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Maps, plates, charts, etc.. may be filmed at different reduction ratios. Those too large to be entirely included in one exposure are filmed beginning in the upper left hand corner, left to right and top to bottom, as many frames as required. The following diagrams illustrate the method: Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc.. peuvent dtre filmds d des taux de reduction diffdrents. Lorsque le document est trop grand pour dtre reproduit en un seui clich6. il est film6 d partir de I'angle 8up6rieur gauche, de gauche A droite. et de haut en bas. en prenant le nombre d'images n6cessaire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mdthode. 1 2 3 32X 1 2 3 4 5 6 FlIOM HOME I ■J n f FROM HOME TO HOME: / /■/• AUTUMN WANDERINGS IN THE NORTH-WEST, IN THE YEARS 1881, 1882, 1883, 1884. HY ALEX. STAVELBY HILL, D.C.L., Q.C., M.P. ILLUSTRATED FROM SKETCHES BY MRS. STAVELEY HILL, AND PHOTOGRAPHS BY A. S. H. '• Sui'vey our empire .ind behold our home," P'l LONDON : SAMPSON LOW, MAliSTON, SEAELE, A IIIVINGTON, CROWN liUILDlNtJiS, 188 FLEET fcJTllEET. 1885. [All l -2i'S CHAPTER VI. 1883 — A Railroad Trip — Dutiable Articles — Chicago Law Courts — I\Iinuetonka — C'anadian Pacific Railroad - Prairie Lands - Calgary New Oxley The li'ange — Lathom Park Sjiowv Camp again Slandoll Blood CUNThWrn VII lAi.l.s liii rials lUveVH Indiiur Kootenai Lukos - - (i.wvt M<.uiitain — An H Immortality Louise Fh11> I'.xr.KM 205)— 3;W CIIAITKR vir. Pyramid Ifill Camp — Klutiu.jid ^prin^ Camp— Ik'avtr Dam-Wasli-np Camp-Pi- Cami)-My Hath l{oom Sophy's- Tho Ne/penvs— [ndian A-vnIs Duiil.tful Indians— yiy-ii.sliiiiu—-l»aiiitod 'J Flatlu-ad Lak( — Uutistc's F r(>i.'- Settlers— (J real — ^rcDonald' Ifavalli — liid Ind erry— I'end d'Oreille I{ (iver iaii Ve«;-etal.les — St. ij;-naliib ian rjaml)linu- Ilcd New Vork -IJr-hini of tlie ( ena— Hudson lii ver, lovcriior 330—387 CflAPTEIf VI I r. Bad Selections— Aurieultural Prospects -IT Jtanclunj;— The Chiiiook—CattU- M .eases rcrsiis Frco Han^-es— Wild ( omesteads — ma-'ement— Cattle tli(^ Wilds— The Cow-boy— Ii,,und out — Co\v-l)oy (iaml)liii-- — Clotl Co\v-ln)y— Indian l'oi)ulation— Change of N, Xorth-West Mounted Pol n-asses— Death in inn-up — Cutting- ling— The Educated ime 10 ICC -Conclusion -Tl ;J88— 1'_>' 2i'8 E U R A T A . I'ago 37. Dele the hyphnu in lino 13. Pajjfc 53. Dele tlio xtojiH in lino 15. ]»ap;o 5!). For "St. Paul's " rem? "8t. Paul," in llli line from foot of page. Page 78, lino 10. For " tents " read " tont." Pago 8(), lino 11. For " Itruto " read " brnlo." Pago 122. Dole "1" in "settlor," in 13th lino from foot of page. Pago 245. For " hold " read " help," in last lino. Pago 281. For "tolorahlo" read "tolerably," in lOtli line from foot of page. Pago 385. Insert romma after " tliese," in 3r 71 HI 93 i>7 16.) 180 1!I2 328 .12'J 331 331 33(J 337 330 341 342 LIST OF ILLUlSTltATlONS. I i KouNDAiiY Pass, Summit of Main Range (looking West) {ndio.) Bkavku J)am i\ couitsK OF CoN'.sTPvUCTiON' (looking up stream). (IleUo.) ...... KocKY Mountains, Wasii-up Camp. (Ildio.) . In thk IIkap.t ok tiik Rockiks. A BkavkPv Mkadow (Uclio.) In tiik IIkap.t of thk Rockiks (Pio Cauip). (Tlrllo.) ToDACco Tlains, ".Sophy's"' Kootknai Tkpks. (^Hrlio.) ToHACCO Plains, '•Soi-iiy's."' (firlio.) Lauok Blacic Pink Pkndoukiukk RiVKii (tho Pool l>olo\v the Upper Rapids) (Hclio.) Pi'.NDOiiKiLLE RivKU (tlio Uppor Rapi(ls). (/7('?/.'.) . Ravklli. — Kkz peucks Tepes. (Ilelio.) . Ravelli. — Nez PEiiOKS Indians. (IIcUo.) . PAliK 343 34.-) 3:17 348 350 355 350 3G4 370 371 378 370 r.vi;!-. . 343 34.") 3^7 »o\v. 348 SoO ) • 3,") 5 3r)G 3G4 tls). 370 371 378 370 FBOM HOME TO HOME. -•«»- CHAPTER I. From Home to Home- from my old home of Oxley Manor in Staffordshire to the new Oxley in the foot- hills of the Rocky Mountains — it seemed at first a long step, a great migration ; but distance really lies in the completeness of separation, and this completeness of separation each year diminishes or destroys. Few things bring more completely before the mind the progress of travel than to compare the narratives of vacation tours. In my earlier days Serjeant Allen's * Sportsman in Ireland ' seemed to have siitiiciently limited the capabilities of a long vacation to days spent in exploring and enjoying our Western coasts. Some years later, Serjeant Talfourd's ' \^acation Rambles' showed that a busy lawyer might then arrive at experiences of Swiss heights and German tables d'hote. Later still, Mr. Kinglake's ' Eothen ' showed that advancing opportunities of transit had brought within reach the historic charms of Palestine and the sands of the desert, and if I now have in the following B FROM HOME TO HOME. narrative of these long vacations illustrated the encroachment of my professional holiday into lands even more distant than those explored by my learned predecessors, I have still left open to the enjoyer of whatever of long vacations may be left to lis by enterprising Home Secretaries journeys to which M. Jules Yerne may contribute the itinerary, and a long vacation may carry round the world some lawyer whose view of travel is rather compre- hensive than microscopic. My tale is of some things that have been told, but also of much in which the trail of any preceding traveller was but faintly marked, if traceable at all. It is of a land of which the new life is but just breaking for mankind, a land of many hopes and mucli promise; a land where if the toil of life be boldly faced, its responsibilities manfully taken up, and its duties faithfully dis- charged, the search after tlie new home will, I doubt not, be found amply to reward even those who turn at first with the deepest regret from the old one left behind, indeed, but in no way deserted or forgotten. But we must not talk of that which is left behind; nowhere more than in the North- West is the bidding of the Master iraught with deep meaning, tliat he who has put his hand to the plough may not look back. Our ploughman has a long furrow before him ; let him stick to it, it will lengthen every season, and will bring with its increasing lengtl and comfort. I an increasca source ot wealth ilth 5 FIRST ENQUIRIES. 8 i When I first made up my mind to spend a long vacation in Canada, I was anxious to rub up my memory as to its historical incidents ; to learn of its cities and towns, what there was to see in them ; of its country, what of its physical conformation, its flora and fauna ; of its government, what of its powers, and the respective merits of its public parties, and the weight and influence they carried in their Dominion Parliament — to hear from those who had lately visited Canada, what I should be able to see with the most pleasure to myself, and chiefly, above all, how I could see and learn the truth of this won- derful North- West that had so long lain hidden from the world, and of the capabilities of which we then began to hear so much. I found, however, that even with the kindest and best informed of friends there was considerable diffi- culty in obtaining answers to these questions. I have endeavoured therefore to put together in the follow- ing pages, as accompanying the narrative of my journeyings, information without which a visit to the country would lose much of its enjoyment. Many of those who may pick up this book have perhaps known long ago much that they may here find of these details ; it is not for them that this part has been written, but they, perhaps even more than others, will appreciate the personal details of the scenes which I describe in the incidents of the autumns of 1881, 1882, 1883, and 1884. The country which we speak of now as the Dominion • B 2 FROM HOME TO HOME. of Canada, embraces all that part of America lying to the north of the United States, and bounded by the Atlantic, Pacific, and Arctic Oceans, with the exception of Alaska. From East to West, from Belle Isle to Vancouver, from the 53rd to the 141st meridian, it is about 3400 miles ; and in latitude, from its most southerly point to the Arctic Ocean, from the 49th parallel at its least southerly boun- dar}^ or from the 44th at the most southerly pro- montory of its peninsula on Lake Erie, to the 70th parallel it is about 2000 miles. The superficial area of Canada is about three and a half millions of square miles. It is a country of larger extent than the whole of Europe, and one of its land-locked seas, Hudson Bay, equals in extent half the Mediterranean, while the vestibule of its eastern frontier — the Gulf of St. Lawrence — covers a larger area by far than the historic Euxine. It is, however, only of late years that we have been accustomed to speak of this great space on the earth's surface as Canada. That which till lately we designated by this name was the eastern part of the Dominion, including therein what are now the provinces of Quebec, Ontario, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island ; but more especially it was to the two first of these provinces that we usually referred when we spoke of Canada. One of the old historians somewhat picturesquely describes the discovery of America in these words. " Christopher Colon did first light upon this land in CANADA, A.D. 149'J-153.J. 5 I lying ded by ith the t, from e 141st atitude, Ocean, T boun- \y pro- le 70th lal area ' square lan the id seas, ranean, le Gulf ir than e have on the lately 3art of ow the iswick, more |)vinces anada. squel}'^ words, md in the year 1492," and most people remember liow that more than a year of years ago, on the Midsummer day of ]497, Sebastian Cabot, sailing in search of new countries under a patent of our Henry Vll., "did first light upon" Newfoundland, and named that which is still the capital of the island after the Saint on whose feast day he then first siglited its south-eastern shoies. But it is scarcely necessary to go back further than the year 1534, when Jacques Cartier, whose statue adorns alike the squares of his native town of Ct. Malo and of Montreal, sailing under a commission from the French king, entered the Gulf of St. Lawrence through the Straits of Belle Isle, and taking a south- westerly course discovered the mainland of Canada, which he claimed for France by erecting a wooden cross with the inscription " Vive le Roy de France." In the year following, 1535, Cartier sailed up the St. Lawrence as far as the Isle of Orleans, whicli from the abundance of its wild grapes he christened " Isle of Bacchus," and crossing the basin anchored on tho 14th of September in the St. Croix, as he called the smaller river, which here runs into the St. Lawrence, and which is now called St. Charles, opposite the Indian village of Stadacona, the site of the present city of Quebec. The magnificent rock "Cape Diamond," at whose foot the river flows, flicing the bold cliff of Point Levis on its southern bank, forming as it were the gateway of a new land, could not fail to attract the attention of the adven- FliOM HOME TO HOME. turers and excite their enthusiasm. Entering into friendly relations with the Indian chief, DoiiaconTin, Cartier laid up his ten large ships in the St. Croix, and having heen told by the Indians of a larger town up the river, he took his boats up through St. Peter's Lake, as this wide reach of the river is called, to Ilochelaga, and explored the higlier waters as far as the rapids above mentioned, which seemed to bar the further passage of vessels from the sea. The close of the year brought, however, before the ex- plorers the reverse side of the medal. Winter set in with a rigour which the Frenchmen could scarcely have anticipated. Frost and scurvy did their work. Singing of penitential psalms, and vows and promises of pilgrimages "availed not, and at last there was not one man left who could go into the hold to draw water for the others ; Indian medicines, however, helped when all their devotions seemed of scant service, and on April 18th the ice gave way, and the French captain, taking with him the Indian chief, sailed back for France. Cartier's account of the fertility of the soil and the value of the products of the country may be read with much interest by any one who will turn to the pages of Hackluyt. He failed, how^ever, to discover any precious metals, the buried treasure which was considered the only thing which could give a real value to distant lands, and the absence of which caused the older Spaniards to pun on the native name, by saying the country was truly a Canada, " Aca nada " — here is nothing. An explorer CANADA, A.IK 1540-lGOO. who could uot find in his new land the precious metals miglit possibly make a good pilot, but was not deemed to deserve the support of his Government, and so Jacques Cartier had to serve in tliat lower capacity in the expedition sent out under Mons. do Koberval in 1540, under a commission as Viceroy, to discover a North-West passage to the E \st Indies. Poor De lloberval frequently returned to France for new recruits, and met at last the fate of many a bold adventurer and servant of his country. He sailed from France on a fresh expedition in 1540, but of his fjite the depths of the ocean or of the wild forest keep still the secret, and no tidings of him ever reached his country or those whom he left behind. During the fifty years that followed, the few settlers that were left dragged on a disregarded existence. At length Henry IV. of France ap- pointed the Marquis de la Roche Lieutenant-General of Canada. He sailed from France in 1598, first attempting a settlement in the island of Sables. He then cruised for some time off the coast of Nova Scotia, returned home in disgrace and died of grief. At length that which Royal Commissions had failed to bring about was accomplished by the enter- prise of trade. Pont Grrave, an experienced captain of St. Male, who had distinguished himself by making several profitable fur voyages to Tadoussiic, where the Saguenai runs into the St. Lawrence, engaged as his associate Mons. Chauvin,a naval officer, who obtained from Henry lY. in IGOO a commission under which, MXSfiim 8 FliUM IIOMK TO HOME. forming themselves into a company, tliey carried out some very successful voyages, obtaining a great many excellent furs from the Indians in return for what we should probably in the present day designate as some very rubbishy articles de Paris. After the death of Chauvin in 1G03, a company of merchants was formed at Rouen, under the presidency of the commander De Chaste, Governor of Dieppe, and a large number of ships sailed under Pont Grave, associated with whom was a naval officer of great enterprise and ability, whose histo^-y and exploits form so interesting a part of early Canadian history. Samuel Champlain had been attached to the Court of Henri IV., and obtaining permission from him to join the Dieppe company, sailed with his comrades on March 15th, 1603, and they moored in the St. Lawrence on May 24th. The captain took his boats up as far as Sault St. Louis, and proceeded to examine its shores and the country lying to the south of the great i iver. He returned to France, and published in 1603 an account of his travels under the title of *Des Sauvages, ou Voyage de Samuel Champlain,' and re- visiting Canada he made further explorations, and passing southwards gave his name to the beautiful lake with which it has ever since, and ever will be associated. He at first took up Tadoussac, at the mouth of the Saguenai, as a trading station, but subsequently selected the far more commanding site at the mouth of the St. Charles, and there he laid the CANADA, A.IK 1G03-1630. !) fouiidation of a city to which, keeping to the Indian word, vvhicli indicated the narrowing of the river, ho gave the name of Quebec, and designated it Ca))itid of New France, (liami)lain wrote very clear accounts of liis journeys, especially his atteni{)t in passing up the river of the Outaouais to discover the North- West passage by striking upon the bay which Hudson had just discovo'ed. In his second expedi- tion up that river he turned oif to the western shore of Lake Hudson and then south to Lake Ontario, where he made an alliance with the Hurons, and assisted them in their attacks upon the Iroquois, an alliance which New France had much cause after- wards to deplore. A complete addition of Champlain's voyage was published in Paris in the year 1640. It was during Champlain's governorship that Quebec, in 1G29, first surrendered to the English under David Kirk; it was ceded again to France, however, by the treaty in the year following, and remained under French rule for another thirty years. The long series of troubles between the French and the Indians began, as I have said, by the alliance that was made by Champlain with the Hurons and the Algonquins against the Iroquois. These Algon- quins, whose descendants are well known to us as the Crees, and who at that time possessed tiie whole tract of country on the north shores of the St. Lawrence, from the Saguenai to the Lake Nipissing, had given refuge and assistance to the Hurons, known perhaps more correctly as the Tionnontatis U^'iit^t ■ .-.. ..' ..M;u^s:< 10 FIIOM IWMK TO lloMK. or Adii'ondjicks. Tlicso baiuls liad Ih'uii driven froiii tlieir territory on tlio west nliore of Luke Huron l)y tlio five nations, coiisistinj^ of tlie Moliawks, tlie Senecas, or Tsonnontouans, tlie Onn(jntiif^ueH, the OneidaH, and tlio Cayugas. These five tribes, after- wards joined by tlie Tuscaroras, became famous in American liistory as "The Six Nations," and were classed by the French under the common name of Iroquois. They violently resented the assistance o-iven by the French to their enemies, the Algon- (juins and the Ilurons. Many were the attacks made by them on the French colonists, and even to this day the marks of their tomahawks may be seen on the stairs of the Ursuline convent at Quebec. During the whole of that century the colonists were never free from alarms, and were frequently in hazard of total extermination ; the province of New France had become almost as much a missionary' station as a commercial settlement, a very general zeal for the Christian instruction of Indians was excited through- out the old country, and many individuals of rank and property devoted their lives and fortunes to the cause, and the great missionary body of the Society of Jesus, the inner circle of the Catholic leligion, were the leaders of, and finally took the direction of, this undertaking. In considering the work of the Jesuits it may indeed be questioned whether their contentions with the Governors and their want of toleration of other religions were not to some extent instrumental in preventing the advance of the THE JESUITS. VkUE MASsfj. 11 -'11 from iron l)y ks, tlie CK, tlic S aftcr- lons in J were anio of istancu Algon- 3 mnde to this 3en on )uring never ard of 'ranee n as a 3r tlie ough- rank ;o the 3ciety ig'ion, on of, f tlie their nt of xrent the colony ; but the great piety, the high intellectual powers, the undaunted zeal, the unceasing persever- ance, tlie entire forgetfulness of self, the patient endurance of har(lshi[) and heroic suffering, termina- ting often in death amidst the most excruciating tortures, raised among the wildest savages wiio prized above all things tlie ability to endure pain unmoved, a reverential respect for the Christians, and for the Christian God. The history of the Jesuits has been well told by Mr. Parkman in his extracts from the volumes of reports which they regularly transmitted to their parent bodies in Paris and in Rome. Of the extreme accuracy with which these reports were made out, I may give an interesting illustration. When I was at Quebec in the autumn of IHS.'J I had diiven over to the house of my friend Mr. Dobell to see the beauties of the neighbourhood of Quebec, and wandering with him through his grounds, down the liill towards his big timber wharves and booms on the St. Lawrence at Silleri, I saw the monu- ment which he and the village had erected to Masse, one of the earliest Jesuit missionaries, who died in 1G46. My host told me an interesting history of the foundation of this mission and of the thrivinir Huron colony which the Jesuits had gathered round them at this place, and which continued to thrive till, after the death of Masse, the Iroquois came down from the lakes and massacred every one of them, and the whole colony was wiped out. li FItoM IKtMh: TO IKiMK, A lew vearn ami two .JuHuits camt' over from PariH, and brouglit with tliein tVoin \\\v'\\' ardiivi-s u plan of the cliapel, an 14. ■ • ' ^ i l'..l '11 A. \i\ jl't'U 'f u ^^iini a-i J 5 i ' Ml -^■ n tl .SSr^'E*- ■;-.-. .•■vl ill Vll ill rj I 01 n. ^ I I ' '5 THE TAKING OF QUEBEC. 17 The description of the locality and the account of the fight has been given so well in the pnges of Bancroft's * History of the American Revolution,' and will be read with so much interest by any one visiting Quebec who may have this book with him, that I venture to extract it. " Every officer knew his appointed duty, when, at one o'clock in the morning of tiie 13th September, Wolfe, with Monckton and Murray, and about half the forces, set oft' in boats, and, without sails or oars, glided down with the tide. In three-quarters of an hour the ships followed, and, though the night had become dark, aided by the rapid current, they reached the cove just in time to cover the landing. Wolfe and the troops with him leaped on shore ; the light infantry, who found themselves borne by the current a little below the intrenched path, clambered up the steep hill, staying themselves by the roots and boughs of the maple and spruce and ash trees tliat covered the precipitous declivity, and, after a little firing, dispersed the picket which guarded the height. The rest ascended safely by the pathway. A battery of four guns on the left was abandoned to Colonel Howe. When Townshend's division dis- embarked, the English had already gained one of the roads to Quebec, and, advancing in front of the forest, Wolfe stood at daybreak with his invincible battalions on the plains of Abraham, the battlefield of Empire. " ' It can be but a small party, come to burn a few .in: ill I* ii! 1 18 FJiOM HOME TO HOME. hovels and retire,' said Montcalm, in amazement, as the news reached him in his intrenchments on the other side of the St. Charles ; but obtaining better information, — " Then,' he cried, ' they have at last got to the weak side of this miserable garrison ; we must give battle and crush them before mid-day.' And before ten, tlie two armies, equal in numbers, each being composed of less than five thousand men, were ranged in presence of one another for battle. The English, not easily accessible from intervening shallow ravines and rail fences, were all regulars, perfect in discipline, terrible in their fearless enthusiasm, thrilling with pride at their morning's success, commanded by a man whom they obeyed with confidence and love. The doomed and devoted Montcalm had what Wolfe had called but *five weak French battalions,' of less than two thousand men, * mingled with disorderly peasantry,' formed on ground which commanded the position of the English. The French had three little pieces of artillery ; the English one or two. The two armies cannonaded each other for nearly an hour ; when Montcalm, having summoned Bougainville to his aid, and despatched messenger after messenger for Be Yandreuil, who had fifteen hundred men at the camp, to come up before he should be driven from the ground, endeavoured to flank the British and crowd them down the high bank of the river. Wolfe counteracted the movement by detaching Townshcnd with Amherst's regiment, and afterwards THE DEATH OF WOLFE. lU izement, as nts on the ling better ive at last prison ; we ! mid-day.' [1 numbers, jsand men, for battle, ntervening 1 regulars, ir fearless morning's ley obeyed nd devoted but *five 3 thousand •y,' formed ion of the 5 pieces of two armies our ; when ille to his ssenger for men at the riven from British and the river. detaching afterwards a part of the Royal Americans who formed on the left with a double front. " Waiting no longer Tor more troops, Montcalm led the French army impetuously to the attaci<. The ill-disciplined companies broke by sheer precipitation and the unevenness of the ground ; and fired \ / platoons, without unity. Tlie English, especially the forty-third and forty-seventh, where Monckton stood, received the shock with calmness, and after having, at Wolfe's command, reserved their fire till their enemy was within forty yards, their line began a regular, rapid, and exact discharge of musketry. Montcalm was present everywhere, braving danger, wounded, but cheering by his example. The second in command, De Sennezergues, an associate in glory at Ticonderoga, was killed. The brave but untried Canadians, flinching from a hot fire in the open field, began to waver, and, so soon as Wolfe, placing himself at the head of the twenty-eighth and the Louisburg grenadiers, charged with bayonets, they everywhere gave way. Of the English officers, Carleton was wounded ; Barre, who fought near Wolfe, received in the head a ball which destroyed the power of vision of one eye, and ultimately made him blind. Wolfe, pJso, as he led the charge, was wounded in the wrist, but still pressing forward, he received a second ball ; and, having decided the day, was struck a third time, and mortally, in the breast. ' Support me,' he cried to an officer near him : ' let not mv brave fellows see me drop.' lie was carried I ii my c 2 20 FliOM no ME TO HOME. V • ' i ll i to the ruar, and tliey hroiiu^lit liiiii water to (jiKJiich Ilia tliirst. ' Tlioy run, tliey run,' i.poku tlio oflicer on wliorn lie leaned. ' Who run? ' asked VVolfe, as life was ebbing*. ' The French,' replied the oilicer, ' give way everywhere.' ' What,' cried the ex- piring hero, ' do they run already ? Go, one of you to Colonel Burton ; bid him march Webb's regiment with all speed to Charles River to cut off the fugi- tives.' Four days before, he had looked forward to early death with dismay. * Now, God be praised, I die happy.' These were his words as his spirit escaped in the blaze of his glory. Night, silence, the rushing tide, veteran discipline, the sure in- spiration of genius, had been his allies ; his battlefield high over the ocean-river, was the grandest theatre on earth for illustrious deeds; his victory, one of the most momentous in the annals of mankind, gave to the English tongue and the institutions of the Germanic race the unexplored and seemingly in- finite West and North. He crowded into a few hours actions that would have given lustre to length of life ; and filling his day with greatness, completed it before its noon. ** Monckton, the first brigadier, after greatly distin- guishing himself, was shot through the lungs. The next in command, Townshend, brave, but deficient in sagacity and attractive power and the delicate perception of right, recalled the troops from the pursuit, and when De Bougainville appeared in view, declined a contest with a fresh enemy. But THE DEATH OF MONTCALM. 21 5 alrciuly the liope of Now Franco was gone. Born and educated in camps, Montcalm liad been carefully instructed and was skilled in the langunf^o of Homer as well as in the art of war. Greatly laborious, just, disinterested, hopeful even to rashness, saf^acious in council, swift in action, his mind was a wells[)ring of bold designs ; his career in Canada a wonderful struggle against inexorable destiny. Sustaining hunger and cold, vigils and incessant toil, anxious for his soldiers, unmindful of himself, he set even to the forest-trained red men an example of self-denial and endurance ; and in the midst of corruption made the public good his aim. Struck by a musket ball, as he fought opposite Monckton, he continued in the engagement, till in attempting to rally a body of fugitive Canadians in a copse near St. John's Gate, ho was mortally wounded. " On hearing from the surgeon tliat death was certain — ' I am glad of it,' he cried ; * how long shall I survive ? ' * Ten or twelve hours, perhaps less.' * So much the better ; I shall not live to see the surrender of Quebec' To the Council of War he showed that in twelve hours all the troops near at hand might be concentrated and renew the attack before the English were intrenched. When De Ramsay, who commanded the garrison, asked his advice about defending the city, — ' To your keeping,' he replied, ' I commend the honour of France. For myself, I shall pass the night with God, and prepare myself for death.' Having wpwiiiii i— — -I ■-^-' — 22 FIIOM HOME TO IK^MK. I I wnttoii a letter rccoininentliiif]^ tlio Frcucli priHoncrs to the generosity of tlie Eii^HkIi, Ih'h last liours wore given to tlie hope of endless life, and at five the next morning he expired. " The day of the battle had not pansed when I)e Vandreiiil, who had no capacity for war, wrote to De Kanisay at Quebec not to wait for an assault, but, as soon as his provisions were exhausted, to raise tlie wliite flag of surrender. ' We have cheerfully sacrificed our fortunes and our houses,* said the citizens ; ' but we cannot expose our wives and children to a massacre.' At a (Council of War, Fied- mont, a captain of artillery, was the only one who wished to hold out to the last extremity, and, on tlie 17th of September, before the English had con- structed batteries, De Ramsay capitulated." In the King's speech on the meeting of Parliament, November 13tli of tl\at year, his Majesty acquainted Parliament with "the I '^^^py progress of our successes, from the taking of Goree, on the coast of Africa, to the conquest of so many important places in America, with the defeat of the French arms in Canada, and the reduction of their capital city of Quebec, effected with so much honour to the courage and conduct of His Majesty's officers both at sea and land, and with so great lustre to his intrepid forces." The definitive Peace of Paris between France, Spain, England and Portugal was signed February 1 0th, 1763, under which France ceded to England Nova Scotia, Canada, and the country east of the rnSffmX OF CAXA/hi T(f dliKAT ItltJTMS. 2;) MiHsissippi aa fiir as Ihorvillo. A lino drawn down tho MiHsissippi from xin sourco to its mouth was tlicncefortli to form tlio boundary between tlie possessions of tlie two nations, except that New Orleans was not to bo included in this cession. France also coiled Capo Breton, with the coasts of the St. Lawrence and its islands, retaining, under certain restrictions which have lately led to so much controversy, rights with regard to the fishin<; ofT Newfoundland and in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, at a distatice of three leagues from the shore, and the islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon as a shelter for their fishermen. Spain ceded to Great Britain Florida and all districts east of the Mississippi, but she was partly indemnified by receiving from France New Orleans and all Louisiana west of the Mississippi, renouncing all rights to participate in the Newfound- land fisheries. Article 4 of this Treaty is of great interest, and is in the following terms : — " La France renonce en favour du lloi de la Grande- Bretagne, a toutes les pre'tentions qu'elle a pu former a r Acadie ou a la Nouvelle-Ecosse en-toutes ses parties, et la garantit toute entiere et avec toutes ses depen- dances, au Roi de la Grande-Bretagne ; elle lui cede et garantit de plus le Canada avec toutes ses de'pen- dances, ainsi que I'ile du Cap-Breton et toutes les autres iles et cotes dans le Golfe et fleuve de Saint- Laurent. Le Roi de la Grande-Bretagne accorde aux habitans du Canada le libre exercice de la religion catholique, en tant que le perraettent les lois de 24 FliOM no ME TO HOME, • 91 ' r-i. I, V TAngleterre. Les liabitans fran9ois dii Canada pourront vendrc leurs biens ; pourvu que ce soit h des sujcts britanniques, et sortir librement du pays avec leurs effets, pendant I'espace de dix-huit mois a compter du jour de I'echange des ratifications." In accordance with tliese engagements England set to work at once to establish a government in Canada, and a Governor-General being appointed, in the month of December, 17G3, there were " constituted and appointed Yice-Adniirals and Judges of the Court of Admiralty, and proper officers to each of the provinces of Quebec, East and West Florida, and also in Granada, St. Vincent and Tobago, in like manner as Vice-Admiral, Judges, and other officers of such courts had been constituted by our High Admiral of Great Britain and Ireland for the time being in places in which they had been usually heretofore appointed ; " and in pursuance of that authority, so far as regarded the province of Quebec, appointments were issued under the seal of the High Court of Admiralty from 1764 down to 1786. In 1791 the country was divided into the provinces of Upper and Lower Canada ; Upper Canada being tlie present province of Ontario, and Lower Canada being conterminous with the province of Quebec, and they so remained until 1841. Then came the Act of 1867, imder which — after reciting the desire of the provinces of Canada to be federally united under the Crown, with a constitu- tion similar in principle to that of the United ex .i^ 4 UNION OF THE DOMINION. 25 Canada soit h u pays mois a ngland lent in ited, in itituted of the sacli of la> and in ]ike officers High 3 time sually f that uehec, High winces being mada lebec, after to be ititu- lited ^ 'i Kingdom, and that such a union would conduce to the welfare of the provinces, and promote the interests of the British Empire — Canada was divided into four provinces with power given to other provinces to join the Union, and to be one Dominion under the name of Canada ; and the present govern- ment of the Senate and the Legislative Assembly was established under a representative of the Queen, while separate Legislatures were continued to the provinces, tlie powers of the Dominion Legislature and the provincial Legislatures being clearly defined. Under this Act, the four provinces, Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick were united, and under it provision was made for the admission at any subsequent period of the other provinces and territories of British North America. In 1870 the province of Manitoba was formed, and, with that portion of the Hudson Bay Territories which lies between Manitoba and the Rocky Moun- tains, was al !i !l!!| |i 28 i?'i203/ TZOil/^; TO HOME. Governor, so the discontented alleged, merely to get rid of a politician who had been an unsuccessful Minister of Public Works. The leader of the revolutionary party was Louis Riel. He was pro- claimed in February, " President of the Republic of the North- West, " and he was for a time pretty much of a Dictator. A provisional government was formed, the Hudson Bay Company were sent to the rightabout, and certain laws were framed ; but as a large portion of the English settlers did not agree with Riel and his ways, and so endeavoured to oppose him, continual hubbub reigned in the country for more than a year. He was a young man of pure French-Canadian descent who, " although he had not a drop of Indian blood in his veins, had a large number of half-breed relations and connections, and, in order to identify himself as much as possible with the people, he invariably spoke of himself as a half-breed. He was a man of considerable moral determination, although all who knew him say he was wanting in physical courage. His command of language was great and his power over his audience immense." He and his followers opposed and ill- treated the remaining servants of the Company, seized its property, and completed their career of violence by the deliberate murder of a loyal Canadian, *' Orangeman and volunteer," of the name of Hugh Scott. This atrocity roused popular feeling in Canada far more strongly than the political acts of Riel and his followers. These had despatched two RED RIVER REBELLION. 29 ly to get uccessful of tlie vas pro- 3ublic of ty much snt was sent to ed ; but did not avoured in the young [though 5, had a actions, possible If as a moral say he and of ^dience nd ill- ipany, eer of ad I an, Hugh g in cts of I two delegates. Father Kichot and Alfred Scott, to Ottawa, in order to negotiate with the delegates there. Tliese gentlemen were apprehended there (in April) as accessories to the murder of Hugh Scott, the Canadian Grovernment having at the time of the murder acquired jurisdiction over the Red River by the Company's cession. They were how- ever discharged, no evidence being preferred. But their mission, the murder of Scott being as yet un- avenged, came to nothing. The Canadian Government came to the conclu- sion that force must be employed, and the British troops in Canada had to furnish a contingent. One battalion of infantry, two of Canadian militia, and a small party of artillery and engineers, were selected for the purpose, under command of Colonel Wolseley. Between the head of Lake Superior and the Red River about jB.ve hundred miles were to be passed of country without a road (one had been projected by Canada, but a small portion of it only was even marked out), of a region composed of thick forest, swamp, bush-covered rocks, and small lakes of intricate navigation. The route is described by a member of the expedition as " forty-eight miles by road through the forest to Shenandowan Lake, and from thence about three hundred and ten miles by rivers and lakes, with about seventeen portages to the Lake of the Woods. Some of these portages were more than a mile in length ; and when it is remembered that all the boats, stores, &c., required i, 11 30 FROM HOME TO HOME. IHI |:'|i!: foi" the expedition liad to be carried by tbe soldiers over tliese breaks in tlie navigation, an idea cHi>. be formed of the physical labour which such an opera- tion would entail. From the Lake of the Woods to Fort Garry was about one hundred miles in a direct line by land, but there was only a road made for about sixty miles of that distance, the unmade portion being laid out over most difficult swamps ; " and ultimately it was necessary to avoid the diffi- culties of this last portion by a circuitous movement down the Winnipeg River. The expedition reached Fort Garry, the head- quarters of the Hudson Bay Company, and now of Riel and his rebel followei's, on the 23rd of August. They were welcomed enthusiastically by the loyal party, and met with no opposition from the dis- affected. Riel abdicated on the near approach of Colonel (now General, Lord) Wolseley and his troops, and from that day to this law and order have existed throughout the Canadian North-West. About this time the Honourable Donald A. Smith arrived in the country, in the capacity of Com- missioner on behalf of the Dominion Government. To Mr. Smith's cool-headed judgment and undaunted firmness, combined with a fine sense of fair-play, is due the absence o^ any very serious scenes of blood- shed ; and an AoX was passed, giving to the people of Manitoba the same representative institutions as those of the other provinces of Canada, and the i THE HUDSON BAY COMPANY. 31 soldiers I cai*. be n opera- Voods to a direct lade for unmade amps ; " he diffi- )vement head- now of August, e loyal he dis- Colonel ps, and existed Smith Com- nment. aim ted >Iay, is blood- people utions )d the i "British Government did not experience the loss of a single man. It remains for me to give some account of the origin and proceedings of the great Company which administered with so much success the affairs of the whole of this part of Canada and even a considerable territory to the south of the present ^ 'oundary line of the two countries, and which existed as the sole governing power until the events of the last few years brought the North- West within the Dominion. The department of the north consisted of three distinct portions, under the names of the North-West, Ruj^ert's Land, and tlie Red River Colony. The trade of the North- West was first opened up to our knowledge by the exploring party under Samuel Ilearne, who in 1769 set off from Churchill on the Hudson Bay and explored the interior as far as the Copper River. After him the land to the south and west was discovered, if indeed one may apply tlie term discovered to their visits, by the servants of the North-West Company at certain intervals. That Company was formed in Canada in 1783, with the intention of consolidating the interests of those who since the conquest of New France by England continued the fur trade in this country, taking their name from the fact that, setting out from Canada, they directed themselves towards the north-west of the continent. After carrying on a ruinous rivalry with the Hudson Bay Company, they became amalgamated 32 FltOM HOME TO HOME. ill If ; I : \ I in 1821 ; and obtiiined togetlier tlio exclusive privilege of trading in furs witli the Indians to tlio west of Rupert's Land. This privilege was granted in that year for twenty-one years, but before the expiration of the term, namely, in 1838, it was renewed for another twenty-one years, expiring in 1850. At that last date the monopoly ceased. The territory of Rupert's Land embraces all the countries watered by the streams falling into the Hudson Bay, including James Bay, and was under the complete control of the Hudson Bay Company. As the title to their lands has been on many occa- sions the subject of a very close inquiry, it may be interesting here briefly to state Low the matter stood. In 1626 a charter was granted by Louis XIII. to the company of New France granting to them the whole of the territory of the Bay of the Hudson. In 1670 a similar charter was granted by our Charles II. to Prince Rupert and his companion adventurers, and it is said that by the treaty of Riswick, in 1696, the whole of this territory was acknowledged as belonging to France. But whether this was so or not, the treaty of Utrecht in 1713 ceded to England the coast of the Bay of Hudson, and clearly from that time this country belonged to England. The limits of the Frencb and English possessions were not, however, well defined, and it was not till the treaty of Paris in 1763, under which, as I have shown, the whole of the French possessions were ceded to ai til \{ V I tl ol Sf a tl li U THE It Hit inVEIi COLOW. I l*iiii;'laiK], tliiit it can be siiid tliiit tliero wan a eoiiiplcto and satisfactory title of the ITiulsoii Bay Company to the whole of tlicse possessions. The third division of this northern land was tlio Red Kiver Colony. It was in 1812 that an enter- prisinr;; Scotchman, holdin*^ a In'f^h position in the Hudson Bay Company, Lord Selkirk, concei\(Ml the project of founding a small colony in the middle of Rupert's Land, and for this purpose obtained the cession of a certain extent of land nn the borders of the Red River and the Assiniboine, and comnienced there an establishment wdiicli until re- cently bore the name of the Selkirk Settlement, the Red River Settlement, or the Assiniboine Settlement. The limits of the land purchased was a ra-ed with haviiifi; so long kept this groat land in its unrecognised and unknown state for the purpose of carrying oti their trade without interference, it has been the develop- ment of railways that has alone made the North- West a possible country. The company have indeed, whatever may have been their faults, left behind them a character which will ever remain, of having administered their affairs in a spirit of absolute justice to the aboriginal inhabitants. It may be said that they only acted in their own interest in so doing, as unless the Indians had been kept alive in their rigorous winters and had been paid for their work with fairness and justice, the Hudson Bay Company could not have carried on their very lucrative fur trade ; but whatever may have been the motive cause, the result, at any rate, has been that in the long annals of their trade with the Indians not a single charge of injustice has ever been made against the company or of wrong done to the red man ; and even now, nothing has more conduced to a complete exploration and to an undisturbed opening up of this country than the absolute security from attack that has been the result of these long years of justice and fair dealing. I'liYsuwi I. t Lit k OH iclif!:»;;in f al)out )0 miles l<'s, and h. The contain lalf llic ig" over bet per > water, nil into rio, tlie id from m, the uehec a with a 1 great )uthci'n 'obably t is hnt ia] soil, rs, the )ta\vay Little »ii and miles and is s, and drains DRAINAGE AJih'AS. 87 tlie country which lies south-west of James Hay tlnough 10 degrees of longitude. The tliird jrreat drai ongi lajre area is that from whicli tlie waters are poured into Lake Winnipeg. Tlio Saskatchewan, "tlie water that runs rapidly," rises in the Rocky ^[ountains in two great branches; the streams of its southern branch begin with the Uelly Kiver, which lias its origin in the Chief Mountain below the boundary line, and gets its name from its passing through the country of the Gros Ventres ; it is joined at Stand Off by the Kootenai, which has its rise in the lakes of that name, and further east by the Old- Man-coming-down-from-the-Crow's-Nest pass, and bringing with its waters IVomFort McLeod those of the Willow Creek, which has its rise a little further to the north. Some thirty miles lower down the Belly liiver is joined by the Little Bow River, and about forty miles further to the west by the Bow River, bringing in the streams from the neigh- bourhood of Calgary. From this last point it be- comes the South Saskatchewan, and after receiving a considerable volume of water from the Red Deer or Elk River, which is in fact the bigger of the two streams, it runs in a north-easterly direction to Fort a la Corne, where it is united with the nortii branch, that has had its origin alike in the eastern slopes of the Rockies, and has run past Battleford and Prince Albert. From this junction their waters run over G degrees of longitude through the Cedar Lake into the north-western end of Lake Winnipeg, ! i..' ::i| 38 FIWM HOME TO HOME. -'; Ml I.'ii l:;l Mi: '' I! '! \7.S t 'm^ :; li m Into tlie same lake runs from the east the Winnipeg River, tlie outlet of the numerous lakes and rivers which lie to the north-west of Lake Superior — the Lake of the Woods, Rainy Lake and River, English River, Lonely Lake, and many others. From the Lake of the Woods the Winnipeg River is said to fall 500 feet in 125 miles, and thus is of course not navigahle for steamers, though it was, even with its dangerous rapids and frequent portages, the route by which their trade was conducted by the fur com- panies. Into the southern enu of Lake Winnipeg runs from the south the Red River, having its rise in the States from tlie height of land where its head streams interlace with those which form the first waters of the Mississippi. The Red River takes a direct northerly course through the province of Manitoba, receiving at Fort Garry or Winnipeg the Assiuiboine, bringing the joint waters of the Qu'Ap- pelle and Souris from the west, and after a course of about 350 miles falls into the Lake Winnipeg. The outlet of this lake is through the Nelson River and the Hayes River. From the point where the Nelson leaves the lake to York Factory on Hudson Bay, is 300 miles in an air line, or 400 following the course of the river, and for the last 100 miles it is navigable for steamers. At its mouth at high tide it has a breadth of b or 7 miles, but narrows rapidly to the head of the tide water, 24 miles up, to a width of \\ miles. Above this it varies from one half tu one mile, witli 20 or 40 feet de})th, and a velo- iiE.rnirTs of land. 39 mnipeg rivers or — the English om the H to fall rse not ivith its e route nr com- nnipeg its rise ts head le first ;akes a nee of •eg the 3u'Ap- course mipeg. River re the [udson owiner miles high ri'ows up, to 11 one velo- city of 2J to 3 miles per hour. At the mouth of tlie river the spring-tides rise about 12 feet and neaps about 6. It is scarcely likely that this river could ever be used as a water-way between Lake Winnipeg and Hudson Bay, though Mr. Bell (Greological Report 1877-8) estimates that it has four times the quantity of water of the Ottawa at the Chaudiere Falls, or about the same amount as that of the St. Lawrence at Nir.gara. At 120 miles from Lake Winnipeg all the waters of the Nelson unite for the first time after leaving Play Green Lake, and the channel is there about a quarter of v. mile wide, with a depth of from 40 to 50 feet and a current of 3 miles per hour. T have visited the height of land of all these three watersiieds ; of the St. Lawrence by following up the chain of lakes to Dulutli at the head of Lake Superior, and thence up the beautiful St. Louis, as it falls in a series of lovely cascades, along the line of the radway wliicli connects Duluth with Brainerd, from a small chain of pretty lakes only a few miles distant from those in which, above Brainerd, the Mississippi has its rise ; of the Red River in the courses of tlie high prairies above Braikenridge and Glyndon, and of its affluent Assiniboine in the treeless prairies of the Souris and tlie alkaline lakes to the east of the Cypress Hills, where it is sometimes not easy to say in which direction the streams run ; and lastly of the Saskatchewan, of its head waters on the glorious slopes of the Chief Mountain and the Kootenai Lakes, and of its affluent, the Bow River ; but of the fourth great i! 3I J I 1 !l I' II !i M ■ 40 FIWM HOME TO HUME. drainage area of the Mackenzie I can speak only by report, and I must hope that life may yet be long enough for me to visit this mighty stream, which takes its rise as the Frazor Hiver in the Cascade range of the Northern Rockies, conveying the waters of the northern part of British Columbia, and cutting its way through the mountains at the Peace River pass, runs under that name into Lake Athabasca. Here it is joined by the Athabasca River, which has run in a north-westerly direction from the Tellowhead pass, the pass through which it was originally planned to carry the Canadian Pacific Railway ; their joint waters run as the Slave River into the Great Slave Lake, and then flow as the Mackenzie River, receiving in its passage the waters of the Great Bear Lake, into the Arctic Ocean in latitude 70. This stream has a course of probably nearly 3000 miles, and it is said tliat 2000 of this is adapted to steam navigation, and its drainage area is certainly not less than half a million square miles. Further still to the west conies the Yukon River, which, after a comparatively short course through Canadian land, turns away into the United States territory of Alaska, and flows also into the Arctic Sea. On going West from Winnipeg we rise by two distinct steps to the plateau of the Rocky Mountains. At Winnipeg the land is at an elevation of 700 or 800 feet above tlio ^ea, and so continues from the 97th meridian, on which Winnii)eg stands, u[) to the SYSTEM OF SURVEY. 41 )iily by )e Jong h takes mge of of the is way runs e it is n in a I pass, ned to joint Slave eiving Lake, stream d it is ation, half a ^iver, "OUgll states Lrctfc two aiiis. or tlie ) the 101st, with a prairie area of this elevation of about 7000 square miles. At the 101st there is an elevation of 1300, and from this meridian, for a distance westward of about 250 miles, decreasing to 200 miles on the 54th parallel, there is an average altitude of 1600 feet; and thence, for a distance of about 450 miles, the prairie plateau, extending over an area of 130,000 square miles, is 2000 feet above the sea, attaining at the 113th meridian, at the base of the foot-hills of the Rocky Mountains, an altitude of over 4000 feet. A fuller description of this country will of course appear in my personal narrative. It remains to say a few words on the system of survey which has been adopted through the whole of the North- West region, and which makes it easy to describe the country with accuracy, and to define any particular locality. A first principal meridian was taken a little to the west of the 97tli meridian, at about 12 miles to the west of the city of "Winnipeg, the southern foundation of the survey being of course the 49tli parallel, the boundary line between Canada and the United States. The whole of this district is surveyed out into blocks six miles square. On going westward these blocks are spoken of as ''ranges," and on going north, as " townships," and in their enumeration on the maps, tlie latitude of the townships is marked by Arabic numerals, the longitude of the ranges being in Roman numerals. From the one princi[)al meridian to thu next priu- 42 FliOM no ME TO no ME. cipal meridian is 33 ranges. The only difficulty arises from the narrowing of the degrees of longi- tude as you progress northward, necessitating a correction in the western ranges of each principal meridian. Each of these ranges or townships is t • 31 — ■ ■'■B2- ■ t • * 1 « • .---33--- * 1 ...-.34... 1 1 35-- • • 1 ."■ " 1 • 1 • ....8p-... • • 1 Sdroo) ,...29--.. 1 1 1 1 ...-28.-- 1 1 t 1 ....2)...- 1 1 1 • ....27-..- 1 * ■ H. B.j Cos ....26-..- Lnnlds 1 1 ...is---- 1 1 1 1 1 ■■- lb- - i 1 1 1 r I ...20-." 1 t 1 ....22--- 1 • 1 1 "-23--- 1 1 ■--24--- 1 1 1 1 • I'S"-- • • 1 1 1 ■-l>-- 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 -...('5.--^ 1 1 ---■1.4 — - 1 t 1 ; 13—- 1 1 1 ---->!---• 1 H B.j Cos JLanjds t 1 1 1 1 -...(0-... 1 1 1 Scl^ool Lanlds 1 1 1 --- li -- * 1 ! ---6 -- 1 1 1 1 1 1 t 1 t ... 4. .. 1 « 1 1 1 1 ....3..-. 1 1 ( • • DiAGHAJi showing the division of a Township into sections. Each Fcction — a square mile — is sub-dividod into quarter sections of IGO acres. The even nunihers arc reserved for Free Grant llomesteads and tlieir attached I're-emptions. six miles square, consisting therefore of 36 square miles. Beginning from the south-eastern corner of this block, each square mile is numbered, as will be seen in the annexed diagram ; sections 11 and 29 SYSTEM OF SURVEY. 43 in each township being set apart for tlie endowment and the maintenance of the schools of the township ; sections 8 and 20 being allotted to the Hudson Bay Company in respect of their charter rights ; within the range of 24 miles on each side of the main line of any branch of the Canadian Pacific Railway the odd-numbered sections have been granted to the railway, the even-numbered sections being reserved for free-grant homesteads and their attached pre-emptions. Each of these sections of one mile square, or 640 acres, is again sub-divided into its four quarter sections of 100 acres each, and every settler has a right to take up as a homestead any block of 100 acres that he may find unoccupied, for which he will have to pay only a small registration fee, and he may occupy for pre-emption the adjoin- ing or any other section of 160 acres, for vvliich he will have to pay at the rate of 2^ dollars per acre at the end of three years from the date of his entry. It will be seen, therefore, that it is within the power of a settler to obtain a farm of 320 acres upon payment of somewhere about £80, the payment of almost the whole of this sum being, as I said, post- poned for three years. It is not my purpose here (for it would take up far too great a space) to enumerate the parts of the country to which I would specially direct the atten- tion of settlers. I think it right, however, to warn such persons that while there is an enormous amount of good and most valuable land in the Nortli-West, i I ■J i t w It, J ^i1 there is also plenty of it which m comparatively useless. My best advice to every settler is not to buy a yard of land, or expend any money on any settlement, till he shall have thoroughly discovered its merits or demerits, either by personal examina- tion, or by a report by some person on whose powers of observation he can rely equally with his own, and even in this latter case I should almost as soon think of trusting anybody else to make a selection for me of a wife or a horse, as I should of the land that is to be my home and to furnish the means of main- taining it. The great grain-growing country of the North- West is said to be practically illimitable ; but as far as I have been able to ascertain, its best land is to be found at the junction of the two Saskatchewans, in the neighbourhood of Prince Albert and Battleford. There is undoubtedlv some fine farmin": land in the neighbourhood of Qu'Appelle ; but in my judgment, from Qu'Appelle westward — the land that is traversed by the Canadian Pacific Railway — to the crossing of the Saskatchewan, is land which requires careful consideration before the settler makes his purchase. Experimental farms have most properly been laid out along the line by the Railway Company during the last year, and we shall wait with veiy great interest the report of the produce of those farms. There has indeed been brought into cultivation in this verv country the whole area of land called the Bell Farm, and the reports that are given from this farm lot to ijrALITY ill' LAN IK 45 seem to be exceediiifflv satisfactorv, and if it should turn out that Jie hind iiround J3roadview, Regina and Moosejaw, and other sections of this portion of the prairie, is capable of producing high class grain, and that in the majority of years tlie frosts do not reach too late into the summer, or fall on the crops too early in the autumn, this land will be un- doubtedly one of the great granaries of the world. These remarks will not, I am sure, be understood as in any way prejudging the question, my only desire being to prevent any damage to the future of the country which may arise from an in- judicious and too profuse recommendation of its qualities; for nothing would more surely interfere with immigration than a bad report from a disap- pointed settler, and after all there is no such great hurry in the matter. The experience of a year or two will tell us the capabilities of this district, and meanwhile there is plenty of land of undoubtedly good quality that has yet to be filled ujj and farmed. U'i- ; 46 FliOM HOME TO HOME. m- :«} i CHAPTER riT. llAVTxa tliiiH described tlie pliysical c]i;iractor C)f the land we are about to visit, and having sum- marised its history, let us take our passage on board one of the boats of the Messrs. Allan, and " ingens iterabimus a^quor." I will not select for my readers any one particular boat of the fleet. I have had the pleasure of crossing the Atlantic in every one of them, and although the first and last, the Polynesian and the Sardinian are naturally my first and last loves, I do not wish to extol them or their genial captains at the expense of any of the four others. I venture, however, to make this recommendation with reference to all ocean steamers, that it would be a great improvement if instead of the cumbrous marble washing-stands in the cabins they could fix some light apparatus, so that it might be possible after every arrival in port to remove it from its place to clean the cabin, and take everything on deck for a perfect ventilation, while all the interior is well scoured out. A very little trouble and a very slight expense in such matters would prevent a good deal of the nasty cabin smell which so dreadfully interferes with the comfort of the intending traveller. ATLANTIC VOYAGE. 47 Well, then, it is Tlmrsilay morning, and we are on board one of these good ships, and as soon after the hour of noon as the tide may permit, we are steaming away down the Mersey and across the bar. As night conies on we are lighted \\\) by the gorgeous glare of the Hen and Chickens light of the Isle of Man, and then passing along the Irish coast we enter next morning into Lough Foyle, and await our extra passengers and mails oft' Moville, with a pretty view of the interesting ruins of Green Castle and the hills tliat rise behind it. All being ready, the passengers who have had to scurry across Ire-' land being received somewhat as repentant sinners, away we steam again ; and turning round to the west we bear away, leaving Tory Island, the last visible spot of Europe, behind us, and find ourselves in the Atlantic. There are few more pleasant hours to the busy man than the entire rest and enjoyment of life on the ocean steamer. He to whom, for example, novels are at other times sealed books, finds himself stretched at length on a sofa, and indulging in the full excite- ment of those wondrous tales. After a while he finds himself promenading and preparing for his next meal, and for excitement then; is the sweep on the dav's run, with the auction and its attendant fun, in the hands of some good auctioneer ; and then the excellent meals provided by the Company, as to which the only criticism is that they would be better if the worthy cJwf worj'; be content not to attempt too much ; but above all there is the '•,1 / 1 w II a : ^l P ^1 48 FliOM HOME TO HOME. plcasiuit «;-eiii;il eompaniuiislilp of many und many an inleivsting friond wliosc; ac([uaintancc you tliere make ; and last, not loast, there is the concert or mock trial, which l)riiio;s into piny mucli dormant talent, nml in its pre))aration and discussion ensures many a ]»leasant lioui". r don't know liow it is, hut on ])oard an ocean steamer you meet comparati\'e]y few disaf^-reeal)le people. I^veryhody seems to tliink that they mi st try and ]>ut on at any rate their hest company manners, and to he pleasiint and gracious for tlie short time they are likely to he thrown together ; and so the days slip away, varied perhay)S by a heavy sea and the glories of the Atlantic rollers, until liaving passed tlirough " The Devil's Punch- howl " and " The Roaring I'orties," we come about tlio fifth or sixth day into the Arctic current, and the lowering temperature of the water shows that we liave passed through the Gulf Stream; a cry is raised of " an iceberg in sight," and we approach one of those most magnificent and interesting of all natural phenomena. If the sun is shining upon it the glorious colours of this wondrous edifice become more and more marvellous, rising as it does occasionally to some 150 or 200 feet above the surface of the water, with the sea dashing at its l)ase and occasionally breaking over it. This gigantic mass, which it has taken, in all probability, cen- turies to form on an Arctic coast, and which has floated downwards with its glacier stream and thc^n been broken awav., is now hurrvino: down the ocean ; I ll V n m ! ifl !i I .1 I I ICKIiEIiGfi-STRAITS OF JiELLE ISLE. 4f) \ I N current and grafliially hastening to its destruction. As to tlic depth to which the ice may extend below the surface of the water, and as to the consequent bulk of any particular iceberg, it is almost impossible to form any judgment. The height to which it reaches above the water can lead to no conclusion as to its depth below, depending, as it must, on the extent of the submerged plateau from which the peak that we see arises; and as we gaze at this, the first that is called to our attention, })robably many others come in sight, and if we are in luck we shall find ourselves coming quite near enough to several of them \o look into their crannies and crevices, and to observe the varying strata of their formation. Of course there is the old observation of the various objects to which it may l)e likened — a huge catafalque with its attendant monks, a giant cathedi'al, or an enormous beast of prey. These and many more are the images to which resemblance is drawn. So far as my observation has gone, the three most glorious sights in nature are the iceberg, Niagara, and the prairie and forest fires, each of the three being wholly dissimilar from the others, but each invested with a mysterious, supreme, and majestic power. After a run of some 1700 miles we find ourselves, if we are having a good passage, about Wednesday evening approaching the Straits of Belle Isle, and no little credit is due to the Allan Line for havinji* so persistently opened up this route. In 18()[ Captain l)allautyne put forward the eligibility of K i I ^1 ! 50 FROM JIOMI<: TO I/OMh\ this passage, as being far safer than that to the south of Newfoundland. Admiral Dayfiei J, however, about the same time entered his protest against it. The experience, nevertheless, of the last ten years has shown with how great safety the passage may be made, and that between the months of May and November it is safer than the old route, while it has the advantage of saving 120 miles between Liver- pool and Quebec. Passing, then, through the straits and leaving Belle Isle on our left hand, we steer into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and, if we have the ad- vantage of clear weather, we find ourselves passing Heath Point, the easternmost point of Anticosti, distant from Belle Isle 100 miles ; we leave the island on our right, and bear away in a westerly course tor the promontory of Gaspe, a further run of 100 miles. You will be told that Anticosti is a large island, and that it is in the market for any purchaser wlio may feel inclined to make an invest- ment. I think I may safely warn any such person to inquire more fully into the capabilities of the island for any other purpose than the breeding of a few bears and multitudes of mosquitoes before he is tempted to take any share in such an undertaking. At a distance of 200 miles from Gaspe we reach Father Point, and close to this at Rimouski we land mails and passengers for Nova Scotia, porpoises and white whales affording us a little amusement as we pass across the gulf, with an occasional visit from a few hawks chasing the small birds, and, if it is clear, a distant glimpse of tlie wooded hills. 4, t > QCEnEa—pnTXT lEvm. ni erson tlie of a le is i ( Wo find ourselves now within tlie mouth of the St. Lawrence, which is here 24 miles wide, and dotted along the shore are small fishing villages, and little Catholic clnircbes, and patches of cultivated land, backed hv hills clothed with woods, the home of the elk and cariboo, the former better known to tl«e Englishman as the wapiti, the latter as the ranedeer. Then comes the Isle of Orleans ; and as we pass along its western end, upon casting back the eye we catch a glimpse of the magnificent Montmorenci Falls, and a few minutes afterwards find ourselves under the citadel of Quebec, and come to our moor- ings at Point Levis. It was on the last day of August, in the year 18S1 , that 1 landed from the Polyne.'tiaii witli my wife at Point Levis ; and we were introduced, as a fitting- commencement to our Canadian experiences, to a comfortable breakfast provided for immigrants by the Dominion Government. Having filled our eyes witli the fine prospect of Quebec on the opposite shores, with its citadel and the towei's of the Laval University, we proceeded in the train along the routli bank to Montreal. The great quantity of wild autumn flowers, principally the golden rod and a bright single sunflower, made the banks of the I'ailway gay in the autumn sun. The great booms in the river containing the large rafts of timber that are brought down to Quebec, consisting of many blocks, and with the huts upon them in which the raft men live, present the first s[)ectac]e of interest to the strano'cr. The railway crosses several fine streams ; I V i i i 52 FROM HOME TO HOME. H falling from left to right into the St. Lawrence, and strikes far into the country, up tne Richelieu River, which receives its name from the cardinal under whose auspices Chainplain had sailed for Canada. Thence, a somewhat tedious piece of poor land (so far as it is cleared), improving however as we again approach the river, brings us to the site of the great Victoria bridge, which bears us across the St. Lawrence to the city of Montreal. This very thriving city, the true capital of lower Canada, occupies a position such as few cities can compare with, resting, as it does, on the left bank of the river, and occupying an island formed by the St. Lawrence and the two forks of the Ottawa, of about the length of ten miles, and a width of six or seven, and backed by the wooded hill which gives it its name. Passing up towards the mountain we are put down at the Windsor Hotel, which may I think fairly claim to be the finest hotel in Her Majesty's dominions. Opposite to the hotel is the Roman Catholic ' athedral, begun long ago in rival imitation of St. Peter's ; the completion of it would seem, however, to be very remote. I should think that there are few towns con- taining so many places of worship of various denomi- nations as Montreal ; the principal one Its the cathedral of Notre Dame, which stnnds with its two towers as the most prominent object in the city. The Windsor Hotel is the right place for a rest after a sea voyage; its splendid hall, magnificent passages, which, as in other hotels in Canada, are used as sitting rooms, and its salle a luamjer, make a truly / MONTHEAL. 53 e, and River, under anada. nd (so again 3f the ihe St. lower es can )ank of the St. ' about an, and Lame, t down f claim linions. hedral, 's; the )e very ns con- lenomi- thedral wers as Windsor a sea issages, ised as a truly I I r I comfortable home either for traveller or resident ; and if it only had a clief equal in culinary talent and delicacy-producing power to the corresponding gein'us of its homonym at New York, it would be a perfect hotel. Tlie most interesting object to the visitor to Montreal is the drive up the mountain, laid out in many parts as a cemetery, with the trees cleared and the flowers planted so as to give the prettiest effect in landscape gardening ; a more beautiful home for the last sleep could scarcely be imagined. At the turns of the zigzag road which mounts the hill, views are obtained of the city and the river, with its enormous bridge ; and of no little interest to the visitor ; driving down into the town are the excellent shops, whero can be obtained everything that he or she is likely to want during the stay in Canada. Not last among these is the excellent book- shop of Mr. Dawson, and to travellers returning in the latter part of the fall, more interesting, perhaps, are the splendid furs to be found at Messrs. Hendersons'. Two or three days quickly slip away among our hospitable friends in the city. But it is time that we staited for the fui'ther West, and after a comfortable dinner at the " Windsor," the eight o'clock train bears us away to Toronto. The weather at this season in 1881 was terribly hot, and the great drought of the summer being followed by an outbreak of forest fires, we found as we went along at night the fences and the forest adjoining the line blazing all around, and even lighting up N 1: 1 ! In *' Ml 54 FJiUM nOTtlE To HOME. tlie tics or sleepers on wliich tlie rails rest. The heat was intense, the thermometer during the night rising to 100°, and we were very glad indeed when onr journey came to an end and we found ourselves in the Queen's Hotel at Toronto. For about the first time in my life I was rather knocked up by the heat, but a little interview with the doctor and a quiet day in the hotel soon put me to rights, and we much enjo} ed the Agricultural Show and the Exhi- bition, which were then open. A reception at tlie Town Hall of the visitors took jDlace, as well a^; a very interesting distribution of prizes which I was asked to midertake at the school in which my friend Mr. French was a master, and where a number of bright pupils seemed to appreciate tlie few words which weie spoken to them by a university man from the okl country. \\\ taking our journey to Winnipeg the question to be considered was whether we should go by the long land journey through Chicago and St. Paul, or by striking the Lake Superior at Collingwood, sail thence through the lakes to Duluth, and by rail through Glyndon to Winnipeg. We decided on this latter course, and having duly taken our tickets, proceeded on the morning of September 12th by tlie railway to CoUingwood. Here we found the steamboat Frances S. Smith, a boat of the half- hotel, half-steamboat class, which no one but an American would ever have devised, and having de})osited our luggage in a very comfortable chamber, we remained on deck till dark, as the boat was not 7..I7v7i HTJiAAU'JJiS. i)0 The night when •selves le first )y tlie and a lud we Exhi- at tue a very skcd to d Mr. bright ih weic ;he old Liestion by the a 111, or )d, sail )y rail Du this ickets, >th by rid the halt- jiit an laving amber, 'as not i to sail until after ten o'clock. As darkness came on we made our way into our cabin. I was not a little surprised, on asking for a light, to be somewhat bluntly informed that no such thing was allowed in the cal)in, and that if we had wanted to inspect any of our goods or to do anything else than forthwith tumble into our berths, we should lia^'^e done it while it was daylight, and that no light was ever allowed in any cabin on any ship. In vain we remonstrated, alleging that we had no knowledge of such a rule, and, as an instance that it could scarcely be universal, we put forward, amongst others, the case of the ocean steamer we had but lately left. After a long parley, however, with the captain a compromise was arrived at, and a boy was told off to stand by with a lantern at the cabin door so long as it might be required. About ten o'clock we got under sail ; it began to blow very hard, and we soon found that the Frances S. Smith was anything but a good sea-boat in bad weather, even in the hands of a skilful captain, and what it might prove in the hands of an uncertifi- cated mariner, such as is allowed by the Canadian Government to take commandof a ship in these waters, it was not difficult to imagine. 1 had an anxious time of it, and thought it the best j^lan, in order to be ready for any emergency, to sit at the window under the pretext of watching the forest fires which circled the end of the lake. A very rough time of it we had on that dark stormy night, but at last, about three iu the morning, all seemed to be quiet, and 1 tumbled into bed till breakfast time at six next 1 I 56 FliOM HOME TO J/OMK. morning. After breakfast we went on the litilo deck in front of the cabin, and finding ourselves moored, my wife on looking up observed that we were lying under the same elevator under wliicli we had lain the night before ; and it turned out upon inquiry that wr litd i>een some thirty miles out into the lake, bui lisat he captain, very properly judging the weaii;;r soir what too boisterous for the sea-going capabilities of Miss Smith, had turned back again to Collingwood. On putting the question to him as to when we might hope to get under weigh again, I received a somewhat discourteous reply that it might be a week. Not feeling inclined to spend so much time at Collingwood, we hurried off our baggage into the train, and took our places again in the train, and returned in a somewhat crestfallen frame of mind to Toronto. In the evening we again started off for Chicago. It is a long but not uninteresting railway journey, and at the end of some twenty-four hours wo reached the sand bills which mark the approach to the city. I need not dilate on the progress of this mushroom city. It is indeed a v/onderful energy which has raised in some fifteen years since the date of the great fire the vast town, with its magnificent build- ings and population of 550,000, and has deveh)pcd the increasing collection of industry which has grown on and round this great centre. Of its principal building, containing the municipal offices and courts of law, I may speak at a subsequent visit. A first object for tlie traveller is of course tlie stockyards, I' I .i. '■I \J^ Mr I'l o X 1 i' i',f,j'!''i'lf a. III . '•' ''ll '' w m' l'n'f.''l fS . 'li; l> f. 1 iii'ii'i.i' !(' ;/:||i il r ,i I' J'lll f|!'':iiaiiii lili I o '5 u '7?/' '/'» Wi' /,i; h'}*-.-i:,t''v^^ . Ir»'^ ,> M( ; .{ J.jfi-;^»?'V1! .. •/'I, sh. >■••'« :Jt, fj*'t< 1 i '. s^i i < ! ' > ' • ' ' ' ' ' ■ ' ; 1 i 'i » ' 'l < > i ! . ! ' i < » ht v» ■ / ; ".it 1 X:ur;>U' «'' -i -,•*■; V. !':i<] I iLuik ^■' : ^■^>i' ' in I. ): i-u -. ;•> ! I.' ' -,; n-!. h a-- lil-tl*^ --\ .''i "i ' !' t' !■.!' t rl is; >\ u -, /? I (T I > > !l ( w-u (ii ,: '1 ... iU.. 1 ' Vi,l i ,*; lii' ■«v-<' I,', HI*' - '?.;•'• ;'fi i.. li(v; ral>!o 'ilhlur '■ '. ; P I Is"; .in. '■ i'. '-> ',-.;"• nf;\'''7-. ' '\intui4i •,v rn-Cli -! . r £"'^ ,,j,d ;■ ;;, :•[ M i. ! , ii '^•- C/ilCAGU—ST. PAUL. r>7 tlie Hiaughtcr - Iiouhch, and tlio meat - prosurvin^ factoriuH. The Had fate of poor pi^^io as lie pasHCH with couiitlesH iiuml)ers of liis tribe from the Htoek- yard to the hacoii wareliouHe lias hceii ol'toii deHcrihed. The mode in whicli every part of him IH utih'zcd, except, as the saying goes, liiw hist Hfpjcak, is indeed a great example of economy, and I tliiidv we may fairly lio[)e tliat he passes to liis end with as little pain as possible. I do not think that (pn'te the same thing can be said with reference to the cjittle under either of the two processes ado})ted ; the cutting of the8[)inalcolumn by a stab, or a bullet into the brain, not being so practised as to produce, so far as I could see, as (juick and painless a death as could be wished. The manufacture of pepsine from a certain part of the pig's stomach is one of the more delicately conducted operations, and as one of the gentlemen connected with that i)art of the business said to me, " lie guessed that so long as liis countrymen ate their meals in the manner usually adopted by them, there would always be i)lenty of demand for that article." Of course this industry is a thing which every visitor ought to see, but I cannot promise him an unmitigated pleasure from the visit, and he will find it many hours before he succeeds in removing from his nostrils the smell of pig which will accompany him from the factory. Leaving Chicago on the evening of the 14th, we found ourselves at noon next day at St. Par.l, and after a good wash and pleasant (h'jchner at the Metropolitan Hotel we took a stnjll on the bank at 5M FROM 110 Mt: TO HOME. \: the end oF the street where tlie hotel stands, 'Uid obtained our first view of the great ^lississippi rolling away down below, and spanned by a long sloping bridge wliicli crosses it at a widtli of some 1500 yards to the suburb which connects St. Paul with Minneapolis. The view is truly American. The vast volume of water, the extent of the view, the clearness of tlie atmosphere, and the already commenced autumnal colouring of the trees, more especially as we found them on our return, made a picture on which we gazed for some time. We then took a carriage and proceeded across the bridge to visit one of the largest flour-mills of Minneapolis. The enormous amomit of water-power obtained from the falls of the St. Anthony, better known to most of our English readers of Longfellow as the Minne- haha, "or laughing water," have made these towns the great flour providers of the States. Here we find, as in most of the other towns of the West, that the last thing that is considered are the roads; and the mud of Minneapolis was something truly dreadful. Into this the wheels of our carriage sank till it reached the floor ; and the English traveller wonders how people can b( found capable of enduring the dis- comfort of so much diit. The interior of the mill })resents everything that is attractive in the shape of cleanliness and good machinery. Having completed our inspecfion we returned to the Minneapolis station, ill the waiting-room of which I was a little amused with the nffiche placed c()ns])icuou8ly along the wall, "Gentlemen will not, and other ])erf^ons aie re- HT. PAUL MINNEAPOLIS — FEAROCS FALLS. 50 (jiiested not to spit on the floor;" not, however, that tliis little notice seems to have been productive of nnich better results than I noticed years ago had followed an ajiche on the Cathedral at Antwerp, " On est prie de ne pas cracher ni sur le pave ni snr les miirailles. LWHse est la maison de Dieu." Talking of notices, 1 saw a very quaint one tlie next day in a small and very unclean hotel in which it was our fate to pass the following r>ight. Over the jack-towel which hung for tlie convenience of persons who wished to prepare themselves for dinner was the notice, " You are requested to wash before you wipe." A somewhat similar one was an in- dignant notice by a postmaster in Canada, who had no doubt become weary of acceding to the requests to put stamps on tlie letters, in which he rather pom- })ously announced that *' for the future Her Majesty's postmaster refuses to put stamps on the letters; all persons are therefore requested to lick and stick themseiv^es." Leaving St. Paul we took our places for AVinnipeg, and as we wished to make the whole journey by daylight, we stopped for the night at the halfway place of Feargus Falls. The said falls are of no considerable importance, and certainly do not repay a visit. Tlie place is, however, at the one end of the lake district, the country between it and St. Paul's consisting of innumerable lakes, surrounded by woods, and an exceedingly interesting country. The view from the station platform is very charac- teristic of Ihis exceedingly pretty lake country. f\ GO FItOM HOME TO llUME. ■;ii: 'l i' . 1 From Feargus Falls we enter on the great prairie land of Minnesota, and the line passes over the next hundred miles on the prairie level. Since I first visited this, at the time I am now mentioning, many fjtrms have sprung up on each side of the line, the small stations have developed into villag .? and towns, and a great part of the land has heen settled up. Towards tlie evening we arrived at the boundary between the United States and Canada, with St. Vincent as the last town of the States, and Emerson the first town of Manitoba ; * keeping close to the Ked River, through a sinn'lar country to that we had lately passed, after a distance of sixty miles we reached the city of Winnipeg. It was a dark wet evening, and very glad we were to be met by a kind and enterprising young friend wlio had taken up his home there, and who had secured for ns a room in a very makeshift hotel, but the only one to be got. Our earliest experience of the worst feature of Winnipeg, viz., its mud, began on that evening. It is a mud which no person who lias not seen it can appreciate. A mixture of putty and bird- lime would perhaps most nearly describe it. The wide streets of AVinnipeg are, under a baking sun, a solid mass, and as hard as marble. There comes a dripping day or a thunderstorm, and ti^e whole * The word Manitoba is bhortencd, as I learn from Archlnshop Taolie, from the Indian wonl Manitowapaw, meaning- the ahodo of the Manitou, the nnbeen spirit or supernatural, the province taking its name from the lalce. INDIAN TRADING. ()1 tiling is eliangcd into a sea of niiid of tlie cluiracter I liave given. To walk through it is ahnost im- possible. To keep on your feet on the wooden side- paths is not a little difficult, and when you try to remove the mud from your clothes you find it almost equally impossible. It must be remarked, however, that though I am now writing of a state of things which existed three years iigo, there has been very little attempt at improvement. I am now speaking indeed of Winnipeg's early days, and the Winni- pegians, though with not any great success at present, have begun to mend their ways. At the time of our first visit the old Fort Garry was still standing, and contained the Hudson Bay store, and Indian tents still thronged around it. Most interesting was it to watch the Indians as they came in, before starting West, to make their annual purchases with the money they had obtained for their skins. An Indian walks into the stores, carefully examines, without touching, however, each of the articles for which he has a require'vient, and liaving at last made up his mind as to his selection, takes the article and deposits it in one corner of the shop. He then wanders noiselessly about in the selection of the next thing, and having satisfied him- self as to that takes it and adds it to his cache ^ till at last, the whole of his purchases being complete, the shopman dots u[) tlie amount and the goods are duly paid for. Tlie utmost honesty characterises the Indian. He would, indeed, very much resent any suspicious watch kept over liim, and I Ik lieve any f »■'-■ *■■■ ,. 02 FROM HOME TO HOME. I •il M ■ \ . I I ; :t' ;ii 'M attempt during his long wanderings up and down the shop to purloin anything is almost unheard of. The purchases all hoing accomplished, and other traders having prepared their goods required for distant settlements, a long train of groaning Red River carts, each drawn by a single bullock, starts off on the Westward trail. I believe we saw, in 1881, about the last of these outfits as we counted a train of ?ome fifty or sixty passing Silver Heights, for the railway in that year was completed from Winnipeg to Brandon, and with the completion of the railway the Red River cart became, of course, a thing of the past. The old Red River cart had not a bit of iron about it, and the groaning of the wheels, ignorant of a lubricator, was most melancholy ; of late years the cart has been improved upon, and as it carries about seven or eight hundredweight, and a whole trtjn only require some five or six drivers, it was ci very cheap mode of freighting. A few days in Winnipeg were devoted to getting together our outfit for camping on the prairie, and haying had selected for me by a kind friend of the Hudson Bay Company one of their most ex- ]ierienced guides, Guillaume Correa, I got together a wagon and a carriage, an additional driver, two pairs of horses, two tents, cooking utensils and stores, and provisions for three weeks, a faithful retriever lent me by my kind friend, cartridges, buffalo robes, blfukets, etc., and putting them all into a. freight- cart, we started for Brandon in the first train tliat would cari'v passengers to that new city, which I n f TI7.V.\7/7vV; — STAiri' Foil TIIE I'llAHtlE. i;:; ill the September of 1881 was wliiit is coloiiially known as " the jump-down," that is, tlie last place that is in course of erection on tlic outskirts of what is cilled civib'zed life, and upon leaving which you at once jnnip down into the open gulf of nnsettle- dom. The railway from Winnipeg runs in a north- westerly direction along the left bank of the Assiniboine River. The first few miles of the road carry you through a level prairie, which also, since the time that I am speaking of, has become entirely settled ; the only place of interest that we passed being a hilly ridge on the right, consisting of stone and gravel, called Stony Heights, from which it is to be hoped that the streets of Winnipeg will even- tually derive advantage. On the hill stands a reformatory prison, and in the neighbourhood are to be seen a small band of buffaloes, the property of the doctor who superintends the reformatory ; they are said to be tame, but are not very approacliable. Upon this subject it is worthy f remark that an animal not apparently of a di.- sition at all mor*. vicious than oiir domestic ,itle should never have been tamed or in any ^ay utilized by the Indian, who can now fully iccognise the value of the ox. This little band of buffaloes remains almost the last survivors of the great family that but a few years ago roamed in such countless millions over this part of the continent, and whose destrnc- tion one cannot but think of wi*h regret. With reference to Stony Heights we indulged in the speculation as to when Winnipeg would find out '. ii 04 FROM HOME TO IIOMK. fill Hi »t f^ 1 its value for the construction of a solid foundation on wliicli to lound some decent roadway across ils sea of mud. To make a decent street is the last thing about wliicli any municipality either in Canada or the States troubles itself, in illustration of which I may give the following little tale of an occurrence while I was out West in 1881. A most worthy M.P., who had represented a Scottisli borough, visited New York. It was a nniddy time, and shortly after his landing he was inter- viewed by the coi-i'cspondent of a New York paper. Intermewer. — " Well, sir, and what do you think of this city ? " M.P. — "Think of if, mun ? It's jest domnable. Yer streets wad disgrt . 3 our manest Scottish villages. \e want a gude Provost, mun. A' weer Provost of ■ for twa years, and ye sliould jest see the streets in that toon. I tell ye it's simply domnable." Aid so the newspaper man went his way, and duly announced in his journal the Scottish M.P.'s views as to the city. The country is for some distance varied by those occasional scrubby woods of aspen and poplar which, growing generally by the side of the marshes, is all which the prairie frcs leave of wood to this part of Manitoba. In some of these thickets the silver- l)arked poplar, looking more like beech, had grown to a good size, and in some places tiicre were seen stunted oak, all looking, however, as if some giant force of wind vy fiost, ui' of both combined, put ils veto upon any lieigbt being attainei^ '»f what we should con- 1 t » t .■ ronrAQE la ritAiniE. ()") sider to bo forcst-trcc diinonsions. AVe noticed lierc a fine stnbLle v/licre wheat had been grown. About Elk River we saw a few pigeons, and everywhere there seemed to be al)undance of duck. Elk River is one of the largest tributaries of the Red River, and with the woods at its junction forms one of the prettiest spots on this line, and has some eligible and well cultivated farms in its neighbourhood. Without specifying particularly the names of the stations, which will convey but little information, T may say generally that along the line for the next fifty miles some good land is gone through, with some dark soil, some fairly good cattle, both cows and beasts, the straw of the thrashed-oui g "ain lying in heaps of mfiny hundreds of tons to be burned, and the home- steads about as poorly constructed as it is possible to imagine. After this, at a distance of sixty miles from Winnipeg, we reached Portage la Prairie, where he excellent character of the farms, the far more substantial character of the homesteads, and the ambitious style of stores, municipal buildings and other urban establishments, announce to you an embryo city. Portage is certainly a place of which much will be heard in the future — ^I believe on its own merits, but even if, without the development of thom, history should be silent about it, it will not be from any reticence on the [)art of the Portagers. After vluly swallowing our noontide meal, and having paid proper homage by an enforced delay of some two hours to the city of a summer's growth, we tracked on o\er prairie land broken by ti few F ' I W 00 FliOM HUM I': TO HOME. creeks or tributary brandies of tlic Red River, till iiii2:lit fell and bunker came on witb considerablo violence, and about ten in tbe evening, after many a stoppage, we found ourselves halted at the tempo- rary bridge over tbe Assiniboine. We were a long train, and it was n(.)t a very grand bridge, and so one part of our train went over first, and then our carriage went over ; and beyond tbe bridge tbe track, and the passage ovtir it, partook more and more of tbe cbaracter of tbe pitcbing of a boat in a r(jugb sea, mitil at last we stopped, and were told tbat we were at Brandon and tbat we migbt get out. We got out — into tlie mud and into tbe dark, and tbe colonial "jump down" was never more fidly ]-calizL'd. Tbere was no rain, but tbat was about tbe only source of discomfort, atmospheric or elementary, tbat was not present; black darkness and blacker mud saluted some fifty or sixty of us as we struggled on in tbe direction of where we were led to believe tbat tbe hotel lay. Most seriously did I begin to think of tbe responsibilities of any man who brought a lady to the North-West shod in tliose unscientific foot protectors which w^omen will ])rofess to believe are " strong boots." At last a kindly spirit passed us with a lantern, and held it low, and I iiitreated tha"- we might be allowed to follow him. The light proved to be no "will o' tbe wisp," and led us to an hotel. Ascending the foui" muddy steps, VvC found ourselves with many others in a lem[>orai'y bar, wbere some bad been \ , hi i niLlXnoN'S EAltLY DAYt<. 07 long i \ . i'C3rn3sliin<^ llienisolvt's, clenrly, loiifi* l)t'foro tlio trjiiii liiid arrived, or perlitips even before it liad started IroiM Winnipeg'. " JIavo you any room here." '' No." " (^m we liavc any tea or anythijig- to cat ? " " No, tliere i« notliin!^." Hunger, a tramp l)ack to the train through tlic mud, and a long night on tliose cranipy little seats, seemed our only lot, \vhcn a door opened, my wilb Avas passed into an inner room, 1 followed after a little time_, and found that tea and bread and butter were to be had, and not a fevs kind apologies for the slight refreshment that could alone be offered to us. But even better things were in store for us. Our kind friend of the lamp, Mr. Daly, had puslied on to another hotel, and representing to two gentlemen already in bed that an English lady was very tired and had no place to lie down, had elicited from Mr, Roche and Mr. Pearce the expression that if the lady and gentleman really came from the old country, and if the gentleman was an English Member of Parliament, and not " one of our own darned land- jobbing lot," they would give up their bed at once, and we found ourselves by this real kindness with a place to lie down, while our two benefactoi's took a lie down in an adjoining store, the one on the counter and the other under it. I need not say how profuse were our thanks to these kind friends in need. A tohjrably comfortable night was the consequence, which rested us alter a day I' 2 ' I Hi J ^ fi8 mtOM HOME TO IfOMK. of coiisiderublo fiiti'f^iio and an evening of no little anxiety. Tlie next niornino- we were up early, and after a rough breakfast set to work to get together the stolen and outfit, and to look after my men and the dog " Parigi," who was to be the companion of my s|)ort. For some reason or other, best known to tlie railway managers, the freight car containing our worldly goods had been taken back across the Assiniboine, and there was no little difficulty in getting them back over the skeleton bridge, con- sisting of lateral beams and iron. ties. However, I came across a man who was at work on the telegraph, and who turned out to have been a labourer on a neighbouring farm in Worcestershire, and he kindly volunteered his assistance, and so having brought my goods and dog to the end of the bridge, I pro- ceeded to endeavour to take them across, bit by bit, starting first with my gun case in one hand, and Parigi in tho other. Scarcely, however, had wo advanced some fifteen or twenty yards when Parigi became nervous, and we had to retire again to our starting point. A second journey brought us a few yards further, and Doggy's doubts necessitated a similar return. Starting a third time, I took Parigi with a loose cord, making up my mind that at any rate I would get across myself, and that the dog must look out for himself in the waters of the Assiniboine. The clever dog, however, accepting the position, walked quietly by my side and v/e got safely across. A return on the second journey brought some more packages, no little lul after tlier the and tlie n of my nown to mtaiuiiii^ cross tlie iculty in ]ge, cou- )wevcr, I elegrapli, LU'er on a lie kindly ; brought ^e, I pro- bit by bit, md Parigi advanced ^i became ir starting few yards a similar •io'i with a any rate I must look oine. The on, walked A return packa,ii'es, , i r\ 5i» IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 I.I 1.25 U;|28 |2.5 ll^lllM i^ lis IIIIIM 1.4 1.6 7] o /:. 7 /A I%otographic Sciences Corporation 23 WES'* MAIN STREET WEBSTER, NY. 14580 (716) 872-4503 •N? \ :\ \ 9) c> ^.^> *> I ' \v. •»•_:'»!( w'-. '.Intvo I'-.wk fv ' •:-■ iis i'n- ;r tin* H.erp ■ j. 'iv^ v.t' 'Jrf^\L on ' i*t •'•?• >.'i.- ••I'-.f ultt-M I!""!?, w . pit. -Ik.'. 1 -' UA. M ' •• '•'"»■ .«.. ' TnH.'^tiv'* '*:\. ^*■^■ ' > " - ' v*-»».!,.- .,. h .V; , ^t,- ..|j, J,],] ,v.,; ,,,... ,j, ;. ,..i /• 'U.-'-.i !^ VSIM •; n !ii.>!'v 3S into /ilfjjp. v.. • ^' !..j*:u> j- ■'■■ - •>.;.... - .; , .^.^\ ''- '■ ' - ..■ - ' •< ■(. r. .; I V: i .■ /*A> ^ _ .V^ : X 'r^' ^y*-""*^''^^"-: ,^^ • i';a\.? > v^ ■^s- • I 77.M lUlK — Fins T ( 'A MP. 69 if. it and my friciul liclpcd mo over witli tlie rest, aiul then liavin^ g;ot tliom on the wagon we drove l)ack into Brandon, and prepared for our jonrney into tlie prairie. Some friends accompanied us as far as the first farm of a Mr. Doran, close np to tlie Hhie Mountains, and liaving loft them there we drove on till after some twelve or fifteen miles, which wo deemed sufficient for our first afternoon, we pitcliod our camp by tlie side of an exceedingly pretty little lake, as shown in the accompanying sketch, and whicli I christened Lake Mashinka, the Russian diminutive for Mary. A little bit of clumsiness of one of our men led to two of the horses galloping oif over the prairie, and we began to wonder whether we should ever see the animals again, and it was late in the evening when we were saluted by the cheering sounds of our men, whom we found returning with the horses into camp. I need hardly say that precautions were taken to pre- vent us again being set afoot by a similar accident. An excellent supper and a comfortable disposal of buffalo robes and blankets introduced us to the first night of camp life on the prairie. Early next morning I took my gun, and, with the assistance of Parigi, brought in three or four ducks from the lake, and on my way home I bagged a couple of prairie chickens. Birds of these two classes form, indeed, in the absence of the bigger game, our principal food on the prairie, supplemented by that necessity of existence, fat bacon, with biscuit and tinned fruit. ! ' HI • .■hi f 70 Fi:<)M HOME TO IfOMK. After a ^ood breakfast we li itched up, and struck off on our western course. I had intended to have made for the country to the soutli-east over tlio Pembina Mountains, and then to take a nortli-east direction for Winnipeg, but Guillaume liad a great desire to take me in the direction of the Moose Moun- tains, and the Montague do Bois, as lie said that on tliat line we should stand a better chance of coming across some big game, and that he himself knew that country better. It was a nice bright morning when we left our pretty camp, and struck off in the wes- terly direction now proposed to me, but in the course of the morning it darkened over, and by dinner- time at noon the rain came down very heavily. Not- withstanding rain, snow, or wind, however, as I found on many occasions afterwards, Guillaume always lighted his fire with his first match, and we cooked our ducks and chicken, and, packing uji again, pro- ceeded onwards along the western trail. The rain beat with tremendous force, coming with a very cold wind from the south ; and as it was getting dark the driver of our second team became discontented, and almost mutinous, and wanted to know when we were going to stop, and where we were going to camp. As we were in the open prairie, with no wood and no water, except that which was coming on us from the sky, it was of course impossible to make a camp tliore, but after a few miles' further drive, we saw a slianty that liad been erected bv some enterprising settler, and magnificently labelled " Citv of Rosser." HAD WEATIllCll. Wo mndc up our minds that, thongli the ])laeo (lid not look very inviting", it was better tlian stopping out on the j)rairie or risking a longer drive. We turned in, and liaving made uj) for our horses something of a slieiter inider a haystack, we gladly availed ourselves of a refuge which we found was being shared by some fourteen or fifteen others. There was shelter from the rain, the settler's wife played us some tunes on the harmonium, and we \ ' I mr^-ii'j^vm eSv^/^ A CITY OF THE FlTl'nE. no managed to make ourselves up for the night. Next morning we were up at daylight, and as I was washing, a man shouted out there was a deer close up to the door. Unfortunately he had made so much noise in communicating this piece of intelligence that tlie animal was well away before I could get hold of my rifle. The rain still camo down in torrents, and as my wife was not strong enough for such weather on the prairie, it was clear that there were only two courses, either to .i^ive up •' I f ! 1 i! 72 FliOM HOME TO HOME. Moose Mountain altof^etlicr, or that alio sliould return to Brandon witli Lamont and the carriage ; and that I, leaving all tlie things that were super- fluous, including our big bell tent, at Mr. Purks's, should take Guillaume with the wagon for a fort- night's camping. To this we made up our minds, and at 2 p.m., having dined, we parted ; my wife to the eastward, and I taking the trail for the west. The weather cleared up, and we came to an en- campment of graders constructing part of the Ca- nada Pacific under contract. This was the place for wliich Guillaume had been striking the night before, and here we found a store, a large dining tent, and newly baked bread ; if we could have pitched our tent here we should certainly have been more comfortable than at the "City of Rosser." I pur- chased some oats for my horse, and the proprietor of the store might well apologize for the price which he asked for them. It was, however, as he said, very little more than the cost at wliich they had stood him in. At the same time, twenty-five shillings for two bushels was indeed a very large price. I saw here the mode in which a railway was being constructed. The line has to be raised about four feet above the level of the prairie, so as to keep it out of the snow in the winter. In constructing this bank the first tiling done is for a width on each side the line of about twenty yards to cut the turf, and to lay it as the foundation of the " dump " which is to carry the line. This having been done, ploughs set to work, and the earth beneath the turf is ploughed JIA 1L WA Y CONS Tli VCTION. 78 up to tlie depth of ten or twelve inclies. There ia tlieii h^oiiglit to bear upon tliis what is called a scraper — a big sliovel drawn by a pair of horses. The driver puts his horses at right angles to the dump, and digging the nose of the scraper into the soft ploughed-up soil, fills it, and, as his horses cross the dump, he turns it over. Crossing to the other side, and turning his horses, he repeats the same proceeding, and it is wonderful how quickly, with the two span of horses and two scrapers crossing one another, the dump rises to the required height. When this is done there is of course a considerable amount of levelling to be gone through ; but tho quantity of spade-labour is, by this mode of making a railway, reduced to a minimum. It was a curious thing to see the various men employed in this work. I noticed one man plougliing most energetically, and throwing almost as much strength from himself into his work as he was getting out of his horses. In conversation with Mr. McDor '^d, the contractor, I was told that this was a medical gentleman, who, not having found any great success in his business, had taken to this new and more active line of life. Another attracted my attention by the curious way in which he was holding his plough, and upon my remarking it I was told that I had no business to criticise his mode of ploughing, for he came from the old country, and I subsequently found that he was a shepherd from one of our western counties. When I add to this that a young man who assisted me in cooking my dinner informed me that he knew i !! ! i , ! Il I I I 74 FUOM l/OMh' To HOME. ino well ; tliJit lio had been a Kolicitoi's elcrk \\\ London, and liad been to my chanilieis witli Itriefs, it will be seen of what a motley 5i8.sem))l;i<;e of the Koniethiiiir to do"-seekin!»: waifs from all eonntries (( 11 \h isisted. Th h were, nowev happy, active fellows, and were working no doul)t all the better from the fact that no such thing as drink finds its way into the Canadian Western railway camp. The weather had quite cleared as we drove on from our railway camj), and the setting sun on the poplars, which were now getting their yellow autumn tint, made a very pretty fringe to the edge of the prairie. We drove into a most snug shelter in the sand-hills which we had reached. A little lake and a wood gave us all we wanted for our camp, and we soon had our fire lighted and made ourselves most com- fortable. A yell as I put my naked foot on a cactus, and thus made my first acquaintance with a noteworthy member of the flora of the sandy prairies, is a reminiscence of that night, and I realised in a substantial form the nickname that is given to the new comer out West of "tender-foot" or "pilgrim." While we were lighting our fire a man came up — he was hunting for some cattle, and told us he was with a settler who had taken up a homestead at no great distance in the woods. I sent him a message, and after our tea he came up and sat by the fire with a pipe, and we discussed the pro- babilities and chances of success of farming there till the rain bei^an to come down a^ain, and we s^ffl. \ vnMini: camp— oak lake. a a a nd jounicd into flic tent ; nnd about oip;'l)t (u-lock, wlien our fVi(Mi(l liiid hid us good-iiijj^lit, we turned in. The rain cnnie ilown very heavily, aiul tlie wind blew liard, hut we were quite coiiifortahle inside our tent. ^ly friend had told nio tl.at tlie cattle do very well licrc. The land is sandy, hut they {i^ and liitclicd up. After Icavinf]^ tlie wood we drove about two miles, and stopped to water our Jiorses and to take in wood, as we sliould find notbinp^ with wliicb to make a fire for the next thirty or tliirty-fivc miles. We drove along over some sandy and some fairly good land, leaving Oak Lake to our left. On one side of the lake there is an Indian reserve for the Sioux, and a good belt of wood about three miles to our loft for the first ten miles. It seemed to me that a good cattle farm might bo placed here, «ind that cattle would feed well on the prairie through which our trail passed, and where there is an abundance of grass, but it was too wet for wheat, even now, after a dry season. At the end of about ten or twelve miles we ascended to a sandy plateau, through wliich the trail passed for fifteen or twenty miles — a thin soil, with occasionally little pools and scattered with granite boulders ; hawks, small birds, a few ducks, skunks and govers being the only inhabitants of tliis part. Guillaume told me that it had been a great place for buffalo, who were very fond of the grass I have spoken of, and even now tlicir trails may be seen, and many bones, skulls and horns lying about. Sunday^ October \st. — Up at six o'clock and found it raining steadily, with occasional snow. Having breakfasted and put on our wet clothes we liL*. STONl': I'll'H ('UEKK. 77 }iitc]ici the prairie, with a depreHsion of from 80 to 100 feet. This is Stone Pipe Creek, the waters from which run into Oak Lake, to the east of which it is joined by thu Souris or Mouse Kiver, and runs into the Assiniboine about 100 miles to the west of Winnipeg. The creek is fairly timbered on the western side, whore other cross gullies bring down the water from the higher level. As we approached a large number of Cana- dian geese rose into the air almost within shot. 1 was new to prairie life, or I should of course have taken care to approach so good a cover more care- fully, and I should certainly have been rewarded with one or two of these most excellent birds. In crossing, the water came up to our axles, but there was a good solid bottom under the wheels. After crossing I got down from the wagon and waded through the long grass up the stream, and was rewarded by getting a couple of ducks. It secmud very strange that in this thoroughly desolate prairie the ducks were more shy, or, as Guillaume called it, more " farouches," than they would have been (wen in our own country, and I could only approach tiiem by stalking, as if they sighted or winded me they rose from the water before I could get witliin ir)0 yards of tliem. ^Iv t»;ood doi»; Pari":i havinji' retrieved the iiirds, wc i»'ot •' vjiN;,t" ^!\'! up ;av .'I-\ily \n ''ojitiijue. ,'<^ tor iToak- * ' . '• t uOIh ^'v ii.il. it ntifl.l »'Veh''li;% . .,1 rij;;:. fife 'v;- r i ;/ • v-, k jo jIjm; . ..,, } iri'l<.U.rv. : '. •:: .r -' .i r::;.- (jriy^ that hen- K W- we V .^ ,;,,;.; .M.,,. .V.:.T -,.\ -...i, ,.:,:>" .r^ltu...! J '." ii wwu M nii i f ii i ii i i iir ii -nf --t* • — ' «<. ■ ■! i ' ^/^'' ,ft' »-'J*Y- «7."i ■1* 1 if VAltlArToS OF Tilt: C(>}n'ASS. 81 I did not sleep well, and lay wondering much what liad become of my wif'o, and how she would l)c fretting on, and consequently reconsidering my plans as to whether it would not be better to give up my excursion if this bad weather was likely to continue. At last I dozed off, but not into a very good sleep, till six in the morning, when we turned out, put on our wet stockings and boots, and prepared for break- fast. I wrote up my log while Guillaume was packing the things together, harnessing the horses, and hitching up. Monday, October 2nd. — I had already lost count in some way of the days of the week, and under the impression that it was Sunday, made up my mind to make a short Sabbath-day journey. We started, and after a very few miles found ourselves on a beautiful knoll by the side of the trail, with some small lakes in front of us, and two pointed hills with wood creeping up on one side about two miles distant, which Guillaume called "Les Buttes de Cfjeur." The accompanying cut is from a sketch made by my wife from a very rough sketch by myself. It turned out a beautiful evening, and. making a good fire we set to work to dry our clothes, and while this operation was going on I lighted my caudle, it being a very still night, for the purpose of writing up my notes. I had observed during the last three days that though we were going due west my compass seemed to indicate an almost northerly direction, and I G i,i,. 82 FliOM HOME TO HOME. wondered very much where tlic fixnlt lay. Many a time it lias fallen to my lot to have to cross-examino the captains of ships as to their not taking note of the variation, and little did I think how easily one who was not a navigator might be found in a sinTilar error. It was, as I said, a bright starlight night, and guided by " the Dipper," as Charles's Wain is called in Canada, from its resemblance to that most useful article — a tin cup with a long handle, which in every shop and hut in the North-West hangs by the water- bucket, so that every visitor may take a drink. I took an observation, from the polar star, of the true north. I was anxious to get the exact bearing of our camp with the top of the hill, to which I proposed making an excursion on the following day. I found on looking at my compass that the magnetic north, instead of being some 20 points to the westward of the true north as it is with us, was 22 points to the eastward of it, and it was this difference of 42 points which had so puzzled me as to our course. The effect of finding oneself for the first time in the presence and recognition of one of the greatest phenomena of nature is most interesting. A long and thoughtful sit by the i're after Guillaume had turned in, brought the day to its close, and I must have sle):)t pretty heavily, for it was getting towards six o'clock when I awoke, and finding my watch had run down, and knowing that on this day of the year 7 'M IS MOUSE MOUSTAIS. 8n i \ tlie sun rises at fr*ix o'clock, f set my watcli l»y tlie pfrcat luiuinaiy as liis first cdi^o sliowed above tlie prairie ; and liavinp^ breakfasted and taken a full observation of tbe bearings of the hill and the camp, I set off with my gun and Parigi to the buttes. It was a lovely bit of '^^untry, with numerous little meres of from one to twenty or thirty acres, with belts of poplar and cotton wood round them, the brush so thick that it was difficult to work one's way through, find it inquired all I knew to make sure that I could find my way back. I came to one lovely little lake, and noticed that there was the trail of some big game or of an Indian having passed shortly before in the same direction. I sat down on a fallen tree, as the day was blazing hot ; and I must say that of all the exercise in the world commend me to an endeavour to get through the Canadian bush — creej^ing under one fallen tree, scrambling over another, and squeezing between two leaning close against each other is hard work, and makes progress very slow. As I sat on the tree I caught sight for the first time of a beaver coming across the pool, and as Parigi and I kept quite still, the little animal came on straight forward, flapping its flat tail in the air. T could not find it in my heart to vshoot the interesting little beast, and I left him to follow his own pursuits ; not that, however, my tenderness in this respect would be likely to ensure him a long career, now that both Indians and white men are so closely G 2 84 FJiOM HOME TO llOMP:. III! ■\ ! ^ : ■ .1 clo.irinf^ off all the oM inhabitants of tlio lake and the forest. I had a curious instance of a liahit common to wounded animals and birds in the ])rairio land, of counterfeiting]^ death ; 1 had Bhot a big mallard, and lie dropped as if dead. Not wishing to be encum- bered by his weight during my walk, I laid him out with all the gorgeousness of his feathers and wings S[)read for fidl display across the trail along whicli I intended to return. Having thus beautifully arranged the corpse I turned to go on my journey, when hearing a bit of a flap, I looked round, and saw the duck slide away down the bank into the water. From many things I have heard and seen since, I believe that this is a wonderfully developed instinct among these wild animals ; who thus make use of their knowledge of the habits of their ordinary pursuers to afford them a last chance against animals which will not touch carrion. I soon found that the three or four miles to the top of the hill was far more than 1 could hope to accomplish at the rate at which I could alone proceed ; and having got as far as I could up the slope of the hill I turned my way homewards. As this was my first day out in the bush I was not a little anxious as to my finding my way back, and was very pleased to catch sight of my little white tent on the knoll. I found that Guillaume had got everything in good order, and we sat down to our tea and discussed our future plans in a curious i • ritMiiii': t'liii:. 8." Isinp^ungc, lialf Frciicli, lialf Eiiglish, with a curious admixture of Creo. Woliail j)Iaiiiiud to p^o round tlio button, or j^et as near tlitiin as wo could, so that I nii,i»ht perliai)s fVoui an easier or loss wooded ascent get up and Koe what view there niiglit be ; but on reconsidering our plan after breakfast tlie next morning, we came to the conclusion that to get through the wood would ])robably make necessary a circuit of very many miles, and as Guillaumo was averse to returning by the same route, which I had rather wished for, as I wanted to see the nice little peninsula in Oak Lake, I gave way to his arguments, and we concluded to go back along our trail for two or three miles, and then to take the north-western trail for Port EUice ; and so we started at ten o'clock and drove till noon. While we were at breakfast I heard Guillaume cry " Ishqwahanga," and looking up I saw a big fishing-eagle hovering over our fire. I took my chance with my gun, but the shot only rattled against his strong wing feathers, and he sailed away. One of our horses had a sore shoulder, but by packing the collar witli my worsted comforter he went tolerably well, and at noon we stopped by the side of a little pool and some brushwood, near the termination of the belt of trees, and took two hours for rest and dinner for our horses and ourselves. During the previous night I had been interested in watching a big prairie fire in tlie north-west, the line we had determined to take, and Guillaume had re- counted to me his losses in former expeditions and the ! m A i • mrngtmrr I I 80 FliOM lIOMli TO no ME. ihiTif^crH ot* bein^ cauj^ht. Ah I walked on I met a man journeying? with a cart and a pony and liiH dog and gun, carrying provisicma from Port Ellico to liis comrades, who were surveying close down to tlic boundary lino. I had Home talk with him, but wlion Guillauuie came up afterwards, lie said, "That's the man who lighted the fire last night," and sure enough when we had gone fibout four miles further wo came to the place uliero he had camped, and from the little circle of his tent lying to the windward of the brute it was clear that he had carelessly allowed his camp fire to catch and spread, and it had burned lip many a square mile of good prairie grass and useful wood. I had succeeded in getting a consider- able number of duck at our camp near the buttcs, so that with some bacon we had an excL'llent dinner. At two o'clock we started again, and in about two hours re-crossed Stone Pipe Creek about eighteen miles above the point at which we had crossed it before. We passed through some very good prairie land till six, and I picked up two prairie chickens in my walk after dinner, which gave us a very Ijxir meal at tea-time, and with a bright rising moon and amidst the light of a most gorgeous sunset of coultur de rose in the north and orange and purple in the west, we pitched our camp, and made a very pleasant evening of it. It soon however came on cold, as, the air being so clear, no sooner does the sun go down than all heat seems to leave. I I 1 mSXSJCSXttSOttSiKtiiS P W'AS'T OF WATKU. ^7 Wo tumbled into our Mankets witli a little concert of a few bark'H from foxes and prairi«^ cIo^h and the whi/zing of the ducks overhead, and composed our- selves to rest, but it was so cold that I could not keep my feet warm, and did not sleep well in conHe([uenco. We woke about 5.30, and got up a little before sunrise, to find everything frozen very hard, and the rime thick on our blankets. I judged how cold it had been when I found tliat my knickerbockers, which I flattered myself I had dried yesterday, stood up by themselves, and my sponge in tlie middle of my travelling bag was frozen stiff and hard. The sun, however, soon began to thaw everything, and we were at eight o'clock ready to start. Ttit'sdni/f October 4. — We went on till dinner under a blazing sun, which dried everything, and which gave us a good sample of the wonderful change of temperature in this country. We drove on till we came to a cross trail, which Guillaume said led back to Brjindon. We were then about twelve miles to the south ot Port Ellice, and it was about 4.30, so that we could scarcely reach Port Ellice that night. Our horses were getting tired, especially the poor beast witli the sore shoulder, so I made up my mind to turn eastward ; we drove along over a bad bit of prairie, till we began to bo anxious about water, having now got into a very dry piece of country. The most striking peculiarity of journeying in the prairie is the very short distance that you can see. 88 FROM HUME TO HOME. A mile and tX lialf or two miles at the outside is the limit of your vision in this absolutely flat land. When Hitting in your wagon at the height of about six feet from the ground, the prairie gives you the idea that you are constantly rising a gradual hill, and that as soon as you get to the horizon you will get a good view, and for miles and miles this deceptive ap- pearance is continued. A curious little group we must have presented on this present occasion as I drove along with Guillaume standing up on the seat by my side, gazing anxiously to see if he could catch any sight suggestive of water. Presently with great glee he jumped down and pronounced the words *' rat house," as he caught sight of one of these curious little conical structures, which told liirn of a pool. Having come to it we unhitched on the knoll, which from its complete perforation by badgers, I christened " Badger Hill Camp," and made our camp there and had supper. The water was very thick and dirty, and the only way in which we could make it at all decent for tea was by filtering it through a cloth. It was, however, quite sweet, with no touch of alkali. Next morning up at six, and a very bad trail for several miles, and after that some fifteen miles of the most desolate land conceivable — alkali and clay, with poor, thin herbage, frequent boulders, and occasionally patches of a white clayey mud. No birds or any other living thing, and during the whole of that twenty niiles one prairie fox was the only object that A JtAim^AY CAMI\ 89 we saw. From the tjible land wc descended to a creek for which Guillaume had no name, and where there was plenty of wood, hut no game. After dinner, I strolled on hy myself for three or four miles, and catching sight of an outfit, found, on going up, that it was a friend whom I left at Brandon, with a party just finishing their camp dinner, and hound westward prospecting ; hut with no very definite prospects before them. Guillaume came up with the wagon, and we went on to the creek, which Guillaume christened "Govers' Creek," from the num'jer of these little animals that are found there. This seemed an excellent site for a town, and as we lighted our fire, and stuck up a buffalo's head close to our tent, we discussed the future of Gover Town and the success of the enter- prise in the hotel which we determined to establish under the sign of the " Buffalo Head." A railway camp was at work here, making a crossing for the creek, which was of an unusually heavy character. In the big tent which was used for dining, around the stove, standing and looking on in their vague listless style, were four or five Sioux Indians. They were of a much larger stamp than the Crees or the other tribes that I have seen. One of them, a fine* looking old hunter, " Chaske," took hold of my gun and examined the central fire breechloader. " I say, boss," said one of the railway men, *' who made that gun ? " " Boss," replied I. My friend seemed puzzled It, I... • I A !■■>. I 90 F/iOM HOME TO HOME. at the answer, but on looking at the name of tlie maker laughed heartily at the appropriateness of the answer. I made out from Guillaume, whose mother was a half-bred Sioux, a few of the Sioux words. I could not however ascertain whether our friends round the fire belonged in any way to the band of '* Tanti u tanki," or Sitting Bull, who was at that time a little further to the south-west in the Montague de Bois. This chief had with his band fled across the boundary line after what has been called the massacre of General Custer and his regiment. The story of that encounter as given by Sitting Bull to a friend of mine, Major Crozier, to whom he surrendered, showed the Indian Chief to have had higher military qualities than the dashing but un- fortunate officer who fell into the ambuscade. After dinner and the purchase of some oats we hitched up and went on our journey to our friends at the " City of Rosser." "We had a pleasant drive over a good prairie trail, which brought us to the northern side of the sand hills, which we had passed on our journey west. The timber on these hills is principally of a small stumpy oak, with very little grass, the principal vegetation being the aprelle of which I have spoken. Crossing once or twice the line of railway which runs here parallel to the trail, we had a drive of about twelve miles, till we reached our destination at Parkes's, and, camping there, had sup- per, preferring our tent to the interior of the house. Sitting up smoking, before retiring, the con versa- I AUTUMN FROST. 91 )l tion turned on some poor fellow in the neighbourhood who had been found frozen to death a few days before, and on my asking how it had come about I was told that he had been frozen while out hay- making. This may give a strange idea of the climate. The fact, however, was that the man had gone to sleep in a small bell tent, without taking any care to protect himself against the cold, and had certainly been found dead the following morn- ing. It must not be supposed, however, that haymakers in the North- West are usually liable to such an end in pursuing an occupation which is not generally associated with extreme cold. Next day I sold my extra stores (which from the shortness of my journey were very considerable) to my host, and started off for Brandon. After a twelve-mile drive we come to a good lake and |./re- pared to dine. The grass was very high, and had become thoroughly dry with the frost and the sim, and it was somewhat difficult to prevent it catching fire. We had had several instances of this terrible scourge during our journey, and Gruillaume had told me how, in the previous year, the fire had caught the neighbourhood of the camp, and they had lost every- tliing, even inchiding their wagons, except their horses ; and I had myself, as 1 have said, on the day before, seen how quickly an enormous loss in that part of the prairie may be effected in a very few hours at this time of the year. 1 think I may say for myself and my companions, both in this and subsequent jour- !i:; ii 1^ 92 FROM HOME TO HOME. h M I H neys, tliat no such accident lias ever happened to us. The host plan is as soon as the fire is lighted to let it burn till you get a pretty good circle clear, of a few- yards wide, Lurnt round the fire, and by keeping watch with a sack with some grass in it, you can easily prevent the fire from spreading, and after you have got that clear space, of course there is no further danger. Let it, however, once get ahead, and there is no stopping it. Above all it is most necessary that after every camp, before leaving, you should take care that the logs are so far extinguished that there is no chance of sparks flying from it in case of a sudden gust or squall. After dinner we drove on to Brandon, and arrived there about half-past three, and I walked about till I met my wife coming in from sketching. She had indeed had a dull week of it, and was still suffering a great deal from her cough, but had amused herself with helping a lady, whose acquaintance she had made, to look after a shop and sell goods to the Indians and other customers, of whose honesty indeed, as the customers seemed to have priced and weighed the goods for themselves, they had every reason to speak highly. Some of our friends had come into our tent, and Guillaume and I got them an excellent tea, and as I must say I still preferred our canvas house to the unfinished and not over clean hotel, we made up our buffaloes for the evening. It was a lovely moonlight night ; but it rained hard, with a good t<*ts£srf i ^,1 ( .1 *» r I RETVUN TO nUANDON. 08 / « a !i5 8 00 00 O P 85 I ^ 23 deal of wind, in the inorninfj;, and Guilluume and I were ii}) early, before dayH<^lit, to get our tilings together, so as to put tlieni in tlie train for Winnipeg. Having packed everything, I went into the hotel to see if all my wife's things were ready for a start, and as soon as it was daylight I brought her boxes downstairs and sat down to breakfast. There was a curious muster of all sorts of pcoi)le round the table getting their morning meal previous to starting. One worthy man who had seen me haul- ing the boxes downstairs and putting them ready to go off, remarked — " I don't know who you are, but you are the sort of chap for this country." "Why? "said I. " Because," he said, " you do everything for your- self, and don't call out for help. And I'll tell you what it is, I'll lend you my wagon, and give your things a lift to the station." This is, indeed, an illustration of what is expected from everybody out in the North- West. Help your- self and everybody is quitf^ willing to help you. Sit down and pray to the gods, and help will not be got either for love or money. In due course we were under weigh, and our train having set off eastward, we stopped for dinner again at the thriving town of Portage, and arrived at Winnipeg late in the evening. Here we were met by our good friend Mr. Boyle, who kindly afforded us the hospitality of his pretty little house, with I'- 04 FliOM HOME TO JWMK. respect to which we only lamented that the dreadful mud convinced us that we must necessarily be giving an enormous amount of trouble ; no scrapers, no brushes, no care, can keep you in a condition fit to enter a respectable establishment after a walk through the streets of Winnipeg in wet weather. On one occasion I had gone out to make a call, l)ut on arriving at the door I was so ashamed of the condition of my lower limbs that I beat a retreat without paying my respects. The second or third day that we were in Winni- peg, about the 15th of October, it turned very cold, and the shops hanging out all their furs as I was proposing to go for a drive to pay some calls, I provided myself with a large racoon coat. Mr. Boyle had a pretty light buggy which he drove, with a good trotter, " Robin " — a steady looking horse — and he had it prepared for us to go for our drive. On coming to take the reins the horse caught sight of my racoon coat, and was dreadfully alarmed. Thinking that he would soon get over that, I got my friend to hold his head whilst I and my wife got into the carriage, and in that way we drove down to the river, and crossing in a ferry-boat we arrived in St. Boniface, and drove up to the house of the Archbishop, Monsieur Tache. Most fortunately I asked my wife to get out of the carriage first, for no sooner had I stepped up to the horse's head and he had caught sight of my fur cloak than he looked almost dazed with fear, and I \ 'mm 1 .'■?& — * A SCAIii:D nnh'SE. or» :i '^i Rtarted ofT aloTig the bank of tlio Keel IJiviT as fast as ho could ^o. I kept luld of the reins until catching my foot in something I came a regular sprawler, while the horse went along with the carriage after him till he was out of sight. Hoping that some one would stop him I threw my coat off and followed after him. I found a man driving him back, but as soon as I got up, either from the smell of my coat or the recognition of my voice as the wearer of the detested garment, he turned sharply round again, and jumped some rails, dragging the light buggy after him. I found he was so thoroughly alarmed that it was utterly impossible for mo to get near him, and I was obliged to ask the man who had brought him back, and another friend, to take him out of the trap and put him in the stable. As for us, we found our way back to Winnipeg on foot, and sent the servant for him in the evening, and even when the servant got there he found him still trembling and in a condition of great alarm. I prcsum-e my coat had either a wild boast smell about it or it must have given me a somewhat wolfish appearance, for I found that the horse had no such fear of a beaver coat, but that he could not be persuaded to allow any light-coloured fur to come near him. We had indeed a fortunate escape, and I tremble to think what might have happened had I not most fortunately told my wife to get out of the carriage before I myself alighted. Those hickory- made little light buggies are wonderful insti- >l il 1<: ■\ $ ! I I I 96 Fno.M no Mi: Ti) no MM. tutions — very light and very stron*^ ; tlie only difliculty about tlieiu' l)oiii<^^ tliat, the fore-wlieek being tlio same diameter as the bind ones, tbey will not turn under tlie body. The consequence is it takes a larger space than our streets would allow to turn them round. The evening of this our last day in Winnipeg, October lOtb, bad been fixed upon for the opening of the club, and an address by the Governor-General, who arrived that day. It was an excellent banquet in a most commodious club-bouse, and the Marquis of Lome was received with much enthusiasm on his return from his Western trip, of which he gave an excellent resume^ full of good suggestions and pleasan+ interchange of good feeling. The next day we started off on our journey home, and, making another short stay at St. Paul, we ran through Chicago, and found ourselves again in our comfortable rooms in the Queen's Hotel at Toronto. Time, however, was getting short, and we made our way to Montreal, and fiom thence to Ottawa. We had hoped to see the Thousand Islands, and to have gone down by Kingston.. It was however too late in the season, the last boat having gone ; so w^e contented omselves with doing the Lachinc Ilapids, a very pleasant little excursion, which only necessitated being up rather early in the morning ; all that is required is to take the train for about Ul ,* 11 ;J^' r i 1 I \. \ / X ■n hi y, o < «r '^^ a !• I',, -i V't I '*' ■1 , • < I ' < .» I ■ .n t> 'Ml'*! ' " , . 1 ' tut' r«'|'; ^t. (' ^r IV Vdiii. t. I-.-- vi If, . \l ,' l> 1 1 i I ' « . , . ' . ' t I t> :. « '•, I . ,'• ' : I '1 • 1 1 : 1 ' ' ' ■ ! ^ ' ^ '. ! I » ' . ! . . J > } ' 4,' < i • .' . J ' . i ■ •• " I r - ■ , < , , , I . '= ■ I ill )i V-. I , i_ I ■ di • i.i-rV ■ ' « V M^.- ; i! .,f . > U j« I ii''U ail' 1. >ve i.i/ i):)tav>tl >« tv« i i", •:.' dt:i?iU >M ijj l»tf k -: :)'.i th f / ifrriiH(rifaiii|||i III III illlii:,! <» ^ I ,/-, '.'•'■ ^ I t £«;• iiiPiliii'l I! ,l|l'' : . OTTAWA— QIKHKC. 97 six miles to Lacliine, put yourself on board the Cor- sican, and, under the careful guidance of the Indian pilot Joseph, you are twisted through the rapids, and, sailing under the big bridge, get back to Windsor Hotel with a good appetite for your breakfast. From Montreal we ran up to Ottawa, as I wished to make the acquaintance of the Prime Minister — the most eminent citizen of Canada. The Parliament building and the view from the ^errace amply re- paid a visit to the capital, and it was a pretty drive to Rideau Hall to pay our respects to the Governor- General. The glorious red on the oaks and yellow on tlie maples and poplars in the bright sun of an Indian summer gave a splendid colouring to the woods. We found that the Governor was sufiering fi'om that which is the inevitable consequence of camping out, and was confined to his bed with a heavy cold. A pleasant evening at the Prime Minister's brought our visit to a close, and we started off next day for Quebec. At Quebec we devoted the day following to the Montmorency F.'dls, and I really think of all the sights in Canada it is one of the most beautiful. The enormous mass of water tumbles over the ledge straight into the St. Lawrence from a height of nearly 200 feet, constituting a fall, though doubt- less not so grand, scarcely less beautiful than Niagara, and well does it repay you to wander up the stream above the fall and see the natural stair- case formed by the detrition of the rocks, and the u 1.1 (\ \ 4 .11 \ I \ 98 FROM HOME TO IIOMF.. pretty path tlint wanders tlirongli the pine wood and gives an air of almost cultivated landscape to tlie wild woodland. The accompanying woodcut, from a sketch by my wife, shews the ledge from wliich the water falls into the big river, with the Isle d'Orleans in the middle distance. There was a good deal of snow on the ground in places, and as I passed through one decpish snow- drift my eye fell on a gold bracelet which had fallen from the arm of some recent visitor. Reading its inscription I connected it with a lady whom I had seen in the hotel at Quebec, and who was, I knew, visiting Montmorency that same day. Going up to her on our return to the hotel I asked if she had lost anything, but, being answered in the negative, I produced the bracelet, and found it was indeed hers. She had not missed it, and welcomed its return with very considerable joy. Next day found us c:i board the Circassian, and a cold day's steam down the St. Lawrence with clear weather through the straits brought us into the Atlantic, where, with a good westerly wind but rather heavy seas, we had a pleasant week, and arrived in tlie Mersey on the 2nd of November, very well satisfied indeed with our first trip to Canada; pretty confident as to its being a good I dace for emigrants, and certainly determined to take the earliest opportunity of another visit. ■\^ I I i INDIAN TniliEF^. 09 CHAPTER ly. and clear the but and iber, to ^ood take And now tliat we have made acquaintance with the country, and have met a few of the representatives of its earhest races, it may be well to give briefly some details of the divisions into which we find their tribes separated. Tlie most descriptive generic name that has been given to these races has undoubtedly been thai by which they are spoken of by the French as " les sauvagcs," meaning thereby not what we call ^ "savages," but rathb.', as the word more correctly implies, the wild men of the country. The word may, perhaps, have too much of the sense in which the Greeks used the word /Sdp^apo? as signifying all who had not attained to their own civilization ; but it is at any rate far bettei than that earliest English name which in all false geography we gave them of American Indian. The name of Redman or Redski:i, by which an Indian will in all pride describe himself, in contradistinction to our pale skin " sicklied o'er " he may fancy " with a pale cast of thought, ' is a far better name. Whence they came or at what date they had their H 2 i ',■■;. ■ i *L m I I 100 FnOM HOME TO irOMF. origin in this land, are questions far beyond the limits of this narrative. Their tribes differ, indeed, between themselves so much in appearance, and so entirely in language, that it is apparent at the first blush, that if there ever were any such common origin, they must have passed through many dif- ferent stages and undergone the changes of many varying climates before they could have arrived at the completeness of distinction in features, manners and language which now mark their separation. Of those with whom my narrative deals, the three piincipal families are the Algonquin, the Sioux and tlie Black foot. The Algonquins occupied to the exclusion of all others the district of the North- West between the Red Eiver and Cumberland House, and included the majority of the tribes wandering about the district of the Saskatchewan River and the Swan River, and it is said that some isolated bands have found their way as far north as the Athabaska ; if we add to this immense extent of territory the land which the different branches of the Algonquin family occupied in the eastern part of Canada, it is clear that this group of Indians is the most extensive of the whole of the Northern American tribes. It is said by M. Tache, the very learned and ener- getic Archbishop of St. Boniface, and one of the truest friends of the red man, that in the Department of the North this tribe in 1869 reckoned not more than uO,000, though tradition tells us that at one time it AJJiOMjllXS. 101 ener- truest 3nt of than imc it -.4: was far more numerous, but that wars and famine, and above all that terrible scourge small-pox, have reduced it to its present figure. The Algonquin family consists of three nations : the Saulteux, the Muskegons and the Crees. The Saulteux occupied in the Department of tlie North, a belt extending over three or four degrees of latitude to the north of the 49th parallel, from the western limits of Ontario to the eastern part of the district of the river Saskatchewan. The Muskegons occupied the country to the north of this up to the shores of the Hudson Bay, while the Crees occupied a kind of central position between these two tribes to the base of the Rocky Mountains. The Saulteux, who have largely intermingled with the French voijaijeurs^ are of good physique, and are men to whom it has been found bv the missionaries to be almost impossible to communicate any notion of Christianity or civilization ; proud and superstitious to excess, and, in former days, cruel above all on the war-path, witli an inordinate love for adorning their persons and heads with all kinds of shells, jewellery and feathers. Their name is said to have been given to them as having their headquarters in the land adjoining the Sault St. Marie, the rapids by which the water passes from the Lake Superior into the stream which runs into the Lake Huron, and which the vof/nf/eur.s knew them to regard as the cradle of their race. The Crees call them Nukaiverniwoh, while the 411 *■'■ m M I m 102 FJ{0.\f HOME TO IIOME. n Suulteux designate themselves under the title of Anichinevewoh, both of which words signify men with a qualification attached. The second branch of the Algonquins, the Mus- kegons, derive their name from the word muskeg, or marsh ; their full name among themselves being Oniaskakowoh, or men of the marsh. It is a word with which persons travelling in the west become tolerably familiar, and perhaps none more so than the railway contractors, to whom the muskeg, or bottomless swamp, has been the cause of many a difficulty and cause of failure in carrying out their works. The Muskegons, called by the English traders "the Swampies," are said in character to be the veiy opposite of the Saulteux, very easy to manage, and less superstitious; a great number of them have been converted to Christianity. This has no doubt been brought about to a considerable extent by the fact that they have been very largely employed on the boats and in the portages along the trading routes. I may here explain the word " portage," as signifying the land between the two w^aters, across which the boat and its contents has to be carried, and is equivalent to the Scotch " tarbet," or drag- boat. The Crees, with whom iu my tw^o first journeys I w^ar, most thrown in contact, are divided into the t\ro tribes of Orees of the prairie, and Crees of the woods. Their call themselves Neyowoh, or I VUKES. 100 .le of men Miis- askeg, being' I word )ecome than :eg, or lany a t tlieir rs " the e very ^e, and Q have doubt by tbe iployed trading )rtage," across carried, )r drag- rneys I nto tlie !rees of ,vob, or cyinuwoh. Tlieir Blackfoot neighbours call them Kinicitonowoh. The Cree of the prairie has been at constant war with the Blackfoots. So long as the prairie yielded a good supply of buffalo he was tolerably well to do. That time has, liowever, sadly gone b" for him. He is a good rider, and mounted on his little cayeuse is as smart a little figure as could well bo sketched. The Crees of the woods are a very quiet race, living in bark huts, and earning their livelihood by trapping and the sale of furs. The second great family of our Canadian Indians is the Assiniboians. They are a branch of the warlike family of the Sioux of whom I have spoken in my allusion to the episode of the Sitting Bull, but though of the same family they have ever carried on war to the knife with their relatives ; a good illustration of their feeling towards one another is to be found in the name given to the Sioux by the Saulteux, who are in alliance with the Assiniboians. They call them " tewannah," pieces of roast meat ; a name which undoubtedly had its origin in the horrible custom indulged in up to a very late day by the Saulteux of cooking and eating those of their adversaries whom they killed in fight or tortured to death as prisoners. The Assiniboians arc, in fact, as their name imports, the Sioux of the Stony Mountains — "Assini " signifying Stonics, the name by which ri '1 I* !' ':^ l\ i yjr-^; 5.-r™fl,'. til ,-i II i;i W 101 FJiOM UOMK TO HOME. tlicy are called by the English settlers. I have ])('en told that their fidl name has some refererico to their mode of cooking- with hot stones in watei', but T cannot verify this. Tliese Stonies are also divided into the Stonies of the prairie and the Stonies of the woods. These last have ever heen on bad terms with their neighbours, the Blackfoots, who form the third family. The Sioux proper occupy land south of the boundary line, and it was only after the Mirnicsota massacre of 18f)2 that thev fled across to the north, and occupied the country in the neighbourhood of the Montagne de I3ois. The Blackfoots occupy the land to the west of the Crees of the prairie and to the south of the northern fork of the Saskatchewan up to the base of the Bock'y Mountains. They are, so far as I have seen, men of \\ ])etter physique and greater capability for cultiva- tion, and have a better notion of adornment and orna- ment, than any other of the northern Indians. In former times they have had plenty of gnme both foi* food and fur, and have managed to acquire consider- able bands of horses and otner articles which form the wealth of savages. Horse stealing has been, no doubt, their favourite pastime, and one of the great causes of war between them and their neighbours. J5ut in this matter we must not be too hard on the Indians; at the worst they do not in this occupy a much lower position than did our English and Scotch liorder tribes in the old days, when the harrying I m ^vMvfik' ULAiJKFUOT. 105 ISO ofcattlo and general iobl)ery and pillnge were the modes of life wliicli led to wealth, honour and dis- tinetion, and which here also carried in their wake the border wars between English and Scotch just as they have done between Cree and Blad-foot. The family of Blackfoot consists of three princii)al tribes : the Blackfoot or Sixika, including the Cjows ; tlie Piegans, and the Bloods, or Kinas. These three tribes speak different dialects but of the same lan- guage, so far, at least, as to understand one another ; they were allied for the purposes of war. They have, however, marked dist.nctions among themselves. The Blackfoots are always said to have had the best organisation for war of any of the tribes of the north, although in this respect they were far inferior to the tribes on the other side of these boundary lines, both Sioux and Nezperces. The Peigans are excellent judges of a liorse, and devoted to horse- racing ; the (jrows are both in language and habits tlie most grossly immoral of all the Indians. It is not my intention here to touch upon the Indian rites and ceremonies, on which mucli has been written. Any person, however, who spends the last days of August or the early days of September in the North- West, will do well to be present, if possible, at the sun dance, their great annual festival. There is another tribe, the Sarcees, with many of whom I came in contact in one of my journeys, and of wliom a few are to be seen in the neighl)our- liood of Calgary. They are in alliance with the Bhick- 3 ion FliOM no Mi: TO HOME. ;i[; A i^'l foots; \)\\i are said to have no real connection witli tlieni. Monsieur Taclie tells ns that tlieir limoruMtre connectH them with the triho of the IJeavers, who wander over t^"j land in the north near the Peace IJiver, a branch of those Chippcway Indians who occupy the country to the north of the Athabasca and the Mackenzie Rivers almost up to the shores of the Arctic Ocean. These Castors or Beavers and the Esquimaux are entirely to the north of the countries through which I have travelled. I have nothing therefore to say with regard to them. The mode in which the Dominion Government has dealt with the Indians is similar to that adoj^ted by the States. In compensation for the occupation of their hunting grounds they have reserved to them large blocks of the best of the land, amply sufficient for all purposes for which they can require land ; and for the loss of game, every Indian man, woman, and child, while on the Reserve, receives 1 J lb. of beef and 2 lbs. of flour every second day, and a considerable money payment in each year for the purchase of blankets, clothes, and other necessaries. The problem as to how to treat the Indian has been a difficult one, for while undoubtedly these rations and payment destroy every incentive to industry, these terms honestly carried out have entirely prevented wars and other disturbances. They have, in fact, put the Indian entirely on a par with the idle class in Europe — those "gentlemen" who tliink that they sufficiently fulfil the object for which they came into the world by sponging AN im.h: (LASS. 107 upon tliL'ir rcllow-nicn, ^vttin^ tlieiuselvcH up as extremely sis their triulesiiieu will give credit, bet tin;;' oil lior^>raco8, drinking and idling away their liours, ])igeon-shooting, and indulging in otlicr low forms of gambling. I u M i ■\l 1 1 108 rUoM llUMl'l Tit lluMr.. CllAPTKU V. Duuixo my firwt vinit in tlie Doniinloii, and on considciiiig more fully what 1 had seen after my r^3tllrn, I bee moi une convinced that tl seen lere was a great d(;al to be done in the way of breeding cattle, both for sale there and, if there should be a possibility of surplus stock, for the supply of store cattle to England. We all know at how great a cost we produce our lean cattle, either as steers for feeding, or as heifers for our milk trade, and it occurred to me tlijit it might be possible to bring across from the West well-bred animals of some two years old ready for such purposes, at a very considerably less price than that at which we can raise them here, and that if this could be done, we should overcome one of the greatest difficulties in the way of cattle-farming in England; for undoubtedly with our cheap feeding stuffs, with a well-framed, healthy, fairly-bred young animal, the least profitable part of the business would be put on one side, and the more profitable occupation retained. I had kept my eyes open while out on the prairie, to see how this euuld be done, and while I i riioK'i: or I'ATTi.K liAsai:. 10!> Hiivv tilut of course it would 1)0 iuipoHsiMo on tIio ])niiric itself, where cattle could not winter out, iiiid the expense of wint.erin;:^ them under shelter would wipe out all possihility of profit, yet it seemed to mo that where there were woods or coulees availahle, Hueh as those 1 had seen in the neighhourliood of t lie ^foose Mountain, these difticulties ini^ht he possihiy overcome, and shortly after my return home, 1 made an application for a tract ot land in that neigh- hourhood. I found, however, it had heen determined to convert this land into an Indian reserve, and mv thoughts thmefore were turned to what 1 had heard of the Foot Hills of the Rocky Mountains, and I applied at Ottawa for a lease of some of the land there. I liad iny choice given to me of 100,000 acres on the Little Bow River or a similar tract in the Porcupine Hills on the eastern slopes of the ]locky Mountains. I shall describe both these tracts during the narrative whicli follows, but I may at once discharge myself of part of this question by saying that the enormously increased demand, caused by emigration, th(^ re- quirements of the Canada Pacific Rjiihvay, .'tfid the quantity of meat required for tlie Indian reserve, had to my mind clearly establisiied the fact that it would be many years before there was any probability of lean animals being spared for the European markets. Having secured the services of a manager, and having arranged with two friends of mine to share with me in the undertaking, T ))roposed to juoceed I ■ . no FUOM HOME TO HOME. as early as I could in the month of August to see tliis Western land. The breaking out of the Egyptian campaign liaving deprived me of the companionship of one whose services might be required in the East, I came to the conclusion that in his place my Westminster boy might be spared from school, with pleasure to me and advantage to himself, and on the tenth of August we found ourselves on board the Parisian with everything duly arranged for a long c.mp journey, although by no means for so long a one as it turned out in fact to be. A j)leasant and rapid passage found us in the Straits of Belle Isle on Wednesday evening ; but when in the Gulf 0^ St. Lawrence, we hau to lay to for some eight or nine hours, which prevented this passage beins: what it otherwise would have been, one of the best on record of the Allan Line. The morning of Saturday, the 19th of August, gave promise of a nice bright day. We landed at Point Levis at nine, but owing to the great quantity of luggage that had to be examined and put into tlie train, we did not get off till past noon, and a very slow journey we had of it to Montreal, arriving there at eeven in the evening. A fellow-passenger having kindly offered to put our names down at the St. James' Club, we drove there and had a good wash and a capital dinner, and back to the station ill time for the nijie o'clock tr;iin. We were speedily put away in our "Sleeper" ni route for Toronto. ,^ Ton ONTO, 1882. Ill of Henry was duly initiated into tlie cliarnis of a skunk, as we ran over one a few miles outside tlie city, and we carried away with us the " detestable fragrance " for many a mile. Sunday^ 20th. — At daylight found ourselves run- ning into the pretty country near Kingston, which we reached at G.30. We were getting glimpses of Lake Ontario, as the line ran along its watirs to Toronto. Arriving there at one o'clock we went at once to the Queen's Hotel, as our kind friends the Lieutenant-Governor and Mrs. Rohinson were absent from Toronto, and so were unable to offer to us the hospitality of Government House. After an early dinner and a good clean up, we took a steamer across to Hanlan's Island (as the sand-bank opposite the city has been christened, after the celebrated "oar"), an island which has now become quite the summer abode of the citizens of Toronto, wlio have built their pretty little villas with every contrivance of verandahs, rocking chairs, and hammocks for avoiding or giving relief in ihe great heat. We bad a lonff walk of about six miles throuii'li the sand to call upon some friends, and coining back to Toronto in the evening, went to the Cathedral and lieard a very good sermon from a iiew vicar. It was exactly ten days since I had left tlie House of Commons. As we were coming from the Catlicdral at dusk we noticed several nightjars high in the air, with their harsh note and quick flight — an unusual sight in the middle of a town. The bird ) -'I 112 FUOM HOME TO IJOMR. seemed somewhat larger tlian our English goat- sucker. Returning to the "Queen's" we had supper, and so to bed. Monday, list. — After breakfast, got through our business with reference to ranehe matters, and after a morning spent in shopping and letter-writing, en- joyed a pleasant dinner with some friends; driving bnck to our hotel in pouring rain, which seemed to refresh us, as it certainly did the streets and town. Tuesday, 22nd. — Fine morning. In spite of the warning of last year we determined again to try the route across the lakes, so, after a hurried breakfast, we took our places in the Toronto, Grey and Bruce Railway for Owen Sound. The line is very in- teresting, as it rises up to Charleston by a zigzag corkscrew gradient to a height of 900 feet — with a horse-shoe curve up the last part — thence along a piece of level to the summit.. The land even at this high elevation of 1100 feet, appears to be good farm land, and we noticed good crops of wheat. There must be beautiful views from different parts of this high line ; but the morning was too thick for us to see much. We arrived at Owen Sound and got on board the City of Owen Sound about 1.30, and steamed away up the Georgian Ray. This bay is, in fact, the north-eastern j^art of Lake Huron, from which it is separated by a peninsula running off into a chain of islands, of which Ihe greater and lesser Manitoulin are the principal, the last of the chain being St. James'. The United States have, as usual. ^ THE LAKE ItOUTE—aKOnOtAN HAY. 113 had the best of us in running tlieir boundary so as to include within their territory some islands very convenient for them, but which from their situation would seem more properly to belong to Canada ; the boundary being what was supposed to be the deep water channel. The weather was fine ; and we were fortunate in this respect, as the City of O/ren Sound did not seem to be much more seawoi-thy than our old friend Miss Smith of the last year. We had one or two pleasant passengers on board, amongst them an old Charterhouse boy, now living near Toronto. We be";an to fall into our earlv hours of the North-West, and tumbled into bed at half-past nine. Wednesday, 23r(/. — AVe woke up at Killarney, where our captain left us. About ten we called at a small place where we left the mails. Amongst our passengers on board was an interesting gentleman, the paymaster of the Indian Department of Ontario ; he had a most complete and intimate acquaintance with the Indian tribes dwelling in and around the Manitoulin and other islands ; these Indians belong- to the Tchippeway race, and live almost entirely ])y fishing. They are a very steady and well-behaved set of men, and Mr. Percival spoke highly of their accuracy as to the numl)ers of their lodges in respect of which they are entitled to payment under tlieir treaties. In the evening we reached the Bruce copper mines, and landing there saw large quantities of tlie ore which had been got and which was I t: >K n ■■■ ^•1 3 :f: r . M-1 114 FliOM HOME TO HOME. lying in heaps on the bank. It is a sulphate of copper ; and was formerly worked with very con- siderable profit. The works are now, however, closed, as the process of producing copper from the sulphate is too expensive to allow tlie mines to hold their own in the market against the purer or more easily smelted copper which is obtained in the States. It is a beautiful ore to look at, and lies strewed in such large quantities that one cannot but think that at no distant day the mines may upon some cheaper process be worked at a consideral^le profit. We had only a quarter of an hour to look round, and then went on board, and had a pretty sail through many wooded islands, at one or two of which we called. The scenery reminded us of the lakes traversed by the Gotha Canal in Sweden. Arrived at the end of the lakes we passed into the narrows, where the current being rapid and the channel difficult, we moored for the night at a wooding station called "Richard's Dock." It was a lovely moonlight night, and we intended to start at break of day. At day- break, however, a fog came on, and the purser, who was then in command, deemed it more prudent to remain where we were until about eleven o'clock, when the fog cleared and we passed up into the St. Mary's River. There are many Indian huts and wigwams on either side along the banks up to " Sault St. Marie," pronounced " The Soo," which we reached at two in the afternoon. The locks are on the American side, and there is a considerable town SAULT S7'. MA HIE. 115 4 springing up there, while, on the Canadian side, where there would seem to be certainly equal op- portunities for a town, there are but a few houses, or small village : little more than a Jesuit missionary station. A new lock is here being constructed largo enough to carry an ocean steamer with sixteen feet of water over the sill. The locks have been con- structed alongside of the rapids, the shooting of which in a canoe is one of the not very perilous, but some- what exciting, amusements of passengers while the vessel is passing through the lock. One of our passengers performed this exploit in a birch bark canoe paddled by an Indian ; we, however, had declined the little voyage, being advised that it was by no means certain that our vessel would take long enough in going through the lock, to insure our being carried on with her. The most interesting part of the proceeding was the cleverness with which the Indian got his boat up stream, taking advan- tage of all the slack and back-water. We were all aboard again in about an hour's time and sailing out into Lake Superior. The lock raises the vessels to an upper level of about twenty-five feet. Arrived in Lake Superior darkness soon came on. During the night we stopped at Michipicoten island to put off a large boiler for use at some silver mines. This opera- tion took about three hours, and the noise accompany- ing it put an end to sleep, after which at daybreak we found ourselves passing through some pretty islands, many of them flat topped and of the shape I 2 m VA y- !* llfi FROM HOME TO HOME. of a raised pie, one of wliicli, especially so formed, has been called " Pie Island," all of them well wooded. Near one of these we saw a deer swim- ming across from the mainland. Awjust 25th. — We spent this day on the lake and passing between the islands, and at night arrived at a curious little rock which has been made into an island by the spoil thrown up from the workings. Silver Island has been worked most profitably by an American company. Here, again, in the adjustment of the boundary, the States managed to lay hold of this profitable little islet, though it lies close in to the Canadian shore. Passing Thunder Bay in the dark we lost the view of this very fine and interesting headland. August 2(jth. — After leaving Prince Arthur's land- ing at 5 A.M., we steamed along up the lake and arrived at Dulutli at 10.30 p.m. Our skipper was most inhospitably anxious to get rid of his pas- sengers, but we did not see the advantage of being put ashore at that time of the evening, with the possibility of not being able to secure beds, and so refused to leave our vessel before the morning. This refusal was the occasion of a somewhat angry discussion, but we gained our point, one of our friends standing by us, and we had another tolerably comfortable night in our cabin. Sunday. — The skipper managed to get rid of us in good time by refusing to give us breakfast, so we landed at an early hour and drove to an hotel. I 1)1 DULUTII. 117 Diiluth, " tlie zenith city of tlio unsalteJ sen," seems a tliriving little place. After a good lueak- ftist at the Hotel St. Louis, wMch had only been opened about a fortnight, we walked up tlie hill above the town, where we feasted ourselves on wild raspbeiry, and took observation of the time with our friend's heliometer. While seated at the top of the hill a real good Yankee sat down by us and had a talk. He was a man of considerable information, and seemed to have visited a greater part of the Stales. As we were looking at the very pretty view from the spot where we had located ourselves, on a big stump, he came up with the remark, "Say! when tljis becomes a big city I guess this will be the place where the money will live." And it was indeed a beautiful situation for villas, with prettily wooded hollows and charming views of the lake and with peeps of the St. Louis Iliver, as it throws its waters into the head of the lake. The opposite side the water to Duluth is occupied by Superior City, and a good harbour is formed by a natural mole which runs across the entire width of two or three miles ; inside this there is another smaller mole, and still other islands within these, until the water nai'rows away where it receives the St. Louis River. The doubt as to the future of Duluth arises from the late period of the year at which the ice breaks up at this end of the lake. I have heard of its being there in July. After dinner we took a walk along the mole to Rice's Point, along W 118 FliOM HUM a TO HOME. tlie first mole, and back for tea, after whicli we got on board tlie train at 7 p.m. for Winnipeg. The run for the fir>3t tln'rty miles is through beautiful scenery, the line rising by a very steep gradient along the side of the river, which roars away beneath, through pine-woods, in cascades and rapids, and the view, as seen by us in the light of a full moon — of the water dashing down beneath the trestles upon which the line is carried — was very striking. After a short time we packed ourselves away in a jolti^^^., berth in a " Sleeper," being the top berth at the very tail of the train, and so with all the concentrated vibration arising from our progress. We ran all night through a forest, pathless, except by the railway track, till we reached the height of land on the cliain of lakes where the forest ends, and some good grazing and farming land is seen. This height of land is the westernmost point from which the drainage of the St. Lawrence district flows away to the east. Running a few miles further, we reached the south-western slope, from which the flow is to the head-streams of the Mississippi. We breakfasted at Glindon, where this Duluth brancli runs into the main line of the North Pacific Railway, and shortly after 9 a.m. we turned nortli by the St. Paul, Mineapolis and Minnesota Railway to Winnipeg. We dined badly at Euclid —but who would expect anything better at a place with such a name ? — and arrived at Winnipeg at seven in the evening. Our friend of last yeai', Mr. W. Boyle, 1 THE OUTFIT. HO met US at the station. As usual in my experience of" Winnipeg, tlie streets were heavy witli mud ; a severe thunderstorm liavinji^ come down upon the town on the previous night and producing ahun- dauce oT that extraordinary material, " Winin'peg mud," to which I have already alluded. August 29th. — Up at eight; after breakfast at our restaurant, we went to see several people on business, and proceeded to get together our train fur the journey. Guillaume, my friend and guide of last year, accepted my offer for our present journey. I had written out for our outfit to be ready for us ; it had scarcely, however, been advanced so far as I had wished, and I saw that it must take two or three days before we could hope to get imder weigh for the prairie. August 30th. — We spent the day in shopping and getting our horses for the start. We were taking two wagons with a pair of horses for each, and two saddle horses. For a second man Guillaume had engaged for us one whom he recom- mended as a tlioroughly comj^etent guide, a h.iif- bred Saulteux, Joseph Jourdain — a fine dark swarti.'y fellow, with a good laughing face. As Jose])h told me that he wished to leave some monev behind him with his wife, I was weak enough to give him fifteen dollars for this purpose and for his outfit. The consequence of which was that the next mornino:, when I went down to the olfice to see how thina-s were going on, I found my poor friend sitting on m * ■■'. L .ft>» 12U FliUM nuMl'l T( llUME. t tlie (.loorstc)) with a lialF empty bottle of whiskey uiul his laughing icKJO full of smiles, but liimself of very little use. I was very angry, f ml vowed that I would not have aiivthini!: to do with him. I was told, however, what an excellent fellow 1 should find him as soon as I got him away from llie whiskey. I mauaged to get liold of tlie whiskey bottle, and get liim safely to the railway station, where we had our wagons and freight on board in a big freight car, and Guillaume with them ready for a start, The freight car \\aa to start that even- ing, and having got hold again of Josepli, who had worked his way back into tlie town, I sent him off with one of the horses to join Guilkiume at the loading stage, which was some half a mile down the line. He mannged, however, to elude the vigilance of Gruillaume and my other assistant, and as the railway company had refused to allow the IVeight car to start until both the men were thei'c, poor Joseph's love of v.'hiskey leini»: a taste which it really seems almost HI WHISKEY. I'Jl we ties 5eph iiripossible for tliese men to resist. He was in tlie best of good humor, Jiiid as we laid down on the prairie, while our train was delayed with hot axles, lie introduced us to a gentleman who was lyinicked us up again. In the evening we reached Broadview, a railway camp, where we were informed there is at no distant time I rv'i !' ^f % ;# 122 FROM HOME TO IIUME. \o 1)0 Ji l»i;^ city, and \vc went into a canvnH Hlu'inty wliicli .arrof2;ate(l to itself tlio name of "Ilanwell House." The sleeping places consisted of bunks arranged round tlie room ; there were many other living things in our hunk besides our two selves, and we were by no means sorry to turn out in very good time the next morning. "VVe had been in hopes of finding here our freight car with our outfit, and were mucli disai)pointed wlien we could liear nothing of them. As the "construction train" by which we were travelling had gone on to the Pile of Bones Creek, wo took our gun — as we felt bound to pay proper respect to the first of September — and went to try what sort of animal tlie dog was, whom in default of Parigi, who bad engagements with his master, I had purchased the night before we left Winnipeg ; " Drake " was a good-looking black and tan settler, but young, and I feared much tliat we should not find him of great service, and, surely enough, on my shooting a bittern, I found that I had to go into the water to retrieve him for myself, as the dog sat complacently on the bank and wagged liis tail, but was quite unwilling to take any share in the proceedings ; however, we hoped for better things from him in future. Tlie soil here is a heavy friable loam, which may perhaps be found to produce good wheat crops, Ijut as to which I shall wait with some interest to see what is the result of the first experiments. The })rairie is a dead level with but few little pools 1 riLE (tF ItoSES—UEdlSA. 123 I atid IK) ^rciit junoiiiit of wator. Wc cnino Imck und liiid (liiiiior, finding tlio tent of Mi'h. McMiiiius, tlio Imxoin Iiisli wife of a ci-denint gMiirdsiiian, wlio liad taken mucli interest last year in my wife at JJrandon, and in the afternoon we took onr seats on ii "construction tiain " in a cahoose for the "Pile of Bones." The heat was intense. We went on as far as Qii'appelle, where we arrived at nine in the evening^. 1 was very sorry tliat it was dark M'lien we arrived tliere, as the country about Qu'appelle is exccediiif^ly pretty, and in fact is tlie last thing that you see of" beauty for nearly 400 miles. Wc arrived at the Pile of Bones Creek — which is now dignified by the name of Kegina, and which for some reasons best known to the selectors has been chosen as the capital of Alberta — a\)out eleven o'clock at night ; as we heard the caboose was to stay there all night, we made ourselves pretty comfortable on the floor for a sleep. Our two companions were brakes- men on the line, with a verv considerable flow of Montana language, which certainly imported into every sentence almost every word which polite ears are scarcely used to, witli the names of the Three Persons of the Trinity, and the Day of Judgment turning up in every sentence. A small Jew's harp twanged out " Home, Sweet Hume," and songs all round whiled away a good deal of the night, but at three o'clock in the morning some railway officials came up and informed our friends that they had to go back to bring up another " construction train." The .4 \- ll I :■ ! j i : ! I 124 mOM HOME TO HOME. ! I languag'e tliat was used when they heard this order was of the most " winged " cliaracter, but being told tliat the orders were {"rom the " boss," and they would have to go, one of our friends exclaimed, " Do you tbii)k I am going to work day and night, Sundays and weekdays, like a 'God-dam' telegraph post?" However, in spite of all these remonstrances, the order had to be obeyed, and so we had to turn out and leave our friends to return upon their unwelcome journey. We found at a short distance from the line a store tent kept by an old Frenchman and his wife, and there v^e two and Joseph and the dug lay down on our robes, and endeavoured to doze away until the morning, and I listened to the two Gauls discussing the proper sale price of their varied com- modities. September 2nd. — Up at seven ; our host and hostess having been on the move for some considerable time previously. Turned out and got breakfast in a canvas tent near, and finding, after some difficulty our luggage, which had been left pretty well at large on the prairie, and having secured a bucket, with some not very clean water, we had a bit of a wash up and changed our clothes, and started off with the gun. It was terribly hot ; the thermometer standing at over 100° in the dining tent. Whatever may be the future of " Regina," most certainly, so far as we saw of it, at this time in 1882, it was as little fitted for a capital city as any })lace could well be conceived to be — an ab&olute flat, with no wood MOOSE JAW. 125 I s^-* I and no water, and not very promising land ; and as a friend observed, you would have to take advantage of the convexity of the eaith if you wanted to get out of sight. In the evening we made the acquaint- ance of a Mr. Conkoy, the most spirited foreman of the victualling department of the railway contractors, Messrs. Langdon and Shepherd. Our friend was cer- tainly about as active and energetic a man as ever I came across : when he slept or when he rested was a mystery. Of a stature and appearance not altogether unlike the first Napoleon, he seemed to be possessed of an equally uncompromising restlessness. A word or two to the brakesman in his caboose, then a bound along the cars to the end of the train for a few words with the engineman, and then back again to the caboose. He kindly offered to take us on to tlie end of the track at Moose Jaw Creek, and about five in the afternoon a train arrived, returning from that place with one of our friends who had been on board the Parisian. We all went on together, hearing just as we got under weigh that our outfit had arrived at Broadview, and sending word back to Guillaume by telegraph to como on to join us as quickly as possible. We got on to Moose Jaw, and there found the boarding cars in wliich the principal pa^'t of the business of the " construction " is locally conducted and where the great proportion of tlie men employed dine and sleep. The process of *' ironing" is con- ducted thus : — To the end of the metals, so far as they are laid, three huge boarding cars are pushed, • t C ,,i' 126 FROM HOME TO HOME. I f 1 i each of these boarding cars consisting of three stories. On tlie ground floor are the offices, with the dining- rooms and kitchens and berths for the contractors and the principal men, and in the two stories above are sleeping places for the men, with sometimes tents on the roof. The " construction train," containing ties, metals and fish-joint plates sufficient for some two or three hundred yards of line, is brought up to the rear of these cars, and immediately the contents are turned oif to the right and left of the line. As this is done light wagons, dra\vn each by a span of horses or mules, pick up as many of these ties and rails as they can carry, and bear them forward and deposit them by the side of the line to the front of the boarding cars, dropping them as nearly as can be calculated at the points at which they will be required for the laying of the line. As the ties are dropped they are picked up and laid in their places, two men stand- ing by with marked rods and putting them on at distances of two feet apart from centre to centre. When a sufficient number of these are laid, five or six other men carry one of the rails and lay it down upon the adjusted ties, and, as this is placed, it is fixed to the ties by large spikes ; a striker standing by with a heavy hammer drives the spike down as it is stuck in by a person to whom this work is assigned. The rail is then fixed to the line of which it forms the prolongation by a fiish-joint plate, and as each pair is laid the trolly passes on with other rails, spikes and plates ; and these again are laid in exact con- ""i HA IL WA Y CONS Tli VCTTON. 127 lair ces on- 4 tiniiity. The load of the " construction train " that has brought up this material being exhausted, the engine puslies on the boarding cars to the end of the rails so laid, and then returns and carries back its " construction train " to the nearest siding, probably some five or six miles in the rear, whence another "construction train" is brought up, and the "iron- ing " proceeds in the same manner. The celerity and accuracy witli wliichall this is done is truly astonish- ing, and the day that we were first there between the hours of eleven and two, a wagon which had been standing by our boarding car at eleven o'clock was at two o'clock nearly two miles behind. One day, when they were working to see how much could be done, five miles of rail were laid ; and while we were there the line was advancing at the rate of twenty miles in the week. It may be thought that in this way the " graders " would be caught up, and that the " ironing" would thus be stopped. The grading is however let out in sub-contracts, the head con- tractor always keeping one gang of his own men ready to finish any work that seems likely not to be completed in time for the " ironing," and when it is reported that such an event is likely to happen, this head contractor's gang goes to the front andfinishes up the unfinished work, and of counse charges it against the sub-contractor. AVe were told, however, that only upon two occasions during the year 1882 had the ironers caught up the graders. When the head con- tractor's gang is not wanted for this purpose, there is \ .. i ^ iv I t ( , ; ' 1 i ( 1 1 I i: 128 FJ,'()M 110 MIC TO no ME. plenty of otlicr work for tliem to do in finishing and ballasting, as the line being thus rapidly laid, the work has of course to be gone over with care in finishing and fixing, and above all they have to make sidings, the existence of which at every half dozen miles or so is necessary to the construction. We had a comfortable night in the boarding car, and were up early in the morning, and after breakfast returned with our friend Mr. Conkev to the Pile of Bones ; here we arrived at five in the evening, and heard that our horses had arrived, and that Guillaume and Joseph had driven out to follow us to Moose Jaw. As the trail ran nearly parallel to the line I got a trolly or hand-car and engaged three men to woik it for me ; they ran it along the rails after the teams, and, coming up with them at about a dozen miles, I sent them on towards Moose Jaw to wait for us there, and returned to the Pile of Bones, where we passed a far more comfortable night than usual in our friend Mr. T'^nkey's tent. Si .)iber 4t/i. — Up at half-past six, and after bret Ic .st, left for Moose Jaw, and passing our wagons, signalled to them to follow us up, and going on our- selves to Moose Jaw, had a bathe and a fish in the creek, and supper and a comfortable turn in with our old friends in the boarding car. September bth. — Up at six, and after breakfast started off with our wagons at eight o'clock, Henry rivling a pacer pony, and I a nice bright buckskin mare. The pale yellow horiic called by the Fiench I a FinST (J A MP, 18M'. 129 I "isabelle" is known in the North-West as a "buck- skin"; tlie cliestnutis described under its old Englisli name of "sorrel." It was not very pleasant country for riding, as tbc prairie bad been all burned, and was still aglow in places. We came, bowever, to a little stream wberc we found some water, and baving dined tliere started off again at 2.30, and tlien drove on for another twenty miles or sc. The only things that I saw to shoot were some hawks. Seeing some 1)lue liills in the distance, which looked tempting, we endeavoured to make for them for the niglit. We found, however, that they were mucli further off than we had thought, so we stopped at a slough. My readers will remember that a slough (pronounced slew) is by no means a Slough of Despond, but a good grassy hollow with a swamp or pool in it ; here, as there was no wood, we had to break up one of our boxes to make our fire. The water was rather muddy, but not alkaline, and it made us faii'ly good tea. This was the first night of our camping, when there is always some little excitement, to see how the things work together, and whether all the requisites have been brought, and what has been left behind or forgotten. AVe found our font comf()rt!il)lc, and arranged our plan of sleeping, I on the lef"t, Henry next me, then Guillaume, and Joseph on the extreme right. Our tent was an oblong, with two uprights and a cross-pole, about ten feet by twelve, and was a good linen tent but badly stitched. I found it a mistake to have the cross-pole fitting on two It I 1 ! \\< 1 1 U ; I 1.'30 FliOM HOME TO HOME. spikes at the end of tlic uprights. The holes were conFiantly sphtting out; when this had taken place I repaired the damage by lashing two picket pegs at the end of each upright, so that the cross-pole might rest in the grove between tliem, and bevelling off these splints so as to take the slope of tlie tent- cloth there was no chance of injury by the ends of the poles cutting through. We were nmch dis- tressed at finding a loss wc had ^Mi^^rtined. I had brought two pairs of the tliickest Hudson Bay " four point " blankets for Henry and myself, and it appeared tliat Guillaume, while delayed at Broadview, had somewhat incautiously admitted to the freight car a man who was working on the line. He had left the car to get some water for the horses, and on return- ing he missed the blankets, and sighted in the distance the scoundrel who had been in the car sloping away far down the line with the bundle; and as he could not leave his horses, and never saw the man aftei wards, we had to get along without our best blankets. I thought what an action any one in England would have had against the com- pany, and what " nice questions of law " would have been raised. ]3ed in camp is made up by laying the buffalo robes on the ground, and if there are an}^ young pine shoots to be got, placing a layer of them underneath, and over the buffalo a blanket, and then another blanket and then a buffalo, the in- tervening space between the two blardvets being % 1UUI> STCFl'lSa. 131 ffalo liem and in- I f of course occupied by tlie traveller. The pillow is made up of coats and trousers and other clothes, and our hags placed at the head, with guns down by the side. 1'he back of our tent is to the windw^ard, and tlie fii'c — which of course is placed to tlie leeward of the tent— is made at a distance of some two or three yards from the door. This was tlie first night in camp, to be followed by many and many an eventful evening, and we found ourselves exceed- ingly comfortable, although this first was certainly not one of the best camps that we had in our journeyings. Wednesday, Gth. — Up at dayliglit, and after break- fast I shot a large haw^k, which I skinned, but unfortunately lost it out of the w^agon, to my great regret, as it was a very fine specimen. 1 had taken with me for the purpose of preserving my skins a quantity of arsenic paste ; in the very dry air this is really unnecessary, as by turning the skin inside out, and placing it for a day or two in the sun, if it is tolerably clean it becomes completely dry, and will keep sufficiently w^ell without any further pre- paration, and at this time of the year any risk from moth or other insect is at an end. We hitclied up at 8.30 and started off — Henry and I on horseback, the other two each driving a wagon. Our animals had not been selected for the prairie with sufticient care ; two of them were far too old and two of them much too young. It is a safe rule for anybody driving on the prairie not to take anything under 'fir 132 FROM no ME TO HOME. tli I: i six or over sixteen. AVe passed a considerable number of alkab'ne 1 ikes, a feature of tliis part of the prairie, wbicli may fairly claim some few words of descriptior. Under a go'v'.,) - t^ua an alkaline lake or pool bas all tbe app\>ar.HH^e of a ratber dulled mirror, witli a margin round of a brilliant green, sur- lounded by anotlier fringe of red, — tbe colour of tbe 2:)lant wbicli grows in tbe sballower water of tbese Sfilty pools, — and around tbis again, a margin of tbe wbite alkaline deposit from tbe evaporated water. Tbe wbole aflfiiir looks very gorgeous and very unwbolesome, by no means of tbe cbaractei* of the lake in the waste, That " allures the sight hut mocks the taste," and wben tbe wind is blowing from tbe direction of an alkaline lake tbe putrescent smell is sometimes very bad. A considerable number of ducks and water-fowl are always to be seen upon tbese lakes during tbe day. No borse wbo is not used to tbe country can drink of tbe water witbout serious danger to bis life, as it brings on a rapid disease in tbe kidneys, termi- nating very quickly in splenic apoplexy. I bave seen borses tbat bave drank of tbe water die witbin a very few bours. Tbe few words I bave quoted from " Tbe Epicu- rean " brings to my mind tbe constant mirage. Sometimes, even wben most accustomed to it, witb tbe sun at its great beat you would feel positive bi"- o Tbe a Ml, end got beli . 1 L KA LINK LA KKH—MIIIA d II mij the can life, n'lrii- seen liu a )icu- rage. 4 as to Its being water before you. The illusion is caused by the gassy steam which tiie sun diaws from the land, and which entirely obliterates the horizon. After a long lide we arrived at a lake where there was a good deal of grass, and where we tried to bathe; it was, however, too shallow, even w'^^ a long wade out, for this purpose. There we>c a great number of ducks, but we could not get w.l; 'n shot. VVe found here a sweet-scented yellow ,va'^'" - plant with a liower like a small snap-dragon. 1 saw this plant once afterwards on the western sK.pc of the liocky Mountains, but except ii[)on these two occasions 1 have never come acioss it. I mention it here, as if any subsequent traveller should be able to get hold of it, it would make, 1 think, a very accept- able water-plant for our gardens. We stopped at noon to dinner, and hitched up again at 2.30, and had a long drive through burnt ground till we came to a slight undulation round a laige swamp, and camped just above a slough, where oui' horses fcnnid [)lenty of grass. The [lei'sicaria in these swamps was the largest I have ever seen, enormous leaves, verv big flowers, and the stems nearly three feet In'gh. The water was very bad, but we had our tea of bacon and biscuit, and went to bed about half-past eight. Thui:s(/(tJ/, 7M.— Up at seven, and rode on in an endeavour to find some place where our horses could get water. We came to a lai-ge lake, which is, I believe, called Moose Lake ; the mud there was so r ■4 : ,*..• 134 FliUM HOME TO HOME. I'' ■' III '^il 'Hi deep and tenacious tliat we found it Impossible to got our liorses through it to the water. We hjid anotlier couple of miles over burnt ground, the bottom of a dried-up lake, until we reached at noon the Lac de Jones, wliich we were in search of. It is a curious horse-shoe shaped lake, with the bend of the horse-shoe to the north and the two extremities to the south-east and south-west. At this northern end there is a great quantity of bulrushes, which gives it its name. On the eastern side it has a cut bank of some twenty or thirty feet to the water's edge. Its western side consists of swampy islands of rushes and recdsi, and there is scarcely any of the waterfowl of the West, whether swimmer, wader or diver, that is not to be found there. Our liorses were very glad indeed of the drink ; passing through the reeds into the lake they disturbed millions of frogs of different colours — I should think so many frogs were never collected together in any other place since the days of Pharaoh. From the north side of the lake a trail passes off at right angles to that which we were taking, in the direction of Prince Albert, at the junction of the two branches of the Saskatchewan. At the lake we found a camp of railway graders, who called the lake by its English name, "Bulrush Lake"; they told us that it was about eight miles long and thiee wide. We had a good wash rather than a bathe, as ihe water was too shallow, though appai'ently deeper on the eastern side. It was not good to drink, and there was no grass, so we had to come i righ THE cow-jifty. 135 upon our railway friends for sonic liay and some corn. After tlinner wo started on our journey, wlien Henry's pony began to go very lame, from the effects of liis having come a regular "cropper" on to his nose in the morning, and appeared to have strained his shoulder. We tied him on to the wngon, and Henry drove, I riding along by myself. In the evening we met a small band of about i'oriy head of cattle, which the cow-boy said he was bring- ing down from Cochrane's ranche ; I have never, however, quite made up my mind as to who's they really were and how they came there, and 1 was not sufficiently well-informed upon the subject at that time to elicit the facts of the case from the cow 00 V He was the first of his race whom I had seen. The costume is an imitation of the Mexican, and so has a dash of Spanish about it. A pair of "shaps" or leather overalls, with tags and fringes down the seams, a pair of big cruel-looking but really very hannless Mexican spurs, a soft felt sombrero hat, and a buck-skin sliirt, worked probably down the front with some Indian scjuaw beadwork, and a gaudy tie, a revolver in his belt or in a hip-pocket placed where fashionable hidies now carry their pocket-handkerchiefs; and as he sits hiscayeuse, with his left arm on the horn of his saddle supporting his right elbow, the hand of wliicli props his chin or holds his pipe, he has altogether a very pictuiesque and workmanlike appearance. I say that the sjiurs i l^M 186 FltUM HUME '10 HOME. look criHil ; tlii^y uro not rciilly ho, unJ in I'act tho boys call our Kn<^li8h spurs cruel ; a principal u«o of tliuso long tilings being to hold on with bypassing them under the belly and stiekiiig them into the sineh of a bucking broncho. It was getting very dark, {ind I began to be rather anxious as to a place for camp, as we were on high burnt ground, without wood or water. I rode on ahead to ex[)lore, and after a few miles further came to a descent, whicli brought us to a stream which we recognised as the *' Swift Current Creek," a creek which has given satisfaction to other explorers before us, bright clear water running very quickly from left to right. It was quite dark when we crossed the stream and encamped in the neighbourhood of •".omo Cree Indians and some railway surveyors. Some of the Crees — a couple of bucks and three squaws — ^joined us at tea, and the prairie fires — which had broken out with such vigour in the breeze of the last two days which had sprung up after the tremendous heats — began to blaze close to us, in fact the line of fire was only separated from us by the narrow little creek. I made an attempt to j^hoto- graph the fire, but of course without success. It brought to my mind more clearly than anything I had ever seen the description of the beacon fire by the Queen in the Agamemnon of iEschylus, as the wind bore it along. adidoi'io /xcVct (jiXoyos inyav rcoywi/u. I SWJFT cUnnENT rREKK. VM It was, indeed, rcjicliin^ over a breadtli of many miles, " ji <^iant Leard ot flame." Frhldy. — Up early, and I took my gun and went after 8ornej:;eesc down the stream, butcouM not get a shot; the IndiaiiH had been after them, and they were very wild. At !M5 hitched \\\) and started, I riding the buckskin '' Fan," and the pony being tied on to one of the teams; " Drake" was very unwilling to leave the Indian "tepo," so I had to take him with a cord. After some fifteen or twenty miles we came upon a lake literally swarming with duck aiitl geese. As there was no cover round the bank it wjis verv dillicult to get at them ; I succeeded, however, in shooting a duck; and eight difl'erent kinds of waders. I was unable, however, to realize my success, as the ducks were well away from the shore, there was no breeze to bring them towards me, and the mud along tlie bank prevented my going in after them, and in the matter of our dog we began to realize the proverb as to the inconvenience of keej)ing a dog and having to bark yourself. This waa the only day during this journey that we were troubled by mos- quitos, but ui along this lake we were a good deal bitten ; the bite, however, at this time of year is not very severe, as the cold nights take the strength of the venom out of these troublesome little brutes. I did at last succeed in getting a duck on a smaller })ool, riding into tlie water and getting it out. A r night we camped on a slough, where, in the early part of the evening, the mosipiitos were again a little ♦.'T' 1 1- V ! m 138 FROM HOME TO HOME. troublesome, but a sliarp frost came ou, and we found a good tbick coat of ice on tbe water in our buckets in tlio morning. We rode on next day over a nice piece of prairie, Henry riding and I driving, and we came to a pretty little lake, wbcre I managed to get a couple of duck, but bad to undress and swim in and do retriever work for myself. AVe dined on tliem, and after dinner Henry sbot a large raven. ITitcbing up at 2 p.m., alter a long drive we reacbed, in tbe evening, a level basin surrounded by sand bills and sandstone rocks; we passed tbrougb tbis for about two miles. Many of tbe sbrubs and flowers were entirely different from any we bad seen before, and especially mc noticed one shrub, with lor g straigbt stems of about two feet, with thorns at regular intervals up tbe stalk. It covered the ground almost like tbe dwarf juniper ; I did not see tbis shrub aaain until we came across it afterwards in Montana, on tbe bead-streams of tbe Missouri. As the sun was setting we got to tlie western end of tbe basin, and camped upon a knoll adjoining a slough with good water. Tbe wind began to blow very fresb, and the sandy ground gave but bad hold for our pickets, and shortly after we bad gone to bed down came our tent on tlie top of us. As one pole remained up at the bead end, and it was too dark for us to hope to put matters to rigbts, we allowed ourselves to lie under the ruins until tbe morning. Sunday, li)tl/. — A fine morning, and after breakfast I got out my "bouscwife" and with some good 4 V I El in m( cr( as SOI .-1 TOIiN TENT. 131) English tliread set to work to repair a big rent ill tlio stitches of the tent, an occupation which took me i'rom one to two liours ; we discovered tliat tlie creek that we were camped at was not Ma[)le Creek, as we had thought, but a coulee running from the south into one of the chain of alkaline lakes that we had passed on our right hand. We washed up about ten and started on our journey, and had a pleasant drive through the })rairie, all of whicli on our left hand was completely charred. About noon we sighted a stream to our right, with some small wood and shrubs, and picking out a nice little sunny bank, unhitched and made our dinner camp. Henry and I took advantage of a pool that was not dried up, and had a good wash, and after dinner proceeded to skin the raven, and having had a nearly three hours' rest, we hitched up and drove along till we began to ascend some steep bills, which w^e fancied were immediately above Fort Walsh. Here \\q met a family of Indians taking their journey east. The woman seated on the horse on the off-side, with her feet resting on one of the travoie poles. This is an ingenious Indian contrivance for carrying the children and the household goods. Two long poles are fastened one on eacli side of the horse's neck and drag behind him ; to these is attaclied a cross-bar at a distance of some two feet from his heels, and keeps the poles apart. A second cross-bar is placed behind this at about two feet from the end of the poles, and at an interval of about a couple of feet from tlie front if 110 FROM HOME TO HOME. cross-bar. A skin or other material is placed between these two, and forms the bag- in which the papoose or household goods, or in all probability both, find their travelling carriage. It is wonderful with how little jolting tin's rude conveyance proceeds along the prairie, and is available in winter and in summer, and the children really seem to enjoy their carriage, and looked ftir happier than many of our gaudily dressed up West-end children in their more luxurioiis peram- bulators. The lady whom we now met had a nearly naked papoose about six or seven months old that seemed to be enjoying its jolting over the prairie. We learned from the Indian buck who was bringing up the procession, which was headed by his boy, that Fort A¥alsh was still some eight miles off; so, as the sun bar*, set, we camped for tlie liight on a sloping bank with some sloughs in front, and where there was tolerable Avater, but no wood ; so we had to break up one of our boxes to boil our kettle and fry our bacon. An Indian came in to supper, and had along " povv-wow " in Cree with Guillaume and Joseph. Monday, Wtli. — A sharp morning. On the previous evening, i-s the water was thick, I had put two of our charcoal filters with indiarubber tubes into the bucket, so tiia'.: acting as siphons they might draw out a sufficient amount of bright water for our breakfast, but I found that the bucket was only about half filled, and the filters must have frozen up at al)0ut two or three o'clock in the morning. We bilched uj) about nine, and after about three hours' dr gril FORT WALSH. 141 10 e drive descended a steep liill, over boidders and big gravel, to a very clear stream, on a knoll above wbicli was an encampment of eigbt Indian lodges. It was a most picturesque little bollow, well wooded all round ; and tlie sigbt of tbe green and tlie water after tbe large extent of burnt prairie tbrougb wbicb we had passed, was most refreshing. We ascended from the stream up a corresponding hill to that wliicli we had come down — very steep and very rough — it tried the wagons and the horses very considerably. When we were half-way up, the bolts of one of the whippletrees broke, and the binding it up with wire caused a long delay. Some Indian children flitted in and out of the wood on each side of the road gathering choke cherries and service berries ; these seemed to constitute at present their principal food, as we neither saw nor heard of any big game. The poor little creatures looked very thin and veiy hungry, and only came out to peep at us from under the l)ouo:hs or behind the stems of the trees. After ascending the hill, which brought us up again some 200 feet to the prairie level, we came upon a large encampment of Indians, and turning round to tlie right drove down to Fort Walsh, where we pulled up outside the fort. It was a kind of large stockade, enclosing a Tiuml)er of wood houses and stables, substantially built, with wheel- Avright and blacksmith's shops, and a large drill square. The ground, having been trodden up a good deal under a burning sun by both mounted police and . .1 if j -•-J* «M» 142 FROM HOME TO HOME. il! 11 II iilii. Indians, was one mass of dust, and as heavy squalls of Avind came on from the high land around it, the grit floating in the air was most trying to eyes and lungs. I went in to see the oflRcer in command, and found Major Shurtleff and Mr. Norman, second in command. We went into the fort and were very kindly welcomed. jNIr. Norman took us to his room and mapped us out full instructions for our next three davs' drive. On comintr out, with the assistance of Guillaume and Joseph, we made ac- quaintance with the Indians, and I persuaded them to let me take their photographs. They were very unwilling to suhject themselves to this treatment, as they were not, at the time, on the very best terms with the Government ; — the Government had refused to give them their supplies unless they would go back upon theii" reserve, and they had an idea that by sticking out i; ley should get better terms, and they were under the belief that another Ic^rge band of Crees in the neighbourhood of Regina were coming down and would lielp in a demonstration to put a pressure upon the Government. It appeared, however, that Joseph had had a good deal of talk with these other Crecs, and was able to tell them — and Major Shurtleff requested me to get him to do so --that the Qu'appelle Indians had made up their minds io go back upon their reserve. This altered the s.'ate of things,, and these men, who were there *u i\:Q. number of about ninety lodges with about five *(' .'• lodge, agreed that they would also go back to as go do leir ived ere Lve t to DIG BE An:' '' irch'Y man:' 143 their reserve if tlie Government wonld provide them with food on tlieir way hack. AVe fully discussed this matter with ]\rajor Sliurtleff, and tlie conclusion at which they arrived was to send back an esort of police with food to accompany them, and only to give tliom their day'y rations as they proceeded along their journey, and so to make sure of good faith being kept in the matter. The chief who was then in command of the band was " ]?ig Bear " ; he, however, has never entered into treaty with the English, and, therefore, is not recognised by the Government. lie is certainly not a very distin- guished-looking man, and about as plain-headed an Indian as it is possible to see amongst this not very handsome race. The officers and those who were about there considered him a \ery straightforward fellow, and that he had only not entered into the treaty because he thought it beneath the dignity and to the prejudice of his tribe ; there was, hr - ever, a considerable feeling amongst others tl e that he was a "bad egg,'' and they even went so far as to suggest that the sooner he had a 1 Aei in him the better. The acknowledged chief ' the band, who had entered into the treaty wit i the Government, was " Lucky ^lan," whos^c photograph 1 took standing between two young ladies, two of his scpiaws — one of them really a tolerably good- looking girl of about fourteen. We had discovered these young ladies, with three or four others, got up in their best finery and engaged in a feast in Lucky It ;-B,H), .1,.,^- m 4''' ' 144 FliOM nOMi: TO HOME. Man's tope. It was net without miicli coaxing from Joseph tliat tliey were j^ersiiaded to come out and liavc tlieir photof:;raphs taken. The young squaws, in Cree, " sl^eni," liad tlieir faces painted witli yellow, and the cheek bones and parting of the hair daui)ed with vermilion. After I had photographed them. they came up and looked through the camera ; like every other person whom I have ever found trying to look at a camera for the first time, they en- deavoured to look through the glass instead of on it. It was some little time before they could understand what I wished to show them ; when, however, they limited t>eir vision to the surface of the glass, and caug-lit si<2:lit of the tent and of one of their friends sitting in it, they laughed most heartily. Though not bad-looking, the}' have rather thick lips and flat noses, but good eyes. The oldest women amongst them are indeed ugly, and no wonder, considering that they have to do all the hard work for them- selves, their bucks, their families, and for the tribe generally. As an illustration of the light in which the Indian holds the .squaw I may give the following* tale. Amono-st the early settlers in Montana was one who was known by the name of "Long Hair"*, he was looked upon with much fear by the Indians, the orijxin of which was the followin<>; : — In 1871 the Blood Indians were camped on the kSt. Mary's and Belly Rivers and numbered almost 300 lodge.-. A quarrel had arisen between a l>lood Indian, "Strange INDTAN ESTTMATF OF WOMAN. 145 ibc lick OPxC , lie Dog," and one of the traders, in wliich tlie Indian had sliot the white man. On tlic white men moving off a building had been fired. The Blood Indian, for some fancied wrong inflicted on him by his sqnaw, drew his pistol and shot her in the hip, de})riving her of all ])0wer of motion. The poor woman f(ill beside one of the buildings, and supposing that slie was either dead or dying, no one paid any attention to her, and it was not until the burning building was about to roast her that she made any outcry. Upon her crying out, the Indian rode up, pistol in hand, ready to shoot again, but " Long TIair " ruslied up, and, standing by the wound ■ -iquaw with a rifle, called to the Blood Indian to halt, and in the presence of both whites and reds removed the woman to a place of safety, where she recovered and joined her people. The Blood Indians from +hat hour entertained a wh( lesome dread of the man who would fight even for a woman, as amongst the Indians she would not have been thought of sufficient value to be worth risking life for, and they reasoned that if " Long Hair " would fight for a squaw, what woidd he not do for a horse or a man ? After the photographing, the Major invited us to lunch in his house, which we gladly accepted. Some roast beef and service berry jam formed an agreeable change from our usual diet of bacon and biscuits. After dinner, our hosts kindly furnished us with a new whippletree for our wagon, and we hitched up and started again on our journey. I was anxious to have .1 ..I I. i no VnoM llo.Mh: TO lIoMK. iakeii the but I was line almost due west aloii^^ tlie I^olly llivcr, dissuaded from it, bein^ told by Mr. Norman that it would be difficult to find the trail round the heads of the deep coulees which ran from the south into the river. We many a time, indeed, repented d. d b Dsequent journey, wnen pressed ny want of water, that we had not followed out my original in- tention ; however, as the Mounted Police have been longer in the country than any one else, one wonld have been a bold man to have acted contrarv to their advice. So starting off on tlie trail recommended to ns, we began to ascend tlie hill out of the hollow on the opposite side to that which we had come down. This was like going up the side of a house for about a mile, traversing, in a good many places, piles of rough boulders, nntil after an even steeper bit than any wo had passed before, and which tried to the utmost our own muscles in pushing behind and the pluck of our horses in hauling away in front, we got to the top and came out upon the prairie level. The pretty woods, which clothed the sides of the hollow, had been terribly devastated by fire, to no small extent, the result of the young bucks going in little parties to have tlieir smoke in the woods, where everything is so exceedingly dry that the slightest spark ensnres conflagration. On coming up to the prairie we fouiid ourselves in the line of fire, and we had to pass through it. The greater part of the timber at the top had been destroyed, and no wonder, as we were told there had not been a drop f'Yj'nrs WOOD. M7 mill I ittle lere test tlie aii(] tlie no lro}i i I of rain liero since tlie end of May. The nunil»or of Mounted Police in Fort "\V;il«li wns 13') ; tliey seomed very cheery and very Imppy, and ni'e certainly most active in looking after the Indians, in recovering stolen horses, and, ahove all, in pre- venting any importation from across tlie boundary of spirits or other intoxicants. T was riding on ahead when [ was called l)ack by Ilenry, who told me that the old mare was giving out, and so " Fan " had to be taken into liarness, and we tic'iUY in each wagon. For about a mile she went along iu a very tottering condition and at hist fell down, so that we took oif her bridle and left her on the prairie. We had now got on to a level plain with some scrub, beyond which we could see the wood where we proposed to spend the night. It was a long drive towards it, and it seemed to retire as we advanced, and when the sun went down it was still a long way off. We came, however, at last to an opening which presented the appearance of an avenue, some fire or heavy gale having cleared a wide opening, after going through whicli for about a mile we sighted a tent, and unhitched, after a long twenty-mile drive. This other outfit consisted of a wag'on party, a freighter with a heavy load of 5000 pounds of freight, with two passengers; one of the Mounted Police, and a doctor, with a most shock- ing gunshot wound that had torn away the upper part of his face. The accident had occurred, as he L 2 Ay 1 '(I fS f ..' ' \ \ ^ m 148 FIH)M lloMK TO HOME, t 'S told us, wliile shooting witli a frieiicl in Now- (( touri dlaiid. Mr. Mickel, tlie froiglitcr, was on lii.s way to Fort Mc'Leod, and informed ns tliat rolonel McLcod was encampod close by at the spring. We went there, and found the Colonel already in bed. I apologised for disturbing him, and handed him my card, and told him I had a letter of recommendation to him. He asked us to come in and sit down. Another gentleman was witli him, and they were travel- ling with a wagon and five lioi'ses. The Colonel, being Chief Magistrate of his district, was on his circm't administering justice, and making his way to AVinnipeg to meet his family. After a pleasant little cliat, we left them to their slumbers, and returned to our own camp, where we found the fire lighted and supper ready, and a pleasant night wo passed, after our long day, under tlie pine trees in that very pretty wood. Tuesday/, 12M.— Fine morning. After an early visit from Colonel McLeod and a few final words about our route and » an invitation to bring the ladies out next year, when we might arrange a pleasant party to the Kootenai Lakes, — as to the size of the fish in which we heard some wonderful reports, — he left us and we struck camp and hitched up. We began by descending a very steep hill, obtaining: a view in the distant south-west of three high peaks, which Guillaume called " les buttes de foin scen+e " (or, as they are called in English, si:/! I' /('/■: iiEnmhis. 1 t!) " Rwect-sceiitcJ grass liills"), so named from a grass which grows there witli wliich tlie Indians scent all their articles of clothing and above all tlicir medicine hags. It lias a scent like dried wood-ruffe. Tliis was the very paiadise of game until the last few years, when all that which lent so much charm to this country and was of such absolute necessity to the Indians has bejn so ruthlessly destroyed and cleared away. While we were going down the liill, Guillaume ran the wheel of his wagon over a root, and spun himself and Henry and gims and seat of wagon into the bushes. They were not hurt, however, and so, having speedily arranged the seat, the journey was continued. I was driving, with Joseph, in the other wagon, the goods of our outfit being of course pretty equally divided between us. Arrived at the bottom, in a rather pretty meadow, with a stream through the middle, we saw some prairie chicken, and I shot one. The greatest luxury that we found was in an abundance of choke-cherry, of which we tore off large boughs as we drove by and plucked and ate the fruit. These berries grow in great profusion on a shrub like a hazel-bush ; we found here, also, some excellent service berries and bush cranberries. The service berry grows in clusters of eight or twelve; they are about the size of a black currant. The Indians make a preserve of them, the squaws crushing up the fruit and stones, which give a noyeau flavor to the jam, and, drying the whole in cakes, make an excellent sweetmeat. I ^i IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) .V^ ^0 1.0 I.I 1^ I2« |u 2.0 jUj^ 1.8 1.25 1.4 1.6 « 6" ► A^ ^"^^^"W o^ /A W Photographic Sciences Corporation 4 «% ,\ V l H K ';! * . 1 iK . 1 . h: \K V*' i\ 'r kl 156 riiOM HOME TO UOMK. ■li' was so intensely cold that sitting in our wagons was impossible, and we had to get out and walk for about three or four miles. This last twenty-four liours was indeed an experience of the variation of temperature in this climate, where the air is so absolutely dry, and there is so complete an absence of cloud or fog, that when the sun is down all the heat seems to pass away with it, and as soon as the sun is up again there is nothing between its rays and the earth, and so the whole heat comes blazing down. Our route lay over a very similar country to that which we had traversed the day before. The curious hill called the " Chin," which gives the name to this coulee, and vhich has really the appea ce of that part of the person from which it is named, rises with its point to the south-east, and forms the great landmark for many miles roimd ; from this a big coule'e runs to the east, forming one of the tributaries of the Saskatchewan. At about four miles from Chin Coule'e we passed the wagon, and went down a steep hill into the coule'e. We found a spring of water, but somewhat alkaline ; we breakfasted, boiling the water and skimming it before we made our tea ; we took care, however, that our horses should not taste of it. Henry and I walked on until it came on to rain, when we got into the wagon, and arrived at a point where the trail came in from Benton. We got down again, and walked for about eight miles, and then got up and drove along to the St. Mary's River. The last ';i ST. MAurs ItlVEl:. i:.7 piece of the trail ilown to tlie St. Mary's Rivor is over ground eminently suited for cultivation ; throwing up very good grass and with clearly ahundance of water at no great depth. We had rather a bad descent down the coulee into the river, and had to make one or two attempts before we found a lino suited to our wagon, even though these most useful carriages will really go tlirough almost anything. We crossed the river, which was run- ning somewhat high and very rapidly, from left to right, and we pitched our tent at 6.45. This was our longest day's drive — between sixty and seventy miles ; our horses seemed about " played out," so we made up our minds to remain quiet next day, and after tea we tuml)led into bed, our camp being pitched in a nice quiet bit of thicket at no great distance from the river, with the hills seeming to close in like the sides of a basin all round us. At a cow-boy dance in the North- West, as soon as the sets are arranged, the Master of the Ceremonies, after giving directions to the dancers " Honour your partners," which induces a scrape and a shuffle all round, dictates the figures and the steps, and then enquiring, "Are you all set ? " and being answered in chorus, "All set," he orders the music to strike up, with the command to the oi'chestra, " Let her loose." This formula we adopted in our tent. The last man in enquired, "Are you all set ? " "All set," replied the other three, and I gave the order " Let her loose," and the candle was blown out, and a chorus .■> '>i ;:f V ■', of " Good night all" gave tho information that any one was at liheity to doze off to Bleep aH soon as he could, whilst tlie others might carry on " chin- music " as long as they pleased. We had now finished our journey across the prairie, and had reached more hospitable land in the neighbourhood of the Rocky Mountains. We had, however, a good deal before us, as it turned out, before we reached them. Satunla//, Hifh. — A wet morning, and the effect of our long drive had told upon us, for we found that we had been asleep for eleven hours and a half, and that it was nine o'clock when we woke up. One of the Mounted Police came into camp ; they were encamped near, and shortly after a *' Blood," or Indian of the Blood tribe, came to breakfast. We had got out of those tribes with whom we could converse, as the Blood language has nothing in common with the Sioux or Cree — the language-? spoken by Guillaume and Joseph. The Blood was really a good-looking fellow, with fine black eyes, good limbs, and a bright face. In the morning, Henry and I took our rods, and went to see if we could i)ull out any fish, but caught nothing, and after dinner we took a rifle and gun and wandered away through the thicket. We came to an old stockade — one of the forts of the whiskey traders, of whom I shall speak hereafter — and learned that the place was named Whoop-up. We then went down the river, and to our surprise found it running in an opposite direction to that which I had thought it ]\'iinnr-rr. i:.!) would l>e from the lino we had followed. Bein^ very miicli pii/xled hy this, W(; turned l)iiek and wandered away and fairly lost llic direction of our camp, until night came on, and we began to think of lying down in the thicket, wet as it waR, to wait for the daylight, when fortunately we came across the potato ])atcli of a settler. I said to Henry, " the gentleman who owns this potato patch will he sure to have a road from it to his liouse." So we groped our way round it until we came across a bit of a path, along which we went, and at last to the stockade which we had seen in the morning. Here we met our friend of the Mounted Police, and he conducted us to our camp, which we reached about nine o'clock, quite ready for tea and bed. The mistake with regard to the river arose from my not having been aware of the fact that we were at the junction of two rivers, and that the one which we had come to and found running in the unexpected direction was the Belly Kiver, into which the St. Mary's runs at this point. Sundivj^ 1 1th. — We started from camp about eleven o'clock, Henry and I walking on to tlie fort, where we purchased some oats from the gentleman who lived there. We had an interesting conversation with him about his life when he first established himself as a whiskey trader in 1871. He gave a circumstantial account of his life since that time. The whiskey traders had firstcome in from Montana in the year 1872, to carry on a competing trade with tiie Hudson Bay Company, with wliose officials they \i ' '■ * • m ■ f: ..I KlU flloM HOMJ-: To IIUMK. had hud some quurri'l. The first thing they did in opposition to tlie old systcin, was to trade with tlie Indians })y moans not only of the custoinary Hour, matches, heads, dc, hut also with whiskey. Thoy had estahlished several forts in this part of the country, lying to the east of the Uocky Moun- tains, heing log huts strongly huilt, to jjrotect them against the anger of their drink-maddened customers. For two years their trade was carried on, and without saying much more about it at present, I think it may he pretty well sumnied-up in the remark that was made to me by one of them, " If they had only been allowed to carry on the business in their own way for another two years, there would have been no trouble now as to feeding the Indians, for there would have been none left to feed : whiskey, pistol, strychnine and other like processes would have effectually cleared off these wretched natives." My friend had a young squaw of about thirteen or fourteen sitting sewing in his log hut, and as he sat, with his long legs sprawling out over his stove, lie began to talk to me of his life: — " I tell you what it is, sir, it is rather lonely and dull here, and there is not much amusement of any sort to be got — and she is no company to me." " Well," said I, " but you find her pretty tolerably useful, don't you ? " " Waal, yes, but then she knows nothing but what I have taught her. I just teach 'em to bake and to make themselves useful about the house." '4 /.v/'/.i.v injCJWa. lUl '' Wliv," wiid I, *' you huv t/ii'ni, but there is only this oik; lieic, is there ? " "Waal, lio," lie H.'iid ; *' hut she is the sixth that I have liad. I jL::oiierally take tliein wlieii they an about this a^e. I nrivo the old buck some rubbishiiij^ old eayeuse that is wortli about tour or five doUars, thouji^li they've <^()t more particular of late years, and 1 ^jj-ive the old woman a couple of haiull'uls of tea, and then they come to me ; but I don't generally keep them much above six months, for by that time they begin to know where all the things are kept, and they take your grub and give it totlieir people, and it is against my principle to beat them myself, and so I just send them back to their own people." '' Well, and what do you suppose generally becomes of them ? " "Oh, waal, you know, they are not thouglit the worse of at all for having been living with me, and some Indian buck '11 marry her; and she has to obey him pretty smart, you bet, or she'll get it pretty warm over the head with a tent-pole if lie finds any- thing going wrong in his place ; but, as I say, it is against my principle to beat them myself." I give this little history as an illustration of the manners and customs of the North- West, in the days that are now rapidly passing away ; for the squaw man of former days is a little looked down upon by the more civilized settler who is taking his place, and bringing with him those companions and those comforts, in the aljsence of wliich tlic poor squaw I W\ 1G2 rnoM HOME to home. was looked to fis tlie only substitute that could be found. I should perl laps explain that this taking of the food by the squaw for her people has not really the larcenous character that at first sight it may seem to ]\ave. A man wlio takes a squaw becomes one of her family, and the family have all an equal right to any food that any one of its members may obtain, and thus my friend's lady was by Indian law perfectly justified in satisfying \\\q hunger of his fatlier-in-law and mother-in-law and uncles and cousins and brothers and sisters at his expense. In using the word squaw I may add that there is no such word in any Indian language with which I am acquainted, but *'sequa" or " esqua " is the termination of words implying the female gender, and so has become the customary English w^ord for the Indian woman. In our wanderings in the evening before, Henry and I had come across two or three trees in which we had seen for the first time dead bodies, this being the most common mode among the Bloods of disposing if their dead ; their practice is to select a tree with two or three branches, usually a cotton wood or aspen tree, either one which is dead or one which they by barking it round soon reduce to this condition ; in this they erect a small stage across the forks of tlie boughs, and place the body upon it, covered with bits of cioth and skins, and a handkerchief is bound round the head, placing round the body any of the articles which have been of particular sei'vice ii! be 5 i:l.()()l> nri;iAi.s. (i:; to the (lead person in tliis worM, and wlu'ch they liope may be of equal use to liim in tlie " IIaj)})y nuntiiig; GrouiKls ; " under the body they place a deer- skin, out of wbieli lie may get his mocasins made when lie arrives in the next world. We asked our frieinl if he could take us down to this tree, and he t:entleman whom I knew in 1<] Ui KIPP'S. 167 of Norfolk, lie told us that his place was an old wliiskey fort called Kipp's. I5eing Sunday he was enjoying a little quiet reading instead of farm work. AVe had a pleasant evening with him in telling liim all the latest news from England. lie possessed at present only one sheep, and this was corralled in an enclosure seven feet high, to guard it against the wolves and cayotes. Mondci)/. — Up early. Henry and I had a long walk in the brushwood by the side of the river in search of deer, but we were not successful, and after a bathe in the charming fresh stream, I made up my mind that as we were so near to the Little I5ow River, on which one of the ranges that I had to look at was located, it would be better for us to strike out at once and see that range, and then make our way across the prairie to the point on the Willow Creek wdiere I had arranged to meet our manager. Leaving Kipp's I noticed our friend Savery at work with his plough and si^an of horses backsetting. The process in breaking up the prairie is to turn over the turf with a plough which cuts a sod about ten inches wide and about an inch and a half thick, and to leave the roots exposed to the summer sun ; all the vegetation is thus completely killed, as the grass has little if any seed ; as August ends or September begins the settler takes his plough and backsets or turns the sod back again. The winter comes on with all its severity, the frost crumbles the sod, and ■•t-», >*'■ >f' t IfiS FliOM HOME TO HOME. when Spring comes again in the beginning of the following ^rajhe has only to harrow and sow his grain. The quick pace of the horses ploughing was new to an on-^)oker from the old country, as I am quite sure that Savery's liorscs were walking over three miles an hour. lie complained that he should not do much good till he was able to make an irrigating ditch, and that he must wait till he got some neighbours before he could attempt so large a work. Leaving Kipp's and crossing the river, we worked our way over the prairie along a not very distinct trail. Rising up from the Old Man is the slope of a very beautiful land, under the shadow of a higher ground, well watered by the river, and presenting every appearance of what may be hereafter a thriving settlement. Having ascended to the higher ground we liad still a not very distinct trail, but kept the heads of the Belly River coulees on our right hand till we reached the Little Bow River. In going down one of tlie coulees we observed the fresli track of a bear, wlio had been after the berries. On arriving at the point where the valley of the Little Bow River trends to the north, we had some difficulty in finding a path down which we could take our wagon to the river. As the gloaming came on Henry and I got off and made an exploring detour to the right, and managed to get well iiway from the wagons, and had an anxious half hour, until Gi illaume, heaiing our signal shot, came to the top of a knoll, and took us to the place where LITTLE BOW n TV Eli. 1G9 they had ensconced tliemselves amongst the bushes. We found the Little Bow Kiver dry \\\\\\ the exception of pools, but at the mouth of the river there is some wood, not to be found at any other part, and we made a good camp. Tuesday. — Henry and I had a good walk down the Belly River in search of game. It is a very lovely spot ; a small delta covered with brush, from which rise little wooded bluffs, and a bright tumbling river at their base. We got some shots at chicken, but saw no bigger game. After breakfast, as our old horse Charley was in a bad condition, I decided that it would be better for me to take Guillaume and the light wagon to drive over the range, and I drew out a map marking a course in a north- westerly direction for Henry and Joseph to take the next day, after a rest of twenty-four hours, so as to meet us at the elbow of the river, about twelve mil^is up. To carry out this Guillaume made up " a light camp," and soon after breakfast we started on our journey. After we had left, Joseph and Henry went out for a long walk with their guns. Henry shot two ducks and got back at dark and had tea and went to bed, the only noteworthy incident, as they told me, during the night being the child-like cry of a wolverine. As we have seen a good deal of the lovely furs of this animal, though I only once caught a glimpse of it living, I cannot mention its name without a notice of its peculiarities as they are 1 °t!| , ,.' .« «i § ^;m\ m ii ^- II ^^< 'Lh \ : >■ H ti f .... !■ ■ i • vf M n <).]//■: to iiumi:. I got oxactly my north and Houtli points, and liavlrig tlins <:^ot my l)('aiinfz;H, 1 laid down anotlior tont-polc*. at an nii,i;l<' to it for tlio courKO I wiwlicd to take; for the hend of lli(3 river, taking it as it was laid down on tlie map. Having* tlui.s laid the course, I got .Joseph and (iinlianme to note tlie hearings of tlio hhill's very carefully, with the view of working it out when we should get on to the prairie level. I satisfied myself as to my couise by my old friend " the Dipper" on the second evening, and was thus able to feel pretty snre that, uidess my eliart was very wrong as to the position of the river, wo should make tlie desired point. On this second day we gave our horses a thorough rest and I took a photograph, which is annexed. Our tent was prettily placed on a level meadow, near some tolerably good pools on the stream. That is just the way Gruillanme and Joseph sat talking half French, half Cree, as they lounged after breakfast, and Henry lay resting his wearied limbs amongst the buffalo robes in the tent, and behind the tent, in the east, for the photograph was taken after breakfast, is the bend of the Little Bow, and behind it the prairie over which Guillaumeand I had travelled. After breakfast Guillaume and Henry went out shooting, but they saw nothing, and returned to camp. About half-past ten Joseph and I went off for a long stretch along the burnt prairie to the west, after antelope, and also to make sure of I I % A j.oxn TiU'hdi:. IT.'i the l)OJiririf;-s for our course of the next (l;iy hy ohsorvutiou of jinv liiiulmarkH thjit we nii'^'ht hoo. We noticed ut Honie distance to tin* southward a rise of ground, wliicli was niarketl on our ni;i|) as " Iilaek Spring' Hill," and we tiiido-od many a weary mile over the buiiit prairie without seeming" to f«,'et much nearer to it, and so we turned at last on a south-easterly course to get to the river. We found that this sti'eam must liavo been laid down on our charts with no very great accuracy, and we missed the elbow, and it was not until after a walk in this direction of some eight or ten miles undei- a broiling sun, that we found (jurselves by the side of the stream, and then crossing and taking a line some- what in the direction in which Gnillaume and I had been two days before, wo at last found ourselves at our camp. The ground was all dried up, and the only game I had seen during the day within shot was a "jackass rabbit," a sort of animal more like the mountain hare of Scotland. I managed to bring him down from a considerable distance with my rifle, and with one or two prairie chickens and duck which I had shot with my gun, we had enough for supper when w^e got back into camp, and much we enjoyed a good rest and a smoke after our (nidge of about twenty-four miles, with nothing to eat since early breakflist. Friday was a fine morning, and we were up early, and having hitched up, leaving on our left hand tlie Black Spring Hills, we came to a basin of about <« «| hi I f i 11 176 FROM HOME TO HOME. a mile ill widtli, enclosed by very low hills. After this we leached what was marked on our maps as a lake ; it w is not only dried ii]), but the bottom was an extraordiniuy mass of granulated clay split into small cubes, into which the wheels of the wagon and the feet of the horses sank to a considerable de])th. Here we sighted a band of eight antelope, and Henry and I got off for a stalk. We lay for a long time under a most broiling sun, and at last were able to approach nearer ; and there we lay watching, till one, having caught sight of us, with that curiosity which frequently brings them within shot, marched up towards us. We lay perfectly still, in the hopes that he might have been tempted to come well within range, but at a distance of about 350 yards he was satisfied that there was danger — in all probability winded us, although we had done our best to keep to leeward — and he turned back at T; trot. I gave him a parting shot, but the hazy gas that was rising from the ground prevented me from taking a satisfactory aim, as he seemed, in that atmosphere, to be almost dancing in the air, and away they galloped, without giving us another chance. After this we toiled away slowdy, and Guillaume, having dropped some of our maps, added to the length of our journey by having to go back a mile or two to pick them up. About half-past four I began to get a little bit anxious at our not sighting the elbow of the stream that I was in search of, and it seemed clear, that either we had taken a I TIliEl) IKHiSI'.S. 177 course .1 little (Hflferent from tliiit wliicli 1 liiul laid down, or tliat our niap was ng'aiii in fault. We con- cluded that our course should have been a little more to the southward, and as we had some high ground in sight in that direction, we clianged oin* coui'so ami took one due southward, in the certainty that we must then at some distance or anotlier strike the river. As it turned out afterwards, if we had only had tlie patience to kec]) on for aiiotlicr mile and a half we should have struck the point for which I was making, and for which our course had been correctly laid and [)ro]ierly worked out. As it wijs we went on with no little anxiety, Joseph running on foot some nnle or so in advance, Henry and I driving our wagon, and Guillaume following us with his played-out old horse Charley and Fan. We kept on pretty well in advance till it was dark. We crossed three trails, and came in sight of some bluffs. These bluffs were very misleading, as they induced us to believe that we were near the river long before we got there, and it was quite dark be- fore we made our camp. We fired a shot to show Guillaume where we were, and soon after he turned up, unfortunately, however, with only the mare — the old horse had been played out some six or seven miles back, and he had taken him out and left him on the prairie. After supper at eight o'clock there was a bright moon, and as I had told Guillaume that the horse must be brought into camp, I felt that I was not o-oina: to ask him to do what I would not do "':-• if It >:- tSw . ifl*S*WB44«^;M»V*'. 178 FROM HOME TO HOME. ' \ i \ •J t ■ . » myself, and so I started out with him to see if we could find and bring in the old horse. AVe trudged over the prairie seven miles, I picking out in the moonlight the trail of Guillaume's wagon with no little difficulty. "We came across the place where the horse had been taken out, and we made a circuit of nearly a mile in diameter wandering round to see if we could come across him. He was not to be found, so after a long and fruitless searcli, as the moon was getting low, we turned back towards camp. I was as usual making my way by the stars, Guillaume in Indian fashion was looking out for trails which he had noticed as we came out, and which therefore we should cross on our way home. The effect of some little mistake of his in this matter was, that we srot close up to the river without finding any indication of our camp, and we wandered about backwards and forward, until at last the moon went down and we were very much out of it. It got very dark, and at last, as we again approached the river, Guillaume agreed there was nothing for us but to lie down until daybreak, and so we tried to make ourselves comfortable in some wet sage brush, in a little bit of a hollow leading down to the river. I had not been lying there many minutes before I began to feel that after the hot fast walk in the thin clothes I had on, it would be a case of rheumatics or mountain ague, or some other equally bad complaint, if I lay there, and so I jumped up, telling Guillaume that we must find our way down to the river and get some \ A Niaiir ovT. 17!> wood and make a fire ; we groped about until at last one of us laid bold of a busb, wben Guillaunie taking my big knife cut off some brancbes, and very soon made up a roaring fire, by wbieb we toasted ourselves, kneeling and sitting, and sometimes ineffectually trying to lie down, for tbe next two or tbree bours, until tbe welcome sound of a signal sbot indicated to us tbat our camp was after all at no great distance from us. It was still so dark, bowever, tbat we agreed tbat it would be better to stop wbere we were until dayligbt, and altbougb we beard anotber sbot fired we stuck to our resolve. Day breaking we most gladly pulled ourselves togetber and started off for our camp. We found tbat we must bave been at one time witbin a very sbort distance indeed of tbe tent, but tbat we bad taken a wrong direction afterwards, and bad wandered away for nearly a couple of miles. Very glad we were to get into camp to find Josepli witb a good bot jorum of tea, after wbicb 1 laid down to sleep ; but Gruillaume, being ratber put out at tbe tbougl»t tbat I was annoyed at tbe borse baving been leit out on tbe prairie, started off again, and witbin a couple of bours came back witb old Cbarley safely into camp. It appeared tbat Henry bad fired several sbots during tbe nigbt, but we bad not noticed any until nearly four o'clock, and it was bis last sbots tbat we lieard. Altogetberwe must bave bad a walk during tbat nigbt of al)out twenty miles. It is strange to bow sbort a distance tbe sound of a gun extends on tbe N 2 la i ■iij,. - 180 FROM HOME TO HOME. prairie ; as soon as you get into the coulees and hills, it is of course diiferent, but when a gun is fired on the prairie, even close to you, the sound is of the most pop-gun order. After breakfast Ilenrv and I walked down to the Old Man Iliver, and had a batlie, and then, as clean clothes were beginning to run out, we did a reul good morning's work in the washerwoman's business in the clean stream, and, having spread our washed m CAMP ON PRAIRIE. clothes upon the shingle by the side of the river to dry, we walked back into camp and took a photograph of the group at dinner, getting Henry to take the shot, so that "the boss" might be seen in the companion- ship of his much prized tea-cup. After dinner we took a long walk down the Belly River. Between the bluffs and the stream there are on the left side well-wooded patches of dwarf cotton- •II ,?^' ., OLD MAN lilVim. 181 wood trees, and tlic oleagnus, the bush which bears at this time of the year the grey berries of wliich tlie prairie chicken is very fond. On tlie other side of the river the banks rise pretty gently to tlie prairie level. The stream itself was here abont fifty or sixty yards wide, and tolerably rai)id, clear and not very deep ; as in this month it is about at its lowest, the streams of this country being only in flood when the melted snows and summer rains swell them into big rivers, and make them then impassable. AVe lay for some time on a very pretty grassy hill overhanging a bend of the river, and, not having succeeded in getting any game, began to return to camp. On our way back we saw two porcupines walking leisurely along by the side of the bush. We hardly recognised, at first, what they were as they walked with their backs hunched up, making themselves as high as they could, and we at first thouglit they were small bears. Henry shot one, and we tied his legs together and })roceeded to bring him into camp. The other porcu[)ine we chivied into the bushes — although he did not seem disposed to run away from us. The one which we had killed weighed about forty pounds, and wc slung him on our rifles, but had had cpiite enough of him before we got into camp. We had a very pleasant tea, and Jose[)h skinned the porcupine, which looked very good meat and was very fat, and would at any otlier time, no doubt, have been much relished, but as we had at that ^ i 'I ^ i 182 FROM HUME TO HOME. time })leiity of meaf, we did not regale ourselves upon liin), but were satisfied with his skin. September, 2ith. — Hitched up about eleven in the morning, and *' Charley," the old horse, being still in a very feeble condition, I arranged that Guillaume should take him with the old mare and the wagon, as lightly loaded as possible, to Fort McLeod, and that we ourselves should strike oft' in the course which I had previously indicated. I had intended that Guillaume should have come with us up to the elbow of the river, and then have turned down to the south-west. Shortly afrer we had got under weigh we saw him moving off in the opposite direction; and it seemed that he had observed that down below the point to which we had walked on the day previously there was a ford by which the wagons carrying coal from the coal-banks into the Ibrt had crossed the stream, and he had made up his mind to try this trail. We drove along for about eight miles, and came to the bend of the river which I had intended to have struck on leaving the Little Bow, and continued our north-west course across the prairie. It came on to rain, and at times with such cold squalls mixed with snow that we had to pull up and turn our backs to the violence of the storm. At the end of another eight or ten miles we came to a place where there had been a recent encampment, and a good deal of hay had been cut ; it was so cold that we unhitched and made our camp. We had heard that my manager had been i A DRY CAMP. 183 cutting hay near the Willow Creek, and as the place where we had pitched our tent was close by a much used trail, we concluded that it was the Calgary trail to Fort McLeod, and that a few miles west would bring us to the creek. Shortly after camping a party of Indians came up, consisting of a brave with four squaws, a younger brother, and three papooses. They had a wretched outfit ; the squaws put together their three travoies with a small quantity of cloth to windward to protect them from ths rain and sleet. The children, in a manner that is not usual amongst Indians, squalled a good deal. It was " a dry camp," and we had only one small stone jug of water ; as the Indian begged for a little for the children we gave them all we could spare, and then letting the children and the squaws come into our tent, we made them very happy with some good big handfuls of biscuits and mar- malade, which they greedily devoured. Joseph declared they were the only Indians he had ever known to beg. The buck made himself very much at home, and pointing to the apology for a tent in which were his squaws and papcoses, signified to us by signs that it was too cold a place and not fit for nim to sleep in, and that he would rather come and lie down in our tent. AVe asked him where he was going, — although as a Blood, he spoke no language which our halt-breeds could understand, the uiimis- takeable language of signs takes well the place of spoken words, — and he showed us by a slow motion 181 FROM HUME TO HOME. j'i of liiss liuiid, tluit he was going for two days, bend- ing his head down on his hand and closing his eyes to indicate his two camps, and that then he should cross the mountains, and that he hoped to get over in four days, and by slowly circling his hand, pointing out how many times the sun would set before he should arrive at the place to which he was going. I showed him a corner of the tent where he might sleep, and he then begged that his younger brother might be allowed to come in and lie there too. This I was not disposed to allow, and holding up one finger indicated to him that there could be only one to sleep tliere, and pointed out to him the spot where his " lie-down " should be. This he accepted, and we were all very glad to turn in, for during the day there had been a very considerable amount of walking, both for the purpose of resting our horses and keeping ourselves warm, and at parts where the wagon being ahead had disappeared from sight, Henry and I had had very considerable difficulty in picking up the trail over the dry and not easily marked ground. Monday. — About daylight the Indian roused him- self, and signed to me that he wanted to borrow my knife to cut some part of his clothing. Here I had an instance of the utter want of forethought of these people, as having borrowed the knife, he cut off a strip of tlic blanket, which he could ill spare, to make a piece of a belt to keep his clothes up round his waist. Having gone out of the tent he i A HERD OF CATTLE. 185 i returned witli ii big log on his shoulder, and in the most gentlejnjinlike way, pointed it out to me as being the only recompense that he could offer fur our hospitality. He had of course noticed it at some little distance, and had brought it in, knowing well that we should want a bit of wood to make our fire in the morning. We quickly got up and struck camp, hitched up, and went along the trail to the north for about four miles, wlien, examining a surveyor's post to which we came, 1 made out that we were on the Blackfoot-crossing trails, and finding pretty clearly from the look of the hills oj)posite the point which I wished to make, I struck a course west by soutli, and kept an Jibsolute line by one of the hills in front of us — which formed an excellent landmark. We went on till three o'clock, and our horses had now been for thirty hours without water, and we had had nothing to drink since our very limited tea of the previous evening, and very much delighted we were when we caught sight of a large herd of cattle, and on coming down to meet the wagons that were with them, we lieard that W(3 were close to Willow Creek. The Iierd which we had come acroi-s was one of 4,500, in two bands nearly equally divided; they had been bought down in the south for Mr. Senator Cochrane, and were being driven up to his range near Calgary. This was my first view of a large band of cattle, and a very beautiful sight it was; they were being herded pretty close, and looked fairly M'ell, con- K L if i:^ r- i 180 FliOM HOME TO HOME. \r siilcriiig tlioir long drive. Tliey wero arcompanied by many wa<^ons, a large staft' of c()w-l)oy8, and a big band of liorHes for the jjurpose of driving. Having had a drink from their tub, we made our way down to the creek and camped, on a lovely afternoon, by the side of the water — the very sight of which was a relief and a great pleasure to our horses, at any rate, after their long fast. After dinner we waded the stream to a small log hut about a mile olf, and found there a little half-bred Indian boy, who said his father's name was Bill Wagner ; liis mother, a Blackfoot squaw with two papooses, could not understand English or Cree. He told us that the place belonged to Captain Winder, and that thera wis a house about seven miles off, which had been bought from the man who had originally built Wagner's house. We were satisfied that this was the place which we had heard our manager had lately bought for us, and it was most satisfactory to find that 1 had after all struck the exact point at which I had arranged to meet him. Satisfied as to this, we went back to camp and soon turned in. Tuesday. — Fine morning. As we were bathing after breakfast we saw Guilhiumc and Mr. Craig coming towards us on horseback, and leading two horses, so we struck camp, hitched up, and Henry and I went off with Craig, leaving Guillaume and Joseph to follow with the wagon. We heard from Craig of the distress that he had Ijeen in on our not bavins: ;f\ i'M'LJ':A NA XT tsrsj'icioss. 18' tiiriiod up or being heard of at Fort McLeod. llo had expected to meet us at the point wliero we were tlien at nearly a week Itcfore, and wlicn I had not arrived, lie liad gone into Fort McLeod to make inquiries witli reference to us. Here he came across the freigliter wlio had parted witli us at St. Mary's River, and who had quite concluded from our non-arrival that some evil had befallen us, and arrangements had been made by the kind oflicer in command of the Mounted Police to send out bands of Indians down the river, and several of the Mounted Police across tlie prairie to endeavour to obtain information with regard to us; as it had never occurred, of course, to our manager that I should have turned off to investigate the Little How Range before meeting him. When nothing was heard of us, Craig's anxiety was still further increased by a little conversation which he had with Mickel, the freighter. " Well," said Craig to Mickel, " what do you think has become of them ? " " Oh, not much doubt as to what's become of them," said the wagoner, with a mysterious look. " Why — what do you mean," said Craig. " Well, vou should have iust seen the two bad- looking half-breed fellows they were in company with — ^just the chaps, if they got them out on the prairie, to cut their throats and leave them." This, of course, considerably increased poor Craig's anxiety. When I came to hear of the charge that 1 f »'Y !';.^ 1? V i^ 186 riiUM HUME TU JlUMi:. had tlius be(!M inmlu agaiiiHt our ilcar good fViendH Guillauuic and Jokc[)1i, I felt indeed, liow easily a bad cliaractcr may be given without a suHieient foundation. However, just as tiio Mounted Police were starting out on tlieir exploration, one of Craig's men liad met (Juillaume, and had seen my name on one of the boxes on tlie wagon, uj)on which there was greiit rejoicing, and (Vaig at once turned back to see if I had arrived at the point wliere I had indicated I woidd meet him. We rode along pleasantly up the Willow (/reek, enjoying much the prospect of the hills on our left hand, and liearing the accounts of what had been done with reference to our range, anfl making our plans for exploring the range and purchasing cattle. Three miles uj) the stream we came upon the log liut whicli had been purchased by Craig as our ranche and head- (juarters, from a settler, Kounts, to whom I was introduced, and who we found discharging the duties of cook. The place had hitherto been called " The Leavings," a name common to many other similar places where the trail leaves the water, as indicating by its name to those travelling jdong the trail that they must take water and wood from this place, as it might l>e some time before they came across eitiier of those useful articles again. I christened it there and then New Oxley Ranche, a name by which it will doubtless continue to be known for many and many a long year to come. Amongst those who we found in the ranche was a NhJiv oM.r:)' \H\) niKcally lookinfj^lialf-ltreod Indian boy wlioin Mr. Crain^ had taken in liand, and of wliom Ik; was ^oin;j^ to make a pi-ood cow-l)oy; in tins, liowovor, as wo sliall Hee liereai'ter, lie did not uwot with very siree feet deep promised excellent fields for hay. Riding about through different parts of this valley and inspecting the con- dition of the land and drawing every bit of bush and covert in the hope of turning out some deer, we arrived in the evening by the side of a branch of the creek, where we cami iped. a good tea i,-* I: went to bed. The })lace where we had camped was f'.ii 192 FliOM HOMK TO HOME. \ I a knoll, rising' to some sixty feet above the stream, along which the brush extended for a mile or two, affording capital cover for deer and other gnme. On waking on Thursday morning, we found that the snow Avhich I had seen on the highest ground in our ride of the day previously had reached us, and there were several inches on the ground, and it was still snowing. I was up very early, and went with my rifle along the edge of the wood, but finding the snow coming down very heavily I thought it prudent to return back into camp. After breakfast Henry and I took our rifles and gun and went to look for deer, but found none, and haviiig waded through the creek at least five or six times in our zigzagging abov.c through the bush, we returned and had dinner, and afterwards left to try to get to the forks of the creek at night. B_y the forks of the creek — although they w^ere at that time not surveyed and very little was really known about them — we under- stood a division in the Willow Creek, or rather I should say a union of two branches ; one coming from the north and the other from the south. At these forks we arrived about five o'clock ; a very pretty little pool near the forks seemed full of trout, and Henry, having put a little bit of bacon on a hook, in about ten minutes returned with seven trout averaging one povnid apiece. These helped to make an additional and excellent dish at our evening meal, the other items on the menu being prairie chicken and bacon. The snow, however, was getting deeper and deeper, ;• f ■ ■ 1 1' ''''■ *;■■ ,; ,', ■■tf 'i " r ; , ■■ f'l' k w ■',- ^' ' h ■^-t. ti m •- u » - '4 i'i 1 MJ # 'Mf: 1 1. -, 'U t;. -5 i"1 I< '. \m '''n -'), ii !■• 1^ '■/»•':'!./, . "v. L \ u;u( 1 ! i ■ . I 1 ' ' 1 !l',-v •.i,w*. .:- 1 1 f 1 I • . .! -^- ..A I' ,: AX EXPLOIUXd EXrEDIJON. 103 and made me either juixiouK as to our onward progress. Friddi/ morning Henry went out to fisli, and eame back with a very ffood load of trout. After breakfast lie and I and Craig and Kounts went off to look for a surveyor's post, to see if we eon Id mak'e out wlietlier or not we bad yet arrived at the eastern boundary of our range ; we arranged to join the wagon at nigbt a little furtber up the creek. Oursearcb after the post was not successful, and at four o'clock we joined tbe wagon and camped for tbe nigbt on tlie south fork of the creek, at no great (Ustanc(! from a lake covered with duck ami other water fowl. Kounts and I went off to look after some deer, Craig and ITenry went to tbe lake, where they sliot ten ducks, but not having the dog with them bad not been able to gai any of them, as they fell in the water, and it was too cold to go in even if they had not been hindered by the deep mud that lined the shore. Kounts and 1 had had a beautiful ride up into the foot hills, but did not come across any big game. There appeared an anxiety in Kounts's mind as to its being necessary to obtain some provision ; this being so I went off ^o see whether [ could not be more successful in getting duck off the lake, but not being more successful than the others, we came home and went to bed, arranging to go out very early and see whether we coidd not do better in tbe morning. Saf/D-ilit/. — Still snowiiig bind; we wero not, how- (iver, to bv^ driven back fi'om our exploring expedition, o l-f::. v« m 104 FROM HOME TO HOME. aiul arranged tliat the wafi'oii should ^o on under IJeaiipre's f^uidaiice to a fixed point, and tliat Henry and Kounts and Crai*:^ and I slionld ^o and get some duck. We walked up and down tlie lake — wliicli is liere a long slieet of water lying between two low hills, and ibrniing the head-waters of this portion of tlie creek. Going further up the lake, we found that there was still another lake Iviim- to the north of it. After ])assing through some very swampy ground, and still further to the north, we can.e to the conclusion tliat this chain of lakes must reach up almost to the neighbourhood of the soiu'ces of the High River. We only succeeded in getting a few waders, and then rode on to join the wagon, and picked it up at three in the afternoon. AVe found them camped in a sheltered place with a high hill behind it, and close to what we considered to be the north fork of the Willow Creek. So beautiful were the festoons of snow that were drooping from a big cotton tree that overhung our tent, that I wished to take a photograph of the scene, and upon enquiring from Kounts as to my plates, I found that they had been left at the ranche. I was veiy disappointed at this, as one of my great objects was to take some views of our range, and especially of the wilder portions of this part of the Kocky jMountains, as we got further up. So I told Kounts he would have to ri(l(^ l)ack to the ranche the next day and fetch the glasses, and lie could at the same time bring up any tlicr nrovisions lliat wo miiiht 1 hirtlun' provisions )(' 111 wan t of. SNOW/: I) I'p. ]!>:. Snndm/ moriiini^, 8iiowin;[^ hard and blowing. Upon enquiry of Kounts as to oni" provisions, lie told me tliat tliey would come to an end that night. This was indeed a very serious business, as it was quite clear, that to endeavour with the wagon to retrace our steps in the present condition of the snow was al^solutely impossible, and that an advance was equally hopeless. I told Kounts that he must therefore start at once for the rariche, and as he knew the hills better than any man, he must do his best to get down there, and at once come u}) with two or three pack-horses and some grul), and that we would wait for him until Wednesday morning. As he wns going away he told us that he saw some deer in the distance, and we went out, but found when we got up that it was oidy the bushes, which in the driving snow he had mistaken for game. We went np the creek a little way, and endeavoured to find some game, wading through the snow, but we found none. We found that Kounts's account of the provisions was not over- stated, for, with the exception of three small tins, which we tliought best to put by for a last emer- gency, and a half bottle of Lea and Perrins, we had come to the end of everything, biscuits and all. Monday/. — It was still snowing liaid. As it was absolutely necessary some food should Ije got, it was ao-reed that we must all go out and look for ffamc. So Henry and Beau[)ri'and I started off on horseback to shoot, and Craig and Cottingham and Jose])h went '2 i' ,, V: > m-. 1U(5 FI(i>M lloMh To HOME. to fisli, l)nt look rifles witl) tliom. A difficult ride wc liiid lor Koiiie two or three miles through the hiiow, which was at least two feet deep, and of course in ])laces had drifted to a very considerable depth. I managed, however, to shoot two prairie chickens and two ducks, and I>oanpre shot two chickens; Henry had carried the rifle, so had no chance of ^et'.ing a shot at the smaller game, and bigger game there was none. We rode sometimes into drifts that took our horses over their backs, and which required much plunging to extricate, and as it kept on snowing all the time, and got very thick, we were glad to get back to camp, where we found that our other friends had returned, but had only got a few trout. Taesda)/. — Still snowing. The men had amused themselves during these two days by carrying in hnge logs, there being plenty of dead pine in the neighbourhood, and I must say that the loads our little Beaupre — a stift' little Frenchman — and our other men carried in seened enormous. We tried to make ourselves as hap}iy as we could, and many a French song arose from Beau pre' and from ourselves, and many a tale passed round the huge fire which we kept up in the camp, and considerable skill was shown in economising every single bit of chicken and the ducks, and that half bottle of Worcestershire sauce did more, I believe, to win to our meagre meals an aspect and a flavour of abundance than anything else could have afforded. Amongst other tales that were told round our fire in "Snowv I SS'OWY f'AMl'. 107 CiiiMp" — tin's Lclng tliu iiiiiiie wliicli I invf'urrtHl to give this ])l{icc of our imprisoimi(3!it, ratlier tliaii *' Starvation (^^lln," l>y wliicli name sonio of om* party less euplionistically (lesi<;-iiat(.'(l it — was a wonderful story which was told l>y Beanpit' of one of the incidents of his earlier life. He had been for some thirty years travellin,Lr in all parts of the Northern Continent, and it wiis during the first ex})lorati()ns of Colonel Fremont, when he was surveviiiir for a trans-continental line, that old Beaupre waw working his way with a team from San Francisco eastward; his horses liad eitlier got j'layed out or were stolen hy Indians, and poor lieaupre found himself "set afoot" in the middle of the prairie. An old voj/aerformod. The thermometer was not low, in fact, scarcely below freezing point, so that the camp very soon began to be very slushy. I had given to every man some grand title as oflicial of our municipal body, sanitary inspectors, and other officers, to each of whom was allotted some i)articular duty with I'cgard to the camp. The poor mifortunate horses remained pretty close round us, eating the browse and occasionally digging down to a bit of long grass near to the roots of the bush. Wedne!^dai/. — Beaupre and Joseph and I went out to shoot, while Henry and Cottingham fished in turns. AVe rode out somewhat in the same direction as that .SA'oli' ///./.\7>.VA'.S.S. \W wliich wo Imd followed vostenlav, l»iit 1 t'lidliifi* olV a littlu bit more to llic cjistwanl, aloii'j;' sdiiio Itnisli wliioli lined wliut scumod to lio nnotJR'r Idjiiicli of the crc'ok, iind wo caiiiu homo with exacllv tho siuno uinount of chic'ko!i iind duck tiiiit we luid <^ot \\\c day previously. This, however, only lusted us (or tea thiit uiirht and hreakfast the followiuL!- moriiinjjr. Duriuij: the iii«i-ht 1 heg-an to fcol tiie elloet ot" the Htoriii on my eyes, and waking" ahout two u'cloek in the morning found the eyeballs itching' at the back to such an extent that I could almost have rubbed tliom out. Shortly afterwards they began to water very consiilerably, and at last I dropped off to sloej), to wake in the morning*, however, and find that it was almost impossible to oj)en my eyes. FeeHng that this snow-blindness was coming on I lemamed in the tent, and sent out Beanpre and Cottinghani and Joseph to shoot ; they came back with empty bags, and Henry and the others having got ordy three trout. We finished them that night, and thinking that wo had got to the worst, eked out our meal with a few provisions which wo had hoarded for cases of emergency, with a good supply of the Worcester sauce, and now we were with an entirely empty larder. On waking on Thursday morning, my oyer) were worse, and the j-unning during the Jiight had been more extensive ; we woke to iind that it had been snowing hard during the night and was at it stiU, Having nothing to eat there was no object in getting ,1 *:■ -^':i 200 FROM HOME TO lloMK. ii'.' up, so \vc ii.y ill bed until after ten, vvlien there being no prospect of Konnts's return, we fully agreed tliat some steps must be taken to obtain food, so we arranged 'o shoot one of the horses. In these days of hunger the whole thought and conversation turns on food in all its asjiects. "We wondered what they were havii,g for dinner at Oxley, whether our friends in Eiighind had as good appetites as we had, and whether really beef feteall we had with us in the wagon. Very eareluss indeed it was of those to whom 1 trusted, as havinir so much more experience in these matters than I had, and to have left behind us some four months' pro- ill ^ i I 1, i m 202 FliOM HOME TO HOME. I.) ¥' III! I i m ' [1*1 visions at tlie ranclie, and with a wliole wagon at their disposal, not to liave provided a greater anion nt for tlie possihiHties of our journey. There is tliis to be said, however, in tlie defence, that Kounts had thouglit that w^e should have arrived at an earlier day at some ranche in the mountains, and that at any rate we should have been able to pick up a good amount of game on our journey. It appeared, however, that the Stony Indians had been down in the neighbourhood, and had shot and frightened away the game of which otherwise there would have been an abundance, and the snow had, of course, prevented us making more rapid advance, and the storm was too severe to allow even game to move. However we were getting very anxious about Kounts not having returned, and as I lay awake that night I heard the thuds of snow dropping from the cotton-tree on to our tent, and on looking out once or twice saw that it was falling fast. I must say that the probability of our being able to get back to the ranche seemed somewhat remote. ]\Iy eyes, the next morning, were a little better, and so making a very meagre breakfast on a few trout and the care- fully put away remains of the previous meal, we got together the horses and packed the bigger tent on one of them, with our frying-pan, kettle and tea-pot and a few other articles on another, and each of us mounting his horse, we sallied forth in the direction of the ranche. Before leaving I got Craig to cat a n-ood broad blaze on the wliite wood of the tree: in 4 THE SORTIE. 2(13 case anything should happen to lis, we left a memento whicli some future traveller might discover, in the following description : — " No provisions. Kounts sent Sunday, did not return. We have killed twenty-five chickens and four ducks ; have come to an end of all. Saturday, Septemher 29lh, arrived Staveley Hill, and party. Leaving for our last camjD this morning, Friday, October Gth. We shall try to reach the forks to-night." We were sometimes a little tinged witli melancholy, especially as the men began to get weaker and less inclined for the amusement of carrying in big logs and seeing the big blaze. It was the last night of the month, and Beaupre, who had been sitting more pensively than was his wont, looked up from the camp fire and said to me, " Demain, Monsieur, c'est le Jour des Morts." " Non," said I, knowing well as a lawyer the eras ^niinanim ; " demain ce n'est que le premier Octobre." " Ah ! " said he joyfully, " alors nous sommes sauves, s'il avait etc le premier Novembre, cette niege ne nous aurait pas laisse echapper. Ah ! mois d'Octobrc — il va dtgeler bientot." In order to enforce the very salutary rule which enjoins the never bringing a loaded gun into the tent, 1 may here narrate a narrow escape from a bad accident. One of our friends, being very 1 • . '■ -J *^' .'!■ i'' ■■ ■ f^' 1 , ; ; k ^ %r'^ r' 1 ' ■ i 'Ji II 1 1 i 1^.' 204 FnOM HOME TO HOME. anxious to do something towards helping the larder, had strolled off with a gun, but returned into camp with his fliifrers so cold that he could not take out the cartridges. ITo laid the gun down, therefore, close hy where ITenry and I were lying, and having warmed his fingers some little time proceeded to do the extracting — Henry and I got np from the place where we were lying. I suppose that the firigers were still pretty numbed, for in a few seconds we heard the gun go off, and most fortunate it was for us that we had moved, as the whole contents of the barrel went through the toj) of 7ny photograph-case, on which our heads had rested, .and had cut half through the tent pole against which it had been propped. It M-as a merciful escape from what would have been a most tragic end to our journey. One morning we had a real disappointment. Craig had gone out, durinc: one of our worst days, to see if he could pick up some game, and returning loaded into camp, a cheer was raised that he had got a porcupine. I need not say that had this been the fact, the delicacy would not have been left as much neglected as it was on the Old Man River; it turned out, however, that the load he was bringing into camp was a papoose ba 5 made of a buffalo skin stuffed with hay which he had found hanging on a tree, the cradle left behind by some squaw on the break up of an Indian encampment to dry ; though it was not good to eat it was good to laugh at, and so, no doubt, was useful in its way. And now for our sortie. «• THE M Altai. 205 Leaving our wagon and the small tent we started off in Indian file in ilie following order. First, Beaupre, as the oldest voi/ar/eur, led tlie way, Joseph, Henry, myself, a ])ack-horse, Craig, pack- horse and Cottinghani bringing up the rear. In crossing the first plateau as we came up out of the bed of the stream, we found the snow very deep, in some places in drifts into which the horses plunged over their backs, and it took very nearly an hour and a half to get over what was scarcely more than three parts of a mile. Here we got to the base of one of the hills, and upon consultation, we came to the conclusion that we should find the snow less deep on the summit; we began therefore to toil up the hill. Head over heels most of us went many and many a time, but the snow was so soft and so deep that no harm was done. It was very hot work, as the greater part of it had to be done on foot — pulling our horses after us. Zigzagging the slope, we must have made nearly two miles in getting to the top, with the snow very frecpiently up to our shoulders, and lying down frequently in it to rest and get our wind, until we almost despaii'ed of getting to the top. At last we reached tbe 200 FltOM HOME TO 1 10 Ml':. to take up the work. We toiled along, however, and when we had done ahout seven miles we Ciune again to tlie north fork of the creek. I>eaupre, who was again leading, caught sight of Ji wolf by the side of the stream, and came runnii)g hack to tell me to come and have a shot at him. I had nnfortiinately, in trying to get my liorse out of one of tlie deep snow-drifts, knocked the front siglit off my rifle, so was ohliged to liave recoui'se to a little Winchester which Henry was carrying, but liaving had notin'ng to do with this rifle previously, I put the siglit at an elevation of about 700 yards, and stealing througli tlie bush got a capital view of the wolf. lie was a big blue-grey wood wolf, and the cunning rascal was fishing, holding his nose close down to the water, and waiting till a big trout came near him, and then digging his nose into the water fetched out the fish. I watched him for a few seconds, and getting a capital broadside view of him, fired at him. Unfortu- nately, from the sighting of my rifle, I saw that my shot went over his back, and as he bounded off I got another shot at him, but with no more success, and as he dived first to the right, into the bush, and then, catching sight of my companions, struck across the stream, and off to the distant hills, I fired three or four wild shots after him. Great was the rejiTct of the camp at missing what would have made an excellent supi)er, but we had managed to kill some chickens and a duck during the day, jind we knew that where the wolf could get fish the proltability TROUT FI SUING. 201 was that we could get plenty also. We found a nice flat place upon which to pitch our tent, and rollin;^- away tlic snow scraped it clean with our IVying-pan, which we used as a shovel. Our tent heing pitched and fire made, Henry and Craig went to fish, and came hack in a few minutes with some seven hie; trout of at least a pound each, and these hoiled down with our prairie cliicken made us a soup wliich we pronounced excellent, and which stood in good stead now that we had not got any tea, and so we made a suHicient supper. We arranged two l)ig logs as henches, and had a good dry of our clothes, and so to bed. In giving the account of our food, I have scarcely sufficiently evinced the gratitude which wo owed for the hottle of Worcester sauce. When everything else was very scarce it had added a most satisfactory relish to what would have otherwise Leen very poor and watery diet ; this, however, had, amongst our other good things, come to an end. Next morning, Saturday, Henry and Craig went again to fish, and came back with six trout, and having boiled them, we made our breakfast of fish " straight," a North-West phrase expressing the absence of any farinaceous or other addition. Saturdaii. — We started soon after davlii>-ht, ns we hoped to get to the ranche that night. There had been after the thaw in the hot sun a little freezino' again of the snow, giving an icy crust which sadly troubled the shins of our poor horses, and alono- ri great part of the journey the snow was so deep that ■"H *' ; - 3 ' !'r we made l)Ul. ]i()or |)rogicss. We sto]>[)eiI in tlie middle of the day to rest the lioives on a little bit of an islet in tlie giavel Led of tlie creek, wliieli we struck n^ain at the forks, and Henry and Craig cauf^ht nine trout, which gave us again our dinner and some good fish hroth. This was tlie same place Mdiere we had camped on our way out. f had here a curious experience with regard to my siiow-hlind- ness ; 1 had been very had during the morning, hut on walking do\vn, while dinner was being got readv, to the stream and looking into the running water as it danced over the pebbles, 1 fo(4«al my eyes suddenly completely relieved, and the pain wholly gone. As long as I continued looking at the stream the eyes seemed perfectly well, and I rejoieed in the fact that [ was comjdetely right again ; the relief was, however, but temporary, for I had scarcely turned away from the stream for more than two or three minutes, when the pain and weakness came back again as bad as ever. Again I turned and for nearly a rpiarter of an hour 1 looked at the w\ater with a com})lete sense of I'elief, but on turning from it the snowddindness returned in all its force. I had not heard then of the plans adopted by old roi/a^eurs and tra}>pers to prevent or alleviate this trouble ; but these are one or two useful hints. One plan suggested, which it is said gives some i'elief, and perhaps, if taken at an early stage, woidd prevent the blindness coming on, is to take the charred end of a stick and to blacken the cheek-bones and upper part of the face round the s\n]r-/!l !M>Si:. lie Wiis, so MS lio stood on (lie (vl^c; of tlie bunk with liis toro'ciz^s j)l;inl('(l out stifV jnid jiressini;' liis wlinlo wui^'lit upon tluMn, \ took i\ jj^ood swiiifrinn- {\\'\\(^ ;\\ tluMn witli my iirni iicliind liis knees, and tluis witli liis front, loi;'s knookod from niider liim \u^ was ohlio-cd to give a sj)i'in<;' foiward to save himself, and thc! ox'ci'tion took him ovur tho hrook and up the hank on the other side; hero I took of]' his saddle and hridle, atid ('iaig''s horse hein::; ecpially [ilayetl out, we took our tent and other ^-oods off the two pack- horses and, as it was now a case of home or nothin|L;', we put our saddles (ui them, and leavin,^* oui* !L:;oods with tho two played-out hoi'ses, wo continued our raneheward course. Wo rode on into the darkness, l)ut w(; were now in a country that wo know, and home was within reach, n)id at eleven o'clock we wore close down to the Willow Crook, and finding its welcome hanks we got the best we could out of our Inn-ses in riding uj) to the rancho, where we wore received with con- siderable delight; we ourselves wore most pleased to sit down and get that which is the greatest luxury that anyone can have under those cii'cumstances — a cup of real good tea; hot, strong and sweet, and plenty of it. After this tho sup|)er provided us by our excellent cook kept us ringing the changes on the luxnries of hot cakes, bacon and beef", and we ate aw^ay till one in the morning, when wo retired to bed. Wo heard with some little anxietv, that Kounis had V 2 Hi!-' 4 l«'5 1 212 /-V.'o,]/ //o.i//-; '/•(-» //o,i//v. univc'd ill lilt; raiicliu diiriiif;* llio iii Buiitoii and l>illin. F • ;■ ];♦ I I li- lt 214 FJiOM IKhVK TO noME. istonii, thiiii which noiio more yevcro at this period of the year lias ever heen recorded in the Nortli-^ West. After passing the cut banks, the place where we again approach the Willow Creek on its passage down to McLeod, we caught sight for the first time of the range of the Rocky Mountains, extending idong in a magnificent series of snrwy peaks standing out against the pure blue sky, wit!i snow-clouds gathered around their summits, and bearing out u'ore fully than 1 had ev^r seen before the Homeric phrase of the hill of cloud-collecting Jove. They form at this place as beautiful a panoranui as could he Ibund of scenery of this character. Between us and the greater heights there are the low-lying loot-hills extending away in coi-tinuation of the Porcupine range on the right to the northward, hut towards Fort McLeod the prairie itself seems to touch the base of the mountains as they ex- tend far to the southward to their ternu'nating ])eak of the Chief Mountain. Alter a ]>leasant ride we leached Fort McLeod, and I made my first acquaint- ance with that somewhat grandly named town, the big type of whose name on the map had inspired me with a certain respect for its importance, and I was not a little surprised to find the town re2)resented by a wide, muddy lane, with a row of dirty, half-finished wooden shanties flanking each si(U'. In iiiese woodeJi shanties, however, an ainounl of busine.-rs is done which would, I daiesav, uladden the FUUT McLEulJ. 215 lieiirt of many a decent sliopkeeper in a country town in Kngland ; aye, if only lie could pnt liis net j)rofits at even one-fourteenth of that which rolls into the ])ockets of the possessors of one oftlie.se shanties. The trade that has been done there durin*]^ the last few years by one firm that has been ener- •;etically "rnnninL^" the North-West is something- enormous. Oh, my Hudson Bay C\)mpany, all this might have been yours, if you had not sat by with folded arms and allowed your own legitimate business to have been grabbed by some Montana adventurers ! Having made the acquaintance of Major Orozier, then in command of the Mount< d Police, and inspected a band of horses which had l)een brought into McLeod, and as to which 1 tried to make a deal, but found the owner open- ing his moutli too wide, we found a comfortable shake-down on the floor of a friend's blaidvct store, and next day I made a more complete enquiry as to the probability of purchasing cattle and horses. Having finished a good day's work, and picked up a wagon which had lieen left by Craig in his ])revi()us search ibr us, we hitched our saddle-horses to it, and stiirtcd off after tea back for our raiiche. We had a ])leasant but rather cold drive home. As we did not leave until nearly eight o'clock, we barely got across the rivers and through the thicket which lines the banks, before darkness had set in. We had, liowever, carefully noted the ford, and the water barely came up to the iiooi: of the wagon. i: i ii< ,.t- f Si . 1 1 1; I 1 fi i i ,5 ■ f. i up f'tv r^ '^1 2i(; FJiUM IIOMI-: TO HOME. When wc got out on the prairie it was a lovely starlight niglit, and we drove away till we reached home about one o'clock. It was very interesting to watch tlie stars during those long hours rising and getting well up in the sky, and it was with ditiiiculty that we could persuade ourselves that stars which we saw high up in tlie heavens at the close of our drive were those we had noticed rising one after another above the horizon like lights on the jmiirie. On we went over the beautil'ul sward, as level as a billiard- table, the snow almost entirely gone, until at last we were both somewhat alarmed as to whether we had not passed the turn down which would take us to the lower level to our ranche. However, after a mile or two further we satisfied ourselves that we wei"e nil right, and were very glad to find ourselves at last at the ranche, when I bent my steps gladly towards ihe tent, and turned in between the bufl'alo robes. Jlenry had l)eeu bad during tlie day witli a con- siderable increase of snow-blindness. I found him hotter, however, for rest and an eai'ly bed. We heard from Cottinghani, who had returned, that Kounts had left Linden's ranche on his way lor Snowy Camp on the Wednesday in pretty good spirits as to his being al^le to reach us. 1 cannot say that 1 was very much relieved by this informa- tion, {>s it seemed to me that under these ciicum- stances w^e ought long before this to have heard of liini, as it was now nearly ten days since he had wlarted out iVom OxK'N' lanche. KA MOOSE' ti. L>17 Siitanlaj/. — Henry and I said good-b'w'y' to tlio ranclie, and with Craig and Cottingliam left for Fort McLeod at two in the afternoon. We liad a pleasant drive across the prairie, which I began now to he pretty tolerably acquainted with. On arriving at Fort McLeod, Henry and I had a })k'asant little dinner with Major Crozier, and tlieii went back to tlie blanket store at our friend Captain Winder's, wliere we turned in and had a good night. Simdai/. — Up early, and went to breakfast at the only hotel that there is in McLeod, if, indeed, one may dignify by the name of an hotel a very conmiou wooden shanty. The gentleman who keeps it goes by the name of Kamoose, and as he himself told me his own story of the origin of this name, I don't know that there is any reason why I should not narrate it to my readers. Mr. Henry Taylor had originally begun life as a missionary, but, having given up that profession, had come in from AFontana with the whisky traders in 1872, and had distinguished himself a good deal in that line in his dealings vith the Lidians. Upon the Mounted Police coming into the country in 187 1, he had given up the whisky trading in connnijn with all the rest of the crew, and had started a small hotel in the ibrt. While engaged in business as a whisky tradei', he had stolen a s(|uaw from one of the Jiloods, though according to his own account he had not stolon her, but had " traded her " foi' u gallon of III s- m ■■ ,■;?; fif -.■,! s ■f. 218 rUdM f/oMK TO I/OMK. wliisky ; but however that may he, he was not allowed to remain in peaceful jwssession of the lady, as the Blood from whom he had stolen her was on his trail, intehding to kill both liim and the squaw; and, as Kamoose prudently ohserved, that there was no use in having- anybody killed about it, and he thought that the best thing he could do was to pass her on, and so he traded her to somebody else — ])erhaps one of the Bloods — for half a gallon of whisky. The Bloods, however, nicknamed him "Kamoose," signifying in their language "robber," and the name has always remained to him, and by that title he and his hotel are known. If the outrao'ed Blood husband had caught them he would have been entitled to kill Kamoose, but iiis punishment of his wife, according to Blood custom, should have been, with either his strong teeth or his knife, to have taken off her nose. This mode of punishment seems to conmiend itself to the savage, because while the loss of the nose does not at all impair the usefuln of the squaw as a drudge, it puts her out of the ] e of those who might be likely to obtain attcntit, ., either i'rom a husband or from anyone else. The sentiment of the Indian is, perhaps, a little in contradiction to the habits of some civilized countries, for while infidelity in a wife is by them looked upon as an outrageous offence, 12: unmarried ladv is allowed the most com- y plete freedom in every respect without the slightest damage to her re])utation or matrimonial prospects. ■I IS AM .1/oo.s /•;•>•. 210 Kanioose wtis ;i kiiiLl, gonial, square luiilt man, with a considerable attachment to the Indians, jind more especially to a lot of little Indian childien who seemed to make their home of his house, and 1 am bound to say this for Kamoose, that I only wish that hotel-kee])ers whose bills I have had the honour of making- acquaintance wiili in Kr.ropean lands deserved the title of "robber" as little as h<^ did in that respect. The house consisted of a kitchen with a very good stove, where the cook produced veiy good meals, and not least to be remembered is that great luxury of the West, the slap-jacks, the cakes either of flour or buckwheat, whicli are sent uj) in little piles of three deep at the end of every meal, ami whicli are eaten with butter and molasses, fresh and hot as they are required ; the same that in Russia, our Euro})ean land of most excellent bread, are called " bleenie." Adjoining the kitchen was the dining room, with three or four tables and benches in rows, ana next to that a large low room, which was the sleeping-room, acconnnodating thirty or forty, and where everyl^ody, whites and Indians, slept on the ground, wrapped up in such buffalo robes or blaidvcts as they possessed. The terrible smell and horrible dirt of this dormitory was such as to frighten any person from sleeping there unless they were to the numner born ; it was through tliis dormitory that we had to j)ass to go inti^ the dining-room. The meals were indeed excellent, and well worth the fifty cents which were [)ai u tlieni. Tlierewas anoth'jr establi.sliineiit in ^IcLeod, of a very much liigluM" cliaracter, kept by an old woman of colour, known by the familiar title of "Aunty"; we went there to dinner. She had been, 1 rather fancy, in some good family in the South before the troubles when so many of the Southern people came up into Montana, and from there migrated into this part of the Dominion. She spoke in the most pleasant voice, and used exceedingly good language, somewhat in the style of a well-educated housekeeper in England. She was xary glad to see us, and I think was a little jealous of our ever dining at Kamoose's instead of accepting her hospitality. She told us with much sorrow how she had her house all in order to give breakfast to Lord Lome when he was making his trip hist year as Governor- General. She had got up early to prepare the breakfast, but her man made too big a fire in the stove, or in some other way the house got on fire, and she lost all her little property. This loss did not seem so much to have affected her as the consecpient inability to provide the breakfast. \\\ the afternoon ■kve started west for the Crow's Nest Pass. 1 had succeeded in purchasing, in addition to the horse that we had brought to McLeod, a pair of very good chest- nuts, for which I gave three hundred dollars. Henry rode one of these, and Craig rode an old white horse* * "OKI Tal," us 1 fuuiul out luno- after wards that tlie old liursc WHS iiaiuod, was about tliu best known liorse in the Nurtli- West; lie had lieeji sohl and traded of'tener than any otlier. and wherever we Avent he was reuojinised. Jle is a sagacious but VlXCIIl'.U CliKKK. •1'1\ ' i tliat AVfis considered to be one of tl»u best liei'diii^- liorses tliiit I liiul got in tlie Barton band, a band ot" liorses I liad boug'lit on tlie previous mornin*;', I rode tlie otlier cliestnut, and, as we did not start till abont four in tlie afternoon, we felt that we bad not too much time to get before daik to Ca])tain Stewart's ranclie at Pincber Creek, for wliicb we were bound, and as none of us bad ever been in tbe countrv before, it was not uidikely tbat if we loitei-ed mucb on oi^' road, we should find oui'selves for the night on the prairie. We started along the Old Man River, which we had seen at so many ])oints from its junction with the Belly, anv()cee(lin;lish harvest supper where there has been I'ar more stimulatinf]^ driidv provided. Captain Stewart's was a comfortable house, with building's and corrals romid it of a very good character ; it had been put U]i for a Police farm, where the horses were to be reared and the corn grown for the provision of the Mounted Fob' ce in Fort McLeod ; in addition to this Ca])tiiin Stewart had added to the house, and had had the good fortune to have a most excellent mannger, Mdiose wife assisted in lookiuG; after the comforts of tlie establishment. AVe made ourselves very comfort- able on the floor of a large room, rolled up in our blankets and buffaloes. Monday. — Up pretty early, and having looked throuo'h tlie corrals and generally over the farm buildings, we started for the ranche of a friend of ours about twenty miles further up the valley, in the direction of the Crow's Nest Pass. We picked up a man who was going into British Columbia to Okanaga, near Kamloops ; lie was alone, riding a cayeuse and driving before him a pack-pony loaded with a little tlour, some l)acon, and his kettle. lie ;4 .n 4 ff MHSSRS. (I A II XE TT ^ 1! . I X( 'II H, was makino; liis wav tliroiiirli tlio " liockics " l»v liiiiisolf, with a journey of six limidrod miles befon^ liim, wliicl' would take liim al)oiit two moiitlis. Tlu^ oidy ditliculty wliicli ])i-(»s('nred itself to liiin was t!ie first few days across the iiioiiiitaiiis, wlieii it seemed not. impossible tliat another snowstorm miodit come on, or that he mi^-lit find a ccmsideralde amount of snow still remaining- fiom the previous stoim ; liowcver, lie was very clieery about it, and seemed to be lookint;- forward to liis solitaiy ride with no litlle pleasure. lie had of course a i!;un with liim and looked forwai'd to ])ickino' u[) a u'ood deal of g'ame. AVc had a huig chat, and a very pi-etty ride it was, under the side of the mounttn'ns ; after crossing* the southern fork of the '' Old ^Jan," we ascended a steep bank to tlie prairie, when we found a plateau with a f»-()od deal of scrub upon it and \'ery deep grass, and an enormous quantity of peavine, indicating- th(^ excellent feeding quality of the g-round, and trotting- over this for about a coui)le of miles further we found (Uirselves, at the end of a ride of some twenty to twenty-two miles, at the ranche of our friend Mr. Garnett. A more lovely spot it would bo difficult to })ick out, as we stood at the door of his ranche ; the view of the Rocky Mountains rising from the plateau reminded me very much of the view of the Alps from the terrace at Berne. 1 think, how- ever, that the comparison is in favour of tlie view that I am now desciibing;, though the liills are of course \mi so high. Ijeginning with the Crow's H '^ Ui ^^•M 1, Ji^ Ii2l FIIOM llnMI' To HOME. h. 13 r. Nost Hill, wliicli 'j,-ivos its luitnc to tlio i)!iss, it is M omioiisly rouiMlln'Uilt'd liill, and vises altovo tlio ]»iiss oil tiie riglit liniid ; IVoiii this ])oint, riiniiiiio; tlie tyc from ii,i;lit to loft, comes a Imld pynimidal j)eal\, after tliis one oi two finely outlined roiiieal li('i;;-lits, and next tlie fastle Moiuitain, lookin^i; like a I'ampait, walls with In'f^li round towers i-isini»; at each aTif!,*le; next to this, furtluu' to tin; south, is Victoria I*eak, also a fine i)yraniidal liill, until the view ends in the Chief ^fountain, with its scpiareish head, somethin:h, in Yoik- shire. All these at the time I am descrihinp; were covered with snow down to the liase, fringed alon*:; the hottoni with good })ine and spruce forests diaped with snow, while dotted over the plain were some very fairly large hlack pine, and along the edge and by the side of the ])lateau ran one of the branches of the Old ^lan Iliver; the whole of the plateau itself being a])p;irently aV)out six miles wide. The range of the Messrs. Giirnett is very well hounded by the two forks of the Old Man River; on the other side of the folk is the range of Messrs. Jones and Inderwick. Mr. Garnett had two brothers with him at the ranche, and as I had had the pleasure of meeting them in Staffordshire, we had a verv pleasant evenino; after the work was done, sitting by tlie stove and talking of all our friends at home, Jind all the gossip of the Old Country. Very charming it was to find young men able to do overvthini;" for themselves, for thev had built their MUSSRS. (iAUNKTT'S U ASCII ll •223 own log liiits, 5111(1 done tlio principal part of tho buildinf^ of a very useful jxiid pretty frame liouso which they liad eiectted to take the place of tho ori<>'inal lojv Imt ; tiiey had built their stables, cow- house and dairy, they made their butter, Hoaj), fishing creels, and last, but not least, were each of them very good cooks. The cooking was taken in turn for a week by each, and of course whoever had tho cooking to do was obliged to get his own meals after everybody else had finished, our practice in the North- West being that everybody, small and great, sits down to the table at the same time so long as there is room for him, everybody eating of the same dishes and having exactly the same food. Our hosts told us that the fishing in these streams is most excellent, a very few hours' fly-fishing producing some sixty or eighty pounds weight of trout. On the walls of the log hut there were many trophies of bear, elk and other game. In the neighbourhood of the ranche a band of Stoneys were hunting under a chief. Jemmy Dickson. These people are certainly a long way ahead of most of the other Indians, and Mr. Garnett told me that he had every reason to believe that they knew something of a written character. They refuse any Government assistance and endeavour to keep themselves, and so long as thei'e is any game in the mountain, they will be able undoubtedly to hold their own. They also, no doubt, are begin- ning to feel the pinch, now that the buffalo has passed away, and they cannot look forward for any (I il ' i ^ 220 FJiOM IIUMK TO JlUMK. S , i ■'■•- fiirtlior sustt'iiiuico IVojii tliat most usel'iil aiiiuiiil, Jiiid arc now ()l)ll;:;('(l to follow up tlic deer iui«l tlio otlier inouiitaiii j^aiu(3. After cliiiiier at about lialf-pa.st one, wo rotlo off to try and find tlie Police canii), wliicli wo liad heard of as stationed in tlie Crow's Nest Pass, and a ^'cntlcnian in partnersliip with Afcssrs. (Jarnett kindly rodi^ witli ns to help us on our road. Henry's sorrel l)e,!i;an to sliow his hroncho characteristic, and gave a rattlinf^ good hnck, and placeil him on his hack on the prairie. He was soon in the saddle again, and we rode about eight miles up the ])ass; a, very wild ride it was, over a good deal of rocky ground, hut exceedingly pretty, with several lakes and streams, and good-si/ed Scotch fir. One place we came to reminded us of the lloodee racecourse on a most extensive scale, a ])iece of circular prairie about two miles in diametor, with a mound rising near tlio edge of it in one ])lace, which would have made a most excellent natural "stand." The settler who had for some time had a ranclic further up in the " Crow's Nest " had located him- self here, and was breaking up some of the ground. AVo rode on and on, still hoping to find the Police camp. We heard that it was pitched some little way olY the trail in a wood, and we kept up a pretty continual shout to try if we could get any response. As night was coming on, and we found no clue to the camp, we had a long and somewhat anxious con- sultation as to whnt was to lie done ; I myself was iii favour of making a night of it where we were, to lie ?■■' ■;> ,1 It re K Kit. 227 . •♦j down nn'l make tho best of our hikMIo liliiiikets, Mini jtickct our horses, jumI try on a little I'urtlier in llic iuornini2'. I found liowever tliat tlu^ ninjoiitv were ratlic r .'inxious on the Kuliject of possiiiie wet itnd snow coniin^L!^ (Ui, us wo liad nothing hut our Hii^ht ri(h'nrr-coiits with us, and so it was rcsolviMl, in ohedience to tlie will of the majority, that we should turn hiick a,i»'ain to the (Jarnctt's rancho. We learnt afterwards that a couple of miles further would have taken us to the eamp, whieh had been puHhed for- ward. In leturrn'n*;' we had to re-cross a stn.'am which we had noticed to he dee[) in mud, where the waters had been pounded up by a beaver dam. Wishini:; to make the best of our way without j»:oinjr^ round over the dam, the course wo had taken in g;oing up, I sent Henry, as the lightest weight, first into the brook to see if he could get across, but his horse got so deep in — up to the neck — that it was with difficulty that he got him out on the other side, and it was quite clear that all of us, who were heavier, would have had a very poor chance of getting out of it at all, so leaving him there we turned back, and worked our way across the Beaver Dam. (xetting to 'he place on the other side to which he had crossed I was not a little horrified to see Henry's horse come galloping towards us with his saddle turned under his belly ; however, I was rendered more easy by hearing a shout from Henry some distance up the hill that he was all right. It a])peared that as the horse was fidgetty at ^ A \x\ 14 ■■ li 1' '■ I' :1 I 228 FJiOM HOME TO HOME. finding liirnself alone, lie bad tried to take him along the trail, wliicli led np a very steep liill, and getting liim a little way np tlie brute bad bucked again, and turning smartly round bad slipped at tbe same time down tbe bill, wben tlie saddle bad turned, and He iry bad come off, but bad fortunately not been burt. It was very dark ; we managed, bowever, to catcb tlie borse and to put tbe saddle on again, and to work our way witb bim up to tbe bill, wben Henry mounted again, and we proceeded on our journey. Riding along tbrougb tbe dark, we came to tbe place wbere w^e bad seen our friend wbo bad ridden witb us in tbe morning camped for tbe nigbt. He was proceeding in a very ingenious way to keep biniself safe against tbe possibility of an attack from a grizzly, of wbicb tbere are a good many in tliis neigbbourbood ; be bad covered bimself over witb bougbs, and bad got bis gun by bis side, and as we passed by and saw tbe remains of bis fire, we called to bim to see wbere be was ; we were saluted by a voice coiaing from under tbe beap of sticks and pine bougbs and brusb. Here be would be pretty safe against tbe cbance of a grizzly picking bim up wbile asleep, as tbe dis- turbing of tbe sticks by tbe enemy would wake bim up in time to protect bimself. Tbe plan adopted by our friend gave a pretty good insigbt into tbe possibilities of many an exciting adventure before be readied bis joui-ney's end. Leaving bim, we I'ode on, and found ourselves at Garnett's UA/J FEET. 229 between eight and nine, when we had a good sui)per and went to bed. On tlie day after onr arrival at Oxloy, on our return from Snowy Camp, we liad, as I liave said, passed one of the mornings in looking after a site for a mill, and in onr exploring expedition for that purpose, we had crossed a stream of snowy water ; taking off our boots and stockings for that purpose, a chill from the very cold water must have cauglit my feet, tender from their having been constantly wet during our stay in Snowy Camp, and they began now to be very painful. Whether it was that the ieet had been rather frost-bitten, or that it was a very bad sort of chilblain that came on, I know not, but I had been suffering from them for the last forty-eight hours, and now they began to be so bad that it was with difficulty that I could walk. My kind friends, who seemed always to have everything that was necessary, provided me with some opodeldoc, and this gave me a little relief. The next day they were no better, and it was with difficulty that I could move about with sticks; I was, however, able to sit on my horse, and the big wooden stirrujis afforded me pretty comfortable places for my ^iiat. Tuesday. — After breakfast I had driven up for me a large band of horses, which had been brought across the mountains a short time previously by a Mr. Rush, r.nd the inspection of which was one of the principal objects of our visit to ^fr. Oarnett's ranche. A band of unbroken horses, undei' the si'i I • \l 230 ritOM HOME TO HOME. . i. charge of tlie old stud horse, is a very interesting sight ; tlie mares try to break away from the band, j)ieking out some young stud to go witli tliem, and if llie old stud catches sight of him a pretty good hammering the young usurper gets, and not less tlie ladies, a smart bite over whose withers and a good rattle into their ribs from the heels bringing them back again into the band ; and the old Sultan wanders round them, keeping liis eye on them, and picking an occasional mouthful of grass, taking care to keep them all togetlier. If another band shoidd come near, and he sees a mare that lie thinks he would like to have in his own band, it is curious to watch how he will dodge away and steal her. If he can separate lier I'rom her band, he will soon have her in amongst liis own harem, and will take good care that she shall not stray aw^ay from him again. By this means a clever stud-horse will quickly increase his own band untd ho will get sometimes sixty to eighty or even one hundred mare;; in it. They are not very plea- sant gentlemen tc come across out on tiie })rairie, and I would not advise anyone to go into the neighbourhood of oiiC; such as I am describing, on foot without the opportunity of boating a safe retreat. We had the whole band driven into the corral. The owner, Mr. Rusli, worked tlie lariat with very great dexterity, the noose Hying trom his hand and falling vith very great quickness and precision louiid tlie head oi'llie h(.>rse that was wanted, a verv skilful ..'k\ vli lIUll^E DEALlSa. 23 J part of tlic operation being* tliu easy way in which lie ap[)roaclied the poor frightened beast he had in the noose for examination. We spent a long time without coming to a bargain, and generally in the North-West, the price that is asked is the lowest that will be taken, the [>robability being that if that is refused, the next price that will be asked will be somewhat higher than the one to which you have previously objected. I spent pretty well the wiiole of the day pottering about this corral, and examining all the horses, and it was not until tea-time, when we had a little more talk, that at last it was arranii'cd that I should have the horses at sixty-nine dollars fifty cents per head, and we made further arrangement as to the band, numbering about 2r)0, being driven over along the hills to our ranclie, a shorter way than they could have been taken by going througli McLeod. 1 need not say that in the North-West a pretty con- siderable additional sum had to be paid to those of our friends who were willing to undertake this job. TIairsddy. — We started at four in the afternoon back for Captain Stewart's, and had a quick ride, arriving there at six o'clock, In crossing the forks of the Old Man Iliver u'e saw a beautiful [)iece of prairie, a sort of dilta tliat had lieen formed by the two forks of the stream, and a great (Quantity of duck and <]:rebe and other w^aterfowl were flying a.nd swimming about the dlflfercnt streams. A t the i-anche we found a young Englishman who was out pros- pecting for a catllr range. I • W ' 1 "P "1 'M 'i i i' 1 I ''il i.' ■.* 1* ^-y ; ^ 11- KI^U iff ^ » i I i: 232 rnOM HOME TO HOME. On cacli of tliese nights on the Old Man we had been much interested in the view of tlie magnificent comet wliicliwas an object of so much attention both in America and England, and which was most beautiful at this time, a little before the break of day. Fndny. — My new acquaintance and I went to rhoot geese on the Indian farm, Craig and Henry riding on to Fort McLeod. The geese were on the small lakes to which we went, in thousands, a prood many of them the Blue (Canadian, but more of the Wliiie Waver, both of the smaller and larger kind. They were \ery difficult to approach on the lake, as there is no cover of any sort ; they flew from there to the stubbles on the Indian farm, and could easily be got by any person lying cached as they went over early in the morning or late in the evening. We, however, unfortunately were not there at the right time, and we found it impossible to approach them, and as we could not wait till the evening, after an afternoon spent in a somewhat tantalising attempt, we got on our horses again and started off for Fort McLeod. Oil arriving at Fort McLcod we were delighted to find Cottingham and Kounts, and to hear from the latter the interesting tale of his journey and of the hardships that he had gone through. The uceo mt which he gave me of his expedition was in the following words : — "After I i.'fr ^ou en Sunday at Snowy Camp, it was blowing aii'i &t*)rming very severely, and I hi KOUNT'S STORY. 233 had some considerable difllciilty in getting through the drifts. I struck the creek eight miles from Oxley going down, HiA seeing a band of cattle in the bottom, my liorso turned to go down with them. I went off from them, and after travelling tliree miles my horse turned round to get back to the cattle. I knew 1 was going wrong, but it was so thick storming and blowing from the N.E., that I let him take his own course, which he did till I had got back the tliree miles to the band of cattle, and then we turned round and I followed the creek down to the house, eight miles, and I arrived at the house about 1 a.m. It stormed all that night and the next day, and I got the things ready and packed for a start. Next day (Tuesday) I started to go a route which would not be quite so lonesome, and I had a very bad route, and I had to break the trail where the snow had drifted down in the canyon with my hands and feet, walking up and down before the horse, and this I had to do for a couple of hundred yards, and after that I kept on the S.E. side of the canyon, which is very steep, to get out of the way of the snow, till I got to the other end of the lake, when I came upon better ground, and I thought I should have Jio more trouble. Crossing the summits of the Porcupines I came across plenty of snow, which was deep but not hard enough to bear the horses ; one of the horses was weakening, and I had to go four miles to reach Linden's ranche. It was dark when I got there, and I had only dune n im W' 231 FJiOiM HOME TO HOME. h^ u ten miles during tlie whole day. I stop])ed there that night. Next morning (Wednesday) I thonglit of leaving one horse, but I changed my mind, as I thought with one horse to Lreak tlie trail for the ])ack- liorse; it would he only six miles to Quin's ranche, where I could leave him and where there would he hay. Those six miles were the hardest part; the further I went up the creek the deeper the snow, about 3 feet 6 inches, and the drifts some 10 feet deep. Within half a mile of the house, when it was after dark, Fan gave out, and I had to take the saddle off and leave her there ; next day I went to look for her, and found her dead, and covered over with fresh snow ; with the other horse I got over to Quin's about 8 p.m. Next day (Tiiursday) 1 was told of an Indian can.'.p about two miles further up. 1 thought to get there, and to got some Indians to help me to bre.'dv trail and i)ack over some grub. 1 found the snow still deeper, and it was storming, and 1 could not find the camp, and had to turn back, and when I got back to the house I was told that I ought to have gone further' I had slipped into the creek through the snow, and had got wet through. After dinner, again I started back to try to find tiie Indian camp, and found it in a clump of pine-^rees by the edge of the creek, but there was nothing there but a bitch with a litter of puppies^ and I could not see the trail which they had taken. I got back to the house — it was dark. Next day (Friday) I made up a pack of twentv-iive or thirt v lbs.. crack<;is, tobacco and woollen I! KOUNT'^ STOJiY. 235 8ocks, ;ii!(l started olF. 1 took tlic ti'ail which I luul made the day before for tlie Indian Camp. 1 was goinr^ at a ^ood rate, and calculated to reach " Starvation Camp " in a day and a half at most, Ai'ter getting to the end of my trail of the day before, I fonnd that witli the pack on my back I struck through snow to my waist, and sometimes to my armpits. I took the strap from my neck, and raised myself by the pack to the top. 1 saw that it would not work that way, and as my pack consisted of blanket, pants, socks and other things, I thought 1 could trail my pack. It did very wxdl for a little while, but I was getting the provisions ail w^et, so I wrap})ed the blanket (tlie only one) round the pack, but I found that this was wearing my blanket out. I was very wet, and as the day looked like bad weather I thouglit of striking camp for the night. 1 did this in the snow, and made a fire after treading and scraping through to the bottom for half an hour, and breaking oflfsome dry limbs of trees I kept up a large fire ; so by the time 1 got dry, I had room enough to lie down alongside the fire. Tliat night I had only the snow whicli 1 had caught in the rim of U'y hat from the snow dril't hanging over, so I had a comfortable night with a wall of snow all round me, which kept me out of the wind. Next morning (Saturday) I started off again with my ])ack. I had a veiy long liill of two miles to climl), and the snow was very d(,'e[) ; the further I got up, the deeper the snow, and belore 1 got u[) to i' V ;. w flic top 1 liad to place part of my pack away in a tree to liglitcn nic. I tliouglit I sliould liavc criougU to liolptlieni away from camp. 1 felt myself beginning to get blind from tlie reflection of the snn from tlie snow drifts ; feeling the burning sensation, and the eyes blurred, I kept up my hand to my face, as I knew I should gt' blind. I suffered intensely from thirst, which eating the snow did not quench, and I only got to the top of the hill, and I was still in sight of Quill's house, and I could see away to the camp. I camped again for the night in tlie same way as the night before. My eyes were very sore. Next morning (Sunday) at daylight I thought I could get over some ground before the sun rose, and the snow would be harder. I got about four miles that day, and I got within two miles of camp. I was very tired and wet. I camped at a little creek that runs into the souili fork. Next morning (Monday) I got to " Starvation Camp " at about eight. JNfy eyes were very bad. I read what was written on the tree. I lay in the hut, and remained in camp nearly blind till Wednesday, when Joseph came about G p.m. Thursday Joseph and I left. He had come in with one horse, the other having given out. We went home, reaching Oxley in three days." The other account which was given by Joseph of how he found Kounts, and how they came home, he also narrated to me, and I give it in his own words. These little narratives may perhaps remain as an in- m JOSEni'S STORY. 237 terestiiiio;' story of tlie North-West in its earlier days when tlie country shall have hecome settled up, and snch events as are here narrated may be perhaps scarcely likely to recur: — " After 1 left Oxley Ranche with ' George ' rend * Charley' (the two horses), I went to the forks; there was no snow very mnch to go to the forks. I cam]) there and make fire, and was pretty comfort- able. Next morning I started, jist about daylight ; there was deep snow, and I camp where you hud shot at wolf, and I jist take a bit of food, and then I start from there, and I make two miles, and I leave 'George,' he was played out; he had been carrying pack, and I jist thought take one horse to go journey camp, and I get there about two in the afternoon, and I jist see a leetel and a leetel camp smoke, but I see nobody, and I jist take the saddle from the horse, and T find Kounts, wdio was inside the tent ; I call out and then I throw saddle down, and he came out, and he was snow-blind ; he said, * I'm glad to see you, Joe, because I can't see anything, because I'm snow-blind.' Ivounts was quite blind, and he was crying, and I said, ' Kounts, don't cry, I am here, and we shall be all right now.' I make fire and stop all night. I had left all my blankets and coat with ' George.' We just had only one blanket that nio'ht. We had biscuits and bac(jn. Next mornino: I pack all, and as I was afraid 'Geoige' would be played out, I carried my pack myself. Next day we start about seven. Kounts could see then pretty ■ I I'; 'k I f 238 riHtM lloMF. To I/O Mi:. fU Ml well, Ko'inls led llic li()i:>o; we ihiikc Iwo miles, iuid leave ai;;nii llie liorse, juid we carried our |i;ieks lo llie lorks, ami we pneked tlie lliiii_|)er. Next niornin^' we li;id nolliin^', and so we start with notliinj'% and ahout two in the afternoon I shoot oiu^ chicken, and Kounts take olV s:iddle (o niMke tii'e, as lie was <;lad 1 shoot, him, and we liad liim lor dlinier, and we slai'l off lor ranche, iind ^'et there ahout hall-])ast six, Kounls and I iind 'CliMrley.' Kounls ha-lers I made up my mind io strike down into ISIontana, where I had heard of a hniid of cattle that 1 thoui>'ht would suit me, and to pi'oceed on thenco to Fori Benton, and so down to the North Pacific Rail- W'ay at Coulston or liillings. This was in fact ilu) shortest way home and the nearest railway station. It will, however, a little surprise those who are not acquainted with the enoi'mous distances of the North- AVest, to hear that for Craig to drive me down from our ranche to the railwav station and back ft-' again to Oxley, involved a journey of exactly 1000 miles. We made up our minds, however, to start, and as we had only three horses that were fit to go to Fort I'enton, and we wanted three more, Craig and I and Kounts drove down to Kipp's, the place where we il ill STANDOFF. li;iut did nol liiid llial tliey were adapted for oiir jturpose. l*ooi' deal' old Sanl, lio was al»oiit, as vespectahle and lioiiesi a tiallieker in lioi'seflesli as any I ever liat^. IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) /. „,„ /^ ^ v^^^ 1.0 I.I no ^^~ B^B U£ 1^ 1 2.2 w ^ lisi 12.0 ■ 40 18 |l.25 1.4 |||||,.6 ^ 6// ► V] & /a m^ ^.fj^ ^ ^ 'J 5> ^V-^"*' ^. ^;. y /^ Photographic Sciences Corporation f\ d ,V •sj \\ % .V ^ 23 WEST M«IN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (716) 872-4503 240 FJi0^f no ME TO HOME. had not come, I went with Henry down to the crosslnp^, and we saw them encamped on tlie other side. Arriving at tlie liver after dark, they liad very prudently thought it better not to cross at niglit, as they did not knov/ the best ford nor how deep it might be. These streams are a httle dangerous at the best of times, although at this period of the year they are about at the lowest. In the montlis of June and July, when the snows are melting on the hills, they are impassable.* Standoff is twenty-two miles from '•I *:.■ Yi * I wrote this before leavinj^ England this year, and having often warned my men on this suhjict, I little tliouj^ht what a narrow escape 1 should have myself. The streaniH, as I have said, rise in June, and such a thing in the fall of the year has never been known by the oldest timer. On the morning of October 11, in the fall of '84, I was coming back to Oxley from Standoff with Craig in our light buggy. We were both clothed in all our thick clothes, and our horses had just got into the water of the Kootenai when an Indian called out to us. \Vo jnilled up, and he jtointed to the liigh state of the river; and putting his hands on our horses' (nuirters and on thi* splash- board of the wagon, gave us t() understand that the river was "swimming." We wanted him to take one «)f his horses and go in for us to see, but he properly enough declined thus to corroborate his own evidence, and putting two of his fingers astride of his other hand intimated that if we would go across we had better swim our horses, and as I was quite convinced that he was right we determined to go back to the ranche to get one of "ur men to ride down with a saddle-horse to try the depth. An American buggy is not to be turned on a short pivot, and as we advanced a little into the stream to get room to turn, the look and attitude of the Indian as he sat on the bank in a most composed manner, and rested his chin on his hand, seemed to say, " Well, if you are such idiots as to go on after what I've told you, it's your own look-out." Such, how- ever, was by no means our intention, and, having got our man ' t " Drrrrr FiiEur 211 McLeod, and lias its name from tlio fact tliat in tlie earlier davs Waelitcr and two or three of liis comrades had "stood oiT" the United States j)olice, who had come up to serve some pioccss, nndcr the impres- sion that it was sonth of the hoinidarv line. Tlie word implies the resistance which had heen offered. Mondai/. — Craig and Joseph andGuillannic arrived to breakfast. I endeavonred to enter into some dealings with my friend Wachter in the matter of some Indian cnriosities. " Dntch Fred," as he is called hy his friends, had refnsed tlie night hefore to sell anv of his articles, hut the followiiiir morn- ing found him more amenahle, and 1 succeeded in obtaining an excellent mountain sliee])'s h(.'ad with the skin, and also the skin of a Jlocky ^Fountain lion, as the ])uma is called. 1 oidy persuaded Fred to sell me the skin of the cub ; the larger one of the old lionesa he refused to part with, as he said he was going to keep it to piesent it to the Queen. This w^as our first introduction to a place which we after- wards bought, and which will, I hope, become one of the best breeding farms in the North- AVest. We started at nine in the morning, mounted as yesterday, hoping to reach the crossing of the St. Mary's Kiver down wc fouiul that the horse was swiininin;;' Ifforo lie was halfway over, and so we worked our way ii]i stream and acruKS a longer ford. The river was eoiiiin;j; down with very f^reat strength, and if it liad not heen ior that Indian to warn us, we should have got into the stream, onr hiiggy would have certainly l)ccn turned over, and wc should have hoth gone ilown. I' ;1 f » i . I 'i 1 242 FltOM HUME TO HOME. ik .t' -jj to dinner. After crossiii,!;' tlie Belly lliver, on leuving StiindofT, the trail runs tliroii<;h the Blood reserve, and we passed some Peigan Indians, going to the agency for the payment of their allowance. It w\ns a very pretty ride through some good land on the reserve, some of the best land in this part of the country. A t ahout fourteen miles we came to a creek, ■which at first we believed to be the St. Mary's Kiver, but which turned out to be a branch runm'ng to the west of the river, and called Lee's Creek, and from there we had a long ride, reaching the St. Mary's River at a distance from Standoff of about twenty miles. We decided to stop there for the night, as the weather beo'an to look a little threatening:. Tuesday, Sq>temJter 2^t/i. — It had come onto snow rather heavily, which was all the more awkward as our journey for this day was across the very worst piece of ground in stormy weather that is to be found in this country, the high land called Milk River Ridge, which forms the real dividing line between the Dominion and the States. "We decided not to attempt to cross this ridge while it was snow'ing. About eleven, however, it cleared, and Captain Stewart rode on ahead to find the crossing of the river, Guillaume and Tlenry following, and Craig and myself driving together, and Joseph alone. I found my feet had got so bad now that it was with diflSculty that 1 could sit with them in tlie stirrups, and I therefore was obliged to give up my riding and to get my boots off and sit in the wagon with my feet MILK liJVEIi It I DOE. •iv.\ ■ Hi I to wrapped up in a blanket. Ah wc were rising' tlie Milk liiver Ridge, and in the middle ofanmait snow- storm, we met a little Indian squaw riding a horse and driving a pack-horse with a colt before her. Anything more lonely than the poor little thing looked, in the middle of the snow in this rough piece of country, it was difKcidt to conceive. She seemed, however, perfectly contented, and I have no doubt was as full of self-confidence as if she had had her whole tiibe with lier. It came on to snow much harder, and just as we were on the worst part of the rido'e one of our wai^'ous broke down. We patched it up and got across the highest part of the ridge and down to the north fork of the Milk Iviver to camp, having done about seventeen miles from the S^ Mary's River. Wedne.'«laij. — We had a very steep hill to get over, after which we reached the south fork to dinner ; here we were in a warmer and brighter bit of country, nnd we went on to the Cut Bank, another creek of the same stream, having done this day a distance of twenty-two miles. T/iursdai/, OctohiT \st. — Up pretty early, and rode and drove to "Two ^ledicine " River. Tiio origin of this name I don't know ; it is coiniected, however, I suppose, with some great gatliering of tlie Bloods or Pcijrnns. We reached this at dinner-time, and then went on past tlie old IJlaekloot agency. We were now in the States, and this is one of the Government Agencies, where they have erected a R 2 .11 * I r • \^m .-1-, 1 n 244 FROM no ME TO HOME. f^ ■ |». - If-'. hi'-, 'v., - V 1-= sjiw mill and phiced a settlement to look after the Iiuliaiis. From this we went on to anotlier creek, called l^ircli Creek, where we found asmsdl settlement of half-hreeds ; we crossed the creek and camped ; we found very little grass, but had a pretty comfortable location on a gravel bed surroiuided by the stream, and with two or three good cotton-wood trees near us ; fortunately for us we had this shelter, as it came on to blow tremendously liard, and it tried our tent-pegs, which had not got very good holding ground. From Cut Bank to Birch Creek we had done twenty-one miles. Friday. — We started at noon for McCleane's ranche on Dupuyer Creek, the location of the band of cattle that I was looking after. AVe had oidy twelve miles to do, and got there by two in the afternoon, and made our camp in a nice little corner of an enclosure, and not very far from AFcCleane's log hut. My feet were now so bad that my friends insisted upon my taking up my quarters in the log hut, and as I found an old cow-boy, Turner, very hospitably disposed towards me, and cpn'te willing to take an interest in my uoor feet, T turned into the bunk there, and lay as still as I coukl, considering the great pain in which I was. It seemed to me, however, that my rest here would give me a capital opportunity of doing that, wljich I was not sknv to avail myself, to come to terms witli my host for his ranche and his cattle. I found that my feet were indeed very bad, and old Turner U})on I 1 I I DVPlIYElt CnEKK. 21.-) lookinp^ at them p'ave mo a mclanclioly account of a similar condition in wliicli lii.s own liud boon, and from wliic)'- tlicy liad never recovered, ilhistratirif^ liis lecture by an exhibition, and sliowin^!^ me liow "pieces of bone kept continually cominp^ awny:" he pro- ceeded to aive me the same remedies, which I am bound to say, however, did not a]ipear to me to have been alto,i!;ether successful in his own case, and rubbiiif^ the feet first with skunk oil, proceeded afterwards to bathe them with some mixture of his own. This g'ave me veiy considerable relief, although Tiu'iier's account, espeeinlly of tlie blue colour which had come over parts of them, made me a little anxious as to the result. Satanhvj. — After breakfast, ITeury rode out with Craig' to look at some horses and some cattle that were in the neighbourhood, and returned about live, 1 sticking, of course, to the log hut, from which I was only able, with the assistance of a couple of sticks, to wander out for a few yards. Captain Stewart had left us that morning, having gone on to Fort Shaw, where he had some business. Our breakfast, dinner, and tea consisted of beans, by which 1 mean what we call in Europe haricot beans, and some ver' indiflerent bacon. As I was a guest I could not complain, but it was not nice, and the coffee was very much ditto. On the second day, I got McCleane to drive some of the cattle into tho corral, and he shot me a nice two-year-old steer. For held in skinning and rutting up the animal, the t r [I u m I h M*^ '^ Kervices of u Itizy, pock-markcMl, Imlf-bred Mexican jj^reascr and two Kijuaws wore called into re(|uitiitioii. The I'oiiner was aconsinnuuite little vaj^abond ; as old Turner loldnie, with a good many Montana expletives, he had oHered to pay him to make him a lariat, and had cut up a cowhide for it, and had given him the hraius and the fat to dress it, "Init the doggarued skunk was too darned idle to twist it." The meat of our steer turned out excellent — the hrains fried with crumhs make an excellent dish— -and the meals improved considerably ; we took an ample provision of the hest cuts for our journey, and whicli, as the first-fruits of the ranclio, was duly appreciated. The Indian s(piaws and children have a great partiality for the entrails and kidneys, which they prefer to eat raw, a taste as to the latter of whicli delicacies seems to have some survival among the frequenters of London chop- houses. A poor fellow who lived in the adjoining log hut at Dupuyer Creek, Jemmy Grant, and who had an affection for one of these scpiaws, and with whom my party sjxmt one of their evenings, had a sad ending. Shortly after we left, he had gone off for a few days, and on his return had reason to suspect that his squaw had been too intimate with an Indian buck, and not being so philosophic as my friend at "VVhoop-uj), had drawn his six-shooter and given him a bullet in the arm ; the Indian went off, and returning with his rille shot poor Jimmy through the heart ; the while felUiws some days afterwards followed uj) the buck, and disposed of him; and when I last heard I ■^■( fA'/TU-: I'lHrf/jS/:. 217 nftlieni, tlie Indians were lookliiij^ out to curry on tlio (jiiarrcl by a sliot at ono of tlio white nioii. Sniii/d'/ my fuL't iM't^jtu to «;-et belter, and having liail many opportunities of talivin«^ to my liost on the snltject of the Ciittle, and havinf];' come very nearly to an agreement as to }»rice, we decided to start next (hiy. And so an agreement was at last drawn out and settled, but the execution was of course postponed to a week-day. MoHthit/.—l tbnnd that my host was all the more inclined to deal from having received letters from his wife and daughter and son at Missoula, where he lived, entreating liim to come home, and as I had finally arranged witli him as to the price wliich I would give him for ranehe, cattle, and all about the place, or, as I said, I would^buy him out, " lock, stock, and barrel," the agreement was duly signed, and possession handed over to Turner in my name. Wo hitched up and started off for one of the frontier settlements in Montana, known as the Old Agency, a distance of thirty miles. Our jonrnoy from Dupnyer was first along the side of a hill, round which two or three cayotes were prowling ; from this we passed down very steep slopes into the wide prairie, with some stony knolls scattered about at distances of fifteen or twenty miles. Here for the first time we saw a flock of sheep, a large number in most excellent pasture; two or three little streams run through this vast prairie, and it was clear that there is more rain here than on any other land further to ■1 ; Vi ■-. "< I I it « ■,'• I . ■. « .7 'i V. 248 I'lKhM UnMJ-J Tit HOME. thcsoutli. Wc iirrived at tlio Old Agency at four in tlie afternoon, and found a good store, kept by " A If Tfainilton," and we picked out a capital place for canii>ing in among some la'Utsliwood, down by tlio stream. 1 bad tlie grejit satisfaction of feeling my feet HO mucb better, tbat I was able to walk al)()ut wilb toleral)le condor t.* Next morning, Titrftdai/^ we started to see a "round-up" wbicb was going on at about fifteen or twenty miles to tbe soutb-cast, on tbe Muddy River. We were told tbat we sbould find every- body tbere, and sbould be able to get a full account of tbe berd of cuttle tbat I iiad bougbt. Having crossed tbe stream, we ascended a steep bill and got on to tbe prairie level ; we Iwid very considerable dilficulty in making up our nu'nds wliicb of tbe two trails we were to take. AVe found ourselves, at last, close to a corral wbieb bad been lately used, and Josepb and I witb tbe first wagon arrived at tbe stream wdiicb lay between us and it. It looked (juile clear water, witb an appearance of wliite ])ebbles at the bottom, and Josepb was so taken in by tbe ai)pearance, tbat be put our borses straight at tbe stream ; in we went, and down we saidv, and found ourselves, at about two yards fiom tbe bank, deeply imbedded in tbe mud, and our borses , & * 1 find that in 1HS4 the Old Agency lias heconie the town of Cliott'an, and 18, I am told, a most liourisliing })lace, with two ludels, thii'o stores, six whisky shops, two billiard rooms, and a gatuhling sah'on. \ TIIK MLlthV. 210 inc!i])iil)le of (lrii«:;u;iii«:; us ont. This wiis iiii iiii- ploasjint position, cspt^ciiiliy tor me, wlio was still very lielpless for locomotion. We could scarcely, however, hcl[) laughing-, as Henry and Guillaume remained with their wagon on the hanlc behind us. Our horses having at last broken their traces and got out on the other side, we laid our tent-poles from the bank on to our wagon, and I slid along them down to the bank ; having unloadcil the heavy aitieles IVom our wagon, we hitelied tlie horses on IVom beliiiid and dragged it back up the bank. Joseph found a })lace a little lower down the stream where he could manage to cross, and striking over, brought back our horses, traces were mended up, and we again, after a consideral)le delav, found ourselves able to proceed on our journey. It was still cold and snowy, and having g(me on for about four miles, and finding no trace of the "round-up" party, we camped for the night. Wedneschti/. — Craig rode oil", immediately after an early breaktast, to explore, and found the party at the next corral and had a talk to tlieia ; the snow there was so deep that they had come clearly to the conclusion that the storm was too much Ibr them, and they had determined to break up the " round- up " and not proceed further with any herding or branding. Craig's account of the •• round-up" was curious. As work was out of the question the ])oys were amusing themselves with poker and euelire, and some of 2.>() /•'A'o.i/ iH}Mi: To H(iMi-:. (; '1^ 1 :l! s ,1 R K^ wi U Hl! w '? r^ ?« : '2 •' ' 1 - ' W'' tlit'in Iiiid VL'iy (iiii(;Uly iiidt'Cil n^ot riil of cvijry jiciiny tliat tlicy liad canied diuiii;;' the wliolt; ol' llio "rotiiid-up"; in fiict, llie condition (if a low-lioy j-clmhs cilliiT lo liavu lu's |)()ck('t vciy {'nil ol' money (ii* else to liL' in a state of absolntu inipi.'cnniosity, a.s tlio ni.)nicnt Ik; gets liis wa<:;cs, his natnial tcndoiK-'y iw to retty bit of countiy alon.■ I, TV wliicli licre runs up into Montann. A great part, perliaps almost a tliird, of the territory is at present in tlic possession of the Indians as reserves under tlieir treaties : very nearly the whole of the nortli for more than one degree of latitude having been handed over by a treaty of 1874 as a reserve for the Grosvcntres, Peigan, ]31ood, P>lackfoot and Piver (.Vow Indians. A large block on the south, extend- ing down to the edge of the territory, being the reservation for the Crow Indians, and another con- siderable l)lock in the west, to the south of the Flat Head Lake, of which I shall speak in my journey next year, having been reserved by the treaty in ]Si')f) to the Flat Head Indians. The rest of the territory — speaking generally, the whole of the western part — is mountainous, and contains great and most valuable deposits of minerals, consisting of Choteau county on the north, Missoida on the west, with others which I need scarcely name here. The whole of the western part of the territory is prairie, with a few buttes, rising into and watered by the great streams that I have mentioned and tiieir tribu- taries. The whole of this country has a very small rainfall, and but little of it is available for agri- cultural purposes, except where the streams descend- ing from the mountains may be utilised. This is practicable, however, over a large area of lovel land on either side of them, and the productive (piality of the soil is of an extraordinary character. I have seen nowhere a country of which on the whoh; I can MONTAXA aUAZJSa. 'lOi) say that it lias moie of beauty and more of promise tlian tlie territory of Montana, and, p;lad as I am tliat it should be in the hands of its present enterprising citizens, I cannot but deeply lament the want of judgment wiiich allowed the boundary line to be placed so far to the north as to have shorn the Dominion of Canada of this beautiful province. It is with Choteau county that I am dealing now, as our route, after crossing the St. Clary's River, lay through that- comity until we were some thirty miles to the south of Fort Benton. The whole of the territory of Montana is about GOO miles from east to w^est, by about nearly 300 from noi-th to south. The creeks across which we had passed in travelling from the boundary line down to Fort Benton are all tributaries of the Marias Biver, a stream which runs into the Missouri at Ophir, some twenty miles below Fort Benton. Choteau county has indeed been truly said to command a generous supply of timber, and to be watered by numerous rivers, creeks and springs, wliich present to the emigrant advantages unsurpassed and ])erhaps un- equalled by any other section of this territory of Montana. It must be remembered, however, that althouo-h there is an enormous area of G'razino^ land, supplying an abundance of nutritious grass, this grass has in itself in ordinary years verv little seed : it spreads principally from its root, and, consequently, it may very easily be overtaken ])y an excessive amount of stock, and I cannot Imt tliink that a good '14 ■I i it IK ■,:■.' M .-'f ^■'' ^ •- r 256 FJiOM HOME TO HOME. 'ii;. ■J. » flea] of tlie land tlironf:^h wliicli I passed has sustained serious, if not permanent, injury from the system of free ranging, wliicli has induced the keeping of an excessive amount of stock. Old Fort Benton was first founded by cmploi/rs of the American Fur Company, and a very lonely life they must have had there, continually defending them- selves against }u-olial)le attacks from Flat Heads and Peigans and the oilier Indians. At that time " Little Dog," although at peace with the emploi/e.'^ of the Company, was accustomed to lead his braves into the country of his enemies, and sometimes against parties of white traders, trajipers, or hunters on the Oregon trail, along the waters of the Snake River. The rnison (Vetre of Fort Benton has been its position at the head of the Missouri navigation. Whether it will still maintain its value now tliat the navigation is super- ceded by the Northern Pacific, which has left it on one side on its course to the Western Ocean, mav be seriously doubted ; it must, however, always be a considerable distributing centre for goods for the G-reat cattle and agricultural districts around it. The two capital cities of Montana are Helena, in the western mining country, and Miles City, oi^ the Yellowstone ; the territory, however, is so enormous that there is plenty of room for both these and for other cities. The old fort, which still remains at Fort Bentcn, was built with adobe in tiie lowest corner of the town, and will, I presume, like Fort Grays at Winnipeg, soon ])ass away, although it I'VItT BEM'UX. 'jny seems ;i pity that these interestinG^ records of the first beginning of the town shonld not he kept for future ages, to which tliey would undoubtedly afford considerable interest. Hut, to continue mv nana- tive, descending the hill, we reached Fort J5enton about three in the afternoon, and put up at a new hotel, the " Grand Union," of which we were the first registered visitors, as it had only been opened the day previously. Very glad we were to get a letter from home at last, but not recent ; we had not had any intelligence from Europe of a later date than August ir)th, these indeed only came down to August 10th, and it was now November lOth. We had done here our 290 miles, the longest part of our journey, leaving us 218 miles still to do to Billings, where we expected to strike the North Pacific Railway. I purposed to wait here until I should receive some telegrams in answer to those which I had sent with reference to cattle ; the work- ing, however, along these wires seemed to bo of a somewhat uncertain character, and I had to wait several days, and at last to leave w^ithout my replies. Satwday, Novcmbt'r IIM, wx* went to the excel- lent stores of Messrs. Baker, Messrs. Power, and Messrs. Neil (k, Murphy, not furgetti'.ig also the very useful stores of Messrs llerschburg & Nathiuj, vv-JuTe Henry procured a magnificent bnlValo coat Jiiid Mr. ('raif* 2n8 FROM HOME TO IIOMI-:. tional purchases lieie, as 1 found that the prices were very considerably lower than those which I should have had to give further east. We spent the rest of the day in purchasing a Schutler wagon for the ranche, and looking at some horses, and buying some stores for the remainder of our journey. Sunday. — We went to church in the morning, a small building, and had a very good service and a capital sermon, although it was somewhat devoted to an elaborate description of the probable future of Montana and Fort Benton. Our preacher drew for us several sketches of cathedrals in the air, of spires pointing heavenward, and peals of bells and beautiful ecclesiastical accompaniments. A great deal of this, I am bound to say upon reflection, seems to be in the very far distant future. I cannot say that 1 endorse as amendments tlie small changes in the language of the service imported into the American Prayer Book. The change of terms in the Te Deum, "Thou did'st not disdain to be born of a viigin," may be a concession required by the finer feelings of American modesty, but it does not entirely represent the sense of the original ; and the change of " liealth and wealth "' to " health and prosperity " may perhaps be a fitting concession to the universally recognised maxim of the American code of manners never to allude to a man's pecuniary means or to his dollars under any circumstances ; bu^ the use of " those " for " them " is not right, and tiie change of this word in the Lord's .Prayer .! . ¥^ Tilt: cAdE. 251) grates inipleasjiiitly upon tlie car, and seeins some- what [)])arasaically to place in a category as separated from ourselves many whom we may after all find somewhat nearer home We had heard of tlie capture of some [ridians wlio had been brought to Benton the night previously, cliarged with killing some tlioroughbred cattle belonging to Mr. Conrad ; so after church Sheriff TIealey, the principal officer in Benton, came and asked me whether I would like to go to the i)rison to see his prisoners ; I readily accepted the offer, and started off with Henry and Craig, (iuillaume and Joseph, to look at the incarcerated men. We found the jail a new square building, without any great appearance of strength, which I must say in that lawless district, where an attack upon any prison either for rescue or for execution of Tiyncli law is not uncommon, was somewhat surprising. On going through the door, however, we found where the real strength lay ; the whole of the inside of one part of the building is occupied by a huge cage, with strong iron floor, iron roof, and iron bars, standing away from the wall on every side; outside this are posted the warders, inside the prisoners, so that it is utterly impossible for a prisoner to pass out without the complete consent of those who hold the keys of the cage. The cage itself is separated oft' into four or five compartments, but every pait of it is as open to the view of the warders as is the interior of a canary cage to any lady who may have s 2 m '; f!' 1^^ 't' f.iE .*:i 2m 1 I ,,j ■ w , _. 1 ■i • VI. f ' . ' V;' "If. •4 2G0 FJIOM IWMt: TO HOME. n lie :.f^ ■' h m it in lier room. Tlio door oF tiie cage being opened, our friend the sheriff walked ns into tlie interior, where everybody seemed to })c on the most friendly, not to say familiar, terms with the prisoners. At one end of one of the compartments was a good- looking, well-bnilt young man of fibout twenty-three ; he was a Scotchman, who had only been in the country for about tAvo 3'ears, and who, having had a quarrel with his brother and partner in some ranche business, had drawn his pistol and shot him tlirough the head. As it ai)peared that he himself was the first party to the quariel, he had a narrow escape of being lynched for this murder. He had, however, been safely deposited in the cage, and upon my asking the sherift' what might be the probable result with regard to him, 1 was answered, " Well, the judge will come down on his assize soon after next March, and he will just be hanged." I must say one could not but feel, even under these ciicmiistances, a sort of pity for the wretched life that tills miserable fellow would have during the following six months, locked up in an iron cage, and which, apart from any moral feeling, would be the more galling fiom the utter change from the open piairie life that he had been leading. Another denizen of the cage wa^ a square, rather villainous- looking man, with whom Jose|)h got into comniuiii- ciition, the man telling him that he was there as a warder to look after the other prisoners. The real slory of the case pronounced the gentleman to be in i CATTLE STKALKIiS. 201 I ) custody as oiio of tlie most notorious horse thieves that liiitl infested the countrv for some time. lie liiid stolen from the Mounted Police at Fort McLeod a hand of ahout 100 horses, ami had hroufi^ljt them across the honndary line. Some little international dirticulty was raised hy Sheriff' Ilealey, upon which I was glad to he ahle to offer him my opinion as to the handing him hack for this otVence ; liowever, as tliey had got charges against him of horse-stealing within the territory, the sheriff* came to the conclu- sion to keep him and try him there, and I saw hy tlie paper afterwards that when the judge did come round, this great violater of North- Western law got five years' penal servitude ; a siMitence whicli was also accorded to the fratricide, the Jury having heen ahle to find that there was a serious cpinrrel existing hetween him and the poor fellow who was killed, which led them to think that there were extenuating circumstances for the sudden ehuUition of anger. J took more interest in the other prisoners in the cage ; they were six Indians, one of them a young fellow of ahout seventeen, " Little Yellow Wolf," and another, " Little Weazel," hoth of them sons of chiefs of the Peigans, and four others. Sheriff" Ilealey, than whom a more cool minister of the law has, I should think, never existed even in the North- West, on hearing of the killing of the cattle, had, with a small company, gone into the Indian camp and had bi ought out these six men. There had been, at the first sight of him, aome intention to resist, but on his 4 m Mi " r 262 /'/{OM UOiMK TO HOME. ■;*? Elf '•> ])ro(liicirin' In's jnstol aiid nt tlio sight of a Wiiiclu-Ktur rifle oT» his sjuMIe, tlio Indians, kiiovvin;j^ who lie was, liad thought it better at onee to give up their prisoners. Tlie kilHng of cattle has, down in Montana, become ah'eady a serious difliculty with the Indians now tluit the buffalo and the big game is nearly killed off; the Indian has, indeed, very little food, and one cjinnot wonder verv much that he looks upon the cattle that are feeding on the ground where the buffalo roamed as very little less his own property than the buffalo had been from time immemorial; of course, however, in the interest of the country, it is absolutely necessary that the killing of cattle should be ])Ut a stop to. I noticed that these Indians received a punishment of two or three years' imprisonment. In conversing with iny friend the sheriff on the subject of one of these young men, I could not but be struck by the great difference that there is in the relations of the whites with the Indians in the States, to that which exists in the Dominion. I asked who Little Weazel was, and was told that he had been doing some work at one time for our friend at the Old Agency, and that his employer, finding that he bore no good will towards him or his cattle, suggested to the sheriff that it might be as well to put a bullet in him. *' Oh, no," said the sheriff; "don't do that; he has got no reason to love you, because you got his father hanged; but you just catch him out in some crime of some sort and hand him over to me, and I will get him a i:r THE WIUf^K Y- Tit A DEIiS. 2<):) , \ in'otty Hliarj) turn of hnprlHonment." So Little Weazel was handed over to the Jiuthorities, and tor the moment escaped a bullet, which in all proba- bility, however, will be his fate some day. SherifY Ilealey gave rnc an account of the com- nioncenient of whisky trading in our (Canadian ter- ritory in 1872, which as he allowed me to take it down from his lips, he will not, I think, object to my narrating here. *' In 18G3 I fitted out an outfit for prospecting in the ifudson Jiay Territory. The Hudson ]5ay ('Ompany found that we should be their competitors, and although they had promised that they would sell us provisions, and I took excellent horses and a $10,000 outfit, when my men got there they refused tliem food during the winter, giving them l.v. a load for cutting wood, and selling them provisions at (ir/. a pound. They were starving, and had to come home. I met them here (Fort Benton), and I sent up word to the Hudson Bay men that I would be even with them, and so in I8G9 Alf Hamilton and I got up $25,000 and started at Whoop-up with tiie Indians. We got all the trade, and as the Hudson Bay men looked to the Bloods to sup[)ly them with meat for their northern stations, and we got all they had, we were starving them out. We took up fifty gallons of alcohol, not so much for the value of the goods it would bring in, as thereby to secure the Indian trade ; we carried this on till the Hudson Bay Company made a handle of this whisky business .1.1' i, I' 1 If;- i*.* ■:ii. (' ■•.' (J I •JO I FlKhM lloMK To IIOMi:. r* '■»si I: i "a; i i- j;r siiid ^ot tlio (^itia^lian Govornincnt to pnsn tlio ]»r()- liil)ition liiw urid kcmkI down tljo Mounted Policu. Wondcrf'iil stcrioH woro tlioii jj^ot up about uh in the Ntjw ^'ork pa|)(!rs; it was Kiiid that two not()ii(»UH and |)()Worl'ul dosperadocH of the iiiiincH of Healthy and JIaniilton, witli known men of a most daiin<^ clianicter, liad seized artillery heKjiijL^in^ to the United States Government, and were prepared to hold the country against the Canadian forces. I was never intendinjj^ to resist them or the law in any shape, so on tlie arrival of the police 1 at once struck out for Colonel iMcLeod, and went to him. He could not believe that tlie small man whom he saw before him was the gigantic c-.tlaw of those New York stories, but I soon satisfied him. I gave him up all the whisky there was there, it was all spilled, and tlie whole thing came to an end. I have never been one to resist the law% and as 1 told the boys when 1 was standing for sherifT, ' If any of you is going to steal horses during the next two years, he had better vote against me, for by God ! if I catcli him, whether he's voted for mc or against me, I'll hang him.' " Thus began and ended this worst period of Indian trading. Moiidai/, November \.st. — About Fort Benton all day. We took some interest in the proceedings j)reparatory to the General Election, which took place the following day. The contest lay, of course, between the Republican and Democratic tickets, each ticket embracing a nomination for all the olHces, from the Delegate to Congress down to the constable. J COXT/CSTKn Kl.Kt'TlOS. •jn." ■•;.• The priiicipiil olTico, iis to wliicli tlic rontcst wiis likely to prove most severe, was tliat of .JikIm^i! of tlie l*rol):ite Court; this jndn^-e has not only thos(; duties which are assigned to him hcic, l»iit is also tlje priiieipal judicial olHcer in ail other mattcMs. For tlie otliee Mr. .1. W. Tatteti was nomiMate \ . I ^1! COIlIirj'T PIi.AHTICKS. 2(17 "i '^xS 111 to tlie toueli-liole ;ui■■ ; !'■■ ! ■> 2G8 /'A' Oil/ //OJI/7? TO HOME. started with our two wagons, a span of liorses in oacli, along tlie trail for the south-east. We crossed the Missouri on the ferry-boat, worked across hy an overhead chain and the stream acting on the rudder; we had a steep pull up through the clay bluffs on the other side to the prairie level. We crossed the ]\Iissouri at about half-past one, and intended to get to the ranche of a Mr. Kings1)ury that night, but took a trail to the right, and found ourselves going up some steep hills which wo made out to be the High AVood Mountains. It had been blowing hard during the day, and came on cold at night, and so we were anxious to find a comfortable place to camp. As it was clear that the trail that we were taking was one which led up into the hills for the purpose of getting logs, we turned back again and descended to where we found the remains of an old log hut, and made our camp close to it, having driven about twenty-one miles. AVaking in the morning, we found that our camp was very prettily situared, with wooded hills on the right hand and some curious rocky land before us. We killed in the morning a pretty little rat with a tail like a squirrel, which we had found busily at work devouring one of our worsted stockings. Starting oif early, to try and find the ranche, the first part of our road lay through some rocks, which give a special character to this part of the country. The ai)pearance of them is as of gigan- tic walls which originally stretched across from one le no of , li- no 7/767/ WOOD MOUNTAINS. 2()0 side of tlio valley to tlie otlier, but wliicli have l)Coti broken tbrongh either by tlie passage of a glacier or some such destructive agency. They rise on either hand from thirty to eighty feet, with a width of about four feet, and have exactly the appearance of a constructed wall. We found these through tlie whole of this part of the territory as far as Arrow Creek. On turning the corner of the prairie we came to a fine grassy plateau dotted over with mounds, on almost each of which were sitting the pretty little prairie dogs, that bolted away and got under ground as they sighted us coming. Passing over this prairie and crossing two or three clear little streams, we reached Mr. Kino-sburv's ranche. lie has dug a ditch along the hill-side to carry the water from the High Wood Mount. lins for the purpose of irrigating the prairie, and if it is c )m- pletod there will be here one of the most valuable farms in Montana. My manager had had an offer from him of his cattle early in the summer, and I was in hopes I might have dealt with him upon the footing then offered. I found, however, that the price of the cattle had advanced so largely tliat the figure that was now put upon them was not one which I could accept. We had, however, dinner with him, althougli I cannot say a comfortable one, for he was altering his log hut, and had the one side out of it to windward ; it was blowing a regular hurricane, and very cold, so tiiat sitting in the house was hy no means attended with pleasure or comfort. ill! I 111 ' I' , I 270 FUOM HOME TO HOME. i'i j After dinner, aLont tliree o'clock, we drove off, and passed over an undulating prairie till we readied some steep hills in the neiglibourliood of the Arrow River. I was driving the two bronchos, and rather amusing myself by putting them on at a good gallop down the hill, and watching the extreme anxiety of my companion. Henry and Joseph were driving before us. Turning one of the sliarp corners I had a most narrow escape of capsizing; on coming up with the first wagon, I found that what had so nearly happened to me had ha})pened to them, and that tiny had had a regular turn over. How^ever, as is usual on the prairie, no harm had been done, and the wagon had been put on its wheels again, the goods reloaded, and the passengers on board and well under weigh in a very few minutes. The last piece of drive down to the Arrow River was across a ])iece of land studded with bushes of the same prickly bush which we had seen to the cast of Fort Walsh. Arriving near the stream, at the end of a day's drive of twenty-eight miles, we found a settler's hut, witli a good fold-yard, and some stacks and ricks in it and a stable for our horses. We made a comfortable camp, cooking our dinner and baking our bread in the settler's hut. The " boss " was of French extraction, and had with him a rather nice half-breed squaw who spoke English. She had come from the Blackfoots above Fort McLeod, and upon Ijeing asked with reference to those whom she had known as a child among the whisky traders, id lie A LADY'S HJX-SIlOOTEli. 271 she recognised our friend Kounts nnder his Blood name of " Stomak," a word signifying " lone bull," as Kounts had always lived by himself and traded with the Indians in a solitary style, without having any partner or companion. On his way back Mr. Craig had found that an incident had happened here a little characteristic of the life of this country. About two nights after we left one of the men connected w^ith tlie establishment had returned, wishing to have a talk with tne lady of the house. The lady professed to believe that he was some road agent intending an attack upon the establishment, and as he knocked at the door she gave him the benefit of a discharge from a pistol. The bullet came through the door and entered into his groin, and wlien Mr. Craig got there he found him sitting — having extracted the bullet — keeping the wound open with a sharp stick, and remarking there was not much the matter, and that within about ten days it would be all right and he should be able to proceed on In's journey. He apparently did not bear the slightest malice or ill-feeling towards the lady who caused the injury. The w;iy in which, in this climate, a gunshot wound, or any other flesh injury, heals, is trulj astonishing. Of course a good deal is owing to tlie abstemious and healthy life which the people live, but something is no doubt also due to the excellence of the air and the dryness of the atmosphere ; in fact, it is to this that we may in a similar way attribute the excellent state r s *1 li. lA 272 FnOM HOME TO IIOMK. \m . m .« of preservation in wliicli me.it will keep in this climate for almost any leno-tli of time. Even in hot weather I have carried beef with me for three weeks in the wagon, which has been as good at the end of the time as it was in the beginning, and so long as it is kept out of the way of flies no change seems io take ])lace in its (juality. Thurxdaj/. — We left Arrow River before breakfast at six o'clock. Crossiiig the stream, we found in front of us the most tremendous hill that I ever ascended with a wagon in my life ; in pLices it was only a narrow edge with a steep drop on each side, and zigzagged up at angles of almost incredible acute- ness. After ascending to the top of the hill to the prairie level, the air was so intensely cold that we found our mits absolutely necessary. As we drove along I noticed about a quarter of a mile ahead of us two huge birds as large as turkeys — Joseph and Guil- laume called them " faisans de Missouri." I got off my wagon, and thought that I could get ne.ar enough with my gun, stalking on my hands and knees. I succeeded in getting within about eighty yaids when the birds both rose. Had 1 taken my rille with me instead of my gun, I could have scarcely failed to have Q'ot one of them. I believe it was the bird which I became acquainted with afterwards as the sage hen, a very handsome bird, but of which I have not been able to obtain any exact description. After crossing a wide extent of prairie, we came to a creek, and stopped and dined, and as there was no brush by tlie lil- off igh I icii me to licli len, ecu uiig- and the 1 I GAUD EN LAND. 27,'] side of" the stream, we liad to make our fire of Inifl'ah) cliips, which gave a great lieat, and whicli are quite equal to wood, and ot" these there was a plentiful supply in the neighbourhood of the water. After dinner we drove along down to the Judith Basin — one of the finest of the grazing tracts in this country. Here we came upon a settlement of four or five log huts, and selecting the largest with the most commodious corral behind it, we found that the place had been christened " Garden Land," and we put up our tent under a stack, and our horses in the stable, and went into the house, where we had our tea. It was intensely cold during the afternoon, and a very droll thing it was on arriving in the settle- ment, to see not only tiiose who were with us, but everybody else there, with their handkerchiefs tied round their faces under their hats, as though all were suffering from severe toothache. It was very necessary, however, as the thermometer was very many degrees below zero, and our cars required protection ; we were very comfortable with our tent pitched under the lee of the stack. I had made uj) my mind to make a very early start indeed, and for tin's purpose to get off before breakfast, and to stop for breakfast on our road ; I relented, however, on hcarino- that theie were some excellent elk steaks being prepared for us in the house, and so we went in, and a most cheerful host with a bright little wife made us very comfortable. I noticed througli this country, that where the wife was of a hearty and . -:'^\ ,■»' i> - r r" I' ^ Hi! 274 FJi(hM HOME TO HOME. t^f A ■ 1 , \V It- cheery disposition, everything seemed to be going prosperously, but wliere the mistress of tlie liouse was discontented with lier lot, nothing seemed to prosper. The appearance of everything around Garden Land was of a highly prosperous character, and the children and a friend and the friend's baby all of them seemed to be enjoying life — looking forward even to the severe winter with the prospect of considerable happiness. I was ratlier amused at finding that the friend with the baby being considerably under twenty-one years of age, was returned in the table of those for whom education grant was made by the Government. Fi'ldaj/^ Nov. 5fh. — Drove across the stream, and passed up to the high prairie with a cold bitter wind. A band of horses came galloping up to have a look at us, and did not seem to have at all suifered, so far, from the storm. From here we turned round to tlie Judith Gap, an opening between a belt of the Belt range and the Big Snowy Mountains. We left this to our right and turned along in the direction of a settlement called Ubet, to which we had been directed. The Judith Gap is a narrow gorge, and a guard is kept there to prevent the cattle of the Teton range and the other ranges to the north passing through before a storm ; as soon as the storm comes on the guard turns out and heads l)ack all the cattle, there being no other pass througli which they can cross over into the southern country. As Ave were going along through the snow, after A (JiJLD TURN-OUT. 27r. 01 ng lOuse d to ound icter, end's life — \vith atlier baby f age, cation n, and bitter liavc ffered, romid of the ^e left ion ot" been gorge, ttle of nor til as the l)aek wbicb As after crossing a small creek, I turned round, and saw thnt an accident bad liappened to tlie wagon upon wbich Henry and Gruillaunie were being driven by Joseph. They had come down a little too suddenly upon the frozen waters of the creek and the ice had given way under the wheels. So smart a jerk had been given to the wagon that Guillaume and Henry had been tipped off on their backs, and were lying there with their seat on the top of them ; they aj^jieared to be lying cpiite still. I was not a little frightened, of course, jumped down and rushed towards them ; they got up, however, having had scarcely more than a severe shake, Henry's very thick buffalo coat having saved him from what would otherwise have been a very serious difficulty, and Guillaume, having had the good fortune to have fallen lightly, had escaj)cd with notbing more than bruises from the very hard ground. The cold was so intense that it was almost impossible for me to use my fingers for the purpose of rearranging the seat, and Henry's buffalo coat was immediately after coming up from the stream, where it had got wet, frozen as hard as a board. We at last got " straightened up," and the snow came on with a heavy wind, but most fortunately it was behind us, so we kept before the storm, and readied, in the course of another two miles, the settlement of Ul)et, having driven about eighteen miles from (jarden Land. Here we found a eomfortal)lo house and good stables. Shortly after our arrival we weie joined by the mail with several passengers, who, like T 2 H 'I ( " .* '> iiv, 8> ^t ' i -.■: • t 270 ^V^O.V //o,!//'/ TO HOME. oiirHolves, were ^hul to find slieltcr from the storm. The Hiiow came on very deep indeed, and we v/ero very glad to be under cover, and especially that o\ir horses should be in a stable and not .jn the prairie. The name of Ubet liad been selected for the settle- ment from the slang phrase so lacomcally expres- sive of "you may be pretty sure I will." Laconic expressions are pretty much the order of the day in the North-West. A night marauder took advantage of a good moon to [)lacc a ladder against a window, hoping to secure to himself the property of tlie gentleman asleep in the chamber. As he lifted the window and put his head in, the gentleman woke up and with great promptness J resented his six-shooter, sliouting out, " You get." Witli equal promptness tlie detected thief exclaimed, " You bet," slid down the ladder, " et procul in tenuem ex oculis evanuit auram." We had been told by our friends at Garden Land that at this place we should find every con- venience, and that the lady of the establishment prided herself upon putting things on the table in the way in which they would be done in one of the most eastern hotels. We certainly found a nice comfortable house, with a sitting-room and dining- room and bed-rooms over it — the proprietor being one of the delegates to Congress from the territory, — and the stables, corrals, and outhouses, were of the best description. Two or three other settlers had established stores and small farms in the neiirh- ( { 1 s VhKT. 27; . 1;^^ nice being )f the liJid leigli- Ijouiliooil, in Hliort, there seeins every iirolcihility of Ul)et, if it keeps its name, carrying down to posterity tliis favourite ])lirase of tlie early Nortli- West (lays. We hiul an excellent jjinner, and shortly after we had sat down tlie stage arrived witii two passengers, one of theiu an American surveyor, and tlie other a welhknown Knglisii writer, Mr. IJaillie Grohman ; he had been shooting in Idaho, and we iiad a very ])leasant eveniiig in discussing tl;e future of some irrigation works in British Columhia, and the mining prospects of that country. After te;i, and some ]>ipcs, it was time to turn in, and onr friends took the beds upstairs, Jlenry ami I pre- ferring a comfortable roll up in our rugs in the corners of the sitting-room. Satnrdai/, Aoirinher (\tli. — Up early, and found the snow deep outside the house, but a bright morning, and as there was every probability that the zone of snow did not extend far to the south-east, the direction in which we were to proceed, we obtained careful directions from our host as to our route*, he seemed to have rather a desire that we siiould not take the course through the Judiih ]*ass, but pro- ceed rather to the east of it. kSo we hitched u[> and proceeded through tlie Judith Hasin towards Martinsdale. What little of the diiect trail there miglit have been was entirely obliterated l)y the snow. At the end of some six or seven miles along ihe course of the stream, we turned up a sharp hill, but found none of the landmarks hy which we ..f ■'I % n i f ; ;, ^' i r: 1 • ?^f, 1 I ' 1f ■ I 278 rii(fM HOME 77/ //rM//-; liiid l)ccn directed to steer our course. I tlionj^lit, Ixnvevor, tliut we could scarcely be doiiip^ wron;; in keepin^j^ a due souih-east course, sivoidinij^ the trails whicli seeuied to lead up the hills and into the woods, and drivinp^ over the prairie, which was j^ood firm jjjround for our wheels. After some seven or ei^lit miles further wo came to a nicely placed settle- ment by the side of a creek, and found a sheep ranche that had been started by a Mr. Moule. Here we arrived after about four hours' drive at one o'clock. The settler and bis youn«^ wife had not been there long, and the lady did not appear to enjoy the country in whicli she bad been located, which she found very dull and very cold. They gave us a good dinner, and about tbree o'clock, as tbere seemed to be an end of tbe snow, we decided to continue our drive. Wo passed along over an undulating prairie, putting up two or tbree bands of antelope, which I endeavoured tj stalk in vain ; the wary animals taking care not to choose any part of the prairie where tbere was the slightest cover alforded for an approaching enemy. After {ibout eight or ten miles we became a little anxious, on finding that we were getting into tbe snow again, and as we bad been told tliat tbere was only one creek on which there was timber and wbich must have been still four or five miles off, we pushed our tired horses on as quickly as we could so as h» arrive at it before dark, and Joseph and (Juillaume had to run on tdicud throuu'li the snow to endeavoui- m 20° iiKiJtw y.Kiio. 27U to Ivoop the trail uh t'jir jis it couM l)o ascortaiiiod, suul no eyes l»iit tlioso of a lialf-bived could liavo din- coniod it throup^h tlu3 hiiow ; at last ovcii thoy wero both at fault, and wo were in a very liopcless con- dition tor tho nijj^ht's canijt. A cheery Hhout from JoMt'ph encouraiii -1" Vi'^' , , ■ i\i-: -y <■ ri , '' ii fi- i "f ' }^ iv ■ "' 1 'M 1i 280 FliOM HOME TO HOME. again springing up, fortunately however still behind us, so that we could well drive before it. On looking at the thermometers we found that they marked 29 below zero, or Gl degrees of frost, being about as intense a cold as one could ima- gine it endurable to sleep with nothing but a linen tent over you. An observation that is com- monly made, that we do not feel the cold out in Canada to the extent that the same amount of cold would be feit here, is undoubtedly true. In tlie dry air there is none of that shivering feeling that a very considerably less degree of lowness of tempera- ture would produce here ; none of that creeping feeling down the back, or absolutely uncomfortable condition that we have here ; but it must be remem- bered, that none the less, but rather still more, is it necessary to protect yourself against an extreme degree of cold. IIow severe the cold was upon this occasion may be judged from the statement that after about a minute from drawing my hands out of my mittens they became quite incapable of doing any work or handling any thing. I did indeed manage to screw my lens together and take a photograph of the old horse Charley, as he was standing in a most comical attitude with his head over the fire, trying to thaw the icicles that were closing up his mouth. It was impossible to touch metal, and it was necessary to warm the bits in the fire before putting them into the horses' mouths, as otherwise the iron would have taken the skin oil 'r}. THE MUSSELSHELL lilVEIi. 281 their tongues; still there is very little pain with this extreme cold. The horses did not look very much the worse for their cold night, but undoubtedly it told upon them, and considerably reduced their strengtii. We got under weigh, and after a few hours' drive got again out of the snow, and came upon by far the most beautiful piece of prairie that we had seen. Wt) drove through a rugged ledge of sandy gromid hanging over a stream, on either hand the ground rising in knolls upon which stood fine black ])iiie or Scotch fii', with large breadths of prairie between them, the land very sandy and thoroughly dry and bearing every indication of deficiency of rainfall. Passing from this we reached a more level piece of upland entirely covered with sage bush and wild lavender, from among which we startled several antelope, and descending what looked like the wooded approach to a beautiful park we came down a rather steep iji-cline upon the main stream of the Musselshell lliver. Here we found a tolerable good settlement, to which his name of Olden had been given by the previous settler. It is situated by the side of the stream at the end of a considerable extent of good pasture ground, and no doubt the stream may be turned so as to irrigate a very largo quantity of land which would l)ecome excellent for purposes of agriculture. It is the point where all the streams running down from the Big Snowy Mountains to the north and the Martinsdale Hills ■'i'^-d . . ■"> -•I u^ ^. .- ^-\ is* p M f A, ■'282 FIWM HOME TO HOME. to tlio west, being in fact the easternmost spurs ot" this portion of tlie Rocky Mountains, run down into tlie ]\[usselshell River, which after a run of one hundred miles to the nortli-east and a furtlier course of aLout fifty miles due north runs into the Missouri at Musselshell City, about the 108th meridian. Having dined well at Olden, and given our horses a feed of oats, we drove on in the direction of the Bull Mountain. It was a long drive, and up some very steep hills, and although our whole day's drive had not been much more than twenty miles, our poor beasts were thoroughly done by the time we reached a settlement on the mountain. The settler had placed his hut in a most picturesque position, with capital timber studded all about, and most excellent grass fields with plenty of water from the streams that were running down from the hills. The Bull Mountain extends from north-east to south- west, and rises in several circular hills of no great height ; they extend for only a few miles from the north-east to south-west, their greatest length being from north-west to south-cast. We lieard of a good band of elk upon the hills, and I very much re- gretted that I had not the opportunity of staying a couple of days there, when our host assured us that he could have got me within shot of one or two good heads. He had made for himself a comfortable house, but they had been there only since the May preceding, and the wife seemed to regret the home she had left somewhere further south. So pretty was DO BULLDOa-FLY. 28J the place and so great an opportunity did there seem to be for farming here to advantage, that I wondered to hear any grumbling till I found that there was indeed very good causae for it. On looking at a large stack of hay, I asked tlie host with re- ference to his getting it, and he told me that every bit of that hay bad been cut and got between sunset and sunrise, as the bulldog-fly was so bad there that it was utterly impossible for either man or horse to live outside during the months of July or August between sunrise and sunset. He was obliged to put his horses in a dark stable and himself and his wife to sit indoors in darkened rooms. Upon our talking about game, I further asked him liow it was that with so much game in the neighbourhood the grass had been allowed to grow so that ho had got such an excellent cut. " Waal," sai(' he, " I guess that them flics will shepherd any game. There is no game, nor nothing else, could live outside hero during the time that grass was growing." The cause of the flies being so bad about here was undoubtedly to be found in the existence of two small hollows ; here the snow lay deep duiing tlie winter, and as it thawed there would be produced a moist muddy surface, a grand breeding-ground for the fly. The bulldog-fly is one of the worst scourges of this country ; I don't know that tliey can bo said to bo absoluitly fatal to man or horse, but i;t any rate, when a certain nuniljcr of llicni attack a horse, m ^ '? .1 j 1' n il 284 FROM HOME TO HOME. 111' ! \ ■■:■ \ tlie effect not only from tlie loss of blood, but from tbo terrible irritation is so great that the animal becomes frenzied and in a very few hours utterly incapable of work. The fliey, however, do not come far from the bush, and it is on this account that you generally see on the prairie the settler's house planted in what a casual observer would think to be a most ugly and uncomfortable spc^ and you would say to him, " Why do you not place your house in that pretty little hollow ? " and he will tell you at once that to be near the bush is to be in a situation in the summer months where life is almost unbearable, and that the only refuge from the fly is to get well away from the trees and out on the prairie. Monday. — Our horses being nearly done up, we found that it was impossible to get more than one team together, and so leaving one wagon on the Bull Mountain, Henry and Joseph took a portion of the luggage on a wagon with a man who was going down to Billings to bring up his wife and family, and Guillaume and I managed with the other pair, and the third horse tied on for an emergency, to drive on our journey towards Billings. We drove over a very bleak country of the same character as that which has been so often described in the Yellowstone National Park — the prairie land, with broad valleys, and curious yellow rocks standing up in all sorts of shapes, to which they had been inidoubtedly worn by the passing of glaciers down the valleys. Most frequently they assume, as in the I ^ j ■« BJLLINaS. 285 'g "0 er 10 til ip )\\ '\\ le accompanying sketch, tlio appearance of a huge flower-pot, with possibly a small tree growing from it, and here again are occasionally seen protriuling I'rom each side of the valley the yellow sandstone walls broken through in their stretch across the valley in the way in which I have described in the country near the Arrow River. We came down at dinner-time to a settlement where there were congregated a considerable number of wagons and horses on their way up from or on their way down to Billings, from two or three trails which met there. Hay was a scarce commodity, and the person to whom the establishment belonged Jibso- lutely refused to let us have any for our horses. We managed, however, to find a bit of grazing ground, where we turned them out while wo had our own dinner. After dinner Guillaume and I had a cold bleak drive over some high land, Henry and Joseph having stowed themselves comfortably away in the covered wagon ; as it got towards dark we descended to a stream, where the snow-drifts were again pretty deep, and where we had very great difficulty in finding our way down and up the oppo- site bank. It was (juite dark when we sighted the lights of the town to which wo were making, and driving round a basin wo at last came across a settler, who told us the wtiy that w^e might take to get to the lights, and so we came to what Josojih called " the place where are the cars," and found ourselves in the city of Billings, the point to "' Ml ■p «-! f m< 280 FJIOM HOME TO HOME. which at that time the "North Pacific" was finished. A comfortahle hotel in this newly-erected town and a f^ood stable for our poor horses, were things by no means to be despised; but as there was very little indeed to be seen in the town, we made up our minds that Henry and I and Joseph and Gruillaume would leave our friend Craig to arrange as to his return journe3% and get off by the train eastward the first thing next morning. I had heard of Billings as a most lawless place, and one of the worst of the new camp cities. On discussing this matter witli the proprietor of the hotel, he said it was a calumny, for there had not been above three men shot since the city was founded. On my asking for the date of the founding of the city, I discovered that he fixed it at ten weeks previously ; however, I must say that everything we saw of Billings was as of a quiet and well-ordered town. The next morning we were up at daylight and tied up our traps, and I purchased a large pair of elk horns, which added to no small extent to our luggage. We had great difficulty in getting our traps into the freight car to take us on in the direction of Chicago. It was a little amusing to see the mode in which, where there is no great supervision, railway matters ire taken in hand by the officials. They refused <.o allow me to take my elk horns amongst the luggage, as they said they were not allowed to bo answerable for them, and that the only way in whicli they could be taken was by my paying the guard, and so two dollars were '.<:•'' mv aiitl was verc NOHTII PACTFIC ItAILROAD. 287 paid to that guard, and when we got to the end of his line a couple of dollars more to another man, and so my horns cost me a pretty considerable sum of money by the time I got them safely to Chicago ; how far the railway company were benefited by the transaction it is not for me to guess. Tbo stable charges at Billings were of the most cxti.ivngant character; filvo dollars, or £1 a day for each horse, defended only by the statement that they had such a very long way to bring in their hay and their oats ; but, even under these circumstances, I think we must consider that a stable bill of £7 per horse per week was something outrageous. The train started olf at half-past seven, and we passed along the Yellow- stone valley, the stream running along on our left hand and a broad extent of prairie up to the base of the hills which bounded it to the north. There were at this time plans for the irrigation of this ground by carrying a long ditch of some forty or fifty miles from one of the principal bends of the river, and this work, I believe, has been since very satisfactorily carried out, .and I hear that the land is extremely valuable. After a run of al)0ut 100 miles we stopped at Forsyth for twenty minutes to dinner, and keeping still to the left bank of the stream, ran along through what will be eventually, no doubt, some good farm country, until we came to the crossing of the Powder River, which runs into the Yellowstone from the south. At a distance of about jOO miles further to llie east we stoj)jK'd ^t■^\\ i ■ 1 i' 288 FROM HOME TO Ifo.UE. ■:ii' w ^Hl •3! tAventy minutcK fur tea, and night came on, and as thcie was no " Kleepcr" we had to make ourselves as f'onifbrtable, or rather about as uncomfortable, as we could be in a carriage in which every seat was full. During the night we passed through the Bad Lands, or to use the full expression of the old voijagcurs from which this name is derived, " Mauvaises terres a traverser," so called from the fact that you are no sooner up at the top of a steep bank than, after a few steps along a bit of a level at the top, you have to descend again, and so on up and down, and very little of your journey is accomplished in the day. From the little that we saw of it in the late evening and in the early morning when we anived at Bismarck, it appeared to be a most picturescpie country. At Glendive we had left the Yellowstone, and shortly after that we passed out of Montana into Dakota, through which we ran to Bismarck, the capital of the territory on the Missouri River, which the line crosses here, and we stopped to breakfast. The bridge over the river is a very fine structure, the river being nearly a mile in width. Bismarck itself has all the ;;i)pearance of a flourishing town; it is in the middle of a good agricultural district, and after leaving it Ave parsed through the farm lands of Dakota, of which so much has been written tliat I need not here enlarge upon them further than to say that it seems to me to be land, of a very excellent character. Passing through James Town, where the line crosses the "Jim" .1 SAI> I'AIiTIXa. 281) River, as it is called, to distinguisli it from other James rivers, a stream which runs parallel to tlio Missouri, into which it enters at Yankton on the frontier of Nebraska, we came on to Glindon, where tlie change is made for the passengers to Winni})eg. Glindon is situated at the edge of Minnesota, and on the bank of the Red River of the north. Here our good friends (xuillaume and Joseph left us, as they had to return to Winnipeg, and we were to proceed on our journey to St. ]*aul. Many shakings of the hands, and much proof of kind feeling towards us was shown by the dear boys as they left us, and we looked forward to the day when we might again have some repetition of our pleasant camping to- gether. Little did we think that one of the youngest and strongest of the party, my dear old guide Guillaume, would never join us again. The poor dear fellow went off to a farm of his father's, having made up his mind to settle down, and being engaged to be married; and shortly after the following Christmas ho took up a good farm with his new wife, and away they went for a few days for their wedding tour. During those few days tliat terrible scourge of tlio Indians, small-pox, took hold of him, and in a few hours the poor fellow was no more. I did not hear of his deatli until, in tlie following year, I had sent up to Winnipeg to know whether ho would be able again to join me on my excursion of 1883. A more sterling good fellow, and one with whom I could more entirely trust myself and all that u f . '.Wk »< 'M •1 4 ' 1 ' ^ (i* 1 .^ Mm . i If 1^1 f?! if.'' »f'' '' w i.. 21)0 fV/O,!/ //03/A' TO IfifMi:. was dear io mc, ready in any crncrt^cncy, looking first, to tlic safety oF tliose wlio liad been entrusted to liim, no man ever had tlic coni])aTn*onsliip of. If Guillaume luvd l)een tlie only one of tlie race wliom r had known, I had seen quite enou ■ '1 \ ■ %. Si 294 i-V/O.!/ //(^.V/i" TO HOME. down the river and into tlie gulf. As it was still snowing, the decks and the rigging were one mass of ice, and it came on to blow hard ; liowever, our Captain Ritchie was a pleasant fellow, and we sat next him at dinner, and although there was only a very small party on board we managed to make ourselves very comfortable and very hr.ppy. Saiuhn/. — Snowing all day and very cold ; the same on Monday, while we were still in the gulf. It was of course too late in the year to take the northern passage through Belleisle, and so we proceeded on the southern course — after leaving Cape Gaspe and away past the Bird rocks to Cape Ray, and from thence round Cape Race into the Atlantic. We were the last boat out from Quebec for the season, and a very rough run we had of it, keeping, how- ever well ahead of a heavy sea, but rolling a good deal. On Saturday it came on a little calmer, and we made a good run. On Sunday, after a curious service by a dissenting minister on bor.rd, a small vessel ran under our bows, wanting to know her longitude. This was the only sail we saw on thaL voyage. On Monday we arrived at Moville at seven o'clock. Here our good friend Sam McCanless, so well known to all passengers by the Allan Line, brought us a telegram from home, and having returned the little complimentary message, we started off again for Liverpool at eight. Arrived outside the bar, we good liad to wait some time for the tide. As we were coming down the cliannel the night previous, the moaning of the engines interested me, and I called to Henry to come and hear what they were saying. " Does it not sound like ' Poor Peruvian, ' ' Poor Peruvian ' ? " I said laughingly, and wliy should she be grumbling in that way, for she has had nothing to grumble about on this journey? The moan seemed almost like a little prophecy ; for about five o'clock on the next morning, Tuesday, December 5th, as 1 lay in my bunk, watching tlie lights on the Birkenhead coast, as we were turning round to go into the docks, I felt a tremendous thump. Deing pretty well used, professionally, to the account of collisions, it struck me that this was such a severe bang that it was as well to got up and see what it was, as 1 thought that she had come into contact with the dock wall. I had scarcely got my trowsers on when the order came down the cabin stairs, " Hurry up passengers : ship's sinking ! " I woke up Henry pretty sli;n[). and rattled awi»y at the door of tlio caltin ()p[)osite to l)ring out a voun 4'" Iv : % % 29G FROM HOME TO HOME. \' 111 iind liad cut us tlirougli just against tlio engine- room, down to below tlie water-line, staving in the bows of the vessel against which we came and sending her adrift. Our captain of course gave the order for the boats to be lo\vered, but, in the condition in which the ship was, with all the luggage and goods moved out of tlie holds ready to run into dock, there w'as no time to shut the water-tight compart- ments, or to do much in the way of getting down the boats. We were in water about 100 feet Jeep, with a very strong tide running, on a very dark morning, and if we had gone down, there would have been but littio chance for most of us. The water rushed in and our fires w^ere out in less than five minutes, but most fortunately during that short interval our pilot was able to drop us down upon the Crosby Bank, and we lay there in safety till some tugs came up and took us off. I must narrate here a little story which has amused one or two of my friends. In the bad weather, coming across, I used to take the opportunity of letting Henry get up first, and then, as there was nothing particular to be done during the day, I took things very easy, ordered a nice little breakfast, and took my time over my toilette. The lady who lived in the adjoining cabin, and who had got through her own breakfast, used to seat herself behind me and take the opportunity of undressing and redret^sing her baby of a few months nation which did not improve niv comfort )pe] the has THE BAJjy. 297 at breakfast, as I could seo the whole thing- every iiioraent I looked up in the glass opposite me. 1 think at last she found that it put me out, and for a little malice carried on the operation every morning in spite of my black looks reflected from the glass. Well, on tliis last morning, when we rushed on deck, I found on board the tug the husband with the little baby. "Where's my wife?" said he. "Oh," said I, " she's just putting on her hat downstairs. I asked her to hurry up, but she did not seem sufli- ciently frightened to trouble herstlf much about it." " Hold the baby," said he, and before I could say anything, I found this object of all my bad temper at breakfast reposing in a shawl in my arms. As I am not aware that I ever before had a child in my arms, I cannot say that I made cither a ha[)py or a pleasant nurse. At the end of a few minutes, however, a dear old cheery fellow-traveller, a Jersey man, engaged in some fisheries on the Labrador and Cape Breton coast, came up to me and said, " Oli, Mr. Staveley Hill, who's child is that. Give it me ; 1 am very fond of children." " For goodness' sake take it, then ! " said I, and handing it to him, felt myself happily relieved of an unpleasant responsibility. The Custom House people most unkindly kept us — the poor shipwrecked passengers — waiting for a very long time, until it suited them to come down and open the Custom House, but at length thu 1 rouble was over, and we got to the North-Western Hotel to breakfast. Wa were, soon after arriving, ■ '1' i i'i, i ' ' ' / t'. . > * i I' I s' f 208 FliOM HOME TO IIUME. joined by iny wife, who had come to Liverpool to welcome back to England those of whose safety many bad reports had been circulated freely during the time that we were completely shut out from the world. 1 think I must add, in justice to Captain Ritchie, that in the trial that took place afterwards, with reference to this collision, he was entirely acquitted from all blame, a result at which we were much rejoiced, as he certainly had shown himself a most careful and competent captain throughout the whole of a somewhat difficult voyage. ( 21)!) ) 't"*-^1 •i < It, ' ti I ! '1 '>] -f. 1883. CHAPTER VI. TiiE year 1883 promised to be a stirring year for tlie Nortli-West. In addition to other visitors, the Directors of the Canadian Pacific had invited several friends to run down tlie Hne in company with their enterj3rising President to view their attack on the Rocky Mountains. 1 had a further object for a visit in a desire to see the ranclie and the general pro- gress of the country, and if possible to cross the mountains and to see their western slopes, and 1 lioped to reacli the Pacific and Vancouver's Island. Having arranged with my partner, the Earl of Lathom, to meet at Montreal, whence the Canadian Pacific party was to start, I sailed with my wife and my niece on the Dth of August from Liverpool on board the steamship) " fcfarmatian," or rather I should say the ladies started from Liverpool by themselves, I being detained on Circuit ; and I was obliged to take a later train, and crossing the channel to Dublin, rush across Ireland to meet the boat at Moville ; and starting thence on August lOtb, we had our usual pleasant Atlantic voyage, Sn Ml! 300 FROM HOME TO HOME. ■'J H iiiul jM'iived ofT Point Levis on tho morninf^ oi' Saturday tlic 18tli. As wo wanted a day in Quebec we drove up to the hotel, and stopped tlie night there, liaving arranged to drive out to Silleri to breakfast on the following day. The morning, however, was so wet that we were not able to keep our ai)pointment, but it cleared up in the forenoon and we drove out, and I made the excursion to the locality of the little chapel which I have already described in my ac- count of the Jesuit Mission. Returning to Quebec in the afternoon, and having paid my respects to the Govei'nor-General and the Princess Louise at the fortress, we left by the 4 p.m. train, and had the long slow drive of 158 miies along the north shore; the scenery was interesting during the remaining hours of daylight. AYe got to Montreal at 10.45, and after much difficulty in getting a cab, wo reached the " Windsor," and got to bed at 1 a.m. The following day I had an early breakfast, and drove to the station to spend a business day in Ottawa, and leaving Montreal at 8.30, arrived at Ottawa at 11.45. I found, however, that the greater part of the officials in the departments were away on their holiday. I managed, however, to arrange a few matters of business, and returned to Montreal by dinner-time. I found the Russell House at Ottawa very much improved as an hotel, with a fine building and ex- cellent rooms, and used as a residence by many II'* A nATLIWAD TUU\ noi Members of tlie Dominion Parliament during the session. 8.30 P.M. of August 21 saw a party of aWit forty Englisli, Germans, Canadians and Americans as- sembled in tlie hall of the AVindsor, with a varied assortment of portmanteaus, bags, and cases, guns, rods, and saddle-bags, ready for the Canadian Pacific trip. With the usual fuss of such a departure, and with many a good-b'w'y' and glw'kVichen lictscn from our ladies and friends, we stowed ourselves away in many omnibuses, and were off to the station. Here we found provided for our conveyance two private cars, three sleeping cars, a dining-room, a kitchen, and a large baggage car; the latter, however, not containing luggage in the ordinary meaning of the term, but every eatable and drinkable that a most excellent butler and first-rate clirf could provide for the t.able at the hours of breakfast, lunch, dinner and tea. The cars were the best that the American continent could provide, and as each of these cars is sixty feet long and weighs about thirty-six tons, it will be seen that the "motor" had behind it wlien the train was loaded up the gross weight of some 300 tons. At 9.30 P.M. our train moved out of the Montreal station, and as all had had a busy day in the city, the beds were soon got ready, and an early hour found, I think, most of us comfortal»ly asleep as wo passed along the Grand Trunk for Toronto. Some disarrangement of the cou})linfr, or some " ' 'O' ' : 'f. m 302 FHOM HOME TO HOME. 'fi'. • :*/ of tlmt sort, wliicli did not. appear mncli to afiect tlie sleepers delayed us for some two or tliree hoiii's during the night, and the consequence was that wc were still many miles from Toronto when we wei'e summoned to an excellent hreakfast, which with «a morning smoke and the view of the Lake Ontario as we passed its many bays, filled up the time till our arrival at Toronto a little before noon. Here those of us who were not connected with the business matters of the railway, which S'ummoned its directors to certain meetings, passed the time very agreeably in this pleasant city, and tlu.'re was very little difficulty in filling up the time that intervened before lunch awaited us at the club. The journey to Chicago along the Credit \''alk\v did not present any objects of striking interest beyond the remark of a good road and a good run. In crossing the St. Clair River, the outfall from Lake Huron into Lake Erie, our train was divided into two blocks, and was with an additional passenger train taken on one of the hucre ferrv-boats, the rails of which are adapted so neatly to the permanent w\ay both of the departure and arrival platforms that no more jerk is felt than is experienced when running over a turn-table, and we found ourselves landed on the other side of the water with gi'eat comfort, in the United States. How one wishes that there was somewhat more of this practical energy in our country and France, and that, failing this tunnel scheme, we might at least have a decent I m iniTTAm.E ARTICLES. ?m frrry conimuiiicatioii to take tlie ])]aco of tliosc wretolied cliannel boats, wliicli are a disgrace to the locomotive facilities of the day. A little difficulty occurred hero in the Customs, as our cellar contained no small store of champap^ne and other beverages adapted to the emergencies oi' the dust, whoso irritating pirticlea no dust-screen could keep out, and of a thermometer rising to nearly ninety in the shade. " Well," said a very good-humoured Custom TTouso officer, " I am very sorry for it, but I must obey the law, and I must just put a lock and seal on ; and these things must remain in bond till you get again across the Canadian boundary at St. Yincent." "Then I will tell you what it is," answered our most intelligent manager, " I shall just have forty dead men in these cars ; " and so to prevent the possibility of so dreadful an occurrence it was at length most diplomatically arranged that an in- spector should accompany the party to the boundary, to see that no breach of the C^ustoms law occurred, and we started again on our journey. It is wonderful with how little friction and with what excellent common sense tlie Customs duties are levied both in Canada and in the States. Everybody seems to recognise the necessity and utility of this mode of taxation, and to conform to it with the utmost readiness. On finding ourselves thus safely on the s«.il of the Great Republic, we, with the exception of a few fiisc!s, wliicli I liiiVL' iilrcjuly (UscribcMl ; l)iit as my two previous visits liad given lue quite enough of tliat. I (levott'd my morning to an inspection of tlie new law courts. 'I'hesu are not only ivmaikahlo huiltliiigs outside, hut are most useful and achnirahly arranged inside, and mueii indeed (Hd I wish lluit tlie designer of* our own new courts in Lomh)!! (wliieli I venture to tliiidc would ])c far hotter adapted tor a home for " the hishops ji'i.i clergy of all denominations" thin for the purposes for which tliey were provided) had taken this l)uildiiig as liis model. If Afr. Street had hut had the American architect at his elhow to remind him tliiit he was engaged on a bnilding where utility should luivo the paramount cdaim, a different result might have hecn brought aljout, and another niMgnificent fa(;ado fit to stand hy Somerset House might have heeri added to the beauties of our river-emh'inikment instead of this Gothic jumble in a back street. The courts at Cliicago are well arranged internally, and the approaches are of tlie most simjjle character, without any of that indulgence in lahyiinthine passages wliich distinguish our new law courts, and though phiced on tlhi tliird and fourth floors ii(» inconvenience wliatever arises therefrom, as four hirge lifts in the centre of the building, accommo- dating eacli from ten to twenty persons, are con- tinually on the move for the use of judges, jurymen, couiise] P pui A pleasant stroll along the beautiful new parade, X 11 •I ,1 ■4 • ' . p- I- •^T1 ;i()(; FliOM IKKMr. TO lloMK. ii^ i^ N* %m wlioro Ji |>iirk is bciiif? laid out by tlio kIcIo of tlie I'lkc, ])ic'|)iire(l 118 for tlic ])jmqn(!t at tlio liotel, und a j)luaKaiit cliat ovit tlio I'vents of tlio day filled ii[) tlie nliort romaiiiinjj: hours, when 1 tumbled inwido ly start my mosquito eurtaiiiH to bo ready for an eai tlio next d.iy. Ill the morning wo were called at five o'ehx.-k to a liot cupof eofiee, which liavinarty, and especially those of us who belonged to the English Legislature, had been interviewed by many news- paper correspondents on the subject of our views in :al, )t forcrettiiiG: Ireland •ti( general, little umusemcnt was afforded by reading the report vvliieh tlie energetic assistants of the Ch'tnnijo Times and liiti'i'-Oceaii and other papers had provided for the benefit and amusement of their readers; more especially the description of the };ersonal Mi)poiirance of many of us made the word-painting quite as interesting as tliough they had been illustrated by sketches from Vanlti/ Fd'w. Our journey from Chicago to St. Paul was most interesting. Fairly fertile farms cover the land till we reach Lacrosse, where the Chicago, Mihvaukie and St. Paul Pailway crosses the Mississippi, and where our train had to await the passing through the open biidge of two huge lumber rafts steered by steamers with a paddle-wheel astern, so lightly touching the stream as to recall the saying of the Yankee builder ana MI.yyETONKA. 307 willi lofurence to liis Loat, that hIio t'oukl make her way uv t a M '■' ■ Fi-^:i hi'- ^1 somewliat disastrous to tlie yield. This, unfor^i- natcly, did in fact tjdvC place, and the late sowinn^ and early frosts of 188:> resulted in a disastrous harvest for Manitoba as well as Minnesota. As we got further west to the Jieio-hbonrhood of the Grand Valley about Brandon, we found the harvest in progress. I had previously thought tlie farm land about Portnge the most eligible of the Nortli-AVest, and witli its excellent roads and good situation, Brandon, which is 108 miles from Winnipeg, promises to secure for the very good land in its neighbourhood up to Oak Lake a very large propor- tion of the early settlers. After Oak Lake the land immediately along the line is by no means of the same quality. Of the land near Regina, which the line reaches at a distance of '^IdG miles from Winnipeg, I have already spoken. West of this it has yet to be proved what are its capabilities for grain growing. It must be admitted that strong opinions in its favour have been given by those who have spent this last year thei'e. There is no one, however, who will not regret that Qu'appelle was not selected as the site for the capital. An unfortunate delay of some two hours during the night found us at breakfast-time still a long way from the crossing of the Saskatchewan at ^ledicine IJat, which we reached at a distance of GGO miles from Winnipeg, and it was consequently late in the evening when wo reached (^ilgary, mnking a total i ( ' •'' I PRAiniK LAxns. 311 distance from Toronto of 2010 niile,^. Along- tliis last piece of the line to Medicine ITat tlie land liad been innch burnt up under the broilinp^ sun, l)Ut still even in its sandiest parts tlie growth of oats springing' from the casual grains dro]iped from the feeding of horses and mules during the constructi(^n of the line, showed that there was even here no inconsiderable producing power in the soil. This is, however, in my judgment, the least eligiMo land of the whole through which tlie line passes ; but in answer to the criticism that the line miglit have been taken through more fertile territory by passing farther north, we must remember that the primary consideration has been to carry out in all good ftiith the arrangement under which British Columbia joined the Dominion and to secure t1ie, shortest inter-ocean route ; from this main line, wherever run, branches must be made — feeders, stretching away into other and more fertile lands. Our 840 miles fi'om Winnipeg to Calgary was thus accomplished in thirty-four hours ; and while it has to be .dmitted that in our journey westward wo were pursuing the flying hours, and so on our arrival in Calgary were bound to deduct a consider- able number of hours from the time told us by our London watches; still, considering that I had left the shores of England on the 10th, and had spent twenty-four hours at Quebec, forty-eight at Montreal, twenty-four at Chicago, and that we were in sight of the Rockies on the 27th, it ought not in futui'e to bo ""I U'-f, m\'j' i» 312 FROM HUME TO HOME. A, v charged on loving relatives as a reason against the more enterprising of the younger hranches settling in the North-AVesr, that it is so far from home. In fact, taking out the time that we had lain by, our journey from Liverpool to Calgary had taken but thirteen days, and friends in England had heard by cable within a few minutes of our arrival where and how we were ; and the energetic and accomplished manager of the Canadian Pacific Railway, Mr. Yan Ilorne, assured me that on the 24tli of next June ho would undertake to run from Winnipeg to Calgary between sunrise and sunset. The next day a construction train took us on after brealvlhst to the crossing of the Bow Iliver, where 1 fjund the boarding cars which had entertained us so hospitably at Moosejaw last summer. The grading had been carried on a very considerable distance further, almost, I believe, to the divide of the main range. Our height above the sea on the bank of the ]jow liiver, marked on the posts as shown to me by ^ - Langtlon, the contractor, a little belov\^ tlie crc. ig, is 34GG'49 feet. jcnt an hour or two fishing in the Bow River, and caught some nice trout, grieving much, however, at the same time to see the vast numbers of dead bodies of the unfortunate cattle that I had seen lieing driven up just before the snowstorm last year. L. and I had arranged to meet our manager and wagons to take us to our ranche, and after dinner Mr, Craig came up with his outfit, consisting of one four- CALGARY. nir. ■( :"*1' horse wagon, one pair-liorso wagon, one lieavy four- liorse wagon for lumber, and a saddle-liorsc. We got our packs off the train and made camp down near the river. The site of Calgary is well adapted for a town, but the country is too I'ar nortli, I am afraid, to be suited for cattle in tlio winLer. We found a comfortable little dining place kept by a ^Ir. Dunn, who with his neat little wife had stayed the night before the storm last year at Oxley, and having had a good tea there, we passed an excellent night in our canvas home, not sorry to be free from the jolting of the train. AuguM 2^tli. — Breakfasted at Dunn's, and after breakfast with two of our friends, who were going \\\) into tlie mountains, we got our things together. I had a great alarm with respect to my big deal box, in which v»'ere stowed all my most desired effects, and which not finding with our other traps, I feared had been taken back by our friends in the train to Winnipeg. I found it, however, standing by itself by the railway at the biforcation of the rails, a spot which I found to be dignified by the title of the depot. About eleven we hitched up and started on our journey. A young friend who had come to spend a few days at Oxley and to see what ranche life was, rode the saddle-horse. Tom, one of our bovs, drove one of the four-horse wagons with our packs and tent, and four of us were mounted in the pair-horse wagon. At the end of about ten miles we came to a creek, W\Wk » If" I I ' \m : 's r >" I * i •!<, ^:L 314 FROM llOMK TO HOME. % 'A'* . \ ' A - ^ ' .-.; 5>' *•'< ' ■ 1 Mi liii'f wlierj we found ii ftirin tliiit litis been cultivatc'l for some two or three years by ji Mr. Glen, and which lir.s been a good deal put forward as illustrating the capabilities of this land for farm and garden produce. There was a very large field of potatoes, some poor ])arley, fair oats, turnips, and some excellent cabbages ; Glen was using the water of the creek to iri'igate for this last and for a part of his polato land. The articles grown were indeed of a very fair quality, but I cannot say that the experiment has satisiied me as affording any security for corn-growing with profit at so high a level above the sea in this latitude. We went on across Tongue Creek and the High Wood River, called by the Indians Aspasquehow, and met some cattle going up to Calgary for the Mounted Police. The cattle were rather a rougli, poor lot. We got to High River at dark and camped there. The Bishop of Saskatchaw^an was camping there, on his way to Calgary, and a most pleasant little chat we had by the camp fire. He has been many years in the North- West, and is a very excellent and energetic worker for the Church. Au(just SOth.' — The air was so full of smoke from forest fires that there was no view to be obtained of the hills, ^vhich we cannot yet be said to have seen. I went to have a talk with a rancher named Quirk, and we were much interested in inspecting a feature of this locality which we had often discussed with Kounts last year. He had amused us by declaring that hy cutting through a few yards of ».[r by of NEW OXIEV. ol.) land at tliis point lie could take stoamerH up tlio Little ]>ow River, whlcli we had found so absolutely dry in the year preceding. Well, I don't know about steamers, but it in quite true that there is only a small interval of about 200 yards dividino:tho Jligh River from the springs of the Little I>ow ami that these last are at a lower level, and undoubtedly by cutting through this space the whole of the water of the High River above this point would be sent down the Little Row, which there seems very little doubt has at one time, and probably not long ago, been its course. We hitched up about nine, and crossed one or two creeks and coulees, and made dinner camp at ^fosquito Creek, and then on quickly to Oxley, where we arrived about four. "We found all well there, and tlie house much improved by the addition of a piece at each end, at the northernmost of which we had assisted last fall on our return from Snowy Camp ; tlie other addition was a very convenient room for stores, saddles, etc., and I had a good walk round the property. Our young friend, who had not been riding lately, was rather glad of a rest. After dinner and a good chat w^ith the men, we turned in between our buffaloes in our tent, which we had pitched down by the AVillow Creek, and where L. and I and my young friend, and our good dog "Boxer," — a most intelligent black retriever whom I had broufrht with me from Ene-land, — made our- selves very comfortable. \ • ! -I I ; t .' K ' ■« fil r1 .:* ',][() FUOM IIOMK TO IIOMK. I i ' % I'll' i^' ' I'll Auf/uM 31.S/'. — Up about five, and after breaklast wo liad 8oiiie rifle practice and a stroll round with our j^uns, when L. shot a prairie chicken and two teal ; after dinner we roJe up to the big canon to look at some c*. tie 1 'on^-ing to an adjoining- rancher. It was a L- HinTn] sight as they all lay, with the hills jiround ;;'! i iho lake in the background, com- fortably enjoying tiieiaselves in the deep grass, and in a thoroughly natural condition. We got oft* our horses and drew as near as we could without disturbing them, and after a long rest and many pipes we rode home past our corral which we had newly put up, and finding the mail in we devoted our time to wi'iting letters, the mail wagon from Fort McLeod to Calgary still stopping for the night at Oxley as it did last year, making the journey of seventy miles from Fort McLeod to Calgary in thiee days. Saturda//, September Isf. — A mizzly morning. We prepared for a start through the rain. Craig had had some good saddle-horses broken for us. I rode a pretty chestnut mare, which I christened " Winona," L. rode a grey, and we started for our cattle camp. On our way we caught sight of several of the bands of horses which I had bought last year. They were looking very well, although there has not been, of course, any great crop of foals in this their first year on the range. We also came across about 2000 head of our cattle, all looking well. One of our cow-boys followed with a buck- tt rilE ItANUE. 'Ml board, L., Craig, A. and I riding. Wc dini'd at our cattle camp, and after dinner rode with two of our cow-l)oys to look moro closely at the cattle. They looked very well, and riding on, we camped on a knoll above the north fork of the Willow (^eek, at a place which, from our finding a very old gun-Ktock that had belonged to some Indian, wc christened " Gun-Stock Camp." ^Vy>/f^//i//<^y'2y?r/.— Thermometer 22" F. OIV :v. n- ^ ; rode east by north to the forks in Wilhr . ^'r. .,c, arriving there at one o'clock. We had ;. o -p tiful ride — looking over land whicli I had seei' lasi, year. At 3.30, having had dinner, we saddleu t id rode west, and as I was riding along I seemed to recognise the country, though it appeared now under a veiy different aspect ; and catching sight of a wood on the right hand, and hills rising on the left, I said to Craig that I thought we were near our first camp after Snowy Camp. He seemed to think that we were still many miles from the camp, and I, of course, bowed to his opinion ; though like most others who "comply against their will," I also was "of the same opinion still " ; and cantering on I came to the spot where we had shovelled away the snow, and where the loo: still remained on which last vear we had sat to dry our clothes. Close by was the thicket where 1 had shot at the wolf; and there were tlje remains oi our fire just as we had left it. So we camped on the very spot where we had camped last year, and L., without knowing the name wliich we had given i'l ^5 1^1 jl f 'Sis FliUM JKfMI'J TO HOME. , .i'l. ' -i^?i it {ind wliicli I did not renieiiibLT at tlio moment, siif^^^'osfed the very name by -Aliicli we liud called it, "the Camp orirap[)y Jteturn." Scpfenihrr ^ril. — We rode along throngli land tlirou^h which we j)assed on our return last year from Snowy Camp, but very difTcrent in its as[)cct to that wliich it bore when under its sheet of snow. After about four miles, instead of bearing to the left as we should have done to reach Snowy Camp, we kept straight on in a westerly course. We first visited the Lakes Henry, and found that the first hdve, which is about a mile and a half long, em[)ticd itself into the AVillow Creek. There were but few ducks on the water, it being too early for the great migration of these birds, and looked quite deserted when we compared its surface witli the appearance it presented last year, when it was literally covered. AVe had indeed some difficulty in getting near them ; my young friend A. having gone along a little too far ahead of us, the birds had risen. I -went up to the second lake, and very diflicult work it was, jum[)ing from point to point of the swamjiy land. I sh(jt some teal, and as I was calling " Boxer " to fetch them out of the water, a falcon made a swoop at one of them. I shot him, but not being quite desid he made a strike at " Jioxer," who had come up, Jind went to retrieve him. After this " Boxer " prudenily declined to have anything more to do with a bird whose beak and claws showed that he was not the sort of game he was used to. I fished hhn out m m I I LATffOM rMlK. nio witli a fisliiiif^ rod, Intcndinf^ to stufTliim, as lio was a fine specimen of a youujj^ bird ; but I iiiiinituiiatcly lost biiii out of the \vug(jn. Wo then rod(; up tlio hill, the west side of the hike, and regaled our- selves pleutifidly with service-berries and goose- berries. Arrived at the higli ground we g(jt a good general view. There ap[)eared to be four lakes ; the tlireo nj^per not so large as the lowest, and I am inclined to think, as indeed it apjK-arcd to nio last year, that the most northern drains towards the High River; the big coulee in which it lay trending clearly in that direction. We were a month too early for shooting on this lake. As- suming the latitude to be not too far north for it, some wild rice miglit well be sown here, and these lakes would make a splendid duck preserve ; all that would be required would be a good duck punt, and the 'duck shooter would get every variety of water- fowl at the proper season. "We camped in a beautiful park-like ground which I had selected last year when riding with Kounts, and had christened Lathom Park. There is an old wliisky trader's shanty there, and the creek is very 2)retty, with [)lenty of fish in it, and on the south side a few big cotton-wood ti'ces are dotted al)out the })ark-like enclosure. We skinned and plucked our ducks and some cliiekens, and liad a ea[)ital camp. Si'jitciiibei' 'ith. — Thermometer 22 F. U}) early ; after breakfast we rode west, rising the hills. About eleven w^e got well into the hills, and turned to the f 1 . _ ' i , i 11 31 . r L ;]'j() FA'O.l/ //o.l/A' TO llnME. \n left III onk'i' to work round to tlio soutli forlx. Tlio country cou.sistcd of l)Oiiutit'ul woodod knolls with a i^ooA dciil of Iji'UkIi, iuid wu.s curtiiinly tlio most lioiiuliful land that J had neen in the west. We put up sorno Iduo <»'rouse, whicli, lio\ve\'er, did not fall, as I had hoped they would liave done, to tlie f^un of my friend A. They rofie sliarply and Hew (piiekly, and are hetter sport than tlie other hirds, flyinu^ more like the hlue rock. The scenery was lovely. AVe lunched hy the side of a stream, using" some tins, /;^iven me hy Air. Silver, of Cornhill, heated hy self- contained fire, and a most excellent invention we agreed that it was, and one which I can tlioroughiy recommend as likely to ho very useful for cover sliootinp^ in England, enahling* anyone to select what he wishes for his meal — whether turtle soup, or mock turtle, or Irish stew, or anything else. All tliat has tvj be done is to place the tin on two stones, strike a match and light the wick, when in three minutes the contents of the tin are hot, and a hasin of soup is ready for you. I was feeling a little bit seedy, but T stuck to it, as I knew how soon this grand air would put mo all right. I could not help thinking that our luxurious life in the train had rather told upon both of us, and that a little abstinence with a wholesome diet of bacon, biscuit, game and tea would bring us back into our best form. Riding along after lunch wo came to a splendid -)iece of prairie encircled bv risiim- iiTounds and 1 to it, le all iiiditl tin J .s.Vnll) r.i 1//' .M/.i/.V, :vi\ l»ni.sli, with pK'iify of \vato /.•/•'. 32:5 •< ;'S flat-lioiided l)iitte." Tlie smoke or haze from the forest fires still prevented any extensive view. Ai'ter a long canter we arrived home al)ont four in the afternoon, having ridden some twenty-five miles. We had onr nsual meal in the house. 1 can't use the word " comfortable," for the swarms of flies ])re- vented anything like comfort while we were inside. Sei>tcmber 7///.— AVe left Oxley at 10. .'](). L. and A. with Charlie in the four-horse wagon, Dan on the saddle-horse, driving six others for our use in the mountains, and C. and I following a little later on the buck-board. We had a good deal of lug- gage, as we required to take with us stores to last us for some four weeks. We got to Fort McLeod, thirty miles, about 3.30. AVe dined at Kamoose's, and looked over this not very interesting town, in- cluding in our survey a small house which we hud recently purchased for our men to stay at on their way through to Standoff. We got together the remainder of our stores, hitched up at 5.30, and reached Standoff, a distance of nineteen miles, at 7.45. I found my old friend Cottingham of last year, who had now the management of this farm, all right. He had just finished getting in the oats, with a very fair crop. Having had our tea, we turned in, making up our beds on the floor of the old shoj), where Dutch Fred's counter stood when I was here last year. Saturday, St/i. — Up at six, and after a bit of a walk V 2 f^:'i .3-Jl FIIOM lloMh: TO lloMH. ,-f. - ':t ■ to froslicn mc up, wc bj'cakfusted at 7.30. Tlio air was .still so full of smoke tliat we got no view of tlie liills. After breakfast we bad a good long turn over tlie ground, examining esj^ecially with a view to an irrio-atinii: ditcli from one of tbe rivers, and to wdiat extent squatters were encroacbing on tbis lease ; durini*: last autumn we bad obtained an assic^nment of Fred AVaebter's claims, and everytbing tbat be bad tbere, as I bad come to tbe conclusion tbat it would make an excellent breedini;- farm for biHi- class cattle, bounded as it is on eacb side by tbe two rivers, and requiring oidy a fence at a narrow point, about four miles from tbeir confluence, wbere tbey again approacb, to make it a complete enclosure. After dinner we rode off across tbe river to tbe I)lo(vA Itcserve, taking especial notice of tbe dead lodges, placed as I bave before described, not oidy in trees, but on scaffolds; and some of them veiy elaborately pre})ared. We notici.'d one in a tree .vitb a full-grown person below^ and a cbild above (u a box on an upper stage, with all kinds of trinkets round tbe bodies. Tbere were cbildren's playthings around them, and among others a little cart, by tbe side of the small box in wbicb tbe cbild bad been placed. Ibe poor Indian wbo put tbese boxes tbere, little understood that one was branded as a prize soap and another as Zoedone or some other drink, while one poor little brat bad for its epitapb " 2 doz. l']pernay." Another erection, a recent one, contained a yo(ing son of " Little Spotted Dog," tbe present liLoDi) urn I M.S. licjid of the tribe. In I his case tlio l)0(ly lind been placed oil tlie groinid witli a iiioiiiid of earth over it, and a log hut ouilt round it, and tlie top covered over with straw and calico. Other bodies were placed .along the side of the hill on trestles. A few were buried in the earth. These were baptized Ifidiaiis who had been buried by the Missionary. We went into the school kept by Mrs. l>ourne, the wife of the Missionary — a (piick little woman, who had come through in the storm of last fall, and had been at our ranche on the night preceding, and had taken a great intei'est in the account which she had heard of our being snowed up in the hills. We had much talk with her about the Indians and about their peculiar mode of disposing of their dead, and she told us that their reason for opposing burial in the earth is because the spirit of the departed cannot then come from and go back to the body, which it loves to visit for many months after it has parted from it ; and such is the force of their beli(?f in that res])ect, that even those who profess Christianity, wIkmi they do bury m the earth, keep open a small hole at the corner of the grave down to the body, so that the intercourse between the corporate and incorporate may still be continued. She told us, when on this subject, Imw the s(piaws meet round the dead lodges and sit there howling at each new moon, and it was a common practice for them to cut off a finirer on the death of one thev loved, thinking lliat the i>aiii tVom the wound nn'ght ^i '! < :lt- )' * m (J wm ■ a » * I* 'f ' ii 326 /■'/,'(>.]/ IIOMI: Ti> lloMi:. overcome and drive away the grief for the otlier h:)S.s. I had more than once noticed squaws wlio had lost a finger, but had not guessed tlie cause, and a few months after this the squaw of tlie cliief who luid died came into our canq) witli the stump of her finger, wliicli slie had cut off in lier grief, only then healing. She had found herself, I fancy, in poorish circumstances, as slie was offering a daughter for Bale for five dollars. We had a long talk with Mr. jNIeCorb, the Indian agent, and some oiliers round his agency oilice. A liairless old Indian, I think it was "Spotted Dog," examining us closely, as he looked at L. and Craig and myself, remarked, " What a lot of grey beards." The Indian himself allows no hair to grow on his face, and his principal occupation as he sits and talks with you is in going over his face and chin with his little brass tweezers, to remove any hair which may accidentally be found. We cantered home across the river, over the prairie as the sun went down, and a beautiful sunset — a charming ride over that iirm green sward. McCorb had been clearini>: out the Crow's Nest Pass, in jmrsuance of an order from the Government, made on a representation by me last year to the Prime Minister on behalf of those inter- ' sted in bringing in horses and cattle from British Columbia. After a comfortable tea and a cheery iaik, with a shon, stroll out into a beautiful night, we tiiJiied in between our blankets and soon dozed off. S'tiulai/, 9/A. Up at six, both of us beginning to ': m' I LOUT PnOTOaiiA/'/fS. 327 her and feol all tlic Letter for prairie life and its quiet enjoy- ments and liealtliy living*. "VVe had left instructions at I'ort McLeod for the post, whicli was due shortly before we left, to be sent off to us to Standoff; and as we were both anxious for letters from home, wo waited till after dinner, having spent the morning in g'oing again over the land, writing letters, and giving directions as to the mode in which the farm should be conducted. We arranged with our manager that he would meet us at Helena, driving thither, after a visit to Oxiey, by the direct southern road, while we took a route across the mountains, to see as much as we could of British Columbia, and then striking the ''North Pacific," to join him at Helena, in Montana territory, on the eastern slopes of the Rockies, on October ')th. I had during our journey taken wdiat, as I had hoped, w^eie six valuable j^hotographs : two on the Atlantic of icebergs, two of the ranche, and two of the crossing of the Mississippi in our railway trip. T great difficulty which I had always found in ]>! )graph- ing had been in the clianging of t plates. Fortunately at Standoff we had a good i >ot cellar, which was made, as is necessary in thi country ol' severe frosts, well under gi'ound ; and so having taken my little ruby lam[) into the cellar and having the cellar-lid put on and all light carefully excluded by robes and blankets thrown on the top of it, I proceeded to change my })lates. My a inoyance may be guessed at linding that the arrangers of my ^■M I ; 1. M 111" ■ff tf i i • -MS.i T.'!; ff» / ' *-*','■ •tl : 328 /'7^0.^/ HUME TU HUME. pliotog-nipliic a])paratus before leavin,!;" Hng-laTid had omitted to put any plates in tlic slides which 1 liad been using, so that these six endeavours, though carried out with the greatest pains, had been pro- ductive of no results. Having now put the plates ill tlie slides, I took the two photographs from which the annexed woodcuts are taken, the one of the log hut and stables at Standoft', with our wiigon and horses ready for the start, L. on the grey horse ■: -f I ,i'( M kSft«trir-^-5 n^e^fc^-t^y^ ^v ~^, 7^8fe=-^^ Vl?'^^^^^® 'afe;'U;'7t^^ic;5;1^a*M-S--.j*^^' " STANDOFF.'' rUEI'ARING TO STAUT. wliicli carried iiim through our long rides, and uiy own pretty little sorrel mare, "Winona," saddled and ready for the start. Tlie other photograph was taken, turning my lens and looking exactly n\ the opposite direction, towards the l>elly River, at a point II little above where we crossed it towards the lilood Keseive. Home Indians were coming across, aiul upon seeing my lens poiulcd towanls ihein. slocd 1(1 liad I I liad :llOIir>-]i II pro- plates which he lojr 11 and horse d my 1 and Avas the point >li»od and tof.»d ^■| HFj.i.y Asi> K()()'ri:sM mvinis .T2!l still and conciialed their faces, so as to prevent their portraits heini;- taken. Havini^ <4*ot under weigli, as we rode oil* in the direction of the mountains and in an almost due westerly course, we were met hy Mr. Coehrane's mana2'er, who was lookini'' alter the rainre which Senator Cochrane has taken, and \vhi(;h extends from our uoundary rip^ht up to the Kootenai Lakes, at the font of the lillls. It is an excellent ranQ;o ; I have rri^'-^^^^^ :«-.: ^ iMf /!'• Vt^ &■ > >^^^r-^-j »rfi ^i^:. ,^- )Krt*,--_« MOAii TUi; JiM.'Ti'ix or im; m-i.i.v a.nh Ivhounai iiivi;i;s. seen scarcely anytl line- lictter in the Xortli-West. We had a useful discussion with tlie a^'ent as to sales and ]»rices; and then drove on ahout twenty miles to a liay camp, Vvhere some of Coehrane's men were puttiiiiv up hay lor the (Jisuing winter. AVe arrived at the camp ahout six, and i'oiind that, the men had already put up tln-ce large ricks oF iiay. .Nfany ii'eese lle\N' oscr oui' head.-, hut tlicv aic tar loo 1 1 ■I ' u ■'»•■ ifll :v.)0 FJIOM lloMi: TO I/OM/:. .»iij»j 1.)./ wiiry tor luiy one to bo able to uppioacli tlieiii on these pools, round tbc margins of whicli tliere is no cover. We turned in about nine o'clock, being very well satisfied with what wo had seen of our range, and certainly the whole of this ground, from the junction of the two rivers to the lakes, is as good a grass country and with as excellent bottoms in it .as can be well imagined. Mouiaj/, 11///. — Up at six. Packed up as quickly as we could and got under weigh by 8.15; L. and I with Cniarlie in the four-horse wagon. We pulled up at two or three of the little lakes, of whicli there are many on each side of the trail, of an extent from about half an acre to four acres. We got as much duck and teal as we wanted for dinner, and could in fact have shot almost any number that we required. Early in the afternoon we arrived in sight of the house of Kootenai Brown, an old settler who had been there for many years, and who in the autumn previous had been recommended to me as a man who could show me and tell me all about sport in that part of the mountains ; we had a little difficulty in getting across the stream, as this eastern end of the lake meanders about, and no direct trail was visible. But everything is known in the North- AVest, and the proprietor had heard of our probable visit to him, and sighted us from the hill, and came down and u'uided us in. He was a wild Indian- A' f vi: tm ,>■■, * ' lyld ,"' •'« 1* ' t m 'f'f! , , 'ji; ■ J, 1 1 ■■■ ■ ». •/ 11 "^ ■ . ,' 'fir ' ^ '■ ' i . I I- I 1 - • t\ 1 I, ! ' «»' l,!'^ ! I ..*^.. IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) A % A^^. 1.0 I.I 1.25 li^lM |2.5 |50 ■^™ N^li •^ I2i^ II 2.2 2.0 11^ - 6' Vi vl ^^/ / o 7 Photographic Sciences Corporation 33 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. M580 (716)872-4503 ^^ >' ,-\ 9) '%. :\ \ 6^ '■; ..-.fir: t|' ..« at*,' ■. m U lit m 1 >K, M( looking follow, ill a sloiicli hat and curiouisly constructed garments and mocasins. lie told us tliat he had come across, eighteen years ago from British Columbia to liunt huftalo, and after wandering about for some years had settled in tliis place, where he has been for the last four years. We calculated that it was as near as possible forty miles from Standoff to the Kootenai lakes. Brown was occupier t * wl :N-i I ■ I''. < t^€cr^at aya0ov•.«/, ^'<>i)i! IH [flJ- IMi Mtt!Nt ifl fik- n; vtM)r or. to flv ihflv nr,' ' i^MHjfr II cmiuH' uf fh,» intur* trout whi' .. 1 ,v I'i tiH he iru(, -!•■ ul* I'H Jt/uSil'llI l"i.ll by ill' ,:;{) I'll ti^s ] waji ,itfi,*jtlt}isr ■f" i; ' M »<♦ ;a< i r« t' *«>.. m ( f M |i" i > I'. j »?^' 'I '.i; ri, r, .k ("V >•;'.; t" f --- '■^ «y- r:f M;q M lUV .J. h:id ru; r\ flNhnty-- if, ?-';f' t- u, - laH-'- Jur T oauK- 1. : io tlit.'^f cold el'.'ar str 1 one, jxwA wo bfitl a },]erl^'(.^t L, '..^ < it'ir ^ 'r WtiVt.; rrliTlir Oi)l IS artv fo ii Imitd of I '*;iv'l .'Ji »'*; ^1 I 'c;. •1-*' •■K< <; If' '1. M f I iV i ;^" i. 'A t i (I :H i-t: i: I'Tfi «. !»;?*■ ?- *i"iii>, i i *j; iie t ■ t * I • H 1 iovish: I'M. I.. '.VM l)eyoiKl 18 tlie furtlit'st lako, across wViicii rinis tlio Loimdai'y liiiu of (^iiuulii ami the States. We went on to tlie falls, and |)assiii«^ a coriu-v of the liiko, saw some start's and rails, on which Hrown liad been drying some of the huge trout wliieh lie told us he jjjot out of the lake, of thirty or forty pounds weight, and riding on along the e(^L"'> we came to the falls. The accompanying photograjdi of a beautiful fall by the side of the lake was taken as \ was standing fishing in the small pool, into which the water falls. The stream from an upper fall is carried inside a trough of rock, breaking through whieh, it comes down into the pool. It was one of the prettiest waterfalls 1 have over sceii. The stream is not a large one, but from the size of its now dry bed, it must be a torrent in June and July, as it brings down the melting snow. "We had no sport fishing; it was too late for the trout in these cold clear streams. L. caught one small one, and we had a pleasant ride back. With the exce[)tion of a cayote which the dog chased, as we were riding out, we did not see a head of big game during our stay at Kootenai, and I doul)t if there is any to be found here, with the exception, perhaps, of a stray bear or sheep in winter. IJathing in the lake in the evening, as I was dressing by the shore I saw in the dusk what looked to be a jiretty bright-coloured flowei*, and gatliering two or three of them, I put them in my V)utton-hole ; as T walked along, T found from the V. t I M f'-: W.I y ' v.''< M'l r. 1 \7 : t i! 1: u 308 FJIOM HOME TO HOME. smell of my fingers that it was a wild onion. Turning back, L. and 1 got a good large bunch of this excellent vegetable, which added no little to the flavour of our soup that evening. The wild onion grows in very considerable abundance, as I found afterwards, all about this part of the slopes of the Kockies. ■*%'it^.. \.'M 1: W 1 onion, e buncli no little ig. The mndance, •t of the m ; , r.,,,j,- ..i. ' A i I ' i;t n^ ■.;/ i I' t 'I J' i U.i i^ ^'' ;i t^f: U M 1 ( Onif ] ^'W wrvji yif «M'' V'i i (! t! >* i'.i I ! 1 t V-- IH • r' '.t > M ( oni) ) CHAPTER VI r. TiiKRE are two passes from this ])art of the country across the iiioniitains, both of which are known by the name of Kootenai ; one is, liowever, now better known as tlie Boundary Pass. The northern lias its eastern opening almost adjoining tliat of the Crow's- nest Pass, tlie southern or Boundary Pass starts at its eastern end from tlie Kootenai lakes. AVe origi- nally intended to find our way into British Columbia either by the Crow's-nest Pass or by the pass adjoining it, but as we had now spent so much time at the lakes, and it would have taken us two or three days more to strike the northern pass, we deter- mined to try the Boundary Pass. I had some hope that we should find that the north and the south Kootenai tracks mot after separately crossing the Main Pange and were united in a joint pass through the Selkirk Range. We had no maps with us, and perhaps a more careful recollection of what I had seen last year should have told me that those hills left no road to the south, and that it was in that direction that the Boundary Pass trended. We made up our minds, however, to try the Bomidary z 2 ; 41 ^r". ' I "'-■'V I ^ I'. ' « ' I. '< :. "'.H, r h i } ■ ;| i i 340 FnOM HOME TO HOME. Pass and to see where it would take us, — and so all being ready on Friday, 14th, we started at 10.30 ; five pack-horses, four saddle-horses, and Brown on his cayeuse. After a ride of two mile?, when we had attained a height of 250 feet above the lake, we struck the base of the mountains. After this our track was wild and rough. I wanted to push on as far as we could. The packing, which is always a matter of very considerable anxiety, had been done with much skill, and the packs travelled fairly well for the first day. The horses were a little awkward, but Dan and Cliarlie were good-tempered with them ; there were some delays of course. Kootenai Brown came out very strong on the subject of packing, and was learned in the various kinds of knots, and in his criticism of inferior artists and in all matters of packing - straps and sinches he was clearly a connoisseur. The poor brutes did not bear the compression of stomach with much equanimity ; had they spent a few months under the charge of a European dressmaker, they would no doubt have understood it better. We found some good grass at the foot of what was obviously about to be a steep climb, and as Brown seemed anxious not to go for more than one day's ride from home, we camped there at the edge of a wood of burnt spruce, with a good view of the hills and some snow. I took a photograph of the hill at the back of the camp : it was of a perfectly pyramidal form, but my camera got a little moved over to the left as I was taking id so all i 10.30 ; n on Ill's we had ake, we tliis our on as far a matter ne with I for the hut Dan 1 ; there vn came ng, and , and in matters [early a )ear the ty ; had ge of a bt have >d grass :o he a ot to go camped , with a [ took a amp : it camera 5 taking h.^ I: 4* n i;;:f r-(> ■ ■ ■• t.ts , • •, :'\^^ 1 ' >;;.■» t - ■5 > ■-■ 1 . ' - •' J- J ■'".'.•l i 1 -! ;.,-M I mri: i 1.- 1' ^-|'' ■'M mi:-- km- »* f i ''Hi IS 1^ y| fl* > ••* ''' ''j'^'BE''J^B 4fiP' ' ■ .> " r— . * ' jBIB ^ ,. > ■■■^ - ^tt ^^i^t « ''jbF J p; ^ 1 / <'-* M •^-1 '•--%^.' •■< •>'■ 1 ; Jt ■■-- ^5 ,1 -^ I " W"' "' Jh ' - ^% ^ » -Si ^ j| .'.,01-' ^^^^^^^^^^v •1:"- •tf Wsimmt^.c •C^i54^ ^^■^■■: ■ '^' PYHJUin II/U^ .^■ht Hpov'i fieri Icvphv-Uj-'Hcrt, 'irHniip/, ibih Jh' .)*<;• <'^ev 2.5 1'. T]ie lior*.'*- « '^MiTuIf\tfifl tar * -ic' M^^r-r ilie ^r;* :, ;ii;'l ^^; ' iiiviD. !':'H!it;;> less ijiey inif^ln Ma-, t-.n le 'auk ' ^^taiiJi^ir, U" ! ro!]*.Hji ihOiU i'jn^k .;:'.(•- . • nsr .'bv wci^LWilh' the Seliiitk ^.ha:; ,1 at *-i,i. Ih.Y ^ :0 •■A %» ' 'tr** 1 ''>U»*- i-n- •-lU!;^..of' i,hc-l:nil;;;'l'0ti5 I'Ctl'm >'«^t ;i.f,(l.r';Mi!|:>j 'lytu li^i, top, '>\ri,;-" ' !:.^'^ '}.f 'f }y^^^ , , - >i'.'.:'.i 'flHIW *3 i;' I' 1 1' ■> -•fcl •■■!, « I.- 1 ^' ( I i •""» ■ i, ' ' * 1 I,'-"' <.4 I'YltAMII) HILL CAMP. Ml tlie view, so tliat tlio hill docs not sliowso completely pyniinidiil in tlie iinnexed view as it is in reality. We christened this camp " Pyramid Hill Camp " ; height above sea level, G300 feet. SatardiU/, 15M.— Thermometer 23' F. The horses had wandered far back along the trail, and we were rather alarmed at Dan's long absence in search of them, fearing lest they might have made back for rftandoft". He brought them back after a long ride, and with a farewell to Brown we stjirted at 10. l') np a steep hill and through some thickly growing spruce at first of a good size, but smaller as we got up to the top of the hill. At 12.30 we arrived at tlie divide at 1100 feet from our morning's observations, and took the two accompanying photo- graphs; one looking back to the east, from which we had come, and the other along our forward road to the west, with the Selkirk range in front of us. This was a most interesting and characteristic view, the sides of the hills both before us and behind clothed nearly to the top, except where there had been fires, with almost impassable wood. On the rocks we found a saxifrage and other plants of an Alpine character ; that which I have called saxifrage was a grey plant, with small pointed leaves and long spreading roots running amongst weathered rock ; it had small round pinkish flowers on stems of two or three inches long. We each of us brought a plant home, and mine put out one shoot during the next winter; but it was its last effoi't, and it died [ I M' V I ". ' ■ I < ... n" 342 Fl{()M IHiMI'l To lloMi:, v;i Hliortly fif'tor. Tlic «nrnrnit of tlic pasH Ijcrc Ih just below tlic Hiiow level, and fVoni tliuiicc wo (lesccniled tlirongli }i thick Kin'ucewood, the trcuw chaii;^iiig very consiilerably in character, with a greater variety of berries and brush. We descended for 500 I'eet without a level bit, through pinewooda of fairly good poles ; it was, however, tenuis .sentifo, and retpiired a careful regard for the knees .igainst the fir-trees. At this elevation we came to Ji little spring, the first water that we had seen running to the west; thence, after a further descent of nearly lOOO feet almost without ;iny breiik, to springs that looked like the rise of a river in a bit of swampy gro"nd which we had remarked from the summit. We found that we had come down 400 feet more th.in wo had gone up. The liorses were getting tired and a little footsore. I had been riding the sorrel mare " Winona," and L. the old grey ; my nuiro was not shod, and I should ceitainly advise always to have the riding- and 2)ack-horses shod before taking them over these stony passes ; unless shod they become footsore, and to a considerable extent useless, after the second or third day. One of the prettiest and certainly most useful l)uslies in the mountains is the Canadian raspberry, a bush with broad palm-like leaves ; I have it in my garden in England, but it does not fruit there. Tlie fruit is of the colour and character of the English ras})berry, but is much more Hat, and in shape does ■>- *: II' e Ih just (jscomiIihI r vjiriuty uvel bit, it WJIH, il rognnl elevation tliat wo I fuitlier out any a rivor einaiketl ad come ip. Tlie tsorc. I and L. I should iig- and !se stony tnd to u or tliird t useful spbeny, it in my ■e. Th*e English ipe does \' ■■\i^ M f k ' ». ■ I u I < m ^ . . ?■(•..;,'. :i( , I ...] I - . , . i' ' . ■ i 1 •! I i !i \, •' > 1 ' > ^ ■. 1 '.• i 'I ;(.» ; f ■ •• .. IM .i^ s i-i In ) n^m\ *' •J- »:^i i\ ». !!fi S lM.f I J SI . 1JI aj; t s ■i a:!;; ... i ^ ♦ i M I 1 •*V , /'^■f^»-^?^-^ :-f,'^*'-' - ■-■^■■' n ATl/VAD :./,(/;v • i>^/ . 1 " ( i : • ■ t , ! '■' ;>!'! ■V!>'l fiiji: a i'-!tl (il . ■■:■ -['id. '^ry i-^O'fMi^ ' ■ ! 1 \'!"V li M< ■;-rt,)lit.' ). '1\ v.-t' flt.'0% li. V'Ml 'I IH (NrOe. a '\ 1 1 !-' a; >•, We ?hf:l I MO ">- \' i,,H •f't -n,-'-\ ;n in' i I r'i': l-'l If ■► ; .■:;*. n ,-i-: * I : ' - > M,V < ,.:?: FLAT/UwlD tiPIUMI CAMP. :m not so well hear out tlie name of thimble-berry, by Avliieh very cle8cri})tive title this fruit is known w (^anatla. Black currants there were in abundance, service-berries in millions, jind a small berry like the bilberry, but which I believe was a box. We made camp a little before four o'clock by the side of a beautiful stream, which L. and I tried for fish, but could not see a fish in it ; plenty of fly on the water, but nothing more. A beautiful site for a camp, and we recognised it as very kind of tlio paternal Government of the Dominion thus to pro- vide, free of rent and taxes, [)lenty of fuel and drink, and lots of bedsteads on both sides of the trail. It was a glorious day, with scarcely a cloud in the sky, and we found, as soon as we got over the ridge on the western slopes, a warm balmy air filled with the odour of pines, and very different to anything W(; had felt on the eastern side. In calculating the heights, and taking Standoff and Oxley as the same height as the crossing of the Bow I{iver above Calgary, viz., ,'JGOO feet, Kootenai Lake would, be at a level of 5400, " Pyramid Hill Camp " 0300, and this sunnnit 7400 feet above the sea. These being barometrical observations, the height is of coui'se oidy approximate, but I don't think it will be found very far wrong. We cam2)ed in a large meadow, with what we believed to be the head-waters of either the Flathead River or of the Tobacco liiver — a large tributary of the Flathead River — on our left hand, barisii hills i. ' V ,:*. I "jf. M]-^ •AU FltOM IIOMK TO J/UMI'l rising on tlic right, the greut hills from which wo had come down with their shoulders interlocking, so that the question arose down which of the slopes hehind us our road had lain, in front a continuation of the wood ; we christened this " P'lathead Springs Camp." This stream may he one of the lieaA waters of the Columhian Kootenai River, as it wjis only oy followinff it down that we could sav for certain into which of these hig loops it runs, but both the Kootenai and the Flathead, under the name of Clarke's F(n'k, join about the 4nth parallel and the 117th meridian, and form the Columbia Iliver. September 16M. — Thermometer 18° F. U[) at 5.45. Had had a good in'ght, but very cold, and 1 made a mental memorandum to put more clothes on for the night following. Just before starting I wan- dered off to take a photograph of a beaver dam which L. had noticed in process of construction on the night previously. It is a most interesting 2)hoto- graph, as I doubt if one has ever been taken before, of the work of these little animals while in process of construction. I found three or four very good dams, but it was difficult to get my camera in position to take them. I had a heavy drag through the wood down the hill-side, which will be seen in the back of the picture, and througli the stream, in which I planted my lens opposite the only part that was attain- able for a view. The work of these little animals is indeed wonderful. I saw one tree tliat they had attacked in the previous night, and which was 'liicli wo lock ill":, G slopes inuation Springs \ waters only vy uin into [ootenai 's Fork, eridian, at 5.45. 1 made on for I wall- er dam tion on ; plioto- before, ocoss of I dams, tion to 3 wood back of Iiicli I attaiii- iiials is sy had li was I' M': •V] 1 . *1 ! ; 1 t ♦■■■i ■I. 1^^ :'f/ /"' y ■' ■' /■ 1' /).; ./ 1 ;..• M' 'li;()ii i '' i. .-. ('::•! t ■' I ■' ■" ■''' '"^ J- '^ ' ■• ir()ti! to Mi*' i.j- i- '.t'r v/ ^r "■ 4';! i' , 1 it ■v. 'i P l! V (!■ ■ I ItlC.W'I'.n DAM. ;u:> |i;irtly ItitU'M tlin)U_s:;li — It wan fVoiii IS inclu's to 2 1 iiiL'licH in (liiiiiiL'tcr, ami tlic (.-liips that InkI been l»itteii out, of which I liavu one hcfort; inc aH I write, wlmo alioiit ioiir inches loMi»- and one incli wiiK.'. The end of tlie loLi; on the ri^^'lit of the picture is of a \)V^ tree of ahout fifteen inches dianietei", which thev iiad felled the ni<;-|it previously, and were ahout to hite up into lo^'s, and iKMlouht a hoss heaver had stood hy and hatl taken care that the tree should ho hitten tliroujj^h so as to ^'ive the least trouhle when fallen. The })o()r little fellows lia( 1 I ."I * \N hicl 1 was mo stiv t; icl niiaracK— we Uescent K ded airain to ^ I 346 FliUM J/OME TO HUME. ?;i- ^:i tlie riv-er lcvc»l, crossed tlic strenm, and as our horses were footsore, and we had heai'd tliat beyond this point we should find no glass or cam^iing ground for nearly a day's journey, we made camp at 1.4;"). It was a blazing hot sun ; the mountains had died away, and there remained only what looked like a low range in front of us. As soon as we had made camp and driven our horses into a very good meadow, L. started off with his rifle to look after big game ; he saw tracks of deer, but got nothing except a rather bad tumble in the brush. The woods were very thick, in fact impassable, the hills rising behind us all wooded. I went off with my " fishing-pole," and saw four or five large trout together, the only fish which we had seen in these western waters. I threw my bait close to them and tried grasshopper and fly, but could not touch them. It appeared to me that all the fish had gone down the stream, and that possibly earlier in the year good sport may be found in all these waters; at this time of year, however, there is clearly no fishing to be done. Having to change my photograph plates I determined upon utilizing the Indian sweat bath. These constructions are found at nearly all camping grounds — a few wickers bent over in the form of an arch, just large enough for a man to sit under, with a small hole at his feet, into which red-hot stones, heated at a lire close outside, are thrown, and the wickers being covered with skins, and water poured over the stones, a complete vapour- r II ur horses •ond this round for 1.45. It led away, ke a low ad made ny good ook after nothing sh. The the hills with my •ge trout in these hem and ich them, ine down the year iters ; at lO fishing otograph tin sweat leaily all r in the lan to sit :o which side, are til skins, 3 vapour- I 1 ^ I ' ' ■ ill 'w ■»■ •,:>4 • !■ I : j' -t ' St • •l / i '■I "'•■' !' •ff 1, .;'* !■ t^ H la ': i> ■,■ '1' I 'Si. .» iJiK;™.™. ; i ■ ll \ 1 1 -vtit^i^ 11 I .i' ,-!! ■I -J ,i 'i-' i U I ; 1. ' !M I , ,. :i 1. * >'• 'X'..':i )in: ha .1 ■:;':.{ ♦ .ti h U'AbJI-i'r t'AMl'. ai7 batli is obtiiiiied, which is to the wild man tlie cure for every coiiiphiint. lie geiiertilly takes a dip in tlie stream afterwards, and sometimes, like a Russian Monjik, a roll in the snow. This is, as 1 have said, the Indian panacea ; but his adoption of it, as he always does, when attacked by small-pox, is certainly one of the causes of the universally fatal results of this disease amongst the Indians. So I sijuatted under the wickers and liglited my little ruby lamp between my feet and arranged my plates so as to change them easily, and then got Dan to come up and cover me most completely with blanket and buil'alo robes, and I found that I had a perfect dark chamber, the only trouble being the dustiness of the ground and the almost suffocating heat. As Dan observed, if an Indian had come up he would have been frightened out of his wits, thinking that the white man was making some dreadful " medicine against him." L. and I had a grand wasliing-up of clothes, which the sun quickl)' dried for us — ironing was dispensed with. I notice that this operation is recorded in the photograph which I annex ly the item of a pair of stockings hanging across the tent to dry. AVe named this "' Wash-up Camp." No game, no fish, and our grub getting low ; but we had pretty well of Hour, and Charlie began to bake fairly well, and his cakes went excellently with our marmalade and jam. iSepti'inber ilfh. — In saddle at O.;>0. After rising a slight hill, we came down through a beautiful ■i 1 ■1 : ■A I' I rfi •( it ,i : nts FJiO.y HOME To IhtMK. wood till, at 11. 30, we struck a stream ruiiiiiii|L!; Iruui ri,i;'ht to left at a descent from our former camp of 500 feet. We liad passed tlirougli a good deal ot fallen rock on our left, a profusion of berries of all sorts, and wherever tlie rock had fallen the raspberiy ti-rowino: from the debris was our Kn'»:lish varietv. 1 saw one i)lant of Osmunda fcgtdis and one Pterls (/(pill Ilia, the only ferns that I had seen since Kootenai. My aneroid at starting this morning stood at 24"^ 50', Many of the trees through which we passed were about ir)0 feet high, and ten feet in ii'irth at about five feet from the u'round. About this time we thought we must have crossed tlie Ixmndarv, and that w^e were either in British Columbia or in Montana. Unfortunately, however, as our niai)s had been left behind, we wei'e much in the dark as to our whereabouts, and in our uncertainty as to onr then domicile we named our camp " Doubting Camp," Se/'fcinber ISfh. — Very cold during the night, thermometer registering 17° F. We had slept well and were up at six, when we found the ground white with frost, but the sun rising over the mountain at seven cleared all this away, and we were saddled up and oif at 0.45. Y»"e had a most beautiful ride all .pr.il !^. .(J of 1..3rfit ■; n{ ■•i 1: I'.ml ''fU till' !'-»'b'' ' ! . ' ill ;.n't;hu1 ;iMo!it tivf t/i fr^':> iii- /)■ mi. .W v '' ' ■■ thrtc ^Vl:■' 1'i.imi<';;i' we u' i-^i hrXy .•■.'■ ' >. '\ i! ■ii'I'Vi'r, ti-'l fiird: 've- w* t\' rflv;- in IMfu-- as ( ;.r i -.t j'f a-i.^/ I.. ■ * ■ ■' '.','"■; •^•■...'1 • i i iirl] [. >. (A' "t.-''l '■' ,- 1 1 ;i . t V ," i I < . AN' 1. -W ■^■vi /< It U ' It >''.l' y'^^. •. ( !: «^ : •it m\ m .)■ m /•/A' (AMI'. :)\u to get tlirougli oil tlifit (lay, and wliioli niivde our |trof>;i'eMS slow, gives the ollect of posts and rails, iuul adds more completely to tlio liome-lii^e look of a ])ieeo of" land in reality so wild tliat in all ])r()l)al)ility no foot of white man had ever trod it. Nor indeed do I believe that any Indian ever ventures many yards from the trail, as he has a great dread of the hidden dangers of the wood. We had a little rain, and after skirting a lake on onr left hand we turned round into a gloomy defile with huge rocks tossed about, amongst which our trail wound, the detritus from the hills having formed a dee}) soil from which sprang a luxurious vegetation. Above all the berries attracted our earnest attention, and L. and I gjitbered a hand- kercliief full of service berries and currants, as he was bent upon trying his hand upon a fruit pie. There were all the indications of swollen and big streams running through these gorges on the snow melting, but at this period of the year they were reduced to very small runners. About half-past four we came to a beautiful little opening in the wood, and we unpacked and camped. Here L. began his pie, and having secured the lid of the kettle for a baking dish, and duly lined it with the pwste and filled with fruit and sugar and covered it with an upper crust, a good deal of burning of fingers had to be submitted to in order to save the ['-reat culinary effort from extinction in the flames; but the result was very satisfactory, and it received high praise from those who sat round the supper fire at " Pie C amp." ■}'' nno FlloV Jin Ml' Tn Ifn.yr 1 .: Si'/tfntifii')- ]^f/t.— '[J\) i\t n\s ; llicMMMonictcr la"^ F. ; {iltitiidc (I1T'» f'cot. 'I'lion; was ;i ^^-ofxl dcfil of riin(\ ns will 1)C' seen in the annexe*! ))lM»t()jj:iM|»li, which I took jnst before slaitinii', and when all was jiaeked except the tent. Oik; of the men's coats and a stake shows the fire. Tlie horses wcm'c all arraved for start. On the left of the line is Dan holdinii* niv marc " Winona " while 1 was at work with the lens, then came "»l(»hnn\ ' an- up into the nortb fork of the Flathead. We had a long- day's ride, as there was no camping ground ; the ])retty little chippemonks and other varieties of squirrel running along the fallen trees were the only living things. We liad some bad i)laces to get through, but our packs held on well in spite of several m \\ of liiiio, I, wliicli I IIS pMcked 1(1 ji stake raved for ildin^' iMv tlio k'lis, d all tlie t;md still, C a (horded e riglit is id looked iclinod to piece of r firs, Init reach lis 'M igli forest tracks we easure it, 200 feet. ny traces ers ffoiiio; ^'^e had a iiiul ; the ieties of the only through, several V. I •! -J ~1I ll « 'if-' ' «:. fl' r>..' « i I iir iM! 1 1 !i » ' ; ! V \- 5/;; i . '1. 1 , (i ■], ,1 '!1>V, '.'.. '• '' . I! .!.. ! ' I • ' •r^;'.- rl •' Ml.. .1 >■• I I' • -J '■y c «' ^j i'. ,' ! >;■-.'"•' tj; : .1 r , I < I > ip'-lt ;^: 'I it: jj-i ;f\f : 1... i!'.' nx'tit', .- < *! ;■»■:■!<■• W^. '. '»' i' ^^••^ ■ ol rho .^.ih.l ' •.. '•>\;;ii I . , n ^ .J. ?r *■■ ■ \ ., IV .. I . 1 r- • ^ r. \.''\f \\:) :■-''■ • i t^i Kar. fi. 1 ^v ■ i'i. { .' y.jj fv . r von A I 'rtCV\^. 1 . ' ■ ». r.^>v f ;.•> :•! vv^l,; ; !i ,1 ! , I, > > . -I t i.l ' .. !'*^ •A I I )■■•(• ':\' I ! ( I j;i i'.i. 1 : I 7 I s, i }fV IIATII ROOM. XA severe squeezes and bnmpings against tlie trees, in one of wliicli L. smashed the stock of his gun, Init made a neat sphce of it witli some whipcord, and we got yesterday and to-day a good supply of that most excellent bird the tree grouse or '* fool hen." At length we found a good place for camp at seven o'clock in a pretty bit of prairie with single trees dotted about it. It was a beautiful starlight night, but very cold, and we calculated our altitude as 41 25 feet. Sepfcmhcr 20fli. — Thermometer \i)^ F. Up at 0.20, and struggled through the thick brush to the stream for a wasli. A bright sun took away the feeling of cold. It was a fine rushing stream, too cold and shallow for one to get into it, but I rolled a big log to the edge of the water and it made an excellent tubbing apparatus, and I amused myself with the idea of my beautiful bath and dressing- room, about 100 feet square, curtained round with high brush, water laid on so lavishly that it would have sa'isfied Mr. I)obl)s, the furniture of birch and pine and the walls of hills all decorated with wood scenery, the heating apparatus consisting of the sun's open fireplace ; the ap[)roac)i to the room, it is true, a little trf»ul)lesome, as a good deal of the said birch and pine furniture had been tumbled about rather promiscuously, not to say caielessly, but the carpenter and joiner must put this to rights. Got back to breakfast, and saddled up and ofl' at 9.45. As we went along the ap})enrance of fungus ■ ' N ill ■■, .1- ^^"f. iv>l '■I' 'f^i i^' m 'M Vtil I i I I 1: . , ill' ;}52 rnoM IloM/': To HOME. on tlio trees sliowed tlie moiHtiire of the climate tliat we were tlieii in. Not ji sound as we rode aloii^; tln-ou^li tlieso woods, excepting' only tlie weird sound that comes from tlie scolding of the jays and the groaning of the trees as they grind against one another in supporting a fallen sister in her decay. From the hills, following the stream, we dehouched upon the prairie, with occasional glimpses of Scot(;h j)ine, and readied the Tobacco l^lains. These plains are said to have I'cceived their name from the attempts of the .Jesuits to grow tobacco there; wc liad not, however, come across any of the mircotic. Many of the big trees are destroyed by the fires made against them, and they gradually get burnt out and killed. I could not make out how it Avas that so many of the fire|)laces appeared to be two feet from the ground, ^^ntil the suggestion arose that these lires are made principally in the winter, when the snow jmts everybody at that level above the root of the tree. The worst of it is that it is always the finest trees that fall victims. The firs here are indeed singularly beautiful, and standing singly or in groups of three or four, have had room for their boughs to extend. During our journey we had from the first, on the instructions of Kootenai IJrown, been looking forward to " So2)hy's " as the place on the western side of the mountains where Ave sliould get stores and directions, and generally sliould be set on our road. Soon after leaving the mountains, or rather shortly alter \\e left camp, Ave had entered ) [mate tlifit ode aloiio- eir0 upon rolling- downs, witli a g'rowtli of bunch grass and clumps of Scotch fir trees, clothed with that beautiful red bark which contrasts so well with their daik-green foliage. The trail here ran along- a strcnm on the left-hand some eighty feet below us, and at one point white clay bluffs w^ashed away into needle-peaks; skirted the stream, after that the lands got more open, and we rode along the edge of a lake in which 1 could see some trout; it was so trans- parent that a small bough lying on its surface looked as if suspended in the air — the bottom of the lake being so clearly seen through the water. We came across some cattle and horses which belonged to the Indians, — as was apparent from some of them being unbranded, others with only an ear-mark, — amongst wdu'ch I noticed one cow with a cross of l)uifalo. We came to a single log hut and saw there a settler, with wdiom we had a little talk, lie told us his name, and that his comrade had gone down to Missoula to buy stores, as he was about to open a store for sale to the Indians ; there being a settlement of Kootenai Indians, under Chief Ed- wards, close to him. These Indians seemed to be doing work and to be well off; they claim to be British Indians, but the re-survey, which has placed the boundary-line some eight miles further north, has shown this land to be in the States. They have endeavoured to put a stop to any scpiatting on their beautiful park-like land, and the settler, who seemed to be in considerable anxiety with regard to them. Ki- : A.:^ I • '■>i'-ii I A K . 1 Ir ' J,I t i i ■■"'■ i r ■ 4 ■ ., \ ■ .i • ■i '}■ -■> ■1 354 FIWM HOME TO JlUME. '!,; told us that tlicy took liis goods by boring und<3r Ill's lowest logs and letting in tlieir cayote dogs to steal liis grub. His pjd had been away and lie had been alone for forty days, and when he saw ns coming towards him had Ijeen in great hoi)es tliat we were going to camp near him, so that lie might have a big talk witli us. We left him, however, after a short conversation, as it was very hot ; and I i'ear that the anxieties of his solitude were too miicli for him, as I heard in the year folloAving that when his companion did return he found that his mind had given way. After tAvo or three miles further we saw two or three log huts and Indian tepes on a knoll ; Dan rode rip and found it to be " Sophy's." He in- quired of an old woman in p;reen spectacles, who answered his inquiry with, " Me Sophy." So we rode lip, and found that she had plenty of stores. We bought half a sack of flour, some rice, ten pound of venison, and some butter, which last was very rancid and uneatable. We made a capital supper on the venison and rice, and tinned peaches, and turned in about nine o'clock. Yery cold night. Friday, 2 16'^.— Thermometer 17° F. Up about six. Having breakfasted, made up our minds for a rest day. This is a very pretty place for a settle- ment. The accompanying photograph shows the log hut and the stores and the tepes of some Kootenai Indians who wx'ie settled near, and were employed in making Indian work, mats, and U'enerallv in huntino- and niakino- themselves useful ng 1111(1(3)' clogf! to id lie Lad le saw us lopes tliut lie might however, ot ; and I too much :hat wlieii mind had er we saw 1 a kiioll ; He in- cles, wlio So we of stores, en pound was very nipper on id turned ■ •^ i i. ' \ , '-i ■,' ■ 1;: ^fl s ^ ■ . Jp about ids for a a settle- lows the of some md were ats, and es useful ii'^i i iV- I K ii m i . i ) n ' <» . ' ■ , Ta V%..'»^b.i»i r I t!1 11 M fi Tin: si:/i'i:ii(i:s. :{.■)."> to S(i))liy. Sopliy is m person of vciy coiisidcralili^ (.iici-a-y — lijid tlireo pMi'tios out prospect i 1 1;^ mines, aiul possessed a g^ood lici-d of cnltle. I went ofl to fisli, but found no water in tlic Ksmall stream wliicli runs down at the distance of al)out .'i ({uarter of a mile from tlie settlement; we were told tliat there liad been no rain here for at least ei<»*htcen months. Goino; further down, I struck the Kootenai fork of the Cohimhia IJivci-, a very lar;:^e and rapid stream, about eighty yards wide. I bathed and came ]);tck, when 1 took the [)liotog'raph of "Sophy's" ami some Indian te])es. These Indians were very suspicious, and averse to haviup: their likenesses taken. They Avere Nezperces, or, as tliey call tliemselvcs, Santon. They were under an impression that I was " a Borston man," meaning" a United States citizen as distinn-uishcd from a " King George's man," and that I liad come to take their pictures, that I might hand them ov^er to the Government and have them sent back to tlieir reserves. These are the people who, under Chief Joseph, gave so much trouble to, and killed so many of, the United States soldiers in 1878. A Kootenai man who had lost his sqiuiw was working for Sophy, looking after her horses and cattle, and supporting by his wages \\\a three little children. He was a nmch sliarpcr-looking fellow than any Indian I have seen before. On my return to camp, I found L. with some twelve trout he hail caught in the river. Ciiarlie had been away at Sophy's, baking the bread 2 A 2 ' - ^ ■ ■( ■ li p 1 •( ,. • ft ;.M i ■'1 ii '*>.'• iH !:i I /•7/0.1/ //O.I/a; yn f/oMi:. in licr ovon, luid a confoiitulod liidiaii dnf civilized ' war upon 3t kill any than the shoot kill ? " They Lling bare- om under themselves ie^V 1 M.'l I I .' ■ I I. ! ^ i '1 um'\ -:.: ! '■t 1 : r. ' i A-' ■ i- ft ,■ r ^l I .1-! 1^ i : I ,> I. '» INDIAN AUENTH. of jiiiy cover, and thus lost but few men, while they killed a great many soldiers. Bovaris thought that they were very hardly used by the Americans. The Grovernment gave enough, but it did not reach the Indians, and he quite acquiesced in my suggestion, that if an Indian agent or two had been hanged for thieving, the life of many a soldier, not to speak of tlie lives of the Indians, would have been saveJ. Our worthy friend Sophy treated our men to a good deal of whisky, and we began to feel the disad- vantage of being a mile over the frontier and in the United States, where intoxicants are permitted. Charlie's head was strong enough to resist the influence, but poor Dan, who turned in without coming to the camp-fire or having his tea, looked very muzzy in the morning. Poor Bovaris ! on my visit in this fall of 1884 I found that he had fallen a victim to the six-shooter of Sophy's brother in ;«, quarrel, when too much whisky had been drunk. Septemher 22nd, — Thermometer 20 °F. ; estimated height above the sea-level, oOTf) feet. After getting our things togethe., and purchasing a good little horse from Sophy for fifty dollars for me to ride, as " Old Pal " was too idle, and '* Winona " too footsore, and having arranged to leave these animals behind us to be picked up by the men on their return, we pushed on with the others. Sophy gave L. and myself a special bottle of whisky for ourselves. We bought some martins' skins, and some small ermine, and some buckskins for shirts, and a few 'K M 358 FROM J/OMh' TO /!OMh\ U ''i^ ;■ ■!;i ■ y< I If. li ii Indian tilings at lier store. I had a pair of niocasins and deci'skin gloves from a Kootenai .scjiiaw, wlio liad barely finis) led them for me in time for my de- parture. Then wishing everybody a most hearty good-b'w y', we travelled olf along the plain. We went for twelve miles along our back trail as far as a tree where we had noticed a huge wasp's nest hanfi'ino*, and it became a c^ood landmark as " The Wasp's Nest Tree." Thence we took a right-hand trail for about four miles, where we found some Indians camped. I was {ihead, leading my horse, looking out for a good place to cam[), when I came upon four Indians, the best grown fellows I luid seen, young fellows, — I fancy they were Nezperces. The best-looking buck of the lot, a roughish fellow, called out, " You one man ? " " No," said I, guess- ing pretty easily tlie object of the question, and holding up four fingers. " We four." I called to L. to show my friend that if he meant going in for tryinc: to take my horse, or any game of that sort, he ^. more tl'an one to tackle. Looking at my gur,, liicli was in its case, " Winthorsty ? " said lie. " ^,u," said I, seeing that he wished to know if he was in the neighbourhood of a Winchester le- peating rifle; "Martini Henry," which, as he could have never heard the name, had somewhat the effect upon him of the celebrated reply to the Ihllingsgate lishwife. I am alVaid that upon this occasion I was led to deviate from the truth, in giving so murderous a character to mv inodest towliuii'-nicce : l»ut tli<' mocasiiis law, wlio )!■ my do- st hearty ain. Wo as far as isp's 11 est as " Tho iglit-liand [iiid soiiio iiy horse, 11 I caino XH 1 liail Tezperces. i\i fellow, I, guess- rition, and called to C'oiiiG: ill of that )okiiig at Iry f said ) know if lester re- he could he ellc'ct ingsgate oil 1 was iiu'derous hut 11h' Donni'ii. isDiASs. .".no address of tlie nohle savage made me think it prudent to suppress the fact tliat my only arm was an unloaded gun. It must he rememhored that wc; were in tlie States, and amongst somewhat hostile, or at any rate very douhtful Indians, and they all insisted in helieving I was a " Boston " man. By this time, liowever, our men were coming n}\ and we turned off to select with them a place for the camp, whicli we made in a little wood in a liollow hy a stream, and the Indians went hack to their own tepes. This was tho only time I ever saw any Indians whom I mistrusted ; I mav have hcen wronji", hut I think if I had heen alone mv horso wonhl have heen taken, and I should have hcen set afoot. They had with them ahout sixty liorses, some hrandcd "H " on the left shoulder and flank. T'oor Dan was very seedy, and could not take supper, and L. exhausted the pharniacopa3ia of his neat little medicine case, hut as Dan got rid of the physic pretty well hefore he had swallowed it, [ don't know that it did him much harm. He was, liowever, very much pleased with L.'s attention to his (h'stress, and we christened the camp " Medicine Camp." Simcla//, 2ord. — Up at (5.30. AVashed in the creek; very cold, thermometer 12^ F. The Inchans went off with all their horses,— seated on their horses thev were smart-looking fellows, — four men with scpiaws, and the horses, some of them, very good. Charlie quite thinks that the hand have heen out hors(;- stcaling. Seeing the had elfect of the drink, wc f i 'K 'i \ 360 FROM tlOME TO HOME. H'\ 1 T'V* U'' - " P \ \ iii ih made up our minds to point tlio iiionil, and L. bringing;' out solemnly our whisky bottle, poured it all away on the ground as a libation to Sir Wilfrid Lawson ; our poor fellows looked upon it as an act of sinful waste. l*oor Dan had been very sick all night, but made up his mind to drink no more whisky, and we wondered how long " the devil a saint would be." After skirting for some distance low, swampy ground, we passed througli a grove of higli tama- racks, pine and balsam spruce. At the end of this we came to some curious rocks, and through a small glen to alkaline lakes, where we dismounted to get a shot at the ducks floating on them. We could not manage to get near them, and, after a couide of miles' further ride, found ourselves at our stream again, with some good grass, the best we had seen on this side of the mountain, and we camped about 4 P.M. I went for a stroll with my gun, as we heard geese go over our heads. I found that in the i3iece of meadow on the edge of which we were, the flood- water had been over many acres of what was beaver meadow ; but the dam had been broken through, though it had been deeply flooded some ten weeks before. I saw plenty of sign of deer, but nothing within shot except two spruce partridges ; I picked u[) a shed horn, skinned a bird which L. had killed, had tea, and to bed at eight. MuiHlay. — 'Up about five. Thermometer l.'J ' ¥. ; height, 4425 feet. [ took Charlie, with a gun and my FL y-l''ltilIL\'tl. ;;gi 1, and L. poured it ir Wilfrid as an act y 8ick ali re whisky, 1 a saint , swampy igli ta ma- ud of tin's ;li a small :)iinted to We could couple of ur stream had seen ped about we lieard the piece the flood- '^as beaver throug'h, ;en weeks t nothinc: ; I picked lad killed, r i;i F. ; uiandmv rifle, to a little alkaline pool, where there were marks of duck and geese, but nothing on the water ; had a long beat over and round the meadow, but found nothing. It was (pnte clear that game in abundance had been here at no great distance of time, but I thiidv it was pretty clear also that there had been a hunting party over the ground. Breakfast at seven, for an early start, and we saddled and got off at 8..'>0. We rode through woods much the same as yesterday — no sound, except the hawks, ja^s, and crows. Fine bold rocks to the left side of the valley through which we rode by the side of a river, spreading out occasionally into lakes, where it has met some natural obstacle, or has been danuned by the beavers. We found one or two lodges of dirty-looking Indians close by the side of tlie trail, and met a squaw and two children who were o-atherimi," roots. At eleven we came to the first lake, on which we saw some duck, but not within shot. The water is beautifully clem- but shallow, and the trail runs close by the side of it, up and down banks beautifully timbered, but there was too much smoky haze to see the hills beyond. Where the first lake runs into tlie second we saw an Indian fly-fishing ; he was the first whom I had ever seen engaged upon such an occupation. I went up to him, and saw that he had a rough pole and a big hook and thick line, but he was handling it very dexterouslv, and had landed some beautiful trout on the bank, of about four })ounds weight each. We left him, thinkinii* we should find another fishinii" \> ■' ■■. h IW2 fhom //().]//■: to iidmi-:. A -m ii ])liico, l)iit (lid not. If ever I find niysolf in tliat country again, I will not, if I know it, pass tliat spot without bccomin^^ better acquainted with tlie fish, as the stream running' down from the upper into tlie lower lake made exactly t^e water where big trout niight Le expecti ' to iie. ^V. great quantity of pine and tall dead poi . '■'■■ remains of a fire. Getting to the to]) of a knoll, al,,:- scrambling across an awkward gully, L. and 1 sat down for a smoke, and waited for the pack train. After they came u[) we mounted again, and had a long ride, and got into drier ground, having left the stream far away to the right. We began to be anxious about a camping- ground for the night. Riding on a long way ahead, I found nothing I much liked for canqung, and so turned back ; but L. coming up, we lialted on a little spring by the edge of the wood and camped, after a very long day's ride. We named this camp " Spring Creek Camp." I felt sure I heard water falling at no great distance, but we did not like to venture further. It turned out that the river was but a very little way from us. We had a very cold night, though the thermometer only went down to 18° F. AVe made a huge fiie in a big fallen Scotch fir, and I tried to take a pliotograph of this the most [)icturesque scene we had on our ride, but with- out much belief in the possibility of its success — a want of belief which has been fully justified by the event, as no photogniph ap[)ears of this lovely night view. Tucsdiii/, 2')t/t. — Up at six ; started at S.45. In If in tliat I tliat K|)ot lie fisli, as ' into tliG bij^ trout ■y of pine Getting across an a smoke, came v[) 1 got into ay to the campiiig- [\y alicad, n'lig, and ted on a campc TUEE, ;;i>:; about twenty minutes sighted a pretty lake, into wliicli we had heard the water falling diu'ing tlic i»revi()Ms eveniiig, and which we should have much liked to have reached for camp. As I rode along the lake I was indeed struck with its beauty in spite of tlu^ haze, a lovely triplet of islands running down tlie centj'c, the bush glowing with autunnial tints. We rode through woods of bii»; tamarack all dav, of which during the last part of our ride we noticed a different variety; it was a larch, with ronu'li barl. more like our Engli?ih tree, and more branchy !l; m those we had hitherto seen, in which tliere wei'c e'W .jranches except at the top. This variety lasted . a few miles, and then we got back into tiie same sort of tamarack we had seen aloim" the rest of the route. About .').30 we came to a large grass plain, but no water; 1 rode on through a little belt of trees to a second smaller prairie, and after that io a third, with a slough at the nearest end; the })ack train coming up, we camped there. The big dead tree shown in the annexed photograph had l)een barked for pine-gum, which the Indians and trappers take from the trees, and, leaking in the bark over tlie fii'c, use largely for chewing. On a ])art of Hms tiujc, which had lieeii barked, was a I'ude sketch, which I gather to have indicated that the sportsman, whether Indian or trapper, had secured by his skill some deer and beaver; two aninuds of one kind, :ind five of another, and probahly the mark indicated to him the whercidjouts of his ca<.:lii'. We had a veiy com- wpf .« M s; i- %i ♦ ,l*K-t. if mm } 1 1 r , '■■ 1 :M r fi' .' "< . !• \-n Mi i :m //;<).]/ lln.MI-: Tn HOME. lurtahle cainp licre, and tlie grass was sploiuliM for our horses. 1 1 \'(l„eHdau, 20///.— Up at six. Tlierniomcter 2(P F. Very fo,i;-.G:y, witli smoke, so tliat Dan liad a long w;ilk alter tlie liorses, liaving passed tlicni in tlie ibg. This is a large grass plain, witli islands of Scotcli firs V*. S""^ *W I.AIJfiK ItI.A(K riNF. about 130 feot higli, and ten feet in the girth at five feet from the ground. The tree shown in the photo- graph was fully of this size. It must be a desperately bad place for fly in the summer, and I much doubt whether at an earlier period of the fall the flies and mosquitos would not have nuide camping here im- ■ill ndid lor LT 2if F. mji,* w.'ilk tlic i()<^. ,'()tcli firs -i-gp t*'** - , at five 3 plioto- pcratcly 1 doubt lies and ere iiii- si:rri.i:i!s. ;{(;.') possible. I'lvery indieatioii of g'aine ; plenty orii;('es(3 passed over us out of si<.^lit. L. liad carefully plucked a chicken over-ni<;'lit to be ready for break- fast in the mornin,2;, and dej)osited it at the root of the fir which stood close by our tent. On g'oin', he found that it had been eaten hy an owl which had been whistling in the tree durin_Li,* the ni<;'ht, and the ijidia-rubber tube of my filter had been gnawed by a rat, and was thus put hors (Id couihat. Oft' at O.oO ; 1 rode ahead of the pack for about five miles through wood, and after that about four miles through a ])iece of ])i'airie land, It was still so hazy that we could not see what the country was on either left or right, but some trees on the left seemed to indicate the course of a stream, and after about nine miles we came to the river, lun- ning very slowly to the south-east Jit the bottom of a cut bank of white clay. I got down and picketed my horse to a big stone and waited for fj. After he came up I rigged out a fishing-pole, and witli a bit of string and a liook, with some cake and a fiy, tried for fish in the sluggish creek ; nothing to l)e got. llode on to the crossing of the creek, where there had been a bridge made for driving cattle, but it had been washed away, so we had to flounder through the muddy bcjttom. We came to a settlement where a ^fr. Moore had, by an irrigatiu"; ditch, o-ot some capital oats. He said that he should have 100 bushels to about two and a half acres, and he had also a good crop of turnips, and \]\{i best potatoes, :V I 'K ■l.\ K.,l /n i'> <. /■7,'M/ /In.M/-: Tn llnME, ar(!(>i<] 1(112' to P;ni, tlial Ik! ]i;u1 ovci- seen. "\Vc ilicti I'dilu oil ;il)()ut lliico iiml ii lialt" miles fiirtlior to Swcc'iR'y's stoi'oaiid liad a lalk wltli a Mrs. Foy, wlio \\\v\ (.'OHIO lip fiom (Jiilalln Yalloy, wliich slio liad loll Oil account of the Juno frosts. Sweeney, who lias heeii here three years, reports well of the settlc- nieiit, and alto_i;'ethor Flathead .Settlement ])romiseH well. Ahoiit 4.30 I took Dan to find my way across the ereek to the river, and after some dilHculty in wadinjj; tlic creek, a walk oi" about two and a lialf miles across a bushy ])lain hrouf^hc us to a broad sluf»'gish stream, some ci"<4lity to a hundred yards wide, runnin<^ between sandy banks. Walking by the side of the river my feet sank so deep into the muddy sand as to show that the crossing of it witli animals M'as imi)ossible. We found a series of meadows with a good deal of scrub, and by the side of the river, in a little hollow, there was laid up a dila])idated bark canoe — interesting to me as the first Avhicli I had come in sight of. No fisli to be got, and it was clearly too late in the year for them in this water. Back to tea, and afterwards had a long talk with Mr. Hweeney, who brought us a paper with an account of the driving the golden spike on the completion of the North Pacific Railway, and with it a map of the country, which was very useful, and told us more of the land through Avliich we had traversed than wo had been able to make out before. AVe made up our minds to strike south for the Pond d'Oreille River at Rat isle's feirv, and theiieo to make for Ravalli, on ^Ve ilion iirtli(3r to Vox, \\\\o slic li;ul iiioy, who tlio scttlc- proiniscH .•ny across IHciilty in 11(1 a halt' > a broad eJ yards ng by tlio he inuddy \\ animals lows witli ! river, in I ted bark h I bad d it was lis water. with Mr. 1 account letion of ap of the ■J more of llian wo np onr River at 'alii, on c itiiKAT ri.ATiii'.Ah I. am:. lloMi:. ■ 1 1 :ryi ",■* ■(« .■|'- 1 V I ; I wliicli wo came down a very steep pitcli and camped among some Mack pine a little above tlie lake at 5.o0. On our way down we passed a curious rock standing- by itself in the wood ; this bad clearly been con- sulted by tbe Indians as a medicine stone, as was apparent from tlic bits of plate and sticks and otber trifles tliat bad been stuck about it, and tlie great amount of foot tracks round it. I walked down to tbe lake to baveawasb. I put up a couple of fool bens, as tbe spruce partridge is called, but bad not my gun. Tea at G.30. Qui- provisions were getting low, so we were reduced to bacon and a small tin of soup, but bad a comfortable nigbt. FrUla//, 28//<.— Up at 5.10. Tbermometer 28° F. Took my gun and wasbing tilings down to tbe lake and bad a batlie, tliougli I found it uncommonly cold dressing, as tbere was a little bit of a breeze. Saw no birds and got back to breakfast at 0.30. I took tbe accompanying pbotograpb of a Scotcb pine, wbicb I measured witb my clinometer, and found to be 120 feet bigli : k was 13 feet in girtb. AVe started at 8.45, rnd leaving tbe wagon trail, I cantered on between tbe bills. It was a very bleak piece of country, and reminded me very mucb of tbe " Valley of Desolation," near Lynton, in Devonsbire. I bunted tbrougli tbe scrub along the bottom of the bills, but found no game, and riding on five miles came to Dayton Creek, wberc tbere were plenty of geese, and at a distance of 200 yards from tbe bank tbere was a j>retty island. Still very bazy, and no view t<» IJATISTI'TS FKIiUY ;;on 1 camped \e at 5.30. c stanJino- becM con- le, a.^ Mas and otlier tlie great 1 down to lie of fool t had not re getting mall tin of iter 28° F. ) tlie lake nonly cold i. Saw no I took the ine, which and to he ^Ve started entered on iv piece of 10 " Valley . I hunted 3 hilLs, hut s came to geese, and there was o view to he seen of the opposite shore of the lake. AVe had lunch at 12.45, havinr>; ridden twelve miles, and I managed during lunch time to get two teal. Voy the last four miles the prairie was all hnrncd. On our getting to the ferry we found that our men, who had heen ahead of us while we were looking after some chicken, had just gone across the river, which runs down from the lake and which here takes the name of the next lake which it falls into, and is called Pend d'Oreille River. It is here ahout a quar- ter of a mile wide, and for the greater part of its width is shallow at this time of the year, with ahout fifty yards of deep rapid water, which has to he swum ; our men, however, had crossed in the feriy- hoat, a luxmy not generally availed of hy the Indians, which is not surprising, as we found that the fai'c for carrying across eight horses and four men, necessitating oidy two journeys across, was six- dollars. The ferry-hoat was a very good convey- ance, and on landing I saw that tlie ferryman's daughter, a half-hreed girl. Miss Batiste, had plenty of freshly caught trout, so, as we had no time to fish that evening, after we had made camp, I went up to the hut to huy some. She wanted fifty cents for four trout weighing ahout one pound each. I grumhled at the price, hut the young lady assured me, pointing helow the waist, '' I stand, so deep, cold water, catch them." So I said no more, hut took the fish and paid my money, and very good they turned out to he. I 1 M ,TB -SI . •■ III I, ■ 370 FnOM HOME TO HOME. There was aiiotlier giil in tlie cabin, wlio had come over witli lier mother to enjoy some fisliing witli their friends. She was the dang-hter of'old McDonald, at a plnce twenty-three miles off, for which we were ])0und after leaving the ferry. Having made a supper on the trout, which were excellent, and on our teal, we enjoyed our fjuiet camp by the side of the beach whicli fringed the river, and after many pipes we turned in to bed. It was a warm night, the warmest we had liad since we left Standoff. Saturday, 29fh. — Thermometer 20° F. We made up our minds to give our horses a rest, and to fish and see the falls. Aft(ir l)reakrast L. and I walked down the river. Very fine, but a series of rapids rather than falls, with a total descent from the lake down to the first [ ool of about sixty feet. L. got a little sport shooting, and in the afternoon I went down to the pool, about two miles off. It was a curious walk, the trail leading along a high bank, continued round the bluffs. I had gone by myself, having arranged for Charlie to follow me. I fished in the pool below the rapids, both with fly and grasshopper, but got nothing. I took the accompanying photogi'aph of the pool, looking down the river below it. There must be some verv beautiful scenery below tlie pool. The pool itself is about half a mile wide, and from its far corner the river again descends ; lielow this there must be rapids and some very fine pools ; this part, however, as flir as I know, has Udt been visited. On Charlie comi no- ) had come ;liing witli McDonald, ;li we were ^ made a rit, and on tlie side of if'ter many irm niglit, idoff. We made st, and to L. and I a series of cent from sixty feet. afternoon 3S off. It ICC a liie-h gone by ollow me. 1 with fly took the lookinGf some verv ft' 1)1 itself is corner the be rapids er, as far ie comiim" '?5 •i. ' : ' lil^ iJ iiii^^' '' m\¥ ' Ok-- -^ii i(' fT n^'i ■6p' ; 'f ' r,^n ^'^ 'V'-:< "^ J ;V ' V ^> -^ 'T?::4^:4 ,-:^ ih' n'^vi.f,^ ^\ oo^.M n* , I ;M ! Hi '* "-/■ ' !'. ' t' s i ' i \ ■' ''■ ^tu Mt H '.t% %. 1^1 ■ '\' If ^H '^■h-'h I^H ■ "^ \ i' ^H ,;;_; ■ I a ' i^^H ( |ISV rEND D'OIiKILLE lUVKIi. 371 up to me we scrambled out to a rock in tlie middle of the stream, near the place from which I had taken the photograph of the pool. Stmddling the legs of my camera on the rock I took the accompanying pliotograph of the falls. The water was tnml)llng, as will he seen, around me on all sides, and the noise and rush of it all round the rock was very impressive. After some more equally unsuccessful attempts to lay hold of fish, we worked our way hack up stream, and found that L. had caught some good trout with a fly ahove the ftills. As to-day was Michaelmas Day, I had been particularly anxious to have a regular con- stitutional dish, but, as no goose had been shot, we were obliged to keep the feast of St. Michael on trout and bacon, and rice and apples. From a hole in the bank near our tent two skunks emerged during the night, and wandered about the camp, seeking what they could steal, but we, haviug been warned by the owl a few nights ago, had put our grub quite safe out of their reach, and out of the reach of tlie magpies — " meat-birds," as they are called in the North-West — who are alwavs on the prowl. During the night I caught sight of one of the skunks coming up to the tent, and, clapping my hands, I chivied him off. In the morning we missed a bag with some biscuits, and after hunting about we found that the skunks had dragged it to the mouth of their hole, but could not get it in, and had not seen theii" way to get at its contents, so we 'J I'. 'J v> I i fi! ,11111 U m( iifii 1 1^ r}72 FltOM HOME To ItiiMF.. retrieved if unliiinned. Tlio iwo elderly ladies, Mrs. Biitist(3 Mild Mrs. McDoiiiild, rode [)ast iis on llii'ir ciiyeiises to fisli in llie river, and tliere tliey sat perelied on tlie top of tliem in tlie middle of tlic; sii'eani fisliinf>' witli gr;iss1if>|t|)ers, and tliey kept llie poor bi'iites standing- up to tlieir bellies in tlie cold water foi* tliree lionis. '^i'liey eame liack with jL^ood baj^s full of trout. Tiie two daug'liters bad been fisbiiii;- out of llic boat a little nearer the lak(^ wilb ,i>"rasslioppei'8, and seemed to liave been almost as successful as tlieir motliers. SniuJdf/, ']Of/i. — Woke up, after a warm nigbt, witli tlie thermometer at o5° F. As our lioi'scs were gettinn- very footsore, and Dan's borsc bad a bad back, we hired a wa[»'oii of T^ntisteat a dollar per day, the men to take it with our horses, and to brinii; back -10 lbs. of freight for him. We had a long and interesting talk with Batiste of tlie early days of this country. T learned from him that tlie word " Selish," the name of the jdace at which we li;id camped, is the Indian name for "Flat Head." Mrs. McDonald passed us, to have an early fish, as we were hitch- ing u[). We left at ten o'clock, L. and I riding as usual, and Charlie with a passenger in the wagon. It was a nice firm turf to ride ovei', with occasional breaks of trees, but all very dry in this very rain- less district. After twelve miles we stopped at the ]\Iuddy Creek to lunch. It is a very good stream, the mud being at the bottom and not in the water ; it winds through some good ])raivie land, very well Iv liulioH, ist US on lere tlioy llo of tlio kept llie I tll(^ C'oltl .'illi <;'o()(l lifid 1)0011 lake wllli iliiiost as gilt, will I "sc's were id fi l)ful per d.'iy, to bn'iiir long and ys of this "Selish;' mpcd, is fcDonald re liitcli- •iding as wagon, ccasional 3ry r.ain- d at tlio stream, 3 water ; erv well yr/xtx.ll.irs. • MO adapted for farms. From tliero tliree miles hroiiglil us to Crow Crrek, and lidiiig on lliroiigli very similar country lor twenly-two miles, we readied .McDonaUrs at three in the afternoon, and passing his house, we camped within ahout a (ptarler of a mile of Hudson JJay ('reek. All this country was con- sidered to have heen within the Hudson IJay Terri- tory, and the settlers there still look u[)()n themselves as Hudson l>ay men. We found, as helbre, that the fish had all gone from the creek, and that Mrs. McDonald and her daughter had done (piite right in leaving this, their home, to go up and catch, with their neighhoui's, some of the fish that were passing down from the lake. A more I'kely-looking stream for fish it wouM he diilicult to find, and the fishing- jK)les lying ahout showed that much work had been done there. After tea McDonald came and sat hy our camp fire. He is an old ILudsoii JJay man, who had come over from Scotland in the year 1S.j8, had been in London, and liked to hear of it, and in return gave us many tales of the old time and cdd- timers ; of his journeys up tlui Columbia Uivei', through the Rockies, between Afount Hrown and Mount Hooker, and from that point down the Athabasca, and so on to Chui'chill, on the Hudson 1 Jay, and back, doing the I'ound tii[) l)et\veen April and December. This had been his regular work in the Hudson Bay Com[)any's service ibr many years. He had come out in 1S.'!mS, and had married his Flat Head wife, \>y whom he had several I'? '1 IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) ^ 1.0 I.I 1.25 iiif2i |2.a |5o ■^" H^H 1.8 U III 1.6 V] vl /^ y /(^^ Photographic Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (716) 872-4503 ^•\ d <6 V a> N? \ \^' :«!v>. ' ^'^ <-' «!• 1* children. He was a remarkably fine-looking old fellow, about 70, with a touch of the military about him ; a good tall figure, bronzed face, and grey hair. He was above all things taken with my Norfolk jacket, and said, " I should like to see you at the Horse Guards in your helmet and cuirasse." I in- formed him that was not my dress, and that a horse- hair wig and silk gown was the dress in which he would be more likely to find me ; but he had an idea that tall men like L. and myself must be soldiers. He sent us down some beef, which was excellent. A heavy rain came on during the night, and it was very wet in the morning, and everything on the low ground on which we had pitched our tent was very soppy. It cleared a little before starting, and then settled into a drizzle. Mondaij, October \st. — A ride over prairie, with an occasional farm, for about five miles, brought us to the Jesuit Mission of St. Ignatius. It is quite a neat little village, with a nice church, and a comfortable little priest's house, and a house for the Sisters. They are building an academy, and are planting fruit trees. The Mission is on the Flat Head Reserve, and is now under the charge of Father van Gorff. I believe that they receive some payment from the United States Government, and most cer- tainly they deserve it, as they are doing really good work. It is the only Indian place I have seen in these wild countries which seems really flourishing and successful. The stream has been turned to >oking old tary about grey hair. ly Norfolk ou at the 30. I in- at a horse- 1 wliicli he ad an idea )e soldiers, excellent, and it was on the low t was very , and then ie, with an t us to the lite a neat omfortable lie Sisters. planting ^lat Head .^ather van payment most cer- eally good ^'0 seen in Qourisliing turned to work a saw-mill and to irrigate some land. We looked into the church ; on all the chairs and desks and benclies, was the Catecliisni of Religion in the Flat Head, called by the French '' Tend d'Oreille," and in the native " Kulli-Spelm." The letter " i " sig- nifies the root *' camus," " kull " meaning " eater," and " spelm " is translated " plain " ; it is also said to signify peoples or tribes, and thus Kulli-Spehu means either, the plain of the root-eaters, or the root-eating tribes. McDonald told me that the number of edible roots which the Indians have is very considerable. Camus is a root of a plant like an onion, with green leaves, and a flower like a lily. They boil it and dry it and prepare it with great care. Kous is a sweet root, and sklocum a much-prized vegetable, with a taste like peppermint. After leaving St. Ignatius, we passed first through some land, which will make magnificent farm or garden land, when watered from the ditch which the Fathers are training round it. After that the trail wound down among some hills, where we lamented more than ever the smoke which obscured the view. In about four miles from the Mission we reached Ravalli, on the North Piujific Railway, aud our pleasant ride was ;it an end. Ravalli is named after a Jesuit missionary ])riest, and here we found a store and restaurant kept by Duncan McDonald, a son of our friend of the night ious. Ryan, the passenger whom we had brought 1 pr with us from Batiste's ferrv, invited us to dine with !! m I It'l' 376 FIWM HOME TO HUME. him, an invitation which rather to our loss wo accepted. They had told us that the train would not come in till six, but just after dinner, and before we could get our traps, it ran in, and we found ourselves fixtures by the banks of the Jocko, the stream which runs down i)ast Ravalli, till the next afternoon. We made the best of it, and cami)ed by the line, near the tepes of some.Nezperces, and then went for a walk up the line towards the east. We found many signs in the empty boxes of provisions and empty champagne cases of the enormous Villard picnic that had spent some hours here a few days before. The three trains that had conveyed the guests to the Pacific had stopped here with their burden of German, Yankee, and English notabilities. During their stop, an excursion had been made to the Butte Macdonald, to enable some of the excursionists to see a bear's winter cave. Our informant gave us many amusing accounts of the party. " They seemed to think they were roughing it," said he ; '* but they had got as much to eat and drink as they could put away, and more than was good for them ; they had good beds to sleep in. They were the most helpless set of men I ever saw : they could not ride, and they were too fat to walk." I hope, however, that none of this description had any apj^lication to any of our English friends who may read this book. r loss wo ain woukl and before we found Jocko, tlie II the next id camped )erces, and s the east. boxes of 3s of the ome hours s that had ►pped here d English rsion had able some five. Our its of the filing it," eat and than was sleep in. I ever e too fat ti )tion had inds who .ST. Id NAT/US UAVALLI. 'Ml " What were they talking about ? " said we. " Well, they were mostly standing about together and talking about London. There was one very jolly-looking old chap with grey whiskers, who did not say much himself, but was always laughing at the others." The great practical joke, however, seemed to have been, that young Duncan taking the party up to the bear's cave, going on ahead himself, wrapped himself in a buffalo, and when the j)arty arrived at the hole of the cave, in a breathless condition, ho gave a growliug grunt, at which the visitors took to their heels (as well they might), remembering (to use a North- West phrase) " that they had not left anything behind them." After we had gone to bed we found ourselves disturbed by the noise in an Indian tent ; thoy were playing their favourite gambling game. The game is of a most sim[)le character, and is played by two rows of men sitting opposite one another, to one of whom is handed, on behalf of his side, two small pieces of wood — one marked by being bound round or stained in the middle of a different colour, and the other left plain. The player who receives the two sticks on behalf of his side takes one in each hand, and throwing up his arms and, ejaculating, shows them, and putting Ids hands behind his back, changes them quickly from one hand to the other ; the whole of his side shouting and crying and singing, so as to distract if possible the attention I"' !^. I'W- il. i '» V ! .178 FIIOM llOMt: To HOME. of tlicir opponents, and prevent the eye wateliing the movements of the i)layer. At last, wlien liis liands are still and held behind his back, the bets are made, small bundles of sticks or " clii})s" indicating the amount that is wagered by the one side jvgainst the other, the side on which the player sits backing him, the opposite side laying against him. A certain number of these sticks counts for a blanket, so many more for a cayeuse, which has been named by the party wagering. AVhen the bets have been arranged, the man with the pieces of wood produces his hands from behind liim, and if the parties wagering against him have been successful in naming the hand in wliich the marked stick is, the stakes are handed over to them. This game began about ten o'clock at night, and having been kept awake by the yells and shouting until nearly mid- night, I got up and went out to look through the tent at the scene that was going on ; but I soon returned to bed, and the game and shouting con- tinued till late on into morning. Some of the Indians were pretty well cleaned out, and we noticed next morning one Indian who was pointed out as having lost everything that he possessed ; — a more wretched-looking played-out gambler I don't think I ever saw, as he stood by a bush with no blanket and very little clothes, looking thoroughly chapfallen, twiddling his fingers, whittling a bit of stick, and utterly miserable. I succeeded in getting the accompanying photograph of the tents, and then watcliiiig when liis le bt'ts ure indicating le against ;s backing A certain lanket, so en named liave been 1 produces 10 ])arties cessfiil in ick is, the me began been kept iarly mid- rough the ut I soon iting con- ic of the , and we IS pointed jessed ; — a ir I don't I witli no lioroughly g a bit of in getting , and tlien ■{»» '"i ■ V- rW !■ n \ f;tt ■ 111 1:. ,"] •■ f n 07.. 'I; ••I., '• .' I'iili*'" ■ ' ■ 11.' ' ■ ..k.v <-lr., ^/ ill ill. i .■• . vj; ;,> i'.iv >t. i- II. ! l> ■ V! ,' I.- I t 1 .'.■,• i 't,'" '" ( . . ; t l.tt- d|l|»-, \* 'J*-. » V. ".r^.n'.U.- LMIiSO^tW , .Al l|ut ' , I l»''ll»-'> • '. . ■. J \f^'><\\ h h-A .s .. (-;>{•!«! r I .rv.'iM" el 'I' . .iiiu Mf Li,>, . Aw.'.', t :C '\mV* ;>'i .^ >■• St • laV't I r ' 1%, ai-'l J'e.i'.'l.i ' . ,'.iy •^ !l. .Ji.i V i '.>» I. . i . 'Wtf I M) / . I ;i>i .". M 1 1 . * '* « ^n INDIAN a AMBLING. 370 turned my camera round to take an Indian and squaw who had wandered up to have a look at my operations. Tliere was still the same belief that 1 was a " Boston man," and was after no good ; a look at the photograph will show how completely the buck rolled his face up in his blanket to prevent his likeness being taken ; the little squaw, however, by his side, with a woman's curiosity, could not help looking over her blanket and laughing. These Nezperces are a very fine set of men, but are entirely given to gambling and horse-stealing, and arc, I believe, as worthless a set of fellows as is to be found in the North-West. About noon we prepared for our departure by train, sitting down by the side of the line, and at 1.45 it rolled in, and we got all our goods on board, said goud-b'w'y' to our friends Dan and Charlie, not forgetting a kindly pat for the animals that had carried us so well, and with a wave of the hand steamed away up the slope of the mountains. We soon began to ascend, and rose 1100 feet in the short piece up to the Agency, going up the zigzags. The wood was not unlike much that we had driven tl trough in the Kockies. About the summit and on the descent we crossed several canons on high tressels, one being as high as 225 feet, very well and solidly built of wood. On our way down we seemed in several places to be almost doubling back, and reached a good grassy jilain sloj)iiig to lije south. We arrived at Missoula, a dull-looking .It ■ '■ fi.! ? I? ills f m > ;j8o FJiOM HOME TO HOME. town at i\\Q very end of a valley, having dc- scended TOO foot. Tlience we went np the Missoula valley, the water for the first time being muddy in colour. Many Chinamen's camps along the road ; the men not very strong in physique, but looking clean, and every tent having a stove. The day was closing in as we left Missoula about 5.15, and it was late in the evening when we arrived at Helena, the mining capital of Montana, and being met by some friends, soon found ourselves in a tolerably comfortable hotel. The town of Helena is situated in a gulch on the south-eastern side of the spur of the Rocky Moun- tains. At its back are the high hills, and in front, to the north-east, a broad plain extending away in the direction of the Prickly Pear Canon. It was founded by a party of miners about the year 18G2. They had been prospecting for many months, and had nearly come to the end of their stores, but made up their minds that they would have one more fling, and arriving here, christened it " Last Chance Gulch," and began to wash for gold. It turned out to be the richest of all the washings that they had undertaken, and the minerals extended up into the hills and far away into the gulches lying to the north and west. So rich, indeed, were these washings, that, after an interval of some years, it is well worth Mdiile to re-wash the remains, and excellent wages are being made. The water had been brought by a ditch IVoni the hills many miles distant, and yields an JIEhKNA. 381 laviiig do- le Missouhi ; niiRkly in the road ; )nt. looking The day 5.15, and it at Helena, ug met by a tolerably ilch on the )cky Moun- d in front, ig away in n. It was year 18G2. ontlis, and , but made more fling, ice Gulch," it to be the mdertaken, lis and far and west, it, after an 1 while to 1$ are being jy a ditch yields an excellent water-power, and every convenience for bringing out the gold. It was in those days one of the most lawless of camps, and was one of the scenes of the wild tales of the " A'^igilante Committees." It is now a thriving town, with good stores, and some pretty houses in the neighbourhood, not least the house of the Governor of Montana, who has found a quiet home here after many years' pleasant residence as ambassador in Turin. Our hotel was, of course, in the unfinished condition which is pretty well the characteristic of all places of this sort in the Territories and in the North- West. We spent our first morning in going over the Assay Office, where the Government business is conducted by a Pole, and certainly it would be difficult to find any place where information is more prompt and more accurate. The accurate work of the analysis interested us very much. The afternoon of our first day we spent in driving round the neighbourhood of the city, and the next day we prepared to go up to see some mines that had been discovered by a hardworking man in the neighbourhood, better known to his friends as Tommy Cruise : the mines have now been sold by him to an English company. On arriving there, after a drive of some twelve or fifteen miles, we found the mines in complete process of development ; the superintendent was ill, however, and we were not able to "'o into the drift. 1 obtained some 1 '"■■." . i* ' ^ti- llm I " 1 ■ I ( '% i ill ..<'k^»' ^^^1 ^. "' ■■ ^^ H H' 1 fs 1 ■ yi 1 m 082 F7?03f //O^//? TO TIOME. specimens from the output, and we heard very golden accounts of tlie mine itself, and no doubt, from what we saw, if properly and carefully managed, it will turn out a valuable property. A great amount of machinery was apparently being put up for milling the ore ; the only doubt that seemed to be entertained was as to whether it would be necessary, in order to make it a complete success, to smelt rather than to break up. We had a plea- sant drive home, heightened only by the excitement of a runaway animal, which necessitated my taking refuge in the carriage of a friend, who was passing us on the way down from the mines. Towards the close of the evening I lamented the absence of my gun, as I came within shot of one or two sage hens, a bird which I had only seen once near to the Missouri in our journey last year. As I had not had the op- portunity of going into the mines, and wished very much to see for myself how the lodes lay, I ar- ranged that night, after my return to Helena, for a drive into the hills to the north-west, to see some mines which had been opened there. Early next morning, having obtained a carriage, I started off. At about lour miles from Helena, we came to a hot spring — so hot that I could scarcely put my hand into it ; there was a very large flow of water, and the sulphur smell indicated it to be a valuable mineral sanitary resource, for which purpose indeed it appeared to be used to some slight extent. A very long drive up a stee)) hill brought us into the sncw IIKLENA. nsn eard very no doubt, carefully >perty. A ntly being loubt tbat jr it would ete success, ad a plea- excitement my taking passing us Is tbe close ny gun, as ens, a bird Missouri in id the op- ished very lay, I ar- lena, for a t) see some arly next started off. e to a hot mv hand er, and the le mineral indeed it . A very ) the snow and to the edge of the mines, and we found there an old man, to whom they either belonged, or who had a considerable interest in them. I went round with him, and picked up some half-dozen specimens, which I placed in a bag and took back to Helena. It was four o'clock in the evening when I arrived there ; taking my specimens with me into the Assay Office, I deposited them, and paid some twelve dollars for the six analyses. Upon my askitig how soon they could be ready, I was told by three o'clock the next afternoon. I mention this to show the wonderful promptness with which this business (deemed so vital to the interests of Helena) is attended to at a Govern- metit office. As I was leaving the next morning, I left directions that the report should be sent to me in England. I had not communicated to any one the numbers which I had affixed to my different specimens, so that nobody but myself could ap- preciate the value to be attached to the different parts of the assay. On receiving the report after my return, I found that the ore which I had taken from a dump outside one of the headings was of very high value in siK^er, and indeed the whole of these mountains seem to nic to contain an enormous mass of wealth, almost if not quite equal to those whicli had been developed and are being developed with such great success at Butte City. There is a great deal of game in these mountains, and I think, of all the pla':'cs that I have seen in the North-West, both from its j.p^ricultural capabilities, ■ \i I r.84 F/!()M /fOMP: TO IIOMK. i^.: ^ I ' i\H a. centre of a cattle-raising district, and from its mineral resources, Helena lias a great future before it. The next day we took our places in the train, which was tolerably punctual (coming in within three or four hours of its time), and we started off for St. Paul. It was so late in the evening that we soon found ourselves in our beds, and woke u\) next morning on the Yellowstone River, and so passed along the route which I bad travelled last year to St. Paul. After a brief stay here we started for Chicago, vhere I parted from my most cheery and pleasant companion ; as he was to return home via New York, while I went to join my wife at Toronto. A pleasant day or two in Toronto amongst our old friends, prepared us for our homeward journey, but as I had not yet seen (and we wished to see) New York, we decided, as the weather was very fine, to make a run down to the capital of the States. We took the railway as far as Albany, and there, arriving early in the morning, got on board an excellent steamboat, and had a cold but bright sail down the Hudson River. The beauties of this route have been so often told that I need not take up time in describing it in detail. It is a most lovely trip. In approaching New York, the most notable features on the banks of the river are perhaps the huge Ice Houses, the enormous ex- tent of wliich tell of the severity of the winter, and HUDSON HlVElt—yKW YOUK. 385 and from at future tlie train, tliin tliree d off for ; til at we woke up r, and so 'died last here we my most to return 1 my wife 5ngst our journey, id to see) was very al of tlie jany, and got on cold but beauties it I need 1. It is York, the he river mous ex- nter, and the necessities of summer-grilled New York. At New York we found at the " Windsor " as good an hotel as one could desire, so far as cooking goes, and the accommodation of the public rooms ; the bed-rooms are, for tlie most part, not up to the mark. Three days at New York passed away rapidly in seeing the shops, purchasing a few of the beautiful productions of Gorham and Tiffany, and a visit to a theatre and to the museum — which is at present in its earliest stage. I made a visit to the stores of some excellent seedsmen, for the purpose of obtaining the seeds of the different deciduous and non-deciduous American trees. The weather not being fine, I had not an opportunity of seeing that which I had specially looked forward to — the ex- hibition of the trotting of the famous Jay I See. We were very much pleased with the Overhead Railways; their failing is the same as that of our underground lines, viz., the being worked by loco- motives. They are very charming in themselves, and the great length of the distances to be traversed makes steam an absolute necessity. They are, however, by no means objects of delight to the foot-passengers along the streets, who are liable to receive some dirt from overhead. The absence of cabs in New York is made up for by the universality of the stage or small omnibus and the tram-cars, and these added to the Overhead Railways, make locomotion in New York very convenient. The big bridge uniting Brooklyn find the city is a 2 c " I nso FliOM IIOMK Tit HOME. ''■'. I most woiulorfnl construction. In the al'lornoon of Sunday, af'tor attending: a very p^ood service at the Englisli Cluncli, wo took our places on one of tlie steamboats to sec tlje liarbour, and tlie next day started oft' after dinner for Albany. Arrived at Albany we found a comfortnble hotel and had a good supper. The next morning we started ofT early by the railvva}' which runs along Lake Cham plain to Buffalo. We were more pleased with tlie lake scenery even than we had anticipated, and certainly these two little journeys on the Hudson River and along the Cham- plain Lake present scenery as beautiful as anything I have seen in the States. From Buffalo a rapid run brought us to Toronto, where a stay for another day or two prepared us for our homeward journey vid Montreal and Ottawa. This road had now become to mo a well-trodden route, but these two cities never lose in interest. We found ourselves on board the "Sardinian" at Quebec, wliere in the morning of Saturday'', October 27th, tlie boat was joined by the (lovernor-O eneral and the Princess Louise, on tlieir homeward journey from the land where they had made themselves so useful and so well-beloved. A rather rougli passage after we had passed through the straits brought us to Liverpool. Our passage was unfortunately varied by a somewhat alarming ac- cident to my wife from her slipping down in a heavy roll of the ship, and considerable alarm was felt that a fracture of the ankle had been the result. A o'ny ^Jo'lit, it was in the Mersey on Monday, 'iornoon of ice at tlic one of tlio I next day Arrived at bad a good arly by the to Buffalo, nery even e two little the Cham- I anything , rapid run lother day ourney vld ' become to ities never board the Lorning of led by the p, on their r had made A rather rougli the Lssage was rming ac- lown in a alarm was the result. Monday, UETUnS OF Till': (/OVEliNoii. 38' November 5th, as we steamed up with the l^oyal Standard flying at our main, accompanied by three or four of the largest ocean steamers, that had arrived in the Mersey on the same night, and so a conclusion had come to my third pleasant and very interesting journey in the "Western Land." i 2 C 2 ( n88 ) CHAPTER Ylir. ':\ '! ^h 11 :^ W' m: In tills concluding cliapter I will, if tlio trial luis not already run to too great a length, venture to detain my readers while I sum up the evidence which I have given, with a review of the present condition of the country as the result of the work that has been done during the last four years in the establishment of towns and settlement of the land, with a parting glance at the present condition of the inhabitants, both native and settlers, witli some details which the experience of those four years have given us of the land and the climate. Upon the first point, I think I may say beyond all question that the choice of the sites of these towns do but little credit to the selectors. There is a tale, I think, in Herodotus, of the reputation under whicli certain colonists had been gibbeted to all time as having selected some particular site for their town to the neglect of a neighbouring site eminently superior, and I should think some future Milesian will hand down under a like malediction the persons who pre- ferred the muddy banks of the confluence of the Assiniboine and the Red River to the superior con- 3 -^ ftV HAD SKLKC'TJONS. []Sd 10 trial lias venture to lence wliicli it condition lat has been tablishmcnt ill a p.irtinf^ inhabitants, 3 which the 1 us of the beyond all se towns do is a tale, I nder which all time as leir town to ly superior, will hand is who prc- nce of the iperior con- venience of Selkirk on the unsi:rpassed slope at Hriindon. This adoption of Winnipeg', however, may perhaps be excused as the natural successor of Fort Garry, lor the choice of wliich by the Hudson Bay Company in the older days there were suflieieiitly good reasons, and it is at last emerging from its mud. They seemed to touch the bottom during the September of this last year, when their Main Street was an impassable waste of mud ; before October was out they had made a iKjble advance in wood planting and block pavement, and the streets will for the future, I hope, be rather con- venient for than reiiellant to traiHc. No such excuse as to selection can be made for those who piefeired the wretched Pile of Ijones to the beautiful valley of Qu'Appelle, or for the placing Fort McLeod on the most exposed and inconvenient piece of prairie that could be found, to the neglect of the many excellent sites on the lower ben(;hes which the industrious washings and deposits of ages by the Old Man lliver and the Willow Creek would seem to have elaborated as a site for a future town. The one well selected town site is that of Calgary, and there is not the slightest reason why the other towns should not have been ei^ually well placed. In this matter, however, the country is young enough to reiiKidy by a process of a survival of the fittest the mischief done by a faulty selection. In the settlement and development of the land the work that has been done may be mentioned under its ■ fi I two lieadn, viz. : Agricultuml antl Uuncliing or caitlc- raisiijf^. It is ])(.'rli!ips to tlio former of tliuso tliat altcntioM would bo more popularly directed, altlion«rli tlie latter will liavo greater interest for tliosc who luivc ca[)ital eiiouglj to enable thorn to take up the work. The bad harvest of 1883 had left Manitoba in a very depressed eondition ; following, as it did, on m sudden colla[)se of the inflated prices of the boom of the two preceding years. There were not a few who almost despaired as to the future of the North-Wost ; and if, in the then condition of things, the harvest of 1884 had been equally disastrous with tliat of 188.'{, it would have taken many years before Manitoba would have recovered from its de[)ression, and the Nortli-West would })rob{ibly have shared its adverse ibrtunes. Fortunately, however, this was not the case, and an experience has been gained enabling us to calculate more nearly the probable average result of a series of good and bad seasons. The boom which had nearly proved fatal to Manitoba, was the result not only of the very laige ex})enditure upon the railway which had centred there, but also of a desire prematurely to hasten on its de- velopment instead of allowing time for the natural spread of population. There has been too much of an attempt to press into the country persons who have not sufficient means of their own, and who an; dependent upon borrowed money, and this money has been burrowed at a very high rate of interest — so AdUK'i 7, 7 1 'ti\ I /. I'll (hsi'i:("rs. no I i;j^ ur cattle- tlioso that i],jilth()n^^li tlioHo wlio tiiko up tliu iiit()])a III a t did, on a :}|C 1)00111 of t a low who ortli-Wcst ; J liarvuHt of lat ot'lBS;}, 3 Maiiitoha 311, and tlie its advensc as not the enabling lis jrago result 3d fatal to very large ntred there, 1 on its de- the natural 00 much of ersons who nd who arc i money has interest — so liigh, indcee paid hy many of these Manitohan fanners — in the shape of interest upon the capital which they have had to borrow in order to purcliase tlieir implements, stock and seed — has been such as to leave a very small margin for their own sustenance. Let me more fully illustrate whiit I mean. A settler has taken up a homestead of 1 00 acres, l()() acres of which will be as much as he can break u|) and work by his own uniissisted elVoits. llu has retpiired for the purposesof thus cidtivating his farm something like £300, or Kl,rj()(), and the cost to him of this money has been at the very least 10 per cent. We will suppose that his farm, thus worked, yields to him 20 bushels to the acre, and, although this may seem to many, who have had l)rought before them highly- coloured views of the fertility of the prairie land, to be but in poor contrast to those accounts, I think that any one who will count tho grains of corn upon an average ear will find that 20 bushels to the acre is by no means a low average. The yield, then, of our settler's 100 acres would be 2000 bushels. He will have to consider his wages, his cost of threshing, and the interest that he has t<^ pay. His wages nuiy be taken to cover all the work that has to he done on the farm during the whole year and the repairs of his implements. U" wheat is selling at oO cents a f 392 FROM HOME TO HOME. m % * < Hi bushel, the vahie of his 2000 bushels, being 20 bushels per acre for 100 acres, will be $1,000, and placing against this the $150 interest on a borrowed capital of $1,500, which will have been sufficient to pay for seed, and $70 for threshing, there will be left to the farmer $780, which gives him H65 per month for his wages and board. I have taken the wheat crop alone as the receipts side of the account, for I am supposing a settler at such a distance from a town as to have practically no market for other commodities. It will be said that the farmer has on his homestead an additional GO acres, upon Avhich he should do some- thing more than feed his horses ; I quite agree that this is so, and that if he has a little more capital to enable him to run a mixed farm he will do much better ; but it will never pay him to borrow it at 10 per cent. ; and what I am rather pressing here is that if this is the state of things which is shown, with low prices I admit, but upon a fair average harvest, and if the misfortune of two or three consecutive bad harvests should fiall upon such a man, there would be little, if anything, left to provide for the interest which he has to pay upon the capital borrowed to start his business. AVitli no such load round his neck lie may get on fairly well, because things must be very bad indeed if they don't leave a sum sufficient to maintain himself and his family, and he need have no other outlay. It may be said that a man would fairly expect to have a greater acreage under the plough ; , being 20 1,000, and I borrowed ufficieiit to will be left per month tlie wheat t, for I am a town as nmodities. homestead i do some- igree that capital to do much w it at 10 re is that 3wn, with 3 harvest, utive bad would be interest 'rowed to ound his ngs must sufiicient eed have y expect plough ; this, however, can only be done with a greater expenditure of capital, and a large annual pay- ment for labour — difficult at any time to be obtained, and raising a still greater difficulty in the case of an adverse season. It may be that such seasons will come seldom upon us, and we may eliminate now altogether the great fear which was present to all who were interested in Manitoba in its earliest days, of a plague of grasshoppers. With an increasing settlement any danger on this head may be considered as very largely diminished, if not to be entirely put on one side ; but, while I believe that the grain that is raised in Manitoba will grade second to none, I do not think that, under the present circum- stances of agriculture there, the yield will ever be proportionate to that which is obtained iu our more highly cultivated eastern lands. 1 have already in various parts of my book pointed to the extent of agricultural land, and how great an opening there is still for settlers desiring to take ad- vantage of the offers of the Canadian Government. Let us see how the matter stands for such a ])erson. A settler is entitled, as I have said before (page 42) to IGO acres of homestead, and IGO more of pre-emption, and all this can be obtained at a cost of about X80. Supposing he has means enough to be able to take up this land, to break it U}), and fully develop it, it may be considered as coni[)arable with Knglish land at say 56\ an acre, and we may [)ut tiie capital value of such land at about 15 years' purchase, or X3 15^^. per acre. i^'i^ it I 394 FROM HOME TO HOME. ■I \Mi t E f .( * ?. '.,■ •ir *• I . VX » It' tin's laiul is in si good situ.ition, where the value is likely to be maintained, and within a reasonable distance of a railway — for it must be borne in mind that unless the grain-land is within six miles distance of the railway, it would be very diflicult indeed to bring the grain to market at anything like a re- munerative price — the total value of such a property would be X3 155. into 320 or £1200. This then mav be considered as the capital value of the property which, at the expenditure of the sum I have men- tioned, a person in taking advantage of the offers ol" the Dominion Government will be able to secure to himself. Having said so much on the agricultural part ol" the question, I will now give my experiences of cattle-ranching. I have taken for this purpose as the foundation of these remarks an article of mine which appeared in the National Review for the month of August, 1883, and from which, by the permission of the Editor of that periodical, I have made a pretty copious extract, qualifying what I have there written by the results of the more complete experience which I have gained in these matters since the date of the article. The increased demand for animal food, and the consequent increasing price of food - producing animals, is not limited to our own country ; and although when I first turned my attention to the cattle-growing grounds of the North-West, I did so in the full expectation that the completion <'t" a. J RAN cm NO. :]U5 ho value is rcasoiialilo e in iniiid es distance indeed to like a re- a property s then 111 ay property liave men- lie ofFers of 3 secure to ral part ol" priences of purpose as le of mine no for tlie 3I1, by the cal, I have vhatlliave 3 complete atters since 1, and tlie producing ntry ; and :ion to the 'est, I did ipletion of the Canadian Pacific Railway, some improved transit of the lakes, or the opening up of the Hudson ]]ay route, might, at an early date, enahle us to import into England good two-year-old short- horns, either as in-calf heifers for the cow-house, or as feeding steers, to be fattened into prime beef upon our clieap feeding stuff's, at a price scarcely higher than that which little rubbishv Irish cattle of the same age at present command in Bristol market, I have, after my fourth year's more full and practical acquaintance with the subject, come to the conclusion that for many years the increasing number of the Indians who, under treatv, have to be fed with beef, the crowds of imnn'grants and of men engaged upon the railway works, and the Mounted Police, coupled with the necessary retention of the females of the herds for breeding and filling up the land, will keep in the North- West for many years to come all the cattle that can be reared there, and will allow of no surplus for export to Europe. No doubt there may be consideriible difference of opinion as to how much of this North-Western country may be considered as really valuable for cattle-raising, but as we can only admit as suitable as a breeding district land where the cattle can live through the winter without housing, and for this we can only take such country as will aiford shelter in its coulees and river-beds from the winter storms, we are limited as to the area; and although a very considerable amount of this [)rairie-land has ever I f I 396 FliOM HOME TO HOME. S'6 M in h ' li been tenanted by the buffalo, and tlierefore may be considered as valuable for cattle, yet we must remember that the buffalo ranged free, and was enabled, when the storms came on, at once to change his quarters and to work south ; but with our own cattle there is not such opportunity of nn'g'ration, and we are, therefore, more limited as to the area that we may consider available. Guided, therefore, by this principle, we must limit ourselves to the country lying between 4nth parallel on the south and the banks of the High Iliver, which is about 50° 30'. This gives us an extent in latitude of about eighty miles, and in longitude we may take from the base of the Rocky Mountains (including in this the foot hills and the Porcupines) to such a point to the eastward as will not throw the cattle too far from the streams in summer, or from the shelter in winter, an average distance of some fil'ty miles, and this gives an area of about 4,000 square miles. We may calculate that this ground will carry cattle at the rate oF ten acres to every head, or sixty-four head to every square mile. This will give us a probable total for this district of 250,000 head, ami taking it that when the country is stocked, one-fifth of them are saleable in each year ut an average price of SG5 or £13, we get from the whole area an annual yield of about 50,000 head, of the value of K3,250,000, or about £050,000. Undoubtedly, however, by skill and care, this number may be considerably increased. It" we take a larger THE CHINOOK. 397 ufore iiiiiy b we must , and was ,t once to ; but with rtunity of limited as Guided, b ourselves arallel on vQYf which extent in longitude Mountains orcupines) not throw mmer, or stance of of about that this acres to lare mile. .listrict of ) country each year get from t 50,000 :()50,000. s number a larger area, extending our limits further to the north and to the east, so as to include about 5,500 square miles, we should have to limit the number of cattle over such area, allotting not less than fifteen acres to every head — so that our calculation of the number which the country would carry would be practically the same, as I am crediting the whole of this territory with the capability of holding its cattle in winter. I believe, however, from our experience of the two last winters, that over a great deal of the land of the northern part, it wil' bo found that the snow lies to such an extent as to prevent the possibility of cattle wintering there unless during exceptionally mild years. The cause of this great difference of climate in lands so closely adjoining, is undoubtedly to be found in the " Chinook," the warm wind which comes down in the winter, melts the snow, and displays freshly-springing green grass underneath by which the cattle are kept going. I have not in my Journal described the " Chinook." It was as we were coming away from Snowy Camp, and during the time that my eyes were nearly closed when I was suffering from snow-blindness, that I felt a hot breath on my face from the south- west, as if it came from across some heated surface. I at once recognised the wind I had heard describe'!, and turning round, called out to Mr. Craig that it was the " Chinook." ]5ut where should this hot wind come from ? On the side from which it came towered the high range of the Kockies, and the no8 FPiOM HOME To IIOMK. '.\' ' 1^ -ii I", K' W'L enormous iriiigo niul deep coveriiif^ of ruow and ice ^vonkl, one would liave thought, have effectually cooled, long before it reached us, any warm hvcutli of air that might pass over. It may be that it comes through the gorges and the breaks of the mountains, but certain it is that after passing through somewhere about the latitude of the Chief Mountain it bends up to the north-east in a course, if I may compare small things with great, parallel to that of the great gulf stream, which stretches across the Atlantic; but in passing over this high plateau, it soon loses the warmth possibly derived from its home in the Pacific, and melting and licking up the snow, it rapidly parts with its heat, and seldom, 1 believe, will it be found exercising its benign in- tluence further north than the High River, and that country is left, therefore, to endure a winter of far more lasting snow, which, though it disqualifies it as a cattle country, by no means interferes with, but rather I'aises its value for corn-growing 2'>urposes. About this " Chinook," however, we liave yet much to leain, and I am cautious in giving my views upon the phenomenon, with which we are not yet ac- quainted in sufficient detail. In addition to the wind of which I have spoken, there is the cold wind which drives the snow off without melting it, leaving the ground absolutely dry, and which is called "A Ijcmhi Chinook." Cattle-ranching can, as T have said, only pay when carried on in a country where the cattle CA TTLK MA NAliEMKXT. (•Mil winter out. Tin's on tlic prairie, witli llio jn'obability of "blizzards" or liigh winds, with a low temperature of say 40° below zero F., when even the game goes south or seeks shelter beneath tlic snow, is obviously impossible. It is the shelter of the liills and woods and coulees in the country I am describing which enables cattle and horses under ordinary circumstances to winter out safely. So long as the snow remains in the condition in which it falls, the animal will manage to get at the grass which still springs green beneath it; the danger is when the snow has been thawed, md a sharp frost setting in again, produces a surface through which neither claw nor hoof can break, and we have to provide against that which would bo fatal to the herd. The cattle man must get together in each year a sufficient quantity of hay to meet the emergency when it comes. The hay bottoms are numerous, and will cut as much as two and a half tons to the acre. As no haymaking is required, the grass in this dry air "curing itself," all the labour that is required is to cut and carry ; and the prudent cattle man will during each summer and fall put up and fence in as much hay as he can, placing his I'icks wherever ho can on his winter range; and when the dreaded time comes, out will go his cow-boys, break down the fencing round the ricks, round-up the bands of horses and cattle, and drive them in the direction of the fodder, and the loss will, it is hoped, be comparatively small. w : iOO FnoM HOME TO HOME. '^ mm V fe;.v,; ■ •; ,;]■■' It -ft , . ;; ■?!■ 1:)., '.v.t. ,- ;!■ \ ■':■ Up to tlirco years ago tlie Canadian (iovernnicnt liad no idea tliat tliere could be aiiv value in tlie lands on the eastern slopes of the Assini Matchi, or Kocky Mountains; hut a report reached Ottawa from the Mounted Police, that this district niiglit not he altogether nnsuited for cattle, and one of the oflicers gave such information as to lead Senatoi* Cochrane to add to his lar2:e and well-condncted breeding farm in Ontario, a ranche in the Noith- West. Others, some simultaneously, some following his example, applied to the Government for lands in this neighbourhood, and Sir John A. Macdonald's Government granted leases in quantities suited for ranges of about 100,000 acres each. The leases are *'byand between Iler Majesty Queen Yictoiia, represented therein by the Honourable the Minister of the Interior of Canada," and the lessees, and arc a demise of all the lands in the enumerated town- ships, with the exception of Hudson Bay lands and school lands, which tiio Government may withdraw from the lease as soon as a survey has been made. The term is for twenty-one years at a rental of a dollar for every hundred acres, and is subject to a forfeiture in case of assignment without consent. The lessee is bound to have on the ground within three years one liead of cattle or horses to eveiy ten acres of the land leased ; he is prohibited from grazing it with sheep, and from cutting down timber trees without leave. This leave is granted by the Mounted Police for all building purposes, for log CATTLE LEASES V. FllEE ItANGES. 401 liuts, corrals, (I'c, and tlio Govcrjinieiit reserve the power to teniiiiiate tlic lease on a two years' notice if tlie land is required tor settlenietits, the rights of any settlers upon the ground at the date of the lease being protected, hut new sc tleinents during the cur- rency of the lease without consent of the lessee being prohibited. The (iovernnient also takes power to witlidraw any land containing coal or mineral, with any required water power, and to grant timber licenses upon the lands leased, and to withdraw from the lease any lands to which the C^madian Pacific Railway, or any other railway, becomes en- titled under their grants or statutory power. I believe that this system of leasing by the Govern- ment is the best that can have been adopted for developing this pasture land ; let me add a few words upon the system which prevails where the land has not been thus appropriated, but left so long as it is unsettled, as public lands. Free ranging, as this system is called, is producing ruinous con- sequences in Montana and the other grazing terri- tories and States of the Union. The " Lone Star State " had, however, on joining the Union, obtained a recognition of their then existing rights, under V. hich it continued to act, of selling blocks oF land to individuals, and I believe the State of Oregon obtained by cession from the Federal Government tlieir lands ; in these States, therefore, lands may still be purchased in large blocks. In all the other States and territories, every precaution is taken 2 I) V 402 VnOM HOME TO HOME. \t ■»^ i!'.' t SV\ ^% m I A a^ucninst the posHil)iHty of any Isir^o extent of land accinnulatin^ in tlic liands of one proprietor in tliu first instance. A similar state of thino's exists in British Colinnhia, and the resnlt of it has heen that, there heing no proprietary ri,i:;hts over any hind, any person pos- sessed of cattle has had the full right to run tlieiii wherever he pleased. Tiie ])aynient to the State is a tax on the capital value of his herd, and the ordy control has heen that of tlie l?ound-up Association. This is tlie real g-overning ])0\ver, and to see the working of it we nnist go to an already estaldisluMl cattle country. AVe find a ready illustration in the neighbonring territory of Montana, south of tlie boundary line, where we have associations of the cattle men ranging over the basins of the Teton Kiver, tlie Judith, the Musselshell, and the Yellowstone; in fact, of nil the rivers which on the southern side of the Milk River ridge foim the head-streams of the Missouri. Men having herds dis])ei'sed over this country are uin'ted in an association which holds meetings at which are fixed the dates of the two rounds-up of the year, in summer and in the fall, and rules are framed as to the number of men to l)e sent in proportion to the head of cattle on the books, the disposal of " mavericks," or calves that have left or lost their mothers, and are therefore unowned, ol the disposal and distribution of its funds, and tli-' admission or rejection of any new members. Va these means some control is kept over the admission WILD (}IiA,iSES. mi of iuMifioHjil liunds of eiiitlc. \\\d siihjecf only to this (liniciilty, imdcr this sy.stoiii of free niiiij^iiij]^ every huinan heiii^ h;is u right to turn upon the lunds, not hoinestended, any iininher of cuttle he can bring th(Me. I will take tlie result upon the territory of Afontana. I must premise that the most feeding and valnahle wild grasses, the hullalo grass, the hlue joint and tiio hunch grass, do not come jvgain when eaten down too closely. Of the huffalo grass I doubted altogether tlie seeding, never having seen any se(.'d-bents on the plants until this last fall of I SSI. In tiavelling through Montana from this Milk lliver ridge, through the basins of and over the divides between the Teton, the Judith, and the Musselshell to the Yellowstone, [ passed through what has been some of the finest grazing ground in the territory. The riiinfall is very slight, amounting to scarcely more tlian half an inch ; no crops can be raised e.\ce])t by irrigation, and this can ordy be obtained within a limited distance from the river ; and for scores of miles, as I drove over the j)rairie, have I found tlie herbage ntterly destroyed and the value of the land therefore entirely gone, except on those belts near the rivers where irrigation is possible. If, therefore, our Canadian land is to be rescued from a like fate, 1 cannot too strongly press it as of the first importance, that leaseholders sliould be compelled to keep their cattle as much as possible to their own ranges, and sliould thus have the strongest interest to prevent the destiueti(jn of the 2 n 2 !!■» 104 rUthM IKtMK To lilt ME. .t-i p^rasHcs, jiTid a fiirtlicr incontivc will tlms hv n^ivoii to |)n)l('ct tliL'ir ))n)|)L'rty sio-iiiiist tliosc fires wliieli are the greatest (liuif^cr to our laiidH and our liinl)or in tlie Nortli-Wost, and which would ".sot afoot" tlic leaHoholdor on wiiosc land such an event Hhould happen. Such, then, iire the lood-produein^j: oMpahilitieH of this moHt interesting^ and, I may say, most smiHiiLi- an^le of the North- West. It is small in its dimen- sions as compared with tlic other re^'ions, hut it has ([ualities whicli if the (Canadian Government con- tinue to carry out the prudent and yet lihernl policy which it has inan«>Mirated, hy which capiljil may he hrouglit to bear ui)on the natural elements of wealtli, will make it of a very high value to the Dominion. If men are encouraged to develoj), without squander- ing its resources, this land will long remain the pasture-ground, the meat-producing district of the .vestern i)ortion of the Dominion, and the natural complement of the corn-growing districts of Mani- toba, Assimboia, and the Saskatchewan. And now a few words as to the climate of Canada and the North-West. There is no greater mistake than to crack it up as if it were a very pai-adise. There are better climates in tlie south of Europe, but we have nothing so bad as the stink of the coasts of Italy, on the almost tideless Mediterranean, or the blood-curdling tramontanas of Italy and the Savoy. The climate of Canada is not a bit worse than that of En2:land. The Australian colonies or New hi:' A Til /.V TIIH U'HJts. iO'i /('!il;inil may liavi? less or jj^rcjitcr suvoriti'os of wiiitor, l>ut I do not Ixiliovc tliiit the world will present 5i zone l)etter adapted than Ih tliat of Canada to j)ro- diice and continue in its vii^onr the human race. A ni^ht in a .snowdrift in Mn^land would he at the hcst hut a sleepless husiness, hut out in the Nortli- West roll yourh-elf u\) in a hlaidvet and a bufl'alo and don't be afraid of j^ettinement of the cattle in the manner in which those duties have to be discharged to our domestic herds, but none the less upon skilful handling at certain periods, and frequently in such critical emergencies as never occur hero, depends the well-doing and often the actual safety of the animals. It is said that the cow-boy has oidy to ride about the range, to see that his cattle are safe and undisturl>ed, and to do a good deal of galloping at rounding-up, and undoubtedly this description applies to a good deal of his time, but let me describe with a little more completeness his actual work. The spring has set in. Solvitur acris hyems grata vice veris et Favoni. The Favonius of the North-West being a roaring Chinook, the grass begins to spring with its brightest green in the treacherous alkali swamps, and the cow, weak from nursing its calf through tlie stormy days of winter, is tempted to the geneious ]»asture, but the white clay druws her down and the poor beast is helpless ; at such a time, unless speedy help is nigh, she is lost; but the \v'atchful cow-boy knows 408 FROM HOME TO HOME. '•m \) i II -' 1 :-- '*! 1 ■""f M^' , " ,'■- sBl ■:■ M C iif where tliesc lioles a])oiind, aiul is ready at liaiul, lii« rope is thrown skilfully over her, the end is twisted tight round the horn of his saddle, and adjusting his weight so as to help his little cayeuse, that seems harely as large as the floundering heast, but who strains every muscle in its little body to the effort, the poor muddy cow is by the joint efforts of horse and ridfcj hauled safely to the drier baid<. Siie is scarcely landed when another is sighted in a similar difficulty, and upon the energy of the boy during all the daylight hours of the May and June days the lives of most of these beasts, "mired-down" and helpless to pave themselves, depend. But the snows have melted on the mountains, the rivers are running down and cease to be roaring torrents, and cattle may be driven up ; the round-up has been arranged by tlio Cattle Association, its captain has fixed the day and the place at which \\\q camp will meet, and in proportion to the number of cattle on his books tlie stock owner sends his quota of cow-boys, allotting to every boy his pick of five saddle-horses, and adding to the outfit tti ts, a four-horse wagon, with a C(.)ok and his batterie de cuisine in the shape of a handy boik-r-platc stove as its furniture. The camp is made near some river, water, or lake, and tlie next day iill sally forth under the orders of the captahi, who details them in twos or tlirees to take the wliole sweep of tlie country from this base lino to the right and left to scour every coulee, canon, bench, scrub, and bottom, and drive together to an a])pointed spot 6 n(tUNDisa-n\ 4(»i> all the cattle that they may find therein. And charmin<2; gallops they are over the firm prairio, only spoiled by the too frequent badger-holes into one of which even your quick-eyed cayeuse may put his foot as you are " loping " along, and then over you both come, and lucky are you to escape with nothing worse than the wind knocked out oF you, or such a shaking as a stretch of a few minutes on the prairie may recover you from and enable you to proceed on your work. I will not trouble my reader with all the details, but I will suppose that we want to cut out the cows with their calves for the spring brand- ing. We have all met again from our morning's ride, and the result is some 1,500 or 2,000 head gathered together of each sex and of all ages. We ride round them and bunch them up in a goodly ring, and the lowing and the bellowing gives a sonorous chorus, and while the three or four boys ride round and keep the cattle together, those who are going to cut out receive their instructions from the boss, who sits book and pencil in hand ready to tally. Pre- sently the cutters-out ride into the ring among the cattle, and two of them have picked out a cow of the brand that is being looked for with her calf; they work them to the edge of tlio cii'cle, and having got them there a push is made and cow and calf find themselves outside the ring. In vain they strive to double back among tlieir fi'iends; on the right and left tlicy fii d a nim])le cayeuse with its rider to give them a gal()[) round, a turii, and they \ ^' ff I };■■■■:. I- I A"..- 410 FJiOM JIOME TO IIOMK. If If. n ♦ '1 7.1 •.I '); It h 1 , « 1 i ■1 1 I. 1; 1 find tlicmselves on the prairie ; driven off a few hun- dred yards tliey are left, tlie riders return to cut out another, sliouting out as tliey pass the hoss who is tallying, tlie hrand of the evicted now, " Crooked stick," or "OX," or "II," or "Shield," or "Half circle," or " Staple," or wliatever else may be the description of the device that marks tlie hide of the cow ; she is quickly joined by another cow with her calf, and the cuttings out become (quicker, thu galloping more excited, and the labour of the tally- man in entering up more incessant, until, at the end of a few hours, the work flags, there is a check, and it is announced that all the cows are out; it is late in the day, the cows and calves are hcx^ded off " over the hills and far away," and the rest of the cattle are marched off so as to be at least " lost to sight," and both parties are jealously watched by the night herd, until the following morning, when cows and calves {ire brought up to a large stockade fold called a corral, where the wood-fire is lighted, the branding lions are heated, and not without considerable manoeuvring at length all are run in. Into the corral they are followed by some three or four cow-boys on horseback, each calf is roped by the lariat round its heels or its neck, is dragged remorse- lessly and laid on its back, and tiie poor little beast, yelling sadly, is branded, ear-marked and qualified for its position in the herd; and all being accom- [)lished the corral bars are drawn and the bunch is u[)on the range. And now again driven out (jUTTiNd-orr. ]\ lerablc the four the norse- beast, hficd ccoin- ich is now jump on your horse and come buck to the rest ot tlie lierd, get one of the boys to give you n real good cutter -out, tigliten your siiiches, and you shall have some sport, for we are going to tally out the heifers, yearlings, and two-year-olds. Come into the ring, and we two will work together. liOok out, here's a real bonny heifer, "I "on right hip, fit to go into any show-yard in the old country. Hurry up. We've got her to the outside of the ring, drive at her and out she goes. Round the ring she races, but she doesn't intend leaving her friends yet, and is too (pu"ck for us this time, and doubles in again, and we miss her ; but let her go. Never mind, try another; come, we've got this one awny, but she can gallop (piicker than we can, and up a knoll and over a runner she goes like a deer ; but we have got her far away from the herd, and we can cut her off in her doubles, and she has to settle down to form the nucleus of another bunch that by similar eft'ort is {piickly gathered round her by all the cow-boys, who, as each heifer is safely separated and de})osited wi<^h the new bunch, calls out her brand to the tally-man, by whom she is duly numbered on her owner's books. When it comes to cutting-out three-year-old steers and bulls, they for the most part, especially the latter, trot out decorously, shaking thi^ir fat sides as tliey rejoin their companions, but the yearlings and two-year-olds give you some fine gall()[>ing, which wants but little of the excitement of u burst in the old country. 412 FROM HOME TO HOME. 1 *# i i i' > ' H w' f.U :.* I But tlie cow-boy's work does not end witli liis round-up. Tlie suramcr is perhaps li*.- .jasiest time, and when his cattle are on the rar, ^e they require only a careful eye to see that there are no poachers, and that nothing is going wrong, and with the end of September his Fall round-up and Fall brandings come on again, and after that, with open weather in November and December, his work is still easy ; but the storms have to be looked out for, and witli January and February they will assuredly come, and with the thermometer 40 below zero F., out he must go ; he must see that the cattle are not too lazily yielding to the numbing influence of the cokl, and if the snow has frozen again after a thaw, so that the poor beasts cannot break through it, lie must break down the corrals round the hay-ricks which the summer foresiglit has provided, Jind rustle up his cattle and move them in the direction of the stored-up provender; and dreadfully cold work it is, but his wooden stirrups with their leatlier coverings protect his feet from a cold which would render contact with metal fatal, his shaps protect his legs, and folds of flannel or many socks beneath his boots made large for this })urpose effect a suflicient medium between animal heat and atmospheric cokl, •lid mittens and a buckskin shirt keeps out the wind, while fur and Montana broadcloth keep in the heat ; and if night sets in, he must trust to the shelter t)f the bi'ush lor the cayeuse, and a hole in the snow for himself; for the cow-boy feels as ln' !■ 4'f1 COW-nOY (/AMnifNG. 4ia rolls liiinself in liis blanket and lays his bead on bis saddle — " Ours the frcsli turf aiul not the fcverisli bed," and as be takes bis time from the stiirs, be wakes witb tbe earliest streak of dawn, and finds in bis ronnd of wor' bealtb and, I believe, no small amount of bappiness. I sbould like to stop bere. Tbe boys know bow well I like tbem, bow bappy I bave been witb tbem, id tbat tb ill b far to find a bettt ana that tiiey will iiave to go lar to nnd a netter friend, but tins pictm'e of work and bealtb and bappiness bas its daiker side, and nowbere a sadder one tban wbere tbe wages of perbaps a wbole year pass into tbe bands of a jirofessed gambler, and tbo bundreds ol' dollars, wbicb migbt bave been so profitably invested, are squandered in tbe poor excitement of an evening at eucbre, faro, or draw poker; and bis ready money gone, be bas notbing to live on but "jawbone," i.e. credit, and to " call bis jaw," /'.('. live on credit, till be bas got furtber em- ployment and more wages. The cow-boy is in fact tbe Mexican vacchero in bis dress and bis language, having mucb improved, bowever, in babit and manner by a residence in a country wbere order is observed and law is supreme. It has probably not been bis lot to mingle mucb in town life or society, or to become mucb acquainted or imprcssereacher began a long prayer. One of our neighbours, an Irishman and a Romanist, but too much of a Catholic to allow sectarian differences to keep him away from the service, was on his knees bolt upright, with his hands crossed upon his breast following the minister. The opportunity was too irresistible to the boy sitting near, and putting his foot sharply under the kneeler's toes, he sent him fiat on his face. Our friend gathered himself up again and said nothing till the Amen announced the end of the prayer, when he broke out with his fullest powers of malediction, furnishing a most vigorous antidote to the benedictory prayers of the minister. Order was, however, restored, and the minister proposed that all should join in singing. " I shan't sing," said another boy. " Well, but my friend, you will join us, perhaps." " Waal," said the boy, who was clearly under the impression that each one was to take a verse when it came round to his turn, " you can all do as you please, but I just M'arn you that I never could sing, and I never moan to." There are many practices of civilised life with which tlie cow-boy docs not altogether fjill in. A friend tells me that it happened at a ranche that the boss was in the habit of saying grace before meat. Now it is the custom of the Noiih-AYest, that when you u\ CLOTH TNG. 115 3lier l)cin<^ ay, invited stercd, and >ne of our 3t, but too fferences to L his knees his breast by was too putting his e sent him himself up announced ut with his tig a most yers of the 1, and the in singin.g. ell, but my 1," said the n that each inid to his but I just id I never with which A friend at the boss leat. Now : when ^■ou came to a rancho at dinncr-timo, you tie up your cayeuse or ])nt him in the corral, and walk in, eat your dinner iind ])ay your half dollar or dollar, and a cow-boy arriving at dinner-time at the ranche in question, marched in, sat down at the table, and stuck his f)rk into a piece of beef. " We usually," observed the boss, *' say something before we eat." *' Waal, you can just say what you like," remarked the boy; " I guess you'll say nothing that'll turn iny stomach." I should perhaps add a few words as to clothing, for the information of any who may be inclined to try this life. Persons who have travelled both in Russia and in ( -anada will scarcely fail to notice a point of difference between the two countries in the mode of wearing fur and skin coats. While the Russian wears his coat with the skin outside, and the fur inside, the Canadian always puts the fur outside. For myself I have no doubt as to which is the better. It seems to me that as the fur is the non-conductor, and the skin is most useful in preventing the air passing through, if you put the skin outside, you ensure having a surface as cold as the air can make it, the coldness of which is only prevented by the non- conductiveness of the fur from reachino- vour own skin; but put the fur outside and you |)revent the cold of the air from reaching the skin surface, which thus adapts itself to tlie waiinth of the person inside. Anvhow, there is tliis to be said in favour of the no FJiOM I10MI<: Tit HOME. •S'f lu Caiiafliiiu i>Ijui, that all tlio animals whoHC elotlics we thus appropiiato wear them with the fur outside ; at least, I liave never known one that adopted the (>|)))osite praclice. Tin's may perhaps remind us of the argument which was addressed by an old stockman at a meeting of his cattle association. There had been a discussion as to the best bulls to be kej)t on the range, and an enthusiastic admirer of roans and ''coloury" cattle moved a resolution "that this as- sociati „ 5,700 )» 2 K 420 FROM HOME TO HOME. -•s Tlicse people occupy tlie land between the Bow River and the 4ntli parallel, and by comparing the fignres with my calculation given above of the size of this country, a pretty fair estimate of the former population of this, the best part of the Territory, may be obtained ; of course no such population occupied the prairie.^ to the east. During this last year there was undoubtedly a good deal of small-pox on the Ijlood Reserve, and there was a very large niortality ; but there was an influx from the States, which made up for this der^-ease of population, and the last year's account may, I think, bo taken as fairly indicating their numbers. Under our present system the Indians are undoubtedly increasing upon us ; but 1 am, after some experience, still strong in my opinion that with proper management, they may be made useful for agricultural and probably for ranching work. I found this last year at our flirm at Standoff, that some three or four had been working: well in harvestino; and potato-getting, and as they came in to their tea, and sat down to enjoy a good square meal, they reminded me much of the farm-boys in the days almost gone by, while their absence of observance of tliosc precepts of the Church Catechism which in- culcate good manners, would give hojics for their future to the President of the Board of Trade. As an illustration of their ways I may mention an occur- I'cncc of the last morning I was at Standoff. A calf had been stolen and killed, and a reward of 100 dollars (»ffcred by bill en the wall to any one who CIIAMIi: i)F NAME. 421 Bow ing the ;lie size former y, may cciipied ir there on tlie rtalitv ; h made t year's licatin!^ Indians n, after at witli fill for ork. I at some vestin<^ their \1, thev le days a nee of lich in- >r their e. As 1 occiir- jff. A of 100 le wlio would give information. We are close to tlie Blood Reserve, and as soon as the bill was out " Marque-o- pis-toke" — 1 1 \)If-cropjh'd-ear, — a yonng- Indian belong- ing to " White-calf s" band, came and gave informa- tion against a friend which led to his conviction. " Wolf-cropped-ear" liad not received his reward, and came to complain to me about it. We had no language in common, but he soon n^'-ale me under- stand liis claim. He kept writing with his forefinger on the palm of his left hand till I understood lie was alluding to a dollar bill, and then he pointed to the wall till I understood the allusion to the reward, and then Avith his hand to his pouch and a look of enqu'*! y at the same time, he made me know that he was asking for his 100 dollars. I gave orders that the money should be paid, and although I believe that my good-looking young friend was a rank thief, and that he and his companion had agvocd as to how they should sjoend the 100 dollars when the im- prisoned one had served his six months, it was clear that we must keep our promise. " Marqnc-o- pis-toke's " parent was an example of the fatal effects of grasping after wealth ; he had rejoiced in the name of " Minne-stokes " — Father of ma i if/ children, — but coveting after some Indian cayeuse, he hud, after the Indian fashion, sold his name to a younger man, and had to be content for the rest of his life with the name of" Kii)[)a-takke," or ()/(/ iivinaii. This practice of sellino- u i^ood name is cenerallv attended witli bad results. 1 know of one very line old fellow li; 4*22 FIIUM HOME TO J 10 ME. I I ■,?*' ,4* ■ : ! i ;« down in Montana vvlio sold his name, about the best which an Indian could have, and had for the rest of his life to put up with a nickname so bad that it could not be mentioned. Well, our Indians are very comfortable now. I had intended, but that my book has run on to too great a length already, to have said something of the Oree and Blood lan- guages; but one observation I must make on this head. I should very much like, before it is too late, that the Kootenai language should be examined by some person acquainted with Japanese. This Indian language differs, as I have said, wholly in sound from any other Indian language, and the idea is strongly impressed upon my mind that this tribe had its origin in Japan, and that after drifting across the Pacific it was driven into the mountains by the wild tribes on the western sea- board of America, and that they have there remained, with perhaps some traceable remains of the language of the in- habitants of the Seven Valleys. The identity of the name of this Japanese district familiar to all lovers of Eastern porcelain was not, however, present to my mind when the idea of the similarity of the two races first occurred to me. I may not close without a word of the tribute of praise to that fine force which made for us tliis country. The North-Western Mounted Police have been thus spoken of by an American in drawing the comparison between the two systems of the management of the Indians by the United States and bv Canada. ^^^ TIIK NOUTIl-WKST MOUNTED VOLWE. 423 " And now to speak of the fear some may enter- tain of the Indian tribes in these Britisli possessions. In 1872-3 there was formed what is known as tlie ' Mounted Police,' stretching their broad arm of protection westward to the Rockies, along the 49th parallel, with well-established stations throughout this broad domain, and we are compelled to state the British mrnagement of the Indian question is so far superior to our own, that I can but make the comparison with a feeling of shame. "A single Mounted Police will ride hundreds of inile^ into the camps of those who have committed depredations on our side, have a 'talk,' and tell them so-and-so is expected of them ; tliese in- structions are known by each man, woman, and child, ore an hour, and are most sacredly kept ; woe be to one who breaks it, he is dealt with most severely. That same messenger will return alone, demand the particular evil-doer, and, in many cases, where they have had any misdeeds among them, their own men have brought the guilty one to the nearest post. " What is the meaning of tliis dread, and the faith- ful performance of the laws ? It can be accounted for but in one way : when the Indian enters tlieir borders, he is told what is expected of him, and in return for faithful performance, he is provided for. The law is most rigidly carried out on both sides ; the promises are alwjiys kept. The evil doer knows what to expect, and he receives it, J2t FROM IICjIK to HOME. m H i Pit ' m '1 %: " A white man is as safe within the entire hound- aries, let him go wliere he will and when he will, as he would be at his own fireside, so far as any Indians are concerned. "Why cannot our Government handle them in the same manner ? We do not live up to our promises to them, and they do not receive the one-half that the Government allows them : * it passes too many hands.' Can they be expected to keep tlie peace under these circumstances ? Here are 400 Mounted Police who do the work that 15,000 of ours cannot, or, at least, do not, do. " There is a great defect somewhere. It is not our desire to find fault, but let any one live but a short time near the boundary line, and these facts will be presented to him so strongly he cannot help but remark it, and this very improper handling of this question is what is, and has, kept back for so long a time the settlement of the finest lands our Govern- ment is in possession of." I have only to add to this quotation the expression of a hope that the system that has been thus adopted may long continue, that no party political influence may lead to the appointment of men less qualified for this work than those to whom it has hitherto been committed. If on a large scale a system of this sort had been adopted in Southern Africa, how different would have been the state of things past and present in that Colony! And while their work has been so well done by the Mounted Police in securing 'M CONCLUSION. 425 tho advance of tlie Dominion, allegiance to tlieir Sovereign Mistress lias held full sway, and the Indian has learnt to love the great white Mother as the embodiment of that true justice and respect for right which can be found only under a stable and solid Government. Thus have they helped to bind us all together as England and her Colonies should ever be bound, and to maintain the spirit in which she and her children should ever be united, however great the distance from Home to Home. NOTE. An unfortunate accident to my minimum register- ing thermometer has prevented my verifying the daily observations at New Oxley, and I am therefore unable to add the table which I promised. y-i rsw !'> ^1 p ifi I-; .-■1, * J4 ^7- 1' 1 ,'< "■ It )\ rl r-i ->■ ;■ f,i. '•' !.' V.;; >•• i i .. '.' i 1 :. .- j ^ W- >&M C r INDEX. Ahbitibee, The, 30 Abniliaui, The Heights of, 17 Adiroiuliicks, The, 10 Agricultural i)ro.si)ects, 8'Jl Alhany, The, 30 All)crta, 25 Algonquins, The, 9, lUO Alkaline Lakes, The, 3'J, 132 Anticosti, 50 Arrow liiver, 270 Assaying at Helena, 383 Assiuiboia, 25 Assiniboians, The, 103 Assiuiboine, The, 38 Athabasca, 25 Athabasca, The, 40 Aunty's hotel, 220 Baby, The, 297 Backsetting, 1G7 Bad Lands, The, 288 Badger Hill Camp, 88 Bath, Indian, 346 Bath-room, My, 351 Batiste's Ferry, 3G'J Battleford, 37, 11 Bearings, Taking our, 173 Beaupre, 197 Beaver Indians, The, 106 Beavers, 83, 311 Bell Farm, The, 44 Belle Isle, Straits of, 49 Belly Kiver, The, 37 Benton, Fort, 253 Big Bear, 143 Bigot, 13 ]5illinga, 284 Birch Creek, 244 Bismarck, 288 Bitter Itoot Mountains, 253 Blackfoots, The, 104, 254 Blankets, Our, 130 Blocxl Indians, The, 105, 161, 183, 217, 254, 324, 420 Bovaris, 356 Bow Itiver, The, 37 Braikenridge, 39 Braiuerd, 39 Brandon, 66, 92, 310 Bridge at Brandon, 68 Broadview, 45, 121 Bruce Copper Mines, 113 Buffaloes, Tame, 63 Buford, Fort, 253 Bull Mountain, 282 Bulldog fly. The, 283 Bulrush Lake, 134 Burial tree. A, 162 Burials, 325 Buttes de Coeur, The, 81 Cabot, 5 Cage at Fort Benton, The, 259 Calgary, 37, 311, 389 Camping out, 129 Camus, 375 Canada, The division of, 21 Canadian Pacitic liailroad. The, 309 Cannon as applause, 2{J6 Capital, The need of, 390 Cartier, 5 Carts, The, 62 428 INDEX. •V. ■•! f i- ■Si i - ■ ';, ^! .11 ■■■_•■ ■ ■ ih :: :'?^ r. - ;?-; CiiHcudo llaii-f, Tliu, 10 Castor liK linns, Tlio, lUG Cattle l)ny ill,;,', 217 (;iittlc fiinuiii-, lOS, HOI Cuttle, Icusc'S, Tlic, lUU Cfiyr.Wis, Tlu', 10 (Judar Liiko, 37 (!Iiani|iliiiii, 8 Charleston, 112 Cliau.liere, The, IJG Chaudiero Falls, 3U Cliauvin, 7 Chioa-o, 50,291,301 Chief Mountain, 3'J Chin ConU'o, 15() (^linook, The, 397 Chi])i)C\vays, The, 113 Choke berries, 111) Choteaii, 218,25.-, Churchill, The, 3G Climate. The, -101 Clothing, 415 Coal, 1G5 Cold, Intense, 279 CoUingwood, 51 Collision, A, 295 Columbia, 25 Columbus, 5 Compass variation, 81, 173 Conkey, Mr., 125 Constructing a railway, 72, 125 Cooking tins, 320 Cow-boys, 135, 40G Crces, The, 9, 101, 13G, 1G4 Crow Indians, The, 105, 254 Crow's-nest Pass, 37, 223 Custom-house arrangement. A, 303 Cutting out, 411 Cypress Hills, 3i' Dancing customs, 157 Dayton Creek, 3G8 Do la lioche, 7 Dominion of Canada, The, 4 Dominion formctl, 25 Drainage areas, 37 Drake lost, 172 Duluth, 39, 117 Dupuyer Creek, 245 East 'Mais, The, 3(; lOduoation, ^'alne of, 418 Election, An, 2G1 Elk Rivin-, 37, 05 Emerson, 00 English Jliver, 38 Emigrants, Advice to, 43 Erie Iiake,'3G Euclid, 118 Feauous Falls, 59 Federation, 20 Fenians, The, 27 Ferns, 318 Fires, The, 53 Fieo ranges, The, 401 Five Nations, The, 10 Flat heads, 251 Flathead Spring Cam]), 313 Fly-tisliintr, 301 Forsyth, 287 Fort a la (!orne, 37 Forty-milc! Coulee, 1.52 Frances S. Sinl/Ji, The, ^tii Frazer Piiver, The, 40 Furs, The wearing of, 415 Gambling, Indian, 377 Caol at Fort Denton, 259 (iarden Land, 273 Garnett's Itanche, 222 Garry, Fort, 30, 33 Gaspe, 50 Geese, The, 232 Glyndon, 39, llH, 289 Goat Mountain, 333 Goggleux, 80 Gopher Creek, 89 Grant, Jeumiy, 210 Cirasses, The, 103 INDEX. 429 (Ircat Hear T»alrr.. ItJG McDoiiuM's, H7H Mc'Lcod, ('.)|(.ii(l, MS McLccl, F..rt,i>l;{, ;t2;{ Mrdicino ('iim]t, H5H M.cliciuo Hat, lUl l\IicliiKaii JiUkc, 35 IMicliipicotcii, 115 Miles City, 250 ]\riik llivca- I{i(l},'(', 'it2 IMiiics iit Hclciiii, HKO IMimu'iipolis, 5.S ]\I.imclialia, Tlio, 58 ]\Iiini(;t()i)ka, 1507 ]Mississip])i, 88 ]\ris.s{)iila, 87!) ]\I<)lia\vks, The, 10 Mdiitana, 253 IMoiitcaliii, 11 IMoiitiuoreiici Falls, 51,97 ]\I()iitrt'al, 51, 110 l\Io()S'.'jaw, 45, 125 IMoose Luke, 188 Mooso Kiver, Tiic, 80 ^[u(l at Winiiijiog, GO ]\ru(I(ly, The, 21!) IMuskegoiis, The,, 101 ]\Iussclshcll Kiver, 281 Navvies, The, 73 Nelson, The, 80 New Brunswick, 25 Newfoundland, 25 New Oxlcy, 18!), 8U New York, 885 New York nuid, 04 Nez]icrccs, 855 Niagara, 30, 291 Notaway, The, 30 Notices, Curious, 59 Norman, Mr., 142 North racilic Railroad, 287 North-West (.'onipany, The, 81 Nova Scotia, 25 Oak Lakk, 810 Olden, 2Sl Old Woman, I'Jl Old :\Iun lliver, 87, 180, 224 Oneidas, The, 10 Onion.The wild, 887 Oiiondagas, The, 10 Ontario, 25 Ontario Lake, 85 Osninnda found, 818 )tta\va, Tlie, 8(1, 97 Onttit, Our, 02 Owen SountI, 112 Oxley, New, 189, 314 PAiNTEn tree, A, 803 Parigi, 08 Paris, The Peace of, 22 Peace lliver Pass, The, 40 Peigans, The, 105, 250, 254 Peigan Creek, 150 Pend d'Oreille Eivcr, 370 Persicaria, The, 133 Ftviwrna, The, 294 Photographing Indians, 142 Pliotographs lost, 327 Physiography, 35 I'ie Cam}), 849 Pile of ]k)ues Creek, 122 Pincher Creek, 221 Play Green Lake, 39 Ploughing, 107 Point Levis, 51 Police, The, 146, 422 Pont Grave, 7 Porcupines, 181 Portage la Prairie, 05, 309 Prairie fire. A, 85 Prairie travelling, 87 Prayer Book, American version, 258 Prince Albert, 37, 44 Prince Edward Island, 25 1 1 ; is m INDEX. 131 rnnm, A.'JIl ryiiiiuia Hill Caiu)., litO QtT'Ari'KLM:, Thp, 38. 11 (^irboc, ;■), 51, ;{()() (^iiohiic, its first caiitiirc, U (Juolicr, WoH'u'h nipturo of, 17 (jnoltcc, province of, '25 IfAnR-noitflE, A, 'J50 liiiilwiiy cars, Our, MOl Itailwiiy making', 7'i, 125 L'iiilway iiiislm]i. A, Til Kuiny liuko, 3S Uaiiclior's (Icatli, A. 'Jj2 Kaiiches, Tlio, IVJl TlanpoR, Tlio, 11 lliisj)lH'rrics, 312 Ravalli, 375 ]{c(l l)m'l{ivcr, 37 Had llivcr Colony, TIio, 33 lied River RoLcllion, The, 27 l{c(lskiiis, The, Ui) lJ(!gina, 45, 123 Keligion of the Indians, 331 Richard's Dock, HI Riel, 28 Rinionski, 50 River basins, The, 35 Robcrval, 7 Rockies, Tiic, 40 Rocks of curions shape, 28-1 J{()sser, 70 Rotation of tree crops, 345 l!ounding-ui), JO'J Rupert, The, 30 Rupert's Land, 32 Saguenai, Tlie, 30 St. Antliony, The Fulls of, 58 St. Boniface, 94 St. Francis, Tho, 30 St, Ignatius, 374 St. John, The, 30 St. La\vn'nn>. Tlx'. 35, 50 St. Louis, Til.', 311 St. Mary's Hiver, 157 St. :^hluri(•e, The, 30 St. Paul, 57, 2'.)0, 308 St. Vincent, 00 Santon Indians, 1555 Sarcecs, The, 105 Siivditiiiiii, 'rJii\ 3S0 Snccas, The, 10 Service berries, 111) Settlers, Advice to, 44 Settler's capital, A, 31)1 Seven Persons River, 152 Severn, The, 30) Sheep IMountain, 332 Shnrtleft", IMajor, 142 Silver ore, 3(S3 Si(mx, 81), R)l Sitting Rnll, 1)0 Six Nations, Tho, 10 Sixika, The, 105 Skunk, Id Slave River, The, 40 Snow-blindness, 11)1), 201» Snow line, The, 332 Snowy Camp, 195, 321 Sophy's, 352 Sortie, The, 203 Souris, The, 38 Sparovigier 80 Spring, jMakeshift for, 150 Spring Creek (!anip, 3(]2 Si[uaws, 144, 101 Standoff, 37, 239, 323, 328 Starvation Camp, 197 Stoncpipe Creek, 77 132 IShEX. in/: A??: Stoucy IJoy, 151 StolU'.VH, 'i'Jf) stony Ifci^^lits, nil Stniiii^f do;,', 1 IT) StrciiiiiH, hiiii'.'croiis, 'J 10 Stii.l liorscK, -J.'Kt Sii|i<'ii(»i', ],iikc, ;{."», ll.") Siipcrior City, 1 17 Survey, Systiiii of, 11 Swcat-luitli, A, 15 10 Swift Ciirivnt Crrck, l:?r. Hwiiiimiuy Woiniiu Kivor, 'J7U Tattkn, Jn(lji,p, 205 Tent torn, ir5H Teton, Tiic, 251 Tliuiidcr 15oy, 151 TilliiKO ir.7 Tobacco riiiins,n52 Towns, Sites of, .M.S'.) Towiisliips, Tlio, 41 Toronto, 51,111, 2D2 Tourists, 37(5 Travoio polos, 139 Trees, Succession of, 315 Trout-fisliiug, 207 Tusearorus, I'lie, 10 TwoMediciuo llivcr, 213 I'nDT, 275 VANcorVKu THi,A\n, 25 Voya^'c, Tho, 17 Wachtku, 211 Walsli, Fort, 111 W'asli-up Cani]), 317 ^\'ils])'s-nest tree, 1558 Wiiale rivers. Tlie, 3(; Whiskoy tradiiif,', 203 Wlioop-up, 158 Willow Creek, The, 37, r.lO, 211 Winnipeg, 30, 33, K 1, 00, Ul, UU, 388 Wiiinipop Lake, 38 Winnipeg River, 38 Wolfo, 15 Wolseley, Lord, 20 Wolverine, Tho, 101) Women, The position of, 1 15 Yei.lowiiead Pass, Tlic, 40 York Factory, 38 Yukon River, Tho, 40 LONDON ; I'KINTIiD Uy WILLIAM i:i.()Wi:.s AM) s.iNs, LIMITEU, STAMI'OItl> STREET AND C'iIAlU^U C'UOba. i:j ,11)0,211 ), 91,111), 388 3f, 1 15 10, 40 iTREET IThM I IN r« KM (10 \ KM * ^ ^1' ^ [^-^ ^ ^ 1 70 ^4(J St,j/i/'orai',i irtoj^ £stijh\ LoTxdrru L I i X ''^'^KlU J^ Ai---- O 26 511 75 KKI I 1- 1 1 J — JOO .HOC) ^!" .Scale ot KTLqlish MUm A RAIi.WAY MAP OF TIIK Dqil fMON OK CANAFM AND OF Tl Luiulon : Saiiiijsoti I.dh MarsUni, Scail OF THK NORTH KlfIS PANT PART OK TilK UN I I^ K I) STA'I^ K H . 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