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Manitoba Historical k Scientific Society.

TRANSACTION NO. 17. SEASON 1884-5.

SOME

OF THE

CSNilDmN NORTH-W^^?.

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MR. CHARLES N. BELL,F.R.G.S.

VICE-PRESIDENT HISTOAICflL & SCIENTIFIC SOCIETY.

A Paper read Defore tlie Society on the Evening of 22(1 lannaiy, 1885.

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SOME HISTORICAL NAMES AND PL&ES'-. '

OF THE *«vv~

CANADIAN NORTHWEST. 0^'^'^_^ -

The following paper was read belore
♦/he Historical and Scientific Society, 22d
Ian., 1885, by Mr. C. N. Bell,F.R.G.S.,
F.R.C.1.

I have endeavored to bring together
aome interesting acrapsof information re-
lating to the early settlements ir our
Canadian Northwest and regarding the
derivation of well-known names.

Let us first turn to Lake Superior,
which has been called at diiferent periods
Kitche-CJaitia, Upper Lake, Lake Tracy,
and Lake Superior. Long, who traded
there in 1777, writes that Lake Tracy
was so named in honor of M. de Tracy,
who was appointed Viceroy of America
by the French King, in June, 1665.

Fort William, on Lake Superior, was
first established by Daniel Graysoion Du
Luth in 1678, as a trading post under
the name of Camenistiquoia. or Three
Rivers, and vras for some years the cen-
tre of the fur trade in the then extreme
Northwest. It then appears to have been
deserted Iqx a length of time, as La Noue
rebuilt it in 1717. La Noue had instruc-
tions to penetrate into the interior, build
a fort at Uainy Lake and collect informa-
tion to enable him to push on to Lake
Winnipeg the following year. It is like-
ly that he did get as far as Rainy Lake,
but nothing definite is recorded as to his
movementsin thatdirection. PerePettitot
says Kaministi-Kweya means Wide River.
The Northwest Fur (.Company, which
prior to 1803 had its headquarters at
Grand Portage, 45 miles south of the
Kaministiquia, was compelled by the
Americans to abandon that rendezvous
and established what was first known as
the New Fort at La Noue's old site. Har-
mon in April, 1804, mentions that a Mr.
McLeod loft Swan river for the new fort,
and iu 1807 he writes that the New Fort
had been rechristenod Ft. William, in
honor of William McGilvray, the head
agent of the Northwest Company. At
the time of giving this name the com-

pany made a present to their voyageurs
and the Indians encamped about, of
spirits, shrub, etc. Fort William has a
stirring history. Its annual gatherings
of the fur traders and the visit of Lord
Selkirk in 1816, at the head of a consid-
erable force of disbanded soldiers, on his
way to the colony of Assiniboia, have
been too often described to need more
than mention here.

Pointe de Meuron, across from Ft. Wil-
liam settlement, is the site of a Hudson's
Bay Company establishment, maintained
as a check on Ft. William of the North-
west Company.

Following in the track of the fur
traders to the interior, we find on the
Kaministiquia, the famous KakabekA
Falls or the Fall of the Cleft Rock.

Dog Portage receives its name from an
Indian tradition that two enormous dogs
having taken a nap on the top of the
hill, left the impress of their figures be-
hind them, and certain it is that such
figures have been marked on the turf.
Sir George Simpson gives this in his
book.

Rainy Lake was first known as Tekam-
amaouen. In 1740 Joseph la France,
who travelled through from Lake Super-
ior to Hudson's Bay by way of Lake
Winnipeg, relates that Rainy Lake re-
ceives its name from a perpendicular
waterfall by which the water falls into a
river, and raises a mist like rain.

At the point where Rainy River flows
from the ^ake, a post was built in 1731
by the sons of Pierre Gualtier Varennes,
the Sieur de la Yerendrye, who had
arrived there by following the Nantona-
gon or Pigeon River route. The fort
was named St. Pierre.

Verendrye was under orders to explore
the interior, and had ivith him his
three sons, his nephew Jeremie and fifty
followers.

Near the Rainy Fall, Harmon in 1800
informs us. that the N. W. Co. had a

post called Rainy Lake Fort. The port-
age round the fall was called Chaudiere
by Mackenzie, the discoverer of the
Mackenzie river.

Immediately below the fall stands the
H. B.^ Co. post, Ft. Frances, named after
the wife of Sir George Simpson, a gover-
nor of the company for over forty years.
The village of Alberton has sprung up
about old Ft. Frances during the last ten
vears.

Lake of the Woods was the Lac des
Bois or Lao Minnittee of the French.

Mr. Keating in 1823 says : "It is call-
ed Sakahigan (Sagihagum) Pekwaonga or
the Lake of the Island of Sand Mounds,
though the Indians do at times call it the
Lake of the Woods."

The great mounds of sand on its south-
east side evidently gaverisetothis edition
of the name.

La France in 1740 called it Lac Du
Bois or Des Isles.

On a French map dated 1719 it is
named Lac des Sioux.

Verendrye's men in 1732 built a post on
what is now known as Buffalo Point on
the west side of the lake, and bestowed
on it the name of Ft. St. Charles, after
Charles De Beauhamois the Governor of

Canada.

A map by Bowen published about 1763
has Ft. St. Pierre marked "destroyed;"
and St. Charles, "abandoned."

Henry as late as 1775 mentions that
there was then the remains of an old
French fort on the west side of the lake.

Fired with the hope of finding a route
through to the Pacific Ocean, Verendrye
descended the Winnipeg River in 1734,
bestowing on it the name of Maurepas, in
honor of the Minister of France. A fort
of the same name was established on the
north bank of the river where it enters
Lake Winnipeg.

Winnipeg River is called White River
by Mackenzie and Harmon, in evident
allusion to the succession of falls and
rapids which occur along its course. It
was also written Sea River by Eavid
Thompson, astromomer & i surveyor of
the Northwest Company, in 1796.

Ft. Alexander of the H. B. Coy. , which
now stands on the south side, near Lake
Winnipeg, was the site of the Northwest
Company's Fort du Bas de la Riviere.
In 1800 Harmon writes that the North-
west Company and the H. B. Coy. had
forts a few rods apart, the H. B. Coy.
receiving their supplies from Albany
House, on Hudson's Bay, via the Al-

bany River route. Thompson says that
the Northwest Company's post was in
1796 called Winnipeg House, and owed
its origin to the French. It was in N.
lat. 60° 37' 46". W. long. 96° 69' 34".

Massacre Island, Lake of the Woods,
was the scene of the massacre of Veren-
dry's son, a priest, and twenfy soldiers by
the Sioux Indians who then frequented
the country to the southwest.

Rat Portage derives its name from the
fact that the bay which lies along the
rocky barrier or portage on its upper
side was the resort of great numbers of
muskrats, that were constantly " por-
taging" over into the waters of the Win-
nipeg river on the other side.

The English River, which joins the
Winnipeg on its north side, received its
name from the English of the H. B. Co.,
who brought their supplies up the Albany
and across the height of land to the
English River, on their way to Fort
Alexander.

The Slave Falls, (Awakane Pawetik)
have connected with them a tradition that
a slave of the Chippewas having escaped,
secured a canoe, and when pursued,
either through design or accident, ran
over the falls and was lost.

Lac Bonnet, or Cap Lake, is credited
by Mackenzie with getting its name from
a custom of the Indians of crowning
stones, placed in a circle on the highest
rock in the portage, with wreaths of her-
bage and branches.

The fall now known as the Chute a
Jacquot was called by Mackenzie, Jacob's
Falls, and by Keating in 1823, Jacks
FaUs.

Lake Winnipeg has been, at different
periods, called Lao Assenipolis, Lac As-
ainebouels, Lac Assinipoils, Lac Christ-
ineaux and Lac Bourbon. Most likely
the Assiniboine Indians who lived at the
south and west sides of the lake and on
the Assiniboine River, which included
under that name that p«rtion of the Red
River from the forks, determined the
name of the lake.

The Crees, who lived on the Northwest
side of the lake were called Kris, Kris-
tineaux, Kinistinoes and Christineaux,
and the north end of the lake was first
called Christineaux Lac, and this after-
wards gave ]ilace to Lac Bourbon. The
first place I can find that the lake was
called anything like Winnipeg is in the
memoires of Verendrye, as compiled by
Pierre Margry, the present custodian of
the archives of theDepartment of Marine

and the Oolonieu, Franoe,where it U spell-
ed Ouinipigon. Since then the word has
undergone many changes in the spelling.
I givf the word as printed in wwrks from
1734 to 1833, since which last named
date there has been no change:

Ouinipigon Verendrye— 1734.

Ouinipique Dobb8-1742.

Vnipignon Oalissoniere— 1750.

Oulnipeg BouRainville— 1757.

Uuinlpigon Jefferys— 1760.

Ouinipique French map- -1776.

Winnepeok Carver— 1768.

Winipegon Henry— 1775.

Winipic Maoltenzio— 1789.

Winipick Harmon— 1800.

Winipic I?ike-1806.

Winipic Lord Selkirk-1816.

Winepic Ross Cox- 1817.

Winnlpio Schoolcraft— 1820

Winnopeek Keating— 1823.

Winipeg Beltrami— 1823.

Winnipeg Capt. tiack— 1833.

The name is derived from the Cree
words Win — dirty, and Nepe — water.

I think that it is so called because dur-
ing certain summer months the water of
the lake is tinged with a green color, ow-
ing to the presence of a vegetable growth
which abounds in parts of the lake. It
is a minute needle-shaped organism,
about half an inch in length, sometimes
detached and sometimes in clusters and
at times the water is almost as thick as
peasoup. It is also to be found abund-
antly in the Lake of the Woods.

On a French map dated between 1695
and 1719 the lake appears divided into
two parts, the southern being Lac des
Asainipoualao and the northern Lac des
Christineaux. On another map of
DeLisle the whole lake is marked Assen-
epolis.

It is claimed that Radisson and Gros-
selliers, two Frenchmen who afterward*,
gave information to the English that led
to the formation of the H. B. Co. in 1670,
traveled through the country of the As-
siniboines and visited Winnipeg or As-
sinipoulac about 1660. While there seems
to be no doubt that these men were for a
considerable length of time about the
west side of Lake Superior and that the
Pigeon Kiver was then, and long after-
wards, called Grossilliers' River, there is
very little definite information regarding
the parts of the Assiniboine country visi-
ted by them in 1660. In the New York
history of the Colonies this passage is
found, '^Meeting afterwards with some
Indians on Lake Assiniboins, to the
northwest of Lake Superior, he (Gossil-
liers) was conducted by them to James'
Bay where the English had not yet
bees." The Aiuniboines are said to

have gone east to trade as far as Sault
St. Marie, and the Indians mentioned
may have been from Lake Winnipeg and
Grossilliers was credited with having been
there, from that fact.

It is seen therefore that the existence
and situation of Lake Winnipeg was well
known as far back, at least, as 1660, and
Franquelins map, dated 1688, proves that
at that date a river was known to run
north from Red Lake to Lac des Assine-
bouels, out of which the Bourbon or
Nelson River issued on its way to Hud-
son's Bay.

In 1749 the H. B. Co. produced be-
fore a committee of the British House of
Oommons the journal of an employee
named Henry Kellsey, dated July and
August 1692, which seems to show clear-
ly that he was at Lake Winnipeg on an
exploring trip made in the interests of
the H. B. Co., and with the object of in-
ducing the Indians of the interior to take
their furs down to the posts on Hudson's
Bay. The journal is printed in detail in
the above report which I have in my pos-
session.

On maps published about 1740, from
information supplied by Jeremie the
nephew of Verendrye, by JeflFrys, London,
in 1762, and Mr. Bonne, of Paris in 1776,
the Bulls Head and Deer Island are shown
and properly placed, so that these are not
modem names.

Elk Island near tho mouth of the Win-
nipeg River is snown on a map
dated ibout 1740. This map also shows
in Lake Winnipeg an island named Iron
(Fer),and it would seem that Yerendrye's
men had, during their first year on the
lake, about 1735i discoved the iron de-
posits on Big Island, which now promise
to supply our wants in this country. Isle
Fer is plotted just where Big Island is
situated.

Red Deer and Sandy Islands are men-
tioned in La France's journal of 1740.

MacKenzie in 1801 locates and names
St. Martin's Bay, Dog Head, Long
Point, Egg Islands, Playgreen Lake and
Poplar River. What is now known as
Buffalo Head was by MacKenzie called
Ox Head and Ox Strait. These names
have not undergone any change since the
end of the last century.

Norway House at the north end of
Lake Winnipeg was established after
1799.

The Red River, by the French called
Riviere Rouge and by the Indians Mis-
oouaupi, was likely ascended for the first

<) i

time b^ white men when Yerendrye's
people in 1730-7 pushed hulf way up its
course and ostabliahed Fort Puinte des
Bois, some distance south of what is now
the international Boundary Line ; and
when in 1738 they went up the Assini-
boine to the present site of Portage la
Prairie, and on the north bank in October
of that year established a trading post,
which they named Ft. La Reine.

La France in 1740 writes that the Red
River flows from Red Lake, so called
from the color of its sand.

Another writer states that it gets the
name from the color of the water when
agitated by wirds.

Beltrami in 1823 says that the Rud
Lake district was a long time the meet-
ing ground of the Chippeways and Sioux,
and from their bloody battles on its
shores the name is derived.

I am strongly of the opinion that what-
ever its origin the Indians had so named
Red River before Verendrye was in the
country, as Jeremie gave it the name of
Rouge or Miscoussipi.
■ The first Hudson's Bay Co. fort on the
Red River was established likely in 1799,
at the mouth of the Asuiniboine on the
north side, and was called The Forks.
The present Fort Garry v as built in 1835-
36, by Mr. Christie, of iho Hudson's Bay
Company.

Fort Douglas was erected in 1812 by
Miles McDonnell, in charge of the
tirst Selkirk settlers, who arrived by way
of Hudson Bay. It was on the bank of
the Red river on the north side of a cou-
lee which entered the river, just below
where Mayor Logan's house now stands.

Point Douglas received its name from
the fort, which derived its name from
the family name of Selkirk — Douglas.

Ft. Gibraltar of the N. W. Co. was
situated on the Assiniboine, near the site
of the H. B. Co.'s present mill. After
the coalition of the two companies the
general stores of the new H. B, Co. were
opened in Ft. Gibraltar.

It is generally believed that a post or
fort of some description was established
by Verendrye, with the name of Ft.
Rouge, and that it was situated on the
south side of the Assiniboine River, in
the angle formed by its junction with
the Red, but little definite information
is to be obtained as to its importance or
the length of time it was maintained.
Verendrye is supposed to have been up
the Red River in 1736 or 1737 for the
first time, and yet on a map drawn by

him and forwarded to Paris, from Quebec,
by Buauharnois on the 14th October,
1737, the Assiniboine is only tiaced a
few miles up its course, and at its mouth
on the south side, is shown a fort marked
''abandoned." From this it would ap-
pear that Ft. Rouge had a very short
existence.

A French map of 1760, the original of
which was sent to Franco by Gallisson-
iere, Governor of Canada, showing Ver-
endrye's discoveries, hact the words
' 'Ancien Fort" at the point on which Ft.
Rouge is supposed to have been.

Jeflfiy's geographical work (London,
1760) describes the French posts in the
Northwest, and mentions fortsr Maurepas
and La Reinti with the remark, "Another
fort had been built on the River Rouge,
but it was deserted on account of its vi-
cniity to the two last."

A list of the French forts, given by
Bougainville in 1767, does not contain
Fort Rouge, though Maurepas and La
Reine are described and their positions
defined.

I can find nothing in Margry's account
of the discoveries of Verendrye which
alludes to Fort Rouge, and as he has
access to all the colonial papers of the
French it seems strange that he should
omit mention of it if any fort of even
slight importance wa^ established by
Verendrye. I am here referring to Mon.
Margry's writings as reproduced in the
N. W. boundary papers.

Fort des Bois was established in 1736
or 1737 about Goose River. Jeflfry's
map of 1762 shows the post as still in
existence, though Jeffry must have copied
copied it from some French map which
was likely of earlier date. The English
gained possession of Canada in 1763,so that
Jeffry must have got his information from
French sources.

Henry writes under date of 14th
September, 1807 : "From Paubian I
sent off a boat for above, Wm. Henry
master, with T. Veaudrie interpreter,
and seven men, to build at the Grand
Fourche. " This was the beginning of the
city of Grand Forks, a place of impor-
tance at this date.

Pembina comes from Nipi-Mina, a
Cree word for a red berry which grows
in great quantities along the banks of the
Pembina River. Pere Petitot says the
berry is the fruit of a guelder rose (vibur-
num edule). A trading post was built by
a Mr. ChaboUier, of the N. W. Co., in
1797, on the south side of Pembina

['A

Quebec,
October,
tiaced a

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ould ap-
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which Ft.

(London,
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of its vi-

given by
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pers of the
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(ig to Mon.
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r. Jeflfry's
as still in
have copied
map which
'he English
1763, so that
mation from

e of 14th
Paubian I
Wm. Henry
interpreter,
; the Grand
inning of the
of inipor-

ipi-Mlna, a
^hich grows
banks of the
tot says the
• rose (vibur-
was built by
W. Co., in
of Pembina

Greek at the point where it empties into
the Red River. It was called I'aubna,
and [ am told that ti.is word is ^A\l used
by some of the old Selkirk settlers instead
of Pembina.

Henry, in 1800, writes that Fort Paub-
na was on a stream named Paubian, and
tliat opposite the mouth of the Paubian,
on the east side of the Red River (about
the present site of St. Vincent) there
was still to be seen the remains of an old
fort built by Peter Qrant some years pre-
viously. He takes particular care to
state that Grant's post was the first es-
tablishment ever built on the Red River.
(He may refer to the first establishment
of the N. W. Co () Fort Daer was situated
on the north side of the Pembina River,
it was a post of the H. B. Co., named
after Lord Selkirk, who was also Baron
Daer. It was here that some of the set-
tlers passed the winter of 1812-13, and
suffered untold hardships from cold and
want of food. It was built by the set-
tlers in the fall of 1812.

There is considerable difficulty in
identifying some of the tributaries of the
Upper Red River, owing to the different
names given them at various dates. As
an instance, the Wildrice River has been
known as Pse. (Sioux), Menomone (Chip-
peway), and FoUe Avoine (French).

Coming down the ' Rod River again, I
find the Roaseau has been so called since
at least 1798— the Reedgrass. In 1823
Keating gives it the same name, and
says the Indians called it Pekwionusk.
As Rosseau is the French word for Reed-
grass, it is seen that this name has held
to the stream snice the N. W. Co.'s
traders first visited it.

I find the Scratching and Stinking
rivers mentioned as far back as 1816.

The Seine River, which falls into the
Red opposite this city, was known as the
Gernian Creek after 1817, on account of
the Germans of the De Meuron regiment,
brought here by Lord Selkirk.

Kildonan Parish was named in 1817
by Lord Selkirk himself, from the set-
tlers' old home in Sutherlandshire, Scot-
land.

Lower Fort Garry was enclosed by
loop-holed walls and bastions in 1841, as
noticed by Sir Geo. Simpson in his book.
It was built, as far as the houses are
concerned, between 1831 and 1833.
Gunn's History is the authority for the
statement that Sir Geo. Simpson had it
built because the French half-breeds at
Upper Fort Garry were troublesome.

The Death River (Nipuwin-sipt), which
enters the Red River on the west side
below Selkirk, was so named because 250
lodges of Chippe ways were destroyed there
by the Sioux Indians about 1780. The
N. W. Co. had a post there a^ tuo time
of the consolidation with the H. B. Co.

The word Assiniboine is derived from
Assine — a stone, and Bwan or Boine, an
Indian ; or properly, Sioux Indian. The
Assiinbtiines were originally a branch of
the Dacota or Sioux confederacy, but
they separated and lived by themselves,
inhabiting the country along the Assini-
boine river. They received the name of
Stone Indians from using heated stones
to cook their food. I find them called
Semi-Poets by the people of the H. B.
Co. in 1749. Verendrye gave the name
of St. Charles to the river in 1738, in
honor of Charles Beauharneis, Governor
of Canada. Mackenzie says the river is
called Assiniboine from the Nadawasis or
Sioux. In Selkirk's statement the name
of the river is spelled Ossiniboyne, and
the District Ossiniboia.

Lt. Chappel, a naval officer, who was '!i
Hudson's Bay in 1814, writes as follows :
" The infant colony is called by his Lord-
uhip (Selkirk) Dana Boia, two Gaelic
words signifying Ossian's town, from the
resemblance between that and the Indian
name of Red river — Asnaboyne." I do
not find, however, that he tried to prove
that the Assiniboines were originally
Scotchmen.

At Portage la Prairie on the right bank of
the river Verendrye established Ft. La
Reine, which became the basis of opera-
tions iu the work of pushing the line of
trading posts through to the Saskat-
chewan by way of Lake Manitoba. The
fort was burned by the Crees about 1752.
In 1805 Harmon visited the N. W. Coy.'s
post at that point, and he describes it as
a miserable fort, in a most beautiful
location. He mentions that the Indians
resorted to the place in quest of sturfj eon.
During the Selkirk troubles in 1816 the
employes of the N". W. Coy. having cap-
tured 600 bags of pemican from the H.
B. Coy. at Qu'Appelle, made a redoubt
of them here and armed it with 2 brass
swivel guns.

At Pine Creek the N. W. Coy. built
a fort in 1785. which was abandoned in
1794. The remains were seen by Har-
mon in 1805.

The Souris River was called the River
St. Pierre by Verendrye in 1738, and his
men ascended it to cross over to the Mis-

soari, and thenoe to the Ruoky Muun-
tainB. Nu leu than throe forts were at
the Souris mouth in 1805. Brandon
House of theH. B. Coy., built 1704;
Assiniboine House ol the N. W. Coy.,
situated about one and a half
miles above, and which was in
full operation when Thompson visi-
ted it in 1797; and Ft. Souris, a
post of the X. Y. Co. The N. W. Co.
had also a trading post 45 miles up the
Souris in 1707, named Ash House.

About 60 miles above the Souris mouth
in 1804 there was an important post of
the N. W. Co.— Fort Montagne a la
Basse. Harmon says it was from here
that he received word that Lewis and
Clark, the explorers, were on their way
to the Rocky Mountains. The Indians
about this post were very troublesome,
and on April 10th, 1805, a large party of
Crees and Assiniboines encamped about
the fort and threatened the traders,
throwing bullets over the palisades, while
shouting to the people to pick them up as
they would need them in a few days, but
they did not finally attack it. The fort
was on a high bank of the Assiniboine
(called Upper Bed Biver by Harmon),
and overlooked the plain around to a
great extent. Buffalo and antelopes were
to be seen frequently from the fort. On
our late maps may be found a Boss Creek
and Boss Hill in this locality, and no
doubt Basse has given place to Boss, as
an English pronounciation of a French
word.

In October, 1804, Harmon was at the
mouth of the Qu'Appelle, where the N.
W. Co. and X. Y. Co. had each a fort,
the first being in charge of a Monsieur
Poitraa. Up the Qu'Appelle at the
Fishing Lakes, both companies had posts,
which were abandoned in 1804.

Far up the Assiniboine Ft. Alexandria
was built on a small rise of ground, with
a plain about ten miles long and two
broad stretching along the river opposite,
and having a background of clumps of
birch, poplar, aspen and pine. The en-
closure was sixteen rods in length by
twelve in breadth. The houses were well
built, plastered within and without, and
washed over with a white earth. It was
situated in north latitude 52°, west longi-
tude 103°.

In June, 1801, tlie fort was prepared
for an attack of tiie Fall Biver or Gros
Ventre Indians. It was strengthened,
block houses built over the gates and the
baatioiu put in order, the Crees and As-

siniboines having gone to attack the
(iros Ventres, and a return visit was ex-
pected.

Many trading posts were supplied from
this fort, which, until the last year it was
occupied, received its supplius from Lake
Superior, via Lakes Manitoba, Winni-
pegoosis and Swan Lake. It was abandoned
28th April, 1805. Word was received
here only in February, 1805, that a coali-
tion had taken place in Montreal the pre-
vious autumn between the N. W. and X.
Y. Companies.

The X. Y. Co. and the H. B. Co.
had a number of small posts between
Swan Lake and the Assiniboine. One
fort was at Bird Mountain, another at
Swan Lake which Harmon says was near
the site of a post of the H. B. Co., aban-
doned several years previous te 1800.
A number of trading houses of the differ-
ent companies were scattered along the
Assiniboine from Brandon up to the
head waters. Mackenzies map of 1801
showing Thornburne House, Grant's
House, Marlboro House and Carlton
House at different points above Brandon.
Dog Hill, Moose Biver and Turtle Hills
are ' mentioned by Thompson 1707, and
still retain these names. Arrowsmith's
map of 1857 shews Birdstail Fort at the
mouth of that little stream, near Fort
Ellis, and Fort Hibemia on the head
waters of the Assiniboine above Fort
Pelly. Fort Ellis has been called Beaver
Creek Fort, as the post is situated near
Beaver Creek, a mile or two below the
mouth of the Qu'Appelle. There is no
doubt that the remarkable echo noticed
by all who have been in the valley of the
lower Qu'Appelle has given rise to that
river's name. The Earl of Southesk
writes that there is a tradition that an
Indian paddling his canoe down the river
heard a loud voice calling to him, and
that after he had searched for the person
whom he supposed had called to him, he
again was saluted with a loud noise. He
informed his Indian friends of this
strange occurrence and they ever after-
wards bestowed on it the name of **Who
Calls."

Ft. Ellis likely takes it name from the
Hon. Edward Ellis, who was chiefly in-
strumental in bringing the H. B. Co. and
the N. W. Co. into one corporate body.

There is a tradition amongst the
French half-breeds that the White Horse
Plain, about fifteen miles up the Assini-
boine from Winnipeg, receives its name
from a white horse which roamed around

The I
katcl
Post

Ik the
|iM exo

from

it WH8

Lake
'inni-
kdoned
(ceivtid
, ooali-
liti pro-
\nd X.

|B. Oo.
itweeii
Gnu

ther at

in that district many yean afo, and
which could not be approached, though
many poniona had endeavored to capture
him. I received this tradition from a
French tr ider some years agijo when trav-
elling in the Saskatchewan country,
but cannot vouch for its authenticity.

Sturgeon Greek evidently gets its
name from the presence of sturgeon.
Harmon in 1805 writes that the Assini-
bonie River being very low and they hav-
ing a number of boats and canoes, the
brigade drove the sturgeon upon
the sand banks, where there is little
water, near Pine Creek, and had
no diihculty in killing any number of
thom they desired.

Harmon (1806) in describing the Forks
wliore the Upper and Lower Red River
formed a junction, i. e. the Assiuiboine
and Red River, mentions that, "the
country around is pleasant, the soil Ht>-
pears to be excellent, and it is tolerably
well timbered with oak, basswood, wal-
nut, elm, poplar, aspen, birch, etc. Grape
vines and plum trees are also suen."

The Sand Hills near Melbourne Sta-
tion on the C. P. R. were known by the
Indians an the Manitou Hills, from the
fact that the grass covering them, in
placos was so scant, that they retained no
snow during; the winter; which pheno-
menom the Indians regarded as preter-
natural and fixed that idea in the name.
This is on the authority of Thompson of
the N. W. Oo.

Lake Manitoba was in 1740 called Lac
des Prairies and later on Lake of the
Meadows. The word Manitoba is said
by Pere Lacoinbe, an excellent authority
on the Cree language, to he derived from
Manitewapaw, supernatural or god-like.
Other authorities say it means "the place
where the spirit dwells," alluding to the
narrows of Lake Manitoba, whore the
water seldom, if ever, freezes over, owing
to the presence of springs or its rapid
motion at that point.

Verendrye, about 1739, leaving Fort La
Reine, pushed up through Lake Manito-
ba, established Fort Dauphin on the lake
of that name, and Fort Bourbon on the
Saskatchewan near its mouth.

Winnipegoosis means little Winnipeg.
The Saskatchewan (contraction of Kisis-
katohewan) was called by the French
Poskoyac, or Pasquayah. Henry, in 1776,
says the lower part of the river was
oalled Bourbon and the upper Pas-
quayah.

Fort Poscoiac, on Sturgeon Lake, was

built before 1775. Bou^inriile, under
that date, gives its situation.

Cumberland House, on Sturgeon Lake,
was established by Samuel Heame as a
H. B. Co. postin 1774, and was the first tra-
ding house of that company on the waters
flowing into Lake WinniiMsg. The N. W.
Co. h(^ a post there in loOO, according
to Heniy.

Ft. oes Prairies farther up the river
was in use by the French prior to 1757,
when Bougainville describes it. A Mr.
Cadotte of Saull St. Mane traded there in
1775 and the place seems to have been
frequented for many years after that, as
Harmon in 1805 still mentioned it as a N.
W. Co's port of considerable importance.
Henry l^j^ in 1775, that four different
interests were struggling for the Indian
trade. Ft. a la Come has been known at
different dates as Ft. St. Louis and Nip-
peween. Ft. a la Come wasbuilt in 1753
by Mon. de la Come who commanded all
the posts in the Interior. Henry says Ft.
St. Louis of the N. W. Co. was a short
distance above the old French fort, and
it was abandoned in 1806. He says that
some years before agricultural implements
and carriage wheels were found there.
Mackenzie writes that James Findlay was
there about 1769, and it was then the
last of the French settlements being call-
ed Nipawee. Nepiwa, means "wet place."

Hudson House between Carlton and
the Forks, with Carlton and Manchester
Houses farther up on the North Branch
were established about 1797, Edmon-
ton about 1795, and Ft. Pitt 1831.

Ft. Providence on the island near the
forks, and Sturgeon Ft. just above Provi-
dence, the sites of which were visited by
Henry in 1808 ; Net Setting River Ft.
where Henry found, in 1808, the remains
of a whole range of forts, were trading
houses below Carlton.

The fort which was at the Eagle Hill
Creek was burned by the Crees in 1780
after a fight, and Henry found it a heap
of ruins in 1800.

Fort Brule, which was the scene of an
attack in 1793 by the Gros Venties In-
dia its, when they burned the H. B. Co.
post, but were beaten off from tlie N. W.
Co.'s house, was situated about the Battle
River.

Fort Vermillion, of the N. W. Co., in
1809 had within its walls 36 men, 27
women and 67 children. It was situated
in a bottom land directly opposite the
Vermillion River. The H. B. Co. had a
post at this place in 1808, in charge of

Hallette and Lcngmore. Henry men-
tions the interchange of visits between
the establishments.

Fort George, in ruins in 1800, was on
the north side of the Saskatchewan, above
the Moose River, which flows from the
hills of the same name.

Fort Augustus was a three days' jour-
ney above Vermillion, and here
there was also a post of the H.
B, Co. in 1808. Henry describes
the visit of a hundred Blood Indians to
trade at the two forts. From the de-
scription given it would appear that this
place was where Edmonton now stands,
though I cannot tiad in Henry any names
given to the forts of the H. E. 0<>v.

In 1820-21 the H. B. Goy. had only
the following stations on the Saskat-
chewan River: Edmonton, Carlton ana
Cumberland. The N. W. Coy. had
Augustus, Rocky Mountain House and
Cumberland.

South Branch House was about 15
miles across by land fvoMi the North
Branch, and 120 miles above the Forks,
as described by Harmon. It was tirat
established in 1791 by the H. B. Coy.,
but in 1794 the Gros Venerea destroyed
the H. B. Coy, fort and attacked the
post of the N. W. Coy. at the same

point, but were driven off with loss.
New forts were built in 1804, six miles
above the old site.

The French in 1762 ascended the Sas-
katchewan, likely the South Branch,
and built Ft. Jonquiere at the foot of the
Rocky Mountains, but the post was not
maintained. It is supposed to have been
about the site of Calgary.

The Bow River is said to take its name
from the wood found on portions of its
banks which was suitable for the manu-
facture of bows. It is more likely that
it derives its name from the curve taken
by the river in its course.

Belly River was so named from the
Gros Ventres Indians who lived in that
locality.

Elbow River gets its name from its
shape.

Battle River is said by Bishop Tache
to have been the scene of many a con-
test between the Crees and Blackfeet,and
takes the name in consequence.

Chesterfield House was established by
the Hudson's Bay Co. in 1822, at the
Forks of the Red Deer andSouth Branch
but it was deserted after a few years,
as the Blackfeet attacked the traders on.
Bovaral occasions and killed a number o0
them.

•r'>- .-..,

■^

M^ J

1 off with loss.
' 1804, six miles

cended the Sas-
South Branch,
t the foet of the
e post was not
ed to have been .

take its name I
portions of its !
for the manu- '

)ro likely that |
It. curve taken |

«ecl from the |
lived in that I

name from its*

Bishop Tache j
Fmany a con-f

1 Blackfeet.andj
lence. ff

established by
1822, at the
ISouth Branch
r a few year8,|j

the traders on
d a number of