The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1924-03-21
LORD STRATHCONA
A. D. 1871

Born in Highland cottage in 1920,
Lord Strathcona lived nearly cen
fury. His father, Alexander Smith,
kept a little shop at Forres, in Elgin
county, Scotland; his mother, Barbara
Stewart Smith, knew while she reared
the lad that the world would hear of
him. His school, founded by a returned
adventuEer, was one which sent out
settlers for the colonies, soldiers for
the army miners for the gold-fields,
bankers for England, men to every
corner of the world As the lad grew,
he saw the soldiers, the sailors, the
Adventures, who from time TO time
came tired home to Forces, and among
these was his uncle, John Stewart,
famous in the annals of the Canadian
frontier, rich, distinguished, commend
ing all youngsters to do as he had done.
| When Donald Smith was in his eight
eenth year, his uncle procured him
clerkship in the Hudson's Bay COM
| pany.
Canada was In revolt when in 1887
| the youngster reached Montreal, for
Robert Nelson had proclaimed Ca
madam republic and the British troops
were busy driving the republicans in
| TO the United States. So there was
bloodshed, the burning of houses, the
filling of the jails with rebels to be
convicted presently and hanged. Out
of all this noise and confusion, Donald
Smith was sent into the silence of Lab
rador, the unknown wilderness of the
| Northwest Territory, where the first
explorer, Mclean, was searching for
| tribes of Eskimos that might be in
duced to trade with the Hudson's Bay
company. in September (1S3S),"
wrote Mclean, II was gratified by the
arrival Of dispatches from Canada by
young clerk appointed to the district.
! BY him we received the first intelli-
gence of the stirring events which had
taken place in the colonies during the
preceding year" So Smith had taken
year to carry the news of the Canadi-
an revolt to that remote camp of the
explorers.
Henceforward. for many years there
exists no public record of Donald
Smiths career, and he has fatty re-
fused TO tell the story lest he should
appear TO be advertising. His work
consisted of trading with the savages
for skins, of commanding small out
posts, healing the sick, administering
justice, bookkeeping, and Of immense
journeys by canoe in summer, or carl
ole drawn by team of dogs in winter.
The winter is arctic in that Northeast
| Territory, and a very pleasant season
/ between billiards, but the summer is
cursed with a plague of insects, black
flies by day, mosquitoes by night al
most beyond endurance. Like other
men in the service of the company,
Mr.. Smith had the usual adventures
by food and field, the peril of the
snow storms, the wrecking of canoes
| There is but one story extant. His
! eyesight seemed TO be failing, and after
much pain he ventured on journey
of many months to seek the help of a
doctor in Montreal. Sir George Simp-
son, governor of the company, met him
in the outskirts of the city.
well, young man." he said, 'why
I are you not at your post?"
MY eyes, sir; they got so bad, I've
come to see doctor"
And who gave you permission to
leave your post?'
mo one, SIR" 1t would have taken
year to get permission, and his need
was urgent.
Then, sir" answered the governor,
and your service in the Hudson's Bay
company, you'll take my advice, and re-
turn this instant to your post"
Without another word, without
glance toward the city this man turned
on his tracks, and set off TO tramp
thousand miles back to his duty.
The man who has learned TO obey
has learned to command. and wherever
Smith was stationed, the books were
accurate, the trade was profitable. He
was not heard of save in the return OF
profits, while step by step he rose to
higher and higher command, until at
the age OF forty-eight he was appointed
governor of the Hudson's Bay COM
pany, sovereign from the Atlantic to
the Pacific, reigning over a country
nearly as large as Europe To his
predecessors this had been the crown
ing of an ambitious life: TO him, it was
/ only the beginning of his great career.
The Canadian colonies were then be-
ing welded into nation and the first
act of the new Dominion government
was TO buy from the Hudsons Bay
company the whole of its enormous
empire. two thousand miles wide and
nearly five thousand miles long. Never
was there such a sale of land. at such
a price, for the cash payment worked
out at about two shillings per square
mile. Two-thirds of the money went
TO the sleeping partners of the COM
pany in England; observation-disclosures
TO Mr.. Smiths persuasion-was grant
ed TO the working officers in Rupert's
Land. Mr. Smiths own share seems
to have been the little nest egg from
which his fortune was Matched.
When the news of the great land
sale reached the Red river of the north.
the people there broke out in revolt,