The settlement at Pembina, near Pembina Mountain, lies in Minnesota, a few miles only from the international line.  The settlers supposed they were on British soil until the establishment of the boundary showed them their mistake.  Every year the settlement sends a train to St. Paul, nearly seven hundred miles distant, to exchange its buffalo-robes, furs, etc., for various articles of necessity that the Pembina region does not produce.  This annual train is made up of “Red River carts”—­vehicles that would be regarded with curiosity in New York or Washington.

A Red River cart is about the size of a two-wheeled dray, and is built entirely of wood—­not a particle of iron entering into its composition.  It is propelled by a single ox or horse, generally the former, driven by a half-breed native.  Sometimes, though not usually, the wheels are furnished with tires of rawhide, placed upon them when green and shrunk closely in drying.  Each cart carries about a thousand pounds of freight, and the train will ordinarily make from fifteen to twenty miles a day.  It was estimated that five hundred of these carts would visit St. Paul and St. Cloud in the autumn of 1863.

The settlements of which Fort Garry is the center are scattered for several miles along the Red River of the North.  They have schools, churches, flouring and saw mills, and their houses are comfortably and often luxuriously furnished.  They have pianos imported from St. Paul, and their principal church, has an organ.  At St. Cloud I saw evidences of extreme civilization on their way to Fort Garry.  These were a whisky-still, two sewing-machines, and a grain-reaper.  No people can remain in darkness after adopting these modern inventions.

The monopoly which the Hudson Bay Company formerly held, has ceased to exist.  Under its charter, granted by Charles II. in 1670, it had exclusive control of all the country drained by Hudson’s Bay.  In addition to its privilege of trade, it possessed the “right of eminent domain” and the full political management of the country.  Crime in this territory was not punished by the officers of the British Government, but by the courts and officers of the Company.  All settlements of farmers and artisans were discouraged, as it was the desire of the Company to maintain the territory solely as a fur preserve, from the Arctic Ocean to the United States boundary.

The profits of this fur-trade were enormous, as the Company had it under full control.  The furs were purchased of the Indians and trappers at very low rates, and paid for in goods at enormous prices.  An industrious trapper could earn a comfortable support, and nothing more.

Having full control of the fur market in Europe, the directors could regulate the selling prices as they chose.  Frequently they issued orders forbidding the killing of a certain class of animals for several years.  The fur from these animals would become scarce and very high, and at the same time the animals would increase in numbers.  Suddenly, when the market was at its uppermost point, the order would be countermanded and a large supply brought forward for sale.  This course was followed with all classes of fur in succession.  The Company’s dividends in the prosperous days would shame the best oil wells or Nevada silver mines of our time.