3-028-409 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Red River Expedition in North America: Ojibways, 1870. Engraving of a sketch by William Hind, '...a brother of Professor Hind. [It] represents a group of these Indians, whose hunting-grounds extend from the dividing ridge between Lake Superior and Lake Winnipeg to the Red River of the North. They are essentially wood Indians, and the head-quarters of the most powerful and warlike band is on Rainy River, the only available route at present for communication between Lake Superior and the settlement of Manitobah...they are very independent and warlike...They have always regarded the intrusion of "Whites" with great jealousy, and forbad...expeditions...from plucking even a flower or picking up a stone without their express permission. They prevented Professor Hind's party from crossing direct from the Lake of the Woods to Red River...In a few days they could gather a thousand fighting men...at the outset of any contemplated expedition to "Manitobah" the utmost caution will doubtless be used by the authorities to avoid the dreadful calamity of an Indian War...The gradual extinction of Indian title in the vast region now possessed by the Canadian Government is of great importance to the peaceful settlement of the country'. From "Illustrated London News", 1870.