| Summary: | 552 The North Dakota Indians caused them to drift on to Pembina, where they obtained a plentiful supply of pemmican and skins for clothing from the buffalo hunters. They settled on the south bank of the Pembina River, near its month, where they built several log huts with sod roofs and enclosed their buildings with a stockade. This they named Fort Dair, after one of the names in Lord Selkirk's title. They returned to Fort Douglas early the next spring. Owen Keveny brought some twenty families from Ireland in 1813. The Northwest Company was a rival company, composed of Quebec and Eastern Canada merchants, chartered in 1783, and given authority to trade in the country draining to the Great Lakes. This company seriously objected to Lord Selkirk's grant of land, and sought to destroy his Red River colony. In June, 1814, they made prisoners of the colonists. A second Selkirk colony was established on the site of the present city of Winnipeg, then known as Fort Douglas, in the fall of 1815. This, too, was destroyed by the "Northwesters." and Gov. Semple killed. This is known as the battle of Seven Oaks and occurred on June 19, 1816. Lord Selkirk came to visit his colony* in the summer of 1816, and brought troops to protect his interests. On the night of January 10, 1817, taking advantage of a fierce and raging blizzard, he completely surprised and routed the "Nor'westers" in their FYrt William, in the vicinity of Fort Douglas, and permanently established his authority. A colony of 150 Swiss came to the Red River settlement in 1821, and some of them journeyed on to Pembina. There were straggling settlers belonging- to the Red River colony living at Pembina until 1823, when the International Boundary was surveyed and Pembina was found to be south of the line and in the United States. They then withdrew to Fort Douglas, then known as Fort Garry, and now Winnipeg. Lord Selkirk died on April 8, 1820. Fie is said to have died of a broken heart over the failure of his colonies. He proved himself a real nobleman, however, and a man of philanthropic worth. Selkirk Park, at Pembina, is named in his honor. The Hudson Bay* and Northwest companies were combined in 1821. Through the influence of the first governor, Miles MacDonell, Scanned with a Zeutschel Zeta book scanner at 300 dpi. Edited with Multi-Page TIFF Editor.
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