The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1860-10-05
VOL. XII.-NO. 26.
From the Red River Settlement.

From the Red River Settlement.
We have before US the Nor Wester, of
the 2Sth of August and 14th Of September.
AS usual, the paper is filled with interesting
local news.
An enterprising Yankee named Charles
Eaton, had arrived at Selkirk, from the
Rocky Mountains with thirty horses, which
he had purchased from the Blackfeet. The
Nor -Wester says be had spent the winter in
Red River, and left in the spring on the
enterprise which has rewarded him so we'll.
He got these horses for small quantity of
goods and trinkets, and intends returning in
a few weeks to make another haul before
winter.
Of the success of one of the hunting par>
ties, the Nor Westsr says:
The return of the White Horse Plain
Brigade enables US also to give the interest
ing statistics of their expedition. They
started on the 10th of June, intending to
60 to the Grand Coteau, but turned off at
the "Dog's House," and found buffalo
enough near Turtle Mountain and Big Head
river to save them the trouble of longer
journey. The party numbered 154 fami-
lies, including 2lO men able to carry arms
(of whom l6O were buffalo "runners') and
700 'non-combatants," women and children.
They took with them 642 horses, so oxen,
6 cows, 522 dogs, 533 carts, wagon, 232
guns, 10 reyolvers, 81 900 bullets, and 27O
quarts of gunpowder. They made twelve
"runs," in which they killed 3,270 buffalo
l,l5l bulls, 1898 cows, and 226 calves.
The carcasses produced 1864 bags of penn.
micaD, 2,429 bales of dried meat, 1890
pounds of marrow fat, and 5000 pounds of
tallow. We are very sorry to hear of q
double misfortune which befell one of the
families, making at one stroke poor woman
a widow, mother, and childless Alexan.
der Swain had twice discharged his gun,
each time bringing down buffalo, and was
loading it again when an accident occurred
which deprived him of life. He had put in
his powder too soon after the last discharge,
and with his mouth over the muzzle was
endeavoring to blow it home, when it sud-
denly lgnited and severely burnt his mouth
and throat. He fell from his horse in the
midst of the chase, and was carried into
camp. The injuries be had received pre-.
vented him from taking any food, and he
died two days afterwards from starvation.
The shock was so great to the widow that
she prematurely gave birth to child, which
was unfortunately smothered by her acci-
dentally falling upon it; and the same grave
on the prairie which received the fathersen
closed also the new y-bOrn infant.
We do not know that we can furnish our
farming friends with more interesting matt
ter than the following chapter on Red River
farming -
ln our present notice, we must principally
confne ourselves to the Lower Settlement,
Concerning which we have received some in-
formation. We hope to be furnished with
facts from other districts before long. At
the Stone Fort, MIR. Lilly, the officer in
charge, has, we understand, sown the largest
quantity of wheat put down in any one farm
this year. He has about $50 acres under
this crop, from which be expects yield of
1900 bushels. He commenced cutting it
down with two reapers more than fort
night since, and had large number of
hands employed taking it in, Though much
of his time is necessarily devoted to Lis
other duties, Mr.. Lilly has conducted farm
ing with unparalleled success, for one occu-
pying his position. The officers or employ
ees of the Hudson Bay Company have here
tofore been astonishingly unlucky whenever
they tried their hands at this work. Their
bad fortune was surprising, but invarable.
The spell has been broken by Mr.. Lilly.
His practice is to sow an acre with two
bushels and hall, and from this be usually
receives a return sixteen-fold. He causes
his land to be we'll manured, in which re-
spect be is at issue with the oldest inhabi-
tants. They never seek to strenthen the soil
in this fashion. 1t is, they say, usually so
rich that wheat sown in it {" beds" the first
year; the second, it yields better; the third
return is splendid; then it becomes poor,
and is allowed to recover by lying under fall
low for a year or two. The land at the
Stone Fort is equally good with the rest,
and the Company's officer is positive that it
needs to be manured. His neighbors-al-
belt large farmers and very intelligent men
would consider it a weakness to follow
his example. Whichever party is right,
there can be no question that the land in
this section of country is wonderfully fertile.
we counted "a grains on single head OF
wheat taken from one of Mr.. Donald Gums
heids. The berry was large and plump, and
the stalk five feet long. A single grain of
wheat In this field has not inlrequently pro
duced thirty and thirty-three heads, many
of them as large and good as the above. As
another evidence of the richness of the soil,
it may be mentioned that the wheat received
at the Lower Fort has, during the last two
years; weighed on an average sixty-two lbs.
to the bushel, and for some years previously
it had been sixty-four. In producing this
result. the wheat-good, bad and Indifferent