Red River 200 - Celebrating 200 Years of Farming Experience This
year, 2012, marks the 200th anniversary of the arrival of the
Selkirk Settlers in Manitoba from Scotland in 1812 and the 200th
anniversary of agriculture in Manitoba. On 7 October 1812, near
what is now the Disraeli Bridge in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Miles
Macdonell, the Governor of Assiniboia, helped to plant the
bushel and a half of wheat that he had brought from Scotland.
This event was the beginning of one of the most important
movements in Canadian history and the establishment of the
farming system of the Prairie Provinces, with the wealth and
opportunities that it offered to hundreds of thousands of
immigrants. The Selkirk Settlers were the first individuals to
establish permanent residence along the Red River in what has
grown to become the City of Winnipeg. Their arrival and
settlement began the shift in western Canada from a hunter-
gathering economy to a farming-based community as the settlers
were able to cultivate the land and establish a