A voluminous correspondence given in many letters of
Pritchard's to Lady Selkirk and other ladies of high station and to an
English firm of manufacturers exploiting this project is before us.
Sample squares of the cloth made of buffalo wool were distributed and in
certain circles the novelty from the Red River was the "talk of the
town," in London.
On the banks of Red River the scheme took like wild-fire. All Red River
people were to make fortunes. There were to be high wages and work for
everybody. Wages were increased, and men were receiving nearly four
dollars a day. Money became plentiful and provisions became dear and
also scarce. The employees, higher and lower, became intoxicated with
their success, as they now also became really intoxicated and fell into
reckless habits. The work was neglected, and the enterprize collapsed.
This was the earliest boom on Red River banks. Failure was sure to
follow so mad a scheme. The buffalo wool cloth which it cost some twelve
dollars and a half to manufacture, partly in Red River Settlement and
partly in England, was sold for little more than one dollar a yard. The
L2,000 of capital was all swallowed up, L4,500 of debt to the Hudson's
Bay Company was never paid, the scheme became a laughing stock in
England, and failure and misery followed its collapse in the Colony.
Pages:
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170