CHAPTER I.
THE SELKIRK TREATY.
IN the year 1811, the Earl of Selkirk purchased from the
Governor and Company of Adventurers trading into Hudson's Bay, in consideration of
ten shillings and certain agreements and understandings contained in the Indenture,
a large
tract of territory within Rupert's Land described in the Indenture as follows:
" All that tract of land or territory being within and forming
part of the aforesaid lands and territories of the said Governor
and Company, bounded by an imaginary line running as follows, that is to say, beginning
on the western shore of the Lake
Winnipic, otherwise Winnipeg, at a point in fifty-two degrees
and thirty north latitude and thence running due west to the
Lake Winnipegoos, otherwise called Little Winnipeg, then in a
southerly direction through the said Lake so as to strike its
western shore in latitude fifty-two degrees, then due west to the
place where the parallel of fifty-two degrees north latitude
intersects the western branch of Red River, otherwise called
Asseniboine River, then due south from that point of intersection to the height of
land which separates the waters running
into Hudson's Bay from those of the Missouri and Mississippi,
then in an easterly direction along the said height of land to the
source of the River Winnipic, or Winnipeg (meaning by such
last named river the principal branch of the waters which unite
in Lake Sagenagos), thence along the main stream of these waters
and the middle of the several lakes through which they flow
to the mouth of the Winnipic River and thence in an northerly
14 The Treaties of Canada with the Indians.
direction through the middle of Lake Winnipic to the place of
beginning." The deed is accompanied by a map intended to
show the tract of country, and there is an endorsement on the ,
map that as the surveys were not sufficient to ascertain with precision whether, latitude
52° does intersect the river called Red
or Assiniboine River, it was agreed, that in case the waters of
of Red River, shall on more accurate survey be found, not to
extend so far north as latitude 52°, then the west boundary of
the tract of land intended to be within the grant, should be a
line drawn due north and south, through the post upon the Red
River, marked on the plan as " Carlton House."
The Company reserved the right to call upon the Earl to set
off one-tenth, however, of the tract for the use of the servants of
the Company—and the Earl covenanted, within ten years, to
settle within the tract one thousand families, each of them consisting of one married
couple at the least, on pain of revocation
of the grant, if on receipt of notice to that effect from the Company he did not,
within three years after the receipt of the
notice, complete the settlement of the one thousand families.
In pursuance of his obligations, Lord Selkirk, in the autumn
of the year 1811, sent out a number of families from the County
of Sutherland, in Scotland, who spent the winter at Fort
Churchill on the western shore of Hudson's Bay. On the
arrival of spring, they travelled thence to the confluence of
the Assiniboine and Red Rivers, and thus was commenced the
interesting settlement of the Red River, which is now included
in the Province of Manitoba. It is not my purpose to notice
here the eventful history of the Selkirk colonists, and I will
only note the fact that in 1836, the Company bought back the
whole tract, from the heirs of Lord Selkirk, for the sum of
£84,000, the rights of colonists who had purchased land
between 1811 and 1836, being respected.
In the year 1817 the Earl of Selkirk, visited his wide domain,
and entered into negotiations with the Indian tribes, for the
extinction of their title, to a tract of land described as follows:
The Selkirk Treaty. 15
* "All that tract of land adjacent to Red River and Assiniboine River, beginning at
the mouth of Red River and extending along the same as far as Great Forks at the mouth
of Red
Lake River and along Assiniboine River as far as the Musk
Rat River, otherwise called Rivière des Champignons, and extending to the distance
of six miles from Fort Douglas on every
side, and likewise from Fort Doer, and also from the Great
Forks and in other posts extending in breadth to the distance
of two English statute miles back from the banks of the river."
The Indians then inhabiting the region were described as
being of the Chippawa or Saulteaux and Killistine or Cree
nations. They were made to comprehend, the depth of the land
they were surrendering, by being told, that it was the greatest
distance, at which a horse on the level prairie could be seen, or
daylight seen under his belly between his legs. The consideration for the surrender,
was, the payment of one hundred pounds
of good merchantable tobacco, to each nation annually.
The treaty was signed by Lord Selkirk and by five Indian
chiefs, who affixed thereto drawings of the animals after which
they were named, by way of signature, a fac simile of which
will be found elsewhere The surrender was to the Sovereign.
Lord, King George the Third. The treaty was accompanied
by a map which shows that the tract surrendered extended to
Grand Forks in what is now United States territory. A copy
of the treaty will be found in the Appendix and will prove of
interest.
