"Yes," said Mr. McDermott, "I was among those of the first year of Lord
Selkirk's immigrants. We landed from the Old Country, at York Factory,
on Hudson Bay. The first immigrants reached the banks of the Red River
in the year 1812.
"I am a native of Ireland and embarked with Owen Keveny--a bright
Hibernian--a clever writer, and speaker, who, poor fellow, was killed by
the rival Fur Company, and whose murderer, De Reinhard, was tried at
Quebec. Of course the greater number of Lord Selkirk's settlers were
Scotchmen, but I have always lived with them, known them, and find that
they trust me rather more than they at times trust each other. I have
been their merchant, contractor, treaty-maker, business manager,
counsellor, adviser, and confidential friend."
"But," said the writer, "as having come to cast in my lot with the
people of the Red River, I should be glad to hear from you about the
early times, and especially of the earlier people of this region, who
lived their lives, and came and went, before the arrival of Lord
Selkirk's settlers in 1812." Thus the story-telling began, and patriarch
and questioner made out from one source and another the whole story of
the predecessors of the Selkirk Colonists.
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