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Page 5
In 1878, the HBC post was moved six miles down the Little Saskatchewan River to a site not far from Flett's mission, slightly to the west of the location of today's village of Elphinstone -- and outside the Mekis Reserve. The HBC plan was to convert the fur post serving Indians to a commercial centre serving the new settlers. By 1880, a grist mill had been completed. It is possible that the move was not entirely made for commercial reasons, however -- the HBC might have discovered it did not own the land on which Riding Mountain House was situated, while it did own section 8. At least it is certain that its choice of s.8 was not because it offered the best site for a mill and a post: it moved there because it owned the land.
On 12 September, 1879, Fort Ellice Factor Archibald McDonald wrote that the half-section on which buildings and other improvements were made "was marked out as HBC land in first Dominion Surveys. The Post was removed last year lower down the River on Section 8 HBC. The old place I understand has since been disposed of which had been in [our] possession for upwards of twenty years, buildings and fencing was still remaining."
By letter from Montreal dated 8 November 1879, James A. Grahame, the HBC Chief Commissioner, wrote McDonald that a flouring mill was to be set up at the new site.
With the arrival of white settlers, the HBC turned more to meeting their commercial needs and less to the fur-trade. In January, 1880, Charles Brydges, the HBC Land Commissioner, formally decided to establish the town of Elphinstone where the Riding Mountain Post had been relocated at 8-18-21-1, named after Lord Elphinstone, who came to the area as a guest of Robert Campbell, former Chief Factor, HBC, in 1879. (24) The English gentleman had bought 2,000 acres on the Little Saskatchewan River below the trading post where the post office was established. (25)
In the fall of 1880, clerk David Armit succeeded James Audy at the Riding Mountain Post (now relocated in section 8). [Armit became Junior Chief Trader in 1883. He was assisted in 1884 by John A. McDonald, Apprentice Clerk. Armit and his wife Mary were witnesses to the Fort Ellice Adhesion to Treaty Nº4. (26)]
On 20 December 1880, the grist mill at Elphinstone started running. Unfortunately, most of the wheat in the area was frozen and not much flour could be made. During 1880, a store was also constructed to cater to the settlers it expected to populate the new townsite which had been surveyed by Duncan Sinclair -- who had done the 1875 survey of the township -- and duly registered at the Land Titles Office. The old store was moved to a position nearer the mill, there to be used as a boarding house for the millhands. A cook provided their meals, and as well served customers waiting for the grain to be ground. A granary was nearby, as well as a stable for the HBC horses. By the spring of 1881, the mill, the new store, and a hostelry were opened for business. A small attachment to the mill was used for sawing lumber. New machinery was installed in March, 1882, to upgrade the mill to commercial capacity.
Footnotes
24 Lord Elphinstone, "Visit to Western Canada 1879". The Edmonton Courant, 13 January 1880. It may be that Charles Geekie, not Robert Campbell, was Elphinstone's host upon arrival. Elphinstone describes his journey to Lake Audy:
"Our trail, after fording the river, passed through an unusually rich tract of ground reserved by the government for the Indians, whose wigwams were scattered about without any regard for regularity, but although poor people, they were suffering from measles and were almost starving. I was told that it was not necessary to close a door, and that even food would not be taken by them." (back)
25 Place Names of Manitoba (Ottawa, 1933), p. 31. (back)
26 HBCA B.239/k/4/fo.85, fo. 95, fo. 105 and D.38/1 fo.50. (back)
