Settlers came to Red River filled with hope, but some found only disappointment. In many cases, their names are remembered only in 200-year-old journal entries. Such an one was Helen Kennedy, a young Irish woman who sailed in 1813.

Typhoid fever ravaged the ship and one of its victims was Dr. LaSerre, whom Helen had nursed during his illness. On the shores of Hudson’s Bay, more misfortune awaited. The passengers were landed at Fort Churchill instead of York Factory. They spent a miserable winter at Churchill Creek and reached Red River in 1814.

By spring of 1815, NWC harassment had convinced most settlers to depart for Upper Canada. Helen chose to stay. She had become attached to Michael Boyle, an Irish labourer at Red River. However, the small group of loyalists were soon driven out by NWC agents. They fled to the north of Lake Winnipeg. During the trip, Helen cared for John Warren, a man dying of a severe head wound.

The refugees returned to the settlement, where Helen and Michael were married. Helen’s dreams crashed again in 1816 when the colony was once more destroyed. The Boyles then went to York Factory and boarded a ship for home.

Clear sailing? Not a chance! The ship was unable to traverse Hudson Strait due to ice. It returned to James Bay and disembarked its passengers at Moose Factory. Helen was ill during the winter and almost died. The postmaster at Moose was anxious to be free of his charges and when the ice went out of the river in the spring, most of the passengers were sent south in Company boats. They were told they could make their way home or return to Red River.

The Boyles spent a year at a post northeast of Lake Superior, where Michael worked as a carpenter. They then continued to Sault Ste. Marie. They had expressed an interest in returning to the colony, but there is no indication that they did so. The settlement eventually thrived, but Helen had passed from its history.

As I have read through the literature researching this topic, it has become apparent that, in the early days of the RRS – and well into its history – man’s best friend functioned mainly as the sled dog. A good breeding stock must have been in the area before the settlers arrived. Although there is mention of dogs being used at York Factory, I didn’t see any reference to them being brought down in the boats.

Most of the mention of dogs at work in the Red River Journals indicated that they were busiest at hauling meat from the winter kill sites back to Fort Daer or Fort Douglas.

Archibald McDonald mentions that two dog teams helped relay his goods and some supplies from Churchill Creek to York Factory when 51 members of the 1813 Group made their famous snowshoe trek, but most of the sledges used were pulled by the men in the expedition. In April of 1815, two small groups of settlers intending to desert to Canada in NWCo. canoes left for Point Futre on the Winnipeg River with their belongings packed in dog sleds.

The winter expresses, carrying mail packets from fort to fort or post to post, were taken by dog team. Hargrave gives an excellent description of the specially designed sleds:

The starting of the Northern Packet from Red River is one of the great annual events in the colony. It occurs generally about the 10th December, when the ice having been thoroughly formed and the snow fallen, winter travelling is easy and uninterrupted. The packet arrangements are such that every post in the Northern Department is communicated with through its agency. The means of transit are sledges and snowshoes. The sledges are drawn by magnificent dogs, of which there are three or four to each vehicle, whose neatly fitting harness, though gaudy in appearance, is simple in design and perfectly adapted to its purposes, while the little bells attached thereto, bright looking and clearly ringing, cheer the flagging spirits of men and animals through the long run of the winter’s day.

In the course of the long distances traversed by the winter runners, every pound weight laid on the sledges tells. So jealously was all excess in the amount of mail matter transmitted through the packets guarded against in the old times, before the institution of Red River mails, that the carriage of newspapers was disallowed, with the exception of an annual file of the ” Montreal Gazette,” forwarded to head quarters for general perusal. Newspapers were then rare and highly prized, but now the bulk of the contents of the Company’s inward bound packets consists of newspapers addressed to private individuals.

A pair of stoutly constructed wooden boxes, measuring about three feet in length by eighteen inches deep and fourteen wide, when well packed, contain an astonishing amount of printed and written matter. These receptacles are secured to the dog sledges, and the party sets forth on its journey, the dogs running at a gentle jog trot from about daylight till dusk, and the drivers accompanying them on foot.

Detail of a painting depicting a dog sled at Lower Fort Garry in 1869 - Private Collection

Although he is writing about a period some time later (1850s/1860s) than the days of the early settlement, it is unlikely that the teams and sleds had changed much.

(references: pages  16967, 18180, 18184, 18185, 18186, 18305, 18308, 18320 of the Selkirk Papers, M186, Manitoba Archives; James John Hargrave. Red River. Montreal: 1871 pages 100-1, 155-6)

“Sunday in the morning visited all the Tents & warned the whole party to be clean in the course of the day & have clean Shirts & handkerchf. on, as the Gentlemen from the Factory and their wives would call upon us to-day, who accordingly came about Eleven O’Clock….” – Journal of Archibald McDonald 1814

Fifty-one of the 1813 group of Selkirk Settlers, who made the fourteen day journey from their winter camp at Churchill Creek to York Factory overland on snowshoe, are awaiting spring break-up in order to continue their journey to Red River by boat.

(references: pages 18192, 18180 and 18190 respectively of the Selkirk Papers, M187, Manitoba Archives)