Montana oil and mining journal., 1940-11-02

into camp in the outskirts of the city
wife had the appearance of a full
blooded Indian woman, and she could
not read or write, but it was touching
to observe the courtly tenderness with
which he presented her, and held and
caressed the little one.
Another member of the party was
none other than Gabriel Dumont,
later the commander of RielS army
in the Saskatchewan rebellion. who
so won the admiration OF the Canadi-
an soldiers by his skill and daring in
that insurrection that If they did not
connive at his escape, they were at
least glad when he was spared the
fate that befell his leader. He was a
diffident, taciturn man, and in the
many hours that I passed in his COM
pany he scarcely spoke a dozen times;
but his short, stout frame and strongly
marked features conveyed the impress
sion of a resolute character.
Wanted to Be Citizen
ION the occasion of this visit, Riel
informed me that his object was to
become a citizen of the United States.
/ gave him all the assistance in my
power, and am not apt to forget the
almost childish delight with which he
received his certificate of naturaliza-
tion, to which Mr.. Beattie, the clerk
of the court, had attached a seal on
glittering gilt paper, and had not
omitted to charge him $40 for the en-
belishment.
'In The History of the Northwest
Rebellion of 1885, by DR.. Mulvany, is
found the following:
when the northwest half-breeds
asked him (RieD to lead them as he
had led them in Manitoba, he at first
refused, saying that he was a citizen
of the United States and wished to
have no more Canadian troubles, but
their entreaties prevailed on him to
consent
while Riel may have seen fit to
be coy, I cannot accept the above
statement in its entirety. During his
visit to Helena he called repeatedly
at my office and my house In the
closed the fact that he had then
projected a movement for the indie
pendence of the half-breeds and the
of a republic in the
provinces of Assinaboia and Saskatch-
evan. He told me that he had drafted
a constitution and full plans for the
of the scheme. / said: 'Riel.
you had better be careful of those
papers; they are likely to get you in
JIOuDlC Will JilC DllJ4SAl dubllO4AbACo
He replied: 'Ah have buried them
deep in the ground.
There is reason to suspect that,
so far from hesitating to accept lead
ership of the half-breeds because he
was an American citizen, he acquired
his citizenship for that very purpose.
he limited at schemes to
involve the United States In his revo
lutionary enterprise. 1t was conceiv-
ably with a wild notion that 1t might
further this end that he asked me
to appoint him deputy United States
a request that felt obliged
to deny.
Dreamed Half Breed Republic
1T was of not a little interest to
listen as he unfolded his dream Of
half-breed republic. In his belief the
half-breedS were a distinct racial
people, deserving of political equality
and adequate to the responsibilities Of
government. Some explanation Of
his confidence might be found in the
fact that the Metis, with whom he
was associated in his earlier
years, were the agricultural settlers
of Manitoba, who were presumably
a more stable and intelligent class
than the wandering half-breeds who
drifted hither and thither over the
Rocky mountain region during the
frontier days.
His project was to gather the half
breeds from the United States and