INTRODUCTION 21 



FoEMEB Treaties. 



Before passing on to my theme, a glance at the treaties 

 made in Manitoha and the organized Territories may be of 

 interest to the unfamiliar reader. 



The first treaty, in what is now a part of Manitoba, was 

 made in pursuance of a purchase of the old District of Assini- 

 boia from the Hudson's Bay Company in 1811 by Lord 

 Selkirk, who in that year sent out the first batch of colonists 

 from the north of Scotland to Red River. The Indian title 

 to the land, however, was not conveyed by the Crees and 

 Saulteaux until 1817, when Peguis and others of their chiefs 

 ceded a portion of their territory for a yearly payment of a 

 quantity of tobacco. The ceded tract extended from the 

 mouth of the Red River southward to Grand Forks, and, 

 westward, along the Assiniboine River to Rat Creek, the 

 depth of the reserve being the distance at which a white horse 

 could be seen on the plains, though this matter is not very 

 clear. The British boundary at that tinie ran south of Red 

 Lake, and would still so run but for the indifference of 

 bygone Commissioners. This purchase became the theatre 

 of Lord Selkirk's far-seeiug scheme of British settlement in 

 the North- West, with whose varying fortimes and romantic 

 history the average reader is familiar. 



The first Canadian treaties were those effected by Mr. 

 Weemys Simpson in 1871, first at Stone Fort, Man., covering 

 the old purchase from Peguis and others, and a large extent 

 of territory in addition, the stipulated terms of payment 

 being afterwards greatly enlarged. These treaties are known' 

 as Nos. 1 and 2, and were followed by the North-West- 

 Angle Treaty, effected by Lieutenant-Governor Morris, in 

 1873, with the Ojibway Saulteaux. In 1874 the Qu'Appelle 

 Treaty, after prolonged discussion and inter-tribal jealousy 

 and disturbance, was concluded by Lieutenant-Governor 

 Morris, the Hon. David Laird, then Minister of the Interior, 

 and Mr. W. J. Christie, of the Hudson's Bay Company. 



