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From the Saskatchewan Herald, February
10, 1879.
Victoria, N.W.T.
It's Early Settlement and
Future Prospects
The settlement of Victoria is situated on
the north side of the Saskatchewan, seventy-five miles to the east of
Edmonton.
It owes its origin to the missionary
efforts of the late Rev. George McDougall, whose lively interest in the
good of our Indians led him to induce quite a large band to settle and
begin the cultivation of the soil. But the ravages o the small pox and
the removal of the missionary to the fields of labour, had the effect of
dispersing the Indians. The settlement now, for the most part, consists
of English-speaking Half-breeds from Red River, who removed hither
shortly after its foundation, and placed themselves under the spiritual guidance
of Mr. McDougall and the Methodist Church.
The soil is fertile in the highest
degree, so that both grains and vegetables grow most luxuriantly. The
wheat of last season was especially fine. Considering the fertility of
the soil, the abundance of open prairie land interspersed with both
firewood and building timber, the lakes within a short distances
abounding with fish, the large quantities of coal in the immediate
vicinity, and the rich deposits of gold on the sand-bars along the
river, we feel safe in saying that this is one of the most favorable
localities for settlement in the whole North-West, and destined when its
advantages become more generally known, to attract large numbers of
immigrants.
E. McG.
Found After Thirty Years
In the words of a gentleman who got as
far west as Battleford, "this is a big country." And there are
many strange stories connected with the lives and experiences of those
who have carried civilization and these tales will ever reach the
outside world, but will pass into oblivion with their heroes, leaving no
trace of the hopes, the fears, the emotions, that agitated them as the
years rolled by.
An interesting case in point has just occurred
at Victoria. Mr. Edward
McGillivray writes, under date January 16: I saw in the Free Press a
notice of two men advertising for each other after being separated for
ten years. I think it is not to be compared to my case. I had the
pleasure to-day of answering a letter from a long absent brother, who
was given up by me and all his friends as lost. The last time I saw him
was at Norway House in 1880, when he was on his way to cross the
mountains in the Hudson's Bay Company's service. For en years after this
I used to hear from him, but for the next thirty years he was lost to me
- I could get no track of his whereabouts. I have to thank Mr. J.A.
Grahame, Chief Commissioner of the Hudson's Bay Company, for enabling me
to find my brother. His name is Napoleon Bonaparte McGillivray, and he
is now settled at Vancouver, Clark county, Washington Territory.
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