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Page 6
Although the road past Elphinstone was once the gateway into Riding Mountain, the location of the railway nine miles to the south caused Elphinstone to be outside the principal settlement pattern and its fate was cast. [The HBC real estate promotion at Riding Mountain Post was to become a noted HBC failure, and consequently, neither was there clientele to support the store which now catered to settlers rather than trappers. (27) Only 8 lots were sold for a total of $160. (28) Eventually, the HBC sold the entire townsite for $80 to avoid paying annual taxes of $275.]
The Chief Factor of the HBC's Swan River Valley District, Robert Campbell retired and in 1887, took out an application under the Dominion Lands Act for the SE¼ of s. 34 Twp 18 Range 20 -- the site of the Hudson's Bay Company's Riding Mountain House. (29) The land had apparently been unoccupied since the HBC moved down the River in 1878 -- in fact, Hudson's Bay Company never ever owned the land. As such, it easily could have been included in the Reserve when it was laid off by Wagner, especially since it contained the homes of many Okanase people, and the grave of Okanase himself.
From that focal point, Campbell acquired considerable land in the area on which to establish the Merchiston Ranch. (30) There, he, his son Glen Campbell and his son's friend, Walter Scott, wintered livestock on Lake Audy Plain and on the prairies around Kennis' Creek.
Kennis' Creek was a popular stopping place in the early days when the trail across the mountain was starting to be used by the white settlers, and people made their homes were made there. Among the people who lived there were Kennis and Atkinson. Okanase's sister married an Atkinson who lived there. Kennis married a relative of Okanase. (31)
In 1887-88, there was little business at the Elphinstone HBC Post. The white settlers were trading along the railway, and the Okanase people had done little hunting, both because of very unfavourable weather, and disturbance to their hunting grounds.
The 1890-91 Hudson Bay report on Elphinstone stated business had decreased, "caused by an unfavorable Winter, scarcity of Furs, and sickness among the Indians."
In May, 1895, declining business prompted the HBC to close down the Elphinstone Post. It was bought by school teacher Lauder for $1941.71. (32) Lauder built a log house near the store in 1896. Lauder had come to Elphinstone in 1873. [In 1903, John's son Leo joined with Sam Bedson to open a hardware and lumber business in the old HBC store. In 1905, they moved downtown, becoming "the Bedson and Lauder Lumber and Hardware Store", the third building in town, at what became Mike Jarema's General Store. The new railway brought in carloads of lumber from B.C. and Ontario to supply the lumber yard. Section foreman John Buchanan moved into the Flett Mission House (which was dismantled in 1941). When he moved out, Mr. and Mrs. John C. Johnstone moved in, opening up the first boarding house in Elphinstone. By then, however, the original settlements at Old Strathclair, Old Marney, the Forks, as well as Riding Mountain had moved to Strathclair Station on the railroad.
Footnotes
27 Selwood, H. John, "The Hudson's Bay Company at Riding Mountain House", in Prairie and Northern Perspectives: Geographical Essays, edited by Selwood and John C. Lehr, Department of Geography, University of Winnipeg, Winnipeg, 1983.
A sketch of the District around the post in 1880 showing HBC lands is in HBCA D.20/15/1 fo. 5. (back)
28 See J.S. Dennis Jr. Survey Plan, 1880, HBC Archives for town of
Elphinstone. (back)
29 Campbell started the Merchiston Ranch by using the buildings vacated by the HBC on the SE¼ of s.34, Twp 18, Range 21. He later built a fine house on the hill east of the Post. He actually filed a homesteading application on 27 August 1887 (Neepawa Land Titles Office Document 55619. (For further research, Department of Interior files for the application.) Campbell conveyed the land to his son, Glenlyon Archibald Campbell, who later purchased additional lands granted under the Dominion Lands Act to William John Piton (Patent 55617) April 1878. (back)
30 The Keeseekoowenin Reserve bordered the south boundary of the Ranch. The Chief and Robert Campbell became good friends and worked together with the Chief's first cousin, the Rev. George Flett. After the Nor'west Rebellion of 1885, Robert Campbell's son, Glen, returned after serving with Bolton's Scouts in the Rebellion. Glen brought with him Walter Scott, age 21, who had become his friend during their stint with the Scouts. Glen and Walter took over work on the Ranch. Glen married Harriet Burns, daughter of Chief Keeseekoowenin (Moses Burns), and Walter married Victoria Burns, Harriet's younger sister.
Glen and Walter worked the Ranch for the next ten years, raising some fine horses and cattle. They had a good happy life on the Ranch, with lots of work: breaking the sod into fields, growing grain for feed and wheat for the flour mills in Rapid City and Elphinstone. There were other ranches starting up in the Valley -- the Middleton Ranch and the McLeods at Lake Audy, and there were several families at Kennis' Creek where there was excellent feed for horses and cattle, good meadows for putting up hay.
Jim Audy, Atkinsons, Johnstone, spent some time around Kennis' Creek. Several of the Cardinal family were there too. The Campbells wintered horses and cattle there. Henry and Johnny Johnston worked for Robert Campbell here, and later Henry Johnston for Glen on his ranch in the Big Grass Country near Gilbert Plains.
Ed Thomas, Jack Johnstone, Alex Sutherland worked on the Merchiston Ranch when it was being developed. Ed Thomas and Alex Sutherland were good carpenters and good log building men. In those days, logs were used in the building of houses, barns, stables, warehouses, corrals and fencing. Ed Thomas and Alex Sutherland built a lot of the buildings around the settlement. The old house still stands on the Ed Thomas home at the south end of Thomas Lake. Ed Thomas married the daughter of Blacksmith Dave Murray and raised a big family. Alex Sutherland married the eldest daughter of George Flett Burns.
Ed Thomas, Alex Sutherland and Jack Johnstone
did a lot of building for Robert Campbell, as mentioned in Robert Campbell's
diary. These men are mentioned a lot in the development of the ranch. Other
people who had a part in Riding Mountain House, Okanase Reserve and the
Campbell Ranch were some French Halfbreeds from Fort Ellice area -- Joe
Boyer, William Swain (Bonhomme), Alexander Swain, and Antoine Houle. (back)
31 Walter
Scott. For further genealogical research via Atkinson. (back)
32 HBCA Chipman, 21 Dec 1895. (back)
