They caught the idea that
being a man of title he was in some way closely connected with their
Great Father the King. Because of his generosity to them in making a
treaty, they called him "The Silver Chief." He was the source of their
treaty money.
It is said that some of the last party to reach his Colony had seen him
at Kildonan in Scotland, where he had visited them, and encouraged them
in their departure for the Colony.
His first duties were to the unfortunate settlers, who had been brought
back from Jack River.
Lord Selkirk gathered the Colonists on the spot where the church and
burial ground of St. John's are still found. "The Parish," said he,
"shall be Kildonan. Here you shall build your church, and that lot," he
said, pointing to the lot across the little stream called Parsonage
Creek, "is for a school." He was thus planning to carry out the devout
imagination of the greatest religious leader of his nation, John Knox:
"A church and a school for every parish."
Perhaps the most interesting episode in Lord Selkirk's visit was his
treaty-making with the Indians. The plan of securing a strip of land on
each side of the river was said to have been decided to be as much as
could be seen by looking under the belly of a horse out upon the
prairie.
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