V. THE EARLY SETTLERS ON RED RIVER 53 VI. SOWING AND WEEPING 66 VII. PASTOR AND PARISH 77 VIII. A KINDRED SPIRIT 91 IX. RED RIVER BECOMES CANADIAN 103 X. THE NEW SETTLEMENTS 114 XI. COLLEGE AND SCHOOLS 131 XII. MEMORIALS 142 ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE REV. JOHN BLACK, D.D. _Frontispiece_ ST. BONIFACE CATHEDRAL, BURNT 1860 43 KILDONAN PARISH CHURCH 75 REV. JAMES NISBET 90 WINNIPEG IN 1870 122 KNOX CHURCH, WINNIPEG, 1871 126 KNOX CHURCH, WINNIPEG, 1879 130 MANITOBA COLLEGE, 1872 130 PUBLIC MONUMENT TO DR. BLACK 153 MEMORIAL TABLET IN KILDONAN CHURCH 159 JOHN BLACK _THE APOSTLE OF THE RED RIVER_ CHAPTER I. His Early Days. John Black was the Apostle of the Red River. He will be long remembered on the prairies of Manitoba. In 1882 he passed away, all too soon to see the remarkable rise of the country for which he had planned and worked and prayed. He had reached the age of sixty-two, and nearly half of that time he had spent on the plains of the Northwest. His name is a household word in many settlements, and his memory is revered by the white settlers and the Christian red men alike, throughout Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta. BIRTHPLACE AND CHILDHOOD. On a visit to Scotland, a few years ago, the writer of these sketches spent a few pleasant days on the Scottish border. He was guest of a former Canadian minister in the pretty parish on the river Esk, of which Sir Walter Scott speaks, where "there was racing and chasing on Cannobie Lee." One day a delightful drive led along the winding valley of the river to the town of Langholm, to attend the Presbytery meeting there. After the business was over the Presbytery dinner was held, with all the forms of the "olden time." While at dinner one of the ministers addressed the writer: "Oh, I'm the minister of Eskdale Muir, where your first minister on the Red River, the Rev. John Black, was born." It was interesting to note that the pioneer of the western wilds was not forgotten in the place of his birth. On the 8th of January, 1818, John Black was born. He was the son of William Black and Margaret Halliday, Eskdale shepherd farmers, who lived on the farm of Garwaldshiels. His ancestors had originally dwelt in the neighboring parish of Ettrick, and some of them had been warm friends of the godly minister there, Thomas Boston, whose works, "Fourfold State" and the "Crook in the Lot," were well-read books in many a Scottish home.