Canadian West. The great antagonist of the Hudson's
Bay Company, Dr. John Schultz, a Western Canadian, came to the
Settlement in the same year as The Nor'-Wester--a medical man, he became
also a merchant, a land-owner, a politician, and in this last sphere
held many offices. At times he succeeded in controlling The Nor'-Wester,
at other times the Hudson's Bay Company were able to direct The
Nor'-Wester policy; sometimes Mr. James Ross, son of Sheriff Alexander
Ross, was in control, but it may be said that in general its policy was
hostile to that of the Company. About this time of beginnings came along
a number of Americans, or Canadians, who had been in the United States,
and these congregated in the little village, which began to form at what
is now the junction of Main Street and Portage Avenue, in Winnipeg.
Certain Canadians in St. Paul, such as Messrs. N.W. Kittson, and J.J.
Hill, began at this time to take an interest in the trade of Red River
Settlement, and to speak of communication between the Settlement and the
outside world. The demand for transport led a company to bring in a
steamer, the Anson Northrup, afterwards called "The Pioneer," to break
the Red River solitude with her scream. The steamer International was
built to run on the river in 1862, and thus the Hudson's Bay Company was
unwittingly joining with The Nor'-Wester in opening up the country to
the world, and sounding the death-knell of the Company's hopes of
maintaining supremacy in Rupert's land.
[Illustration: THE ANSON NORTHRUP The machinery was brought from the
Mississippi to the Red River. The name was changed to Pioneer in 1860.
"International", larger boat of similar pattern was built by the
Hudson's Bay Company in 1861. These steamers were run on the Red River.]
Until this time of arrivals there had been no village of Winnipeg. The
first building back from the McDermott, Ross and Logan buildings on the
bank of Red River, was on the corner of Main and Portage Avenue. Here
gathered those, who may be spoken of as free traders, being rivals of
the Hudson's Bay Company Store at Fort Garry. Another village began a
few years after at Point Douglas on Main Street, near the Canadian
Pacific Railway Station of to-day, while at St. John's, on Main Street,
was another nucleus. These were in existence when the old order passed
away in 1870, but they are all absorbed into the City of Winnipeg of
to-day. The Hudson's Bay Company, while long attached t
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