Vol.9,
No.51, 2006 The
People Who Settled The
West And Their
Unique Invention, The Red
River Cart By
Mel McIlveen
I
drove past the Vancouver
Island Agricultural Heritage
Museum last Monday and had
a look at all the historical
machinery displayed there,
the steam driven threshers
and the horse drawn mowers
and it made me wonder what
a display of this sort was
doing on Vancouver Island.
Then suddenly I saw something
vaguely familiar. It looked
like the Red River Cart I
remember which is standing
by the roadside near the
town of Selkirk, Manitoba.
That Selkirk Red River Cart
is definitely not a working
model, it’s a tourist
attraction since it has wheels
ten feet tall and is painted
bright red. The Red River
Cart here on the island in
the museum however is an
authentic cart. I wondered
about its history. How did
it get here? I asked one
of the caretakers at the
museum, and he didn’t
seem to know anything about
it, including what it was.
He was unable to tell me
if it was or was not authentic.
However, my own knowledge
of the history of Western
Canada, and the entries in
the various historical records
of the region have convinced
me that this is a real Red
River Cart.
The Cart was a unique invention
of the Metis People, and
was in use in Manitoba as
early as 1801. The settlement
of Red River, which became
Winnipeg, needed a way to
move their produce south
to market and to carry their
purchased goods north from
St. Paul, Minnesota. The
carting industry preceded
by more than 60 years the
development of the railways.
The Red River cart, made
in Red River by the Metis
people, became the major
means of transportation for
goods in the territory. The
carts moved regardless of
the weather. Neither freeze
up nor breakup on the Red
River stopped the cart brigades.
The system became an active
competitor to the shipments
carried by the York Boat
fleet to Hudson’s Bay
and Europe.
It was made entirely of
wood, mostly oak, and it
had no mechanical or metallic
parts at all. It was made
locally in Manitoba, by skilled
Metis. The wheels were quite
large and the rims were bound
with buffalo hide sinews,
commonly known as shaganappi.
The spokes were sturdy and
were attached to slant outwards
from the center hub so that
they could carry heavier
loads without sinking into
the prairie soil, especially
if the soil was wet. A typical
cart could carry 800 pounds
of freight. There was no
such thing as wheel bearings,
the axles turned in wooden
housings, which generated
a loud screeching, high pitched
sound. Their approach and
departure could be heard
for miles. Grease was never
used because it tended to
get encrusted with mud which
in turn wore out the axles
prematurely. Even without
the grease problem, axles
tended to wear out and a
typical cart would use four
or five axles during a trip.
This was not a problem because
local material for repair
was always available so that
new axles or spokes could
be made on the spot. The
buffalo had a part to play
in this industry too. The
shaganappi bound wheels could
be easily removed if floods
were encountered on the journey
and the body of the cart
could be wrapped in buffalo
hide to make it waterproof.
The cart would resume its
journey across the water
afloat, like a boat.
The motive power was oxen,
one ox to each cart, although
for short journeys, horses
would be used. The ox was
a docile creature with tremendous
strength, and could be depended
upon to walk steadily, never
falter, never shy, and in
many cases could feed itself
as it walked along.
A typical cart brigade would
consist of one hundred carts
in trains of ten, each train
with one driver riding the
head cart with the other
nine tethered and walking
in line behind.
It must have been a lucrative
business. It is known that
one of the pioneer Inkster
brothers in early Manitoba
owned and ran over a thousand
carts between Manitoba and
Minnesota and between Manitoba
and Saskatchewan.
The cart brigades were only
made redundant with the advent
of the railroad from St.
Paul and the CPR from Ontario.
P.S. I was looking for
a real story about this
Red River Cart, how it
may have been transported
here by some pioneer Metis
settler, but I have had
to accept the truth of
the matter: this one is
simply a demonstration
model made by a man named
Ford in Humboldt, Saskatchewan
to demonstrate the forgotten
skills of the Metis people.
It looks brand new as if
it had never been used
on the road, but at least
it is authentically made!