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Primary Source Notes
The Selkirk Papers in the Dominion Archives consist
of seventy-nine portfolios containing transcripts of correspondence,
legal evidence, and other proceedings relating to the Earl of
Selkirk's colonizing enterprises.
Lord Selkirk's principal works are: Observations on the Present
State of the Highlands in Scotland (published in 1805 and describing
the journey to Prince Edward Island, etc., in 1803); On the
Necessity of a more Efficient System of National Defense (1808); A
Sketch of the British Fur Trade in North America (1816).
The Letter Book of Miles Macdonell, July 27, 1811, to February 25,
1812 (Dominion Archives Report, 1886) - contains ten letters
addressed by Macdonell to Selkirk from Yarmouth, Stornoway, York
Factory, and Nelson Encampment; besides others to various
individuals.
In consequence of the disasters which befell the Red River Colony in
1815 and 1816, there appeared in Great Britain A Statement
respecting the Earl of Selkirk's Settlement upon the Red River in
North America, etc. (republished by John Murray, London, 1817). In
answer to this the North- West Company put forth A Narrative of
Occurrences in the Indian Countries, etc. (1817), to which were
appended twenty-nine documents to substantiate claims made. These
works, although written in a partisan spirit, contain information
which cannot be had from any other source.
The following are also useful: John M'Leod's Diary, 1815; Letter
of Cuthbert Grant to J. D. Cameron, March 13, 1816; North-West Company's Account
Book for Fort Gibraltar, 1815; Governor Macdonell's Proclamation, January 1814;
Charter of the Hudson's Bay Company; Colonel W. B. Coltman's Report, 1817; A.
Amos, Report of the Trials in the Courts of Canada relative to the Destruction
of the Earl of Selkirk's Settlement on the Red River, with Observations (1820);
Trials of the Earl of Selkirk against the North-West Company in 1818 (Montreal,
1819); Notices of the Claims of the Hudson's Bay Company, and the Conduct of its
Adversaries (Montreal, 1817); Chief Justice Powell's Report re North-West
Disputes (Dominion Archives Report, 1897); a pamphlet against Lord Selkirk by
John Strachan, D.D. (1816), and the reply thereto by Archibald Macdonald (1816);
the communications of 'Mercator' appearing in the Montreal Herald (1816);
Blue-book on Red River Settlement (Imperial House of Commons, 1819); Original
Letters regarding the Selkirk Settlement (Manitoba Historical and Scientific
Society, 1889); Lord Selkirk's Treaty with the Western Indians {vide Appendix to
The Treaties of Canada by Alexander Morris, 1880).
Secondary Material
Since the present story closes with 1821, it is necessary to classify as
secondary material a work that is to be regarded as a primary source on the
later history of the colony, The Red River Settlement (1856) by Alexander Ross.
Ross was a pioneer emigrant to the colony of Astoria on the Pacific Coast. In
1817 he entered the service of the North- West Company; after the union of the
fur companies in 1821 he remained in the employ of the Hudson's Bay Company. In
1825 he went as a settler to the Red River Colony, where he soon became an
influential officer. His narrative is vigorous in style as well as fair-minded
in its criticisms, and is an indispensable authority on the beginnings of
Manitoba.
The most prolific writer upon the career of Lord Selkirk and the history of the
Red River Colony is Professor George Bryce, of Winnipeg, who has been a resident
at 'the Forks' of the Red and Assiniboine rivers since 1871. He has thus been in
a position to gather and preserve the traditions handed down by redskin,
trapper, and colonist. Consult his Romantic Settlement of Lord Selkirk's
Colonists (1909); also Manitoba: Infancy, Progress and Present Condition (1872);
The Remarkable History of the Hudson's Bay Company (1900); Mackenzie, Selkirk
and Simpson (1906).
This site includes some historical materials that
may imply negative stereotypes reflecting the culture or language of
a particular period or place. These items are presented as part of
the historical record and should not be interpreted to mean that the
WebMasters in any way endorse the stereotypes implied.
The Red River Colony, A Chronicle of the
Beginnings of Manitoba, By Louis Aubrey Wood, Toronto, Glasgow,
Brook & Company 1915
Chronicles of Canada |
