The Selkirk Treaty, Land Description
The Treaties with The Indians of Manitoba, The North-West Territories,
and Kee-Wa-Tin, in The Dominion of Canada.
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 Assiniboine 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 a northerly 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
degrees does intersect the river called Red or Assiniboine River,
it was agreed, that in case the waters of Red River, shall on more
accurate survey be found, not to extend so far north as latitude
52 degrees, 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 is "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 traveled 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:
"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
Riviere 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. 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 large portion of the ceded territory is now comprehended in the
Territory of Dakota, United States.
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