The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-09-29

N-NANNCNSe'AAs
ers have long recognized. "Pembina'' is a
part of the folklore of a class of men
which has passed away, and the Vicissi-
tude through which the word has passed
is indicative Of successive eras in the
history of the far Northwest 1t is as
ISOLATED with the voyageurs, who play
ed so important part in the early eX-
plorations. Voyageur originally signified
simply traveller, whether by land or by
water. But for ages the only travelling
In the Northwest was by means of ca
noes. The Voyageurs were French trad
ers who tratficked with the Indians, buy
ing furs for their employers the great
fur companies.
We are apt to consider North Dakota
and Northern Minnesota as very far To
the north, and Manitoba as almost an I'LL
TINA thule. Yet it must be remembered
that Lake Winnipeg, in Manitoba, was
long the very center of the canoe routes
OF the continent. Canoe journeys might
be made from this lake, with but few
portages or carrying places to Hud-
sons bay, to the Atlantic by way of the
gult of st. Lawrence, to the gulf of
Mexico, to the Pacific and to the Arctic
ocean by way of Mackenzie's river.
All through the eighteenth century,
and In part of the preceding, the
French voyageurs threaded the rivers
OF the Northwest, making friends of the
Indians and leaving as mementoes of
their sOjourns an ever-increasing pro-
geny of half-breeds, or 'bois-brules'
(burnt TIMBER as they facetiously call
ed them.
The voyageurs of the Red River of the
North, and the lakes and rivers connect
ed with it, were never so well supplied
with provisions as to be wholly independ-
ent of the native food products. Game
was abundant and varied, but wild fruits
and vegetables were not so common
There was one wild fruit, however that
was occasionally met with, and that was
highly valued. This was so frequently
found to the south of Lake Winnipeg
that its name became identified with the
Red river region, and was bestowed spe-
clhcally upon. one of its streams The
fruit was a bright red berry, cherryIike
in appearance, and having a somewhat
bitter and acid taste. 1t grew upon a
shrub. which seldom exceeded eight feet
in height, and which had broad lobeo
leaves of dark green. Scientists have
labeled it the Viburnum oxycoccus. 1t
belongs to the same genus as the
SNOWFALL of our gardens. This last is
the result of cultivation, its entire cyme
Being converted into a snowy profusion
of sterile flowers.
The Indians called the shrub the nepen
minan, or summer berry" Its fruit was
an excellent substitute for cranberries,
and was cooked with the wild turkeys
and Venison of the voyageurs on all oc-
casiOns when it could be procured. The
Frenchmen and the bois- brues convert
ed the Indian name into anepeminan
which they accented upon the last syl-
liable, giving it appropriate French
nasal sound. Anepeminan marks the age
of FrencN supremacy which was not
destined to endure forever. The British
appeared upon the scene, and mouthed
the word in broad Scotch, making of it
hiT,of
upon the first syllable, and pronounced as
though it We're spelled penn e-naw.
The first European settlement effected
within the limits of the present state of
South Dakota will supply to the future
novelist and dramatist plots and scenes
OTthy of a feverish ina gination There
viii be both comedy and tragedy, and
rapid changes of, scene.
Charles II. of England, who had q
habit of giving away things that did
not belong to him, created the Hudsons
Bay company in 1910, giving to it the
shores of the great bay. This great cor
poration subsequently, extended its claim
to the shores of all streams flowing into
the bay. and Of all their tributaries. 1t
would not have blushed to claim the en-
tire continent. In 1911 Lord Selkirk Cthc
fifth earl of that title) obtained from this
octopus a grant of a portion of COS
slniboia.' He desired to ''plant' impe-
cunious Highlanders there-not, however
in the slangy sense of the undertaken, but
as the sons of Caledonia have been plant
ed since in Australia and New Zealand.
At this time the Northwestern Fur Com
pany of Montreal was waging a fierce
competition with the old company for
the fur trade, and the agents of both
We're debauching the Indians in man.
ner disgraceful to civilization. Upon the
scene of fierce contention came the
Scotch immigrants in 1872 under Miles
h,,ilh
left bank of the Red river, where it re-
ceIveS the stream called the Pembina
The village of Pembina grew up about
the fort like a mushroom Two hundred
settlers started the new town Such
population was to be found nowhere else
on earth. There We're pious covenanters
and unregenerate Scotch Adventures
French Catholics and free-thinkers In
dams bois-brules of all shades men who
det1ed classification and gave no account
OF themselves, tough and hardy English
men, sons of Erin with their warm at
tachments and deep resentments and oc-
casiOnal half-breeds who bore no re-
semblance to French ancestors Adher-
eEtS OF the rival companies kept the In
dams full of liquor. Spies and emissar-
les were on every hand. Scotch thrift in
a land where thrift was so much needed
IN the short summer season, was appalled,
at the sight of endless waste. idIeness
ana debauchery. The Scotch "Sawbuth"
was profaned by the widest orgies All
the commandments were broken. day and
might. The natives were alternately
Wheedled and threatened by both of the
rival factions of traders, and were left
IN a state of helpless intoxication The
Indian women and girls and the motley
throng Of children and babes were the
jest of abandoned men
Nor was sensuality the only motive
which actuated the INSCRIPTIONS traders
in their relations with the Indian fe-
males. The rearing of half-breed children
turned the hearts of the mothers to the
Fathers of their offspring. and Injured to
the interests of the whites Cupidity
and lust were allied for the possession
of every Indian wife or maiden who was
capable of bearing children Con-
spiracy, deception, terrorizing, insult,
violence and murder were the order of
the day. Life at Pembina was never
lacking in excitement. No one was safe.
and no one knew whom to trust Nor
could anyone foretell what day might
bring forth.
All this was. way back in the time