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During the 1850s and 1860s, surveyors had found that there was good farm land in the West, with a better climate and rainfall than people had thought.
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In 1857 gold was discovered in the Cariboo gold fields.Thousands of prospectors flooded into the area.
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In 1867 the USA purchased Alaska USA from Russia, and Minnesotans saw a chance to extend its borders to the north and to link up with Alaska.
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The Rupertsland Act transferred ownership of the Hudson's Bay Company lands to Canada, but it did not take account of the wishes of the inhabitants of the West.
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Smallpox epidemics killed many Indians during the 1870s, and the growth of the whisky trade made things worse.When the HBC sold its lands to Canada in 1869, it gave up its monopoly of trade in the West, and American whisky traders moved in. The Canadian government brought law and order back to the West by creating the North West Mounted Police.
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In 1870, after negotiations with the Métis delegates in Ottawa, the Manitoba Act was passed.
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The North-West Territories was ruled with Manitoba by the Manitoba governor, Adams Archibald, from 1870-1876, with an eleven member appointed council after 1872.
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The North-West Territories Act of 1875 gave the Territories its own lieutenant-governor to be stationed at Battleford.
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In 1876 the Indian Act was passed giving the Department of Indian Affairs considerable control over the daily lives of Native people.
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Riel was sentenced to hang and was executed on November 16, 1885, just nine days after another significant event, the completion of the CPR.
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The Canadian Pacific Railroad was completed on November 7, 1885.