This change led to the appointment as Governor of Donald
McKenzie. This old trader had taken part in the formation of the Astor
Fur Company, and was in charge of one of the famous parties, which in
1811 crossed the continent, as described by Washington Irving. Ross Cox
says of this beleaguered party: "Their concave cheeks, protuberant
bones, and tattered garments indicated the dreadful extent of their
privations." The old trader thus case-hardened faced bravely for eight
years the worries of the Colony.
CHAPTER XV.
AND THE FLOOD CAME.
With fire and flood some of the greatest catastrophies of the world have
been closely connected. The tradition of the Noachian deluge has been
found among almost all peoples. Horace speaks of the mild little Tiber
becoming so unruly that the fishes swam among the tops of the trees upon
its banks. Tidal waves devastated the shores of England and France on
several occasions. It is most natural that prairie rivers should exceed
their banks and spread over wide areas of the land. Old Trader Nolin,
one of the first on the prairies, states that a worse flood than that
seen by the Selkirk Settlers took place fifty years before, and there
were two other floods between these two.
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