The Minnesota pioneer. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn. Territory) 1849-1855, 1850-05-30

such as clothing, are much cheaper pro-
lportionately at Red River and other
posts, than heavy goods, such as Iron or
grindstones.
i The supplies for the Company's posts
west of the Rocky Mountains, and on
! the Columbia river aud its branches, are
furnished by ships, annually sent around
Cape Horn, and the peltries from that
source find ready market in Canton; !;
and the ship that left London loaded with
guns and Indian goods, comes hack to
England with a cargo of teas and silks
/ from China.
The company have sawmills on Co.
lumbia river, and the same snip, often
in the meantime, takes load of lumber
to the Sandwich Islands.
In the year ISll-i2, an agricultural
settlement was formed on the banks OF
the Red River south of Lake Winni-
peg, by the late Earl Of Selkirk, who
was Governor Of the Hudson's Bay
Company, and received from the Com
pany a grant Of land, containing III, 600
square miles, or a $50 900 acres, (ac-
lulring this immense territory The cost
:oi little parchment and wax
i After an eventful history this settle
snent was increased, owing TO the same
place having been selected as q location
aor retired servants OF the Hudson's Bay
COMPANY Its distance from Montreal
ay the inland route to Lake Huron and
The kamanistoqua, Grand Portage and
Lake Superior, is about $500 miles, and
it Is about 600 miles north Of St Paul, the
present head of navigation on the Mis-
sissippi river. The settlement extends
ior 90 miles on both sides Of Red River.
The land is sold on liberal terms, with Il
frontage along the river and uniform
depth of a mile.
I: The whole population Of this settle
anent in March, 1913, was 5l43, Of which
mumber 279S were Roman Catholics,
:and 23l5 were Protestants. The heads
:of families numbered SO, Of whom 57i
were Indians, or half-brecd natives Of
she Territory; lo2 Canadians, 81 Ork-
,neymen, 40 Scotchmen, % Engiishmen,
il lrishmer., and 2 Swiss. Wales, Italy,
u orway, Denmark, Germany, Poland,
and the United States, have each con-
itributed one to the list. There was also
sone EsGuimaux Indian. There were
swo Forts about 20 miles apart, and
swo churches on Red River of wood, and
fwo of stone There were $50 DIV cling
.:houses, 1919 barns or stables, Is wind
mills, and watermiil, S2l horses, 7i9
.smares, lO7 bulls, :,2O7 COWS, 1860 calves,
I:I11h njus and 3I69 sheen
|; The people reyel in abundance, but
it is all for home consumption. The,
have no outlet--no market for then
produce.
There are II tribes of Indians on the
east side of the Rocky Mountains, be.
sides the vast hordes under variou:
names who range the immense region.
!lying between those heights and the Pa
:ciic Ocean, who trade at the diilcren
: Iposts Of the Hudson's Bay Company
! PeItries arc bartcred bv these Indian.
:with the Company's agents, for woolens
'gums, lead, .rinkets, knives, and spirits
The peltries consist Of ditieren
kinds OF bear, (probably the white bcai
is one Of them, as it is we'll known, il
proportion as you go north, the furs o
;ali animals become white, about half
dozen kinds of fox, (of which, IN the
) :same litter, are found the silver and re,
:-the silver being most valuable, bea
yer, martin, otter, wolf, white bufalocs
Icarcagon, the wolverine or glutton, whicl
= is in much request as pendant cariole
!robe in Canada-moosc, red and rem
|deer, hares, fisher, lynx. muskrat, 20
, (Which only the larger specimens arr
, ;taken,) besides the sea otter and sea
from the Pacific, which Is there kiIle,
: Oh the rocks upon the sea shore witt
clubs the buffalo also, of which : o
10, 900 skins are annually exported from
Hudson's Bay, and re-shipped to suppl,
the demand IN the North American colo
: MES. The skin OF the musk bull, takel
near the Polar sea, is not an Article 0
trade.
During the spring and fall, great nun
bers Of wild fowl frequent this country
among which arc eagles, three kinds Q
wild swan, the largest Of which hav
black, and the others rcd bills. Thei
: skins are exported on account of tn
DOWN. IeeSe, ICONS, Dir0S OF The nero
, tribe, innumerabie wild ducks OF differ
ent kinds, white partridges, white owls
;plovers, white guils, and peljcans ais
y abound The wild rice, on which tn
L water fowls feed, is not found much mort
: of latitude so deg, but nature provide
: other food for their subsistence in highe
= attitudes. The waters of Prince Ru
!. pert's Land abound in fish, among whic
$ are the salmon, sturgeon, trout of vari
Gus kinds, poipon, inconna, pickerel
n i bass, sc. The Bishop of Montreal, wh
visited the country in 1914, and tror
VI. whose journal many of these facts ar
\ derived, states that at Ft. William Gran
n. Portage, on Lake Superior, at the mout
II of KamaDistoqua river, there is an eA
Intensive fishery for white fish /; Z" 800 {
y!Ithese fish were taken in one mornn
t. before breakfast at this fishery Th
y! white fish leave the deep waters of tn
i lake in the fall to spawn in the shalIo'
't water.