Red River carts travel in convoys along well-established trails through the prairies.

RED RIVER, RUPERT’S LAND Wednesday, August 25, 1869—We heard them nearly an hour before we saw them. Hundreds of Red River carts were approaching the settlement, returning from months spent hunting and processing buffalo.

“A single cart is noisy enough on its own, never mind an army of them,” laughed one of the local Métis farmers. “That shrieking you hear is the sound of wood rubbing on wood,” he explained. “The carts’ wheels and axles are made of wood. That way, if a cart breaks down, you can always find spare parts!”

From a distance, the huge convoy sounded like an unearthly choir, with each cart singing its own insistent note. As the carts drew nearer, the noise became almost unbearable.

This year, more than a thousand men, women and children took part in the annual buffalo hunt, which is a highly organized affair run as precisely as a military campaign. Today, I was privileged to be on the scene when they arrived back home.

A cause for celebration

Home for the Métis people is Red River, where they have farmed for generations. Their way of life revolves around raising crops and livestock on their farms, and working in the fur trade. The people at Red River are particularly involved in supplying pemmican to the Hudson’s Bay Company. They hunt buffalo every year, partly to provision their own families and partly to trade pemmican with the HBC.

With buffalo becoming scarce in this part of Rupert’s Land, the annual hunt is growing ever more important to Red River. When the hunters return to Red River—their carts and animals loaded with buffalo hides, bones, and tonnes of pemmican—everybody celebrates.

As the afternoon turns to evening, the entire colony gathers to feast and dance. Homemade fiddles fill the air (a pleasant change after the howl of the carts) as everyone tries to outdo one another in the famous Red River Jig, or Oayache Mannin as it’s called here.

The buffalo hunt requires skill and precision. An experienced Métis hunter on a trained horse can kill ten to twelve buffalo in a two-hour period. When the hunters are done, the women and children prepare the meat and hides for the return trip to Red River.

There’s a real sense of community in Red River. For one thing, families live close to one another on “river lots”—long, narrow farms stretching back from the riverbanks. A trail along the river connects the houses. “I can visit eight families by walking 20 minutes in one direction, and eight more by walking the other way!” remarked one farmer to me, during a break from the jigging.

River lots give each family access to the river for transportation, and for water for themselves and their animals. They follow the same pattern as Canadien farms in Québec.

If you plan to visit Red River, you’ll need the help of a very creative travel agent. Red River can be reached only by dogsled in the winter, or by canoe or York boat in the summer—that is, unless you have your very own Red River cart

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Thanks to William Hind for capturing this image of a settler’s farm in 1862. The Métis have farmed in Red River for generations. What will happen as new settlers move into their territory?

On the brink of change?

Before you make any travel plans, be sure to check the latest news from the district.

The Red River settlement has faced extra stresses this year, besides the scarcity of buffalo. Crops have failed due to dry weather and swarms of grasshoppers.

In addition, surveyors from Canada are in the vicinity. The surveyors are measuring the land into sections, so that settlers from Canada can claim it. The Hudson’s Bay Company has transferred Rupert’s Land to Canada, but little consultation as taken place with the people of Red River about the future of their settlement. Many people are concerned about what the future holds.