|
 Thomas
Woolsey spent his final years in Western Canada at the well
established Victoria Mission-by 1864 it had a school, crops, gardens and
a Hudson's Bay Company post. The mission had encouraged
settlement and George McDougall actively promoted Victoria as a community to
Aboriginal people and white settlers. By 1878 the
settlement had a population of around 150.
There were difficulties throughout the settlement's development,
however. The winter of 1868-69 was difficult-a lack of snow made tracking animals
 difficult and to
ensure their survival George McDougall and his family moved to the plains. Another
problem came with the murder of
Maskepetoon, a friendly Christian Cree chief. Additionally,
in 1870 Victoria suffered through a
smallpox epidemic that claimed the lives of over 50 people, among which
were three McDougall children
 Small
Pox Epidemics, Part 1: Early Explorers and Fur Traders Bring Disease
to New World, 1520-1726
Listen | Read
 Small Pox Epidemics, Part 2: First Recorded Epidemic in West, 1736
Listen | Read
Small Pox Epidemics, Part 3:
Epidemic of 1781-82 Wipes Out Native
Villages Across the West
Listen | Read
Small Pox Epidemics, Part 4: David Thompson's Journals and the
Tales of Sokumapi
Listen | Read
Small Pox Epidemics, Part 5
Listen | Read
When George McDougall left
Victoria he was replaced by Peter Campbell. For a time the church and
Sunday School remained full. With the decline of the
buffalo, however, an exodus of families to the southern plains began and
by the time Campbell left in 1874, it took six months before a replacement for
the dwindling mission could be found.
 Local
Cree chiefs Pakan (also known as James Seenum) and Big Bear were among
those who, after much negotiations, signed Treaty 6 in 187 6. Big
Bear's tribe fought with Riel in the rebellion of 1885, while Pakan counselled
his people to stay out of the conflict.
With the arrival of the post office in Victoria, the settlement was
renamed Pakan to honour the Cree chief.
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