IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) /. 1.0 .'I"- IM ■^ !■■ mil 2 2 I.I UUl. 1.8 1.25 1.4 III 1.6 ■^ 6" ► 'W v^ 7: /^ W ^ ^jfosl*' '.> Photographic Sdences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (716) 872-4503 ^ V ,v \\ 4 '^<'<' pH'.n' }■'■')■ ■ml FOREST, LAKE, AND PRAIRIE. TWENTY YP:AR5 OF FRONTIER LIFE IN WESTERN CANADA- I 842-62. I'.Y JOHN McDOUGALL TORONTO: WILLIAM BHIGGS. MoNTKEA.,: C. W. COATES. Hamkax: S. F. HUESTIS. 15047,": A / '>■ '-J / A f\)c^l^au CrOU^ ^^ Entered aooording to the Act of the Parliament of Canada, in the year one tliousand eii^ht hundred and ninety-five, by William Brujos, Toronto, in the Office of the Minister of Agriculture, at Ottawa. * m J } TO ^P Bear /TDotber THIS BOOK IS AFFSCTIOXATELY DEDICATED BY THE AUTHOR. LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. I ii I! I'aok Ka-Kakt! and the buflaln Fnmiifipiire Jsaiah and the bear 16 The 7' Chapter IV, Move to Rama — I go to college — My chum — How I cure him — Work in store in Orillia — Again at- tend college — Father receives appointment to " Hudson's Bay " — Asks me to accompany him. 43 Chapter V. From Rama to St. Paul — Mississippi steamers- Slaves — Pilot — Race 57 VI COXTEXTS. Chapter VI. Paok Across the plains — Mississippi to the Red — Pemmi- can — Mosquitoes — Dofjs — Hunting — Flat boat — Hostile Indians 61 \> Chaptkr Vll. From Georgetown on the Hed to Norway House on the Nelson — Old Fort Garry — (Jovernor Mac- Tavish — York boats — Indian gamblers — Wel- come by H. B. Co. people 71 Chapter VIII. New mission — The people— School — Invest in pups — Dog-driving — Foot-ball— Beautiful aurora . . . Chapter IX. ■y First real winter trip — Start — Extreme fatigue — Conceit all gone — Cramps — Change— Will-power — Find myself — Am as capable as others— Oxford House — Jackson's Bay 85 Chapter X. Enlarging church — Winter camp — How evenings are spent — My boys — Spring — The first goose, etc . . 100 Chapter XI. Opening of navigation —Sturgeon fishing — Rafting timber — Sawing lumber 104 Chapter XII. Summer transport — Voyageurs — Norway House — The meeting place of many brigades — Mission- ary work intensified 106 CONTENTS. vii Chaptkk XIII. I'AUK Canoe trip to Oxford — Serious accident 110 Chai'TEK XIV, Establish a h.jhery — Bieakingdogs— Dog-driving, etc. 114 Chai'TKR XV. Winter trip to Oxford — Extreme cold — Quick travel- ling 118 Chaptek XVI. Mother and baby's upset — My humiliation 120 Chapter XVII. From Norway House to the great plains — Portaging — Pulling and puling iigainst the strctng current —Tracking 123 Chapter XVIII. Enter the plains— Meet a flood — Reach Fort Carlton 129 Chapter XIX. The Fort— Buffalo steak— "Out of the latitude of bread " 131 Chapter XX. New surroundings — Plain Indians— Strange cos- tumes — Glorious gallops — Father and party arrive 133 Chapter XXI. Continue journey— Old "La Gress"— Fifty miles per day 139 i '\ viii CONTKN'TS. Cmai'tkk XX it. I'aiik Fort Pitt — Iluntcir's piir.'ulisc; -Sixteen hiiMalr with aeventoeti Hirows — " liig Hour " 142 ClIAI'TKK XXIII. On to Wliite-H.sli Lake — Beautiful country- Iniliau caujp —Strike northward into forest hind 145 ('hai'tkr XXIV. The new Mission IVIr. Steinhauor lienjaniin Sin- clair IT) I Chai'Tkii XXV. Measurement of time — Start for Smokint^ Lake — Ka-Kake — Wonderful hunting feat — Lose horse— Tough meat 154 Chai'TKr XXV I. Mr. VVoolsey — Another new mission 158 Chai'TEK XX VII. Strike south for buffalo and Indians — Strange mode of crossing "Big River" — Old Besho and his eccentricities — Five men dine on two sujall ducks IGO Chapter XXVIII. Bear hunt — Big grizzlies — Surfeit of fat meat 1(59 Chapter XXIX. The first buffalo— Father excited — Mr. Woolsey lost — Strike trail of big camp — Indians dash at us — Meet Maskepetoon 179 I I r()Nl'i:\'is. IX CHAI'TKK XX\. I'A.IK Tiari4o c'fiin]> Meet Mi-. Stcinluvuei' Witiu^as iirttooss of inakiiit^ pfovisioiis StiJUi'^t! life ISS ClIAITKK XXXI. rjreat ineotinj^— Con jurors uinl iiuulii-iiie-iuon look- on under protest — Fjitluu- j»r<»p1iL',sieH - IViter waxen eloipiont as interpreter I lind a friend. . 11>.'{ Chai'tkii XXX II. 'I'he l»i<4 hunt Uutlalo ))y thv thousand — I kill my first hutl'alo — Wonderful scene 201 ClIAl'TKll XX XII 1. Another big nieetini; — Move camp — Sunday service all day 210 Chapter XXXIV. (heat horse-race — "Bhickfoot," "Moose Hair," and others — No gambling — How "lilackfoot" was captured 211 Chapter XXXV. Formed friendships — Make a start — Fat wolves — Jtun one — Reach the Saskatchewan at Kdmonton 218 Chapter XXXVI. Swim horses — Cross in small boat — Dine at otiicers' table on pounded meat without anything else — Sup on ducks— No carving 220 I •> X CONTENTS. Chaptek XXXVJI. Page Start for new home — Miss seeing father — Am very lonely — Join Mr. Woolsey 222 Chapter XXXVIII. William goes to the plains — I begin work at Victoria —Make hay —Plough— Hunt — Storm 225 Chapter XXXIX. Establish a fishery — Build a boat — Neils becomes morbid — I watch him 235 Chapter XL. Lake freezes — I go for rope — Have a narrow escape from wolf and drowning— We finish our fishing — Make sleds — Go home — Camp of starving Indians en route 244 Chapter XLI. Mr. O. B. —The murderer— The liquor keg 250 Chapter XLII. William comes back — Another refuge seeker comes to us — Haul our fish home— Hard work 252 Chapter XLIII. Flying trip to Edmonton — No snow — Bare ice — Hard travel— A Blackfoot's prayer 254 Chapter XLIV. Midnight mass — Little Mary — Foot-races — Dog- races, etc. — Reach my twentieth birthday — End of this book 263 9B 22 25 FOREST, LAKE AND PRAIRIE. 135 244 >50 >52 64 63 CHAPTER 1. Childhood — Indians — Canoes — " Old Isaiah" — Father goes to college. My parents were pioneers. I was born on the banks of the Sydenham River in a log-house, one of the first dwellings, a very few of which made up the frontier village of Owen Sound. This was in the year 1842. My earliest recollections are of stumps, log heaps, great forests, corduroy roads, Indians, log and birch-bark canoes, bateaux, Mackinaw boats, etc. I have also a very vivid recollection of deep snow in winter, and very hot weather and myriad mosquitoes in summer. My father was first settler, trapper, trader, sailor, and local preacher. He was one of the grand army of pioneers who took possession of 'iiii 12 KOKEST, LAKE AXI) PIL\IUIE. ' I 'it the wilderness of Ontario, and in the name of God and country began the work of reclamation which has ever since gone gloriously on, until to-da}'^ Ontario is one of the most comfortable and prosperous parts of our great country. God fitted those early settlers for their work, and they did it like heroes. Mother was a strong Christian woman, content, patient, plodding, full of quiet, restful assurance, pre-eminently quali- fied to be the companion and helper of one who had to hew his w^ay from the start out of the wildness of this new world. My mother says I spoke Indian before I spoke English. My first memories are of these original dwel- lers in the land. I grew up amongst them, ate corn-soup out of their wooden bowls, roasted green ears at their camp-fires, feasted with them on deer and bear's meat, went with them to set theii nets and to spear fish at nights by the light of birch-bark flambeaux, and, later on, fat pine light-jack torches. Bows and arrows, paddles and canoes were my playthings, and the dusky forest children were my playmates. Father, very early in my childhood, taught me how to swim, and, later on, to shoot and FOREST, LAKE AND TUAIKIE. i:^ skate and sail. Many a trip I had with my father on his trading voyages to the Manitoulin and other islands of Lake Huron and Georgian Bay, where he would obtain his loads of fish, furs and maple sugar, and sail with these to Detroit and other eastern and southern ports. Father had for cook and general servant a colored man, Isaiah by name. Isaiah was my special friend ; I was his particular charge. His bigness and blackness and great kindness made him a hero in my boyish mind. My contact with Isaiah, and my association with the Indians, very early made a real democrat of me. I never could bear to hear a black man called a " nigger," nor yet an Indian a " buck." Isaiah was an expert sailor, as also a good cook, but it was his great big heart that won me to him, and which to-day, though nearly fifty years have passed since then, brings a dampness to my eye as I remember my " big black friend." On some of his voyages father had a tame bear with him. This bear was a source of great annoy- ance to Isaiah, for Bruin would be constantly smelling around the caboose in which the stove and cooking apparatus were placed, and where 14 FOREST, LAKE AND PRAIRIE. Isaiah would fain reign supreme. One evening Isaiah was cooking pancakes, and was, while doing so, absent-minded — perhaps thinking of those old slavery days when he had undergone terrible hardships and great cruelty from his ignorant and selfish brothers, who claimed to own him, " soul and body." Whatever it was, he forgot to watch his cakes sufficiently, for Mr. Bear was whipping them off the plate as fast as Isaiah was putting them on. Father and a fellow-passenger were looking on and enjoying the fun. By and by Isaiah was heard to say, " Guess he had enough for the gentlemans to begin with ; " but, lo ! to his wonderment when he went to take the cakes, they were gone; and in his surprise he looked around, but there was no one near but the bear, and he looked very innocent. So Isaiah seemed to conclude that he had not made any cakes, and accordingly went to work in earnest, but, at the same time, determined that there should be no mistake in the matter. Presently he caught the thief in the act of taking the cake from the plate, and then he went for the bear with the big spoon in his hand, with which he was dipping and beating FOREST, LAKE AND PRATRTE. 15 the batter. The chase became exciting. Around the caboose, across the deck, up the ngging flew the bear. Isaiah was close after him, but finally found that the bear was too agile for him, for presently he came back, a wiser and, for the time, a more watchful man. When I was six years of age I had two little brothers, one between three and four, and the other a baby boy, about a year old — the older one named David, who is still living, and is now my nearest neighbor. The other we called Moses ; he was a beautiful little fellow, and father almost idolized him. Once we lost him. What excite- ment we had, and also great alarm ! By and by I found him in a sort of store-room behind the door, digging into a "mo-kuk," or bark vessel of maple sugar, face and hands smeared with it. What joy there was over the little innocent ! But one summer, while father was away on one of his fishing and trading trips, our baby boy " sickened and died." This was my first contact with death ; it was terrible to witness baby's pain and mother's grief. We buried our loved one in the Indian burying-ground at Newash (now Brook). i! I <}'.' ISAIAH AND THE 1$EAK — {See pa(je L7). M FOREST, LAKE AND PRAIRIE. 17 'k ^ ^ HA -t1 Two years ago I looked in vain for the grave ; it is lost to view, but I never will forget those sad, sad days and nights during little brother's sickness. Our Indian neighbors did all they could to help and comfort. Neither will I forget the hard time of meeting father at the beach, when he came ashore and found that his darling boy was dead and buried. Often since then have I come into contact with death in many shapes, but this first experience stamped itself on my brain. Sometimes I went with father to his appoint- ments to preach in the homes of the new settlers. What deep snow, what narrow roads, what great, dark, sombre woods we drove through. How solemn the meetings in those humble homes ! How poor some of the people were — little clearings in great forests ; rough, unhewn logs, with trough roofs. How those people did sing ! What loud amens ! I almost seem to hear them now. I had an uncle settled in the bush not far from Owen Sound. I remember distinctly going with him and his family to meeting one winter's day. We had a yoke of oxen and a big sleigh. 2 i!! •^> < Pi 1 What a jerk ! and then snap went the big rope as thoujijh it had been so much thread, and away I went to the other end of the small cabin. Crockery, cutlery, and boy brought up in a pro- miscuous heap. Then we broke another big rope in vain, and it was concluded that the most of our passengers should go on to the steamer, and father should pilot the tug over to the Canadian side, where there was a. big scow or lighter, and bring the latter, and thus lighten the ship. Darkness was now on the scene, and the big ship, all lit up, presented a weird sight stuck on a bar and in great danger if the wind should come off the lake, which fortunately it did not. Father started with the tug at first peep of day, and about two o'clock in the afternoon came back to us with the bigr barfje in tow. This was placed alongside the steamer, and all hands went to work to lighten her. In the meantime two anchors were got out astern. One of these was to be pulled upon by the windlass, and the other by the passengers — for there were some three hundred on board. Every- body worked with a will, and soon all was ready. Steam up on the steamer, our tug hitched to her 3 !' I: I fi 1 1 r:r'°"^ ow.iia,.or:„e a:t;r5or'"^^^°'^""-^ my board. ^ " P"" '"°n'h and % work was attending .shoe an^ who roamed the ■ 2,. "' '"' ""^ ?''=''"» the Ian-,ua.e and "f'^'"""=°""*'-y-" Having -manner it'rdtrCth^T--" over many others. "'^ ^^^an'a^e Many a wiJd ride T I,„. i. , " Muskoka fellows "V . ''"' ^'"^ "-^^e i"& I would .0 t„ r '^"' "*■ 'hem com. e» umu oro to meet them wifK u- '""d sleigh, and bring them Tnd . ' ' ''"" > town, and after they had. , . ^ '""' '" 'hem for miles on thlwaV^""""'^'^^ f- whik^rr ^""'^ ''^ -d •ceep them 4 '''''• ■'"' ^''"'otimes after we got I li : I ilr il \* (." 50 FOUKST, LAKK AXD I'MAIHIE. started out some sly fellow would produce his bottle, and the drinking would be<;in, and with it the noise and bluster ; and I would be very- glad when I got them out of my sleigh and had put some distance between us. Right across from us was another store, the owner of which had been a " whiskey trader " the greater part of his life. One morning: I was taking: the shutters off our windows, when a man galloped up in great haste and told me he was after a doctor, that there was someone either freezing or frozen out on the ice in the bay, a little below the village ; and away he flew on his errand. " The old whiskey trader " happened just then to come to the door of his store, and I told him what I had heard. With a laugh and an oath he said, "John, I'll bet that is old Tom Bigwind, the old rascal. (Poor Tom, an Indian, was the victim of drunkenness, and this man had helped to make him so.) He owes me, and I suppose he owes you also. Well, I will tell you what we will do ; you shall take his old squaw, and I will take his traps." My boyish blood was all ablaze at this, but as I'OHKST, F.AKi: AM) JM{AIUIF. 61 Lice bis id with 36 very ixid had ;ore, the trader " itters off in great ctor, that rozen out e village ; 1 just then told him an oath Bigwind, I, was the [ad helped suppose you what ^aw, and I lis, but as lie WHM a" white-headed old man," I turned away in disjiust. 1 then went in to breakfast, and when I came out I had an errand down the street, and pres- ently met the '* Old Trader," all broken up and crying like a child. I said, " What is the matter ? " and he l)ur8t out, " Oh, it is George ! Poor ( Jeorge ! " " What George T' said I ; and he said, " My son ! my son !" And then it flashed upon me — for I knew his son, like " Old Tom," the Indian, had become a victim of the same curse. Ah ! thought I, this is retribution quick and now. I went on down to the town hall, into which the lifeless body had been brought, and there, sure enough, was poor George's body, chilled to death out on the ice ivhile drunk ! One of the gentlemen present said to me, " John, you must go and break this sad event to his wife." I pleaded for someone else to go, but it was no use. I was acquainted with the family, had often received kind notice from this poor woman who now in this terrible manner was widowed, and with a troubled heart I went on my sad errand. FOREST, LAKE AND PRAIRIE. What had spoken to her ? No human being had been near the house that morning, and yet, with blanched face, as if in anticipation of woe, she met me at the door. I said, " Be calm, madam, and gather your strength," and I told her what had happened. It seemed to age me to do this ; what must it have been to this loving wife to listen to my tale ! She sat as dead for p minute, and then she spoke. " John, I will go v/ith you to my hus- band ;" and, leaning and tottering on my arm, I took her to where her dead husband lay. It is awful to stand by the honorable dead when suddenly taken from us while in the prime and vigor of life, but this seemed beyond human endurance. No wonder I hate this accursed traffic. I was very busy and happy during my stay in Orillia. My employer and his good wife were exceedingly kind, and I became acquainted with many whose friendship I value and esteem to- day. At the end of the year I had saved all but $10 of my $60 salary, and with this to the good and with father's hearty encouragement, I startecj for college once more. FOREST, LAKE AND PRAIRIE. 53 >eing I yet, woe, your pened. lUst it to my len she ly hus- ' arm, I le dead e prime human ccursed stay in Ife were Led with teem to- ld all but Jbhe good ll started! This time I was at home at once. Even the old halls and class-rooms seemed to welcome me. Dr. Nelles took me by the hand in a way which, in turn, took my heart. I received great kind- ness from Dr. Harris and Dr. Whitlocke, Mr. (now Dr.) Burwash and Mr. (now Dr.) Burns. I had these jrrand men before me as ideals, and I strove to hold their friendship. That year a,t college, 1859-60, is a green spot in my memory. It opened to me a new life ; it orave me the beginnings of a grip of things ; it originated, or helped to, within me a desire to think for myself. Everywhere — on the play- grourd, in the class-rooms, in the college halls, in the student.;' room — I had a good time. I was strong and healthy, and, for my age, a more than average athlete. I could run faster and jump farther than most of the students or town- boys. I knew my parents were making sacrifices to keep me at college, and I studied hftrd to make the most of my grand opportunity. Thus the months flew almost too quickly, and college closed and I went home ; and, being still but a young boy, was glad to see my mother and brothers and sisters, and to launch the canoe and f — t FOREST, LAKE AND IMIAIUIE. fish by the hour for bass and catfish, and even occasionally a maskinonge. Why, even now I seem to feel the thrill of a big black bass's bite and pull. What excitement, what intense anxiety, and what pride when a big fellow was safely landed in my canoe ! One day I was lazily paddling around Lime- stone Point. The lake was like a mirror. I was looking into the depths of water, when presently I saw some dark objects. I slowly moved my canoe to obtain a right light, so as to see what this was, when to my surprise I made out the dark things to be three large catfish. Quietly I baited my hook and dropped it down, down, near the mouth of one. They seemed to be sleeping. 1 gently moved my baited hook, until I tickled the fellow's mous- tache. Then he slowly awoke and swallowed my hook. I pulled easily, and without disturbing the others put him in my canoe, and repeated this until the trio were again side by side. This was great sport — this was great luck for our table at home. *J>w<^ l-'OltEST, LAKE AND IMtAIKlE. OO even of a ', and uided Lime- I was ssently ed my 5 wbat »ut the ped it They ed my mous- vedmy urbing peated • ick tor In a little while Conference sat, and my father was appointed to Norway House, Hudson's Bay. This news came like a clap of thunder into our quiet home at Rama. Hudson's Bay — we had a very vague idea where that was; but Norway House, who could tell us about this ? Now, it so happened that we were very for- tunate, for right beside us lived Peter Jacobs, Peter had once been a missionary, and had been stationed at Norway House and Lac-la-Pliue ; therefore to Peter I went for information. He told me Norway House was north of Lake Win- nipeg, on one of the rivers which flow into the Nelson ; that it was a large Hudson's Bay Com- pany's fort, the head post of a large district; that our mission was within two miles of the fort; that the Indians were quiet, industrious, peaceable people ; " in fact," said he, " the Indians at Norway House are the best I ever saw." AH this was comforting, especially to mother. But as to the route to be travelled, Peter could give but little information. He had come and gone by the old canoe route, up the Kaministiqua and so on, across the height of land down to Lake Winnipeg. M m I 56 FOREST, LAKE AND PRAIRIE. We were to go out by another way altogether. I began to study the maps. This was somewhere I had not been told anything about at school. In the meantime father came home. And though I did hope to work my way through college, when my father said, " My son, I want you to go with me," that settled it, and we be-< a H Q « My delight was to drive the four-in-hand, and the good-natured drivers would give nie many an opportunity to do so. It seemed like living to hold those reins, and swins around those hills and bowl through those valleys at a brisk trot or <|uick gallop. By and by we reached the beginning of the Red River. We were across the divide ; wo were coursing down the country northward. Hitherto it had been " up north " with us, but now, for years, it would be " down north." These waters flowed into Hudson's Bay. Presently we were on the great flat plain, which largely constitutes the valley of the Red River. At the stopping-place, on the edge of thU flat country, the stage people were about to leave the coach and hitch on to a broad-tired, spring- less wagon, but father simply put his foot down and we went on with our coach. Talk about mosquitoes here, they were there by the millions. Such a night as we put in on the Breckinridge flats ! The stopping-place was unique of its kind — a dugout with a ridge-pole and small poles FOREST, LAKE AND PRAIRIE. leaned against ihis on two sides, and earth and sods placed over these poles, and some canvas hung at either end. The night was hot, the dugout, because of the cook-stove, hotter still, and the mosquitoes in countless numbers. Mother and my sisters were in misery; indeed, we all were, but we comforted each other with the thought that it was for one night only, and that respite would come in the morning. My bed was under the table on the mud floor. My companion for the night was the proprietor of this "one-roomed mud hotel." The next morning the driver for that day said to me, " Now, young man, make a good square meal, for to-night we will reach Georgetown, and you will have only dogs and pemmican to eat." I asked him what pemmican was, but he could not tell me. All he could do was to talk about it. All day we drove over this great flat plain — rich soil, long grass ; the only break was the fringing of timber along the river. We had dinner and then supper, and again the driver would admonish us to partake heartily of bacon and bread, for to-night, said he, " we reach the land of pemmican." FOREST, LAKE AND PRAIRIE. 67 and avas the still, ideed, f with y, and d floor, ietor of iiorning ;^ young aght we ,ve only lim what [at plai^ \vas the id again partake light, said My curiosity was greatly excited as to what pemmican might be. Late in the evening we reached Georgetown. Here we were on the banks of the Red River, and at the end of our stage journey, and where we hoped to find a steamer to take us down to Fort Garry. Georgetown wa^, situated a little north of the junction of Buffalo Creek with the Red River. The town consisted of one dwelling house and a storehouse, both belonging to the Hudson's Bay Company. Here, though not yet in the Hudson's Bay country, we were already in touch with this great company whose posts reached from here to the Arctic and dotted the country from the Labrador to the Pacific coast. The gentleman in charge, a Mr. Murray, learning of our destination, with the usual courtesy of the Hudson's Bay Company's officers, welcomed us heartily, and gave up his room to our family, and himself took up quarters with me in our tent, whicn we speedily pitched near the bank of the river. That night, before we went to sleep, I inquired of Mr. Murray if he knew anything 68 FCJKEST, LAKE AND PKAIUIE. about pemmican, and with a laugh he replied, " Yes, my boy, I was made acquainted with pemmican many years ago, and will be pleased to introduce you to some in the morning." I would fain have inquired about dogs, but my kind friend was already snoring. I could not sleep so soon. This strange, wild, new country we had travelled through for days, these Indian, and buffalo, and frontier stories I had listened to at the stopping-places, and heard from the drivers as we travelled — though born on the frontier yet all this was new to me. Such illimitable plains, such rich soil, such rank grass — there was a bigness about all this, and I could not help but speculate upon its possibility. With the early morn we were up, and using the Red River as our wash-dish, were '='oon ready to investigate our new surroundings. The first thing was pemmican. Mr. Murray took me to the storehouse, and here, sure enough, was pemmican in quantity. Cords of black and hairy bags were piled along the walls of the store. These bags were hard, and solid, and heavy. One which had been cut into was lying on the floor. Someone had taken an axe and m FOREST, LAKE AND PRAIRIE. 69 plied, with leased ut my Id not jountry these J I had i heard igh born J to me. ch rank IS, and I )ssibiUty. nd usino ere '^'oon ngs. . Murray 3 enough, lack and lis of the solid, and was lying axe and chopped right through hair ana hide and pem- mican, and here it was spread before me. My friend stooped and took some and began to eat, and said to me, " help yourself," but though I had not eaten since supper yesterday, and we had driven a long way after that, still the dirty floor, the hairy bag, the mixture of the whole, almost turned ray stomach, and I merely said, " Thank you, sir." Ah ! but soon I did relish pemmican, and for years it became my staple food. It was a wonderful provision of Providence for the aboriginal man and the pioneer of every class. For days we waited for the steamer ; not a word reached us from anywhere. In the mean- time, father and I hunted and fished ; we shot duck and prairie chicken, and caught perch and pickerel, and catfish and mud-turtles, and explored the country for miles, though we were cautioned about Indians, a war-party of whom one might strike anywhere and any time. The Red River was a sort of dividing line between the Ojibways and the Sioux, the former to the east and the latter to the west of this long fluid line of natural division. FOREST, LAKE AND PRAIRIE. By and by the steamer came, and, to our great disappointment the captain said he could not run her back down for the water was too low. This captain was nbt of the kind of pioneer men who laugh at impossibilities. The next thing was to load a flat-bottomed barge and float her down. We were allowed to erect our tent on a por- tion of the deck of the scow, and soon we were moving down stream, having as motive power human muscle applied to four long sweeps. Day and night, with change of men, our scow kept on down this slow-currented and tortuous stream. The only stop was to take on wood for our cooking stove. Here I learned to like pemmican. FOREST, LAKE AND PRAIRIE. 71 our could was ioneer ttomed L a por- ^e were power ps. ur scow ortuous ^rood for to like CHAPTER VII. From (TGorgetown on the Red to Norway House on the Nelson — Old Fort Garry — Governor MacTavish — York boats — Indian gamblers — Welcome by H, B. Co. people. I THINK it was the sixth day out from George- town that we again entered Canada. Late in the evening of the eighth day we rounded the point at the mouth of the Assiniboine, and landed at Fort Garry. It was raining hard, and mud was plentiful. I climbed the banks and saw the walls and bastions of the fort, and looked out northward on the plains and saw one house. Where that house stood, now stands the city of Winnipeg. Fortunately for us a brigade of York boats was then loading to descend the rivers and lakes, and cross the many portages to York Factory on Hudson's Bay. I'll ■\.l im I K 72 FOREST, LAKE AND I'RAIHIE. Father lost no time in securing a passage in one of these, which was to start the next morn- ing. In the meantime. Governor MacTavish invited father and mother and sisters to quarters in his own home for the night. My work vas to transfer our luggage to the York boat, and then stay and look after it, for it was evident that our new crew were pretty well drunk. Near dark we heard a strange noise up the Red, and one of the boatsmen said, * Indians coming !" And sure enough a regular Heet of wild. Red Lake Ojibways hove in sight, and singing and paddling in time, came ashore right beside us. Painted, and feathered, and strangely costumed, these were real specimens of North American Indians. As was customary the Hudson's Bay Com- pany served them out a " regale " of rum, and very soon the night was made hideous with the noise of their drunken bout. I had a big time keeping them out of our boat, but here my acquaintance with their language served me in good turn. Until near morning I kept my vigil in the ore in ' 1 1 norn- avish arters to the , for it y well 1 up the 1 ndians 3 ieet of q it, and e right ■ vl' •angely vi-, North •V J Com- and im, rith the of our their m the I HAD A ISK; TI.MK KKKl'INc; THKM OUT OF (»UK J'.OAT- H ■ "" '■ " ' «l R ii !■ I ^j: M 'i! iif FOREST, LAKE AND PHAIRIE. 75 bow of our boat, and then our steersman woke up, and was sufficiently sobered to relie o me, and I took his blanket and slept a short me. Early in the day we made our start for Norway House. This we trusted was our last transfer. Our craft was an agreeable change to the clums^ barge. This was more like a bateau built and used on our eastern lakes, but lighter and stronger, capable of tanding a good sea, and making good (./"e under sail. We were manned with eight .xk '^ and a steersman. One of the eight was th- bowman. With our eight big oars keeping stroke, we swept around the point and again took the Red for Lake Winnipeg and beyond. Our quarters in the open boat were small, and for our party, crowded, but we hoped to reach our destination in a few days. We had but four hundred miles more to make to what was to be our new home. We were now passing through the old Red River settlement, St. John's, St. Boniface, Kil- donan, the homes of the people on either bank, many of these making one think that these folk literally believed in the old saw, " Man wants 76 FOREST, LAKE AND PRAIRIE. M but little here, nor wants that little Ion*;." Here, as everywhere in the North- West, the influence of the great herds of buffalo on the plain, and big shoals of fish in the lakes and rivers, was detrimental to the permanent prosperity of a people. You cannot really civilize a hunter or a fisherman until you wean him from these modes of making a livelihood. We passed Stone Fort and Archdeacon Cow- ley's Mission, where for a lifetime this venerable servant of God labored for the good of men, on to the mouth of the Red, which we camped at the second day. We had many delays coming through the settlements, but now we were fairly off. Up to this time father and I had not let our crew know that we understood the Ojibway, or as it was termed here, the Salteaux. Often had we been much amused at the re- marks some of these men had made about us, but seeing a muskrat near the boat, I forgot all caution and shouted in Indian to a man with a gun to shoot it. The man let the muskrat go be- cause of his wonder at my use of the language. " Te wa," said he, " this fellow speaks as our- selves ; " and then we became great friends. i FOREST, LAKE AND PRAIKIE. 77 icre, ence and was of a er or these Cow- irable )n, on ed at ming fairly it our ay, or ruage. our- Here for the first time in my life I found my- self amongst " Indian gamblers." Whenever we were wind-bound, some of the various crews (for there were a number of boats) would form gambling circles, and with drum and song play "Odd or Even," or something similar. Here the man most gifted with mind-reading power would invariably come off the winner. Our men seemed passionately fond of this kind of gambling, and it was one of the habits the missionary had to contend against, for to the Indian there was associated with this the super- natural and heathenish, and often these gambling circles break up for the time with a stabbing or shooting scrape. Sometimes wind-bound, sometimes sailing, sometimes pulling, merely calling at Berens River post, where some ten of twelve years later Rev. E. R. Young began a mission, and presently we had gone the greater part of the length of Lake Winnipeg, had entered one of the outward and sea-bound bi*anches of the Nelson, had crossed the island-dotted and picturesque Play-green Lake, had come down the Jack River, and on the tenth day from Fort Garry, pulled up at 78 KORKST, LAKK AXD IMLUIUK. 'I f Norway House, and met a very kind welcome from the Hudson's Bay Factor and his lady, and indeed from everbody. We were still two miles from Rossville. Our new friends nianne 1 a boat and took us over. Here we found the Rev. Robt. Brooking and family ; and as no news had preceded us, we brought them word of their beinsr relieved. And great was their joy, and ours was not a little, for we had now reached our objective point for the present. Here was our home, and here were we to work and labor, each according to his ability. FOUEST, LAKK AND PUAIUIE. 79 CHAPTER VIII. New mission -The people— School- -Invest in pups — Dog-driving— Foot-ball — Beautiful aurora. RossviLLE is beautifully situated on a rocky promontory which stretches out into the lake. All around are coves, and bays, and islands, and rivers. The water is living and good, the fish are of first quality, and in the season fowl of many kinsary outfit was tightly lashed ; then came my train of dogs and sleigh, on which was lashed the load, consisting of fish for dogs and pemmican and food for men, kettles, m il 1 11 I i ii iMHi) i i i ii m$ ' I [ i II i.' »«»• I FOREST, LAKE AND PRAIRIE. 87 axe, bedding — in short, everything for the trip ; then myself on snow-shoes, bringing up the rear. Now, the driver of a dog-sleigh must do all the holding back going down hill ; must right the sleigh when it upsets ; keep it from upsetting along sidehills, and often push up hills ; and, besides all this, urge and drive the dogs, and do all he can to make good time. This was my first real winter trip with dogs, and I very soon found it to be no sinecure, but, on the C()ntrar3^ desperate hard work. Many a time ), -fc first day I wished myself back at the Mission. The hauling of wood, the racing across to the fort — all that had been as child's play ; this was earnest w^ork, and touofh at that. My big load would cause my sleigh to upset ; my snow-shoes would likev/ise cause me to upset. The dogs began to think, indeed, soon knew I was a " tenderfoot," and they played on me. Yonder was William, making a bee-line for the north, and stepping as if he were going to reach the pole, and that very soon, and Mr. Sinclair was close behind him ; and I, oh ! M M 88 FOREST, LAKE AND PRAIRIE. |! 1 where was I, but far behind ? Both spirit and flesh began to weaken. Then we stopped on an island and made a fire ; that is, father and the men had the fire about made when I came up. Father looked mischievous. I had bothered him to let me go on this trip. * However, the tea and pemmican made me feel better for a while, and away we went for the second spell, between islands, across portages, down forest-fringed rivers and blurts casting sombre shadows. On my companions seemed to fly, while I dragged behind. Oh, how heavy those snow-shoes ! Oh, how lazy those dogs ! Oh, how often that old sleigh did upset ! My ! I was almost in a frenzy with mortification at my failure to be what I had presumed to think I was. Then I did not seem to have enough spirit left to get into a frenzy about anything. When are they going to camp ? Why don't they camp ? These were questions I kept repeating to myself. We were going down a river. It was now late. I would expect to find them camped around the next point, but, alas ! yonder they were disappearing around another i:f FOKEST, LAKE AND PUAIUIK. 89 and ,de a 3 fire )oked me go ae feel or the rtages, casting seemed ^ heavy dogs 1 Myl ition at think enough ything. V don't I kept own a to find t, alas 1 another m point. How often I wished I had not come, but I was in for it, and dragged wearily on, legs aching, back aching, almost soul aching. Finally they did camp. I heard the axes ring- ing, and I came up at last. They had climbed the bank and gone into the forest. I pushed my sleigh up and unharnessec^ my dogs, and had just got the collar oti* the last one in time to iiear father say, " Hurry, John, and carry up the wood." Oh, dear ! I felt more like having someone carry me, but there was no help for it. Carrying ten and twelve feet logs, and you on snow-shoes, is no fun when you are an adept, but for a novice it is simply purgatory. At least I could not just then imagine anything worse than my condition was. Snow deep and loose, by great dint of etlbrt get the log on to your shoulder and then step out; bushes and limbs of trees, and your own limbs also all conspiring, and that successfully, to trip and bother, and many a fall is inevitable, and there is a great number of logs to be carried in, for the nights are long and cold. William felled the trees and cut them into 90 FOREST, LAKE AND PIlATllIE. Si '■ f II 'i! lengths, and I grunted and grumbled under their weight in to the pile beside the camp. At last I took otf my snow-shoes and waded in the deep snow. Father and his interpreter, in the meanwhile, were making camp — this was no small job. First, they went to work, each with a snow- shoe as a shovel, to clear the snow away for a space about twelve feet square, down to the ground or moss ; the snow forming the walls of our camp. These walls were then lined with pine boughs, and the bottom was floored with the same material ; then the fire was made on the side away from the wind. This would occupy the whole length of one side ; except in the case of a snow-storm, there would be no covering overhead. If the snow was falling thick some small poles would be stuck in the snow-bank at the back of the camp, with a covering of canvas or blankets which would form the temporary roof of the camp. At last we were done ; that is, the camp was made, the wood was carried, the fire was blazing. Then the sleighs must be untied and what you n-C iheir aded vhile, job. 3now- t'or a io the walls d with d with ide on would ept in b*^ no II poles tack of lankets of the ip was )lazing. lat you KOKKST, LAKE AND I'UAIlllK. 91 wanted for that time to take to camp, and then carefully must you re-wrap and re-tie your sleigh, and .sometimes even make a staging on which to hanjif it to keep it and its contents from your dogs. Many a time when provisions were short, and our dogs were very hungry, I have had to hang up not only all eatables, hut the sleighs and har- ness al.so, for these were largely bound and made of leather and rawhide, and the hungry dogs would eat all of this if they had the chance. Now comes .supper, and while this is cooking we stand our frozen white-fish around the tire in order to thaw them, before we feed them to the dogs. These we feed at night only; the poor fellows mu.st go the twenty-four hours on one meal. The ration at this time is six white-fish to each train of four doers. Each driver takes his dogs apart and stands, whip in hand, to prevent them robbing one another. Supper and dogs fed, those who smoke light their pipes, and we dry our moccasins and duffils if these need it, and accounts of old trips and camp storms, etc., are in vogue. IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) / O A. 6" /^y^^ 1.0 I.I !f 1^ IIIM •^ 1^ III 2.2 H: 1^ IIIII2.0 - 6" 1.8 L25 111114 ill 1.6 V] 7 Photographic Sciences Corporation 33 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, MY. 14580 (716) 872-4503 92 FOREST, LAKE AND I'KAIKIE. '■';!!< [i ' ■f ,.ii if ^> All Our fire is a big one, but our room is a big one also, being all out of doors, and while your face and front are burning, your back is freezing, and you turn around every little while to equal- ize things. While all this was going on, my legs, unused to the snow-shoes' strain and the long tramp, are every little while causing me great pain by taking cramps. I do not say anything about this, but I think a lot. I know father under- stands the case, but except a twinkle of his eye he does not say anything. Presently we make up our beds, and sing a hymn, and have prayer. We lie down as we travelled, except our belts — coats and caps all on — and in order to keep warm, we should lay perfectly still. The least move will let the cold in. But how was I to remain still when my legs refused to remain quiet. Every little while a cramp would take hold and the pain would be dreadful, but with desperation I would strive to keep still, for I was sleeping with father. I could not sleep, and when my legs ceased to pain, and I was about to fall asleep, father lit a r t one face zing, qual- lusecl p, are n by about inder- is eye jing a belts keep least legs Ihile a lid be live to ler. I ;ed to ir lit a POOREST, LAKE AND PRAIRIE. 93 match and looked at his watch, and said, " Hur- rah, boys, it is time to get up." There was no help for it, and up we got. The extreme cold and the dire necessity there was to brace up kept me alive that morning. It was now about three o'clock, and we made a slight breakfast on pemmican and tea, had a short prayer, and tied on our bedding and camp outfit and harnessed our dogs — and mind you, this lashing and tying of sleds, and catching and harnessing of dogs, was hard on the fingers, and often very trying to the temper, for those cunning dogs would hide away in the bush, and sometimes we had to catch and tie the worst ones up before we made any move towards a start, or else they would run away. It was now about four o'clock or a little after, and we retraced our track to the river and again turned our faces northward. My companions seemed to leave me almost at once. The narrow winding river, with its forest- clad banks, was dark and very cold and dreary. My legs were stiff, and my feet were already sore with the snow-shoe strings. My dogs were ■ I' I Hl.< ( y.^a Mi II j' IM;'- -h ifi h: f .1 * 11 ! 94 FOREST, LAKE AND PRAIRIE. indifferent to my urging. They knew I would not run out of the trail to get at them with my whip. I verily believe each dog thought he had a soft thing: in havinjj this " tenderfoot " as a driver. Many a time that cold, dark winter's morning I wished I was at home or in Ontario. I became sleepy. Even my slow-going dogs would leave me, and I would make a desperate effort and come up again, and thus the hours passed and we kept the river. After a long time, a terrible time to me, the day sky began to appear. Slowly the morning dawned, the cold intensified. I was in misery. I began to wonder where my friends would stop for break- fast. Presently we came to a large lake. Out a mile or two, I could discern an island. Oh ! thought I, there is where they will stop. They were near it already, and I be^jan to hope for transient help and rest. Again I looked, and straight past it William took his course, and away yonder like a faint streak of blue, was a point he was making for. How my hopes were dashed, and it seemed for a little I would have to give up. FOREST, LAKE AND PRAIRIE. 95 vould >h my e had ' as a )rnmg nr dogs perate hours I long began d, the Tan to Dreak- Out a Oh! They )pe for and e, and was a led for I was now a considerable distance behind my dogs, when, all of a sudden, a feeling took hold of me, and I began to reason in this wise to my- self. What is the matter with you ? You are strong, you are capable. What are you doing behind here, ready to give up ? Come ! be a man. And I stepped out briskly, I began to run on those snow-shoes. I came up to those lazy dogs, and gave them such a shout ; " they thought a small cyclone had struck them." Soon I was up opposite the island, and I ran away to its shore, and broke a long dry pole, and after my dogs I went, and brought it down alongside of them with another shout, and made them bound off, and picking up the pieces of broken pole, I let them fly at those dogs, and away we went, and presently I was in a glow, and the stiffness in my limbs was gone, and soon I came up to my companions, and said, " Where are you going to have breakfast ? " And they said, " Across yonder," pointing to the blue streak in the distance. " Well, then," said I, " why don't you travel faster, and let us get there ? " William looked at me, and father turned round in his cariole, to see if I was in earnest, and fyppa 96 KOREST, LAKE AND PRAIRIE. W i.' ' I.': *f iJ y thenceforth, on that trip, as ever since I was all right. I had found the secret. I had the capability to become a pioneer and frontiersman, and now I knew this, what a change came over me and has remained with me ever since. No more whining and dragging behind, after that. My place was to the front, and in all the tripping and hardship and travel of the years I have kept there. When we stopped for breakfast, father smiled upon me in a kind, new way. I had come up in his estimation. I overheard William say to Mr. Sinclair, "John is all right, he has found bis legs." Across Lake Winnipegoosis, over the portages, through the forests, up and down rivers, steadily we kept on our course. At one of our encampments we made a "cache" of some fish and some pemmican. This was for our return journey. The manner of our doing so was to rake away the embers and coals from where we had the fire during the night and morning, and then dig a hole in the thawed ground, and put our provi- FOREST, LAKE AND IMtAIHIE. i)7 I was ability 1 now e and , after ill the ears I smiled J up in to Mr. id bis :tages, eadily 3ache" away id the m dig provi- sions in this hole, then cover with a few sticks, and put the earth back, until the place was full, then make a small fire just over the spot, and in going away kick some snow into the fire-place. This would soon freeze hard, and the ashes and embers would destroy the scent, and thus the cunning wolverine did not find our " cache." We saw tracks of moose and cariboo. We saw a few foxes, and hundreds of white partridge. At the southerly end of Oxford Lake we found a single camp of Indians, and stopped with them for the night. They feasted us on young beaver, which was an agreeable change from pemmican. There were seventeen of us in that camp for the night. It was circular, and may have been twelve feet in diameter. On the ground we lay, with our feet to the fire. During the night I felt my foot very hot, and springing up, found that my part of the blanket was burned through, and my dufSl sock was on fire. This was another " tenderfoot " experience. These people were Christians, and delighted to see father, and listen to his counsel and ex- hortation. 98 FOREST, LAKE AND PRAIRIE. Mf ' »;■■ hi Mh The next day we reached Jackson's Bay, where we received from Mr. and Mrs. Stringfellow, the missionary and wife, a very hearty welcome. If Norway House, with its one mail in six months and its small community of English- speaking people, is thought out of the world, where would you place Jackson Mission ? This little man and his good wife (and for a good part of the year many of the Indians away from the mission) and the Hudson's Bay Company's post, with its small company, are fifteen miles distant in winter, and, I should judge, twice that in summer. Why, Norway House is on the front compared with this ! We spent Saturday and part of Sunday here. Mr. Strinorfellow went with us to the fort, and father held a service in the evening, and Mr. Sinclair afterwards gave us this address, which was in English, to those who only understood Cree, almost verbatim — which seemed to me a remarkable feat of memory, seeing he had not taken other than mental notes. We returned on Monday to Jackson's Bay, and left on Tuesday for Norway House ; found our 1 J ■'-,■ 1 J J Hgi ^ i m y i i FOREST, LAKE AND PRAIRIE. 99 here , the e. a six TJish- kTorld, This ipart m the post, istant [lat in ipared ' here. t, and id Mr. "'2' which rstood me a ■^'? id not .#; ty, and 1 id our " cache " all right, and reached home on Friday afternoon, averaginpf forty-five miles per day, which, considering there had been a good deal of storm and our down track in many places not to be seen, was not bad time. ■HllkiM^; 100 FOHEST, LAKE AND I'RATRIE. (i&f t 'i ( !'■' ;i Ih'.. ' ', CHAPTER X. Enlarging church — Winter camp— How oveninga are spent — My boys — Spring — The tirst goose, etc. Some time after this father determined to enlarp^e the church, and the Hudson's Bay Company offered to send their carpenters to do the work, if the missionary and Indians got out the timber and lumber. The Indians went into this work heartily. The first thing was to chop and hew the timber and saw-logs, and haul all these to some lake or river, from which it might be rafted to the Mission. Some good timber was found on an island in Play -green Lake, about twenty miles away. To this place we went by dog-train and on snow- shoes, father and the men chopping and hewing the timber, and myself and my school-boys haul- ing this out to the shore and piling it ready for rafting in the summer. Iti i ) , are pany «srork, imber irtily. imber ike or o the md in To snow- lewing rs haul- dv for FOKKST, LAKE AND PRAIRIE. 101 We were several days at this work — men, boys and dogs, all busy as we could be. The woods fairly rang with chopping and shouting. An Easterner could hardly credit the strength of a good big train of dogs, helped by a stout boy. Then, when the load is out, the return trip is made on the jump, there being no time lost by the way. My boys and I had the roads to make, as well as the timber to haul. Our open camp was a unique sight at night. Big fires stretched along the centre, a brush floor down both sides, fish thawing, fish boiling, fish roasting, fish frying. Our pemmican we saved for breakfast and dinner ; it did not require time to cook. Then fish is more digestible, therefore better for supper. Men and boys sitting and standing, some cook- ing, some mending moccasins, others drying them — all good-natured and happy. Behind all this, but still in the light of the fire, are the dogs. These are of all breeds and of all colors ; some lounging, some snarling, some fight- ing — all waiting, perforce of necessity, for their supper, which is being thawed at the fire. 102 FOREST, LAKK AND PRAIRI'E. ii i :ii ' ml' ' ! \ mil i n\ ! After supper, the dogs are fed, and then the woods would echo with hearty singing. Father was a good singer, and between us we taught these people many new songs and hymns. Then father would open their eyes and minds by describing some Eastern lands and scenes ; and thus the shorter evenings of slowly approach- ing spring would pass quickly, and all would stretch out to sleep, for all were tired. A few weeks after this there was great excite- ment in the village. The first goose of the season had been seen. To men who had been living for the most part on fish during the winter months, the coming of the geese from the south is a welcome change. Presently from all over the village the boys are imitating the wild goose's call, and the old hunters are getting their decoy heads ready. As for the bodies, they can make them out of logs near or at the place they may select for a hunting-ground. Father and I went several times to places near by. We would go Friday evening and come home Saturday evening. Father was an ardent sportsman and a good shot. I will never forget my first goose. I broke i broke FOKEST, LAKE AND FUAIHIE. 103 the I we Tins. inds nes ; >ach- rould ccite- l the been rr the the all wild their y can they places and i^as an m m 'i his wing, and he came down on the ice, and started to run out on the lake. I had a single- barrelled muzzle-loading gun, and I loaded it before starting after the big fellow. When he saw me coming he spurted, with legs and wings. He made good time, and I ran, and ran, and after a long chase came close enough to shoot him again, and stopped him. The Hudson's Bay factor and clerks went a long distance and were away some weeks on the goose hunt. ^\-^ .-•n) -1^"^ -^^^i^^^ j^^ ,?p FOREST, LAKE AND PRAIRIE. CHAPTER XL Opening of Navigation — Sturgeon fishing — Rafting timber — Sawing lumber. Ibout the last of Mav the ice went off the lake, and navigation was open, and we made up another bee to go to raft our timber down. Father sent William and I one day ahead of the party, in order that we might set nets for stur- geon, which we did ; and when father and men came up next day, we had fourteen large stur- geon to begin with. While white-fish is the staple food in that north country, these sturgeon come in at seasons as an extra luxury ; indeed, they are the beef and bacon of the northern Indian. Sturgeon oil is both lard and butter for these people, and blessed is the wife and mother who has many vessels full of it. We made a big raft of our timber, and both wind and current favoring us, we soon had it hauled out and piled up on the beach near the /'»■- ^ FOREST, LAKE AND PRAIRIE. 105 church, and the sawing of the timber was gone into by the Indians in turn, each doing his share. This we carefully piled, to season, and in the autumn the Hudson's Bay Company, as per offer and promise, sent their carpenters, and the enlargement went on, and there was great re- joicing and a grand reopening when the work was finished. I ■>) 106 FOREST, LAKE AND I^RAIRlE. CHAPTER XII. Summer transport — Voyageurs — Norway House — The meeting place of many brigades — Missionary work intensified. f::if ii ;n.' my As the summer months are few in that northern climate, the need to push transport matter is imperative. Norway House was the first depot post in the interior, coming from York Factory on the Hud- son's Bay. Here were wintered the most of the " green hands," those men who had been brought out by the ship the previous summer, and from this point these men were distributed to the various districts in the further interior. To Norway House, in the early summer, came the brigade of boats, from the Mackenzie River, the Athabasca, and English River, and Cumber- land districts. Down from the west, the Saskatchewan and Swan River districts, came the " Braroes " (I give i FOREST, LAKE AND PRAIRIE, 107 and ;i give the word as it was pronounced), the men from the j^reat plains. Down from the south, the Red River Brigade added their quota to these fleets of inland transport. For all these, Norway House was the common centre. At these times the old fort was en fete. The river banks were lined far up and down with boats and tents. The smoke of many camp- fires hung over the place. The prattle of many tongues in different languages was heard. English and French, and Norwegian, and Ojibway, or Salteaux, and Chippewayan, and Caughnawaga and Cree — these were most common at these gatherings, but through and over all the Cree dominated and was most generally understood and spoken. Here were the Governor and chief factors and chief traders and clerks of various grades in the service of this honorable Company. Here were the steersman and bowsmen and middlemen, the hardy voyageurs whose strength of brain and muscle, and whose wonderful pluck and daring, as well as prudence, made possible the import and export traffic in vast regions which would have seemed to other men impossible and inac- lil'lh ' 108 FOREST, LAKE AND PRAIRIE. If J: M ' h cessible. Some of these men would leave their distant inland posts on snow-shoes, and reaching what was the frontier post to them in their sub- lime isolation, would then take to the boats with the first break of navigation ; then, descending rivers and running rapids and portaging falls, they would finally reach York Factory, and unloading and reloading, would turn and retrace their course, and only arrive at the frontier post of their own district at the beginning of winter. Then with snow-shoes and dog-train they would travel to their own homes. The toil and hard- ship of such a life is beyond the conception of most minds, and yet these men endured all this uncomplainingly and without a murmur, in their loyalty to the honorable Company they served. What an object-lesson they were and have been to me ! These gatherings were periods of great re- sponsibilities and also of intense anxiety to the missionary stationed at Norway House. These were the days of temptation to the people. Rum and evil association were rife during these days. Then there came within the range of his influ- FOREST, LAKE AND PRAIRIE. 109 i their idling ir sub- is with ending r falls, y, and retrace er post winter. ' would I hard- tion of all this in their served, d have •eat re- f to the to the re rife ence men who had seldom been at service and many who had not had the opportunity of at- tendincj a regular preaching service for a long time. To say the right word to those who in a few days would scatter, who in a few weeks would be located at widely distant posts, but who now gathered in the mission church, and eagerly listened to the preached Gospel — truly this was a great responsibility for the missionary. Then the men of our own mission would now be starting with their brigade of boats for the summer's transport work. To counsel with these, to arrange the work of the class-leader and local preacher, to readmonish as to Sabbath observ- ance and general deportment — all this kept the missionary busy and anxious. Father was instant in season and out of it. Both among Indians and white men, his influ- ence was very apparent and became widespread in its effect for good. IS infiu- MMWaaj n . m- . ffnumm sass no FOREST, LAKE AND PRAIRIE. H If CHAPTER XIII. Canoe trip to Oxford — Serious accident. In the autumn of 1861, father and Mr. Sinclair and William made a canoe trip to Oxford House. On the return journey they had an accident in the upsetting of their canoe in a rapid. It was in the early morning, and father had his heavy coat on, and was otherwise handicapped for such a time. But faithful William swam to the over- turned canoe, and then pushed it end on to father, and at the same saying, "Keep up, master. I am coming!" and when near with the canoe, " Now, master, take hold. Hold hard, master ! " and these two thus passed through the rapid, and swinging into an eddy at its foot were saved. Mr. Sinclair swam ashore at once, being in light working costume. They lost most of their outfit, including my gun which father had taken along. That same fall, William was bitten on the Sinclair d House, cident in It was lis heavy 1 for such the over- id on to ieep up, with the old hard, ough the , its foot ! at once, ding my 1 on the THE ur.SKT — {Seepage IV)). mmmm Y ''i :! ' I I ' s'i: I • 1 m I FOREST, LAKE AND PRAIRIE. 113 point of the finger by a jack-fish he was taking out of the net. He caught cold in the wound and inflammation set in, and though father and mother did all they could to help him, mortifi- cation followed and he died. Night and day father was with the poor fel- Jow, and we all mourned for him, for his was a noble heart and he was one of God's heroes. MOM tl w ' i n i 114 FOREST, LAKE AND IMlAflUE. CHAPTER XIV. Establish a fishery — Breaking dogs — Dog-driving, etc. This was just at the beginning of the fall fish- ing, and as the Indians were scattered for miles in every direction, my school was broken up, and my father sent me to establish a fishery. So with a young Indian as my companion we went into camp across the lake, and went to work setting our nets and making our stagings on which to hang the fish, as all fish caught before the ice makes are hung up on stagings. You put up good strong posts on which you lay logs, and across these you place strong poles about two and a half feet apart ; then you cut good straight willows about an inch in thickness and three feet long. You sharpen one end of these, and, punching a hole in the tail of the fish, you string them on the willows, ten to a stick, and with a forked pole you lift these to the staging, hanging them across between the poles ; FOREST, LAKE AND I'llAIUIE. 115 ;, etc. 1 fish- • miles 3n up, ion we ent to agings 3aught ngs. ih you y poles ou cut ckness end of le fish, stick, to the poles ; »J and there they hang, and dry, and freeze, until you haul them away to your storehouse. After ice makes, the tish freeze almost as soon as you take them out of the water, and are piled away without hanging. When the fish are plentiful you visit your nets two and three times in the night, in order to relieve them of the great weight and strain of so many fish. Overhauling the nets, taking care of the fish, mending and drying your nets — all this keeps you busy almost all the time. In taking white- fish out of the net, one uses teeth and hands. You catch the fish in your hand, lift it to your mouth, and, taking hold of its head with your teeth, you press down its length with both hands meeting, and thus force the fish from the net without straining your net. When the fish is loose from the net, you give a swing with your head, and thus toss the fish into the boat behind you or away out on the ice beside you. All of this, except mending the nets in the tent, is desperately cold work. The ice makes on your sleeves and clothing. Your hands would freeze were it not that you keep them in the water as much as possible. '(I. 116 FOREST, LAKE AND PRAIRIE. ( I !l i: I ^r ■ I",, ' I In my time hundreds of thousands of white- fish were thus taken every year for winter use, the principal food for men and dogs beincr fish. When the lakes and rivers are frozen over, you take a long rope about a quarter of an inch in thickness, and pass it under the ice to the length of your net. To do this you take a long dry pole, and fasten your rope at one end of this ; then you cut holes in the ice the length of your pole apart in the direction you want to set your net ; you then pass this pole under the ice using a forked stick to push it along, and in this way bring your line out at the far end of where your net will be when set. One pulls the rope and the other sets the net, carefully letting floats and stones go as these should in order that the net hang right. My man and I put up about two thousand white-fish, besides a number of jack-fish. These were hauled home by dog-train. My four pups which I bought from Mr. Sinclair over a year since were now fine big dogs, but as wild as wolves. I had put up a square of logs for a dog-house, and by feeding, and coaxing, and decoying with old dogs, I hite- r use, fish, over, 1 inch the 1 long I this ; f your b your ; using is way e your e and floats at the lusand 1 These Mr. le big up a |eding, )gs, I KoitKS'!, LAKi; AND IM{ Al Kl K. 117 finally succeeded in getting them into it. Then 1 would catch one at a time, and hitch him with some old and trained dogs. Father would o o o f.a" if .«^\ r '• ^^ - II 122 FOREST, LAKE AND PRAIRIE. •'J us", i mm ' ' fit il«ii :' r, i mother and baby seated and tucked in, and off we went, no one hurt, and father had not seen the upset. But a lot of my conceit as a skilful driver was gone, and I learned a lesson for the future ; but, oh ! those dogs were quick and speedy, and anyone driving them had to look sharp. All of this fishing and dog-driving and travel- ling was just so much practice and experience for the years to come in farther and far more difficult fields. I did not know this at the time, but so it has turned out. I FOREST, LAKE AND PRAIRIE. 123 and off Lot seen I skilful for the ick and to look d travel- tperience far more the time, I CHAPTER XVII. From Norway House to the great plains — Portaging— Pullinpf and poling against the strong current — Tracking. As the missions on the Saskatchewan ore under father's chairmanship, he concluded to visit them during the summer of 1862, and to take me alonjT. He arranjjed for me to ^o as far as Fort Carlton on the Saskatchewan by boat, and he, at the invitation of the Hudson's Bay officers, went with them to Red River, and then rode on horseback across the plains to the same point. Bidding mother and sisters and little brother and many friends good-bye, behold mo then taking passage in one of a fleet of boats, the destination of which was the Saskatchewan country. Our route was up the Jack River, across the Play-gr^en Lake to Lake Winnipeg, and then ■ 1 i B| t'^ '|! im ^ !■ III • i| i ' il j I 1 fi {'f' ' ' Mh 11 1 , J 1 ff, ;i « If! ■ t itr n|;' 1 1 V ^ ^ 1 1 1 I ':, i ^ f i 1 ■ ■ i .nil ■•'' • r 'i ■■ 1 i j ^'|; ? '^i III , ii Hi'f 1 ; 1 124 FOREST, LAKE AND PRAIRIE. across the northern end of Lake Winnipeg to the mouth of the Saskatchewan River, and on up this rapid river to our objective point. There were nine, and in some cases ten, men in each boat. There wore perhaps a dozen passengers scattered through the fleet. I was alone in my boat, but nearly always at meal times and at night the fleet was together. Favoring winds and flne weather in two or three days brought us to the mouth of the Saskatchewan. Here are the Grand Rapids. They are about three miles long. Up the first two miles the boats are pulled and poled and tracked ; then comes the tug-of-war. Everything must be taken out of the boat and carried across the portage. Then the pulling of the boats across comes next. This is done on skids and rollers, and all by man's strength alone. The ordinary load is two pieces. These pieces average one hundred pounds each. The man carries one piece on his back, sustained by a strap on his forehead ; then upon this the other piece is placed. This leans up against his neck and head and acts as a brace ; and away trots the FOREST, LAKE AND PRAIRIE. 125 peg to md on n, men dozen I was ,t meal two or of the •e about iles the i; then ust be :oss the is across rollers, ie pieces Ihe man a strap ;r piece jck and rots the man, with his two hundred pounds, on a run across the portage. Mosquitoes and " bull-doi^s," and mud, valley and hill, it is all the same a necessity ; he must " get there." Some men carried three pieces each trip, and thus got through more quickly. The whole matter was slavish, and in the long run costly ; for, after all, there is no greater wealth in this world than humanity, if properly handled. The second day, in the evening, we were across and loaded up, all ready for a new start, which we made early next morning. Still the current was rapid and our progress was slow. Now poling, now pulling, then with a line out track- ing, slowly we worked up the big Saskatchewan. Crossing Cedar Lake, we entered the steady current of this might}'' river. Here we were overhauled one evening by a couple of big inland canoes, manned by Iroquois Indians, conveying Governor Dallas, who had succeeded Sir George Simpson as Governor of the Hudson's Bay Company, and who was now, ^ in company with Chief Factor William Christie, as escort, on his way to visit the posts of the Company in the far north and west. 126 FOREST, LAKE AND PRAIRIE. : ;• il' ii'l f jl These big birch-bark canoes formed a great contrast to our heavier and clumsier boats. They were manned by stalwart fellows, who knew well how to swing a paddle and handle their frail barque in either lake-storm or river-rapid. With grace and speed and regular dip of paddles, keeping time to their canoe-song, they hove in sight and came to land beside us, and we camped together for the night. Up and away they went early next morning to ascend the tributaries of the Saskatchewan which flow from the north country ; then to make the " long portage," which would bring them to the head-waters of the great Mackenzie system ; then up the Peace to the foot of the mountains, and from thence to return by the same route ; while the dignitaries they have con- veyed thus far will now turn southwards across long stretches of woodland prairie, and on horse- back and with pack-saddles, will again come out on the Saskatchewan at Edmonton. With a cheer from our crews, and a song , from their lips as they bent to their paddles, they left us ; but their coming and going had given us a unique experience, and a still further ^OREST, LAKE AND PRAIRIE. 127 a great 1. They knew le their 3r-rapid. paddles, hove in camped morning itchewan then to Id bring ackenzie ot of the 1 by the lave con- is across on horse- in come a song paddles, nnsT had 1 further 'SR' insight into the ways and means of transport and government which obtained in this great territory. For days our progress was very slow. Our men had to ply their oars incessantly. Many times in one day we crossed and re- crossed the river, to take advantage of the weaker currents. From the break of day until the stars began to twinkle at night, only stop- ping for meals, our men kept at it, as if they were machines and not flesh and blood. The sweltering heat, the numberless mosqui- toes — who can begin to describe them ? But if these hardworked men can endure them, how much more we, who are but passengers, and have just now nothing else to do but endure. For myself, I now and then relieved one of the men at the oar, or took the sweep and steered the boat for hours, letting my steersman help his men. By and by we came to where there was a beach along the shore, and then our men gladly took to tracking instead of the oar. Four men would hitch themselves with their carrying- straps to the end of a long rope, and walk and ill 128 FOREST, LAKE AND PRAIRIE. *f ll! ! run along the shore for miles, thus pulling their boat up the stream at a rapid rate. Then the other four would take the collars and our pro- gress become faster. Sometimes we came to extra currents or rapids ; then the rope was doubled, and all hands went on shore to pull and strain past the difficulty. Occasionally two crews had to come to each other's help, and take one boat at a time up the rapids, and though our men welcomed this as compared with the monotonous pull, pull at the oars, yet it was very hard work. Along miles of rocky beach, then up and over steep-cut banks, now ankle or knee-deep in mud and quicksands, then up to the armpits in cross- ing snags and channels, and mouths of tributary streams ; then, " All aboard," and once more bend to the oars, to cross over to better tracking on the other side of the river : thus in constant hardship did our faithful crews slowly work their way up this mighty river. 1 F(JREST, J.AKE AND PUAIUIK. 129 f their en the ir pro- ,me to >e was ull and crews ike one lur men otonous d work. ,nd over in mud [1 cross- ibutary le more jracking onstant work CH API Ell XVIII. Enter the plains— Meet a flood— Reach Fort Carlton. We now caujifht glimpses of prairie every little while. The country was changing?, the banks were becoming higher, the soil richer. We were on the divide between the swampy and rocky regions of the east and north, and the rich pas- tures and agricultural lands of the Saskatchewan valley. Several times as the boats were being tracked up the river, I jumped ashore and ran across land, and was delighted to breathe the air of the plains, and scent the aroma of the wild roses, and behold for myself the rich grass and richer soils of this wonderland, for I had never dreamed of such a country as was now present- ing itself on every hand. Being a loyal Cana- dian, I was delighted with what I saw, and already began to speculate on the great possibili- ties of such a land as I was now entering. We (1 130 FOREST, LAKE AND PRAIRIE. ,t (. , f! If passed Fort la Come, and later on the mouth of the south branch. I remember distinctly climbing the bank near where the town of Prince Albert is now situate, and the present terminus of the Regina and Prince Albert Railway. Then it was without a single settler ; but the whole land seemed to me as speaking out in strong invitation to someone to come and occupy. When near Fort Carlton, we met a fresh vol- ume of water. Suddenly the river rose, the current strengthened, and the work became harder. The summer heat had loosened the ice and snow in the distant mountains. Fortun- ately for us we were near our objective point when this heavy current met us, and presently the bows of oi. " boats were hugging the bank at the landing-piace at Fort Carlton. FOREST, LAKE AND PRAIRIE. 131 uth of k near ituate, la and ibout a i to me jmeone ish vol- )se, the became 1 the ice Fortun- e point esently bank at CHAPTER XIX. The Fort— Buffalo steak— "Out of the latitude of bread." Fort Carlton I found to consist of some dwell- ings and stores, crowded together and sur- rounded by a high palisade, with bastions at its four corners, and built on a low bench, on the south side of the river. The high banks of the river, alternating with prairie and woodland, formed a fine background to the scene. A few buffalo-skin lodges added a fresh item to my experience, and told me I was now in reality in the famous buffalo country. Very soon I had another proof of this, for on going ashore I was told to run up to the fort, as dinner was now on. Finding the dining-room, I sat down at the only vacant place, and was asked by the gentle- man at the head of the table if I would have some buffalo steak. I assented gladly, and enjoyed it heartily. I had eaten pemmican and 132 FOREST, LAKE AND PRAIRIE. i!^'-' :• n- i ■m'^ '' ^ IH dried meat, but this was my first steak, and I relished it very much. Presently mine host asked me to have some more, but I thought I had eaten enough meat, and inadvertently I said to my nearest neighbor, " Will you please pass the bread." This produced a laugh all around the table, and an old gentleman said to me, " Young man, you are out of the latitude of bread." And so it was ; for looking down the table, I saw there was no bread, no vegetables, only buffalo steak. This was an entirely new experience to me; though born on the frontier I had never until now got beyond bread. I was sorry I had not taken some more steak, but determined to be wiser next time. FOREST, LAKE AND PRAIRIE. 133 , and I le host 3Ught I y I said ise pass around to me, Ltude of own the ofetables, •ely new rontier I I was eak, but CHAPTER XX. New surroundings — Plain Indians — Strango costumes— Glorious gallops — Father and party arrive. Here I was to remain till father came across the plains, which might be any day now, as we had taken a long time to come up the river. My surroundings were now entirely different from anything heretofore in my life. The country was ditterent, the food was different, and the Indians were distinctly different from all I had previously met. Their costume, or rather lack of any often, their highly painted faces and feathered and gew-gaw bedecked headv their long plaits or loosely flowing hair, their gaudy blankets or fantastically painted buffalo robes, their ponies and saddles and buffalo hide and hair lines, their sinew-mounted and snakeskin- covered bows and shod arrows, their lodges and travois, both for horses and dogs — all these things were new to me. I was amons: a new 134 FOREST, LAKE AND PRAIRIE. n i 1ii.-i. II? '■'f i'^:' t ;(!, 5 :S ;■ ?:. people, and in a new land I had plenty to do in taking in my new surroundings. Previously canoe and dog- train had been our means of transport ; now horses took the place of canoes. This was a big grass country. Horses and ponies were at a premium here. The gentlemen of the Hudson's Bay Company were exceedingly kind to me. Mr. P. Tait, who was in charge of the fort, lent me horses, and I took glorious rides out on the prairie. Some of us arranged a party to go and meet those we expected to be now near by on the long trail from Red River to this point. Some Hud- son's Bay clerks and myself formed the party. Several horses had been driven into the yard, but I was not on the ground when they came, and when I got there all were taken but one, which seemed to me unfit to ride any distance. Just then Mr. Tait came along and whispered, " Take him, and when you reach the hor«e-guard, who is not far from here on "^-our road, tell him to catch my horse Badger for you." I thanked him, and saddled the " old plug," and off we rode. Many a joke I took because of my sorry steed ; but I could very well stand it all, for I had FOREST, LAKE AND FRAIRlE. 135 to do in een our place of Horses 'ompany 'ait, who es, and I ind meet the long me Hud- e party, ^he yard, ey came, but one, distance, hispered, le-guard, tell him thanked we rode. [y steed ; ir I had quietly asked the Indi.n boy if he knew the horse " Badger," and his eyes glistened as he said, " I think I do ; he is one of the best saddle horses around here." So I was patiently wait- ing my turn ; and it came, for we soon reached the horse-guard, and I told him what Mr. Tait had said. He took his lariat and went and caught a beautiful bay, " fat and slick," and handsome as a picture. I saddled him and came up to my companions on the jump, and astonished them with the magnificence of my mount. Now I was the envied of the party, and proud I was as my horse frisked and jumped and played under me. Ah, those first gallops on the plains ! I will never forget them. They seemed to put new blood in me, and I felt even then how easy it would be for me to ca.«t in my lot with such a life in such a land as this. We galloped past Duck Lake, which long years after became the scene of the first actual outbreak in the rebellion in 1885. We rode down to the north bank of the south Saskatchewan, and camped there without any bedding ; and waiting part of the next day, finally turned back without any sign cy ■ n „ 136 FOllEST, LAKE AND PRAIRIE. i' i- ] it'i If 1 !,|. ■' of our friends, and went into a errand duck hunt on the way back to Carlton, which we reached late in the evening. At this time the old fort and the plain around was a busy scene — our crews from the boats, hunters from the plains, parties of Indians in to trade, the air full of stories about the southern Indians and the tribal wars to and froj scalps taken and horses stolen, the herds of buffalo said to be within a hundred miles from the fort, or less than two days out. BuH'alo-skin lodges and canvas tents dotted the plain in every direction. Horse-races and foot-races wero com- mon occurrences. I championed older Canada against Indians, half-breeds and Hudson's Bay officials and employees, and in the foot-racing and jumping — high, long, and hop, step and jump — "cleaned out the crowd " and made a name for myself and country, and amid such doings spent fifteen days, when father and his party came up and we moved on. Father told me that the first two days in the saddle had been trying times with him. The everlasting jog of the all-day journey made him feel so stiflf and sore the first night that he was ;k hunt reached around e boats, Lns in to southern nd fro. nerds of les from ialo-skin in every ero corn- Canada >n's Bay >t-racing Lnd jump Iname for igs spent came up rs in the im. The lade him he was < 1 rlHUlp 1! if i^' (£1 **fK'*: ^ it! iK I ■ HI Ji> I 1 : f : ( ! 1 ' ^i i i ■ 'j ; ♦ :' w - '^ i I ■J: 'II-' ill i 1:. ''^i* ! i; '1 Ip ii :, j ^ 1;] ■ ■ ml 'M '! t \ Ii ^ '1 ' ' ) .11) ,- ' !• « Ml, J i -!".|;' i: ■ 1, .'t iiik'iii- i' !B#'l fhi 4'l ■ ■ j I'l ..:-: ■:^ :i :' M''^ 1 H i :t • .! 138 FOREST, LAKE AND PRAIRIE. hardly able to mount his horse the next day. But after three or four c'ays this wore off, and the trip had been to him not only a pleasant one, but a revelation as to the resources and beauty of our own country. " Why," said father, " every mile we came is abundantly fit for settlement, and the day will come when it will be taken up and developed." FOREST, LAKE AND PRAIRIE. 139 3xt day. off, and sant one, d beauty r, " every ttlement, taken up CHAPTER XXL Continue journey— Old "La Gress " — Fifty miles per day. Mr. Hardisty, the Hudson's Bay officer who had brought father across the plains thus far, soon made arrangements for our continuing our jour- ney westward. He furnished us with horses and saddles and a tent, and also a man as a guide. Swimming our horses across the north Sas- katchewan opposite the fort, and crcssing our- selves and saddles in a boat, we saddled up and packed our one pack-horse and set out up the big hill, ascending it with more ease than the American I once met at the top of it, who said to me, " That is the mostest biliousest hill I ever did climb." We were now on the north side of the north Saskatchewan, and away we went at the ortho- dox jog-trot for Fort Pitt, the next post in the chain established by the Hudson's Bay Company. n MR: 140 FOREST, LAKE AND PllAIltlE. y. I ";! • f 'I u <* > • '>l Our gjuide was an old man with the name of La Gress, or as the Indians called him, " Grease." Mr. Hardisty had said of him, " He is a good traveller and a quick cook," all of which we found to be true. He was small and wiry, and sat his horse as if he had j^rown there. When on the jog his little legs incessantly moved, and his pipe seemed to everlastingly smoke. He had been to Red River and had crossed the mountains several times, had been on the plains and in the north, had been chased many a time by the enemy, had starved and almost perished once for the lack of food on one of his trips. He was the man of whom it is told that as he sat picking the bones of a raven, he vehemently maintained to his partner that " this was a clean bird." Indeed our guide was a man full of adventure and travel ; to me he was full of in- terest, and I plied him with questions as we jogged side by side through the country. And what a country this was we were riding through — bluff and plain, valley and hill, lake and stream, beautiful nook, and then grand vistas covering great areas ! Every little while FOREST, T.AKE AXD PRAIRIE. 141 name of Grease." ^ a good we found i horse as icessantly rlastingly 'ossed the the plains a time by shed once hat as he shemently ,s a clean ,n full of ull of in- ins as we y- re riding hill, lake n grand Ittle while 1^; \v father would say, " What a future this has be- tore it . We rode through the Thickwood Hills. We skirted the Bear's-paddling Lake. We passed the springs into which tradition said the buffalo disappeared and came out from occa.sionally. Trotting by Jack-fish Lake, on for miles through most majxnificent land and jj^rass and wood and water, we cro.ssed the valley of the Turtle River. We rode at the foot of Red Deer Hill and Frenchman's Butte, where in 1885 — just twenty-three years later — our troops retreated before an unknown and practically invisible foe. We picked up Peter Erasmus, who was associ- ated with the Rev. Henry Steinhauer, and was now freighting for the latter from Red River to White-fish Lake. Peter was, and is, an "Al" interpreter, and father concluded to take him on as guide and interpreter for the rest of our journey. We ate up all the rations, consisting of a ham of buffalo meat and a <»hunk of hard grease. This we accomplished the last day at noon, and we rode into Fort Pitt the evening of the fourth day from Carlton, having averaged about fifty miles per day, which was not so bad for men new to the saddle. 142 FOREST, LAKE AND PRAIRIE. I; S'i '■ 'I ( :V. i'i •'F ! r\i I •: ; :: CHAPTER XXII. Fort Pitt — Hunter's paradise — Sixteen buffalo with seven- teen arrows — " Big Bear." Fort Pitt we found on the north bank of the Saskatchewan, standing on a commanding bench near the river, and having a magnificent outlook — a wide, long valley, enclosed by high hills, which rose terrace beyond terrace in the dis- tance, and the swiftly flowing river coming and going with majestic bends at its feet. This was then the buffalo fort of the Sas- katchewan District, the great herds coming closer and oftener to this point than to any other of the Hudson's Bay posts. This was also a famous horse-breeding spot, the grasses in the vicinity being especially adapted for that business. Here was a hunter's paradise — plenty of buffalo and fine horses. No wonder good hun- ters would be the result ! :v ^i writh seven- k of the ins: bench it outlook igh hills, I the dis- ming and the Sas- coming n to any ing spot, jspecially lenty of ood hun- I t AN EXPERT HUNTER — [.See page lUU). 144 FOHEST, LAKK AND PRAIRIE. From here the party went out which had the Indian with it, to whom the Hudson's Bay officer gave seventeen arrows, and said, " Now, let us see what you can do ; " and the Indian modestly answered, " I can but try," and killed sixteen buffalo in the straight " race set before " him. This was the trading home of Big Bear, who for years was hunter for the fort, and who, later on, much against his own will, was deceived and persuaded to join the foolish rebellion of 1885. FOREST, LAKE AND I'UAIIUE. 145 1 had the on'H Bay a, " Now, tie Indian ind killed et before " Bear, who who, later ,s deceived ebellion of p^ CHAPTER XXIir. On to White-Hsh Lako— Bojiutiful country— IiKliiiU camp — Striko northward into forest land. We remained over Sunday at the fort. Father held service, and Monday niornin«^ saw us away, mounted on fresh horses, which had been pro- vided by the gentlemen in charge of the fort. Our course was now more northerly, and the country increased in interest as we travelled. Away in the distance to the south and west, we caught glimpses of the winding valley of the big river. Around us, on every hand, were beautiful lakes with lawn-like banks ; gems of prairie with beautiful clumps of spruce and poplar, and birch and willow artistically inter- secting them ; great hills, and broad valleys, and gently rippling streams ; a cloudle is sky ; an atmosphere surcharged with ozone above us ; good horses under us; father, and guide, and myself all thoroughly optimistic in thought and 146 FOREST, LAKE AND PRAIRIE. outlook. No wonder that I, in the full tide of strength, and health, and youth, was fairly intoxicated amid such surroundings ! Father was only a little more sober or a little less " drunk " than I was. We were travelling steadily and fast, and amused ourselves by locating farms and home- steads, and villages and centres of population, and running imaginary railroads through the country as we tro«tea and cantered from early morn until night, through those never-to-be- forgotten lovely iugust days of 1862. For food we had pemmican and dried meat. Occasionally we shot chickens or ducks, but the distance we had to travel and the limited time father had at his command forbade us doing much shooting while pemmican or dried meat lasted. We rode over the Two Hills ; we galloped along the sandy beach of Sandy Lake ; we saw Frog Lake away to the right ; a few miles far- ther on we crossed Frog Creek, then Moose Creek, then the Dog Rump. Here I missed my first bear. He was down in a deep ravine, almost under me, and, as is i tide of s fairly Father ttle less •ast, and id home- >pulation, ough the :om early ^er-to-be- d meat, ucks, but ,e limited rbade us or dried galloped ; we saw liles far- in Moose ras down Lnd, as is I FOREST, LAKE AND PRAIRIE. 147 usual with a " tenderfoot" at such a time, I shot over him, and as my gun was a single-barrelled muzzle-loader, the bear had plenty of time to disappear into the thick brush down the ravine. We had no time to follow him. On we went, over hills and across broad plains, thick 1}' swarded with pea- vine and rich grasses, passing Ei;g Lake to the left. Eariy the third day we came to Saddle Lake, on the north side of which we found a camp of Cree Indians. Some of these belonged to White-fish Lake, and were nominally Christians. Others were wood and plain Indians, still pagan, and with- out any settled home, but all glad to see us. Most of the leading men and hunters had gone across the river and out on to the plains for a hunt. From these people we learned that Mr. Stein- hauer and his people, still at the Mission, con- templated a trip out to the piains for provisions, and that they and these were but awaiting the return of the hunters to this camp to decide from the report they would bring as to the direction of their trip. This determined father 'f1 tftJ.'illPIW 148 FOREST, LAKE AND PRAIRIE. !i fi II '♦ ■!» to hurry on to White-fish Lake, and catch Mr. Steinhauer at home it* possible. We spent about three hours with this camp, and had lunch in one of the tents, where we were the guests of Mrs. Hawke, who very kindly loaned father a fresh horse, a fine animal, to take him to the Mission. Father held a short service, and late in the afternoon we started on, two of the patriarchs of the camp accompanyinor us to where we stopped for the night. Many were the questions they asked, long was the talk father held with them, and it was late when we rolled into our blankets and went to sleep. Early next morning we parted com- pany with our venerable friends and continued our journey. Our course lay almost north-east. We were entering the fringe of the forest lands of the north country. We were going farther out of the course of the war-paths of the plain Indians. The more bush and forest, the less danger from these lawless fellows. A plain Indian dreads a forest, does not feel at home in it, and this was the reason for the fi»W<^ FOREST, LAKE AND PRATRTE. 149 ,ch Mr. 5 camp, lere we ■f kindly limal, to e in the atriarchs here we ped, long id it was md went ted com- ontinued I We were Is oi the ler out of Indians. iger from not feel for the selection of White-fish Lake as a mission centre, a place where the incessant watchfulness and unrest (the prevailing condition of the times) on the plains south of the Saskatchewan might, for the time, at least, be largely laid aside. On into this thickening forest-land w^e trotted, a nfj,rrow bridle-path our road. Water became abundant, and mud correspond- ingly so. Within a few miles of the Mission we came to the thickly wooded banks of a stream where we had to swim our horses. Here we met some Indians who were starting out on a moose hunt, and, to my astonishment, one of them seemed to be speaking English — at least I thought so. He was shouting " Dam, davi," but like all men who presume on a too hasty judgment, I was mis- taken, for the old fellow was only calling to his horse, " Tom, Tom," urging him to swim across the stream. With his accent, " t " was " d." Resaddling and galloping on, early in the afternoon we came to the Mi.ssion, and found Mr. Steinhauer and family well ; and as we had heard at Saddle Lake, Mr. Steinhauer and people were making preparations for a trip out to the plains for provisions. 10 ^^H #• ' 150 FOREST, LAKE AND PRAIRIE. »'l;«. As with everybody in the West in those days, their storehouse and market was the buffalo, which, after all, was exceedingly precarious, for pemmican, dried meat, or any kind of provision, and even fish, were alike at a premium when we arrived at White-fish Lake, and it behoved all parties, both residents and visitors, to move somewhere very soon. V i) 'fimm 'f'li 'i!' i:»: \ FOREST, LAKE AND PRAIKIE 151 lose (lays, e buffalo, irious, for provision, ium when t behoved •s, to move CHAPTER XXIV. The new Mission —Mr. Steinhauer — Benjamin Sinclair. In tiie meantime father was delighted with what he saw. Here in the wilderness was the beginning of Christian civilization. Mr. Steinhauer had built a mission house and school-house, and also assisted quite a number of Indians to build comfortable houses. Quite a settlement had sprung up, and this mission seemed to have a bright future. Of course, the bulk of all effort had rested on the missionary, but he proved equal to his work. Preacher, judge, doctor, carpenter, sawyer, timber- man, fisherman, hunter, and besides this a great deal of travel in that country of long distances. Mr. Steinhauer had his time fully occupied. Here we met Benjamin Sinclair, who had come into the Saskatchewan country as assist- ant to the Rev. Robert Rundel, who was the jjp^ I !' 152 FOREST, LAKE AND PRAIRIE. i' I ) 1 first missionary of any church to the tribes of this western country. Benjamin was a swampy half-breed from the Hudson's Bay region. Big, strong and honest, and a mighty hunter, was old Ben Sinclair. In his use of English he made "r" "n," and"t" •d," and used "he" for "she." For instance (introducing us to his wife), he said, " He very fine wo-man, my Mangened" (Margaret being his wife's name). He had settled close to the Mission, and was a great help to the missionary. Side by side these worthies labored, and side by side sorrow- ing families and a sorrowing people some years later laid them to rest. A few hours after our arrival, " the Hawk " and a few of the Indians whose families we had passed at Saddle Lake came in. They had returned from their hunt and had been successful, and brought Mr. Steinhauer some of the meat. They had been attacked by a crowd of Indians, who turned out to be friends from Maskepetoon's camp, and thus they brought us word of the whereabouts of the chief and his people, whom father wa^ most FOREST, LAKE AND PRAIRIE. 153 tribes of from the id honest, iclair. In " and " t " r instance "He very iret being a, and was de by side de sorrow- jome years anxious to see before he returned to Norway House. Accordingly it was arranged that we should meet some fifteen or twenty days later on the plains " somewhere." This was very indefinite, but as near as you could plan under the con- ditions of the time. Mr. Steinhauer would go with his people, and joining those at Saddle Lake, cross the Sas- katchewan and on to the plains and buffalo ; and we would go to Smoking Lake, and finding Mr. Woolsev, would then strike out also for the plains and buffalo, and there we hoped to meet in a large gathering before long. le Hawk " les we had It and had steinhauer attacked out to be thus they Its of the Iwa^ most Wi t; 154 FOREST, LAKE AND PRAIRIE. ^♦t* 'il . !• CHAPTER XXV. Measurement of time — Start for Smoking Lake — Ka-Kake — Wonderful hunting feat — Lose horse — Tough meat. Nights and days, and months and seasons, I found, were the measurements of time out here. Minutes and hours would come by and by with railroads and telegraphs. If you questioned anyone about time or distance, the answer would be, "In so many nights, or days, or moons." The Indian had no year; with him it was summer and winter. We left White-fish Lake Friday evening, having: with us for the first few miles " Ka- Kake," or " the Hawk," and some of his people, who were returning to Saddle Lake. " Ka-Kake" was far more than an ordinary personality. His very appearance denoted this. The elasticity of his step, the flash of his eye, the ring of his voice — you had to notice him. To me he was a new 1 ! FOREST, LAKE AXD PRAIRIE. 155 ig Lake — ose horse — seasons, I e out here, vd by with uestioned wer would r moons. [n it was >> evening, iles "Ka- is people, ^a-Kake" |,lity. His isticity of his voice ras a new I type. He filled my ideal as a hunter and warrior. From Peter I learned that he was brave and kind, and full of resource, tact, strateory and pluck ; these were the striking traits of this man, by whose side I loved to ride, and later on, in whose skin-lodge I delighted to camp. He had figured in many battles, and been the chief actor in many hunting fiekh^ He had surpassed other famous butfalo hunters, inas- much as he had ridden one buffalo to kill another. To do this, it is related that he and others were chasing buffalo on foot, and coming to an ice-covered lake, the surface of which was in spots like glass, some of the buflfalo fell, and Ka-Kake, with the impetus of his run, went sliding on to one of them, and catching hold of the long, shaggy hair of its shoulders, seated himself astride of iv\s back. Then the buffalo made an extra effort and got to its feet and dashed after the herd, and Ka-Kake kept his seat. In vain the animal, after reaching the ground, bucked and jumped and rushed about. Ka-Kake was there to stay — for a while, at any il 1 I. i it 15C FOKEST, LAKE AXl^ PRAIRIE. ■'(;r ! i i< rat'p. Then the buffalo settled down to run and soon overtook the herd, which spurted on afresh, because of this strange-looking thing on the back of one of themselves. Now, thought Ka-Kake, is my chance. So he pulled his bow from his back, and springing it and taking an arrow from his quiver, he picked his animal, and sent the arrow up to the feather in i^s side, which soon brought his victim to a stop. Then he took his knife and drove it down into his wild steed, just behind his seat, and feeling that the buffalo was going to fall, he jumped off to one side, and thus had accomplished something unique in the hunting-field. Around at the end of the lake our roads diverged, or rather, our courses did, for we found very little road through the dense woods, as we bore away north and west for Smoking Lake, where we expected to find Rev. Mr. Woolsey. Pathless forests, and bridgeless streams, and bottomless muskegs were some of the features of the scene we now entered. Our progress was slow, and instead of reaching Mr. Woolsey 's Saturday night, or early Sunday morning, we lost one of our horses by the way, and did not :un and afresh, on the thought his bow king an animal, ifs side, . Then into his ing that id off to naething 'e roads found s, as we g Lake, V^oolsey. QS, and 'eatures rogress joolsey's ing, we did not FORKST, LAKE AND I'llAIUIE. 157 reach Smoking Lake ur^til Monday afternoon. By this time our provisions were about finished, and had not Mr. Woolsey killed an ox the day we arrived, we, and others also, would have gone supperless to bed that night. As it was, we had the privilege of chewing at some of the toughest beef I eve>: tackled — and my experience along that line has been a very wide one. ■^1 i] It 158 FOREST, LAKK AND PRAIKIE. V.I CHAPTER XXVI. • »• Mr. Woolsey — Another new mission. Mr. Woolsey, his interpreter, and two hired men comprised this settlement at the time. One small house and a roofless stable were the only improvements. Mr. Woolsey had be<]fun here within the year, and his difficulties had been neither few nor small. Any Indians who might look upon this place as a home in the future were now either moose-hunting in the north, or out on the plains after buffalo. The reason for establishing at this place was like that at White-fish Lake, to be somewhat out of the way of the contending tribes ; and it was thought that thirty-five or forty miles into the wooded country north of the northernmost bend of the Saskatchewan would give some respite from the constant danger and dread which was a condition of this western country at that time. mi ■> . FOREST, LAKE AND PRAIRIE. 159 Father's plan was that Mr. Woolsey should accompany us out to the rendezvous, already arranged for with Mr. Steinhauer and his people, and as nio.st of Mr; Woolsey s Indians were out on the plains, he expected to see the people of both missions as also the missionaries together. vo hired ne. One the only ;un here lad been 10 might le future north, or ace was vhat out d it was into the ost bend respite lich was at time. H H\ ^k I I l:^ h I ^1 I'M 11, * 1 I !ii ! t' ! I. 160 FOREST, LAKE AND PRAIRIE. CHAPTER XXVII. Strike soutl; for buffalo and Indians — Strange mode of crossing " Big River" — Old Besho and his eccentri- cities — Five men dine on two small ducks. Thursday evening found us striking southward, Mr. Woolsey and his interpreter, William Monck- man, making our party up to five. Peter was guide and father's interpreter. Both positions he was well able to fill. Because of Mr. Woolsey's physical infirmity, we were obliged to travel more slowly than we had thus far. Our road ran along the east side of Smoking Lake, and down the creek which runs from the lake to the Saskatchewan. We had left most of the ox for the men at the Mission, and were to depend upon our guns for food until we should reach the Indian camp on the plains. We shot some ducks for supper and breakfast the first night out, and reached the north bank of the river FOREST, LAKE AND PRATRIE. 161 U m Friday af teinoon. The appearance of the country at this point and in its vicinity pleased father so much that he suggested to Mr. Woolsey the desirability of moving to this place and founding a mission and settlement right here on the banks of the river, all of which Mr. Woolsey readily acquiesced in. The two missionaries, moreover, decided that the name of the new mission should be Victoria. The next move was to cross this wide and swiftly flowing river. No ferryman appeared to a' wer our hail. No raft or canoe or boat was to be seen, no matter where you might look. Evidently something must be improvised^ and, as it turned out, Peter was equal to the occasion. Father and Mr. Woolsey had gone to further explore the site of the new mission, William was guarding the horses, and Peter was left with myself to bridge the difficulty, which, to me, seemed a great one. If we had even a small dug- out or log canoe, 1 would have been at home. " But what is Peter going to do ?" was the ques- tion I kept asking myself. Presently I said, " How are we going to cross ?" " Never you mind," said he; "do as I tell you." "All right," i 162 FOREST, LAKE AND PRAIRIE. *l m^ said I; and soon I received my instructions, which were to go and cut two strp.ight, long green willows about one and a halt* inches in diameter. I did so, and Peter took these and with them made a hoop. While he was making this he told me to bring the oilcloth we were carrying with us and to spread it on the beach. Then he placed the hoop in the centre of the oilcloth, and we folded it in on to the hoop from every side. Then we carried our saddles, and blankets, and tent, and kettle, and axe — in short, everything we had, and put them in this hoop. Then William came and helped us carry this strange thing into the water. When we lifted by the hoop or rim our stuff sagged down in the centre, and when we placed the affair in the water, to my great astonishment it floated nicely, and I was told to hold it in the current ; and Peter, calling to the missionaries, said, " Take off your shoes, gentle- men, and wade out and step into the boat." I could hardly credit this ; but the gentlemen did as bidden, and very soon were sitting in the hoop, and stilL to my great wonder, it floated. Peter, in the meantime, took a " chawed line." This is made of luffalo hide, and is literally A NEW KIND OF BOAT— {See page 163). 164 FOREST, LAKE AND PRAIRIE. >►' what its name signifies, having been made by cutting some green hide into a strand, about an inch or more wide, and stretching this, and as it dried, scraping the hair and flesh from it. When thoroughly dry the manufacturer began at one end and chewed it through to the other end, and then back again, and continued this until the line was soft and pliable and thoroughly tanned for the purpose. Great care was taken while chewing not to let the saliva touch the line. These lines were in great demand for lassos, and packing horses, and lashing dog- sleighs and as bridles. Peter tied one end of this securely to the rim of the hoop, and then brought a horse close and tied the other end of the line to the horse's tail ; then fastening a leather hobble to the under jaw of the horse, he vaulted on to its back and rode out into the stream, saying to me, " Let go, John, when the line comes tight ; " and gently and majestically, like a huge nest, with the two missionaries sitting as eaglets in it, this strange craft floated restfuUy on the current. For a moment I stood in amazement ; then the fact that William and myself were still on this FOREST, LAKE AND PRAIRIE. 165 lade by bout an Lnd as it rom it. )egan at ler end, lis until roughly LS taken )uch the and for ig dog- the rim ose and horse's to the its back le, " Let and jt, with it, this [ent. len the Ion this side made me shout to Peter, " How are we to cross ? " By this time he was swimming beside his horse, and back over the water came the one word, '• Swim ! " then later, " Drive in the horses and take hold of the tail of one and he will bring you across." I could swim, but when it came to stemming the current of the Saskatchewan, that wa:^ another matter. i. However, William and I did as our guide ordered, and soon we were drying ourselves on the south bank, horses and men and kit safely landed. The willow pole and our oilcloth had borne our missionaries and guns and ammunition, and the whole of our travelling paraphernalia, without wet or loss in any way. As soon as the backs of our horses were dry, we saddled and packed, and climbing the high bank of the river, proceeded on our journey. Peter cautioned us by saying, '" We must keep together as much as possible ; there must be no shooting or shouting towards evening ; we are now where we may strike a war party at any time." All this made the whole situation very inter- esting to me. I had read of these things; now I was among them. 11 it 166 FOREST, LAKE AND PRAIRXE. I* ''J:' •■» <• ; We stopped early for supper, and then went on late, and camped without fire, another pre- caution against being discovered by the enemy. Next morning we were away early, and were now reaching open country. Farms and home- steads ready made were by the hundred on every hand of us. Our step was the " all-day jog-trot." Presently father, looking around, missed Mr. Woolsey, and sent me back to look Tor him and bring him up. I went on the jump, thankful for the change, and finding Mr. Woolsey, I said, " What is the matter ? They are anxious about you at the front." He replied by saying, " My horse is lazy." " Old Besho is terribly slow. Let me drive him for you," said I ; and suiting the action to the word, I rode alongside and gave " Mr. Besho " a sharp cut with my "quirt." This Besho resented by kicking with both legs. The first kick came close to my leg, the second to my shoulder, the third to my head. This was a revelation to me of high- kicking power. Thinks I, Besho would shine on the stage ; but in the meantime Mr. Woolsey was thrown forward, for the higher Besho's " f FOREST, LAKE AND PRAIRIE. 167 )n went ler pre- s enemy, nd were d home- m every 3sed Mr. bim and thankful lolsey, I anxious T saying, terribly I ; and longside ith my |ng with my leg, to my f high- d shine Voolsey Besho's hind-quarters came, the lower went his front, and Mr. Woolsey was soon on his neck, and I saw I must change tactics. So I rode to a clump of trees, and securing a long, dry poplar, I came at Besho lance-like ; but the cunning old fellow did not wait for me, but set off at a gallop on the trail of our party. Ah ! thought I, we will soon come up, and I waved my poplar lance, and on we speeded ; but soon Mr. Woolsey lost his stirrups and well-nigh his balance, and begged me to stop, and I saw the trouble was with my friend rather t.'ian his steed. However, we came up at last, and were care- ful after that to keep Mr. Woolsey in the party. This was Saturday, and we stopped for noon on the south side of Vermilion Creek, our whole larder consistinsr of two small ducks. These were soon cleaned and in the kettle and served, and five hearty men sat around them, and father asked Mr. Woolsey what part of the duck he should help him to. Mr. Woolsey answered, '" Oh, give me a leg, and a wing, and a piece of the breast," and I quiet) y suggested to father to pass him a whole one. As we* picked the duck bones, and I drank 168 FOREST, LAKE AND PRAIRIE. \ ' the broth, for I never cared for tea, we held a council, and finally, at father's suggestion, it was decided that Feter and John (that is, myself) should ride on ahead of the party and hunt, and i.'' successful, we would stay over Sunday in camp ; if not, we would travel. •■ I a held a »n, it was , myself) lunt, and inday in ^ FOREST, LAKE AKD PRAIRIE. 169 CHAPTER XXVIII. Bear hunt— Big grizzlies — Surfeit of fat meat. In accord with tu ^ p .n mentioned in last chap- ter, Peter and Fa iJled up sooner than the rest, and rod^ ^v I will never forget that afternoon. I was in perfect health. My diet for the last tew weeks forbade anything like dyspepsia — the horseback travel, the constant change, the newness of my surroundings, this beautiful and wonderful country. Oh, how sweet life was to me ! Then the day was superb — bright sunshine, fleecy clouds, and intensely exhilarating atmosphere ; everywhere, above and around us, and before and beneath us, a rich and lovely country — quietly sloping plains, nicely rounded knolls, big hills on whose terraced heights woodland and prairie seemed to have scrambled for space, and someone, with wonderful artistic taste, had decided for them, and placed them as they were ; lakelets at dif- < I 170 FOREST, LAKE AND PRAIRIE. i 1 1 *i': >, 'l».,» ferent altitudes glistening with sun rays, and that quiet afternoon sleeping as they shone ; the early autumn tinting the now full-grown grass and foliage with colors the painter might well covet. As I rode in silence behind my guide, my eyes feasted on thet?e panoramic views, and yet I was sharply and keenly looking for some game that might serve the purpose of our quest. When suddenly I saw a dark object in the distance, seeming to come out of a bluff of pop- lars on to the plain, I checked my horse and watched intently for a little and saw it move. I whistled to Peter, and he said, " What is it ? " and I pointed out to him what I saw. Said he, " It is a buffalo." Ah 1 how my hunting instincts moved at those words. A buffalo on his native heath! Even the sight of him was something to be proud of. The plain this animal was cross- ing was on the farther side of a lake, and at the foot of a range of hills, the highest of which was called " Sickness Hill." It may have been about four or five miles from us to the spot where I had seen the dark object moving. After riding some distance, we came upon a f FOREST, LAKE AND PRAIRIE. 171 rays, and lone ; the wn f^rass ight well ny guide, lews, and for some lur quest, et in the f of pop- orse and move. I t is it ? " Said he, instincts is native jthing to as cross- id at the hich was ve miles ;he dark upon a ridge which enabled Peter to make up his mind that what he now saw was a bear and not a buffalo. This was to both of us somewhat of a disappointment, as it was food more than sport we wanted. I said to Peter, " Will the bear nob be good to eat ? " " Of course he will, and we will try and kill him," was Peter's reply; and carefully scan- ning the ground he laid his plan for doing this. The bear was lazily coming to the shore of the lake, and Peter said, *' I think he is coming to bathe, and in all probability will swim across to this side of the lake." There was a gully running down through the hills to the lake, and Peter told me to follow that to the shore, and said he would ride around and thus give us a double chance. Accordingly we separated, and I made my way down the gully, and coming near the lake dismounted and crawled up the little hill which alone was my cover from that portion of the lake where I expected to see our game. Parting the grass at the summit of the hill, what I saw almost made my heart jump into my mouth, for here was Bruin swimming straight for me. 172 FOREST, LAKE AND PRAIRIE. ( ' ■ i :' i('i How excited I was ! I very much doubted my ability to shoot straight, even when I got the chance. Crawling back under cover I endeavored to quiet my nerves, and waited for my opportunity. Then, looking through the grass again, 1 saw the bear swimming, as hard as he could, back to the shore he had come from, and though he was far out I concluded to try a shot at him, and doing so, saw my ball strike the water just to the left of his head. Mine was bu<" a single-barrelled shot-gun at best, and here I was with an empty gun and a restive horse, and looking for the reason of the bear's sudden change of front, I saw Peter galloping around the end of the lake to intercept the bear, if possible. Jumping on my horse, I followed as fast as I could, and began to load my gun as I r^de. This was an entirely new experience for me, and took me some time to accomplish. I spilled the powder, and got some of it in my eyes. In horn, which I putti stopper of my powde held in my teeth, back into the horn, I caught some of the hairs of my young moustache, and 'i FOREST, LAKE AND PRAIRIE. 173 doubted len I got Eivored to Dortunity. in, I saw 1, back to rh he was him, and just to the ot-gun at un and a on of the aw Peter intercept fast as I ^de. 3 for me, I spilled eyes. In which I I caught iche, and felt smart pain as these were pulled out as the horn dropped. But, in the meantime, my horse was making good time, and at last I was loaded, and now nerved and calm and ready for anything. During all this I kept my eyes alternately between Peter and the bear ; saw the bear reach the shore ; saw Peter come close to him ; saw Peter's horse plunge, and jump, and kick, and try to run away ; saw Peter chance a shot while his horse was thus acting ; saw that he tickled the bear's heel ; saw the bear grab up its heel and, giving a cry of pain, settle down to run for the nearest woods ; heard Peter shout to me, " Hurry, John ; head him off;" and I was coming as fast as my horse could bring me, and thinking, far in advance of my pace, *' What shall I do if I catch the bear before he reaches that thicket ? My horse may act like Peter's has, and I will miss the bear, as sure as fate." Just then I saw a lone tree standing on the plain right in the course the bear was taking, and it flashed upon me what to do. I will ride up between the bear and the tr»ie, jump off, let the bear come clo.'>€, and then if I miss him !;:;il m' \ ,i •»» 'IV I I I, i' Hr'i .^v^---- i?- ''''«'/"'//'• ''*'0- r:'^:r^T^^x:^--^^^. FOREST, LAKE AXD PR A TRIE. 17: I will drop my gun and make for that tree. I felt I coud leave the bear in a fair run for that distance. We required the food, and 1 wanted to kill that bear. With all my heart I wished to do this, and now I was opposite, and my horse bet^an to shy and jump ; so I uncoiled my iat and let it draj;, to make it easier to catc.i mv horse, and, jumping,' from his back, I let him j^o ; and now the bear, seeinj^ me between hin: and the brush, showed the white of his teeth, put back his ears, and came at me strait^ht. J looked at the tree, measured the distance, cocked my f(un, and let him come until he almost touched the muz/le, and then Hred. Fortunately my bullet went into his brain, and down he dropped at my feet, and 1 was for the time the proudest man in Canada. Mark my astonishment when Peter came at me vehemently in this wise : " You young rascal ! what made you jump otf your horse ? That bear might have killed you. It was all an accident, your killing him. Your father put you in my care. If anything had happened to you, what could I say to him ? " I stood there in my folly, yet proud of it ; HI 176 FOREST, LAKE AND PRAIRIE. JH| Ij ' i '♦'; If ' J 1 1 but I saw I must change the subject, so I looked innocently up at Peter, and said, " Do you think he is fat ? " Then a smile lit up Peter's face, and he said, " Fat ! Why, yes ; he is shaking with fat ; " and jum}>ing from his horse, he grasped his knife and laid open the brisket of the bear to verify his words, and sure enough the fat was there. And now, as the food supply was fixed for a day or two, the next question was to bring our party together. For this purpose Peter said to me, " Gallop away to the top of yonder hill and look out for our people, and when you see them, ride your horse to and fro until they see you, a ad when they see you and turn toward you, you can come back to me." So I galloped away to the distant hill, and presently saw our party coming over another ; and riding my horse to and fro in short space, soon attracted their attention,'and they diverged towards me ; and when I was sure of the direc- tion, I rode back to Peter, who had the bear skinned and cut up by this time, and when our folks came to us, we concluded to camp right there for Sunday. i 1' SO I looked you think Peter's face, is shaking J horse, he ! brisket of ure enough J fixed for a bo bring our Tie, " Gallop ook out for I, ride your 1, iiad when u, you can nt hill, and er another ; short space, ey diverged f the direc- id the bear d when our camp right FOREST, LAKE AND PRAIRIE. 177 We could not have had a lovelier spot to dwell in for a time. Very soon we had bear ribs roasting by the fire, and bear steak frying in the pan. After supper we saw three large "grizzlies" not far from us. They entered a small thicket, which we surrounded, but after waiting for the huge brutes to make a move, and taking into consideration that our guns were but shot, and muzzle-loading, that our camp was well supplied with bear meat, and that it is written, " Prudence is the better part of valor," we retired to our camp and left the bears alone. The fact of the mattar was, as General Mid- dleton would have described it, we " funked." Two nights and one whole day and parts of two other days on fat bear meat straight was quite enough for our party. We did not carry much with us as we left that camp next Monday morning bright and early. Our appetites for this special kind of food had changed since last Saturday evening. Then we ate a hearty supper, but less for breakfast Sunday morning, and this went on in a decreas- ing ratio at each subsequent meal. Even Mr. 1 Hlfii III m'\ • Hf i I ii ■i 178 FOREST, LAKE AND PRAIRIE. Woolsey, a hardened veteran and ordinarily fond of fat, weakened on this diet. How often did we think and even say, " If we only had some bread or some potatoes, or anything to eat with this ; " but there was none, and gladly we left that camp and pushed on our way, hoping to reach the Indians or buffalo before long. FOREST, LAKE AND PRAIRIE. 179 ily fond lien did id some jat with we left )ping to CHAPTER XXIX. The first buffalo — Father excited — Mr. Woolsey lost— Strike trail of big camp — Indians dash at us — Meet Maskepetoon. I HAVE noticed that while man's stomach seems to need a lot of stimulating, yet there are circumstances when this organ, in turn, becomes a great stimulator ; and the slowest in our party seemed to me to feel this that day, and we rode steadily and fast. South-east was our course into the l>ig bend of the Battle River. In the afternoon v did sight a btrlfalo There he stood in his hu<; ess and ugliness, or a plain, without any cov^er The only way w,is to run him ; so father and Peter made read; 1 )r the race. Father was treniondously excited, and rushed around like a boy, pulled off his big riding-boots and left them on the prairie, then threw down i 1^1 180 FOREST, LAKE AND PRAIRIE. ; 'i n VA • '' .1 1 '♦': >• I his coat, untied hip wnferproof from his sad- dle and flung that down also, and putting on a pair of moccasins, he vaulted into the saddle with all the spring and vigor of youth, and rode off with Peter towards the bull, who presently noticed them, and lifting up his big, shaggy head, snuffed the air, and pawed the ground, and then started. His legs seemed to have no bend in them, and his gait at first was slow, but as the horses came near on the dead run his gait increased in speed. As he ran he turned his head from side to side to catch a glimpse of his pursuers. At first I thought I could catch him on foot ; then he spurted, and the hunters drove their horses to their best. Still the brute was too far ahead for them to shoot, and thus buffalo and hunters disappeared in the hills from our view, and, after them, William ; only our pack-horses, and Mr. Woolsey and myself, were left. I gathered up what remained,boots, coats, etc., tied them to my saddle, and we followed slowly at Mr. Woolsey 's pace. " We are lost, John. We may never find our friends again." These were the comforting n his sad- putting on the saddle 1, and rode ) presently aggy head, 1, and then , them, and orses came jd in speed, side to side m on foot ; rove their be was too buffalo and our view, ick-horses, coats, etc., ved slowly jr find our comforting i •A a H y. m O EB O a < Of !il. I >A'-.r- ''.iii i '* I 4 !!I lU 1. 1 I i|i:- 'I >! i FDKEST, LAKE AND PllAIUIK. 183 sentences Mr. Woolsey addressed to me, but I thoufirht otherwise, and said so, and comforted my venerable companion, all the while keeping my eye on the spot where I had last seen our friends disappearing. On into the rolling hills we rode, and I did wish Mr. Woolsey would come faster. Re- peatedly he broke out about our big loss. Then I heard voices, and we came up to our hunters and found them skinning the buffalo. Taking some of the meat, we pushed on. And now the whole country gave signs that rec'jntly large herds had been roaming and feeding here, and our guide said we might strike the Indians very .soon. But it was not until Tuesday afternoon we came to a large trail ; indeed, to many large trails, for these paralleled each other. Thus the large camp kept in a compact mass, which was wise, as the enemy was always on the look- out for stragglers, and as our party was small, we were constantly on the watch against surprise. But in the eaHy afternoon, notwithstanding all our watchfulness, we were surprised by a troop of Indian cavalry dashing at us from out 12 hi it: Mi IF '♦'i •»l I n .' t !■■ I I «<•• WB WKRE SURPRLSED BY A TROOP OK INDIAN CAVALRY {See page 183). 1]'] ^ I v "J? j£ i*«S ,^'7 FOIJKST, I. o^A^ IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) y A &?. f/. S f/. 1.0 I.I l^|28 12.5 I!: 1^ 1.8 1-25 mil 1.4 ill 1.6 Photographic Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14SS0 (716) 872-4503 'V- II' 186 FOREST, LAKE AND I'RAIRIE. « : I , f ! ;' i» = ' ■ !r )H :' ' II leggings. Also fancy-colored calico was common for little shirts, which were not more than waists, and the sleeves of which came a little past the elbow. Most of the young men had their hair " banged," and I believe that fashion, now so common everywhere, originally came from the plains. Most of them had brass pendants hanging from the hair and ears, also brass collars and armlets. Some had sea-shells on their necks. All were armed with either bow and quiver or flint-lock guns ; nearly all were painted, red, yellow and blue being the chief colors, red predominating. The saddles were home-made — some with a bone and wood frame, covered with rawhide ; others a pad of dressed leather, stuffed with moose or deer hair. Stirrups were wood, covered with rawhide ; stirrup leathers end girths were softened rawhide. Saddle-cloths were home- made, consisting of the skins of bear, wolf, dog, buffalo, etc., and trimmed with strips of red and blue Hudson's Bay strouds (a strong kind of cloth made for this trade). Horses were of all colors and sizes, some very smart and frisky, and many of them exceed- FOREST, LAKE AND PUAllUE. 187 ingly handsome. The whole scene was har- monious and picturesque, and highly interesting to me. All my previous life had been spent among Indians, but they were canoe men, and wood hunters, and fishermen, and for some gen- erations at peace. Here were plain hunters, and buffalo Indians, and warriors. " Some of these rode horses recently taken from the enemy. Some of them wore scalp-locks dangling from arm or leg, which not many moons since were the pride of the original owners, and on whose heads they had grown. But as I took in these new surroundings, we were approaching the camp, and the crowd around us had increased. Many more men had ridden out to meet us, and crowds of boys, two and three on one pony, were joining our cortege all the while. So far as I could see, the ponies were as full of fun as the boys. Many of the latter were naked, except for the paint and brass ornaments and beads with which they were bedecked. ^f k^ I ■ M Mr I': FOREST, LAKE AND PRAIRIE. CHAPTER XXX. Large camp — Meet Mr. Steinhauer — Witness process of making provisions — Strange life. Ascending a ridge, the large camp was before us — rings within rings of white tents, varying in size but all of one shape, and all made from the buffalo's hide ; many of them covered with hieroglyphics and paintings indicative either of supernatural power or of martial achievement ; their projecting ventilators tasselled with buffalo hair and gently flapping in the breeze. In and out among their tents, and beyond them for a mile all around, hundreds of horses were feeding, while on almost every knoll groups of guards could be seen, whose duty it was to watch over these herds of horses, and, in so doing, the camp also. Everywhere among the tents were stagings made of peeled poles, on which was spread the meat of recent hunts in various stages of curing ; :oups i to In so Igings the [ring ; 3 1 #1 ,/l |:n,t^ '5 ^'4 vi MM ml i H^nii [fi ' '! iWJm if [i. 'WSt if J -« Ii 11 if! i' ^- ■1 , i tmm '■ 1 • Ir i ^^^B' ' ■ii'^ ii ^^^M #- l>'v ' ii ^^^Mfi^ f M fl^^^^KSs £ V . j 1 mmik: 190 FOREST, LAKE AND PllAIRlE. for here meat was cured without either sugar or salt, with only the sun and wind and the chemi- cals which may be in the atmosphere ; and this meat, either as dried meat, or pemmican, or pounded meat and grease, will keep for many years in a perfect state of preservation. Women were dressing skins, scraping hides, rendering tallow, pounding meat, making pem- mican, slicing up the fresh meat and hanging it on the stages ; some were cooking ; some were sewing, with awl for needle and sinew for thread. Scores of naked children were playing and eat- ing and crying in every direction. Hundreds of dogs, half wolf, were fighting and stealing and barking as we rode through the circle of lodges on into the centre, where a small cluster of large tents stood. Here we alighted, and again the chief wel- comed the strangers to his country and camp, and once more invoked Heaven's blessings upon the meeting, and then invited us to enter a large tent, which was to be our home while in the camp. Here we found Mr. Steinhauer and his people, who had reached the rendezvous ahead of us. 4 f QUEST, LAKE A^D PRAIRlE. 191 ir or emi- this 1, or nany lides, pem- ng it were iread. i eat- ig and h the small wel- |camp, upon large In the [eople, IS. This was the first time in the history of the country that three Protestant missionaries had met on the plains. This was the first time in the history of the Methodist Church that a Chair- man of a District had visited the Saskatchewan country. The lone and often very isolated mis- sionary's heart was cheered, the Christian native was delighted, and the pagan people were pro- foundly interested at such an event. Conjurers and medicine-men looked askance, and may have felt premonitions that their craft was in danger ; yet all were apparently friendly and courteous to us. Soon a steaming repast was served, consisting of buffalo tongues and " boss"; the latter is the third set or back ribs, in the possession of which the buffalo is alone among animals on this continent. To us this nice, fresh, delicious meat was a feast indeed. We had fed on comparatively nothing, then surfeited on fat bear meat, and made our jaws weary with ^ough bull meat ; but this — no epicure could ask for more or better in the way of meat food. Our table was the ground, our mats buffalo robes, our dishes tin. .! i. * < r< |i I ! I .1 1 Had we not brought a little salt and tea there would have been none, for vou migrht have searched the whole camp in vain for these, to many, " indispensables " — the western Indian had not as yet acquired the taste for either. But the kindly manner and princely hospitality, and the delicious quality and large quantity of the meat our hosts served us with, more than made up for anything we might have thought necessary or lacking. - i< ! I>; llL FOREST, LAKE AND PRAIRIE. 193 lere lave e, to dian bher. tlity, iy of than ught CHAPTER XXXI. Great meeting — Conjurers and niedioine-men look on under protest — Father prophesies — Peter waxes eloquent as interpreter— I tind a friend. In due time, after our meal was over, the chief asked father when he would be ready to address his people ; and father said as soon as the camp could be gathered he was ready. Then the chief summoned two men, and said to them, " Ride forth on either side and shout to my people, and say, Our friends, the praying men, have arrived. One of them is from afar. He is now about to speak to us words of truth and wisdom. All who can be spared from care of camp and guard of horses, come and listen." And the criers went forth and shouted as they rode, and presently from the whole circumference of the big camp, throngs of men and women and children gathered to where we were with the chief. The Christians were intensely interested, but the pagans were intensely curious. • I .1 I ' S" (1 ii :i H i .1; 7i^:.: ■ i - ^ FOREST, LAKE AND PRAIRIE. 199 d we Y the camp, ad let e last d the I if he n, and .n who 3 your >er our f. Let ing or et; let Led for Ibuffalo lith the lartici- had a ig how ivined ;o to- said I ed me his horse. " Come and see him," said my new friend ; and I went with him to his tent, where he showed me a beautiful little black, who was standing near the tent door, eating at a bundle of hay his owner had cut and carried in for him. The lariat around the horse's neck was passed into the door of the tent, and fastened near where my friend slept. He evidently was tak- ing extra precaution for the safety of his beloved horse. I thanked him for his kindness in thus providing me a mount, and as I sauntered back to our tent I took in the scene. Horses were being driven in from all sides. Picket pins were being re-driven and made secure. Favorite steeds were being led up to tent doors. Women were busy putting away meat and hides. Others were cooking the even- ing meal over the flickering camp-fires. Old men were walking through the camp, urging to great caution about horses, and some of them enforcins: the advice of the afternoon. Soon came darkness and quiet, but though tired I could not sleep. My thought was busy with all these new experiences, and then the 13 • I • ■ i' - \, ■ ilB^^^^^B 11 f ; J,.H '^^^^H^KVlVV'' ' NHm|| '^^KrIfI '' ' ' 'wilf ^^' 'mml If: .rail ' 'IrIm If 'i t ' 'IBs ' ' ' 1 ' 1 ||f:| 1 1 1' ^ iffiiii' 1 f HHiyw |i 1 1 . 1 ' '^hBu V nM i 1 -'' vBw^v mil' ; ; ^^ni If i 1 ¥ > 1 ■ ffl , 1 J ! i 1 ^K 1 ii '' ' t JH M K 1 i 'jHBf ' M '': ' Rl P H 1 ■ ; H IP' I M .ft ^ra P HkK Bw 1 1 Hp HI 1 ^ "' ImH nil' Mgii nX' kHm^R w Im *' ' nPB 1 P -' '^ ' ^^H' 1 ' >'' '^1 |IH| E |j| flUflff^ K :'•'([,' Um '^^y til ^|KflB ) ji-^. : , fMI flj 1 ^BH ^;i ' m w mI ^11 J 1 1 hB^S '-' i ffl ^■Ib •} ' mtW ' ^' ^■< ] |UyB < ' v : ji' i II ?jii 1 MWJ ' i| i' ] fflut ' f ' Is ' ' m| H i Jjh ffl 1 , 1 1. 1| ,. ' M ||» ' '■ f-'t ' 1 aft ■ v' ■ tti£^ '^i . f |.! . il MjEJr tt 'fill ':' HH 1 . F |,| : f, Kn ■ ' '^ '' ' K^^K Bit- ' r Wki \^'!- '^ '' n ili 11^ i^Mit I'll '''v»IH| 200 FOREST, LAKE AND PRAIRIE. hunt promised for to-morrow kept me awake. When I did sleep I dreamt of painted savages and buffalo. Soon it was morning, and with daylight the camp was astir again. Horses were turned loose under guard, breakfast was cooked and eaten and another service held, and then at the command of the chief, all who could go got ready for the hunt. FOREST, LAKE AND PRAIRIE. 201 CHAPTER XXXII. The big hunt — Buffalo by the thousand — I kill my first buffalo — Wonderful scene. My friend led up the little black, who in the morning light looked more beautiful than ever. I speedily saddled him, and awaited in nervous expectancy the start. At last the chief mounted, and in company with father and Messrs. Woolsey and Steinhauer, led the way ; and from all parts of the camp riders came forth, many of them leading their runners, so as to have them as fresh as possible for the coming race. I found myself in the centre of a group of young men, and in a little while, without any formal introduction, we were quite acquainted and friendly. They plied me with questions about my previous life, the kind of country I had lived in, and how many people there were in " Mo-ne » '. 1 r a\ • I ■ 1 1 '1, ' 1 1 i 202 FOREST, LAKE AND PRAIRIE. M 'I k:,'- i m\ ■• III yang," which to them signified Older Canada. They were astonished when I said there were no buffalo there. *' What did the people live on ? " They were even more astonished when I explained that it was quite possible to live without buffalo. What about war ? Did the people where I came from fight ? Thus we rode through prairie and woods about evenly mixed ; around us multiplying evidences of the recent presence of thousands of buffalo, the country in some places smelling like a barnyard. Then, after riding some five or six miles, we came upon a ridge which enabled us to look down and across a plain or open country, some ten by twenty miles in size, and which seemed to be literally full of buffalo. As I looked, I asked myself, "Am I dreaming ? Is this so ?" I never could have realized it had I not seen it. The whole country was a black, moving mass. The earth trembled to their tread and roar. Sometimes the clouds of dust from the dustpans as the bulls pawed the earth, rose in the air like smoke from a prairie-fire. It seemed impossible, mada. were e live when live id the woods iplyinj; mds of ng like les, we ,0 look some [seemed iming ? it had mass. roar. istpans iir like lossible, FOREST, LAKE AND PRAIRIE. 208 and yet here was the fact, or rather thousands of them ; for every bull and cow and calf was a reality, and so was this long line of straugely equipped Indians on either side of me, and so was I, for my horse became excited with the sight and smell of the great herds, and I found myself a living fact on a very lively steed. As our line moved down the slope, the outer fringe of buffalo fell back on the larger herds, until there seemed to be one living wall before us. Presently the captain of the hunt gave the command, " Alight ! see to your girths and arms, and make ready 1" I watched my companions, and as they did so did I. They tightened their girths, and then they began to look to their arms. Most of them had bow and quiver, and I turned to one with a gun and watched him. He rubbed his steel and pointed his flint, then took from his ball-pouch some balls, selected some of them, and put these in his mouth. I took several balls from my pouch, selected six, and put them in my mouth. These balls were heavy (twenty-eight to the pound), " but when you are in Rome you must do as Romans do." ■ t; « ' ^:l\ m '.' ' 204 FOREST, LAKE AND PRAIRIE. lifii I In a very short time our captain called, " Mount !" and we formed in one long line ; and if it had been ten miles long the buffalo would have extended away beyond. If these huge animals had only known their power and esti- mated their numbers, our line would have been overwhelmed and trampled under foot in a very short time. Instead of this, they moved away as we advanced, increasing their speed as they went, and, following our captain, we increased ours. The horses were all excitement ; the men were pale, nervous and quiet. Under foot was rough ground, and there were any number of badger holes. The possibilities were, being shot, or thrown, or gored. Now we were at half speed, line as yet un- broken, every eye on the captain. Suddenly he held his gun in the air and shouted, "Ah-ah-/iow," putting strong emphasis on the last syllable, and away we went, every man for himself. Whips flew ; horses tried to. Men were sitting well forward, and seemed to go ahead of their steeds. We were in the dust-cloud, eyes and ears and nose filled with it ; then we were through, and here were the buffalo speeding before us. Already FOREST, LAKE AND PRAIRIE. 205 i un- y he ow" and hips well leeds. and and iady the fast horses were into the herd. The swish of an arrow, the blast of an old flint-lock, and the wounded animals jumped aside, streams of blood gushing from their nostrils and mouths, showing that they were mortally hit ; others fell dead as soon as shot ; others had either a fore or hind leg broken, and stood around at bay chal- lenging another shot — and thus the carnage went on, thicker and faster as the slow-mounted * hunters came up. As for myself, I soon found that six bullets in my mouth were at any rate five too many, and I slipped the five back into my shot- pouch. Then my horse would spring over several badger holes, and my hair would lift ; I fancied he would come down in another. When I neared the buffalo, I cocked my gun, and in the intensity of my ex- citement, and because of an extra jump of my horse, I touched the trigger and off it went, fortunately into the air, and thus I lost my shot. I felt very much mortified at this, but hoped no one would notice what I had done ; in fact, all had enough to do in looking after themselves and the game before them. To load under these conditions is no small f <:' ,. I ^^- '/•■<---''*:. -'--'•--^>':^>/ THE HORSK KACE— (■^'''' F'V'' ■'''')• 4 i; 14 ( I 216 FOREST, LAKE AND PRAIRIE. fiCT « Mr. Steinhauer was in the Cree camp when this was attacked by a lartre force of Blackfeet and their allies, and the licrhting went on most of the day, the Crees, though driven in at times, still keeping the enemy away from their camp, and eventually repulsing them ; and when the last successful rally was made by the Crees, one of our people gave chase to a Blackfoot, whose horse, after a long run, showed signs of distress. The "Chief Child," for that was the Cree's name, spurred on, and at last the Blackfoot abandoned his horse. "Chief Child" cap- tured the animal, and very soon found he had a treasure, for the trouble with the horse was that his feet were worn down smooth, and he could not run. This horse, when he recuperated and his feet grew out, became famous, and was called " Blackfoot." Eventually he came into my hands, and later on I traded him to father, who kept him until " Old Blackfoot " died, and our whole family mourned for him. He was not only speedy, but the longest-winded horse I ever owned. Many a time when I had left the other hunt- ers, even on the start, and T/hen their horses ) when icki'eet n most i times, r camp, ien the jes, one , whose listress. Cree's ackt'oot " cap- e had a as that e could ,ed and called to my r, who ind our as not I ever hunt- horses FOREST, LAKE AND PRAIRIE. 217 were winded, " Old Blackfoot " seemed to be only getting down to his wind. I gave a splendid horse, a pair of blankets and £8 sterling for him, and he was worth it. Father prized him highly, and had him with him when, in 1867, he travelled with his own rigs from the Saskatchewan to St. Paul's, in Minnesota, and when he came back, in the autumn of 1868, he brought "Blackfoot" with him. At thai; race which we witnessed, " Blackfoot " came in an easy winner, and because of his repu- tation, the " Hawke " was quite satisfied to have his horse, " Moose Hair," come in second. ' t.l tt Sfl" ti a t I f 218 FOREST, LAKE AND PRAIRIE. CHAPTER XXXV. Formed friendships — Make a start — Fat wolves — Run one — Reach the Saskatchewan at Edmonton. We had now spent several days with this people, and had become acquainted with many of them. I had formed friendships with a number, which, grown stronger with the years, have helped me in my life-work ever so much. Now we must continue our journey. Father told them they might look for him next year about the same time, and as a pledge of this he was going to leave me with Mr. Woolsey in the meantime. Quite a large number escorted us for several miles on our way, and seemed reluctant to have us go. They had provisioned us with the choicest dried meat and pemmican, and our horses were rested and ready to go on. Our course was now westward up the Battle River, and then northward for Edmonton, or asi the Indians term it, the " Beaver Hill House." !' f es — Run on. ; people, )f them. , which, helped ow we d them lout the ,s going ,ntime. several Ito have ihoicest s were Battle I, or asj ise." Forest, lake and prairie. 219 As we journeyed we came near the scene of our hunt a few days since. A number of big prairie wolves were to be seen. They were glutting themselves on the offal and carcases left on the field. They were fat and could not run fast, and one could kill them with a club from his horse's back. I drove one up to our party, and Peter and William and I amused ourselves by making him trot between us for quite a distance ; then we let him go, for wolf-skins in those days were not worth packing any distance. We went in by the " Bony Knoll " and what is now known as the " Hay Lake Trail," camped twice, and reached the Saskatchewan opposite the fort in the evening of the third day. I ,■ 1 I (. 220 FOREST, LAKE AND* PRAIRIE. ; -i w CHAPTER XXXVI. Swim horses — Cross in small boat — Dine at officers' table on pounded meat without anything else — Sup on ducks— No carving. Swimming our horses, and crossinty in a small boat, we resaddled and repacked and rode into the fort, where we were received kindly by the Hudson's Bay Company's officers and invited to partake of their fare, which was just then pounded meat straight — no bread, no vegetables, nothing else. Pounded meat with marrow-fat is very good fare, but alone it becomes monotonous, even before you get through the first meal. At this time Edmonton was without provisions, and only now was sending a party out to the plains to trade with the Indians for some. The next meal we dined on duck straight. No carving by the gentleman who ^served ; he put a duck on each plate, and we picked the bones clean — at least, I did those of mine. FOREST, LAKE AND PRAIRIE. 221 rs' table Sup on , small le into by the ited to 1 then stables, ir-fat is ionous, 11. dsions, I to the [raight. id; he jd the Edmonton then consisted of the Hudson's Bay Company's fort, and this was all in the vicinity. Out north, about nine miles distant, was a newly commenced Roman Catholic mission ; but here the four walls of the fort enclosed evervthing. Stores and dwelling-houses were packed in a small space, and w^hen the trip-men and voya- geurs were home for the winter the post would be crowded. I had now seen three Hudson's Bay Company's forts in the Saskatchewan — Carlton, Pitt, and Edmonton — all situate in one of the richest agri- cultural districts in Canada, but each and all striking evidence that the Hudson's Bay Com- pany was nothing more than a fur-trading organization ; they were not settlers nor farmers. Pelts and not bread, furs and not homes, were what they aimed at. Though only a boy, I could readily see that before many years this would be changed, for no power under heaven could keep settlement out of this country I had already been privileged with seeing a portion of. ^ ■I I'' '! I i H I ■• ;i ■ ? i ^ 222 FOREST, LAKE ANT) PRAIRIE. CHAPTER XXXVII. Start for new home — Miss seeing father — Am very lonely — Join Mr. Woolsey. Father was now at his objective point in the west, and as the season was advanced he must make haste to return to Norway House. His plan was to go down the river in a skiff. I was to remain with Mr. Woolsey as a sort of assistant and interpreter. Our present plan was for Mr. Woolsey to accompany father in the skiff to where we had crossed the river on our southward journey some weeks since, and Peter and I were to take the horses down on the north side to meet them at this point. William had gone on to Smoking Lake and would meet us there. We were to leave Edmonton the same day, and hoped to reach our rendezvous about the same time ; but Peter and I had quite a bunch FOREST, LAKE AND PRAIRIE. 223 lonely n the must skiff, ort of ey to had some le the em at e and day, ~lt the )unch of horses to drive, and most of the road was dense forest, with the path narrow and ahnost overgrown with timber. Our horses, too, would run off into the thicket, so that when we came to an open space beyond, and counted up, we would generally find some were missing. While I guarded those we had, Peter would go back and patiently track up the rest. Thus, instead of reaching the spot where we were to meet father and party the second evening, it was long after dark on the third evening when we came there. I had not seen father to say " Good-bye," at Edmonton, and I had many things to say to him before we parted for the year, and now I expected to meet him camped on the banks of the river, but as we rode down the hill into the valley all was darkness. There could be no mistake ; this was the spot, but no camp and no sign of father. We wondered what was up ; presently I saw something white, and, riding to it, found a note stuck in the end of a small pole, and we lit a match and I read : ! IJ ill iJ I '! lU ^1 1 ^ , 1'^ ll, Ik '- iuii 224 FOREST, LAKE AND PRAIRIE. "My Dear Boy, — " We came here early to-day and waited some hours, but the season urges me on. Am sorry to miss meeting you. Play the man. Do your best to help Mr. Woolsey. " God bless you, my son. Good-bye. " Your loving father, "G. McDoUGALL." If I had been alone I could have cried heartily in my great disappointment. Oh ! what a fit of lonesomeness and homesickness came upon me, but there was no time for long lamentation. We found that Mr. Woolsey and William had gone on towards Smoking Lake, and we fol- lowed and came up with them late at night, and I began my service with Mr. Woolsey ; but it took days of constant change to lift from my mind the shadow of my disappointment in miss- ing father. FOREST, LAKE AND PRAIRIE. 225 some sorry your LL." jartily L fit of )n me, 1. had e fol- b, and 3Ut it m my miss- CHAPTER XXXVIII. William goes to the plains — I begin work at Victoria — Make hay — Plough — Hunt — Storm. Father had suggested two plans for immediate action : One was to send William out to the plains to trade some provisions ; the other was to send me to the site of the new mission, and have me make some hay and plough some land ready for next spring, and thus take up the ground. Mr. Woolsey decided to act on both. The former was very necessary, for we were living on duck, rabbits, etc., and the supply was pre- carious. William took an Indian as his companion, and I a white man, by the name of Gladstone, as mine. We travelled together as far as the river. This time we took a skiff Mr. Woolsey had on Smok- ing Lake. 22() FOREST. LAKE AND PRAIRIE. mi. We took this as far as we^could by water and then loaded it on to a cart, and when we reached the river we took William's carts apart and crossed them over, and he and his companion started out to look for provisions, while Glad- stone and myself to put up hay and plough land. For the former we had two scythes, and for the latter a coulterless plough ; but we had a tremendously big yoke of oxen. We pitched our lodge down on the bank of the river and went to work ; but as we had to hunt our food as well as work, we did not rush things as I wanted to. My companion had been a long time in the Hudson's Bay Company's service, but was a boat-builder by trade, and knew little about either haymaking or ploughing or hunting ; but he was a first-rate fellow, willing always to do his best. He told me that though he had been in the country for a long time, he had seldom fired a gun and had never set a net. We had between us a single-barrelled shot- gun, percussion-lock, and a double-barrelled flint- lock. The first thing we did was to make some floats, FOREST, LAKE AND PRAIRIE. 227 the ras a ibout [ting ; \,ys to had had shot- flint- Loats, and put strings on some stones, and I tied up a net we had and we crossed the river, and set it in an eddy ; then we fixed up our scythes and started in to cut hay on the ground where we intended to plough. We had several horses with us, and these and the oxen gave us a lot of trouble. Many an hour we lost in hunting them, but we kept at it. At first our food supply was good. I caught several fine trout in my net, and shot some ducks and chickens. We succeeded in making two good-sized stacks of hay. Then we went to ploughing, but our oxen had never pulled together before — good in the cart, but hard to manage in double harness. It was not until the second day, after a great deal of hard work, that we finally got them to pull together. Then our plough, without a coulter, bothered us tremendously ; but we staked out a plot of ground, and were determined, if possible, to tear it up. Once our oxen got away, and we lost them for three days. " Glad," as I called him, knew very little about tracking, and I very little at that ' i' ' •'■ ■! M mm 228 FOREST, LAKE AND PRAIRIE. time, but the third day, late in the evening, I came across the huge fellows, wallowing in pea- vine almost up to their backs, and away they went, with their tails up, and I had to run my horse to head them off tor our tent. One morning, very early, I was across looking at my net, and caught a couple of fine large trout. Happening to look down the river, I saw some men in single file coming along our side, keeping well under the bank. My heart leaped into my mouth as I thought of a war- party ; but as I looked, presently the prow of a boat came swinging into view around the point, and I knew these men I saw were tracking her up. What a relief, and how thankful I was to think I might hear some news of home and father and the outside world, for though it was now more than four months since I left home, I had not heard a word. I hurried up and fixed my net, and pulled across and told Glad the news about the boat, and he was as excited as mvself. Isolation is all very fine, but most of us soon get very tired of it. I for one never could com- prehend the fellow who sighed, " Oh, for a FOREST, LAKE AND PllAlRIE. 229 1 pea- they in my )oking large ver, I ng our J heart a war- w of a point, [acking think father Is now I had :ed my news IV self. IS soon com- for a lodge in some vast wilderness ! " Very soon the boat came to us, and we found that it contained the chief factor, William Christie, Esq., and his family, and was on its way to Edmonton. Mr. Christie told me about father passing Carlton in good time some weoks since, and assured me that he would now be safe at home at Norway House. He said that there was no late packet and he had no news from the east. He went up and looked at our ploughing, and laughed at our lack of coulter. " Just like Mr. Woolsey, to bring a plough without a coulter," said he ; but the same gentleman bought a lot of barley of us some three years after this. They had hams of buffalo meat hanging over tlie prow and stern of their boat. I offered them my fish, hoping they would offer me some buffalo meat. They took my fish gladly, but did not offer us any meat. This was undoubtedly be- cause they did not think of it, or they would have done so, but both Glad and I confessed to each other afterwards our sore disappoint- ment. However, we ploughed on. One morning I had come ashore from the net . ,1 ti .■It hri^- '»«'-«m»t^, lilfflHI 230 FOREST, LAKE AND PRATRIE. with some fish in my boat, and, ^oing up to the tent, Glad went down to the river to clean them. In a little while I looked over the bank, and, sitting within a few feet of Glad (who was engaged with the tish, just at the edge of the water), was a grey goose, looking earnestly at this object beside him ; but as Glad made no sudden movement, the goose seemed to wonder whether this was alive or not. I slipped back for my gun and shot the goose, and Glad who thought somebody was shooting at him, jumped for his life, but I pointed to the dead goose and he was comforted. Philanthropists make a great mistake when they begin to comfort others through their heads. Let them begin at their stomachs, which makes straighter and quicker work. We were still three or four days away from our self -set task, when, as if by mutual agree- ment, the fish would not be caught, the ducks and geese took flight south, and the chickens left our vicinity. To use a western phrase, " The luck was agin' us." We had started with two salt buffalo tongues as our outfit, when we left Mr. Woolsey. We had still one of these left. to the \ them, k, and, 10 was of the ;stly at lade no wonder jd back ad who jumped )ose and e when r heads. makes ly from agree- le ducks lens left p, "The |ith two we left kse left. '■^^x%?S^^^'"-^ o ri I X o a o o as w c TO J* lis :J ti, 'ill!' '^ m M l.» If ^■^il^«mm«WV 232 FOREST, LAKE AND PRAIRIE. f I It '' We boiled ifc, and ate half the first day of our hard luck. We worked harder and later at our ploughing the second day. We finished the tongue and ploughed on. The third day we finished our task about two o'clock, and then I took my gun and hunted until dark, while Glad gathered and hobbled the horses close to camp. Not a rabbit or duck or chicken did I see. If I had been a pagan Indian, I wruld have said, " Mine enemy hath done this. Somebody is working bad medicine about me." But I had long before this found out that the larder of a hunter or fisherman is apt to be empty at times. Glad and I sat beside our camp-fire that night, and were solemn and quiet. There was a something lacking in our surroundings, and we felt it keenly. For a week we had been on very short *' commons," and since yesterday had not tasted any food, and worked hard. In the meantime, there is no denying it, we were terribly hungry. Early next morning we took down our tent and packed our stuff. We had neither pack nor riding-saddles, as we had come this far with William, and we had hoped that he would have )f our at our id the ly we then I eGlad I camp. k ,/« i have Liebody b I had ir of a FOREST, LAKE AND PRAIRIE. 233 times, e that e was s, and en on y had n the were Ir tent Ick nor with have returned before we were through our work ; but going on the plains was going into a large country. You might strike the camp soon, or you might be weeks looking for them, and when you found the Indians, they might be in a , orse condition as to provisions than you were. This all depended on the buffalo in their migrations — sometimes here, and again hundreds of miles away. William may turn up any time, and it may be a month or six weeks before we hear from him. As it is, Glad and I do the best we can without saddles, and start for home. Having the oxen, we went slow. After travelling about ten miles, I saw some- one coming towards us, and presently made out that it was a white man, and I galloped on to meet him, and found that it was Neils, the Norwegian, who was with Mr. Woolsey. He was on foot, but I saw he had a small pack on his back, and my first question was, " Have you anything to eat ? " and he said he had a few boiled tongues on his back. Then I told him that Glad and I were very hungry, and would very soon lighten his pack. He told me . ! I ill ill m-?^ (*« ,: . . - If il:i "^{ Wm Pi ■I? 234 FOREST, LAKE AND PRAIRIE. HM i 1 1 Mr. Woolsey bad become anxious about us, and at last sent him to see if we were still alive. "When Glad came up, we soon showed Neils that our appetites were fully alive, for we each took a whole tongue and ate it ; then we split another in two and devoured that. And now, in company with Neils, we continued our jour- ney, reaching Mr. Woolsey's the same evening, but making great attempts to lower the lakes and creeks by the way, for our thirst after the salt tongues was intense. w- n ■| , i FOREST, LAKE AND PRAIRIE. 235 CHAPTER XXXIX. Establish a fishery — Build a boat — Neils becomes morbid — I watch him. The next thing was to establish a fishery. The buffalo might fail us, and so might the fish, but we must tiy both ; and as I happened to be the only one in our party who knew any- thing about nets and fishing, this work came to me. So I began to overhaul what nets Mr. Woolsey had, and went to work mending and fixing them up. About twenty-five miles north of us was a lake, in which a species of white-fish were said to abound, and our plan was to make a road out to that and give it a fair trial. In the meantime, because of an extra soaking I got in a rain storm, I had a severe attack of inflammation, and, to use another western phrase, had a "close call." But Mr. Woolsey proved to be a capital nurse and doctor com- r 1 i: ' I 236 FOREST, LAKE AND PRAIRIE. \l Jl' m> '■ I !'■<: bined. He physicked, and blistered, and ponl- ticed for day and ni<]fht, and I soon got better, but was still weak and sore when we started for the lake. I took both Glad and Neils with me, our plan being to saw lumber and make a boat, and then send Glad back, and Neils and I go on with the fishing. Behold us then started, the invalid of the party on horseback, and Glad and Neils each with an axe in hand, and leading an ox on whose back our whole outfit was packed — buffalo lodge tents, bedding, ammunition, kettles, cups, whip-saw, nails, tools, everything we must have for our enterprise. These oxen had never been packed before, and were a little frisky about it, and soveral times made a scattering of things before they settled down to steady work. We had to clear out a great deal of the way, and to find this way without any guide or previous knowledge of the place ; but our fron- tier instinct did us good service, and early the third day we came out upon the lake, a beautiful sheet of water surrounded by high forest-clad hills. way, de or fron- y the utiful t-clad ,\k ' I' 14 I. i:i 5 (1: : r w _ ^' i hbi 238 FOREST, LAKE AND PRAIRIE. I •(; ' \. ' H\: I We had with us ten large sleigh dogs, and they were hungry, and for their sakes as well as our own, we hardly got the packs and saddles oti' our animals when we set to work to make a raft, manufacturing floats antl tie-stones, and preparing all for going into the water. Very soon we had the net set ; then we put up our lodge, and at once erected a saw-pit, and the men went to work to cut lumber for the boat we had to build. Before long, in looking out to where we had set the net, I saw that all the floats had dis- appeared under the water. This indicated that fish were caught, and I got on the raft and poled out to the net. My purpose was to merely overhaul it, and take the fish out, leaving the net set; but I very soon saw that this was impossible. I must take up the net as it was, or else lose the fish, for they would flop off" my raft as fast as I took them out of the net ; so I went back to the end of the net and untied it from the stake, and took in the whole thing. Fortunately the net was short and the lake calm, for presently I was up to my knees in water, and fish, a living, struggling, slimy mass, 'i? 3 had i dis- that It and erely Ig the was was, ffmy ; so I lied it lake ^es in (mass, tf^' •«*»— »w,«l!l»,„ .1 240 FOREST, LAKE AND PRAIRIE. * .-i i ' all around me, so that my raft sank below the surface quite a bit. Fortunately, the fish were pulling in all possible contrary directions, for if they had swam in concert, they could have swum away with my raft and myself. As it was, I poled slowly to the shore, and shouted to my men to come to the rescue, and we soon had landed between two and three hundred fish — not exactly, but very nearly white-fish. As to quality, not first-cl^ss by any means ; still, th ^y would serve as dog food, and be a guarantee from starvation to man. We had found the lake. We had found the fish, and now knew them to be plentiful ; so far, so good. After the dogs were fed and the fish hung up, and the net drying, I began to think that I was running the risk of a relapse. So I took my gun and started out along the lake to explore, and make myself warm with quick walking. I went to the top of a high hill, saw that the lake was several miles long, shot a couple of fall ducks, and came back to the camp in a glow; then changed my wet clothes, and was apparently all right. While the men were sawing lumber, and \ 'i\ ^^*^ FOREST, LAKE AND PRAIRIE. 241 7 the were :or if have As it outed I soon )d fish As to I, th T rantee nd the so far, Ihe fish think Sol ake to quick \\\, saw I couple ip in a id was Ir, and chopping trees, and building the boat, I was busy putting up a stage to hang fish on, and making floats and tying stones, and getting everything ready to go to work in earnest when the boat was finished. This was accomplished the fourth day after reaching the lake, and Glad took the oxen and horse and went back to Mr. Woolsey. Neils and I set our net and settled down to fishing in good style. We soon found that the lake abounded in worms, or small insects, and these would cling to the net, and if the net was left long in the water, would destroy it, so we had to take it up very often ; and this with the dryir^g and mend- ing and setting of nets, and making of sticks and hanging of fish, kept us very busy. So far north as we were, and down in the valley, with hills all around us, and at the short-day season, our days were very short, and we had to work a lot by camp-fire, which also entailed considerable wood-cutting. Our isolation was perfect. We were twenty- five miles from Mr. Woolsey ; he and Glad were sixty from White-fish Lake and 120 from r'i »«■-«.*,«. Pi III' V 1 1, m ^42 B*OREST, LAKE AND PRAIRIE. Edmonton, and both of these places were out of the world of mail and telegraph connection, so our isolation can be readily imagined. Many a time I have been away from a mission or fort for months at a time, and as I neared one or other of these, I felt a hungering for in- telligence from the outside or civilized world; but to my great disgust, when I did reach the place, I found the people as much in the dark as myself. But this isolation does not agree with some constitutions, for my Norwegian Neils began to become morbid and silent, and long after I rolled myself in my blanket he would sit over the fire brooding, and I would waken up and find him still sitting as if disconsolate. At last I asked him what was the matter, when he told me it was not right for us to be there alone. " You take your gun and go off". If a bear was to kill you ?" (We had tracked some very big ones.) " You will go out in the boat when the lake is rough ; if you were to drown, everybody would say, * Neils did that— he killed him.' " On the surface I laughed at him, but in my heart was shocked at the fellow, and said, "If anything FOREST, LAKE AND PRAIRIE. 243 of the 30 our lission neared for in- world ; ich the dark as ih some peg an to after I iit over up and At last he told alone, r was to ig ones.) lake is would On the lart was inything was to happen to you^ would not people think the same of me ? We are in the same boat, Neils, but we will hope for the best, and do our duty. So long as a man is doing his duty, no matter what happens, he will be all right. You and I have been sent here to put up fish ; we are trying our best to do so ; let us not borrow trouble." For a while Neils brightened up, but I watched him. I i i*i Hi iN m m i: i:sf [ ^^mir- Jl.ii] J*i 244 FOREST, LAKE AND PRAIRIE. m CHAPTER XL. Lake freezes — I go for rope — Have a narrow escape from wolf and drowning — We finish our fishing — Make sleds — Go home — Camp of starving Indians en route. All of a sudden the lake froze over, and our nets were under, and we had no rope to pass under the ice. So, leaving my gun with Neils, for he had none, and whistling the dogs to me, I set out on a run for home ; and as it was only twenty-five miles, my purpose was to be back in camp the same night, for I could conveniently make a fifty-mile run in those days. Down the valley and over the hills, through the dense forest we went — the ten dojjs and myself. Presently, as we were coasting along the shore of a lake, we met a huge, gaunt timber wolf. Ah, thought I, if I only had my gun ! I set the dogs on him, but he very soon drove them back, and came at me. I remem- bered seeing some lodge-poles a little way back I! i- FOREST, LAKE AND PRAIRIE. 245 le from —Make n route. nd our 10 pass ^ Neils, ogs to as it was to could those hills, in dogs [casting I' o ad my ry soon |remem- ly back on the trail, and I retreated to them, and securing one, came on to the attack again. Between the dogs and myself, we drove the wolf on to a little point jutting out into the lake, and he took to the ice. I foolishly followed him out, hoping to get a whack at him with my pole, but suddenly I awoke to the fact that the ice was giving way with me and the water was deep. Down I dropped, and stretched out, and leaned with the most of my weight on the pole, which, covering a good space of ice, fortunately held me up ; so crawling and pushing, and anxiously looking through the transparent ice for the bottom, I made for the shore. How thankful I was when I did see the bottom, and presently was ashore once more ! As I ran off on the trail, I seemed to take a fresh lease of life, for it seemed as if I had nearly lost my grip of it a few minutes since. I reached Mr. Woolsey's just as he was sitting down to lunch, and he was so glad to see me that he would not hear of my going back that afternoon. A few Indians had come and gone, and from these Mr. Woolsey had secured some dried meat, ' I i I : m iS i u I fit I:, H itifj i -I -i! ' i ri'1 I ■ ( 'lMnBI'mul» 1 ;£: iffl^lH if 1 'si i il W^'^ FOREST, LAKE AND PRAlRlE. 247 which to me was a great treat after so much fish. We were becoming fast friends, this old bachelor missionary and myself, for while he was anything but a pioneer, and altogether out of place in this wild country, yet he w^as thor- oughly ^"u, and as full of the milk of "human kindness " as men are ever made. Early the next morning I was away with the rope, and by night Neils and I had overhauled several of our nets and put some fresh ones in their place. And now winter set in, with no snow, but extreme cold,* which soon thickened the ice, and Neils and I gave our spare time to making a couple of toboggans, for we purposed when we did go home, to take loads of fish with us. As the ice made, the fish went away, and soon our fishinor was over for that time. We had put up about three thousand, and lived almost entirely on fish ; the livers of some dog-fish we occasionally caught being our only change, except a very few fish-ducks, which were hardly a change. We had also fattened the ten dogs ready for winter work. This was no small item. 16 i! i 1:1 i J} i .1 ;! Mi. !•':. r li i i t !' 248 FOREST, LAKE AND PRAIRIE. Now we made a strong " log cache," and stored our fish in it, putting tent and nets and everything with the fish ; and having finished our dog-sleighs, or toboggans, we contemplated starting in the morning for home, though there was as yet no snow. As it was moonlight, I proposed to ^(eils that we start at once. So we loaded up, hitched our dogs and set out. What a time we had — bare ground, fallen timber, stumps and hills ; and, to make matters worse, while we were making a fire about midnight to cook our last duck, which we had saved for days for this very purpose, the dogs stole it, and our disappointment was bitter. We had cleaned that duck, and had it all ready to cook, and looked forward to pick- ing its bones ourselves. We craved the change in diet, even if it was only from fish to a fishy duck ; but just as we had the prize, the con- temptible dogs stole it, and though it is now thirty-two years since this happened, I can still very strongly sympathize with Neils and my- self. We thawed and roasted a fish, and staited on, and about two o'clock in the morning came "^;i1 1 • FOREST, LAKE AND PRAIRIE. 249 ' and ;s and nished iplated 1 there ight, I ind set I, fallen matters about we had he dogs bitter, it all ,o pick- change a fishy |he con- is now can still ,nd my- upon a solitary lodge right on the road. This proved to be a wood Stoney, Peter Pe-kah-ches. He and his family were starving. There was no snow, and everything being crisp with frost, he could not approach game. Peter was a renowned hunter, but the season was against him, and thus he was starving. We 'gave him part of our fish, and received the heart-felt blessings of the whole family, who hardly waited to thaw some of the fish until they ate them. This lightened our hearts and our loads also, and we went on and reached home before day- light. l)fi ' 'i \iv I Lited on, ig came ■■•:■•<.»*. »«^,»„. ...,„, . r 1 5 1J,!i!S 1 1 .I'M 250 FOUEST, LAKE AXD PKAIlUE, CHAPTER XLI. Mr. (>. B. — The murderer— The liquor keg. In the meantime an old wandering- Jew kind of man, one of those human beings who seem to be trying to hide away from themselves, had turned up, and was domiciled with Mr. Woolsey. He had come across the plains from Fort Garry with a party of white men, who grew tired of him and dumped him at Fort Carlton, where I saw him when I landed from the boats in the summer. He had come on to Edmonton with the Hudson's Bay Company's carts, and there was thrown out by a rule made by the Hudson's Bay Company's Governor, Dallas, that no Hudson's Bay officer should allow any stragglers to stay around the post. The penalty for doing this was a fine upon the officer in charge of ten shillings sterling per day. Someone suggested Mr. Woolsey, and Mr. O. B. (for that was his name) came by first opportunity to Mr. Woolsey. An Indian was returning to Fort Pitt, and ■*. M F()Hf:st, lakh and i'hafkik. 251 he was persuaded to bring Mr. O. B. to Mr. Woolsey ; and when the two were starting, total strangers to each other, and not under- standing each other's languaae, some heartless fellow whispered to Mr. O. B., " Watch that fel- low, for he is a murderer." And so he was said to be, having been bribed (so the story went) to kill another man because the briber wanted the other's wife. Whether this was exactly true or not, poor Mr. O. B. had an awful time of watching his companion and guide, and was a very grateful man when he came to our home safe. He was an educated man, and should have been a gentleman in ev^ry sense. He also was a victim of the liquor curse. His was another life blasted with this demon from the bottomless pit. In rummaging around our quar- ters, he found a keg which some time or another had held liquor. I saw him smell this, and then fill it with water and put it in the cellar ; then every little while he would go down and shake this keg. One day I heard him say, " It is getting good," so I thought I would make it better, and I took the keg and emptied it, and and filled it with fresh water. Mr. O. B. took great satisfac'on in drinkinw this, though the taste must have become very faint indeed. '\* 252 FOREST, LAKE AND PRAIRI :. CHAPTER XLII. William ooiiies back — Another refuge seeker comes to us — Haul our fish home — Hard work. William had come back from the plains, bring- ing some provisions — not very much, but suffi- cient to make us all feel thankful. Mr. Woolsey had sent him to Edmonton to bring some horses he had left there, and when he returned he had another "refuge seeker," this time a young man, the son of one of our ministers in Ontario, Williston by name. He had started to cross the mountains with some others, but reaching the Kootanie Pass, their provisions and pluck both dwindled away. They wandered back along the mountains and came to Edmonton in a famished condition, and Williston, being "dead- broke," heard of Mr. Woolsey, and came down with William. Of course Mr. Woolsey, because of his being the son of a brother minister, took him in. FOREST, LAKE AND PKAIUIE. 253 And now snow came, and Williston and I, each with a dof^-train, made several trips to the lake for fish. These trips were hard work ; the man, besides walkinlsey, my- rarm, rest living the baggage train, and myself the cariole in which Mr. Woolsey rode. We left long before daylight the Monday morning before Christmas, which came on Thursday that year. We had about four inches of snow to make the road through. This was hardly enough for good sleighing, but where there was prairie or ice, our dogs had good footing and made good time. Down the slope of country to Smoking Lake, and then along the full length .f the lake we went; then straight across country, over logs and round the windings of the dim bridle-path for the Wah-suh-uh-de-now,or"Bay in the Hills"( which would bring us to the Saskatchewan River), to which place we came about daylight, having already made a good thirty-five miles of our journey. Mr. Woolsey had slept and snored most of the way. What cared he for precipi- tous banks, or tortuous trails, or the long hours of night ! With sublime faith in his guide, he lay like a log. " Little he recked if we let him sleep on In the .sleigh where his driver had wound him." I: 1 1 I I 1 i •■■■'fl in' ''I 256 FOREST, LAKE AND PRAIRIE. if i After coming down the big hill into the valley at a break-iicck pace, we came to the almost perpendicular bank of the stream, still seventy-five or eighty feet high, and here I roused Mr. Woolsey, and asked him to climb down, while Williston and I took the dogs off and let the cariole and sled down as easily as we could. Once down, we got Mr. Woolsey in again, and away we went up the river at a good smart run, my leader taking the way from point to point, and around the rapids and open water at the word. For another five miles we kept on, and stopped for breakfast before sunrise opposite Sucker Creek. To jerk these dogs out of their collars is the first thing. This gives them a chance to roll and run about, and supple up after the long pull of the morning. Then we make a big fire and cut some brush to put dowm in front of it ; then help Mr. Woolsey out of his cariole, and next boil the kettle, and roast our dried meat and eat. Then after a short prayer, and while the "Amen" is still on our lips, we hitch up the dogs, tie the sleigh, help Mr. Woolsey ill*' y\\ FOREST, LAKE AND PRAIRIE. 257 long lire ff it; I, and Imeat rhile |h up lolsey into the cariole, tuck and wrap him in, and "Marse!" Away jump my dogs once more, and their bells ring out in the clear morning frost, and are echoed up and down the valley as we ascend, for even over the ice the ascen- sion is very perceptible. On we went, steadily making those long stretches of river which are between Sucker Creek and the Vermilion. As we proceeded, we left the snow, and the ice became glare and very difficult to run on, especially when one had to constantly steady the cariole to keep it from upsetting in the drift ice, or from swinging into the open channel, where the current was too strong for ice to make. I slipped once badly, and gave myself a wrench, the effects of which I felt at times for many a long year. After stopping for lunch on an island, we pushed on, and, climbing the hill at the mouth of Sturgeon River, found the country bare of snow, and after going two or three miles in this way, I concluded to camp, and strike back for the river in the morning. If we could have gone on, we would have reached Edmonton the next day before noon. M 1- i 258 FOREST, LAKE ANT) PRAIRIE. Mr. Woolsey was astonished at our progress. We had come full eighty miles, although the latter part ot* our road was very difficult to travel, the glare but uneven river ice being very hard on both dogs and men. We camped on a dry bluff. What a revelation this country is to me ! This is now the 22nd of December, and the weather, while crisp and cold, beautifully fine — no snow — and we having to use exceedingly great caution in order not to set the prairie on fire. That night Mr. Woolsey, while rubbing some pain-killer into my sprained leg, told me about his life at Edmonton ; how one day a Black- foot came into his room, and was very friendly, and told him that he (the Blackfoot) was a very religious man ; also that he loved to talk to the Great Spir himself, would do so right then, thus giviii;. Mr. Woolsey the benefit of his prayer. Mr. Woolsey sent for an interpreter, and the Blackfoot went on very much like the Pharisee of old. He was not as other men — the Cree, or Stoney, or even ordinary white men — he wa.^ a good man ; his heart was good , he was thankful to meet this " jxood white man." t'OREST. LAKE AND PRAIUlE. 259 HI lan. He hoped their meeting would be blessed of the Great Spirit, and now that he had seen and spoken to this "f^ood white man," he trusted that the Good Spirit would help him against his enemies, and aid him in his war expeditions, and thus he would bring home many horses and scalps. Above all things, tiie last was his strong desire. Mr. Woolsey also told me of a slight mis- understanding he had with a priest. Mr. Woolsey did not understand French, and the priest did not understand English. The cause of their trouble was about asking a blessing and returning thanks at the Hudson's Bay Company's mess table. The priest was a thor- ough monopolist. The officer in charge would say, " Mr. Woolsey, please ask a blessing," or " Mr. Woolsey, please return thanks ; " but the priest would immediately begin a Latin grace or thanksgiving, and thus Mr. Woolsey was cut off before he could begin. At last his English blood could not stand it any longer, and one day he stopped the priest after the others had gone out of the room, and said to him in broken Cree : " You no good ; you speak one, that good ; 260 FOREST, LAKE AND PRAIRIE. 1 1 you speak two, that no good." This, though spoken in the soft Cree, was emphasized in a strong English manner, and the little priest, becoming alarmed, ran for the gentleman in charge, who explained matters, and also sided with Mr. Woolsey, and this monopoly was broken up. No ; from my two years' intimate acquaint- ance with Mr. Woolsey, he was not the man to stand any mere pretensions of superiority. The next morning we struck straight across country for the river, and kept the ice thence on to Edmonton, which, because of the windings of the stream, we did not reach until evening. We found the fort full, trappers and traders having returned from their long summer's jour- neyings; but we also found provisions scant, and Mr. Christie, the gentleman in charge, anxious as to the future. The buffalo were far out ; the fisheries were not very successful. Here we met with clerks and post-masters from the inland and distant posts, and we and they but added to the responsibilities of the head officer, having so many more mouths to feed. Then there were all the dogs, and these ^ FOREST, LAKE AND PRAIRIE. 26. I : i: Isters and the IS to bhese were simply legion, as most of the winter transport and travel of those days was done with dogs, and their food supply was a serious question. I have often wondered since then why it was in a country with so much natural hay, where oats grew often at the rate of one hundred bushels to the acre, and where horses were cheap, that this dog business lasted as long as it did ; but I suppose everything has its day, and even the dog had his. I fully believe that if there was one dog in the small compass of the fort at Edmonton, there were 150. When the bell rang for the men to go to work or come for their rations, the dogs would howl, and one would imagine bedlam let loose. Then the fights, which were taking place at all hours, day or night, became monotonous. The sole topic of conversation would be dogs. The speed and strength and endurance of a dog-train occupied the thoughts of most men, either sleeping or waking. Next to the doors came the doji^-runners. These were famous because of their ability to I 'T-~— lis a Ik 262 i ' FOREST, LAKE AND PRAlRlE. manage a train of dogs, and the wind and endurance and pluck they manifested in travel. Races were common — five miles, twenty miles, sixty miles, 150 mile^ ei j., and many of the feats performed = y th«v'='e dogs and dog-drivers would be thought i.'poj^sib'e to-day. We were received very kindly by all parties, and I very soon felt at home with such men as R. Hard is ty and Mr. MacDonald, and in the family of Mr. Flett, where I received great hos- pitality, and from being a total stranger was soon made to feel thoroughly intimate. r M il m^' I't FOREST, LAKE AND PRAIRIE. 263 i CHAPTER XLIV. Midnight mass — Little Mary — Foot-races — Dog-raoe» ' " — Reach my twentieth birthday — End of this booi,:. I FOUND that the Roman Catholics had a -n^ir;;h built in the fort, and Mr. MacDonald and I went to the celebration of midnight mass on Christmas eve. Our conduct was respectful and reverent. Indeed, graceless as I may have been, I always from early boyhood have respected the religious services of others. Often in the conjurer's camp, and at thirst and sun dances, I have preserved most perfect decorum and attention, and that night at Edmonton my friend and self behaved ; but because someone saw MacDonald pass me a peppermint, it was noised abroad that we were mocking the passing of the wafer. Quite a furore was caused by this, and the Catholics came to the Chief Factor to demand our expulsion from the fort, but he very justly refused to interfere, and the storm 17 :>■*•■'« 264 FOREST, LAKE AND PRAIRIE. m'J. r I passed away without hurting us. But I was amused and delifTfhted with my friend, Mr. Woolsey. Said he to me, while drawing him- self up and squaring off", " I never yet struck a man, but if I did, it would be a mighty blow." Mr. Woolsey held service on Christmas morn- ing, which was largely attended. In the afternoon, Mr. Hardisty and myself went for a drive on the river with our dog- trains. Mr. Hardisty took the little daughter of the Chief Factor with him, and we drove up the river, but when turning to come home, his dogs took a sweep out into the river and left him, and the course the dogs took was dangerous. There was a long stretch of open current. There sat the child perfectly unconscious of her danger. Hardisty was winded, and he shouted to me to catch his dogs. 1 saw that if I drove mine after his it would make matters worse, for his dogs would run the faster ; so I left mine and ran after his, and here the con- stant training of the season did me good service. I had both wind and speed, but the time seemed dreadful. The dogs were nearing the current, and i? the cariole should swing or upset, the ft 73 M f 266 FOREST, LAKE AND PRAIRIE. child was doomed. If ever I ran, it was then ; it' ever I was thankful to be able to run, it was then. Little Mary was a favorite of mine, and her peril filled me with keen anguish ; but I have always been thankful that my whole being responded as it did. Steadily I came up, and presently, before the dogs knew it, I was on the back of the sleigh ; then, gripping the ground lashing, I let myself drag as a brake, and with a mighty " Chuh ! " which made the leader jump quickly to the left, then a loud stern " Marse ! " straight out from the danger the strong train drew us. After we came home, I felt weak and ex- hausted because of the nervous strain ; but the reward of having been instrumental in saving the little darling's life was sweet to me. The next day we had dog-races, and foot- races and football, and the fun was fast and furious. This social and pleasant intercourse with my fellowmen was especially agreeable to me after the isolation of the last few months. Then my new-found friends were exceedingly kind, and I was heartily glad Mr. Woolsey had brought me with him to Edmonton. The second Ifoot- and lurse tie to Inths. ngly had icond FOREST, LAKE AND PRAFHIK. 2({7 day after Christmas was my birthday. I was then twenty years of age, and thus have reached the limit given to this book. As the reader will have noticed, I began life on the frontier, and here, after twenty years, am to be found on the still farther frontier. Then it was lake-shore and forest, now it is highland and prairie. Trusting the reader will have been interested sufficiently in this simple narrative to follow the author on into the more stirring recital of experiences on the plains during the " sixties," I remain. Yours truly, John McDouoall. *»-.v^X, A STIRRIIVG BIOGRAPHY. : i GEOVGE PIILlWIltD PlGDODliE The Pioneer, Patriot and Missionary. HY HIS SON. REV. JOHN McDOUGALL, With IsTKuurcTKiN by Rkv. Alkx. Sithkrland, D.D. Clotb. with Portrait and Illustrations. T5 CENTS. \Ye<|Uote from the dosing i>araf?raph of Dr. Sutherland's Introduction : " As the author's aim has been to present a plain, unadorned portrait of the man, he has wisely allowed him to tell his own story in extracts from reports, and journals, and letturs, some of which were written with the freedom of personal friendship, without any thou^^ht of publication. These memorials will ')e read with e.ijferness throughout the Church, and will, by the blcssin^j of Ood, be an inspiration in missionary effort. They are commended, more especially, to the study of our risinjf ministry, with the earnest prayer tbat they may lead some to tread in Geo. McUoujfall's footsteps, and win a like imperishable renown." \Ye would urjte upon the librarians of our Sunday Schools to have this book placed on their shelves. "Like father, like son," is an old oda^fe which finds fulfilment in the life of the biographer, who jiresents this loving tribute to the memory of his honored and sainted father. " Forest, Lake and Prairie " will be eagerly read by thousands of the Canadian youth. WILLIAM BRIOCiS, Publisher, Wesley Buildings, Toronto. Montreal: C. W. COATES. Halifax: S. F. HUESTIS.