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The Historiography of the Red River Settlement 1830-1868

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The Historiography of the Red River Settlement 1830-1868 PRAIRIE FORUM, 1981, Vol. 6, No. 1 75 The Historiography of the Red River Settlement 1830-1868 Frits Pannekoek Alberta Culture, Edmonton ABSTRACT mane th Rived n yI . studieRe re Settlementh f so t written since 1856 prime ,th e fac- tors affecting the Settlement have been variously conceived as economic, geographic or political. In contrast to the traditional historical studies exploring these external influences, recent writings have dealt with the internal dynamics of the community as the source of development and change. RESUME Dans les nombreuses etudes r£alisees depuis 1856 sur la colonie de la Riviere Rouge, les fac- teurs primordiaux affectant cette coloni t eteeon percu comme etant d'ordre economique, geo- graphique ou politique. Par opposition avec les etudes historiques traditionnelles explorant ces influences externes, de recentes etudes ont traite de la dynamique interne de la communaute comme etan sourca l t developpemene ed changemente d t e t . greaA t deabees ha l n writte Selkire th n n o k Rived yearRe f ro s and even more on its annexation to "the Empire of the St. Lawrence" in 1869. The years between have received less attention. These were not only critical year intermittenf o s t crises t alsbu ,o year relativf so e sta- bility, prosperit d consolidation—yearyan s which nurture dcoma - munity with a unique identity and sense of purpose. Since Alexander Ross published The Red River Settlement in 1856, historians have trie como dt gripo et s wit charactee hth r of this exotic mixture of Scot- tish peasants, half-breed r tradersfu d an .s Ironically only Alexander Ross succeeded. Other historians have imposed interpretations con- trived from central Canadian, Britis r Americao h n environments; while they have unearthed quantities of detailed information, they have been abl asseso et t onlsi y fro perspective mth Londonf eo , Mon- treal or St. Paul, not Red River itself. They perceived that the dynam- ics that shaped Red River were externally rather than internally gener- ated and lost their most important analytical tool in the process. Only in the last decade have historians again begun to write Red River's his- tory from a uniquely western Canadian viewpoint, thereby offering the synthesispromisw ne a f eo . Alexander Ross mose th , t prolific write holded ran f officero n i s the pre-1870 West, was Clerk to the Pacific Fur Company, the North West Compan d Hudson'yan Companyy Ba s , Sherif f Assiniboiao f , Councillo f Assiniboio r d membe an as Committe it f o r f Publio e c Work Financed san , Commande Volunteee th f o r r Corps, Magistrate of the Middle District, Governor of Gaol, Collector of Customs, ex- officio Presiden UppeCoure e th th f n i o ttr Distric e Elded th an tf o r Presbyterian Churc t Froha g Plain authoree H . d three book t Colsa - Gardensy on Riverd homs firsbookRe s hi o , n Hi etw i .t s were based on careful and detailed journals written during his years in the Pacific 76 PANNEKOEK North-West thirs hi ; Riverd d bookRe e Settlement,Th , appearen di 1856 shortly before his death. The best single piece of writing on Red River histore ,th y clearly illustrates Ross's belief tha motleye tth , quix- Assiniboind otian cd settlemen predesa Re d e forke eha th th f - t o sa t tined purpose. To Ross, Red River was a nucleus of Christian civiliz- ation. Through Selkir settlemene kth beed ha tn ordaine brino dt g this civilization to the heathen. But in this Red River had failed. Its sons t comprehendidno d their divine purpos theid ean r colon smos ywa - thering under the weight of its own ignorance.1 Despit pessimiss ehi m Ros tireless devotios swa hi coms n si hi o n-t munity, his church and especially his mixed-blood children. He at- tempte easo dt e them throug brutae hth l shoc civilizatiof ko n whee nh could, but he suspected that neither they nor the other mixed bloods had the skills to survive. In Ross's opinion, the feuding and incompe- tence of the missionaries rather than the Hudson's Bay Company or the environment were to blame for this sorrow. Convinced that the Company's monopoly was necessary, Ross felt that complete free trade would be ruinous to Rupert's Land. He argued further that the Metis' ill-considere frer fo e y traddcr e could have been contained dha it not been for the oppressive racism of Adam Thorn, the first Recorder f Rupert'o s Land - . Other historian sharo swh e Ross's methodolog generas hi d ylan observation that Red River was moribund also saw Red River from insidee th . Joseph James Hargrave (1841-1894) Rived r Re rfu a s wa , f Jameo d Letitin an sso trade ad an Hargraver ; Alexander Begg (1839-1897) was a journalist, merchant, civil servant and immigration agent d Donalan ; d Gunn (1797-1878 a Smithsonia s wa ) n Institute Corresponding Secretary, fur trader and leading citizen. Their his- tories, Hargrave' d River,Re s Begg' e NorthTh s Westd Gunn'an s Manitoba l failal , however acknowledgo t , e missioeth n that Ross assigned to the settlement.2 In the later nineteenth century when Har- grave, Begg and Gunn were writing, Red River had already been sed- uced by the prosperity that union with Canada offered. Immigration, railroads and wheat soon supplanted the missions and the fur trade as d Rive focue Re th f r o ssociety . Gunn was particularly happy to see the end of the Red River Set- tlement and the dominance of the Hudson's Bay Company. A staunch defender of the Selkirk colonists, he believed that the Company's every conspiraca mov s ewa destroo yt vitalite settlemente yth th f yo . Har- grave's views, if indeed he can be said to have any, were those of a Company employe Rived membea Re d re eliteean th supporte f ro H . - ed the Company, and despised the malignant Canadians and their newspaper, the Nor'Wester. Nevertheless, he too was a pragmatist and he looked longingly toward union and prosperity. RED RIVER HISTORIOGRAPHY 77 The twentieth century marked a re-orientation of Red River his- toriography and witnessed the first efforts at academic analysis. R. G. MacBeth (1854-1934), was a native of Kildonan, a lawyer and a clergy- man; George Bryce (1844-1931) correspondins wa , g secretare th o yt Manitoba Historical, Literar Scientifid yan c Society Presbyteriaa , n clergyman and the founder of Manitoba College. To both writers Red River becam arcadian ea n Utopia: The primitive history of all the colonies that faced the Atlantic— whe e new-founnth d continent first e abidinfelth t g foot e oth f stranger—from Oglethrop Acadiao et , reveals, alas Utopiao !n ,a transplant of elder habitudes, where the rancor of race, caste and rule was found to be too ingrained to yield to even the softening influence of such a sylvan paradise as Virginia. It remained for latea r time,—the earlie presene r halth f o f t century, amid every severity of climate, and under conditions without precedent, and incapabl f repetition,—teo o evolv ecommunita y heare inth f o t the continent, shut away from intercourse with civilized man- kind—that slowly crystallized into a form beyond the ideal of the dreamers—a community paste th ,n i ,know n faintloutee th ro yt world as the Red River Settlement which is but the by-gone name for the one Utopia of Britain.3 AbovSelkire th l eal k colonists were glorifie their dfo r struggle preo st - P serv Wese er Confederationth fo t "thes wa t openini r Wese fo ,th f tgo (that made) Canada complete." functioe Selkir4e Th th f no k settlers sa see Rosy augmentes nb swa MacBethy db . The t onlyno ywerw eno God's instrumen civilizatiof o t t als instrumens nbu o hi preservinr fo t g Wese r Canadath fo t MacBeth'n I . wero st mutuall mintw e no e dth y exclusive. Father A. G. Morice (1859-1938), British Columbian missionary and founde f Leo r Patriote e Tremaudan d e L'Ouest, . d A d an a , French Canadian teacher, real estate agent, lawye d newspapean r r editor alsn groupee ,ca o b d with Bryc MacBethd ean , despite their vic- ious feud over a number of specific issues in Metis history. Where MacBet d Brycan h e emphasize e Selkirdth k influence, Moricd ean Tremaudan dwel Metin o t s nobilitMetie th d s emergeyan unblems da - ished as the Selkirk settlers. II avail d'excellentes qualites. Gai et expansif avec les siens, stricte- ment honnete et sans souci de 1'avenir, hospitalier pour les etrang- er t genereuse x jusqu'a Fimprudence, il passai taventureus e savi e soit a Ta peche, comme guide de caravanes, ou bien a la chasse au bison. Par ailleurs il etait naturellement religieux et respectueux de 1'autorite.5 Morice and Tremaudan argued that Riel thwarted American annex- ation and brought self-government first to Manitoba and then to the Northwest. MacBeth and Bryce had established the place of Selkirk's contribution. Morice and Tremaudan hoped that the Metis contribu- tion would gai nsimilaa r recognition throug establishmene hth a f o t 78 PANNEKOEK dual Northwest both Catholic French-speaking, mixed-bloodd an , white English-speaking Protestant. The reasons for the glorification of the Red River's past by these historians cannot conclusively be established without a great deal more research t Carbu , l Berger' Sensee sTh of Power (Toronto, 1970) is helpful.
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