Lord Selkirk of Red River - Gray, John Morgan

Clean, tight, unmarked; tape marks on end papers and inside flaps of dust jacket; personal gift inscription on half title page (1967); dust jacket is bright and unfaded with slight edge wear but no chips or tears; not price clipped; green cloth covers with gilt titles; light wear to lower spine extreme; otherwise very minimal wear; Lord Selkirk chose Red River for his greatest enterprise. Securing an immense tract of land from the Hudson's Bay Company, he sent his first settlers to Red River in 1812. The proposed colony lay astride the ancient fur trade routes and seemed to threaten the North West Company, mightiest power in the Canadas. The battles that followed were protracted and blood-stained. They destroyed the North West Company and ruined Lord Selkirk, and the settlement - now Winnipeg - barely survived. The end, not visible in Selkirk's lifetime, was a triumph. The settlers of Red River, who for a generations had nothing but lean fare and hard knocks, emerged as indestructible as their legend - and with claims made good beyond any possible challenge. No other book comes closer to an understanding of the attractive but complex Lord Selkirk, nor clarifies so authoritatively the intricate web of a conflict that may never be forgotten in Canada. It was a conflict in which too many people behaved badly, too many people died needlessly, and too little justice was done. 
Very Good in Very Good dust jacket
Hardcover
The MacMillan Company
1st Edition
1963
Toronto, ON