Le Montagne Pembina au Temps des Colons (The Pembina Mountains in the Time of the Settlers)

Bonjour wonderful family! I am happy to announce that I now own a copy of this terrific treasure which mentions our ancestors throughout its 195 pages. Although it is entirely written in French, I am determined to translate its most relevant sections. Please be patient and don't hesitate to ask questions if you are puzzled. I would love to hear your feedback too! 

A rough translation of the Le Montagne Pembina au Temps des Colons (The Pembina Mountains in the Time of the Settlers) By Marie-Anna  A. Roy published in 1969.

The Pembina Mountains is a plateau or, at most, an undulating plain with indented edges with a pronounced slope of the lower bearing, that is to say to the east. The Pembina River, who crosses it in part, gave it its name. The word "pembina" is derived from two Indian words: nepin and minan - bay of summer. It is a red berry with an acidic taste that grows in abundance in the region and gives a very appetizing jelly very appreciated by housewives.

In the past, there have been some hundred years, a huge sea of fresh water was rising on the Great Plain in the centre of the country: "The Great Central Plain." The bottom of this sea was at first uniformly flat, but land lifts occurred which formed three large landings. The first landing is the Red River Valley with the surrounding plain. To the west of it is a second, higher plateau that begins with the so-call escarpment and continues to the Missouri hillside in central Saskatchewan. The escarpment is simply the edge of the second landing. It forms an oblique line that spans the Manitoba Saskatchewan border. Its southern part, almost 25 miles wide and about 50 miles long in Manitoba and 30 miles in North Dakota is called the Pembina Mountains. The Tiger Mountain extends to the Pembina Mountains to the west.

The third level begins with the Missouri hillside and extends to the foot of the Rockies. The level of the first plateau is 700 to 800 feet above sea level. The one on the second plateau ranges from 1400 to 1650 feet, the third is 2000 to 2400 feet.

Pembina Mountains dominate the first level from 500 to 700  feet. The highest lying spot is a little west and southwest of Altamont on the way to Saint-Leon; Altamont reached 1592 feet, the Talbot Butte as well as the Beaulieu Butte, 1700; Saint-Leon, 1675; Somerset, 1571; Cardinal, 1552 above sea level.

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The terrain is under severe depression in Babcock and Learys. There are also ravines, such as the one hollowed out by the Grass River. The Cypress River, the Boyne or Îlets-de-Bois and the Grass River originate in the Pembina Mountain.

In Manitoba, the villages of Morden, Miami, Roseisle, Rath well and Treherne, all located on the plain, roughly mark the contours of Pembina Mountain to the east and north. The soil of the Pembina Mountains, a brownish grey, is very fertile, retains moisture well, and drains easily. It is a land that produces first quality durum wheat and other cereal grains. The water is very good and quite abundant.

The parishes of the Pembina Mountains and their date of foundation are:

Saint-Leon	1877-1878
Saint-Alphonse	1883
Notre-Dame-de-Lourdes	1891
Bruxelles	1892
Saint-Claude	1895
Mariapolis	1903
Somerset	1907
Haywood	1909
Swan Lake	1919
Saint-Lupicin	1920

First Incursions of the Whites 1738

In October 1738, the Vérendrye (Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, sieur de La Vérendrye) crossed the Pembina Mountains to the Mandan in search of Missouri. The trail followed by the discoverer passed halfway between Rathwell and Treherne, climbed the Pembina Mountains and headed for the southwest corner of Township 7, alignment 9, section 1. From the track continued towards Somerset and Swan Lake through two different branches, which joined south of Saint-Leon. Then the track went down to the land of the Mandan and the great loop of Missouri.

Vérendrye discoverer writes in his private diary:

"Two days' walk or fifty miles from Fort-la Reine, we were joined near a village of Assiniboine Indians and at their instant prayers, we stopped for a few moments with them.

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The historian Antoine Champagne, c.r.i.c., former cure of Notre-Dame-de-Lourdes and author of “Les Verendrye et les Postes de l’Ouest” concludes:

            It was at the current Swan Lake reserve or a little east of the village of 

            Somerset. Leaving Fort-la-Queen on October 18, 1738, the discoverer

            and his caravan left the ground of Notre-Dame-de-Lourdes and reached 

            Somerset or Swan Lake.

It was in 1738 that the first serious white incursions through Pembina Mountain were made. They were becoming more numerous as the fur trade became a problem. From 1801 to 1806, Alexander Henry, the young man, crossed it many times. This agent of the North West Company left us with interest in his travels in that region and the fur trade there. Several times a year, with its rapids at the rate of 45 miles a day or, by dog train at the rate of 20 to 25 miles, he went from Wawanesa to Pembina in passing through the future locations of Saint-Alphonse, Swan Lake, Saint-Leon, Tete-de-Veau Hill and Morden. In 1871, the surveyors began their work, and from 1872 to 1876, the whole Pembina Mountains was staked and divided into cantons subdivided into sections and quarter sections.

The Mountain, which until then had been the domain of the Indians and Metis, and which had been visited only by traders, hunters, and missionaries, began to be invaded by the pioneers. In 1878, the Canadian Pacific Railway arrived in Saint-Boniface; in 1883 the "N. Pacific" reached Manitou, then it was, in 1889-1890, Altamont, Somerset ...

The Problem of Monsignor A. Tache

When Manitoba entered confederation in 1870, the English and French parts of the population were few in equal numbers:

English Métis            4083

French Metis             5757

Whites                       1563

Indians                        558

                               11,961

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This balance was soon upset by immigrants from Ontario.

Monseigneur Tache wrote on April 8, 1876 to Father Lacombe: 

          "We are overwhelmed on all sides by men who have strength, energy, 

           number and hatred in their hearts.”

Bishop Tache's problem was therefore to bring hundreds and hundreds of Catholic and French families from Quebec and New England to Manitoba in order to prevent the region from being submerged by the rising tide of non-Catholic immigrants and of foreign origin. Monseigneur Tache made innumerable calls to the settlers of Quebec. He drew up a circular intended for all the cures and left it with Father Lacombe to be distributed to them.

A colonization society was organized at Saint-Boniface in 1874; another in Montreal in 1876. Mr. Charles Lalime, a lawyer in Worcester, Massachusetts, was appointed immigration officer.

Father Lacombe was sent by Monsignor Tache to recruit settlers to the United States and Quebec. These apostles of colonization gave lectures in the cities of New England and Lower Canada.

Monseigneur Tache wrote on January 23, 1880 to Monseigneur Lafleche, bishop of Trois-Rivieres:

        "Unless the province of Quebec comes to our aid through strong and 

        vigorous immigration, the field where you have worked so hard for so many 

        years will cease to be the domain of the Franco family I regret to say, we did 

        not think enough of it in Lower Canada and, when we could fortify all the rights

        of the province of Quebec by the establishment of a sister province in Manitoba, 

        we let the latter be populated with a hostile element.”

Thanks to the efforts of Father Lacombe, lawyer Lalime, Doctor Whiteford and the colonial societies, Manitoba received from year to year groups of French Canadians who established beautiful and flourishing parishes there.

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Part One: the Parishes

SAINT-LEON

The Grand Dates of the Parish

1877 Arrival of the first four pioneers.

1878-1879 Arrival of other groups of pioneers.

1879 The nascent colony is set up as a parish under the name of Saint Leon. 

         Father Theobald Bitsche moved to Saint-Leon on September 11.

1880 Construction of the presbytery church.

1881 Formation of a village south of Lac Rond.

1883 Saint-Alphonse is detached from Saint-Leon and erected a parish. 

         First visit of Bishop Tache. Census of the parish of Saint-Leon.

1886 Visit of Monsignor Tache.

1891 Notre-Dame-de-Lourdes is detached from Saint-Leon: Dom Paul Benoit is appointed cure of the new parish.

1892 Death of the cure of Saint-Leon, the Abbot Theobald Bitsche Saint-Leon is served by the Canons of Notre-Dame-de-Lourdes: Dom Agnese Patel, from September 9, 1892 to July 3, 1893; Dom Joseph Cottet, from July 3, 1893 to May 15, 1894.

1893 Last visit of Monseigneur Tache.

1894 Father Nazaire Pelletier is named cure. Construction of a new church and a                           presbytery.

1895 Inauguration of the branch "Association Catholiques Mutual Aid - C.M.B.A. ";First                   pastoral visit of Monseigneur Langevin.

1897 Death of the N. Pelletier cure on January 19. Installation of Father Noel Francois                   Perquis as a cure on May 23. Arrival in September of the Chanoinesses Regulieres.

1898 Monseigneur Langevin entrusts Chanoines parish again. November 13 Dom Marie               Antoine Straub is called cure; his assistant is Dom Augustin Roux.

1899 Visit pastoral of Mgr. Langevin: from 3 to 5 February. Benediction of the convent                   school and its bell.  Pilgrimage of the parishioners from Saint-Leon to Notre-Dame de- Lourdes.

1900 Doctor Joseph Rocan settles in Somerset. Joseph Labossiere donates a large crucifix parish.

1901 MM. Zenon and Excide Landry donate to the parish a large statue of Pope Saint Leon the Great.

1903 Census of the parish.

1907 The Somerset mission is detached from the parish-mother of Saint-Leon and erected in parish under the name of "La Nativite de Marie".

1928 Feast of the Fiftieth Anniversary of the parish of Saint-Leon: Golden Jubilee.