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Born in Nottingham,
England, William Hind attended the Nottingham Government School
of Art and Design. In 1852, he moved to Toronto to join his brother,
Henry Youle Hind. Trained as a professional artist, William Hind
taught drawing at the Normal School in Toronto for a number of years,
before joining the Overlanders.
Numbering about
150, the Overlanders chose not to follow the normal sea routes to
British Columbia, but to travel overland through present-day western
Canada. This route had been advocated by Hind's brother, who had
recently returned from his expedition to Red River. Hind and the
Overlanders journeyed by train from Toronto to St. Paul, Minnesota,
and then by steamer down the Red River to Fort Garry, where they
purchased supplies and transportation for their trek across the
Prairies.
Several members
of the Overlanders kept diaries which complement Hind's watercolours,
the majority of which concentrate on his travels from Fort Garry
to Jasper. In his sketchbook consisting of 92 watercolours and drawings,
Hind captures the difficulties of the journey across the Prairies,
such as challenging river crossings and thunderstorms. The sketchbook
also provides a glimpse of the everyday routine of the Overlanders.
After a challenging
journey through the mountains, the Overlanders finally reached their
destination, having covered some 5,000 kilometres since leaving
Toronto. However, few of them succeeded in mining gold; most continued
on to Victoria, where Hind opened a studio for a few years before
returning east.
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