of this mission there was a considerable number of half-breeds, who had
for the most part migrated from Manitoba after selling the "scrip[6]"
for lands generously granted to them after the restoration of order in
1870 to the Red River settlements. Government surveyors had been busily
engaged for some time in laying out the Saskatchewan country in order to
keep pace with the rapidly increasing settlement. When they came to the
mission of St. Laurent they were met with the same distrust that had
done so much harm in 1870. The half-breeds feared that the system of
square blocks followed by the surveyors would seriously interfere with
the location of the farms on which they had "squatted" in accordance
with the old French system of deep lots with a narrow frontage on the
banks of the rivers. The difficulties arising out of these diverse
systems of surveys caused a considerable delay in the issue of patents
for lands, and dissatisfied the settlers who were anxious to know what
land their titles covered. The half-breeds not only contended that their
surveys should be respected, but that they should be also allowed scrip
for two hundred and forty acres of land, as had been done in the case of
their compatriots in Manitoba. Many of the Saskatchewan settlers had
actually received this scrip before they left the province, but
nevertheless they hoped to obtain it once more from the government, and
to sell it with their usual improvidence to the first speculators who
offered them some ready money.

[6: A certificate from the government that a certain person is entitled
to receive a patent from the crown for a number of acres of the public
lands--a certificate legally transferable to another person by the
original holder.]

The delay of the government in issuing patents and scrip and the system
of surveys were no doubt the chief grievances which enabled Riel and