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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Through the Mackenzie Basin, by Charles Mair
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Through the Mackenzie Basin
+       A Narrative of the Athabasca and Peace River Treaty Expedition of 1899
+
+Author: Charles Mair
+
+Release Date: June 9, 2004 [EBook #12569]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: Unicode UTF-8
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THROUGH THE MACKENZIE BASIN ***
+
+
+
+
+Prepared by Arthur Wendover and Andrew Sly.
+
+
+
+
+
+Through the Mackenzie Basin
+
+A Narrative of the Athabasca and Peace River Treaty Expedition of 1899
+
+By Charles Mair
+
+
+To the Hon. David Laird
+Leader of the Treaty Expedition of 1899
+This Record is Cordially Inscribed
+By His Old Friend the Author
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+  Introduction
+
+Important events of the year 1857--The _Nor'-Wester_ newspaper--The
+Duke of Newcastle and the Hudson's Bay Co.'s Charter--The
+"Anglo-International Financial Association"--The New Hudson's Bay
+Company--Offers of American capitalists to purchase the Company's
+interests--Bill providing for purchase of the same introduced into
+the United States Congress--Senator Sumner's memorandum to Secretary
+Fish--Various efforts to arouse public interest in the Hudson's Bay
+Territories--Former Treaties with the Indians--Motives for treating
+with the Indians of Athabasca--Rush of miners and prospectors into
+the district--The Indian Treaty and Half-breed Commission--The Royal
+North-West Mounted Police Contingent--Special stipulations with the
+Indians provided for.
+
+  Chapter I
+  From Edmonton To Lesser Slave Lake
+
+Arrival of Treaty and Half-breed Commissions at Edmonton--Departure
+for Athabasca Landing--Tawutináow peat beds, etc.--Arrival at the
+Landing--The gas well there--Boats and trackers--Mr. d'Eschambault
+and Pierre Cyr--Non-arrival of trackers--Police contingent volunteers
+to track a boat to Lesser Slave Lake--Nature of country, burnt
+forests, muskegs, etc.--Tracking; its difficulties--The old Indian
+tracker Peokus--Forest and river scenery--Placer mining--Absence of
+life along the river--Fertile soil.
+
+  Chapter II
+  Lesser Slave River And Lesser Slave Lake
+
+Lesser Slave River--Its proper name--Migration of the great Algic
+race--Bishop Grouard's service in the wilderness--Returning
+Klondikers--The rapids; poling--Accident to Peokus--Celebration of
+Père Lacombe's fiftieth year of missionary labors--Arrival of
+half-breed trackers from Lesser Slave Lake--Great hay meadows on the
+Lesser Slave River--The island in Lesser Slave Lake--Trackers'
+gambling games--Swan River--A dangerous squall--Chief Factor Shaw--A
+free-traders' village.
+
+  Chapter III
+  Treaty At Lesser Slave Lake
+
+The Treaty point at last--Our camp at Lesser Slave Lake--The Treaty
+ground and assembly--"Civilized" Indians--Keenooshayo and Moostoos--The
+Treaty proceedings--The Treaty Commissioners separate--Vermilion and
+Fort Chipewyan treaties--Indian chief asks for a railway--Wahpoośkow
+Treaty--McKenna and Ross set out for Home--Commission issued to J. A.
+Macrae--Numbers of Indians treated with.
+
+  Chapter IV
+  The Half-Breed Scrip Commission
+
+The half-breeds collect at Lesser Slave Lake--They decide upon cash,
+scrip or nothing--Honesty of the half-breeds and Indians--Ease
+of parturition amongst their women--Cree family names and their
+significance--Catherine Bisson--Native traits--The mongrel dog--Gambling
+and dancing--The "Red River jig".
+
+  Chapter V
+  Resources Of Lesser Slave Lake Region
+
+Indian lunatics: The Weeghteko--Treatment of lunatics in old Upper
+Canada--Lesser Slave Lake fisheries--Stock-raising at the lake--Prairies
+of the region--The region once a buffalo country--Quality of the
+soil--Wheat and roots and vegetables--Unwise to settle in large numbers
+in the country at present--The "blind pig"--A native row.
+
+  Chapter VI
+  On The Trail To Peace River
+
+On the trail to Peace River--The South Heart River--Good farming
+lands--The Little Prairie--Peace River Crossing--The vast banks of
+the Peace a country in themselves--Wild fruits--Prospectors from
+the Selwyn Mountains--The Poker Flat Mining Camp--Buffalo paths and
+wallows--Magnificent prairies between Peace River Landing and Fort
+Dunvegan--Fort Dunvegan--Sir George Simpson and Colin Fraser--Some
+townships blocked here--The Roman Catholic Mission--Baffled miners
+returning--The natives of Dunvegan--Relics of the old régime--Large
+families the rule--The Church missions--Back to Peace River
+Crossing--Tepees, tents and trading stores--Mr. Alexander Mackenzie--The
+sites of old fur posts--Indian names of the Peace River--Description
+of the agricultural and other resources of the Upper Peace River--The
+Chinook winds--Grand Prairie--Rainfall scanty on prairies throughout the
+River--Lack of waggon roads and trail facilities.
+
+  Chapter VII
+  Down The Peace River
+
+The descent of the Peace River--Wolverine Point--A good farming
+country--Paddle River and Keg of Rum River prairies--Heavy spruce
+forests here--Vermilion settlement--The Lawrence family and
+farm--Extensive wheat fields--Cattle and hog raising--Locusts--Symptoms
+of volcanic action--Old Lizotte and old King Beaulieu--The Chutes of
+Peace River--The Red River; its rich soil and prairies--Peace Point--A
+wild goose chase--The Gargantuan feasts of Peace River--The Quatre
+Fourches--Athabasca Lake.
+
+  Chapter VIII
+  Fort Chipewyan To Fort McMurray
+
+Fort Chipewyan and Athabasca Lake--Colin Fraser's trading-post--The
+Barren Ground reindeer--Feathered land game--The Indians of Fond du
+Lac--Mineral resources--First companies formed to prospect the Great
+Slave Lake minerals--The Helpman party--The Yukon Valley Prospecting
+and Mining Company--Assays of copper ore--A great mineral country--A
+railway required from Chesterfield Inlet to develop it--Moss of
+the Banner Lands--Lake Athabasca the rallying place of the Déné
+race--Meaning of Indian generic names--"Mackenzie's country"--Its
+first traders--The North-West Company--The original Indians--The
+mastodon believed by the natives to exist--Return of Klondikers from
+Mackenzie River--Their bad conduct--By steamer _Grahame_ to Fort
+McMurray--Killing a moose--Fort McMurray.
+
+  Chapter IX
+  The Athabasca River Region
+
+The tar-banks--Characteristic features of the river--The rapids of
+the Athabasca--The cut-banks--A freshet--A fine camp--The "Indian
+lop-stick"--The natural gas springs--Grand Rapids--Coal abundant--Good
+farming country--The Point at House River--The Joli Fou Rapid--Bad
+tracking--Pelican Portage--Spouting gas well--Matcheese, the Indian
+runner.
+
+  Chapter X
+  The Trip To Wahpoośkow
+
+The Pelican River--Poling and paddling--Character of the river
+and country--Great hay meadows--An Indian runner--The Pelican
+Mountains--Muskegs and rich soil--Pelican Lake the height of
+land--Abundance of fish--The first Wahpoośkow Lake--The second
+lake--Mission of Rev. C.R. Weaver--Other missions of the C.M.S.--Mission
+of the Rev. Father Giroux--Other Roman Catholic missions--Indians and
+half-breeds--The crows and the fish--A ball at Wahpoośkow--Farming land
+and muskeg in the district--Superstitions of the Indians--Polygamy and
+polyandry--The changing woods--The _fœx populi_--A little
+beauty--Calling River--Another ancient woman and her memories--Our
+return to Athabasca Landing.
+
+  Conclusion
+
+
+
+
+Introduction
+
+  The important events of A.D. 1857, and the negotiations which led
+  to the Transfer of the Hudson's Bay Territories--Former Treaties
+  and the Treaty Commission of 1899.
+
+
+The terms upon which Canada obtained her great possessions in the
+West are generally known, and much has been written regarding the
+tentative steps by which, after long years of waiting, she acquired
+them. The distinctively prairie, or southern, portion of the
+country and its outliers, constituting "Prince Rupert's Land,"
+had been claimed by the Hudson's Bay Company since May, 1670, as
+an absolute freehold. This and the North-West Territories, in
+which, under terminable lease from the Crown, the Company exercised,
+as in British Columbia, exclusive rights to trade only, were, as
+the reader knows, transferred to Canada by Imperial sanction at
+the same time. It is not the author's intention, therefore, to
+cumber his pages with trite or irrelevant matter; yet certain
+transactions which preceded this primordial and greatest treaty
+of all not unfittingly may be set forth, though in the briefest
+way, as a pardonable introduction to the following record.
+
+The year 1857 was an eventful one in the annals of "The North-West,"
+the name by which the Territories were generally known in Canada.
+[An important event in Red River was begot of the stirring
+incidents of this year, namely, the starting at Fort Garry, in
+December, 1859, by two gentlemen from Canada, Messrs. Buckingham
+and Caldwell, of the first newspaper printed in British territory
+east of British Columbia and west of Lake Superior. It was called
+the _Nor'-Wester_, but, having few advertisements, and only a limited
+circulation, the originators sold out to Dr. (afterwards Sir John)
+Schultz, who, at his own expense, published the paper, almost down
+to the Transfer, as an advocate of Canadian annexation, immigration
+and development.] In that year two expeditions were set afoot to
+explore the country; one in charge of Captain Palliser, [Strange
+to say, Captain Palliser reported that he considered a line of
+communication entirely through British territory, connecting the
+Eastern Provinces and British Columbia, out of the question, as
+the Astronomical Boundary adopted isolated the prairie country
+from Canada. Professor Hind, on the other hand, in the same year,
+standing on an eminence on the Qu'Appelle, beheld in imagination
+the smoke of the locomotive ascending from the train speeding
+over the prairies on its way through Canada from the Atlantic to
+the Pacific.] equipped by the Imperial Government, and the other,
+under Professor Hind, at the expense of the Government of Canada.
+An influential body of Red River settlers, too, at this time
+petitioned the Canadian Parliament to extend to the North-West
+its government and protection; and in the same year the late Chief
+Justice Draper was sent to England to challenge the validity of the
+Hudson's Bay Company's charter; and to urge the opening up of the
+country for settlement. But, above all, a committee of the British
+House of Commons took evidence that year upon all sorts of questions
+concerning the North-West, and particularly its suitability for
+settlement, much of which was valueless owing to its untruth.
+Nevertheless, the Imperial Committee, after weighing all the evidence,
+reported that the Territories were fit for settlement, and that it
+was desirable that Canada should annex them, and hoped that the
+Government would be enabled to bring in a bill to that end at the
+next session of Parliament. Five years later, the Duke of Newcastle,
+who became Secretary of State for the Colonies in 1859, and
+accompanied the Prince of Wales to Canada as official adviser
+in 1860, having in his possession the petition of the Red River
+settlers, as printed by order of the Canadian Legislature, brought
+the matter up in a vigorous speech in the House of Lords, in which
+he expressed his belief that the Hudson's Bay Company's charter
+was invalid, though, he added, "it would be a serious blow to the
+rights of property to meddle with a charter two hundred years old.
+But it might happen," he continued, "in the inevitable course of
+events, that Parliament would be asked to annul even such a charter
+as this, in order, as set forth in the Queen's Speech, that all
+obstacles to an unbroken chain of loyal settlements, stretching
+from ocean to ocean, should be removed." British Columbia, which
+had become a Province in 1858, has now urging the Imperial Government
+with might and main to furnish a waggon-road and telegraph line
+to connect her, not only with the Territories and Canada, but
+with the United Empire. She was met by the stiffest of opposition,
+the opposition of a very old corporation strongly entrenched in
+the governing circles of both parties. But the clamour of British
+Columbia was in the air, and her suggestions, hotly opposed by
+the Company, had been brought before the House of Lords by
+another peer. In the discussion which followed, the Duke of
+Newcastle declared that "it seemed monstrous that any body of
+gentlemen should exercise fee-simple rights which precluded
+the future colonization of that territory, as well as the
+opening of lines of communication through it." The Minister's
+idea at the time seemed to be to cancel the charter, and to
+concede proprietary rights around fur posts only, together
+with a certain money payment, considerably less, it appears,
+than what was ultimately agreed upon.
+
+The Hudson's Bay Company, alarmed at the outlook and the attitude
+of the Colonial Secretary, offered their entire interests and
+belongings, trade and territorial, to the Imperial Government
+for a million and a half pounds sterling, an offer which the
+Duke was disposed to accept, but which was unfortunately declined
+by Mr. Gladstone, then Chancellor of the Exchequer. The Duke,
+who had resigned his office in 1864, died in October following,
+and in the meantime a change of a startling character had come
+over the time-honoured company, which sold out to a new company
+in 1863, being merged into, or rather merging into itself,
+an organization known as "The Anglo-International Financial
+Association," which included several prominent American capitalists.
+The old name was retained, but everything else was to be changed.
+The policy of exclusion was to cease, immigration was to be
+encouraged, and a telegraph line built through the Territories
+to the Pacific coast. The wire for this was actually shipped,
+and lay in Rupert's Land for years, until made use of by the
+Mackenzie Administration in the building of the Government
+telegraph line, which followed the railway route defined by
+Sir Sandford Fleming. The old Hudson's Bay Company's shares,
+of a par value of half a million pounds sterling, were increased
+to a million and a half under the new adjustment, and were thrown
+upon the market in shares of twenty pounds sterling each. Sir
+Edmund Head, an old ex-Governor of Canada, was made Governor
+of the new company. The Stock Exchange was not altogether
+favourable, and the remaining shares were only sold in the
+Winnipeg land boom of 1881.
+
+The alien element in the new company seemed to inspire the
+politicians of the United States with surpassing hopes and
+ideas. An offer to purchase its territorial interests was made
+in January, 1866, by American capitalists, which was not
+unfavourably glanced at by the directorate. It was capped later
+on. The corollary of the proposal was a bill, actually introduced
+into the United States Congress in July following, and read twice,
+"providing for the admission of the States of Nova Scotia, New
+Brunswick, Canada East and Canada West, and for the organization
+of the Territories of Selkirk, Saskatchewan and Columbia." The
+bill provided that "The United States would pay ten millions of
+dollars to the Hudson's Bay Company in full of all claims to
+territory or jurisdiction in North America, whether founded on
+the Charter of the Company, or any treaty, law, or usage." The
+grandiosity, to use a mild phrase, of such a measure needs no
+comment. But though it seems amusing to the Canadian of to-day,
+it was by no means a joke forty years ago. As a matter of fact,
+the then most uninhabited Territories, cut off from the centres
+of Canadian activity by a wilderness of over a thousand miles,
+would have been invaded by Fenians and filibusters but for the
+fact that they were a part of the British Empire. An attempt
+at this was indeed made at a later date. This possibility was
+afterwards formulated, evidently as a threat, by Senator Charles
+Sumner during the "Alabama Claims" discussion, in his astonishing
+memorandum to Secretary Fish. "The greatest trouble, if not
+peril," he said, "is from Fenianism, which is excited by the
+British flag in Canada. Therefore, the withdrawal of the British
+flag cannot be abandoned as a preliminary of such a settlement
+as is now proposed. To make the settlement complete the withdrawal
+should be from this hemisphere, including provinces and islands."
+A refreshing proposition, truly!
+
+It was the Imperial Government, of course, which figured most
+prominently throughout the "North-West" question. But, it may
+be reasonably asked, what was Canada doing, with her deeper
+interests still, to further them in those long years of
+discussion and delay. With the exception of the Hind Expedition,
+the Draper mission, the printing and discussion of the Red
+River settlers' petition and consequent Commission of Inquiry,
+certainly not much was done by Parliament. More was done
+outside than in the House to arouse public interest; for
+example, the two admirable lectures delivered in Montreal
+in 1858 by the late Lieutenant-Governor Morris, followed by
+the powerful advocacy of the Hon. William Macdougall and
+others, aided by the Toronto _Globe_, a small portion of the
+Canadian press, and the circulation, limited as it was, of
+the Red River newspaper, the _Nor'-Wester_, in Ontario.
+
+An unseen, but adverse, parliamentary influence had all along
+hampered the Cabinet; an influence adverse not only to the
+acquisition of the Territories, but even to closer connection
+by railway with the Maritime Provinces. [_Vide_ a series of articles
+contributed to the Toronto Week, in July, 1896, by Mr. Malcolm
+McLeod, Q.C., of Ottawa, Ont.] This sinister influence was only
+overcome by the great Conferences which resulted in the passage
+of the British North America Act in 1867, which contained a clause
+(Article 11, Sec. 146), inserted at the instance of Mr. Macdougall,
+providing for the inclusion of Rupert's Land and the North-West
+Territories upon terms to be defined in an address to the Queen,
+and subject to her approval. In pursuance of this clause, Mr.
+Macdougall in 1867 introduced into the first Parliament of the
+Dominion a series of eight resolutions, which, after much opposition,
+were at length passed, and were followed by the embodying address,
+drafted by a Special Committee of the House, and which was duly
+transmitted to the Imperial Government. This was followed by
+the mission of Messrs. Cartier and Macdougall to London, to
+treat for the transfer of the Territories, which, through the
+mediation of Lord Granville, was finally effected. The date
+fixed upon for the transfer was the first of December, 1869.
+Unfortunately for Lieutenant-Governor Macdougall, owing to the
+outbreak of armed rebellion at Red River, it was postponed
+without his knowledge, and it was not until the 15th of July,
+1870, that the whole country finally became a part of the
+Dominion of Canada. With the latter date the annals of Prince
+Rupert's Land and the North-West Territory end, and the history
+of Western Canada begins.
+
+But whilst the Hudson's Bay Company's territorial rights and
+those of Great Britain had been at last transferred to the
+Dominion, there remained inextinguished the most intrinsic
+of all, viz., the rights of the Indians and their collaterals
+to their native and traditional soil. The adjustment of these
+rights was assumed by the Canadian Parliament in the last but
+one of the resolutions introduced by Mr. Macdougall, and no
+time was lost after the transfer in carrying out its terms,
+"in conformity with the equitable principles which have uniformly
+governed the Crown in its dealings with the aborigines."
+
+[In the foregoing brief sketch, the author, for lack of space, omits
+all reference to the Red River troubles, which preceded the actual
+transfer, as also to the military expedition under Col. Wolseley, the
+threatened recall of which from Prince Arthur's Landing, in July,
+1870, was blocked by the bold and vigorous action of the Canada
+First Party in Toronto.]
+
+
+Former Treaties.
+
+Before passing on to my theme, a glance at the treaties made
+in Manitoba and the organized Territories may be of interest
+to the unfamiliar reader.
+
+The first treaty, in what is now a part of Manitoba, was made in
+pursuance of a purchase of the old District of Assiniboia from the
+Hudson's Bay Company in 1811 by Lord Selkirk, who in that year sent
+out the first batch of colonists from the north of Scotland to Red
+River. The Indian title to the land, however, was not conveyed by
+the Crees and Saulteaux until 1817, when Peguis and others of their
+chiefs ceded a portion of their territory for a yearly payment of
+a quantity of tobacco. The ceded tract extended from the mouth
+of the Red River southward to Grand Forks, and, westward, along
+the Assiniboine River to Rat Creek, the depth of the reserve being
+the distance at which a white horse could be seen on the plains,
+though this matter is not very clear. The British boundary at that
+time ran south of Red Lake, and would still so run but for the
+indifference of bygone Commissioners. This purchase became the
+theatre of Lord Selkirk's far-seeing scheme of British settlement
+in the North-West, with whose varying fortunes and romantic history
+the average reader is familiar.
+
+The first Canadian treaties were those effected by Mr. Weemys Simpson
+in 1871, first at Stone Fort, Man., covering the old purchase from
+Peguis and others, and a large extent of territory in addition,
+the stipulated terms of payment being afterwards greatly enlarged.
+These treaties are known as Nos. 1 and 2, and were followed by the
+North-West Angle Treaty, effected by Lieutenant-Governor Morris, in
+1873, with the Ojibway Saulteaux. In 1874 the Qu'Appelle Treaty,
+after prolonged discussion and inter-tribal jealousy and disturbance,
+was concluded by Lieutenant-Governor Morris, the Hon. David Laird,
+then Minister of the Interior, and Mr. W. J. Christie, of the
+Hudson's Bay Company. Treaty No. 5 followed, with the cession of
+100,000 square miles of territory, covering the Lake Winnipeg region,
+etc., after which the Great Treaty (No.6), at Forts Carlton and
+Pitt, in 1876, covering almost all the country drained by the two
+Saskatchewans, was partly effected by Mr. Morris and his associates,
+the recalcitrants being afterwards induced by Mr. Laird to adhere
+to the treaty, with the exception of the notorious Big Bear, the
+insurgent chief who figured so prominently in the Rebellion of 1885.
+The final treaty, or No. 7, made with the Assiniboines and Blackfeet,
+the most powerful and predatory of all our Plain Indians, was
+concluded by Mr. Laird and the late Lieut.-Colonel McLeod in 1877.
+By this last treaty had now been ceded the whole country from Lake
+Winnipeg to the Rocky Mountains, and from the international boundary
+to the District of Athabasca. But there remained in native hands
+still that vast northern anticlinal, which differs almost entirely in
+its superficial features from the prairies and plains to the south;
+and it was this region, enormous in extent and rich in economic
+resources, which, it was decided by Government, should now be placed
+by treaty at the disposal of the Canadian people. To this end it was
+determined that at Lesser Slave Lake the first conference should be
+held, and the initial steps taken towards the cession of the whole
+western portion of the unceded territory up to the 60th parallel of
+north latitude.
+
+The more immediate motive for treating with the Indians of Athabasca
+has been already referred to, viz., the discovery of gold in the
+Klondike, and the astonishing rush of miners and prospectors, in
+consequence, to the Yukon, not only from the Pacific side, but,
+east of the mountains, by way of the Peace and Mackenzie rivers. Up
+to that date, excepting to the fur-traders and a few missionaries,
+settlers, explorers, geologists and sportsmen, the Peace River
+region was practically unknown; certainly as little known to the
+people of Ontario, for example, as was the Red River country thirty
+years before. It was thought to be a most difficult country to
+reach--a _terra incognita_--rude and dangerous, having no allurements
+for the average Canadian, whose notions about it, if he had any, were
+limited, as usual, to the awe-inspiring legend of "barbarous Indians
+and perpetual frost."
+
+There is a lust, however, the unquenchable lust for gold, which
+seems to arouse the dullest from their apathy. This is the _primum
+mobile_; from earliest days the sensational mover of civilized man,
+and not unlikely to remain so until our old planet capsizes again,
+and the poles become the equator with troglodites for inhabitants.
+No barriers seem insurmountable to this rampant spirit; and,
+urged by it, the gold-seekers, chiefly aliens from the United
+States, plunged into the wilderness of Athabasca without
+hesitation, and without as much as "by your leave" to the
+native. Some of these marauders, as was to be expected,
+exhibited on the way a congenital contempt for the Indian's
+rights. At various places his horses were killed, his dogs shot,
+his bear-traps broken up. An outcry arose in consequence, which
+inevitably would have led to reprisals and bloodshed had not the
+Government stepped in and forestalled further trouble by a prompt
+recognition of the native's title. Hitherto he had been content
+with his lot in these remote wildernesses, and well might he be!
+One of the vast river systems of the Continent, perhaps the
+greatest of them all, considering the area drained, teeming
+with fish, and alive with fur and antler, was his home--a
+region which furnished him in abundance with the means of life,
+not to speak of such surplus of luxuries as was brought to his
+doors by his old and paternal friend, "John Company." His wants
+were simple, his life healthy, though full of toil, his appetite
+great--an appetite which throve upon what it fed, and gave rise
+to fabulous feats of eating, recalling the exploits of the
+beloved and big-bellied Ben of nursery lore.
+
+But the spirit of change was brooding even here. The moose, the
+beaver and the bear had for years been decreasing, and other
+fur-bearing animals were slowly but surely lessening with them.
+The natives, aware of this, were now alive, as well, to concurrent
+changes foreign to their experience. Recent events had awakened
+them to a sense of the value the white man was beginning to
+place upon their country as a great storehouse of mineral and
+other wealth, enlivened otherwise by the sensible decrease of
+their once unfailing resources. These events were, of course,
+the Government borings for petroleum, the formation of parties
+to prospect, with a view to developing, the minerals of Great Slave
+Lake, but, above all, the inroad of gold-seekers by way of Edmonton.
+The latter was viewed with great mistrust by the Indians, the
+outrages referred to showing, like straws in the wind, the
+inevitable drift of things had the treaties been delayed. For,
+as a matter of fact, those now peaceable tribes, soured by
+lawless aggression, and sheltered by their vast forests, might
+easily have taken an Indian revenge, and hampered, if not
+hindered, the safe settlement of the country for years to come.
+The Government, therefore, decided to treat with them at once
+on equitable terms, and to satisfy their congeners, the half-breeds,
+as well, by an issue of scrip certificates such as their fellows
+had already received in Manitoba and the organized Territories.
+To this end adjustments were made by the Hon. Clifford Sifton,
+then Minister of the Interior and Superintendent-General of
+Indian Affairs, during the winter of 1898-9, and a plan of
+procedure and basis of treatment adopted, the carrying out
+of which was placed in the hands of a double Commission, one
+to frame and effect the Treaty, and secure the adhesion of
+the various tribes, and the other to investigate and extinguish
+the half-breed title. At the head of the former was placed the
+Hon. David Laird, a gentleman of wide experience in the early
+days in the North-West Territories, whose successful treaty
+with the refractory Blackfeet and their allies is but one of many
+evidences of his tact and sagacity. [The Hon. David Laird is a native
+of Prince Edward Island. His father emigrated from Scotland to that
+Province early in the last century, and ultimately became a member of
+its Executive Council. After leaving college his son David began life
+as a journalist, but later on took to politics, and being called,
+like his father, to the Executive Council, was selected as one of
+the delegates to Ottawa to arrange for the entrance of the Island
+into the Canadian Confederation. He was subsequently elected to the
+Dominion House of Commons, and became Minister of the Interior in
+the Mackenzie Administration. After three years' occupancy of this
+department he was made Lieut.-Governor of the North-West Territories,
+an office which he filled without bias and to the satisfaction of
+both the foes and friends of his own party. He returned to the Island
+at the close of his official term, but was called thence by the
+Laurier Administration to take charge of Indian affairs in the West,
+with residence in Winnipeg, which is now his permanent home.] A
+nature in which fairness and firmness met was, of all dispositions,
+the most suited to handle such important negotiations with the
+Indians as parting with their blood-right. Fortunately these
+qualities were pre-eminent in Mr. Laird, who had administered the
+government of the organized Territories, at a primitive stage in
+their history, in the wisest manner, and, at the close of his
+official career, returned to his home in Prince Edward Island
+leaving not an enemy behind him.
+
+The other Treaty Commissioners were the Hon. James Ross, Minister
+of Public Works in the Territorial Government, and Mr. J. A.
+McKenna, then private secretary to the Superintendent-General
+of Indian Affairs, and who had been for some years a valued
+officer of the Indian Department. With them was associated, in
+an advisory capacity, the Rev. Father Lacombe, O.M.I., Vicar-General
+of St. Albert, Alta., whose history had been identified for fifty
+years with the Canadian North-West, and whose career had touched
+the currents of primitive life at all points.
+
+[Father Lacombe is by birth a French Canadian, his native parish
+being St. Sulpice, in the Island of Montreal, where he was born in
+the year 1827. On the mother's side he is said to draw his descent
+from the daughter of a habitant on the St. Lawrence River called
+Duhamel, who was stolen in girlhood by the Ojibway Indians, and
+subsequently taken to wife by their chief, to whom she bore two
+sons. By mere accident, her uncle, who was one of a North-West
+Company trading party on Lake Huron, met her at an Indian camp on
+one of the Manitoulin islands, and having identified her as his
+niece, restored her and her children to her family. Father Lacombe
+was ordained a priest by Bishop Bourget, of Montreal, and in 1849
+set out for Red River, where he became intimately associated with
+the French half-breeds, accompanying them on their great buffalo
+hunts, and ministering not only to the spiritual but to the temporal
+welfare of them and their descendants down to the present day. In
+1851 he took charge of the Lake Ste. Anne Mission, and subsequently
+of St. Albert, the first house in which he helped to build; and from
+these Missions he visited numbers of outlying regions, including
+Lesser Slave Lake. His principal missionary work, however, for
+twenty years was pursued amongst the Blackfeet Indians on the Great
+Plains, during which he witnessed many a perilous onslaught in the
+constant warfare between them and their traditional enemies, the
+Crees. Being now over eighty years of age, he has retired from
+active duty, and is spending the remainder of his days at Pincher
+Creek, Alta., where, it is understood, he is preparing his memoirs
+for publication at an early date.]
+
+Not associated with the Commission, but travelling with it as a
+guest, was the Right Rev. E. Grouard, O.M.I., the Roman Catholic
+Bishop of Athabasca and Mackenzie rivers, who was returning, after
+a visit to the East, to his headquarters at Fort Chipewyan, where
+his influence and knowledge of the language, it was believed,
+would be of great service when the treaty came under consideration
+there. The secretaries of the Commission were Mr. Harrison Young, a
+son-in-law of the Rev. George McDougall, the distinguished missionary
+who perished so unaccountably on the plains in the winter of 1876,
+and Mr. I. W. Martin, an agreeable young gentleman from Goderich,
+Ont. Connected with the party in an advisory capacity, like Father
+Lacombe, and as interpreter, was Mr. Pierre d'Eschambault, who
+had been for over thirty years an officer in the Hudson's Pay
+Company's service. The camp-manager was Mr. Henry McKay, of an
+old and highly esteemed North-West family. Such was the personnel,
+official and informal, of the Treaty Commission, to which was also
+attached Mr. H. A. Conroy, as accountant, robust and genial, and
+well fitted for the work.
+
+The Half-breed Scrip Commission, whose duties began where the
+treaty work ended, was composed of Major Walker, a retired
+officer of the Royal North-West Mounted Police, who had seen
+much service in the Territories and was in command of the force
+present at the making of the Fort Carlton Treaty in 1876; and
+Mr. J. A. Coté, an experienced officer of the Land Department at
+Ottawa. The secretaries were Mr. J. F. Prudhomme, of St. Boniface,
+Man., and the writer.
+
+Our transport arrangements, from start to finish, had been placed
+entirely in the hands of a competent officer of the Hudson's Bay
+Company, Mr. H. B. Round, an old resident of Athabasca; and to
+the Commission was also annexed a young medical man, Dr. West,
+a native of Devonshire, England, whose services were appreciated
+in a region where doctors were almost unknown. But not the least
+important and effective constituent of the party was the detachment
+of the Royal North-West Mounted Police, which joined us at Edmonton,
+minus their horses, of course; picked men from a picked force;
+sterling fellows, whose tenacity and hard work in the tracking-harness
+did yeoman service in many a serious emergency. This detachment
+consisted of Inspector Snyder, Sergeant Anderson, Corporals
+Fitzgerald and McClelland, and Constables McLaren, Lett, Burman,
+Lelonde, Burke, Vernon and Kerr. The conduct of these men, it
+is needless to say, was the admiration of all, and assisted
+materially, as will be seen hereafter, in the successful progress
+of the expedition.
+
+Whilst it had been decided that the proposed adjustments should
+be effected, if possible, upon the same terms as the previous
+treaties, it was known that certain changes will be necessary
+owing to the peculiar topographic features of the country itself.
+For example, in much of it arable reserves, such as many of the
+tribes retained in the south, were unavailable, and special
+stipulations were necessary, in such case, so that there should
+be no inequality of treatment. But where good land could be had,
+a novel choice was offered, by which individual Indians, if they
+wished, could take their inalienable shares in severalty, rather
+than be subject to the "band," whereby many industrious Indians
+elsewhere had been greatly hampered in their efforts to improve
+their condition. But, barring such departures as these, the proposed
+treaties were to be effected, as I have said, according to precedent.
+The Commission, then, resting its arguments on the good faith and
+honour of the Government and people of Canada in the past, looked
+forward with confidence to a successful treaty in Athabasca, the
+record of travel and intercourse, to that end, beginning with
+the following narrative.
+
+
+
+Through the Mackenzie Basin
+
+
+
+Chapter I
+
+From Edmonton To Lesser Slave Lake.
+
+
+Mr. Laird, with his staff, left Winnipeg for Edmonton by the
+Canadian Pacific express on the 22nd of May, two of the
+Commissioners having preceded him to that point. The train
+was crowded, as usual, with immigrants, tourists, globe-trotters
+and way-passengers. Parties for the Klondike, for California
+or Japan--once the far East, but now the far West to us--for
+anywhere and everywhere, a C.P.R. express train carrying the
+same variety of fortunates and unfortunates as the ocean-cleaving
+hull. Calgary was reached at one a.m. on the Queen's birthday,
+and the same morning we left for Edmonton by the C. & E.
+Railway. Every one was impressed favourably by the fine country
+lying between these two cities, its intermediate towns and
+villages, and fast-growing industries. But one thing especially
+was not overlooked, viz., the honour due to our venerable Queen,
+alas, so soon to be taken from us.
+
+In the evening we arrived at Strathcona, and found it thronged with
+people celebrating the day. Crossing the river to Edmonton, we
+got rooms with some difficulty in one of its crowded hotels, but
+happily awoke next morning refreshed and ready to view the town.
+It is needless to describe what has been so often described.
+Enough to say Edmonton is one of the doors to the great North,
+an outfitter of its traders, an emporium of its furs. And
+there is something more to be said. It has an old fort, or,
+rather, portions of one, for the vandalism which has let disappear
+another, and still more historic, stronghold, is manifest here as
+well. And truly, what savage scenes have been enacted on this
+very spot! What strife in the days of the rival companies!
+Edmonton is a city still marked by the fine savour of the
+"Old-Timers," who meet once a year to renew associations, and
+for some fleeting but glorious hours recall the past on the
+great river. Age is thinning them out, and by and by the
+remainder man will shake his "few, sad, last gray hairs,"
+and slip out, too. But the tradition of him, it is to be hoped,
+will live, and bind his memory forever to the soil he trod,
+when all this Western world was a wilderness, each primitive
+settlement a happy family, each unit an unsophisticated,
+hospitable soul.
+
+To our mortification we found that our supplies, seasonably shipped
+at Winnipeg, would not arrive for several days; a delay, to begin
+with, which seemed to prefigure all our subsequent hindrances.
+Then rain set in, and it was the afternoon of the 29th before Mr.
+Round could get us off. Once under way, however, with our thirteen
+waggons, there was no trouble save from their heavy loads, which
+could not be moved faster than a walk. Our first camp was at
+Sturgeon River--the Namáo Sepe of the Crees--a fine stream in a
+defile of hills clothed with poplar and spruce, the former not
+quite in leaf, for the spring was backward, though seeding and
+growth in the Edmonton District was much ahead of Manitoba. The
+river flat was dotted with clumps of russet-leaved willows, to
+the north of which our waggons were ranged, and soon the quickly
+pitched tents, fires and sizzling fry-pans filled even the
+tenderfoot with a sense of comfort.
+
+Next morning our route lay through a line of low, broken hills,
+with scattered woods, largely burnt and blown down by the wind; a
+desolate tract, which enclosed, to our left, the Lily Lake--Ascútamo
+Sakaigon--a somewhat marshy-looking sheet of water. Some miles
+farther on we crossed Whiskey Creek, a white man's name, of course,
+given by an illicit distiller, who throve for a time, in the old
+"Permit days," in this secluded spot. Beyond this the long line of
+the Vermilion Hills hove in sight, and presently we reached the
+Vermilion River, the Wyamun of the Crees, and, before nightfall,
+the Nasookamow, or Twin Lake, making our camp in an open besmirched
+pinery, a cattle shelter, with bleak and bare surroundings,
+neighboured by the shack of a solitary settler. He had, no doubt,
+good reasons for his choice; but it seemed a very much less inviting
+locality than Stony Creek, which we came to next morning, approaching
+it through rich and massive spruce woods, the ground strewn with
+anemones, harebells and violets, and interspersed with almost
+startlingly snow-white poplars, whose delicate buds had just opened
+into leaf.
+
+Stony Creek is a tributary of a larger stream, called the
+Tawutináow, which means "a passage between hills." This is
+an interesting spot, for here is the height of land, the
+"divide" between the Saskatchewan and the Athabasca, between
+Arctic and Hudson Bay waters, the stream before us flowing
+north, and carrying the yellowish-red tinge common to the
+waters on this slope. A great valley to the left of the trail
+runs parallel with it from the Sturgeon to the Tawutináow,
+evidently the channel of an ancient river, whose course it would
+now be difficult to determine without close examination. At all
+events, it stretches almost from the Saskatchewan to the Athabasca,
+and indicates some great watershed in times past. Hay was
+abundant here, and much stock, it was evident, might be raised
+in the district.
+
+Towards evening we reached the Tawutináow bridge, some eighteen
+miles from the Landing, our finest camp, dry and pleasant, with
+sward and copse and a fine stream close by. Here is an extensive
+peat bed, which was once on fire and burnt for years--a great
+peril to freighters' ponies, which sometimes grazed into its
+unseen but smouldering depths. The seat of the fire was now an
+immense grassy circle, with a low wall of blackened peat all
+around it.
+
+In the morning an endless succession of small creeks was passed,
+screened by deep valleys which fell in from hills and muskegs
+to the south, and at noon, jaded with slow travel, we reached
+Athabasca Landing. A long hill leads down to the flat, and from
+its brow we had a striking view of the village below and of the
+noble river, which much resembles the Saskatchewan, minus its
+prairies. We were now fairly within the bewildering forest of
+the north, which spreads, with some intervals of plain, to the
+69th parallel of north latitude; an endless jungle of shaggy
+spruce, black and white poplar, birch, tamarack and Banksian pine.
+At the Landing we pitched our tents in front of the Hudson's Bay
+Company's post, where had stood, the previous year, a big canvas
+town of "Klondikers." Here they made preparation for their
+melancholy journey, setting out on the great stream in every
+species of craft, from rafts and coracles to steam barges.
+Here was begun an episode of that world-wide craze, which has
+run through all time, and almost every country, in which were
+enacted deeds of daring and suffering which add a new chapter
+to the history of human fearlessness and folly.
+
+The Landing was a considerable hamlet for such a wilderness,
+being the shipping point to Mackenzie River, and, via the Lesser
+Slave Lake, to the Upper Peace. It consisted of the Hudson's Bay
+Company's establishment, with large storehouses, a sawmill, the
+residence and church of a Church of England bishop, and a Roman
+Catholic station, with a variety of shelters in the shape of
+boarding-houses, shacks and tepees all around. From the number
+of scows and barges in all stages of construction, and the high
+timber canting-tackles, it had quite a shipyard-like look, the
+population being mainly mechanics, who constructed scows, small
+barges, called "sturgeons," and the old "York," or inland boat,
+carrying from four to five tons. Here, hauled up on the bank, was
+the Hudson's Bay Company's steamer, the _Athabasca_, a well-built
+vessel about 160 feet long by 28 feet beam. This vessel, it was
+found, drew too much water for the channel; so there she lay,
+rotting upon her skids. It was a tantalizing sight to ourselves,
+who would have been spared many a heart-break had she been fit
+for service. A more interesting feature of the Landing, however,
+was the well sunk by the Government borer, Mr. Fraser, for oil,
+but which sent up gas instead. The latter was struck at a
+considerable depth, and, when we were there, was led from the
+shaft under the river bank by a pipe, from which it issued
+aflame, burning constantly, we were told, summer and winter.
+Standing at the gateway of the unknown North, and looking
+at this interesting feature, doubly so from its place and
+promise, one could not but forecast an industrial future,
+and "dream on things to come."
+
+Shortly after our arrival at the Landing, news, true or false,
+reached us that the ice was still fast on Lesser Slave Lake. At
+any rate, the boat's crew expected from there did not turn up,
+and a couple of days were spent in anxious waiting. Some freight
+was delayed as well, and a thunderstorm and a night of rain set
+the camp in a swim. The non-arrival of our trackers was serious,
+as we had two scows and a York boat, with a party all told of some
+fifty souls, and only thirteen available trackers to start with.
+It seemed more than doubtful whether we could reach Lesser Slave
+Lake on treaty-schedule time, and the anxiety to push on was great.
+It was decided to set out as we were and trust to the chapter of
+accidents. We did not foresee the trials before us, the struggle
+up a great and swift river, with contrary winds, rainy weather,
+weak tracking lines and a weaker crew. The chapter of accidents
+opened, but not in the expected manner.
+
+The York boat and one of the scows were fitted up amidships with
+an awning, which could be run down on all sides when required,
+but were otherwise open to the weather, and much encumbered with
+lading; but all things being in readiness, on the 3rd of June we
+took to the water, and, a photograph of the scene having been
+taken, shoved off from the Landing. The boats were furnished
+with long, cumbrous sweeps, yet not a whit too heavy, since numbers
+of them snapped with the vigorous strokes of the rowers during
+the trip. A small sweep, passed through a ring at the stern,
+served as a rudder, by far the best steering gear for the
+"sturgeons," but not for a York boat, which is built with a
+keel and can sail pretty close to the wind. Ordinarily the
+only sail in use is a lug, which has a great spread, and moves
+a boat quickly in a fair wind. In a calm, of course, sweeps have
+to be used, and our first step in departure was to cross the
+river with them, the boatmen rising with the oars and falling
+back simultaneously to their seats with perfect precision, and
+handling the great blades with practised ease. When the opposite
+shore was reached, the four trackers of each boat leaped into
+the water, and, splashing up the bank, got into harness at
+once, and began, with changes to the oars, the unflagging pull
+which lasted for two weeks. This harness is called by the
+trackers "otapanápi"--a Cree word--and it must be borne in mind
+that scarcely any language was spoken throughout this region other
+than Cree. A little English or French was occasionally heard; but
+the tongue, domestic, diplomatic, universal, was Cree, into which
+every half-breed in common talk lapsed, sooner or later, with
+undisguised delight. It was his mother tongue, copious enough
+to express his every thought and emotion, and its soft accents,
+particularly in the mouth of woman, are certainly very musical.
+Emerson's phrase, "fossil poetry," might be applied to our Indian
+languages, in which a single stretched-out word does duty for
+a sentence.
+
+But to the harness. This is simply an adjustment of leather
+breast-straps for each man, tied to a very long tracking line,
+which, in turn, is tied to the bow of the boat. The trackers,
+once in it, walk off smartly along the bank, the men on board
+keeping the boats clear of it, and, on a fair path, with good
+water, make very good time. Indeed, the pull seems to give an
+impetus to the trackers as well as to the boat, so that a loose
+man has to lope to keep up with them. But on bad paths and
+bad water the speed is sadly pulled down, and, if rapids occur,
+sinks to the zero of a few miles a day. The "spells" vary
+according to these circumstances, but half an hour is the
+ordinary pull between "pipes," and there being no shifts in
+our case, the stoppages for rest and tobacco were frequent.
+At this rate we calculated that it would take eight or ten
+days to reach the mouth of Lesser Slave River. Mr. d'Eschambault
+and myself, having experienced the crowded state of the first
+and second boats, and foregathered during the trip, decided to
+take up our quarters on the scow, which had no awning, but
+which offered some elbow room and a tolerably cozy nook amongst
+the cases, bales and baggage with which it was encumbered.
+
+We had a study on board, as well, in our steersman, Pierre Cyr,
+which partly attracted me--a bronzed man, with long, thin, yet
+fine weather-beaten features, frosty moustache and keenly-gazing,
+dry, gray eyes--a tall, slim and sinewy man, over seventy
+years of age, yet agile and firm of step as a man of thirty.
+Add the semi-silent, inward laugh which Cooper ascribes to
+his Leather-Stocking, and you have Pierre Cyr, who might
+have stood for that immortal's portrait. That he had a history
+I felt sure when I first saw him seated amongst his boatmen at
+the Landing, and, on seeking his acquaintance, was not surprised
+to learn that he had accompanied Sir John Richardson on his
+last journey in Prince Rupert's Land, and Dr. Rae on his eventful
+expedition to Repulse Bay, in 1853, in search of Franklin. He
+looked as if he could do it again--a vigorous, alert man, ready
+and able to track or pole with the best--a survivor, in fact,
+of the old race of Red River voyageurs, whose record is one
+of the romances of history.
+
+Another attraction was my companion, Mr. d'E. himself--a man
+stout in person, quiet by disposition, and of few words; a man,
+too, with a lineage which connected him with many of the oldest
+pioneer families of French Canada. His ancestor, Jacques Alexis
+d'Eschambault, originally of St. Jean de Montaign, in Poictou,
+came to New France in the 17th century, where, in 1667, he married
+Marguerite Rene Denys, a relative of the devoted Madame de la
+Peltrie, and thus became brother-in-law to M. de Ramezay, the
+owner of the famous old mansion in Montreal, now a museum. Jacques
+d'Eschambault's son married a daughter of Louis Joliet, the
+discoverer of the Mississippi, and became a prominent merchant
+in Quebec, distinguishing himself, it is said, by having the
+largest family ever known in Canada, viz., thirty-two children.
+Under the new _régime_ my companion's grandfather, like many another
+French Canadian gentleman, entered the British army, but died
+in Canada, leaving as heir to his seigneurie a young man whose
+friendship for Lord Selkirk led him to Red River as a companion,
+where he subsequently entered the Hudson's Bay Company's service,
+and died, a chief-factor, at St. Boniface, Man. His son, my
+companion, also entered the service, in 1857, at his father's
+post of Isle a la Crosse, served seven years at Cumberland, nine
+at other distant points, and, finally, fifteen years as trader
+at Reindeer Lake, a far northern post bordering on the Barren Lands,
+and famous for its breed of dogs. My friend had some strange
+virtues, or defects, as the ungodly might call them; he had never
+used tobacco or intoxicants in his life, a marvellous thing
+considering his environment. He possessed, besides, a fine
+simplicity which pleased one. Doubled up in the Edmonton hotel
+with a waggish companion, he was seen, so the latter affirmed,
+to attempt to blow out the electric light, a thing which, greatly
+to his discomfiture, was done by his bed-fellow with apparent
+ease. Being a man of scant speech, I enjoyed with him betimes
+the luxury of it. But we had much discourse for all that, and
+I learnt many interesting things from this old trader, who seemed
+taciturn in our little crowd, but was, in reality, a tower of
+intelligent silence beat about by a flood of good-humoured chaff
+and loquacity.
+
+At our first night's camp we were still in sight of the Landing,
+which looked absurdly near, considering the men's hard pull; and
+from there messengers were sent to Baptiste Lake, the source of
+Baptiste Creek, which joins the Athabasca a few miles up, and
+where there was a settlement of half-breed fishermen and hunters,
+to procure additional trackers if possible. On their unsuccessful
+return, at eleven a.m., we started again--newo pishawuk, as they
+call it, "four trackers to the line," as before and early in the
+afternoon were opposite Baptiste Creek, and, weather compelling,
+rowed across, and camped there that evening. It rained dismally
+all night, and morning opened with a strong head wind and every
+symptom of bad weather. A survey party from the Rocky Mountains,
+in a York boat, tarried at our camp, bringing word that the
+ice-jam was clear in Lesser Slave Lake, which was cheering, but
+that we need scarcely look for the expected assistance. They
+also gave a vague account of the murder of a squaw by her
+husband for cannibalism, which afterwards proved to be groundless,
+and, with this comforting information, sped on.
+
+It is ridiculously easy to go down the Athabasca compared with
+ascending it. The previous evening a Baptiste Lake hunter, bound
+for the Landing, set on from our camp at a great rate astride
+of a couple of logs, which he held together with his legs, and
+disappeared round the bend below in a twinkling. A priest, too,
+with a companion, arrived about dusk in a canoe, and set off
+again, intending to beach at the Landing before dark.
+
+Of course, several surmises were current regarding the non-arrival
+of our trackers, the most likely being Bishop Grouard's, that,
+as the R. C. Mission boats and men had not come down either,
+the Indians and half-breeds were too intent upon discussing
+the forthcoming treaty to stir.
+
+So far it had been the rain and consequent bad tracking which
+had delayed us; but still we were too weak-handed to make headway
+without help, and it was at this juncture that the Police
+contingent stepped manfully into the breach, and volunteered
+to track one of the boats to the lake. This was no light matter
+for men unaccustomed to such beastly toil and in such abominable
+weather; but, having once put their hands to the rope, they
+were not the men to back down. With unfaltering "go" they
+pulled on day after day, landing their boat at its destination
+at last, having worked in the harness and at the sweeps,
+without relief, from the start almost to the finish.
+
+Meanwhile all enjoyed good health and spirits in spite of the
+weather. There were fair grounds for the belief that Mr. Ross,
+who had set out by trail from Edmonton, would reach the lake in
+time to distribute to the congregated Indians and half-breeds
+the Government rations stored there for that purpose, and,
+therefore, our anxiety was not so great as it would otherwise
+have been.
+
+Our trackers being thus reinforced, the outlook was more
+satisfactory, not so much in increased speed as in the certainty
+of progress. The rain had ceased, and though the sky was still
+lowering, the temperature was higher. Tents were struck, and
+the boats got under way at once, taking chances on the weather,
+which, instead of breaking up in another deluge, improved.
+Eight men were now put to each line, Peokus, a remarkable old
+Blackfoot Indian, captured and adopted in boyhood by the Crees,
+and who afterwards attracted the attention of us all, being
+detailed to lead the Police gang, who, raw and unused to the
+work, required an experienced tracker at their head.
+
+The country passed through hitherto was rolling, hilly, and
+densely forested, but, alas, with prostrate trunks and fire-blasted
+"rampikes," which ranged in all directions in desolate profusion.
+The timber was Banksian pine, spruce, poplar and birch, much of
+it merchantable, but not of large size. It was pitiful to see
+so much wealth destroyed by recent fires, and that, too, at the
+possible opening of an era of real value in the near future.
+The greatest destruction was evidently on the north side of the
+river, but the south had not escaped.
+
+As regards the soil in these parts, it was, so far, impossible
+to speak favourably. The hunters described the inland country
+as a wilderness of sand-hills, surrounded by quaking-bogs,
+muskegs and soft meadows. Judging by exposures on the river
+bank, there are, here and there, fertile areas which may yet
+be utilized; but probably the best thing that could happen to
+that part of the country would be a great clearing fire to
+complete the destruction of its dead timber and convert its
+best parts into prairie and a summer range for cattle.
+
+We were now approaching a portion of the river where the difficulties
+of getting on were great. The men had to cope with the swift current,
+bordered by a series of steep gumbo slides, where the tracking was
+hazardous; where great trees slanted over the water, tottering to
+their fall, or deep pits and fissures gaped in the festering clay,
+into which the men often plunged to their arm-pits. It was horrible
+to look upon. The chain-gang, the galley-slaves, how often the idea
+of them was recalled by that horrid pull! Yet onward they went,
+with teeth set and hands bruised by the rope, surmounting difficulty
+after difficulty with the pith of lions.
+
+At last a better region was reached, with occasionally a better
+path. Here the destruction by fire had been stayed, the country
+improved, and the forest outlines became bold and noble. Hour by
+hour we crept along a like succession of majestic bends of the
+river, not yet flushed by the summer freshet, but flowing with
+superb volume and force. Fully ten miles were made that day,
+the men tracking like Trojans through water and over difficult
+ground, but fortunately free from mosquitoes, the constant head
+winds keeping these effectually down. The cool weather in like
+manner kept the water down, for it is in this month that the
+freshet from the Rocky Mountains generally begins, filling the
+channel bank-high, submerging the tracking paths, and bearing
+upon its foaming surface such a mass of uprooted trees and river
+trash that it is almost impossible to make head against it.
+
+The next morning opened dry and pleasant, but with a milky and
+foreboding sky. Again the boats were in motion, passing the
+Pusquatenáo, or Naked Hill, beyond which is the Echo Lake--Katoó
+Sakaígon--where a good many Indians lived, having a pack-trail
+thereto from the river.
+
+The afternoon proved to be hot, the clouds cumulose against a
+clear, blue sky, with occasional sun-showers. The tracking became
+better for a time, the lofty benches decreasing in height as we
+ascended. Innumerable ice-cold creeks poured in from the forest,
+all of a reddish-yellow cast, and the frequent marks on trees,
+informing passing hunters of the success of their friends, and
+the number of stages along the shore for drying meat, indicated
+a fine moose country.
+
+The next day was treaty day, and we were still a long way from
+the treaty post. The Police, not yet hardened to the work, felt
+fagged, but would not own up, a nephew of Sir William Vernon
+Harcourt bringing up the rear, and all slithering, but hanging
+to it with dogged perseverance. Nothing, indeed, can be imagined
+more arduous than this tracking up a swift river, against constant
+head winds in bad weather. Much of it is in the water, wading up
+"snies," or tortuous shallow channels, plunging into numberless
+creeks, clambering up slimy banks, creeping under or passing the
+line over fallen trees, wading out in the stream to round long
+spits of sand or boulders, floundering in gumbo slides, tripping,
+crawling, plunging, and, finally, tottering to the camping-place
+sweating like horses, and mud to the eyes--but never grumbling.
+After a whole day of this slavish work, no sooner was the bath
+taken, supper stowed, and pipes filled, than laughter began,
+and jokes and merriment ran round the camp-fires as if such
+things as mud and toil had never existed.
+
+The old Indian, Peokus, heading the Police line, was a study.
+His garb was a pair of pants toned down to the colour of the
+grime they daily sank in, a shirt and corduroy vest to match,
+a faded kerchief tied around his head, an Assomption sash, and
+a begrimed body inside of all--a short, squarely built frame,
+clad with rounded muscles--nothing angular about _him!_--but the
+nerves within tireless as the stream he pulled against. On the
+lead, in harness, his long arms swung like pendulums, his whole
+body leant forward at an acute angle, the gait steady, and the
+step solid as the tramp of a gorilla. Some coarse black hairs
+clung here and there to his upper lip; his fine brown eyes were
+embedded in wrinkles, and his swarthy features, though clumsy,
+were kindly--a good-humoured face, which, at a cheerful word
+or glance, lit up at once with the grotesque grin of an animated
+gargoyle. This was the typical old-time tracker of the North; the
+toiler who brought in the products of man's art in the East, and
+took out Nature's returns--the Indian's output--ever since the
+trade first penetrated these endless solitudes.
+
+The forest scenery now became very striking; primeval masses of
+poplar and birch foliage, which spread away and upward in smoothest
+slopes, like vast lawns, studded with the sombre green of the pine
+tops which towered above them. Here and there the bends of the
+river crossed at such angles as to enclose a lake-like expanse
+of water. The river also took a fine colouring from its tributaries,
+a sort of greenish-yellow tinge, and now became flecked with
+bubbles and thin foam, so that we feared the freshet, which would
+have been disastrous.
+
+At mid-day we reached Shoal Island--Pakwáo Ministic--and here the
+poles were got out and the trackers took the middle of the river
+for nearly a mile, until deep water was reached. Placer miners
+had evidently been at work here, but with poor results, we
+were told. Below Baptiste Creek, however, the yield had been
+satisfactory, and several miners had made from $2.00 to $2.50 a
+day over their living expenses. Above the Baptiste there was
+nothing doing; indeed, we did not pass a single miner at work
+on the whole route, and it was the best time for their work.
+The gold is flocculent, its source as mysterious as that of the
+Saskatchewan, if the theory that the latter was washed out of
+the Selkirks before the upheaval of the Rockies is astray.
+
+A fresh moose head, seen lying on the bank, indicated a hunting
+party, but no human life was seen aside from our own people.
+Indeed, the absence of life of any kind along the river, excepting
+the song-birds, which were in some places numerous, was surprising.
+No deer, no bears, not even a fox or a timber wolf made one's
+fingers itch for the trigger. A few brent, which took wing afar
+off, and a high-flying duck or two, were the sole wildings observed,
+save a big humble-bee which droned around our boat for an instant,
+then darted off again. Even fish seemed to be anything but plentiful.
+
+That night's camp was hurriedly made in a hummocky fastness of
+pine and birch, where we found few comfortable bedding-places.
+In the morning we passed several ice-ledges along shore, the
+survivals of the severe winter, and, presently, met a canoe
+with two men from Peace River, crestfallen "Klondikers," who
+had "struck it rich," they said, with a laugh, and who reported
+good water. Next morning a very early start was made, and after
+some long, strong pulls, and a vigorous spurt, the mouth of the
+Lesser Slave River opened at last on our sight.
+
+We had latterly passed along what appeared to be fertile soil,
+a sandy clay country, which improved to the west and south-west
+at every turn. It had an inviting look, and the "lie," as well,
+of a region foreordained for settlement. It was irritating not
+to be able to explore the inner land, but our urgency was too
+great for that. From what we saw, however, it was easy to
+predict that thither would flow, in time, the stream of pioneer
+life and the bustle of attending enterprise and trade.
+
+
+
+Chapter II
+
+Lesser Slave River And Lesser Slave Lake.
+
+
+It is unnecessary to inform the average reader that the Lesser
+Slave River connects the Lesser Slave Lake with the Athabasca;
+any atlas will satisfy him upon that point. But its peculiar
+colouring he will not find there, and it is this which gives
+the river its most distinctive character. Once seen, it is easy
+to account for the hue of the Athabasca below the Lesser Slave
+River; for the water of the latter, though of a pale yellow colour
+in a glass, is of a rich burnt umber in the stream, and when blown
+upon by the wind turns its sparkling facets to the sun like the
+smile upon the cheek of a brunette. Its upward course is like
+a continuous letter S with occasional S's side by side, so that
+a point can be crossed on foot in a few minutes which would
+cost much time to go around. Its proper name, too, is not to
+be found in the atlases, either English or French. There it
+is called the Lesser Slave River, but in the classic Cree its
+name is Iyaghchi Eennu Sepe, or the River of the Blackfeet,
+literally the "River of the Strange People." The lake itself
+bears the same name, and even now is never called Slave Lake
+by the Indians in their own tongue. This fact, to my mind,
+casts additional light upon an obscure prehistoric question,
+namely, the migration of the great Algic, or Algonquin, race.
+Its early home was, perhaps, in the far south, or south-west,
+whence it migrated around the Gulf of Florida, and eastward
+along the Atlantic coast, spreading up its bays and inlets,
+and along its great tributary rivers, finally penetrating by
+the Upper Ottawa to James's, and ultimately to the shores of
+Hudson Bay. I know there is strong adverse opinion as to the
+starting-point of this migration, and I only offer my own as
+a suggestion based upon the facts stated, and as, therefore,
+worthy of consideration. Sir Alexander Mackenzie speaks of the
+Blackfeet "travelling north-westward," and that the Crees were
+"invaders of the Saskatchewan from the eastward." Indeed, he says
+the latter were called by the Hudson's Bay Company's officers at
+York Factory "their home-guards." One thing seems certain, viz.,
+that the Crees got their firearms from the English at Hudson
+Bay in the 17th century. Thence that great tribe, called by
+themselves the Nahéowuk, but by the Ojibway Saulteaux the
+Kinistineaux, and by the voyageurs Christineaux, or, more
+commonly, the Crees--a word derived, some think, from the first
+syllable of the latter name, or perhaps from the French _crier_,
+to shout--descended upon the Blackfeet, who probably at that
+time occupied this region, and undoubtedly the Saskatchewan,
+and drove them south along a line stretching to the Rocky
+Mountains.
+
+The tradition of this expulsion is still extant, as also of the
+great raids made by the Blackfeet and their kindred in times
+past into their ancient domain. I remember visiting, with my
+old friend Attakacoop--Star-Blanket--the deceased Cree chief,
+twenty years ago, the triumphal pile of red deer horns raised
+by the Blackfeet north of Shell River, a tributary of the North
+Saskatchewan. It is called by the Crees Ooskunaka Assustakee,
+and the chief described its great size in former days, and the
+tradition of its origin as told to him in his boyhood. Be all
+this as it may, and this is not the place to pursue the inquiry,
+the stream in question is, to the Crees who live upon it, not
+the River of the Slaves, but the "River of the Blackfeet." How
+it came by its white name is another question. Possibly some
+captured Indians of the tribe called the Slaves to this day, reduced
+to servitude by the Crees, were seen by the early voyageurs, and
+gave rise to the French name, of which ours is a translation.
+Slavery was common enough amongst the Indians everywhere. A
+thriving trade was done at the Detroit in the 18th century in
+Pawnees, or Panis, as they were called, captured by Indian
+raiders on the western prairies and sold to the white settlers
+along the river. I have seen in Windsor, Ont., an old bill of
+sale of one of these Pani slaves, the consideration being, if
+I recollect aright, a certain quantity of Indian corn.
+
+To return to the river. The distance from Athabasca Landing to
+the Lesser Slave is called sixty-five miles, but this must have
+been ascertained by measuring from point to point, for, following
+the shore up stream, as boats must, it is certainly more. To the
+head of the river is an additional sixty miles, and thence to
+the head of the lake seventy-five more. The Hudson's Bay Company
+had a storehouse at the Forks, and an island was forming where
+the waters meet, the finest feature of the place being an echo,
+which reverberated the bugler's call at _reveille_ very grandly.
+
+A spurt was made in the early morning, the trackers first following
+a bank overgrown with alders and sallows, all of a size, which
+looked exactly like a well-kept hedge, but soon gave way to the
+usual dense line of poplar and spruce, rooted to the very edges
+of the banks, which are low compared with those of the Athabasca.
+After ascending it for some distance, it being Sunday, we camped
+for the day upon an open grassy point, around which the river
+swept in a perfect semi-circle, the dense forest opposite towering
+in one equally perfect, and glorious in light and shade and
+harmonious tints of green, from sombre olive to the lightest
+pea. The point itself was covered with strawberry vines and
+dotted with clumps of saskatoons all in bloom.
+
+It was a lovely and lonely spot, which was soon converted into
+a scene of eating and laughter, and a drying ground for wet
+clothes. Towards evening Bishop Grouard and Father Lacombe held
+a well-attended service, which in this profound wilderness was
+peculiarly impressive. Listening, one thought how often the same
+service, these same chants and canticles, had awakened the sylvan
+echoes in like solitudes on the St. Lawrence and Mississippi in
+the old days of exploration and trade, and of missionary zeal and
+suffering. It recalled, too, the thought of man's evanescence and
+the apparent fixedness of his institutions.
+
+Shortly after our tents were pitched a boat drifted past
+with five jaded-looking men aboard--more baffled Klondikers
+returning from Peace River. We had heard of numbers in the
+interior who could neither go on nor return, and expected to
+meet more castaways before we reached the lake. In this we
+were not astray, and several days after in the upper river
+we met a York boat loaded with them, alert and unmistakable
+Americans, but with the worn features of disappointed men.
+
+We were now constantly encountering the rapids, which extended
+for about twenty-five miles, and very difficult and troublesome
+they proved to be to our heavily-loaded craft. Most of them were
+got over slowly by combined poling and tracking, the line often
+breaking with the strain, and the boats being kept in the channel
+only by the most strenuous efforts of the experienced men on board.
+If a monias (a greenhorn) took the bow pole, as was sometimes the
+case, the orders of our steersman, Cyr, were amusing to listen to.
+"Tughkenay asswayegh tamook!" (Be on your guard!) "Turn de oder way!
+Turn yourself! Turn your pole--Hell!" Then, of course, came the
+customary rasp on the rocks, but, if not, the cheery cry followed
+to the trackers ashore, "Ahchipitamook!" (Haul away!) and on we
+would go for a few yards more. Once, towards the end of this dreary
+business, when we were all crowded into the Commissioner's boat,
+where we took our meals, in the first really stiff rapid the keel
+grated as usual upon the rocks. With a better line we might have
+pulled through, but it broke, and the boat at once swung broadside
+to the current and listed on the rocks immovably, though the men
+struggling in the water did their best to heavy her off. The
+third boat then came up, and shortly afterwards the Police boat.
+But getting their steering sweeps fouled and lines entangled, it
+was nearly an hour before Cyr's boat, being first lightened, could
+swing to starboard of the York, and take off the passengers.
+The York boat was then shouldered off the rocks by main force,
+and all got under way again. At this juncture our old Indian,
+Peokus--or Pehayokusk, to give him his right name, to wit, "The
+giblets of a bird"--met with a serious accident, which, much to
+our regret, laid him up for several days. In his eagerness to
+help he slipped from a sunken log, and the bruise knocked the
+wind out of him completely. We took off his wet clothes and rubbed
+him, and laid him by the fire, where the doctor's care and a
+liberal dram of spirits soon fetched him to rights. A look of
+pleased wonder passed over his clumsy features as the latter
+did its work. Caliban himself could not have been more curiously
+surprised.
+
+This was not our last stick: there were other awkward rapids
+near by; but by dint of wading, shouldering, pulling and tracking,
+we got over the last of them and into a deep channel for good,
+having advanced only five miles after a day of incessant toil,
+most of it in the water.
+
+Our camp that night was a memorable one. The day was the fiftieth
+anniversary of Father Lacombe's ministration as a missionary in
+the North-West, and all joined in presenting him with a suitable
+address, handsomely engrossed by Mr. Prudhomme on birch bark,
+and signed by the whole party. A poem, too, composed by Mr.
+Coté, a gentleman of literary gifts and taste, also written on
+bark, was read and presented at the same time. [The poem, the text
+of which was secured from the author too late for insertion here,
+will be found in the Appendix, p. 490.] Père Lacombe made a touching
+impromptu reply, which was greatly appreciated. Many of us were not
+of the worthy Father's communion, yet there was but one feeling,
+that of deep respect for the labours of this celebrated missionary,
+whose life had been a continuous effort to help the unbefriended
+Indian into the new but inevitable paths of self-support, and to
+shield him from the rapacity of the cold incoming world now surging
+around him. After the presentation, over a good cigar, the Father
+told some inimitable stories of Indian life on the plains in the
+old days, which to my great regret are too lengthy for inclusion
+here. One incident, however, being _apropos_ of himself, must find
+place. Turning the conversation from materialism, idealism, and the
+other "isms" into which it had drifted, he spoke of the fears so
+many have of ghosts, and even of a corpse, and confessed that, from
+early training, he had shared this fear until he got rid of it in an
+incident one winter at Lac Ste. Anne. He had been sent for during
+the night to administer extreme unction to a dying half-breed girl
+thirteen miles away. Hitching his dogs to their sled he sped on,
+but too late, for he was met on the trail by the girl's relatives,
+bringing her dead body wrapped in a buffalo skin, and which
+they asked him to take back with him and place in his chapel
+pending service. He tremblingly assented, and the body was
+duly tied to his sled, the relatives returning to their homes.
+He was alone with the corpse in the dense and dark forest, and
+felt the old dread, but reflecting on his office and its duties,
+he ran for a long distance behind the sled until, thoroughly
+tired, he stepped on it to rest. In doing this he slipped and
+fell upon the corpse in a spasm of fear, which, strange to say,
+when he recovered from it, he felt no more. The shock cured him,
+and, reaching home, he placed the girl's body in the chapel
+with his own hands. It reminded him, he said, of a Community
+at Marseilles whose Superior had died, but whose money was
+missing. The new Superior sent a young priest who had a great
+dread of ghosts down to the crypt below the church to open the
+coffin and search the pockets of the dead. He did so, and found
+the money; but in nailing on the coffin lid again, a part of
+his soutane was fastened down with it. The priest turned to go,
+advanced a step, and, being suddenly held, dropped dead with
+fright. These gruesome stories were happily followed by an hour
+or two of song and pleasantry in Mr. McKenna's tent, ending in
+"Auld Lang Syne" and "God Save the Queen." It was a unique occasion
+in which to wind up so laborious a day; and our camp itself was
+unique--on a lofty bluff overlooking the confluence of the
+Saulteau River with the Lesser Slave--a bold and beautiful
+spot, the woods at the angle of the two rivers, down to the
+water's edge, showing like a gigantic V, as clean-cut as if
+done by a pair of colossal shears.
+
+Next morning rowing took the place of poling and tracking for a
+time, and, presently, the great range of lofty hills called, to
+our right, the Moose Watchi, and to our left, the Tuskanatchi--the
+Moose and Raspberry Mountains--loomed in the distance. Here, and
+when only a few miles from the lake, a York boat came tearing down
+stream full of lithe, young half-breed trackers--our long-expected
+assistants from the Hudson's Bay Company's post, as we would have
+welcomed much more warmly had they come sooner, for we had little
+but the lake now to ascend, up which a fair breeze would carry us
+in a single night.
+
+Doubtless it would have done so if it had come; but the same
+head-winds and storms which had thwarted us from the first
+dogged us still. We had camped near the mouth of Muskeg Creek,
+a good-sized stream, and evidently the cause hitherto of the
+Lesser Slave's rich chocolate colour; for, above the forks, the
+latter took its hue from the lake, but with a yellowish tinge
+still. From this point the river was very crooked, and lined by
+great hay meadows of luxuriant growth. Skirting these, reinforced
+as we were, we soon pulled up to the foot of the lake, where stood
+a Hudson's Bay Company's solitary storehouse. There some change of
+lading was made, in order to reach "the Island," some seven miles
+up, and the only one in the lake, sails being hoisted for the first
+time to an almost imperceptible wind.
+
+The island, where we were to camp simply for the night--as we
+fondly thought--was found to be a sprawling jumble of water-worn
+pebbles, boulders and sand, with a long narrow spit projecting
+to the east, much frequented by gulls, of whose eggs a large
+number were gathered. To the south, on the mainland, is the
+site of the old North-West Company's post, near to which stood
+that of the Hudson's Bay Company, for they always planted
+themselves cheek by jowl in those days of rivalry, so that
+there should be no lack of provocation. A dozen half-breed
+families had now their habitat there, and subsisted by fishing
+and trapping. On the island our Cree half-breeds enjoyed the
+first evening's camp by playing the universal button-hiding
+game called Pugasawin, and which is always accompanied by a
+monotonous chant and the tom-tom, anything serving for that
+hideous instrument if a drum is not at hand. They are all
+inveterate gamblers in that country, and lose or win with
+equal indifference. Others played a peculiar game of cards
+called Natwawáquawin, or "Marriage," the loser's penalty
+being droll, but unmentionable. These amusements, which
+often spun out till morning, were broken up by another
+rattling storm, which lasted all night and all the next day.
+We had lost all count of storms by this time, and were stolidly
+resigned. The day following, however, the wind was fresh and
+fair, and we made great headway, reaching the mouth of Swan
+River--Naposéo Sepe--about mid-day.
+
+This stream is almost choked at its discharge by a conglomeration
+of slimy roots, weeds and floatwood, and the banks are "a
+melancholy waste of putrid marshes." It is a forbidding entrance
+to a river which, farther up, waters a good farming country,
+including coal in abundance.
+
+The wind being strong and fair, we spun along at a great rate,
+and expected to reach the treaty point before dark, reckoning,
+as usual, without our host. The wind suddenly wheeled to the
+south-west, and a dangerous squall sprang up, which forced us
+to run back for shelter fully five miles. There was barely time
+to camp before the gale became furious, raging all night, and
+throwing down tents like nine-pins. About one a.m. a cry arose
+from the night-watch that the boats were swamping. All hands
+turned out, lading was removed, and the scows hauled up on the
+shingle, the rollers piling on shore with a height and fury
+perfectly astonishing for such a lake. By morning the tempest
+was at its height, continuing all day and into the night. The
+sunset that evening exhibited some of the grandest and wildest
+sky scenery we had ever beheld. In the west a vast bank of
+luminous orange cloud, edged by torn fringes of green and gray;
+in the south a sea of amethyst, and stretching from north to
+east masses of steel gray and pearl, shot with brilliant shafts
+and tufts of golden vapour. The whole sky streamed with rich
+colouring in the fierce wind, as if possessed at once by the
+genii of beauty and storm. The boatmen, noting its aspect,
+predicted worse weather; but, fortunately, morning belied the
+omens--our trials were over.
+
+We were now nearing Shaw's Point, a long willowed spit of land,
+called after a whimsical old chief-factor of the Hudson's Bay
+Company who had charge of this district over sixty years before.
+He appears to have been a man of many eccentricities, one
+of which was the cultivation _a la Chinois_ of a very long
+finger-nail, which he used as a spoon to eat his egg. But of
+him anon. By four p.m. we had rounded his Point, and come into
+view of Wyaweekamon--"The Outlet"--a rudimentary street with
+several trading stores, a billiard saloon and other accessories
+of a brand-new village in a very old wilderness.
+
+Here we were at the treaty point at last, safe and sound, with
+new interests and excitements before us; with wild man instead
+of wild weather to encounter; with discords to harmonize and
+suspicions to allay by human kindness, perhaps by human firmness,
+but mainly by the just and generous terms proffered by Government
+to an isolated but highly interesting and deserving people.
+
+
+
+Chapter III
+
+Treaty At Lesser Slave Lake.
+
+
+On the 19th of June our little fleet landed at Willow Point.
+There was a rude jetty, or wharf, at this place, below the
+little trading village referred to, at which loaded boats
+discharged. Formerly they could ascend the sluggish and shallow
+channel connecting the expansion of the Heart River, called
+Buffalo Lake, with the head of Lesser Slave Lake, a distance
+of about three miles, and as far as the Hudson's Bay Company's
+post, around which another trading village had gathered. This
+temporary fall in the water level partly accounted for the growth
+of the village at Willow Point, where sufficient interests had
+arisen to cause a jealousy between the two hamlets. Once upon
+a time Atawaywé Kamick was supreme. This is the name the
+Crees give to the Hudson's Bay Company, meaning literally "the
+Buying House." But now there were many stores, and "free
+trade" was rather in the ascendant. In the middle was safety,
+and therefore the Commissioners decided to pitch camp on a
+beautiful flat facing the south and fronting the channel, and
+midway between the two opposing points of trade. A _feu de joie_
+by the white residents of the region, of whom there were some
+seventy or eighty, welcomed the arrival of the boats at the
+wharf, and after a short stay here, simply to collect baggage,
+a start was made for the camping ground, where our numerous
+tents soon gave the place the appearance of a village of our own.
+
+Tepees were to be seen in all directions from our camp--the
+lodges of the Indians and half-breeds. But no sooner was the
+treaty site apparent than a general concentration took place,
+and we were speedily surrounded by a bustling crowd, putting
+up trading tents and shacks, dancing booths, eating-places,
+etc., so that with the motley crowd, including a large number
+of women and children, and a swarm of dogs such as we never
+dreamt of, amounting in a short space by constant accessions
+to over a thousand, we were in the heart of life and movement
+and noise.
+
+Mr. Ross, as already stated, had gone on by trail from Edmonton,
+partly in order to inspect it, and managed to reach the lake
+before us, which was fortunate, since Indians and half-breeds
+had collected in large numbers, and women thus able to allay
+their irritation and to distribute rations pending the arrival
+of the other members of the Commission. During the previous
+winter, upon the circulation in the North of the news of the
+coming treaty, discussion was rife, and every cabin and tepee
+rang with argument. The wiseacre was not absent, of course,
+and agitators had been at work for some time endeavouring to
+jaundice the minds of the people--half-breeds, it was said,
+from Edmonton, who had been vitiated by contact with a low
+class of white men there--and, therefore, nothing was as yet
+positively known as to the temper and views of the Indians.
+But whatever evil effect these tamperings might have had upon
+them, it was felt that a plain statement of the proposals of
+the Government would speedily dissipate it, and that, when
+placed before them in Mr. Laird's customary kind and lucid
+manner, they would be accepted by both Indians and half-breeds
+as the best obtainable, and as conducing in all respects to
+their truest and most permanent interests.
+
+On the 20th the eventful morning had come, and, for a wonder,
+the weather proved to be calm, clear and pleasant. The hour
+fixed upon for the beginning of negotiations was two p.m., up
+to which time much hand-shaking had, of course, to be undergone
+with the constant new arrivals of natives from the forest and
+lakes around. The Church of England and Roman Catholic clergy,
+the only missionary bodies in the country, met and dined with
+our party, after which all adjourned to the treaty ground, where
+the people had already assembled, and where all soon seated
+themselves on the grass in front of the treaty tent--a large
+marquee--the Indians being separated by a small space from the
+half-breeds, who ranged themselves behind them, all conducting
+themselves in the most sedate and orderly manner.
+
+Mr. Laird and the other Commissioners were seated along the open
+front of the tent, and one could not but be impressed by the
+scene, set as it was in a most beautiful environment of distant
+mountains, waters, forests and meadows, all sweet and primeval,
+and almost untouched by civilized man. The whites of The region
+had also turned out to witness the scene, which, though lacking
+the wild aspect of the old assemblages on the plains in the early
+'seventies, had yet a character of its own of great interest,
+and of the most hopeful promise.
+
+The crowd of Indians ranged before the marquee had lost all
+semblance of wildness of the true type. Wild men they were,
+in a sense, living as they did in the forest and on their great
+waters. But it was plain that these people had achieved, without
+any treaty at all, a stage of civilization distinctly in advance
+of many of our treaty Indians to the south after twenty-five
+years of education. Instead of paint and feathers, the scalp-lock,
+the breech-clout, and the buffalo-robe, there presented itself a
+body of respectable-looking men, as well dressed and evidently
+quite as independent in their feelings as any like number of
+average pioneers in the East. Indeed, I had seen there, in my
+youth, many a time, crowds of white settlers inferior to these
+in sedateness and self-possession. One was prepared, in this
+wild region of forest, to behold some savage types of men;
+indeed, I craved to renew the vanished scenes of old. But,
+alas! one beheld, instead, men with well-washed, unpainted
+faces, and combed and common hair; men in suits of ordinary
+"store-clothes," and some even with "boiled" if not laundered
+shirts. One felt disappointed, almost defrauded. It was not
+what was expected, what we believed we had a right to expect,
+after so much waggoning and tracking and drenching, and river
+turmoil and trouble. This woeful shortcoming from bygone days
+attended other aspects of the scene. Instead of fiery oratory and
+pipes of peace--the stone calumets of old--the vigorous arguments,
+the outbursts of passion, and close calls from threatened violence,
+here was a gathering of commonplace men smoking briar-roots,
+with treaty tobacco instead of "weed," and whose chiefs replied
+to Mr. Laird's explanations and offers in a few brief and sensible
+statements, varied by vigorous appeals to the common sense and
+judgment, rather than the passions, of their people. It was a
+disappointing, yet, looked at aright, a gratifying spectacle.
+Here were men disciplined by good handling and native force out
+of barbarism--of which there was little to be seen--and plainly
+on the high road to comfort; men who led inoffensive and honest
+lives, yet who expressed their sense of freedom and self-support
+in their speech, and had in their courteous demeanour the
+unmistakable air and bearing of independence. If provoked
+by injustice, a very dangerous people this; but self-respecting,
+diligent and prosperous in their own primitive calling, and
+able to adopt agriculture, or any other pursuit, with a fair
+hope of success when the still distant hour for it should arrive.
+
+The proceedings began with the customary distribution of tobacco,
+and by a reference to the competent interpreters who had been
+appointed by the Commission, men who were residents, and well
+known to the Indians themselves, and who possessed their confidence.
+The Indians had previously appointed as spokesman their Chief and
+head-man, Keenooshayo and Moostoos, a worthy pair of brothers,
+who speedily exhibited their qualities of good sense and judgment,
+and, Keenooshayo in particular, a fine order of Indian eloquence,
+which was addressed almost entirely to his own people, and which
+is lost, I am sorry to say, in the account here set down.
+
+Mr. Laird then rose, and having unrolled his Commission, and
+that of his colleagues, from the Queen, proceeded with his
+proposals. He spoke as follows:
+
+"Red Brothers! we have come here to-day, sent by the Great Mother
+to treat with you, and this is the paper she has given to us, and
+is her Commission to us signed with her Seal, to show we have
+authority to treat with you. The other Commissioners, who are
+associated with me, and who are sitting here, are Mr. McKenna
+and Mr. Ross and the Rev. Father Lacombe, who is with us to
+act as counsellor and adviser. I have to say, on behalf of the
+Queen and the Government of Canada, that we have come to make
+you an offer. We have made treaties in former years with
+all the Indians of the prairie, and from there to Lake Superior.
+As white people are coming into your country, we have thought
+it well to tell you what is required of you. The Queen wants
+all the whites, half-breeds and Indians to be at peace with
+one another, and to shake hands when they meet. The Queen's
+laws must be obeyed all over the country, both by the whites
+and the Indians. It is not alone that we wish to prevent Indians
+from molesting the whites, it is also to prevent the whites from
+molesting or doing harm to the Indians. The Queen's soldiers
+are just as much for the protection of the Indians as for the
+white man. The Commissioners made an appointment to meet you
+at a certain time, but on account of bad weather on river and
+lake, we are late, which we are sorry for, but are glad to meet
+so many of you here to-day.
+
+"We understand stories have been told you, that if you made a
+treaty with us you would become servants and slaves; but we wish
+you to understand that such is not the case, but that you will
+be just as free after signing a treaty as you are now. The treaty
+is a free offer; take it or not, just as you please. If you
+refuse it there is no harm done; we will not be bad friends
+on that account. One thing Indians must understand, that if they
+do not make a treaty they must obey the laws of the land--that
+will be just the same whether you make a treaty or not; the
+laws must be obeyed. The Queen's Government wishes to give the
+Indians here the same terms as it has given all the Indians all
+over the country, from the prairies to Lake Superior. Indians
+in other places, who took treaty years ago, are now better off
+than they were before. They grow grain and raise cattle like
+the white people. Their children have learned to read and write.
+
+"Now, I will give you an outline of the terms we offer you. If you
+agree to take treaty, every one this year gets a present of $12.00.
+A family of five, man, wife and three children, will thus get $60.00;
+a family of eight, $96.00; and after this year, and for every year
+afterwards, $5.00 for each person forever. To such chiefs as you
+may select, and that the Government approves of, we will give
+$25.00 each year, and the counsellors $15.00 each. The chiefs
+also get a silver medal and a flag, such as you see now at our
+tent, right now as soon as the treaty is signed. Next year, as
+soon as we know how many chiefs there are, and every three years
+thereafter, each chief will get a suit of clothes, and every
+counsellor a suit, only not quite so good as that of the chief.
+Then, as the white men are coming in and settling in the country,
+and as the Queen wishes the Indians to have lands of their own,
+we will give one square mile, or 640 acres, to each family of
+five; but there will be no compulsion to force Indians to go
+into a reserve. He who does not wish to go into a band can get
+160 acres of land for himself, and the same for each member of
+his family. These reserves are holdings you can select when you
+please, subject to the approval of the Government, for you might
+select lands which might interfere with the rights or lands of
+settlers. The Government must be sure that the land which you
+select is in the right place. Then, again, as some of you may
+want to sow grain or potatoes, the Government will give you
+ploughs or harrows, hoes, etc., to enable you to do so, and
+every spring will furnish you with provisions to enable you to
+work and put in your crop. Again, if you do not wish to grow
+grain, but want to raise cattle, the Government will give you
+bulls and cows, so that you may raise stock. If you do not
+wish to grow grain or raise cattle, the Government will furnish
+you with ammunition for your hunt, and with twine to catch fish.
+The Government will also provide schools to teach your children
+to read and write, and do other things like white men and their
+children. Schools will be established where there is a sufficient
+number of children. The Government will give the chiefs axes
+and tools to make houses to live in and be comfortable. Indians
+have been told that if they make a treaty they will not be allowed
+to hunt and fish as they do now. This is not true. Indians who
+take treaty will be just as free to hunt and fish all over as
+they now are.
+
+"In return for this the Government expects that the Indians will
+not interfere with or molest any miner, traveller or settler.
+We expect you to be good friends with every-one, and shake hands
+with all you meet. If any whites molest you in any way, shoot
+your dogs or horses, or do you any harm, you have only to report
+the matter to the police, and they will see that justice is done
+to you. There may be some things we have not mentioned, but these
+can be mentioned later on. Commissioners Walker and Coté are
+here for the half-breeds, who later on, if treaty is made with
+you, will take down the names of half-breeds and their children,
+and find out if they are entitled to scrip. The reason the
+Government does this is because the half-breeds have Indian
+blood in their veins, and have claims on that account. The
+Government does not make treaty with them, as they live as
+white men do, so it gives them scrip to settle their claims at
+once and forever. Half-breeds living like Indians have the
+chance to take the treaty instead, if they wish to do so. They
+have their choice, but only after the treaty is signed. If
+there is no treaty made, scrip cannot be given. After the
+treaty is signed, the Commissioners will take up half-breed
+claims. The first thing they will do is to give half-breed
+settlers living on land 160 acres, if there is room to do so;
+but if several are settled close together, the land will be
+divided between them as fairly as possible. All, whether settled
+or not, will be given scrip for land to the value of $240.00,
+that is, all born up to the date of signing the treaty. They
+can sell that scrip, that is, all of you can do so. They can
+take, if they like, instead of this scrip for 240 acres, lands
+where they like. After they have located their land, and got
+their title, they can live on it, or sell part, or the whole
+of it, as they please, but cannot sell the scrip. They must
+locate their land, and get their title before selling.
+
+"These are the principal points in the offer we have to make
+to you. The Queen owns the country, but is willing to acknowledge
+the Indians' claims, and offers them terms as an offset to all
+of them. We shall be glad to answer any questions, and make clear
+any points not understood. We shall meet you again to-morrow,
+after you have considered our offer, say about two o'clock, or
+later if you wish. We have other Indians to meet at other places,
+but we do not wish to hurry you. After this meeting you can go
+to the Hudson's Bay fort, where our provisions are stored, and
+rations will be issued to you of flour, bacon, tea and tobacco,
+so that you can have a good meal and a good time. This is a free
+gift, given with goodwill, and given to you whether you make a
+treaty or not. It is a present the Queen is glad to make to you.
+I am now done, and shall be glad to hear what any one has to say."
+
+KEENOOSHAYO (The Fish): "You say we are brothers. I cannot understand
+how we are so. I live differently from you. I can only understand
+that Indians will benefit in a very small degree from your offer.
+You have told us you come in the Queen's name. We surely have also
+a right to say a little as far as that goes. I do not understand
+what you say about every third year."
+
+MR. MCKENNA: "The third year was only mentioned in connection with
+clothing."
+
+KEENOOSHAYO: "Do you not allow the Indians to make their own
+conditions, so that they may benefit as much as possible? Why I
+say this is that we to-day make arrangements that are to last as
+long as the sun shines and the water runs. Up to the present I
+have earned my own living and worked in my own way for the Queen.
+It is good. The Indian loves his way of living and his free life.
+When I understand you thoroughly I will know better what I shall
+do. Up to the present I have never seen the time when I could not
+work for the Queen, and also make my own living. I will consider
+carefully what you have said."
+
+MOOSTOOS (The Bull): "Often before now I have said I would carefully
+consider what you might say. You have called us brothers. Truly
+I am the younger, you the elder brother. Being the younger, if
+the younger ask the elder for something, he will grant his request
+the same as our mother the Queen. I am glad to hear what you have
+to say. Our country is getting broken up. I see the white man
+coming in, and I want to be friends. I see what he does, but it
+is best that we should be friends. I will not speak any more.
+There are many people here who may wish to speak."
+
+WAHPEEHAYO (White Partridge): "I stand behind this man's back"
+(pointing to Keenooshayo). "I want to tell the Commissioners
+there are two ways, the long and the short. I want to take the
+way that will last longest."
+
+NEESNETASIS (The Twin): "I follow these two brothers, Moostoos and
+Keenooshayo. When I understand better I shall be able to say more."
+
+MR. LAIRD: "We shall be glad to hear from some of the Sturgeon Lake
+people."
+
+THE CAPTAIN (an old man): "I accept your offer. I am old and
+miserable now. I have not my family with me here, but I accept
+your offer."
+
+MR. LAIRD: "You will get the money for all your children under age,
+and not married, just the same as if they were here."
+
+THE CAPTAIN: "I speak for all those in my part of the country."
+
+MR. LAIRD: "I am sorry the rest of your people are not here.
+If here next year their claims will not be overlooked."
+
+THE CAPTAIN: "I am old now. It is indirectly through the Queen
+that we have lived. She has supplied in a manner the sale shops
+through which we have lived. Others may think I am foolish for
+speaking as I do now. Let them think as they like. I accept. When
+I was young I was an able man and made my living independently.
+But now I am old and feeble and not able to do much."
+
+MR. ROSS: "I will just answer a few questions that have been put.
+Keenooshayo has said that he cannot see how it will benefit you
+to take treaty. As all the rights you now have will not be
+interfered with, therefore anything you get in addition must
+be a clear gain. The white man is bound to come in and open
+up the country, and we come before him to explain the relations
+that must exist between you, and thus prevent any trouble. You
+say you have heard what the Commissioners have said, and how
+you wish to live. We believe that men who have lived without
+help heretofore can do it better when the country is opened
+up. Any fur they catch is worth more. That comes about from
+competition. You will notice that it takes more boats to
+bring in goods to buy your furs than it did formerly. We think
+that as the rivers and lakes of this country will be the principal
+highways, good boatmen, like yourselves, cannot fail to make a
+good living, and profit from the increase in traffic. We are
+much pleased that you have some cattle. It will be the duty
+of the Commissioners to recommend the Government, through the
+Superintendent-General of Indian Affairs, to give you cattle
+of a better breed. You say that you consider that you have a
+right to say something about the terms we offer you. We offer
+you certain terms, but you are not forced to take them. You
+ask if Indians are not allowed to make a bargain. You must
+understand there are always two to a bargain. We are glad you
+understand the treaty is forever. If the Indians do as they are
+asked we shall certainly keep all our promises. We are glad to
+know that you have got on without any one's help, but you must
+know times are hard, and furs scarcer than they used to be.
+Indians are fond of a free life, and we do not wish to interfere
+with it. When reserves are offered you there is no intention
+to make you live on them if you do not want to, but, in years
+to come, you may change your minds, and want these lands to
+live on. The half-breeds of Athabasca are being more liberally
+dealt with than in any other part of Canada. We hope you will
+discuss our offer and arrive at a decision as soon as possible.
+Others are now waiting for our arrival, and you, by deciding
+quickly, will assist us to get to them."
+
+KEENOOSHAYO: "Have you all heard? Do you wish to accept? All who
+wish to accept, stand up!"
+
+WENDIGO: "I have heard, and accept with a glad heart all I have heard."
+
+KEENOOSHAYO: "Are the terms good forever? As long as the sun shines
+on us? Because there are orphans we must consider, so that there
+will be nothing to be thrown up to us by our people afterwards. We
+want a written treaty, one copy to be given to us, so we shall know
+what we sign for. Are you willing to give means to instruct children
+as long as the sun shines and water runs, so that our children
+will grow up ever increasing in knowledge?"
+
+MR. LAIRD: "The Government will choose teachers according to the
+religion of the band. If the band are pagans the Government will
+appoint teachers who, if not acceptable, will be replaced by others.
+About treaties lasting forever, I will just say that some Indians
+have got to live so like the whites that they have sold their
+lands and divided the money. But this only happens when the Indians
+ask for it. Treaties last forever, as signed, unless the Indians
+wish to make a change. I understand you all agree to the terms of
+the Treaty. Am I right? If so, I will have the Treaty drawn up,
+and to-morrow we will sign it. Speak, all those who do not agree!"
+
+MOOSTOOS: "I agree."
+
+KEENOOSHAYO: "My children, all who agree, stand up!"
+
+The Reverend Father Lacombe then addressed the Indians in substance
+as follows: He reminded them that he was an old friend, and came
+amongst them seven years ago, and, being now old, he came again to
+fulfil another duty, and to assist the Commission to make a treaty.
+"Knowing you as I do, your manners, your customs and language, I
+have been officially attached to the Commission as adviser. To-day
+is a great day for you, a day of long remembrance, and your children
+hereafter will learn from your lips the events of to-day. I consented
+to come here because I thought it was a good thing for you to take
+the Treaty. Were it not in your interest I would not take part
+in it. I have been long familiar with the Government's methods
+of making treaties with the Saulteaux of Manitoba, the Crees of
+Saskatchewan, and the Blackfeet, Bloods and Piegans of the Plains,
+and advised these tribes to accept the offers of the Government.
+Therefore, to-day, I urge you to accept the words of the Big Chief
+who comes here in the name of the Queen. I have known him for
+many years, and, I can assure you, he is just and sincere in
+all his statements, besides being vested with authority to deal
+with you. Your forest and river life will not be changed by
+the Treaty, and you will have your annuities, as well, year
+by year, as long as the sun shines and the earth remains.
+Therefore I finish my speaking by saying, Accept!"
+
+The chiefs and counsellors stood up, and requested all the
+Indians to do so also as a mark of acceptance of the Government's
+conditions. Father Lacombe was thanked by several for having come
+so far, though so very old, to visit them and speak to them,
+after which the meeting adjourned until the following day.
+
+At three p.m. on Wednesday, the 21st, the discussion was resumed
+by Mr. Laird, who, after a few preliminary remarks read the
+Treaty, which had been drafted by the Commissioners the previous
+evening. Chief Keenooshayo arose and made a speech, followed by
+Moostoos, both assenting to the terms, when suddenly, and to the
+surprise of all, the chief, who had again begin to address the
+Indians, perceiving gestures of dissent from his people, suddenly
+stopped and sat down. This looked critical; but, after a somewhat
+lengthy discussion, everything was smoothed over, and the chief
+and head men entered the tent and signed the Treaty after the
+Commissioners, thus confirming, for this portion of the country,
+the great Treaty which is intended to cover the whole northern
+region up to the sixtieth parallel of north latitude. The
+satisfactory turn of the Lesser Slave Lake Treaty, it was felt,
+would have a good effect elsewhere, and that, upon hearing of
+it at the various treaty points to the west and north, the Indians
+would be more inclined to expedite matters, and to close with
+the Commissioner's proposals. [The foregoing report of the Treaty
+discussions is necessarily much abridged, being simply a transcript
+of brief notes taken at the time. The utterances particularly of
+Keenooshayo, but also of his brother, were not mere harangues
+addressed to the "groundlings," but were grave statements marked by
+self-restraint, good sense and courtesy, such as would have done no
+discredit to a well-bred white man. They furthered affairs greatly,
+and in two days the Treaty was discussed and signed, in singular
+contrast with treaty-making on the plains in former years.]
+
+The text of the Treaty itself, which may be of interest to
+the reader, will be found in full in the Appendix, page 471.
+
+The first and most important step having been taken, the other
+essential adhesions had now to be effected. To save time and
+wintering in the country, the Treaty Commission separated,
+Messrs. Ross and McKenna leaving on the 22nd for Fort Dunvegan
+and St. John, whilst Mr. Laird set out shortly afterwards for
+Vermilion and Fond du Lac, on Lake Athabasca. He reached Peace
+River Crossing on the 30th, and met there, next day, a few Beaver
+Indians and the Crees of the region. The Beaver chief, who was
+present, did not adhere, saying that his band was at Fort Dunvegan,
+and that he could not get there in time. The date of the St. John
+Treaty had been fixed for the 21st of June, but, owing to the
+detentions described, the appointment could not be kept, and word
+was therefore sent to the Indians to stay where they were until
+they could be met. But when the Commissioners were within twenty-five
+miles of the Fort they got a letter from the Hudson's Bay Company's
+agent telling them that the Indians had eaten up all the provisions
+there, and had left for their hunting-grounds, with no hope of
+their coming together again that season. They therefore returned
+to Fort Dunvegan, and took the adhesion of some Beaver Indians,
+and then left for Lower Peace River. On the 8th July, Mr. Laird
+secured the adhesion of the Crees and Beavers at Fort Vermilion,
+and Messrs. Ross and McKenna of those at Little Red River, the
+headman there refusing to sign at first because, he said, "he
+had a divine inspiration to the contrary"! This was followed by
+adhesions taken by the latter Commissioners, on the 13th, from
+the Crees and Chipewyans at Fort Chipewyan.
+
+"Here it was," Mr. McKenna writes me, "that the chief asked for
+a railway--the first time in the history of Canada that the red
+man demanded as a condition of cession that steel should be laid
+into his country. He evidently understood the transportation
+question, for a railway, he said, by bringing them into closer
+connection with the market, would enhance the value of what they
+had to sell, and decrease the cost of what they had to buy. He
+had a striking object-lesson in the fact that flour was $12
+a sack at the Fort. These Chipewyans lost no time in flowery
+oratory, but came at once to business, and kept us, myself
+in particular, on tenterhooks for two hours. I never felt so
+relieved as when the rain of questions ended, and, satisfied
+by our answers, they acquiesced in the cession."
+
+Next morning these Commissioners left for Smith's Landing, and,
+on the 17th, made treaty with the Indians of Great Slave Lake.
+Meanwhile Mr. Laird had proceeded to Fond du Lac, at the eastern
+end of Lake Athabasca, and there, on the 27th, the Chipewyans
+adhered, whilst Messrs. Ross and McKenna, in order to treat
+with the Indians at Fort McMurray and Wahpoośkow, separated.
+The latter secured the Chipewyans and Crees at the former post,
+and Mr. Ross the Crees at Wahpoośkow, both adjustments, by a
+coincidence, being made on the same day.
+
+This completed the Treaty of 1899, known as No. 8, the most
+important of all since the Great Treaty of 1876.
+
+The work of the Commission being now over, its members prepared
+to leave the country. Messrs. Ross and McKenna set out for Athabasca
+Landing, whilst Mr. Laird accompanied us to Pelican Rapids, but left
+us there and pushed on, like the others, for home.
+
+There were, of course, many Indians who did not or could not turn
+up at the various treaty points that year, viz., the Beavers of St.
+John, the Crees of Sturgeon Lake, the Slaves of Hay River, who should
+have come to Vermilion, and the Dog-Ribs, Yellow-Knives, Slaves,
+and Chipewyans, who should have been treated with at Fort Resolution,
+on Great Slave Lake.
+
+Accordingly, a special commission was issued to Mr. J. A. Macrae,
+of the Indian Office in Ottawa, who met the Indians the following
+year at the points named, and in May, June, and July, secured
+the adhesion of over 1,200 souls, making, with subsequent adhesions,
+a total of 3,568 souls to the 30th June, 1906.
+
+The largest numbers were at Forts Resolution, Vermilion, Fond
+du Lac, and Lesser Slave Lake, the latter ranking fourth in
+the list. Of course, there are still to be treated with the
+Indians of the Mackenzie River and the Esquimaux of the Arctic
+coast. But Treaty Eight covers the most valuable portions of
+the Northern Anticlinal, though this is a conjecture, as the
+resources of the lower Mackenzie Basin, and even of the Barren
+Lands, are only now becoming known, and may yet prove to be of
+great value. Bishop Grouard told me that at their Mission at
+Fort Providence, potatoes, turnips and barley ripened, and also
+wheat when tried, though this, he thought, was uncertain. I have
+also heard Chief-factor Camsell speak quite boastfully of his
+tomatoes at Fort Simpson. As a matter of fact, little is known
+practically as to the bearing of the climate and long summer
+sunshine on agriculture in the Mackenzie District. But be that
+region what it may, there has been already ceded an empire in
+itself, extending, roughly speaking, from the 54th to the 60th
+parallel of north latitude, and from the 106th to the 130th degree
+of west longitude. In this domain there is ample room for millions
+of people; and, as I must now return to the Half-breed Commission
+on Lesser Slave Lake, I shall give, as we go, as fair a picture
+as I can of its superficial features and the inducements it
+offers to the immigrant.
+
+
+
+Chapter IV
+
+The Half-Breed Scrip Commission.
+
+
+The adjustment with the half-breeds depended, of course, upon
+a successful treaty with the Indians, and, this having been
+concluded, the latter at once, upon receipt of their payments,
+left for their forests and fisheries, leaving the half-breeds
+in full possession of the field.
+
+It was estimated that over a hundred families were encamped around
+us, some in tepees, some in tents, and some in the open air, the
+willow copses to the north affording shelter, as well, to a few
+doubtful members of Slave Lake society, and to at least a thousand
+dogs. The "scrip tent," as it was called, a large marquee fitted
+up as an office, had been pitched with the other tents when the
+camp was made, and in this the half-breeds held a crowded meeting
+to talk over the terms, and to collate their own opinions as to
+the form of scrip issue they most desired. In this they were
+singularly unanimous, and, in spite of advice to the contrary
+urged upon them in the strongest manner by Father Lacombe, they
+agreed upon "the bird in the hand"--viz., upon cash scrip or
+nothing. This could be readily turned into money, for in the
+train of traders, etc., who followed up the treaty payments,
+there were also buyers from Winnipeg and Edmonton, well supplied
+with cash, to purchase all the scrip that offered, at a great
+reduction, of course, from face value. Whether the half-breeds
+were wise or foolish it is needless to say. One thing was plain,
+they had made up their minds. Under the circumstances it was
+impossible to gainsay their assertion that they were the best
+judges of their own needs. All preliminaries having at last been
+settled, the taking of declarations and evidence began on the
+23rd of June, and, shortly afterwards, the issue of convertible
+scrip certificates, or scrip certificates for land as required,
+took place to the parties who had proved their title.
+
+This was a slow process, involving in every case a careful search
+of the five elephant folios containing the records of the bygone
+issues of scrip in Manitoba and the organized Territories.
+
+It was necessary in order to prevent the issue of scrip to parties
+who had already received it elsewhere. But to the credit of the
+Lesser Slave Lake community, few efforts were made to "come in"
+again, not one in fact which was a clear attempt at fraud, or
+which could not be accounted for by false agency. Indeed, a high
+tribute might well be paid here to the honesty, not only of this
+but of all the communities, both Indian and half-breed, throughout
+these remote territories. We found valuable property exposed,
+everywhere, evidently without fear of theft. There was a looser
+feeling regarding debts to traders, which we were told were sometimes
+ignored, partly, perhaps, owing to the traders' heavy profits, but
+mainly through failure in the hunt and a lack of means. But theft
+such as white men practice was a puzzle to these people, amongst
+whom it was unknown.
+
+The most noticeable feature of the scrip issue was the never-ending
+stream of applicants, a surprising evidence of the growth of
+population in this remote wilderness. Its most interesting
+feature lay in the peculiarities and manners of the people
+themselves. They were unquestionably half-breeds, and had
+received Christian names, and most of them had houses of their
+own, and, though hunters, fishermen and trippers, their families
+lived comparatively settled lives. Yet the glorious instinct
+of the Indian haunted them. As a rule they had been born on the
+"pitching-track," in the forest, or on the prairies--in all
+sorts of places, they could not say exactly where--and when
+they were born was often a matter of doubt as well. [With reference
+to these nondescript birthplaces, the wonderful ease of parturition
+among Indian women may be referred to here. This is common, probably,
+to all primitive races, but is perhaps more marked amongst Indian
+mothers than any other. The event may happen in a canoe, on the
+trail, at any place, or at any moment, without hindering the ordinary
+progress of a travelling party, which is generally overtaken by the
+mother in a few hours. But nothing I heard here equalled in grotesque
+circumstances occurrences, whose truth I can vouch for, many years
+ago on the Saskatchewan River. In 1874, if I remember aright, a great
+spring freshet in the North Branch was accompanied by a tremendous
+ice-jam, which backed the water up, and flooded the river bank so
+suddenly that many Indians were drowned. On an island below Prince
+Albert, a woman, to save her life, had to climb a neighbouring tree,
+and gave birth to a child amongst the branches. The jam broke, and,
+wonderful to say, both mother and child got down to firm ground
+alive. Another case, even more gruesome, happened on the Lower
+Saskatchewan not so many years ago. A woman and her husband were
+hastening on snowshoes from their winter camp to the river, in order
+to share in the usual Christmas bounty and festivities at the
+Hudson's Bay Company's post. The woman was seized with incipient
+labour, and darting from her husband, with whom she had been
+quarrelling on the way, pushed on, and, in a frozen marsh, amongst
+bulrushes, on a bitterly cold night, was delivered of a child.
+Grumous as she was, she picked herself up, and, with incredible
+nerve, walked ten miles to the Pas, carrying her live infant with
+her, wrapped in a rabbit-skin robe.] It was not in February, but in
+_Meeksuo pésim_, "The month when the eagles return"; not in August,
+but in Oghpáho pésim, "The month when birds begin to fly." When
+called upon they could give their Christian names and answer to
+William or Magloire, to Mary or Madaline, but, in spite of priest or
+parson, their home name was a Cree one. In many cases the white
+forefather's name had been dropped or forgotten, and a Cree surname
+had taken its place, as, for example, in the name Louis Maskegósis,
+or Madeline Noóskeyah. Some of the Cree names were in their meaning
+simply grotesque. Mishoóstiquan meant "The man who stands with the
+red hair"; Waupunékapow, "He who stands till morning." One of the
+applicants was Kanawatchaguáyo, or "The ghost-keeper."
+
+[It may be mentioned here that this half-breed's "inner" name, so to
+speak, meant "The Ghost-Keeper," for the name he gave, following
+an Indian usage, was not the real one. Kanawatchaguáyo was the one
+given by the interpreter, but accompanied by the translation of
+the inner name, to wit, "The Ghost-Keeper." This curious custom is
+more fully referred to in a forthcoming work on Indian folk-lore,
+traditions, legends, usages, methods and manner of life, etc., by
+Mrs. F. H. Paget, of Ottawa. This lady is an expert Cree scholar,
+and her work, which I have had the pleasure of hearing her read, is
+the result of diligent research and of ample knowledge of Indian
+life and character.]
+
+But others were strikingly poetical, particularly the female
+names. Payúcko geesigo, "One in the Skies"; Pesawakoona kapesisk,
+"The silent snow in falling forming signs or symbols"; Matyatse
+wunoguayo, or rather, for this is a doubtful name, Powástia ka
+nunaghquánetungh, "Listener to the unseen rapids"; Kese koo
+ápeoo, "She sits in heaven," were all the names of applicants
+for scrips, and many others could be added of like tenor. In a
+word, the Christian or baptismal names have not displaced the
+native ones, as they did in Wales and elsewhere, and amongst
+some of our far Eastern Indians. But there were terrifying and
+repulsive names as well, such as Sese kenápik kaow apeoo, "She
+sits like a rattle-snake"; and one individual rejoiced in the
+appalling surname of "Grand Bastard." These instances serve
+to illustrate the tendency of half-breed nomenclature at the
+lake towards the mother's side. Here, too, there was no reserve
+in giving the family name; it was given at once when asked for,
+and there was no shyness otherwise in demeanour. There was a
+readiness, for example, to be photographed which was quite
+distinctive. In this connection it may interest the reader
+to recall some of the names of girls given by the same race
+thousands of miles away in the East. Take those recorded by
+Mrs. Jameson ["Winter Studies and Summer Rambles," 1835.]
+during her visit to Mrs. McMurray and the Schoolcrafts, on the
+Island of Mackinac, over seventy years ago: Oba baumwawa geezegoquay,
+"The Sounds which the stars make rushing through the skies"; Zaga
+see goquay, "Sunbeams breaking through a cloud"; Wah́sagewanoquay,
+"Woman of the bright foam." The people so far apart, yet their home
+names so similarly figurative! The education of the Red Indian
+lies in his intimate contact with nature in all her phases--a good
+education truly, which serves him well. But, awe-struck always by
+the mysterious beauty of the world around him, his mind reflects it
+instinctively in his Nature-worship and his system of names.
+
+In speaking of the "Lakers" I refer, of course, to the primitive
+people of the region, and not to half-breed incomers from Manitoba or
+elsewhere. There were a few patriarchal families into which all the
+others seemed to dovetail in some shape or form. The Noóskeyah family
+was one of these, also the Gladu, the Cowitoreille, [A corruption,
+no doubt, of "Courtoreille."] and the Calahaisen. The collateral
+branches of these families constituted the main portion of the native
+population, and yet inbreeding did not seem to have deteriorated the
+stock, for a healthier-looking lot of young men, women and children
+it would be hard to find, or one more free from scrofula. There
+were instances, too, among these people, of extreme old age; one
+in particular which from confirmatory evidence, particularly the
+declarations of descendants, seemed quite authentic. This was a woman
+called Catherine Bisson--the daughter of Baptiste Bisson and an
+Indian woman called Iskwao--who was born on New Year's Day, 1793, at
+Lesser Slave Lake, and had spent all her life there since. She had a
+numerous progeny which she bore to Kisiśkakápo, "The man who stands
+still." She was now blind, and was partly led, partly carried into
+our tent--a small, thin, wizened woman, with keen features and a
+tongue as keen, which cackled and joked at a great rate with the
+crowd around her. It was almost awesome to look at this weird piece
+of antiquity, who was born in the Reign of Terror, and was a young
+woman before the war of 1812. She was quite lively yet, so far as her
+wits went, and seemed likely to go on living. [This very old woman
+died, I believe, at Lesser Slave Lake only last spring (1908). The
+date of her birth was correct, and we had good reason to believe it,
+she must have been far over 100 years old when she died.]
+
+There were many good points in the disposition of the "Lakers"
+generally, both young and old. Their kindness and courtesy to
+strangers and to each other was marked, and profanity was unknown.
+Indeed, if one heard bad language at all it was from the lips of
+some Yankee or Canadian teamster, airing his superior knowledge
+of the world amongst the natives.
+
+The place, in fact, surprised one--no end of buggies, buckboards and
+saddles, and brightly dressed women, after a not altogether antique
+fashion; the men, too, orderly, civil, and obliging. Infants were
+generally tucked into the comfortable moss-bag, but boys three or
+four years old were seen tugging at their mothers' breasts, and all
+fat and generally good-looking. The whole community seemed well fed,
+and were certainly well clad--some girls extravagantly so, the love
+of finery being the ruling trait here as elsewhere. One lost, indeed,
+all sense of remoteness, there was such a well-to-do, familiar air
+about the scene, and such a bustle of clean-looking people. How all
+this could be supported by fur it was difficult to see, but it must
+have been so, for there was, as yet, little or no farming amongst the
+old "Lakers." It was, of course, a great fur country, and though
+the fur-bearing animals were sensibly diminishing, yet the prices
+of peltries had risen by competition, whilst supplies had been
+correspondingly cheapened. It was a good marten country, and, as this
+fur was the fad of fashion, and brought an extravagant price, the
+animal, like the beaver, was threatened with extinction, the more so
+as the rabbits were then in their period of scarcity.
+
+There were other aspects of Lake life which there is neither
+space nor inclination to describe. If some features of "advanced
+civilization" had been anticipated there, it was simply another
+proof that extremes meet.
+
+Whatever else was hidden, however, there was one thing omnipresent,
+namely, the mongrel dog. It was hopeless to explore the origin of an
+animal which seemed to draw from all sources, including the wolf and
+fox, and whose appetite stopped at nothing, but attacked old shirts,
+trousers, dunnage-bags, fry-pans, and even the outfit of a geologist,
+to appease the sacred rage of hunger.
+
+It was believed that over a thousand of these dogs, mainly used
+in winter to haul fish, surrounded our tent, and when it is said
+that an ordinary half-breed family harboured from fifteen to twenty
+of the tribe, there is no exaggeration in the estimate. They were
+of all shapes, sizes and colours, and, though very civil to man,
+from whom they got nothing but kicks and stones, they kept up a
+constant row amongst themselves.
+
+To see a scrimmage of fifty or sixty of them on land or in the
+water, where they went daily to fish, was a scene to be remembered.
+They did not bark, but loped through the woods, which were the camp's
+latrines, as scavengers by day, and howled in unison at regular
+intervals by night; for there was a sort of horrible harmony in
+the performance, and when the tom-toms of the gamblers accompanied
+it on all sides, and the pounding of dancers' feet--for in this
+enchanted land nobody ever seemed to go to bed--the saturnalia
+was complete.
+
+It was indeed a gala time for the happy-go-lucky Lakers, and the
+effects of the issue and sale of scrip certificates were soon
+manifest in our neighbourhood. The traders' booths were thronged
+with purchasers, also the refreshment tents where cigars and ginger
+ale were sold; and, in tepees improvised from aspen saplings, the
+sporting element passed the night at some interesting but easy
+way of losing money, illuminating their game with guttering
+candles, minus candlesticks, and presenting a picture worthy
+of an impressionist's pencil.
+
+But the two dancing floors were the chief attraction. These also
+had been walled and roofed with leafy saplings, their fronts open
+to the air, and, thronged as they generally were, well repaid a
+visit. Here the comely brunettes, in moccasins or slippers, their
+luxuriant hair falling in a braided queue behind their backs,
+served not only as tireless partners, but as foils to the young
+men, who were one and all consummate masters of step-dancing, an
+art which, I am glad to say, was still in vogue in these remote
+parts. "French-fours" and the immortal "Red River Jig" were
+repeated again and again, and, though a tall and handsome young
+half-breed, who had learned in Edmonton, probably, the airs and
+graces of the polite world, introduced cotillions and gave "the
+calls" with vigorous precision, yet his efforts were not thoroughly
+successful. Snarls arose, and knots and confusion, which he did
+his best to undo. But it was evident that the hearts of the dancers
+were not in it. No sooner was the fiddler heard lowering his
+strings for the time-honoured "Jig" than eyes brightened, and
+feet began to beat the floor, including, of course, those of
+the fiddler himself, who put his whole soul into that weird and
+wonderful melody, whose fantastic glee is so strangely blended
+with an indescribable master-note of sadness. The dance itself
+is nothing; it might as well be called a Rigadoon or a Sailor's
+Hornpipe, so far as the steps go. The tune is everything; it is
+amongst the immortals. Who composed it? Did it come from Normandy,
+the ancestral home of so many French Canadians and of French
+Canadian song? Or did some lonely but inspired voyageur, on the
+banks of Red River, sighing for Detroit or Trois Rivières--for
+the joys and sorrows of home--give birth to its mingled chords in
+the far, wild past?
+
+As I looked on, many memories recurred to me of scenes like this in
+which I had myself taken part in bygone days--_Eheu! fugaces_--in
+old Red River and the Saskatchewan; and, with these in my heart,
+I retired to my tent, and gradually fell asleep to the monotonous
+sound of the familiar yet inexplicable air.
+
+
+
+Chapter V
+
+Resources Of Lesser Slave Lake Region.
+
+
+It was expected that the sergeant of the Mounted Police stationed
+at the Lake would have set out by boat on the 3rd for Athabasca
+Landing, taking with him the witnesses in the Weeghteko case--a
+case not common amongst the Lesser Slave Lake Indians, but which
+was said to be on the increase. One Pahaýo--"The Pheasant"--had
+gone mad and threatened to kill and eat people. Of course, this
+was attributed by his tribe to the Weeghteko, by which he was
+believed to be possessed, a cannibal spirit who inhabits the
+human heart in the form of a lump of ice, which must be got rid
+of by immersion of the victim in boiling water, or by pouring
+boiling fat down his throat. This failing, they destroy the man-eater,
+rip him up to let out the evil spirit, cut off his head, and then
+pin his four quarters to the ground, all of which was done by his
+tribe in the case of Pahaýo. Napesósus--"The Little Man"--struck
+the first blow, Moośtoos followed, and the poor lunatic was soon
+dispatched. Arrests were ultimately made, and a boatload of
+witnesses was about to leave for Athabasca Landing, _en route_ to
+attend the trial at Edmonton, the first of its kind, I think,
+on record.
+
+There can be no doubt that such slayings are effected to safeguard
+the tribe. Indians have no asylums, and, in order to get a dangerous
+lunatic out of the way, can only kill him. There would therefore be
+no hangings. But, now that the Indians and ourselves were coming
+under treaty obligations, it was necessary that an end should be
+put to such proceedings.
+
+Yet the reader must not be too severe upon the Indian for his
+treatment of the Weeghteko. He attributes the disease to the evil
+spirit, acts accordingly, and slays the victim. But an old author,
+Mrs. Jameson, tells us that in her day in Upper Canada lunatics were
+allowed to stray into the forest to roam uncared for, and perish
+there, or were thrust into common jails. One at Niagara, she says,
+was chained up for four years.
+
+Aside from such cases of madness, which have often resulted in the
+killing and eating of children, etc., and which arouse the most
+superstitious horror in the minds of all Indians, the "savages" of
+this region are the most inoffensive imaginable. They have always
+made a good living by hunting and trapping and fishing, and I believe
+when the time comes they will adapt themselves much more readily and
+intelligently to farming and stock-raising than did the Indians to
+the south. The region is well suited to both industries, and will
+undoubtedly attract white settlers in due time.
+
+The fisheries in Lesser Slave Lake have always been counted the best
+in all Athabasca. The whitefish, to be sure, are diminishing towards
+the head of the lake, but it is possible that this is owing to some
+deficiency in their usual supply of food in that quarter. Just as
+birds and wild-fowl return, if not disturbed, to their accustomed
+breeding-places, so, it is said, the fishes, year by year, drop and
+impregnate their spawn upon the same gravelly shallows. The food of
+the whitefish in the lake is partly the worms bred from the eggs of
+a large fly resembling the May-fly of the East. This worm has probably
+decreased in the upper part of the lake, and therefore the fish go
+farther down for food. There they are exceedingly numerous, an
+evidence of which is the fact that the Roman Catholic Mission alone
+secured 17,000 fine whitefish the previous fall. Properly protected
+this lake will be a permanent source of supply to natives and incomers
+for many years to come.
+
+Stock-raising was already becoming a feature of the region. Some
+three miles above the Heart River is Buffalo Lake, an enlargement
+of that stream, and around and above this, as also along the
+Wyaweekamon, or "Passage between the Lakes," are immense hay
+meadows, capable of winter feeding thousands of cattle. The view
+of these vast meadows from the Hudson's Bay post, or from the
+Roman Catholic Mission close by, is magnificent.
+
+These buildings are situated above Buffalo Lake, upon a lofty
+bank, with the Heart River in the foreground; and the great
+meadows, threaded by creeks and inlets, stretching for miles
+to the south of them, are one of the finest sights of the kind
+in the country.
+
+In the far south was the line of forest, and to the eastward a
+flat-topped mountain, called by the Crees Waskahékum Kahassástakee--
+"The House Butte." Near this mountain is the Swan River, which joins
+the Lesser Slave Lake below the Narrows, and upon which, we were
+told, were rich and extensive prairies, and abundance of coal of a
+good quality. To the west were the prairies of the Salt River, well
+watered by creeks, with a large extent of good land now being settled
+on, and where wheat ripens perfectly.
+
+There are other available areas of open country on Prairie River,
+which enters Buffalo Lake at its south-western end, and on which
+also there is coal, so that prairie land is not entirely lacking.
+
+Though emphatically _now_ a region of forest, there is reason to
+believe that vast areas at present under timber were once prairies,
+fed over by innumerable herds of buffalo, whose paths and wallows
+can still be traced in the woods. Indeed, very large trees are
+found growing right across those paths, and this fact, not to speak
+of the recollections, or traditions, of very old people, points to
+extensive prairies at one time rather than to an entirely wooded
+country.
+
+Much of the forest soil is excellent, and the land has only to
+be cleared to furnish good farms. Indeed, it needs no stretch of
+imagination to foresee in future years a continuous line of them
+from Edmonton to the lake, along the three hundred miles of country
+intersected by the trail laid out by the Territorial Government.
+
+As for the wheat problem, it is not at all likely that the Roman
+Catholic Mission would put up a flour mill, as they were then doing,
+if it was not a wheat country. Bishop Clût assured me that potatoes
+in their garden reached three and a half pounds' weight in some
+instances, and turnips twenty-five pounds.
+
+The kind people of both this and the Church of England Mission
+generously supplied our table with vegetables and salads, and we
+craved no better. Chives, lettuce, radishes, cress and onions
+were full flavoured, fresh and delicious, and quite as early
+as in Manitoba. Being a timber country, lumber was, of course,
+plentiful, there being two sawmills at work cutting lumber,
+which sold, undressed, at $25 to $30 a thousand.
+
+The whole country has a fresh and attractive look, and one could
+not desire a finer location than can be had almost anywhere
+along its streams and within its delightful and healthy borders.
+And yet this region is but a portal to the vaster one beyond, to
+the Unjigah, the mighty Peace River, to be described hereafter.
+
+The make-weight against settlement may be almost summed up in the
+words transport and markets. The country is there, and far beyond
+it, too; but so long as there is abundance of prairie land to the
+south, and no railway facilities, it would be unwise for any large
+body of settlers, especially with limited means, to venture so far.
+The small local demand for beef and grain might soon be overtaken,
+and though stock can be driven, yet three hundred miles of forest
+trail is a long way to drive. Still, pioneers take little thought
+of such conditions, and already they were dropping in in twos and
+threes as they used to do in the old days in Red River Settlement,
+lured by the wilderness perhaps to privation, but entering a
+country much of which is suited by nature for the support of man.
+
+The best reflection is that there is a really good country to
+fall back upon when the prairies to the south are taken up.
+Swamps and muskegs abound, but good land also abounds, and the
+time will come when the ring of the Canadian axe will be heard
+throughout these forests, and when multitudes of comfortable
+homes will be hewn out of what are the almost inaccessible
+wildernesses of to-day.
+
+By the end of the first week in July the issue of scrip certificates
+began to fall off, though the declarations were still numerous.
+But land was in sight; that is to say, our release and departure
+for Peace River, which we were all very anxious, in fact burning,
+to see.
+
+By this time there was, of course, much money afloat amongst the
+people, which was rapidly finding its way into the traders'
+pockets. There was a "blind pig," too, doing business in the
+locality, though we could not discover where, as everybody
+professed entire ignorance of anything of the kind. The fragrant
+breath and hilarity of so many, however, betrayed its existence,
+and, as a crowning evidence, before sunrise on the 6th, we were
+all awakened by an uproarious row amongst a tipsy crowd on the
+common.
+
+The disturbance, of course, awakened the dogs, if, indeed, those
+wonderful creatures ever slept, and soon a prolonged howl,
+issuing from a thousand throats, made the racket complete. It
+seemed to our listening ears, for we stuck to our beds, to be
+a promiscuous fight, larded with imprecations in broken English,
+the phrase "goddam" being repeated in the most comical way. We
+expected to see a lot of badly bruised men in the morning, but
+nothing of the kind! Nobody was hurt. It proved to be a very
+bloodless affair, like the scrimmages of the dogs themselves,
+full of sound and fury signifying nothing.
+
+
+
+Chapter VI
+
+On The Trail To Peace River.
+
+
+By the afternoon of the 12th we had finished our work at the lake,
+and in the evening left the scene of so much amusement, and its
+lively and intelligent people, not without regret. Having said
+good-bye to Bishop Clût and his clergy, and to the Hudson's Bay
+Company's people, and others, we passed on to Salt Creek, which
+we crossed at dusk, and then to the South Heart River--Otaýe
+Sepe--where we camped for the night. This affluent of the lake has
+a broad but sluggish current, its grassy banks sloping gently to
+the water's edge, like some Ontario river--the beau ideal of a pike
+stream. The Church of England mission was established here in charge
+of the Reverend Mr. Holmes, who had shown us every kindness during
+our long stay. As boats can ascend in high water to this point, the
+Hudson's Bay Company had a couple of large warehouses close by,
+standing alone, and filled with all kinds of goods. The trail led
+for many miles up a long, easy ascent, through a timber country, to
+an upper plateau, with, after passing the Heart River, occasional
+small patches of prairie on the wayside. The plateau itself is the
+anticlinal down which the North Heart flows to Peace River, which it
+joins at the crossing.
+
+The trail so far had been good, but after crossing Slippery Creek
+it proved to be almost a continuous mud-hole, due to its extreme
+narrowness and the wet weather, closely bordered, as much of it was,
+by dense forests. It revealed a good farming country, however, free
+from stones, and the soil a rich, loamy clay throughout. It was well
+timbered, in some places, with the finest white poplar I had yet
+seen. The grass was luxuriant, and the region teemed with
+tiger-lilies, yarrow, and the wild rose.
+
+The Little Prairie, as it is called, is really a lovely region,
+in appearance resembling the Saskatchewan country. There was an
+old Hudson's Bay cattle station here, at that time deserted, and
+here, too, we were charmed with a mirage of indescribable beauty,
+an enchanting portal to the mighty Peace, which we reached about
+mid-day on the 15th of July.
+
+The view up the Peace River from the high prairie level is
+singularly beautiful, the river disclosing a series of reaches,
+like inland lakes, far to the west, whilst from the south comes
+the immense valley of the Heart, and, farther up, the Smoky River,
+a great tributary which drains a large extent of prairie country
+mixed with timber.
+
+To the north spreads upward, and backward to its summit, the vast
+bank of the river, varied as to surface by rounded bare hills and
+valleys and flats sprinkled with aspens, cherries, and saskatoons,
+the latter loaded with ripe fruit.
+
+The banks of the Peace River are a country in themselves, in
+which, particularly on the north side, numerous homesteads might
+be, and indeed have been, carved out. Descending to the river,
+we found a Hudson's Bay Company and Police post. The river here
+is about a third of a mile wide, and was in freshet, with a
+current, we thought, of about six miles an hour.
+
+At Smoky River we met a couple of prospectors, Mr. Tryon, a nephew
+of the ill-fated Admiral, and Mr. Cooper Blachford, down from the
+Poker Flat mining-camp, this side the Finlay Rapids, in the Selwyn
+Mountains. They reached that camp by way of Ashcroft, B.C., in
+twenty-two days, the Peace River route being very much longer and
+more difficult. They described the camp there as a promising one,
+with much gold-bearing quartz in sight, but the cost of provisions
+and the extreme difficulty of development under the circumstances
+held it back.
+
+There being but a few half-breeds here, we crossed the river, and
+decided to go on to Fort Dunvegan, and on our return complete our
+scrip issue at the Landing; so, partly on horseback and partly by
+waggon, we made our way to our first camp. The trail lay along
+and up and down the immense bank of the river, debouching at one
+place at the site of old Fort McLeod, and passing the fine St.
+Germain farm, with as beautiful fields of yellowing wheat as one
+would wish to see.
+
+Here we got an abundant supply of vegetables, and in this ride our
+first taste of the Peace River mosquito--or, rather, that animal
+got its first taste of us. It is needless to dwell upon this pest.
+Like the fleas in Italy, it has been overdone in description,
+and yet beggars it.
+
+All along the trail were old buffalo paths and willows. Indeed, we
+saw them everywhere we went on land, showing how numerous those
+animals were in times past. In 1793 Sir Alexander Mackenzie describes
+them as grazing in great numbers along these very banks, the calves
+frisking about their dams, and moose and red deer were equally
+numerous. In 1828 Sir George Simpson made a canoe journey to the
+Coast by way of this river, and they were still very numerous. The
+existing tradition is that, some sixty years ago, a winter occurred
+of unexampled severity and depth of snow, in which nearly all the
+herds perished, and never recovered their footing on the upper river.
+The wood buffalo still exists on Great Slave River, but, where we
+were, the only memorials of the animal were its paths and wallows,
+and its bones half-buried in the fertile earth.
+
+On the morning of the 17th we topped the crest of the bank, and
+found ourselves at once in a magnificent prairie country, which
+swept northward, varied by beautiful belts of timber, as far as
+Bear Lake, to which we made a detour, then westerly to Old Wives
+Lake--Nootoóquay Sakaigon--and on to our night camp at Burnt
+River, twenty-two miles from Dunvegan. The great prairie is as
+flat as a table, and is the exact counterpart of Portage Plains,
+in Manitoba, or a number of them, with the addition of belts and
+beautiful islands of timber, the soil being a loamy clay, unmistakably
+fertile. Nothing could excel the beauty of this region, not even
+the fairest portions of Manitoba or Saskatchewan.
+
+On the 18th we finished our drive over a like beautiful prairie,
+slightly rolling, dotted with similar clumps of timber like a
+great park, and carpeted with ripe strawberries and flowers,
+including the wild mignonette, the lupin, and the phlox.
+
+Descending a very long and crooked ravine, we reached the river
+flat at last, upon which is situated Fort Dunvegan, called after
+the stronghold of the McLeods of Skye, but alas! with no McCrimmon
+to welcome us with his echoing pipes! Chief-factor McDonald, in
+his scanty journal of Sir George Simpson's canoe voyage in 1828
+from Hudson's Bay to the Pacific, does not give the date at
+which this post was established, but mentions its abandonment
+in 1823, owing to the murder of a Mr. Hughes and four men at
+Fort St. John by the Beaver Indians. It had been re-established
+by Chief-trader Campbell. Simpson, Mr. McDonald, and Mr.
+McGillivray, who had embarked at Fort Chipewyan, where Sir
+George himself had served his clerkship, spent a day at Dunvegan
+in August, resting and getting fresh supplies. The warring
+traders had united in 1821, and this voyage was undertaken in
+order to harmonize the Indians, who, from the bay to the coast,
+particularly across the mountains, had become fierce partisans
+of one or other of the great companies.
+
+Sir George had his McCrimmon with him in the shape of his piper,
+Colin Fraser, who played and paraded before the Indians most
+impressively in full Highland costume. Deer and buffalo were
+numerous in the region, and, during the day, thirteen sacks of
+pemmican were made for the party from materials stored at the fort.
+Simpson was famous in those days for his swift journeys with his
+celebrated Iroquois canoemen. They were made by _Canot du Maitre_ as
+it was called, the largest bark canoe made by the Indians, carrying
+about six tons and a crew of sixteen paddlers, and which ascended as
+far as Fort William. Thence further progress was made in the much
+smaller "North Canoes" to all points west of Lake Superior. This
+particular journey of nearly 3,200 miles, made almost entirely by
+canoe, was completed from York Factory to Fort Langley, near the
+mouth of Fraser River, in sixty-five days of actual paddling, an
+average of about fifty miles a day, nearly all up stream.
+
+Only two buildings of the old fort remained at the time of our
+visit, both in a ruinous condition. The old fireplaces and the
+roofs of spruce bark, a covering much used in the country, were
+still sound, and several cellars indicated where the other
+buildings had stood. The later post is about a gunshot to the
+east of them, and the whole site had certainly been well chosen,
+being completely sheltered by the immensely high banks of the
+great and deep river, whose bends "shouldered" and seemed to shut
+in the place east and west, also by the "Caps," two very high
+hills forming the bank on each side of the river, so called from
+their fancied resemblance to a skull-cap. The river here is over
+four hundred yards in width, and its banks, from the water's edge
+to the upper prairie level are some six hundred feet or more in
+height; but, as the trail leads, the ascent of the great slope
+is about a mile in length.
+
+A number of townships had been blocked here, at one time, by
+Mr. Ogilvie, D.L.S., but not subdivided, Fort Dunvegan being
+situated, if I mistake not, in the south-west corner of Township
+80, Range 4, west of the Sixth Meridian.
+
+The Roman Catholic Mission east of the fort was found to be
+beautifully sheltered, and neighboured by fine fields of wheat and
+a garden full of green peas and new potatoes. But this was on the
+flat. There was no farming whatever on the north side, on the upper
+and beautiful prairies described. A Mr. Milton had tried, it was
+said, about ten miles east of Dunvegan, but did not make a success
+of it.
+
+Near the fort a raft was moored, on which had descended a party of
+four Americans. They were from the State of Wyoming, and had made
+their way the previous summer, by way of St. John and the Pine
+River, to the Nelson, a tributary of the Liard. They had had poor
+luck, in fact no luck at all; and this was the story of every
+returning party we met which had been prospecting on the various
+tributaries of the Peace and Liard towards the mountains. The cost
+of supplies, the varying and uncertain yield, but, above all, the
+brief season in which it is possible to work, barely six weeks--had
+dissipated by sad experience the bright dreams of wealth which had
+lured them from comfortable homes. Between seven and eight hundred
+people had gone up to those regions via Edmonton, bound for the
+Yukon, many of whom, after a tale of suffering which might have
+filled its boomsters' souls with remorse, had found solitary graves,
+and the remainder were slowly toiling out of the country, having
+sunk what means they possessed in the vain pursuit of gold. They
+brought a rumour with them that some whites who had robbed the
+Indians on the Upper Liard had been murdered. It was not known what
+white men had penetrated to that desolate region, and the rumour was
+discredited; at all events, it was never verified.
+
+The treaty had been effected at Dunvegan, on the 6th, with a few
+Beaver Indians, who still lingered by their tepees, pitched to the
+west on the opposite shore. The half-breeds had camped near the
+fort pending our arrival, and we found them a very intelligent
+people, indeed, with some interesting relics of the old régime
+still amongst them. One, in particular, had canoed from Lachine
+with Simpson sixty years before. He was still lively and active,
+and a patriarch of the half-breed community. Large families we
+found to be the rule here, some parents boasting of twelve or
+thirteen children _under_ age. This, and their healthy looks, spoke
+well for the climate, and their condition otherwise was promising,
+being comfortably clad, all speaking more or less English or French,
+whilst many could read and write.
+
+Our work being completed here, we set out for the Crossing by
+waggon, our route lying over the same majestic prairies, and reached
+the Landing the second night, passing the Roman Catholic and Church
+of England Missions on the way. The former Mission is an extensive
+establishment, with a fine farm and garden. Indeed, with the
+exception of primitive outlying stations, all the principal Roman
+Catholic Missions, by their extent and completeness, put our own
+more meagrely endowed establishments into rather painful contrast.
+
+A great concourse of natives was at the Landing awaiting our
+arrival. The place was covered with tepees and tents, and no
+less than four trading marquees had been pitched pending the
+scrip issue, which it took some time to complete.
+
+Near the Landing were the mill and farm of a namesake of Sir
+Alexander Mackenzie. His father, indeed, was a cousin of the
+renowned explorer who gave his name to the great river of the
+North. This father, under whom, Mr. Mackenzie said, Lord
+Strathcona had spent his first year as a clerk in the Hudson's
+Bay Company's service, was drowned, with nine Iroquois, whilst
+running the Lachine Rapids in a bark canoe. His son came to
+Peace River in 1863, and his career, as he told it to me, will
+bear repeating. He was born at Three Rivers, in Lower Canada,
+in 1843, and was sent to Scotland to be educated, remaining there
+until he was eighteen years of age. In 1861 he joined the Hudson's
+Bay Company's service, wintering first at Norway House under
+Chief factor William Sinclair, but removed to Peace River, became
+a chief-trader there in 1872, and, after some years of service,
+retired, and has lived at the Crossing ever since.
+
+The Landing, he told me, used to be known as "The Forks," it being
+here that the Smoky River joins the Peace; and here were concentrated,
+in bygone days, the posts and rivalries of the great fur companies.
+The remains of the North-West Company's fort are still visible on
+the north bank, a few miles above the Landing. On the south shore,
+in the angle of the two rivers, stood the Hudson's Bay Company's
+fort, whilst the old X. Y. Company's post, at that time the best
+equipped on the river, stood on the north bank opposite the Smoky.
+
+In a delightful afternoon spent in rambling over this interesting
+neighbourhood, Mr. Mackenzie made out for me the site of the
+latter establishment, now in the midst of a dense thicket of
+nettles, shrubs, and saplings. In this locality the antagonisms
+of old had full play--not only those of the traders, but of the
+Indians--and the river exhibited much more life and movement then
+than at the time of our visit.
+
+In remote days a constant warfare had been kept up by the Crees
+on the river, who, just as they invaded the Blackfeet on the
+Saskatchewan, encroached here upon the Beavers--at that time a
+brave, numerous and warlike tribe, but now decayed almost to
+extinction, the victims, it is said, of incestuous intercourse. The
+Beavers had also an enemy in their congeners, the Chipewyans, the
+three nations seemingly dividing the great river between them. But
+neither succeeded in giving a permanent name to it. The Uńjigah, its
+majestic and proper name, or the Tsa-hoo-dene-desay--"The Beaver
+Indian River"--or the Amiskoo eëinnu Sepe of the Crees, which has
+the same meaning, has not taken root in our maps. The traditional
+peace made between its warring tribes gave it its name, the Rivière
+la Paix of the French, which we have adopted, and by this name the
+river will doubtless be known when the Indians, whose home it has
+been for ages, have disappeared.
+
+On the 24th our work here was completed, and we took to our boats,
+which were to float us down to Vermilion and Athabasca Lake.
+During our stay, however, I had noted all the information that
+could be gained respecting the Upper Peace as an agricultural
+region, some of which I have already given. The knowledge obtainable
+about the fertile areas of the hinterlands of a vast unsurveyed
+country like this, though not very ample, was no doubt trustworthy
+as far as it went.
+
+Trappers and traders are confined to the water, as a rule, and see
+little land away from the shores of streams and lakes. The only
+people who, through their employments, knew the interior well were
+the Indians and half-breed hunters. It was the statements of these,
+therefore, and of the few prosperous farmers and stockmen scattered
+here and there, which afforded us our only reliable knowledge.
+
+The most extensive prairies adjacent to the Upper Peace River
+are those to the north already described. The nearest on the
+south side are the prairies of Spirit River, a small stream which
+divides several townships of first-class black, loamy soil, well
+wooded in parts, but with considerable prairie. The nearest farmer
+and rancher to Dunvegan, Mr. C. Brymner, who had lived for ten
+years on Spirit River, told me that during seven of these, though
+frost had touched his grain, particularly in June, it had done
+little serious harm. It was a fine hay country, he said, even the
+ridge hay being good, and therefore a good region for cattle, he
+himself having at the time over a hundred head, which fed out late
+in the fall and very early in the spring, owing to the Chinook
+winds, which enter the region and temper its climate. Southeast
+of Fort St. John there is a considerable area known as Pooscapee's
+Prairie, getting its name from an old Indian chief, and which was
+well spoken of, but which we did not see.
+
+A much more extensive open country, however, is the Grand Prairie,
+to the south-west of the Crossing, which connects with the Spirit
+River country, and is drained by the Smoky River and its branches,
+and by its tributary, the Wapiti. There is no dispute as to whether
+this should or should not be called a prairie country. As a matter
+of fact, it is an extensive district suitable for immediate
+cultivation, and containing, as well, valuable timber for lumber,
+fencing and building.
+
+The first inquiry the intending immigrant makes is about frost.
+At the Dunvegan and St. Augustine Mission farms, on the river bank
+above the Landing, Father Busson told me that White Russian and
+Red Fyfe wheat had been raised since 1881, and during all these
+years it had never been seriously injured, whilst the yield has
+reached as high as thirty-five bushels to the acre. Seeding
+began about the middle of April, and harvesting about the middle
+of August. He was of opinion that along the rim of the upper
+prairie level wheat would ripen, but farther back he thought
+it unsafe, and so no doubt it is for the present. Mr. Brick's
+fine farm, opposite the Six Islands, and other farms also, were
+a success, but, of course, all these were along the river. With
+regard to the upper level, I heard opinions adverse to Father
+Busson's, though, like his, conjectural. The inconsiderable
+height above the sea (Lefroy, I think, puts the upper level at
+about 1,600 feet), the prolonged sunlight, the whole night being
+penetrated with it though the sun has set, together with good
+methods of farming, will no doubt get rid of frost, which strikes
+here just as it has in every new settlement in Manitoba, and in
+fact throughout a great portion of the continent.
+
+There were complaints, however, of a worse enemy than frost, namely,
+drought, which we were told was a characteristic feature of those
+magnificent prairies to the north. The wiry grass is very short
+there, something like the Milk River grass in Southern Alberta,
+and hay is scarce. This drawback will doubtless be got over hereafter
+by dry farming, or better still by irrigation, should the lakes to
+the north prove to be available.
+
+I have pointed out disadvantages which in all likelihood will
+disappear with time and settlement by good farmers. It is a region,
+I believe, predestined to agriculture; but, in some localities, the
+rainfall, as has been said, is rather scant for good husbandry, and,
+therefore, farming to the north of the river, on the upper level,
+is not as yet an assured success. To the south better conditions
+prevail, and thither no doubt the stream of immigration will first
+trend.
+
+Altogether we estimated the prairie areas of the upper river at
+about half a million acres, with much country, in addition, which
+resembles the Dauphin District in Manitoba, covered with willows
+and the like, which, if they can be pulled out by horse-power,
+as is done there, will not be very expensive to clear. There
+is, of course, any quantity of timber for building and fencing,
+though much has been destroyed by fire, the varieties being
+those common to the whole country. To the south, in the Yellowhead,
+and on the Upper Athabasca and its tributaries, there is considerable
+prairie also, more easily reached than Peace River; but this is
+apart from my subject. I may say, in conclusion, that the Upper
+Peace River country is a very fine one, drained by a vast and
+navigable river, compared with which the Saskatchewan must yield
+the palm, and, beyond doubt, this will be the first region to
+attract settlement and railway development.
+
+Aside from settlers and a railway, the chief needs of the country
+are a good waggon-road to Edmonton and mail facilities, which
+were almost non-existent when we were there, but which have
+recently been to some extent supplied. Nearly three months had
+elapsed since we entered the country, and not a letter or paper
+had reached us from the outer world at any point. The imports
+into the country were increasing very fast, and, through
+competition and fashion, its principal furs were immensely
+more valuable than in the past.
+
+As for the natives of the region, we found them a very worthy
+people, whose progress in the forms of civilized life, and to a
+certain extent in its elegances, was a constant surprise to us.
+As for the country, it was plain that all we met were making a good
+living in it, not by fur alone, but by successful farming, and that
+its settlement was but a question of time.
+
+
+
+Chapter VII
+
+Down The Peace River.
+
+
+We had now to descend the river, and our first night in the boats
+was a bad one. A small but exceedingly diligent variety of mosquito
+attacked us unprepared; but no ordinary net could have kept them
+out, anyway. It was a case of heroic endurance, for Beelzebub
+reigned. The immediate bank of the river was now somewhat low
+in places, and along it ran a continuous wall, or layer, of
+sandstone of a uniform height. The stream was vast, with many
+islands in its course, and whole forests of burnt timber were
+passed before we reached Battle River, 170 miles down, and which,
+on the 25th, we left behind us towards evening. Next morning we
+reached Wolverine Point, a dismal hamlet of six or seven cabins,
+with a graveyard in their midst. The majority of the half-breeds
+of the locality had collected here, the others being out hunting.
+This is a good farming country. Eighteen miles north-west of
+Paddle River there is a prairie, we were told, of rich black
+soil, twenty-five miles long and from one to five miles wide,
+and another south-west of Wolverine, about nine miles in
+diameter and thirty-six in circumference--clean prairie and
+good soil, and covered with luxuriant grass and pea-vine. The
+latter, I think, is watered by a stream called "The Keg," or
+"Keg of Rum." Wolverine is also a region of heavy spruce timber,
+and fish are abundant in the various streams which join the Peace
+River, though not in the Peace itself.
+
+We were now approaching Vermilion, the banks of the river constantly
+decreasing in height as we descended, until they became quite low.
+Beneath a waning moon in the south, and an exquisite array of gold
+and scarlet clouds in the east, which dyed the whole river a
+delicate red, we floated down to the hamlet of Vermilion. The
+place proved to be a rather extensive settlement, with yellow
+wheat-fields and much cattle, for it is a fine hay country. The
+pioneer Canadians at Vermilion were the Lawrence family, which has
+been settled there for over twenty years. They were original
+residents of Shefford County, Eastern Townships, and set out from
+Montreal for Peace River in April, 1879, making the journey to
+Vermilion, by way of Fort Carlton, Isle a la Crosse and Fort McMurray,
+in four months and some ten days. The elder Mr. Lawrence had been
+engaged under Bishop Bompas to conduct a mission school at Chipewyan,
+but after a time removed to Vermilion, where he organized another
+school, which he conducted until 1891. He then resigned, and began
+farming on his own account, and, by and by, with great pains and
+expense, brought in a flour mill, whose operation stimulated
+settlement, and speedily reduced the price of flour from $25 to $8
+a sack. Unfortunately, this useful mill was burnt in April preceding
+our visit. The yield of grain, moreover, most of it wheat, was
+estimated at 10,000 bushels, and the turning of the mill was
+therefore not only a great loss to Mr. Lawrence, but a severe blow
+to the place. The population interested in farming was estimated
+at about three hundred souls, thus forming the nucleus of a very
+promising settlement, now, of course, at its wits' end for gristing.
+Vermilion seemed to be a very favourable supply point in starting
+other settlements, being in touch by water with Loon River, Hay
+River, and other points east and north, where there is abundance
+of excellent land. For the present, and pending railway development,
+it was plain that the great and pressing requirement of the region
+was a good waggon road by way of Wahpoośkow to Athabasca Landing,
+a distance of three hundred miles, thus avoiding the dangerous
+rapids of the Athabasca, or the long detour by way of Lesser Slave
+Lake, and making communication easy in winter time.
+
+From Mr. Erastus Lawrence, the head of the family, we got definite
+information regarding the region and its prospects for agriculture.
+We spent Sunday at his comfortable home, and examined his farm
+carefully. In front of the house was a field of wheat, 110 acres
+in extent, as fine a field as we had ever seen anywhere, and of
+this they had not had a failure, he said, during all their farming
+experience, the return never falling below fourteen bushels to the
+acre, in the worst of years, twenty-five being about the average
+yield. They sowed late in April, but reaped generally about the 15th
+of August. They had never, he said, been seriously injured by frost
+since 1884, and in fact no frost had occurred to injure wheat since
+1887. There was abundance of hay, and 10,000 head of stock, he
+believed, could be raised at that very point. Many hogs were raised,
+with great profit, bacon and pork being, of course, high-priced. One
+of the sons, Mr. E. H. Lawrence, said he had raised sixteen pigs,
+which at eighteen months dressed 370 pounds apiece. At that time
+there were about 500 head of cattle, 250 horses, and 200 pigs in the
+settlement.
+
+After service at the Reverend Mr. Scott's neat little church,
+we returned to Mr. Lawrence's, and enjoyed an excellent dinner,
+including home-cured ham, fresh eggs, butter and cream. That was
+a notable Sunday for us in the wilds, and seldom to be repeated.
+
+Strange to say, we found the true locust here, our old Red River
+pest, which had quartered itself on the settlement more than once.
+I examined numbers of them, and found the scarlet egg of the
+ichneumon fly under many of the shards. No one seemed to know
+exactly how they came, whether in flight or otherwise; but there
+they were, devouring some barley, but living mainly upon grass,
+which they seemed to prefer to grain. They had appeared nine years
+before our coming, and disappeared, and then, three years before,
+had come again.
+
+We found quarters in a large building at the fort, which was in
+charge of Mr. Wilson, whose wife was a daughter of my old friend,
+Chief-factor Clarke, of Prince Albert, her brother having charge
+of the trading store. The post is a substantial one, and the
+store large, well stocked, and evidently the headquarters of an
+extensive trade. At such posts, which have generally a fringe
+of settlement, the Company's officers and their families, though,
+of course, cut off from the outer world, lead, if somewhat
+monotonous, by no means irksome lives. Books, music, cards and
+dances serve to while away spare time, and an occasional wedding,
+lasting, as it generally does, for several days, stirs the little
+community to its core. But sport, in a region abounding with game
+of all kinds, is the great time-killer, giving the longed-for
+excitement, and contributing as well to the daily bill of fare the
+very choicest of human food. Such a life is indeed to be envied
+rather than commiserated, and we met with few, if any, who cared to
+leave it. But such posts are the "plums" of the service, and are few
+and far between. At many of the solitary outposts life has a very
+different colour. ["At an outpost," says Mr. Bleasdell Cameron,
+"where a clerk is alone with his Indian servant, the life is
+wearisome to a degree, and privation not infrequently adds to the
+hardship of it. Supplies may run short, and in any case he is
+expected to stock himself with fish, taken in nets from the lake,
+near which his post is situated, for his table and his dogs, as well
+as to augment his larder by the expert and diligent use of his gun.
+Rare instances have occurred where, through accident, supplies had
+not reached the far-out posts for which they were intended, and the
+men had literally died of starvation. Out of a York boat's crew,
+which was taking up the annual supplies for a post far up among
+the Rocky Mountains, on a branch of the Mackenzie River, two or
+three men were drowned, and the ice beginning to take, the boat was
+obliged to put back to the district headquarters. The three men
+at the outpost were left for some weeks without the supplies, and
+when, after winter had set in, and it became possible to reach them
+with dog trains, and provisions were at length sent them, two were
+found dead in the post, while the third man was living by himself in
+a small hut some distance from the fort buildings. The explanation
+he gave was that he had removed to where there was a chance of
+keeping himself alive by snaring rabbits, which were more plentiful
+than at the post. But a suggestion of cannibalism surrounded the
+affair, for only the bones of his companions were found, and they
+were in the open chimney-place. Nothing was done, however, and I
+myself saw the survivor many times in after years."]
+
+At dinner Mr. Wilson told us of a very curious circumstance the
+previous fall, at the Loon River, some eighty miles south of
+Vermilion--something, indeed, that very much resembled volcanic
+action. Indians hunting there were surprised by a great shower of
+ashes all over the country, thick enough to track moose by, whilst
+others in canoes were bewildered in dense clouds of smoke. Dr. Wade,
+a traveller who had just come in from Loon River, said he had
+discovered three orifices, or "wells," as he called them, out of
+which he thought the ashes might have been ejected. As there were
+no forest fires to account for the phenomena, they were rather
+puzzling.
+
+We had begun taking depositions almost as soon as we arrived, and
+had a very busy time, working late and early in order to get away
+by the first of August. There were some interesting people here,
+"Old Lizotte" and his wife in particular. He was another of the
+"Ancient Mariners" who had left Lachine fifty-five years before
+with Governor Simpson--a man still of unshaken nerve and muscles
+as hard as iron. One by one these old voyageurs are passing away,
+and with them and their immediate successors the tradition
+perishes.
+
+There was another character on the Vermilion stage, namely, old
+King Beaulieu. His father was a half-breed who had been brought
+up amongst the Dog Ribs and Copper Indians, and some eighty years
+back had served as an interpreter at Fort Chipewyan. It was he
+who at Fort Wedderburne sketched for Franklin with charcoal on
+the floor the route to the Coppermine River, the sketch being
+completed to and along the coast by Black Meat, an old Chipewyan
+Indian. King Beaulieu himself was Warburton Pike's right-hand man
+in his trip to the Barren Lands. He had his own story, of course,
+about the sportsman, which we utterly discredited. He had joined
+the Indian Treaty here, but repented, almost flinging his payment
+in our face, and demanding scrip instead. One of his sons asked
+me if the law against killing buffalo had not come to an end. I
+said, "No! the law is stricter than ever--very dangerous now to kill
+buffalo." Asking him what he thought the band numbered, he said,
+"About six hundred," and added, "What are we poor half-breeds to
+do if we cannot shoot them?" Pointing out the abundance of moose
+in the country, and that if they shot the buffalo they would soon
+be exterminated, he still grumbled, and repeated, "What are we
+poor half-breeds to do?" I have no doubt whatever that they do
+shoot them, since the band is reported to have diminished to about
+250 head. Immediate steps should certainly be taken to punish and
+prevent poaching, or this band, the only really wild one on the
+continent, will soon be extinct.
+
+We were now on our boats again, and heading for the Chutes, as they
+are called, the one obstruction to the navigation of Peace River
+for over six hundred miles. We debarked at the head of the rapids
+above the Grand Fall, and walked to their foot along a shelving
+and slippery portage, skirting the very edge of the torrent. The
+Crees call this Meátina Poẃistik--"The Real Rapid"--the cataract
+farther on being the Nepegabaḱetik--"Where the Water Falls."
+
+Returning to the "Decharge," I ran the rapids with Cyr and Baptiste
+in one of the boats, a glorious sensation, reminding one, though
+shorter, of the Grand Rapids of the Saskatchewan, the waves being
+great, and the danger spiced by the tremendous vortex ahead. The
+rapids are about four hundred yards in length, and extend quite
+across the river, which is here of an immense width. A heavy but
+brief rainstorm had set in, and it was some time before we could
+reload and drop down to the head of the "Chaudiere," if I may call
+it so, for the vortex much resembles the "Big Kettle" at Ottawa.
+That night we spent in the York boat, its keel on the rocks and
+painter tied to a tree, and, lulled by the roar of the cataract,
+slept soundly until morning.
+
+These falls cut somewhat diagonally across the river, the vortex
+being at the right bank, and close in-shore, concentred by a limestone
+shelf extending to the bank, flanked on the left, and at an acute
+angle, by a deeply-indented reef of rock. Looking up the river,
+the view to the west seems inclosed by a long line of trees, which,
+in the distance, appear to stand in the water. Thence the vast
+stream sweeps boldly into the south, and with a rush discharges
+down the rapids, and straight over the line of precipice, in a
+vast tumultuous greyish-drab torrent which speedily emerges into
+comparatively still water below. The rock here is an exceedingly
+hard, mottled limestone, resembling the stone at St. Andrew's
+Rapids on Red River. Where exposed it is pitted or bitten into
+by the endless action of wind and water, and lies in thick layers,
+forming an irregular dyke all along the shore, over the surface
+of which passes the portage, some forty yards in length. Though
+short, it is a nasty one, running along a shelf of rock into which
+great gaps have been gored by the torrent. Large quantities of
+driftwood were stuck in the rapids above, and a big pile of it
+had lodged at the south angle of the cataract, over which our
+boats had to be drawn, and dropped down, with great care and
+difficulty. A rounded, tall island lies, or rather stands, below
+the falls, towards the north shore, whose sheer escarpments and
+densely wooded top are very curious and striking. Two sister
+islands and another above the falls, all four being about a mile
+apart, stand in line with each other, as if they had once formed
+parts of an ancient marge, and, below the falls, the torrent
+has wrought out a sort of bay from the rock, the bank, which
+is high here, giving that night upon its grassy slope, overhung
+with dense pine woods, a picturesque camp to our boatmen.
+The vast river, the rapids and the falls form a majestic picture,
+not only of material grandeur, but of power to be utilized some
+day in the service of man. Though formidable, they will yet
+be surmounted by modern locks; and should Smith's Rapids, on
+the Great Slave River, be overcome by canalling, there would
+then be developed one of the longest lines of inland navigation
+on the continent.
+
+The Red River, which joins the Peace about twenty-five miles below
+the Chutes, flows from the south with a course, it was said, of
+about two hundred miles, and up this beautiful stream there are
+extensive prairies. The soil is very rich at the confluence, and
+we noticed that in the garden at the little Hudson's Bay Company's
+post, where we transacted our business, vegetables and potatoes
+were further advanced than at Vermilion, and some ears of wheat
+were almost ripe. From statements made we judged this to be a
+region well worth special investigation; it was, in fact, one
+of the most inviting points for settlement we had seen on our
+journey.
+
+Following down the Peace, some shoaly places were met with in the
+afternoon, the banks being low, sandy and uniform, with open woods
+to the south. The current was stately, but so slow that oars had
+often to be used. A chilly sunset was followed by an exceedingly
+brilliant display of Northern Lights, called by the Crees Pahkugh́
+ka Neématchik--"The Dance of the Spirits." This generally presages
+change; but the day was fine, and next morning we passed what
+are called the Lower Rapids, below which the banks are lined by
+precipitous walls of limestone, the river narrowing to less than
+half of its previous width.
+
+Landing at Peace Point, the traditional scene of the peace between
+the Beavers and the Chipewyans, or between the Beavers and the
+Crees, as Mackenzie says, or all three, we found it to be a wide
+and beautiful table-like prairie, begirt with aspens, on which we
+flushed a pack of prairie chickens. Below it, and looking upward
+beyond an island, a line of timber, fringed along the water's
+edge with willows, sweeps across the view, met half-way by a wall
+of Devonian rock, whose alternate glitter and shade, in the strong
+sunshine streaming from the east, seemed almost spectral.
+
+The heavily timbered island added to the effect, and, with a patch
+of limestone on its cheek, formed a strikingly beautiful foreground.
+
+The only exciting incident of the day was the vigorous chase, by some
+of the party, of an old pair of moulting gray geese with their young,
+all, of course, unable to fly. It was pitiful to watch the clever
+and fearless actions of the old birds as decoys, falling victims,
+at last, to parental love. Indeed, they were not worth eating, and
+to kill them was a sin. But when were there ever scruples over
+food on Peace River, that theatre of mighty feats of gormandism?
+
+I have already hinted at those masterpieces of voracity for which
+the region is renowned; yet the undoubted facts related around our
+camp-fires, and otherwise, a few of which follow, almost beggar
+belief. Mr. Young, of our party, an old Hudson's Bay officer, knew
+of sixteen trackers who, in a few days, consumed eight bears, two
+moose, two bags of pemmican, two sacks of flour, and three sacks of
+potatoes. Bishop Grouard vouched for four men eating a reindeer at
+a sitting. Our friend, Mr. d'Eschambault, once gave Oskinnéqu--"The
+Young Man"--six pounds of pemmican, who ate it all at a meal, washing
+it down with a gallon of tea, and then complained that he had not had
+enough. Sir George Simpson states that at Athabasca Lake, in 1820, he
+was one of a party of twelve who ate twenty-two geese and three ducks
+at a single meal. But, as he says, they had been three whole days
+without food. The Saskatchewan folk, however, known of old as the
+Gens de Blaireaux--"The People of the Badger Holes"--were not behind
+their congeners. That man of weight and might, our old friend,
+Chief-factor Belanger--drowned, alas, many years ago with young
+Simpson at Sea Falls--once served out to thirteen men a sack of
+pemmican weighing ninety pounds. It was enough for three days; but,
+there and then, they sat down and consumed it all at a single meal,
+not, it must be added, without some subsequent and just pangs of
+indigestion. Mr. B. having occasion to pass the place of eating, and
+finding the sack of pemmican, as he supposed, in his path, gave it
+a kick; but, to his amazement, it bounded aloft several yards, and
+then lit. It was empty! When it is remembered that, in the old
+buffalo days, the daily ration per head at the Company's prairie
+posts was eight pounds of fresh meat, which was all eaten, its
+equivalent being two pounds of pemmican, the enormity of this
+Gargantuan feast may be imagined. But we ourselves were not bad
+hands at the trencher. In fact, we were always hungry. So I do not
+reproduce the foregoing facts as a reproach, but rather as a meagre
+tribute to the prowess of the great of old--the men of unbounded
+stomach!
+
+On the afternoon of the 4th we rounded Point Providence, the soil
+exposures sandy, the timber dense but slender, and early next
+morning reached the Quatre Fourches, which was at that time flowing
+into Lake Athabasca. It is simply a waterway of some thirty miles
+in length, which connects Peace River with the lake, and resembles,
+in size and colour, Red River in Manitoba. It is one of "the
+rivers that turn"--so called from their reversing their current
+at different stages of water. A small stream of this kind connects
+the South Saskatchewan with the Qu'Appelle, and another, a navigable
+river, the Lower Saskatchewan with Cumberland Lake. The Quatre
+Fourches is thus both an inlet and an outlet, but not of the lake
+in a right sense. The real outlet is the Rocher River, which joins
+the Peace River at the intersection of latitude 59 with the 111.30th
+degree of longitude, beyond which the united streams are called
+the Great Slave River.
+
+The Quatre Fourches--"The Four Forks"--gets its name from the
+junction of a channel which connects a small lake called the Mamawee
+with the south-west angle of Lake Athabasca, Fort Chipewyan being
+situated on an opposite shore upon an arm of the lake, here about
+six miles wide. The stream is sluggish, and is thickly wooded to the
+water's edge, with here and there an exposure of red granite. It is
+a very beautiful stream, and it was a pleasure to get out of the
+great river and its oppressive vastness into the familiar-looking,
+homely water, its eastern rocks and exquisite curves and bends.
+Rounding a point, we came upon a camp of Chipewyans drying fish and
+making birch-bark canoes, all of them fat, dirty, like ourselves,
+and happy; and, passing on, at dusk we reached the outlet and the
+lake.
+
+It was blowing hard, but we decided to cross to the fort, where
+a light had been run up for our guidance, and which, by vigorous
+rowing, we reached by midnight. Here Mr. Laird was waiting to
+receive us, the other Commissioners having departed for Fort
+McMurray and Wahpoośkow.
+
+Next morning we saw the lake to better advantage. It is called by
+the Chipewyans Kaytaylaýtooway, namely, "The Lake of the Marsh,"
+corresponding to the Athapuskow of the Crees, corrupted into the
+Rabasca of the French voyageurs, and meaning "The Lake of the Reeds."
+At one time, it may be mentioned, it was also known as "The Lake
+of the Hills," and its great tributary, the Athabasca, was the Elk
+River; but these names have not survived.
+
+
+
+Chapter VIII
+
+Fort Chipewyan To Fort McMurray.
+
+
+Chipewyan, it may be remarked, is not a Déné word. It is the name
+which was given by the Crees to that branch of the race when they
+first came in contact with them, owing to their wearing a peculiar
+coat, or tunic, which was pointed both before and behind; now
+disused by them, but still worn by the Esquimaux, and, until
+recent years, by the Yukon Indians. Though somewhat similar
+in sound, it has no connection, it is asserted, with the word
+Chippeway, or Ojibway. For all that, the words are perhaps
+closely akin. The writer for the accurate use in this narrative
+of words in the Cree tongue is under obligation to experts.
+When preparing his notes to his drama of "Tecumseh" he was
+indebted to his friend, Mr. Thomas McKay, of Prince Albert,
+Sask., a master of the Cree language, for the exact origin
+and derivation of the words Chippeway and Ojibway. Both are
+corruptions of O-cheepo-way, _cheepo_ meaning "tapering," and
+_way_ "sound," or "voice." The name was begot of the Ojibway's
+peculiar manner of lowering the voice at the end of a sentence.
+As "_wyan_" means a skin, it is not improbable that the word
+Chipewyan means tapering or "pointed" skin, referring, of course,
+to the peculiar garb of the Athapuskow Indians when the Crees
+first met with them.
+
+The sites of old posts are to be found all over this region; but
+Chipewyan in the beginning of the last century was the great supply
+and trading-post of the North-West Company. From Sir John Franklin's
+Journal (1820) it would appear that the Hudson's Bay Company had
+begun, and, for some reason not given, had ceased trading on Lake
+Athabasca, as he says "Fort Wedderburne was a small post built
+on Coal Island--now called Potato Island-about A.D. 1815, when
+the Hudson's Bay Company recommenced trading in this part of the
+country." He often visited this island post, then in charge of
+a Mr. Robertson, and, in June, engaged there for his memorable
+journey his bowmen, steersmen and middlemen, and an interpreter,
+his other men being furnished by the rival company. Fort Chipewyan
+was in charge at that time of Messrs. Keith and Black, of the
+North-West Company, a noticeable feature of the post being a
+tower built, Franklin says, about the year 1812, "to watch
+Indians who had evil designs."
+
+The site was well chosen, being sheltered from storms from the lake
+side by a great bulwark of wooded and rocky islands. The largest
+is Potato Island, just opposite, its outliers being the Calf and
+English Islands--the Lapeta, Echeranaway and Theyaodene of the
+Chipewyans; the Petac, Moośtoos and Akayasoo of the Crees.
+
+Fort Chipewyan stands upon a rising ground fronting a sort of bay
+formed by these islands, and at the time of our visit consisted of
+a trading-store, several large warehouses and the master's residence,
+etc., all of solid timber, erected in the days of Chief-factor
+MacFarlane, who ruled here for many years.
+
+[Mr. MacFarlane's career in the service of the Hudson's Bay Company
+is typical of the varied life and movements of its old-time
+adventurous traders. He entered the service in 1852, his first
+winter being spent as a clerk at Pembina (now Emerson), and also
+as trader in charge at the Long Creek outpost. From here he was
+transferred to Fort Rae, and afterwards to Fort Good Hope, Mackenzie
+River, where he remained six years. His next post was Fort Anderson,
+on the Begh-ula, or Anderson River, in the Barren Grounds, which he
+held for five years, much of his scientific work being done during
+excursions from this point. Afterwards he became trader and
+accountant at Fort Simpson, and was for two years in charge of
+the Mackenzie River district. This was succeeded by a six months'
+residence at Fort Chipewyan, where, subsequently, for fifteen years
+he had charge of the district. For two years he had control of
+the Caledonia district, in British Columbia, but removed to Fort
+Cumberland, Sask., where he remained for five years. Other removals
+followed until he finally retired from the service, and, returning
+to Winnipeg, has lived there ever since.]
+
+But old as the fort is, it has no relics--not even a venerable
+cabin. In the store were a couple of not very ancient flint-locks,
+and, upstairs, rummaging through some dusty shelves, I came across
+one volume of the Edinburgh, or second, edition of Burns in gray
+paper boards--a terrible temptation, which was nobly resisted.
+Though there was once a valuable library here, with many books now
+rare and costly, yet all had disappeared.
+
+East of the fort are shelving masses of red granite, completely
+covered by a dark orange lichen, which gives them an added warmth
+and richness; and on the highest part stood a square lead sun-dial,
+which, at first sight, I thought had surely been set up by Franklin
+or Richardson, but which I was told was very modern indeed, and
+put up, if I am not mistaken, by Mr. Ogilvie, D.L.S. To the west
+of the fort is the Church of England Mission, and, farther up,
+the Roman Catholic establishment, the headquarters of our esteemed
+fellow-voyager, Bishop Grouard. [The first Roman Catholic Mission in
+Athabasca was formed by Bishop Farrand the year after Bishop Taché's
+visit to Fort Chipewyan, about A.D. 1849, he being then a missionary
+priest. Bishop Farrand established other missions on Peace River,
+and went as far north as Fort Resolution, on Great Slave Lake.
+He died in 1890, and was succeeded by our guest, Bishop Grouard,
+O.M.I., _Eveque d'Ibora_, the present occupant of the See of Athabasca
+and Mackenzie River. This prelate was born at Le Mans, in France,
+and was educated there, but finished his education in Quebec. He was
+ordained by Bishop Taché, near Montreal, in 1862, and was sent at
+once to Chipewyan, where he learnt the difficult language of the
+natives in a year. He has worked at many points, and perhaps no man
+in all the North, with the exception of Archdeacon Macdonald, or the
+late Anglican Bishop Bompas, has or had as accurate a knowledge of
+the great Déné race, with its numerous subdivisions of Chipewyans,
+Beavers, Yellow Knives, Dog Ribs, Slaves, Nahanies, Rabbit Skins,
+Loucheaux, or Squint Eyes (so named from the prevalence of
+strabismus amongst them), and of other tribes. All these were at one
+time not only at war with the Crees, but with each other, with the
+exception of the Slaves, who were always a tame and meek-spirited
+race, and were often subjected to and treated like dogs by the
+others. Indeed they were called by the Crees, Awughkanuk, meaning
+"cattle."] In line with the fort buildings, and facing the lake,
+stood a row of whitewashed cottages, all giving the place, with its
+environs, deeply indented shore and rugged spits of red granite, the
+quaint appearance of some secluded fishing village on the Gulf of
+St. Lawrence.
+
+In sight, but above the bay, was the trading-post of Colin Fraser,
+whose father, the McCrimmon of the North-West, was Sir George
+Simpson's piper. The late Chief-factor Camsell, of Fort Simpson,
+and myself paddled up to it, and were most hospitably entertained
+by Mr. Fraser and his agreeable family. His father's bagpipes,
+still in excellent order, were speedily brought out, and it was
+interesting to handle them, for they had heralded the approach of
+the autocratic little Governor to many an inland post from Hudson's
+Bay to Fraser River, over seventy years before.
+
+Several days were spent at the fort taking declarations, but,
+unlike Vermilion or Dunvegan, there were few large families here,
+the applicants being mainly young people. The agricultural resources
+of this region of rocks are certainly meagre compared with those of
+Peace River. Potatoes, where there is any available soil, grow to
+a good size; barley was nearly ripe when we were there, and wheat
+ripens, too. But, of course, it is not a farming region, nor are
+fish plentiful at the west end of the lake, the Athabasca River,
+which enters there, giving for over twenty miles eastward a muddy
+hue to the water. The rest of the lake is crystal clear, and
+whitefish are plentiful, also lake trout, which are caught up to
+thirty, and even forty, pounds' weight.
+
+The distance from Fort Chipewyan to Fond du Lac is about 185 miles,
+but the lake extends over 75 miles farther eastward in a narrow arm,
+giving a total length of about 300 miles, the greatest width being
+about 50 miles. The whole eastern portion of the lake is a desolate
+scene of primitive rock and scrub pine, with many quartz exposures,
+which are probably mineralized, but with no land, not even for
+a garden. The scenery, however, from Black Bay to Fond du Lac
+is very beautiful, consisting largely of islands as diversified
+and as numerous as the Thousand Islands in the St. Lawrence.
+These extremely solitary spots should be, one would think, the
+breeding-grounds of the pelican, though it is said this bird really
+breeds on islands in the Great Slave River. If disturbed by man it
+is reputed to destroy its young and desert the place at once.
+
+The Barren Ground reindeer migrate to the east end of this lake
+in October, and return in March or April, but this is not certain.
+Sometimes they unaccountably forsake their old migratory routes,
+causing great suffering, in consequence, to the Indians. Moose
+frequent the region, too, but are not numerous, whilst land game,
+such as prairie chickens, ptarmigan, and a grouse resembling
+the "fool-hen," is rather plentiful.
+
+The Indians of Fond du Lac are healthy, though somewhat uncleanly
+in their habits, and fond of dress, which is that of the white
+man, their women being particularly well dressed.
+
+As an agricultural country the region has no value whatever; but
+its mineral resources, when developed, may prove to be rich and
+profitable. Mining projects were already afoot in the country,
+but far to the north on Great Slave Lake.
+
+What was known as the "Helpman Party" was formed in England by
+Captain Alene, who died of pneumonia in December, 1898, three
+days after his arrival at Edmonton. The party consisted of a
+number of retired army officers, including Viscount Avonmore,
+with a considerable capital, $50,000 of which was expended.
+They brought some of their outfit from England, but completed
+it at Edmonton, and thence went overland late in the spring. But
+sleighing being about over, they got to Lesser Slave Lake with
+great difficulty, and there the party broke up, Mr. Helpman and
+others returning to England, whilst Messrs. Jeffries and Hall
+Wright, Captain Hall, and Mr. Simpson went on to Peace River
+Crossing. From there they descended to Smith's Portage, on
+the Great Slave River, and wintered at Fort Resolution, on
+Great Slave Lake.
+
+In the following spring they were joined by Mr. McKinlay, the
+Hudson's Bay Company's agent at the Portage, and he, accompanied
+by Messrs. Holroyd and Holt, who had joined the party at Smith's
+Landing, and by Mr. Simpson, went off on a prospecting tour through
+the north-east portion of Great Slave Lake, staking, _en route_, a
+number of claims, some of which were valuable, others worthless. The
+untruthful statements, however, of one of the party, who represented
+even the worst of the claims as of fabulous value, brought the
+whole enterprise into disrepute. The members of the party mentioned
+returned to England ostensibly to raise capital to develop their
+claims, but nothing came of it, not because minerals of great
+value do not exist there, but on account of remoteness and the
+difficulties of transport.
+
+In 1898 another party was formed in Chicago, called "The Yukon
+Valley Prospecting and Mining Company," its chief promoters being
+a Mr. Willis and a Mr. Wollums of that city. The capital stock was
+put at a quarter of a million dollars, twenty-five thousand dollars
+being paid up. These organizers interested thirty-three other men in
+the enterprise, the agreement being that these should go to Dawson
+at the expense of the stockholders, and locate mining claims there,
+a half-interest in all of which was to be transferred to the
+company. These men proceeded to Calgary, and outfitted for Dawson,
+which they wished to reach by ascending the Peace River. At Calgary
+they were fortunate in procuring as leader a gentleman of large
+experience in the North, W. J. McLean, Esq., a retired Chief-factor
+of the Hudson's Bay Company, who pointed out the difficulties of
+such a route, and recommended, instead, a possible one via Great
+Slave Lake and the Mackenzie River to Fort Simpson, and thence up
+the Liard River to the height of land at or near Francis Lake, and
+so down the Pelly River and on to Dawson.
+
+In February the party, led by him, left Edmonton with 160 ponies,
+sleds and sleighs, loaded with supplies, and proceeded, by an
+extremely difficult forest trail, to Lesser Slave Lake. They had
+no feed for the horses, save what they drew, and, of course, they
+reached the lake completely exhausted. Here, by Mr. McLean's advice,
+they sold the horses, and with the proceeds hired local freighters
+to carry them and their supplies to Peace River Crossing, where
+boats were built in which the party, with the exception of one
+of the organizers, Mr. Willis, who had returned in high dudgeon
+to Chicago, set out for Great Slave Lake. Before getting to Fort
+Resolution, Mr. McLean got private information from a former
+servant of his at that post, which led to an expedition to the
+north-east end of the lake, where he made valuable finds of copper
+and other minerals. Another trip was made, and additional claims
+were taken, and on Mr. McLean's return with a lot of samples
+of ore, he with another prospector, came out, and proceeded to
+Chicago. His samples were tested there and in Winnipeg, and yielded
+in copper from 11 to 32 per cent.; and the galena 60 ozs. of
+silver to the ton. Other minerals, such as sulphur, coal, asphalt,
+petroleum, iron and salt were discovered, all of great promise,
+and his opinion is that when transport is extended to that region,
+it will prove to be a great storehouse of mineral wealth.
+
+The other members of the party had at various times and places
+separated, some going here and some there; but all eventually
+left the country, and the company died a natural death. But Mr.
+McLean is not only a firm believer in the mineral wealth of the
+North, but in its resources otherwise. There are extensive areas
+of large timber, and the lakes swarm with fish. The soil on the
+Liard River is excellent, and he tells me that not only wheat but
+Indian corn will ripen there, as he himself grew both successfully
+when in charge of that district.
+
+The mining enterprises referred to fell through, but I have described
+them at some length since they are very interesting as being the
+first attempts at prospecting with a view to development in those
+remote regions. Failure, of course, at such a distance from transport
+and supplies, was inevitable. But some of the prospectors, Captain
+Hall and others who came out with ourselves, seemed to have no doubt
+that much of the country they explored is rich in minerals. Indeed,
+should the ancient repute of the Coppermine River be justified by
+exploration, perhaps the most extensive lodes on the continent
+will yet be discovered there.
+
+If the Hudson's Bay route were developed, a short line of rail from
+the western end of Chesterfield Inlet would tap the mining regions
+prospected, and develop many great resources at present dormant. The
+very moss of the Barren Lands may yet prove to be of value, and be
+shipped to England as a fertilizer. I have been told by a gentleman
+who has travelled in Alaska that an enterprising American there is
+preparing to collect and ship moss to Oregon, where it will be
+fermented and used as a fertilizer in the dairy industry.
+
+To return to Lake Athabasca. It seemed at one time to have been the
+rallying-place of the great Tiné or Déné race, to which, with the
+exception of the Crees, the Loucheaux, perhaps, and the Esquimaux,
+all the Indians of the entire country belong. It is said to have
+been a traditional and central point, such as Onondaga Lake was to
+the Iroquois.
+
+It is noticeable that, in the nomenclature of the various Indians of
+the continent, the names by which they were known amongst themselves
+generally meant men, "original men," or people; e.g., the Lenni
+Lenápe of the Delawares, with its equivalent, the Anishinápe of the
+Saulteaux, and the Naheowuk of the Crees. It is also the meaning of
+the word Déné, the generic name of a race as widely sundered, if not
+as widely spread, as the Algonquin itself.
+
+The Chipewyan of Lake Athabasca speaks the same tongue as the Apaché
+of Arizona, the Navajo of Sonora, the Hoopa of Oregon, and the
+Sarcee of Alberta. The word Apaché has the same root-meaning as
+the word Déné though that fierce race was also called locally the
+Shisińdins, namely, "The Forest People," doubtless from its original
+habitat in this region.
+
+Owing to the agglutinative character of the aboriginal languages,
+numbering over four hundred, some philologists are inclined to
+attribute them all to a common origin, the Basque tongue being
+one of the two or three in Europe which have a like peculiarity.
+In the languages of the American Indians one syllable is piled
+upon another, each with a distinct root-significance, so that
+a single word will often contain the meaning of an ordinary
+English sentence. This polysynthetic character undoubtedly
+does point to a common origin, just as the Indo-European tongues
+trace back to Sanskrit. But whether this is indicative of the
+ancient unity of the American races, whose languages differed
+in so many other respects, and whose characteristics were so
+divergent, is another question.
+
+One interesting impression, begot of our environment, was that we
+were now emphatically in what might be called "Mackenzie's country."
+In his "General History of the Fur-Trade," published in London in
+1801, Sir Alexander tells us that, after spending five years in Mr.
+Gregory's office in Montreal, he went to Detroit to trade, and
+afterwards, in 1785, to the Grand Portage (Fort William).
+
+The first traders, he tells us, had penetrated to the Athabasca,
+via Methy Portage, as early as 1791, and in 1783-4 the merchants
+of Lower Canada united under the name of The North-West Company,
+the two Frobishers--Joseph Frobisher had traded on the Churchill
+River as early as 1775 and Simon McTavish being managers. The
+Company, he says, "was consolidated in July, 1787," and became
+very powerful in more ways than one, employing, at the time he
+wrote, over 1,400 men, including 1,120 canoemen. "It took four
+years from the time the good, were ordered until the furs were
+sold;" but, of course, the profits, compared with the capital
+invested, were very great, until the strife deepened between
+the Montrealers. and the Hudson's Bay Company, whose first
+inland post was only established at Sturgeon River, Cumberland
+Lake, in 1774, by the adventurous, if not over-valiant, Samuel
+Hearne. The rivalries of these two companies nearly ruined
+both, until they got rid of them by uniting in 1821, when the
+Nor'-Westers became as vigorous defenders of King Charles's
+Charter as they had before been its defiers and defamers.
+
+Fort Chipewyan was established, Mackenzie says, by Mr. Pond, in
+1788, the year after his own arrival at the Athabasca, where, by
+the way, in the fall of 1787, he describes Mr. Pond's garden at
+his post on that river as being "as fine a kitchen garden as
+he ever saw in Canada." Fort Chipewyan, however, though not
+established by Mackenzie, was his headquarters for eight years.
+From here he set out in June, 1789, on his canoe voyage to the
+Arctic Ocean, and from here in October, 1792, he started on his
+voyage up the Peace River on his way to the Pacific coast, which
+he reached the following year.
+
+In his history he states: "When the white traders first ventured
+into this country both tribes were numerous, but smallpox destroyed
+them." And, speaking of the region at large, he, perhaps, throws
+an incidental side-light upon the Blackfoot question. "Who the
+original people were," he says, "that were driven from it when
+conquered by the Kinisteneaux (the Crees) is not now known, as
+not a single vestige remains of them. The latter and the Chipewyans
+are the only people that have been known here, and it is evident
+that the last mentioned consider themselves as strangers, and seldom
+remain longer than three or four years without visiting their
+friends and relatives in the Barren Grounds, which they term their
+native country."
+
+[It is a reasonable conjecture that these "original people," driven
+from Athabasca in remote days, were the Blackfeet Indians and their
+kindred, who possibly had their base at that time, as in subsequent
+days, at the forks and on both branches of the Saskatchewan. The
+tradition was authentic in Dr. (afterwards Sir John) Richardson's
+time. Writing on the Saskatchewan eighty-eight years ago he places
+the Eascabs, "called by the Crees the Assinipoytuk, or Stone
+Indians, west of the Crees, between them and the Blackfeet." The
+Assiniboines are an offshoot of the great Sioux, or Dakota, race
+called by their congeners the Hohas, or "Rebels." They separated
+from their nation at a remote period owing to a quarrel, so the
+tradition runs, between children, and which was taken up by their
+parents. Migrating northward the Eascabs, as the Assiniboines called
+themselves, were gladly received and welcomed as allies by the
+Crees, with whom, as Dr. Richardson says, "they attacked and
+drove to the westward the former inhabitants of the banks of the
+Saskatchewan." "The nations," he continues, "driven westward by
+the Easeabs and Crees are termed by the latter Yatchee-thinyoowuc,
+translated Slave Indians, but properly 'Strangers.'" This word
+Yatchee is, of course, the Iyaghchi of the Crees in their name for
+Lesser Slave River and Lake. Richardson describes them as inhabiting
+the country round Fort Augustus and the foot of the Rockies, and "so
+numerous now as to be a terror to the Assiniboines themselves." They
+are divided, he says, into five nations, of whom the Fall Indians,
+so called from their former residence at Cole's Falls, near the
+Forks of the Saskatchewan, were the most numerous, consisting of 500
+tents, the Piegans of 400, the Blackfeet of 350, the Bloods of 300,
+and the Sarcees of 150, the latter tribe being a branch of the
+Chipewyans which, having migrated like their congeners, the Apaches,
+from the north, joined the Crees as allies, just as the Assiniboines
+did from the south.]
+
+Besides Mackenzie's, another name, renowned in the tragic annals of
+science, is inseparably connected with this region, viz., that of
+Franklin, who has already been incidentally referred to. Others
+recur to one, but these two great names are engrained, so to
+speak, in the North, and cannot be lightly passed over in any
+descriptive work. The two explorers were friends, or, at any rate,
+acquaintances; and, before leaving England, Franklin had a long
+conversation in London with Mackenzie, who died shortly afterwards.
+The record of his "Journey to the Shores of the Polar Ocean,"
+accompanied by Doctor Richardson and Midshipmen Back and Hood, in
+the years 1819-20-21 and '22, practically began at York Factory in
+August of the former year. The rival companies were still at war,
+and in making the portage at the Grand Rapids of the Saskatchewan,
+with a party of Hudson's Bay Company traders, "they advanced," he
+says, "armed, and with great caution." When he returned on the 14th
+July, 1822, to York, the warring companies had united, and he and
+his friends were met there by Governor Simpson, Mr. McTavish, and
+all the united partners, after a voyage by water and land of over
+5,500 miles. Franklin spent part of the winter at Cumberland post,
+which had been founded to counteract the rivalry of Montreal.
+"Before that time," he says, "the natives took their furs to
+Hudson's Bay, or sold to the French Canadian traders, who," he adds,
+"visited this part of the country as early as 1697." If so, the
+credit for the discovery of the Saskatchewan has been wrongly given
+to the Chevalier, as he was called, a son of Varenne, Sieur de la
+Varendrye.
+
+Franklin left Cumberland in January, 1820, by dog train for
+Chipewyan, via Fort Carlton and Green Lake. Fort Carlton was the
+great food supply post, then and long afterwards, of the Hudson's
+Bay Company, buffalo and wapiti being very abundant. The North-West
+Company's fort, called La Montee, was three miles beyond Carlton,
+and harbored seventy French Canadians and sixty women and children,
+who consumed seven hundred pounds of meat daily, the ration being
+eight pounds. This post was at that time in charge of Mr. Hallett,
+a forebear, if I mistake not, of my old friend, William Hallett,
+leader of the English Plain Hunt, and a distinguished loyalist in
+the rebellion of 1869.
+
+Franklin and Back left Fort Carlton on the 8th February, and
+reached Green Lake on the 17th. The North-West Company's post at
+the lake was managed by Dugald Cameron, and that of the Hudson's
+Bay Company by a Mr. MacFarlane, and, having been equipped at
+both posts with carioles, sledges and provisions, they left
+"under a fusillade from the half-breed women." From the end of
+the lake they followed for a short distance a small river, then
+"crossed the woods to Beaver River, and proceeding along it,
+passed the mouths of two rivers, the latter of which, they were
+told, was a channel by which the Indians go to Lesser Slave
+Lake." On the 11th of March they reached Methy Lake--so called
+from an unwholesome fish of the burbot species found there,
+only the liver of which is fit to eat--crossed the Methy
+portage on the 13th, and, amidst a chaos of vast ravines and
+the wildest of scenery, descended the next day to the Clearwater
+River. Thence they followed the Indian trail on the north bank,
+passing a noted scene, "a romantic defile of limestone rocks
+like Gothic ruins," and, crossing a small stream, found pure
+sulphur deposited by springs and smelling very strongly. On
+the 17th they got to the junction of the Clearwater with the
+Athabasca, where Port McMurray now stands, and next day reached
+the Pierre an Calumet post, in charge of a Mr. Stewart, who
+had twice crossed the mountains to the Pacific coast. The
+place got its name from a soft stone found there, of which
+the Indians made their pipes.
+
+Franklin notes the "sulphurous springs" and "bituminous salt" in
+this region, also the statement of Mr. Stewart, who had a good
+thermometer, "that the lowest temperature he had ever witnessed
+in many years, either at the Athabasca or Great Slave Lake, was
+45 degrees below zero," a statement worth recording here.
+
+On the 26th of March the party arrived at Fort Chipewyan, the
+distance travelled from Cumberland House being 857 miles. He
+notes that at the time of his arrival the fort was very bare
+of both buffalo and moose meat, owing, it was said, to the trade
+rivalry, and that where some eight hundred packs of fur used to
+be shipped from that point, only one-half of that number was now
+sent. Liquor was largely used by both companies in trade, and
+scenes of riot and violence ensued upon the arrival of the Indians
+at the fort in spring, and whom he describes otherwise as "reserved
+and selfish, unhospitable and beggars, but honest and affectionate
+to children." They painted round the eyes, the cheek-bones and the
+forehead, and all the race, except the Dog Ribs and the Beavers,
+believed that their forefathers came from the East. The Northern
+Indians, Franklin says, suppose that they originally sprang from
+a dog, and about A.D. 1815 they destroyed all their dogs, and
+compelled their women to take their place. Their chiefs seemed to
+have no power save over their own families, and their conjurers
+were supported by voluntary contributions of provisions. These
+are some of the chief characteristics Franklin notes of the Indians
+who frequented Fort Chipewyan, at which point he spent several
+months. One extraordinary circumstance, however, remains to be
+mentioned. It is that of a young Chipewyan who lost his wife in
+her first pregnancy. He applied the child to his left breast,
+from which a flow of milk took place. "The breast," he adds,
+"became of an unusual size." Here he and Back, afterwards Admiral
+Back, were joined by Dr. Richardson and Mr. Hood, who had come
+from Cumberland House by the difficult Churchill River route,
+and on July 18th, at noon, the whole party left the fort on
+their tragic expedition, the party, aside from those named,
+consisting of John Hepburn, seaman, an interpreter and fifteen
+voyageurs, including, unfortunately, an Iroquois Indian, called
+Michel Teroahante. At two p.m. they entered Great Slave River,
+here three-quarters of a mile wide, and, passing Red Deer Islands
+and Dog River, encountered the rapids, overcome by seven or eight
+portages, from the Casette to the Portage of the Drowned, all
+varying in length from seventy to eight hundred yards.
+
+On the 21st they landed at the mouth of Salt River to lay in a
+supply of salt for their journey, the deposits lying twenty-two
+miles up by stream. These natural pans, or salt plains, he
+describes--and the description answers for to-day--as "bounded on
+the north and west by a ridge between six and seven hundred feet
+high." Several salt springs issue at its foot, and spread over the
+plain, which is of tenacious clay, and, evaporating in summer,
+crystallize in the form of cubes. The poisson inconnu, a species
+of salmon which ascends from the Arctic Ocean, is not found, he
+says, above this stream. A few miles below it, however, a buffalo
+plunged into the river before them, which they killed, and those
+animals still frequent the region.
+
+On the 25th of July they passed through the channel of the
+Scaffold to Great Slave Lake, and, landing at Moose Deer Island,
+found thereon the rival forts, of course, within striking distance
+of each other, and in charge, as usual, of rival Scotsmen. At Great
+Slave Lake I must part company with Franklin's Journal, since our
+own negotiations only extended to its south shores. But who that
+has read it can ever forget the awful return journey of the party
+from the Arctic coast, through the Barren Lands, to their own winter
+quarters, which they so aptly named Fort Resolution? In the tales
+of human suffering from hunger there are few more terrible than
+this. All the gruesome features of prolonged starvation were present;
+the murder of Mr. Hood and two of the voyageurs by the Iroquois;
+his bringing to the camp a portion of human flesh, which he declared
+to be that of a wolf; his death at the Doctor's hands; the dog-like
+diet of old skins, bones, leather pants, moccasins, _tripe de roche_;
+the death of Peltier and Semandre from want, and the final relief
+of the party by Akaitcho's Indians, and their admirable conduct.
+And all those horrors experienced over five hundred miles beyond
+Fort Chipewyan, itself thousands of miles beyond civilization!
+Did the noble Franklin's last sufferings exceed even these? Perhaps;
+but they are unrecorded.
+
+To return to our muttons. Some marked changes had taken place, and
+for the better, in Chipewyan characteristics since Franklin's day;
+not surprising, indeed, after eighty years of contact with educated,
+or reputable, white men; for miscreants, like the old American
+frontiersmen, were not known in the country, and if they had been,
+would soon have been run out. There was now no paint or "strouds"
+to be seen, and the blanket was confined to the bed. In fact, the
+Indians and half-breeds of Athabasca Lake did not seem to differ in
+any way from those of the Middle and Upper Peace River, save that
+the former were all hunters and fishermen, pure and simple, there
+being little or no agriculture. It was impossible to study the
+manners and customs of the aborigines, since we had no time to
+observe them closely. They have their legends and traditions and
+remnants of ceremonies, much of which is upon record, and they
+cherish, especially, some very curious beliefs. One, in particular,
+we were told, obtained amongst them, namely, that the mastodon
+still exists in the fastnesses of the Upper Mackenzie. They describe
+it as a monster many times larger than the buffalo, and they
+dread going into the parts it is supposed to haunt. This singular
+opinion may be the survival of a very old tradition regarding that
+animal, but is more likely due to the presence of its remains in
+the shape of tusks and bones found here and there throughout the
+Mackenzie River district and the Yukon.
+
+[A similar belief, it is said, exists amongst the Indians of the
+Yukon. The remains of the primeval elephant are exceedingly abundant
+in the tundras of Siberia, and a considerable trade in mammoth ivory
+has been carried on between that region and England for many years.
+It is supposed that the Asian elephant advanced far to the North
+during the interglacial period and perished in the recurrent glacial
+epoch. Its American congener, the mastodon, found its way from Asia
+to this continent during the Drift period, when, it is believed,
+land communication existed in what is now Bering's Strait, and
+perished in a like manner. It was not a sudden but a gradual
+extinction in their native habitats, due to natural causes, such
+as encroaching ice and other material changes in the animals'
+environment. This, I believe, is the accepted scientific opinion of
+to-day. But the fact that these animals are at times exposed entire
+by the falling away of ice-cliffs or ledges, their flesh being quite
+fresh and fit food for dogs, and even men, opens up a very
+interesting field of inquiry and conjecture. In the bowels of a
+mammoth recently revealed in North-Eastern Siberia vegetable food
+was found, probably tropical, at all events unknown to the botany of
+to-day. The foregoing facts seem to be at variance with the doctrine
+of Uniformity, or with anything like a slow process. The entombment
+of these animals must have been very sudden, and due, one would
+naturally think, to a tremendous cataclysm followed by immediate
+freezing, else their flesh would have become tainted. A recent
+English writer predicts another deluge owing to the constant
+accumulation of ice at the Antarctic Pole, which for untold ages has
+been attracting and freezing the waters of the Northern Hemisphere.
+A lowering process, he says, has thus been going on in the ocean
+levels to the north through immeasurable time, its record being the
+ancient water-marks now high up on the mountain sides of British
+Columbia and elsewhere. It is certainly not unthinkable that, if
+subject to such a displacement of its centre of gravity, our planet
+at some inconceivably remote period capsized, so that what were
+before the Tropics became the Poles, and that such a catastrophe is
+not only possible but is certain to happen again. As a conjecture it
+may be unscientific; but how many of the accepted theories of science
+have ceased to be! As a matter of fact, she has been very busy
+burying her dead, particularly of late years, and her theory of the
+extinction of the primeval elephant may yet prove to be one of them.]
+
+On the 9th the steamer _Grahame_ arrived from Smith's Landing,
+bringing with her about 120 baffled Klondikers, returning to
+the United States, there being still some sixty more, they
+said, down the Mackenzie River, who intended to make their
+way out, if possible, before winter. They had a solitary woman
+with them who had discarded a duffer husband, and who looked
+very self-reliant, indeed, being girt about with bowie-knife
+and revolver, but otherwise not alarming.
+
+It was certainly a motley crowd, and some of its members by no
+means honest. Chief-factor Camsell, who had just come from Fort
+Simpson, told me they had stolen from every house where they had
+a chance, and mentioned, amongst other things, a particularly
+ungrateful theft of a whip-saw from a native's cabin shortly
+after an Indian had, with much pains, overtaken them with a similar
+one, which they had lost on the trail. Their departure, therefore,
+was not lamented, and the natives were glad to get rid of them.
+
+We ourselves boarded the steamer for Fort McMurray on the 11th, but,
+owing to bad weather, did not get off till midday, and even then the
+lake was so rough that we had to anchor for a while in the lee of an
+island. Colin Fraser had started ahead of us with his big scow and
+cargo of furs, valued at $15,000, and kept ahead with his fine crew
+of ten expert trackers. When the weather calmed we steamed across to
+the entrance of one of the various channels connecting the Athabasca
+River with the lake, and soon found ourselves skirting the most
+extensive marshes and feeding-grounds for game in all Canada; a
+delta renowned throughout the North for its abundance of waterfowl,
+far surpassing the St. Clair flats, or any other region in the East.
+
+Next morning, upon rounding a point, three full-grown moose were
+seen ahead, swimming across the river. An exciting, and even hazardous,
+scene ensued on board, the whole Klondike crowd firing, almost at
+random, hundreds of shots without effect. Two of the noble brutes
+kept on, and reached the shore, disappearing in the woods; but the
+third, a three year-old bull moose, foolishly turned, and lost its
+life in consequence. It was hauled on deck, bled and flayed, and
+was a welcome addition to the steamer's table.
+
+That night a concert was improvised on deck, in which the music-hall
+element came to the front. But one speedily tired of the "Banks of
+the Wabash," and other ditties; in fact, we were burning to get to
+Fort McMurray, where we expected letters and papers from the outer
+world and home, and nothing else could satisfy us. By evening we
+had passed Burnt Point, also Poplar Point, where the body of an
+unfortunate, called Patterson, who had been drowned in one of the
+rapids above, was recovered in spring by some Indians, the body
+being completely enclosed in a transparent coffin of ice. On the
+following day we passed Little Red River, and next morning reached
+the fort, where, to our infinite joy, we received the longed-for
+letters and papers--our first correspondence from the far East.
+
+Fort McMurray consisted of a tumble-down cabin and trading-store
+on the top of a high and steep bank, which had yet been flooded
+at times, the people seeking shelter on an immense hill which
+overlooked it. Above an island close by is the discharge of the
+Clearwater River, the old canoe route by which the supplies for the
+district used to come, via Isle a la Crosse. At McMurray we left
+the steamer and took to our own boats, our Commission occupying one,
+and Mr. Laird and party the other. The trackers got into harness at
+once, and made very good time for some miles, the current not being
+too swift just here for fast traveling.
+
+
+
+Chapter IX
+
+The Athabasca River Region.
+
+
+We were now traversing perhaps the most interesting region in all
+the North. In the neighbourhood of McMurray there are several
+tar-wells, so called, and there, if a hole is scraped in the bank,
+it slowly fills in with tar mingled with sand. This is separated
+by boiling, and is used, in its native state, for gumming canoes
+and boats. Farther up are immense towering banks, the tar oozing
+at every pore, and underlaid by great overlapping dykes of
+disintegrated limestone, alternating with lofty clay exposures,
+crowned with poplar, spruce and pine. On the 15th we were still
+following the right bank, and, anon, past giant clay escarpments
+along it, everywhere streaked with oozing tar, and smelling
+like an old ship.
+
+These tar cliffs are here hundreds of feet high, of a bold and
+impressive grandeur, and crowned with firs which seem dwarfed
+to the passer-by. The impregnated clay appears to be constantly
+falling off the almost sheer face of the slate-brown cliffs, in
+great sheets, which plunge into the river's edge in broken masses.
+The opposite river bank is much more depressed, and is clothed
+with dense forest.
+
+The tar, whatever it may be otherwise, is a fuel, and burned in our
+camp-fires like coal. That this region is stored with a substance
+of great economic value is beyond all doubt, and, when the hour of
+development comes, it will, I believe, prove to be one of the
+wonders of Northern Canada. We were all deeply impressed by this
+scene of Nature's chemistry, and realized what a vast storehouse of
+not only hidden but exposed resources we possess in this enormous
+country. What is unseen can only be conjectured; but what is seen
+would make any region famous. We now came once more to outcrops of
+limestone in regular layers, with disintegrated masses overlying
+them, or sandwiched between their solid courses. A lovely niche, at
+one point, was scooped out of the rock, over the coping of which
+poured a thin sheet of water, evidently impregnated with mineral,
+and staining the rock down which it poured with variegated tints of
+bronze, beautified by the morning sun.
+
+With characteristic grandeur the bends of the river "shouldered"
+into each other, giving the expanses the appearance of lakelets;
+and after a succession of these we came to the first rapid,
+"The Mountain"--Watchíkwe Powistic--so called from a peak at its
+head, which towered to a great height above the neighbouring banks.
+The rapid extends diagonally across the river in a low cascade,
+with a curve inward towards the left shore. It was decided to
+unload and make the portage, and a very ticklish one it was. The
+boats, of course, had to be hauled up stream by the trackers,
+and grasping their line I got safely over, and was thankful. How
+the trackers managed to hold on was to me a mystery; but the steep
+and slippery bank was mere child's play to them. The right bank,
+from its break and downward, bears a very thick growth of alders,
+and here we found the wild onion, and a plant resembling spearmint.
+
+In the evening we reached the next rapid, called the Cascades--Nepe
+Kabátekik--"Where the water falls," and camping there, we had a
+symposium in our tent, which I could not enjoy, having headache and
+heartburn, a nasty combination. The 16th was the hottest day of the
+season--a hard one on the trackers, who now pulled along walls of
+solid limestone, perpendicular or stepped, or wrought into elaborate
+cornices, as if by the art of some giant stonecutter. At one place
+we came to a lovely little _rideau_, and on the opposite shore were
+two curious caves, scooped out of the rock, and supported by
+Egyptian-like columns wrought by the age-action of water.
+
+Towards evening we reached the Crooked Rapid--Kah́wakak o
+Poẃestik--and here the portage path followed on the summit of the
+limestone rampart, which the viscous gumbo-slides made almost
+impassable in rainy weather, and indeed very dangerous, forming, at
+the time we passed, pits of mud and broken masses of half-hard clay,
+along the very verge of the wall of rock, likely at any moment to
+give way and precipitate one into the raging torrent below. At other
+parts the path was jammed out to the wall-edge, to be stepped round
+with a gulp in the throat. But these and other features of a like
+interesting character, though a lively experience to the tenderfoot,
+were of no account whatever to those wonderful trackers. At one of
+the worst spots I was hesitating as to how and where I should step
+next, when a carrier, returning for his load, seeing my fix, humped
+his back with a laugh and gave me a lift over.
+
+We camped for the night below a point where the river makes a sharp
+bend, parallel with its course. This we surmounted in the morning,
+following a rounded wall of limestone, for all the world like a
+decayed rampart of some ancient city. A wide floor of rock at its
+base made beautiful walking to a place where the lofty escarpment
+showed exposures of limestone underlying an enormous mass of dark
+sandstone, topped by tar-clay. It is a portentous cliff, bearing
+a curiously Eastern look, as if some great pyramid had been riven
+vertically, and the exposed surface scarred and scooped by the
+weather into a multitude of antic hollows, grotesque projections,
+and unimaginable shapes. Here, also, the knives of passers-by had
+carved numerous autographs, marring the majestic cliff with their
+ludicrous incongruity. Are we not all sinners in this way? "John
+Jones," cut into a fantastic buttress which would fittingly adorn a
+wizard's temple, may be a poor exhibit of human vanity; but, after
+all, the real John Jones is more imperishable than the rock, which
+seems scaling, anyway, from the top, and may, by and by, carry the
+inscriptions with it. It was hard to tear one's self away from such
+a wonderful structure as this, the most striking feature of its kind
+on the whole river.
+
+Farther on, escarped banks, consisting of boulders and pebbles
+imbedded in tenacious clay, rose to a great height, their tops
+clothed with rich moss, and wooded with a close growth of pine,
+the hollows being full of delicious raspberries, now dead ripe.
+
+By and by we encountered the Long Rapids--Kaúkinwauk Powestik--and,
+some hours afterwards, entered the Middle Rapid--Tuwáo Powestik--the
+worst we had yet come to, full of boulders and sharp rocks, with a
+strong current. Very dexterous management was required here on the
+part of steersman and bowman; a snapt line or a moment's neglect,
+and a swing to broadside would have followed, and spelled ruin.
+
+It was evening before this rapid was surmounted, and all hands,
+dog-tired with the long day's pull, were glad to camp at the foot
+of the Boiler Rapid, the next in our ascent, and so called from
+the wrecking of a scow containing a boiler for one of the Hudson's
+Bay Company's steamers. It was the most uncomfortable of camps,
+the night being close, and filled with the small and bloodthirsty
+Athabasca mosquito, by all odds the most vicious of its kind.
+This rapid is strewn with boulders which show above water, making
+it a very "nice" and toilsome thing to steer and track a boat
+safely over it, but the tracking path itself is stony and firm,
+a fortunate thing at such a place. There are no exposures of rock
+at the foot of this rapid; but along its upper part runs a ledge
+of asphalt-like rock as smooth as a street pavement, with an outer
+edge as neatly rounded as if done with a chisel. This was the finest
+bit of tracking path on the river, excepting, perhaps, the great
+pavement beneath the cliff at the Long Rapids.
+
+In this region the river scenery changes to a succession of
+cut-banks, exposed in all directions, and in almost all situations.
+Immense towering hills of sand, or clay, are cut down vertically,
+some facing the river, others at right angles to it, and others
+inland, and almost inclosed by projecting shoulders of the wooded
+heights. These cut-banks carry layers of stone here and there, and
+are specked with boulders, and in some places massed into projecting
+crests, which threaten destruction to the passer-by. Otherwise the
+scenery is desolate, mountainous always, and wooded, but with much
+burnt timber, which gives a dreary look to the region. The cut-banks
+are unique, however, and would make the fortune of an Eastern river,
+though here little noticed on account of their number.
+
+It was now the 18th, and the weather was intensely hot, foreboding
+change and the August freshet. We had camped about eight miles below
+the Burnt Rapid, and the men were very tired, having been in the
+water pretty much since morning. Directly opposite our camp was a
+colossal cliff of clay, around which, looking upward, the river bent
+sharply to the south-west, very striking as seen beneath an almost
+full moon breaking from a pile of snowy clouds, whilst dark and
+threatening masses gathered to the north. The early, foggy morning
+revealed the freshet. The river, which had risen during the night,
+and had forced the trackers from their beds to higher ground, was
+littered from bank to bank with floating trees, logs and stumps,
+lifted from many a drift up stream, and borne down by the furious
+current. At one of the short breathing spells the water rose two
+inches in twenty minutes, and the tracking became exceedingly bad,
+the men floundering to their waists in water, or footing it
+insecurely on steep and slippery ledges along the water's marge.
+About mid-day the anticipated change took place in the weather.
+Thick clouds closed in with a driving rain and a high raw wind,
+presaging the end of summer.
+
+It was now, of course, very bad going, and camp was made, in the
+heavy rain, on a high flat about two miles below the Burnt Rapid.
+Though a tough spot to get up to, the flat proved to be a prime
+place for our camp, with plenty of dead fallen and standing timber,
+and soon four or five "long fires" were blazing, a substantial
+supper discussed, and comfort succeeded misery. The next day
+(Sunday) was much enjoyed as a day of rest, the half-breeds at
+their beloved games, the officials writing letters. The weather
+was variable; the clouds broke and gathered by turns, with slight
+rain towards evening, and then it cleared. As a night camp it was
+picturesque, the full moon in the south gleaming over the turbid
+water, and the boatmen lounging around the files like so many
+brigands.
+
+Next morning we surmounted the Brulé Rapid--Pusitáo Poẃestik--short
+but powerful, with a sharp pointed rock at its head, very
+troublesome to get around. Above this rapid the bank consists
+of a solid, vertical rampart of red sandstone, its base and top
+and every crack and crevice clothed with a rich vegetation--a
+most beautiful and striking scene, forming a gigantic amphitheatre,
+concentred by the seeming closing-in of the left bank at Point
+Brulé upon the long straight line of sandstone wall on the right.
+Nothing finer, indeed, could be imagined in all this remarkable
+river's remarkable scenery than this impressive view, not from
+jutting peaks, for the sky-line of the banks runs parallel with
+the water, but from the antique grandeur of their sweep and
+apparent junction.
+
+That afternoon we rounded Point Brulé, a high, bold cliff of
+sandstone with three "lop-sticks" upon its top. The Indian's
+lop-stick, called by the Cree piskoot́enusk, is a sort of living
+talisman which he connects in some mysterious way with his own fate,
+and which he will often go many miles out of his direct course to
+visit. Even white men fall in with the fetish, and one of the three
+we saw was called "Lambert's lop-stick." I myself had one made for
+me by Gros Oreilles, the Saulteau Chief, nearly forty years ago, in
+the forest east of Pointe du Chene, in what is now Manitoba. They
+are made by stripping a tall spruce tree of a deep ring of branches,
+leaving the top and bottom ones intact. The tree seems to thrive all
+the same, and is a very noticeable, and not infrequent, object
+throughout the whole Thickwood Indian country.
+
+Just opposite the cliff referred to, the Little Buffalo, a swift
+creek, enters between two bold shoulders of hills, and on its
+western side are the wonderful gas springs. The "amphitheatre,"
+sweeps around to, and is cloven by, that stream, its elevation
+on the west side being lofty, and deeply grooved from its summit
+downward, the whole locality at the time of our visit being
+covered with raspberry bushes loaded with fruit.
+
+The gas escapes from a hole in the ground near the water's edge in
+a pillar of flame about thirty inches high, and which has been
+burning time out of mind. It also bubbles, or, rather, foams up,
+for several yards in the river, rising at low water even as far
+out as mid-stream. There is a level plateau at the springs, several
+acres in extent, backed by a range of hills, and if a stake is
+driven anywhere into this, and withdrawn, the gas, it is said,
+follows at once. They are but another unique feature of this
+astonishing stream.
+
+For a long distance the upper prairie level exposes good soil,
+always clay loam, and there can be little doubt that there is
+much fertile land in this district. That night we slept, or
+tried to sleep, in the boat, and made a very early start on a
+raw, cloudy morning, the tracking being mainly in the water.
+We now passed great cliffs of sandstone, some almost shrouded
+in the woods, and came upon many peculiar circular stones, as
+large as, and much resembling, mill-stones. Towards evening we
+passed Pointe la Biche, and met Mr. Connor, a trader, with two
+loaded York boats, going north, and whom we silently blessed,
+for he brought additional mail for ourselves. What can equal
+the delight in the wilderness of hearing from home! It was
+impossible to make Grand Rapids, and we camped where we were,
+the night cold and raw, but enlivened by the reading and
+re-reading of letters and newspapers.
+
+Next morning, crossing the right bank of the river, and leaving
+the boat, we walked to the foot of Grand Rapids. Our path, if
+it could be called such, lay over a toilsome jumble of huge,
+sharp-edged rocks, overhung by a beetling cliff of reddish-yellow
+sandstone, much of which seemed on the point of falling. This whole
+bank, like so much of this part of the river, is planted, almost at
+regular intervals, with the great circular rocks already referred
+to. These globular or circular masses are a curious feature of this
+region. They have been shaped, no doubt, by the action of eddying
+water, yet are so numerous, and so much alike, as to bespeak some
+abnormally uniform conditions in the past.
+
+The Grand Rapids--Kitchi Poẃestik--the most formidable on the river,
+are divided by a narrow, wooded island, over a quarter of a mile
+in length, upon which the Hudson's Bay Company have a wooden
+tramway, the cars being pushed along by hand. Towards the foot of
+the island is a smaller one near the left shore, and here is the
+larger cascade, a very violent rapid, with a fall from the crest
+to the foot of the island of thirty feet, more or less. The
+narrower passage is to the right of the island, and is called
+the "Free Traders' Channel." The river, in full freshet, was
+very muddy-looking, detracting much from the beauty of the rapids.
+
+The Hudson's Bay Company have storehouses at each end of the
+tramway, but for their own use only. Free traders have to portage
+their supplies over a very rough path beneath the cliffs. Both
+banks of the river are of sandstone, capped on the left by a wall
+of cream-coloured rock, seventy or eighty feet in height, at a
+guess. A creek comes in from the west which has cloven the sandstone
+bank almost to the water's edge; and running along the top of these
+sandstone formations are, everywhere, thick layers of coal, which
+is also found, in a great bed, on the opposite shore, and about
+three miles back from the river. The coal had been used by a trapper
+there, and is a good burner and heater, leaving little ash or clinker.
+These coal beds seem to extend in all directions, on both sides of
+the river, and underlie a very large extent of country. The inland
+country for some eight or ten miles had been examined by Sergeant
+Anderson, of the Mounted Police post here, who described it as
+consisting of wide ridges, or tables, of first-rate soil, divided
+by shallow muskegs; a good farming locality, with abundance of
+large, merchantable spruce timber. Moose were plentiful in the
+region, and it was a capital one for marten, one white trapper,
+the winter before our visit, having secured over a hundred skins.
+
+On the 25th we left our comfortable spruce beds and "long fires,"
+and tracked on to House River, which we reached at nine a.m. Here
+there is a low-lying, desolate-looking, but memorable, "Point,"
+neighboured by a concave sweep of bank. The House is a small
+tributary from the east, but very long, rising far inland; and here
+begins the pack-trail to Fort McMurray, about one hundred miles in
+length, and which might easily be converted into a waggon-road, as
+also another which runs to Lac la Biche. Both trails run through a
+good farming country, and the former waggon-road would avoid all
+the dangers and laborious rapids whose wearisome ascent has been
+described.
+
+The Point itself is tragic ground, showing now but a few deserted
+cabins and some Indian graves--one of which had a white paling
+around it, the others being covered with gray cotton--which looked
+like little tents in the distance. These were the graves of an
+Indian and his wife and four children, who had pitched through
+from Lac la Biche to hunt, and who all died together of diphtheria
+in this lonely spot. But here, too, many years ago, a priest was
+murdered and eaten by a weeghteko, an Iroquois from Caughnawaga.
+The lunatic afterwards took an Indian girl into the depths of the
+forest, and, after cohabiting with her for some time, killed and
+devoured her. Upon the fact becoming known, and being pursued by her
+tribe, he fled to the scene of his horrible banquet, and there took
+his own life. Having rowed across the river for better tracking, as
+we crawled painfully along, the melancholy Point with its lonely
+graves, deserted cabins and cannibal legend receded into eerie
+distance and wrapped itself once more in congenial solitude.
+
+The men continued tracking until ten a.m. much of the time wading
+along banks heavily overhung with alders, or along high, sheer
+walls of rock, up to the armpits in the swift current. The country
+passed through was one giant mass of forest, pine and poplar,
+resting generally upon loamy clay--a good agricultural country
+in the main, similar to many parts of Ontario when a wilderness.
+
+We camped at the Joli Fou Rapids, having only made about fifteen
+miles. It was a beautiful spot, a pebbly shore, with fine open
+forest behind, evidently a favourite camping-place in winter.
+Next morning the trackers, having recrossed for better footing,
+got into a swale of the worst kind, which hampered them greatly,
+as the swift river was now at its height and covered with gnarled
+driftwood.
+
+The foliage here and there showed signs of change, some poplars
+yellowing already along the immediate banks, and the familiar
+scent of autumn was in the air. In a word, the change so familiar
+in Manitoba in August had taken place here, to be followed by a
+balmy September and the fine fall weather of the North, said to
+surpass that of the East in mildness by day, though perhaps sharper
+by night. We were now but a few miles from the last obstruction,
+the Pelican Rapids, and pushed on in the morning along banks of
+a coal-like blackness, loose and friable, with thin cracks and
+fissures running in all directions, the forest behind being the
+usual mixture of spruce and poplar. By midday we were at the rapids,
+by no means formidable, but with a ticklish place or two, and got
+to Pelican Portage in the evening, where were several shanties
+and a Hudson's Bay freighting station. Here, too, is a well which
+was sunk for petroleum, but which struck gas instead, blowing up the
+borer. It was then spouting with a great noise like the blowing-off
+of steam, and, situated at such a distance from the shaft at the
+Landing and from the Point Brulé spiracle described, indicated,
+throughout the district, available resources of light, heat and
+power so vast as almost to beggar imagining.
+
+Mr. Ross having obtained on the 14th the adhesion of the Crees
+to the Treaty at Wahpoośkow, it was now decided that the Scrip
+Commission should make the canoe trip to that lake, whilst Mr.
+Laird and party would go on to Athabasca Landing on their way home.
+Accordingly Matcheese--"The Teaser"--a noted Indian runner, was
+dispatched with our letters to the Landing, 120 miles up the river.
+This Indian, it was said, had once run from the Landing to Edmonton,
+ninety-five miles, in a single day, and had been known to carry 500
+pounds over a portage in one load. I myself saw him shoulder 350
+pounds of our outfit and start off with it over a rough path. He was
+slightly built, and could not have weighed much over nine stone, but
+was what he looked to be, a bundle of iron muscles and nerves.
+
+On the 29th Mr. Laird and party bade us good-bye, and an hour
+later we set out on our interesting canoe trip to the Wahpoośkow,
+a journey which led us into the heart of the interior, and
+proved to be one of the most agreeable of our experiences.
+
+
+
+Chapter X
+
+The Trip To Wahpoośkow.
+
+
+Our route lay first up the Pelican River, the Chachákew of the
+Crees, and then from the "divide" down the Wahpoośkow watershed
+to the lake. We had six canoemen, and our journey began by
+"packing" our outfit over a four-mile portage, commencing with a
+tremendously long and steep hill, and ending on a beautiful bank
+of the Pelican, a fine brown stream about one hundred feet wide,
+where we found our canoes awaiting us, capital "Peterboroughs,"
+in good order. Here also were a number of bark canoes, carrying
+the outfit of Mr. Ladoucere, a half-breed trader going up to
+Wahpoośkow. Mr. Prudhomme and myself occupied one canoe, and
+with two experienced canoemen, Auger at the stern and Cardinal
+at the bow, we kept well up with the procession.
+
+Where the channels are shallow, poles are used, which the men
+handled very dexterously, nicking in and out amongst the rocks and
+rapids in the neatest way; but in the main the propulsion was by our
+paddles, a delight to me, having been bred to canoeing from boyhood.
+We stopped for luncheon at a lovely "place of trees" overhanging a
+deep, dark, alluring pool, where we knew there were fish, but had
+no time to make a cast. So far the banks of the Pelican were of a
+moderate height, and the adjacent country evidently dry--a good
+soil, and berries very plentiful. Presently, between banks overhung
+with long grass, birch and alder, we entered a succession of the
+sweetest little rapids and riffles imaginable, the brown water
+dancing amongst the stones and boulders to its own music, and the
+rich rose-pink, cone-like tops of the water-vervain, now in bloom,
+dancing with it.
+
+Our camp that night was a delightful one, amongst slender birch
+and spruce and pine, the ground covered with blueberries, partridge
+berries, and cranberries in abundance. The berries of the
+wolf-willow were also red-ripe, alluring, but bitter to the taste.
+It was really a romantic scene. Ladoucere had made his camp in a
+small glade opposite our own, the bend of the river being in front
+of us. The tall pines cast their long reflections on the water, our
+great fires gleamed athwart them, illuminating the under foliage
+of the birches with magical light, whilst the half-breeds, grouped
+around and silhouetted by the fires, formed a unique picture which
+lingers in the memory. We slept like tops that night beneath the
+stars, on a soft bed of berry bushes, and never woke until a thin
+morning rain sprinkling in our faces fetched us to our feet.
+
+A good bacon breakfast and then to our paddles, the river-bends
+as graceful as ever, but with fewer rapids. At every turn we
+came upon luxuriant hay meadows, with generally heavy woods
+opposite them, the river showing the same easy and accessible
+shore, whilst now and then giant hoof-prints, a broken marge,
+and miry grass showed where a moose had recently sprawled up
+the bank. Nothing, indeed, could surpass the rich colour-tone
+of this delightful stream--an exquisite opaqueness even under
+the clouds; but, interfused with sunshine, like that rare and
+translucent brown spread by the pencil of a master.
+
+As we were paddling along, the willows on shore suddenly parted,
+and an Indian runner appeared on the bank, who hailed us and,
+handing over a sack of mail with letters and papers for us all,
+sped off as suddenly as he came.
+
+It was now the last day of August, raw and drizzly, and having
+paddled about ten miles through a like country, we came in sight
+of the Pelican Mountains to the west, and, later on, to a fork
+of the river called Muskeg Creek, above which our stream narrowed
+to about eighteen feet, but still deep and fringed with the same
+extensive hay meadows, and covered here and there with pond
+lilies, a few yellow ones still in bloom. By and by we reached
+Muskeg Portage, nearly a mile in length. The path lay at first
+through dry muskegs covered with blueberries, Labrador tea, and
+a dwarfed growth of birch, spruce, tamarac, and jackpine, but
+presently entered and ended in a fine upland wood, full of
+pea-vines, vetches and wild rose. This is characteristic of
+the country, muskegs and areas of rich soil alternating in all
+directions. The portage completed, we took to our canoes again,
+the stream of the same width, but very crooked, and still bordered
+by extensive and exceedingly rich hay meadows, which we were
+satisfied would yield four or five tons to the acre. Small
+haystacks were scattered along the route, being put up for ponies
+which haul supplies in winter from Pelican Landing to Wahpoośkow.
+
+The country passed through showed good soil wherever we penetrated
+the hay margin, with, of course, here and there the customary
+muskegs. The stream now narrowed into a passage deep but barely
+wide enough for our canoes, our course lying always through tall
+and luxuriant hay. At last we reached Pelican Lake, a pretty large
+sheet of water, about three miles across, the body of the lake
+extending to the south-west and north-east. We crossed it under
+sail and, landing at the "three mile portage," found a half-breed
+there with a cart and ponies, which took our outfit over in a
+couple of trips to Sandy Lake. A very strong headwind blowing,
+we camped there for the night.
+
+This lake is the height of land, its waters discharging by the
+Wahpoośkow River, whose northern part, miscalled the Loon, falls
+into the Peace River below Fort Vermilion. The lake is an almost
+perfect circle, ten or twelve miles in diameter, the water full
+of fibrous growths, with patches of green scum afloat all over
+it. Nevertheless, it abounds in pike, dory, and tullabees, the
+latter a close congener of the whitefish, but finer in flavour
+and very fat. Indeed, the best fed dogs we had seen were those
+summering here. The lake, where we struck it, was literally
+covered with pin-tail ducks and teal; but it is not a good moose
+country, and consequently the food supply of the natives is
+mainly fish.
+
+We descried a few half-breed cabins and clearings on the opposite
+shore, carved out of the dense forest which girdles the lake, and
+topographically the country seemed to be of a moderate elevation,
+and well suited for settlement. The wind having gone down, we
+crossed the lake on the 2nd of September to what is here called
+Sandy Creek, a very crooked stream, its thick, sluggish current
+bordered by willows and encumbered with reeds and flags, and,
+farther on, made a two-mile portage, where at a very bad landing
+we were joined by the boats, and presently paddled into a great
+circular pond, covered with float-weed, a very paradise of ducks,
+which were here in myriads.
+
+Its continuation, called "The Narrows," now flowed in a troubled
+channel, crossed in all directions by jutting boulders, full of
+tortuous snies, to be groped along dexterously with the poles,
+but dropped at last into better water, ending at a portage,
+where we dined. This portage led to the farmhouse of a Mr.
+Houle, a native of Red River, who had left St. Vital fifty-eight
+years before, and was now settled at a beautiful spot on the
+right bank of the river, and had horses, cows and other cattle,
+a garden, and raised wheat and other grain, which he said did
+well, and was evidently prosperous. After a regale of milk we
+embarked for the first Wahpoośkow lake, which we reached in
+the afternoon.
+
+This is a fine and comparatively clear sheet of water, much
+frequented by the natives. The day was beautiful, and with a
+fair wind and sails up we passed point after point sprinkled
+with the cabins and tepees of the Indians and half-breeds. It
+was perfectly charming to sweep up to and past these primitive
+lodgings, with a spanking breeze, and the dancing waves seething
+around our bows. Small patches of potatoes met the eye at every
+house, making our mouths water with expectation, for we had now
+been a long time without them, and it is only then that one realizes
+their value. In the far distance we discerned the Roman Catholic
+Mission church, the primitive building showing up boldly in the
+offing, whilst our canoemen, now nearing their own home, broke
+into an Indian chant, and were in high spirits. They expected
+a big feast that night, and so did we! I had been a bit under
+the weather, with flagging appetite, but felt again the grip
+of healthy hunger.
+
+We were now in close contact with the most innocently wild,
+secluded, and apparently happy state of things imaginable--a real
+Utopia, such as Sir Thomas More dreamt not of, being actually here,
+with no trace of abortive politics or irritating ordinance. Here
+was contentment in the savage wilderness--communion with Nature in
+all her unstained purity and beauty. One thought of the many men of
+mind who had moralized on this primitive life, and, tired of towns,
+of "the weariness, the fever and the fret" of civilization, had
+abandoned all and found rest and peace in the bosom of Mother
+Nature.
+
+The lake now narrowed into a deep but crooked stream, fringed,
+as usual, by tall reeds and rushes and clumps of flowering
+water-lilies. A four-mile paddle brought us to a long stretch
+of deep lake, the second Wahpoośkow, lined on the north by a
+lovely shore, dotted with cabins, the central tall buildings
+upon the summit of the rising ground being those of the English
+"Church Mission Society," in charge of the Reverend Charles R.
+Weaver. Here we were at last at the inland end of our journey,
+at Wahpoośkow--this, not the "Wabiscow" of the maps, being the
+right spelling and pronunciation of the word, which means in
+English "The Grassy Narrows."
+
+The other Missions of this venerable Society in Athabasca,
+it may be mentioned, were at the time as follows: Athabasca
+Landing, the residence of Bishop Young; Lesser Slave Lake, White
+Fish Lake, Smoky River, Spirit River, Fort Vermilion, and Fort
+Chipewyan, in charge, respectively, of the Reverend Messrs.
+Holmes, White, Currie, Robinson, Scott, and Warwick. The Roman
+Catholic Mission, already mentioned, had been established three
+years before our coming by the Reverend J. B. Giroux, at Stony
+Point, near the outlet of the first lake, the other Oblat
+Missions in Athabasca--I do not vouch for my accuracy--being
+Athabasca Landing, Lesser Slave Lake, the residence of Bishop
+Clût and clergy and of the Sisters of Providence; White Fish
+Lake, Smoky River, Dunvegan, and St. John, served, respectively,
+by Fathers Leferriere, Lesserec, and Letreste; Fort Vermilion
+by Father Joussard, and Fort Chipewyan by Bishop Grouard and
+the Grey Nuns.
+
+Mr. Weaver, the missionary at Wahpoośkow, is an Englishman, his
+wife being a Canadian from London, Ontario. By untiring labour
+he had got his mission into very creditable shape. When it is
+remembered that everything had to be brought in by bark canoes or
+dog-train, and that all lumber had to be cut by hand, it seemed to
+be a monument of industry. Before qualifying himself for missionary
+work he had studied farming in Ontario, and the results of his
+knowledge were manifest in his poultry, pigs and cows; in his
+garden, full of all the most useful vegetables, including Indian
+corn, and his wheat, which was then in stock, perfectly ripe and
+untouched by frost. This he fed, of course, to his pigs and poultry,
+as it could not be ground; but it ripened, he told me, as surely
+as in Manitoba. Some of the natives roundabout had begun raising
+stock and doing a little grain growing, and it was pleasant to
+hear the lowing of cattle and the music of the cow-bells, recalling
+home and the kindly neighbourhood of husbandry and farm.
+
+The settlement was then some twenty years old, and numbered about
+sixty souls. The total number of Indians and half-breeds in the
+locality was unknown, but nearly two hundred Indians received
+head-money, and all were not paid, and the half-breeds seemed
+quite as numerous. About a quarter of the whole number of Indians
+were said to be pagans, and the remainder Protestants and Roman
+Catholics in fair proportion. In the latter denomination, Father
+Giroux told me, the proportion of Indians and half-breeds,
+including those of the first lake, was about equal. The latter,
+he said, raised potatoes, but little else, and lived like the
+Indians, by fishing and hunting, especially by the former, as
+they had to go far now for fur and large game.
+
+The Hudson's Bay Company had built a post near Mr. Weaver's
+Mission, and there was a free-trader also close by, named
+Johnston, whose brother, a fine-looking native missionary,
+assisted at an interesting service we attended in the Mission
+church, conducted in Cree and English, the voices in the Cree
+hymns being very soft and sweet. Mr. Ladoucere was also near
+with his trading-stock, so that business, it was feared, would
+be overdone. But we issued an unexpectedly large number of scrip
+certificates here, and the price being run up by competition,
+a great deal of trade followed.
+
+Wahpoośkow is certainly a wonderful region for fish, particularly
+the whitefish and its cousin-german, the tullabee. They are not got
+freely in winter in the first lake, but are taken in large numbers
+in the second, where they throng at that season. But in the fall
+the take is very great in both lakes, and stages were seen in all
+directions where the fish are hung up by their tails, very tempting
+to the hungry dogs, but beyond their reach until the crows attack
+them. The former keep a watchful eye on this process, and when the
+crows have eaten off the tails, which they invariably attack first,
+the dogs seize the fish as they drop. When this performance becomes
+serious, however, the fish are generally removed to stores.
+
+One night, after an excellent dinner at Mr. Weaver's, that grateful
+rarity with us, we adjourned to a ball or "break-down," given in our
+honour by the local community. It took place in a building put up by
+a Mr. George, an English catechist of the Mission; a solid structure
+of logs of some length, the roof poles being visible above the
+peeled beams. On one of these five or six candles were alight,
+fastened to it by simply sticking them into some melted tallow.
+There were two fiddlers and a crowd of half-breeds, of elders,
+youths, girls and matrons, the latter squatting on the floor with
+their babes in moss-bags, dividing the delights of the evening
+between nursing and dancing, both of which were conducted with the
+utmost propriety. Indeed, it was interesting to see so many pretty
+women and well-behaved men brought together in this out-of-the-world
+place. The dances were the customary reels, and, of course, the Red
+River Jig. I was sorry, however, to notice a so-called improvement
+upon this historic dance; that is to say, they doubled the numbers
+engaged in it, and called it "The Wahpoośkow Jig." It seemed a
+dangerous innovation; and the introduction later on of a cotillon
+with the usual dreary and mechanical calls filled one with
+additional forebodings. We almost heard "the first low wash of waves
+where soon shall flow a human sea." But aside from such newfangled
+features, there was nothing to criticise. The fiddling was good,
+and the dancing was good, showing the usual expertness, in which
+performance the women stooped their shoulders gracefully, and bent
+their brows modestly upon the floor, whilst the men vied with each
+other in the admirable and complicated variety of their steps. In
+fact, it was an evening very agreeably spent, and not the less so
+from its primitive environment. After joining in a reel of eight, we
+left the scene with reluctance, the memorable Jig suddenly striking
+on our ears as we wended our way in the darkness to our camp.
+
+As regards farming land in the region, for a long way inland Mr.
+Weaver and others described it as of the like good quality as at
+the Mission, but with much muskeg. It is difficult to estimate the
+extent of the latter, for, being more noticeable than good land,
+the tendency is to overestimate. Its proportion to arable land is
+generally put at about 50 per cent., which may be over or under
+the truth, for only actual township or topographic surveys can
+determine it.
+
+The country drained by the lower river, the Loon, as it is
+improperly called in our maps, navigable for canoes all the
+way to where it enters the Peace, was described as an extensive
+and very uniform plateau, sloping gently to the north. To the
+south the Pelican Mountains formed a noble background to the
+view from the Mission, which is indeed charming in all directions.
+
+At the mouth of the river, and facing the Mission, a long point
+stretches out, dividing the lake into two deep arms, the Mission
+being situated upon another point around which the lake sweeps
+to the north. The scene recalls the view from the Hudson's Bay
+Company's post at Lesser Slave Lake, but excels it in the larger
+extent of water, broken into by scores of bayous, or pools,
+bordered by an intensely green water-weed of uniform height,
+and smooth-topt as a well-clipt lawn. Behind these are hay meadows,
+a continuation of the long line of them we had passed coming up.
+
+Upon the whole, we considered this an inviting region for any
+farmer who is not afraid to tackle the forest. But whether a
+railway would pass this way at first seemed to us doubtful. The
+head of Lesser Slave Lake lies far to the south-west, and there
+it is most likely to pass on its way to the Peace. What could be
+supplied, however, is a waggon-road from Wahpoośkow to Athabasca
+Landing, instead of the present dog-trail, which passes many deep
+ravines, and makes a long detour by Sandy Lake. Such a road should
+pass by the east end of the first Wahpoośkow Lake, thence to Rock
+Island Lake, and on by Calling Lake to the Landing, a distance of
+about one hundred miles. Such a road, whilst saving 125 miles of
+travel by the present route, would cut down the cost of transport
+by fully one-half.
+
+Wahpoośkow had its superstitions and some doubtful customs. For
+instance, an Indian called Nepapinase--"A Wandering Bolt of
+Night-Lightning"--lost his son when Mr. Ross was there taking
+adhesion to the Treaty, and spread the report that he had brought
+"bad medicine." Polygamy was practised, and even polyandry was
+said to exist; but we had no time to verify this gossip, and no
+right to interfere if we had.
+
+On the 6th, a lovely fall morning, we bade good-bye to Wahpoośkow,
+its primitive people, and its simple but ample pleasures. Autumn
+was upon us. Foliage, excepting in the deep woods, was changing
+fast, the hues largely copper and russet; hard body-tints, yet
+beautiful. There were no maples here, as in the East, to add a
+glorious crimson to the scene; this was given by shrubs, not by
+trees. The tints were certainly, in the larger growths, less
+delicate here than there; the poplar's chrome was darker, the
+willow's mottled chrome more sere. But there was the exquisite
+pale canary of the birch, the blood-red and yellow of the wild
+rose, which glows in both hues, the rich crimson of the red
+willow, with its foil of ivory berries, and the ruddy copper
+of the high-bush cranberry. These, with many other of the berry
+bearers and the wild-flowers, yielded their rich hues; so that
+the great pigments of autumn, crimson, brown and yellow, were
+everywhere to be seen, beneath a deep blue sky strewn with
+snowy clouds.
+
+We were now on the return to Pelican Landing, with but few incidents
+to note by the way, aside from those already recorded. But having
+occasion to take a declaration at a cabin on our passage along the
+first lake, we had an opportunity of visiting a hitherto unobserved
+stratum of Wahpoośkow's society.
+
+The path to the cabin and its tepees led up a steep bank, beaten
+as hard as nails and as slippery as glass; nevertheless, by
+clutching the weeds which bordered it, mainly nettles, we got
+on top at last, where an interesting scene met the eye.
+
+This was a half-breed family, the head of which, a shrivelled
+old fellow, was busy making a paddle with his crooked knife,
+the materials of a birch-bark canoe lying beside him--and most
+beautifully they make the canoe in this region. His wife was
+standing close by, a smudged hag of most sinister aspect; also a son
+and his wife. On stages, and on the shrubs around, were strewn nets,
+ragged blankets, frowsy shawls, and a huddle of other shreds and
+patches; and, everywhere else, a horde of hungry dogs snarling and
+pouncing upon each other like wolves. Filth here was supreme, and
+the _mise en scene_ characteristic of a very low and very rare type
+of Wahpoośkow life indeed--a type butted and bounded by the word
+"fish." An attempt was made to photograph the group, but the old
+fellow turned aside, and the old woman hobbled into the recesses of
+a tepee, where we heard her muttering such execrations in Cree as
+were possible to that innocent tongue. The hands of the woman at the
+cabin door were a miracle of grime and scrofula. Her sluttish locks,
+together with two children, hung around her; one of the latter
+chewing a muddy carrot up into the leaves, an ungainly little imp;
+the other was a girl of singularly beautiful features and of perfect
+form, her large luminous eyes of richest brown reflecting the
+sunlight from their depths like mirrors--a little angel clad in
+dirt. Why other wild things should be delicately clean, the birds,
+the fishes she lived on, and she be bred amidst running sores and
+vermin, was one of the mysteries I pondered over when we took to our
+canoes. For such a pair of eyes, for those exquisite features, some
+scraggy denizen of Vanity Fair would have given a king's ransom.
+Yet here was a thing of beauty, dropped by a vile freak of Nature
+into an appalling environment of filth and ignorance; a creature
+destined, no doubt, to spring into mature womanhood, and lapse, in
+time, into a counterpart of the bleared Hecate who mumbled her Cree
+philippics in the neighbouring wigwam.
+
+On our return trip some detours were made, one of which was to the
+habitation of another half-breed family at the foot of Sandy Lake,
+themselves and everything about them orderly, clean and neat; the
+very opposites of the curious household we had visited the day
+before. They had a great kettle of fish on the fire, which we
+bought, and had our dinner there; being especially pleased to note
+that their dogs were not starved, but were fat and well handled. At
+the east side of the lake we were delayed trying to catch ponies
+to make the portage, failing which we got over otherwise by dark,
+and camped again on the Pelican River. That night there was a keen
+frost, and ice formed along shore, but the weather was delightfully
+crisp and clear, and we reached Pelican Landing on the 9th, finding
+there our old scow and the trackers, with our friend Cyr in command,
+and Marchand, our congenial cook, awaiting us.
+
+On the 11th we set off for Athabasca Landing, accompanied by a
+little fleet of trippers' and traders' canoes, and passed during
+the day immense banks of shale, the tracking being very bad and
+the water still high. We noted much good timber standing on heavy
+soil, and on the 14th passed a curious hump-like hill, cut-faced,
+with a reddish and yellow cinder-like look, as if it had been
+calcined by underlying fires. Near it was an exposure of deep
+coloured ochre, and, farther on, enormous black cut-banks, also
+suggestive of coal.
+
+The Calling River--"Kitoósepe"--was one of our points of
+distribution, and upon reaching it we found the river benches
+covered with tepees, and a crowd of half-breeds from Calling
+Lake awaiting us. After the declarations and scrip payments were
+concluded, we took stock of the surroundings, which consisted, so
+far as numbers went, mainly of dogs. Nearly all of them looked very
+miserable, and one starveling bitch, with a litter of pups, seemed
+to live upon air. It was pitiful to see the forlorn brutes so
+cruelly abused; but it has been the fate of this poor mongrel friend
+of humanity from the first. The canine gentry fare better than many
+a man, but the outcasts of the slums and camps feel the stroke of
+bitter fortune, yet, with prodigious heart, never cease to love the
+oppressor.
+
+There was an adjunct of the half-breed camp, however, more
+interesting than the dogs, namely, Marie Rose Gladu, a half-sister
+of the Catherine Bisson we met at Lesser Slave Lake, but who
+declared herself to be older than she by five years. From evidence
+received she proved to be very old, certainly over a hundred,
+and perhaps the oldest woman in Northern Canada. She was born at
+Lesser Slave Lake, and remembered the wars of her people with the
+Blackfeet, and the "dancing" of captured scalps. She remembered
+the buffalo as plentiful at Calling Lake; that it was then a mixed
+country, and that their supplies in those old days were brought
+in by way of Isle a la Cross, Beaver River, and Lac la Biche, as
+well as by Methy Portage, a statement which I have heard disputed,
+but which is quite credible for all that. She remembered the old
+fort at the south-east end of Lesser Slave Lake, and Waupístagwon,
+"The White Head," as she called him, namely, Mr. Shaw of the famous
+finger-nail. Her father, whose name was Nekehwapiśkun--"My wigwam
+is white"--was a fur company's Chief, and, in his youth, a noted
+hunter of Rabisca (Chipewyan), whence he came to Lesser Slave Lake.
+Her own Cree name, unmusical for a wonder, was Ochenaskuḿagan--
+"Having passed many Birthdays." Her hair was gray and black rather
+than iron-gray, her eyes sunken but bright, her nose well formed,
+her mouth unshrunken but rather projecting, her cheeks and brow a
+mass of wrinkles, and her hands, strange to say, not shrivelled, but
+soft and delicate as a girl's. The body, however, was nothing but
+bones and integument; but, unlike her half-sister, she could walk
+without assistance. After our long talk through an interpreter she
+readily consented to be photographed with me, and, seating ourselves
+on the grass together, she grasped my hand and disposed herself in a
+jaunty way so as to look her very best. Indeed, she must have been a
+pretty girl in her youth, and, old as she was, had some of the arts
+of girlhood in her yet.
+
+At this point the issue of certificates for scrip practically
+ended, the total number distributed being 1,843, only 48 of which
+were for land.
+
+Leaving Calling River before noon, we passed Rivière la Biche
+towards evening, and camped about four miles above it on the same
+side of the river. We were not far from the Landing, and therefore
+near the end of our long and toilsome yet delightful journey. It
+was pleasant and unexpected, too, to find our last camp but one
+amongst the best. The ground was a flat lying against the river,
+wooded with stately spruce and birch, and perfectly clear of underbrush.
+It was covered with a plentiful growth of a curious fern-like plant
+which fell at a touch. The great river flowed in front, and an almost
+full moon shone divinely across it, and sent shafts of sidelong light
+into the forest. The huge camp-fires of the trackers and canoemen,
+the roughly garbed groups around them, the canoes themselves, the
+whole scene, in fact, recalled some genre sketch by our half-forgotten
+colourist, Jacobi. Our own fire was made at the foot of a giant spruce,
+and must have been a surprise to that beautiful creature, evidently
+brimful of life. Indeed, I watched the flames busy at its base with
+a feeling of pain, for it is difficult not to believe that those
+grand productions of Nature, highly organized after their kind,
+have their own sensations, and enjoy life.
+
+The 17th fell on a Sunday, a delicious morning of mist and sunshine
+and calm, befitting the day. But we were eager for letters from
+home, and therefore determined to push on. Perhaps it was less
+desecrating to travel on such a morning than to lie in camp. One
+felt the penetrating power of Nature more deeply than in the
+apathy or indolent ease of a Sunday lounge. Still there were
+those who had to smart for it--the trackers. But the Mecca of
+the Landing being so near, and its stimulating delights looming
+largely in the haze of their imagination, they were as eager to
+go on as ourselves.
+
+The left bank of the river now exhibited, for a long distance, a
+wilderness swept by fire, but covered with "rampikes" and fallen
+timber. The other side seemed to have partially escaped destruction.
+The tracking was good, and we passed the "Twenty Mile Rock" before
+dinner, camping about fifteen miles from the Landing. Next morning
+we passed through a like burnt country on both sides, giving the
+region a desolate and forlorn look, which placed it in sinister
+contrast with the same river to the north.
+
+Farther up, the right bank rose bare to the sky-line with a mere
+sprinkling of small aspens, indicating what the appearance of the
+"rampike" country would be if again set ablaze, and converted from
+a burnt-wood region to a bare one. The banks revealed a clay soil,
+in some places mixed boulders, but evidently there was good land
+lying back from the river.
+
+In the morning bets were made as to the hour of arrival at the
+Landing. Mr. P. said four p.m., the writer five, the Major six,
+and Mr. C. eight. At three p.m. we rounded the last point but
+one, and reached the wharf at six-thirty, the Major taking the
+pool.
+
+We had now nothing before us but the journey to Edmonton. At night
+a couple of dances took place in adjacent boarding-houses, which
+banished sleep until a great uproar arose, ending in the partisans
+of one house cleaning out the occupants of the other, thus reducing
+things to silence. We knew then that we had returned to earth. We
+had dropped, as it were, from another planet, and would soon, too
+soon, be treading the flinty city streets, and, divorced from
+Nature, become once more the bond-slaves of civilization.
+
+
+
+Conclusion.
+
+
+I have thought it most convenient to the reader to unite with
+the text, as it passes in description from place to place, what
+knowledge of the agricultural and other resources of the country
+was obtainable at the time. The reader is probably weary of
+description by this time; but, should he make a similar journey,
+I am convinced he would not weary of the reality. Travellers,
+however, differ strangely in perception. Some are observers,
+with imagination to brighten and judgment to weigh, and, if need
+be, correct, first impressions; whilst others, with vacant eye,
+or out of harmony with novel and perhaps irksome surroundings,
+see, or profess to see, nothing. The readiness, for instance,
+of the Eastern "fling" at Western Canada thirty years ago is
+still remembered, and it is easy to transfer it to the North.
+
+Those who lament the meagreness of our records of the fur-trade
+and primitive social life in Ontario, for example, before the
+advent of the U. E. Loyalists, can find their almost exact
+counterpart in Athabasca to-day. For what that Province was
+then, viz., a wilderness, Athabasca is now; and it is safe to
+predict that what Ontario is to-day Athabasca will become in
+time. Indeed, Northern Canada is the analogue of Eastern Canada
+in more likenesses than one.
+
+That the country is great and possessed of almost unique resources
+is beyond doubt; but that it has serious drawbacks, particularly
+in its lack of railway connection with the outer world, is also
+true. And one thing must be borne in mind, namely, that, when
+the limited areas of prairie within its borders are taken up, the
+settler must face the forest with the axe.
+
+Perhaps he will be none the worse for this. It bred in the pioneers
+of our old provinces some of the highest qualities: courage, iron
+endurance, self-denial, homely and upright life, and, above all,
+for it includes all, true and ennobling patriotism. The survival
+of such qualities has been manifest in multitudes of their sons,
+who, remembering the record, have borne themselves manfully wherever
+they have gone.
+
+But modern conditions are breeding methods new and strange, and
+keen observers profess to discern in our swift development the
+decay of certain things essential to our welfare. We seem, they
+think, to be borrowing from others--for they are not ours by
+inheritance--their boastful spirit, extravagance, and love
+of luxury, fatal to any State through the consequent decline of
+morality. The picture is over-drawn. True womanhood and clean
+life are still the keynotes of the great majority of Canadian
+homes.
+
+Yet very striking is the contrast with the old days of household
+economies, the days of the ox-chain, the sickle, and the leach-tub.
+All of these, some happily and some unhappily, have been swept
+away by the besom of Progress. But in any case life was too
+serious in those days for effeminate luxury, or for aught but
+proper pride in defending the country, and in work well done.
+And it is just this stern life which must be lived, sooner or
+later, not only in the wilds of Athabasca, but in facing
+everywhere the great problems of race-stability--the spectres
+of retribution--which are rapidly rising upon the white man's
+horizon.
+
+For the rest, and granting the manhood, the future of Athabasca
+is more assured than that of Manitoba seemed to be to the doubters
+of thirty years ago. In a word, there is fruitful land there,
+and a bracing climate fit for industrial man, and therefore its
+settlement is certain. It will take time. Vast forests must
+be cleared, and not, perhaps, until railways are built will
+that day dawn upon Athabasca. Yet it will come; and it is well
+to know that, when it does, there is ample room for the immigrant
+in the regions described.
+
+The generation is already born, perhaps grown, which will recast
+a famous journalist's emphatic phrase, and cry, "Go North!" Well,
+we came thence! Our savage ancestors, peradventure, migrated from
+the immemorial East, and, in skins and breech-clouts, rocked the
+cradle of a supreme race in Scandinavian snows. It has travelled
+far to the enervating South since then; and, to preserve its
+hardihood and sway on this continent, must be recreated in the
+high latitudes which gave it birth.
+
+
+
+MR. COTÉ'S POEM.
+
+  Sortez de vos tombeaux, peuplades endormies
+  A l'ombre des grands pins de vos forêts bénies!
+  Venez, fils de guerriers, qui jadis sous ces bois
+  Bruliez vos tomahawks, vos armes et vos carquois!
+  Que sur vos pâles fronts l'auréole immortelle
+  Pour votre bienfaiteur s'illumine plus belle.
+  Néophytes, venez en ce jour de bonheur
+  Proclamer les vertus de l'illustre pasteur,
+  Qui pour vous ses agneaux, ses brebis les plus chères.
+  Consacra sa jeunesse et ses années entières.
+  Venez, fleurs qui brillez au jardin de Bon Dieu.
+  Répandre les parfums qu'exhale le saint lieu
+  Sur l'illustre vieillard qui de sa voix bénie
+  Vous fit épanouir dans l'hôeureuse patrie!
+  Tendre et vénéré père, apôtre magnanime,
+  Grand prêtre du Seigneur, votre oevre fut sublime.
+  Des bords du Missouri jusqu'aux glances du nord,
+  Voyez, semeur béni, cinquante sillons d'or;
+  Voyez sur le versant de la montagne sainte
+  De votre charité l'impérissable empreinte;
+  Voyez cette légion d'âmes régénérées
+  Portant par votre main les célestes livrées.
+  Quoi, muse profane, indigne chalumeau,
+  Oserais-tu planer sur un thème si haut?
+  Pour chanter du héros les fêtes jubilaires
+  Descends de ces hauteurs à demi-séculaires!
+  Muse prosterne-toi. Hosanna! Hosanna!
+  Au ciel gloire au Très-Haut. Jube, alleluia!
+  Hommage sur la terre à l'Oblat de Marie,
+  Qui dans son cycle d'or brille sur la patrie!
+
+
+
+
+
+
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+<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">
+<html>
+<head>
+<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=US-ASCII">
+<style type="text/css">
+<!--
+h1, h2, h3, h4 { text-align: center }
+h1 {margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 2em}
+p.chapsumm {margin-left: 2em; margin-right: 2em; text-indent: -2em }
+p.dedication {text-align: center; margin-bottom: 4em; margin-top: 4em; line-height: 1.5}
+h4.cont-num {margin-bottom: 0.5em; letter-spacing: 0.5ex}
+h4.cont-title {margin-top: 0em}
+h3.chap-num {margin-top: 4em}
+span.footnote {font-size: smaller }
+   -->
+</style>
+<title>Through the Mackenzie Basin by Charles Mair</title>
+</head>
+
+<body>
+
+
+<pre>
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Through the Mackenzie Basin, by Charles Mair
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Through the Mackenzie Basin
+       A Narrative of the Athabasca and Peace River Treaty Expedition of 1899
+
+Author: Charles Mair
+
+Release Date: June 9, 2004 [EBook #12569]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THROUGH THE MACKENZIE BASIN ***
+
+
+
+
+Prepared by Arthur Wendover and Andrew Sly.
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+<h1>Through the Mackenzie Basin</h1>
+
+<h2>A Narrative of the Athabasca and Peace River Treaty Expedition of 1899</h2>
+
+<h2>By Charles Mair</h2>
+
+<p class="dedication">
+To the Hon. David Laird<br>
+Leader of the Treaty Expedition of 1899<br>
+This Record is Cordially Inscribed<br>
+By His Old Friend the Author</p>
+
+<h3>CONTENTS</h3>
+
+<h4><a href="#intro">Introduction</a></h4>
+
+<p class="chapsumm">Important events of the year 1857&#8212;The <i>Nor'-Wester</i> newspaper&#8212;The
+Duke of Newcastle and the Hudson's Bay Co.'s Charter&#8212;The
+"Anglo-International Financial Association"&#8212;The New Hudson's Bay
+Company&#8212;Offers of American capitalists to purchase the Company's
+interests&#8212;Bill providing for purchase of the same introduced into
+the United States Congress&#8212;Senator Sumner's memorandum to Secretary
+Fish&#8212;Various efforts to arouse public interest in the Hudson's Bay
+Territories&#8212;Former Treaties with the Indians&#8212;Motives for treating
+with the Indians of Athabasca&#8212;Rush of miners and prospectors into
+the district&#8212;The Indian Treaty and Half-breed Commission&#8212;The Royal
+North-West Mounted Police Contingent&#8212;Special stipulations with the
+Indians provided for.</p>
+
+<h4 class="cont-num"><a href="#chap01">Chapter I</a></h4>
+<h4 class="cont-title">From Edmonton To Lesser Slave Lake</h4>
+
+<p class="chapsumm">Arrival of Treaty and Half-breed Commissions at Edmonton&#8212;Departure
+for Athabasca Landing&#8212;Tawutin&#225;ow peat beds, etc.&#8212;Arrival at the
+Landing&#8212;The gas well there&#8212;Boats and trackers&#8212;Mr. d'Eschambault
+and Pierre Cyr&#8212;Non-arrival of trackers&#8212;Police contingent volunteers
+to track a boat to Lesser Slave Lake&#8212;Nature of country, burnt
+forests, muskegs, etc.&#8212;Tracking; its difficulties&#8212;The old Indian
+tracker Peokus&#8212;Forest and river scenery&#8212;Placer mining&#8212;Absence of
+life along the river&#8212;Fertile soil.</p>
+
+<h4 class="cont-num"><a href="#chap02">Chapter II</a></h4>
+<h4 class="cont-title">Lesser Slave River And Lesser Slave Lake</h4>
+
+<p class="chapsumm">Lesser Slave River&#8212;Its proper name&#8212;Migration of the great Algic
+race&#8212;Bishop Grouard's service in the wilderness&#8212;Returning
+Klondikers&#8212;The rapids; poling&#8212;Accident to Peokus&#8212;Celebration of
+P&#232;re Lacombe's fiftieth year of missionary labors&#8212;Arrival of
+half-breed trackers from Lesser Slave Lake&#8212;Great hay meadows on the
+Lesser Slave River&#8212;The island in Lesser Slave Lake&#8212;Trackers'
+gambling games&#8212;Swan River&#8212;A dangerous squall&#8212;Chief Factor Shaw&#8212;A
+free-traders' village.</p>
+
+<h4 class="cont-num"><a href="#chap03">Chapter III</a></h4>
+<h4 class="cont-title">Treaty At Lesser Slave Lake</h4>
+
+<p class="chapsumm">The Treaty point at last&#8212;Our camp at Lesser Slave Lake&#8212;The Treaty
+ground and assembly&#8212;"Civilized" Indians&#8212;Keenooshayo and Moostoos&#8212;The
+Treaty proceedings&#8212;The Treaty Commissioners separate&#8212;Vermilion and
+Fort Chipewyan treaties&#8212;Indian chief asks for a railway&#8212;Wahpoo&#347;kow
+Treaty&#8212;McKenna and Ross set out for Home&#8212;Commission issued to J. A.
+Macrae&#8212;Numbers of Indians treated with.</p>
+
+<h4 class="cont-num"><a href="#chap04">Chapter IV</a></h4>
+<h4 class="cont-title">The Half-Breed Scrip Commission</h4>
+
+<p class="chapsumm">The half-breeds collect at Lesser Slave Lake&#8212;They decide upon cash,
+scrip or nothing&#8212;Honesty of the half-breeds and Indians&#8212;Ease
+of parturition amongst their women&#8212;Cree family names and their
+significance&#8212;Catherine Bisson&#8212;Native traits&#8212;The mongrel dog&#8212;Gambling
+and dancing&#8212;The "Red River jig".</p>
+
+<h4 class="cont-num"><a href="#chap05">Chapter V</a></h4>
+<h4 class="cont-title">Resources Of Lesser Slave Lake Region</h4>
+
+<p class="chapsumm">Indian lunatics: The Weeghteko&#8212;Treatment of lunatics in old Upper
+Canada&#8212;Lesser Slave Lake fisheries&#8212;Stock-raising at the lake&#8212;Prairies
+of the region&#8212;The region once a buffalo country&#8212;Quality of the
+soil&#8212;Wheat and roots and vegetables&#8212;Unwise to settle in large numbers
+in the country at present&#8212;The "blind pig"&#8212;A native row.</p>
+
+<h4 class="cont-num"><a href="#chap06">Chapter VI</a></h4>
+<h4 class="cont-title">On The Trail To Peace River</h4>
+
+<p class="chapsumm">On the trail to Peace River&#8212;The South Heart River&#8212;Good farming
+lands&#8212;The Little Prairie&#8212;Peace River Crossing&#8212;The vast banks of
+the Peace a country in themselves&#8212;Wild fruits&#8212;Prospectors from
+the Selwyn Mountains&#8212;The Poker Flat Mining Camp&#8212;Buffalo paths and
+wallows&#8212;Magnificent prairies between Peace River Landing and Fort
+Dunvegan&#8212;Fort Dunvegan&#8212;Sir George Simpson and Colin Fraser&#8212;Some
+townships blocked here&#8212;The Roman Catholic Mission&#8212;Baffled miners
+returning&#8212;The natives of Dunvegan&#8212;Relics of the old r&#233;gime&#8212;Large
+families the rule&#8212;The Church missions&#8212;Back to Peace River
+Crossing&#8212;Tepees, tents and trading stores&#8212;Mr. Alexander Mackenzie&#8212;The
+sites of old fur posts&#8212;Indian names of the Peace River&#8212;Description
+of the agricultural and other resources of the Upper Peace River&#8212;The
+Chinook winds&#8212;Grand Prairie&#8212;Rainfall scanty on prairies throughout the
+River&#8212;Lack of waggon roads and trail facilities.</p>
+
+<h4 class="cont-num"><a href="#chap07">Chapter VII</a></h4>
+<h4 class="cont-title">Down The Peace River</h4>
+
+<p class="chapsumm">The descent of the Peace River&#8212;Wolverine Point&#8212;A good farming
+country&#8212;Paddle River and Keg of Rum River prairies&#8212;Heavy spruce
+forests here&#8212;Vermilion settlement&#8212;The Lawrence family and
+farm&#8212;Extensive wheat fields&#8212;Cattle and hog raising&#8212;Locusts&#8212;Symptoms
+of volcanic action&#8212;Old Lizotte and old King Beaulieu&#8212;The Chutes of
+Peace River&#8212;The Red River; its rich soil and prairies&#8212;Peace Point&#8212;A
+wild goose chase&#8212;The Gargantuan feasts of Peace River&#8212;The Quatre
+Fourches&#8212;Athabasca Lake.</p>
+
+<h4 class="cont-num"><a href="#chap08">Chapter VIII</a></h4>
+<h4 class="cont-title">Fort Chipewyan To Fort McMurray</h4>
+
+<p class="chapsumm">Fort Chipewyan and Athabasca Lake&#8212;Colin Fraser's trading-post&#8212;The
+Barren Ground reindeer&#8212;Feathered land game&#8212;The Indians of Fond du
+Lac&#8212;Mineral resources&#8212;First companies formed to prospect the Great
+Slave Lake minerals&#8212;The Helpman party&#8212;The Yukon Valley Prospecting
+and Mining Company&#8212;Assays of copper ore&#8212;A great mineral country&#8212;A
+railway required from Chesterfield Inlet to develop it&#8212;Moss of
+the Banner Lands&#8212;Lake Athabasca the rallying place of the D&#233;n&#233;
+race&#8212;Meaning of Indian generic names&#8212;"Mackenzie's country"&#8212;Its
+first traders&#8212;The North-West Company&#8212;The original Indians&#8212;The
+mastodon believed by the natives to exist&#8212;Return of Klondikers from
+Mackenzie River&#8212;Their bad conduct&#8212;By steamer <i>Grahame</i> to Fort
+McMurray&#8212;Killing a moose&#8212;Fort McMurray.</p>
+
+<h4 class="cont-num"><a href="#chap09">Chapter IX</a></h4>
+<h4 class="cont-title">The Athabasca River Region</h4>
+
+<p class="chapsumm">The tar-banks&#8212;Characteristic features of the river&#8212;The rapids of
+the Athabasca&#8212;The cut-banks&#8212;A freshet&#8212;A fine camp&#8212;The "Indian
+lop-stick"&#8212;The natural gas springs&#8212;Grand Rapids&#8212;Coal abundant&#8212;Good
+farming country&#8212;The Point at House River&#8212;The Joli Fou Rapid&#8212;Bad
+tracking&#8212;Pelican Portage&#8212;Spouting gas well&#8212;Matcheese, the Indian
+runner.</p>
+
+<h4 class="cont-num"><a href="#chap10">Chapter X</a></h4>
+<h4 class="cont-title">The Trip To Wahpoo&#347;kow</h4>
+
+<p class="chapsumm">The Pelican River&#8212;Poling and paddling&#8212;Character of the river
+and country&#8212;Great hay meadows&#8212;An Indian runner&#8212;The Pelican
+Mountains&#8212;Muskegs and rich soil&#8212;Pelican Lake the height of
+land&#8212;Abundance of fish&#8212;The first Wahpoo&#347;kow Lake&#8212;The second
+lake&#8212;Mission of Rev. C.R. Weaver&#8212;Other missions of the C.M.S.&#8212;Mission
+of the Rev. Father Giroux&#8212;Other Roman Catholic missions&#8212;Indians and
+half-breeds&#8212;The crows and the fish&#8212;A ball at Wahpoo&#347;kow&#8212;Farming land
+and muskeg in the district&#8212;Superstitions of the Indians&#8212;Polygamy and
+polyandry&#8212;The changing woods&#8212;The <i>f&#339;x populi</i>&#8212;A little
+beauty&#8212;Calling River&#8212;Another ancient woman and her memories&#8212;Our
+return to Athabasca Landing.</p>
+
+<h4><a href="#conclusion">Conclusion</a></h4>
+
+<hr>
+
+<h3 id="intro">Introduction</h3>
+
+<blockquote>
+  The important events of A.D. 1857, and the negotiations which led
+  to the Transfer of the Hudson's Bay Territories&#8212;Former Treaties
+  and the Treaty Commission of 1899.</blockquote>
+
+<p>The terms upon which Canada obtained her great possessions in the
+West are generally known, and much has been written regarding the
+tentative steps by which, after long years of waiting, she acquired
+them. The distinctively prairie, or southern, portion of the
+country and its outliers, constituting "Prince Rupert's Land,"
+had been claimed by the Hudson's Bay Company since May, 1670, as
+an absolute freehold. This and the North-West Territories, in
+which, under terminable lease from the Crown, the Company exercised,
+as in British Columbia, exclusive rights to trade only, were, as
+the reader knows, transferred to Canada by Imperial sanction at
+the same time. It is not the author's intention, therefore, to
+cumber his pages with trite or irrelevant matter; yet certain
+transactions which preceded this primordial and greatest treaty
+of all not unfittingly may be set forth, though in the briefest
+way, as a pardonable introduction to the following record.</p>
+
+<p>The year 1857 was an eventful one in the annals of "The North-West,"
+the name by which the Territories were generally known in Canada.
+<span class="footnote">[An important event in Red River was begot of the stirring
+incidents of this year, namely, the starting at Fort Garry, in
+December, 1859, by two gentlemen from Canada, Messrs. Buckingham
+and Caldwell, of the first newspaper printed in British territory
+east of British Columbia and west of Lake Superior. It was called
+the <i>Nor'-Wester</i>, but, having few advertisements, and only a limited
+circulation, the originators sold out to Dr. (afterwards Sir John)
+Schultz, who, at his own expense, published the paper, almost down
+to the Transfer, as an advocate of Canadian annexation, immigration
+and development.]</span> In that year two expeditions were set afoot to
+explore the country; one in charge of Captain Palliser, <span class="footnote">[Strange
+to say, Captain Palliser reported that he considered a line of
+communication entirely through British territory, connecting the
+Eastern Provinces and British Columbia, out of the question, as
+the Astronomical Boundary adopted isolated the prairie country
+from Canada. Professor Hind, on the other hand, in the same year,
+standing on an eminence on the Qu'Appelle, beheld in imagination
+the smoke of the locomotive ascending from the train speeding
+over the prairies on its way through Canada from the Atlantic to
+the Pacific.]</span> equipped by the Imperial Government, and the other,
+under Professor Hind, at the expense of the Government of Canada.
+An influential body of Red River settlers, too, at this time
+petitioned the Canadian Parliament to extend to the North-West
+its government and protection; and in the same year the late Chief
+Justice Draper was sent to England to challenge the validity of the
+Hudson's Bay Company's charter; and to urge the opening up of the
+country for settlement. But, above all, a committee of the British
+House of Commons took evidence that year upon all sorts of questions
+concerning the North-West, and particularly its suitability for
+settlement, much of which was valueless owing to its untruth.
+Nevertheless, the Imperial Committee, after weighing all the evidence,
+reported that the Territories were fit for settlement, and that it
+was desirable that Canada should annex them, and hoped that the
+Government would be enabled to bring in a bill to that end at the
+next session of Parliament. Five years later, the Duke of Newcastle,
+who became Secretary of State for the Colonies in 1859, and
+accompanied the Prince of Wales to Canada as official adviser
+in 1860, having in his possession the petition of the Red River
+settlers, as printed by order of the Canadian Legislature, brought
+the matter up in a vigorous speech in the House of Lords, in which
+he expressed his belief that the Hudson's Bay Company's charter
+was invalid, though, he added, "it would be a serious blow to the
+rights of property to meddle with a charter two hundred years old.
+But it might happen," he continued, "in the inevitable course of
+events, that Parliament would be asked to annul even such a charter
+as this, in order, as set forth in the Queen's Speech, that all
+obstacles to an unbroken chain of loyal settlements, stretching
+from ocean to ocean, should be removed." British Columbia, which
+had become a Province in 1858, has now urging the Imperial Government
+with might and main to furnish a waggon-road and telegraph line
+to connect her, not only with the Territories and Canada, but
+with the United Empire. She was met by the stiffest of opposition,
+the opposition of a very old corporation strongly entrenched in
+the governing circles of both parties. But the clamour of British
+Columbia was in the air, and her suggestions, hotly opposed by
+the Company, had been brought before the House of Lords by
+another peer. In the discussion which followed, the Duke of
+Newcastle declared that "it seemed monstrous that any body of
+gentlemen should exercise fee-simple rights which precluded
+the future colonization of that territory, as well as the
+opening of lines of communication through it." The Minister's
+idea at the time seemed to be to cancel the charter, and to
+concede proprietary rights around fur posts only, together
+with a certain money payment, considerably less, it appears,
+than what was ultimately agreed upon.</p>
+
+<p>The Hudson's Bay Company, alarmed at the outlook and the attitude
+of the Colonial Secretary, offered their entire interests and
+belongings, trade and territorial, to the Imperial Government
+for a million and a half pounds sterling, an offer which the
+Duke was disposed to accept, but which was unfortunately declined
+by Mr. Gladstone, then Chancellor of the Exchequer. The Duke,
+who had resigned his office in 1864, died in October following,
+and in the meantime a change of a startling character had come
+over the time-honoured company, which sold out to a new company
+in 1863, being merged into, or rather merging into itself,
+an organization known as "The Anglo-International Financial
+Association," which included several prominent American capitalists.
+The old name was retained, but everything else was to be changed.
+The policy of exclusion was to cease, immigration was to be
+encouraged, and a telegraph line built through the Territories
+to the Pacific coast. The wire for this was actually shipped,
+and lay in Rupert's Land for years, until made use of by the
+Mackenzie Administration in the building of the Government
+telegraph line, which followed the railway route defined by
+Sir Sandford Fleming. The old Hudson's Bay Company's shares,
+of a par value of half a million pounds sterling, were increased
+to a million and a half under the new adjustment, and were thrown
+upon the market in shares of twenty pounds sterling each. Sir
+Edmund Head, an old ex-Governor of Canada, was made Governor
+of the new company. The Stock Exchange was not altogether
+favourable, and the remaining shares were only sold in the
+Winnipeg land boom of 1881.</p>
+
+<p>The alien element in the new company seemed to inspire the
+politicians of the United States with surpassing hopes and
+ideas. An offer to purchase its territorial interests was made
+in January, 1866, by American capitalists, which was not
+unfavourably glanced at by the directorate. It was capped later
+on. The corollary of the proposal was a bill, actually introduced
+into the United States Congress in July following, and read twice,
+"providing for the admission of the States of Nova Scotia, New
+Brunswick, Canada East and Canada West, and for the organization
+of the Territories of Selkirk, Saskatchewan and Columbia." The
+bill provided that "The United States would pay ten millions of
+dollars to the Hudson's Bay Company in full of all claims to
+territory or jurisdiction in North America, whether founded on
+the Charter of the Company, or any treaty, law, or usage." The
+grandiosity, to use a mild phrase, of such a measure needs no
+comment. But though it seems amusing to the Canadian of to-day,
+it was by no means a joke forty years ago. As a matter of fact,
+the then most uninhabited Territories, cut off from the centres
+of Canadian activity by a wilderness of over a thousand miles,
+would have been invaded by Fenians and filibusters but for the
+fact that they were a part of the British Empire. An attempt
+at this was indeed made at a later date. This possibility was
+afterwards formulated, evidently as a threat, by Senator Charles
+Sumner during the "Alabama Claims" discussion, in his astonishing
+memorandum to Secretary Fish. "The greatest trouble, if not
+peril," he said, "is from Fenianism, which is excited by the
+British flag in Canada. Therefore, the withdrawal of the British
+flag cannot be abandoned as a preliminary of such a settlement
+as is now proposed. To make the settlement complete the withdrawal
+should be from this hemisphere, including provinces and islands."
+A refreshing proposition, truly!</p>
+
+<p>It was the Imperial Government, of course, which figured most
+prominently throughout the "North-West" question. But, it may
+be reasonably asked, what was Canada doing, with her deeper
+interests still, to further them in those long years of
+discussion and delay. With the exception of the Hind Expedition,
+the Draper mission, the printing and discussion of the Red
+River settlers' petition and consequent Commission of Inquiry,
+certainly not much was done by Parliament. More was done
+outside than in the House to arouse public interest; for
+example, the two admirable lectures delivered in Montreal
+in 1858 by the late Lieutenant-Governor Morris, followed by
+the powerful advocacy of the Hon. William Macdougall and
+others, aided by the Toronto <i>Globe</i>, a small portion of the
+Canadian press, and the circulation, limited as it was, of
+the Red River newspaper, the <i>Nor'-Wester</i>, in Ontario.</p>
+
+<p>An unseen, but adverse, parliamentary influence had all along
+hampered the Cabinet; an influence adverse not only to the
+acquisition of the Territories, but even to closer connection
+by railway with the Maritime Provinces. <span class="footnote">[<i>Vide</i> a series of articles
+contributed to the Toronto Week, in July, 1896, by Mr. Malcolm
+McLeod, Q.C., of Ottawa, Ont.]</span> This sinister influence was only
+overcome by the great Conferences which resulted in the passage
+of the British North America Act in 1867, which contained a clause
+(Article 11, Sec. 146), inserted at the instance of Mr. Macdougall,
+providing for the inclusion of Rupert's Land and the North-West
+Territories upon terms to be defined in an address to the Queen,
+and subject to her approval. In pursuance of this clause, Mr.
+Macdougall in 1867 introduced into the first Parliament of the
+Dominion a series of eight resolutions, which, after much opposition,
+were at length passed, and were followed by the embodying address,
+drafted by a Special Committee of the House, and which was duly
+transmitted to the Imperial Government. This was followed by
+the mission of Messrs. Cartier and Macdougall to London, to
+treat for the transfer of the Territories, which, through the
+mediation of Lord Granville, was finally effected. The date
+fixed upon for the transfer was the first of December, 1869.
+Unfortunately for Lieutenant-Governor Macdougall, owing to the
+outbreak of armed rebellion at Red River, it was postponed
+without his knowledge, and it was not until the 15th of July,
+1870, that the whole country finally became a part of the
+Dominion of Canada. With the latter date the annals of Prince
+Rupert's Land and the North-West Territory end, and the history
+of Western Canada begins.</p>
+
+<p>But whilst the Hudson's Bay Company's territorial rights and
+those of Great Britain had been at last transferred to the
+Dominion, there remained inextinguished the most intrinsic
+of all, viz., the rights of the Indians and their collaterals
+to their native and traditional soil. The adjustment of these
+rights was assumed by the Canadian Parliament in the last but
+one of the resolutions introduced by Mr. Macdougall, and no
+time was lost after the transfer in carrying out its terms,
+"in conformity with the equitable principles which have uniformly
+governed the Crown in its dealings with the aborigines."</p>
+
+<p><span class="footnote">[In the foregoing brief sketch, the author, for lack of space, omits
+all reference to the Red River troubles, which preceded the actual
+transfer, as also to the military expedition under Col. Wolseley, the
+threatened recall of which from Prince Arthur's Landing, in July,
+1870, was blocked by the bold and vigorous action of the Canada
+First Party in Toronto.]</span></p>
+
+<h4>Former Treaties.</h4>
+
+<p>Before passing on to my theme, a glance at the treaties made
+in Manitoba and the organized Territories may be of interest
+to the unfamiliar reader.</p>
+
+<p>The first treaty, in what is now a part of Manitoba, was made in
+pursuance of a purchase of the old District of Assiniboia from the
+Hudson's Bay Company in 1811 by Lord Selkirk, who in that year sent
+out the first batch of colonists from the north of Scotland to Red
+River. The Indian title to the land, however, was not conveyed by
+the Crees and Saulteaux until 1817, when Peguis and others of their
+chiefs ceded a portion of their territory for a yearly payment of
+a quantity of tobacco. The ceded tract extended from the mouth
+of the Red River southward to Grand Forks, and, westward, along
+the Assiniboine River to Rat Creek, the depth of the reserve being
+the distance at which a white horse could be seen on the plains,
+though this matter is not very clear. The British boundary at that
+time ran south of Red Lake, and would still so run but for the
+indifference of bygone Commissioners. This purchase became the
+theatre of Lord Selkirk's far-seeing scheme of British settlement
+in the North-West, with whose varying fortunes and romantic history
+the average reader is familiar.</p>
+
+<p>The first Canadian treaties were those effected by Mr. Weemys Simpson
+in 1871, first at Stone Fort, Man., covering the old purchase from
+Peguis and others, and a large extent of territory in addition,
+the stipulated terms of payment being afterwards greatly enlarged.
+These treaties are known as Nos. 1 and 2, and were followed by the
+North-West Angle Treaty, effected by Lieutenant-Governor Morris, in
+1873, with the Ojibway Saulteaux. In 1874 the Qu'Appelle Treaty,
+after prolonged discussion and inter-tribal jealousy and disturbance,
+was concluded by Lieutenant-Governor Morris, the Hon. David Laird,
+then Minister of the Interior, and Mr. W. J. Christie, of the
+Hudson's Bay Company. Treaty No. 5 followed, with the cession of
+100,000 square miles of territory, covering the Lake Winnipeg region,
+etc., after which the Great Treaty (No.6), at Forts Carlton and
+Pitt, in 1876, covering almost all the country drained by the two
+Saskatchewans, was partly effected by Mr. Morris and his associates,
+the recalcitrants being afterwards induced by Mr. Laird to adhere
+to the treaty, with the exception of the notorious Big Bear, the
+insurgent chief who figured so prominently in the Rebellion of 1885.
+The final treaty, or No. 7, made with the Assiniboines and Blackfeet,
+the most powerful and predatory of all our Plain Indians, was
+concluded by Mr. Laird and the late Lieut.-Colonel McLeod in 1877.
+By this last treaty had now been ceded the whole country from Lake
+Winnipeg to the Rocky Mountains, and from the international boundary
+to the District of Athabasca. But there remained in native hands
+still that vast northern anticlinal, which differs almost entirely in
+its superficial features from the prairies and plains to the south;
+and it was this region, enormous in extent and rich in economic
+resources, which, it was decided by Government, should now be placed
+by treaty at the disposal of the Canadian people. To this end it was
+determined that at Lesser Slave Lake the first conference should be
+held, and the initial steps taken towards the cession of the whole
+western portion of the unceded territory up to the 60th parallel of
+north latitude.</p>
+
+<p>The more immediate motive for treating with the Indians of Athabasca
+has been already referred to, viz., the discovery of gold in the
+Klondike, and the astonishing rush of miners and prospectors, in
+consequence, to the Yukon, not only from the Pacific side, but,
+east of the mountains, by way of the Peace and Mackenzie rivers. Up
+to that date, excepting to the fur-traders and a few missionaries,
+settlers, explorers, geologists and sportsmen, the Peace River
+region was practically unknown; certainly as little known to the
+people of Ontario, for example, as was the Red River country thirty
+years before. It was thought to be a most difficult country to
+reach&#8212;a <i>terra incognita</i>&#8212;rude and dangerous, having no allurements
+for the average Canadian, whose notions about it, if he had any, were
+limited, as usual, to the awe-inspiring legend of "barbarous Indians
+and perpetual frost."</p>
+
+<p>There is a lust, however, the unquenchable lust for gold, which
+seems to arouse the dullest from their apathy. This is the <i>primum
+mobile</i>; from earliest days the sensational mover of civilized man,
+and not unlikely to remain so until our old planet capsizes again,
+and the poles become the equator with troglodites for inhabitants.
+No barriers seem insurmountable to this rampant spirit; and,
+urged by it, the gold-seekers, chiefly aliens from the United
+States, plunged into the wilderness of Athabasca without
+hesitation, and without as much as "by your leave" to the
+native. Some of these marauders, as was to be expected,
+exhibited on the way a congenital contempt for the Indian's
+rights. At various places his horses were killed, his dogs shot,
+his bear-traps broken up. An outcry arose in consequence, which
+inevitably would have led to reprisals and bloodshed had not the
+Government stepped in and forestalled further trouble by a prompt
+recognition of the native's title. Hitherto he had been content
+with his lot in these remote wildernesses, and well might he be!
+One of the vast river systems of the Continent, perhaps the
+greatest of them all, considering the area drained, teeming
+with fish, and alive with fur and antler, was his home&#8212;a
+region which furnished him in abundance with the means of life,
+not to speak of such surplus of luxuries as was brought to his
+doors by his old and paternal friend, "John Company." His wants
+were simple, his life healthy, though full of toil, his appetite
+great&#8212;an appetite which throve upon what it fed, and gave rise
+to fabulous feats of eating, recalling the exploits of the
+beloved and big-bellied Ben of nursery lore.</p>
+
+<p>But the spirit of change was brooding even here. The moose, the
+beaver and the bear had for years been decreasing, and other
+fur-bearing animals were slowly but surely lessening with them.
+The natives, aware of this, were now alive, as well, to concurrent
+changes foreign to their experience. Recent events had awakened
+them to a sense of the value the white man was beginning to
+place upon their country as a great storehouse of mineral and
+other wealth, enlivened otherwise by the sensible decrease of
+their once unfailing resources. These events were, of course,
+the Government borings for petroleum, the formation of parties
+to prospect, with a view to developing, the minerals of Great Slave
+Lake, but, above all, the inroad of gold-seekers by way of Edmonton.
+The latter was viewed with great mistrust by the Indians, the
+outrages referred to showing, like straws in the wind, the
+inevitable drift of things had the treaties been delayed. For,
+as a matter of fact, those now peaceable tribes, soured by
+lawless aggression, and sheltered by their vast forests, might
+easily have taken an Indian revenge, and hampered, if not
+hindered, the safe settlement of the country for years to come.
+The Government, therefore, decided to treat with them at once
+on equitable terms, and to satisfy their congeners, the half-breeds,
+as well, by an issue of scrip certificates such as their fellows
+had already received in Manitoba and the organized Territories.
+To this end adjustments were made by the Hon. Clifford Sifton,
+then Minister of the Interior and Superintendent-General of
+Indian Affairs, during the winter of 1898-9, and a plan of
+procedure and basis of treatment adopted, the carrying out
+of which was placed in the hands of a double Commission, one
+to frame and effect the Treaty, and secure the adhesion of
+the various tribes, and the other to investigate and extinguish
+the half-breed title. At the head of the former was placed the
+Hon. David Laird, a gentleman of wide experience in the early
+days in the North-West Territories, whose successful treaty
+with the refractory Blackfeet and their allies is but one of many
+evidences of his tact and sagacity. <span class="footnote">[The Hon. David Laird is a native
+of Prince Edward Island. His father emigrated from Scotland to that
+Province early in the last century, and ultimately became a member of
+its Executive Council. After leaving college his son David began life
+as a journalist, but later on took to politics, and being called,
+like his father, to the Executive Council, was selected as one of
+the delegates to Ottawa to arrange for the entrance of the Island
+into the Canadian Confederation. He was subsequently elected to the
+Dominion House of Commons, and became Minister of the Interior in
+the Mackenzie Administration. After three years' occupancy of this
+department he was made Lieut.-Governor of the North-West Territories,
+an office which he filled without bias and to the satisfaction of
+both the foes and friends of his own party. He returned to the Island
+at the close of his official term, but was called thence by the
+Laurier Administration to take charge of Indian affairs in the West,
+with residence in Winnipeg, which is now his permanent home.]</span> A
+nature in which fairness and firmness met was, of all dispositions,
+the most suited to handle such important negotiations with the
+Indians as parting with their blood-right. Fortunately these
+qualities were pre-eminent in Mr. Laird, who had administered the
+government of the organized Territories, at a primitive stage in
+their history, in the wisest manner, and, at the close of his
+official career, returned to his home in Prince Edward Island
+leaving not an enemy behind him.</p>
+
+<p>The other Treaty Commissioners were the Hon. James Ross, Minister
+of Public Works in the Territorial Government, and Mr. J. A.
+McKenna, then private secretary to the Superintendent-General
+of Indian Affairs, and who had been for some years a valued
+officer of the Indian Department. With them was associated, in
+an advisory capacity, the Rev. Father Lacombe, O.M.I., Vicar-General
+of St. Albert, Alta., whose history had been identified for fifty
+years with the Canadian North-West, and whose career had touched
+the currents of primitive life at all points.</p>
+
+<p><span class="footnote">[Father Lacombe is by birth a French Canadian, his native parish
+being St. Sulpice, in the Island of Montreal, where he was born in
+the year 1827. On the mother's side he is said to draw his descent
+from the daughter of a habitant on the St. Lawrence River called
+Duhamel, who was stolen in girlhood by the Ojibway Indians, and
+subsequently taken to wife by their chief, to whom she bore two
+sons. By mere accident, her uncle, who was one of a North-West
+Company trading party on Lake Huron, met her at an Indian camp on
+one of the Manitoulin islands, and having identified her as his
+niece, restored her and her children to her family. Father Lacombe
+was ordained a priest by Bishop Bourget, of Montreal, and in 1849
+set out for Red River, where he became intimately associated with
+the French half-breeds, accompanying them on their great buffalo
+hunts, and ministering not only to the spiritual but to the temporal
+welfare of them and their descendants down to the present day. In
+1851 he took charge of the Lake Ste. Anne Mission, and subsequently
+of St. Albert, the first house in which he helped to build; and from
+these Missions he visited numbers of outlying regions, including
+Lesser Slave Lake. His principal missionary work, however, for
+twenty years was pursued amongst the Blackfeet Indians on the Great
+Plains, during which he witnessed many a perilous onslaught in the
+constant warfare between them and their traditional enemies, the
+Crees. Being now over eighty years of age, he has retired from
+active duty, and is spending the remainder of his days at Pincher
+Creek, Alta., where, it is understood, he is preparing his memoirs
+for publication at an early date.]</span></p>
+
+<p>Not associated with the Commission, but travelling with it as a
+guest, was the Right Rev. E. Grouard, O.M.I., the Roman Catholic
+Bishop of Athabasca and Mackenzie rivers, who was returning, after
+a visit to the East, to his headquarters at Fort Chipewyan, where
+his influence and knowledge of the language, it was believed,
+would be of great service when the treaty came under consideration
+there. The secretaries of the Commission were Mr. Harrison Young, a
+son-in-law of the Rev. George McDougall, the distinguished missionary
+who perished so unaccountably on the plains in the winter of 1876,
+and Mr. I. W. Martin, an agreeable young gentleman from Goderich,
+Ont. Connected with the party in an advisory capacity, like Father
+Lacombe, and as interpreter, was Mr. Pierre d'Eschambault, who
+had been for over thirty years an officer in the Hudson's Pay
+Company's service. The camp-manager was Mr. Henry McKay, of an
+old and highly esteemed North-West family. Such was the personnel,
+official and informal, of the Treaty Commission, to which was also
+attached Mr. H. A. Conroy, as accountant, robust and genial, and
+well fitted for the work.</p>
+
+<p>The Half-breed Scrip Commission, whose duties began where the
+treaty work ended, was composed of Major Walker, a retired
+officer of the Royal North-West Mounted Police, who had seen
+much service in the Territories and was in command of the force
+present at the making of the Fort Carlton Treaty in 1876; and
+Mr. J. A. Cot&#233;, an experienced officer of the Land Department at
+Ottawa. The secretaries were Mr. J. F. Prudhomme, of St. Boniface,
+Man., and the writer.</p>
+
+<p>Our transport arrangements, from start to finish, had been placed
+entirely in the hands of a competent officer of the Hudson's Bay
+Company, Mr. H. B. Round, an old resident of Athabasca; and to
+the Commission was also annexed a young medical man, Dr. West,
+a native of Devonshire, England, whose services were appreciated
+in a region where doctors were almost unknown. But not the least
+important and effective constituent of the party was the detachment
+of the Royal North-West Mounted Police, which joined us at Edmonton,
+minus their horses, of course; picked men from a picked force;
+sterling fellows, whose tenacity and hard work in the tracking-harness
+did yeoman service in many a serious emergency. This detachment
+consisted of Inspector Snyder, Sergeant Anderson, Corporals
+Fitzgerald and McClelland, and Constables McLaren, Lett, Burman,
+Lelonde, Burke, Vernon and Kerr. The conduct of these men, it
+is needless to say, was the admiration of all, and assisted
+materially, as will be seen hereafter, in the successful progress
+of the expedition.</p>
+
+<p>Whilst it had been decided that the proposed adjustments should
+be effected, if possible, upon the same terms as the previous
+treaties, it was known that certain changes will be necessary
+owing to the peculiar topographic features of the country itself.
+For example, in much of it arable reserves, such as many of the
+tribes retained in the south, were unavailable, and special
+stipulations were necessary, in such case, so that there should
+be no inequality of treatment. But where good land could be had,
+a novel choice was offered, by which individual Indians, if they
+wished, could take their inalienable shares in severalty, rather
+than be subject to the "band," whereby many industrious Indians
+elsewhere had been greatly hampered in their efforts to improve
+their condition. But, barring such departures as these, the proposed
+treaties were to be effected, as I have said, according to precedent.
+The Commission, then, resting its arguments on the good faith and
+honour of the Government and people of Canada in the past, looked
+forward with confidence to a successful treaty in Athabasca, the
+record of travel and intercourse, to that end, beginning with
+the following narrative.</p>
+
+<h1>Through the Mackenzie Basin</h1>
+
+<h3 class="chap-num" id="chap01">Chapter I</h3>
+<h3>From Edmonton To Lesser Slave Lake.</h3>
+
+<p>Mr. Laird, with his staff, left Winnipeg for Edmonton by the
+Canadian Pacific express on the 22nd of May, two of the
+Commissioners having preceded him to that point. The train
+was crowded, as usual, with immigrants, tourists, globe-trotters
+and way-passengers. Parties for the Klondike, for California
+or Japan&#8212;once the far East, but now the far West to us&#8212;for
+anywhere and everywhere, a C.P.R. express train carrying the
+same variety of fortunates and unfortunates as the ocean-cleaving
+hull. Calgary was reached at one a.m. on the Queen's birthday,
+and the same morning we left for Edmonton by the C. &amp; E.
+Railway. Every one was impressed favourably by the fine country
+lying between these two cities, its intermediate towns and
+villages, and fast-growing industries. But one thing especially
+was not overlooked, viz., the honour due to our venerable Queen,
+alas, so soon to be taken from us.</p>
+
+<p>In the evening we arrived at Strathcona, and found it thronged with
+people celebrating the day. Crossing the river to Edmonton, we
+got rooms with some difficulty in one of its crowded hotels, but
+happily awoke next morning refreshed and ready to view the town.
+It is needless to describe what has been so often described.
+Enough to say Edmonton is one of the doors to the great North,
+an outfitter of its traders, an emporium of its furs. And
+there is something more to be said. It has an old fort, or,
+rather, portions of one, for the vandalism which has let disappear
+another, and still more historic, stronghold, is manifest here as
+well. And truly, what savage scenes have been enacted on this
+very spot! What strife in the days of the rival companies!
+Edmonton is a city still marked by the fine savour of the
+"Old-Timers," who meet once a year to renew associations, and
+for some fleeting but glorious hours recall the past on the
+great river. Age is thinning them out, and by and by the
+remainder man will shake his "few, sad, last gray hairs,"
+and slip out, too. But the tradition of him, it is to be hoped,
+will live, and bind his memory forever to the soil he trod,
+when all this Western world was a wilderness, each primitive
+settlement a happy family, each unit an unsophisticated,
+hospitable soul.</p>
+
+<p>To our mortification we found that our supplies, seasonably shipped
+at Winnipeg, would not arrive for several days; a delay, to begin
+with, which seemed to prefigure all our subsequent hindrances.
+Then rain set in, and it was the afternoon of the 29th before Mr.
+Round could get us off. Once under way, however, with our thirteen
+waggons, there was no trouble save from their heavy loads, which
+could not be moved faster than a walk. Our first camp was at
+Sturgeon River&#8212;the Nam&#225;o Sepe of the Crees&#8212;a fine stream in a
+defile of hills clothed with poplar and spruce, the former not
+quite in leaf, for the spring was backward, though seeding and
+growth in the Edmonton District was much ahead of Manitoba. The
+river flat was dotted with clumps of russet-leaved willows, to
+the north of which our waggons were ranged, and soon the quickly
+pitched tents, fires and sizzling fry-pans filled even the
+tenderfoot with a sense of comfort.</p>
+
+<p>Next morning our route lay through a line of low, broken hills,
+with scattered woods, largely burnt and blown down by the wind; a
+desolate tract, which enclosed, to our left, the Lily Lake&#8212;Asc&#250;tamo
+Sakaigon&#8212;a somewhat marshy-looking sheet of water. Some miles
+farther on we crossed Whiskey Creek, a white man's name, of course,
+given by an illicit distiller, who throve for a time, in the old
+"Permit days," in this secluded spot. Beyond this the long line of
+the Vermilion Hills hove in sight, and presently we reached the
+Vermilion River, the Wyamun of the Crees, and, before nightfall,
+the Nasookamow, or Twin Lake, making our camp in an open besmirched
+pinery, a cattle shelter, with bleak and bare surroundings,
+neighboured by the shack of a solitary settler. He had, no doubt,
+good reasons for his choice; but it seemed a very much less inviting
+locality than Stony Creek, which we came to next morning, approaching
+it through rich and massive spruce woods, the ground strewn with
+anemones, harebells and violets, and interspersed with almost
+startlingly snow-white poplars, whose delicate buds had just opened
+into leaf.</p>
+
+<p>Stony Creek is a tributary of a larger stream, called the
+Tawutin&#225;ow, which means "a passage between hills." This is
+an interesting spot, for here is the height of land, the
+"divide" between the Saskatchewan and the Athabasca, between
+Arctic and Hudson Bay waters, the stream before us flowing
+north, and carrying the yellowish-red tinge common to the
+waters on this slope. A great valley to the left of the trail
+runs parallel with it from the Sturgeon to the Tawutin&#225;ow,
+evidently the channel of an ancient river, whose course it would
+now be difficult to determine without close examination. At all
+events, it stretches almost from the Saskatchewan to the Athabasca,
+and indicates some great watershed in times past. Hay was
+abundant here, and much stock, it was evident, might be raised
+in the district.</p>
+
+<p>Towards evening we reached the Tawutin&#225;ow bridge, some eighteen
+miles from the Landing, our finest camp, dry and pleasant, with
+sward and copse and a fine stream close by. Here is an extensive
+peat bed, which was once on fire and burnt for years&#8212;a great
+peril to freighters' ponies, which sometimes grazed into its
+unseen but smouldering depths. The seat of the fire was now an
+immense grassy circle, with a low wall of blackened peat all
+around it.</p>
+
+<p>In the morning an endless succession of small creeks was passed,
+screened by deep valleys which fell in from hills and muskegs
+to the south, and at noon, jaded with slow travel, we reached
+Athabasca Landing. A long hill leads down to the flat, and from
+its brow we had a striking view of the village below and of the
+noble river, which much resembles the Saskatchewan, minus its
+prairies. We were now fairly within the bewildering forest of
+the north, which spreads, with some intervals of plain, to the
+69th parallel of north latitude; an endless jungle of shaggy
+spruce, black and white poplar, birch, tamarack and Banksian pine.
+At the Landing we pitched our tents in front of the Hudson's Bay
+Company's post, where had stood, the previous year, a big canvas
+town of "Klondikers." Here they made preparation for their
+melancholy journey, setting out on the great stream in every
+species of craft, from rafts and coracles to steam barges.
+Here was begun an episode of that world-wide craze, which has
+run through all time, and almost every country, in which were
+enacted deeds of daring and suffering which add a new chapter
+to the history of human fearlessness and folly.</p>
+
+<p>The Landing was a considerable hamlet for such a wilderness,
+being the shipping point to Mackenzie River, and, via the Lesser
+Slave Lake, to the Upper Peace. It consisted of the Hudson's Bay
+Company's establishment, with large storehouses, a sawmill, the
+residence and church of a Church of England bishop, and a Roman
+Catholic station, with a variety of shelters in the shape of
+boarding-houses, shacks and tepees all around. From the number
+of scows and barges in all stages of construction, and the high
+timber canting-tackles, it had quite a shipyard-like look, the
+population being mainly mechanics, who constructed scows, small
+barges, called "sturgeons," and the old "York," or inland boat,
+carrying from four to five tons. Here, hauled up on the bank, was
+the Hudson's Bay Company's steamer, the <i>Athabasca</i>, a well-built
+vessel about 160 feet long by 28 feet beam. This vessel, it was
+found, drew too much water for the channel; so there she lay,
+rotting upon her skids. It was a tantalizing sight to ourselves,
+who would have been spared many a heart-break had she been fit
+for service. A more interesting feature of the Landing, however,
+was the well sunk by the Government borer, Mr. Fraser, for oil,
+but which sent up gas instead. The latter was struck at a
+considerable depth, and, when we were there, was led from the
+shaft under the river bank by a pipe, from which it issued
+aflame, burning constantly, we were told, summer and winter.
+Standing at the gateway of the unknown North, and looking
+at this interesting feature, doubly so from its place and
+promise, one could not but forecast an industrial future,
+and "dream on things to come."</p>
+
+<p>Shortly after our arrival at the Landing, news, true or false,
+reached us that the ice was still fast on Lesser Slave Lake. At
+any rate, the boat's crew expected from there did not turn up,
+and a couple of days were spent in anxious waiting. Some freight
+was delayed as well, and a thunderstorm and a night of rain set
+the camp in a swim. The non-arrival of our trackers was serious,
+as we had two scows and a York boat, with a party all told of some
+fifty souls, and only thirteen available trackers to start with.
+It seemed more than doubtful whether we could reach Lesser Slave
+Lake on treaty-schedule time, and the anxiety to push on was great.
+It was decided to set out as we were and trust to the chapter of
+accidents. We did not foresee the trials before us, the struggle
+up a great and swift river, with contrary winds, rainy weather,
+weak tracking lines and a weaker crew. The chapter of accidents
+opened, but not in the expected manner.</p>
+
+<p>The York boat and one of the scows were fitted up amidships with
+an awning, which could be run down on all sides when required,
+but were otherwise open to the weather, and much encumbered with
+lading; but all things being in readiness, on the 3rd of June we
+took to the water, and, a photograph of the scene having been
+taken, shoved off from the Landing. The boats were furnished
+with long, cumbrous sweeps, yet not a whit too heavy, since numbers
+of them snapped with the vigorous strokes of the rowers during
+the trip. A small sweep, passed through a ring at the stern,
+served as a rudder, by far the best steering gear for the
+"sturgeons," but not for a York boat, which is built with a
+keel and can sail pretty close to the wind. Ordinarily the
+only sail in use is a lug, which has a great spread, and moves
+a boat quickly in a fair wind. In a calm, of course, sweeps have
+to be used, and our first step in departure was to cross the
+river with them, the boatmen rising with the oars and falling
+back simultaneously to their seats with perfect precision, and
+handling the great blades with practised ease. When the opposite
+shore was reached, the four trackers of each boat leaped into
+the water, and, splashing up the bank, got into harness at
+once, and began, with changes to the oars, the unflagging pull
+which lasted for two weeks. This harness is called by the
+trackers "otapan&#225;pi"&#8212;a Cree word&#8212;and it must be borne in mind
+that scarcely any language was spoken throughout this region other
+than Cree. A little English or French was occasionally heard; but
+the tongue, domestic, diplomatic, universal, was Cree, into which
+every half-breed in common talk lapsed, sooner or later, with
+undisguised delight. It was his mother tongue, copious enough
+to express his every thought and emotion, and its soft accents,
+particularly in the mouth of woman, are certainly very musical.
+Emerson's phrase, "fossil poetry," might be applied to our Indian
+languages, in which a single stretched-out word does duty for
+a sentence.</p>
+
+<p>But to the harness. This is simply an adjustment of leather
+breast-straps for each man, tied to a very long tracking line,
+which, in turn, is tied to the bow of the boat. The trackers,
+once in it, walk off smartly along the bank, the men on board
+keeping the boats clear of it, and, on a fair path, with good
+water, make very good time. Indeed, the pull seems to give an
+impetus to the trackers as well as to the boat, so that a loose
+man has to lope to keep up with them. But on bad paths and
+bad water the speed is sadly pulled down, and, if rapids occur,
+sinks to the zero of a few miles a day. The "spells" vary
+according to these circumstances, but half an hour is the
+ordinary pull between "pipes," and there being no shifts in
+our case, the stoppages for rest and tobacco were frequent.
+At this rate we calculated that it would take eight or ten
+days to reach the mouth of Lesser Slave River. Mr. d'Eschambault
+and myself, having experienced the crowded state of the first
+and second boats, and foregathered during the trip, decided to
+take up our quarters on the scow, which had no awning, but
+which offered some elbow room and a tolerably cozy nook amongst
+the cases, bales and baggage with which it was encumbered.</p>
+
+<p>We had a study on board, as well, in our steersman, Pierre Cyr,
+which partly attracted me&#8212;a bronzed man, with long, thin, yet
+fine weather-beaten features, frosty moustache and keenly-gazing,
+dry, gray eyes&#8212;a tall, slim and sinewy man, over seventy
+years of age, yet agile and firm of step as a man of thirty.
+Add the semi-silent, inward laugh which Cooper ascribes to
+his Leather-Stocking, and you have Pierre Cyr, who might
+have stood for that immortal's portrait. That he had a history
+I felt sure when I first saw him seated amongst his boatmen at
+the Landing, and, on seeking his acquaintance, was not surprised
+to learn that he had accompanied Sir John Richardson on his
+last journey in Prince Rupert's Land, and Dr. Rae on his eventful
+expedition to Repulse Bay, in 1853, in search of Franklin. He
+looked as if he could do it again&#8212;a vigorous, alert man, ready
+and able to track or pole with the best&#8212;a survivor, in fact,
+of the old race of Red River voyageurs, whose record is one
+of the romances of history.</p>
+
+<p>Another attraction was my companion, Mr. d'E. himself&#8212;a man
+stout in person, quiet by disposition, and of few words; a man,
+too, with a lineage which connected him with many of the oldest
+pioneer families of French Canada. His ancestor, Jacques Alexis
+d'Eschambault, originally of St. Jean de Montaign, in Poictou,
+came to New France in the 17th century, where, in 1667, he married
+Marguerite Rene Denys, a relative of the devoted Madame de la
+Peltrie, and thus became brother-in-law to M. de Ramezay, the
+owner of the famous old mansion in Montreal, now a museum. Jacques
+d'Eschambault's son married a daughter of Louis Joliet, the
+discoverer of the Mississippi, and became a prominent merchant
+in Quebec, distinguishing himself, it is said, by having the
+largest family ever known in Canada, viz., thirty-two children.
+Under the new <i>r&#233;gime</i> my companion's grandfather, like many another
+French Canadian gentleman, entered the British army, but died
+in Canada, leaving as heir to his seigneurie a young man whose
+friendship for Lord Selkirk led him to Red River as a companion,
+where he subsequently entered the Hudson's Bay Company's service,
+and died, a chief-factor, at St. Boniface, Man. His son, my
+companion, also entered the service, in 1857, at his father's
+post of Isle a la Crosse, served seven years at Cumberland, nine
+at other distant points, and, finally, fifteen years as trader
+at Reindeer Lake, a far northern post bordering on the Barren Lands,
+and famous for its breed of dogs. My friend had some strange
+virtues, or defects, as the ungodly might call them; he had never
+used tobacco or intoxicants in his life, a marvellous thing
+considering his environment. He possessed, besides, a fine
+simplicity which pleased one. Doubled up in the Edmonton hotel
+with a waggish companion, he was seen, so the latter affirmed,
+to attempt to blow out the electric light, a thing which, greatly
+to his discomfiture, was done by his bed-fellow with apparent
+ease. Being a man of scant speech, I enjoyed with him betimes
+the luxury of it. But we had much discourse for all that, and
+I learnt many interesting things from this old trader, who seemed
+taciturn in our little crowd, but was, in reality, a tower of
+intelligent silence beat about by a flood of good-humoured chaff
+and loquacity.</p>
+
+<p>At our first night's camp we were still in sight of the Landing,
+which looked absurdly near, considering the men's hard pull; and
+from there messengers were sent to Baptiste Lake, the source of
+Baptiste Creek, which joins the Athabasca a few miles up, and
+where there was a settlement of half-breed fishermen and hunters,
+to procure additional trackers if possible. On their unsuccessful
+return, at eleven a.m., we started again&#8212;newo pishawuk, as they
+call it, "four trackers to the line," as before and early in the
+afternoon were opposite Baptiste Creek, and, weather compelling,
+rowed across, and camped there that evening. It rained dismally
+all night, and morning opened with a strong head wind and every
+symptom of bad weather. A survey party from the Rocky Mountains,
+in a York boat, tarried at our camp, bringing word that the
+ice-jam was clear in Lesser Slave Lake, which was cheering, but
+that we need scarcely look for the expected assistance. They
+also gave a vague account of the murder of a squaw by her
+husband for cannibalism, which afterwards proved to be groundless,
+and, with this comforting information, sped on.</p>
+
+<p>It is ridiculously easy to go down the Athabasca compared with
+ascending it. The previous evening a Baptiste Lake hunter, bound
+for the Landing, set on from our camp at a great rate astride
+of a couple of logs, which he held together with his legs, and
+disappeared round the bend below in a twinkling. A priest, too,
+with a companion, arrived about dusk in a canoe, and set off
+again, intending to beach at the Landing before dark.</p>
+
+<p>Of course, several surmises were current regarding the non-arrival
+of our trackers, the most likely being Bishop Grouard's, that,
+as the R. C. Mission boats and men had not come down either,
+the Indians and half-breeds were too intent upon discussing
+the forthcoming treaty to stir.</p>
+
+<p>So far it had been the rain and consequent bad tracking which
+had delayed us; but still we were too weak-handed to make headway
+without help, and it was at this juncture that the Police
+contingent stepped manfully into the breach, and volunteered
+to track one of the boats to the lake. This was no light matter
+for men unaccustomed to such beastly toil and in such abominable
+weather; but, having once put their hands to the rope, they
+were not the men to back down. With unfaltering "go" they
+pulled on day after day, landing their boat at its destination
+at last, having worked in the harness and at the sweeps,
+without relief, from the start almost to the finish.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile all enjoyed good health and spirits in spite of the
+weather. There were fair grounds for the belief that Mr. Ross,
+who had set out by trail from Edmonton, would reach the lake in
+time to distribute to the congregated Indians and half-breeds
+the Government rations stored there for that purpose, and,
+therefore, our anxiety was not so great as it would otherwise
+have been.</p>
+
+<p>Our trackers being thus reinforced, the outlook was more
+satisfactory, not so much in increased speed as in the certainty
+of progress. The rain had ceased, and though the sky was still
+lowering, the temperature was higher. Tents were struck, and
+the boats got under way at once, taking chances on the weather,
+which, instead of breaking up in another deluge, improved.
+Eight men were now put to each line, Peokus, a remarkable old
+Blackfoot Indian, captured and adopted in boyhood by the Crees,
+and who afterwards attracted the attention of us all, being
+detailed to lead the Police gang, who, raw and unused to the
+work, required an experienced tracker at their head.</p>
+
+<p>The country passed through hitherto was rolling, hilly, and
+densely forested, but, alas, with prostrate trunks and fire-blasted
+"rampikes," which ranged in all directions in desolate profusion.
+The timber was Banksian pine, spruce, poplar and birch, much of
+it merchantable, but not of large size. It was pitiful to see
+so much wealth destroyed by recent fires, and that, too, at the
+possible opening of an era of real value in the near future.
+The greatest destruction was evidently on the north side of the
+river, but the south had not escaped.</p>
+
+<p>As regards the soil in these parts, it was, so far, impossible
+to speak favourably. The hunters described the inland country
+as a wilderness of sand-hills, surrounded by quaking-bogs,
+muskegs and soft meadows. Judging by exposures on the river
+bank, there are, here and there, fertile areas which may yet
+be utilized; but probably the best thing that could happen to
+that part of the country would be a great clearing fire to
+complete the destruction of its dead timber and convert its
+best parts into prairie and a summer range for cattle.</p>
+
+<p>We were now approaching a portion of the river where the difficulties
+of getting on were great. The men had to cope with the swift current,
+bordered by a series of steep gumbo slides, where the tracking was
+hazardous; where great trees slanted over the water, tottering to
+their fall, or deep pits and fissures gaped in the festering clay,
+into which the men often plunged to their arm-pits. It was horrible
+to look upon. The chain-gang, the galley-slaves, how often the idea
+of them was recalled by that horrid pull! Yet onward they went,
+with teeth set and hands bruised by the rope, surmounting difficulty
+after difficulty with the pith of lions.</p>
+
+<p>At last a better region was reached, with occasionally a better
+path. Here the destruction by fire had been stayed, the country
+improved, and the forest outlines became bold and noble. Hour by
+hour we crept along a like succession of majestic bends of the
+river, not yet flushed by the summer freshet, but flowing with
+superb volume and force. Fully ten miles were made that day,
+the men tracking like Trojans through water and over difficult
+ground, but fortunately free from mosquitoes, the constant head
+winds keeping these effectually down. The cool weather in like
+manner kept the water down, for it is in this month that the
+freshet from the Rocky Mountains generally begins, filling the
+channel bank-high, submerging the tracking paths, and bearing
+upon its foaming surface such a mass of uprooted trees and river
+trash that it is almost impossible to make head against it.</p>
+
+<p>The next morning opened dry and pleasant, but with a milky and
+foreboding sky. Again the boats were in motion, passing the
+Pusquaten&#225;o, or Naked Hill, beyond which is the Echo Lake&#8212;Kato&#243;
+Saka&#237;gon&#8212;where a good many Indians lived, having a pack-trail
+thereto from the river.</p>
+
+<p>The afternoon proved to be hot, the clouds cumulose against a
+clear, blue sky, with occasional sun-showers. The tracking became
+better for a time, the lofty benches decreasing in height as we
+ascended. Innumerable ice-cold creeks poured in from the forest,
+all of a reddish-yellow cast, and the frequent marks on trees,
+informing passing hunters of the success of their friends, and
+the number of stages along the shore for drying meat, indicated
+a fine moose country.</p>
+
+<p>The next day was treaty day, and we were still a long way from
+the treaty post. The Police, not yet hardened to the work, felt
+fagged, but would not own up, a nephew of Sir William Vernon
+Harcourt bringing up the rear, and all slithering, but hanging
+to it with dogged perseverance. Nothing, indeed, can be imagined
+more arduous than this tracking up a swift river, against constant
+head winds in bad weather. Much of it is in the water, wading up
+"snies," or tortuous shallow channels, plunging into numberless
+creeks, clambering up slimy banks, creeping under or passing the
+line over fallen trees, wading out in the stream to round long
+spits of sand or boulders, floundering in gumbo slides, tripping,
+crawling, plunging, and, finally, tottering to the camping-place
+sweating like horses, and mud to the eyes&#8212;but never grumbling.
+After a whole day of this slavish work, no sooner was the bath
+taken, supper stowed, and pipes filled, than laughter began,
+and jokes and merriment ran round the camp-fires as if such
+things as mud and toil had never existed.</p>
+
+<p>The old Indian, Peokus, heading the Police line, was a study.
+His garb was a pair of pants toned down to the colour of the
+grime they daily sank in, a shirt and corduroy vest to match,
+a faded kerchief tied around his head, an Assomption sash, and
+a begrimed body inside of all&#8212;a short, squarely built frame,
+clad with rounded muscles&#8212;nothing angular about <i>him!</i>&#8212;but the
+nerves within tireless as the stream he pulled against. On the
+lead, in harness, his long arms swung like pendulums, his whole
+body leant forward at an acute angle, the gait steady, and the
+step solid as the tramp of a gorilla. Some coarse black hairs
+clung here and there to his upper lip; his fine brown eyes were
+embedded in wrinkles, and his swarthy features, though clumsy,
+were kindly&#8212;a good-humoured face, which, at a cheerful word
+or glance, lit up at once with the grotesque grin of an animated
+gargoyle. This was the typical old-time tracker of the North; the
+toiler who brought in the products of man's art in the East, and
+took out Nature's returns&#8212;the Indian's output&#8212;ever since the
+trade first penetrated these endless solitudes.</p>
+
+<p>The forest scenery now became very striking; primeval masses of
+poplar and birch foliage, which spread away and upward in smoothest
+slopes, like vast lawns, studded with the sombre green of the pine
+tops which towered above them. Here and there the bends of the
+river crossed at such angles as to enclose a lake-like expanse
+of water. The river also took a fine colouring from its tributaries,
+a sort of greenish-yellow tinge, and now became flecked with
+bubbles and thin foam, so that we feared the freshet, which would
+have been disastrous.</p>
+
+<p>At mid-day we reached Shoal Island&#8212;Pakw&#225;o Ministic&#8212;and here the
+poles were got out and the trackers took the middle of the river
+for nearly a mile, until deep water was reached. Placer miners
+had evidently been at work here, but with poor results, we
+were told. Below Baptiste Creek, however, the yield had been
+satisfactory, and several miners had made from $2.00 to $2.50 a
+day over their living expenses. Above the Baptiste there was
+nothing doing; indeed, we did not pass a single miner at work
+on the whole route, and it was the best time for their work.
+The gold is flocculent, its source as mysterious as that of the
+Saskatchewan, if the theory that the latter was washed out of
+the Selkirks before the upheaval of the Rockies is astray.</p>
+
+<p>A fresh moose head, seen lying on the bank, indicated a hunting
+party, but no human life was seen aside from our own people.
+Indeed, the absence of life of any kind along the river, excepting
+the song-birds, which were in some places numerous, was surprising.
+No deer, no bears, not even a fox or a timber wolf made one's
+fingers itch for the trigger. A few brent, which took wing afar
+off, and a high-flying duck or two, were the sole wildings observed,
+save a big humble-bee which droned around our boat for an instant,
+then darted off again. Even fish seemed to be anything but plentiful.</p>
+
+<p>That night's camp was hurriedly made in a hummocky fastness of
+pine and birch, where we found few comfortable bedding-places.
+In the morning we passed several ice-ledges along shore, the
+survivals of the severe winter, and, presently, met a canoe
+with two men from Peace River, crestfallen "Klondikers," who
+had "struck it rich," they said, with a laugh, and who reported
+good water. Next morning a very early start was made, and after
+some long, strong pulls, and a vigorous spurt, the mouth of the
+Lesser Slave River opened at last on our sight.</p>
+
+<p>We had latterly passed along what appeared to be fertile soil,
+a sandy clay country, which improved to the west and south-west
+at every turn. It had an inviting look, and the "lie," as well,
+of a region foreordained for settlement. It was irritating not
+to be able to explore the inner land, but our urgency was too
+great for that. From what we saw, however, it was easy to
+predict that thither would flow, in time, the stream of pioneer
+life and the bustle of attending enterprise and trade.</p>
+
+<h3 class="chap-num" id="chap02">Chapter II</h3>
+<h3>Lesser Slave River And Lesser Slave Lake.</h3>
+
+<p>It is unnecessary to inform the average reader that the Lesser
+Slave River connects the Lesser Slave Lake with the Athabasca;
+any atlas will satisfy him upon that point. But its peculiar
+colouring he will not find there, and it is this which gives
+the river its most distinctive character. Once seen, it is easy
+to account for the hue of the Athabasca below the Lesser Slave
+River; for the water of the latter, though of a pale yellow colour
+in a glass, is of a rich burnt umber in the stream, and when blown
+upon by the wind turns its sparkling facets to the sun like the
+smile upon the cheek of a brunette. Its upward course is like
+a continuous letter S with occasional S's side by side, so that
+a point can be crossed on foot in a few minutes which would
+cost much time to go around. Its proper name, too, is not to
+be found in the atlases, either English or French. There it
+is called the Lesser Slave River, but in the classic Cree its
+name is Iyaghchi Eennu Sepe, or the River of the Blackfeet,
+literally the "River of the Strange People." The lake itself
+bears the same name, and even now is never called Slave Lake
+by the Indians in their own tongue. This fact, to my mind,
+casts additional light upon an obscure prehistoric question,
+namely, the migration of the great Algic, or Algonquin, race.
+Its early home was, perhaps, in the far south, or south-west,
+whence it migrated around the Gulf of Florida, and eastward
+along the Atlantic coast, spreading up its bays and inlets,
+and along its great tributary rivers, finally penetrating by
+the Upper Ottawa to James's, and ultimately to the shores of
+Hudson Bay. I know there is strong adverse opinion as to the
+starting-point of this migration, and I only offer my own as
+a suggestion based upon the facts stated, and as, therefore,
+worthy of consideration. Sir Alexander Mackenzie speaks of the
+Blackfeet "travelling north-westward," and that the Crees were
+"invaders of the Saskatchewan from the eastward." Indeed, he says
+the latter were called by the Hudson's Bay Company's officers at
+York Factory "their home-guards." One thing seems certain, viz.,
+that the Crees got their firearms from the English at Hudson
+Bay in the 17th century. Thence that great tribe, called by
+themselves the Nah&#233;owuk, but by the Ojibway Saulteaux the
+Kinistineaux, and by the voyageurs Christineaux, or, more
+commonly, the Crees&#8212;a word derived, some think, from the first
+syllable of the latter name, or perhaps from the French <i>crier</i>,
+to shout&#8212;descended upon the Blackfeet, who probably at that
+time occupied this region, and undoubtedly the Saskatchewan,
+and drove them south along a line stretching to the Rocky
+Mountains.</p>
+
+<p>The tradition of this expulsion is still extant, as also of the
+great raids made by the Blackfeet and their kindred in times
+past into their ancient domain. I remember visiting, with my
+old friend Attakacoop&#8212;Star-Blanket&#8212;the deceased Cree chief,
+twenty years ago, the triumphal pile of red deer horns raised
+by the Blackfeet north of Shell River, a tributary of the North
+Saskatchewan. It is called by the Crees Ooskunaka Assustakee,
+and the chief described its great size in former days, and the
+tradition of its origin as told to him in his boyhood. Be all
+this as it may, and this is not the place to pursue the inquiry,
+the stream in question is, to the Crees who live upon it, not
+the River of the Slaves, but the "River of the Blackfeet." How
+it came by its white name is another question. Possibly some
+captured Indians of the tribe called the Slaves to this day, reduced
+to servitude by the Crees, were seen by the early voyageurs, and
+gave rise to the French name, of which ours is a translation.
+Slavery was common enough amongst the Indians everywhere. A
+thriving trade was done at the Detroit in the 18th century in
+Pawnees, or Panis, as they were called, captured by Indian
+raiders on the western prairies and sold to the white settlers
+along the river. I have seen in Windsor, Ont., an old bill of
+sale of one of these Pani slaves, the consideration being, if
+I recollect aright, a certain quantity of Indian corn.</p>
+
+<p>To return to the river. The distance from Athabasca Landing to
+the Lesser Slave is called sixty-five miles, but this must have
+been ascertained by measuring from point to point, for, following
+the shore up stream, as boats must, it is certainly more. To the
+head of the river is an additional sixty miles, and thence to
+the head of the lake seventy-five more. The Hudson's Bay Company
+had a storehouse at the Forks, and an island was forming where
+the waters meet, the finest feature of the place being an echo,
+which reverberated the bugler's call at <i>reveille</i> very grandly.</p>
+
+<p>A spurt was made in the early morning, the trackers first following
+a bank overgrown with alders and sallows, all of a size, which
+looked exactly like a well-kept hedge, but soon gave way to the
+usual dense line of poplar and spruce, rooted to the very edges
+of the banks, which are low compared with those of the Athabasca.
+After ascending it for some distance, it being Sunday, we camped
+for the day upon an open grassy point, around which the river
+swept in a perfect semi-circle, the dense forest opposite towering
+in one equally perfect, and glorious in light and shade and
+harmonious tints of green, from sombre olive to the lightest
+pea. The point itself was covered with strawberry vines and
+dotted with clumps of saskatoons all in bloom.</p>
+
+<p>It was a lovely and lonely spot, which was soon converted into
+a scene of eating and laughter, and a drying ground for wet
+clothes. Towards evening Bishop Grouard and Father Lacombe held
+a well-attended service, which in this profound wilderness was
+peculiarly impressive. Listening, one thought how often the same
+service, these same chants and canticles, had awakened the sylvan
+echoes in like solitudes on the St. Lawrence and Mississippi in
+the old days of exploration and trade, and of missionary zeal and
+suffering. It recalled, too, the thought of man's evanescence and
+the apparent fixedness of his institutions.</p>
+
+<p>Shortly after our tents were pitched a boat drifted past
+with five jaded-looking men aboard&#8212;more baffled Klondikers
+returning from Peace River. We had heard of numbers in the
+interior who could neither go on nor return, and expected to
+meet more castaways before we reached the lake. In this we
+were not astray, and several days after in the upper river
+we met a York boat loaded with them, alert and unmistakable
+Americans, but with the worn features of disappointed men.</p>
+
+<p>We were now constantly encountering the rapids, which extended
+for about twenty-five miles, and very difficult and troublesome
+they proved to be to our heavily-loaded craft. Most of them were
+got over slowly by combined poling and tracking, the line often
+breaking with the strain, and the boats being kept in the channel
+only by the most strenuous efforts of the experienced men on board.
+If a monias (a greenhorn) took the bow pole, as was sometimes the
+case, the orders of our steersman, Cyr, were amusing to listen to.
+"Tughkenay asswayegh tamook!" (Be on your guard!) "Turn de oder way!
+Turn yourself! Turn your pole&#8212;Hell!" Then, of course, came the
+customary rasp on the rocks, but, if not, the cheery cry followed
+to the trackers ashore, "Ahchipitamook!" (Haul away!) and on we
+would go for a few yards more. Once, towards the end of this dreary
+business, when we were all crowded into the Commissioner's boat,
+where we took our meals, in the first really stiff rapid the keel
+grated as usual upon the rocks. With a better line we might have
+pulled through, but it broke, and the boat at once swung broadside
+to the current and listed on the rocks immovably, though the men
+struggling in the water did their best to heavy her off. The
+third boat then came up, and shortly afterwards the Police boat.
+But getting their steering sweeps fouled and lines entangled, it
+was nearly an hour before Cyr's boat, being first lightened, could
+swing to starboard of the York, and take off the passengers.
+The York boat was then shouldered off the rocks by main force,
+and all got under way again. At this juncture our old Indian,
+Peokus&#8212;or Pehayokusk, to give him his right name, to wit, "The
+giblets of a bird"&#8212;met with a serious accident, which, much to
+our regret, laid him up for several days. In his eagerness to
+help he slipped from a sunken log, and the bruise knocked the
+wind out of him completely. We took off his wet clothes and rubbed
+him, and laid him by the fire, where the doctor's care and a
+liberal dram of spirits soon fetched him to rights. A look of
+pleased wonder passed over his clumsy features as the latter
+did its work. Caliban himself could not have been more curiously
+surprised.</p>
+
+<p>This was not our last stick: there were other awkward rapids
+near by; but by dint of wading, shouldering, pulling and tracking,
+we got over the last of them and into a deep channel for good,
+having advanced only five miles after a day of incessant toil,
+most of it in the water.</p>
+
+<p>Our camp that night was a memorable one. The day was the fiftieth
+anniversary of Father Lacombe's ministration as a missionary in
+the North-West, and all joined in presenting him with a suitable
+address, handsomely engrossed by Mr. Prudhomme on birch bark,
+and signed by the whole party. A poem, too, composed by Mr.
+Cot&#233;, a gentleman of literary gifts and taste, also written on
+bark, was read and presented at the same time. <span class="footnote">[The poem, the text
+of which was secured from the author too late for insertion here,
+<a href="#cotespoem">will be found in the Appendix</a>, p. 490.]</span> P&#232;re Lacombe made a touching
+impromptu reply, which was greatly appreciated. Many of us were not
+of the worthy Father's communion, yet there was but one feeling,
+that of deep respect for the labours of this celebrated missionary,
+whose life had been a continuous effort to help the unbefriended
+Indian into the new but inevitable paths of self-support, and to
+shield him from the rapacity of the cold incoming world now surging
+around him. After the presentation, over a good cigar, the Father
+told some inimitable stories of Indian life on the plains in the
+old days, which to my great regret are too lengthy for inclusion
+here. One incident, however, being <i>apropos</i> of himself, must find
+place. Turning the conversation from materialism, idealism, and the
+other "isms" into which it had drifted, he spoke of the fears so
+many have of ghosts, and even of a corpse, and confessed that, from
+early training, he had shared this fear until he got rid of it in an
+incident one winter at Lac Ste. Anne. He had been sent for during
+the night to administer extreme unction to a dying half-breed girl
+thirteen miles away. Hitching his dogs to their sled he sped on,
+but too late, for he was met on the trail by the girl's relatives,
+bringing her dead body wrapped in a buffalo skin, and which
+they asked him to take back with him and place in his chapel
+pending service. He tremblingly assented, and the body was
+duly tied to his sled, the relatives returning to their homes.
+He was alone with the corpse in the dense and dark forest, and
+felt the old dread, but reflecting on his office and its duties,
+he ran for a long distance behind the sled until, thoroughly
+tired, he stepped on it to rest. In doing this he slipped and
+fell upon the corpse in a spasm of fear, which, strange to say,
+when he recovered from it, he felt no more. The shock cured him,
+and, reaching home, he placed the girl's body in the chapel
+with his own hands. It reminded him, he said, of a Community
+at Marseilles whose Superior had died, but whose money was
+missing. The new Superior sent a young priest who had a great
+dread of ghosts down to the crypt below the church to open the
+coffin and search the pockets of the dead. He did so, and found
+the money; but in nailing on the coffin lid again, a part of
+his soutane was fastened down with it. The priest turned to go,
+advanced a step, and, being suddenly held, dropped dead with
+fright. These gruesome stories were happily followed by an hour
+or two of song and pleasantry in Mr. McKenna's tent, ending in
+"Auld Lang Syne" and "God Save the Queen." It was a unique occasion
+in which to wind up so laborious a day; and our camp itself was
+unique&#8212;on a lofty bluff overlooking the confluence of the
+Saulteau River with the Lesser Slave&#8212;a bold and beautiful
+spot, the woods at the angle of the two rivers, down to the
+water's edge, showing like a gigantic V, as clean-cut as if
+done by a pair of colossal shears.</p>
+
+<p>Next morning rowing took the place of poling and tracking for a
+time, and, presently, the great range of lofty hills called, to
+our right, the Moose Watchi, and to our left, the Tuskanatchi&#8212;the
+Moose and Raspberry Mountains&#8212;loomed in the distance. Here, and
+when only a few miles from the lake, a York boat came tearing down
+stream full of lithe, young half-breed trackers&#8212;our long-expected
+assistants from the Hudson's Bay Company's post, as we would have
+welcomed much more warmly had they come sooner, for we had little
+but the lake now to ascend, up which a fair breeze would carry us
+in a single night.</p>
+
+<p>Doubtless it would have done so if it had come; but the same
+head-winds and storms which had thwarted us from the first
+dogged us still. We had camped near the mouth of Muskeg Creek,
+a good-sized stream, and evidently the cause hitherto of the
+Lesser Slave's rich chocolate colour; for, above the forks, the
+latter took its hue from the lake, but with a yellowish tinge
+still. From this point the river was very crooked, and lined by
+great hay meadows of luxuriant growth. Skirting these, reinforced
+as we were, we soon pulled up to the foot of the lake, where stood
+a Hudson's Bay Company's solitary storehouse. There some change of
+lading was made, in order to reach "the Island," some seven miles
+up, and the only one in the lake, sails being hoisted for the first
+time to an almost imperceptible wind.</p>
+
+<p>The island, where we were to camp simply for the night&#8212;as we
+fondly thought&#8212;was found to be a sprawling jumble of water-worn
+pebbles, boulders and sand, with a long narrow spit projecting
+to the east, much frequented by gulls, of whose eggs a large
+number were gathered. To the south, on the mainland, is the
+site of the old North-West Company's post, near to which stood
+that of the Hudson's Bay Company, for they always planted
+themselves cheek by jowl in those days of rivalry, so that
+there should be no lack of provocation. A dozen half-breed
+families had now their habitat there, and subsisted by fishing
+and trapping. On the island our Cree half-breeds enjoyed the
+first evening's camp by playing the universal button-hiding
+game called Pugasawin, and which is always accompanied by a
+monotonous chant and the tom-tom, anything serving for that
+hideous instrument if a drum is not at hand. They are all
+inveterate gamblers in that country, and lose or win with
+equal indifference. Others played a peculiar game of cards
+called Natwaw&#225;quawin, or "Marriage," the loser's penalty
+being droll, but unmentionable. These amusements, which
+often spun out till morning, were broken up by another
+rattling storm, which lasted all night and all the next day.
+We had lost all count of storms by this time, and were stolidly
+resigned. The day following, however, the wind was fresh and
+fair, and we made great headway, reaching the mouth of Swan
+River&#8212;Napos&#233;o Sepe&#8212;about mid-day.</p>
+
+<p>This stream is almost choked at its discharge by a conglomeration
+of slimy roots, weeds and floatwood, and the banks are "a
+melancholy waste of putrid marshes." It is a forbidding entrance
+to a river which, farther up, waters a good farming country,
+including coal in abundance.</p>
+
+<p>The wind being strong and fair, we spun along at a great rate,
+and expected to reach the treaty point before dark, reckoning,
+as usual, without our host. The wind suddenly wheeled to the
+south-west, and a dangerous squall sprang up, which forced us
+to run back for shelter fully five miles. There was barely time
+to camp before the gale became furious, raging all night, and
+throwing down tents like nine-pins. About one a.m. a cry arose
+from the night-watch that the boats were swamping. All hands
+turned out, lading was removed, and the scows hauled up on the
+shingle, the rollers piling on shore with a height and fury
+perfectly astonishing for such a lake. By morning the tempest
+was at its height, continuing all day and into the night. The
+sunset that evening exhibited some of the grandest and wildest
+sky scenery we had ever beheld. In the west a vast bank of
+luminous orange cloud, edged by torn fringes of green and gray;
+in the south a sea of amethyst, and stretching from north to
+east masses of steel gray and pearl, shot with brilliant shafts
+and tufts of golden vapour. The whole sky streamed with rich
+colouring in the fierce wind, as if possessed at once by the
+genii of beauty and storm. The boatmen, noting its aspect,
+predicted worse weather; but, fortunately, morning belied the
+omens&#8212;our trials were over.</p>
+
+<p>We were now nearing Shaw's Point, a long willowed spit of land,
+called after a whimsical old chief-factor of the Hudson's Bay
+Company who had charge of this district over sixty years before.
+He appears to have been a man of many eccentricities, one
+of which was the cultivation <i>a la Chinois</i> of a very long
+finger-nail, which he used as a spoon to eat his egg. But of
+him anon. By four p.m. we had rounded his Point, and come into
+view of Wyaweekamon&#8212;"The Outlet"&#8212;a rudimentary street with
+several trading stores, a billiard saloon and other accessories
+of a brand-new village in a very old wilderness.</p>
+
+<p>Here we were at the treaty point at last, safe and sound, with
+new interests and excitements before us; with wild man instead
+of wild weather to encounter; with discords to harmonize and
+suspicions to allay by human kindness, perhaps by human firmness,
+but mainly by the just and generous terms proffered by Government
+to an isolated but highly interesting and deserving people.</p>
+
+<h3 class="chap-num" id="chap03">Chapter III</h3>
+<h3>Treaty At Lesser Slave Lake.</h3>
+
+<p>On the 19th of June our little fleet landed at Willow Point.
+There was a rude jetty, or wharf, at this place, below the
+little trading village referred to, at which loaded boats
+discharged. Formerly they could ascend the sluggish and shallow
+channel connecting the expansion of the Heart River, called
+Buffalo Lake, with the head of Lesser Slave Lake, a distance
+of about three miles, and as far as the Hudson's Bay Company's
+post, around which another trading village had gathered. This
+temporary fall in the water level partly accounted for the growth
+of the village at Willow Point, where sufficient interests had
+arisen to cause a jealousy between the two hamlets. Once upon
+a time Atawayw&#233; Kamick was supreme. This is the name the
+Crees give to the Hudson's Bay Company, meaning literally "the
+Buying House." But now there were many stores, and "free
+trade" was rather in the ascendant. In the middle was safety,
+and therefore the Commissioners decided to pitch camp on a
+beautiful flat facing the south and fronting the channel, and
+midway between the two opposing points of trade. A <i>feu de joie</i>
+by the white residents of the region, of whom there were some
+seventy or eighty, welcomed the arrival of the boats at the
+wharf, and after a short stay here, simply to collect baggage,
+a start was made for the camping ground, where our numerous
+tents soon gave the place the appearance of a village of our own.</p>
+
+<p>Tepees were to be seen in all directions from our camp&#8212;the
+lodges of the Indians and half-breeds. But no sooner was the
+treaty site apparent than a general concentration took place,
+and we were speedily surrounded by a bustling crowd, putting
+up trading tents and shacks, dancing booths, eating-places,
+etc., so that with the motley crowd, including a large number
+of women and children, and a swarm of dogs such as we never
+dreamt of, amounting in a short space by constant accessions
+to over a thousand, we were in the heart of life and movement
+and noise.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Ross, as already stated, had gone on by trail from Edmonton,
+partly in order to inspect it, and managed to reach the lake
+before us, which was fortunate, since Indians and half-breeds
+had collected in large numbers, and women thus able to allay
+their irritation and to distribute rations pending the arrival
+of the other members of the Commission. During the previous
+winter, upon the circulation in the North of the news of the
+coming treaty, discussion was rife, and every cabin and tepee
+rang with argument. The wiseacre was not absent, of course,
+and agitators had been at work for some time endeavouring to
+jaundice the minds of the people&#8212;half-breeds, it was said,
+from Edmonton, who had been vitiated by contact with a low
+class of white men there&#8212;and, therefore, nothing was as yet
+positively known as to the temper and views of the Indians.
+But whatever evil effect these tamperings might have had upon
+them, it was felt that a plain statement of the proposals of
+the Government would speedily dissipate it, and that, when
+placed before them in Mr. Laird's customary kind and lucid
+manner, they would be accepted by both Indians and half-breeds
+as the best obtainable, and as conducing in all respects to
+their truest and most permanent interests.</p>
+
+<p>On the 20th the eventful morning had come, and, for a wonder,
+the weather proved to be calm, clear and pleasant. The hour
+fixed upon for the beginning of negotiations was two p.m., up
+to which time much hand-shaking had, of course, to be undergone
+with the constant new arrivals of natives from the forest and
+lakes around. The Church of England and Roman Catholic clergy,
+the only missionary bodies in the country, met and dined with
+our party, after which all adjourned to the treaty ground, where
+the people had already assembled, and where all soon seated
+themselves on the grass in front of the treaty tent&#8212;a large
+marquee&#8212;the Indians being separated by a small space from the
+half-breeds, who ranged themselves behind them, all conducting
+themselves in the most sedate and orderly manner.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Laird and the other Commissioners were seated along the open
+front of the tent, and one could not but be impressed by the
+scene, set as it was in a most beautiful environment of distant
+mountains, waters, forests and meadows, all sweet and primeval,
+and almost untouched by civilized man. The whites of The region
+had also turned out to witness the scene, which, though lacking
+the wild aspect of the old assemblages on the plains in the early
+'seventies, had yet a character of its own of great interest,
+and of the most hopeful promise.</p>
+
+<p>The crowd of Indians ranged before the marquee had lost all
+semblance of wildness of the true type. Wild men they were,
+in a sense, living as they did in the forest and on their great
+waters. But it was plain that these people had achieved, without
+any treaty at all, a stage of civilization distinctly in advance
+of many of our treaty Indians to the south after twenty-five
+years of education. Instead of paint and feathers, the scalp-lock,
+the breech-clout, and the buffalo-robe, there presented itself a
+body of respectable-looking men, as well dressed and evidently
+quite as independent in their feelings as any like number of
+average pioneers in the East. Indeed, I had seen there, in my
+youth, many a time, crowds of white settlers inferior to these
+in sedateness and self-possession. One was prepared, in this
+wild region of forest, to behold some savage types of men;
+indeed, I craved to renew the vanished scenes of old. But,
+alas! one beheld, instead, men with well-washed, unpainted
+faces, and combed and common hair; men in suits of ordinary
+"store-clothes," and some even with "boiled" if not laundered
+shirts. One felt disappointed, almost defrauded. It was not
+what was expected, what we believed we had a right to expect,
+after so much waggoning and tracking and drenching, and river
+turmoil and trouble. This woeful shortcoming from bygone days
+attended other aspects of the scene. Instead of fiery oratory and
+pipes of peace&#8212;the stone calumets of old&#8212;the vigorous arguments,
+the outbursts of passion, and close calls from threatened violence,
+here was a gathering of commonplace men smoking briar-roots,
+with treaty tobacco instead of "weed," and whose chiefs replied
+to Mr. Laird's explanations and offers in a few brief and sensible
+statements, varied by vigorous appeals to the common sense and
+judgment, rather than the passions, of their people. It was a
+disappointing, yet, looked at aright, a gratifying spectacle.
+Here were men disciplined by good handling and native force out
+of barbarism&#8212;of which there was little to be seen&#8212;and plainly
+on the high road to comfort; men who led inoffensive and honest
+lives, yet who expressed their sense of freedom and self-support
+in their speech, and had in their courteous demeanour the
+unmistakable air and bearing of independence. If provoked
+by injustice, a very dangerous people this; but self-respecting,
+diligent and prosperous in their own primitive calling, and
+able to adopt agriculture, or any other pursuit, with a fair
+hope of success when the still distant hour for it should arrive.</p>
+
+<p>The proceedings began with the customary distribution of tobacco,
+and by a reference to the competent interpreters who had been
+appointed by the Commission, men who were residents, and well
+known to the Indians themselves, and who possessed their confidence.
+The Indians had previously appointed as spokesman their Chief and
+head-man, Keenooshayo and Moostoos, a worthy pair of brothers,
+who speedily exhibited their qualities of good sense and judgment,
+and, Keenooshayo in particular, a fine order of Indian eloquence,
+which was addressed almost entirely to his own people, and which
+is lost, I am sorry to say, in the account here set down.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Laird then rose, and having unrolled his Commission, and
+that of his colleagues, from the Queen, proceeded with his
+proposals. He spoke as follows:</p>
+
+<p>"Red Brothers! we have come here to-day, sent by the Great Mother
+to treat with you, and this is the paper she has given to us, and
+is her Commission to us signed with her Seal, to show we have
+authority to treat with you. The other Commissioners, who are
+associated with me, and who are sitting here, are Mr. McKenna
+and Mr. Ross and the Rev. Father Lacombe, who is with us to
+act as counsellor and adviser. I have to say, on behalf of the
+Queen and the Government of Canada, that we have come to make
+you an offer. We have made treaties in former years with
+all the Indians of the prairie, and from there to Lake Superior.
+As white people are coming into your country, we have thought
+it well to tell you what is required of you. The Queen wants
+all the whites, half-breeds and Indians to be at peace with
+one another, and to shake hands when they meet. The Queen's
+laws must be obeyed all over the country, both by the whites
+and the Indians. It is not alone that we wish to prevent Indians
+from molesting the whites, it is also to prevent the whites from
+molesting or doing harm to the Indians. The Queen's soldiers
+are just as much for the protection of the Indians as for the
+white man. The Commissioners made an appointment to meet you
+at a certain time, but on account of bad weather on river and
+lake, we are late, which we are sorry for, but are glad to meet
+so many of you here to-day.</p>
+
+<p>"We understand stories have been told you, that if you made a
+treaty with us you would become servants and slaves; but we wish
+you to understand that such is not the case, but that you will
+be just as free after signing a treaty as you are now. The treaty
+is a free offer; take it or not, just as you please. If you
+refuse it there is no harm done; we will not be bad friends
+on that account. One thing Indians must understand, that if they
+do not make a treaty they must obey the laws of the land&#8212;that
+will be just the same whether you make a treaty or not; the
+laws must be obeyed. The Queen's Government wishes to give the
+Indians here the same terms as it has given all the Indians all
+over the country, from the prairies to Lake Superior. Indians
+in other places, who took treaty years ago, are now better off
+than they were before. They grow grain and raise cattle like
+the white people. Their children have learned to read and write.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, I will give you an outline of the terms we offer you. If you
+agree to take treaty, every one this year gets a present of $12.00.
+A family of five, man, wife and three children, will thus get $60.00;
+a family of eight, $96.00; and after this year, and for every year
+afterwards, $5.00 for each person forever. To such chiefs as you
+may select, and that the Government approves of, we will give
+$25.00 each year, and the counsellors $15.00 each. The chiefs
+also get a silver medal and a flag, such as you see now at our
+tent, right now as soon as the treaty is signed. Next year, as
+soon as we know how many chiefs there are, and every three years
+thereafter, each chief will get a suit of clothes, and every
+counsellor a suit, only not quite so good as that of the chief.
+Then, as the white men are coming in and settling in the country,
+and as the Queen wishes the Indians to have lands of their own,
+we will give one square mile, or 640 acres, to each family of
+five; but there will be no compulsion to force Indians to go
+into a reserve. He who does not wish to go into a band can get
+160 acres of land for himself, and the same for each member of
+his family. These reserves are holdings you can select when you
+please, subject to the approval of the Government, for you might
+select lands which might interfere with the rights or lands of
+settlers. The Government must be sure that the land which you
+select is in the right place. Then, again, as some of you may
+want to sow grain or potatoes, the Government will give you
+ploughs or harrows, hoes, etc., to enable you to do so, and
+every spring will furnish you with provisions to enable you to
+work and put in your crop. Again, if you do not wish to grow
+grain, but want to raise cattle, the Government will give you
+bulls and cows, so that you may raise stock. If you do not
+wish to grow grain or raise cattle, the Government will furnish
+you with ammunition for your hunt, and with twine to catch fish.
+The Government will also provide schools to teach your children
+to read and write, and do other things like white men and their
+children. Schools will be established where there is a sufficient
+number of children. The Government will give the chiefs axes
+and tools to make houses to live in and be comfortable. Indians
+have been told that if they make a treaty they will not be allowed
+to hunt and fish as they do now. This is not true. Indians who
+take treaty will be just as free to hunt and fish all over as
+they now are.</p>
+
+<p>"In return for this the Government expects that the Indians will
+not interfere with or molest any miner, traveller or settler.
+We expect you to be good friends with every-one, and shake hands
+with all you meet. If any whites molest you in any way, shoot
+your dogs or horses, or do you any harm, you have only to report
+the matter to the police, and they will see that justice is done
+to you. There may be some things we have not mentioned, but these
+can be mentioned later on. Commissioners Walker and Cot&#233; are
+here for the half-breeds, who later on, if treaty is made with
+you, will take down the names of half-breeds and their children,
+and find out if they are entitled to scrip. The reason the
+Government does this is because the half-breeds have Indian
+blood in their veins, and have claims on that account. The
+Government does not make treaty with them, as they live as
+white men do, so it gives them scrip to settle their claims at
+once and forever. Half-breeds living like Indians have the
+chance to take the treaty instead, if they wish to do so. They
+have their choice, but only after the treaty is signed. If
+there is no treaty made, scrip cannot be given. After the
+treaty is signed, the Commissioners will take up half-breed
+claims. The first thing they will do is to give half-breed
+settlers living on land 160 acres, if there is room to do so;
+but if several are settled close together, the land will be
+divided between them as fairly as possible. All, whether settled
+or not, will be given scrip for land to the value of $240.00,
+that is, all born up to the date of signing the treaty. They
+can sell that scrip, that is, all of you can do so. They can
+take, if they like, instead of this scrip for 240 acres, lands
+where they like. After they have located their land, and got
+their title, they can live on it, or sell part, or the whole
+of it, as they please, but cannot sell the scrip. They must
+locate their land, and get their title before selling.</p>
+
+<p>"These are the principal points in the offer we have to make
+to you. The Queen owns the country, but is willing to acknowledge
+the Indians' claims, and offers them terms as an offset to all
+of them. We shall be glad to answer any questions, and make clear
+any points not understood. We shall meet you again to-morrow,
+after you have considered our offer, say about two o'clock, or
+later if you wish. We have other Indians to meet at other places,
+but we do not wish to hurry you. After this meeting you can go
+to the Hudson's Bay fort, where our provisions are stored, and
+rations will be issued to you of flour, bacon, tea and tobacco,
+so that you can have a good meal and a good time. This is a free
+gift, given with goodwill, and given to you whether you make a
+treaty or not. It is a present the Queen is glad to make to you.
+I am now done, and shall be glad to hear what any one has to say."</p>
+
+<p>KEENOOSHAYO (The Fish): "You say we are brothers. I cannot understand
+how we are so. I live differently from you. I can only understand
+that Indians will benefit in a very small degree from your offer.
+You have told us you come in the Queen's name. We surely have also
+a right to say a little as far as that goes. I do not understand
+what you say about every third year."</p>
+
+<p>MR. MCKENNA: "The third year was only mentioned in connection with
+clothing."</p>
+
+<p>KEENOOSHAYO: "Do you not allow the Indians to make their own
+conditions, so that they may benefit as much as possible? Why I
+say this is that we to-day make arrangements that are to last as
+long as the sun shines and the water runs. Up to the present I
+have earned my own living and worked in my own way for the Queen.
+It is good. The Indian loves his way of living and his free life.
+When I understand you thoroughly I will know better what I shall
+do. Up to the present I have never seen the time when I could not
+work for the Queen, and also make my own living. I will consider
+carefully what you have said."</p>
+
+<p>MOOSTOOS (The Bull): "Often before now I have said I would carefully
+consider what you might say. You have called us brothers. Truly
+I am the younger, you the elder brother. Being the younger, if
+the younger ask the elder for something, he will grant his request
+the same as our mother the Queen. I am glad to hear what you have
+to say. Our country is getting broken up. I see the white man
+coming in, and I want to be friends. I see what he does, but it
+is best that we should be friends. I will not speak any more.
+There are many people here who may wish to speak."</p>
+
+<p>WAHPEEHAYO (White Partridge): "I stand behind this man's back"
+(pointing to Keenooshayo). "I want to tell the Commissioners
+there are two ways, the long and the short. I want to take the
+way that will last longest."</p>
+
+<p>NEESNETASIS (The Twin): "I follow these two brothers, Moostoos and
+Keenooshayo. When I understand better I shall be able to say more."</p>
+
+<p>MR. LAIRD: "We shall be glad to hear from some of the Sturgeon Lake
+people."</p>
+
+<p>THE CAPTAIN (an old man): "I accept your offer. I am old and
+miserable now. I have not my family with me here, but I accept
+your offer."</p>
+
+<p>MR. LAIRD: "You will get the money for all your children under age,
+and not married, just the same as if they were here."</p>
+
+<p>THE CAPTAIN: "I speak for all those in my part of the country."</p>
+
+<p>MR. LAIRD: "I am sorry the rest of your people are not here.
+If here next year their claims will not be overlooked."</p>
+
+<p>THE CAPTAIN: "I am old now. It is indirectly through the Queen
+that we have lived. She has supplied in a manner the sale shops
+through which we have lived. Others may think I am foolish for
+speaking as I do now. Let them think as they like. I accept. When
+I was young I was an able man and made my living independently.
+But now I am old and feeble and not able to do much."</p>
+
+<p>MR. ROSS: "I will just answer a few questions that have been put.
+Keenooshayo has said that he cannot see how it will benefit you
+to take treaty. As all the rights you now have will not be
+interfered with, therefore anything you get in addition must
+be a clear gain. The white man is bound to come in and open
+up the country, and we come before him to explain the relations
+that must exist between you, and thus prevent any trouble. You
+say you have heard what the Commissioners have said, and how
+you wish to live. We believe that men who have lived without
+help heretofore can do it better when the country is opened
+up. Any fur they catch is worth more. That comes about from
+competition. You will notice that it takes more boats to
+bring in goods to buy your furs than it did formerly. We think
+that as the rivers and lakes of this country will be the principal
+highways, good boatmen, like yourselves, cannot fail to make a
+good living, and profit from the increase in traffic. We are
+much pleased that you have some cattle. It will be the duty
+of the Commissioners to recommend the Government, through the
+Superintendent-General of Indian Affairs, to give you cattle
+of a better breed. You say that you consider that you have a
+right to say something about the terms we offer you. We offer
+you certain terms, but you are not forced to take them. You
+ask if Indians are not allowed to make a bargain. You must
+understand there are always two to a bargain. We are glad you
+understand the treaty is forever. If the Indians do as they are
+asked we shall certainly keep all our promises. We are glad to
+know that you have got on without any one's help, but you must
+know times are hard, and furs scarcer than they used to be.
+Indians are fond of a free life, and we do not wish to interfere
+with it. When reserves are offered you there is no intention
+to make you live on them if you do not want to, but, in years
+to come, you may change your minds, and want these lands to
+live on. The half-breeds of Athabasca are being more liberally
+dealt with than in any other part of Canada. We hope you will
+discuss our offer and arrive at a decision as soon as possible.
+Others are now waiting for our arrival, and you, by deciding
+quickly, will assist us to get to them."</p>
+
+<p>KEENOOSHAYO: "Have you all heard? Do you wish to accept? All who
+wish to accept, stand up!"</p>
+
+<p>WENDIGO: "I have heard, and accept with a glad heart all I have heard."</p>
+
+<p>KEENOOSHAYO: "Are the terms good forever? As long as the sun shines
+on us? Because there are orphans we must consider, so that there
+will be nothing to be thrown up to us by our people afterwards. We
+want a written treaty, one copy to be given to us, so we shall know
+what we sign for. Are you willing to give means to instruct children
+as long as the sun shines and water runs, so that our children
+will grow up ever increasing in knowledge?"</p>
+
+<p>MR. LAIRD: "The Government will choose teachers according to the
+religion of the band. If the band are pagans the Government will
+appoint teachers who, if not acceptable, will be replaced by others.
+About treaties lasting forever, I will just say that some Indians
+have got to live so like the whites that they have sold their
+lands and divided the money. But this only happens when the Indians
+ask for it. Treaties last forever, as signed, unless the Indians
+wish to make a change. I understand you all agree to the terms of
+the Treaty. Am I right? If so, I will have the Treaty drawn up,
+and to-morrow we will sign it. Speak, all those who do not agree!"</p>
+
+<p>MOOSTOOS: "I agree."</p>
+
+<p>KEENOOSHAYO: "My children, all who agree, stand up!"</p>
+
+<p>The Reverend Father Lacombe then addressed the Indians in substance
+as follows: He reminded them that he was an old friend, and came
+amongst them seven years ago, and, being now old, he came again to
+fulfil another duty, and to assist the Commission to make a treaty.
+"Knowing you as I do, your manners, your customs and language, I
+have been officially attached to the Commission as adviser. To-day
+is a great day for you, a day of long remembrance, and your children
+hereafter will learn from your lips the events of to-day. I consented
+to come here because I thought it was a good thing for you to take
+the Treaty. Were it not in your interest I would not take part
+in it. I have been long familiar with the Government's methods
+of making treaties with the Saulteaux of Manitoba, the Crees of
+Saskatchewan, and the Blackfeet, Bloods and Piegans of the Plains,
+and advised these tribes to accept the offers of the Government.
+Therefore, to-day, I urge you to accept the words of the Big Chief
+who comes here in the name of the Queen. I have known him for
+many years, and, I can assure you, he is just and sincere in
+all his statements, besides being vested with authority to deal
+with you. Your forest and river life will not be changed by
+the Treaty, and you will have your annuities, as well, year
+by year, as long as the sun shines and the earth remains.
+Therefore I finish my speaking by saying, Accept!"</p>
+
+<p>The chiefs and counsellors stood up, and requested all the
+Indians to do so also as a mark of acceptance of the Government's
+conditions. Father Lacombe was thanked by several for having come
+so far, though so very old, to visit them and speak to them,
+after which the meeting adjourned until the following day.</p>
+
+<p>At three p.m. on Wednesday, the 21st, the discussion was resumed
+by Mr. Laird, who, after a few preliminary remarks read the
+Treaty, which had been drafted by the Commissioners the previous
+evening. Chief Keenooshayo arose and made a speech, followed by
+Moostoos, both assenting to the terms, when suddenly, and to the
+surprise of all, the chief, who had again begin to address the
+Indians, perceiving gestures of dissent from his people, suddenly
+stopped and sat down. This looked critical; but, after a somewhat
+lengthy discussion, everything was smoothed over, and the chief
+and head men entered the tent and signed the Treaty after the
+Commissioners, thus confirming, for this portion of the country,
+the great Treaty which is intended to cover the whole northern
+region up to the sixtieth parallel of north latitude. The
+satisfactory turn of the Lesser Slave Lake Treaty, it was felt,
+would have a good effect elsewhere, and that, upon hearing of
+it at the various treaty points to the west and north, the Indians
+would be more inclined to expedite matters, and to close with
+the Commissioner's proposals. <span class="footnote">[The foregoing report of the Treaty
+discussions is necessarily much abridged, being simply a transcript
+of brief notes taken at the time. The utterances particularly of
+Keenooshayo, but also of his brother, were not mere harangues
+addressed to the "groundlings," but were grave statements marked by
+self-restraint, good sense and courtesy, such as would have done no
+discredit to a well-bred white man. They furthered affairs greatly,
+and in two days the Treaty was discussed and signed, in singular
+contrast with treaty-making on the plains in former years.]</span></p>
+
+<p>The text of the Treaty itself, which may be of interest to
+the reader, will be found in full in the Appendix, page 471.</p>
+
+<p>The first and most important step having been taken, the other
+essential adhesions had now to be effected. To save time and
+wintering in the country, the Treaty Commission separated,
+Messrs. Ross and McKenna leaving on the 22nd for Fort Dunvegan
+and St. John, whilst Mr. Laird set out shortly afterwards for
+Vermilion and Fond du Lac, on Lake Athabasca. He reached Peace
+River Crossing on the 30th, and met there, next day, a few Beaver
+Indians and the Crees of the region. The Beaver chief, who was
+present, did not adhere, saying that his band was at Fort Dunvegan,
+and that he could not get there in time. The date of the St. John
+Treaty had been fixed for the 21st of June, but, owing to the
+detentions described, the appointment could not be kept, and word
+was therefore sent to the Indians to stay where they were until
+they could be met. But when the Commissioners were within twenty-five
+miles of the Fort they got a letter from the Hudson's Bay Company's
+agent telling them that the Indians had eaten up all the provisions
+there, and had left for their hunting-grounds, with no hope of
+their coming together again that season. They therefore returned
+to Fort Dunvegan, and took the adhesion of some Beaver Indians,
+and then left for Lower Peace River. On the 8th July, Mr. Laird
+secured the adhesion of the Crees and Beavers at Fort Vermilion,
+and Messrs. Ross and McKenna of those at Little Red River, the
+headman there refusing to sign at first because, he said, "he
+had a divine inspiration to the contrary"! This was followed by
+adhesions taken by the latter Commissioners, on the 13th, from
+the Crees and Chipewyans at Fort Chipewyan.</p>
+
+<p>"Here it was," Mr. McKenna writes me, "that the chief asked for
+a railway&#8212;the first time in the history of Canada that the red
+man demanded as a condition of cession that steel should be laid
+into his country. He evidently understood the transportation
+question, for a railway, he said, by bringing them into closer
+connection with the market, would enhance the value of what they
+had to sell, and decrease the cost of what they had to buy. He
+had a striking object-lesson in the fact that flour was $12
+a sack at the Fort. These Chipewyans lost no time in flowery
+oratory, but came at once to business, and kept us, myself
+in particular, on tenterhooks for two hours. I never felt so
+relieved as when the rain of questions ended, and, satisfied
+by our answers, they acquiesced in the cession."</p>
+
+<p>Next morning these Commissioners left for Smith's Landing, and,
+on the 17th, made treaty with the Indians of Great Slave Lake.
+Meanwhile Mr. Laird had proceeded to Fond du Lac, at the eastern
+end of Lake Athabasca, and there, on the 27th, the Chipewyans
+adhered, whilst Messrs. Ross and McKenna, in order to treat
+with the Indians at Fort McMurray and Wahpoo&#347;kow, separated.
+The latter secured the Chipewyans and Crees at the former post,
+and Mr. Ross the Crees at Wahpoo&#347;kow, both adjustments, by a
+coincidence, being made on the same day.</p>
+
+<p>This completed the Treaty of 1899, known as No. 8, the most
+important of all since the Great Treaty of 1876.</p>
+
+<p>The work of the Commission being now over, its members prepared
+to leave the country. Messrs. Ross and McKenna set out for Athabasca
+Landing, whilst Mr. Laird accompanied us to Pelican Rapids, but left
+us there and pushed on, like the others, for home.</p>
+
+<p>There were, of course, many Indians who did not or could not turn
+up at the various treaty points that year, viz., the Beavers of St.
+John, the Crees of Sturgeon Lake, the Slaves of Hay River, who should
+have come to Vermilion, and the Dog-Ribs, Yellow-Knives, Slaves,
+and Chipewyans, who should have been treated with at Fort Resolution,
+on Great Slave Lake.</p>
+
+<p>Accordingly, a special commission was issued to Mr. J. A. Macrae,
+of the Indian Office in Ottawa, who met the Indians the following
+year at the points named, and in May, June, and July, secured
+the adhesion of over 1,200 souls, making, with subsequent adhesions,
+a total of 3,568 souls to the 30th June, 1906.</p>
+
+<p>The largest numbers were at Forts Resolution, Vermilion, Fond
+du Lac, and Lesser Slave Lake, the latter ranking fourth in
+the list. Of course, there are still to be treated with the
+Indians of the Mackenzie River and the Esquimaux of the Arctic
+coast. But Treaty Eight covers the most valuable portions of
+the Northern Anticlinal, though this is a conjecture, as the
+resources of the lower Mackenzie Basin, and even of the Barren
+Lands, are only now becoming known, and may yet prove to be of
+great value. Bishop Grouard told me that at their Mission at
+Fort Providence, potatoes, turnips and barley ripened, and also
+wheat when tried, though this, he thought, was uncertain. I have
+also heard Chief-factor Camsell speak quite boastfully of his
+tomatoes at Fort Simpson. As a matter of fact, little is known
+practically as to the bearing of the climate and long summer
+sunshine on agriculture in the Mackenzie District. But be that
+region what it may, there has been already ceded an empire in
+itself, extending, roughly speaking, from the 54th to the 60th
+parallel of north latitude, and from the 106th to the 130th degree
+of west longitude. In this domain there is ample room for millions
+of people; and, as I must now return to the Half-breed Commission
+on Lesser Slave Lake, I shall give, as we go, as fair a picture
+as I can of its superficial features and the inducements it
+offers to the immigrant.</p>
+
+<h3 class="chap-num" id="chap04">Chapter IV</h3>
+<h3>The Half-Breed Scrip Commission.</h3>
+
+<p>The adjustment with the half-breeds depended, of course, upon
+a successful treaty with the Indians, and, this having been
+concluded, the latter at once, upon receipt of their payments,
+left for their forests and fisheries, leaving the half-breeds
+in full possession of the field.</p>
+
+<p>It was estimated that over a hundred families were encamped around
+us, some in tepees, some in tents, and some in the open air, the
+willow copses to the north affording shelter, as well, to a few
+doubtful members of Slave Lake society, and to at least a thousand
+dogs. The "scrip tent," as it was called, a large marquee fitted
+up as an office, had been pitched with the other tents when the
+camp was made, and in this the half-breeds held a crowded meeting
+to talk over the terms, and to collate their own opinions as to
+the form of scrip issue they most desired. In this they were
+singularly unanimous, and, in spite of advice to the contrary
+urged upon them in the strongest manner by Father Lacombe, they
+agreed upon "the bird in the hand"&#8212;viz., upon cash scrip or
+nothing. This could be readily turned into money, for in the
+train of traders, etc., who followed up the treaty payments,
+there were also buyers from Winnipeg and Edmonton, well supplied
+with cash, to purchase all the scrip that offered, at a great
+reduction, of course, from face value. Whether the half-breeds
+were wise or foolish it is needless to say. One thing was plain,
+they had made up their minds. Under the circumstances it was
+impossible to gainsay their assertion that they were the best
+judges of their own needs. All preliminaries having at last been
+settled, the taking of declarations and evidence began on the
+23rd of June, and, shortly afterwards, the issue of convertible
+scrip certificates, or scrip certificates for land as required,
+took place to the parties who had proved their title.</p>
+
+<p>This was a slow process, involving in every case a careful search
+of the five elephant folios containing the records of the bygone
+issues of scrip in Manitoba and the organized Territories.</p>
+
+<p>It was necessary in order to prevent the issue of scrip to parties
+who had already received it elsewhere. But to the credit of the
+Lesser Slave Lake community, few efforts were made to "come in"
+again, not one in fact which was a clear attempt at fraud, or
+which could not be accounted for by false agency. Indeed, a high
+tribute might well be paid here to the honesty, not only of this
+but of all the communities, both Indian and half-breed, throughout
+these remote territories. We found valuable property exposed,
+everywhere, evidently without fear of theft. There was a looser
+feeling regarding debts to traders, which we were told were sometimes
+ignored, partly, perhaps, owing to the traders' heavy profits, but
+mainly through failure in the hunt and a lack of means. But theft
+such as white men practice was a puzzle to these people, amongst
+whom it was unknown.</p>
+
+<p>The most noticeable feature of the scrip issue was the never-ending
+stream of applicants, a surprising evidence of the growth of
+population in this remote wilderness. Its most interesting
+feature lay in the peculiarities and manners of the people
+themselves. They were unquestionably half-breeds, and had
+received Christian names, and most of them had houses of their
+own, and, though hunters, fishermen and trippers, their families
+lived comparatively settled lives. Yet the glorious instinct
+of the Indian haunted them. As a rule they had been born on the
+"pitching-track," in the forest, or on the prairies&#8212;in all
+sorts of places, they could not say exactly where&#8212;and when
+they were born was often a matter of doubt as well. <span class="footnote">[With reference
+to these nondescript birthplaces, the wonderful ease of parturition
+among Indian women may be referred to here. This is common, probably,
+to all primitive races, but is perhaps more marked amongst Indian
+mothers than any other. The event may happen in a canoe, on the
+trail, at any place, or at any moment, without hindering the ordinary
+progress of a travelling party, which is generally overtaken by the
+mother in a few hours. But nothing I heard here equalled in grotesque
+circumstances occurrences, whose truth I can vouch for, many years
+ago on the Saskatchewan River. In 1874, if I remember aright, a great
+spring freshet in the North Branch was accompanied by a tremendous
+ice-jam, which backed the water up, and flooded the river bank so
+suddenly that many Indians were drowned. On an island below Prince
+Albert, a woman, to save her life, had to climb a neighbouring tree,
+and gave birth to a child amongst the branches. The jam broke, and,
+wonderful to say, both mother and child got down to firm ground
+alive. Another case, even more gruesome, happened on the Lower
+Saskatchewan not so many years ago. A woman and her husband were
+hastening on snowshoes from their winter camp to the river, in order
+to share in the usual Christmas bounty and festivities at the
+Hudson's Bay Company's post. The woman was seized with incipient
+labour, and darting from her husband, with whom she had been
+quarrelling on the way, pushed on, and, in a frozen marsh, amongst
+bulrushes, on a bitterly cold night, was delivered of a child.
+Grumous as she was, she picked herself up, and, with incredible
+nerve, walked ten miles to the Pas, carrying her live infant with
+her, wrapped in a rabbit-skin robe.]</span> It was not in February, but in
+<i>Meeksuo p&#233;sim</i>, "The month when the eagles return"; not in August,
+but in Oghp&#225;ho p&#233;sim, "The month when birds begin to fly." When
+called upon they could give their Christian names and answer to
+William or Magloire, to Mary or Madaline, but, in spite of priest or
+parson, their home name was a Cree one. In many cases the white
+forefather's name had been dropped or forgotten, and a Cree surname
+had taken its place, as, for example, in the name Louis Maskeg&#243;sis,
+or Madeline No&#243;skeyah. Some of the Cree names were in their meaning
+simply grotesque. Misho&#243;stiquan meant "The man who stands with the
+red hair"; Waupun&#233;kapow, "He who stands till morning." One of the
+applicants was Kanawatchagu&#225;yo, or "The ghost-keeper."</p>
+
+<p><span class="footnote">[It may be mentioned here that this half-breed's "inner" name, so to
+speak, meant "The Ghost-Keeper," for the name he gave, following
+an Indian usage, was not the real one. Kanawatchagu&#225;yo was the one
+given by the interpreter, but accompanied by the translation of
+the inner name, to wit, "The Ghost-Keeper." This curious custom is
+more fully referred to in a forthcoming work on Indian folk-lore,
+traditions, legends, usages, methods and manner of life, etc., by
+Mrs. F. H. Paget, of Ottawa. This lady is an expert Cree scholar,
+and her work, which I have had the pleasure of hearing her read, is
+the result of diligent research and of ample knowledge of Indian
+life and character.]</span></p>
+
+<p>But others were strikingly poetical, particularly the female
+names. Pay&#250;cko geesigo, "One in the Skies"; Pesawakoona kapesisk,
+"The silent snow in falling forming signs or symbols"; Matyatse
+wunoguayo, or rather, for this is a doubtful name, Pow&#225;stia ka
+nunaghqu&#225;netungh, "Listener to the unseen rapids"; Kese koo
+&#225;peoo, "She sits in heaven," were all the names of applicants
+for scrips, and many others could be added of like tenor. In a
+word, the Christian or baptismal names have not displaced the
+native ones, as they did in Wales and elsewhere, and amongst
+some of our far Eastern Indians. But there were terrifying and
+repulsive names as well, such as Sese ken&#225;pik kaow apeoo, "She
+sits like a rattle-snake"; and one individual rejoiced in the
+appalling surname of "Grand Bastard." These instances serve
+to illustrate the tendency of half-breed nomenclature at the
+lake towards the mother's side. Here, too, there was no reserve
+in giving the family name; it was given at once when asked for,
+and there was no shyness otherwise in demeanour. There was a
+readiness, for example, to be photographed which was quite
+distinctive. In this connection it may interest the reader
+to recall some of the names of girls given by the same race
+thousands of miles away in the East. Take those recorded by
+Mrs. Jameson <span class="footnote">["Winter Studies and Summer Rambles," 1835.]</span>
+during her visit to Mrs. McMurray and the Schoolcrafts, on the
+Island of Mackinac, over seventy years ago: Oba baumwawa geezegoquay,
+"The Sounds which the stars make rushing through the skies"; Zaga
+see goquay, "Sunbeams breaking through a cloud"; Wah&#769;sagewanoquay,
+"Woman of the bright foam." The people so far apart, yet their home
+names so similarly figurative! The education of the Red Indian
+lies in his intimate contact with nature in all her phases&#8212;a good
+education truly, which serves him well. But, awe-struck always by
+the mysterious beauty of the world around him, his mind reflects it
+instinctively in his Nature-worship and his system of names.</p>
+
+<p>In speaking of the "Lakers" I refer, of course, to the primitive
+people of the region, and not to half-breed incomers from Manitoba or
+elsewhere. There were a few patriarchal families into which all the
+others seemed to dovetail in some shape or form. The No&#243;skeyah family
+was one of these, also the Gladu, the Cowitoreille, <span class="footnote">[A corruption,
+no doubt, of "Courtoreille."]</span> and the Calahaisen. The collateral
+branches of these families constituted the main portion of the native
+population, and yet inbreeding did not seem to have deteriorated the
+stock, for a healthier-looking lot of young men, women and children
+it would be hard to find, or one more free from scrofula. There
+were instances, too, among these people, of extreme old age; one
+in particular which from confirmatory evidence, particularly the
+declarations of descendants, seemed quite authentic. This was a woman
+called Catherine Bisson&#8212;the daughter of Baptiste Bisson and an
+Indian woman called Iskwao&#8212;who was born on New Year's Day, 1793, at
+Lesser Slave Lake, and had spent all her life there since. She had a
+numerous progeny which she bore to Kisi&#347;kak&#225;po, "The man who stands
+still." She was now blind, and was partly led, partly carried into
+our tent&#8212;a small, thin, wizened woman, with keen features and a
+tongue as keen, which cackled and joked at a great rate with the
+crowd around her. It was almost awesome to look at this weird piece
+of antiquity, who was born in the Reign of Terror, and was a young
+woman before the war of 1812. She was quite lively yet, so far as her
+wits went, and seemed likely to go on living. <span class="footnote">[This very old woman
+died, I believe, at Lesser Slave Lake only last spring (1908). The
+date of her birth was correct, and we had good reason to believe it,
+she must have been far over 100 years old when she died.]</span></p>
+
+<p>There were many good points in the disposition of the "Lakers"
+generally, both young and old. Their kindness and courtesy to
+strangers and to each other was marked, and profanity was unknown.
+Indeed, if one heard bad language at all it was from the lips of
+some Yankee or Canadian teamster, airing his superior knowledge
+of the world amongst the natives.</p>
+
+<p>The place, in fact, surprised one&#8212;no end of buggies, buckboards and
+saddles, and brightly dressed women, after a not altogether antique
+fashion; the men, too, orderly, civil, and obliging. Infants were
+generally tucked into the comfortable moss-bag, but boys three or
+four years old were seen tugging at their mothers' breasts, and all
+fat and generally good-looking. The whole community seemed well fed,
+and were certainly well clad&#8212;some girls extravagantly so, the love
+of finery being the ruling trait here as elsewhere. One lost, indeed,
+all sense of remoteness, there was such a well-to-do, familiar air
+about the scene, and such a bustle of clean-looking people. How all
+this could be supported by fur it was difficult to see, but it must
+have been so, for there was, as yet, little or no farming amongst the
+old "Lakers." It was, of course, a great fur country, and though
+the fur-bearing animals were sensibly diminishing, yet the prices
+of peltries had risen by competition, whilst supplies had been
+correspondingly cheapened. It was a good marten country, and, as this
+fur was the fad of fashion, and brought an extravagant price, the
+animal, like the beaver, was threatened with extinction, the more so
+as the rabbits were then in their period of scarcity.</p>
+
+<p>There were other aspects of Lake life which there is neither
+space nor inclination to describe. If some features of "advanced
+civilization" had been anticipated there, it was simply another
+proof that extremes meet.</p>
+
+<p>Whatever else was hidden, however, there was one thing omnipresent,
+namely, the mongrel dog. It was hopeless to explore the origin of an
+animal which seemed to draw from all sources, including the wolf and
+fox, and whose appetite stopped at nothing, but attacked old shirts,
+trousers, dunnage-bags, fry-pans, and even the outfit of a geologist,
+to appease the sacred rage of hunger.</p>
+
+<p>It was believed that over a thousand of these dogs, mainly used
+in winter to haul fish, surrounded our tent, and when it is said
+that an ordinary half-breed family harboured from fifteen to twenty
+of the tribe, there is no exaggeration in the estimate. They were
+of all shapes, sizes and colours, and, though very civil to man,
+from whom they got nothing but kicks and stones, they kept up a
+constant row amongst themselves.</p>
+
+<p>To see a scrimmage of fifty or sixty of them on land or in the
+water, where they went daily to fish, was a scene to be remembered.
+They did not bark, but loped through the woods, which were the camp's
+latrines, as scavengers by day, and howled in unison at regular
+intervals by night; for there was a sort of horrible harmony in
+the performance, and when the tom-toms of the gamblers accompanied
+it on all sides, and the pounding of dancers' feet&#8212;for in this
+enchanted land nobody ever seemed to go to bed&#8212;the saturnalia
+was complete.</p>
+
+<p>It was indeed a gala time for the happy-go-lucky Lakers, and the
+effects of the issue and sale of scrip certificates were soon
+manifest in our neighbourhood. The traders' booths were thronged
+with purchasers, also the refreshment tents where cigars and ginger
+ale were sold; and, in tepees improvised from aspen saplings, the
+sporting element passed the night at some interesting but easy
+way of losing money, illuminating their game with guttering
+candles, minus candlesticks, and presenting a picture worthy
+of an impressionist's pencil.</p>
+
+<p>But the two dancing floors were the chief attraction. These also
+had been walled and roofed with leafy saplings, their fronts open
+to the air, and, thronged as they generally were, well repaid a
+visit. Here the comely brunettes, in moccasins or slippers, their
+luxuriant hair falling in a braided queue behind their backs,
+served not only as tireless partners, but as foils to the young
+men, who were one and all consummate masters of step-dancing, an
+art which, I am glad to say, was still in vogue in these remote
+parts. "French-fours" and the immortal "Red River Jig" were
+repeated again and again, and, though a tall and handsome young
+half-breed, who had learned in Edmonton, probably, the airs and
+graces of the polite world, introduced cotillions and gave "the
+calls" with vigorous precision, yet his efforts were not thoroughly
+successful. Snarls arose, and knots and confusion, which he did
+his best to undo. But it was evident that the hearts of the dancers
+were not in it. No sooner was the fiddler heard lowering his
+strings for the time-honoured "Jig" than eyes brightened, and
+feet began to beat the floor, including, of course, those of
+the fiddler himself, who put his whole soul into that weird and
+wonderful melody, whose fantastic glee is so strangely blended
+with an indescribable master-note of sadness. The dance itself
+is nothing; it might as well be called a Rigadoon or a Sailor's
+Hornpipe, so far as the steps go. The tune is everything; it is
+amongst the immortals. Who composed it? Did it come from Normandy,
+the ancestral home of so many French Canadians and of French
+Canadian song? Or did some lonely but inspired voyageur, on the
+banks of Red River, sighing for Detroit or Trois Rivi&#232;res&#8212;for
+the joys and sorrows of home&#8212;give birth to its mingled chords in
+the far, wild past?</p>
+
+<p>As I looked on, many memories recurred to me of scenes like this in
+which I had myself taken part in bygone days&#8212;<i>Eheu! fugaces</i>&#8212;in
+old Red River and the Saskatchewan; and, with these in my heart,
+I retired to my tent, and gradually fell asleep to the monotonous
+sound of the familiar yet inexplicable air.</p>
+
+<h3 class="chap-num" id="chap05">Chapter V</h3>
+<h3>Resources Of Lesser Slave Lake Region.</h3>
+
+<p>It was expected that the sergeant of the Mounted Police stationed
+at the Lake would have set out by boat on the 3rd for Athabasca
+Landing, taking with him the witnesses in the Weeghteko case&#8212;a
+case not common amongst the Lesser Slave Lake Indians, but which
+was said to be on the increase. One Paha&#253;o&#8212;"The Pheasant"&#8212;had
+gone mad and threatened to kill and eat people. Of course, this
+was attributed by his tribe to the Weeghteko, by which he was
+believed to be possessed, a cannibal spirit who inhabits the
+human heart in the form of a lump of ice, which must be got rid
+of by immersion of the victim in boiling water, or by pouring
+boiling fat down his throat. This failing, they destroy the man-eater,
+rip him up to let out the evil spirit, cut off his head, and then
+pin his four quarters to the ground, all of which was done by his
+tribe in the case of Paha&#253;o. Napes&#243;sus&#8212;"The Little Man"&#8212;struck
+the first blow, Moo&#347;toos followed, and the poor lunatic was soon
+dispatched. Arrests were ultimately made, and a boatload of
+witnesses was about to leave for Athabasca Landing, <i>en route</i> to
+attend the trial at Edmonton, the first of its kind, I think,
+on record.</p>
+
+<p>There can be no doubt that such slayings are effected to safeguard
+the tribe. Indians have no asylums, and, in order to get a dangerous
+lunatic out of the way, can only kill him. There would therefore be
+no hangings. But, now that the Indians and ourselves were coming
+under treaty obligations, it was necessary that an end should be
+put to such proceedings.</p>
+
+<p>Yet the reader must not be too severe upon the Indian for his
+treatment of the Weeghteko. He attributes the disease to the evil
+spirit, acts accordingly, and slays the victim. But an old author,
+Mrs. Jameson, tells us that in her day in Upper Canada lunatics were
+allowed to stray into the forest to roam uncared for, and perish
+there, or were thrust into common jails. One at Niagara, she says,
+was chained up for four years.</p>
+
+<p>Aside from such cases of madness, which have often resulted in the
+killing and eating of children, etc., and which arouse the most
+superstitious horror in the minds of all Indians, the "savages" of
+this region are the most inoffensive imaginable. They have always
+made a good living by hunting and trapping and fishing, and I believe
+when the time comes they will adapt themselves much more readily and
+intelligently to farming and stock-raising than did the Indians to
+the south. The region is well suited to both industries, and will
+undoubtedly attract white settlers in due time.</p>
+
+<p>The fisheries in Lesser Slave Lake have always been counted the best
+in all Athabasca. The whitefish, to be sure, are diminishing towards
+the head of the lake, but it is possible that this is owing to some
+deficiency in their usual supply of food in that quarter. Just as
+birds and wild-fowl return, if not disturbed, to their accustomed
+breeding-places, so, it is said, the fishes, year by year, drop and
+impregnate their spawn upon the same gravelly shallows. The food of
+the whitefish in the lake is partly the worms bred from the eggs of
+a large fly resembling the May-fly of the East. This worm has probably
+decreased in the upper part of the lake, and therefore the fish go
+farther down for food. There they are exceedingly numerous, an
+evidence of which is the fact that the Roman Catholic Mission alone
+secured 17,000 fine whitefish the previous fall. Properly protected
+this lake will be a permanent source of supply to natives and incomers
+for many years to come.</p>
+
+<p>Stock-raising was already becoming a feature of the region. Some
+three miles above the Heart River is Buffalo Lake, an enlargement
+of that stream, and around and above this, as also along the
+Wyaweekamon, or "Passage between the Lakes," are immense hay
+meadows, capable of winter feeding thousands of cattle. The view
+of these vast meadows from the Hudson's Bay post, or from the
+Roman Catholic Mission close by, is magnificent.</p>
+
+<p>These buildings are situated above Buffalo Lake, upon a lofty
+bank, with the Heart River in the foreground; and the great
+meadows, threaded by creeks and inlets, stretching for miles
+to the south of them, are one of the finest sights of the kind
+in the country.</p>
+
+<p>In the far south was the line of forest, and to the eastward a
+flat-topped mountain, called by the Crees Waskah&#233;kum Kahass&#225;stakee&#8212;
+"The House Butte." Near this mountain is the Swan River, which joins
+the Lesser Slave Lake below the Narrows, and upon which, we were
+told, were rich and extensive prairies, and abundance of coal of a
+good quality. To the west were the prairies of the Salt River, well
+watered by creeks, with a large extent of good land now being settled
+on, and where wheat ripens perfectly.</p>
+
+<p>There are other available areas of open country on Prairie River,
+which enters Buffalo Lake at its south-western end, and on which
+also there is coal, so that prairie land is not entirely lacking.</p>
+
+<p>Though emphatically <i>now</i> a region of forest, there is reason to
+believe that vast areas at present under timber were once prairies,
+fed over by innumerable herds of buffalo, whose paths and wallows
+can still be traced in the woods. Indeed, very large trees are
+found growing right across those paths, and this fact, not to speak
+of the recollections, or traditions, of very old people, points to
+extensive prairies at one time rather than to an entirely wooded
+country.</p>
+
+<p>Much of the forest soil is excellent, and the land has only to
+be cleared to furnish good farms. Indeed, it needs no stretch of
+imagination to foresee in future years a continuous line of them
+from Edmonton to the lake, along the three hundred miles of country
+intersected by the trail laid out by the Territorial Government.</p>
+
+<p>As for the wheat problem, it is not at all likely that the Roman
+Catholic Mission would put up a flour mill, as they were then doing,
+if it was not a wheat country. Bishop Cl&#251;t assured me that potatoes
+in their garden reached three and a half pounds' weight in some
+instances, and turnips twenty-five pounds.</p>
+
+<p>The kind people of both this and the Church of England Mission
+generously supplied our table with vegetables and salads, and we
+craved no better. Chives, lettuce, radishes, cress and onions
+were full flavoured, fresh and delicious, and quite as early
+as in Manitoba. Being a timber country, lumber was, of course,
+plentiful, there being two sawmills at work cutting lumber,
+which sold, undressed, at $25 to $30 a thousand.</p>
+
+<p>The whole country has a fresh and attractive look, and one could
+not desire a finer location than can be had almost anywhere
+along its streams and within its delightful and healthy borders.
+And yet this region is but a portal to the vaster one beyond, to
+the Unjigah, the mighty Peace River, to be described hereafter.</p>
+
+<p>The make-weight against settlement may be almost summed up in the
+words transport and markets. The country is there, and far beyond
+it, too; but so long as there is abundance of prairie land to the
+south, and no railway facilities, it would be unwise for any large
+body of settlers, especially with limited means, to venture so far.
+The small local demand for beef and grain might soon be overtaken,
+and though stock can be driven, yet three hundred miles of forest
+trail is a long way to drive. Still, pioneers take little thought
+of such conditions, and already they were dropping in in twos and
+threes as they used to do in the old days in Red River Settlement,
+lured by the wilderness perhaps to privation, but entering a
+country much of which is suited by nature for the support of man.</p>
+
+<p>The best reflection is that there is a really good country to
+fall back upon when the prairies to the south are taken up.
+Swamps and muskegs abound, but good land also abounds, and the
+time will come when the ring of the Canadian axe will be heard
+throughout these forests, and when multitudes of comfortable
+homes will be hewn out of what are the almost inaccessible
+wildernesses of to-day.</p>
+
+<p>By the end of the first week in July the issue of scrip certificates
+began to fall off, though the declarations were still numerous.
+But land was in sight; that is to say, our release and departure
+for Peace River, which we were all very anxious, in fact burning,
+to see.</p>
+
+<p>By this time there was, of course, much money afloat amongst the
+people, which was rapidly finding its way into the traders'
+pockets. There was a "blind pig," too, doing business in the
+locality, though we could not discover where, as everybody
+professed entire ignorance of anything of the kind. The fragrant
+breath and hilarity of so many, however, betrayed its existence,
+and, as a crowning evidence, before sunrise on the 6th, we were
+all awakened by an uproarious row amongst a tipsy crowd on the
+common.</p>
+
+<p>The disturbance, of course, awakened the dogs, if, indeed, those
+wonderful creatures ever slept, and soon a prolonged howl,
+issuing from a thousand throats, made the racket complete. It
+seemed to our listening ears, for we stuck to our beds, to be
+a promiscuous fight, larded with imprecations in broken English,
+the phrase "goddam" being repeated in the most comical way. We
+expected to see a lot of badly bruised men in the morning, but
+nothing of the kind! Nobody was hurt. It proved to be a very
+bloodless affair, like the scrimmages of the dogs themselves,
+full of sound and fury signifying nothing.</p>
+
+<h3 class="chap-num" id="chap06">Chapter VI</h3>
+<h3>On The Trail To Peace River.</h3>
+
+<p>By the afternoon of the 12th we had finished our work at the lake,
+and in the evening left the scene of so much amusement, and its
+lively and intelligent people, not without regret. Having said
+good-bye to Bishop Cl&#251;t and his clergy, and to the Hudson's Bay
+Company's people, and others, we passed on to Salt Creek, which
+we crossed at dusk, and then to the South Heart River&#8212;Ota&#253;e
+Sepe&#8212;where we camped for the night. This affluent of the lake has
+a broad but sluggish current, its grassy banks sloping gently to
+the water's edge, like some Ontario river&#8212;the beau ideal of a pike
+stream. The Church of England mission was established here in charge
+of the Reverend Mr. Holmes, who had shown us every kindness during
+our long stay. As boats can ascend in high water to this point, the
+Hudson's Bay Company had a couple of large warehouses close by,
+standing alone, and filled with all kinds of goods. The trail led
+for many miles up a long, easy ascent, through a timber country, to
+an upper plateau, with, after passing the Heart River, occasional
+small patches of prairie on the wayside. The plateau itself is the
+anticlinal down which the North Heart flows to Peace River, which it
+joins at the crossing.</p>
+
+<p>The trail so far had been good, but after crossing Slippery Creek
+it proved to be almost a continuous mud-hole, due to its extreme
+narrowness and the wet weather, closely bordered, as much of it was,
+by dense forests. It revealed a good farming country, however, free
+from stones, and the soil a rich, loamy clay throughout. It was well
+timbered, in some places, with the finest white poplar I had yet
+seen. The grass was luxuriant, and the region teemed with
+tiger-lilies, yarrow, and the wild rose.</p>
+
+<p>The Little Prairie, as it is called, is really a lovely region,
+in appearance resembling the Saskatchewan country. There was an
+old Hudson's Bay cattle station here, at that time deserted, and
+here, too, we were charmed with a mirage of indescribable beauty,
+an enchanting portal to the mighty Peace, which we reached about
+mid-day on the 15th of July.</p>
+
+<p>The view up the Peace River from the high prairie level is
+singularly beautiful, the river disclosing a series of reaches,
+like inland lakes, far to the west, whilst from the south comes
+the immense valley of the Heart, and, farther up, the Smoky River,
+a great tributary which drains a large extent of prairie country
+mixed with timber.</p>
+
+<p>To the north spreads upward, and backward to its summit, the vast
+bank of the river, varied as to surface by rounded bare hills and
+valleys and flats sprinkled with aspens, cherries, and saskatoons,
+the latter loaded with ripe fruit.</p>
+
+<p>The banks of the Peace River are a country in themselves, in
+which, particularly on the north side, numerous homesteads might
+be, and indeed have been, carved out. Descending to the river,
+we found a Hudson's Bay Company and Police post. The river here
+is about a third of a mile wide, and was in freshet, with a
+current, we thought, of about six miles an hour.</p>
+
+<p>At Smoky River we met a couple of prospectors, Mr. Tryon, a nephew
+of the ill-fated Admiral, and Mr. Cooper Blachford, down from the
+Poker Flat mining-camp, this side the Finlay Rapids, in the Selwyn
+Mountains. They reached that camp by way of Ashcroft, B.C., in
+twenty-two days, the Peace River route being very much longer and
+more difficult. They described the camp there as a promising one,
+with much gold-bearing quartz in sight, but the cost of provisions
+and the extreme difficulty of development under the circumstances
+held it back.</p>
+
+<p>There being but a few half-breeds here, we crossed the river, and
+decided to go on to Fort Dunvegan, and on our return complete our
+scrip issue at the Landing; so, partly on horseback and partly by
+waggon, we made our way to our first camp. The trail lay along
+and up and down the immense bank of the river, debouching at one
+place at the site of old Fort McLeod, and passing the fine St.
+Germain farm, with as beautiful fields of yellowing wheat as one
+would wish to see.</p>
+
+<p>Here we got an abundant supply of vegetables, and in this ride our
+first taste of the Peace River mosquito&#8212;or, rather, that animal
+got its first taste of us. It is needless to dwell upon this pest.
+Like the fleas in Italy, it has been overdone in description,
+and yet beggars it.</p>
+
+<p>All along the trail were old buffalo paths and willows. Indeed, we
+saw them everywhere we went on land, showing how numerous those
+animals were in times past. In 1793 Sir Alexander Mackenzie describes
+them as grazing in great numbers along these very banks, the calves
+frisking about their dams, and moose and red deer were equally
+numerous. In 1828 Sir George Simpson made a canoe journey to the
+Coast by way of this river, and they were still very numerous. The
+existing tradition is that, some sixty years ago, a winter occurred
+of unexampled severity and depth of snow, in which nearly all the
+herds perished, and never recovered their footing on the upper river.
+The wood buffalo still exists on Great Slave River, but, where we
+were, the only memorials of the animal were its paths and wallows,
+and its bones half-buried in the fertile earth.</p>
+
+<p>On the morning of the 17th we topped the crest of the bank, and
+found ourselves at once in a magnificent prairie country, which
+swept northward, varied by beautiful belts of timber, as far as
+Bear Lake, to which we made a detour, then westerly to Old Wives
+Lake&#8212;Nooto&#243;quay Sakaigon&#8212;and on to our night camp at Burnt
+River, twenty-two miles from Dunvegan. The great prairie is as
+flat as a table, and is the exact counterpart of Portage Plains,
+in Manitoba, or a number of them, with the addition of belts and
+beautiful islands of timber, the soil being a loamy clay, unmistakably
+fertile. Nothing could excel the beauty of this region, not even
+the fairest portions of Manitoba or Saskatchewan.</p>
+
+<p>On the 18th we finished our drive over a like beautiful prairie,
+slightly rolling, dotted with similar clumps of timber like a
+great park, and carpeted with ripe strawberries and flowers,
+including the wild mignonette, the lupin, and the phlox.</p>
+
+<p>Descending a very long and crooked ravine, we reached the river
+flat at last, upon which is situated Fort Dunvegan, called after
+the stronghold of the McLeods of Skye, but alas! with no McCrimmon
+to welcome us with his echoing pipes! Chief-factor McDonald, in
+his scanty journal of Sir George Simpson's canoe voyage in 1828
+from Hudson's Bay to the Pacific, does not give the date at
+which this post was established, but mentions its abandonment
+in 1823, owing to the murder of a Mr. Hughes and four men at
+Fort St. John by the Beaver Indians. It had been re-established
+by Chief-trader Campbell. Simpson, Mr. McDonald, and Mr.
+McGillivray, who had embarked at Fort Chipewyan, where Sir
+George himself had served his clerkship, spent a day at Dunvegan
+in August, resting and getting fresh supplies. The warring
+traders had united in 1821, and this voyage was undertaken in
+order to harmonize the Indians, who, from the bay to the coast,
+particularly across the mountains, had become fierce partisans
+of one or other of the great companies.</p>
+
+<p>Sir George had his McCrimmon with him in the shape of his piper,
+Colin Fraser, who played and paraded before the Indians most
+impressively in full Highland costume. Deer and buffalo were
+numerous in the region, and, during the day, thirteen sacks of
+pemmican were made for the party from materials stored at the fort.
+Simpson was famous in those days for his swift journeys with his
+celebrated Iroquois canoemen. They were made by <i>Canot du Maitre</i> as
+it was called, the largest bark canoe made by the Indians, carrying
+about six tons and a crew of sixteen paddlers, and which ascended as
+far as Fort William. Thence further progress was made in the much
+smaller "North Canoes" to all points west of Lake Superior. This
+particular journey of nearly 3,200 miles, made almost entirely by
+canoe, was completed from York Factory to Fort Langley, near the
+mouth of Fraser River, in sixty-five days of actual paddling, an
+average of about fifty miles a day, nearly all up stream.</p>
+
+<p>Only two buildings of the old fort remained at the time of our
+visit, both in a ruinous condition. The old fireplaces and the
+roofs of spruce bark, a covering much used in the country, were
+still sound, and several cellars indicated where the other
+buildings had stood. The later post is about a gunshot to the
+east of them, and the whole site had certainly been well chosen,
+being completely sheltered by the immensely high banks of the
+great and deep river, whose bends "shouldered" and seemed to shut
+in the place east and west, also by the "Caps," two very high
+hills forming the bank on each side of the river, so called from
+their fancied resemblance to a skull-cap. The river here is over
+four hundred yards in width, and its banks, from the water's edge
+to the upper prairie level are some six hundred feet or more in
+height; but, as the trail leads, the ascent of the great slope
+is about a mile in length.</p>
+
+<p>A number of townships had been blocked here, at one time, by
+Mr. Ogilvie, D.L.S., but not subdivided, Fort Dunvegan being
+situated, if I mistake not, in the south-west corner of Township
+80, Range 4, west of the Sixth Meridian.</p>
+
+<p>The Roman Catholic Mission east of the fort was found to be
+beautifully sheltered, and neighboured by fine fields of wheat and
+a garden full of green peas and new potatoes. But this was on the
+flat. There was no farming whatever on the north side, on the upper
+and beautiful prairies described. A Mr. Milton had tried, it was
+said, about ten miles east of Dunvegan, but did not make a success
+of it.</p>
+
+<p>Near the fort a raft was moored, on which had descended a party of
+four Americans. They were from the State of Wyoming, and had made
+their way the previous summer, by way of St. John and the Pine
+River, to the Nelson, a tributary of the Liard. They had had poor
+luck, in fact no luck at all; and this was the story of every
+returning party we met which had been prospecting on the various
+tributaries of the Peace and Liard towards the mountains. The cost
+of supplies, the varying and uncertain yield, but, above all, the
+brief season in which it is possible to work, barely six weeks&#8212;had
+dissipated by sad experience the bright dreams of wealth which had
+lured them from comfortable homes. Between seven and eight hundred
+people had gone up to those regions via Edmonton, bound for the
+Yukon, many of whom, after a tale of suffering which might have
+filled its boomsters' souls with remorse, had found solitary graves,
+and the remainder were slowly toiling out of the country, having
+sunk what means they possessed in the vain pursuit of gold. They
+brought a rumour with them that some whites who had robbed the
+Indians on the Upper Liard had been murdered. It was not known what
+white men had penetrated to that desolate region, and the rumour was
+discredited; at all events, it was never verified.</p>
+
+<p>The treaty had been effected at Dunvegan, on the 6th, with a few
+Beaver Indians, who still lingered by their tepees, pitched to the
+west on the opposite shore. The half-breeds had camped near the
+fort pending our arrival, and we found them a very intelligent
+people, indeed, with some interesting relics of the old r&#233;gime
+still amongst them. One, in particular, had canoed from Lachine
+with Simpson sixty years before. He was still lively and active,
+and a patriarch of the half-breed community. Large families we
+found to be the rule here, some parents boasting of twelve or
+thirteen children <i>under</i> age. This, and their healthy looks, spoke
+well for the climate, and their condition otherwise was promising,
+being comfortably clad, all speaking more or less English or French,
+whilst many could read and write.</p>
+
+<p>Our work being completed here, we set out for the Crossing by
+waggon, our route lying over the same majestic prairies, and reached
+the Landing the second night, passing the Roman Catholic and Church
+of England Missions on the way. The former Mission is an extensive
+establishment, with a fine farm and garden. Indeed, with the
+exception of primitive outlying stations, all the principal Roman
+Catholic Missions, by their extent and completeness, put our own
+more meagrely endowed establishments into rather painful contrast.</p>
+
+<p>A great concourse of natives was at the Landing awaiting our
+arrival. The place was covered with tepees and tents, and no
+less than four trading marquees had been pitched pending the
+scrip issue, which it took some time to complete.</p>
+
+<p>Near the Landing were the mill and farm of a namesake of Sir
+Alexander Mackenzie. His father, indeed, was a cousin of the
+renowned explorer who gave his name to the great river of the
+North. This father, under whom, Mr. Mackenzie said, Lord
+Strathcona had spent his first year as a clerk in the Hudson's
+Bay Company's service, was drowned, with nine Iroquois, whilst
+running the Lachine Rapids in a bark canoe. His son came to
+Peace River in 1863, and his career, as he told it to me, will
+bear repeating. He was born at Three Rivers, in Lower Canada,
+in 1843, and was sent to Scotland to be educated, remaining there
+until he was eighteen years of age. In 1861 he joined the Hudson's
+Bay Company's service, wintering first at Norway House under
+Chief factor William Sinclair, but removed to Peace River, became
+a chief-trader there in 1872, and, after some years of service,
+retired, and has lived at the Crossing ever since.</p>
+
+<p>The Landing, he told me, used to be known as "The Forks," it being
+here that the Smoky River joins the Peace; and here were concentrated,
+in bygone days, the posts and rivalries of the great fur companies.
+The remains of the North-West Company's fort are still visible on
+the north bank, a few miles above the Landing. On the south shore,
+in the angle of the two rivers, stood the Hudson's Bay Company's
+fort, whilst the old X. Y. Company's post, at that time the best
+equipped on the river, stood on the north bank opposite the Smoky.</p>
+
+<p>In a delightful afternoon spent in rambling over this interesting
+neighbourhood, Mr. Mackenzie made out for me the site of the
+latter establishment, now in the midst of a dense thicket of
+nettles, shrubs, and saplings. In this locality the antagonisms
+of old had full play&#8212;not only those of the traders, but of the
+Indians&#8212;and the river exhibited much more life and movement then
+than at the time of our visit.</p>
+
+<p>In remote days a constant warfare had been kept up by the Crees
+on the river, who, just as they invaded the Blackfeet on the
+Saskatchewan, encroached here upon the Beavers&#8212;at that time a
+brave, numerous and warlike tribe, but now decayed almost to
+extinction, the victims, it is said, of incestuous intercourse. The
+Beavers had also an enemy in their congeners, the Chipewyans, the
+three nations seemingly dividing the great river between them. But
+neither succeeded in giving a permanent name to it. The U&#324;jigah, its
+majestic and proper name, or the Tsa-hoo-dene-desay&#8212;"The Beaver
+Indian River"&#8212;or the Amiskoo e&#235;innu Sepe of the Crees, which has
+the same meaning, has not taken root in our maps. The traditional
+peace made between its warring tribes gave it its name, the Rivi&#232;re
+la Paix of the French, which we have adopted, and by this name the
+river will doubtless be known when the Indians, whose home it has
+been for ages, have disappeared.</p>
+
+<p>On the 24th our work here was completed, and we took to our boats,
+which were to float us down to Vermilion and Athabasca Lake.
+During our stay, however, I had noted all the information that
+could be gained respecting the Upper Peace as an agricultural
+region, some of which I have already given. The knowledge obtainable
+about the fertile areas of the hinterlands of a vast unsurveyed
+country like this, though not very ample, was no doubt trustworthy
+as far as it went.</p>
+
+<p>Trappers and traders are confined to the water, as a rule, and see
+little land away from the shores of streams and lakes. The only
+people who, through their employments, knew the interior well were
+the Indians and half-breed hunters. It was the statements of these,
+therefore, and of the few prosperous farmers and stockmen scattered
+here and there, which afforded us our only reliable knowledge.</p>
+
+<p>The most extensive prairies adjacent to the Upper Peace River
+are those to the north already described. The nearest on the
+south side are the prairies of Spirit River, a small stream which
+divides several townships of first-class black, loamy soil, well
+wooded in parts, but with considerable prairie. The nearest farmer
+and rancher to Dunvegan, Mr. C. Brymner, who had lived for ten
+years on Spirit River, told me that during seven of these, though
+frost had touched his grain, particularly in June, it had done
+little serious harm. It was a fine hay country, he said, even the
+ridge hay being good, and therefore a good region for cattle, he
+himself having at the time over a hundred head, which fed out late
+in the fall and very early in the spring, owing to the Chinook
+winds, which enter the region and temper its climate. Southeast
+of Fort St. John there is a considerable area known as Pooscapee's
+Prairie, getting its name from an old Indian chief, and which was
+well spoken of, but which we did not see.</p>
+
+<p>A much more extensive open country, however, is the Grand Prairie,
+to the south-west of the Crossing, which connects with the Spirit
+River country, and is drained by the Smoky River and its branches,
+and by its tributary, the Wapiti. There is no dispute as to whether
+this should or should not be called a prairie country. As a matter
+of fact, it is an extensive district suitable for immediate
+cultivation, and containing, as well, valuable timber for lumber,
+fencing and building.</p>
+
+<p>The first inquiry the intending immigrant makes is about frost.
+At the Dunvegan and St. Augustine Mission farms, on the river bank
+above the Landing, Father Busson told me that White Russian and
+Red Fyfe wheat had been raised since 1881, and during all these
+years it had never been seriously injured, whilst the yield has
+reached as high as thirty-five bushels to the acre. Seeding
+began about the middle of April, and harvesting about the middle
+of August. He was of opinion that along the rim of the upper
+prairie level wheat would ripen, but farther back he thought
+it unsafe, and so no doubt it is for the present. Mr. Brick's
+fine farm, opposite the Six Islands, and other farms also, were
+a success, but, of course, all these were along the river. With
+regard to the upper level, I heard opinions adverse to Father
+Busson's, though, like his, conjectural. The inconsiderable
+height above the sea (Lefroy, I think, puts the upper level at
+about 1,600 feet), the prolonged sunlight, the whole night being
+penetrated with it though the sun has set, together with good
+methods of farming, will no doubt get rid of frost, which strikes
+here just as it has in every new settlement in Manitoba, and in
+fact throughout a great portion of the continent.</p>
+
+<p>There were complaints, however, of a worse enemy than frost, namely,
+drought, which we were told was a characteristic feature of those
+magnificent prairies to the north. The wiry grass is very short
+there, something like the Milk River grass in Southern Alberta,
+and hay is scarce. This drawback will doubtless be got over hereafter
+by dry farming, or better still by irrigation, should the lakes to
+the north prove to be available.</p>
+
+<p>I have pointed out disadvantages which in all likelihood will
+disappear with time and settlement by good farmers. It is a region,
+I believe, predestined to agriculture; but, in some localities, the
+rainfall, as has been said, is rather scant for good husbandry, and,
+therefore, farming to the north of the river, on the upper level,
+is not as yet an assured success. To the south better conditions
+prevail, and thither no doubt the stream of immigration will first
+trend.</p>
+
+<p>Altogether we estimated the prairie areas of the upper river at
+about half a million acres, with much country, in addition, which
+resembles the Dauphin District in Manitoba, covered with willows
+and the like, which, if they can be pulled out by horse-power,
+as is done there, will not be very expensive to clear. There
+is, of course, any quantity of timber for building and fencing,
+though much has been destroyed by fire, the varieties being
+those common to the whole country. To the south, in the Yellowhead,
+and on the Upper Athabasca and its tributaries, there is considerable
+prairie also, more easily reached than Peace River; but this is
+apart from my subject. I may say, in conclusion, that the Upper
+Peace River country is a very fine one, drained by a vast and
+navigable river, compared with which the Saskatchewan must yield
+the palm, and, beyond doubt, this will be the first region to
+attract settlement and railway development.</p>
+
+<p>Aside from settlers and a railway, the chief needs of the country
+are a good waggon-road to Edmonton and mail facilities, which
+were almost non-existent when we were there, but which have
+recently been to some extent supplied. Nearly three months had
+elapsed since we entered the country, and not a letter or paper
+had reached us from the outer world at any point. The imports
+into the country were increasing very fast, and, through
+competition and fashion, its principal furs were immensely
+more valuable than in the past.</p>
+
+<p>As for the natives of the region, we found them a very worthy
+people, whose progress in the forms of civilized life, and to a
+certain extent in its elegances, was a constant surprise to us.
+As for the country, it was plain that all we met were making a good
+living in it, not by fur alone, but by successful farming, and that
+its settlement was but a question of time.</p>
+
+<h3 class="chap-num" id="chap07">Chapter VII</h3>
+<h3>Down The Peace River.</h3>
+
+<p>We had now to descend the river, and our first night in the boats
+was a bad one. A small but exceedingly diligent variety of mosquito
+attacked us unprepared; but no ordinary net could have kept them
+out, anyway. It was a case of heroic endurance, for Beelzebub
+reigned. The immediate bank of the river was now somewhat low
+in places, and along it ran a continuous wall, or layer, of
+sandstone of a uniform height. The stream was vast, with many
+islands in its course, and whole forests of burnt timber were
+passed before we reached Battle River, 170 miles down, and which,
+on the 25th, we left behind us towards evening. Next morning we
+reached Wolverine Point, a dismal hamlet of six or seven cabins,
+with a graveyard in their midst. The majority of the half-breeds
+of the locality had collected here, the others being out hunting.
+This is a good farming country. Eighteen miles north-west of
+Paddle River there is a prairie, we were told, of rich black
+soil, twenty-five miles long and from one to five miles wide,
+and another south-west of Wolverine, about nine miles in
+diameter and thirty-six in circumference&#8212;clean prairie and
+good soil, and covered with luxuriant grass and pea-vine. The
+latter, I think, is watered by a stream called "The Keg," or
+"Keg of Rum." Wolverine is also a region of heavy spruce timber,
+and fish are abundant in the various streams which join the Peace
+River, though not in the Peace itself.</p>
+
+<p>We were now approaching Vermilion, the banks of the river constantly
+decreasing in height as we descended, until they became quite low.
+Beneath a waning moon in the south, and an exquisite array of gold
+and scarlet clouds in the east, which dyed the whole river a
+delicate red, we floated down to the hamlet of Vermilion. The
+place proved to be a rather extensive settlement, with yellow
+wheat-fields and much cattle, for it is a fine hay country. The
+pioneer Canadians at Vermilion were the Lawrence family, which has
+been settled there for over twenty years. They were original
+residents of Shefford County, Eastern Townships, and set out from
+Montreal for Peace River in April, 1879, making the journey to
+Vermilion, by way of Fort Carlton, Isle a la Crosse and Fort McMurray,
+in four months and some ten days. The elder Mr. Lawrence had been
+engaged under Bishop Bompas to conduct a mission school at Chipewyan,
+but after a time removed to Vermilion, where he organized another
+school, which he conducted until 1891. He then resigned, and began
+farming on his own account, and, by and by, with great pains and
+expense, brought in a flour mill, whose operation stimulated
+settlement, and speedily reduced the price of flour from $25 to $8
+a sack. Unfortunately, this useful mill was burnt in April preceding
+our visit. The yield of grain, moreover, most of it wheat, was
+estimated at 10,000 bushels, and the turning of the mill was
+therefore not only a great loss to Mr. Lawrence, but a severe blow
+to the place. The population interested in farming was estimated
+at about three hundred souls, thus forming the nucleus of a very
+promising settlement, now, of course, at its wits' end for gristing.
+Vermilion seemed to be a very favourable supply point in starting
+other settlements, being in touch by water with Loon River, Hay
+River, and other points east and north, where there is abundance
+of excellent land. For the present, and pending railway development,
+it was plain that the great and pressing requirement of the region
+was a good waggon road by way of Wahpoo&#347;kow to Athabasca Landing,
+a distance of three hundred miles, thus avoiding the dangerous
+rapids of the Athabasca, or the long detour by way of Lesser Slave
+Lake, and making communication easy in winter time.</p>
+
+<p>From Mr. Erastus Lawrence, the head of the family, we got definite
+information regarding the region and its prospects for agriculture.
+We spent Sunday at his comfortable home, and examined his farm
+carefully. In front of the house was a field of wheat, 110 acres
+in extent, as fine a field as we had ever seen anywhere, and of
+this they had not had a failure, he said, during all their farming
+experience, the return never falling below fourteen bushels to the
+acre, in the worst of years, twenty-five being about the average
+yield. They sowed late in April, but reaped generally about the 15th
+of August. They had never, he said, been seriously injured by frost
+since 1884, and in fact no frost had occurred to injure wheat since
+1887. There was abundance of hay, and 10,000 head of stock, he
+believed, could be raised at that very point. Many hogs were raised,
+with great profit, bacon and pork being, of course, high-priced. One
+of the sons, Mr. E. H. Lawrence, said he had raised sixteen pigs,
+which at eighteen months dressed 370 pounds apiece. At that time
+there were about 500 head of cattle, 250 horses, and 200 pigs in the
+settlement.</p>
+
+<p>After service at the Reverend Mr. Scott's neat little church,
+we returned to Mr. Lawrence's, and enjoyed an excellent dinner,
+including home-cured ham, fresh eggs, butter and cream. That was
+a notable Sunday for us in the wilds, and seldom to be repeated.</p>
+
+<p>Strange to say, we found the true locust here, our old Red River
+pest, which had quartered itself on the settlement more than once.
+I examined numbers of them, and found the scarlet egg of the
+ichneumon fly under many of the shards. No one seemed to know
+exactly how they came, whether in flight or otherwise; but there
+they were, devouring some barley, but living mainly upon grass,
+which they seemed to prefer to grain. They had appeared nine years
+before our coming, and disappeared, and then, three years before,
+had come again.</p>
+
+<p>We found quarters in a large building at the fort, which was in
+charge of Mr. Wilson, whose wife was a daughter of my old friend,
+Chief-factor Clarke, of Prince Albert, her brother having charge
+of the trading store. The post is a substantial one, and the
+store large, well stocked, and evidently the headquarters of an
+extensive trade. At such posts, which have generally a fringe
+of settlement, the Company's officers and their families, though,
+of course, cut off from the outer world, lead, if somewhat
+monotonous, by no means irksome lives. Books, music, cards and
+dances serve to while away spare time, and an occasional wedding,
+lasting, as it generally does, for several days, stirs the little
+community to its core. But sport, in a region abounding with game
+of all kinds, is the great time-killer, giving the longed-for
+excitement, and contributing as well to the daily bill of fare the
+very choicest of human food. Such a life is indeed to be envied
+rather than commiserated, and we met with few, if any, who cared to
+leave it. But such posts are the "plums" of the service, and are few
+and far between. At many of the solitary outposts life has a very
+different colour. <span class="footnote">["At an outpost," says Mr. Bleasdell Cameron,
+"where a clerk is alone with his Indian servant, the life is
+wearisome to a degree, and privation not infrequently adds to the
+hardship of it. Supplies may run short, and in any case he is
+expected to stock himself with fish, taken in nets from the lake,
+near which his post is situated, for his table and his dogs, as well
+as to augment his larder by the expert and diligent use of his gun.
+Rare instances have occurred where, through accident, supplies had
+not reached the far-out posts for which they were intended, and the
+men had literally died of starvation. Out of a York boat's crew,
+which was taking up the annual supplies for a post far up among
+the Rocky Mountains, on a branch of the Mackenzie River, two or
+three men were drowned, and the ice beginning to take, the boat was
+obliged to put back to the district headquarters. The three men
+at the outpost were left for some weeks without the supplies, and
+when, after winter had set in, and it became possible to reach them
+with dog trains, and provisions were at length sent them, two were
+found dead in the post, while the third man was living by himself in
+a small hut some distance from the fort buildings. The explanation
+he gave was that he had removed to where there was a chance of
+keeping himself alive by snaring rabbits, which were more plentiful
+than at the post. But a suggestion of cannibalism surrounded the
+affair, for only the bones of his companions were found, and they
+were in the open chimney-place. Nothing was done, however, and I
+myself saw the survivor many times in after years."]</span></p>
+
+<p>At dinner Mr. Wilson told us of a very curious circumstance the
+previous fall, at the Loon River, some eighty miles south of
+Vermilion&#8212;something, indeed, that very much resembled volcanic
+action. Indians hunting there were surprised by a great shower of
+ashes all over the country, thick enough to track moose by, whilst
+others in canoes were bewildered in dense clouds of smoke. Dr. Wade,
+a traveller who had just come in from Loon River, said he had
+discovered three orifices, or "wells," as he called them, out of
+which he thought the ashes might have been ejected. As there were
+no forest fires to account for the phenomena, they were rather
+puzzling.</p>
+
+<p>We had begun taking depositions almost as soon as we arrived, and
+had a very busy time, working late and early in order to get away
+by the first of August. There were some interesting people here,
+"Old Lizotte" and his wife in particular. He was another of the
+"Ancient Mariners" who had left Lachine fifty-five years before
+with Governor Simpson&#8212;a man still of unshaken nerve and muscles
+as hard as iron. One by one these old voyageurs are passing away,
+and with them and their immediate successors the tradition
+perishes.</p>
+
+<p>There was another character on the Vermilion stage, namely, old
+King Beaulieu. His father was a half-breed who had been brought
+up amongst the Dog Ribs and Copper Indians, and some eighty years
+back had served as an interpreter at Fort Chipewyan. It was he
+who at Fort Wedderburne sketched for Franklin with charcoal on
+the floor the route to the Coppermine River, the sketch being
+completed to and along the coast by Black Meat, an old Chipewyan
+Indian. King Beaulieu himself was Warburton Pike's right-hand man
+in his trip to the Barren Lands. He had his own story, of course,
+about the sportsman, which we utterly discredited. He had joined
+the Indian Treaty here, but repented, almost flinging his payment
+in our face, and demanding scrip instead. One of his sons asked
+me if the law against killing buffalo had not come to an end. I
+said, "No! the law is stricter than ever&#8212;very dangerous now to kill
+buffalo." Asking him what he thought the band numbered, he said,
+"About six hundred," and added, "What are we poor half-breeds to
+do if we cannot shoot them?" Pointing out the abundance of moose
+in the country, and that if they shot the buffalo they would soon
+be exterminated, he still grumbled, and repeated, "What are we
+poor half-breeds to do?" I have no doubt whatever that they do
+shoot them, since the band is reported to have diminished to about
+250 head. Immediate steps should certainly be taken to punish and
+prevent poaching, or this band, the only really wild one on the
+continent, will soon be extinct.</p>
+
+<p>We were now on our boats again, and heading for the Chutes, as they
+are called, the one obstruction to the navigation of Peace River
+for over six hundred miles. We debarked at the head of the rapids
+above the Grand Fall, and walked to their foot along a shelving
+and slippery portage, skirting the very edge of the torrent. The
+Crees call this Me&#225;tina Po&#7811;istik&#8212;"The Real Rapid"&#8212;the cataract
+farther on being the Nepegabak&#769;etik&#8212;"Where the Water Falls."</p>
+
+<p>Returning to the "Decharge," I ran the rapids with Cyr and Baptiste
+in one of the boats, a glorious sensation, reminding one, though
+shorter, of the Grand Rapids of the Saskatchewan, the waves being
+great, and the danger spiced by the tremendous vortex ahead. The
+rapids are about four hundred yards in length, and extend quite
+across the river, which is here of an immense width. A heavy but
+brief rainstorm had set in, and it was some time before we could
+reload and drop down to the head of the "Chaudiere," if I may call
+it so, for the vortex much resembles the "Big Kettle" at Ottawa.
+That night we spent in the York boat, its keel on the rocks and
+painter tied to a tree, and, lulled by the roar of the cataract,
+slept soundly until morning.</p>
+
+<p>These falls cut somewhat diagonally across the river, the vortex
+being at the right bank, and close in-shore, concentred by a limestone
+shelf extending to the bank, flanked on the left, and at an acute
+angle, by a deeply-indented reef of rock. Looking up the river,
+the view to the west seems inclosed by a long line of trees, which,
+in the distance, appear to stand in the water. Thence the vast
+stream sweeps boldly into the south, and with a rush discharges
+down the rapids, and straight over the line of precipice, in a
+vast tumultuous greyish-drab torrent which speedily emerges into
+comparatively still water below. The rock here is an exceedingly
+hard, mottled limestone, resembling the stone at St. Andrew's
+Rapids on Red River. Where exposed it is pitted or bitten into
+by the endless action of wind and water, and lies in thick layers,
+forming an irregular dyke all along the shore, over the surface
+of which passes the portage, some forty yards in length. Though
+short, it is a nasty one, running along a shelf of rock into which
+great gaps have been gored by the torrent. Large quantities of
+driftwood were stuck in the rapids above, and a big pile of it
+had lodged at the south angle of the cataract, over which our
+boats had to be drawn, and dropped down, with great care and
+difficulty. A rounded, tall island lies, or rather stands, below
+the falls, towards the north shore, whose sheer escarpments and
+densely wooded top are very curious and striking. Two sister
+islands and another above the falls, all four being about a mile
+apart, stand in line with each other, as if they had once formed
+parts of an ancient marge, and, below the falls, the torrent
+has wrought out a sort of bay from the rock, the bank, which
+is high here, giving that night upon its grassy slope, overhung
+with dense pine woods, a picturesque camp to our boatmen.
+The vast river, the rapids and the falls form a majestic picture,
+not only of material grandeur, but of power to be utilized some
+day in the service of man. Though formidable, they will yet
+be surmounted by modern locks; and should Smith's Rapids, on
+the Great Slave River, be overcome by canalling, there would
+then be developed one of the longest lines of inland navigation
+on the continent.</p>
+
+<p>The Red River, which joins the Peace about twenty-five miles below
+the Chutes, flows from the south with a course, it was said, of
+about two hundred miles, and up this beautiful stream there are
+extensive prairies. The soil is very rich at the confluence, and
+we noticed that in the garden at the little Hudson's Bay Company's
+post, where we transacted our business, vegetables and potatoes
+were further advanced than at Vermilion, and some ears of wheat
+were almost ripe. From statements made we judged this to be a
+region well worth special investigation; it was, in fact, one
+of the most inviting points for settlement we had seen on our
+journey.</p>
+
+<p>Following down the Peace, some shoaly places were met with in the
+afternoon, the banks being low, sandy and uniform, with open woods
+to the south. The current was stately, but so slow that oars had
+often to be used. A chilly sunset was followed by an exceedingly
+brilliant display of Northern Lights, called by the Crees Pahkugh&#769;
+ka Ne&#233;matchik&#8212;"The Dance of the Spirits." This generally presages
+change; but the day was fine, and next morning we passed what
+are called the Lower Rapids, below which the banks are lined by
+precipitous walls of limestone, the river narrowing to less than
+half of its previous width.</p>
+
+<p>Landing at Peace Point, the traditional scene of the peace between
+the Beavers and the Chipewyans, or between the Beavers and the
+Crees, as Mackenzie says, or all three, we found it to be a wide
+and beautiful table-like prairie, begirt with aspens, on which we
+flushed a pack of prairie chickens. Below it, and looking upward
+beyond an island, a line of timber, fringed along the water's
+edge with willows, sweeps across the view, met half-way by a wall
+of Devonian rock, whose alternate glitter and shade, in the strong
+sunshine streaming from the east, seemed almost spectral.</p>
+
+<p>The heavily timbered island added to the effect, and, with a patch
+of limestone on its cheek, formed a strikingly beautiful foreground.</p>
+
+<p>The only exciting incident of the day was the vigorous chase, by some
+of the party, of an old pair of moulting gray geese with their young,
+all, of course, unable to fly. It was pitiful to watch the clever
+and fearless actions of the old birds as decoys, falling victims,
+at last, to parental love. Indeed, they were not worth eating, and
+to kill them was a sin. But when were there ever scruples over
+food on Peace River, that theatre of mighty feats of gormandism?</p>
+
+<p>I have already hinted at those masterpieces of voracity for which
+the region is renowned; yet the undoubted facts related around our
+camp-fires, and otherwise, a few of which follow, almost beggar
+belief. Mr. Young, of our party, an old Hudson's Bay officer, knew
+of sixteen trackers who, in a few days, consumed eight bears, two
+moose, two bags of pemmican, two sacks of flour, and three sacks of
+potatoes. Bishop Grouard vouched for four men eating a reindeer at
+a sitting. Our friend, Mr. d'Eschambault, once gave Oskinn&#233;qu&#8212;"The
+Young Man"&#8212;six pounds of pemmican, who ate it all at a meal, washing
+it down with a gallon of tea, and then complained that he had not had
+enough. Sir George Simpson states that at Athabasca Lake, in 1820, he
+was one of a party of twelve who ate twenty-two geese and three ducks
+at a single meal. But, as he says, they had been three whole days
+without food. The Saskatchewan folk, however, known of old as the
+Gens de Blaireaux&#8212;"The People of the Badger Holes"&#8212;were not behind
+their congeners. That man of weight and might, our old friend,
+Chief-factor Belanger&#8212;drowned, alas, many years ago with young
+Simpson at Sea Falls&#8212;once served out to thirteen men a sack of
+pemmican weighing ninety pounds. It was enough for three days; but,
+there and then, they sat down and consumed it all at a single meal,
+not, it must be added, without some subsequent and just pangs of
+indigestion. Mr. B. having occasion to pass the place of eating, and
+finding the sack of pemmican, as he supposed, in his path, gave it
+a kick; but, to his amazement, it bounded aloft several yards, and
+then lit. It was empty! When it is remembered that, in the old
+buffalo days, the daily ration per head at the Company's prairie
+posts was eight pounds of fresh meat, which was all eaten, its
+equivalent being two pounds of pemmican, the enormity of this
+Gargantuan feast may be imagined. But we ourselves were not bad
+hands at the trencher. In fact, we were always hungry. So I do not
+reproduce the foregoing facts as a reproach, but rather as a meagre
+tribute to the prowess of the great of old&#8212;the men of unbounded
+stomach!</p>
+
+<p>On the afternoon of the 4th we rounded Point Providence, the soil
+exposures sandy, the timber dense but slender, and early next
+morning reached the Quatre Fourches, which was at that time flowing
+into Lake Athabasca. It is simply a waterway of some thirty miles
+in length, which connects Peace River with the lake, and resembles,
+in size and colour, Red River in Manitoba. It is one of "the
+rivers that turn"&#8212;so called from their reversing their current
+at different stages of water. A small stream of this kind connects
+the South Saskatchewan with the Qu'Appelle, and another, a navigable
+river, the Lower Saskatchewan with Cumberland Lake. The Quatre
+Fourches is thus both an inlet and an outlet, but not of the lake
+in a right sense. The real outlet is the Rocher River, which joins
+the Peace River at the intersection of latitude 59 with the 111.30th
+degree of longitude, beyond which the united streams are called
+the Great Slave River.</p>
+
+<p>The Quatre Fourches&#8212;"The Four Forks"&#8212;gets its name from the
+junction of a channel which connects a small lake called the Mamawee
+with the south-west angle of Lake Athabasca, Fort Chipewyan being
+situated on an opposite shore upon an arm of the lake, here about
+six miles wide. The stream is sluggish, and is thickly wooded to the
+water's edge, with here and there an exposure of red granite. It is
+a very beautiful stream, and it was a pleasure to get out of the
+great river and its oppressive vastness into the familiar-looking,
+homely water, its eastern rocks and exquisite curves and bends.
+Rounding a point, we came upon a camp of Chipewyans drying fish and
+making birch-bark canoes, all of them fat, dirty, like ourselves,
+and happy; and, passing on, at dusk we reached the outlet and the
+lake.</p>
+
+<p>It was blowing hard, but we decided to cross to the fort, where
+a light had been run up for our guidance, and which, by vigorous
+rowing, we reached by midnight. Here Mr. Laird was waiting to
+receive us, the other Commissioners having departed for Fort
+McMurray and Wahpoo&#347;kow.</p>
+
+<p>Next morning we saw the lake to better advantage. It is called by
+the Chipewyans Kaytayla&#253;tooway, namely, "The Lake of the Marsh,"
+corresponding to the Athapuskow of the Crees, corrupted into the
+Rabasca of the French voyageurs, and meaning "The Lake of the Reeds."
+At one time, it may be mentioned, it was also known as "The Lake
+of the Hills," and its great tributary, the Athabasca, was the Elk
+River; but these names have not survived.</p>
+
+<h3 class="chap-num" id="chap08">Chapter VIII</h3>
+<h3>Fort Chipewyan To Fort McMurray.</h3>
+
+<p>Chipewyan, it may be remarked, is not a D&#233;n&#233; word. It is the name
+which was given by the Crees to that branch of the race when they
+first came in contact with them, owing to their wearing a peculiar
+coat, or tunic, which was pointed both before and behind; now
+disused by them, but still worn by the Esquimaux, and, until
+recent years, by the Yukon Indians. Though somewhat similar
+in sound, it has no connection, it is asserted, with the word
+Chippeway, or Ojibway. For all that, the words are perhaps
+closely akin. The writer for the accurate use in this narrative
+of words in the Cree tongue is under obligation to experts.
+When preparing his notes to his drama of "Tecumseh" he was
+indebted to his friend, Mr. Thomas McKay, of Prince Albert,
+Sask., a master of the Cree language, for the exact origin
+and derivation of the words Chippeway and Ojibway. Both are
+corruptions of O-cheepo-way, <i>cheepo</i> meaning "tapering," and
+<i>way</i> "sound," or "voice." The name was begot of the Ojibway's
+peculiar manner of lowering the voice at the end of a sentence.
+As "<i>wyan</i>" means a skin, it is not improbable that the word
+Chipewyan means tapering or "pointed" skin, referring, of course,
+to the peculiar garb of the Athapuskow Indians when the Crees
+first met with them.</p>
+
+<p>The sites of old posts are to be found all over this region; but
+Chipewyan in the beginning of the last century was the great supply
+and trading-post of the North-West Company. From Sir John Franklin's
+Journal (1820) it would appear that the Hudson's Bay Company had
+begun, and, for some reason not given, had ceased trading on Lake
+Athabasca, as he says "Fort Wedderburne was a small post built
+on Coal Island&#8212;now called Potato Island-about A.D. 1815, when
+the Hudson's Bay Company recommenced trading in this part of the
+country." He often visited this island post, then in charge of
+a Mr. Robertson, and, in June, engaged there for his memorable
+journey his bowmen, steersmen and middlemen, and an interpreter,
+his other men being furnished by the rival company. Fort Chipewyan
+was in charge at that time of Messrs. Keith and Black, of the
+North-West Company, a noticeable feature of the post being a
+tower built, Franklin says, about the year 1812, "to watch
+Indians who had evil designs."</p>
+
+<p>The site was well chosen, being sheltered from storms from the lake
+side by a great bulwark of wooded and rocky islands. The largest
+is Potato Island, just opposite, its outliers being the Calf and
+English Islands&#8212;the Lapeta, Echeranaway and Theyaodene of the
+Chipewyans; the Petac, Moo&#347;toos and Akayasoo of the Crees.</p>
+
+<p>Fort Chipewyan stands upon a rising ground fronting a sort of bay
+formed by these islands, and at the time of our visit consisted of
+a trading-store, several large warehouses and the master's residence,
+etc., all of solid timber, erected in the days of Chief-factor
+MacFarlane, who ruled here for many years.</p>
+
+<p><span class="footnote">[Mr. MacFarlane's career in the service of the Hudson's Bay Company
+is typical of the varied life and movements of its old-time
+adventurous traders. He entered the service in 1852, his first
+winter being spent as a clerk at Pembina (now Emerson), and also
+as trader in charge at the Long Creek outpost. From here he was
+transferred to Fort Rae, and afterwards to Fort Good Hope, Mackenzie
+River, where he remained six years. His next post was Fort Anderson,
+on the Begh-ula, or Anderson River, in the Barren Grounds, which he
+held for five years, much of his scientific work being done during
+excursions from this point. Afterwards he became trader and
+accountant at Fort Simpson, and was for two years in charge of
+the Mackenzie River district. This was succeeded by a six months'
+residence at Fort Chipewyan, where, subsequently, for fifteen years
+he had charge of the district. For two years he had control of
+the Caledonia district, in British Columbia, but removed to Fort
+Cumberland, Sask., where he remained for five years. Other removals
+followed until he finally retired from the service, and, returning
+to Winnipeg, has lived there ever since.]</span></p>
+
+<p>But old as the fort is, it has no relics&#8212;not even a venerable
+cabin. In the store were a couple of not very ancient flint-locks,
+and, upstairs, rummaging through some dusty shelves, I came across
+one volume of the Edinburgh, or second, edition of Burns in gray
+paper boards&#8212;a terrible temptation, which was nobly resisted.
+Though there was once a valuable library here, with many books now
+rare and costly, yet all had disappeared.</p>
+
+<p>East of the fort are shelving masses of red granite, completely
+covered by a dark orange lichen, which gives them an added warmth
+and richness; and on the highest part stood a square lead sun-dial,
+which, at first sight, I thought had surely been set up by Franklin
+or Richardson, but which I was told was very modern indeed, and
+put up, if I am not mistaken, by Mr. Ogilvie, D.L.S. To the west
+of the fort is the Church of England Mission, and, farther up,
+the Roman Catholic establishment, the headquarters of our esteemed
+fellow-voyager, Bishop Grouard. <span class="footnote">[The first Roman Catholic Mission in
+Athabasca was formed by Bishop Farrand the year after Bishop Tach&#233;'s
+visit to Fort Chipewyan, about A.D. 1849, he being then a missionary
+priest. Bishop Farrand established other missions on Peace River,
+and went as far north as Fort Resolution, on Great Slave Lake.
+He died in 1890, and was succeeded by our guest, Bishop Grouard,
+O.M.I., <i>Eveque d'Ibora</i>, the present occupant of the See of Athabasca
+and Mackenzie River. This prelate was born at Le Mans, in France,
+and was educated there, but finished his education in Quebec. He was
+ordained by Bishop Tach&#233;, near Montreal, in 1862, and was sent at
+once to Chipewyan, where he learnt the difficult language of the
+natives in a year. He has worked at many points, and perhaps no man
+in all the North, with the exception of Archdeacon Macdonald, or the
+late Anglican Bishop Bompas, has or had as accurate a knowledge of
+the great D&#233;n&#233; race, with its numerous subdivisions of Chipewyans,
+Beavers, Yellow Knives, Dog Ribs, Slaves, Nahanies, Rabbit Skins,
+Loucheaux, or Squint Eyes (so named from the prevalence of
+strabismus amongst them), and of other tribes. All these were at one
+time not only at war with the Crees, but with each other, with the
+exception of the Slaves, who were always a tame and meek-spirited
+race, and were often subjected to and treated like dogs by the
+others. Indeed they were called by the Crees, Awughkanuk, meaning
+"cattle."]</span> In line with the fort buildings, and facing the lake,
+stood a row of whitewashed cottages, all giving the place, with its
+environs, deeply indented shore and rugged spits of red granite, the
+quaint appearance of some secluded fishing village on the Gulf of
+St. Lawrence.</p>
+
+<p>In sight, but above the bay, was the trading-post of Colin Fraser,
+whose father, the McCrimmon of the North-West, was Sir George
+Simpson's piper. The late Chief-factor Camsell, of Fort Simpson,
+and myself paddled up to it, and were most hospitably entertained
+by Mr. Fraser and his agreeable family. His father's bagpipes,
+still in excellent order, were speedily brought out, and it was
+interesting to handle them, for they had heralded the approach of
+the autocratic little Governor to many an inland post from Hudson's
+Bay to Fraser River, over seventy years before.</p>
+
+<p>Several days were spent at the fort taking declarations, but,
+unlike Vermilion or Dunvegan, there were few large families here,
+the applicants being mainly young people. The agricultural resources
+of this region of rocks are certainly meagre compared with those of
+Peace River. Potatoes, where there is any available soil, grow to
+a good size; barley was nearly ripe when we were there, and wheat
+ripens, too. But, of course, it is not a farming region, nor are
+fish plentiful at the west end of the lake, the Athabasca River,
+which enters there, giving for over twenty miles eastward a muddy
+hue to the water. The rest of the lake is crystal clear, and
+whitefish are plentiful, also lake trout, which are caught up to
+thirty, and even forty, pounds' weight.</p>
+
+<p>The distance from Fort Chipewyan to Fond du Lac is about 185 miles,
+but the lake extends over 75 miles farther eastward in a narrow arm,
+giving a total length of about 300 miles, the greatest width being
+about 50 miles. The whole eastern portion of the lake is a desolate
+scene of primitive rock and scrub pine, with many quartz exposures,
+which are probably mineralized, but with no land, not even for
+a garden. The scenery, however, from Black Bay to Fond du Lac
+is very beautiful, consisting largely of islands as diversified
+and as numerous as the Thousand Islands in the St. Lawrence.
+These extremely solitary spots should be, one would think, the
+breeding-grounds of the pelican, though it is said this bird really
+breeds on islands in the Great Slave River. If disturbed by man it
+is reputed to destroy its young and desert the place at once.</p>
+
+<p>The Barren Ground reindeer migrate to the east end of this lake
+in October, and return in March or April, but this is not certain.
+Sometimes they unaccountably forsake their old migratory routes,
+causing great suffering, in consequence, to the Indians. Moose
+frequent the region, too, but are not numerous, whilst land game,
+such as prairie chickens, ptarmigan, and a grouse resembling
+the "fool-hen," is rather plentiful.</p>
+
+<p>The Indians of Fond du Lac are healthy, though somewhat uncleanly
+in their habits, and fond of dress, which is that of the white
+man, their women being particularly well dressed.</p>
+
+<p>As an agricultural country the region has no value whatever; but
+its mineral resources, when developed, may prove to be rich and
+profitable. Mining projects were already afoot in the country,
+but far to the north on Great Slave Lake.</p>
+
+<p>What was known as the "Helpman Party" was formed in England by
+Captain Alene, who died of pneumonia in December, 1898, three
+days after his arrival at Edmonton. The party consisted of a
+number of retired army officers, including Viscount Avonmore,
+with a considerable capital, $50,000 of which was expended.
+They brought some of their outfit from England, but completed
+it at Edmonton, and thence went overland late in the spring. But
+sleighing being about over, they got to Lesser Slave Lake with
+great difficulty, and there the party broke up, Mr. Helpman and
+others returning to England, whilst Messrs. Jeffries and Hall
+Wright, Captain Hall, and Mr. Simpson went on to Peace River
+Crossing. From there they descended to Smith's Portage, on
+the Great Slave River, and wintered at Fort Resolution, on
+Great Slave Lake.</p>
+
+<p>In the following spring they were joined by Mr. McKinlay, the
+Hudson's Bay Company's agent at the Portage, and he, accompanied
+by Messrs. Holroyd and Holt, who had joined the party at Smith's
+Landing, and by Mr. Simpson, went off on a prospecting tour through
+the north-east portion of Great Slave Lake, staking, <i>en route</i>, a
+number of claims, some of which were valuable, others worthless. The
+untruthful statements, however, of one of the party, who represented
+even the worst of the claims as of fabulous value, brought the
+whole enterprise into disrepute. The members of the party mentioned
+returned to England ostensibly to raise capital to develop their
+claims, but nothing came of it, not because minerals of great
+value do not exist there, but on account of remoteness and the
+difficulties of transport.</p>
+
+<p>In 1898 another party was formed in Chicago, called "The Yukon
+Valley Prospecting and Mining Company," its chief promoters being
+a Mr. Willis and a Mr. Wollums of that city. The capital stock was
+put at a quarter of a million dollars, twenty-five thousand dollars
+being paid up. These organizers interested thirty-three other men in
+the enterprise, the agreement being that these should go to Dawson
+at the expense of the stockholders, and locate mining claims there,
+a half-interest in all of which was to be transferred to the
+company. These men proceeded to Calgary, and outfitted for Dawson,
+which they wished to reach by ascending the Peace River. At Calgary
+they were fortunate in procuring as leader a gentleman of large
+experience in the North, W. J. McLean, Esq., a retired Chief-factor
+of the Hudson's Bay Company, who pointed out the difficulties of
+such a route, and recommended, instead, a possible one via Great
+Slave Lake and the Mackenzie River to Fort Simpson, and thence up
+the Liard River to the height of land at or near Francis Lake, and
+so down the Pelly River and on to Dawson.</p>
+
+<p>In February the party, led by him, left Edmonton with 160 ponies,
+sleds and sleighs, loaded with supplies, and proceeded, by an
+extremely difficult forest trail, to Lesser Slave Lake. They had
+no feed for the horses, save what they drew, and, of course, they
+reached the lake completely exhausted. Here, by Mr. McLean's advice,
+they sold the horses, and with the proceeds hired local freighters
+to carry them and their supplies to Peace River Crossing, where
+boats were built in which the party, with the exception of one
+of the organizers, Mr. Willis, who had returned in high dudgeon
+to Chicago, set out for Great Slave Lake. Before getting to Fort
+Resolution, Mr. McLean got private information from a former
+servant of his at that post, which led to an expedition to the
+north-east end of the lake, where he made valuable finds of copper
+and other minerals. Another trip was made, and additional claims
+were taken, and on Mr. McLean's return with a lot of samples
+of ore, he with another prospector, came out, and proceeded to
+Chicago. His samples were tested there and in Winnipeg, and yielded
+in copper from 11 to 32 per cent.; and the galena 60 ozs. of
+silver to the ton. Other minerals, such as sulphur, coal, asphalt,
+petroleum, iron and salt were discovered, all of great promise,
+and his opinion is that when transport is extended to that region,
+it will prove to be a great storehouse of mineral wealth.</p>
+
+<p>The other members of the party had at various times and places
+separated, some going here and some there; but all eventually
+left the country, and the company died a natural death. But Mr.
+McLean is not only a firm believer in the mineral wealth of the
+North, but in its resources otherwise. There are extensive areas
+of large timber, and the lakes swarm with fish. The soil on the
+Liard River is excellent, and he tells me that not only wheat but
+Indian corn will ripen there, as he himself grew both successfully
+when in charge of that district.</p>
+
+<p>The mining enterprises referred to fell through, but I have described
+them at some length since they are very interesting as being the
+first attempts at prospecting with a view to development in those
+remote regions. Failure, of course, at such a distance from transport
+and supplies, was inevitable. But some of the prospectors, Captain
+Hall and others who came out with ourselves, seemed to have no doubt
+that much of the country they explored is rich in minerals. Indeed,
+should the ancient repute of the Coppermine River be justified by
+exploration, perhaps the most extensive lodes on the continent
+will yet be discovered there.</p>
+
+<p>If the Hudson's Bay route were developed, a short line of rail from
+the western end of Chesterfield Inlet would tap the mining regions
+prospected, and develop many great resources at present dormant. The
+very moss of the Barren Lands may yet prove to be of value, and be
+shipped to England as a fertilizer. I have been told by a gentleman
+who has travelled in Alaska that an enterprising American there is
+preparing to collect and ship moss to Oregon, where it will be
+fermented and used as a fertilizer in the dairy industry.</p>
+
+<p>To return to Lake Athabasca. It seemed at one time to have been the
+rallying-place of the great Tin&#233; or D&#233;n&#233; race, to which, with the
+exception of the Crees, the Loucheaux, perhaps, and the Esquimaux,
+all the Indians of the entire country belong. It is said to have
+been a traditional and central point, such as Onondaga Lake was to
+the Iroquois.</p>
+
+<p>It is noticeable that, in the nomenclature of the various Indians of
+the continent, the names by which they were known amongst themselves
+generally meant men, "original men," or people; e.g., the Lenni
+Len&#225;pe of the Delawares, with its equivalent, the Anishin&#225;pe of the
+Saulteaux, and the Naheowuk of the Crees. It is also the meaning of
+the word D&#233;n&#233;, the generic name of a race as widely sundered, if not
+as widely spread, as the Algonquin itself.</p>
+
+<p>The Chipewyan of Lake Athabasca speaks the same tongue as the Apach&#233;
+of Arizona, the Navajo of Sonora, the Hoopa of Oregon, and the
+Sarcee of Alberta. The word Apach&#233; has the same root-meaning as
+the word D&#233;n&#233; though that fierce race was also called locally the
+Shisi&#324;dins, namely, "The Forest People," doubtless from its original
+habitat in this region.</p>
+
+<p>Owing to the agglutinative character of the aboriginal languages,
+numbering over four hundred, some philologists are inclined to
+attribute them all to a common origin, the Basque tongue being
+one of the two or three in Europe which have a like peculiarity.
+In the languages of the American Indians one syllable is piled
+upon another, each with a distinct root-significance, so that
+a single word will often contain the meaning of an ordinary
+English sentence. This polysynthetic character undoubtedly
+does point to a common origin, just as the Indo-European tongues
+trace back to Sanskrit. But whether this is indicative of the
+ancient unity of the American races, whose languages differed
+in so many other respects, and whose characteristics were so
+divergent, is another question.</p>
+
+<p>One interesting impression, begot of our environment, was that we
+were now emphatically in what might be called "Mackenzie's country."
+In his "General History of the Fur-Trade," published in London in
+1801, Sir Alexander tells us that, after spending five years in Mr.
+Gregory's office in Montreal, he went to Detroit to trade, and
+afterwards, in 1785, to the Grand Portage (Fort William).</p>
+
+<p>The first traders, he tells us, had penetrated to the Athabasca,
+via Methy Portage, as early as 1791, and in 1783-4 the merchants
+of Lower Canada united under the name of The North-West Company,
+the two Frobishers&#8212;Joseph Frobisher had traded on the Churchill
+River as early as 1775 and Simon McTavish being managers. The
+Company, he says, "was consolidated in July, 1787," and became
+very powerful in more ways than one, employing, at the time he
+wrote, over 1,400 men, including 1,120 canoemen. "It took four
+years from the time the good, were ordered until the furs were
+sold;" but, of course, the profits, compared with the capital
+invested, were very great, until the strife deepened between
+the Montrealers. and the Hudson's Bay Company, whose first
+inland post was only established at Sturgeon River, Cumberland
+Lake, in 1774, by the adventurous, if not over-valiant, Samuel
+Hearne. The rivalries of these two companies nearly ruined
+both, until they got rid of them by uniting in 1821, when the
+Nor'-Westers became as vigorous defenders of King Charles's
+Charter as they had before been its defiers and defamers.</p>
+
+<p>Fort Chipewyan was established, Mackenzie says, by Mr. Pond, in
+1788, the year after his own arrival at the Athabasca, where, by
+the way, in the fall of 1787, he describes Mr. Pond's garden at
+his post on that river as being "as fine a kitchen garden as
+he ever saw in Canada." Fort Chipewyan, however, though not
+established by Mackenzie, was his headquarters for eight years.
+From here he set out in June, 1789, on his canoe voyage to the
+Arctic Ocean, and from here in October, 1792, he started on his
+voyage up the Peace River on his way to the Pacific coast, which
+he reached the following year.</p>
+
+<p>In his history he states: "When the white traders first ventured
+into this country both tribes were numerous, but smallpox destroyed
+them." And, speaking of the region at large, he, perhaps, throws
+an incidental side-light upon the Blackfoot question. "Who the
+original people were," he says, "that were driven from it when
+conquered by the Kinisteneaux (the Crees) is not now known, as
+not a single vestige remains of them. The latter and the Chipewyans
+are the only people that have been known here, and it is evident
+that the last mentioned consider themselves as strangers, and seldom
+remain longer than three or four years without visiting their
+friends and relatives in the Barren Grounds, which they term their
+native country."</p>
+
+<p><span class="footnote">[It is a reasonable conjecture that these "original people," driven
+from Athabasca in remote days, were the Blackfeet Indians and their
+kindred, who possibly had their base at that time, as in subsequent
+days, at the forks and on both branches of the Saskatchewan. The
+tradition was authentic in Dr. (afterwards Sir John) Richardson's
+time. Writing on the Saskatchewan eighty-eight years ago he places
+the Eascabs, "called by the Crees the Assinipoytuk, or Stone
+Indians, west of the Crees, between them and the Blackfeet." The
+Assiniboines are an offshoot of the great Sioux, or Dakota, race
+called by their congeners the Hohas, or "Rebels." They separated
+from their nation at a remote period owing to a quarrel, so the
+tradition runs, between children, and which was taken up by their
+parents. Migrating northward the Eascabs, as the Assiniboines called
+themselves, were gladly received and welcomed as allies by the
+Crees, with whom, as Dr. Richardson says, "they attacked and
+drove to the westward the former inhabitants of the banks of the
+Saskatchewan." "The nations," he continues, "driven westward by
+the Easeabs and Crees are termed by the latter Yatchee-thinyoowuc,
+translated Slave Indians, but properly 'Strangers.'" This word
+Yatchee is, of course, the Iyaghchi of the Crees in their name for
+Lesser Slave River and Lake. Richardson describes them as inhabiting
+the country round Fort Augustus and the foot of the Rockies, and "so
+numerous now as to be a terror to the Assiniboines themselves." They
+are divided, he says, into five nations, of whom the Fall Indians,
+so called from their former residence at Cole's Falls, near the
+Forks of the Saskatchewan, were the most numerous, consisting of 500
+tents, the Piegans of 400, the Blackfeet of 350, the Bloods of 300,
+and the Sarcees of 150, the latter tribe being a branch of the
+Chipewyans which, having migrated like their congeners, the Apaches,
+from the north, joined the Crees as allies, just as the Assiniboines
+did from the south.]</span></p>
+
+<p>Besides Mackenzie's, another name, renowned in the tragic annals of
+science, is inseparably connected with this region, viz., that of
+Franklin, who has already been incidentally referred to. Others
+recur to one, but these two great names are engrained, so to
+speak, in the North, and cannot be lightly passed over in any
+descriptive work. The two explorers were friends, or, at any rate,
+acquaintances; and, before leaving England, Franklin had a long
+conversation in London with Mackenzie, who died shortly afterwards.
+The record of his "Journey to the Shores of the Polar Ocean,"
+accompanied by Doctor Richardson and Midshipmen Back and Hood, in
+the years 1819-20-21 and '22, practically began at York Factory in
+August of the former year. The rival companies were still at war,
+and in making the portage at the Grand Rapids of the Saskatchewan,
+with a party of Hudson's Bay Company traders, "they advanced," he
+says, "armed, and with great caution." When he returned on the 14th
+July, 1822, to York, the warring companies had united, and he and
+his friends were met there by Governor Simpson, Mr. McTavish, and
+all the united partners, after a voyage by water and land of over
+5,500 miles. Franklin spent part of the winter at Cumberland post,
+which had been founded to counteract the rivalry of Montreal.
+"Before that time," he says, "the natives took their furs to
+Hudson's Bay, or sold to the French Canadian traders, who," he adds,
+"visited this part of the country as early as 1697." If so, the
+credit for the discovery of the Saskatchewan has been wrongly given
+to the Chevalier, as he was called, a son of Varenne, Sieur de la
+Varendrye.</p>
+
+<p>Franklin left Cumberland in January, 1820, by dog train for
+Chipewyan, via Fort Carlton and Green Lake. Fort Carlton was the
+great food supply post, then and long afterwards, of the Hudson's
+Bay Company, buffalo and wapiti being very abundant. The North-West
+Company's fort, called La Montee, was three miles beyond Carlton,
+and harbored seventy French Canadians and sixty women and children,
+who consumed seven hundred pounds of meat daily, the ration being
+eight pounds. This post was at that time in charge of Mr. Hallett,
+a forebear, if I mistake not, of my old friend, William Hallett,
+leader of the English Plain Hunt, and a distinguished loyalist in
+the rebellion of 1869.</p>
+
+<p>Franklin and Back left Fort Carlton on the 8th February, and
+reached Green Lake on the 17th. The North-West Company's post at
+the lake was managed by Dugald Cameron, and that of the Hudson's
+Bay Company by a Mr. MacFarlane, and, having been equipped at
+both posts with carioles, sledges and provisions, they left
+"under a fusillade from the half-breed women." From the end of
+the lake they followed for a short distance a small river, then
+"crossed the woods to Beaver River, and proceeding along it,
+passed the mouths of two rivers, the latter of which, they were
+told, was a channel by which the Indians go to Lesser Slave
+Lake." On the 11th of March they reached Methy Lake&#8212;so called
+from an unwholesome fish of the burbot species found there,
+only the liver of which is fit to eat&#8212;crossed the Methy
+portage on the 13th, and, amidst a chaos of vast ravines and
+the wildest of scenery, descended the next day to the Clearwater
+River. Thence they followed the Indian trail on the north bank,
+passing a noted scene, "a romantic defile of limestone rocks
+like Gothic ruins," and, crossing a small stream, found pure
+sulphur deposited by springs and smelling very strongly. On
+the 17th they got to the junction of the Clearwater with the
+Athabasca, where Port McMurray now stands, and next day reached
+the Pierre an Calumet post, in charge of a Mr. Stewart, who
+had twice crossed the mountains to the Pacific coast. The
+place got its name from a soft stone found there, of which
+the Indians made their pipes.</p>
+
+<p>Franklin notes the "sulphurous springs" and "bituminous salt" in
+this region, also the statement of Mr. Stewart, who had a good
+thermometer, "that the lowest temperature he had ever witnessed
+in many years, either at the Athabasca or Great Slave Lake, was
+45 degrees below zero," a statement worth recording here.</p>
+
+<p>On the 26th of March the party arrived at Fort Chipewyan, the
+distance travelled from Cumberland House being 857 miles. He
+notes that at the time of his arrival the fort was very bare
+of both buffalo and moose meat, owing, it was said, to the trade
+rivalry, and that where some eight hundred packs of fur used to
+be shipped from that point, only one-half of that number was now
+sent. Liquor was largely used by both companies in trade, and
+scenes of riot and violence ensued upon the arrival of the Indians
+at the fort in spring, and whom he describes otherwise as "reserved
+and selfish, unhospitable and beggars, but honest and affectionate
+to children." They painted round the eyes, the cheek-bones and the
+forehead, and all the race, except the Dog Ribs and the Beavers,
+believed that their forefathers came from the East. The Northern
+Indians, Franklin says, suppose that they originally sprang from
+a dog, and about A.D. 1815 they destroyed all their dogs, and
+compelled their women to take their place. Their chiefs seemed to
+have no power save over their own families, and their conjurers
+were supported by voluntary contributions of provisions. These
+are some of the chief characteristics Franklin notes of the Indians
+who frequented Fort Chipewyan, at which point he spent several
+months. One extraordinary circumstance, however, remains to be
+mentioned. It is that of a young Chipewyan who lost his wife in
+her first pregnancy. He applied the child to his left breast,
+from which a flow of milk took place. "The breast," he adds,
+"became of an unusual size." Here he and Back, afterwards Admiral
+Back, were joined by Dr. Richardson and Mr. Hood, who had come
+from Cumberland House by the difficult Churchill River route,
+and on July 18th, at noon, the whole party left the fort on
+their tragic expedition, the party, aside from those named,
+consisting of John Hepburn, seaman, an interpreter and fifteen
+voyageurs, including, unfortunately, an Iroquois Indian, called
+Michel Teroahante. At two p.m. they entered Great Slave River,
+here three-quarters of a mile wide, and, passing Red Deer Islands
+and Dog River, encountered the rapids, overcome by seven or eight
+portages, from the Casette to the Portage of the Drowned, all
+varying in length from seventy to eight hundred yards.</p>
+
+<p>On the 21st they landed at the mouth of Salt River to lay in a
+supply of salt for their journey, the deposits lying twenty-two
+miles up by stream. These natural pans, or salt plains, he
+describes&#8212;and the description answers for to-day&#8212;as "bounded on
+the north and west by a ridge between six and seven hundred feet
+high." Several salt springs issue at its foot, and spread over the
+plain, which is of tenacious clay, and, evaporating in summer,
+crystallize in the form of cubes. The poisson inconnu, a species
+of salmon which ascends from the Arctic Ocean, is not found, he
+says, above this stream. A few miles below it, however, a buffalo
+plunged into the river before them, which they killed, and those
+animals still frequent the region.</p>
+
+<p>On the 25th of July they passed through the channel of the
+Scaffold to Great Slave Lake, and, landing at Moose Deer Island,
+found thereon the rival forts, of course, within striking distance
+of each other, and in charge, as usual, of rival Scotsmen. At Great
+Slave Lake I must part company with Franklin's Journal, since our
+own negotiations only extended to its south shores. But who that
+has read it can ever forget the awful return journey of the party
+from the Arctic coast, through the Barren Lands, to their own winter
+quarters, which they so aptly named Fort Resolution? In the tales
+of human suffering from hunger there are few more terrible than
+this. All the gruesome features of prolonged starvation were present;
+the murder of Mr. Hood and two of the voyageurs by the Iroquois;
+his bringing to the camp a portion of human flesh, which he declared
+to be that of a wolf; his death at the Doctor's hands; the dog-like
+diet of old skins, bones, leather pants, moccasins, <i>tripe de roche</i>;
+the death of Peltier and Semandre from want, and the final relief
+of the party by Akaitcho's Indians, and their admirable conduct.
+And all those horrors experienced over five hundred miles beyond
+Fort Chipewyan, itself thousands of miles beyond civilization!
+Did the noble Franklin's last sufferings exceed even these? Perhaps;
+but they are unrecorded.</p>
+
+<p>To return to our muttons. Some marked changes had taken place, and
+for the better, in Chipewyan characteristics since Franklin's day;
+not surprising, indeed, after eighty years of contact with educated,
+or reputable, white men; for miscreants, like the old American
+frontiersmen, were not known in the country, and if they had been,
+would soon have been run out. There was now no paint or "strouds"
+to be seen, and the blanket was confined to the bed. In fact, the
+Indians and half-breeds of Athabasca Lake did not seem to differ in
+any way from those of the Middle and Upper Peace River, save that
+the former were all hunters and fishermen, pure and simple, there
+being little or no agriculture. It was impossible to study the
+manners and customs of the aborigines, since we had no time to
+observe them closely. They have their legends and traditions and
+remnants of ceremonies, much of which is upon record, and they
+cherish, especially, some very curious beliefs. One, in particular,
+we were told, obtained amongst them, namely, that the mastodon
+still exists in the fastnesses of the Upper Mackenzie. They describe
+it as a monster many times larger than the buffalo, and they
+dread going into the parts it is supposed to haunt. This singular
+opinion may be the survival of a very old tradition regarding that
+animal, but is more likely due to the presence of its remains in
+the shape of tusks and bones found here and there throughout the
+Mackenzie River district and the Yukon.</p>
+
+<p><span class="footnote">[A similar belief, it is said, exists amongst the Indians of the
+Yukon. The remains of the primeval elephant are exceedingly abundant
+in the tundras of Siberia, and a considerable trade in mammoth ivory
+has been carried on between that region and England for many years.
+It is supposed that the Asian elephant advanced far to the North
+during the interglacial period and perished in the recurrent glacial
+epoch. Its American congener, the mastodon, found its way from Asia
+to this continent during the Drift period, when, it is believed,
+land communication existed in what is now Bering's Strait, and
+perished in a like manner. It was not a sudden but a gradual
+extinction in their native habitats, due to natural causes, such
+as encroaching ice and other material changes in the animals'
+environment. This, I believe, is the accepted scientific opinion of
+to-day. But the fact that these animals are at times exposed entire
+by the falling away of ice-cliffs or ledges, their flesh being quite
+fresh and fit food for dogs, and even men, opens up a very
+interesting field of inquiry and conjecture. In the bowels of a
+mammoth recently revealed in North-Eastern Siberia vegetable food
+was found, probably tropical, at all events unknown to the botany of
+to-day. The foregoing facts seem to be at variance with the doctrine
+of Uniformity, or with anything like a slow process. The entombment
+of these animals must have been very sudden, and due, one would
+naturally think, to a tremendous cataclysm followed by immediate
+freezing, else their flesh would have become tainted. A recent
+English writer predicts another deluge owing to the constant
+accumulation of ice at the Antarctic Pole, which for untold ages has
+been attracting and freezing the waters of the Northern Hemisphere.
+A lowering process, he says, has thus been going on in the ocean
+levels to the north through immeasurable time, its record being the
+ancient water-marks now high up on the mountain sides of British
+Columbia and elsewhere. It is certainly not unthinkable that, if
+subject to such a displacement of its centre of gravity, our planet
+at some inconceivably remote period capsized, so that what were
+before the Tropics became the Poles, and that such a catastrophe is
+not only possible but is certain to happen again. As a conjecture it
+may be unscientific; but how many of the accepted theories of science
+have ceased to be! As a matter of fact, she has been very busy
+burying her dead, particularly of late years, and her theory of the
+extinction of the primeval elephant may yet prove to be one of them.]</span></p>
+
+<p>On the 9th the steamer <i>Grahame</i> arrived from Smith's Landing,
+bringing with her about 120 baffled Klondikers, returning to
+the United States, there being still some sixty more, they
+said, down the Mackenzie River, who intended to make their
+way out, if possible, before winter. They had a solitary woman
+with them who had discarded a duffer husband, and who looked
+very self-reliant, indeed, being girt about with bowie-knife
+and revolver, but otherwise not alarming.</p>
+
+<p>It was certainly a motley crowd, and some of its members by no
+means honest. Chief-factor Camsell, who had just come from Fort
+Simpson, told me they had stolen from every house where they had
+a chance, and mentioned, amongst other things, a particularly
+ungrateful theft of a whip-saw from a native's cabin shortly
+after an Indian had, with much pains, overtaken them with a similar
+one, which they had lost on the trail. Their departure, therefore,
+was not lamented, and the natives were glad to get rid of them.</p>
+
+<p>We ourselves boarded the steamer for Fort McMurray on the 11th, but,
+owing to bad weather, did not get off till midday, and even then the
+lake was so rough that we had to anchor for a while in the lee of an
+island. Colin Fraser had started ahead of us with his big scow and
+cargo of furs, valued at $15,000, and kept ahead with his fine crew
+of ten expert trackers. When the weather calmed we steamed across to
+the entrance of one of the various channels connecting the Athabasca
+River with the lake, and soon found ourselves skirting the most
+extensive marshes and feeding-grounds for game in all Canada; a
+delta renowned throughout the North for its abundance of waterfowl,
+far surpassing the St. Clair flats, or any other region in the East.</p>
+
+<p>Next morning, upon rounding a point, three full-grown moose were
+seen ahead, swimming across the river. An exciting, and even hazardous,
+scene ensued on board, the whole Klondike crowd firing, almost at
+random, hundreds of shots without effect. Two of the noble brutes
+kept on, and reached the shore, disappearing in the woods; but the
+third, a three year-old bull moose, foolishly turned, and lost its
+life in consequence. It was hauled on deck, bled and flayed, and
+was a welcome addition to the steamer's table.</p>
+
+<p>That night a concert was improvised on deck, in which the music-hall
+element came to the front. But one speedily tired of the "Banks of
+the Wabash," and other ditties; in fact, we were burning to get to
+Fort McMurray, where we expected letters and papers from the outer
+world and home, and nothing else could satisfy us. By evening we
+had passed Burnt Point, also Poplar Point, where the body of an
+unfortunate, called Patterson, who had been drowned in one of the
+rapids above, was recovered in spring by some Indians, the body
+being completely enclosed in a transparent coffin of ice. On the
+following day we passed Little Red River, and next morning reached
+the fort, where, to our infinite joy, we received the longed-for
+letters and papers&#8212;our first correspondence from the far East.</p>
+
+<p>Fort McMurray consisted of a tumble-down cabin and trading-store
+on the top of a high and steep bank, which had yet been flooded
+at times, the people seeking shelter on an immense hill which
+overlooked it. Above an island close by is the discharge of the
+Clearwater River, the old canoe route by which the supplies for the
+district used to come, via Isle a la Crosse. At McMurray we left
+the steamer and took to our own boats, our Commission occupying one,
+and Mr. Laird and party the other. The trackers got into harness at
+once, and made very good time for some miles, the current not being
+too swift just here for fast traveling.</p>
+
+<h3 class="chap-num" id="chap09">Chapter IX</h3>
+<h3>The Athabasca River Region.</h3>
+
+<p>We were now traversing perhaps the most interesting region in all
+the North. In the neighbourhood of McMurray there are several
+tar-wells, so called, and there, if a hole is scraped in the bank,
+it slowly fills in with tar mingled with sand. This is separated
+by boiling, and is used, in its native state, for gumming canoes
+and boats. Farther up are immense towering banks, the tar oozing
+at every pore, and underlaid by great overlapping dykes of
+disintegrated limestone, alternating with lofty clay exposures,
+crowned with poplar, spruce and pine. On the 15th we were still
+following the right bank, and, anon, past giant clay escarpments
+along it, everywhere streaked with oozing tar, and smelling
+like an old ship.</p>
+
+<p>These tar cliffs are here hundreds of feet high, of a bold and
+impressive grandeur, and crowned with firs which seem dwarfed
+to the passer-by. The impregnated clay appears to be constantly
+falling off the almost sheer face of the slate-brown cliffs, in
+great sheets, which plunge into the river's edge in broken masses.
+The opposite river bank is much more depressed, and is clothed
+with dense forest.</p>
+
+<p>The tar, whatever it may be otherwise, is a fuel, and burned in our
+camp-fires like coal. That this region is stored with a substance
+of great economic value is beyond all doubt, and, when the hour of
+development comes, it will, I believe, prove to be one of the
+wonders of Northern Canada. We were all deeply impressed by this
+scene of Nature's chemistry, and realized what a vast storehouse of
+not only hidden but exposed resources we possess in this enormous
+country. What is unseen can only be conjectured; but what is seen
+would make any region famous. We now came once more to outcrops of
+limestone in regular layers, with disintegrated masses overlying
+them, or sandwiched between their solid courses. A lovely niche, at
+one point, was scooped out of the rock, over the coping of which
+poured a thin sheet of water, evidently impregnated with mineral,
+and staining the rock down which it poured with variegated tints of
+bronze, beautified by the morning sun.</p>
+
+<p>With characteristic grandeur the bends of the river "shouldered"
+into each other, giving the expanses the appearance of lakelets;
+and after a succession of these we came to the first rapid,
+"The Mountain"&#8212;Watch&#237;kwe Powistic&#8212;so called from a peak at its
+head, which towered to a great height above the neighbouring banks.
+The rapid extends diagonally across the river in a low cascade,
+with a curve inward towards the left shore. It was decided to
+unload and make the portage, and a very ticklish one it was. The
+boats, of course, had to be hauled up stream by the trackers,
+and grasping their line I got safely over, and was thankful. How
+the trackers managed to hold on was to me a mystery; but the steep
+and slippery bank was mere child's play to them. The right bank,
+from its break and downward, bears a very thick growth of alders,
+and here we found the wild onion, and a plant resembling spearmint.</p>
+
+<p>In the evening we reached the next rapid, called the Cascades&#8212;Nepe
+Kab&#225;tekik&#8212;"Where the water falls," and camping there, we had a
+symposium in our tent, which I could not enjoy, having headache and
+heartburn, a nasty combination. The 16th was the hottest day of the
+season&#8212;a hard one on the trackers, who now pulled along walls of
+solid limestone, perpendicular or stepped, or wrought into elaborate
+cornices, as if by the art of some giant stonecutter. At one place
+we came to a lovely little <i>rideau</i>, and on the opposite shore were
+two curious caves, scooped out of the rock, and supported by
+Egyptian-like columns wrought by the age-action of water.</p>
+
+<p>Towards evening we reached the Crooked Rapid&#8212;Kah&#769;wakak o
+Po&#7811;estik&#8212;and here the portage path followed on the summit of the
+limestone rampart, which the viscous gumbo-slides made almost
+impassable in rainy weather, and indeed very dangerous, forming, at
+the time we passed, pits of mud and broken masses of half-hard clay,
+along the very verge of the wall of rock, likely at any moment to
+give way and precipitate one into the raging torrent below. At other
+parts the path was jammed out to the wall-edge, to be stepped round
+with a gulp in the throat. But these and other features of a like
+interesting character, though a lively experience to the tenderfoot,
+were of no account whatever to those wonderful trackers. At one of
+the worst spots I was hesitating as to how and where I should step
+next, when a carrier, returning for his load, seeing my fix, humped
+his back with a laugh and gave me a lift over.</p>
+
+<p>We camped for the night below a point where the river makes a sharp
+bend, parallel with its course. This we surmounted in the morning,
+following a rounded wall of limestone, for all the world like a
+decayed rampart of some ancient city. A wide floor of rock at its
+base made beautiful walking to a place where the lofty escarpment
+showed exposures of limestone underlying an enormous mass of dark
+sandstone, topped by tar-clay. It is a portentous cliff, bearing
+a curiously Eastern look, as if some great pyramid had been riven
+vertically, and the exposed surface scarred and scooped by the
+weather into a multitude of antic hollows, grotesque projections,
+and unimaginable shapes. Here, also, the knives of passers-by had
+carved numerous autographs, marring the majestic cliff with their
+ludicrous incongruity. Are we not all sinners in this way? "John
+Jones," cut into a fantastic buttress which would fittingly adorn a
+wizard's temple, may be a poor exhibit of human vanity; but, after
+all, the real John Jones is more imperishable than the rock, which
+seems scaling, anyway, from the top, and may, by and by, carry the
+inscriptions with it. It was hard to tear one's self away from such
+a wonderful structure as this, the most striking feature of its kind
+on the whole river.</p>
+
+<p>Farther on, escarped banks, consisting of boulders and pebbles
+imbedded in tenacious clay, rose to a great height, their tops
+clothed with rich moss, and wooded with a close growth of pine,
+the hollows being full of delicious raspberries, now dead ripe.</p>
+
+<p>By and by we encountered the Long Rapids&#8212;Ka&#250;kinwauk Powestik&#8212;and,
+some hours afterwards, entered the Middle Rapid&#8212;Tuw&#225;o Powestik&#8212;the
+worst we had yet come to, full of boulders and sharp rocks, with a
+strong current. Very dexterous management was required here on the
+part of steersman and bowman; a snapt line or a moment's neglect,
+and a swing to broadside would have followed, and spelled ruin.</p>
+
+<p>It was evening before this rapid was surmounted, and all hands,
+dog-tired with the long day's pull, were glad to camp at the foot
+of the Boiler Rapid, the next in our ascent, and so called from
+the wrecking of a scow containing a boiler for one of the Hudson's
+Bay Company's steamers. It was the most uncomfortable of camps,
+the night being close, and filled with the small and bloodthirsty
+Athabasca mosquito, by all odds the most vicious of its kind.
+This rapid is strewn with boulders which show above water, making
+it a very "nice" and toilsome thing to steer and track a boat
+safely over it, but the tracking path itself is stony and firm,
+a fortunate thing at such a place. There are no exposures of rock
+at the foot of this rapid; but along its upper part runs a ledge
+of asphalt-like rock as smooth as a street pavement, with an outer
+edge as neatly rounded as if done with a chisel. This was the finest
+bit of tracking path on the river, excepting, perhaps, the great
+pavement beneath the cliff at the Long Rapids.</p>
+
+<p>In this region the river scenery changes to a succession of
+cut-banks, exposed in all directions, and in almost all situations.
+Immense towering hills of sand, or clay, are cut down vertically,
+some facing the river, others at right angles to it, and others
+inland, and almost inclosed by projecting shoulders of the wooded
+heights. These cut-banks carry layers of stone here and there, and
+are specked with boulders, and in some places massed into projecting
+crests, which threaten destruction to the passer-by. Otherwise the
+scenery is desolate, mountainous always, and wooded, but with much
+burnt timber, which gives a dreary look to the region. The cut-banks
+are unique, however, and would make the fortune of an Eastern river,
+though here little noticed on account of their number.</p>
+
+<p>It was now the 18th, and the weather was intensely hot, foreboding
+change and the August freshet. We had camped about eight miles below
+the Burnt Rapid, and the men were very tired, having been in the
+water pretty much since morning. Directly opposite our camp was a
+colossal cliff of clay, around which, looking upward, the river bent
+sharply to the south-west, very striking as seen beneath an almost
+full moon breaking from a pile of snowy clouds, whilst dark and
+threatening masses gathered to the north. The early, foggy morning
+revealed the freshet. The river, which had risen during the night,
+and had forced the trackers from their beds to higher ground, was
+littered from bank to bank with floating trees, logs and stumps,
+lifted from many a drift up stream, and borne down by the furious
+current. At one of the short breathing spells the water rose two
+inches in twenty minutes, and the tracking became exceedingly bad,
+the men floundering to their waists in water, or footing it
+insecurely on steep and slippery ledges along the water's marge.
+About mid-day the anticipated change took place in the weather.
+Thick clouds closed in with a driving rain and a high raw wind,
+presaging the end of summer.</p>
+
+<p>It was now, of course, very bad going, and camp was made, in the
+heavy rain, on a high flat about two miles below the Burnt Rapid.
+Though a tough spot to get up to, the flat proved to be a prime
+place for our camp, with plenty of dead fallen and standing timber,
+and soon four or five "long fires" were blazing, a substantial
+supper discussed, and comfort succeeded misery. The next day
+(Sunday) was much enjoyed as a day of rest, the half-breeds at
+their beloved games, the officials writing letters. The weather
+was variable; the clouds broke and gathered by turns, with slight
+rain towards evening, and then it cleared. As a night camp it was
+picturesque, the full moon in the south gleaming over the turbid
+water, and the boatmen lounging around the files like so many
+brigands.</p>
+
+<p>Next morning we surmounted the Brul&#233; Rapid&#8212;Pusit&#225;o Po&#7811;estik&#8212;short
+but powerful, with a sharp pointed rock at its head, very
+troublesome to get around. Above this rapid the bank consists
+of a solid, vertical rampart of red sandstone, its base and top
+and every crack and crevice clothed with a rich vegetation&#8212;a
+most beautiful and striking scene, forming a gigantic amphitheatre,
+concentred by the seeming closing-in of the left bank at Point
+Brul&#233; upon the long straight line of sandstone wall on the right.
+Nothing finer, indeed, could be imagined in all this remarkable
+river's remarkable scenery than this impressive view, not from
+jutting peaks, for the sky-line of the banks runs parallel with
+the water, but from the antique grandeur of their sweep and
+apparent junction.</p>
+
+<p>That afternoon we rounded Point Brul&#233;, a high, bold cliff of
+sandstone with three "lop-sticks" upon its top. The Indian's
+lop-stick, called by the Cree piskoot&#769;enusk, is a sort of living
+talisman which he connects in some mysterious way with his own fate,
+and which he will often go many miles out of his direct course to
+visit. Even white men fall in with the fetish, and one of the three
+we saw was called "Lambert's lop-stick." I myself had one made for
+me by Gros Oreilles, the Saulteau Chief, nearly forty years ago, in
+the forest east of Pointe du Chene, in what is now Manitoba. They
+are made by stripping a tall spruce tree of a deep ring of branches,
+leaving the top and bottom ones intact. The tree seems to thrive all
+the same, and is a very noticeable, and not infrequent, object
+throughout the whole Thickwood Indian country.</p>
+
+<p>Just opposite the cliff referred to, the Little Buffalo, a swift
+creek, enters between two bold shoulders of hills, and on its
+western side are the wonderful gas springs. The "amphitheatre,"
+sweeps around to, and is cloven by, that stream, its elevation
+on the west side being lofty, and deeply grooved from its summit
+downward, the whole locality at the time of our visit being
+covered with raspberry bushes loaded with fruit.</p>
+
+<p>The gas escapes from a hole in the ground near the water's edge in
+a pillar of flame about thirty inches high, and which has been
+burning time out of mind. It also bubbles, or, rather, foams up,
+for several yards in the river, rising at low water even as far
+out as mid-stream. There is a level plateau at the springs, several
+acres in extent, backed by a range of hills, and if a stake is
+driven anywhere into this, and withdrawn, the gas, it is said,
+follows at once. They are but another unique feature of this
+astonishing stream.</p>
+
+<p>For a long distance the upper prairie level exposes good soil,
+always clay loam, and there can be little doubt that there is
+much fertile land in this district. That night we slept, or
+tried to sleep, in the boat, and made a very early start on a
+raw, cloudy morning, the tracking being mainly in the water.
+We now passed great cliffs of sandstone, some almost shrouded
+in the woods, and came upon many peculiar circular stones, as
+large as, and much resembling, mill-stones. Towards evening we
+passed Pointe la Biche, and met Mr. Connor, a trader, with two
+loaded York boats, going north, and whom we silently blessed,
+for he brought additional mail for ourselves. What can equal
+the delight in the wilderness of hearing from home! It was
+impossible to make Grand Rapids, and we camped where we were,
+the night cold and raw, but enlivened by the reading and
+re-reading of letters and newspapers.</p>
+
+<p>Next morning, crossing the right bank of the river, and leaving
+the boat, we walked to the foot of Grand Rapids. Our path, if
+it could be called such, lay over a toilsome jumble of huge,
+sharp-edged rocks, overhung by a beetling cliff of reddish-yellow
+sandstone, much of which seemed on the point of falling. This whole
+bank, like so much of this part of the river, is planted, almost at
+regular intervals, with the great circular rocks already referred
+to. These globular or circular masses are a curious feature of this
+region. They have been shaped, no doubt, by the action of eddying
+water, yet are so numerous, and so much alike, as to bespeak some
+abnormally uniform conditions in the past.</p>
+
+<p>The Grand Rapids&#8212;Kitchi Po&#7811;estik&#8212;the most formidable on the river,
+are divided by a narrow, wooded island, over a quarter of a mile
+in length, upon which the Hudson's Bay Company have a wooden
+tramway, the cars being pushed along by hand. Towards the foot of
+the island is a smaller one near the left shore, and here is the
+larger cascade, a very violent rapid, with a fall from the crest
+to the foot of the island of thirty feet, more or less. The
+narrower passage is to the right of the island, and is called
+the "Free Traders' Channel." The river, in full freshet, was
+very muddy-looking, detracting much from the beauty of the rapids.</p>
+
+<p>The Hudson's Bay Company have storehouses at each end of the
+tramway, but for their own use only. Free traders have to portage
+their supplies over a very rough path beneath the cliffs. Both
+banks of the river are of sandstone, capped on the left by a wall
+of cream-coloured rock, seventy or eighty feet in height, at a
+guess. A creek comes in from the west which has cloven the sandstone
+bank almost to the water's edge; and running along the top of these
+sandstone formations are, everywhere, thick layers of coal, which
+is also found, in a great bed, on the opposite shore, and about
+three miles back from the river. The coal had been used by a trapper
+there, and is a good burner and heater, leaving little ash or clinker.
+These coal beds seem to extend in all directions, on both sides of
+the river, and underlie a very large extent of country. The inland
+country for some eight or ten miles had been examined by Sergeant
+Anderson, of the Mounted Police post here, who described it as
+consisting of wide ridges, or tables, of first-rate soil, divided
+by shallow muskegs; a good farming locality, with abundance of
+large, merchantable spruce timber. Moose were plentiful in the
+region, and it was a capital one for marten, one white trapper,
+the winter before our visit, having secured over a hundred skins.</p>
+
+<p>On the 25th we left our comfortable spruce beds and "long fires,"
+and tracked on to House River, which we reached at nine a.m. Here
+there is a low-lying, desolate-looking, but memorable, "Point,"
+neighboured by a concave sweep of bank. The House is a small
+tributary from the east, but very long, rising far inland; and here
+begins the pack-trail to Fort McMurray, about one hundred miles in
+length, and which might easily be converted into a waggon-road, as
+also another which runs to Lac la Biche. Both trails run through a
+good farming country, and the former waggon-road would avoid all
+the dangers and laborious rapids whose wearisome ascent has been
+described.</p>
+
+<p>The Point itself is tragic ground, showing now but a few deserted
+cabins and some Indian graves&#8212;one of which had a white paling
+around it, the others being covered with gray cotton&#8212;which looked
+like little tents in the distance. These were the graves of an
+Indian and his wife and four children, who had pitched through
+from Lac la Biche to hunt, and who all died together of diphtheria
+in this lonely spot. But here, too, many years ago, a priest was
+murdered and eaten by a weeghteko, an Iroquois from Caughnawaga.
+The lunatic afterwards took an Indian girl into the depths of the
+forest, and, after cohabiting with her for some time, killed and
+devoured her. Upon the fact becoming known, and being pursued by her
+tribe, he fled to the scene of his horrible banquet, and there took
+his own life. Having rowed across the river for better tracking, as
+we crawled painfully along, the melancholy Point with its lonely
+graves, deserted cabins and cannibal legend receded into eerie
+distance and wrapped itself once more in congenial solitude.</p>
+
+<p>The men continued tracking until ten a.m. much of the time wading
+along banks heavily overhung with alders, or along high, sheer
+walls of rock, up to the armpits in the swift current. The country
+passed through was one giant mass of forest, pine and poplar,
+resting generally upon loamy clay&#8212;a good agricultural country
+in the main, similar to many parts of Ontario when a wilderness.</p>
+
+<p>We camped at the Joli Fou Rapids, having only made about fifteen
+miles. It was a beautiful spot, a pebbly shore, with fine open
+forest behind, evidently a favourite camping-place in winter.
+Next morning the trackers, having recrossed for better footing,
+got into a swale of the worst kind, which hampered them greatly,
+as the swift river was now at its height and covered with gnarled
+driftwood.</p>
+
+<p>The foliage here and there showed signs of change, some poplars
+yellowing already along the immediate banks, and the familiar
+scent of autumn was in the air. In a word, the change so familiar
+in Manitoba in August had taken place here, to be followed by a
+balmy September and the fine fall weather of the North, said to
+surpass that of the East in mildness by day, though perhaps sharper
+by night. We were now but a few miles from the last obstruction,
+the Pelican Rapids, and pushed on in the morning along banks of
+a coal-like blackness, loose and friable, with thin cracks and
+fissures running in all directions, the forest behind being the
+usual mixture of spruce and poplar. By midday we were at the rapids,
+by no means formidable, but with a ticklish place or two, and got
+to Pelican Portage in the evening, where were several shanties
+and a Hudson's Bay freighting station. Here, too, is a well which
+was sunk for petroleum, but which struck gas instead, blowing up the
+borer. It was then spouting with a great noise like the blowing-off
+of steam, and, situated at such a distance from the shaft at the
+Landing and from the Point Brul&#233; spiracle described, indicated,
+throughout the district, available resources of light, heat and
+power so vast as almost to beggar imagining.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Ross having obtained on the 14th the adhesion of the Crees
+to the Treaty at Wahpoo&#347;kow, it was now decided that the Scrip
+Commission should make the canoe trip to that lake, whilst Mr.
+Laird and party would go on to Athabasca Landing on their way home.
+Accordingly Matcheese&#8212;"The Teaser"&#8212;a noted Indian runner, was
+dispatched with our letters to the Landing, 120 miles up the river.
+This Indian, it was said, had once run from the Landing to Edmonton,
+ninety-five miles, in a single day, and had been known to carry 500
+pounds over a portage in one load. I myself saw him shoulder 350
+pounds of our outfit and start off with it over a rough path. He was
+slightly built, and could not have weighed much over nine stone, but
+was what he looked to be, a bundle of iron muscles and nerves.</p>
+
+<p>On the 29th Mr. Laird and party bade us good-bye, and an hour
+later we set out on our interesting canoe trip to the Wahpoo&#347;kow,
+a journey which led us into the heart of the interior, and
+proved to be one of the most agreeable of our experiences.</p>
+
+<h3 class="chap-num" id="chap10">Chapter X</h3>
+<h3>The Trip To Wahpoo&#347;kow.</h3>
+
+<p>Our route lay first up the Pelican River, the Chach&#225;kew of the
+Crees, and then from the "divide" down the Wahpoo&#347;kow watershed
+to the lake. We had six canoemen, and our journey began by
+"packing" our outfit over a four-mile portage, commencing with a
+tremendously long and steep hill, and ending on a beautiful bank
+of the Pelican, a fine brown stream about one hundred feet wide,
+where we found our canoes awaiting us, capital "Peterboroughs,"
+in good order. Here also were a number of bark canoes, carrying
+the outfit of Mr. Ladoucere, a half-breed trader going up to
+Wahpoo&#347;kow. Mr. Prudhomme and myself occupied one canoe, and
+with two experienced canoemen, Auger at the stern and Cardinal
+at the bow, we kept well up with the procession.</p>
+
+<p>Where the channels are shallow, poles are used, which the men
+handled very dexterously, nicking in and out amongst the rocks and
+rapids in the neatest way; but in the main the propulsion was by our
+paddles, a delight to me, having been bred to canoeing from boyhood.
+We stopped for luncheon at a lovely "place of trees" overhanging a
+deep, dark, alluring pool, where we knew there were fish, but had
+no time to make a cast. So far the banks of the Pelican were of a
+moderate height, and the adjacent country evidently dry&#8212;a good
+soil, and berries very plentiful. Presently, between banks overhung
+with long grass, birch and alder, we entered a succession of the
+sweetest little rapids and riffles imaginable, the brown water
+dancing amongst the stones and boulders to its own music, and the
+rich rose-pink, cone-like tops of the water-vervain, now in bloom,
+dancing with it.</p>
+
+<p>Our camp that night was a delightful one, amongst slender birch
+and spruce and pine, the ground covered with blueberries, partridge
+berries, and cranberries in abundance. The berries of the
+wolf-willow were also red-ripe, alluring, but bitter to the taste.
+It was really a romantic scene. Ladoucere had made his camp in a
+small glade opposite our own, the bend of the river being in front
+of us. The tall pines cast their long reflections on the water, our
+great fires gleamed athwart them, illuminating the under foliage
+of the birches with magical light, whilst the half-breeds, grouped
+around and silhouetted by the fires, formed a unique picture which
+lingers in the memory. We slept like tops that night beneath the
+stars, on a soft bed of berry bushes, and never woke until a thin
+morning rain sprinkling in our faces fetched us to our feet.</p>
+
+<p>A good bacon breakfast and then to our paddles, the river-bends
+as graceful as ever, but with fewer rapids. At every turn we
+came upon luxuriant hay meadows, with generally heavy woods
+opposite them, the river showing the same easy and accessible
+shore, whilst now and then giant hoof-prints, a broken marge,
+and miry grass showed where a moose had recently sprawled up
+the bank. Nothing, indeed, could surpass the rich colour-tone
+of this delightful stream&#8212;an exquisite opaqueness even under
+the clouds; but, interfused with sunshine, like that rare and
+translucent brown spread by the pencil of a master.</p>
+
+<p>As we were paddling along, the willows on shore suddenly parted,
+and an Indian runner appeared on the bank, who hailed us and,
+handing over a sack of mail with letters and papers for us all,
+sped off as suddenly as he came.</p>
+
+<p>It was now the last day of August, raw and drizzly, and having
+paddled about ten miles through a like country, we came in sight
+of the Pelican Mountains to the west, and, later on, to a fork
+of the river called Muskeg Creek, above which our stream narrowed
+to about eighteen feet, but still deep and fringed with the same
+extensive hay meadows, and covered here and there with pond
+lilies, a few yellow ones still in bloom. By and by we reached
+Muskeg Portage, nearly a mile in length. The path lay at first
+through dry muskegs covered with blueberries, Labrador tea, and
+a dwarfed growth of birch, spruce, tamarac, and jackpine, but
+presently entered and ended in a fine upland wood, full of
+pea-vines, vetches and wild rose. This is characteristic of
+the country, muskegs and areas of rich soil alternating in all
+directions. The portage completed, we took to our canoes again,
+the stream of the same width, but very crooked, and still bordered
+by extensive and exceedingly rich hay meadows, which we were
+satisfied would yield four or five tons to the acre. Small
+haystacks were scattered along the route, being put up for ponies
+which haul supplies in winter from Pelican Landing to Wahpoo&#347;kow.</p>
+
+<p>The country passed through showed good soil wherever we penetrated
+the hay margin, with, of course, here and there the customary
+muskegs. The stream now narrowed into a passage deep but barely
+wide enough for our canoes, our course lying always through tall
+and luxuriant hay. At last we reached Pelican Lake, a pretty large
+sheet of water, about three miles across, the body of the lake
+extending to the south-west and north-east. We crossed it under
+sail and, landing at the "three mile portage," found a half-breed
+there with a cart and ponies, which took our outfit over in a
+couple of trips to Sandy Lake. A very strong headwind blowing,
+we camped there for the night.</p>
+
+<p>This lake is the height of land, its waters discharging by the
+Wahpoo&#347;kow River, whose northern part, miscalled the Loon, falls
+into the Peace River below Fort Vermilion. The lake is an almost
+perfect circle, ten or twelve miles in diameter, the water full
+of fibrous growths, with patches of green scum afloat all over
+it. Nevertheless, it abounds in pike, dory, and tullabees, the
+latter a close congener of the whitefish, but finer in flavour
+and very fat. Indeed, the best fed dogs we had seen were those
+summering here. The lake, where we struck it, was literally
+covered with pin-tail ducks and teal; but it is not a good moose
+country, and consequently the food supply of the natives is
+mainly fish.</p>
+
+<p>We descried a few half-breed cabins and clearings on the opposite
+shore, carved out of the dense forest which girdles the lake, and
+topographically the country seemed to be of a moderate elevation,
+and well suited for settlement. The wind having gone down, we
+crossed the lake on the 2nd of September to what is here called
+Sandy Creek, a very crooked stream, its thick, sluggish current
+bordered by willows and encumbered with reeds and flags, and,
+farther on, made a two-mile portage, where at a very bad landing
+we were joined by the boats, and presently paddled into a great
+circular pond, covered with float-weed, a very paradise of ducks,
+which were here in myriads.</p>
+
+<p>Its continuation, called "The Narrows," now flowed in a troubled
+channel, crossed in all directions by jutting boulders, full of
+tortuous snies, to be groped along dexterously with the poles,
+but dropped at last into better water, ending at a portage,
+where we dined. This portage led to the farmhouse of a Mr.
+Houle, a native of Red River, who had left St. Vital fifty-eight
+years before, and was now settled at a beautiful spot on the
+right bank of the river, and had horses, cows and other cattle,
+a garden, and raised wheat and other grain, which he said did
+well, and was evidently prosperous. After a regale of milk we
+embarked for the first Wahpoo&#347;kow lake, which we reached in
+the afternoon.</p>
+
+<p>This is a fine and comparatively clear sheet of water, much
+frequented by the natives. The day was beautiful, and with a
+fair wind and sails up we passed point after point sprinkled
+with the cabins and tepees of the Indians and half-breeds. It
+was perfectly charming to sweep up to and past these primitive
+lodgings, with a spanking breeze, and the dancing waves seething
+around our bows. Small patches of potatoes met the eye at every
+house, making our mouths water with expectation, for we had now
+been a long time without them, and it is only then that one realizes
+their value. In the far distance we discerned the Roman Catholic
+Mission church, the primitive building showing up boldly in the
+offing, whilst our canoemen, now nearing their own home, broke
+into an Indian chant, and were in high spirits. They expected
+a big feast that night, and so did we! I had been a bit under
+the weather, with flagging appetite, but felt again the grip
+of healthy hunger.</p>
+
+<p>We were now in close contact with the most innocently wild,
+secluded, and apparently happy state of things imaginable&#8212;a real
+Utopia, such as Sir Thomas More dreamt not of, being actually here,
+with no trace of abortive politics or irritating ordinance. Here
+was contentment in the savage wilderness&#8212;communion with Nature in
+all her unstained purity and beauty. One thought of the many men of
+mind who had moralized on this primitive life, and, tired of towns,
+of "the weariness, the fever and the fret" of civilization, had
+abandoned all and found rest and peace in the bosom of Mother
+Nature.</p>
+
+<p>The lake now narrowed into a deep but crooked stream, fringed,
+as usual, by tall reeds and rushes and clumps of flowering
+water-lilies. A four-mile paddle brought us to a long stretch
+of deep lake, the second Wahpoo&#347;kow, lined on the north by a
+lovely shore, dotted with cabins, the central tall buildings
+upon the summit of the rising ground being those of the English
+"Church Mission Society," in charge of the Reverend Charles R.
+Weaver. Here we were at last at the inland end of our journey,
+at Wahpoo&#347;kow&#8212;this, not the "Wabiscow" of the maps, being the
+right spelling and pronunciation of the word, which means in
+English "The Grassy Narrows."</p>
+
+<p>The other Missions of this venerable Society in Athabasca,
+it may be mentioned, were at the time as follows: Athabasca
+Landing, the residence of Bishop Young; Lesser Slave Lake, White
+Fish Lake, Smoky River, Spirit River, Fort Vermilion, and Fort
+Chipewyan, in charge, respectively, of the Reverend Messrs.
+Holmes, White, Currie, Robinson, Scott, and Warwick. The Roman
+Catholic Mission, already mentioned, had been established three
+years before our coming by the Reverend J. B. Giroux, at Stony
+Point, near the outlet of the first lake, the other Oblat
+Missions in Athabasca&#8212;I do not vouch for my accuracy&#8212;being
+Athabasca Landing, Lesser Slave Lake, the residence of Bishop
+Cl&#251;t and clergy and of the Sisters of Providence; White Fish
+Lake, Smoky River, Dunvegan, and St. John, served, respectively,
+by Fathers Leferriere, Lesserec, and Letreste; Fort Vermilion
+by Father Joussard, and Fort Chipewyan by Bishop Grouard and
+the Grey Nuns.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Weaver, the missionary at Wahpoo&#347;kow, is an Englishman, his
+wife being a Canadian from London, Ontario. By untiring labour
+he had got his mission into very creditable shape. When it is
+remembered that everything had to be brought in by bark canoes or
+dog-train, and that all lumber had to be cut by hand, it seemed to
+be a monument of industry. Before qualifying himself for missionary
+work he had studied farming in Ontario, and the results of his
+knowledge were manifest in his poultry, pigs and cows; in his
+garden, full of all the most useful vegetables, including Indian
+corn, and his wheat, which was then in stock, perfectly ripe and
+untouched by frost. This he fed, of course, to his pigs and poultry,
+as it could not be ground; but it ripened, he told me, as surely
+as in Manitoba. Some of the natives roundabout had begun raising
+stock and doing a little grain growing, and it was pleasant to
+hear the lowing of cattle and the music of the cow-bells, recalling
+home and the kindly neighbourhood of husbandry and farm.</p>
+
+<p>The settlement was then some twenty years old, and numbered about
+sixty souls. The total number of Indians and half-breeds in the
+locality was unknown, but nearly two hundred Indians received
+head-money, and all were not paid, and the half-breeds seemed
+quite as numerous. About a quarter of the whole number of Indians
+were said to be pagans, and the remainder Protestants and Roman
+Catholics in fair proportion. In the latter denomination, Father
+Giroux told me, the proportion of Indians and half-breeds,
+including those of the first lake, was about equal. The latter,
+he said, raised potatoes, but little else, and lived like the
+Indians, by fishing and hunting, especially by the former, as
+they had to go far now for fur and large game.</p>
+
+<p>The Hudson's Bay Company had built a post near Mr. Weaver's
+Mission, and there was a free-trader also close by, named
+Johnston, whose brother, a fine-looking native missionary,
+assisted at an interesting service we attended in the Mission
+church, conducted in Cree and English, the voices in the Cree
+hymns being very soft and sweet. Mr. Ladoucere was also near
+with his trading-stock, so that business, it was feared, would
+be overdone. But we issued an unexpectedly large number of scrip
+certificates here, and the price being run up by competition,
+a great deal of trade followed.</p>
+
+<p>Wahpoo&#347;kow is certainly a wonderful region for fish, particularly
+the whitefish and its cousin-german, the tullabee. They are not got
+freely in winter in the first lake, but are taken in large numbers
+in the second, where they throng at that season. But in the fall
+the take is very great in both lakes, and stages were seen in all
+directions where the fish are hung up by their tails, very tempting
+to the hungry dogs, but beyond their reach until the crows attack
+them. The former keep a watchful eye on this process, and when the
+crows have eaten off the tails, which they invariably attack first,
+the dogs seize the fish as they drop. When this performance becomes
+serious, however, the fish are generally removed to stores.</p>
+
+<p>One night, after an excellent dinner at Mr. Weaver's, that grateful
+rarity with us, we adjourned to a ball or "break-down," given in our
+honour by the local community. It took place in a building put up by
+a Mr. George, an English catechist of the Mission; a solid structure
+of logs of some length, the roof poles being visible above the
+peeled beams. On one of these five or six candles were alight,
+fastened to it by simply sticking them into some melted tallow.
+There were two fiddlers and a crowd of half-breeds, of elders,
+youths, girls and matrons, the latter squatting on the floor with
+their babes in moss-bags, dividing the delights of the evening
+between nursing and dancing, both of which were conducted with the
+utmost propriety. Indeed, it was interesting to see so many pretty
+women and well-behaved men brought together in this out-of-the-world
+place. The dances were the customary reels, and, of course, the Red
+River Jig. I was sorry, however, to notice a so-called improvement
+upon this historic dance; that is to say, they doubled the numbers
+engaged in it, and called it "The Wahpoo&#347;kow Jig." It seemed a
+dangerous innovation; and the introduction later on of a cotillon
+with the usual dreary and mechanical calls filled one with
+additional forebodings. We almost heard "the first low wash of waves
+where soon shall flow a human sea." But aside from such newfangled
+features, there was nothing to criticise. The fiddling was good,
+and the dancing was good, showing the usual expertness, in which
+performance the women stooped their shoulders gracefully, and bent
+their brows modestly upon the floor, whilst the men vied with each
+other in the admirable and complicated variety of their steps. In
+fact, it was an evening very agreeably spent, and not the less so
+from its primitive environment. After joining in a reel of eight, we
+left the scene with reluctance, the memorable Jig suddenly striking
+on our ears as we wended our way in the darkness to our camp.</p>
+
+<p>As regards farming land in the region, for a long way inland Mr.
+Weaver and others described it as of the like good quality as at
+the Mission, but with much muskeg. It is difficult to estimate the
+extent of the latter, for, being more noticeable than good land,
+the tendency is to overestimate. Its proportion to arable land is
+generally put at about 50 per cent., which may be over or under
+the truth, for only actual township or topographic surveys can
+determine it.</p>
+
+<p>The country drained by the lower river, the Loon, as it is
+improperly called in our maps, navigable for canoes all the
+way to where it enters the Peace, was described as an extensive
+and very uniform plateau, sloping gently to the north. To the
+south the Pelican Mountains formed a noble background to the
+view from the Mission, which is indeed charming in all directions.</p>
+
+<p>At the mouth of the river, and facing the Mission, a long point
+stretches out, dividing the lake into two deep arms, the Mission
+being situated upon another point around which the lake sweeps
+to the north. The scene recalls the view from the Hudson's Bay
+Company's post at Lesser Slave Lake, but excels it in the larger
+extent of water, broken into by scores of bayous, or pools,
+bordered by an intensely green water-weed of uniform height,
+and smooth-topt as a well-clipt lawn. Behind these are hay meadows,
+a continuation of the long line of them we had passed coming up.</p>
+
+<p>Upon the whole, we considered this an inviting region for any
+farmer who is not afraid to tackle the forest. But whether a
+railway would pass this way at first seemed to us doubtful. The
+head of Lesser Slave Lake lies far to the south-west, and there
+it is most likely to pass on its way to the Peace. What could be
+supplied, however, is a waggon-road from Wahpoo&#347;kow to Athabasca
+Landing, instead of the present dog-trail, which passes many deep
+ravines, and makes a long detour by Sandy Lake. Such a road should
+pass by the east end of the first Wahpoo&#347;kow Lake, thence to Rock
+Island Lake, and on by Calling Lake to the Landing, a distance of
+about one hundred miles. Such a road, whilst saving 125 miles of
+travel by the present route, would cut down the cost of transport
+by fully one-half.</p>
+
+<p>Wahpoo&#347;kow had its superstitions and some doubtful customs. For
+instance, an Indian called Nepapinase&#8212;"A Wandering Bolt of
+Night-Lightning"&#8212;lost his son when Mr. Ross was there taking
+adhesion to the Treaty, and spread the report that he had brought
+"bad medicine." Polygamy was practised, and even polyandry was
+said to exist; but we had no time to verify this gossip, and no
+right to interfere if we had.</p>
+
+<p>On the 6th, a lovely fall morning, we bade good-bye to Wahpoo&#347;kow,
+its primitive people, and its simple but ample pleasures. Autumn
+was upon us. Foliage, excepting in the deep woods, was changing
+fast, the hues largely copper and russet; hard body-tints, yet
+beautiful. There were no maples here, as in the East, to add a
+glorious crimson to the scene; this was given by shrubs, not by
+trees. The tints were certainly, in the larger growths, less
+delicate here than there; the poplar's chrome was darker, the
+willow's mottled chrome more sere. But there was the exquisite
+pale canary of the birch, the blood-red and yellow of the wild
+rose, which glows in both hues, the rich crimson of the red
+willow, with its foil of ivory berries, and the ruddy copper
+of the high-bush cranberry. These, with many other of the berry
+bearers and the wild-flowers, yielded their rich hues; so that
+the great pigments of autumn, crimson, brown and yellow, were
+everywhere to be seen, beneath a deep blue sky strewn with
+snowy clouds.</p>
+
+<p>We were now on the return to Pelican Landing, with but few incidents
+to note by the way, aside from those already recorded. But having
+occasion to take a declaration at a cabin on our passage along the
+first lake, we had an opportunity of visiting a hitherto unobserved
+stratum of Wahpoo&#347;kow's society.</p>
+
+<p>The path to the cabin and its tepees led up a steep bank, beaten
+as hard as nails and as slippery as glass; nevertheless, by
+clutching the weeds which bordered it, mainly nettles, we got
+on top at last, where an interesting scene met the eye.</p>
+
+<p>This was a half-breed family, the head of which, a shrivelled
+old fellow, was busy making a paddle with his crooked knife,
+the materials of a birch-bark canoe lying beside him&#8212;and most
+beautifully they make the canoe in this region. His wife was
+standing close by, a smudged hag of most sinister aspect; also a son
+and his wife. On stages, and on the shrubs around, were strewn nets,
+ragged blankets, frowsy shawls, and a huddle of other shreds and
+patches; and, everywhere else, a horde of hungry dogs snarling and
+pouncing upon each other like wolves. Filth here was supreme, and
+the <i>mise en scene</i> characteristic of a very low and very rare type
+of Wahpoo&#347;kow life indeed&#8212;a type butted and bounded by the word
+"fish." An attempt was made to photograph the group, but the old
+fellow turned aside, and the old woman hobbled into the recesses of
+a tepee, where we heard her muttering such execrations in Cree as
+were possible to that innocent tongue. The hands of the woman at the
+cabin door were a miracle of grime and scrofula. Her sluttish locks,
+together with two children, hung around her; one of the latter
+chewing a muddy carrot up into the leaves, an ungainly little imp;
+the other was a girl of singularly beautiful features and of perfect
+form, her large luminous eyes of richest brown reflecting the
+sunlight from their depths like mirrors&#8212;a little angel clad in
+dirt. Why other wild things should be delicately clean, the birds,
+the fishes she lived on, and she be bred amidst running sores and
+vermin, was one of the mysteries I pondered over when we took to our
+canoes. For such a pair of eyes, for those exquisite features, some
+scraggy denizen of Vanity Fair would have given a king's ransom.
+Yet here was a thing of beauty, dropped by a vile freak of Nature
+into an appalling environment of filth and ignorance; a creature
+destined, no doubt, to spring into mature womanhood, and lapse, in
+time, into a counterpart of the bleared Hecate who mumbled her Cree
+philippics in the neighbouring wigwam.</p>
+
+<p>On our return trip some detours were made, one of which was to the
+habitation of another half-breed family at the foot of Sandy Lake,
+themselves and everything about them orderly, clean and neat; the
+very opposites of the curious household we had visited the day
+before. They had a great kettle of fish on the fire, which we
+bought, and had our dinner there; being especially pleased to note
+that their dogs were not starved, but were fat and well handled. At
+the east side of the lake we were delayed trying to catch ponies
+to make the portage, failing which we got over otherwise by dark,
+and camped again on the Pelican River. That night there was a keen
+frost, and ice formed along shore, but the weather was delightfully
+crisp and clear, and we reached Pelican Landing on the 9th, finding
+there our old scow and the trackers, with our friend Cyr in command,
+and Marchand, our congenial cook, awaiting us.</p>
+
+<p>On the 11th we set off for Athabasca Landing, accompanied by a
+little fleet of trippers' and traders' canoes, and passed during
+the day immense banks of shale, the tracking being very bad and
+the water still high. We noted much good timber standing on heavy
+soil, and on the 14th passed a curious hump-like hill, cut-faced,
+with a reddish and yellow cinder-like look, as if it had been
+calcined by underlying fires. Near it was an exposure of deep
+coloured ochre, and, farther on, enormous black cut-banks, also
+suggestive of coal.</p>
+
+<p>The Calling River&#8212;"Kito&#243;sepe"&#8212;was one of our points of
+distribution, and upon reaching it we found the river benches
+covered with tepees, and a crowd of half-breeds from Calling
+Lake awaiting us. After the declarations and scrip payments were
+concluded, we took stock of the surroundings, which consisted, so
+far as numbers went, mainly of dogs. Nearly all of them looked very
+miserable, and one starveling bitch, with a litter of pups, seemed
+to live upon air. It was pitiful to see the forlorn brutes so
+cruelly abused; but it has been the fate of this poor mongrel friend
+of humanity from the first. The canine gentry fare better than many
+a man, but the outcasts of the slums and camps feel the stroke of
+bitter fortune, yet, with prodigious heart, never cease to love the
+oppressor.</p>
+
+<p>There was an adjunct of the half-breed camp, however, more
+interesting than the dogs, namely, Marie Rose Gladu, a half-sister
+of the Catherine Bisson we met at Lesser Slave Lake, but who
+declared herself to be older than she by five years. From evidence
+received she proved to be very old, certainly over a hundred,
+and perhaps the oldest woman in Northern Canada. She was born at
+Lesser Slave Lake, and remembered the wars of her people with the
+Blackfeet, and the "dancing" of captured scalps. She remembered
+the buffalo as plentiful at Calling Lake; that it was then a mixed
+country, and that their supplies in those old days were brought
+in by way of Isle a la Cross, Beaver River, and Lac la Biche, as
+well as by Methy Portage, a statement which I have heard disputed,
+but which is quite credible for all that. She remembered the old
+fort at the south-east end of Lesser Slave Lake, and Waup&#237;stagwon,
+"The White Head," as she called him, namely, Mr. Shaw of the famous
+finger-nail. Her father, whose name was Nekehwapi&#347;kun&#8212;"My wigwam
+is white"&#8212;was a fur company's Chief, and, in his youth, a noted
+hunter of Rabisca (Chipewyan), whence he came to Lesser Slave Lake.
+Her own Cree name, unmusical for a wonder, was Ochenaskum&#769;agan&#8212;
+"Having passed many Birthdays." Her hair was gray and black rather
+than iron-gray, her eyes sunken but bright, her nose well formed,
+her mouth unshrunken but rather projecting, her cheeks and brow a
+mass of wrinkles, and her hands, strange to say, not shrivelled, but
+soft and delicate as a girl's. The body, however, was nothing but
+bones and integument; but, unlike her half-sister, she could walk
+without assistance. After our long talk through an interpreter she
+readily consented to be photographed with me, and, seating ourselves
+on the grass together, she grasped my hand and disposed herself in a
+jaunty way so as to look her very best. Indeed, she must have been a
+pretty girl in her youth, and, old as she was, had some of the arts
+of girlhood in her yet.</p>
+
+<p>At this point the issue of certificates for scrip practically
+ended, the total number distributed being 1,843, only 48 of which
+were for land.</p>
+
+<p>Leaving Calling River before noon, we passed Rivi&#232;re la Biche
+towards evening, and camped about four miles above it on the same
+side of the river. We were not far from the Landing, and therefore
+near the end of our long and toilsome yet delightful journey. It
+was pleasant and unexpected, too, to find our last camp but one
+amongst the best. The ground was a flat lying against the river,
+wooded with stately spruce and birch, and perfectly clear of underbrush.
+It was covered with a plentiful growth of a curious fern-like plant
+which fell at a touch. The great river flowed in front, and an almost
+full moon shone divinely across it, and sent shafts of sidelong light
+into the forest. The huge camp-fires of the trackers and canoemen,
+the roughly garbed groups around them, the canoes themselves, the
+whole scene, in fact, recalled some genre sketch by our half-forgotten
+colourist, Jacobi. Our own fire was made at the foot of a giant spruce,
+and must have been a surprise to that beautiful creature, evidently
+brimful of life. Indeed, I watched the flames busy at its base with
+a feeling of pain, for it is difficult not to believe that those
+grand productions of Nature, highly organized after their kind,
+have their own sensations, and enjoy life.</p>
+
+<p>The 17th fell on a Sunday, a delicious morning of mist and sunshine
+and calm, befitting the day. But we were eager for letters from
+home, and therefore determined to push on. Perhaps it was less
+desecrating to travel on such a morning than to lie in camp. One
+felt the penetrating power of Nature more deeply than in the
+apathy or indolent ease of a Sunday lounge. Still there were
+those who had to smart for it&#8212;the trackers. But the Mecca of
+the Landing being so near, and its stimulating delights looming
+largely in the haze of their imagination, they were as eager to
+go on as ourselves.</p>
+
+<p>The left bank of the river now exhibited, for a long distance, a
+wilderness swept by fire, but covered with "rampikes" and fallen
+timber. The other side seemed to have partially escaped destruction.
+The tracking was good, and we passed the "Twenty Mile Rock" before
+dinner, camping about fifteen miles from the Landing. Next morning
+we passed through a like burnt country on both sides, giving the
+region a desolate and forlorn look, which placed it in sinister
+contrast with the same river to the north.</p>
+
+<p>Farther up, the right bank rose bare to the sky-line with a mere
+sprinkling of small aspens, indicating what the appearance of the
+"rampike" country would be if again set ablaze, and converted from
+a burnt-wood region to a bare one. The banks revealed a clay soil,
+in some places mixed boulders, but evidently there was good land
+lying back from the river.</p>
+
+<p>In the morning bets were made as to the hour of arrival at the
+Landing. Mr. P. said four p.m., the writer five, the Major six,
+and Mr. C. eight. At three p.m. we rounded the last point but
+one, and reached the wharf at six-thirty, the Major taking the
+pool.</p>
+
+<p>We had now nothing before us but the journey to Edmonton. At night
+a couple of dances took place in adjacent boarding-houses, which
+banished sleep until a great uproar arose, ending in the partisans
+of one house cleaning out the occupants of the other, thus reducing
+things to silence. We knew then that we had returned to earth. We
+had dropped, as it were, from another planet, and would soon, too
+soon, be treading the flinty city streets, and, divorced from
+Nature, become once more the bond-slaves of civilization.</p>
+
+<h3 id="conclusion">Conclusion.</h3>
+
+<p>I have thought it most convenient to the reader to unite with
+the text, as it passes in description from place to place, what
+knowledge of the agricultural and other resources of the country
+was obtainable at the time. The reader is probably weary of
+description by this time; but, should he make a similar journey,
+I am convinced he would not weary of the reality. Travellers,
+however, differ strangely in perception. Some are observers,
+with imagination to brighten and judgment to weigh, and, if need
+be, correct, first impressions; whilst others, with vacant eye,
+or out of harmony with novel and perhaps irksome surroundings,
+see, or profess to see, nothing. The readiness, for instance,
+of the Eastern "fling" at Western Canada thirty years ago is
+still remembered, and it is easy to transfer it to the North.</p>
+
+<p>Those who lament the meagreness of our records of the fur-trade
+and primitive social life in Ontario, for example, before the
+advent of the U. E. Loyalists, can find their almost exact
+counterpart in Athabasca to-day. For what that Province was
+then, viz., a wilderness, Athabasca is now; and it is safe to
+predict that what Ontario is to-day Athabasca will become in
+time. Indeed, Northern Canada is the analogue of Eastern Canada
+in more likenesses than one.</p>
+
+<p>That the country is great and possessed of almost unique resources
+is beyond doubt; but that it has serious drawbacks, particularly
+in its lack of railway connection with the outer world, is also
+true. And one thing must be borne in mind, namely, that, when
+the limited areas of prairie within its borders are taken up, the
+settler must face the forest with the axe.</p>
+
+<p>Perhaps he will be none the worse for this. It bred in the pioneers
+of our old provinces some of the highest qualities: courage, iron
+endurance, self-denial, homely and upright life, and, above all,
+for it includes all, true and ennobling patriotism. The survival
+of such qualities has been manifest in multitudes of their sons,
+who, remembering the record, have borne themselves manfully wherever
+they have gone.</p>
+
+<p>But modern conditions are breeding methods new and strange, and
+keen observers profess to discern in our swift development the
+decay of certain things essential to our welfare. We seem, they
+think, to be borrowing from others&#8212;for they are not ours by
+inheritance&#8212;their boastful spirit, extravagance, and love
+of luxury, fatal to any State through the consequent decline of
+morality. The picture is over-drawn. True womanhood and clean
+life are still the keynotes of the great majority of Canadian
+homes.</p>
+
+<p>Yet very striking is the contrast with the old days of household
+economies, the days of the ox-chain, the sickle, and the leach-tub.
+All of these, some happily and some unhappily, have been swept
+away by the besom of Progress. But in any case life was too
+serious in those days for effeminate luxury, or for aught but
+proper pride in defending the country, and in work well done.
+And it is just this stern life which must be lived, sooner or
+later, not only in the wilds of Athabasca, but in facing
+everywhere the great problems of race-stability&#8212;the spectres
+of retribution&#8212;which are rapidly rising upon the white man's
+horizon.</p>
+
+<p>For the rest, and granting the manhood, the future of Athabasca
+is more assured than that of Manitoba seemed to be to the doubters
+of thirty years ago. In a word, there is fruitful land there,
+and a bracing climate fit for industrial man, and therefore its
+settlement is certain. It will take time. Vast forests must
+be cleared, and not, perhaps, until railways are built will
+that day dawn upon Athabasca. Yet it will come; and it is well
+to know that, when it does, there is ample room for the immigrant
+in the regions described.</p>
+
+<p>The generation is already born, perhaps grown, which will recast
+a famous journalist's emphatic phrase, and cry, "Go North!" Well,
+we came thence! Our savage ancestors, peradventure, migrated from
+the immemorial East, and, in skins and breech-clouts, rocked the
+cradle of a supreme race in Scandinavian snows. It has travelled
+far to the enervating South since then; and, to preserve its
+hardihood and sway on this continent, must be recreated in the
+high latitudes which gave it birth.</p>
+
+<hr>
+
+<h3 id="cotespoem">MR. COT&#201;'S POEM.</h3>
+
+<blockquote>
+Sortez de vos tombeaux, peuplades endormies<br>
+A l'ombre des grands pins de vos for&#234;ts b&#233;nies!<br>
+Venez, fils de guerriers, qui jadis sous ces bois<br>
+Bruliez vos tomahawks, vos armes et vos carquois!<br>
+Que sur vos p&#226;les fronts l'aur&#233;ole immortelle<br>
+Pour votre bienfaiteur s'illumine plus belle.<br>
+N&#233;ophytes, venez en ce jour de bonheur<br>
+Proclamer les vertus de l'illustre pasteur,<br>
+Qui pour vous ses agneaux, ses brebis les plus ch&#232;res.<br>
+Consacra sa jeunesse et ses ann&#233;es enti&#232;res.<br>
+Venez, fleurs qui brillez au jardin de Bon Dieu.<br>
+R&#233;pandre les parfums qu'exhale le saint lieu<br>
+Sur l'illustre vieillard qui de sa voix b&#233;nie<br>
+Vous fit &#233;panouir dans l'h&#244;eureuse patrie!<br>
+Tendre et v&#233;n&#233;r&#233; p&#232;re, ap&#244;tre magnanime,<br>
+Grand pr&#234;tre du Seigneur, votre oevre fut sublime.<br>
+Des bords du Missouri jusqu'aux glances du nord,<br>
+Voyez, semeur b&#233;ni, cinquante sillons d'or;<br>
+Voyez sur le versant de la montagne sainte<br>
+De votre charit&#233; l'imp&#233;rissable empreinte;<br>
+Voyez cette l&#233;gion d'&#226;mes r&#233;g&#233;n&#233;r&#233;es<br>
+Portant par votre main les c&#233;lestes livr&#233;es.<br>
+Quoi, muse profane, indigne chalumeau,<br>
+Oserais-tu planer sur un th&#232;me si haut?<br>
+Pour chanter du h&#233;ros les f&#234;tes jubilaires<br>
+Descends de ces hauteurs &#224; demi-s&#233;culaires!<br>
+Muse prosterne-toi. Hosanna! Hosanna!<br>
+Au ciel gloire au Tr&#232;s-Haut. Jube, alleluia!<br>
+Hommage sur la terre &#224; l'Oblat de Marie,<br>
+Qui dans son cycle d'or brille sur la patrie!</blockquote>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Through the Mackenzie Basin, by Charles Mair
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diff --git a/old/12569.txt b/old/12569.txt
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Through the Mackenzie Basin, by Charles Mair
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Through the Mackenzie Basin
+       A Narrative of the Athabasca and Peace River Treaty Expedition of 1899
+
+Author: Charles Mair
+
+Release Date: June 9, 2004 [EBook #12569]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THROUGH THE MACKENZIE BASIN ***
+
+
+
+
+Prepared by Arthur Wendover and Andrew Sly.
+
+
+
+
+
+Through the Mackenzie Basin
+
+A Narrative of the Athabasca and Peace River Treaty Expedition of 1899
+
+By Charles Mair
+
+
+To the Hon. David Laird
+Leader of the Treaty Expedition of 1899
+This Record is Cordially Inscribed
+By His Old Friend the Author
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+  Introduction
+
+Important events of the year 1857--The _Nor'-Wester_ newspaper--The
+Duke of Newcastle and the Hudson's Bay Co.'s Charter--The
+"Anglo-International Financial Association"--The New Hudson's Bay
+Company--Offers of American capitalists to purchase the Company's
+interests--Bill providing for purchase of the same introduced into
+the United States Congress--Senator Sumner's memorandum to Secretary
+Fish--Various efforts to arouse public interest in the Hudson's Bay
+Territories--Former Treaties with the Indians--Motives for treating
+with the Indians of Athabasca--Rush of miners and prospectors into
+the district--The Indian Treaty and Half-breed Commission--The Royal
+North-West Mounted Police Contingent--Special stipulations with the
+Indians provided for.
+
+  Chapter I
+  From Edmonton To Lesser Slave Lake
+
+Arrival of Treaty and Half-breed Commissions at Edmonton--Departure
+for Athabasca Landing--Tawutinaow peat beds, etc.--Arrival at the
+Landing--The gas well there--Boats and trackers--Mr. d'Eschambault
+and Pierre Cyr--Non-arrival of trackers--Police contingent volunteers
+to track a boat to Lesser Slave Lake--Nature of country, burnt
+forests, muskegs, etc.--Tracking; its difficulties--The old Indian
+tracker Peokus--Forest and river scenery--Placer mining--Absence of
+life along the river--Fertile soil.
+
+  Chapter II
+  Lesser Slave River And Lesser Slave Lake
+
+Lesser Slave River--Its proper name--Migration of the great Algic
+race--Bishop Grouard's service in the wilderness--Returning
+Klondikers--The rapids; poling--Accident to Peokus--Celebration of
+Pere Lacombe's fiftieth year of missionary labors--Arrival of
+half-breed trackers from Lesser Slave Lake--Great hay meadows on the
+Lesser Slave River--The island in Lesser Slave Lake--Trackers'
+gambling games--Swan River--A dangerous squall--Chief Factor Shaw--A
+free-traders' village.
+
+  Chapter III
+  Treaty At Lesser Slave Lake
+
+The Treaty point at last--Our camp at Lesser Slave Lake--The Treaty
+ground and assembly--"Civilized" Indians--Keenooshayo and Moostoos--The
+Treaty proceedings--The Treaty Commissioners separate--Vermilion and
+Fort Chipewyan treaties--Indian chief asks for a railway--Wahpooskow
+Treaty--McKenna and Ross set out for Home--Commission issued to J. A.
+Macrae--Numbers of Indians treated with.
+
+  Chapter IV
+  The Half-Breed Scrip Commission
+
+The half-breeds collect at Lesser Slave Lake--They decide upon cash,
+scrip or nothing--Honesty of the half-breeds and Indians--Ease
+of parturition amongst their women--Cree family names and their
+significance--Catherine Bisson--Native traits--The mongrel dog--Gambling
+and dancing--The "Red River jig".
+
+  Chapter V
+  Resources Of Lesser Slave Lake Region
+
+Indian lunatics: The Weeghteko--Treatment of lunatics in old Upper
+Canada--Lesser Slave Lake fisheries--Stock-raising at the lake--Prairies
+of the region--The region once a buffalo country--Quality of the
+soil--Wheat and roots and vegetables--Unwise to settle in large numbers
+in the country at present--The "blind pig"--A native row.
+
+  Chapter VI
+  On The Trail To Peace River
+
+On the trail to Peace River--The South Heart River--Good farming
+lands--The Little Prairie--Peace River Crossing--The vast banks of
+the Peace a country in themselves--Wild fruits--Prospectors from
+the Selwyn Mountains--The Poker Flat Mining Camp--Buffalo paths and
+wallows--Magnificent prairies between Peace River Landing and Fort
+Dunvegan--Fort Dunvegan--Sir George Simpson and Colin Fraser--Some
+townships blocked here--The Roman Catholic Mission--Baffled miners
+returning--The natives of Dunvegan--Relics of the old regime--Large
+families the rule--The Church missions--Back to Peace River
+Crossing--Tepees, tents and trading stores--Mr. Alexander Mackenzie--The
+sites of old fur posts--Indian names of the Peace River--Description
+of the agricultural and other resources of the Upper Peace River--The
+Chinook winds--Grand Prairie--Rainfall scanty on prairies throughout the
+River--Lack of waggon roads and trail facilities.
+
+  Chapter VII
+  Down The Peace River
+
+The descent of the Peace River--Wolverine Point--A good farming
+country--Paddle River and Keg of Rum River prairies--Heavy spruce
+forests here--Vermilion settlement--The Lawrence family and
+farm--Extensive wheat fields--Cattle and hog raising--Locusts--Symptoms
+of volcanic action--Old Lizotte and old King Beaulieu--The Chutes of
+Peace River--The Red River; its rich soil and prairies--Peace Point--A
+wild goose chase--The Gargantuan feasts of Peace River--The Quatre
+Fourches--Athabasca Lake.
+
+  Chapter VIII
+  Fort Chipewyan To Fort McMurray
+
+Fort Chipewyan and Athabasca Lake--Colin Fraser's trading-post--The
+Barren Ground reindeer--Feathered land game--The Indians of Fond du
+Lac--Mineral resources--First companies formed to prospect the Great
+Slave Lake minerals--The Helpman party--The Yukon Valley Prospecting
+and Mining Company--Assays of copper ore--A great mineral country--A
+railway required from Chesterfield Inlet to develop it--Moss of
+the Banner Lands--Lake Athabasca the rallying place of the Dene
+race--Meaning of Indian generic names--"Mackenzie's country"--Its
+first traders--The North-West Company--The original Indians--The
+mastodon believed by the natives to exist--Return of Klondikers from
+Mackenzie River--Their bad conduct--By steamer _Grahame_ to Fort
+McMurray--Killing a moose--Fort McMurray.
+
+  Chapter IX
+  The Athabasca River Region
+
+The tar-banks--Characteristic features of the river--The rapids of
+the Athabasca--The cut-banks--A freshet--A fine camp--The "Indian
+lop-stick"--The natural gas springs--Grand Rapids--Coal abundant--Good
+farming country--The Point at House River--The Joli Fou Rapid--Bad
+tracking--Pelican Portage--Spouting gas well--Matcheese, the Indian
+runner.
+
+  Chapter X
+  The Trip To Wahpooskow
+
+The Pelican River--Poling and paddling--Character of the river
+and country--Great hay meadows--An Indian runner--The Pelican
+Mountains--Muskegs and rich soil--Pelican Lake the height of
+land--Abundance of fish--The first Wahpooskow Lake--The second
+lake--Mission of Rev. C.R. Weaver--Other missions of the C.M.S.--Mission
+of the Rev. Father Giroux--Other Roman Catholic missions--Indians and
+half-breeds--The crows and the fish--A ball at Wahpooskow--Farming land
+and muskeg in the district--Superstitions of the Indians--Polygamy and
+polyandry--The changing woods--The _foex populi_--A little
+beauty--Calling River--Another ancient woman and her memories--Our
+return to Athabasca Landing.
+
+  Conclusion
+
+
+
+
+Introduction
+
+  The important events of A.D. 1857, and the negotiations which led
+  to the Transfer of the Hudson's Bay Territories--Former Treaties
+  and the Treaty Commission of 1899.
+
+
+The terms upon which Canada obtained her great possessions in the
+West are generally known, and much has been written regarding the
+tentative steps by which, after long years of waiting, she acquired
+them. The distinctively prairie, or southern, portion of the
+country and its outliers, constituting "Prince Rupert's Land,"
+had been claimed by the Hudson's Bay Company since May, 1670, as
+an absolute freehold. This and the North-West Territories, in
+which, under terminable lease from the Crown, the Company exercised,
+as in British Columbia, exclusive rights to trade only, were, as
+the reader knows, transferred to Canada by Imperial sanction at
+the same time. It is not the author's intention, therefore, to
+cumber his pages with trite or irrelevant matter; yet certain
+transactions which preceded this primordial and greatest treaty
+of all not unfittingly may be set forth, though in the briefest
+way, as a pardonable introduction to the following record.
+
+The year 1857 was an eventful one in the annals of "The North-West,"
+the name by which the Territories were generally known in Canada.
+[An important event in Red River was begot of the stirring
+incidents of this year, namely, the starting at Fort Garry, in
+December, 1859, by two gentlemen from Canada, Messrs. Buckingham
+and Caldwell, of the first newspaper printed in British territory
+east of British Columbia and west of Lake Superior. It was called
+the _Nor'-Wester_, but, having few advertisements, and only a limited
+circulation, the originators sold out to Dr. (afterwards Sir John)
+Schultz, who, at his own expense, published the paper, almost down
+to the Transfer, as an advocate of Canadian annexation, immigration
+and development.] In that year two expeditions were set afoot to
+explore the country; one in charge of Captain Palliser, [Strange
+to say, Captain Palliser reported that he considered a line of
+communication entirely through British territory, connecting the
+Eastern Provinces and British Columbia, out of the question, as
+the Astronomical Boundary adopted isolated the prairie country
+from Canada. Professor Hind, on the other hand, in the same year,
+standing on an eminence on the Qu'Appelle, beheld in imagination
+the smoke of the locomotive ascending from the train speeding
+over the prairies on its way through Canada from the Atlantic to
+the Pacific.] equipped by the Imperial Government, and the other,
+under Professor Hind, at the expense of the Government of Canada.
+An influential body of Red River settlers, too, at this time
+petitioned the Canadian Parliament to extend to the North-West
+its government and protection; and in the same year the late Chief
+Justice Draper was sent to England to challenge the validity of the
+Hudson's Bay Company's charter; and to urge the opening up of the
+country for settlement. But, above all, a committee of the British
+House of Commons took evidence that year upon all sorts of questions
+concerning the North-West, and particularly its suitability for
+settlement, much of which was valueless owing to its untruth.
+Nevertheless, the Imperial Committee, after weighing all the evidence,
+reported that the Territories were fit for settlement, and that it
+was desirable that Canada should annex them, and hoped that the
+Government would be enabled to bring in a bill to that end at the
+next session of Parliament. Five years later, the Duke of Newcastle,
+who became Secretary of State for the Colonies in 1859, and
+accompanied the Prince of Wales to Canada as official adviser
+in 1860, having in his possession the petition of the Red River
+settlers, as printed by order of the Canadian Legislature, brought
+the matter up in a vigorous speech in the House of Lords, in which
+he expressed his belief that the Hudson's Bay Company's charter
+was invalid, though, he added, "it would be a serious blow to the
+rights of property to meddle with a charter two hundred years old.
+But it might happen," he continued, "in the inevitable course of
+events, that Parliament would be asked to annul even such a charter
+as this, in order, as set forth in the Queen's Speech, that all
+obstacles to an unbroken chain of loyal settlements, stretching
+from ocean to ocean, should be removed." British Columbia, which
+had become a Province in 1858, has now urging the Imperial Government
+with might and main to furnish a waggon-road and telegraph line
+to connect her, not only with the Territories and Canada, but
+with the United Empire. She was met by the stiffest of opposition,
+the opposition of a very old corporation strongly entrenched in
+the governing circles of both parties. But the clamour of British
+Columbia was in the air, and her suggestions, hotly opposed by
+the Company, had been brought before the House of Lords by
+another peer. In the discussion which followed, the Duke of
+Newcastle declared that "it seemed monstrous that any body of
+gentlemen should exercise fee-simple rights which precluded
+the future colonization of that territory, as well as the
+opening of lines of communication through it." The Minister's
+idea at the time seemed to be to cancel the charter, and to
+concede proprietary rights around fur posts only, together
+with a certain money payment, considerably less, it appears,
+than what was ultimately agreed upon.
+
+The Hudson's Bay Company, alarmed at the outlook and the attitude
+of the Colonial Secretary, offered their entire interests and
+belongings, trade and territorial, to the Imperial Government
+for a million and a half pounds sterling, an offer which the
+Duke was disposed to accept, but which was unfortunately declined
+by Mr. Gladstone, then Chancellor of the Exchequer. The Duke,
+who had resigned his office in 1864, died in October following,
+and in the meantime a change of a startling character had come
+over the time-honoured company, which sold out to a new company
+in 1863, being merged into, or rather merging into itself,
+an organization known as "The Anglo-International Financial
+Association," which included several prominent American capitalists.
+The old name was retained, but everything else was to be changed.
+The policy of exclusion was to cease, immigration was to be
+encouraged, and a telegraph line built through the Territories
+to the Pacific coast. The wire for this was actually shipped,
+and lay in Rupert's Land for years, until made use of by the
+Mackenzie Administration in the building of the Government
+telegraph line, which followed the railway route defined by
+Sir Sandford Fleming. The old Hudson's Bay Company's shares,
+of a par value of half a million pounds sterling, were increased
+to a million and a half under the new adjustment, and were thrown
+upon the market in shares of twenty pounds sterling each. Sir
+Edmund Head, an old ex-Governor of Canada, was made Governor
+of the new company. The Stock Exchange was not altogether
+favourable, and the remaining shares were only sold in the
+Winnipeg land boom of 1881.
+
+The alien element in the new company seemed to inspire the
+politicians of the United States with surpassing hopes and
+ideas. An offer to purchase its territorial interests was made
+in January, 1866, by American capitalists, which was not
+unfavourably glanced at by the directorate. It was capped later
+on. The corollary of the proposal was a bill, actually introduced
+into the United States Congress in July following, and read twice,
+"providing for the admission of the States of Nova Scotia, New
+Brunswick, Canada East and Canada West, and for the organization
+of the Territories of Selkirk, Saskatchewan and Columbia." The
+bill provided that "The United States would pay ten millions of
+dollars to the Hudson's Bay Company in full of all claims to
+territory or jurisdiction in North America, whether founded on
+the Charter of the Company, or any treaty, law, or usage." The
+grandiosity, to use a mild phrase, of such a measure needs no
+comment. But though it seems amusing to the Canadian of to-day,
+it was by no means a joke forty years ago. As a matter of fact,
+the then most uninhabited Territories, cut off from the centres
+of Canadian activity by a wilderness of over a thousand miles,
+would have been invaded by Fenians and filibusters but for the
+fact that they were a part of the British Empire. An attempt
+at this was indeed made at a later date. This possibility was
+afterwards formulated, evidently as a threat, by Senator Charles
+Sumner during the "Alabama Claims" discussion, in his astonishing
+memorandum to Secretary Fish. "The greatest trouble, if not
+peril," he said, "is from Fenianism, which is excited by the
+British flag in Canada. Therefore, the withdrawal of the British
+flag cannot be abandoned as a preliminary of such a settlement
+as is now proposed. To make the settlement complete the withdrawal
+should be from this hemisphere, including provinces and islands."
+A refreshing proposition, truly!
+
+It was the Imperial Government, of course, which figured most
+prominently throughout the "North-West" question. But, it may
+be reasonably asked, what was Canada doing, with her deeper
+interests still, to further them in those long years of
+discussion and delay. With the exception of the Hind Expedition,
+the Draper mission, the printing and discussion of the Red
+River settlers' petition and consequent Commission of Inquiry,
+certainly not much was done by Parliament. More was done
+outside than in the House to arouse public interest; for
+example, the two admirable lectures delivered in Montreal
+in 1858 by the late Lieutenant-Governor Morris, followed by
+the powerful advocacy of the Hon. William Macdougall and
+others, aided by the Toronto _Globe_, a small portion of the
+Canadian press, and the circulation, limited as it was, of
+the Red River newspaper, the _Nor'-Wester_, in Ontario.
+
+An unseen, but adverse, parliamentary influence had all along
+hampered the Cabinet; an influence adverse not only to the
+acquisition of the Territories, but even to closer connection
+by railway with the Maritime Provinces. [_Vide_ a series of articles
+contributed to the Toronto Week, in July, 1896, by Mr. Malcolm
+McLeod, Q.C., of Ottawa, Ont.] This sinister influence was only
+overcome by the great Conferences which resulted in the passage
+of the British North America Act in 1867, which contained a clause
+(Article 11, Sec. 146), inserted at the instance of Mr. Macdougall,
+providing for the inclusion of Rupert's Land and the North-West
+Territories upon terms to be defined in an address to the Queen,
+and subject to her approval. In pursuance of this clause, Mr.
+Macdougall in 1867 introduced into the first Parliament of the
+Dominion a series of eight resolutions, which, after much opposition,
+were at length passed, and were followed by the embodying address,
+drafted by a Special Committee of the House, and which was duly
+transmitted to the Imperial Government. This was followed by
+the mission of Messrs. Cartier and Macdougall to London, to
+treat for the transfer of the Territories, which, through the
+mediation of Lord Granville, was finally effected. The date
+fixed upon for the transfer was the first of December, 1869.
+Unfortunately for Lieutenant-Governor Macdougall, owing to the
+outbreak of armed rebellion at Red River, it was postponed
+without his knowledge, and it was not until the 15th of July,
+1870, that the whole country finally became a part of the
+Dominion of Canada. With the latter date the annals of Prince
+Rupert's Land and the North-West Territory end, and the history
+of Western Canada begins.
+
+But whilst the Hudson's Bay Company's territorial rights and
+those of Great Britain had been at last transferred to the
+Dominion, there remained inextinguished the most intrinsic
+of all, viz., the rights of the Indians and their collaterals
+to their native and traditional soil. The adjustment of these
+rights was assumed by the Canadian Parliament in the last but
+one of the resolutions introduced by Mr. Macdougall, and no
+time was lost after the transfer in carrying out its terms,
+"in conformity with the equitable principles which have uniformly
+governed the Crown in its dealings with the aborigines."
+
+[In the foregoing brief sketch, the author, for lack of space, omits
+all reference to the Red River troubles, which preceded the actual
+transfer, as also to the military expedition under Col. Wolseley, the
+threatened recall of which from Prince Arthur's Landing, in July,
+1870, was blocked by the bold and vigorous action of the Canada
+First Party in Toronto.]
+
+
+Former Treaties.
+
+Before passing on to my theme, a glance at the treaties made
+in Manitoba and the organized Territories may be of interest
+to the unfamiliar reader.
+
+The first treaty, in what is now a part of Manitoba, was made in
+pursuance of a purchase of the old District of Assiniboia from the
+Hudson's Bay Company in 1811 by Lord Selkirk, who in that year sent
+out the first batch of colonists from the north of Scotland to Red
+River. The Indian title to the land, however, was not conveyed by
+the Crees and Saulteaux until 1817, when Peguis and others of their
+chiefs ceded a portion of their territory for a yearly payment of
+a quantity of tobacco. The ceded tract extended from the mouth
+of the Red River southward to Grand Forks, and, westward, along
+the Assiniboine River to Rat Creek, the depth of the reserve being
+the distance at which a white horse could be seen on the plains,
+though this matter is not very clear. The British boundary at that
+time ran south of Red Lake, and would still so run but for the
+indifference of bygone Commissioners. This purchase became the
+theatre of Lord Selkirk's far-seeing scheme of British settlement
+in the North-West, with whose varying fortunes and romantic history
+the average reader is familiar.
+
+The first Canadian treaties were those effected by Mr. Weemys Simpson
+in 1871, first at Stone Fort, Man., covering the old purchase from
+Peguis and others, and a large extent of territory in addition,
+the stipulated terms of payment being afterwards greatly enlarged.
+These treaties are known as Nos. 1 and 2, and were followed by the
+North-West Angle Treaty, effected by Lieutenant-Governor Morris, in
+1873, with the Ojibway Saulteaux. In 1874 the Qu'Appelle Treaty,
+after prolonged discussion and inter-tribal jealousy and disturbance,
+was concluded by Lieutenant-Governor Morris, the Hon. David Laird,
+then Minister of the Interior, and Mr. W. J. Christie, of the
+Hudson's Bay Company. Treaty No. 5 followed, with the cession of
+100,000 square miles of territory, covering the Lake Winnipeg region,
+etc., after which the Great Treaty (No.6), at Forts Carlton and
+Pitt, in 1876, covering almost all the country drained by the two
+Saskatchewans, was partly effected by Mr. Morris and his associates,
+the recalcitrants being afterwards induced by Mr. Laird to adhere
+to the treaty, with the exception of the notorious Big Bear, the
+insurgent chief who figured so prominently in the Rebellion of 1885.
+The final treaty, or No. 7, made with the Assiniboines and Blackfeet,
+the most powerful and predatory of all our Plain Indians, was
+concluded by Mr. Laird and the late Lieut.-Colonel McLeod in 1877.
+By this last treaty had now been ceded the whole country from Lake
+Winnipeg to the Rocky Mountains, and from the international boundary
+to the District of Athabasca. But there remained in native hands
+still that vast northern anticlinal, which differs almost entirely in
+its superficial features from the prairies and plains to the south;
+and it was this region, enormous in extent and rich in economic
+resources, which, it was decided by Government, should now be placed
+by treaty at the disposal of the Canadian people. To this end it was
+determined that at Lesser Slave Lake the first conference should be
+held, and the initial steps taken towards the cession of the whole
+western portion of the unceded territory up to the 60th parallel of
+north latitude.
+
+The more immediate motive for treating with the Indians of Athabasca
+has been already referred to, viz., the discovery of gold in the
+Klondike, and the astonishing rush of miners and prospectors, in
+consequence, to the Yukon, not only from the Pacific side, but,
+east of the mountains, by way of the Peace and Mackenzie rivers. Up
+to that date, excepting to the fur-traders and a few missionaries,
+settlers, explorers, geologists and sportsmen, the Peace River
+region was practically unknown; certainly as little known to the
+people of Ontario, for example, as was the Red River country thirty
+years before. It was thought to be a most difficult country to
+reach--a _terra incognita_--rude and dangerous, having no allurements
+for the average Canadian, whose notions about it, if he had any, were
+limited, as usual, to the awe-inspiring legend of "barbarous Indians
+and perpetual frost."
+
+There is a lust, however, the unquenchable lust for gold, which
+seems to arouse the dullest from their apathy. This is the _primum
+mobile_; from earliest days the sensational mover of civilized man,
+and not unlikely to remain so until our old planet capsizes again,
+and the poles become the equator with troglodites for inhabitants.
+No barriers seem insurmountable to this rampant spirit; and,
+urged by it, the gold-seekers, chiefly aliens from the United
+States, plunged into the wilderness of Athabasca without
+hesitation, and without as much as "by your leave" to the
+native. Some of these marauders, as was to be expected,
+exhibited on the way a congenital contempt for the Indian's
+rights. At various places his horses were killed, his dogs shot,
+his bear-traps broken up. An outcry arose in consequence, which
+inevitably would have led to reprisals and bloodshed had not the
+Government stepped in and forestalled further trouble by a prompt
+recognition of the native's title. Hitherto he had been content
+with his lot in these remote wildernesses, and well might he be!
+One of the vast river systems of the Continent, perhaps the
+greatest of them all, considering the area drained, teeming
+with fish, and alive with fur and antler, was his home--a
+region which furnished him in abundance with the means of life,
+not to speak of such surplus of luxuries as was brought to his
+doors by his old and paternal friend, "John Company." His wants
+were simple, his life healthy, though full of toil, his appetite
+great--an appetite which throve upon what it fed, and gave rise
+to fabulous feats of eating, recalling the exploits of the
+beloved and big-bellied Ben of nursery lore.
+
+But the spirit of change was brooding even here. The moose, the
+beaver and the bear had for years been decreasing, and other
+fur-bearing animals were slowly but surely lessening with them.
+The natives, aware of this, were now alive, as well, to concurrent
+changes foreign to their experience. Recent events had awakened
+them to a sense of the value the white man was beginning to
+place upon their country as a great storehouse of mineral and
+other wealth, enlivened otherwise by the sensible decrease of
+their once unfailing resources. These events were, of course,
+the Government borings for petroleum, the formation of parties
+to prospect, with a view to developing, the minerals of Great Slave
+Lake, but, above all, the inroad of gold-seekers by way of Edmonton.
+The latter was viewed with great mistrust by the Indians, the
+outrages referred to showing, like straws in the wind, the
+inevitable drift of things had the treaties been delayed. For,
+as a matter of fact, those now peaceable tribes, soured by
+lawless aggression, and sheltered by their vast forests, might
+easily have taken an Indian revenge, and hampered, if not
+hindered, the safe settlement of the country for years to come.
+The Government, therefore, decided to treat with them at once
+on equitable terms, and to satisfy their congeners, the half-breeds,
+as well, by an issue of scrip certificates such as their fellows
+had already received in Manitoba and the organized Territories.
+To this end adjustments were made by the Hon. Clifford Sifton,
+then Minister of the Interior and Superintendent-General of
+Indian Affairs, during the winter of 1898-9, and a plan of
+procedure and basis of treatment adopted, the carrying out
+of which was placed in the hands of a double Commission, one
+to frame and effect the Treaty, and secure the adhesion of
+the various tribes, and the other to investigate and extinguish
+the half-breed title. At the head of the former was placed the
+Hon. David Laird, a gentleman of wide experience in the early
+days in the North-West Territories, whose successful treaty
+with the refractory Blackfeet and their allies is but one of many
+evidences of his tact and sagacity. [The Hon. David Laird is a native
+of Prince Edward Island. His father emigrated from Scotland to that
+Province early in the last century, and ultimately became a member of
+its Executive Council. After leaving college his son David began life
+as a journalist, but later on took to politics, and being called,
+like his father, to the Executive Council, was selected as one of
+the delegates to Ottawa to arrange for the entrance of the Island
+into the Canadian Confederation. He was subsequently elected to the
+Dominion House of Commons, and became Minister of the Interior in
+the Mackenzie Administration. After three years' occupancy of this
+department he was made Lieut.-Governor of the North-West Territories,
+an office which he filled without bias and to the satisfaction of
+both the foes and friends of his own party. He returned to the Island
+at the close of his official term, but was called thence by the
+Laurier Administration to take charge of Indian affairs in the West,
+with residence in Winnipeg, which is now his permanent home.] A
+nature in which fairness and firmness met was, of all dispositions,
+the most suited to handle such important negotiations with the
+Indians as parting with their blood-right. Fortunately these
+qualities were pre-eminent in Mr. Laird, who had administered the
+government of the organized Territories, at a primitive stage in
+their history, in the wisest manner, and, at the close of his
+official career, returned to his home in Prince Edward Island
+leaving not an enemy behind him.
+
+The other Treaty Commissioners were the Hon. James Ross, Minister
+of Public Works in the Territorial Government, and Mr. J. A.
+McKenna, then private secretary to the Superintendent-General
+of Indian Affairs, and who had been for some years a valued
+officer of the Indian Department. With them was associated, in
+an advisory capacity, the Rev. Father Lacombe, O.M.I., Vicar-General
+of St. Albert, Alta., whose history had been identified for fifty
+years with the Canadian North-West, and whose career had touched
+the currents of primitive life at all points.
+
+[Father Lacombe is by birth a French Canadian, his native parish
+being St. Sulpice, in the Island of Montreal, where he was born in
+the year 1827. On the mother's side he is said to draw his descent
+from the daughter of a habitant on the St. Lawrence River called
+Duhamel, who was stolen in girlhood by the Ojibway Indians, and
+subsequently taken to wife by their chief, to whom she bore two
+sons. By mere accident, her uncle, who was one of a North-West
+Company trading party on Lake Huron, met her at an Indian camp on
+one of the Manitoulin islands, and having identified her as his
+niece, restored her and her children to her family. Father Lacombe
+was ordained a priest by Bishop Bourget, of Montreal, and in 1849
+set out for Red River, where he became intimately associated with
+the French half-breeds, accompanying them on their great buffalo
+hunts, and ministering not only to the spiritual but to the temporal
+welfare of them and their descendants down to the present day. In
+1851 he took charge of the Lake Ste. Anne Mission, and subsequently
+of St. Albert, the first house in which he helped to build; and from
+these Missions he visited numbers of outlying regions, including
+Lesser Slave Lake. His principal missionary work, however, for
+twenty years was pursued amongst the Blackfeet Indians on the Great
+Plains, during which he witnessed many a perilous onslaught in the
+constant warfare between them and their traditional enemies, the
+Crees. Being now over eighty years of age, he has retired from
+active duty, and is spending the remainder of his days at Pincher
+Creek, Alta., where, it is understood, he is preparing his memoirs
+for publication at an early date.]
+
+Not associated with the Commission, but travelling with it as a
+guest, was the Right Rev. E. Grouard, O.M.I., the Roman Catholic
+Bishop of Athabasca and Mackenzie rivers, who was returning, after
+a visit to the East, to his headquarters at Fort Chipewyan, where
+his influence and knowledge of the language, it was believed,
+would be of great service when the treaty came under consideration
+there. The secretaries of the Commission were Mr. Harrison Young, a
+son-in-law of the Rev. George McDougall, the distinguished missionary
+who perished so unaccountably on the plains in the winter of 1876,
+and Mr. I. W. Martin, an agreeable young gentleman from Goderich,
+Ont. Connected with the party in an advisory capacity, like Father
+Lacombe, and as interpreter, was Mr. Pierre d'Eschambault, who
+had been for over thirty years an officer in the Hudson's Pay
+Company's service. The camp-manager was Mr. Henry McKay, of an
+old and highly esteemed North-West family. Such was the personnel,
+official and informal, of the Treaty Commission, to which was also
+attached Mr. H. A. Conroy, as accountant, robust and genial, and
+well fitted for the work.
+
+The Half-breed Scrip Commission, whose duties began where the
+treaty work ended, was composed of Major Walker, a retired
+officer of the Royal North-West Mounted Police, who had seen
+much service in the Territories and was in command of the force
+present at the making of the Fort Carlton Treaty in 1876; and
+Mr. J. A. Cote, an experienced officer of the Land Department at
+Ottawa. The secretaries were Mr. J. F. Prudhomme, of St. Boniface,
+Man., and the writer.
+
+Our transport arrangements, from start to finish, had been placed
+entirely in the hands of a competent officer of the Hudson's Bay
+Company, Mr. H. B. Round, an old resident of Athabasca; and to
+the Commission was also annexed a young medical man, Dr. West,
+a native of Devonshire, England, whose services were appreciated
+in a region where doctors were almost unknown. But not the least
+important and effective constituent of the party was the detachment
+of the Royal North-West Mounted Police, which joined us at Edmonton,
+minus their horses, of course; picked men from a picked force;
+sterling fellows, whose tenacity and hard work in the tracking-harness
+did yeoman service in many a serious emergency. This detachment
+consisted of Inspector Snyder, Sergeant Anderson, Corporals
+Fitzgerald and McClelland, and Constables McLaren, Lett, Burman,
+Lelonde, Burke, Vernon and Kerr. The conduct of these men, it
+is needless to say, was the admiration of all, and assisted
+materially, as will be seen hereafter, in the successful progress
+of the expedition.
+
+Whilst it had been decided that the proposed adjustments should
+be effected, if possible, upon the same terms as the previous
+treaties, it was known that certain changes will be necessary
+owing to the peculiar topographic features of the country itself.
+For example, in much of it arable reserves, such as many of the
+tribes retained in the south, were unavailable, and special
+stipulations were necessary, in such case, so that there should
+be no inequality of treatment. But where good land could be had,
+a novel choice was offered, by which individual Indians, if they
+wished, could take their inalienable shares in severalty, rather
+than be subject to the "band," whereby many industrious Indians
+elsewhere had been greatly hampered in their efforts to improve
+their condition. But, barring such departures as these, the proposed
+treaties were to be effected, as I have said, according to precedent.
+The Commission, then, resting its arguments on the good faith and
+honour of the Government and people of Canada in the past, looked
+forward with confidence to a successful treaty in Athabasca, the
+record of travel and intercourse, to that end, beginning with
+the following narrative.
+
+
+
+Through the Mackenzie Basin
+
+
+
+Chapter I
+
+From Edmonton To Lesser Slave Lake.
+
+
+Mr. Laird, with his staff, left Winnipeg for Edmonton by the
+Canadian Pacific express on the 22nd of May, two of the
+Commissioners having preceded him to that point. The train
+was crowded, as usual, with immigrants, tourists, globe-trotters
+and way-passengers. Parties for the Klondike, for California
+or Japan--once the far East, but now the far West to us--for
+anywhere and everywhere, a C.P.R. express train carrying the
+same variety of fortunates and unfortunates as the ocean-cleaving
+hull. Calgary was reached at one a.m. on the Queen's birthday,
+and the same morning we left for Edmonton by the C. & E.
+Railway. Every one was impressed favourably by the fine country
+lying between these two cities, its intermediate towns and
+villages, and fast-growing industries. But one thing especially
+was not overlooked, viz., the honour due to our venerable Queen,
+alas, so soon to be taken from us.
+
+In the evening we arrived at Strathcona, and found it thronged with
+people celebrating the day. Crossing the river to Edmonton, we
+got rooms with some difficulty in one of its crowded hotels, but
+happily awoke next morning refreshed and ready to view the town.
+It is needless to describe what has been so often described.
+Enough to say Edmonton is one of the doors to the great North,
+an outfitter of its traders, an emporium of its furs. And
+there is something more to be said. It has an old fort, or,
+rather, portions of one, for the vandalism which has let disappear
+another, and still more historic, stronghold, is manifest here as
+well. And truly, what savage scenes have been enacted on this
+very spot! What strife in the days of the rival companies!
+Edmonton is a city still marked by the fine savour of the
+"Old-Timers," who meet once a year to renew associations, and
+for some fleeting but glorious hours recall the past on the
+great river. Age is thinning them out, and by and by the
+remainder man will shake his "few, sad, last gray hairs,"
+and slip out, too. But the tradition of him, it is to be hoped,
+will live, and bind his memory forever to the soil he trod,
+when all this Western world was a wilderness, each primitive
+settlement a happy family, each unit an unsophisticated,
+hospitable soul.
+
+To our mortification we found that our supplies, seasonably shipped
+at Winnipeg, would not arrive for several days; a delay, to begin
+with, which seemed to prefigure all our subsequent hindrances.
+Then rain set in, and it was the afternoon of the 29th before Mr.
+Round could get us off. Once under way, however, with our thirteen
+waggons, there was no trouble save from their heavy loads, which
+could not be moved faster than a walk. Our first camp was at
+Sturgeon River--the Namao Sepe of the Crees--a fine stream in a
+defile of hills clothed with poplar and spruce, the former not
+quite in leaf, for the spring was backward, though seeding and
+growth in the Edmonton District was much ahead of Manitoba. The
+river flat was dotted with clumps of russet-leaved willows, to
+the north of which our waggons were ranged, and soon the quickly
+pitched tents, fires and sizzling fry-pans filled even the
+tenderfoot with a sense of comfort.
+
+Next morning our route lay through a line of low, broken hills,
+with scattered woods, largely burnt and blown down by the wind; a
+desolate tract, which enclosed, to our left, the Lily Lake--Ascutamo
+Sakaigon--a somewhat marshy-looking sheet of water. Some miles
+farther on we crossed Whiskey Creek, a white man's name, of course,
+given by an illicit distiller, who throve for a time, in the old
+"Permit days," in this secluded spot. Beyond this the long line of
+the Vermilion Hills hove in sight, and presently we reached the
+Vermilion River, the Wyamun of the Crees, and, before nightfall,
+the Nasookamow, or Twin Lake, making our camp in an open besmirched
+pinery, a cattle shelter, with bleak and bare surroundings,
+neighboured by the shack of a solitary settler. He had, no doubt,
+good reasons for his choice; but it seemed a very much less inviting
+locality than Stony Creek, which we came to next morning, approaching
+it through rich and massive spruce woods, the ground strewn with
+anemones, harebells and violets, and interspersed with almost
+startlingly snow-white poplars, whose delicate buds had just opened
+into leaf.
+
+Stony Creek is a tributary of a larger stream, called the
+Tawutinaow, which means "a passage between hills." This is
+an interesting spot, for here is the height of land, the
+"divide" between the Saskatchewan and the Athabasca, between
+Arctic and Hudson Bay waters, the stream before us flowing
+north, and carrying the yellowish-red tinge common to the
+waters on this slope. A great valley to the left of the trail
+runs parallel with it from the Sturgeon to the Tawutinaow,
+evidently the channel of an ancient river, whose course it would
+now be difficult to determine without close examination. At all
+events, it stretches almost from the Saskatchewan to the Athabasca,
+and indicates some great watershed in times past. Hay was
+abundant here, and much stock, it was evident, might be raised
+in the district.
+
+Towards evening we reached the Tawutinaow bridge, some eighteen
+miles from the Landing, our finest camp, dry and pleasant, with
+sward and copse and a fine stream close by. Here is an extensive
+peat bed, which was once on fire and burnt for years--a great
+peril to freighters' ponies, which sometimes grazed into its
+unseen but smouldering depths. The seat of the fire was now an
+immense grassy circle, with a low wall of blackened peat all
+around it.
+
+In the morning an endless succession of small creeks was passed,
+screened by deep valleys which fell in from hills and muskegs
+to the south, and at noon, jaded with slow travel, we reached
+Athabasca Landing. A long hill leads down to the flat, and from
+its brow we had a striking view of the village below and of the
+noble river, which much resembles the Saskatchewan, minus its
+prairies. We were now fairly within the bewildering forest of
+the north, which spreads, with some intervals of plain, to the
+69th parallel of north latitude; an endless jungle of shaggy
+spruce, black and white poplar, birch, tamarack and Banksian pine.
+At the Landing we pitched our tents in front of the Hudson's Bay
+Company's post, where had stood, the previous year, a big canvas
+town of "Klondikers." Here they made preparation for their
+melancholy journey, setting out on the great stream in every
+species of craft, from rafts and coracles to steam barges.
+Here was begun an episode of that world-wide craze, which has
+run through all time, and almost every country, in which were
+enacted deeds of daring and suffering which add a new chapter
+to the history of human fearlessness and folly.
+
+The Landing was a considerable hamlet for such a wilderness,
+being the shipping point to Mackenzie River, and, via the Lesser
+Slave Lake, to the Upper Peace. It consisted of the Hudson's Bay
+Company's establishment, with large storehouses, a sawmill, the
+residence and church of a Church of England bishop, and a Roman
+Catholic station, with a variety of shelters in the shape of
+boarding-houses, shacks and tepees all around. From the number
+of scows and barges in all stages of construction, and the high
+timber canting-tackles, it had quite a shipyard-like look, the
+population being mainly mechanics, who constructed scows, small
+barges, called "sturgeons," and the old "York," or inland boat,
+carrying from four to five tons. Here, hauled up on the bank, was
+the Hudson's Bay Company's steamer, the _Athabasca_, a well-built
+vessel about 160 feet long by 28 feet beam. This vessel, it was
+found, drew too much water for the channel; so there she lay,
+rotting upon her skids. It was a tantalizing sight to ourselves,
+who would have been spared many a heart-break had she been fit
+for service. A more interesting feature of the Landing, however,
+was the well sunk by the Government borer, Mr. Fraser, for oil,
+but which sent up gas instead. The latter was struck at a
+considerable depth, and, when we were there, was led from the
+shaft under the river bank by a pipe, from which it issued
+aflame, burning constantly, we were told, summer and winter.
+Standing at the gateway of the unknown North, and looking
+at this interesting feature, doubly so from its place and
+promise, one could not but forecast an industrial future,
+and "dream on things to come."
+
+Shortly after our arrival at the Landing, news, true or false,
+reached us that the ice was still fast on Lesser Slave Lake. At
+any rate, the boat's crew expected from there did not turn up,
+and a couple of days were spent in anxious waiting. Some freight
+was delayed as well, and a thunderstorm and a night of rain set
+the camp in a swim. The non-arrival of our trackers was serious,
+as we had two scows and a York boat, with a party all told of some
+fifty souls, and only thirteen available trackers to start with.
+It seemed more than doubtful whether we could reach Lesser Slave
+Lake on treaty-schedule time, and the anxiety to push on was great.
+It was decided to set out as we were and trust to the chapter of
+accidents. We did not foresee the trials before us, the struggle
+up a great and swift river, with contrary winds, rainy weather,
+weak tracking lines and a weaker crew. The chapter of accidents
+opened, but not in the expected manner.
+
+The York boat and one of the scows were fitted up amidships with
+an awning, which could be run down on all sides when required,
+but were otherwise open to the weather, and much encumbered with
+lading; but all things being in readiness, on the 3rd of June we
+took to the water, and, a photograph of the scene having been
+taken, shoved off from the Landing. The boats were furnished
+with long, cumbrous sweeps, yet not a whit too heavy, since numbers
+of them snapped with the vigorous strokes of the rowers during
+the trip. A small sweep, passed through a ring at the stern,
+served as a rudder, by far the best steering gear for the
+"sturgeons," but not for a York boat, which is built with a
+keel and can sail pretty close to the wind. Ordinarily the
+only sail in use is a lug, which has a great spread, and moves
+a boat quickly in a fair wind. In a calm, of course, sweeps have
+to be used, and our first step in departure was to cross the
+river with them, the boatmen rising with the oars and falling
+back simultaneously to their seats with perfect precision, and
+handling the great blades with practised ease. When the opposite
+shore was reached, the four trackers of each boat leaped into
+the water, and, splashing up the bank, got into harness at
+once, and began, with changes to the oars, the unflagging pull
+which lasted for two weeks. This harness is called by the
+trackers "otapanapi"--a Cree word--and it must be borne in mind
+that scarcely any language was spoken throughout this region other
+than Cree. A little English or French was occasionally heard; but
+the tongue, domestic, diplomatic, universal, was Cree, into which
+every half-breed in common talk lapsed, sooner or later, with
+undisguised delight. It was his mother tongue, copious enough
+to express his every thought and emotion, and its soft accents,
+particularly in the mouth of woman, are certainly very musical.
+Emerson's phrase, "fossil poetry," might be applied to our Indian
+languages, in which a single stretched-out word does duty for
+a sentence.
+
+But to the harness. This is simply an adjustment of leather
+breast-straps for each man, tied to a very long tracking line,
+which, in turn, is tied to the bow of the boat. The trackers,
+once in it, walk off smartly along the bank, the men on board
+keeping the boats clear of it, and, on a fair path, with good
+water, make very good time. Indeed, the pull seems to give an
+impetus to the trackers as well as to the boat, so that a loose
+man has to lope to keep up with them. But on bad paths and
+bad water the speed is sadly pulled down, and, if rapids occur,
+sinks to the zero of a few miles a day. The "spells" vary
+according to these circumstances, but half an hour is the
+ordinary pull between "pipes," and there being no shifts in
+our case, the stoppages for rest and tobacco were frequent.
+At this rate we calculated that it would take eight or ten
+days to reach the mouth of Lesser Slave River. Mr. d'Eschambault
+and myself, having experienced the crowded state of the first
+and second boats, and foregathered during the trip, decided to
+take up our quarters on the scow, which had no awning, but
+which offered some elbow room and a tolerably cozy nook amongst
+the cases, bales and baggage with which it was encumbered.
+
+We had a study on board, as well, in our steersman, Pierre Cyr,
+which partly attracted me--a bronzed man, with long, thin, yet
+fine weather-beaten features, frosty moustache and keenly-gazing,
+dry, gray eyes--a tall, slim and sinewy man, over seventy
+years of age, yet agile and firm of step as a man of thirty.
+Add the semi-silent, inward laugh which Cooper ascribes to
+his Leather-Stocking, and you have Pierre Cyr, who might
+have stood for that immortal's portrait. That he had a history
+I felt sure when I first saw him seated amongst his boatmen at
+the Landing, and, on seeking his acquaintance, was not surprised
+to learn that he had accompanied Sir John Richardson on his
+last journey in Prince Rupert's Land, and Dr. Rae on his eventful
+expedition to Repulse Bay, in 1853, in search of Franklin. He
+looked as if he could do it again--a vigorous, alert man, ready
+and able to track or pole with the best--a survivor, in fact,
+of the old race of Red River voyageurs, whose record is one
+of the romances of history.
+
+Another attraction was my companion, Mr. d'E. himself--a man
+stout in person, quiet by disposition, and of few words; a man,
+too, with a lineage which connected him with many of the oldest
+pioneer families of French Canada. His ancestor, Jacques Alexis
+d'Eschambault, originally of St. Jean de Montaign, in Poictou,
+came to New France in the 17th century, where, in 1667, he married
+Marguerite Rene Denys, a relative of the devoted Madame de la
+Peltrie, and thus became brother-in-law to M. de Ramezay, the
+owner of the famous old mansion in Montreal, now a museum. Jacques
+d'Eschambault's son married a daughter of Louis Joliet, the
+discoverer of the Mississippi, and became a prominent merchant
+in Quebec, distinguishing himself, it is said, by having the
+largest family ever known in Canada, viz., thirty-two children.
+Under the new _regime_ my companion's grandfather, like many another
+French Canadian gentleman, entered the British army, but died
+in Canada, leaving as heir to his seigneurie a young man whose
+friendship for Lord Selkirk led him to Red River as a companion,
+where he subsequently entered the Hudson's Bay Company's service,
+and died, a chief-factor, at St. Boniface, Man. His son, my
+companion, also entered the service, in 1857, at his father's
+post of Isle a la Crosse, served seven years at Cumberland, nine
+at other distant points, and, finally, fifteen years as trader
+at Reindeer Lake, a far northern post bordering on the Barren Lands,
+and famous for its breed of dogs. My friend had some strange
+virtues, or defects, as the ungodly might call them; he had never
+used tobacco or intoxicants in his life, a marvellous thing
+considering his environment. He possessed, besides, a fine
+simplicity which pleased one. Doubled up in the Edmonton hotel
+with a waggish companion, he was seen, so the latter affirmed,
+to attempt to blow out the electric light, a thing which, greatly
+to his discomfiture, was done by his bed-fellow with apparent
+ease. Being a man of scant speech, I enjoyed with him betimes
+the luxury of it. But we had much discourse for all that, and
+I learnt many interesting things from this old trader, who seemed
+taciturn in our little crowd, but was, in reality, a tower of
+intelligent silence beat about by a flood of good-humoured chaff
+and loquacity.
+
+At our first night's camp we were still in sight of the Landing,
+which looked absurdly near, considering the men's hard pull; and
+from there messengers were sent to Baptiste Lake, the source of
+Baptiste Creek, which joins the Athabasca a few miles up, and
+where there was a settlement of half-breed fishermen and hunters,
+to procure additional trackers if possible. On their unsuccessful
+return, at eleven a.m., we started again--newo pishawuk, as they
+call it, "four trackers to the line," as before and early in the
+afternoon were opposite Baptiste Creek, and, weather compelling,
+rowed across, and camped there that evening. It rained dismally
+all night, and morning opened with a strong head wind and every
+symptom of bad weather. A survey party from the Rocky Mountains,
+in a York boat, tarried at our camp, bringing word that the
+ice-jam was clear in Lesser Slave Lake, which was cheering, but
+that we need scarcely look for the expected assistance. They
+also gave a vague account of the murder of a squaw by her
+husband for cannibalism, which afterwards proved to be groundless,
+and, with this comforting information, sped on.
+
+It is ridiculously easy to go down the Athabasca compared with
+ascending it. The previous evening a Baptiste Lake hunter, bound
+for the Landing, set on from our camp at a great rate astride
+of a couple of logs, which he held together with his legs, and
+disappeared round the bend below in a twinkling. A priest, too,
+with a companion, arrived about dusk in a canoe, and set off
+again, intending to beach at the Landing before dark.
+
+Of course, several surmises were current regarding the non-arrival
+of our trackers, the most likely being Bishop Grouard's, that,
+as the R. C. Mission boats and men had not come down either,
+the Indians and half-breeds were too intent upon discussing
+the forthcoming treaty to stir.
+
+So far it had been the rain and consequent bad tracking which
+had delayed us; but still we were too weak-handed to make headway
+without help, and it was at this juncture that the Police
+contingent stepped manfully into the breach, and volunteered
+to track one of the boats to the lake. This was no light matter
+for men unaccustomed to such beastly toil and in such abominable
+weather; but, having once put their hands to the rope, they
+were not the men to back down. With unfaltering "go" they
+pulled on day after day, landing their boat at its destination
+at last, having worked in the harness and at the sweeps,
+without relief, from the start almost to the finish.
+
+Meanwhile all enjoyed good health and spirits in spite of the
+weather. There were fair grounds for the belief that Mr. Ross,
+who had set out by trail from Edmonton, would reach the lake in
+time to distribute to the congregated Indians and half-breeds
+the Government rations stored there for that purpose, and,
+therefore, our anxiety was not so great as it would otherwise
+have been.
+
+Our trackers being thus reinforced, the outlook was more
+satisfactory, not so much in increased speed as in the certainty
+of progress. The rain had ceased, and though the sky was still
+lowering, the temperature was higher. Tents were struck, and
+the boats got under way at once, taking chances on the weather,
+which, instead of breaking up in another deluge, improved.
+Eight men were now put to each line, Peokus, a remarkable old
+Blackfoot Indian, captured and adopted in boyhood by the Crees,
+and who afterwards attracted the attention of us all, being
+detailed to lead the Police gang, who, raw and unused to the
+work, required an experienced tracker at their head.
+
+The country passed through hitherto was rolling, hilly, and
+densely forested, but, alas, with prostrate trunks and fire-blasted
+"rampikes," which ranged in all directions in desolate profusion.
+The timber was Banksian pine, spruce, poplar and birch, much of
+it merchantable, but not of large size. It was pitiful to see
+so much wealth destroyed by recent fires, and that, too, at the
+possible opening of an era of real value in the near future.
+The greatest destruction was evidently on the north side of the
+river, but the south had not escaped.
+
+As regards the soil in these parts, it was, so far, impossible
+to speak favourably. The hunters described the inland country
+as a wilderness of sand-hills, surrounded by quaking-bogs,
+muskegs and soft meadows. Judging by exposures on the river
+bank, there are, here and there, fertile areas which may yet
+be utilized; but probably the best thing that could happen to
+that part of the country would be a great clearing fire to
+complete the destruction of its dead timber and convert its
+best parts into prairie and a summer range for cattle.
+
+We were now approaching a portion of the river where the difficulties
+of getting on were great. The men had to cope with the swift current,
+bordered by a series of steep gumbo slides, where the tracking was
+hazardous; where great trees slanted over the water, tottering to
+their fall, or deep pits and fissures gaped in the festering clay,
+into which the men often plunged to their arm-pits. It was horrible
+to look upon. The chain-gang, the galley-slaves, how often the idea
+of them was recalled by that horrid pull! Yet onward they went,
+with teeth set and hands bruised by the rope, surmounting difficulty
+after difficulty with the pith of lions.
+
+At last a better region was reached, with occasionally a better
+path. Here the destruction by fire had been stayed, the country
+improved, and the forest outlines became bold and noble. Hour by
+hour we crept along a like succession of majestic bends of the
+river, not yet flushed by the summer freshet, but flowing with
+superb volume and force. Fully ten miles were made that day,
+the men tracking like Trojans through water and over difficult
+ground, but fortunately free from mosquitoes, the constant head
+winds keeping these effectually down. The cool weather in like
+manner kept the water down, for it is in this month that the
+freshet from the Rocky Mountains generally begins, filling the
+channel bank-high, submerging the tracking paths, and bearing
+upon its foaming surface such a mass of uprooted trees and river
+trash that it is almost impossible to make head against it.
+
+The next morning opened dry and pleasant, but with a milky and
+foreboding sky. Again the boats were in motion, passing the
+Pusquatenao, or Naked Hill, beyond which is the Echo Lake--Katoo
+Sakaigon--where a good many Indians lived, having a pack-trail
+thereto from the river.
+
+The afternoon proved to be hot, the clouds cumulose against a
+clear, blue sky, with occasional sun-showers. The tracking became
+better for a time, the lofty benches decreasing in height as we
+ascended. Innumerable ice-cold creeks poured in from the forest,
+all of a reddish-yellow cast, and the frequent marks on trees,
+informing passing hunters of the success of their friends, and
+the number of stages along the shore for drying meat, indicated
+a fine moose country.
+
+The next day was treaty day, and we were still a long way from
+the treaty post. The Police, not yet hardened to the work, felt
+fagged, but would not own up, a nephew of Sir William Vernon
+Harcourt bringing up the rear, and all slithering, but hanging
+to it with dogged perseverance. Nothing, indeed, can be imagined
+more arduous than this tracking up a swift river, against constant
+head winds in bad weather. Much of it is in the water, wading up
+"snies," or tortuous shallow channels, plunging into numberless
+creeks, clambering up slimy banks, creeping under or passing the
+line over fallen trees, wading out in the stream to round long
+spits of sand or boulders, floundering in gumbo slides, tripping,
+crawling, plunging, and, finally, tottering to the camping-place
+sweating like horses, and mud to the eyes--but never grumbling.
+After a whole day of this slavish work, no sooner was the bath
+taken, supper stowed, and pipes filled, than laughter began,
+and jokes and merriment ran round the camp-fires as if such
+things as mud and toil had never existed.
+
+The old Indian, Peokus, heading the Police line, was a study.
+His garb was a pair of pants toned down to the colour of the
+grime they daily sank in, a shirt and corduroy vest to match,
+a faded kerchief tied around his head, an Assomption sash, and
+a begrimed body inside of all--a short, squarely built frame,
+clad with rounded muscles--nothing angular about _him!_--but the
+nerves within tireless as the stream he pulled against. On the
+lead, in harness, his long arms swung like pendulums, his whole
+body leant forward at an acute angle, the gait steady, and the
+step solid as the tramp of a gorilla. Some coarse black hairs
+clung here and there to his upper lip; his fine brown eyes were
+embedded in wrinkles, and his swarthy features, though clumsy,
+were kindly--a good-humoured face, which, at a cheerful word
+or glance, lit up at once with the grotesque grin of an animated
+gargoyle. This was the typical old-time tracker of the North; the
+toiler who brought in the products of man's art in the East, and
+took out Nature's returns--the Indian's output--ever since the
+trade first penetrated these endless solitudes.
+
+The forest scenery now became very striking; primeval masses of
+poplar and birch foliage, which spread away and upward in smoothest
+slopes, like vast lawns, studded with the sombre green of the pine
+tops which towered above them. Here and there the bends of the
+river crossed at such angles as to enclose a lake-like expanse
+of water. The river also took a fine colouring from its tributaries,
+a sort of greenish-yellow tinge, and now became flecked with
+bubbles and thin foam, so that we feared the freshet, which would
+have been disastrous.
+
+At mid-day we reached Shoal Island--Pakwao Ministic--and here the
+poles were got out and the trackers took the middle of the river
+for nearly a mile, until deep water was reached. Placer miners
+had evidently been at work here, but with poor results, we
+were told. Below Baptiste Creek, however, the yield had been
+satisfactory, and several miners had made from $2.00 to $2.50 a
+day over their living expenses. Above the Baptiste there was
+nothing doing; indeed, we did not pass a single miner at work
+on the whole route, and it was the best time for their work.
+The gold is flocculent, its source as mysterious as that of the
+Saskatchewan, if the theory that the latter was washed out of
+the Selkirks before the upheaval of the Rockies is astray.
+
+A fresh moose head, seen lying on the bank, indicated a hunting
+party, but no human life was seen aside from our own people.
+Indeed, the absence of life of any kind along the river, excepting
+the song-birds, which were in some places numerous, was surprising.
+No deer, no bears, not even a fox or a timber wolf made one's
+fingers itch for the trigger. A few brent, which took wing afar
+off, and a high-flying duck or two, were the sole wildings observed,
+save a big humble-bee which droned around our boat for an instant,
+then darted off again. Even fish seemed to be anything but plentiful.
+
+That night's camp was hurriedly made in a hummocky fastness of
+pine and birch, where we found few comfortable bedding-places.
+In the morning we passed several ice-ledges along shore, the
+survivals of the severe winter, and, presently, met a canoe
+with two men from Peace River, crestfallen "Klondikers," who
+had "struck it rich," they said, with a laugh, and who reported
+good water. Next morning a very early start was made, and after
+some long, strong pulls, and a vigorous spurt, the mouth of the
+Lesser Slave River opened at last on our sight.
+
+We had latterly passed along what appeared to be fertile soil,
+a sandy clay country, which improved to the west and south-west
+at every turn. It had an inviting look, and the "lie," as well,
+of a region foreordained for settlement. It was irritating not
+to be able to explore the inner land, but our urgency was too
+great for that. From what we saw, however, it was easy to
+predict that thither would flow, in time, the stream of pioneer
+life and the bustle of attending enterprise and trade.
+
+
+
+Chapter II
+
+Lesser Slave River And Lesser Slave Lake.
+
+
+It is unnecessary to inform the average reader that the Lesser
+Slave River connects the Lesser Slave Lake with the Athabasca;
+any atlas will satisfy him upon that point. But its peculiar
+colouring he will not find there, and it is this which gives
+the river its most distinctive character. Once seen, it is easy
+to account for the hue of the Athabasca below the Lesser Slave
+River; for the water of the latter, though of a pale yellow colour
+in a glass, is of a rich burnt umber in the stream, and when blown
+upon by the wind turns its sparkling facets to the sun like the
+smile upon the cheek of a brunette. Its upward course is like
+a continuous letter S with occasional S's side by side, so that
+a point can be crossed on foot in a few minutes which would
+cost much time to go around. Its proper name, too, is not to
+be found in the atlases, either English or French. There it
+is called the Lesser Slave River, but in the classic Cree its
+name is Iyaghchi Eennu Sepe, or the River of the Blackfeet,
+literally the "River of the Strange People." The lake itself
+bears the same name, and even now is never called Slave Lake
+by the Indians in their own tongue. This fact, to my mind,
+casts additional light upon an obscure prehistoric question,
+namely, the migration of the great Algic, or Algonquin, race.
+Its early home was, perhaps, in the far south, or south-west,
+whence it migrated around the Gulf of Florida, and eastward
+along the Atlantic coast, spreading up its bays and inlets,
+and along its great tributary rivers, finally penetrating by
+the Upper Ottawa to James's, and ultimately to the shores of
+Hudson Bay. I know there is strong adverse opinion as to the
+starting-point of this migration, and I only offer my own as
+a suggestion based upon the facts stated, and as, therefore,
+worthy of consideration. Sir Alexander Mackenzie speaks of the
+Blackfeet "travelling north-westward," and that the Crees were
+"invaders of the Saskatchewan from the eastward." Indeed, he says
+the latter were called by the Hudson's Bay Company's officers at
+York Factory "their home-guards." One thing seems certain, viz.,
+that the Crees got their firearms from the English at Hudson
+Bay in the 17th century. Thence that great tribe, called by
+themselves the Naheowuk, but by the Ojibway Saulteaux the
+Kinistineaux, and by the voyageurs Christineaux, or, more
+commonly, the Crees--a word derived, some think, from the first
+syllable of the latter name, or perhaps from the French _crier_,
+to shout--descended upon the Blackfeet, who probably at that
+time occupied this region, and undoubtedly the Saskatchewan,
+and drove them south along a line stretching to the Rocky
+Mountains.
+
+The tradition of this expulsion is still extant, as also of the
+great raids made by the Blackfeet and their kindred in times
+past into their ancient domain. I remember visiting, with my
+old friend Attakacoop--Star-Blanket--the deceased Cree chief,
+twenty years ago, the triumphal pile of red deer horns raised
+by the Blackfeet north of Shell River, a tributary of the North
+Saskatchewan. It is called by the Crees Ooskunaka Assustakee,
+and the chief described its great size in former days, and the
+tradition of its origin as told to him in his boyhood. Be all
+this as it may, and this is not the place to pursue the inquiry,
+the stream in question is, to the Crees who live upon it, not
+the River of the Slaves, but the "River of the Blackfeet." How
+it came by its white name is another question. Possibly some
+captured Indians of the tribe called the Slaves to this day, reduced
+to servitude by the Crees, were seen by the early voyageurs, and
+gave rise to the French name, of which ours is a translation.
+Slavery was common enough amongst the Indians everywhere. A
+thriving trade was done at the Detroit in the 18th century in
+Pawnees, or Panis, as they were called, captured by Indian
+raiders on the western prairies and sold to the white settlers
+along the river. I have seen in Windsor, Ont., an old bill of
+sale of one of these Pani slaves, the consideration being, if
+I recollect aright, a certain quantity of Indian corn.
+
+To return to the river. The distance from Athabasca Landing to
+the Lesser Slave is called sixty-five miles, but this must have
+been ascertained by measuring from point to point, for, following
+the shore up stream, as boats must, it is certainly more. To the
+head of the river is an additional sixty miles, and thence to
+the head of the lake seventy-five more. The Hudson's Bay Company
+had a storehouse at the Forks, and an island was forming where
+the waters meet, the finest feature of the place being an echo,
+which reverberated the bugler's call at _reveille_ very grandly.
+
+A spurt was made in the early morning, the trackers first following
+a bank overgrown with alders and sallows, all of a size, which
+looked exactly like a well-kept hedge, but soon gave way to the
+usual dense line of poplar and spruce, rooted to the very edges
+of the banks, which are low compared with those of the Athabasca.
+After ascending it for some distance, it being Sunday, we camped
+for the day upon an open grassy point, around which the river
+swept in a perfect semi-circle, the dense forest opposite towering
+in one equally perfect, and glorious in light and shade and
+harmonious tints of green, from sombre olive to the lightest
+pea. The point itself was covered with strawberry vines and
+dotted with clumps of saskatoons all in bloom.
+
+It was a lovely and lonely spot, which was soon converted into
+a scene of eating and laughter, and a drying ground for wet
+clothes. Towards evening Bishop Grouard and Father Lacombe held
+a well-attended service, which in this profound wilderness was
+peculiarly impressive. Listening, one thought how often the same
+service, these same chants and canticles, had awakened the sylvan
+echoes in like solitudes on the St. Lawrence and Mississippi in
+the old days of exploration and trade, and of missionary zeal and
+suffering. It recalled, too, the thought of man's evanescence and
+the apparent fixedness of his institutions.
+
+Shortly after our tents were pitched a boat drifted past
+with five jaded-looking men aboard--more baffled Klondikers
+returning from Peace River. We had heard of numbers in the
+interior who could neither go on nor return, and expected to
+meet more castaways before we reached the lake. In this we
+were not astray, and several days after in the upper river
+we met a York boat loaded with them, alert and unmistakable
+Americans, but with the worn features of disappointed men.
+
+We were now constantly encountering the rapids, which extended
+for about twenty-five miles, and very difficult and troublesome
+they proved to be to our heavily-loaded craft. Most of them were
+got over slowly by combined poling and tracking, the line often
+breaking with the strain, and the boats being kept in the channel
+only by the most strenuous efforts of the experienced men on board.
+If a monias (a greenhorn) took the bow pole, as was sometimes the
+case, the orders of our steersman, Cyr, were amusing to listen to.
+"Tughkenay asswayegh tamook!" (Be on your guard!) "Turn de oder way!
+Turn yourself! Turn your pole--Hell!" Then, of course, came the
+customary rasp on the rocks, but, if not, the cheery cry followed
+to the trackers ashore, "Ahchipitamook!" (Haul away!) and on we
+would go for a few yards more. Once, towards the end of this dreary
+business, when we were all crowded into the Commissioner's boat,
+where we took our meals, in the first really stiff rapid the keel
+grated as usual upon the rocks. With a better line we might have
+pulled through, but it broke, and the boat at once swung broadside
+to the current and listed on the rocks immovably, though the men
+struggling in the water did their best to heavy her off. The
+third boat then came up, and shortly afterwards the Police boat.
+But getting their steering sweeps fouled and lines entangled, it
+was nearly an hour before Cyr's boat, being first lightened, could
+swing to starboard of the York, and take off the passengers.
+The York boat was then shouldered off the rocks by main force,
+and all got under way again. At this juncture our old Indian,
+Peokus--or Pehayokusk, to give him his right name, to wit, "The
+giblets of a bird"--met with a serious accident, which, much to
+our regret, laid him up for several days. In his eagerness to
+help he slipped from a sunken log, and the bruise knocked the
+wind out of him completely. We took off his wet clothes and rubbed
+him, and laid him by the fire, where the doctor's care and a
+liberal dram of spirits soon fetched him to rights. A look of
+pleased wonder passed over his clumsy features as the latter
+did its work. Caliban himself could not have been more curiously
+surprised.
+
+This was not our last stick: there were other awkward rapids
+near by; but by dint of wading, shouldering, pulling and tracking,
+we got over the last of them and into a deep channel for good,
+having advanced only five miles after a day of incessant toil,
+most of it in the water.
+
+Our camp that night was a memorable one. The day was the fiftieth
+anniversary of Father Lacombe's ministration as a missionary in
+the North-West, and all joined in presenting him with a suitable
+address, handsomely engrossed by Mr. Prudhomme on birch bark,
+and signed by the whole party. A poem, too, composed by Mr.
+Cote, a gentleman of literary gifts and taste, also written on
+bark, was read and presented at the same time. [The poem, the text
+of which was secured from the author too late for insertion here,
+will be found in the Appendix, p. 490.] Pere Lacombe made a touching
+impromptu reply, which was greatly appreciated. Many of us were not
+of the worthy Father's communion, yet there was but one feeling,
+that of deep respect for the labours of this celebrated missionary,
+whose life had been a continuous effort to help the unbefriended
+Indian into the new but inevitable paths of self-support, and to
+shield him from the rapacity of the cold incoming world now surging
+around him. After the presentation, over a good cigar, the Father
+told some inimitable stories of Indian life on the plains in the
+old days, which to my great regret are too lengthy for inclusion
+here. One incident, however, being _apropos_ of himself, must find
+place. Turning the conversation from materialism, idealism, and the
+other "isms" into which it had drifted, he spoke of the fears so
+many have of ghosts, and even of a corpse, and confessed that, from
+early training, he had shared this fear until he got rid of it in an
+incident one winter at Lac Ste. Anne. He had been sent for during
+the night to administer extreme unction to a dying half-breed girl
+thirteen miles away. Hitching his dogs to their sled he sped on,
+but too late, for he was met on the trail by the girl's relatives,
+bringing her dead body wrapped in a buffalo skin, and which
+they asked him to take back with him and place in his chapel
+pending service. He tremblingly assented, and the body was
+duly tied to his sled, the relatives returning to their homes.
+He was alone with the corpse in the dense and dark forest, and
+felt the old dread, but reflecting on his office and its duties,
+he ran for a long distance behind the sled until, thoroughly
+tired, he stepped on it to rest. In doing this he slipped and
+fell upon the corpse in a spasm of fear, which, strange to say,
+when he recovered from it, he felt no more. The shock cured him,
+and, reaching home, he placed the girl's body in the chapel
+with his own hands. It reminded him, he said, of a Community
+at Marseilles whose Superior had died, but whose money was
+missing. The new Superior sent a young priest who had a great
+dread of ghosts down to the crypt below the church to open the
+coffin and search the pockets of the dead. He did so, and found
+the money; but in nailing on the coffin lid again, a part of
+his soutane was fastened down with it. The priest turned to go,
+advanced a step, and, being suddenly held, dropped dead with
+fright. These gruesome stories were happily followed by an hour
+or two of song and pleasantry in Mr. McKenna's tent, ending in
+"Auld Lang Syne" and "God Save the Queen." It was a unique occasion
+in which to wind up so laborious a day; and our camp itself was
+unique--on a lofty bluff overlooking the confluence of the
+Saulteau River with the Lesser Slave--a bold and beautiful
+spot, the woods at the angle of the two rivers, down to the
+water's edge, showing like a gigantic V, as clean-cut as if
+done by a pair of colossal shears.
+
+Next morning rowing took the place of poling and tracking for a
+time, and, presently, the great range of lofty hills called, to
+our right, the Moose Watchi, and to our left, the Tuskanatchi--the
+Moose and Raspberry Mountains--loomed in the distance. Here, and
+when only a few miles from the lake, a York boat came tearing down
+stream full of lithe, young half-breed trackers--our long-expected
+assistants from the Hudson's Bay Company's post, as we would have
+welcomed much more warmly had they come sooner, for we had little
+but the lake now to ascend, up which a fair breeze would carry us
+in a single night.
+
+Doubtless it would have done so if it had come; but the same
+head-winds and storms which had thwarted us from the first
+dogged us still. We had camped near the mouth of Muskeg Creek,
+a good-sized stream, and evidently the cause hitherto of the
+Lesser Slave's rich chocolate colour; for, above the forks, the
+latter took its hue from the lake, but with a yellowish tinge
+still. From this point the river was very crooked, and lined by
+great hay meadows of luxuriant growth. Skirting these, reinforced
+as we were, we soon pulled up to the foot of the lake, where stood
+a Hudson's Bay Company's solitary storehouse. There some change of
+lading was made, in order to reach "the Island," some seven miles
+up, and the only one in the lake, sails being hoisted for the first
+time to an almost imperceptible wind.
+
+The island, where we were to camp simply for the night--as we
+fondly thought--was found to be a sprawling jumble of water-worn
+pebbles, boulders and sand, with a long narrow spit projecting
+to the east, much frequented by gulls, of whose eggs a large
+number were gathered. To the south, on the mainland, is the
+site of the old North-West Company's post, near to which stood
+that of the Hudson's Bay Company, for they always planted
+themselves cheek by jowl in those days of rivalry, so that
+there should be no lack of provocation. A dozen half-breed
+families had now their habitat there, and subsisted by fishing
+and trapping. On the island our Cree half-breeds enjoyed the
+first evening's camp by playing the universal button-hiding
+game called Pugasawin, and which is always accompanied by a
+monotonous chant and the tom-tom, anything serving for that
+hideous instrument if a drum is not at hand. They are all
+inveterate gamblers in that country, and lose or win with
+equal indifference. Others played a peculiar game of cards
+called Natwawaquawin, or "Marriage," the loser's penalty
+being droll, but unmentionable. These amusements, which
+often spun out till morning, were broken up by another
+rattling storm, which lasted all night and all the next day.
+We had lost all count of storms by this time, and were stolidly
+resigned. The day following, however, the wind was fresh and
+fair, and we made great headway, reaching the mouth of Swan
+River--Naposeo Sepe--about mid-day.
+
+This stream is almost choked at its discharge by a conglomeration
+of slimy roots, weeds and floatwood, and the banks are "a
+melancholy waste of putrid marshes." It is a forbidding entrance
+to a river which, farther up, waters a good farming country,
+including coal in abundance.
+
+The wind being strong and fair, we spun along at a great rate,
+and expected to reach the treaty point before dark, reckoning,
+as usual, without our host. The wind suddenly wheeled to the
+south-west, and a dangerous squall sprang up, which forced us
+to run back for shelter fully five miles. There was barely time
+to camp before the gale became furious, raging all night, and
+throwing down tents like nine-pins. About one a.m. a cry arose
+from the night-watch that the boats were swamping. All hands
+turned out, lading was removed, and the scows hauled up on the
+shingle, the rollers piling on shore with a height and fury
+perfectly astonishing for such a lake. By morning the tempest
+was at its height, continuing all day and into the night. The
+sunset that evening exhibited some of the grandest and wildest
+sky scenery we had ever beheld. In the west a vast bank of
+luminous orange cloud, edged by torn fringes of green and gray;
+in the south a sea of amethyst, and stretching from north to
+east masses of steel gray and pearl, shot with brilliant shafts
+and tufts of golden vapour. The whole sky streamed with rich
+colouring in the fierce wind, as if possessed at once by the
+genii of beauty and storm. The boatmen, noting its aspect,
+predicted worse weather; but, fortunately, morning belied the
+omens--our trials were over.
+
+We were now nearing Shaw's Point, a long willowed spit of land,
+called after a whimsical old chief-factor of the Hudson's Bay
+Company who had charge of this district over sixty years before.
+He appears to have been a man of many eccentricities, one
+of which was the cultivation _a la Chinois_ of a very long
+finger-nail, which he used as a spoon to eat his egg. But of
+him anon. By four p.m. we had rounded his Point, and come into
+view of Wyaweekamon--"The Outlet"--a rudimentary street with
+several trading stores, a billiard saloon and other accessories
+of a brand-new village in a very old wilderness.
+
+Here we were at the treaty point at last, safe and sound, with
+new interests and excitements before us; with wild man instead
+of wild weather to encounter; with discords to harmonize and
+suspicions to allay by human kindness, perhaps by human firmness,
+but mainly by the just and generous terms proffered by Government
+to an isolated but highly interesting and deserving people.
+
+
+
+Chapter III
+
+Treaty At Lesser Slave Lake.
+
+
+On the 19th of June our little fleet landed at Willow Point.
+There was a rude jetty, or wharf, at this place, below the
+little trading village referred to, at which loaded boats
+discharged. Formerly they could ascend the sluggish and shallow
+channel connecting the expansion of the Heart River, called
+Buffalo Lake, with the head of Lesser Slave Lake, a distance
+of about three miles, and as far as the Hudson's Bay Company's
+post, around which another trading village had gathered. This
+temporary fall in the water level partly accounted for the growth
+of the village at Willow Point, where sufficient interests had
+arisen to cause a jealousy between the two hamlets. Once upon
+a time Atawaywe Kamick was supreme. This is the name the
+Crees give to the Hudson's Bay Company, meaning literally "the
+Buying House." But now there were many stores, and "free
+trade" was rather in the ascendant. In the middle was safety,
+and therefore the Commissioners decided to pitch camp on a
+beautiful flat facing the south and fronting the channel, and
+midway between the two opposing points of trade. A _feu de joie_
+by the white residents of the region, of whom there were some
+seventy or eighty, welcomed the arrival of the boats at the
+wharf, and after a short stay here, simply to collect baggage,
+a start was made for the camping ground, where our numerous
+tents soon gave the place the appearance of a village of our own.
+
+Tepees were to be seen in all directions from our camp--the
+lodges of the Indians and half-breeds. But no sooner was the
+treaty site apparent than a general concentration took place,
+and we were speedily surrounded by a bustling crowd, putting
+up trading tents and shacks, dancing booths, eating-places,
+etc., so that with the motley crowd, including a large number
+of women and children, and a swarm of dogs such as we never
+dreamt of, amounting in a short space by constant accessions
+to over a thousand, we were in the heart of life and movement
+and noise.
+
+Mr. Ross, as already stated, had gone on by trail from Edmonton,
+partly in order to inspect it, and managed to reach the lake
+before us, which was fortunate, since Indians and half-breeds
+had collected in large numbers, and women thus able to allay
+their irritation and to distribute rations pending the arrival
+of the other members of the Commission. During the previous
+winter, upon the circulation in the North of the news of the
+coming treaty, discussion was rife, and every cabin and tepee
+rang with argument. The wiseacre was not absent, of course,
+and agitators had been at work for some time endeavouring to
+jaundice the minds of the people--half-breeds, it was said,
+from Edmonton, who had been vitiated by contact with a low
+class of white men there--and, therefore, nothing was as yet
+positively known as to the temper and views of the Indians.
+But whatever evil effect these tamperings might have had upon
+them, it was felt that a plain statement of the proposals of
+the Government would speedily dissipate it, and that, when
+placed before them in Mr. Laird's customary kind and lucid
+manner, they would be accepted by both Indians and half-breeds
+as the best obtainable, and as conducing in all respects to
+their truest and most permanent interests.
+
+On the 20th the eventful morning had come, and, for a wonder,
+the weather proved to be calm, clear and pleasant. The hour
+fixed upon for the beginning of negotiations was two p.m., up
+to which time much hand-shaking had, of course, to be undergone
+with the constant new arrivals of natives from the forest and
+lakes around. The Church of England and Roman Catholic clergy,
+the only missionary bodies in the country, met and dined with
+our party, after which all adjourned to the treaty ground, where
+the people had already assembled, and where all soon seated
+themselves on the grass in front of the treaty tent--a large
+marquee--the Indians being separated by a small space from the
+half-breeds, who ranged themselves behind them, all conducting
+themselves in the most sedate and orderly manner.
+
+Mr. Laird and the other Commissioners were seated along the open
+front of the tent, and one could not but be impressed by the
+scene, set as it was in a most beautiful environment of distant
+mountains, waters, forests and meadows, all sweet and primeval,
+and almost untouched by civilized man. The whites of The region
+had also turned out to witness the scene, which, though lacking
+the wild aspect of the old assemblages on the plains in the early
+'seventies, had yet a character of its own of great interest,
+and of the most hopeful promise.
+
+The crowd of Indians ranged before the marquee had lost all
+semblance of wildness of the true type. Wild men they were,
+in a sense, living as they did in the forest and on their great
+waters. But it was plain that these people had achieved, without
+any treaty at all, a stage of civilization distinctly in advance
+of many of our treaty Indians to the south after twenty-five
+years of education. Instead of paint and feathers, the scalp-lock,
+the breech-clout, and the buffalo-robe, there presented itself a
+body of respectable-looking men, as well dressed and evidently
+quite as independent in their feelings as any like number of
+average pioneers in the East. Indeed, I had seen there, in my
+youth, many a time, crowds of white settlers inferior to these
+in sedateness and self-possession. One was prepared, in this
+wild region of forest, to behold some savage types of men;
+indeed, I craved to renew the vanished scenes of old. But,
+alas! one beheld, instead, men with well-washed, unpainted
+faces, and combed and common hair; men in suits of ordinary
+"store-clothes," and some even with "boiled" if not laundered
+shirts. One felt disappointed, almost defrauded. It was not
+what was expected, what we believed we had a right to expect,
+after so much waggoning and tracking and drenching, and river
+turmoil and trouble. This woeful shortcoming from bygone days
+attended other aspects of the scene. Instead of fiery oratory and
+pipes of peace--the stone calumets of old--the vigorous arguments,
+the outbursts of passion, and close calls from threatened violence,
+here was a gathering of commonplace men smoking briar-roots,
+with treaty tobacco instead of "weed," and whose chiefs replied
+to Mr. Laird's explanations and offers in a few brief and sensible
+statements, varied by vigorous appeals to the common sense and
+judgment, rather than the passions, of their people. It was a
+disappointing, yet, looked at aright, a gratifying spectacle.
+Here were men disciplined by good handling and native force out
+of barbarism--of which there was little to be seen--and plainly
+on the high road to comfort; men who led inoffensive and honest
+lives, yet who expressed their sense of freedom and self-support
+in their speech, and had in their courteous demeanour the
+unmistakable air and bearing of independence. If provoked
+by injustice, a very dangerous people this; but self-respecting,
+diligent and prosperous in their own primitive calling, and
+able to adopt agriculture, or any other pursuit, with a fair
+hope of success when the still distant hour for it should arrive.
+
+The proceedings began with the customary distribution of tobacco,
+and by a reference to the competent interpreters who had been
+appointed by the Commission, men who were residents, and well
+known to the Indians themselves, and who possessed their confidence.
+The Indians had previously appointed as spokesman their Chief and
+head-man, Keenooshayo and Moostoos, a worthy pair of brothers,
+who speedily exhibited their qualities of good sense and judgment,
+and, Keenooshayo in particular, a fine order of Indian eloquence,
+which was addressed almost entirely to his own people, and which
+is lost, I am sorry to say, in the account here set down.
+
+Mr. Laird then rose, and having unrolled his Commission, and
+that of his colleagues, from the Queen, proceeded with his
+proposals. He spoke as follows:
+
+"Red Brothers! we have come here to-day, sent by the Great Mother
+to treat with you, and this is the paper she has given to us, and
+is her Commission to us signed with her Seal, to show we have
+authority to treat with you. The other Commissioners, who are
+associated with me, and who are sitting here, are Mr. McKenna
+and Mr. Ross and the Rev. Father Lacombe, who is with us to
+act as counsellor and adviser. I have to say, on behalf of the
+Queen and the Government of Canada, that we have come to make
+you an offer. We have made treaties in former years with
+all the Indians of the prairie, and from there to Lake Superior.
+As white people are coming into your country, we have thought
+it well to tell you what is required of you. The Queen wants
+all the whites, half-breeds and Indians to be at peace with
+one another, and to shake hands when they meet. The Queen's
+laws must be obeyed all over the country, both by the whites
+and the Indians. It is not alone that we wish to prevent Indians
+from molesting the whites, it is also to prevent the whites from
+molesting or doing harm to the Indians. The Queen's soldiers
+are just as much for the protection of the Indians as for the
+white man. The Commissioners made an appointment to meet you
+at a certain time, but on account of bad weather on river and
+lake, we are late, which we are sorry for, but are glad to meet
+so many of you here to-day.
+
+"We understand stories have been told you, that if you made a
+treaty with us you would become servants and slaves; but we wish
+you to understand that such is not the case, but that you will
+be just as free after signing a treaty as you are now. The treaty
+is a free offer; take it or not, just as you please. If you
+refuse it there is no harm done; we will not be bad friends
+on that account. One thing Indians must understand, that if they
+do not make a treaty they must obey the laws of the land--that
+will be just the same whether you make a treaty or not; the
+laws must be obeyed. The Queen's Government wishes to give the
+Indians here the same terms as it has given all the Indians all
+over the country, from the prairies to Lake Superior. Indians
+in other places, who took treaty years ago, are now better off
+than they were before. They grow grain and raise cattle like
+the white people. Their children have learned to read and write.
+
+"Now, I will give you an outline of the terms we offer you. If you
+agree to take treaty, every one this year gets a present of $12.00.
+A family of five, man, wife and three children, will thus get $60.00;
+a family of eight, $96.00; and after this year, and for every year
+afterwards, $5.00 for each person forever. To such chiefs as you
+may select, and that the Government approves of, we will give
+$25.00 each year, and the counsellors $15.00 each. The chiefs
+also get a silver medal and a flag, such as you see now at our
+tent, right now as soon as the treaty is signed. Next year, as
+soon as we know how many chiefs there are, and every three years
+thereafter, each chief will get a suit of clothes, and every
+counsellor a suit, only not quite so good as that of the chief.
+Then, as the white men are coming in and settling in the country,
+and as the Queen wishes the Indians to have lands of their own,
+we will give one square mile, or 640 acres, to each family of
+five; but there will be no compulsion to force Indians to go
+into a reserve. He who does not wish to go into a band can get
+160 acres of land for himself, and the same for each member of
+his family. These reserves are holdings you can select when you
+please, subject to the approval of the Government, for you might
+select lands which might interfere with the rights or lands of
+settlers. The Government must be sure that the land which you
+select is in the right place. Then, again, as some of you may
+want to sow grain or potatoes, the Government will give you
+ploughs or harrows, hoes, etc., to enable you to do so, and
+every spring will furnish you with provisions to enable you to
+work and put in your crop. Again, if you do not wish to grow
+grain, but want to raise cattle, the Government will give you
+bulls and cows, so that you may raise stock. If you do not
+wish to grow grain or raise cattle, the Government will furnish
+you with ammunition for your hunt, and with twine to catch fish.
+The Government will also provide schools to teach your children
+to read and write, and do other things like white men and their
+children. Schools will be established where there is a sufficient
+number of children. The Government will give the chiefs axes
+and tools to make houses to live in and be comfortable. Indians
+have been told that if they make a treaty they will not be allowed
+to hunt and fish as they do now. This is not true. Indians who
+take treaty will be just as free to hunt and fish all over as
+they now are.
+
+"In return for this the Government expects that the Indians will
+not interfere with or molest any miner, traveller or settler.
+We expect you to be good friends with every-one, and shake hands
+with all you meet. If any whites molest you in any way, shoot
+your dogs or horses, or do you any harm, you have only to report
+the matter to the police, and they will see that justice is done
+to you. There may be some things we have not mentioned, but these
+can be mentioned later on. Commissioners Walker and Cote are
+here for the half-breeds, who later on, if treaty is made with
+you, will take down the names of half-breeds and their children,
+and find out if they are entitled to scrip. The reason the
+Government does this is because the half-breeds have Indian
+blood in their veins, and have claims on that account. The
+Government does not make treaty with them, as they live as
+white men do, so it gives them scrip to settle their claims at
+once and forever. Half-breeds living like Indians have the
+chance to take the treaty instead, if they wish to do so. They
+have their choice, but only after the treaty is signed. If
+there is no treaty made, scrip cannot be given. After the
+treaty is signed, the Commissioners will take up half-breed
+claims. The first thing they will do is to give half-breed
+settlers living on land 160 acres, if there is room to do so;
+but if several are settled close together, the land will be
+divided between them as fairly as possible. All, whether settled
+or not, will be given scrip for land to the value of $240.00,
+that is, all born up to the date of signing the treaty. They
+can sell that scrip, that is, all of you can do so. They can
+take, if they like, instead of this scrip for 240 acres, lands
+where they like. After they have located their land, and got
+their title, they can live on it, or sell part, or the whole
+of it, as they please, but cannot sell the scrip. They must
+locate their land, and get their title before selling.
+
+"These are the principal points in the offer we have to make
+to you. The Queen owns the country, but is willing to acknowledge
+the Indians' claims, and offers them terms as an offset to all
+of them. We shall be glad to answer any questions, and make clear
+any points not understood. We shall meet you again to-morrow,
+after you have considered our offer, say about two o'clock, or
+later if you wish. We have other Indians to meet at other places,
+but we do not wish to hurry you. After this meeting you can go
+to the Hudson's Bay fort, where our provisions are stored, and
+rations will be issued to you of flour, bacon, tea and tobacco,
+so that you can have a good meal and a good time. This is a free
+gift, given with goodwill, and given to you whether you make a
+treaty or not. It is a present the Queen is glad to make to you.
+I am now done, and shall be glad to hear what any one has to say."
+
+KEENOOSHAYO (The Fish): "You say we are brothers. I cannot understand
+how we are so. I live differently from you. I can only understand
+that Indians will benefit in a very small degree from your offer.
+You have told us you come in the Queen's name. We surely have also
+a right to say a little as far as that goes. I do not understand
+what you say about every third year."
+
+MR. MCKENNA: "The third year was only mentioned in connection with
+clothing."
+
+KEENOOSHAYO: "Do you not allow the Indians to make their own
+conditions, so that they may benefit as much as possible? Why I
+say this is that we to-day make arrangements that are to last as
+long as the sun shines and the water runs. Up to the present I
+have earned my own living and worked in my own way for the Queen.
+It is good. The Indian loves his way of living and his free life.
+When I understand you thoroughly I will know better what I shall
+do. Up to the present I have never seen the time when I could not
+work for the Queen, and also make my own living. I will consider
+carefully what you have said."
+
+MOOSTOOS (The Bull): "Often before now I have said I would carefully
+consider what you might say. You have called us brothers. Truly
+I am the younger, you the elder brother. Being the younger, if
+the younger ask the elder for something, he will grant his request
+the same as our mother the Queen. I am glad to hear what you have
+to say. Our country is getting broken up. I see the white man
+coming in, and I want to be friends. I see what he does, but it
+is best that we should be friends. I will not speak any more.
+There are many people here who may wish to speak."
+
+WAHPEEHAYO (White Partridge): "I stand behind this man's back"
+(pointing to Keenooshayo). "I want to tell the Commissioners
+there are two ways, the long and the short. I want to take the
+way that will last longest."
+
+NEESNETASIS (The Twin): "I follow these two brothers, Moostoos and
+Keenooshayo. When I understand better I shall be able to say more."
+
+MR. LAIRD: "We shall be glad to hear from some of the Sturgeon Lake
+people."
+
+THE CAPTAIN (an old man): "I accept your offer. I am old and
+miserable now. I have not my family with me here, but I accept
+your offer."
+
+MR. LAIRD: "You will get the money for all your children under age,
+and not married, just the same as if they were here."
+
+THE CAPTAIN: "I speak for all those in my part of the country."
+
+MR. LAIRD: "I am sorry the rest of your people are not here.
+If here next year their claims will not be overlooked."
+
+THE CAPTAIN: "I am old now. It is indirectly through the Queen
+that we have lived. She has supplied in a manner the sale shops
+through which we have lived. Others may think I am foolish for
+speaking as I do now. Let them think as they like. I accept. When
+I was young I was an able man and made my living independently.
+But now I am old and feeble and not able to do much."
+
+MR. ROSS: "I will just answer a few questions that have been put.
+Keenooshayo has said that he cannot see how it will benefit you
+to take treaty. As all the rights you now have will not be
+interfered with, therefore anything you get in addition must
+be a clear gain. The white man is bound to come in and open
+up the country, and we come before him to explain the relations
+that must exist between you, and thus prevent any trouble. You
+say you have heard what the Commissioners have said, and how
+you wish to live. We believe that men who have lived without
+help heretofore can do it better when the country is opened
+up. Any fur they catch is worth more. That comes about from
+competition. You will notice that it takes more boats to
+bring in goods to buy your furs than it did formerly. We think
+that as the rivers and lakes of this country will be the principal
+highways, good boatmen, like yourselves, cannot fail to make a
+good living, and profit from the increase in traffic. We are
+much pleased that you have some cattle. It will be the duty
+of the Commissioners to recommend the Government, through the
+Superintendent-General of Indian Affairs, to give you cattle
+of a better breed. You say that you consider that you have a
+right to say something about the terms we offer you. We offer
+you certain terms, but you are not forced to take them. You
+ask if Indians are not allowed to make a bargain. You must
+understand there are always two to a bargain. We are glad you
+understand the treaty is forever. If the Indians do as they are
+asked we shall certainly keep all our promises. We are glad to
+know that you have got on without any one's help, but you must
+know times are hard, and furs scarcer than they used to be.
+Indians are fond of a free life, and we do not wish to interfere
+with it. When reserves are offered you there is no intention
+to make you live on them if you do not want to, but, in years
+to come, you may change your minds, and want these lands to
+live on. The half-breeds of Athabasca are being more liberally
+dealt with than in any other part of Canada. We hope you will
+discuss our offer and arrive at a decision as soon as possible.
+Others are now waiting for our arrival, and you, by deciding
+quickly, will assist us to get to them."
+
+KEENOOSHAYO: "Have you all heard? Do you wish to accept? All who
+wish to accept, stand up!"
+
+WENDIGO: "I have heard, and accept with a glad heart all I have heard."
+
+KEENOOSHAYO: "Are the terms good forever? As long as the sun shines
+on us? Because there are orphans we must consider, so that there
+will be nothing to be thrown up to us by our people afterwards. We
+want a written treaty, one copy to be given to us, so we shall know
+what we sign for. Are you willing to give means to instruct children
+as long as the sun shines and water runs, so that our children
+will grow up ever increasing in knowledge?"
+
+MR. LAIRD: "The Government will choose teachers according to the
+religion of the band. If the band are pagans the Government will
+appoint teachers who, if not acceptable, will be replaced by others.
+About treaties lasting forever, I will just say that some Indians
+have got to live so like the whites that they have sold their
+lands and divided the money. But this only happens when the Indians
+ask for it. Treaties last forever, as signed, unless the Indians
+wish to make a change. I understand you all agree to the terms of
+the Treaty. Am I right? If so, I will have the Treaty drawn up,
+and to-morrow we will sign it. Speak, all those who do not agree!"
+
+MOOSTOOS: "I agree."
+
+KEENOOSHAYO: "My children, all who agree, stand up!"
+
+The Reverend Father Lacombe then addressed the Indians in substance
+as follows: He reminded them that he was an old friend, and came
+amongst them seven years ago, and, being now old, he came again to
+fulfil another duty, and to assist the Commission to make a treaty.
+"Knowing you as I do, your manners, your customs and language, I
+have been officially attached to the Commission as adviser. To-day
+is a great day for you, a day of long remembrance, and your children
+hereafter will learn from your lips the events of to-day. I consented
+to come here because I thought it was a good thing for you to take
+the Treaty. Were it not in your interest I would not take part
+in it. I have been long familiar with the Government's methods
+of making treaties with the Saulteaux of Manitoba, the Crees of
+Saskatchewan, and the Blackfeet, Bloods and Piegans of the Plains,
+and advised these tribes to accept the offers of the Government.
+Therefore, to-day, I urge you to accept the words of the Big Chief
+who comes here in the name of the Queen. I have known him for
+many years, and, I can assure you, he is just and sincere in
+all his statements, besides being vested with authority to deal
+with you. Your forest and river life will not be changed by
+the Treaty, and you will have your annuities, as well, year
+by year, as long as the sun shines and the earth remains.
+Therefore I finish my speaking by saying, Accept!"
+
+The chiefs and counsellors stood up, and requested all the
+Indians to do so also as a mark of acceptance of the Government's
+conditions. Father Lacombe was thanked by several for having come
+so far, though so very old, to visit them and speak to them,
+after which the meeting adjourned until the following day.
+
+At three p.m. on Wednesday, the 21st, the discussion was resumed
+by Mr. Laird, who, after a few preliminary remarks read the
+Treaty, which had been drafted by the Commissioners the previous
+evening. Chief Keenooshayo arose and made a speech, followed by
+Moostoos, both assenting to the terms, when suddenly, and to the
+surprise of all, the chief, who had again begin to address the
+Indians, perceiving gestures of dissent from his people, suddenly
+stopped and sat down. This looked critical; but, after a somewhat
+lengthy discussion, everything was smoothed over, and the chief
+and head men entered the tent and signed the Treaty after the
+Commissioners, thus confirming, for this portion of the country,
+the great Treaty which is intended to cover the whole northern
+region up to the sixtieth parallel of north latitude. The
+satisfactory turn of the Lesser Slave Lake Treaty, it was felt,
+would have a good effect elsewhere, and that, upon hearing of
+it at the various treaty points to the west and north, the Indians
+would be more inclined to expedite matters, and to close with
+the Commissioner's proposals. [The foregoing report of the Treaty
+discussions is necessarily much abridged, being simply a transcript
+of brief notes taken at the time. The utterances particularly of
+Keenooshayo, but also of his brother, were not mere harangues
+addressed to the "groundlings," but were grave statements marked by
+self-restraint, good sense and courtesy, such as would have done no
+discredit to a well-bred white man. They furthered affairs greatly,
+and in two days the Treaty was discussed and signed, in singular
+contrast with treaty-making on the plains in former years.]
+
+The text of the Treaty itself, which may be of interest to
+the reader, will be found in full in the Appendix, page 471.
+
+The first and most important step having been taken, the other
+essential adhesions had now to be effected. To save time and
+wintering in the country, the Treaty Commission separated,
+Messrs. Ross and McKenna leaving on the 22nd for Fort Dunvegan
+and St. John, whilst Mr. Laird set out shortly afterwards for
+Vermilion and Fond du Lac, on Lake Athabasca. He reached Peace
+River Crossing on the 30th, and met there, next day, a few Beaver
+Indians and the Crees of the region. The Beaver chief, who was
+present, did not adhere, saying that his band was at Fort Dunvegan,
+and that he could not get there in time. The date of the St. John
+Treaty had been fixed for the 21st of June, but, owing to the
+detentions described, the appointment could not be kept, and word
+was therefore sent to the Indians to stay where they were until
+they could be met. But when the Commissioners were within twenty-five
+miles of the Fort they got a letter from the Hudson's Bay Company's
+agent telling them that the Indians had eaten up all the provisions
+there, and had left for their hunting-grounds, with no hope of
+their coming together again that season. They therefore returned
+to Fort Dunvegan, and took the adhesion of some Beaver Indians,
+and then left for Lower Peace River. On the 8th July, Mr. Laird
+secured the adhesion of the Crees and Beavers at Fort Vermilion,
+and Messrs. Ross and McKenna of those at Little Red River, the
+headman there refusing to sign at first because, he said, "he
+had a divine inspiration to the contrary"! This was followed by
+adhesions taken by the latter Commissioners, on the 13th, from
+the Crees and Chipewyans at Fort Chipewyan.
+
+"Here it was," Mr. McKenna writes me, "that the chief asked for
+a railway--the first time in the history of Canada that the red
+man demanded as a condition of cession that steel should be laid
+into his country. He evidently understood the transportation
+question, for a railway, he said, by bringing them into closer
+connection with the market, would enhance the value of what they
+had to sell, and decrease the cost of what they had to buy. He
+had a striking object-lesson in the fact that flour was $12
+a sack at the Fort. These Chipewyans lost no time in flowery
+oratory, but came at once to business, and kept us, myself
+in particular, on tenterhooks for two hours. I never felt so
+relieved as when the rain of questions ended, and, satisfied
+by our answers, they acquiesced in the cession."
+
+Next morning these Commissioners left for Smith's Landing, and,
+on the 17th, made treaty with the Indians of Great Slave Lake.
+Meanwhile Mr. Laird had proceeded to Fond du Lac, at the eastern
+end of Lake Athabasca, and there, on the 27th, the Chipewyans
+adhered, whilst Messrs. Ross and McKenna, in order to treat
+with the Indians at Fort McMurray and Wahpooskow, separated.
+The latter secured the Chipewyans and Crees at the former post,
+and Mr. Ross the Crees at Wahpooskow, both adjustments, by a
+coincidence, being made on the same day.
+
+This completed the Treaty of 1899, known as No. 8, the most
+important of all since the Great Treaty of 1876.
+
+The work of the Commission being now over, its members prepared
+to leave the country. Messrs. Ross and McKenna set out for Athabasca
+Landing, whilst Mr. Laird accompanied us to Pelican Rapids, but left
+us there and pushed on, like the others, for home.
+
+There were, of course, many Indians who did not or could not turn
+up at the various treaty points that year, viz., the Beavers of St.
+John, the Crees of Sturgeon Lake, the Slaves of Hay River, who should
+have come to Vermilion, and the Dog-Ribs, Yellow-Knives, Slaves,
+and Chipewyans, who should have been treated with at Fort Resolution,
+on Great Slave Lake.
+
+Accordingly, a special commission was issued to Mr. J. A. Macrae,
+of the Indian Office in Ottawa, who met the Indians the following
+year at the points named, and in May, June, and July, secured
+the adhesion of over 1,200 souls, making, with subsequent adhesions,
+a total of 3,568 souls to the 30th June, 1906.
+
+The largest numbers were at Forts Resolution, Vermilion, Fond
+du Lac, and Lesser Slave Lake, the latter ranking fourth in
+the list. Of course, there are still to be treated with the
+Indians of the Mackenzie River and the Esquimaux of the Arctic
+coast. But Treaty Eight covers the most valuable portions of
+the Northern Anticlinal, though this is a conjecture, as the
+resources of the lower Mackenzie Basin, and even of the Barren
+Lands, are only now becoming known, and may yet prove to be of
+great value. Bishop Grouard told me that at their Mission at
+Fort Providence, potatoes, turnips and barley ripened, and also
+wheat when tried, though this, he thought, was uncertain. I have
+also heard Chief-factor Camsell speak quite boastfully of his
+tomatoes at Fort Simpson. As a matter of fact, little is known
+practically as to the bearing of the climate and long summer
+sunshine on agriculture in the Mackenzie District. But be that
+region what it may, there has been already ceded an empire in
+itself, extending, roughly speaking, from the 54th to the 60th
+parallel of north latitude, and from the 106th to the 130th degree
+of west longitude. In this domain there is ample room for millions
+of people; and, as I must now return to the Half-breed Commission
+on Lesser Slave Lake, I shall give, as we go, as fair a picture
+as I can of its superficial features and the inducements it
+offers to the immigrant.
+
+
+
+Chapter IV
+
+The Half-Breed Scrip Commission.
+
+
+The adjustment with the half-breeds depended, of course, upon
+a successful treaty with the Indians, and, this having been
+concluded, the latter at once, upon receipt of their payments,
+left for their forests and fisheries, leaving the half-breeds
+in full possession of the field.
+
+It was estimated that over a hundred families were encamped around
+us, some in tepees, some in tents, and some in the open air, the
+willow copses to the north affording shelter, as well, to a few
+doubtful members of Slave Lake society, and to at least a thousand
+dogs. The "scrip tent," as it was called, a large marquee fitted
+up as an office, had been pitched with the other tents when the
+camp was made, and in this the half-breeds held a crowded meeting
+to talk over the terms, and to collate their own opinions as to
+the form of scrip issue they most desired. In this they were
+singularly unanimous, and, in spite of advice to the contrary
+urged upon them in the strongest manner by Father Lacombe, they
+agreed upon "the bird in the hand"--viz., upon cash scrip or
+nothing. This could be readily turned into money, for in the
+train of traders, etc., who followed up the treaty payments,
+there were also buyers from Winnipeg and Edmonton, well supplied
+with cash, to purchase all the scrip that offered, at a great
+reduction, of course, from face value. Whether the half-breeds
+were wise or foolish it is needless to say. One thing was plain,
+they had made up their minds. Under the circumstances it was
+impossible to gainsay their assertion that they were the best
+judges of their own needs. All preliminaries having at last been
+settled, the taking of declarations and evidence began on the
+23rd of June, and, shortly afterwards, the issue of convertible
+scrip certificates, or scrip certificates for land as required,
+took place to the parties who had proved their title.
+
+This was a slow process, involving in every case a careful search
+of the five elephant folios containing the records of the bygone
+issues of scrip in Manitoba and the organized Territories.
+
+It was necessary in order to prevent the issue of scrip to parties
+who had already received it elsewhere. But to the credit of the
+Lesser Slave Lake community, few efforts were made to "come in"
+again, not one in fact which was a clear attempt at fraud, or
+which could not be accounted for by false agency. Indeed, a high
+tribute might well be paid here to the honesty, not only of this
+but of all the communities, both Indian and half-breed, throughout
+these remote territories. We found valuable property exposed,
+everywhere, evidently without fear of theft. There was a looser
+feeling regarding debts to traders, which we were told were sometimes
+ignored, partly, perhaps, owing to the traders' heavy profits, but
+mainly through failure in the hunt and a lack of means. But theft
+such as white men practice was a puzzle to these people, amongst
+whom it was unknown.
+
+The most noticeable feature of the scrip issue was the never-ending
+stream of applicants, a surprising evidence of the growth of
+population in this remote wilderness. Its most interesting
+feature lay in the peculiarities and manners of the people
+themselves. They were unquestionably half-breeds, and had
+received Christian names, and most of them had houses of their
+own, and, though hunters, fishermen and trippers, their families
+lived comparatively settled lives. Yet the glorious instinct
+of the Indian haunted them. As a rule they had been born on the
+"pitching-track," in the forest, or on the prairies--in all
+sorts of places, they could not say exactly where--and when
+they were born was often a matter of doubt as well. [With reference
+to these nondescript birthplaces, the wonderful ease of parturition
+among Indian women may be referred to here. This is common, probably,
+to all primitive races, but is perhaps more marked amongst Indian
+mothers than any other. The event may happen in a canoe, on the
+trail, at any place, or at any moment, without hindering the ordinary
+progress of a travelling party, which is generally overtaken by the
+mother in a few hours. But nothing I heard here equalled in grotesque
+circumstances occurrences, whose truth I can vouch for, many years
+ago on the Saskatchewan River. In 1874, if I remember aright, a great
+spring freshet in the North Branch was accompanied by a tremendous
+ice-jam, which backed the water up, and flooded the river bank so
+suddenly that many Indians were drowned. On an island below Prince
+Albert, a woman, to save her life, had to climb a neighbouring tree,
+and gave birth to a child amongst the branches. The jam broke, and,
+wonderful to say, both mother and child got down to firm ground
+alive. Another case, even more gruesome, happened on the Lower
+Saskatchewan not so many years ago. A woman and her husband were
+hastening on snowshoes from their winter camp to the river, in order
+to share in the usual Christmas bounty and festivities at the
+Hudson's Bay Company's post. The woman was seized with incipient
+labour, and darting from her husband, with whom she had been
+quarrelling on the way, pushed on, and, in a frozen marsh, amongst
+bulrushes, on a bitterly cold night, was delivered of a child.
+Grumous as she was, she picked herself up, and, with incredible
+nerve, walked ten miles to the Pas, carrying her live infant with
+her, wrapped in a rabbit-skin robe.] It was not in February, but in
+_Meeksuo pesim_, "The month when the eagles return"; not in August,
+but in Oghpaho pesim, "The month when birds begin to fly." When
+called upon they could give their Christian names and answer to
+William or Magloire, to Mary or Madaline, but, in spite of priest or
+parson, their home name was a Cree one. In many cases the white
+forefather's name had been dropped or forgotten, and a Cree surname
+had taken its place, as, for example, in the name Louis Maskegosis,
+or Madeline Nooskeyah. Some of the Cree names were in their meaning
+simply grotesque. Mishoostiquan meant "The man who stands with the
+red hair"; Waupunekapow, "He who stands till morning." One of the
+applicants was Kanawatchaguayo, or "The ghost-keeper."
+
+[It may be mentioned here that this half-breed's "inner" name, so to
+speak, meant "The Ghost-Keeper," for the name he gave, following
+an Indian usage, was not the real one. Kanawatchaguayo was the one
+given by the interpreter, but accompanied by the translation of
+the inner name, to wit, "The Ghost-Keeper." This curious custom is
+more fully referred to in a forthcoming work on Indian folk-lore,
+traditions, legends, usages, methods and manner of life, etc., by
+Mrs. F. H. Paget, of Ottawa. This lady is an expert Cree scholar,
+and her work, which I have had the pleasure of hearing her read, is
+the result of diligent research and of ample knowledge of Indian
+life and character.]
+
+But others were strikingly poetical, particularly the female
+names. Payucko geesigo, "One in the Skies"; Pesawakoona kapesisk,
+"The silent snow in falling forming signs or symbols"; Matyatse
+wunoguayo, or rather, for this is a doubtful name, Powastia ka
+nunaghquanetungh, "Listener to the unseen rapids"; Kese koo
+apeoo, "She sits in heaven," were all the names of applicants
+for scrips, and many others could be added of like tenor. In a
+word, the Christian or baptismal names have not displaced the
+native ones, as they did in Wales and elsewhere, and amongst
+some of our far Eastern Indians. But there were terrifying and
+repulsive names as well, such as Sese kenapik kaow apeoo, "She
+sits like a rattle-snake"; and one individual rejoiced in the
+appalling surname of "Grand Bastard." These instances serve
+to illustrate the tendency of half-breed nomenclature at the
+lake towards the mother's side. Here, too, there was no reserve
+in giving the family name; it was given at once when asked for,
+and there was no shyness otherwise in demeanour. There was a
+readiness, for example, to be photographed which was quite
+distinctive. In this connection it may interest the reader
+to recall some of the names of girls given by the same race
+thousands of miles away in the East. Take those recorded by
+Mrs. Jameson ["Winter Studies and Summer Rambles," 1835.]
+during her visit to Mrs. McMurray and the Schoolcrafts, on the
+Island of Mackinac, over seventy years ago: Oba baumwawa geezegoquay,
+"The Sounds which the stars make rushing through the skies"; Zaga
+see goquay, "Sunbeams breaking through a cloud"; Wahsagewanoquay,
+"Woman of the bright foam." The people so far apart, yet their home
+names so similarly figurative! The education of the Red Indian
+lies in his intimate contact with nature in all her phases--a good
+education truly, which serves him well. But, awe-struck always by
+the mysterious beauty of the world around him, his mind reflects it
+instinctively in his Nature-worship and his system of names.
+
+In speaking of the "Lakers" I refer, of course, to the primitive
+people of the region, and not to half-breed incomers from Manitoba or
+elsewhere. There were a few patriarchal families into which all the
+others seemed to dovetail in some shape or form. The Nooskeyah family
+was one of these, also the Gladu, the Cowitoreille, [A corruption,
+no doubt, of "Courtoreille."] and the Calahaisen. The collateral
+branches of these families constituted the main portion of the native
+population, and yet inbreeding did not seem to have deteriorated the
+stock, for a healthier-looking lot of young men, women and children
+it would be hard to find, or one more free from scrofula. There
+were instances, too, among these people, of extreme old age; one
+in particular which from confirmatory evidence, particularly the
+declarations of descendants, seemed quite authentic. This was a woman
+called Catherine Bisson--the daughter of Baptiste Bisson and an
+Indian woman called Iskwao--who was born on New Year's Day, 1793, at
+Lesser Slave Lake, and had spent all her life there since. She had a
+numerous progeny which she bore to Kisiskakapo, "The man who stands
+still." She was now blind, and was partly led, partly carried into
+our tent--a small, thin, wizened woman, with keen features and a
+tongue as keen, which cackled and joked at a great rate with the
+crowd around her. It was almost awesome to look at this weird piece
+of antiquity, who was born in the Reign of Terror, and was a young
+woman before the war of 1812. She was quite lively yet, so far as her
+wits went, and seemed likely to go on living. [This very old woman
+died, I believe, at Lesser Slave Lake only last spring (1908). The
+date of her birth was correct, and we had good reason to believe it,
+she must have been far over 100 years old when she died.]
+
+There were many good points in the disposition of the "Lakers"
+generally, both young and old. Their kindness and courtesy to
+strangers and to each other was marked, and profanity was unknown.
+Indeed, if one heard bad language at all it was from the lips of
+some Yankee or Canadian teamster, airing his superior knowledge
+of the world amongst the natives.
+
+The place, in fact, surprised one--no end of buggies, buckboards and
+saddles, and brightly dressed women, after a not altogether antique
+fashion; the men, too, orderly, civil, and obliging. Infants were
+generally tucked into the comfortable moss-bag, but boys three or
+four years old were seen tugging at their mothers' breasts, and all
+fat and generally good-looking. The whole community seemed well fed,
+and were certainly well clad--some girls extravagantly so, the love
+of finery being the ruling trait here as elsewhere. One lost, indeed,
+all sense of remoteness, there was such a well-to-do, familiar air
+about the scene, and such a bustle of clean-looking people. How all
+this could be supported by fur it was difficult to see, but it must
+have been so, for there was, as yet, little or no farming amongst the
+old "Lakers." It was, of course, a great fur country, and though
+the fur-bearing animals were sensibly diminishing, yet the prices
+of peltries had risen by competition, whilst supplies had been
+correspondingly cheapened. It was a good marten country, and, as this
+fur was the fad of fashion, and brought an extravagant price, the
+animal, like the beaver, was threatened with extinction, the more so
+as the rabbits were then in their period of scarcity.
+
+There were other aspects of Lake life which there is neither
+space nor inclination to describe. If some features of "advanced
+civilization" had been anticipated there, it was simply another
+proof that extremes meet.
+
+Whatever else was hidden, however, there was one thing omnipresent,
+namely, the mongrel dog. It was hopeless to explore the origin of an
+animal which seemed to draw from all sources, including the wolf and
+fox, and whose appetite stopped at nothing, but attacked old shirts,
+trousers, dunnage-bags, fry-pans, and even the outfit of a geologist,
+to appease the sacred rage of hunger.
+
+It was believed that over a thousand of these dogs, mainly used
+in winter to haul fish, surrounded our tent, and when it is said
+that an ordinary half-breed family harboured from fifteen to twenty
+of the tribe, there is no exaggeration in the estimate. They were
+of all shapes, sizes and colours, and, though very civil to man,
+from whom they got nothing but kicks and stones, they kept up a
+constant row amongst themselves.
+
+To see a scrimmage of fifty or sixty of them on land or in the
+water, where they went daily to fish, was a scene to be remembered.
+They did not bark, but loped through the woods, which were the camp's
+latrines, as scavengers by day, and howled in unison at regular
+intervals by night; for there was a sort of horrible harmony in
+the performance, and when the tom-toms of the gamblers accompanied
+it on all sides, and the pounding of dancers' feet--for in this
+enchanted land nobody ever seemed to go to bed--the saturnalia
+was complete.
+
+It was indeed a gala time for the happy-go-lucky Lakers, and the
+effects of the issue and sale of scrip certificates were soon
+manifest in our neighbourhood. The traders' booths were thronged
+with purchasers, also the refreshment tents where cigars and ginger
+ale were sold; and, in tepees improvised from aspen saplings, the
+sporting element passed the night at some interesting but easy
+way of losing money, illuminating their game with guttering
+candles, minus candlesticks, and presenting a picture worthy
+of an impressionist's pencil.
+
+But the two dancing floors were the chief attraction. These also
+had been walled and roofed with leafy saplings, their fronts open
+to the air, and, thronged as they generally were, well repaid a
+visit. Here the comely brunettes, in moccasins or slippers, their
+luxuriant hair falling in a braided queue behind their backs,
+served not only as tireless partners, but as foils to the young
+men, who were one and all consummate masters of step-dancing, an
+art which, I am glad to say, was still in vogue in these remote
+parts. "French-fours" and the immortal "Red River Jig" were
+repeated again and again, and, though a tall and handsome young
+half-breed, who had learned in Edmonton, probably, the airs and
+graces of the polite world, introduced cotillions and gave "the
+calls" with vigorous precision, yet his efforts were not thoroughly
+successful. Snarls arose, and knots and confusion, which he did
+his best to undo. But it was evident that the hearts of the dancers
+were not in it. No sooner was the fiddler heard lowering his
+strings for the time-honoured "Jig" than eyes brightened, and
+feet began to beat the floor, including, of course, those of
+the fiddler himself, who put his whole soul into that weird and
+wonderful melody, whose fantastic glee is so strangely blended
+with an indescribable master-note of sadness. The dance itself
+is nothing; it might as well be called a Rigadoon or a Sailor's
+Hornpipe, so far as the steps go. The tune is everything; it is
+amongst the immortals. Who composed it? Did it come from Normandy,
+the ancestral home of so many French Canadians and of French
+Canadian song? Or did some lonely but inspired voyageur, on the
+banks of Red River, sighing for Detroit or Trois Rivieres--for
+the joys and sorrows of home--give birth to its mingled chords in
+the far, wild past?
+
+As I looked on, many memories recurred to me of scenes like this in
+which I had myself taken part in bygone days--_Eheu! fugaces_--in
+old Red River and the Saskatchewan; and, with these in my heart,
+I retired to my tent, and gradually fell asleep to the monotonous
+sound of the familiar yet inexplicable air.
+
+
+
+Chapter V
+
+Resources Of Lesser Slave Lake Region.
+
+
+It was expected that the sergeant of the Mounted Police stationed
+at the Lake would have set out by boat on the 3rd for Athabasca
+Landing, taking with him the witnesses in the Weeghteko case--a
+case not common amongst the Lesser Slave Lake Indians, but which
+was said to be on the increase. One Pahayo--"The Pheasant"--had
+gone mad and threatened to kill and eat people. Of course, this
+was attributed by his tribe to the Weeghteko, by which he was
+believed to be possessed, a cannibal spirit who inhabits the
+human heart in the form of a lump of ice, which must be got rid
+of by immersion of the victim in boiling water, or by pouring
+boiling fat down his throat. This failing, they destroy the man-eater,
+rip him up to let out the evil spirit, cut off his head, and then
+pin his four quarters to the ground, all of which was done by his
+tribe in the case of Pahayo. Napesosus--"The Little Man"--struck
+the first blow, Moostoos followed, and the poor lunatic was soon
+dispatched. Arrests were ultimately made, and a boatload of
+witnesses was about to leave for Athabasca Landing, _en route_ to
+attend the trial at Edmonton, the first of its kind, I think,
+on record.
+
+There can be no doubt that such slayings are effected to safeguard
+the tribe. Indians have no asylums, and, in order to get a dangerous
+lunatic out of the way, can only kill him. There would therefore be
+no hangings. But, now that the Indians and ourselves were coming
+under treaty obligations, it was necessary that an end should be
+put to such proceedings.
+
+Yet the reader must not be too severe upon the Indian for his
+treatment of the Weeghteko. He attributes the disease to the evil
+spirit, acts accordingly, and slays the victim. But an old author,
+Mrs. Jameson, tells us that in her day in Upper Canada lunatics were
+allowed to stray into the forest to roam uncared for, and perish
+there, or were thrust into common jails. One at Niagara, she says,
+was chained up for four years.
+
+Aside from such cases of madness, which have often resulted in the
+killing and eating of children, etc., and which arouse the most
+superstitious horror in the minds of all Indians, the "savages" of
+this region are the most inoffensive imaginable. They have always
+made a good living by hunting and trapping and fishing, and I believe
+when the time comes they will adapt themselves much more readily and
+intelligently to farming and stock-raising than did the Indians to
+the south. The region is well suited to both industries, and will
+undoubtedly attract white settlers in due time.
+
+The fisheries in Lesser Slave Lake have always been counted the best
+in all Athabasca. The whitefish, to be sure, are diminishing towards
+the head of the lake, but it is possible that this is owing to some
+deficiency in their usual supply of food in that quarter. Just as
+birds and wild-fowl return, if not disturbed, to their accustomed
+breeding-places, so, it is said, the fishes, year by year, drop and
+impregnate their spawn upon the same gravelly shallows. The food of
+the whitefish in the lake is partly the worms bred from the eggs of
+a large fly resembling the May-fly of the East. This worm has probably
+decreased in the upper part of the lake, and therefore the fish go
+farther down for food. There they are exceedingly numerous, an
+evidence of which is the fact that the Roman Catholic Mission alone
+secured 17,000 fine whitefish the previous fall. Properly protected
+this lake will be a permanent source of supply to natives and incomers
+for many years to come.
+
+Stock-raising was already becoming a feature of the region. Some
+three miles above the Heart River is Buffalo Lake, an enlargement
+of that stream, and around and above this, as also along the
+Wyaweekamon, or "Passage between the Lakes," are immense hay
+meadows, capable of winter feeding thousands of cattle. The view
+of these vast meadows from the Hudson's Bay post, or from the
+Roman Catholic Mission close by, is magnificent.
+
+These buildings are situated above Buffalo Lake, upon a lofty
+bank, with the Heart River in the foreground; and the great
+meadows, threaded by creeks and inlets, stretching for miles
+to the south of them, are one of the finest sights of the kind
+in the country.
+
+In the far south was the line of forest, and to the eastward a
+flat-topped mountain, called by the Crees Waskahekum Kahassastakee--
+"The House Butte." Near this mountain is the Swan River, which joins
+the Lesser Slave Lake below the Narrows, and upon which, we were
+told, were rich and extensive prairies, and abundance of coal of a
+good quality. To the west were the prairies of the Salt River, well
+watered by creeks, with a large extent of good land now being settled
+on, and where wheat ripens perfectly.
+
+There are other available areas of open country on Prairie River,
+which enters Buffalo Lake at its south-western end, and on which
+also there is coal, so that prairie land is not entirely lacking.
+
+Though emphatically _now_ a region of forest, there is reason to
+believe that vast areas at present under timber were once prairies,
+fed over by innumerable herds of buffalo, whose paths and wallows
+can still be traced in the woods. Indeed, very large trees are
+found growing right across those paths, and this fact, not to speak
+of the recollections, or traditions, of very old people, points to
+extensive prairies at one time rather than to an entirely wooded
+country.
+
+Much of the forest soil is excellent, and the land has only to
+be cleared to furnish good farms. Indeed, it needs no stretch of
+imagination to foresee in future years a continuous line of them
+from Edmonton to the lake, along the three hundred miles of country
+intersected by the trail laid out by the Territorial Government.
+
+As for the wheat problem, it is not at all likely that the Roman
+Catholic Mission would put up a flour mill, as they were then doing,
+if it was not a wheat country. Bishop Clut assured me that potatoes
+in their garden reached three and a half pounds' weight in some
+instances, and turnips twenty-five pounds.
+
+The kind people of both this and the Church of England Mission
+generously supplied our table with vegetables and salads, and we
+craved no better. Chives, lettuce, radishes, cress and onions
+were full flavoured, fresh and delicious, and quite as early
+as in Manitoba. Being a timber country, lumber was, of course,
+plentiful, there being two sawmills at work cutting lumber,
+which sold, undressed, at $25 to $30 a thousand.
+
+The whole country has a fresh and attractive look, and one could
+not desire a finer location than can be had almost anywhere
+along its streams and within its delightful and healthy borders.
+And yet this region is but a portal to the vaster one beyond, to
+the Unjigah, the mighty Peace River, to be described hereafter.
+
+The make-weight against settlement may be almost summed up in the
+words transport and markets. The country is there, and far beyond
+it, too; but so long as there is abundance of prairie land to the
+south, and no railway facilities, it would be unwise for any large
+body of settlers, especially with limited means, to venture so far.
+The small local demand for beef and grain might soon be overtaken,
+and though stock can be driven, yet three hundred miles of forest
+trail is a long way to drive. Still, pioneers take little thought
+of such conditions, and already they were dropping in in twos and
+threes as they used to do in the old days in Red River Settlement,
+lured by the wilderness perhaps to privation, but entering a
+country much of which is suited by nature for the support of man.
+
+The best reflection is that there is a really good country to
+fall back upon when the prairies to the south are taken up.
+Swamps and muskegs abound, but good land also abounds, and the
+time will come when the ring of the Canadian axe will be heard
+throughout these forests, and when multitudes of comfortable
+homes will be hewn out of what are the almost inaccessible
+wildernesses of to-day.
+
+By the end of the first week in July the issue of scrip certificates
+began to fall off, though the declarations were still numerous.
+But land was in sight; that is to say, our release and departure
+for Peace River, which we were all very anxious, in fact burning,
+to see.
+
+By this time there was, of course, much money afloat amongst the
+people, which was rapidly finding its way into the traders'
+pockets. There was a "blind pig," too, doing business in the
+locality, though we could not discover where, as everybody
+professed entire ignorance of anything of the kind. The fragrant
+breath and hilarity of so many, however, betrayed its existence,
+and, as a crowning evidence, before sunrise on the 6th, we were
+all awakened by an uproarious row amongst a tipsy crowd on the
+common.
+
+The disturbance, of course, awakened the dogs, if, indeed, those
+wonderful creatures ever slept, and soon a prolonged howl,
+issuing from a thousand throats, made the racket complete. It
+seemed to our listening ears, for we stuck to our beds, to be
+a promiscuous fight, larded with imprecations in broken English,
+the phrase "goddam" being repeated in the most comical way. We
+expected to see a lot of badly bruised men in the morning, but
+nothing of the kind! Nobody was hurt. It proved to be a very
+bloodless affair, like the scrimmages of the dogs themselves,
+full of sound and fury signifying nothing.
+
+
+
+Chapter VI
+
+On The Trail To Peace River.
+
+
+By the afternoon of the 12th we had finished our work at the lake,
+and in the evening left the scene of so much amusement, and its
+lively and intelligent people, not without regret. Having said
+good-bye to Bishop Clut and his clergy, and to the Hudson's Bay
+Company's people, and others, we passed on to Salt Creek, which
+we crossed at dusk, and then to the South Heart River--Otaye
+Sepe--where we camped for the night. This affluent of the lake has
+a broad but sluggish current, its grassy banks sloping gently to
+the water's edge, like some Ontario river--the beau ideal of a pike
+stream. The Church of England mission was established here in charge
+of the Reverend Mr. Holmes, who had shown us every kindness during
+our long stay. As boats can ascend in high water to this point, the
+Hudson's Bay Company had a couple of large warehouses close by,
+standing alone, and filled with all kinds of goods. The trail led
+for many miles up a long, easy ascent, through a timber country, to
+an upper plateau, with, after passing the Heart River, occasional
+small patches of prairie on the wayside. The plateau itself is the
+anticlinal down which the North Heart flows to Peace River, which it
+joins at the crossing.
+
+The trail so far had been good, but after crossing Slippery Creek
+it proved to be almost a continuous mud-hole, due to its extreme
+narrowness and the wet weather, closely bordered, as much of it was,
+by dense forests. It revealed a good farming country, however, free
+from stones, and the soil a rich, loamy clay throughout. It was well
+timbered, in some places, with the finest white poplar I had yet
+seen. The grass was luxuriant, and the region teemed with
+tiger-lilies, yarrow, and the wild rose.
+
+The Little Prairie, as it is called, is really a lovely region,
+in appearance resembling the Saskatchewan country. There was an
+old Hudson's Bay cattle station here, at that time deserted, and
+here, too, we were charmed with a mirage of indescribable beauty,
+an enchanting portal to the mighty Peace, which we reached about
+mid-day on the 15th of July.
+
+The view up the Peace River from the high prairie level is
+singularly beautiful, the river disclosing a series of reaches,
+like inland lakes, far to the west, whilst from the south comes
+the immense valley of the Heart, and, farther up, the Smoky River,
+a great tributary which drains a large extent of prairie country
+mixed with timber.
+
+To the north spreads upward, and backward to its summit, the vast
+bank of the river, varied as to surface by rounded bare hills and
+valleys and flats sprinkled with aspens, cherries, and saskatoons,
+the latter loaded with ripe fruit.
+
+The banks of the Peace River are a country in themselves, in
+which, particularly on the north side, numerous homesteads might
+be, and indeed have been, carved out. Descending to the river,
+we found a Hudson's Bay Company and Police post. The river here
+is about a third of a mile wide, and was in freshet, with a
+current, we thought, of about six miles an hour.
+
+At Smoky River we met a couple of prospectors, Mr. Tryon, a nephew
+of the ill-fated Admiral, and Mr. Cooper Blachford, down from the
+Poker Flat mining-camp, this side the Finlay Rapids, in the Selwyn
+Mountains. They reached that camp by way of Ashcroft, B.C., in
+twenty-two days, the Peace River route being very much longer and
+more difficult. They described the camp there as a promising one,
+with much gold-bearing quartz in sight, but the cost of provisions
+and the extreme difficulty of development under the circumstances
+held it back.
+
+There being but a few half-breeds here, we crossed the river, and
+decided to go on to Fort Dunvegan, and on our return complete our
+scrip issue at the Landing; so, partly on horseback and partly by
+waggon, we made our way to our first camp. The trail lay along
+and up and down the immense bank of the river, debouching at one
+place at the site of old Fort McLeod, and passing the fine St.
+Germain farm, with as beautiful fields of yellowing wheat as one
+would wish to see.
+
+Here we got an abundant supply of vegetables, and in this ride our
+first taste of the Peace River mosquito--or, rather, that animal
+got its first taste of us. It is needless to dwell upon this pest.
+Like the fleas in Italy, it has been overdone in description,
+and yet beggars it.
+
+All along the trail were old buffalo paths and willows. Indeed, we
+saw them everywhere we went on land, showing how numerous those
+animals were in times past. In 1793 Sir Alexander Mackenzie describes
+them as grazing in great numbers along these very banks, the calves
+frisking about their dams, and moose and red deer were equally
+numerous. In 1828 Sir George Simpson made a canoe journey to the
+Coast by way of this river, and they were still very numerous. The
+existing tradition is that, some sixty years ago, a winter occurred
+of unexampled severity and depth of snow, in which nearly all the
+herds perished, and never recovered their footing on the upper river.
+The wood buffalo still exists on Great Slave River, but, where we
+were, the only memorials of the animal were its paths and wallows,
+and its bones half-buried in the fertile earth.
+
+On the morning of the 17th we topped the crest of the bank, and
+found ourselves at once in a magnificent prairie country, which
+swept northward, varied by beautiful belts of timber, as far as
+Bear Lake, to which we made a detour, then westerly to Old Wives
+Lake--Nootooquay Sakaigon--and on to our night camp at Burnt
+River, twenty-two miles from Dunvegan. The great prairie is as
+flat as a table, and is the exact counterpart of Portage Plains,
+in Manitoba, or a number of them, with the addition of belts and
+beautiful islands of timber, the soil being a loamy clay, unmistakably
+fertile. Nothing could excel the beauty of this region, not even
+the fairest portions of Manitoba or Saskatchewan.
+
+On the 18th we finished our drive over a like beautiful prairie,
+slightly rolling, dotted with similar clumps of timber like a
+great park, and carpeted with ripe strawberries and flowers,
+including the wild mignonette, the lupin, and the phlox.
+
+Descending a very long and crooked ravine, we reached the river
+flat at last, upon which is situated Fort Dunvegan, called after
+the stronghold of the McLeods of Skye, but alas! with no McCrimmon
+to welcome us with his echoing pipes! Chief-factor McDonald, in
+his scanty journal of Sir George Simpson's canoe voyage in 1828
+from Hudson's Bay to the Pacific, does not give the date at
+which this post was established, but mentions its abandonment
+in 1823, owing to the murder of a Mr. Hughes and four men at
+Fort St. John by the Beaver Indians. It had been re-established
+by Chief-trader Campbell. Simpson, Mr. McDonald, and Mr.
+McGillivray, who had embarked at Fort Chipewyan, where Sir
+George himself had served his clerkship, spent a day at Dunvegan
+in August, resting and getting fresh supplies. The warring
+traders had united in 1821, and this voyage was undertaken in
+order to harmonize the Indians, who, from the bay to the coast,
+particularly across the mountains, had become fierce partisans
+of one or other of the great companies.
+
+Sir George had his McCrimmon with him in the shape of his piper,
+Colin Fraser, who played and paraded before the Indians most
+impressively in full Highland costume. Deer and buffalo were
+numerous in the region, and, during the day, thirteen sacks of
+pemmican were made for the party from materials stored at the fort.
+Simpson was famous in those days for his swift journeys with his
+celebrated Iroquois canoemen. They were made by _Canot du Maitre_ as
+it was called, the largest bark canoe made by the Indians, carrying
+about six tons and a crew of sixteen paddlers, and which ascended as
+far as Fort William. Thence further progress was made in the much
+smaller "North Canoes" to all points west of Lake Superior. This
+particular journey of nearly 3,200 miles, made almost entirely by
+canoe, was completed from York Factory to Fort Langley, near the
+mouth of Fraser River, in sixty-five days of actual paddling, an
+average of about fifty miles a day, nearly all up stream.
+
+Only two buildings of the old fort remained at the time of our
+visit, both in a ruinous condition. The old fireplaces and the
+roofs of spruce bark, a covering much used in the country, were
+still sound, and several cellars indicated where the other
+buildings had stood. The later post is about a gunshot to the
+east of them, and the whole site had certainly been well chosen,
+being completely sheltered by the immensely high banks of the
+great and deep river, whose bends "shouldered" and seemed to shut
+in the place east and west, also by the "Caps," two very high
+hills forming the bank on each side of the river, so called from
+their fancied resemblance to a skull-cap. The river here is over
+four hundred yards in width, and its banks, from the water's edge
+to the upper prairie level are some six hundred feet or more in
+height; but, as the trail leads, the ascent of the great slope
+is about a mile in length.
+
+A number of townships had been blocked here, at one time, by
+Mr. Ogilvie, D.L.S., but not subdivided, Fort Dunvegan being
+situated, if I mistake not, in the south-west corner of Township
+80, Range 4, west of the Sixth Meridian.
+
+The Roman Catholic Mission east of the fort was found to be
+beautifully sheltered, and neighboured by fine fields of wheat and
+a garden full of green peas and new potatoes. But this was on the
+flat. There was no farming whatever on the north side, on the upper
+and beautiful prairies described. A Mr. Milton had tried, it was
+said, about ten miles east of Dunvegan, but did not make a success
+of it.
+
+Near the fort a raft was moored, on which had descended a party of
+four Americans. They were from the State of Wyoming, and had made
+their way the previous summer, by way of St. John and the Pine
+River, to the Nelson, a tributary of the Liard. They had had poor
+luck, in fact no luck at all; and this was the story of every
+returning party we met which had been prospecting on the various
+tributaries of the Peace and Liard towards the mountains. The cost
+of supplies, the varying and uncertain yield, but, above all, the
+brief season in which it is possible to work, barely six weeks--had
+dissipated by sad experience the bright dreams of wealth which had
+lured them from comfortable homes. Between seven and eight hundred
+people had gone up to those regions via Edmonton, bound for the
+Yukon, many of whom, after a tale of suffering which might have
+filled its boomsters' souls with remorse, had found solitary graves,
+and the remainder were slowly toiling out of the country, having
+sunk what means they possessed in the vain pursuit of gold. They
+brought a rumour with them that some whites who had robbed the
+Indians on the Upper Liard had been murdered. It was not known what
+white men had penetrated to that desolate region, and the rumour was
+discredited; at all events, it was never verified.
+
+The treaty had been effected at Dunvegan, on the 6th, with a few
+Beaver Indians, who still lingered by their tepees, pitched to the
+west on the opposite shore. The half-breeds had camped near the
+fort pending our arrival, and we found them a very intelligent
+people, indeed, with some interesting relics of the old regime
+still amongst them. One, in particular, had canoed from Lachine
+with Simpson sixty years before. He was still lively and active,
+and a patriarch of the half-breed community. Large families we
+found to be the rule here, some parents boasting of twelve or
+thirteen children _under_ age. This, and their healthy looks, spoke
+well for the climate, and their condition otherwise was promising,
+being comfortably clad, all speaking more or less English or French,
+whilst many could read and write.
+
+Our work being completed here, we set out for the Crossing by
+waggon, our route lying over the same majestic prairies, and reached
+the Landing the second night, passing the Roman Catholic and Church
+of England Missions on the way. The former Mission is an extensive
+establishment, with a fine farm and garden. Indeed, with the
+exception of primitive outlying stations, all the principal Roman
+Catholic Missions, by their extent and completeness, put our own
+more meagrely endowed establishments into rather painful contrast.
+
+A great concourse of natives was at the Landing awaiting our
+arrival. The place was covered with tepees and tents, and no
+less than four trading marquees had been pitched pending the
+scrip issue, which it took some time to complete.
+
+Near the Landing were the mill and farm of a namesake of Sir
+Alexander Mackenzie. His father, indeed, was a cousin of the
+renowned explorer who gave his name to the great river of the
+North. This father, under whom, Mr. Mackenzie said, Lord
+Strathcona had spent his first year as a clerk in the Hudson's
+Bay Company's service, was drowned, with nine Iroquois, whilst
+running the Lachine Rapids in a bark canoe. His son came to
+Peace River in 1863, and his career, as he told it to me, will
+bear repeating. He was born at Three Rivers, in Lower Canada,
+in 1843, and was sent to Scotland to be educated, remaining there
+until he was eighteen years of age. In 1861 he joined the Hudson's
+Bay Company's service, wintering first at Norway House under
+Chief factor William Sinclair, but removed to Peace River, became
+a chief-trader there in 1872, and, after some years of service,
+retired, and has lived at the Crossing ever since.
+
+The Landing, he told me, used to be known as "The Forks," it being
+here that the Smoky River joins the Peace; and here were concentrated,
+in bygone days, the posts and rivalries of the great fur companies.
+The remains of the North-West Company's fort are still visible on
+the north bank, a few miles above the Landing. On the south shore,
+in the angle of the two rivers, stood the Hudson's Bay Company's
+fort, whilst the old X. Y. Company's post, at that time the best
+equipped on the river, stood on the north bank opposite the Smoky.
+
+In a delightful afternoon spent in rambling over this interesting
+neighbourhood, Mr. Mackenzie made out for me the site of the
+latter establishment, now in the midst of a dense thicket of
+nettles, shrubs, and saplings. In this locality the antagonisms
+of old had full play--not only those of the traders, but of the
+Indians--and the river exhibited much more life and movement then
+than at the time of our visit.
+
+In remote days a constant warfare had been kept up by the Crees
+on the river, who, just as they invaded the Blackfeet on the
+Saskatchewan, encroached here upon the Beavers--at that time a
+brave, numerous and warlike tribe, but now decayed almost to
+extinction, the victims, it is said, of incestuous intercourse. The
+Beavers had also an enemy in their congeners, the Chipewyans, the
+three nations seemingly dividing the great river between them. But
+neither succeeded in giving a permanent name to it. The Unjigah, its
+majestic and proper name, or the Tsa-hoo-dene-desay--"The Beaver
+Indian River"--or the Amiskoo eeinnu Sepe of the Crees, which has
+the same meaning, has not taken root in our maps. The traditional
+peace made between its warring tribes gave it its name, the Riviere
+la Paix of the French, which we have adopted, and by this name the
+river will doubtless be known when the Indians, whose home it has
+been for ages, have disappeared.
+
+On the 24th our work here was completed, and we took to our boats,
+which were to float us down to Vermilion and Athabasca Lake.
+During our stay, however, I had noted all the information that
+could be gained respecting the Upper Peace as an agricultural
+region, some of which I have already given. The knowledge obtainable
+about the fertile areas of the hinterlands of a vast unsurveyed
+country like this, though not very ample, was no doubt trustworthy
+as far as it went.
+
+Trappers and traders are confined to the water, as a rule, and see
+little land away from the shores of streams and lakes. The only
+people who, through their employments, knew the interior well were
+the Indians and half-breed hunters. It was the statements of these,
+therefore, and of the few prosperous farmers and stockmen scattered
+here and there, which afforded us our only reliable knowledge.
+
+The most extensive prairies adjacent to the Upper Peace River
+are those to the north already described. The nearest on the
+south side are the prairies of Spirit River, a small stream which
+divides several townships of first-class black, loamy soil, well
+wooded in parts, but with considerable prairie. The nearest farmer
+and rancher to Dunvegan, Mr. C. Brymner, who had lived for ten
+years on Spirit River, told me that during seven of these, though
+frost had touched his grain, particularly in June, it had done
+little serious harm. It was a fine hay country, he said, even the
+ridge hay being good, and therefore a good region for cattle, he
+himself having at the time over a hundred head, which fed out late
+in the fall and very early in the spring, owing to the Chinook
+winds, which enter the region and temper its climate. Southeast
+of Fort St. John there is a considerable area known as Pooscapee's
+Prairie, getting its name from an old Indian chief, and which was
+well spoken of, but which we did not see.
+
+A much more extensive open country, however, is the Grand Prairie,
+to the south-west of the Crossing, which connects with the Spirit
+River country, and is drained by the Smoky River and its branches,
+and by its tributary, the Wapiti. There is no dispute as to whether
+this should or should not be called a prairie country. As a matter
+of fact, it is an extensive district suitable for immediate
+cultivation, and containing, as well, valuable timber for lumber,
+fencing and building.
+
+The first inquiry the intending immigrant makes is about frost.
+At the Dunvegan and St. Augustine Mission farms, on the river bank
+above the Landing, Father Busson told me that White Russian and
+Red Fyfe wheat had been raised since 1881, and during all these
+years it had never been seriously injured, whilst the yield has
+reached as high as thirty-five bushels to the acre. Seeding
+began about the middle of April, and harvesting about the middle
+of August. He was of opinion that along the rim of the upper
+prairie level wheat would ripen, but farther back he thought
+it unsafe, and so no doubt it is for the present. Mr. Brick's
+fine farm, opposite the Six Islands, and other farms also, were
+a success, but, of course, all these were along the river. With
+regard to the upper level, I heard opinions adverse to Father
+Busson's, though, like his, conjectural. The inconsiderable
+height above the sea (Lefroy, I think, puts the upper level at
+about 1,600 feet), the prolonged sunlight, the whole night being
+penetrated with it though the sun has set, together with good
+methods of farming, will no doubt get rid of frost, which strikes
+here just as it has in every new settlement in Manitoba, and in
+fact throughout a great portion of the continent.
+
+There were complaints, however, of a worse enemy than frost, namely,
+drought, which we were told was a characteristic feature of those
+magnificent prairies to the north. The wiry grass is very short
+there, something like the Milk River grass in Southern Alberta,
+and hay is scarce. This drawback will doubtless be got over hereafter
+by dry farming, or better still by irrigation, should the lakes to
+the north prove to be available.
+
+I have pointed out disadvantages which in all likelihood will
+disappear with time and settlement by good farmers. It is a region,
+I believe, predestined to agriculture; but, in some localities, the
+rainfall, as has been said, is rather scant for good husbandry, and,
+therefore, farming to the north of the river, on the upper level,
+is not as yet an assured success. To the south better conditions
+prevail, and thither no doubt the stream of immigration will first
+trend.
+
+Altogether we estimated the prairie areas of the upper river at
+about half a million acres, with much country, in addition, which
+resembles the Dauphin District in Manitoba, covered with willows
+and the like, which, if they can be pulled out by horse-power,
+as is done there, will not be very expensive to clear. There
+is, of course, any quantity of timber for building and fencing,
+though much has been destroyed by fire, the varieties being
+those common to the whole country. To the south, in the Yellowhead,
+and on the Upper Athabasca and its tributaries, there is considerable
+prairie also, more easily reached than Peace River; but this is
+apart from my subject. I may say, in conclusion, that the Upper
+Peace River country is a very fine one, drained by a vast and
+navigable river, compared with which the Saskatchewan must yield
+the palm, and, beyond doubt, this will be the first region to
+attract settlement and railway development.
+
+Aside from settlers and a railway, the chief needs of the country
+are a good waggon-road to Edmonton and mail facilities, which
+were almost non-existent when we were there, but which have
+recently been to some extent supplied. Nearly three months had
+elapsed since we entered the country, and not a letter or paper
+had reached us from the outer world at any point. The imports
+into the country were increasing very fast, and, through
+competition and fashion, its principal furs were immensely
+more valuable than in the past.
+
+As for the natives of the region, we found them a very worthy
+people, whose progress in the forms of civilized life, and to a
+certain extent in its elegances, was a constant surprise to us.
+As for the country, it was plain that all we met were making a good
+living in it, not by fur alone, but by successful farming, and that
+its settlement was but a question of time.
+
+
+
+Chapter VII
+
+Down The Peace River.
+
+
+We had now to descend the river, and our first night in the boats
+was a bad one. A small but exceedingly diligent variety of mosquito
+attacked us unprepared; but no ordinary net could have kept them
+out, anyway. It was a case of heroic endurance, for Beelzebub
+reigned. The immediate bank of the river was now somewhat low
+in places, and along it ran a continuous wall, or layer, of
+sandstone of a uniform height. The stream was vast, with many
+islands in its course, and whole forests of burnt timber were
+passed before we reached Battle River, 170 miles down, and which,
+on the 25th, we left behind us towards evening. Next morning we
+reached Wolverine Point, a dismal hamlet of six or seven cabins,
+with a graveyard in their midst. The majority of the half-breeds
+of the locality had collected here, the others being out hunting.
+This is a good farming country. Eighteen miles north-west of
+Paddle River there is a prairie, we were told, of rich black
+soil, twenty-five miles long and from one to five miles wide,
+and another south-west of Wolverine, about nine miles in
+diameter and thirty-six in circumference--clean prairie and
+good soil, and covered with luxuriant grass and pea-vine. The
+latter, I think, is watered by a stream called "The Keg," or
+"Keg of Rum." Wolverine is also a region of heavy spruce timber,
+and fish are abundant in the various streams which join the Peace
+River, though not in the Peace itself.
+
+We were now approaching Vermilion, the banks of the river constantly
+decreasing in height as we descended, until they became quite low.
+Beneath a waning moon in the south, and an exquisite array of gold
+and scarlet clouds in the east, which dyed the whole river a
+delicate red, we floated down to the hamlet of Vermilion. The
+place proved to be a rather extensive settlement, with yellow
+wheat-fields and much cattle, for it is a fine hay country. The
+pioneer Canadians at Vermilion were the Lawrence family, which has
+been settled there for over twenty years. They were original
+residents of Shefford County, Eastern Townships, and set out from
+Montreal for Peace River in April, 1879, making the journey to
+Vermilion, by way of Fort Carlton, Isle a la Crosse and Fort McMurray,
+in four months and some ten days. The elder Mr. Lawrence had been
+engaged under Bishop Bompas to conduct a mission school at Chipewyan,
+but after a time removed to Vermilion, where he organized another
+school, which he conducted until 1891. He then resigned, and began
+farming on his own account, and, by and by, with great pains and
+expense, brought in a flour mill, whose operation stimulated
+settlement, and speedily reduced the price of flour from $25 to $8
+a sack. Unfortunately, this useful mill was burnt in April preceding
+our visit. The yield of grain, moreover, most of it wheat, was
+estimated at 10,000 bushels, and the turning of the mill was
+therefore not only a great loss to Mr. Lawrence, but a severe blow
+to the place. The population interested in farming was estimated
+at about three hundred souls, thus forming the nucleus of a very
+promising settlement, now, of course, at its wits' end for gristing.
+Vermilion seemed to be a very favourable supply point in starting
+other settlements, being in touch by water with Loon River, Hay
+River, and other points east and north, where there is abundance
+of excellent land. For the present, and pending railway development,
+it was plain that the great and pressing requirement of the region
+was a good waggon road by way of Wahpooskow to Athabasca Landing,
+a distance of three hundred miles, thus avoiding the dangerous
+rapids of the Athabasca, or the long detour by way of Lesser Slave
+Lake, and making communication easy in winter time.
+
+From Mr. Erastus Lawrence, the head of the family, we got definite
+information regarding the region and its prospects for agriculture.
+We spent Sunday at his comfortable home, and examined his farm
+carefully. In front of the house was a field of wheat, 110 acres
+in extent, as fine a field as we had ever seen anywhere, and of
+this they had not had a failure, he said, during all their farming
+experience, the return never falling below fourteen bushels to the
+acre, in the worst of years, twenty-five being about the average
+yield. They sowed late in April, but reaped generally about the 15th
+of August. They had never, he said, been seriously injured by frost
+since 1884, and in fact no frost had occurred to injure wheat since
+1887. There was abundance of hay, and 10,000 head of stock, he
+believed, could be raised at that very point. Many hogs were raised,
+with great profit, bacon and pork being, of course, high-priced. One
+of the sons, Mr. E. H. Lawrence, said he had raised sixteen pigs,
+which at eighteen months dressed 370 pounds apiece. At that time
+there were about 500 head of cattle, 250 horses, and 200 pigs in the
+settlement.
+
+After service at the Reverend Mr. Scott's neat little church,
+we returned to Mr. Lawrence's, and enjoyed an excellent dinner,
+including home-cured ham, fresh eggs, butter and cream. That was
+a notable Sunday for us in the wilds, and seldom to be repeated.
+
+Strange to say, we found the true locust here, our old Red River
+pest, which had quartered itself on the settlement more than once.
+I examined numbers of them, and found the scarlet egg of the
+ichneumon fly under many of the shards. No one seemed to know
+exactly how they came, whether in flight or otherwise; but there
+they were, devouring some barley, but living mainly upon grass,
+which they seemed to prefer to grain. They had appeared nine years
+before our coming, and disappeared, and then, three years before,
+had come again.
+
+We found quarters in a large building at the fort, which was in
+charge of Mr. Wilson, whose wife was a daughter of my old friend,
+Chief-factor Clarke, of Prince Albert, her brother having charge
+of the trading store. The post is a substantial one, and the
+store large, well stocked, and evidently the headquarters of an
+extensive trade. At such posts, which have generally a fringe
+of settlement, the Company's officers and their families, though,
+of course, cut off from the outer world, lead, if somewhat
+monotonous, by no means irksome lives. Books, music, cards and
+dances serve to while away spare time, and an occasional wedding,
+lasting, as it generally does, for several days, stirs the little
+community to its core. But sport, in a region abounding with game
+of all kinds, is the great time-killer, giving the longed-for
+excitement, and contributing as well to the daily bill of fare the
+very choicest of human food. Such a life is indeed to be envied
+rather than commiserated, and we met with few, if any, who cared to
+leave it. But such posts are the "plums" of the service, and are few
+and far between. At many of the solitary outposts life has a very
+different colour. ["At an outpost," says Mr. Bleasdell Cameron,
+"where a clerk is alone with his Indian servant, the life is
+wearisome to a degree, and privation not infrequently adds to the
+hardship of it. Supplies may run short, and in any case he is
+expected to stock himself with fish, taken in nets from the lake,
+near which his post is situated, for his table and his dogs, as well
+as to augment his larder by the expert and diligent use of his gun.
+Rare instances have occurred where, through accident, supplies had
+not reached the far-out posts for which they were intended, and the
+men had literally died of starvation. Out of a York boat's crew,
+which was taking up the annual supplies for a post far up among
+the Rocky Mountains, on a branch of the Mackenzie River, two or
+three men were drowned, and the ice beginning to take, the boat was
+obliged to put back to the district headquarters. The three men
+at the outpost were left for some weeks without the supplies, and
+when, after winter had set in, and it became possible to reach them
+with dog trains, and provisions were at length sent them, two were
+found dead in the post, while the third man was living by himself in
+a small hut some distance from the fort buildings. The explanation
+he gave was that he had removed to where there was a chance of
+keeping himself alive by snaring rabbits, which were more plentiful
+than at the post. But a suggestion of cannibalism surrounded the
+affair, for only the bones of his companions were found, and they
+were in the open chimney-place. Nothing was done, however, and I
+myself saw the survivor many times in after years."]
+
+At dinner Mr. Wilson told us of a very curious circumstance the
+previous fall, at the Loon River, some eighty miles south of
+Vermilion--something, indeed, that very much resembled volcanic
+action. Indians hunting there were surprised by a great shower of
+ashes all over the country, thick enough to track moose by, whilst
+others in canoes were bewildered in dense clouds of smoke. Dr. Wade,
+a traveller who had just come in from Loon River, said he had
+discovered three orifices, or "wells," as he called them, out of
+which he thought the ashes might have been ejected. As there were
+no forest fires to account for the phenomena, they were rather
+puzzling.
+
+We had begun taking depositions almost as soon as we arrived, and
+had a very busy time, working late and early in order to get away
+by the first of August. There were some interesting people here,
+"Old Lizotte" and his wife in particular. He was another of the
+"Ancient Mariners" who had left Lachine fifty-five years before
+with Governor Simpson--a man still of unshaken nerve and muscles
+as hard as iron. One by one these old voyageurs are passing away,
+and with them and their immediate successors the tradition
+perishes.
+
+There was another character on the Vermilion stage, namely, old
+King Beaulieu. His father was a half-breed who had been brought
+up amongst the Dog Ribs and Copper Indians, and some eighty years
+back had served as an interpreter at Fort Chipewyan. It was he
+who at Fort Wedderburne sketched for Franklin with charcoal on
+the floor the route to the Coppermine River, the sketch being
+completed to and along the coast by Black Meat, an old Chipewyan
+Indian. King Beaulieu himself was Warburton Pike's right-hand man
+in his trip to the Barren Lands. He had his own story, of course,
+about the sportsman, which we utterly discredited. He had joined
+the Indian Treaty here, but repented, almost flinging his payment
+in our face, and demanding scrip instead. One of his sons asked
+me if the law against killing buffalo had not come to an end. I
+said, "No! the law is stricter than ever--very dangerous now to kill
+buffalo." Asking him what he thought the band numbered, he said,
+"About six hundred," and added, "What are we poor half-breeds to
+do if we cannot shoot them?" Pointing out the abundance of moose
+in the country, and that if they shot the buffalo they would soon
+be exterminated, he still grumbled, and repeated, "What are we
+poor half-breeds to do?" I have no doubt whatever that they do
+shoot them, since the band is reported to have diminished to about
+250 head. Immediate steps should certainly be taken to punish and
+prevent poaching, or this band, the only really wild one on the
+continent, will soon be extinct.
+
+We were now on our boats again, and heading for the Chutes, as they
+are called, the one obstruction to the navigation of Peace River
+for over six hundred miles. We debarked at the head of the rapids
+above the Grand Fall, and walked to their foot along a shelving
+and slippery portage, skirting the very edge of the torrent. The
+Crees call this Meatina Powistik--"The Real Rapid"--the cataract
+farther on being the Nepegabaketik--"Where the Water Falls."
+
+Returning to the "Decharge," I ran the rapids with Cyr and Baptiste
+in one of the boats, a glorious sensation, reminding one, though
+shorter, of the Grand Rapids of the Saskatchewan, the waves being
+great, and the danger spiced by the tremendous vortex ahead. The
+rapids are about four hundred yards in length, and extend quite
+across the river, which is here of an immense width. A heavy but
+brief rainstorm had set in, and it was some time before we could
+reload and drop down to the head of the "Chaudiere," if I may call
+it so, for the vortex much resembles the "Big Kettle" at Ottawa.
+That night we spent in the York boat, its keel on the rocks and
+painter tied to a tree, and, lulled by the roar of the cataract,
+slept soundly until morning.
+
+These falls cut somewhat diagonally across the river, the vortex
+being at the right bank, and close in-shore, concentred by a limestone
+shelf extending to the bank, flanked on the left, and at an acute
+angle, by a deeply-indented reef of rock. Looking up the river,
+the view to the west seems inclosed by a long line of trees, which,
+in the distance, appear to stand in the water. Thence the vast
+stream sweeps boldly into the south, and with a rush discharges
+down the rapids, and straight over the line of precipice, in a
+vast tumultuous greyish-drab torrent which speedily emerges into
+comparatively still water below. The rock here is an exceedingly
+hard, mottled limestone, resembling the stone at St. Andrew's
+Rapids on Red River. Where exposed it is pitted or bitten into
+by the endless action of wind and water, and lies in thick layers,
+forming an irregular dyke all along the shore, over the surface
+of which passes the portage, some forty yards in length. Though
+short, it is a nasty one, running along a shelf of rock into which
+great gaps have been gored by the torrent. Large quantities of
+driftwood were stuck in the rapids above, and a big pile of it
+had lodged at the south angle of the cataract, over which our
+boats had to be drawn, and dropped down, with great care and
+difficulty. A rounded, tall island lies, or rather stands, below
+the falls, towards the north shore, whose sheer escarpments and
+densely wooded top are very curious and striking. Two sister
+islands and another above the falls, all four being about a mile
+apart, stand in line with each other, as if they had once formed
+parts of an ancient marge, and, below the falls, the torrent
+has wrought out a sort of bay from the rock, the bank, which
+is high here, giving that night upon its grassy slope, overhung
+with dense pine woods, a picturesque camp to our boatmen.
+The vast river, the rapids and the falls form a majestic picture,
+not only of material grandeur, but of power to be utilized some
+day in the service of man. Though formidable, they will yet
+be surmounted by modern locks; and should Smith's Rapids, on
+the Great Slave River, be overcome by canalling, there would
+then be developed one of the longest lines of inland navigation
+on the continent.
+
+The Red River, which joins the Peace about twenty-five miles below
+the Chutes, flows from the south with a course, it was said, of
+about two hundred miles, and up this beautiful stream there are
+extensive prairies. The soil is very rich at the confluence, and
+we noticed that in the garden at the little Hudson's Bay Company's
+post, where we transacted our business, vegetables and potatoes
+were further advanced than at Vermilion, and some ears of wheat
+were almost ripe. From statements made we judged this to be a
+region well worth special investigation; it was, in fact, one
+of the most inviting points for settlement we had seen on our
+journey.
+
+Following down the Peace, some shoaly places were met with in the
+afternoon, the banks being low, sandy and uniform, with open woods
+to the south. The current was stately, but so slow that oars had
+often to be used. A chilly sunset was followed by an exceedingly
+brilliant display of Northern Lights, called by the Crees Pahkugh
+ka Neematchik--"The Dance of the Spirits." This generally presages
+change; but the day was fine, and next morning we passed what
+are called the Lower Rapids, below which the banks are lined by
+precipitous walls of limestone, the river narrowing to less than
+half of its previous width.
+
+Landing at Peace Point, the traditional scene of the peace between
+the Beavers and the Chipewyans, or between the Beavers and the
+Crees, as Mackenzie says, or all three, we found it to be a wide
+and beautiful table-like prairie, begirt with aspens, on which we
+flushed a pack of prairie chickens. Below it, and looking upward
+beyond an island, a line of timber, fringed along the water's
+edge with willows, sweeps across the view, met half-way by a wall
+of Devonian rock, whose alternate glitter and shade, in the strong
+sunshine streaming from the east, seemed almost spectral.
+
+The heavily timbered island added to the effect, and, with a patch
+of limestone on its cheek, formed a strikingly beautiful foreground.
+
+The only exciting incident of the day was the vigorous chase, by some
+of the party, of an old pair of moulting gray geese with their young,
+all, of course, unable to fly. It was pitiful to watch the clever
+and fearless actions of the old birds as decoys, falling victims,
+at last, to parental love. Indeed, they were not worth eating, and
+to kill them was a sin. But when were there ever scruples over
+food on Peace River, that theatre of mighty feats of gormandism?
+
+I have already hinted at those masterpieces of voracity for which
+the region is renowned; yet the undoubted facts related around our
+camp-fires, and otherwise, a few of which follow, almost beggar
+belief. Mr. Young, of our party, an old Hudson's Bay officer, knew
+of sixteen trackers who, in a few days, consumed eight bears, two
+moose, two bags of pemmican, two sacks of flour, and three sacks of
+potatoes. Bishop Grouard vouched for four men eating a reindeer at
+a sitting. Our friend, Mr. d'Eschambault, once gave Oskinnequ--"The
+Young Man"--six pounds of pemmican, who ate it all at a meal, washing
+it down with a gallon of tea, and then complained that he had not had
+enough. Sir George Simpson states that at Athabasca Lake, in 1820, he
+was one of a party of twelve who ate twenty-two geese and three ducks
+at a single meal. But, as he says, they had been three whole days
+without food. The Saskatchewan folk, however, known of old as the
+Gens de Blaireaux--"The People of the Badger Holes"--were not behind
+their congeners. That man of weight and might, our old friend,
+Chief-factor Belanger--drowned, alas, many years ago with young
+Simpson at Sea Falls--once served out to thirteen men a sack of
+pemmican weighing ninety pounds. It was enough for three days; but,
+there and then, they sat down and consumed it all at a single meal,
+not, it must be added, without some subsequent and just pangs of
+indigestion. Mr. B. having occasion to pass the place of eating, and
+finding the sack of pemmican, as he supposed, in his path, gave it
+a kick; but, to his amazement, it bounded aloft several yards, and
+then lit. It was empty! When it is remembered that, in the old
+buffalo days, the daily ration per head at the Company's prairie
+posts was eight pounds of fresh meat, which was all eaten, its
+equivalent being two pounds of pemmican, the enormity of this
+Gargantuan feast may be imagined. But we ourselves were not bad
+hands at the trencher. In fact, we were always hungry. So I do not
+reproduce the foregoing facts as a reproach, but rather as a meagre
+tribute to the prowess of the great of old--the men of unbounded
+stomach!
+
+On the afternoon of the 4th we rounded Point Providence, the soil
+exposures sandy, the timber dense but slender, and early next
+morning reached the Quatre Fourches, which was at that time flowing
+into Lake Athabasca. It is simply a waterway of some thirty miles
+in length, which connects Peace River with the lake, and resembles,
+in size and colour, Red River in Manitoba. It is one of "the
+rivers that turn"--so called from their reversing their current
+at different stages of water. A small stream of this kind connects
+the South Saskatchewan with the Qu'Appelle, and another, a navigable
+river, the Lower Saskatchewan with Cumberland Lake. The Quatre
+Fourches is thus both an inlet and an outlet, but not of the lake
+in a right sense. The real outlet is the Rocher River, which joins
+the Peace River at the intersection of latitude 59 with the 111.30th
+degree of longitude, beyond which the united streams are called
+the Great Slave River.
+
+The Quatre Fourches--"The Four Forks"--gets its name from the
+junction of a channel which connects a small lake called the Mamawee
+with the south-west angle of Lake Athabasca, Fort Chipewyan being
+situated on an opposite shore upon an arm of the lake, here about
+six miles wide. The stream is sluggish, and is thickly wooded to the
+water's edge, with here and there an exposure of red granite. It is
+a very beautiful stream, and it was a pleasure to get out of the
+great river and its oppressive vastness into the familiar-looking,
+homely water, its eastern rocks and exquisite curves and bends.
+Rounding a point, we came upon a camp of Chipewyans drying fish and
+making birch-bark canoes, all of them fat, dirty, like ourselves,
+and happy; and, passing on, at dusk we reached the outlet and the
+lake.
+
+It was blowing hard, but we decided to cross to the fort, where
+a light had been run up for our guidance, and which, by vigorous
+rowing, we reached by midnight. Here Mr. Laird was waiting to
+receive us, the other Commissioners having departed for Fort
+McMurray and Wahpooskow.
+
+Next morning we saw the lake to better advantage. It is called by
+the Chipewyans Kaytaylaytooway, namely, "The Lake of the Marsh,"
+corresponding to the Athapuskow of the Crees, corrupted into the
+Rabasca of the French voyageurs, and meaning "The Lake of the Reeds."
+At one time, it may be mentioned, it was also known as "The Lake
+of the Hills," and its great tributary, the Athabasca, was the Elk
+River; but these names have not survived.
+
+
+
+Chapter VIII
+
+Fort Chipewyan To Fort McMurray.
+
+
+Chipewyan, it may be remarked, is not a Dene word. It is the name
+which was given by the Crees to that branch of the race when they
+first came in contact with them, owing to their wearing a peculiar
+coat, or tunic, which was pointed both before and behind; now
+disused by them, but still worn by the Esquimaux, and, until
+recent years, by the Yukon Indians. Though somewhat similar
+in sound, it has no connection, it is asserted, with the word
+Chippeway, or Ojibway. For all that, the words are perhaps
+closely akin. The writer for the accurate use in this narrative
+of words in the Cree tongue is under obligation to experts.
+When preparing his notes to his drama of "Tecumseh" he was
+indebted to his friend, Mr. Thomas McKay, of Prince Albert,
+Sask., a master of the Cree language, for the exact origin
+and derivation of the words Chippeway and Ojibway. Both are
+corruptions of O-cheepo-way, _cheepo_ meaning "tapering," and
+_way_ "sound," or "voice." The name was begot of the Ojibway's
+peculiar manner of lowering the voice at the end of a sentence.
+As "_wyan_" means a skin, it is not improbable that the word
+Chipewyan means tapering or "pointed" skin, referring, of course,
+to the peculiar garb of the Athapuskow Indians when the Crees
+first met with them.
+
+The sites of old posts are to be found all over this region; but
+Chipewyan in the beginning of the last century was the great supply
+and trading-post of the North-West Company. From Sir John Franklin's
+Journal (1820) it would appear that the Hudson's Bay Company had
+begun, and, for some reason not given, had ceased trading on Lake
+Athabasca, as he says "Fort Wedderburne was a small post built
+on Coal Island--now called Potato Island-about A.D. 1815, when
+the Hudson's Bay Company recommenced trading in this part of the
+country." He often visited this island post, then in charge of
+a Mr. Robertson, and, in June, engaged there for his memorable
+journey his bowmen, steersmen and middlemen, and an interpreter,
+his other men being furnished by the rival company. Fort Chipewyan
+was in charge at that time of Messrs. Keith and Black, of the
+North-West Company, a noticeable feature of the post being a
+tower built, Franklin says, about the year 1812, "to watch
+Indians who had evil designs."
+
+The site was well chosen, being sheltered from storms from the lake
+side by a great bulwark of wooded and rocky islands. The largest
+is Potato Island, just opposite, its outliers being the Calf and
+English Islands--the Lapeta, Echeranaway and Theyaodene of the
+Chipewyans; the Petac, Moostoos and Akayasoo of the Crees.
+
+Fort Chipewyan stands upon a rising ground fronting a sort of bay
+formed by these islands, and at the time of our visit consisted of
+a trading-store, several large warehouses and the master's residence,
+etc., all of solid timber, erected in the days of Chief-factor
+MacFarlane, who ruled here for many years.
+
+[Mr. MacFarlane's career in the service of the Hudson's Bay Company
+is typical of the varied life and movements of its old-time
+adventurous traders. He entered the service in 1852, his first
+winter being spent as a clerk at Pembina (now Emerson), and also
+as trader in charge at the Long Creek outpost. From here he was
+transferred to Fort Rae, and afterwards to Fort Good Hope, Mackenzie
+River, where he remained six years. His next post was Fort Anderson,
+on the Begh-ula, or Anderson River, in the Barren Grounds, which he
+held for five years, much of his scientific work being done during
+excursions from this point. Afterwards he became trader and
+accountant at Fort Simpson, and was for two years in charge of
+the Mackenzie River district. This was succeeded by a six months'
+residence at Fort Chipewyan, where, subsequently, for fifteen years
+he had charge of the district. For two years he had control of
+the Caledonia district, in British Columbia, but removed to Fort
+Cumberland, Sask., where he remained for five years. Other removals
+followed until he finally retired from the service, and, returning
+to Winnipeg, has lived there ever since.]
+
+But old as the fort is, it has no relics--not even a venerable
+cabin. In the store were a couple of not very ancient flint-locks,
+and, upstairs, rummaging through some dusty shelves, I came across
+one volume of the Edinburgh, or second, edition of Burns in gray
+paper boards--a terrible temptation, which was nobly resisted.
+Though there was once a valuable library here, with many books now
+rare and costly, yet all had disappeared.
+
+East of the fort are shelving masses of red granite, completely
+covered by a dark orange lichen, which gives them an added warmth
+and richness; and on the highest part stood a square lead sun-dial,
+which, at first sight, I thought had surely been set up by Franklin
+or Richardson, but which I was told was very modern indeed, and
+put up, if I am not mistaken, by Mr. Ogilvie, D.L.S. To the west
+of the fort is the Church of England Mission, and, farther up,
+the Roman Catholic establishment, the headquarters of our esteemed
+fellow-voyager, Bishop Grouard. [The first Roman Catholic Mission in
+Athabasca was formed by Bishop Farrand the year after Bishop Tache's
+visit to Fort Chipewyan, about A.D. 1849, he being then a missionary
+priest. Bishop Farrand established other missions on Peace River,
+and went as far north as Fort Resolution, on Great Slave Lake.
+He died in 1890, and was succeeded by our guest, Bishop Grouard,
+O.M.I., _Eveque d'Ibora_, the present occupant of the See of Athabasca
+and Mackenzie River. This prelate was born at Le Mans, in France,
+and was educated there, but finished his education in Quebec. He was
+ordained by Bishop Tache, near Montreal, in 1862, and was sent at
+once to Chipewyan, where he learnt the difficult language of the
+natives in a year. He has worked at many points, and perhaps no man
+in all the North, with the exception of Archdeacon Macdonald, or the
+late Anglican Bishop Bompas, has or had as accurate a knowledge of
+the great Dene race, with its numerous subdivisions of Chipewyans,
+Beavers, Yellow Knives, Dog Ribs, Slaves, Nahanies, Rabbit Skins,
+Loucheaux, or Squint Eyes (so named from the prevalence of
+strabismus amongst them), and of other tribes. All these were at one
+time not only at war with the Crees, but with each other, with the
+exception of the Slaves, who were always a tame and meek-spirited
+race, and were often subjected to and treated like dogs by the
+others. Indeed they were called by the Crees, Awughkanuk, meaning
+"cattle."] In line with the fort buildings, and facing the lake,
+stood a row of whitewashed cottages, all giving the place, with its
+environs, deeply indented shore and rugged spits of red granite, the
+quaint appearance of some secluded fishing village on the Gulf of
+St. Lawrence.
+
+In sight, but above the bay, was the trading-post of Colin Fraser,
+whose father, the McCrimmon of the North-West, was Sir George
+Simpson's piper. The late Chief-factor Camsell, of Fort Simpson,
+and myself paddled up to it, and were most hospitably entertained
+by Mr. Fraser and his agreeable family. His father's bagpipes,
+still in excellent order, were speedily brought out, and it was
+interesting to handle them, for they had heralded the approach of
+the autocratic little Governor to many an inland post from Hudson's
+Bay to Fraser River, over seventy years before.
+
+Several days were spent at the fort taking declarations, but,
+unlike Vermilion or Dunvegan, there were few large families here,
+the applicants being mainly young people. The agricultural resources
+of this region of rocks are certainly meagre compared with those of
+Peace River. Potatoes, where there is any available soil, grow to
+a good size; barley was nearly ripe when we were there, and wheat
+ripens, too. But, of course, it is not a farming region, nor are
+fish plentiful at the west end of the lake, the Athabasca River,
+which enters there, giving for over twenty miles eastward a muddy
+hue to the water. The rest of the lake is crystal clear, and
+whitefish are plentiful, also lake trout, which are caught up to
+thirty, and even forty, pounds' weight.
+
+The distance from Fort Chipewyan to Fond du Lac is about 185 miles,
+but the lake extends over 75 miles farther eastward in a narrow arm,
+giving a total length of about 300 miles, the greatest width being
+about 50 miles. The whole eastern portion of the lake is a desolate
+scene of primitive rock and scrub pine, with many quartz exposures,
+which are probably mineralized, but with no land, not even for
+a garden. The scenery, however, from Black Bay to Fond du Lac
+is very beautiful, consisting largely of islands as diversified
+and as numerous as the Thousand Islands in the St. Lawrence.
+These extremely solitary spots should be, one would think, the
+breeding-grounds of the pelican, though it is said this bird really
+breeds on islands in the Great Slave River. If disturbed by man it
+is reputed to destroy its young and desert the place at once.
+
+The Barren Ground reindeer migrate to the east end of this lake
+in October, and return in March or April, but this is not certain.
+Sometimes they unaccountably forsake their old migratory routes,
+causing great suffering, in consequence, to the Indians. Moose
+frequent the region, too, but are not numerous, whilst land game,
+such as prairie chickens, ptarmigan, and a grouse resembling
+the "fool-hen," is rather plentiful.
+
+The Indians of Fond du Lac are healthy, though somewhat uncleanly
+in their habits, and fond of dress, which is that of the white
+man, their women being particularly well dressed.
+
+As an agricultural country the region has no value whatever; but
+its mineral resources, when developed, may prove to be rich and
+profitable. Mining projects were already afoot in the country,
+but far to the north on Great Slave Lake.
+
+What was known as the "Helpman Party" was formed in England by
+Captain Alene, who died of pneumonia in December, 1898, three
+days after his arrival at Edmonton. The party consisted of a
+number of retired army officers, including Viscount Avonmore,
+with a considerable capital, $50,000 of which was expended.
+They brought some of their outfit from England, but completed
+it at Edmonton, and thence went overland late in the spring. But
+sleighing being about over, they got to Lesser Slave Lake with
+great difficulty, and there the party broke up, Mr. Helpman and
+others returning to England, whilst Messrs. Jeffries and Hall
+Wright, Captain Hall, and Mr. Simpson went on to Peace River
+Crossing. From there they descended to Smith's Portage, on
+the Great Slave River, and wintered at Fort Resolution, on
+Great Slave Lake.
+
+In the following spring they were joined by Mr. McKinlay, the
+Hudson's Bay Company's agent at the Portage, and he, accompanied
+by Messrs. Holroyd and Holt, who had joined the party at Smith's
+Landing, and by Mr. Simpson, went off on a prospecting tour through
+the north-east portion of Great Slave Lake, staking, _en route_, a
+number of claims, some of which were valuable, others worthless. The
+untruthful statements, however, of one of the party, who represented
+even the worst of the claims as of fabulous value, brought the
+whole enterprise into disrepute. The members of the party mentioned
+returned to England ostensibly to raise capital to develop their
+claims, but nothing came of it, not because minerals of great
+value do not exist there, but on account of remoteness and the
+difficulties of transport.
+
+In 1898 another party was formed in Chicago, called "The Yukon
+Valley Prospecting and Mining Company," its chief promoters being
+a Mr. Willis and a Mr. Wollums of that city. The capital stock was
+put at a quarter of a million dollars, twenty-five thousand dollars
+being paid up. These organizers interested thirty-three other men in
+the enterprise, the agreement being that these should go to Dawson
+at the expense of the stockholders, and locate mining claims there,
+a half-interest in all of which was to be transferred to the
+company. These men proceeded to Calgary, and outfitted for Dawson,
+which they wished to reach by ascending the Peace River. At Calgary
+they were fortunate in procuring as leader a gentleman of large
+experience in the North, W. J. McLean, Esq., a retired Chief-factor
+of the Hudson's Bay Company, who pointed out the difficulties of
+such a route, and recommended, instead, a possible one via Great
+Slave Lake and the Mackenzie River to Fort Simpson, and thence up
+the Liard River to the height of land at or near Francis Lake, and
+so down the Pelly River and on to Dawson.
+
+In February the party, led by him, left Edmonton with 160 ponies,
+sleds and sleighs, loaded with supplies, and proceeded, by an
+extremely difficult forest trail, to Lesser Slave Lake. They had
+no feed for the horses, save what they drew, and, of course, they
+reached the lake completely exhausted. Here, by Mr. McLean's advice,
+they sold the horses, and with the proceeds hired local freighters
+to carry them and their supplies to Peace River Crossing, where
+boats were built in which the party, with the exception of one
+of the organizers, Mr. Willis, who had returned in high dudgeon
+to Chicago, set out for Great Slave Lake. Before getting to Fort
+Resolution, Mr. McLean got private information from a former
+servant of his at that post, which led to an expedition to the
+north-east end of the lake, where he made valuable finds of copper
+and other minerals. Another trip was made, and additional claims
+were taken, and on Mr. McLean's return with a lot of samples
+of ore, he with another prospector, came out, and proceeded to
+Chicago. His samples were tested there and in Winnipeg, and yielded
+in copper from 11 to 32 per cent.; and the galena 60 ozs. of
+silver to the ton. Other minerals, such as sulphur, coal, asphalt,
+petroleum, iron and salt were discovered, all of great promise,
+and his opinion is that when transport is extended to that region,
+it will prove to be a great storehouse of mineral wealth.
+
+The other members of the party had at various times and places
+separated, some going here and some there; but all eventually
+left the country, and the company died a natural death. But Mr.
+McLean is not only a firm believer in the mineral wealth of the
+North, but in its resources otherwise. There are extensive areas
+of large timber, and the lakes swarm with fish. The soil on the
+Liard River is excellent, and he tells me that not only wheat but
+Indian corn will ripen there, as he himself grew both successfully
+when in charge of that district.
+
+The mining enterprises referred to fell through, but I have described
+them at some length since they are very interesting as being the
+first attempts at prospecting with a view to development in those
+remote regions. Failure, of course, at such a distance from transport
+and supplies, was inevitable. But some of the prospectors, Captain
+Hall and others who came out with ourselves, seemed to have no doubt
+that much of the country they explored is rich in minerals. Indeed,
+should the ancient repute of the Coppermine River be justified by
+exploration, perhaps the most extensive lodes on the continent
+will yet be discovered there.
+
+If the Hudson's Bay route were developed, a short line of rail from
+the western end of Chesterfield Inlet would tap the mining regions
+prospected, and develop many great resources at present dormant. The
+very moss of the Barren Lands may yet prove to be of value, and be
+shipped to England as a fertilizer. I have been told by a gentleman
+who has travelled in Alaska that an enterprising American there is
+preparing to collect and ship moss to Oregon, where it will be
+fermented and used as a fertilizer in the dairy industry.
+
+To return to Lake Athabasca. It seemed at one time to have been the
+rallying-place of the great Tine or Dene race, to which, with the
+exception of the Crees, the Loucheaux, perhaps, and the Esquimaux,
+all the Indians of the entire country belong. It is said to have
+been a traditional and central point, such as Onondaga Lake was to
+the Iroquois.
+
+It is noticeable that, in the nomenclature of the various Indians of
+the continent, the names by which they were known amongst themselves
+generally meant men, "original men," or people; e.g., the Lenni
+Lenape of the Delawares, with its equivalent, the Anishinape of the
+Saulteaux, and the Naheowuk of the Crees. It is also the meaning of
+the word Dene, the generic name of a race as widely sundered, if not
+as widely spread, as the Algonquin itself.
+
+The Chipewyan of Lake Athabasca speaks the same tongue as the Apache
+of Arizona, the Navajo of Sonora, the Hoopa of Oregon, and the
+Sarcee of Alberta. The word Apache has the same root-meaning as
+the word Dene though that fierce race was also called locally the
+Shisindins, namely, "The Forest People," doubtless from its original
+habitat in this region.
+
+Owing to the agglutinative character of the aboriginal languages,
+numbering over four hundred, some philologists are inclined to
+attribute them all to a common origin, the Basque tongue being
+one of the two or three in Europe which have a like peculiarity.
+In the languages of the American Indians one syllable is piled
+upon another, each with a distinct root-significance, so that
+a single word will often contain the meaning of an ordinary
+English sentence. This polysynthetic character undoubtedly
+does point to a common origin, just as the Indo-European tongues
+trace back to Sanskrit. But whether this is indicative of the
+ancient unity of the American races, whose languages differed
+in so many other respects, and whose characteristics were so
+divergent, is another question.
+
+One interesting impression, begot of our environment, was that we
+were now emphatically in what might be called "Mackenzie's country."
+In his "General History of the Fur-Trade," published in London in
+1801, Sir Alexander tells us that, after spending five years in Mr.
+Gregory's office in Montreal, he went to Detroit to trade, and
+afterwards, in 1785, to the Grand Portage (Fort William).
+
+The first traders, he tells us, had penetrated to the Athabasca,
+via Methy Portage, as early as 1791, and in 1783-4 the merchants
+of Lower Canada united under the name of The North-West Company,
+the two Frobishers--Joseph Frobisher had traded on the Churchill
+River as early as 1775 and Simon McTavish being managers. The
+Company, he says, "was consolidated in July, 1787," and became
+very powerful in more ways than one, employing, at the time he
+wrote, over 1,400 men, including 1,120 canoemen. "It took four
+years from the time the good, were ordered until the furs were
+sold;" but, of course, the profits, compared with the capital
+invested, were very great, until the strife deepened between
+the Montrealers. and the Hudson's Bay Company, whose first
+inland post was only established at Sturgeon River, Cumberland
+Lake, in 1774, by the adventurous, if not over-valiant, Samuel
+Hearne. The rivalries of these two companies nearly ruined
+both, until they got rid of them by uniting in 1821, when the
+Nor'-Westers became as vigorous defenders of King Charles's
+Charter as they had before been its defiers and defamers.
+
+Fort Chipewyan was established, Mackenzie says, by Mr. Pond, in
+1788, the year after his own arrival at the Athabasca, where, by
+the way, in the fall of 1787, he describes Mr. Pond's garden at
+his post on that river as being "as fine a kitchen garden as
+he ever saw in Canada." Fort Chipewyan, however, though not
+established by Mackenzie, was his headquarters for eight years.
+From here he set out in June, 1789, on his canoe voyage to the
+Arctic Ocean, and from here in October, 1792, he started on his
+voyage up the Peace River on his way to the Pacific coast, which
+he reached the following year.
+
+In his history he states: "When the white traders first ventured
+into this country both tribes were numerous, but smallpox destroyed
+them." And, speaking of the region at large, he, perhaps, throws
+an incidental side-light upon the Blackfoot question. "Who the
+original people were," he says, "that were driven from it when
+conquered by the Kinisteneaux (the Crees) is not now known, as
+not a single vestige remains of them. The latter and the Chipewyans
+are the only people that have been known here, and it is evident
+that the last mentioned consider themselves as strangers, and seldom
+remain longer than three or four years without visiting their
+friends and relatives in the Barren Grounds, which they term their
+native country."
+
+[It is a reasonable conjecture that these "original people," driven
+from Athabasca in remote days, were the Blackfeet Indians and their
+kindred, who possibly had their base at that time, as in subsequent
+days, at the forks and on both branches of the Saskatchewan. The
+tradition was authentic in Dr. (afterwards Sir John) Richardson's
+time. Writing on the Saskatchewan eighty-eight years ago he places
+the Eascabs, "called by the Crees the Assinipoytuk, or Stone
+Indians, west of the Crees, between them and the Blackfeet." The
+Assiniboines are an offshoot of the great Sioux, or Dakota, race
+called by their congeners the Hohas, or "Rebels." They separated
+from their nation at a remote period owing to a quarrel, so the
+tradition runs, between children, and which was taken up by their
+parents. Migrating northward the Eascabs, as the Assiniboines called
+themselves, were gladly received and welcomed as allies by the
+Crees, with whom, as Dr. Richardson says, "they attacked and
+drove to the westward the former inhabitants of the banks of the
+Saskatchewan." "The nations," he continues, "driven westward by
+the Easeabs and Crees are termed by the latter Yatchee-thinyoowuc,
+translated Slave Indians, but properly 'Strangers.'" This word
+Yatchee is, of course, the Iyaghchi of the Crees in their name for
+Lesser Slave River and Lake. Richardson describes them as inhabiting
+the country round Fort Augustus and the foot of the Rockies, and "so
+numerous now as to be a terror to the Assiniboines themselves." They
+are divided, he says, into five nations, of whom the Fall Indians,
+so called from their former residence at Cole's Falls, near the
+Forks of the Saskatchewan, were the most numerous, consisting of 500
+tents, the Piegans of 400, the Blackfeet of 350, the Bloods of 300,
+and the Sarcees of 150, the latter tribe being a branch of the
+Chipewyans which, having migrated like their congeners, the Apaches,
+from the north, joined the Crees as allies, just as the Assiniboines
+did from the south.]
+
+Besides Mackenzie's, another name, renowned in the tragic annals of
+science, is inseparably connected with this region, viz., that of
+Franklin, who has already been incidentally referred to. Others
+recur to one, but these two great names are engrained, so to
+speak, in the North, and cannot be lightly passed over in any
+descriptive work. The two explorers were friends, or, at any rate,
+acquaintances; and, before leaving England, Franklin had a long
+conversation in London with Mackenzie, who died shortly afterwards.
+The record of his "Journey to the Shores of the Polar Ocean,"
+accompanied by Doctor Richardson and Midshipmen Back and Hood, in
+the years 1819-20-21 and '22, practically began at York Factory in
+August of the former year. The rival companies were still at war,
+and in making the portage at the Grand Rapids of the Saskatchewan,
+with a party of Hudson's Bay Company traders, "they advanced," he
+says, "armed, and with great caution." When he returned on the 14th
+July, 1822, to York, the warring companies had united, and he and
+his friends were met there by Governor Simpson, Mr. McTavish, and
+all the united partners, after a voyage by water and land of over
+5,500 miles. Franklin spent part of the winter at Cumberland post,
+which had been founded to counteract the rivalry of Montreal.
+"Before that time," he says, "the natives took their furs to
+Hudson's Bay, or sold to the French Canadian traders, who," he adds,
+"visited this part of the country as early as 1697." If so, the
+credit for the discovery of the Saskatchewan has been wrongly given
+to the Chevalier, as he was called, a son of Varenne, Sieur de la
+Varendrye.
+
+Franklin left Cumberland in January, 1820, by dog train for
+Chipewyan, via Fort Carlton and Green Lake. Fort Carlton was the
+great food supply post, then and long afterwards, of the Hudson's
+Bay Company, buffalo and wapiti being very abundant. The North-West
+Company's fort, called La Montee, was three miles beyond Carlton,
+and harbored seventy French Canadians and sixty women and children,
+who consumed seven hundred pounds of meat daily, the ration being
+eight pounds. This post was at that time in charge of Mr. Hallett,
+a forebear, if I mistake not, of my old friend, William Hallett,
+leader of the English Plain Hunt, and a distinguished loyalist in
+the rebellion of 1869.
+
+Franklin and Back left Fort Carlton on the 8th February, and
+reached Green Lake on the 17th. The North-West Company's post at
+the lake was managed by Dugald Cameron, and that of the Hudson's
+Bay Company by a Mr. MacFarlane, and, having been equipped at
+both posts with carioles, sledges and provisions, they left
+"under a fusillade from the half-breed women." From the end of
+the lake they followed for a short distance a small river, then
+"crossed the woods to Beaver River, and proceeding along it,
+passed the mouths of two rivers, the latter of which, they were
+told, was a channel by which the Indians go to Lesser Slave
+Lake." On the 11th of March they reached Methy Lake--so called
+from an unwholesome fish of the burbot species found there,
+only the liver of which is fit to eat--crossed the Methy
+portage on the 13th, and, amidst a chaos of vast ravines and
+the wildest of scenery, descended the next day to the Clearwater
+River. Thence they followed the Indian trail on the north bank,
+passing a noted scene, "a romantic defile of limestone rocks
+like Gothic ruins," and, crossing a small stream, found pure
+sulphur deposited by springs and smelling very strongly. On
+the 17th they got to the junction of the Clearwater with the
+Athabasca, where Port McMurray now stands, and next day reached
+the Pierre an Calumet post, in charge of a Mr. Stewart, who
+had twice crossed the mountains to the Pacific coast. The
+place got its name from a soft stone found there, of which
+the Indians made their pipes.
+
+Franklin notes the "sulphurous springs" and "bituminous salt" in
+this region, also the statement of Mr. Stewart, who had a good
+thermometer, "that the lowest temperature he had ever witnessed
+in many years, either at the Athabasca or Great Slave Lake, was
+45 degrees below zero," a statement worth recording here.
+
+On the 26th of March the party arrived at Fort Chipewyan, the
+distance travelled from Cumberland House being 857 miles. He
+notes that at the time of his arrival the fort was very bare
+of both buffalo and moose meat, owing, it was said, to the trade
+rivalry, and that where some eight hundred packs of fur used to
+be shipped from that point, only one-half of that number was now
+sent. Liquor was largely used by both companies in trade, and
+scenes of riot and violence ensued upon the arrival of the Indians
+at the fort in spring, and whom he describes otherwise as "reserved
+and selfish, unhospitable and beggars, but honest and affectionate
+to children." They painted round the eyes, the cheek-bones and the
+forehead, and all the race, except the Dog Ribs and the Beavers,
+believed that their forefathers came from the East. The Northern
+Indians, Franklin says, suppose that they originally sprang from
+a dog, and about A.D. 1815 they destroyed all their dogs, and
+compelled their women to take their place. Their chiefs seemed to
+have no power save over their own families, and their conjurers
+were supported by voluntary contributions of provisions. These
+are some of the chief characteristics Franklin notes of the Indians
+who frequented Fort Chipewyan, at which point he spent several
+months. One extraordinary circumstance, however, remains to be
+mentioned. It is that of a young Chipewyan who lost his wife in
+her first pregnancy. He applied the child to his left breast,
+from which a flow of milk took place. "The breast," he adds,
+"became of an unusual size." Here he and Back, afterwards Admiral
+Back, were joined by Dr. Richardson and Mr. Hood, who had come
+from Cumberland House by the difficult Churchill River route,
+and on July 18th, at noon, the whole party left the fort on
+their tragic expedition, the party, aside from those named,
+consisting of John Hepburn, seaman, an interpreter and fifteen
+voyageurs, including, unfortunately, an Iroquois Indian, called
+Michel Teroahante. At two p.m. they entered Great Slave River,
+here three-quarters of a mile wide, and, passing Red Deer Islands
+and Dog River, encountered the rapids, overcome by seven or eight
+portages, from the Casette to the Portage of the Drowned, all
+varying in length from seventy to eight hundred yards.
+
+On the 21st they landed at the mouth of Salt River to lay in a
+supply of salt for their journey, the deposits lying twenty-two
+miles up by stream. These natural pans, or salt plains, he
+describes--and the description answers for to-day--as "bounded on
+the north and west by a ridge between six and seven hundred feet
+high." Several salt springs issue at its foot, and spread over the
+plain, which is of tenacious clay, and, evaporating in summer,
+crystallize in the form of cubes. The poisson inconnu, a species
+of salmon which ascends from the Arctic Ocean, is not found, he
+says, above this stream. A few miles below it, however, a buffalo
+plunged into the river before them, which they killed, and those
+animals still frequent the region.
+
+On the 25th of July they passed through the channel of the
+Scaffold to Great Slave Lake, and, landing at Moose Deer Island,
+found thereon the rival forts, of course, within striking distance
+of each other, and in charge, as usual, of rival Scotsmen. At Great
+Slave Lake I must part company with Franklin's Journal, since our
+own negotiations only extended to its south shores. But who that
+has read it can ever forget the awful return journey of the party
+from the Arctic coast, through the Barren Lands, to their own winter
+quarters, which they so aptly named Fort Resolution? In the tales
+of human suffering from hunger there are few more terrible than
+this. All the gruesome features of prolonged starvation were present;
+the murder of Mr. Hood and two of the voyageurs by the Iroquois;
+his bringing to the camp a portion of human flesh, which he declared
+to be that of a wolf; his death at the Doctor's hands; the dog-like
+diet of old skins, bones, leather pants, moccasins, _tripe de roche_;
+the death of Peltier and Semandre from want, and the final relief
+of the party by Akaitcho's Indians, and their admirable conduct.
+And all those horrors experienced over five hundred miles beyond
+Fort Chipewyan, itself thousands of miles beyond civilization!
+Did the noble Franklin's last sufferings exceed even these? Perhaps;
+but they are unrecorded.
+
+To return to our muttons. Some marked changes had taken place, and
+for the better, in Chipewyan characteristics since Franklin's day;
+not surprising, indeed, after eighty years of contact with educated,
+or reputable, white men; for miscreants, like the old American
+frontiersmen, were not known in the country, and if they had been,
+would soon have been run out. There was now no paint or "strouds"
+to be seen, and the blanket was confined to the bed. In fact, the
+Indians and half-breeds of Athabasca Lake did not seem to differ in
+any way from those of the Middle and Upper Peace River, save that
+the former were all hunters and fishermen, pure and simple, there
+being little or no agriculture. It was impossible to study the
+manners and customs of the aborigines, since we had no time to
+observe them closely. They have their legends and traditions and
+remnants of ceremonies, much of which is upon record, and they
+cherish, especially, some very curious beliefs. One, in particular,
+we were told, obtained amongst them, namely, that the mastodon
+still exists in the fastnesses of the Upper Mackenzie. They describe
+it as a monster many times larger than the buffalo, and they
+dread going into the parts it is supposed to haunt. This singular
+opinion may be the survival of a very old tradition regarding that
+animal, but is more likely due to the presence of its remains in
+the shape of tusks and bones found here and there throughout the
+Mackenzie River district and the Yukon.
+
+[A similar belief, it is said, exists amongst the Indians of the
+Yukon. The remains of the primeval elephant are exceedingly abundant
+in the tundras of Siberia, and a considerable trade in mammoth ivory
+has been carried on between that region and England for many years.
+It is supposed that the Asian elephant advanced far to the North
+during the interglacial period and perished in the recurrent glacial
+epoch. Its American congener, the mastodon, found its way from Asia
+to this continent during the Drift period, when, it is believed,
+land communication existed in what is now Bering's Strait, and
+perished in a like manner. It was not a sudden but a gradual
+extinction in their native habitats, due to natural causes, such
+as encroaching ice and other material changes in the animals'
+environment. This, I believe, is the accepted scientific opinion of
+to-day. But the fact that these animals are at times exposed entire
+by the falling away of ice-cliffs or ledges, their flesh being quite
+fresh and fit food for dogs, and even men, opens up a very
+interesting field of inquiry and conjecture. In the bowels of a
+mammoth recently revealed in North-Eastern Siberia vegetable food
+was found, probably tropical, at all events unknown to the botany of
+to-day. The foregoing facts seem to be at variance with the doctrine
+of Uniformity, or with anything like a slow process. The entombment
+of these animals must have been very sudden, and due, one would
+naturally think, to a tremendous cataclysm followed by immediate
+freezing, else their flesh would have become tainted. A recent
+English writer predicts another deluge owing to the constant
+accumulation of ice at the Antarctic Pole, which for untold ages has
+been attracting and freezing the waters of the Northern Hemisphere.
+A lowering process, he says, has thus been going on in the ocean
+levels to the north through immeasurable time, its record being the
+ancient water-marks now high up on the mountain sides of British
+Columbia and elsewhere. It is certainly not unthinkable that, if
+subject to such a displacement of its centre of gravity, our planet
+at some inconceivably remote period capsized, so that what were
+before the Tropics became the Poles, and that such a catastrophe is
+not only possible but is certain to happen again. As a conjecture it
+may be unscientific; but how many of the accepted theories of science
+have ceased to be! As a matter of fact, she has been very busy
+burying her dead, particularly of late years, and her theory of the
+extinction of the primeval elephant may yet prove to be one of them.]
+
+On the 9th the steamer _Grahame_ arrived from Smith's Landing,
+bringing with her about 120 baffled Klondikers, returning to
+the United States, there being still some sixty more, they
+said, down the Mackenzie River, who intended to make their
+way out, if possible, before winter. They had a solitary woman
+with them who had discarded a duffer husband, and who looked
+very self-reliant, indeed, being girt about with bowie-knife
+and revolver, but otherwise not alarming.
+
+It was certainly a motley crowd, and some of its members by no
+means honest. Chief-factor Camsell, who had just come from Fort
+Simpson, told me they had stolen from every house where they had
+a chance, and mentioned, amongst other things, a particularly
+ungrateful theft of a whip-saw from a native's cabin shortly
+after an Indian had, with much pains, overtaken them with a similar
+one, which they had lost on the trail. Their departure, therefore,
+was not lamented, and the natives were glad to get rid of them.
+
+We ourselves boarded the steamer for Fort McMurray on the 11th, but,
+owing to bad weather, did not get off till midday, and even then the
+lake was so rough that we had to anchor for a while in the lee of an
+island. Colin Fraser had started ahead of us with his big scow and
+cargo of furs, valued at $15,000, and kept ahead with his fine crew
+of ten expert trackers. When the weather calmed we steamed across to
+the entrance of one of the various channels connecting the Athabasca
+River with the lake, and soon found ourselves skirting the most
+extensive marshes and feeding-grounds for game in all Canada; a
+delta renowned throughout the North for its abundance of waterfowl,
+far surpassing the St. Clair flats, or any other region in the East.
+
+Next morning, upon rounding a point, three full-grown moose were
+seen ahead, swimming across the river. An exciting, and even hazardous,
+scene ensued on board, the whole Klondike crowd firing, almost at
+random, hundreds of shots without effect. Two of the noble brutes
+kept on, and reached the shore, disappearing in the woods; but the
+third, a three year-old bull moose, foolishly turned, and lost its
+life in consequence. It was hauled on deck, bled and flayed, and
+was a welcome addition to the steamer's table.
+
+That night a concert was improvised on deck, in which the music-hall
+element came to the front. But one speedily tired of the "Banks of
+the Wabash," and other ditties; in fact, we were burning to get to
+Fort McMurray, where we expected letters and papers from the outer
+world and home, and nothing else could satisfy us. By evening we
+had passed Burnt Point, also Poplar Point, where the body of an
+unfortunate, called Patterson, who had been drowned in one of the
+rapids above, was recovered in spring by some Indians, the body
+being completely enclosed in a transparent coffin of ice. On the
+following day we passed Little Red River, and next morning reached
+the fort, where, to our infinite joy, we received the longed-for
+letters and papers--our first correspondence from the far East.
+
+Fort McMurray consisted of a tumble-down cabin and trading-store
+on the top of a high and steep bank, which had yet been flooded
+at times, the people seeking shelter on an immense hill which
+overlooked it. Above an island close by is the discharge of the
+Clearwater River, the old canoe route by which the supplies for the
+district used to come, via Isle a la Crosse. At McMurray we left
+the steamer and took to our own boats, our Commission occupying one,
+and Mr. Laird and party the other. The trackers got into harness at
+once, and made very good time for some miles, the current not being
+too swift just here for fast traveling.
+
+
+
+Chapter IX
+
+The Athabasca River Region.
+
+
+We were now traversing perhaps the most interesting region in all
+the North. In the neighbourhood of McMurray there are several
+tar-wells, so called, and there, if a hole is scraped in the bank,
+it slowly fills in with tar mingled with sand. This is separated
+by boiling, and is used, in its native state, for gumming canoes
+and boats. Farther up are immense towering banks, the tar oozing
+at every pore, and underlaid by great overlapping dykes of
+disintegrated limestone, alternating with lofty clay exposures,
+crowned with poplar, spruce and pine. On the 15th we were still
+following the right bank, and, anon, past giant clay escarpments
+along it, everywhere streaked with oozing tar, and smelling
+like an old ship.
+
+These tar cliffs are here hundreds of feet high, of a bold and
+impressive grandeur, and crowned with firs which seem dwarfed
+to the passer-by. The impregnated clay appears to be constantly
+falling off the almost sheer face of the slate-brown cliffs, in
+great sheets, which plunge into the river's edge in broken masses.
+The opposite river bank is much more depressed, and is clothed
+with dense forest.
+
+The tar, whatever it may be otherwise, is a fuel, and burned in our
+camp-fires like coal. That this region is stored with a substance
+of great economic value is beyond all doubt, and, when the hour of
+development comes, it will, I believe, prove to be one of the
+wonders of Northern Canada. We were all deeply impressed by this
+scene of Nature's chemistry, and realized what a vast storehouse of
+not only hidden but exposed resources we possess in this enormous
+country. What is unseen can only be conjectured; but what is seen
+would make any region famous. We now came once more to outcrops of
+limestone in regular layers, with disintegrated masses overlying
+them, or sandwiched between their solid courses. A lovely niche, at
+one point, was scooped out of the rock, over the coping of which
+poured a thin sheet of water, evidently impregnated with mineral,
+and staining the rock down which it poured with variegated tints of
+bronze, beautified by the morning sun.
+
+With characteristic grandeur the bends of the river "shouldered"
+into each other, giving the expanses the appearance of lakelets;
+and after a succession of these we came to the first rapid,
+"The Mountain"--Watchikwe Powistic--so called from a peak at its
+head, which towered to a great height above the neighbouring banks.
+The rapid extends diagonally across the river in a low cascade,
+with a curve inward towards the left shore. It was decided to
+unload and make the portage, and a very ticklish one it was. The
+boats, of course, had to be hauled up stream by the trackers,
+and grasping their line I got safely over, and was thankful. How
+the trackers managed to hold on was to me a mystery; but the steep
+and slippery bank was mere child's play to them. The right bank,
+from its break and downward, bears a very thick growth of alders,
+and here we found the wild onion, and a plant resembling spearmint.
+
+In the evening we reached the next rapid, called the Cascades--Nepe
+Kabatekik--"Where the water falls," and camping there, we had a
+symposium in our tent, which I could not enjoy, having headache and
+heartburn, a nasty combination. The 16th was the hottest day of the
+season--a hard one on the trackers, who now pulled along walls of
+solid limestone, perpendicular or stepped, or wrought into elaborate
+cornices, as if by the art of some giant stonecutter. At one place
+we came to a lovely little _rideau_, and on the opposite shore were
+two curious caves, scooped out of the rock, and supported by
+Egyptian-like columns wrought by the age-action of water.
+
+Towards evening we reached the Crooked Rapid--Kahwakak o
+Powestik--and here the portage path followed on the summit of the
+limestone rampart, which the viscous gumbo-slides made almost
+impassable in rainy weather, and indeed very dangerous, forming, at
+the time we passed, pits of mud and broken masses of half-hard clay,
+along the very verge of the wall of rock, likely at any moment to
+give way and precipitate one into the raging torrent below. At other
+parts the path was jammed out to the wall-edge, to be stepped round
+with a gulp in the throat. But these and other features of a like
+interesting character, though a lively experience to the tenderfoot,
+were of no account whatever to those wonderful trackers. At one of
+the worst spots I was hesitating as to how and where I should step
+next, when a carrier, returning for his load, seeing my fix, humped
+his back with a laugh and gave me a lift over.
+
+We camped for the night below a point where the river makes a sharp
+bend, parallel with its course. This we surmounted in the morning,
+following a rounded wall of limestone, for all the world like a
+decayed rampart of some ancient city. A wide floor of rock at its
+base made beautiful walking to a place where the lofty escarpment
+showed exposures of limestone underlying an enormous mass of dark
+sandstone, topped by tar-clay. It is a portentous cliff, bearing
+a curiously Eastern look, as if some great pyramid had been riven
+vertically, and the exposed surface scarred and scooped by the
+weather into a multitude of antic hollows, grotesque projections,
+and unimaginable shapes. Here, also, the knives of passers-by had
+carved numerous autographs, marring the majestic cliff with their
+ludicrous incongruity. Are we not all sinners in this way? "John
+Jones," cut into a fantastic buttress which would fittingly adorn a
+wizard's temple, may be a poor exhibit of human vanity; but, after
+all, the real John Jones is more imperishable than the rock, which
+seems scaling, anyway, from the top, and may, by and by, carry the
+inscriptions with it. It was hard to tear one's self away from such
+a wonderful structure as this, the most striking feature of its kind
+on the whole river.
+
+Farther on, escarped banks, consisting of boulders and pebbles
+imbedded in tenacious clay, rose to a great height, their tops
+clothed with rich moss, and wooded with a close growth of pine,
+the hollows being full of delicious raspberries, now dead ripe.
+
+By and by we encountered the Long Rapids--Kaukinwauk Powestik--and,
+some hours afterwards, entered the Middle Rapid--Tuwao Powestik--the
+worst we had yet come to, full of boulders and sharp rocks, with a
+strong current. Very dexterous management was required here on the
+part of steersman and bowman; a snapt line or a moment's neglect,
+and a swing to broadside would have followed, and spelled ruin.
+
+It was evening before this rapid was surmounted, and all hands,
+dog-tired with the long day's pull, were glad to camp at the foot
+of the Boiler Rapid, the next in our ascent, and so called from
+the wrecking of a scow containing a boiler for one of the Hudson's
+Bay Company's steamers. It was the most uncomfortable of camps,
+the night being close, and filled with the small and bloodthirsty
+Athabasca mosquito, by all odds the most vicious of its kind.
+This rapid is strewn with boulders which show above water, making
+it a very "nice" and toilsome thing to steer and track a boat
+safely over it, but the tracking path itself is stony and firm,
+a fortunate thing at such a place. There are no exposures of rock
+at the foot of this rapid; but along its upper part runs a ledge
+of asphalt-like rock as smooth as a street pavement, with an outer
+edge as neatly rounded as if done with a chisel. This was the finest
+bit of tracking path on the river, excepting, perhaps, the great
+pavement beneath the cliff at the Long Rapids.
+
+In this region the river scenery changes to a succession of
+cut-banks, exposed in all directions, and in almost all situations.
+Immense towering hills of sand, or clay, are cut down vertically,
+some facing the river, others at right angles to it, and others
+inland, and almost inclosed by projecting shoulders of the wooded
+heights. These cut-banks carry layers of stone here and there, and
+are specked with boulders, and in some places massed into projecting
+crests, which threaten destruction to the passer-by. Otherwise the
+scenery is desolate, mountainous always, and wooded, but with much
+burnt timber, which gives a dreary look to the region. The cut-banks
+are unique, however, and would make the fortune of an Eastern river,
+though here little noticed on account of their number.
+
+It was now the 18th, and the weather was intensely hot, foreboding
+change and the August freshet. We had camped about eight miles below
+the Burnt Rapid, and the men were very tired, having been in the
+water pretty much since morning. Directly opposite our camp was a
+colossal cliff of clay, around which, looking upward, the river bent
+sharply to the south-west, very striking as seen beneath an almost
+full moon breaking from a pile of snowy clouds, whilst dark and
+threatening masses gathered to the north. The early, foggy morning
+revealed the freshet. The river, which had risen during the night,
+and had forced the trackers from their beds to higher ground, was
+littered from bank to bank with floating trees, logs and stumps,
+lifted from many a drift up stream, and borne down by the furious
+current. At one of the short breathing spells the water rose two
+inches in twenty minutes, and the tracking became exceedingly bad,
+the men floundering to their waists in water, or footing it
+insecurely on steep and slippery ledges along the water's marge.
+About mid-day the anticipated change took place in the weather.
+Thick clouds closed in with a driving rain and a high raw wind,
+presaging the end of summer.
+
+It was now, of course, very bad going, and camp was made, in the
+heavy rain, on a high flat about two miles below the Burnt Rapid.
+Though a tough spot to get up to, the flat proved to be a prime
+place for our camp, with plenty of dead fallen and standing timber,
+and soon four or five "long fires" were blazing, a substantial
+supper discussed, and comfort succeeded misery. The next day
+(Sunday) was much enjoyed as a day of rest, the half-breeds at
+their beloved games, the officials writing letters. The weather
+was variable; the clouds broke and gathered by turns, with slight
+rain towards evening, and then it cleared. As a night camp it was
+picturesque, the full moon in the south gleaming over the turbid
+water, and the boatmen lounging around the files like so many
+brigands.
+
+Next morning we surmounted the Brule Rapid--Pusitao Powestik--short
+but powerful, with a sharp pointed rock at its head, very
+troublesome to get around. Above this rapid the bank consists
+of a solid, vertical rampart of red sandstone, its base and top
+and every crack and crevice clothed with a rich vegetation--a
+most beautiful and striking scene, forming a gigantic amphitheatre,
+concentred by the seeming closing-in of the left bank at Point
+Brule upon the long straight line of sandstone wall on the right.
+Nothing finer, indeed, could be imagined in all this remarkable
+river's remarkable scenery than this impressive view, not from
+jutting peaks, for the sky-line of the banks runs parallel with
+the water, but from the antique grandeur of their sweep and
+apparent junction.
+
+That afternoon we rounded Point Brule, a high, bold cliff of
+sandstone with three "lop-sticks" upon its top. The Indian's
+lop-stick, called by the Cree piskootenusk, is a sort of living
+talisman which he connects in some mysterious way with his own fate,
+and which he will often go many miles out of his direct course to
+visit. Even white men fall in with the fetish, and one of the three
+we saw was called "Lambert's lop-stick." I myself had one made for
+me by Gros Oreilles, the Saulteau Chief, nearly forty years ago, in
+the forest east of Pointe du Chene, in what is now Manitoba. They
+are made by stripping a tall spruce tree of a deep ring of branches,
+leaving the top and bottom ones intact. The tree seems to thrive all
+the same, and is a very noticeable, and not infrequent, object
+throughout the whole Thickwood Indian country.
+
+Just opposite the cliff referred to, the Little Buffalo, a swift
+creek, enters between two bold shoulders of hills, and on its
+western side are the wonderful gas springs. The "amphitheatre,"
+sweeps around to, and is cloven by, that stream, its elevation
+on the west side being lofty, and deeply grooved from its summit
+downward, the whole locality at the time of our visit being
+covered with raspberry bushes loaded with fruit.
+
+The gas escapes from a hole in the ground near the water's edge in
+a pillar of flame about thirty inches high, and which has been
+burning time out of mind. It also bubbles, or, rather, foams up,
+for several yards in the river, rising at low water even as far
+out as mid-stream. There is a level plateau at the springs, several
+acres in extent, backed by a range of hills, and if a stake is
+driven anywhere into this, and withdrawn, the gas, it is said,
+follows at once. They are but another unique feature of this
+astonishing stream.
+
+For a long distance the upper prairie level exposes good soil,
+always clay loam, and there can be little doubt that there is
+much fertile land in this district. That night we slept, or
+tried to sleep, in the boat, and made a very early start on a
+raw, cloudy morning, the tracking being mainly in the water.
+We now passed great cliffs of sandstone, some almost shrouded
+in the woods, and came upon many peculiar circular stones, as
+large as, and much resembling, mill-stones. Towards evening we
+passed Pointe la Biche, and met Mr. Connor, a trader, with two
+loaded York boats, going north, and whom we silently blessed,
+for he brought additional mail for ourselves. What can equal
+the delight in the wilderness of hearing from home! It was
+impossible to make Grand Rapids, and we camped where we were,
+the night cold and raw, but enlivened by the reading and
+re-reading of letters and newspapers.
+
+Next morning, crossing the right bank of the river, and leaving
+the boat, we walked to the foot of Grand Rapids. Our path, if
+it could be called such, lay over a toilsome jumble of huge,
+sharp-edged rocks, overhung by a beetling cliff of reddish-yellow
+sandstone, much of which seemed on the point of falling. This whole
+bank, like so much of this part of the river, is planted, almost at
+regular intervals, with the great circular rocks already referred
+to. These globular or circular masses are a curious feature of this
+region. They have been shaped, no doubt, by the action of eddying
+water, yet are so numerous, and so much alike, as to bespeak some
+abnormally uniform conditions in the past.
+
+The Grand Rapids--Kitchi Powestik--the most formidable on the river,
+are divided by a narrow, wooded island, over a quarter of a mile
+in length, upon which the Hudson's Bay Company have a wooden
+tramway, the cars being pushed along by hand. Towards the foot of
+the island is a smaller one near the left shore, and here is the
+larger cascade, a very violent rapid, with a fall from the crest
+to the foot of the island of thirty feet, more or less. The
+narrower passage is to the right of the island, and is called
+the "Free Traders' Channel." The river, in full freshet, was
+very muddy-looking, detracting much from the beauty of the rapids.
+
+The Hudson's Bay Company have storehouses at each end of the
+tramway, but for their own use only. Free traders have to portage
+their supplies over a very rough path beneath the cliffs. Both
+banks of the river are of sandstone, capped on the left by a wall
+of cream-coloured rock, seventy or eighty feet in height, at a
+guess. A creek comes in from the west which has cloven the sandstone
+bank almost to the water's edge; and running along the top of these
+sandstone formations are, everywhere, thick layers of coal, which
+is also found, in a great bed, on the opposite shore, and about
+three miles back from the river. The coal had been used by a trapper
+there, and is a good burner and heater, leaving little ash or clinker.
+These coal beds seem to extend in all directions, on both sides of
+the river, and underlie a very large extent of country. The inland
+country for some eight or ten miles had been examined by Sergeant
+Anderson, of the Mounted Police post here, who described it as
+consisting of wide ridges, or tables, of first-rate soil, divided
+by shallow muskegs; a good farming locality, with abundance of
+large, merchantable spruce timber. Moose were plentiful in the
+region, and it was a capital one for marten, one white trapper,
+the winter before our visit, having secured over a hundred skins.
+
+On the 25th we left our comfortable spruce beds and "long fires,"
+and tracked on to House River, which we reached at nine a.m. Here
+there is a low-lying, desolate-looking, but memorable, "Point,"
+neighboured by a concave sweep of bank. The House is a small
+tributary from the east, but very long, rising far inland; and here
+begins the pack-trail to Fort McMurray, about one hundred miles in
+length, and which might easily be converted into a waggon-road, as
+also another which runs to Lac la Biche. Both trails run through a
+good farming country, and the former waggon-road would avoid all
+the dangers and laborious rapids whose wearisome ascent has been
+described.
+
+The Point itself is tragic ground, showing now but a few deserted
+cabins and some Indian graves--one of which had a white paling
+around it, the others being covered with gray cotton--which looked
+like little tents in the distance. These were the graves of an
+Indian and his wife and four children, who had pitched through
+from Lac la Biche to hunt, and who all died together of diphtheria
+in this lonely spot. But here, too, many years ago, a priest was
+murdered and eaten by a weeghteko, an Iroquois from Caughnawaga.
+The lunatic afterwards took an Indian girl into the depths of the
+forest, and, after cohabiting with her for some time, killed and
+devoured her. Upon the fact becoming known, and being pursued by her
+tribe, he fled to the scene of his horrible banquet, and there took
+his own life. Having rowed across the river for better tracking, as
+we crawled painfully along, the melancholy Point with its lonely
+graves, deserted cabins and cannibal legend receded into eerie
+distance and wrapped itself once more in congenial solitude.
+
+The men continued tracking until ten a.m. much of the time wading
+along banks heavily overhung with alders, or along high, sheer
+walls of rock, up to the armpits in the swift current. The country
+passed through was one giant mass of forest, pine and poplar,
+resting generally upon loamy clay--a good agricultural country
+in the main, similar to many parts of Ontario when a wilderness.
+
+We camped at the Joli Fou Rapids, having only made about fifteen
+miles. It was a beautiful spot, a pebbly shore, with fine open
+forest behind, evidently a favourite camping-place in winter.
+Next morning the trackers, having recrossed for better footing,
+got into a swale of the worst kind, which hampered them greatly,
+as the swift river was now at its height and covered with gnarled
+driftwood.
+
+The foliage here and there showed signs of change, some poplars
+yellowing already along the immediate banks, and the familiar
+scent of autumn was in the air. In a word, the change so familiar
+in Manitoba in August had taken place here, to be followed by a
+balmy September and the fine fall weather of the North, said to
+surpass that of the East in mildness by day, though perhaps sharper
+by night. We were now but a few miles from the last obstruction,
+the Pelican Rapids, and pushed on in the morning along banks of
+a coal-like blackness, loose and friable, with thin cracks and
+fissures running in all directions, the forest behind being the
+usual mixture of spruce and poplar. By midday we were at the rapids,
+by no means formidable, but with a ticklish place or two, and got
+to Pelican Portage in the evening, where were several shanties
+and a Hudson's Bay freighting station. Here, too, is a well which
+was sunk for petroleum, but which struck gas instead, blowing up the
+borer. It was then spouting with a great noise like the blowing-off
+of steam, and, situated at such a distance from the shaft at the
+Landing and from the Point Brule spiracle described, indicated,
+throughout the district, available resources of light, heat and
+power so vast as almost to beggar imagining.
+
+Mr. Ross having obtained on the 14th the adhesion of the Crees
+to the Treaty at Wahpooskow, it was now decided that the Scrip
+Commission should make the canoe trip to that lake, whilst Mr.
+Laird and party would go on to Athabasca Landing on their way home.
+Accordingly Matcheese--"The Teaser"--a noted Indian runner, was
+dispatched with our letters to the Landing, 120 miles up the river.
+This Indian, it was said, had once run from the Landing to Edmonton,
+ninety-five miles, in a single day, and had been known to carry 500
+pounds over a portage in one load. I myself saw him shoulder 350
+pounds of our outfit and start off with it over a rough path. He was
+slightly built, and could not have weighed much over nine stone, but
+was what he looked to be, a bundle of iron muscles and nerves.
+
+On the 29th Mr. Laird and party bade us good-bye, and an hour
+later we set out on our interesting canoe trip to the Wahpooskow,
+a journey which led us into the heart of the interior, and
+proved to be one of the most agreeable of our experiences.
+
+
+
+Chapter X
+
+The Trip To Wahpooskow.
+
+
+Our route lay first up the Pelican River, the Chachakew of the
+Crees, and then from the "divide" down the Wahpooskow watershed
+to the lake. We had six canoemen, and our journey began by
+"packing" our outfit over a four-mile portage, commencing with a
+tremendously long and steep hill, and ending on a beautiful bank
+of the Pelican, a fine brown stream about one hundred feet wide,
+where we found our canoes awaiting us, capital "Peterboroughs,"
+in good order. Here also were a number of bark canoes, carrying
+the outfit of Mr. Ladoucere, a half-breed trader going up to
+Wahpooskow. Mr. Prudhomme and myself occupied one canoe, and
+with two experienced canoemen, Auger at the stern and Cardinal
+at the bow, we kept well up with the procession.
+
+Where the channels are shallow, poles are used, which the men
+handled very dexterously, nicking in and out amongst the rocks and
+rapids in the neatest way; but in the main the propulsion was by our
+paddles, a delight to me, having been bred to canoeing from boyhood.
+We stopped for luncheon at a lovely "place of trees" overhanging a
+deep, dark, alluring pool, where we knew there were fish, but had
+no time to make a cast. So far the banks of the Pelican were of a
+moderate height, and the adjacent country evidently dry--a good
+soil, and berries very plentiful. Presently, between banks overhung
+with long grass, birch and alder, we entered a succession of the
+sweetest little rapids and riffles imaginable, the brown water
+dancing amongst the stones and boulders to its own music, and the
+rich rose-pink, cone-like tops of the water-vervain, now in bloom,
+dancing with it.
+
+Our camp that night was a delightful one, amongst slender birch
+and spruce and pine, the ground covered with blueberries, partridge
+berries, and cranberries in abundance. The berries of the
+wolf-willow were also red-ripe, alluring, but bitter to the taste.
+It was really a romantic scene. Ladoucere had made his camp in a
+small glade opposite our own, the bend of the river being in front
+of us. The tall pines cast their long reflections on the water, our
+great fires gleamed athwart them, illuminating the under foliage
+of the birches with magical light, whilst the half-breeds, grouped
+around and silhouetted by the fires, formed a unique picture which
+lingers in the memory. We slept like tops that night beneath the
+stars, on a soft bed of berry bushes, and never woke until a thin
+morning rain sprinkling in our faces fetched us to our feet.
+
+A good bacon breakfast and then to our paddles, the river-bends
+as graceful as ever, but with fewer rapids. At every turn we
+came upon luxuriant hay meadows, with generally heavy woods
+opposite them, the river showing the same easy and accessible
+shore, whilst now and then giant hoof-prints, a broken marge,
+and miry grass showed where a moose had recently sprawled up
+the bank. Nothing, indeed, could surpass the rich colour-tone
+of this delightful stream--an exquisite opaqueness even under
+the clouds; but, interfused with sunshine, like that rare and
+translucent brown spread by the pencil of a master.
+
+As we were paddling along, the willows on shore suddenly parted,
+and an Indian runner appeared on the bank, who hailed us and,
+handing over a sack of mail with letters and papers for us all,
+sped off as suddenly as he came.
+
+It was now the last day of August, raw and drizzly, and having
+paddled about ten miles through a like country, we came in sight
+of the Pelican Mountains to the west, and, later on, to a fork
+of the river called Muskeg Creek, above which our stream narrowed
+to about eighteen feet, but still deep and fringed with the same
+extensive hay meadows, and covered here and there with pond
+lilies, a few yellow ones still in bloom. By and by we reached
+Muskeg Portage, nearly a mile in length. The path lay at first
+through dry muskegs covered with blueberries, Labrador tea, and
+a dwarfed growth of birch, spruce, tamarac, and jackpine, but
+presently entered and ended in a fine upland wood, full of
+pea-vines, vetches and wild rose. This is characteristic of
+the country, muskegs and areas of rich soil alternating in all
+directions. The portage completed, we took to our canoes again,
+the stream of the same width, but very crooked, and still bordered
+by extensive and exceedingly rich hay meadows, which we were
+satisfied would yield four or five tons to the acre. Small
+haystacks were scattered along the route, being put up for ponies
+which haul supplies in winter from Pelican Landing to Wahpooskow.
+
+The country passed through showed good soil wherever we penetrated
+the hay margin, with, of course, here and there the customary
+muskegs. The stream now narrowed into a passage deep but barely
+wide enough for our canoes, our course lying always through tall
+and luxuriant hay. At last we reached Pelican Lake, a pretty large
+sheet of water, about three miles across, the body of the lake
+extending to the south-west and north-east. We crossed it under
+sail and, landing at the "three mile portage," found a half-breed
+there with a cart and ponies, which took our outfit over in a
+couple of trips to Sandy Lake. A very strong headwind blowing,
+we camped there for the night.
+
+This lake is the height of land, its waters discharging by the
+Wahpooskow River, whose northern part, miscalled the Loon, falls
+into the Peace River below Fort Vermilion. The lake is an almost
+perfect circle, ten or twelve miles in diameter, the water full
+of fibrous growths, with patches of green scum afloat all over
+it. Nevertheless, it abounds in pike, dory, and tullabees, the
+latter a close congener of the whitefish, but finer in flavour
+and very fat. Indeed, the best fed dogs we had seen were those
+summering here. The lake, where we struck it, was literally
+covered with pin-tail ducks and teal; but it is not a good moose
+country, and consequently the food supply of the natives is
+mainly fish.
+
+We descried a few half-breed cabins and clearings on the opposite
+shore, carved out of the dense forest which girdles the lake, and
+topographically the country seemed to be of a moderate elevation,
+and well suited for settlement. The wind having gone down, we
+crossed the lake on the 2nd of September to what is here called
+Sandy Creek, a very crooked stream, its thick, sluggish current
+bordered by willows and encumbered with reeds and flags, and,
+farther on, made a two-mile portage, where at a very bad landing
+we were joined by the boats, and presently paddled into a great
+circular pond, covered with float-weed, a very paradise of ducks,
+which were here in myriads.
+
+Its continuation, called "The Narrows," now flowed in a troubled
+channel, crossed in all directions by jutting boulders, full of
+tortuous snies, to be groped along dexterously with the poles,
+but dropped at last into better water, ending at a portage,
+where we dined. This portage led to the farmhouse of a Mr.
+Houle, a native of Red River, who had left St. Vital fifty-eight
+years before, and was now settled at a beautiful spot on the
+right bank of the river, and had horses, cows and other cattle,
+a garden, and raised wheat and other grain, which he said did
+well, and was evidently prosperous. After a regale of milk we
+embarked for the first Wahpooskow lake, which we reached in
+the afternoon.
+
+This is a fine and comparatively clear sheet of water, much
+frequented by the natives. The day was beautiful, and with a
+fair wind and sails up we passed point after point sprinkled
+with the cabins and tepees of the Indians and half-breeds. It
+was perfectly charming to sweep up to and past these primitive
+lodgings, with a spanking breeze, and the dancing waves seething
+around our bows. Small patches of potatoes met the eye at every
+house, making our mouths water with expectation, for we had now
+been a long time without them, and it is only then that one realizes
+their value. In the far distance we discerned the Roman Catholic
+Mission church, the primitive building showing up boldly in the
+offing, whilst our canoemen, now nearing their own home, broke
+into an Indian chant, and were in high spirits. They expected
+a big feast that night, and so did we! I had been a bit under
+the weather, with flagging appetite, but felt again the grip
+of healthy hunger.
+
+We were now in close contact with the most innocently wild,
+secluded, and apparently happy state of things imaginable--a real
+Utopia, such as Sir Thomas More dreamt not of, being actually here,
+with no trace of abortive politics or irritating ordinance. Here
+was contentment in the savage wilderness--communion with Nature in
+all her unstained purity and beauty. One thought of the many men of
+mind who had moralized on this primitive life, and, tired of towns,
+of "the weariness, the fever and the fret" of civilization, had
+abandoned all and found rest and peace in the bosom of Mother
+Nature.
+
+The lake now narrowed into a deep but crooked stream, fringed,
+as usual, by tall reeds and rushes and clumps of flowering
+water-lilies. A four-mile paddle brought us to a long stretch
+of deep lake, the second Wahpooskow, lined on the north by a
+lovely shore, dotted with cabins, the central tall buildings
+upon the summit of the rising ground being those of the English
+"Church Mission Society," in charge of the Reverend Charles R.
+Weaver. Here we were at last at the inland end of our journey,
+at Wahpooskow--this, not the "Wabiscow" of the maps, being the
+right spelling and pronunciation of the word, which means in
+English "The Grassy Narrows."
+
+The other Missions of this venerable Society in Athabasca,
+it may be mentioned, were at the time as follows: Athabasca
+Landing, the residence of Bishop Young; Lesser Slave Lake, White
+Fish Lake, Smoky River, Spirit River, Fort Vermilion, and Fort
+Chipewyan, in charge, respectively, of the Reverend Messrs.
+Holmes, White, Currie, Robinson, Scott, and Warwick. The Roman
+Catholic Mission, already mentioned, had been established three
+years before our coming by the Reverend J. B. Giroux, at Stony
+Point, near the outlet of the first lake, the other Oblat
+Missions in Athabasca--I do not vouch for my accuracy--being
+Athabasca Landing, Lesser Slave Lake, the residence of Bishop
+Clut and clergy and of the Sisters of Providence; White Fish
+Lake, Smoky River, Dunvegan, and St. John, served, respectively,
+by Fathers Leferriere, Lesserec, and Letreste; Fort Vermilion
+by Father Joussard, and Fort Chipewyan by Bishop Grouard and
+the Grey Nuns.
+
+Mr. Weaver, the missionary at Wahpooskow, is an Englishman, his
+wife being a Canadian from London, Ontario. By untiring labour
+he had got his mission into very creditable shape. When it is
+remembered that everything had to be brought in by bark canoes or
+dog-train, and that all lumber had to be cut by hand, it seemed to
+be a monument of industry. Before qualifying himself for missionary
+work he had studied farming in Ontario, and the results of his
+knowledge were manifest in his poultry, pigs and cows; in his
+garden, full of all the most useful vegetables, including Indian
+corn, and his wheat, which was then in stock, perfectly ripe and
+untouched by frost. This he fed, of course, to his pigs and poultry,
+as it could not be ground; but it ripened, he told me, as surely
+as in Manitoba. Some of the natives roundabout had begun raising
+stock and doing a little grain growing, and it was pleasant to
+hear the lowing of cattle and the music of the cow-bells, recalling
+home and the kindly neighbourhood of husbandry and farm.
+
+The settlement was then some twenty years old, and numbered about
+sixty souls. The total number of Indians and half-breeds in the
+locality was unknown, but nearly two hundred Indians received
+head-money, and all were not paid, and the half-breeds seemed
+quite as numerous. About a quarter of the whole number of Indians
+were said to be pagans, and the remainder Protestants and Roman
+Catholics in fair proportion. In the latter denomination, Father
+Giroux told me, the proportion of Indians and half-breeds,
+including those of the first lake, was about equal. The latter,
+he said, raised potatoes, but little else, and lived like the
+Indians, by fishing and hunting, especially by the former, as
+they had to go far now for fur and large game.
+
+The Hudson's Bay Company had built a post near Mr. Weaver's
+Mission, and there was a free-trader also close by, named
+Johnston, whose brother, a fine-looking native missionary,
+assisted at an interesting service we attended in the Mission
+church, conducted in Cree and English, the voices in the Cree
+hymns being very soft and sweet. Mr. Ladoucere was also near
+with his trading-stock, so that business, it was feared, would
+be overdone. But we issued an unexpectedly large number of scrip
+certificates here, and the price being run up by competition,
+a great deal of trade followed.
+
+Wahpooskow is certainly a wonderful region for fish, particularly
+the whitefish and its cousin-german, the tullabee. They are not got
+freely in winter in the first lake, but are taken in large numbers
+in the second, where they throng at that season. But in the fall
+the take is very great in both lakes, and stages were seen in all
+directions where the fish are hung up by their tails, very tempting
+to the hungry dogs, but beyond their reach until the crows attack
+them. The former keep a watchful eye on this process, and when the
+crows have eaten off the tails, which they invariably attack first,
+the dogs seize the fish as they drop. When this performance becomes
+serious, however, the fish are generally removed to stores.
+
+One night, after an excellent dinner at Mr. Weaver's, that grateful
+rarity with us, we adjourned to a ball or "break-down," given in our
+honour by the local community. It took place in a building put up by
+a Mr. George, an English catechist of the Mission; a solid structure
+of logs of some length, the roof poles being visible above the
+peeled beams. On one of these five or six candles were alight,
+fastened to it by simply sticking them into some melted tallow.
+There were two fiddlers and a crowd of half-breeds, of elders,
+youths, girls and matrons, the latter squatting on the floor with
+their babes in moss-bags, dividing the delights of the evening
+between nursing and dancing, both of which were conducted with the
+utmost propriety. Indeed, it was interesting to see so many pretty
+women and well-behaved men brought together in this out-of-the-world
+place. The dances were the customary reels, and, of course, the Red
+River Jig. I was sorry, however, to notice a so-called improvement
+upon this historic dance; that is to say, they doubled the numbers
+engaged in it, and called it "The Wahpooskow Jig." It seemed a
+dangerous innovation; and the introduction later on of a cotillon
+with the usual dreary and mechanical calls filled one with
+additional forebodings. We almost heard "the first low wash of waves
+where soon shall flow a human sea." But aside from such newfangled
+features, there was nothing to criticise. The fiddling was good,
+and the dancing was good, showing the usual expertness, in which
+performance the women stooped their shoulders gracefully, and bent
+their brows modestly upon the floor, whilst the men vied with each
+other in the admirable and complicated variety of their steps. In
+fact, it was an evening very agreeably spent, and not the less so
+from its primitive environment. After joining in a reel of eight, we
+left the scene with reluctance, the memorable Jig suddenly striking
+on our ears as we wended our way in the darkness to our camp.
+
+As regards farming land in the region, for a long way inland Mr.
+Weaver and others described it as of the like good quality as at
+the Mission, but with much muskeg. It is difficult to estimate the
+extent of the latter, for, being more noticeable than good land,
+the tendency is to overestimate. Its proportion to arable land is
+generally put at about 50 per cent., which may be over or under
+the truth, for only actual township or topographic surveys can
+determine it.
+
+The country drained by the lower river, the Loon, as it is
+improperly called in our maps, navigable for canoes all the
+way to where it enters the Peace, was described as an extensive
+and very uniform plateau, sloping gently to the north. To the
+south the Pelican Mountains formed a noble background to the
+view from the Mission, which is indeed charming in all directions.
+
+At the mouth of the river, and facing the Mission, a long point
+stretches out, dividing the lake into two deep arms, the Mission
+being situated upon another point around which the lake sweeps
+to the north. The scene recalls the view from the Hudson's Bay
+Company's post at Lesser Slave Lake, but excels it in the larger
+extent of water, broken into by scores of bayous, or pools,
+bordered by an intensely green water-weed of uniform height,
+and smooth-topt as a well-clipt lawn. Behind these are hay meadows,
+a continuation of the long line of them we had passed coming up.
+
+Upon the whole, we considered this an inviting region for any
+farmer who is not afraid to tackle the forest. But whether a
+railway would pass this way at first seemed to us doubtful. The
+head of Lesser Slave Lake lies far to the south-west, and there
+it is most likely to pass on its way to the Peace. What could be
+supplied, however, is a waggon-road from Wahpooskow to Athabasca
+Landing, instead of the present dog-trail, which passes many deep
+ravines, and makes a long detour by Sandy Lake. Such a road should
+pass by the east end of the first Wahpooskow Lake, thence to Rock
+Island Lake, and on by Calling Lake to the Landing, a distance of
+about one hundred miles. Such a road, whilst saving 125 miles of
+travel by the present route, would cut down the cost of transport
+by fully one-half.
+
+Wahpooskow had its superstitions and some doubtful customs. For
+instance, an Indian called Nepapinase--"A Wandering Bolt of
+Night-Lightning"--lost his son when Mr. Ross was there taking
+adhesion to the Treaty, and spread the report that he had brought
+"bad medicine." Polygamy was practised, and even polyandry was
+said to exist; but we had no time to verify this gossip, and no
+right to interfere if we had.
+
+On the 6th, a lovely fall morning, we bade good-bye to Wahpooskow,
+its primitive people, and its simple but ample pleasures. Autumn
+was upon us. Foliage, excepting in the deep woods, was changing
+fast, the hues largely copper and russet; hard body-tints, yet
+beautiful. There were no maples here, as in the East, to add a
+glorious crimson to the scene; this was given by shrubs, not by
+trees. The tints were certainly, in the larger growths, less
+delicate here than there; the poplar's chrome was darker, the
+willow's mottled chrome more sere. But there was the exquisite
+pale canary of the birch, the blood-red and yellow of the wild
+rose, which glows in both hues, the rich crimson of the red
+willow, with its foil of ivory berries, and the ruddy copper
+of the high-bush cranberry. These, with many other of the berry
+bearers and the wild-flowers, yielded their rich hues; so that
+the great pigments of autumn, crimson, brown and yellow, were
+everywhere to be seen, beneath a deep blue sky strewn with
+snowy clouds.
+
+We were now on the return to Pelican Landing, with but few incidents
+to note by the way, aside from those already recorded. But having
+occasion to take a declaration at a cabin on our passage along the
+first lake, we had an opportunity of visiting a hitherto unobserved
+stratum of Wahpooskow's society.
+
+The path to the cabin and its tepees led up a steep bank, beaten
+as hard as nails and as slippery as glass; nevertheless, by
+clutching the weeds which bordered it, mainly nettles, we got
+on top at last, where an interesting scene met the eye.
+
+This was a half-breed family, the head of which, a shrivelled
+old fellow, was busy making a paddle with his crooked knife,
+the materials of a birch-bark canoe lying beside him--and most
+beautifully they make the canoe in this region. His wife was
+standing close by, a smudged hag of most sinister aspect; also a son
+and his wife. On stages, and on the shrubs around, were strewn nets,
+ragged blankets, frowsy shawls, and a huddle of other shreds and
+patches; and, everywhere else, a horde of hungry dogs snarling and
+pouncing upon each other like wolves. Filth here was supreme, and
+the _mise en scene_ characteristic of a very low and very rare type
+of Wahpooskow life indeed--a type butted and bounded by the word
+"fish." An attempt was made to photograph the group, but the old
+fellow turned aside, and the old woman hobbled into the recesses of
+a tepee, where we heard her muttering such execrations in Cree as
+were possible to that innocent tongue. The hands of the woman at the
+cabin door were a miracle of grime and scrofula. Her sluttish locks,
+together with two children, hung around her; one of the latter
+chewing a muddy carrot up into the leaves, an ungainly little imp;
+the other was a girl of singularly beautiful features and of perfect
+form, her large luminous eyes of richest brown reflecting the
+sunlight from their depths like mirrors--a little angel clad in
+dirt. Why other wild things should be delicately clean, the birds,
+the fishes she lived on, and she be bred amidst running sores and
+vermin, was one of the mysteries I pondered over when we took to our
+canoes. For such a pair of eyes, for those exquisite features, some
+scraggy denizen of Vanity Fair would have given a king's ransom.
+Yet here was a thing of beauty, dropped by a vile freak of Nature
+into an appalling environment of filth and ignorance; a creature
+destined, no doubt, to spring into mature womanhood, and lapse, in
+time, into a counterpart of the bleared Hecate who mumbled her Cree
+philippics in the neighbouring wigwam.
+
+On our return trip some detours were made, one of which was to the
+habitation of another half-breed family at the foot of Sandy Lake,
+themselves and everything about them orderly, clean and neat; the
+very opposites of the curious household we had visited the day
+before. They had a great kettle of fish on the fire, which we
+bought, and had our dinner there; being especially pleased to note
+that their dogs were not starved, but were fat and well handled. At
+the east side of the lake we were delayed trying to catch ponies
+to make the portage, failing which we got over otherwise by dark,
+and camped again on the Pelican River. That night there was a keen
+frost, and ice formed along shore, but the weather was delightfully
+crisp and clear, and we reached Pelican Landing on the 9th, finding
+there our old scow and the trackers, with our friend Cyr in command,
+and Marchand, our congenial cook, awaiting us.
+
+On the 11th we set off for Athabasca Landing, accompanied by a
+little fleet of trippers' and traders' canoes, and passed during
+the day immense banks of shale, the tracking being very bad and
+the water still high. We noted much good timber standing on heavy
+soil, and on the 14th passed a curious hump-like hill, cut-faced,
+with a reddish and yellow cinder-like look, as if it had been
+calcined by underlying fires. Near it was an exposure of deep
+coloured ochre, and, farther on, enormous black cut-banks, also
+suggestive of coal.
+
+The Calling River--"Kitoosepe"--was one of our points of
+distribution, and upon reaching it we found the river benches
+covered with tepees, and a crowd of half-breeds from Calling
+Lake awaiting us. After the declarations and scrip payments were
+concluded, we took stock of the surroundings, which consisted, so
+far as numbers went, mainly of dogs. Nearly all of them looked very
+miserable, and one starveling bitch, with a litter of pups, seemed
+to live upon air. It was pitiful to see the forlorn brutes so
+cruelly abused; but it has been the fate of this poor mongrel friend
+of humanity from the first. The canine gentry fare better than many
+a man, but the outcasts of the slums and camps feel the stroke of
+bitter fortune, yet, with prodigious heart, never cease to love the
+oppressor.
+
+There was an adjunct of the half-breed camp, however, more
+interesting than the dogs, namely, Marie Rose Gladu, a half-sister
+of the Catherine Bisson we met at Lesser Slave Lake, but who
+declared herself to be older than she by five years. From evidence
+received she proved to be very old, certainly over a hundred,
+and perhaps the oldest woman in Northern Canada. She was born at
+Lesser Slave Lake, and remembered the wars of her people with the
+Blackfeet, and the "dancing" of captured scalps. She remembered
+the buffalo as plentiful at Calling Lake; that it was then a mixed
+country, and that their supplies in those old days were brought
+in by way of Isle a la Cross, Beaver River, and Lac la Biche, as
+well as by Methy Portage, a statement which I have heard disputed,
+but which is quite credible for all that. She remembered the old
+fort at the south-east end of Lesser Slave Lake, and Waupistagwon,
+"The White Head," as she called him, namely, Mr. Shaw of the famous
+finger-nail. Her father, whose name was Nekehwapiskun--"My wigwam
+is white"--was a fur company's Chief, and, in his youth, a noted
+hunter of Rabisca (Chipewyan), whence he came to Lesser Slave Lake.
+Her own Cree name, unmusical for a wonder, was Ochenaskumagan--
+"Having passed many Birthdays." Her hair was gray and black rather
+than iron-gray, her eyes sunken but bright, her nose well formed,
+her mouth unshrunken but rather projecting, her cheeks and brow a
+mass of wrinkles, and her hands, strange to say, not shrivelled, but
+soft and delicate as a girl's. The body, however, was nothing but
+bones and integument; but, unlike her half-sister, she could walk
+without assistance. After our long talk through an interpreter she
+readily consented to be photographed with me, and, seating ourselves
+on the grass together, she grasped my hand and disposed herself in a
+jaunty way so as to look her very best. Indeed, she must have been a
+pretty girl in her youth, and, old as she was, had some of the arts
+of girlhood in her yet.
+
+At this point the issue of certificates for scrip practically
+ended, the total number distributed being 1,843, only 48 of which
+were for land.
+
+Leaving Calling River before noon, we passed Riviere la Biche
+towards evening, and camped about four miles above it on the same
+side of the river. We were not far from the Landing, and therefore
+near the end of our long and toilsome yet delightful journey. It
+was pleasant and unexpected, too, to find our last camp but one
+amongst the best. The ground was a flat lying against the river,
+wooded with stately spruce and birch, and perfectly clear of underbrush.
+It was covered with a plentiful growth of a curious fern-like plant
+which fell at a touch. The great river flowed in front, and an almost
+full moon shone divinely across it, and sent shafts of sidelong light
+into the forest. The huge camp-fires of the trackers and canoemen,
+the roughly garbed groups around them, the canoes themselves, the
+whole scene, in fact, recalled some genre sketch by our half-forgotten
+colourist, Jacobi. Our own fire was made at the foot of a giant spruce,
+and must have been a surprise to that beautiful creature, evidently
+brimful of life. Indeed, I watched the flames busy at its base with
+a feeling of pain, for it is difficult not to believe that those
+grand productions of Nature, highly organized after their kind,
+have their own sensations, and enjoy life.
+
+The 17th fell on a Sunday, a delicious morning of mist and sunshine
+and calm, befitting the day. But we were eager for letters from
+home, and therefore determined to push on. Perhaps it was less
+desecrating to travel on such a morning than to lie in camp. One
+felt the penetrating power of Nature more deeply than in the
+apathy or indolent ease of a Sunday lounge. Still there were
+those who had to smart for it--the trackers. But the Mecca of
+the Landing being so near, and its stimulating delights looming
+largely in the haze of their imagination, they were as eager to
+go on as ourselves.
+
+The left bank of the river now exhibited, for a long distance, a
+wilderness swept by fire, but covered with "rampikes" and fallen
+timber. The other side seemed to have partially escaped destruction.
+The tracking was good, and we passed the "Twenty Mile Rock" before
+dinner, camping about fifteen miles from the Landing. Next morning
+we passed through a like burnt country on both sides, giving the
+region a desolate and forlorn look, which placed it in sinister
+contrast with the same river to the north.
+
+Farther up, the right bank rose bare to the sky-line with a mere
+sprinkling of small aspens, indicating what the appearance of the
+"rampike" country would be if again set ablaze, and converted from
+a burnt-wood region to a bare one. The banks revealed a clay soil,
+in some places mixed boulders, but evidently there was good land
+lying back from the river.
+
+In the morning bets were made as to the hour of arrival at the
+Landing. Mr. P. said four p.m., the writer five, the Major six,
+and Mr. C. eight. At three p.m. we rounded the last point but
+one, and reached the wharf at six-thirty, the Major taking the
+pool.
+
+We had now nothing before us but the journey to Edmonton. At night
+a couple of dances took place in adjacent boarding-houses, which
+banished sleep until a great uproar arose, ending in the partisans
+of one house cleaning out the occupants of the other, thus reducing
+things to silence. We knew then that we had returned to earth. We
+had dropped, as it were, from another planet, and would soon, too
+soon, be treading the flinty city streets, and, divorced from
+Nature, become once more the bond-slaves of civilization.
+
+
+
+Conclusion.
+
+
+I have thought it most convenient to the reader to unite with
+the text, as it passes in description from place to place, what
+knowledge of the agricultural and other resources of the country
+was obtainable at the time. The reader is probably weary of
+description by this time; but, should he make a similar journey,
+I am convinced he would not weary of the reality. Travellers,
+however, differ strangely in perception. Some are observers,
+with imagination to brighten and judgment to weigh, and, if need
+be, correct, first impressions; whilst others, with vacant eye,
+or out of harmony with novel and perhaps irksome surroundings,
+see, or profess to see, nothing. The readiness, for instance,
+of the Eastern "fling" at Western Canada thirty years ago is
+still remembered, and it is easy to transfer it to the North.
+
+Those who lament the meagreness of our records of the fur-trade
+and primitive social life in Ontario, for example, before the
+advent of the U. E. Loyalists, can find their almost exact
+counterpart in Athabasca to-day. For what that Province was
+then, viz., a wilderness, Athabasca is now; and it is safe to
+predict that what Ontario is to-day Athabasca will become in
+time. Indeed, Northern Canada is the analogue of Eastern Canada
+in more likenesses than one.
+
+That the country is great and possessed of almost unique resources
+is beyond doubt; but that it has serious drawbacks, particularly
+in its lack of railway connection with the outer world, is also
+true. And one thing must be borne in mind, namely, that, when
+the limited areas of prairie within its borders are taken up, the
+settler must face the forest with the axe.
+
+Perhaps he will be none the worse for this. It bred in the pioneers
+of our old provinces some of the highest qualities: courage, iron
+endurance, self-denial, homely and upright life, and, above all,
+for it includes all, true and ennobling patriotism. The survival
+of such qualities has been manifest in multitudes of their sons,
+who, remembering the record, have borne themselves manfully wherever
+they have gone.
+
+But modern conditions are breeding methods new and strange, and
+keen observers profess to discern in our swift development the
+decay of certain things essential to our welfare. We seem, they
+think, to be borrowing from others--for they are not ours by
+inheritance--their boastful spirit, extravagance, and love
+of luxury, fatal to any State through the consequent decline of
+morality. The picture is over-drawn. True womanhood and clean
+life are still the keynotes of the great majority of Canadian
+homes.
+
+Yet very striking is the contrast with the old days of household
+economies, the days of the ox-chain, the sickle, and the leach-tub.
+All of these, some happily and some unhappily, have been swept
+away by the besom of Progress. But in any case life was too
+serious in those days for effeminate luxury, or for aught but
+proper pride in defending the country, and in work well done.
+And it is just this stern life which must be lived, sooner or
+later, not only in the wilds of Athabasca, but in facing
+everywhere the great problems of race-stability--the spectres
+of retribution--which are rapidly rising upon the white man's
+horizon.
+
+For the rest, and granting the manhood, the future of Athabasca
+is more assured than that of Manitoba seemed to be to the doubters
+of thirty years ago. In a word, there is fruitful land there,
+and a bracing climate fit for industrial man, and therefore its
+settlement is certain. It will take time. Vast forests must
+be cleared, and not, perhaps, until railways are built will
+that day dawn upon Athabasca. Yet it will come; and it is well
+to know that, when it does, there is ample room for the immigrant
+in the regions described.
+
+The generation is already born, perhaps grown, which will recast
+a famous journalist's emphatic phrase, and cry, "Go North!" Well,
+we came thence! Our savage ancestors, peradventure, migrated from
+the immemorial East, and, in skins and breech-clouts, rocked the
+cradle of a supreme race in Scandinavian snows. It has travelled
+far to the enervating South since then; and, to preserve its
+hardihood and sway on this continent, must be recreated in the
+high latitudes which gave it birth.
+
+
+
+MR. COTE'S POEM.
+
+  Sortez de vos tombeaux, peuplades endormies
+  A l'ombre des grands pins de vos forets benies!
+  Venez, fils de guerriers, qui jadis sous ces bois
+  Bruliez vos tomahawks, vos armes et vos carquois!
+  Que sur vos pales fronts l'aureole immortelle
+  Pour votre bienfaiteur s'illumine plus belle.
+  Neophytes, venez en ce jour de bonheur
+  Proclamer les vertus de l'illustre pasteur,
+  Qui pour vous ses agneaux, ses brebis les plus cheres.
+  Consacra sa jeunesse et ses annees entieres.
+  Venez, fleurs qui brillez au jardin de Bon Dieu.
+  Repandre les parfums qu'exhale le saint lieu
+  Sur l'illustre vieillard qui de sa voix benie
+  Vous fit epanouir dans l'hoeureuse patrie!
+  Tendre et venere pere, apotre magnanime,
+  Grand pretre du Seigneur, votre oevre fut sublime.
+  Des bords du Missouri jusqu'aux glances du nord,
+  Voyez, semeur beni, cinquante sillons d'or;
+  Voyez sur le versant de la montagne sainte
+  De votre charite l'imperissable empreinte;
+  Voyez cette legion d'ames regenerees
+  Portant par votre main les celestes livrees.
+  Quoi, muse profane, indigne chalumeau,
+  Oserais-tu planer sur un theme si haut?
+  Pour chanter du heros les fetes jubilaires
+  Descends de ces hauteurs a demi-seculaires!
+  Muse prosterne-toi. Hosanna! Hosanna!
+  Au ciel gloire au Tres-Haut. Jube, alleluia!
+  Hommage sur la terre a l'Oblat de Marie,
+  Qui dans son cycle d'or brille sur la patrie!
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Through the Mackenzie Basin, by Charles Mair
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