It was as we have seen a struggle of an extraordinarily
bitter type. To us it seems that no other American Colony ever had such
a continuous distressing and terrific struggle for existence as had
these Scottish Settlers, but we say it was worth while, judging by the
loss to Canada of the northern portions of the tier of states of
Minnesota, North Dakota, Montana and Washington, which a line from Fond
du Lac (Duluth) to the mouth of the Columbia would have given to us, and
which should have been ours. We say that had it not been for the Selkirk
Colonists we would have stood to lose our Canadian West. It was a
settlement nearly a hundred years ago of families of men and women, and
children that gave us the firm claim to what is now the three great
provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta. Was it not worth while?
Was it not worth ten, yes, worth a hundred times more suffering and
discouragement than even the first settlers of Red River endured to
preserve our British connection which the Hudson's Bay Company, loyal as
it was, with its Union Jack floating on every fort, could not have
preserved to us any more than it did in Oregon and Washington. It was
the Red River Settlement that held it for us.
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