Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1903-03-01

of "Rupert's Land" The company
established stores, or trading posts,
in this northern region, at convenient
places. where they did a large bust
ness bartering articles Of European
manufacture with the Indians for
much valued furs of the Great Lone
Land"
On, or about the year 1910, the Hud-
son Bay company granted a large tract
of land lying on both sides of the Red
river. where the present town of Penn
bina now stands, to Thomas Douglas.
better known to the world as Lord
Selkirk, a celebrated nobleman of
Scotland. Lord Seikirk was an enter
prising Scotchman, and seeing the
poor condition of some of his fellow
c~Ountrymen, who were ground down
by the nobility of their native land,
he brought over a large colony of
these poor, but honest. people to set
tie in the Red river valley. Under
the leadership of Miles Mcdonald,
they left Scotland in the spring of
1871, arriving in the autumn of 1912
at the confluence of the Pembina and
the Red rivers. where they built a
fort. They called this place Fort Daer.
and settled down 70 work and traffic
with the savages, who we're as thick
as bees around Pembina at that time.
Pembina fl%ourished in the heyday of
its youth. among the savages of the
then lonely wilderness. All kinds of
people gathered there from almost
every quarter of the globe. Irishmen,
ScOtchmen, Englishmen and French
vvHo,I vr,ilI 4rI ~-.v@-z -.-- r-J:~~
savages and h~alf-breeds. who were no
less savage, and men who defied class
~i1cation, and gave no account of them
selves. whatever. cOngregated there,
and the innocent Indian maidens be-
came the too easy prey of these aban-
doned men. Far away from the con-
fines of civilization and IT'S influences.
they gave themselves over to sensual
pleasure. All law and order was set
In allegiance. and these reckless voy-
ageurS. always on the move from place
to place. left an ever increasing prog
eny of half-breeds to mark the spot
where they once held high revelry.
When the Anglo-Saxons arrived on
the scene, they could not get their
tongues around the French word, an.
epeminan, SO they changed it to suit
their W taste AMI fancy. and called
1t Pembina-prOnOuncing it pem-bin-
aw. with the accent on the first syl-
able. The natives" or half-breeds,
however, are still inclined to accent
the word on the last sylable-drawl-
ing 1t out to a fearful length, and al
lowing their nasal organs to have full
sweep IN the resonance.
The Northwest Fur company en-
deavOred to arouse the slumbering
savages against Selkirk's little col
Ony at Pembina, but without effect.
However, in June, 1915, emissaries of
the company succeeded in surprising
the little garrison. and destroying the
place. Some of TIE citizens of Penn.
bina were exiled to upper Canada.
while others went to live north of
Lake Winnipeg. In 1916 some of the
former settlers, having been induced
to return. came back and settled ono
more at Pembina. New colonists
came out from Scotland, and the little
place DON numbered about two hun
dred Souls, when It was again de
stroyed and the people were taken
prisoners by the over jealous North
west Fur company. Lord Selkirk
hearing Of the disasters that was over
taking his colony, marched at the heat
OF n hundred men from Montreal
He reached Fort William, the head
quarters Of the rival company,
took the place in the autumn of 49,
and IN the month of January, 1917
some OF MS men reached Pembina al
re-established themselves there.
IN the year 1918 the present interna
tional boundary line, between tn,
United States and Dominion of Can
ada. was agreed upon, by the treat,
Of London. This line was fixed OF
? the fcrty-ninth parallel of latitude
Pembila was then found to be on tn,
American side of the line, and TIL,
patriotic Scotch, rather than live un
der the stars and stripes, movet
across the boundary line into Canada
where the present fiourishing city O
Winnipeg now stands. They aban
dOned Pembina to the wild French
men. the savages. the half-breeds ant
the Yankees. and lived ~peaceably oveI
in Canada under their own flag, the
union jack. Some of these Scotch
mems descendants live within the
province of Manitoba at the present
day. They a tell you tales. handed
down from father to son, of a day
when no mans life was safe on the
prairies of the Great Lone Land.
They will tell you stories Of adventure
with wild beasts and the still wilder
men, who infested these regions years
ago. Their narratives of how I
freighted articles IT commerce in the
now obsolete Red river cart, across
hundreds of miles of weary plains
would fill a whole volume-and more
Il Pen.blna has long since lost tract
!, of the voyaguer. tie Indian and the
buffalo Their dav Of high revelry
has. long passed by. They only re
, main as part Of TIE folklore of the
/ natives or half breeds. who exist a
: the present day as momentos of those
, hardy voyaguers-ttc advance agent,
, Of the present civilization which ha!
o transferred this land from a wilder
: ness Of wild and trackless waste int
4 a veritable land flowing with milk an,
. honey.
r Along the banks of streams, In tn
timber regions Of the country, you wi
Il find, at the present time. these hal
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