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Amount of furs and peltries forwarded to the Superintendant of

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I am induced to believe that the business done in the factory at Chicago, for the last two years, does not average two hundred dollars a year, in consequence of the whiskey traders at that place.

The result must be, (unless it is checked in time,) that the Indians will be made a miserable set of beings; and the most of the rising generation will be cut off in the early part of their lives.

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The foregoing, it will be perceived, is a view as far as it goes, of the affirmative side of the question, as to the policy of the Factory system of trade with Indians. I now present the other side.

An intelligent gentleman, who had just visited Chicago, informed me, (July, 1820,) that "there were goods belonging to government, at that place, to the value of $20,000, which cost more at Georgetown, than the traders ask for their goods at the post of delivery; and that the goods are inferior in quality, and selected with less judgment, than those of the traders; that only twenty five dollars worth of furs were sold by the factor at Chicago; that the Government make no profit on their capital; and pay the superintendants, factors, sub-factors, and their clerks, out of other funds.* "The fact," he added, “that the Government sell their goods at

* It will be understood, that I am stating what was communicated to me by respectable gentlemen, as facts, and which fidelity to my government obliges me to state. I hold not myself responsible for the authenticity of these facts, or for the justness of the opinions which I quote; but only for the correctness with which they were stated, and the respectability of the sources whence they have been derived.

cost and carriage, and pay their own agents; and that yet the Indians prefer dealing with the traders, is pretty conclusive evidence that the traders have not been exorbitant in the prices of their goods, nor have mal-treated the Indians, who have had liberty to trade with one or the other, as they pleased." "It is evident," he said, "that by some means, the Indians had not confidence in the Government, as fair and upright in their trade."

Nothing was said or intimated on this subject, by the gentleman above alluded to, which, in the remotest degree, impeached the character or conduct of any of the factors. They appear, as far as I have had acquaintance with, or knowledge of, them, to be upright men, and faithfully and intelligently to have discharged the duties of their office. This want of confidence in the Government on the part of the Indians, I have witnessed with solicitude in many other instances; and it has often been expressed by the Indians in my interviews with them. Whether this prejudice has arisen from foreign influence, exerted to answer particular purposes, or from that of the traders, as is alleged in the preceding communications; or has been occasioned by the manner in which their lands have been obtained from them by the Government; or by the inferiority in quality, and high prices of the goods, which have been offered them in barter, at the Government factories, or delivered to them in payment of their annuities, as others confidently assert, is not for me to decide. It is my opinion, however, from all I could learn, that each of these causes has had more or less influence in creating and fixing this unhappy prejudice in their minds. And in devising the means for eradicating it, which, while it exists, will prove a formidable bar in the way of accomplishing the benevolent object of the government, regard should be had to the removal of all these causes.

G. Sibley, Esq. the Factor at Fort Osage; under date of Oct. 1820, writes to the Superintendant of Indian Trade, as follows: "I can form no idea, at present, what will be the probable result of trade this season. My expectations are not very great. Private trade is more extensive this year, than I have ever known it before, and is under fewer restraints than heretofore."

The following articles, though of a mixed nature, have yet an important bearing on the subject of which we are now treating. I

insert the information in the order in which it was verbally received and penned.

At Green Bay, I was visited by Mr. John Jacobs, an intelligent Indian Trader, who had just arrived from the Forks of Assiniboin and Red rivers, the seat of Lord Selkirk's, or Red River settlement.* Lord Selkirk made this establishment about the year

*The following "Memorandum relative to Lord Selkirk's settlement on the Red River of Lake Winipic," was received from L. Halkett, Esq. a respectable English gentleman, a relation of Lord Selkirk's, who has personal knowledge of the history and facts which he relates.

"The Hudson's Bay Company, in the year 1811, granted to the late Earl of Selkirk a large tract of land, belonging to them in North America, for the purpose of commencing an agricultural settlement. As soon as the proper spot was fixed upon, he sent out a body of Emigrants with their families from Great-Britain, who built houses, and began their establishment. The situation chosen for the settlement, was upon the Red River, (of Lake Winnipic) about fifty miles from its entrance into that Lake, and in lat. 50° N. and long. 97° W. of London.

In the years 1815, and 1816, the settlers were successively driven away by persons in the employment of certain Canadian fur traders, and many of them were killed, their cattle, and implements of husbandry destroyed, and their houses burnt. Those who were driven off, however, successively returned, and received repeated accessions to their numbers. At present, (1822) they amout probably to about six hundred souls.

There is a Catholic, and also a Protestant Clergyman, established in this settlement. There has recently commenced a school for the education of the children, not only of the settlers, but of the servants, and traders employed in the service of the Hudson's Bay Company in the interior. The leading men among these settlers are also doing every thing in their power to persuade the Chippewa Indians to send their children to the school.

The lands upon the Red River are very fertile, being composed of a deep alluvial soil. There are no trees, or stumps to interrupt the agricultural operations. The prairies are very extensive, and covered with fine grass. Along the immediate banks of the rivers, there is plenty of fine timber of various sorts. The rivers, and Lakes abound with fish; and the settlers obtain abundance of Buffalo from the plains. The neighboring Indians (the Chippewas) have always been on the most friendly footing with the colonists. The settlers are not allowed to carry on any trade for furs and peltries with the natives, and are prohibited from giving spirituous liquors to them, under the penalty of forfeiting their allotments of land.

The crops of wheat, barley, potatoes, &c. have been generally very abundant; but the grasshoppers, for the last two seasons, have proved extremely destructive.

1812. It is situated, on the point of land formed by the junction of the Assiniboin river, (here a quarter of a mile wide) from the west, with Red river, (half a mile wide) from the south. These rivers, thus united, run north about fifty-four miles into the south section of Lake Winnipic. The banks of both these rivers, are high, of clay, clothed with white and red oak, white wood, elm, of large size; no pine, or other kinds of wood. The soil is very good on the banks of both these rivers, and easily cultivated. Good crops of wheat, rye, barley, potatoes, garden vegetables, some corn, are raised here, liable however, to be cut off by swarms of grasshoppers. For half a mile back, the banks of the rivers are lined with a fine growth of wood; back of which, as far as the eye can extend, is Prairie, capable of easy and profitable culture. Here the members of this establishment pass their summers; and about November, they take their families in boats and canoes, and ascend Red river to the south, one hundred and eighty miles, to Pembanon, at the mouth of the river of this name. Here they spend the winter in hunting the buffalo, with which the neighboring Prairies abound. This place is defended by Fort Dare. There

The settlers have constructed a small fort, or rather a stockaded set of buildings, in which they keep their fire arms and the public stores of the colony. They have two small pieces of brass cannon, to guard them against any attacks from the distant bands of roaming Indians, who might be tempted to molest them.

The settlers receive their annual supply of British Goods, by the ships of the Hudson's Bay Company, which go annually to Hudson's Bay. The communication is by the Red River, across Lake Winnipic, and down the River that flows from the Lake into the sea at York Fort, where the company have a regular establishment; or by the Hill river, which also flows into the same Bay; but on this latter conveyance, there is a separation of the waters for a short space, that is, it is requisite to go up a small stream whose waters join the Nelson river, and thence is a short portage into Hill river.

The grant to the Earl of Selkirk is chiefly of the lands upon the Red River and its branches, and the Indians (Chippewas and Assinaboins) gave him also a regular grant of a long tract, along the river, I think, up to the Grande Fourche. J. H.

City of Washington, Feb. 1822.

To Rev. Dr. MORSE.

This settlement, should it continue and prosper, would be an excellent stand for an Education Family.

are about fifty families of Canadians, mostly of mixed blood, with two French Catholic priests, planted here, as permanent settlers. The priests appear to be useful, and are about erecting a place of worship. This settlement is about fifteen miles south of the north boundary of the United States." Such is Mr. Jacob's account of this settlement, which differs not materially from that of Mr. Halkett.

Mr. Jacobs passed along the northern shore of Lake Superior to Fort William, in the summer of 1819. He found this shore, with few exceptions, elevated, rocky, in many parts mountainous, and without good harbors. The British N. W. Fur Company have a schooner, the only vessel on this largest of our Lakes, which plies between the Saut of St. Mary's and Fort William. This Fort is at the west end of the Lake, at the mouth of that chain of waters, which forms a part of our northern boundary between Lake Superior and the Lake of the Woods, about lon. 90° W. and lat. 48° N. This Fort, which is without troops, and on the boundary line between the United States and Canada, is a mile from the shore of the Lake, on the north bank of the river Kaminiticuvia, which is here half a mile wide. Here is a grand depot of the N. W. Company, where all the Indian Traders assemble in July and August, and after receiving their goods, disperse in different directions on both sides of the boundary line, to the places of their abode, and their hunting grounds. In June following, they return with their furs and peltry again to receive their goods. This is their annual round. The furs collected here, are shipped in the schooner of the Lake, to the Saut of St. Mary's, whence they are conveyed to Montreal, and England.

About twenty miles above Fort William, on the same side of the river, is Fort Meuron, where canoes are built for the Hudson Bay Company, and the colonial settlers. Here they quit their large boats, and take smaller ones, suited to the waters of the Indian country, which they traverse, passing through Red River to Athabasca. The Hudson Bay Traders do not return to Fort Meuron, as do those whose sphere of trade is more southerly, but pass through Lake Winnipic, and thence to Hudson Bay.

On Lake Winnipic, at the mouth of Pike river, is the Depot of the Hudson Bay Company. The course pursued by their traders

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