23 



in the same manner. At Fort Qu'Appelle a third attempt was 

 made to seize a fort, but it miscarried. War was now openly 

 declared and the Hudson's Bay Company seemed determined 

 to drive its rival out of the country with an armed hand. 



The North- West Company received all their supplies of 

 provisions and merchants for trading by canoes from Montreal 

 every spring. These goods were transported to the mouth of 

 the Assiniboine at Fort Gibraltar, which was a great distrib- 

 uting point, and from there the forts along the Assiniboine 

 were supplied. The principal aim of the Hudson's Bay Com- 

 pany in seizing Fort Gibraltar was to break the means of 

 communication between the canoes coming from Montreal and 

 the employees who came from Fort Qu'Appelle to meet them. 



After their forts were taken the North- West Company's 

 people came to the conclusion that they would require to de- 

 scend in a body in the spring if they desired to force the 

 passage and meet the voyageurs from Fort William with any 

 good results. It was not their intention to fight if they could 

 gain a passage without doing so. They were influenced by 

 self-preservation one of the first principles of humanity, if they 

 did not succeed in transporting the food and provisions to their 

 people in the West many would in all probability die of star- 

 vation. 



The employees of Fort Douglas who expected a troop of 

 armed Metis from Qu'Appelle were on guard day and night. 

 The news having been brought to Governor Semple by two 

 Indians that the North- West Company were assembling all 

 their men to retake the forts. 



Madame Lajimoniere, who was at Fort Douglas with her 

 children, was not a little disturbed as she knew that she would 

 be in great danger if the Fort was attacked by the North- 

 West Company. 



About four o'clock in the afternoon of the 19th of June 

 a sentinel at Fort Douglas brought word to Governor Semple 

 that a number of people on horseback were passing in view 

 of the Fort but at a safe distance. This band of horsemen 

 did not appear to be animated by hostile intentions as they 

 had already passed Fort Douglas and were directing their 

 course down the river. Governor Semple suspected that they 

 were Company's people and that their aim was to meet the 

 canoes lower down the river in order to carry off the supplies 

 and as this was what he wished to prevent, orders were im- 

 mediately given to the men who were armed to start in pur- 



