SASKATCHEWAN REBELLION

was an uprising of the half-breeds in Canada in 1885.Louis Riel led the revolt. In1870 the half-breeds took part in the Red River Rebellion in Manitoba. After the Red River Rebellion, The The Canadian government gave 240 acres of Manitoban land to each of the dissatisfied métis. At first it seemed to satisfy them. But Manitoba soon began to fill with settlers from Eastern Canada. Many of the restless métis gave up their land grants and drifted westward to the Saskatchewan River Valley. There they were again disturbed by the advance of the settlements. The construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway further angered them. There were various causes for the revolt. The Indians and half-breeds were afraid that the settlers would destroy the buffalo herds on which they depended for food and clothing. They had no legal titles to the land shere they lived, and feared that they would lose their homes. They also disliked the Canadian govenment's method of surveying and laying out farms. They prefered the old French system by which all farms were narrow strips fronting on the river. Louis Riel had been living in Montana since the failure of the Red River rebellion. In 1884, the metis asked him to come to Saskatchewan to help them uphold their rights, and Riel agreed. In March, 1885, the métis elected him president of a provisional government they set up at Saint Laurent. Riel was moderate at first and there seemed to be a possibility to compromise between the Canadian government and the métis. The possibility vanished when a skirmish with the mounted police took place at Duck Lake. Led by Chief Big Bear, the cree attact a settlement at Frog Lake, where the killed the men and carried off the women and children. The news of this outbreak aroused the people of eastern Canada. A force of 4,400 men was sent into the Saskatchewan territory. The métis were no match for the troops, and were quickly defeated. Riel was captured in the fall of Batoche and was hanged for treason. The Saskatchewan Rebellion had important results. The Canadaian government recognizee the claims of the métis, and gave them legal titles to their lands. The rebellion showed the increasing importance of the North West (now Northwest) Territories, and they were given representation in parliament. But the most important effect is that it stimulated national feeling, and brought home to all Canada the idea of Canadian unity. Saskatchewan River is a Canadian Stream that joins the Nelson River to form the greatest river system flowing into Hudson Bay. The Saskatchewan River system is 1,205 miles long from its mouth in Lake Winnipeg to the source of the Bow River, its main branch. The system drains an area of 158,000 square miles, an area again half the size of the Great Lakes. Most of the Saskatchewan is narrow and rapid. The Saskatchewan River proper is formed by the North and South Saskatechwan, which join near the city of Prince Albet. From here it flows eastward 240 miles to the Northwest corner of Lake Winnipeg. The North Saskatchewan starts in the glaciers of Mount Hooker in the Rocky Mountains of Alberta. It flows eastward 760 miles to meet the south branch. The South Saskatchewan is usually considered as the main stream and is 865 miles long. Some of its branches rise in northern Montana. The South Saskatchewan River Dam, was completed in 1967, and provides for hydroelectric power, irrigation and recreation.          9/29/03 9:07:55 AM