Some again, were found in a state of wild delirium, frantic, mad; while others were picked up, one here, and one there, overcome in their fruitless attempts to reach Pembina--some half-way, some more, some less; one woman was found with an infant on her back, within a quarter of a mile of Pembina.

This poor creature must have travelled, at least, one hundred and twenty-five miles, in three days and nights, till she sunk at last in the too unequal struggle for life." Such scenes might be expected in the valleys of the Highlands of Scotland, or amid the heavy snows of New Brunswick or Quebec, but they were a surprise upon the open prairie.

Some of the settlers had devoured their dogs, raw hides, leather and their very shoes.

The loss of thirty-three lives cast a gloom over the whole settlement.
Anxiety had been aroused throughout the whole Colony.

The St.Lawrence often overflows its banks at Montreal, the Grand River at Brantford and the Fraser at its delta, but the rarity of the Red River overflows led the people, after their winter disaster, to hope that they would escape a flood.
This was not to be.
As the Red River flows northward, the first thaw of spring is usually south of the American International Boundary line at the head waters of the river which divides Minnesota and Dakota.