Red River

Front matter

RED RIVER. BY JOSEPH JAMES HARGRAVEjF.R.G.S. Pontteal : PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR BY JOHN LOVELL. 1871. Entered according to Act of Parliament, in the year one thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, by Joseph James Hargrave, of Fort Garry, Manitoba, in the Office of the Minister of Agriculture and Statistics of the Dominion of Canada. Entered at Stationers' Hall, London, England. To the Right Honorable the Earl of March, My Lord, Believing it possible that a book treating of Red River affairs might form a memorial, not altogether unpleasant, of your Lordship's hunting tour and residence in the fertile valley of the Saskatchewan, I have requested permission to dedicate this work to you. The period of time occupied by the residence to which I refer was sufficiently long to enable your Lordship, in using the means you employed, to obtain an experimental knowledge of the capa bilities of this country, the position of which, in the heart of the British American Possessions, confers on it so great a degree of relative importance.

That the interest felt in Rupert's Land, by your Lordship, may be stronger and more enduring than that implied by regarding it only as the scene of such an episode in your travels as the one to which I have alluded, I would venture to hope, in the interest of the country itself, the future of which may be materially affected by the influence brought to bear on its concerns by one in your Lordship's high position. I have the honour to be, My Lord, Your obedient servant, J. J. HARGRAVE. CONTENTS. Chapter I. PACK THE OCEAN VOYAGE. The Mersey — First evening on board the Hibernian — Queen's Birth-day — Off Moville — The Atlantic — Sea-sickness — Passengers— Daily Routine — Scenes on board — Ice — Straits of Belle Isle — Father Point — The St. Lawrence — Quebec „ 17 Chapter II. QUEBEC TO ST PAUL.

Custom house — American travelling arrangements— Grand Trunk Railway — Victoria Tubular Bridge — Montreal — General Election — Toronto — Sleeping Cars — United States frontier at Port Huron — Michigan Central Railroad — Chicago — Chicago and North Western Railroad — Lacrosse— Mississippi Steamer — Adventure of passenger from New York — United States Volunteers — Scenery of " Hiawatha " — St. Paul J7 Chapter III. ST. PAUL TO FORT ABERCROMBIE. City of St. Paul — Red River Merchants— Trotting Match — President Lincoln's first Message — Stage Coach — Falls of Minnehaha — St. Anthony — Prairie travelling— Passengers — St. Cloud — Kandottah — Alexandria and its Woods and Roads — Pomme de Terre — Red River of the North — Fort Abercrombie 38 Chapter IV. FORT ABERCROMBIE TO GEORGETOWN. Colonel Day — Evening at the Fort— Plain Country — Georgetown — Mr. C. P. V. Lull and his Station House — Mr. Burbank — Detention at Georgetown — Daily routine — Steamer " Pioneer " and her passengers — Chief Trader Murray — Mr. Morgan's Scientific Tour— Steam Saw Mill— The " Woman in White."

Preface

. About half-way between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans the international boundary between the United States and the British North American Possessions is cut by a stream, which, to distin guish it from another of the same name flowing into the Gulf of Mexico in the south of the Continent, is called the " Red River of the North." Tt rises in the United States of America, and, running north wards, enters the British territories at Pembina, whence it continues its course more than one hundred miles further, finally losing its waters in Lake Winnipeg. It is joined by many tributaries, the most considerable of which, named the Assiniboine, flows from the West and falls into it about forty miles south from its mouth at the Lake. At the junction of these two rivers stands Fort Garry, now the principal station in the territory of Rupert's Land occupied by the Hudson's Bay Company.

From this Fort, as a centre, a civilized settlement of Europeans and others has been extended along the banks of these lonely streams, which, since its commencement early in the present century, has gradually increased to a length of sixty miles along the Assiniboine, and fifty miles along the Red River. The houses in no place extend back from the rivers, proximity to which has hitherto formed the sole reliance of the inhabitants for their water supply. For municipal purposes

PREFACE.

. the legal boundary of the colony has been defined as the circum ference of a circle the centre of which is Fort Garry, and the diameter one hundred miles. The history, present condition and recent current events of this municipality form the subject of this book. In dealing with Indian names the writer of a book of adventure in savage countries can seldom hope to convey the proper sound of the words to the intelligence of his reader. Where possible all such stumbling blocks have been systematically avoided in the present work. The legally authorized designation of the municipal district it was, however, necessary frequently to use, and I have adopted the usual orthography of the word Assiniboia, although the original mode of spelling it as Osnaboya conveys the correct sound with much greater exactitude.

The reason of the change I do not know. With this exception I hope no difficulty will rise about the pronunciation. The first five chapters in the volume describe the scenes on the voyage between Liverpool and Fort Garry, including the remark worthy features of Prairie travel. The succeeding three chapters describe the origin, history, and local laws of the colony. Chapter IX consists of a narrative of the history of the Protestant Church in Red River, and Chapter X describes the history and position of the Roman Catholic Church in Rupert's Land. The three following chapters refer to the later history and local peculiarities of annual and daily life in the colony. The remainder of the work contains an account of public events as they have occurred since my arrival in the country in 1861. The nature of the contents, more especially of the latter part of the book, has rendered a systematic adherence to certain fixed regulations, in the choice and treatment of subjects, an imperative necessity.

PREFACE.

. XV The grand fundamental rule I have followed has been to tell the unvarnished truth, without permitting private feeling to interfere in any matter I have felt it my duty to record. With regard to the selection of subjects, while avoiding anything of a private nature, the publication of which would give reasonable pain to any one, I have omitted nothing bearing on the public history of the colony, and have considered myself entitled to record anything which has engaged the attention of the Courts of Law, though selecting such cases only as, from the public interest they have evoked or the disorders of which they have been the occasion in the community, have recommended themselves as sit subjects for a narrative such as mine. Where it has been my unpleasant duty to record actions discreditable to their authors, I have endeavoured to do so without omitting any essential detail on the one hand, and without indulging in any superfluous observations of my own on the other.

I have carefully consulted authorities on every point on which doubt rested on my own mind. To documents connected with the government I have had constant recourse. These were either in my own hands or in those of the Sheriff or Clerk of Court. The chapter on the Protestant Church, so far as it concerns the Church of England, has been inspected by the Bishop of Rupert's Land, who very kindly supplied much of the information contained in it and verified figures and dates by comparison with official documents in his possession. My original draft of this part of the book was compiled from information obtained from Mr. William Robert Smith, whose long connection with Church and State in the colony has been described in Chapter XV. The article on the Roman Catholic Church is a condensed sketch of the contents of the book written on the subject of which it treats by the Bishop of St. Boniface, whom I have to thank

PREFACE.

. for the use of treatises throwing strong light on the state of the country when a settled population first came to reside at Red River in 1 8 1 2, and which have been more especially serviceable in framing part of the Appendix. All the parish clergymen in the settlement have zealously assisted, when requested, in supplying information connected with their several districts. The result of the combined efforts thus indicated is the volume now completed. Its fidelity to the truth has been acknowledged by all private friends to whom I have shown it in whole or in part. My reason for insisting on this is based on the circumstance that gross perversions of truth relating to facts occupying positions of conspicuous importance in the book have been circulated in the Canadian papers, which have accepted with blind confidence the interested assertions of the single newspaper of the Colony, the " Nor' Wester." J. J. HARGRAVE. Fort Garry, Red River, 21 tb March, 1869.

Chapter I. The Ocean Voyage

The Mersey— First evening on board the Hibernian — Queen's Birth-day — Off Moville— The Atlantic — Sea-sickness — Passengers -Daily Routine — Scenes on board — Ice — Straits of Belle Isle — Father Point — The St. Lawrence — Quebec. On the afternoon of Thursday, the twenty-third day of May, eighteen hundred and sixty-one, the Montreal Ocean Steam Ship Company's Mail Steamer " Hibernian," Captain Grange, started from the Mersey on her way to Montreal. It was her first voyage, and as on the preceding week she had broken down, through some defect in her machinery, before leaving the Mersey, the confidence of passengers on the occasion in question in her sea going capabilities lacked confirmation. When the usual scene of bustle consequent on the embarkation of passengers had subsided into one of comparative order, and the travellers, along with their formidable array of baggage, had been conveyed on board a small tender from the great Liverpool landing stage to the steamer, riding on the waters of the Mersey, a tremu lous, rumbling motion underfoot gave evidence that the screw was at work and the ocean journey had been commenced.

The huge pile of boxes and travelling apparatus of all kinds and sizes, without which a company of travelling Englishmen of the present age apparently consider it inexpedient to face the perils of the deep, or the adventures of the road, having been hurriedly identified by its individual proprietors, and lodged with surprising B alacrity in the dark depths of the vessel's hold, the good company destined to spend the ensuing ten or twelve days in each other's society, after visiting their respective state-rooms, sat down to dinner in the grand saloon. After dinner a general movement took place towards the deck, and, although the evening was damp, foggy and cheerless, a fair number of the gentlemen present, ignoring its discomforts, lit their pipes and cigars, and, muffled in the snug depths of over coats aud Scotch plaids, marched resolutely up and down, watching the fast receding coast-line as it lay low and dimly visible through the heavy, murky atmosphere.

The vessel had already cleared the Mersey, and the open sea stretched away before her. The great buoys, which mark the channel, floated lonely and well defined far out into the waters. The dull silence was broken only by the murmuring wave, the hoarse rattle and splash of the steamer's screw, or an occasional remark from some of the promenaders. After tea the sky cleared up, and the stars appeared. Walking forward to the forecastle, the scene from the vessel's bow was, to a landsman, really fine. The waste of waters, dimly seen, heaving black in the starlight, bounded by a horizon of 'night, gave rise to a feeling of isolation, relieved by the refreshing sensation produced by the vessel's rapid rush through the chilly air, and the sharp hissing sound of the prow vigorously cutting the waves far below, fell distinctly on the ear.

A few yards behind, groups of steerage passengers moving about, and scattered parties with dark lanterns bustling to and fro in an unsettled manner, lent a living interest to the scene. On our way back from the forecastle to the/juarter-deck, myself and a fellow-passenger, whose acquaintance I had already made, and who had accompanied me on my tour of observation to the front, were accosted by one of those parties, who demanded from us a pot of liquor, which they appeared to consider due them by each trespasser on their domains. At eleven o'clock all lights on board ship were extinguished, and as those in the state-rooms were so arranged as to be beyond the con trol of the occupants, gentlemen who disliked to " turn in " in the dark retired betimes. The beauty of the night, however, tempted several to delay going below on this occasion till an early hour in the morning.

Friday, the 24th, was her Majesty's birthday, but, although the fact was certainly borne in mind, I do not recollect that we held any celebration. All day the water was smooth, and a fair wind gave promise of continued good weather. Those who wished to write their letters were enabled to do so, while such as had nothing better to do paraded the deck, and watched through their telescopes the passing shores of Kintyre and Ireland on either hand. In the course of the afternoon we arrived off Moville, a small town in the north of Ireland, near the mouth of Loch Foyle, where the mails were received, and the last letters sent ashore. A period of two hours having elapsed, two farewell guns were fired from the vessel, whieh forthwith started on her voyage. Shortly after it was discovered that a party who had come on board to bid some friends farewell, having neglected or misunderstood the signals warning visitors to leave the vessel, was being carried away oceanwards against their inclination.

Fortunately a small fishing boat was within hail, and after a compulsory trip of a few miles, the super numeraries were put on shore. On this day the table had been fully attended at every meal, and some passengers unaccustomed to sea life congratulated themselves on having passed the stormy Irish sea without experience of the horrors of sea sickness, arguing from such premises that their whole voyage would be completed without any trouble from this source. The expectation so fondly indulged was on the ensuing morning rudely disappointed, for head winds began to blow, the sea rose,. and all our passengers, save four or five, of whom I have reason to be thankful that I was one, were hopelessly prostrated. But few made their appearance at breakfast : indeed the completion of the toilet was of itself a matter of considerable difficulty, the unfortu nate experimenter being pitched about from side to side, and end to end of his state-room, not a moment's rest being allowed him to balance himself how he would.

Under these circumstances shaving was, of course, out of the question, and very rough customers some of our friends looked in consequence before we reached the smooth American waters. Patrons of the beard and moustache move ments of course smiled at this inconvenience. Of the few who contrived to get through the morning, several succumbed to the force of circumstances during the forenoon. In vain the captain and officers assured the sufferers if they would only find something to do and go about it in the usual way, unmindful of sea or weather, all would be well. Very few were in a state to comply with the advice, although it was pro bably the best which could have been given, seeing even the slight employment afforded by a persevering walk up and down the rolling deck was found a welcome preventive by one or two who tried it.

The appearance presented by the sick was painful to behold ; ladies and gentlemen lay senseless here and there covered up with plaids or tarpaulins, some securely fixed in sheltering nooks, others fallen from their seats, rolling freely up and down the quarter deck as the varying motions of the ship compelled them, fell no further, not in consequence of their ability to help themselves, but simply because the strong bulwarks prevented their tumbling overboard. When the state of matters was so bad in the better part of the vessel it may be imagined how the steerage passengers fared in their crowded and smaller quarters. A line running across the vessel amidships, barred communication between steerage and quarter-deck passengers, and I remember seeing one child of not much more than infant years, whose parents were supposed to be lying senseless in some remote corner of the vessel, rolling up and down among buckets and cooking utensils until a charitable hand drew it across the line into the select part of the ship.

A young man attached to the engineer's department made his first sea voyage on this occasion, and lay hopelessly sea-sick in the vicinity of the funnel or " smokestack " during the whole voyage, careless alike of the duties of his situation, the chaff of his friends or the contemptuous pity of certain passengers, who, having at length vanquished their own squeamishness, felt bound to pity him. Poor fellow ! the heat and odours of the engine room proved too much for him all the way out. For the first day or two passengers unknown to each other maintained the usual English reserve, but, as sea-sickness wore off and men began to look about them, this ceased, and many social knots might be seen at all hours scattered about the deck enn-asred in conversation and argument. Our passenger list was not large.

Among the more prominent names upon it were those of the colonel going out to take com mand of one of the Canadian Garrisons, a major, an ex-captain of Hussars, and a gentleman of the Long Robe, who was making a tour to Canada with the intention, I believe, of returning to England in a few weeks by the United States. There were also several very clever and agreeable American gentlemen going home to the South, and a somewhat caustic and boastful Canadian doctor of medicine. We breakfasted at 8.30 a.m., took luncheon at noon, dined at 4 p.m., and drank tea at 7 o'clock. Any one who wished it could procure supper by ordering it before 10 o'clock. The commis sariat department was conducted on the nzost approved principles, and the distinguished success achieved in all arrangements connected with this part of the ship's management reflected credit on all concerned.

To discourage smuggling, wines and cigars were provided on board at extremely low prices and of excellent quality. Meals formed, of course, the main events of those days at sea. Attempts were made to organise amusements of various kinds, but although the ship's officials, of whom I beg here to state that all without exception were entitled to high praise for their courtesy and kindness towards passengers, used great efforts to give them an impetus, they failed. The chief scheme of which I have now any recollection was one for the formation of a court of justice, before which all who had been " absent from table without leave " should be summoned and tried. The principal difficulty in realising this bright idea lay in making a choice of culprits in consequence of the tables having been for several days almost totally deserted for reasons already given.

It was also a scheme, the successful prosecution of which required some forensic ability, which we lacked. We had much argument, however, not unac companied sometimes with considerable acrimony. For this there existed some room in the discussion of Union States rights, the Galway Packet subsidy, the Essays and Reviews, and similar subjects. There was also a warm controversy one day with reference to an Irish " cause celebre " which had shortly before that time engaged the attention of a Court of Law, and in which it had become known that the legal gentleman of our party had been engaged in a subordinate capacity. This gentleman had expressed an opinion on some point of the case within hearing of the caustic medical man above alluded to, who retorted warmly that he had conceived himself entitled from his private knowledge of parties concerned to contradict the opinion just pronounced, and rebuked the speaker for the tone of authority in which he had stated it.

In this view of the matter the ex-hussar joined him, and the barrister found himself matched against two. In his argu ments with the soldier, however, he usually, as might be expected, prevailed, to the great discomposure of the latter, who with quizzing glass screwed under his eyebrow, and face twisted in a manner which in absence of long practice ought to have been painful, attempted to stare his stolid adversary out of countenance. The principal displays of this description took place in the evening when the majority of passengers had assembled round the " smokestack " to enjoy their pipes and cigars after tea, although minor conflicts were wont to take place in the saloon after meals. On the latter occasions the ladies, and the more staid among the gentlemen, withdrew to the side seats, and glancing over the volumes held in their hands, watched the progress of the debate from a safe distance, while the more eager partisans remained along with the champions to whom they adhered, and encouraged them by voice and gesture with all the authority they could bring to bear upon the subject treated of.

The "asides" on these occasions were also sometimes good. " I back the doctor — he is right," said one. " No, oh no ! the poor man is groping in the dark ; he cannot see when he makes a point — but the lawyer is a very clever and sharp fellow," said another, adding to the huasar, " Go it, captain, you have him there ; keep him — ha ! ha ! ha !" and altogether a good deal of amusement and hilarity resulted from such en counters during the trip. Every hour the speed of the vessel was ascertained by the log ; and although the general run of the steamers on this line is very perfectly defined, once a day an observation with the sextant was taken to define our exact position. The results of these operations formed the staple article of our news, anxiously waited for and passed from man to man when made known, during our voyage across the Atlantic, in the course of which, though ever on the look out, we saw no vessel save our own.

A small library kept in the steamer's saloon, from which books were issued to all applicants at a stated hour eaeh day, proved also a source of welcome pastime. On the first Sunday of our voyage the amount of sea-sickness on board had reached its maximum ; but on the second all had recovered sufficiently to celebrate Divine Serviee, which was held in the saloon, the doctor of the ship officiating in absence of a regular clergyman. The doctor aequitted himself in this matter as well as could be reasonably desired, supported as he was in the responses by the military gentlemen and some others of advanced years, who, stationed close to the celebrant at the head of the principal table, repeated their portion of the serviee with such vehemence of utterance as almost to drown the voices of the head steward and his staff/ of assistants, who had been posted in a less advantageous position, with a view to acting as the recognized choir.

The only contre temps worth mentioning, however, occurred in singing the concluding hymn, which happened to be the hundreth psalm, and which the doctor had omitted to read. This canticle was accordingly sung by a large portion of the company according to the Presby terian version, and by the remainder according to that found in the Church prayer-boolc The eonsequence was a confusion of words and sounds, which threatened a general break-down, a result averted only by a man from Glasgow, one of the assistant stewards, opportunely and boldly stepping forth into the centre of the saloon, and, favored by a powerful voice, shouting out so as to drown the feeble efforts of his principal and others, leading the followers of his own version to a successful conclusion. On approaching the American coast we came upon fields of floating ice, interspersed with isolated icebergs.

Considerable interest had been wakened in prospect thereof, and betting men had an opportunity of calculating the odds against the various times at which we were likely to meet it. We did so at last, and hailed it as the first harbinger of land. At first we passed only small pieces, scattered at intervals along our course ; but the number of these gradually increased, and at length we found ourselves in presence of such enormous quantities that it was apprehended we would be driven a day's run out of our course. Most fortunately our fears were disappointed, and a ehannel opened up before us, through which we passed, running very slowly for a whole night ; but in the morning we were once more in open water. The high banks of Newfoundland and Labrador stood forth in bold clifls, and away toward the bleak North stretched the inhospitable shores and the ice-encumbered waters of Davis' Straits.

We passed through the Straits of Belle Isle, separating New foundland from Labrador, the scene of many accidents resulting from the difficulty of navigation. The sleepless exertions of the ship's officers and men brought us safely through, and the Gulf of St. Lawrence hourly widened around. The low-lying barren shore of Anticosti ran past on our left, and on the afternoon of Tuesday, 4th June, we reached Father Point, where the pilot, whose duty it became to steer our vessel up the St. Lawrence, came on board with newspapers anxiously expected, more especially by the Americans among us, whose anxiety to receive intelligence about the opening civil war was naturally great. The banks of the St. Lawrence looked well, rising in mountainous irregularity on either hand. Scattered villages and small towns of "wooden houses lay along the coast, much frequented by tourists during the heats of summer.

Several large tributaries flow into the St. Lawrence in the lower part of her course, and very beautiful their great deep valleys looked as we rapidly steam ed by their mouths, passing and overtaking many other vessels, both sailing and steam, going up and down the river. On this, the last evening of our voyage, there took place, of course, a general re-union round the "smokestack " of the now familiar friends of the past fortnight, whose ways for one night more were to be the same, and who next d;iy were to scatter to meet no more. Those of the company 041 whose further course the mists of uncertainty lay thickest were three young gentlemen going home to the Southern States after the completion of a European tour, and who feared, not perhaps without reason, detention or ill-usage in passing through the North.

The other pas sengers were delighted either with the expectation of the novelties they were about to witness, or the near prospect of returning to their homes. We sat together till the last light of a beautiful and mild evening was gone, and retired. On waking up early next morning, we saw close under the port holes the wharf of Point Levi, and at a little distance the railway station, bearing the inscription, " Grand Trunk Railway," in large letters, placarded on one of%the sheds. On deck all was animation ; friends come to welcome new arrivals, porters running about with their burdens, the crew and agents of the ship jostled busily about. Point Levi is a small port, the terminus of the Grand Trunk Railway, lying on the south side of the St. Lawrence, directly opposite Quebec. The latter town is situated on the north shore of the river, and is distinctly seen with its fortifications towering high over it on the Heights of Abraham.

These names are familiar to the reader of history, in connection with the events in which the celebrated General Wolfe lost his life. The St. Lawrence at this point is about two miles in breadth. Our voyage had been an unusually long one, owing to the con trary winds we had encountered, and the day we had passed slowly slipping through the ice-fields. Leaving Liverpool on the afternoon of the 23rd May, and arriving at Quebec on the morning of the 5th June, we had taken more than twelve days to make the trip. This being also the first voyage completed by our steamer, it was believed the circumstance might be calculated to injure her in the public eye. As far as possible to counteract this effect, a paper was drawn up and signed by the cabin passengers containing an address to Captain Grange, in which mention was made of the high satisfaction of all with the treatment they had experienced on board his vessel, as well as their conviction that the unusual length of the passage was due neither to any defect in the vessel nor shortcoming on his part, or that of any of his subordinates, but simply to stress of weather.

After an early breakfast had been dispatched, the business of disembarkation commenced, and each man found full employment for his time in watching and identifying the different items of his luggage, as piece by piece it was extracted from the abysses below, in which it had been stowed during the voyage. There was neces sarily some confusion, as passengers unaccustomed to such scenes bustled about with porters at their heels, dragging heavy trunks and boxes of all shapes and sizes from one part of the vessel to another ; but as the arrangements made by the people in authority were very complete, the amount of inconvenience caused was less than might have been expected. In the course of the forenoon I found all my luggage collected, and my business on board being accomplished, along with the ma jority of my fellow-passengers, I bade adieu to the " Hibernian " and stepped ashore on " the New World."