Juliet signal. [volume] (Juliet [i.e. Joliet], Ill.) 1844-1???, 1847-09-28
A Caravan from the Selkirk Ssttlem,p,

r..
On the 10th of July there arrived at the
village of st. Paul, near st. Peters and
the falls of ST. Anthony, on the Upper
Mississippi, the most noYel and ori9inal
caravan that has ever appeared since No.
abs ark was evacuated. Our readers are
aware that there is an isolated settlement
ofseveral thousand inhabitants in a bioh
degree of British North America kno1n
as the 'Selkirk Settlement Cuf efffrom
the commerce of the world, they rely en-.
firely on their own resources. their farms.
their Hocks, and fishing for support-be
ang community, SO to speak ofRobinson
C:usoes. Their crops having failed the
two last seasons, they have been forced to
break out OF the wilds again and seek for
food in the market of the great brawling
world. Formerly their chief point of con
tact with commerce was at Toronto: but
now, owing to the increase of supplies on
the Upper Mississippi, and the abundance
of game and forage on that route: they
trade at st. Paul, the head of Steamboat
navigation on the Mississippi river. In
TO st. Paul they came, ON the 10Th of july.
caravan of one hundred and twenty
carts, in single file, YEARLY moving along
by moonlight. Long after the head oftbe
caravan had reached the village. the
heightened train of followers could be
seen moving over the unduIating prairie,
parity visible and partly hidden, between
TIE biiIowy ridges ofthe extended plain,
crawling onward like some huge serpent
the extreme rear still invisible and partly
hidden in the dimness of the distance.-
ahey had travelled southwark over the
prairie 600 miles,, having been nineteen
days on their way, through a region a.
bounding in Buffalo ncamping at night
~ tent around which the carts were ar.
Tanged in a circle to fence in the cattle.
They were hindered considerably in eros.
sing some of the streams, and in many
places found scarcity of fuel, and ofevep
me dry excrement of the buffalo which
they use for fuel. They often suffered for
want OF water-as many of the smaller
streams were so strongly impregnated
with the excrement of the buffalo as to be
nnwholesome. They brought along n
large elk, bear and some other animals
which they had captured ON their way
ana many packages of furs. They had a
very choice lotof Buffalo Robes, we'll
dressed, which they sold at St. Paul by
the lot at $3.50 each.
They had also with them an abundance
OF specie and waited few DAYS at St,
Paul for the arrival of steamboat load
OF flour and groceries. The caravan was
made up of men and boys of all ages kin.
reds tongues and comp lexions, iIcluding
large number of Gumbos. Their dres.
ses were as various as could be imagined
being uniform in only one single article
they all wore moccasins.
Inc carts were made wholly ofwood
and hides, the hubs being covered with
pandages OF green hide, drawn on while
sott' and there shrinking until thew be-.
came nearly as tight as bands of IRON
Some OF these old two wheeled vehicles
were drawn by little horses, and others
by o1en' each animal, horse or OK being
geared in harness ofgreen hide. Thew
are now on their way back to the frozen
wlIds Ofthe north, many ofthem probably
never again to commune with the great
world'-Wisconsin Grant County, Her.