3i 



age as the grasshopppers had done. After this plague no more 

 seed grain remained in the country so it was necessary to send 

 for some to Dog Plain on the Mississippi. To complete their 

 misfortunes it arrived too late to be sown in 1823 so they were 

 fated to be without a harvest this year again. 



All this time the settlers were obliged to live from the 

 products of the chase and by fishing. Most of them passed 

 the winter at Pembina because provisions were more easily 

 procured there than at St. Boniface. However, in spite of the 

 privations which she had to support through these years of 

 want, Madame Lajimoniere did not again follow her husband 

 to the plains but remained in her house on the banks of the 

 Red River near the mouth of the Seine. 



In 1844 the Sisters of Charity arrived from Montreal in 

 Red River and Madame Lajimoniere regarded the visit of 

 these good women as the greatest honour. 



The harvests in 1824 and 1825 were very abundant and 

 raised the spirits of the Colony, but Providence had still an- 

 other trial in store for it before it was permitted to be de- 

 veloped. The winter of 1825-26 was more severe than any 

 that had been experienced in the country. The snow com- 

 menced to fall heavily by the 15th of October and it continued 

 steadily and extremely cold throughout the whole season. 



In the spring the large amount of snow which had fallen 

 and remained on the ground produced a tremendous quantity 

 of water. The river rose thirty feet above the ordinary level. 

 Two or three leagues of country disappeared on either side of 

 the river under this new deluge. All the houses of the in- 

 habitants were carried away by the breaking up of the ice and 

 by the violence of the water, which gradually rose from the 

 end of April till about the 20th of May only returning to its 

 ordinary course by the 10th of June. 



All the settlers had to take refuge on a hill about six 

 miles west of Winnipeg. M. Lajimoniere and his family being 

 on the east side of the river could only reach a rising piece 

 of land where they camped having taken with them a small 

 amount of provisions. There, as on an island in the middle 

 of an ocean, without help from any side they had to wait for 

 the end of the flood. More than once Madame Lajimoniere 

 believed that nothing could save them and that they would 

 all perish of hunger. 



On the 20th of May the water ceased to rise and two or 

 three davs afterwards commenced to abate. At last by the 

 10th of June the river once more returned to its natural bed 

 but it was too late to think of planting a crop. So the hope 

 of a harvest was renounced until the next year. 



