Civilizing the Wilderness

473 Pages·10.544 MB·English

by  Cantook Station;Otter, Andy Albert den

civilizing the wilderness
••

civilizing the wilderness

Culture and Nature
in Pre-Confederation Canada
and Rupert’s Land
••
A.A. den Otter
1
The University of Alberta Press
Published by
The University of Alberta Press
Ring House 2
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6G 2E1
www.uap.ualberta.ca
Copyright © 2012 A.A. den Otter
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Den Otter, A. A. (Andy Albert), 1941–
Civilizing the wilderness : culture and nature in pre-confederation
Canada and Rupert’s Land / A.A. den Otter.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-88864-546-3
1. Northwest, Canadian--History. I. Title.
FC3206.D45 2011 971.2’01 C2011-906302-6
First edition, first printing, 2012.
Printed and bound in Canada by Friesens, The University of Alberta Press is commit-
Altona, Manitoba. ted to protecting our natural environment.
Copyediting and Proofreading by As part of our efforts, this book is printed
April Hickmore and Joanne Muzak. on Enviro Paper: it contains 100% post-
Maps by Wendy Johnson. consumer recycled fibres and is acid- and
Indexing by Adrian Mather. chlorine-free.
All rights reserved. No part of this pub- The University of Alberta Press gratefully
lication may be produced, stored in a acknowledges the support received for its
retrieval system, or transmitted in any publishing program from The Canada Council
form or by any means (electronic, mech- for the Arts. The University of Alberta Press
anical, photocopying, recording, or also gratefully acknowledges the financial
otherwise) without prior written consent. support of the Government of Canada
Contact the University of Alberta Press through the Canada Book Fund (cbf) and the
for further details. Government of Alberta through the Alberta
Multimedia Development Fund (amdf) for its
publishing activities.
6 7
Finally for Dini
My Life-long Love, Partner, and Friend

contents
••

Acknowledgements ix
Introduction
Civilizing the Wilderness xi
1

British North Americans Against the Wilderness 1
2

William Mason and Robert Rundle 31
3

The Education of Henry Steinhauer and Henry Budd 61
4

Bishop Anderson, Civilization, and Wilderness 103
5

The Sayer Trial 135
6

Governor George Simpson’s Civilizing Mission 163
7

The 1857 Parliamentary Select Committee 193
8

Peter Jones: Civilize or be Civilized 229
9

Historians and the Red River Métis 271
Conclusion
The Wilderness Civilized 303
Abbreviations 319
Notes 321
Bibliography 395
Index 425
acknowledgements
••

this collection of essays—connected by a common theme—can
be considered as volume two of my Civilizing the West: The Galts and
the Development of Western Canada. When I first read Alexander Galt’s
statement that the Northwest needed to be developed and brought
“under civilization,” I knew I had a title for that book and an idea for
the next. While other research projects and duties placed the develop-
ment of the civilizing theme on the backburner, I continued to collect
material and over time wrote the various essays that now comprise this
volume.
Writing this book was impossible without the help of many people.
Over a number of years, Memorial University’s Undergraduate Career
Experience Program provided me with research assistants David
Banoub, Greg Bowden, Nicole Butt, Shaina Goudie, Michelle Ryan,
and Kristen Scott. Similarly, the Social Sciences and Humanities
Research Council permitted me to hire graduate students Jonathan
Anuik, Peter Fortna, Neil White, and Trina Zeimbekis to work on a
number of projects.
Colleagues at Memorial also offered advice in formal seminars
and casual conversations, with some taking of their valuable time to
read one or more chapters. In particular, I mention Sean Cadigan,
Joe Cherwinski, David Hawkin, Darren Hynes, Kurt Korneski, John
Sandlos, and Jeff Webb.
Also of great assistance were colleagues at other universities.
Many participants at conferences supplied critiques and new ideas.
Specifically mentioned, because they undertook to read a chapter or
ix