Читать книгу The History of Minnesota and Tales of the Frontier - Charles E. Flandrau - Страница 7

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Lord Selkirk, the checking of whose operations was among the reasons given for the erection of Fort Snelling, was a Scotch earl who was very wealthy and enthusiastic on the subject of founding colonies in the Northwestern British possessions. He was a kind hearted but visionary man, and had no practical knowledge whatever on the subject of colonization in uncivilized countries. About the beginning of the nineteenth century he wrote several pamphlets, urging the importance of colonizing British emigrants on British soil to prevent them settling in the United States. In 1811 he obtained a grant of land from the Hudson Bay Company in the region of Lake Winnipeg, the Red River of the North and the Assinaboine, in what is now Manitoba.

Previous to this time the inhabitants of this region, besides the Indians, were Canadians, who had intermingled with the savages, learning all their vices and none of their good traits. They were called "Gens Libre," free people, and were very proud of the title. Mr. Neill, in his history of Minnesota, in describing them, says they were fond of