reach of those living in the outlying wards of 
 the city. Four of these depots, each of which 
 is kept supplied with 1,000 books, are in opera- 
 tion. They are situated as follows : 
 
 No. 1, corner of Burrows avenue and Main 
 street. Ward 6. No. 2, Nairn street. Ward 7. 
 No. 3, corner of Furby street and Portage ave- 
 nue. Ward 3. No. 4, at 116 Osborne street, 
 Ward 1.
 
 The Hudson Bay Company. 141 
 
 MUNICIPAL OWNERSHIP. 
 
 The City of Winnipeg is a firm believer in 
 municipal ownership of all public utilities. The 
 city owns and operates its water works plant, 
 street lighting system, stone quarry, fire alarm 
 system and asjDhalt plant. AVinnipeg enjoys the 
 distinction of being the first city in America to 
 acquire a municipal asphalt plant. 
 
 SCHOOL STATISTICS. 
 
 Year 1907 — Number of teachers, 248; num- 
 ber of buildings, 30, also seven rented build- 
 ings; value of buildings and site, $1,552,753; 
 attendance, 14,802. 
 
 WATER WORKS. 
 
 The water works system is owned and operat- 
 ed by the city. The supply is from an artesian 
 source and is exceptionally pure. 
 
 THEATRES. 
 
 There are five theatres, two seating 2,500, 
 and the other three 1,000 each. 
 
 ELECTRIC STREET RAILWAY. 
 
 The street railway system is operated by the 
 Winnipeg Electric Street Railway Company, 
 under franchise granted by the city in 1892. 
 
 BANK CLEARINGS. 
 
 The bank clearings for the year 1907 were 
 $598,408,942.
 
 CHAPTER XXXIX. 
 
 MR. ALEXANDER m' DONALD. 
 
 Mr. Alexander McDonald came to Winnipeg 
 in the seventies, a man of shrewd business ob- 
 servation and tact. He traveled through the 
 Territories, and has business interests at sev- 
 eral points. He settled in business here, and at 
 present is one of the largest wholesale grocers 
 in the city. 
 
 Having from the first absolute faith in the 
 country, Mr. McDonald took an active part in 
 municipal affairs ; was elected Mayor, and from 
 his knowledge of the infant city's requirements 
 and his business ability, had much to do in 
 putting the city's affairs on a good financial 
 basis. Mr. McDonald is a man of sterling in- 
 tegrity, and considered one of the city's best 
 citizens, as he is one of the heaviest ratepayers. 
 
 Colonel Thomas Scott, at the present Collec- 
 tor of Customs, came to the city in 1870. He 
 was Commandant of the Second Expedition. 
 After retiring from the military he established 
 himself in business and was elected Mayor. He 
 was a useful and efficient Chief Magistrate, and 
 managed the city's interests with much tact and 
 ability. He represented Winnipeg a number of
 
 Mr. Alexander McDonald. 143 
 
 years in the Dominion Parliament, and was a 
 close friend of Sir John A. Macdonald. 
 
 Mr. Alexander McMicken, a son of the late 
 Honorable Gilbert McMicken, was Mayor of 
 Winnipeg 1883 and part of 1884. During his 
 term of office he visited Ontario, where his 
 friends made much of him. He was banqueted 
 by his admirers in many of the Eastern cities 
 and towns. Mr. McMicken is at present Pro- 
 vincial Chief Magistrate, and considered spe- 
 cially well fitted for the position. 
 
 His brother, Mr. Hamilton McMicken, is a 
 financial agent in London, England. 
 
 Mr. Thomas Taylor was Mayor of Winnipeg 
 two terms, and was looked upon as progressive 
 and practical. He has represented Winnipeg 
 Centre in the Local Legislature for several 
 years, and is at present the occupant of the 
 seat. 
 
 Honorable Lyman M. Jones, Dominion Sena- 
 tor, now of Toronto, Ontario, when a citizen of 
 Winnipeg, was twice elected Mayor. He was a 
 practical business man, and considered an able 
 financier. The business of the city was by him 
 judiciously managed. When his term of office 
 expired, the finances were in such a position 
 that the city's credit was of the best, and his 
 able direction had much to do with it. .
 
 144 Manitoba as I Saw It. 
 
 Mr. James H. Ashdown was elected Mayor of 
 Winnipeg for 1907 and 1908. When he entered 
 upon his duties it was thought by many that 
 the credit of the city had been jeopardized by 
 the city's management the last few years, and 
 that Mr. Ashdown was the proper person to 
 straighten the defects and place the city once 
 more on a good financial basis. At the end of 
 his second term, in his own words, "The slate 
 has been cleared off, and the city is now once 
 more financially sound, and our borrowing 
 capacity up to what it should be." 
 
 Mr. Ashdown 's successor is Mr. Sanford 
 Evans, who retired from the Board of Control 
 to enter the contest for Mayor, and was elected 
 by the people by a very large majority, and has 
 entered upon his duties under very favorable 
 circumstances. 
 
 Mr. Evans is a Toronto University man, 
 about in the prime of life; a cultured gentle- 
 man, a fluent speaker, and of very pleasing ad- 
 dress. This year will afford abundant oppor- 
 tunities to show the people how well he is fitted 
 for the position. 
 
 The late Alexander Logan was the only one 
 of the descendants of the old settlers that ever 
 filled the Mayor's chair. He was five times 
 Mayor of the city, once elected by acclamation.
 
 Mr. Alexander McDonald. 145 
 
 Mr. Logan was a genial, gentlemanly man, an 
 excellent entertainer and strictly honorable in 
 every sense of the word.
 
 CHAPTER XL. 
 
 SIB CHARLES TUPPEB. 
 
 Captain Cameron, after having been deported 
 by Kiel's men, found himself at Pembina at the 
 beginning of a severe Dakota winter, with wife 
 and servants, to face a journey across the 
 prairie of four hundred miles to St. Paul, with 
 no other conveyance but Red River ponies. The 
 prospect was not pleasing. 
 
 To Mrs. Cameron, a daughter of Sir Charles 
 Tupper, unaccustomed to roughing it, it must 
 have been alarming. Her father, Sir Charles, 
 came at once to Pembina, to assist and direct 
 her safe return to her home in the East, reach- 
 ing the border line in January. 
 
 While at Pembina he crossed over to the Hud- 
 son Bay Fort and made arrangements to come 
 on to the River Salle and have a talk with Rev- 
 erend Father Richot, making the trip and 
 spending the night with the Reverend Father, 
 and safely returned to Pembina. It was at the 
 time rumored that Sir Charles came to Fort 
 Garry and talked over matters with Riel, but of 
 that I am not certain. 
 
 Captain Cameron and Sir Charles having
 
 SIR CHARLES TUPPHR
 
 Sir Charles Tupper. 147 
 
 completed arrangements, returned across the 
 prairie in February, 1870, braved the cold and 
 fatigue, and reached St. Paul safely and well. 
 Verily Mrs. Cameron was the heroine of the 
 first Kiel Rebellion, and deserves a stellar place 
 in Manitoba history. 
 
 During Lieut.-Governor Archibald's term of 
 office here. Miss Emily McTavish, of To- 
 ronto, came to visit her brothers, John, George 
 and Donald McTavish, all prominent in the 
 service of the Hudson Bay Company. The 
 Governor was an excellent entertainer, and Miss 
 McTavish being one of the "society buds" from 
 Toronto, was a noticeable personage at the din- 
 ners and dances at Government House, dis- 
 tinguished in appearance and faultlessly gown- 
 ed in the up-to-date fashions of that day, and 
 she was somewhat of a revelation to our AVest- 
 ern ladies, who, from their isolated location, 
 were at a disadvantage. 
 
 After Miss McTavish returned to Ontario, 
 and at the next public function, it was clear that 
 Manitoba ladies had profited thereby, and the 
 gowns worn were quite in order, and would have 
 been considered charming anywhere. 
 
 Miss McTavish remarked, in a chat I had with 
 her not long since, "That present conditions of 
 the social order are less sincere in many ways
 
 148 Manitoba as I Saw It. 
 
 than those existing in what are called 'pioneer 
 days' of Winnipeg." We had our "noblesse" 
 then as now, which included all the Settlement, 
 for quite a few of the inmates of the log cabins 
 scattered here and there, possessed a family- 
 genealogical tree in the old land reaching back 
 farther than the time-worn date of William the 
 Conqueror, so often quoted. No one was ag- 
 gressive for social rights, for indeed we could 
 not be, depending as we had to, on each other in 
 those troubled times. There was one definite 
 social rule of sujDeriority, however, maintained 
 in all severity; which was the order of prece- 
 dence at official dinners and balls, which existed 
 then as now, and occasionally there was some 
 heart-burning among our official ladies who 
 were overlooked in the placing at some of our 
 official functions ; on the whole, however, we had 
 jolly times. In the first place our women and 
 girls were all excellent horsewomen, and 
 thought nothing of a twenty-five mile ride to a 
 dance which lasted all night. Among the resi- 
 dent families here at that time who contrived to 
 enjoy life, were the "Forty Party," consisting 
 of the Lieutenant-Governor and family, the Mc- 
 Tavishs, Balsilies, Herchmers, Andersons, Cow- 
 ans and several others. Outside were the A. G. 
 B. Bannatynes, the Inksters, Dr. and Mrs.
 
 Sir Charles Tupper. 149 
 
 Schultz, Honorable James Mackay and family; 
 at Deer Lodge, Donald- A. and Mrs. Smith 
 (Baron and Baroness Mount Royal and Strath- 
 cona) at Silver Heights. The Stone Fort 
 (Lower Fort Garry) also added its quota to our 
 social enjoyment. 
 
 As I mentioned before, all the women were 
 fearless riders, our horses were excellent, and 
 we all rode side saddle, and did not require to 
 have specially trained horses for our use, nor 
 did we understand the civilized privilege of 
 timidity on horseback. 
 
 Our dances gave keen enjoyment to old and 
 young alike, for grandfathers and grandmoth- 
 ers were not to be outdone in staying power by 
 us children; indeed when it came to the Eight 
 Hand Reel and the Red River Jig (without 
 which no gathering was complete) it not infre- 
 quently happened that the grey-haired ones 
 hapi)ily danced on whilst the younger genera- 
 tion subsided exhausted on the nearest seats. 
 The Red River Jig was a most unique dance, if 
 dance it could be called, and no description 
 could satisfactorily picture it to those who have 
 never seen it performed. 
 
 We had theatricals and operas, our local tal- 
 ent being quite equal to our best amateurs of 
 to-day, and many a pleasant evening was passed
 
 150 Manitoba as I Saw It. 
 
 in this way. Of course the imagination had 
 occasionally to lend kindly aid to the scenic 
 effects intended, and costumes of the perform- 
 ers were sometimes peculiar; then an added 
 spice was given to our entertainments, by one 
 or two warning reminders during the evening 
 from the stage manager, "not to be too enthus- 
 iastic in our applause, as the crowd had caused 
 the floor to sag considerably, and although they 
 had placed upright scantlings in the store below 
 as supports, too much stamping or clapping 
 might cause a catastrophe," which naturally 
 tended to keep our otherwise high spirits in 
 check. We never criticized nor felt that our 
 ticket money was wasted, and were all glad to 
 go again to the next performance. 
 
 The dress question was a grave perplexity 
 to the feminine element, for the few dressmak- 
 ers resident here, had like Topsy, *'just 
 growed," and it was never safe in ordering a 
 gown, and selecting a design for same, to pro- 
 phesy exactly what would be the final result; 
 for if the modiste found the selected pattern 
 too difficult, she merely improvised another 
 model more suitable to her capabilities, and 
 which no doubt was the mode she had used for 
 all the old ladies, but somewhat trying to a 
 young girl. Shopping, too, had its idiosyncra-
 
 Sir Charles Tupper. 151 
 
 sies. We had the ''Company's Store," but the 
 sujDplies were seldom added to, thus making the 
 choice limited when one wished to appear at 
 a party in something really recherche, and 
 all knew to a penny the price of every roll of 
 goods on the dusty shelves. We thought noth- 
 ing of mounting a horse and riding down to the 
 Lower Fort at St. Andrews for dress supplies 
 not procurable in town, or even farther down 
 Kildonan to one or other of the scattered stores 
 existing there — only to find on arrival that the 
 shutters were up and the door locked, making 
 necessary an extra quarter of a mile ride to the 
 owner's house, where a general hunt ensued to 
 find the key; then on returning to the store we 
 looked for lace, ribbon, etc., among a pile of 
 nails, fish hooks, seeds, twine and other like 
 commodities. It will be seen, therefore, that 
 we had great need for originality to appear well 
 dressed. One lady high in our official circles 
 wore at one of our very select balls a stately 
 trained robe of unbleached canton flannel, with 
 the woolly side out, and she wore it with such 
 grace and dignity, that I question even now if 
 she would be challenged for the genuineness of 
 her costly plush gown. There were a few fortu- 
 nate ones, who once or twice a year replenished 
 their wardrobes with importations from Edin-
 
 152 Manitoba as I Saw It. 
 
 burgh, London, Montreal and New York, but 
 all had not ''Fortunatus' purse," so many had 
 to at least imagine themselves stylish with what 
 the village could supply.
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 The Northwest of Canada is so vast and the 
 local characteristics so diverse that it is very 
 evident that the Federal Government, in order 
 to legislate in the best interests of Western peo- 
 ple must be possessed of better and more com- 
 plete information than they are able to obtain 
 from the few Senators and members of the 
 House of Commons, who are sent to Ottawa to 
 represent the whole of Greater Canada. They 
 cannot, and it ought not to be expected of them, 
 know very much of the minutiae of this great 
 country. Surveyors and engineers sent out in 
 the interests of railway companies have but a 
 cursory knowledge of the country, other than 
 that which the companies who employ them are 
 directly interested in, often not in the best in- 
 terests of the people. In this country, where 
 there are fifty-seven languages spoken; this 
 vast region containing the largest lakes and 
 rivers, the greatest and richest mineral deposits 
 in the world; with an agricultural area much 
 larger and incomparably more fertile than that 
 in China ; the jDroduction of food stuffs that feed 
 four hundred millions of people; any and all 
 information should be at the hand of every
 
 154 Manitoba as I Saw It. 
 
 member of the Federal Government, in con- 
 cise form, when dealing with questions affecting 
 Greater Canada. 
 
 That information cannot be obtained by ap- 
 pointing a Commission of men taken from Prov- 
 inces east of Lake Superior, headed by a Judge, 
 none of whom can have practical knowledge of 
 the country or what is required of them. It will, 
 in order to secure the proper information, be 
 necessary to appoint men in the West who know 
 the country and its requirements, who know all 
 parts that have settlers, their nationality, 
 whether they are suited to the location, how they 
 are equipped for the work before them, schools, 
 if any, the topography of the country, the flora, 
 a synopsis of the surface geology, mineral de- 
 posits, if any, and a brief sketch of the natural 
 history; the water supply and how obtained, 
 and such information as may be deemed advis- 
 able in such a report. 
 
 THE DANGEES TO BE AVOIDED. 
 
 There are many Americans now in the coun- 
 try, good settlers, and some of them well in- 
 formed ; in fact, in many instances, they have a 
 better knowledge of the capabilities of the West 
 and North, a more intimate knowledge of the 
 readjustment of the tariff to so order things
 
 Appendix. 155 
 
 that their presence would be either to the ad- 
 vantage of Canada or the United States. The 
 great majority of those American settlers are 
 good citizens, but they have great powers of 
 assimilation, and are, first, last and always, 
 Americans. The removal of the duty on cer- 
 tain Canadian productions, and they would 
 readily put certain of our products on the free 
 list, which would be disastrous for the Western 
 farmer; for instance, if they put wheat on the 
 free list, our No. 1 Hard would be ground in the 
 United States. 
 
 A competent committee or commission to 
 make the necessary inquiries, and make a com- 
 plete report, concise, ])ut in book form, for the 
 use of Government Legislators, they would be in 
 a position to deal with any matter that came 
 before the House concerning the Northwest 
 more intelligently than they are at present. 
 
 The people of the older Provinces have pro- 
 vincial or sectional ideas; the people of the 
 West are for a United Dominion and the Em- 
 pire; and they want their utterances to be taken 
 seriously. They do not charge the older Prov- 
 inces of endeavoring to be unfair to the West, 
 but at times think it possible. They have not 
 made any special efforts to study the West, in 
 order that Canadian interests as a whole might
 
 156 Manitoba as I Saw It. 
 
 be enhanced throiip^hout the Dominion. In other 
 words, they do not know the people of the West 
 as they should. Not an unprejudiced observer 
 of the great West of Canada but can see the 
 people have noble ideals, great respect for law, 
 and keener sense of responsibility of power, 
 than the older Provinces. 
 
 The policy of the Canadian Government in 
 the not remote future, will be noticeably influ- 
 enced by the West, and the people of the East 
 and West should know each other better than 
 they do at present. The Ministers, during the 
 hiatus between the Parliamentary sessions, 
 would gain much useful knowledge by devoting 
 some of their vacations in the Great West of 
 Canada, and learn something of the heritage of 
 the Dominion, of which at present their know- 
 ledge is very superficial. The experiment 
 would be exhilarating and most astonishing to 
 many. 
 
 THE MOST REVEREND JOHN JOSEPH LYNCH, THE 
 LATE ROMAN CATHOLIC ARCHBISHOP, TORONTO. 
 
 As a Prelate he was liberal to a degree al- 
 most unprecedented in the history of the hier- 
 archy of the Church. 
 
 Though one of the most devout of Catholics, 
 and a sincere advocate from conviction of the
 
 
 ■*- ,* 
 
 «^ 
 
 -1. 
 
 f\ 
 
 
 HIS C.KACI'; AKLllHISlloP I.VNCII. T<>Kti\T'i
 
 Appendix. 157 
 
 doctrine of Papal infallibility, he was willing to 
 accord, so far as the rules of his church permit- 
 ted him to do so, full liberty of conscience to 
 those who differed from him. He believed that 
 priests should confine themselves to their 
 proper functions, and was opposed to clerical 
 interference with the political consciences of 
 their flock. "He plainly declared that a priest 
 has no more right to dictate to his parishioners 
 how they should vote, than he has to interf er6 in 
 the cut of their clothing or the quality of their 
 food." 
 
 In short. Archbishop Lynch of the Eoman 
 Catholic Church, never forgot the fact that he 
 was also a man — a man dwelling in a community 
 which was largely made up of Protestants, and 
 where by reason of his high position, he was 
 bound to exercise a potent influence, whether for 
 good or evil. 
 
 Some years before his death, on his return 
 from Rome, he took occasion to call on the 
 Lord Lieutenant and other persons high in 
 authority in Ireland, and decorously expressed 
 his views as to the Irish Question, with special 
 reference to schools. He was listened to with 
 the respect due his knowledge of the subject, no 
 less than the high position which he occupied;
 
 158 Manitoba as I Saw It. 
 
 and seemed to have left a most agreeable im- 
 pression behind him, judging from the com- 
 ments of the Irish press.
 
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