y to drive out any who had
sought refuge on our soil.

But as the time passed the position of the Sioux became more and more
difficult. They were kept under strict surveillance by the Police. On
account of their warlike disposition, and their association with the
massacres south of the line, their presence was prejudicial to
settlement by white people. Superintendent James Walker, who was in
charge at Battleford and who, having jurisdiction over a large area,
showed marked judgment as well as firmness in dealing with Indians, has
some very accurate forecasts in a report written at the end of 1879. He
suggests that Police be stationed at Duck Lake and Fort Pitt as well as
Prince Albert. Duck Lake was the home of Chief Beardy, with whom Walker
had already taken some firm measures and who joined with the Riel-Dumont
rebellion later. Fort Pitt was the home of Chief Big Bear, concerning
whom Walker writes in that report: "I look upon Big Bear as one of the
most troublesome Cree Indians we have in the territories." And this same
Big Bear also became a rebel in Riel's day and, after the Frog Lake
massacre, burned Fort Pitt as an extra in his exploits, as I witnessed
with my own eyes.

These items are quoted to show Walker's foresight as well as insight,
for these give special weight to another sentence in that report
concerning Indians of the Sitting Bull tribe. "The very name of Sioux,"
wrote Walker, "strikes terror into the hearts of many of the settlers."
On this account the wanderings of Sitting Bull from Fort Walsh to
Qu'Appelle and generally round about, was an unsettling influence. In a
year or two, however, with the buffalo growing fewer and no land reserve
in sight on the Canadian side, a good many of Sitting Bull's following
began to drop away from him and go back over the line. One day, with
about 1,200 or so of his people, he turned up at Fort Qu'Appelle and
applied to Superintendent Sam B. Steele, who had come to that point from
Fort Walsh, and asked that a reserve be given him and his band in
Canada. Steele told him there was no chance, but sent a wire to Indian
Commissioner (afterwards Governor) Dewdney that Sitting Bull was there.
Mr. Dewdney came to Qu'Appelle and told Sitting Bull that the Canadian
Government would not give him a reserve, as he had a reserve on the
other side of the line which the United States would give him to occupy
in peace if he would go there. Mr. Dewdney offered to ration Sitting
Bul