The embargo was complete.

In Governor Macdonell's defence it should be said that he offered to pay
by British bills for all the provisions taken, at customary rates.

This assertion of sovereignty set on fire the Nor'-Westers and their
sympathizers.

Not only was this extreme step taken, but John Spencer, a subordinate of
Macdonell was sent west to Brandon House, found an entrance into the
North-West Fort at the mouth of the Souris River and seizing some
twenty-five tons of dry buffalo meat took it into his own fort.

It is quite true that Governor Macdonell expected new bands of Colonists
and thus justified himself in his seizure. It is to the credit of the
Nor'-Westers that they restrained themselves and avoided a general
conflict, but evidently they only bided their time.

No breach of the peace occurred however, before the return of the
Colonists from Pembina to the Colony Houses. The settlers occupied their
homes in the best of spirits, and began to sow their wheat, but they
were still greatly checked by the absence of the commonest implements of
farm culture. Had Lord Selkirk known the true state of things on Red
River, he would never have continued to send new bands of Colonists so
imperfectly fitted for dealing with the cultivation of the soil.

The founder's mind had been fired, both by the opposition of Sir
Alexander Mackenzie and by the successful arrival of his two bands of
Colonists at the Red River, to make greater efforts than ever.

This he did by sending out a third party in all nearly a hundred strong,
under the leadership of a very capable man--Archibald Macdonald. This
band of settlers in 1813 were bound on the ship Prince of Wales for York
Factory. A very serious attack of ship fever filled the whole ship's
crew with alarm. Several well-known Colonists died. The Captain,
alarmed, refused to go on to his destination, but ran the ship into Fort
Churchill and there disembarked them. Further deaths took place at this
point. In the spring there was no resource but to trudge over the rocky
ledges and forbidding desolation of more than a hundred miles between
the Fort Churchill and York Factory. Only the stronger men and women
were selected for the journey. On the 6th of April, 1814, a party of
twenty-one males and twenty females started on this now celebrated
tramp. At first the party began to march in single file, but finding
this inconvenient changed to six abreast. Unaccustomed to snowshoes an