512 



MANITOBA. 



south of the line of the North Saskatchewan. 

 It was to receive from Canada, through the 

 British Government, 300,000 in cash. By 

 a strange oversight, no mention was made of 

 the colonists in this transfer to Canada, the 

 evident belief being that all residents were 

 officials or servants of the company. This 

 caused dissatisfaction among English, Scotch, 

 and French alike ; but no action would have 

 been taken to prevent the peaceable transfer 

 of the district but for other reasons. 



In 1868 the settlement was visited by the 

 grasshopper scourge, which reduced the colo- 

 nists to the verge of starvation. To relieve 

 the distress, and to create a kindly feeling for 

 Canada, the Canadian Government sent agents 

 into the district with authority to construct a 

 road from Winnipeg to the Lake of the Woods, 

 thus intending to give the colonists employ- 

 ment during the winter. But the agents paid 

 small wages, and charged high prices for the 

 provisions sold to the men. Other causes of 

 trouble were as follow : During 1866 and sub- 

 sequent years the Fenians were active in their 

 hostility to Great Britain, and some of them 

 found their way to this discontented colony 

 and assisted in sowing seeds of corruption. 

 Again, in a settlement so isolated as this one 

 was from Canada, and at the same time con- 

 tiguous to the United States, there were natu- 

 rally more American citizens than Canadians ; 

 and, even among some of the older residents, 

 stronger ties of business and of friendship had 

 been formed with the country at hand than 

 with the distant Canada. These disseminated 

 republican ideas, and endeavored to overthrow 

 British rule. But the most potent cause of 

 final disturbances was the French Roman Cath- 

 olic element. These numbered nearly half of 

 the entire population ; and they were offended 

 because their race and their religion were not 

 specially recognized at first in the negotiations 

 of transfer. When the Governor appointed 

 by the Canadian Government presented him- 

 self in the settlement, in 1869, he was refused 

 admittance by the French party. The " loyal 

 citizens " were then summoned to put down 

 the rebellious party. This the English and 

 Scotch could easily have done ; but while they 

 would not actively oppose the transfer, they 

 refused to assist in establishing the authority 

 of Canada, arguing that as Canada had ac- 

 quired the territory without consulting them, 

 she was in duty bound to establish her author- 

 ity without assistance from them. The "Pro- 

 visional Government " was soon after formed, 

 being composed of French- and English-speak- 

 ing residents, in equal numbers. But the Eng- 

 lish soon withdrew from all active part in the 

 management of affairs. Local agitations ex- 

 cited the " Provisional Council" to such an ex- 

 tent that one man was tried by court-martial 

 and shot for opposing the French party. This 

 was at once the signal for complete disruption 

 between the English and French residents, and 

 the means of stirring the Canadian Govern- 



ment to decided action. Early in 1870 a bri- 

 gade of soldiers was dispatched from Can- 

 ada, under the command of Colonel Garnet 

 Wolseley. Great delay and ill-feeling were 

 caused by the refusal of the United States 

 Government to allow the steamers carrying the 

 provisions to pass through the Sault St. Marie 

 canal. From Thunder Bay, on Lake Superior, 

 to Winnipeg is 500 miles. Of this distance 

 over 400 were traversed in small boats with- 

 out unloading, although for 50 or 60 miles they 

 had to be hauled against strong currents. Of- 

 ten Col. Wolseley himself assisted in the work, 

 wading to the arm-pits. At every portage both 

 the boats and their loads had to be carried over 

 on the backs of the hardy soldiers. It was such 

 work as this that led Sir Garnet Wolseley to say, 

 in his address on returning from the Ashantee 

 war, that " he wished for a battalion of his 

 Canadians the best troops in the world." The 

 brigade reached Winnipeg in the latter part of 

 August, only to find that the President of the 

 Provisional Government and his confreres had 

 made a hasty exit from the town. Col. Wolse- 

 ley was escorted from Lake Winnipeg to Fort 

 Garry (Winnipeg) by the Hon. Donald A. 

 Smith, Governor of the Hudson Bay Company, 

 who formally transferred its territories to Can- 

 ada. It has since transpired that the leaders 

 in the rebellion were furnished, by order of 

 the Canadian Government, with funds from 

 the Council of Assiniboia, to defray their ex- 

 penses to the United States their absence or 

 voluntary banishment being considered the ea- 

 siest way out of the difficulties. 



Physical Geography. The Eed river plain lies 

 between the Laurentian plateau, near the 95th 

 meridian, and the highlands which cross the 

 boundary-line at Pembina mountain, a direct 

 width of 52 miles. The Laurentian plateau is 

 the same that extends north of the St. Law- 

 rence and the great lakes from Labrador to 

 the Lake of the Wo6ds. At this point it turns 

 suddenly northward and continues onward till 

 finally lost on the Arctic Ocean shores. This 

 plateau or, as many geographers term it, this 

 mountain- range forms on the one hand the 

 water-shed between the great St. Lawrence 

 lakes and Hudson and James bays, and on the 

 other between Hudson Bay and the Arctic 

 Ocean. The only depression or break in the 

 whole length is where the Nelson and the 

 Churchill flow through into Hudson Bay. 



The first steppe includes the valley of Red 

 river and the country immediately surrounding 

 Lakes Winnipeg, Manitoba, and Winnipegosis. 

 The average height of this plain is 800 feet 

 above sea-level. It embraces, including 14,000 

 square miles of lakes and drowned lands, about 

 56,000 square miles. The northern portions 

 are covered with timber, while the southern 

 are either entirely bare, or thinly covered with 

 poplar. In short, wherever the prairie fires 

 have swept, there are no trees. The southern 

 portion of this plain, from Minnesota and Da- 

 kota to Lake Winnipeg, about 7,000 square 



