, who followed up the treaty payments,
there were also buyers from Winnipeg and Edmonton, well supplied
with cash, to purchase all the scrip that offered, at a great
reduction, of course, from face value. Whether the half-breeds
were wise or foolish it is needless to say. One thing was plain,
they had made up their minds. Under the circumstances it was
impossible to gainsay their assertion that they were the best
judges of their own needs. All preliminaries having at last been
settled, the taking of declarations and evidence began on the
23rd of June, and, shortly afterwards, the issue of convertible
scrip certificates, or scrip certificates for land as required,
took place to the parties who had proved their title.
This was a slow process, involving in every case a careful search
of the five elephant folios containing the records of the bygone
issues of scrip in Manitoba and the organized Territories.
It was necessary in order to prevent the issue of scrip to parties
who had already received it elsewhere. But to the credit of the
Lesser Slave Lake community, few efforts were made to "come in"
again, not one in fact which was a clear attempt at fraud, or
which could not be accounted for by false agency. Indeed, a high
tribute might well be paid here to the honesty, not only of this
but of all the communities, both Indian and half-breed, throughout
these remote territories. We found valuable property exposed,
everywhere, evidently without fear of theft.
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