by Elizabeth Campbell

Ross concludes his list with the following entry:

by Elizabeth Campbell

The third of Selkirk’s supposed motives in Ross’ list leaves me scratching my head a bit.

by Elizabeth Campbell

The second in Ross’ list of reasons Selkirk had for establishing the Red River Settlement fits hand in glove with the first. Considered together, these motives set an image in the mind’s eye of a greedy British aristocrat, sitting in his counting house, rubbing his hands in glee as the gold pours in. And a lot of people still see the Fifth Earl of Selkirk in that light. But I will get to that later…

by Elizabeth Campbell

Back in December, I said I would write a series on the motivation various people have thought was behind Lord Selkirk’s establishing the Red River Settlement. Sorry to have kept you waiting so long!

I’ve been doing a lot of reading about the settlement lately. I have been for several years, but before this year, most of it was primary material – first-hand accounts written by eyewitnesses to the events. Little of that discussed Selkirk’s motives in establishing the RRS as such.

Miles Macdonell and Mr. Hillier made two camps near York Factory over the winter of 1811/12, where the men who were to be the work crew for the Red River Settlement lived until moving south after break-up. Even from Macdonell’s journal, which is often somewhat brief and lacking detail in its daily record of events, it is clear that the winter was full of malcontent.

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.

There is no question that dogs were essential to life at Red River. But their working days were mostly winter days. These were hardy dogs, fit and perhaps high-strung – in terms of energy, at least. So, the major problems began when the snow and ice disappeared and the main method of dissipating all that energy melted away with the arrival of spring.

The working dogs of Red River pulled another type of vehicle in the winter, too – the carriole. The carriole was a miniature version of the vehicle of the same name used with horses, and as such was more decorative in appearance than the usual toboggan-like dog sledge.

Colin Robertson is at Fort Douglas with those settlers that remained loyal and evacuated to Jack River in June and with the new arrivals from Kildonan. They have worked hard to rebuild the RRS and to save whatever portion of the crops escaped trampling by NWCo. servants in June. It will be another difficult winter for the settlers.