10 ESSAYS ON WHEAT 



colony in 1817, in order to help the settlers who had suf- 

 fered so much in the two previous years. For the pur- 

 pose of giving each farmer access to the main highway — 

 the Red River — and to secure the advantage of compact- 

 ness for the colony as a whole, the farms were all made 

 long and narrow with one end fronting on the water, and 

 were placed side by side in a parallel series. Lord Selkirk 

 thus describes twenty-four ten-chain lots which he granted 

 to the settlers in free soccage : " Each lot has a front of 

 ten chains, or 220 yards, a little more or less, along the 

 said main line, except Lot ISTo. 12 which has only five 

 chains. The division lines between the lots are at right 

 angles to the main line, and are marked off towards the 

 river by lines of stakes. Each lot is to extend to the dis- 

 tance of 90 chains or 1,980 yards back from the river, so 

 as to contain 90 English statute acres, besides which each 

 lot is to have a separate piece of wood-land, containing 10 

 statute acres, to be laid off on the east side of the river, at 

 any place which the Earl of Selkirk or his agent shall con- 

 sider as most suitable for the purpose." ^^ 



V. The Plague of Grasshoppers 



During the next few years succeeding Lord Selkirk's 

 departure, the Settlement was plagued with grasshoppers. 

 Alexander Macdonell, in a letter to Lord Selkirk, stated 

 that millions of these pests had appeared on August 2, 

 1818, and that in places they were two or three inches 

 deep.^^ Ross thus vividly describes the destruction 

 wrought by these insects. " Every step was now a pro- 

 gressive one : agricultural labor advanced, the crop looked 

 healthy and vigorous, 'and promised a rich harvest. In 

 short, hope once more revived, and everything began to 



22 A. Robs, The Red River Settlement, London, 1856, p. 43. 



2S Governor Alexander Macdonell to Lord Selkirk, Selkirk Papera. 



