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.