The settlers occupied their
homes in the best of spirits, and began to sow their wheat, but they
were still greatly checked by the absence of the commonest implements of
farm culture. Had Lord Selkirk known the true state of things on Red
River, he would never have continued to send new bands of Colonists so
imperfectly fitted for dealing with the cultivation of the soil.
The founder's mind had been fired, both by the opposition of Sir
Alexander Mackenzie and by the successful arrival of his two bands of
Colonists at the Red River, to make greater efforts than ever.
This he did by sending out a third party in all nearly a hundred strong,
under the leadership of a very capable man--Archibald Macdonald. This
band of settlers in 1813 were bound on the ship Prince of Wales for York
Factory. A very serious attack of ship fever filled the whole ship's
crew with alarm. Several well-known Colonists died. The Captain,
alarmed, refused to go on to his destination, but ran the ship into Fort
Churchill and there disembarked them. Further deaths took place at this
point. In the spring there was no resource but to trudge over the rocky
ledges and forbidding desolation of more than a hundred miles between
the Fort Churchill and York Factory.
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