Bay Company and the North-west Company lived on amicable 

 terms ; the North-westers having their Fort Gibraltar on the 

 north bank of the Assiniboine, where that stream joins the 

 Red River. The colonists had their Fort Douglas, on the 

 point just north of the small coulee, which enters the Red 

 River south of George Street, within the present City of 

 Winnipeg. (The building kjiown as " The Bungalow " is on 

 the site.) Soon, however, disputes arose between the chief 

 officers of the two companies as to the rights for trading for 

 furs and provisions, which terminated in a number of attacks 

 on each others posts, under the guise of legal actions. Gover- 

 nor Miles Macdonnell claimed authority as governor of th^ 

 colony and by direction of Lord Selkirk ; and the Wintering 

 Partner of the North-west Company, who was in charge at 

 Fort Gibraltar, was a justice of the peace for the Indian terri- 

 tory, holding his authority under the commission of the 

 Governor-General of Canada. 



In November, 1815, Governor Robert Semple assumed 

 control of Lord Selkirk's territory. On the 19th of June, 

 1816, after a winter passed amidst alarming rumors as to 

 what either ])arty would do in the spring, a mounted band of 

 some sixty North-westers, when proceeding from the western 

 plains with provisions, left the bank of the Assiniboine about 

 Silver Heights, and struck across the prairie just outside the 

 present city limits, heading for the banks of the Red River in 

 Kildonan. They were conveying provisions for the crews of 

 boats arriving from the inland districts and Fort William, 

 who received supplies at Lake Winnipeg, for use both coming 

 in and going out. As the party travelled towards Kildonan, 

 the lookout men stationed in the watch tower at Fort Douglas 

 noticed the cavalcade, and hastily issued an alarm to the 

 inhabitants of the settlement, who, owing to the alarming 

 rumors current, had for the most part congregated within the 

 fort. Governor Semple, calling on his servants and a few 

 settlers, for some reason never satisfactorily explained, ad- 

 vanced with twenty-seven others, fully armed, across Point 

 Douglas towards what is now known as Inkster's Creek, with 



