fjm. 
 
Hate O|0llege nf J^gncultute 
 
 Kt (S^atntil Mntneraita 
 Jltljata. Sf. 1. 
 
 ICihcarg 
 
Cornell University Library 
 F 1015.G7 
 
 Ocean to ocean: Snadtord Flemlnj 
 — i|i|i|i||<|', 
 
 <f UU9 I 
 
 s expedi 
 
 r" "" 
 
 li 
 
The original of tliis book is in 
 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924014009140 
 
" IT IS A BOOK OF RARE VALUE." 
 
 COC 
 
 tmM 
 
 Rev. GEO. M. GKANT. 
 
 -COC- 
 
 WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 (»5 
 
 ROSE-BELFOED PUBLISHING COMPANY. 
 
 MDOCOLXXIX. 
 
AUGUSTA EVANS WILSON'S NOVELS. 
 
 ST. ELMO, 
 
 By AUGUSTA J. EVANS WILSON, 
 
 Crown, §TO. Cloth, §1.35. Linen, $1.00. Cheap 
 Paper Editiun, 35 cents. 
 
 " It is truly a most delightful and agreeable work." — Gttelph Herald. 
 " Its merit should secure for 'St. Elmo' a large S3.\e. " ^Port ffppe Times. 
 " 'St Elmo ' is tmly a most delightful and agreeable work." — Toronto 
 National. 
 
 " Her style is strange, wonderful and fascinating." — Guelph Mercury. 
 
 "Those who have never read this thrilling, interesting work have missed 
 a literary treat." — Fredericton Colonial Farmer. 
 
 INFELICE, 
 
 By AUGUSTA J. EVANS WILSON. 
 
 Crown §TO. Clotb, $1.35. L.inen, $1.00. Cheap 
 Paper Edition, 35 cents. 
 
 Who has not read with rare delight the novels of Augusta Evans? Her 
 strange, wonderful, and fascinating style ; the profound depths to which she 
 sinks the probe into human nature, touching its most sacred cords and 
 springs ; the intense interest thrown around her characters, and the very 
 marked peculiarities of her principal figures conspire to give an unusual in- 
 terest to the works of this eminent Southern authoress." — The Mril, 
 Toronto, Ont. 
 
 For Sale by all Booksellers, or mailed, post paid, on 
 receipt of price by 
 
 Rose-Belford Publishing Comp'y, 
 
 25 WELLINGTON STREET WEST, TORONTO. 
 
THE 
 
 JOHN . CRAIG 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 oollege: 
 
 OF 
 AGRICULTURE 
 
OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 ^mUati} JUming's #xjrfrjtimi 
 
 THROUGH 
 
 CANADA IN 1872. 
 
 THE REV, GEORGE M. GRANT, 
 
 OF HALIFAX, N. S. 
 
 ENLARGED AND REVISED EDITION. 
 
 ILLUSTBATBD. 
 
 TORONTO : 
 ROSEBELFORD PUBLISHING COMPANY. 
 
 MDCCCLXXIX. 
 
CL\^ni 
 
 Entered according to Act of Parliament of Canada, in the Tear 1877, by 
 
 GEORGE M. GRANT, 
 
 In the Office of the Minister of Agriculture. 
 
 PniNTEU AND BOUND 
 BY 
 
 HUNTER, ROSE & CO., 
 
 TORONTO. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER L 
 
 Pagb 
 Introductobt 17 
 
 from halifax, nova scotia, to thunder bat, lake superior, 
 
 CHAPTEE n. 
 
 Halifax. — Intercolonial Railway. — Moncton. — Miramichi. — Resti- 
 gouche. — Matapedia. — Cacouna. — Lord Dufferin. — Riviere du 
 Loup. — Quebec. — Montreal. — Toronto. — Collingwood. — A man 
 overboard. — Owen Sound. — Steamer Frances Smith. — Provok- 
 ing delays. — Killamey. — Indians. — Bruce Mines. — Sault Ste. 
 Marie. — Lake Superior. — Sunset. — Full Moon. — Harbour of 
 Gargantua. — The Botanist. — Michipicoten Island. — Nepigon 
 Bay. — Grand Scenery. — Sunday on Board. — Silver Islet. — 
 Prince Arthur's Landing 26 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 FROM THUNDER BAY TO FORT OARRY. 
 
 Sliebandowan Road. — Rich Vegetation. — Rivers Kaministiquia and 
 Matawan. — Shebandowan Lake. — Luggage. — Emigrants. — 
 Canoe Train. — Iroquois Indians. — Sir George Simpson's Guide. 
 — Lake Kashabowie. — The Height of Land. — Lac des Mille 
 Lacs — Baril Portage and Lake. — First Night under Canvas. — 
 Lake Windigostigwan. — Indian Encampment.— Chief Black- 
 stone's Wives. — The Medicine Man. — Lake Kaogassikok. — 
 Shooting MaUgne Rapids. — Lake Nequaquon.— Loon Portage. 
 — Mud Portage. — American Portage. — Lake Nameukan. — 
 Rainy Lake. — Fort Francis. — Rainy River. — ^Hungry Hall- — 
 Slap-jacks. —Lake of the Woods. — The North-West Angle. — A 
 Tough Night. — Oak Point. — First glimpse of the Prairies . — Flo- 
 ral Treasures . — The Dawson Route . — Red River 41 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 PROVINCE OF MANITOBA. 
 
 Extent. — Population. — Land Claims of Original Settlers. — Sale of 
 Lots in Winnipeg. — Hudson's Bay Company. — Clergymen of 
 the Settlement. — Military Camp. — Archbishop Taohe. — United 
 States Consul — Conflicting opinions respecting the Fertile 
 Belt. — Our outfit for the Prairies. — Chief Commissioner Smith. 
 — Hudson's Bay Company. — Lieut. -Governor Archibald. — De- 
 parture from Silver Heights. — White Horse Plains. — Rev. Mr. 
 
[V. CONTENTS. 
 
 McDougal. ^Portage la Prairie. — The Last Settler. — Climate, 
 etc., of Manitoba, compared with the older Provinces. — Sioux 
 Indians in war Paint. — General remarks on Manitoba. — Emi- 
 grants and the United States' Agents. — Treatment of the In- 
 dians 75 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 PROM MANITOBA TO FOBT CARLTON ON THE NORTH SASKATCHEWAN. 
 
 Fine Fertile Country. — The water question. — Duck Shooting. — Salt 
 Lakes. — Camping on the Plains. — Fort EUice. — Qu'Appelle Val- 
 ley. — " Souzie." — The River Assiniboine. — The Buffalo. — Cold 
 Nights. — Rich Soil. — Lovely Country. — Little TouchwoodHills. 
 — Cause of Prairie Fires. — A Day of Rest. — Prairie Uplands. — 
 Indian Family. — Buffalo Sculls. — Desolate Tract. — Quill Lake. 
 — Salt Water. — Broken Prairie. — Round HiU. — Prairie Fire. — 
 Rich Black Soil. — Magnificent Panorama. — Break-neck Speed. 
 —The South Saskatchewan, — Sweethearts and Wives. — Fort 
 Carlton. — Free Traders. — The Indians. — Crop Raising 108 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 ALONG THE NOBTH SASKATCHEWAN TO EDMONTON. 
 
 The Thickwood Hills. -^The Soil.— Slough of Despond.— Bears' Pad- 
 dling Lake. — Indian Missions Result. — Pemmican. — Jack-fish 
 Lake. — The-Crees and Blackfeet. — Change in Vegetation. — Re- 
 semblance to Ontario. — The Red deer Hills. ^ — Rich Uplands 
 and Valleys.— Fort Pitt.— The Horse Guard.— Fresh Buffalo 
 
 Meat. — Partially Wooded Country. — Cree Guests Shaganap- 
 
 pi. — Glorious View. — Our Longitude. — The Isothermal Lines. 
 — Scalping Raids, — The Flora. — Victoria Mission. — Indian 
 School. — Crops Raised. — A Lady Visitor. — Timber. — Horse 
 Hill. — Edmonton. — Coal. — Wheat and other Crops. — Gold- 
 Washing, — Climate. — Soil. — Indian Kaces. — Water. — Fuel. 
 
 Frosts 143 
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 FROM FORT EDMONTON TO THE RIVER ATHAEASKA. 
 
 False Report. — Souzie's Farewell. — St. Albert Mission. — Bishop 
 
 Grandin. — Small-pox. — Great Mortality. — Indian Orphans. 
 
 The Sisters of Charity. — Road to Lake St. Ann's. — Luxuriant 
 Vegetation. — Pelican. — Early Frosts. — Pack Horses. — Leaving 
 St. Ann's. — Indians. — Vapour Booths. — Thick Woods. — Pem- 
 bina River. — Coal. — Lobstick Camp. — Condemned Dogs. 
 
 Beaver Dams. — Murder. — Horse Lost. — A Birth-day. —No 
 Trail. — Muskegs. — Windfalls. — Beavers. ^Traces of Old Trav- 
 ellers. — Cooking Pemmican. — Crossing the McLeod. — Wretch- 
 ed Road. — Iroquois Indians. — Slow Progress. — Merits of Pem- 
 mican. — Bad Muskegs. — Un Beau Chemin. — A Mile an Hour. 
 — Plum-pudding Camp. — Ten Hours in the Saddle. — Athabaska 
 River. — The Rocky Mountains . — Bayonet Camp Igg 
 
CONTENTS. V. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS- 
 
 The Flora. — The Mountains. — Prairie River. — Grilled Beaver. — 
 Roche a Myette. — Roche a. Perdrix. — Eoohe Ronde. — Jasper 
 House. — Roche Jacques. — Roche Suette. — Roche Bosche. — 
 First Night in the Mountains. — Crossing the Athabaska.— 
 Magnificent Mountain Scenery. — Pyramid Rock. — Jasper Lake. 
 — Snaring River, — Jasper Valley. — We meet Pacific Men. — Hy- 
 iu muck-a-muck ! Hyiu iktahs ! — Old Henry House. — The 
 Caledonian Valley. — A Rough Trail. — Desolate Camping 
 Ground. — Good Cheer. — The Trail Party. — Yellow Head Pass. 
 — Nameless Mountain Peaks. — Sunday Dinner in "The Pass." 227 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 YELLOW HEAD PASS TO THE NOKTH THOMPSON BIVBR. 
 
 Plants in Flower. — The Water-shed. — Entering British Columbia. 
 — Source of the FroMr Biver. — Yellow Head Lake. — Serrated 
 Peaks. — Benighted. — Moose Lake. — Milton and Cheadle. — 
 Relics of the Headless Indian. — Columbia River. — The Three 
 Mountain Ranges. — Horses Worn Out. — First Canyon of the 
 Eraser — The Grand Forks. — Changing Locomotion Power. — 
 Robson's Peak. — Fine Timber. — Tete Jaune Cache. — Glaciers. 
 — Countless Mountain Peaks. — A Good Trail. — Fording Canoe 
 River.— Snow Fence. — Camp River. — Albreda. — Mount Mil- 
 ton. — Rank Vegetation. — Rain.^A Box in V's Cache for S. F. 
 — The Red Pyramid. — John Glen. — The Forest. — Camp Chea- 
 dle 251 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 ALONG THE NOKTH THOMPSON BrVBB TO KAMLOOPS. 
 
 Breakfast by Moonlight. — The BeU-horse. — Mount Cheadle. — Blue 
 River and Mountains. — Goose Creek. — The Headless Indian. — 
 Porcupine Breakfast. — The Canyon. — Mule Train.. — At HeU 
 Gate, meet Friends. — Gathering at Camp XJ. and V. — Good 
 Cheer. — Still Water. — Round Prairie. — Exciting News two 
 months old. — Change in the Flora. — Bunch Grass. — Baft River. 
 — Clearwater. — Boat to Kamloops. — Assiuiboine Bluff — Last 
 Night under Canvas. — Siwash Houses — Signs of Civilization. 
 — Stock Raising. — Wages in British Columbia. — Arid Aspect 
 of Country. — Darkless on the River. — Arrival at Kamloops. ... 275 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 FROM KAMLOOPS TO THE SEA. 
 
 Under a Roof again — Kamloops Beef. — Sermqn. — John Chinaman. 
 No Letters. — Lake Kamloops. — Savona's Ferry. — ^A Night Ride 
 to Ashcroft. — Farming Country. — Sage Brush. — Irrigation. — 
 A Broken Leg. — The Judge and the Miners. — Gold Mining. — 
 
VI. CONTENTS. 
 
 Si washes and Chinamen, — Indian Graves. — The Waggon Road. 
 — Canyons of the Thompson. — ^Big-bugs. — Lytton. — The Rush 
 to the Gold Mines. — Obstacles to Settlement. — Eflfects of Un- 
 educated Salmon. — BostonBar. — Jackass Mountain. — TheRoad 
 along the Canyons. — Grand Scenery. — Suspension Bridge. — 
 Spuzznm's Creek. — Yale. — ^Letters froni Home. — Travelling by 
 Steam Again. — Steamer "Onward." — Hope. — The Judiciary 
 of British Columbia. — New Westminster. — Salmon. — Assaying 
 Office. — Burrard's Inlet. — Grand Potlatch. — The " Sir James 
 Douglas. " —General Remarks 295 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 THE COAST AUD VANCOtTTBR'S ISLAND. 
 
 On the Waters of the Paoitic. — Bute Inlet. — Valdes Island. — The 
 Fiords of British Columbia. — ^Waddington Harbour. — Glaciers. 
 — ChUcoten Indians. — Massacre. — Party X. — Salmon. — Arran 
 Rapids. — Sejmiour !Narrows. — Menzies' Bay. — ^Party Y. — The 
 Straits of Georgia. — ^New Settlements on Tancouver's Island. 
 — Nanaimo. — Coal Mines. — Concert. — Mount Baker. — Pujet 
 Sound. — San Juan Island. — The Olympian Mountains. — Vic- 
 toria. — Esquimau Harbour. — A Polyglot City. — The Last of 
 Terry. — The Pacific Ocean. — Barclay Sound. — Albemi Inlet. — 
 Sunset on the Pacific. — Return to Victoria. — The Past, Present, 
 and Future. — The Home-stretch. — The Great American Desert 322 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 CONCLTJSION. 
 
 Crossing and recrossing the Continent. — Writers on the North-west. 
 — Mineral Wealth behind Lake Superior. — The "Fertile-belt." 
 —Our Fellow Travellers. — The "Rainbow" of the North-west. 
 — Peace Eiver.— Climate compared with Ontario. — Natural 
 Riches of the Country. — The Russia of America. — Its Army of 
 Construction. — The Pioneers. — Esprit de corps, — ^Hardships 
 and Hazards. — Mournful Death-roll. — The Work of Construc- 
 tion. — Vast Breadth of the Dominion. — Its Varied Features. 
 
 Its Exhaustless Resources.— Its Constitution. — Its Queen 349 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 Delays in Constructing Canada Pacific & Intercolonial Railways. First 
 Link of the Canada Pacific. — Yellow Head Pass. — ^Difficulties iu 
 
 the Cascade Range. — ^Population required for local traffic. 
 
 Causes of delay in settling the North-west. — The grasshoppers. 
 
 Utilization of water stretches. — Telegraphic Communication. 
 
 Productiveness of Manitoba in 1876. — Surveys. — Red Deer and 
 
 Bow Rivers. — Place River as seen in 1875. — ^Water supply. 
 
 Treeless areas. — Indian Question. — Mounted Police. — Treaties. 
 
 True Indian Policy. — Indian troubles in British Columbia. — 
 Character of the Indians on Pacific Slope and Coast. — Progress.. . 869 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS; 
 
 PAOE. 
 
 Shooting the Eapida. Frontispiece. 
 
 Sault Ste. Marie (from South Side) . . . . 19 
 
 Thunder Cape, entrance to Thunder Bay 29 
 
 BufiFalo Skin Lodge and Red River Carts 123 
 
 Fort Edmonton 171 
 
 Skull of the Headless Indian 275 
 
 The Hamathco, below the defile .. ,. 329 
 
OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 THROUGH CANADA. IN 1872. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Introductory. 
 
 Travel a thousand miles up the St. Lawrence ; another thou- 
 sand on great lakes and a wilderness of lakelets and streams ; 
 a thousand miles across prairies and up the valley of the Sas- 
 katchewan ; and nearly a thousand through woods and over 
 great ranges of mountains, and you have travelled from Ocean 
 to Ocean through Canada. All this country is a single Colony 
 of the British Empire ; and this Colony is dreaming magnificent 
 dreams of a future when it shall be the Greater Britain, and 
 the highway across whieh the fabrics and products of Asia 
 shall be carried, to the Eastern as well as to the Western sides 
 of the Atlantic. Mountains were once thought to be effectual 
 barriers against railways, but that day has gone by ; and, now 
 that trains run between San Erancisco and New York, over 
 summits of eight thousand two hundred feet, why may they not 
 run between Victoria and Halifax, ovei' a height of three thou- 
 sand seven hundred feet ? At any rate, a Canadian Pacific 
 Railway has been undertaken by the Dominion ; and, as this 
 book consists of notes made in connection with the survey, an 
 introductory chapter may be given to a brief history of the pro- 
 ject. 
 
 For more than a quarter of a century before the Atlantic was 
 connected by rail with the Pacific public attention had been 
 frequently called, especially in the gi'eat cities of the United 
 
18 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 States, to the commercial advantage and the political necessity 
 of such connection; but it was not till 1853 that the Secretary 
 of War was authorized by the President to employ topograph 
 ical engineers and others " to make explorations and surveys, 
 and to ascertain the most practicable and economical route for a 
 railroad from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean.' 
 From that time the United States Government sent a succes- 
 sion of well-equipped parties to explore the western half of the 
 Continent. The reports and surveys of these expeditions fill 
 thirteen large quarto volumes, richly embellished, stored with 
 valuable information concerning the coiintry, and honestly 
 pointing out that, west of the Mississippi Valley, there were 
 vast extents of desert or semi-desert, and other difficulties so 
 formidable as to render the construction of a railroad well nigh 
 impracticable. Her Majesty's Government aware of this re- 
 sult, and aware, also, that there was a fertile belt of undefined 
 size, in the same longitude as the Great American Desert, but 
 north of the forty -ninth degree of latitude, organized an expe- 
 dition, under Captain Palliser, in 1857, to explore the country 
 between the west of Lake Superior and the Rocky Mountains; 
 and also " to ascertain whethei?-^ny practicable pass or passes, 
 available for horses, existed across the Rocky Mountains with- 
 in British Territory, and south of that known to exist between 
 Mount Brown and Mount Hooker," known as the " Boat En- 
 campment Pass." It was unfortunate that the limitation ex- 
 pressed in this last clause, was imposed on Captain Palliser, 
 for it prevented him from exploring to the north of Boat En- 
 campment, and reporting upon the Yellow Head Pass, which 
 has since been found so favourable for the Railway and may 
 soon be used as the gateway through the mountains to British 
 Columbia and the Pacific. The difficulties presented by passes 
 further south, and by the Selkirk Mountains, led Palliser to 
 express an opinion upon the passage across the Mountains as 
 hasty and inaccurate as his opinion about the possibility of con- 
 
INTRODUCTORY. 19 
 
 neoting Ontario or Quebec with the Eed River and SaBkatche- 
 w-n Country is now found to be. After stating that his expe- 
 dition had made connection between the Saskatchewan Plains 
 and British Columbia, without passing through United States 
 Territory, he added : — " Still the knowledge of the country, on 
 the whole, would never lead me to advise a line of communica- 
 tion from Canada, across the continent to the Pacific, exclusive- 
 ly through British Territory. The time has forever gone by 
 for eflfecting such an object ; and the unfortunate choice of an 
 astronomical boundary line has completely isolated the Central 
 American possessions of Great Britain from Canada in the east, 
 and also almost debarred them from any eligible access from 
 the Pacific Coast on the west." The best answer to this sweep- 
 ing opinion, is the Progress Report on the Canadian Pacific 
 Railway exploratory survey, presented to the House of Com- 
 mons, in Ottawa, in the Session 1872, in which the advantages 
 of the Yellow Head Pass over every other approach to the 
 Pacific are shown ; and as complete an answer to the second 
 part is to be found in subsequent reports. The journals of 
 Captain Palliser's explorations, extending over a period of four 
 years, from 1857 to 1860, were printed in extenso by Her 
 Majesty's Government in a large Blue Book, which shared the 
 fate of all similar literature. There arej probably, not more 
 than half a dozen copies in the Dominion. A copy in the 
 Legislative Library at Ottawa is the only one known to the 
 writer. They deserved a better fate, for his own notes and the 
 reports of his associates. Lieutenant Blakiston, Dr. Hector, M. 
 Bourgeau and Mr. Sullivan, are replete with useful and inter- 
 esting facts about the soil, the flora, the fauna, and the climate 
 of the plains and the mountains. M. Bourgeau was the botan- 
 ist of the expedition. On Mr. Sullivan, an accomplished 
 mathematician and astronomical observer and surveyor, de- 
 volved the principal labours of computation. Dr. Hector, to 
 whose exertions the success of the expedition was chiefly owing, 
 
30 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 had the charge of making the maps, both geographical and geo- 
 logical ; and, whenever a side journey promised any result, no 
 matter how arduous or dangerous it might be, Dr. Hector 
 was always ready. His name is still revered in our North- 
 west, on account of his medical skill and his kindness to the 
 Indians, and most astonishing tales are still told of his trav- 
 elling feats in mid- winter among the mountains. 
 
 After printing Captain Palliser's journal, Her Majesty's 
 Government took no step to connect the East of British Am- 
 erica with the Centre and the West, or to open up the North- 
 west to emigration, although it had been clearly established 
 that we had a country there, extending over many degrees of 
 latitude and longitude, with a climate and soil equal to that of 
 Ontario. In the meantime, the people of the United States, 
 with characteristic energy, took up the work that was too for- 
 midable for their government. Public-spirited men, in Sacra- 
 mento and other parts of California, embarked their all In a 
 project which would make their own rich State the link between 
 the old farthest East and the Western World on both sides of 
 the Atlantic. The work was commenced on the east and west 
 of the Rocky Mountains. Congress granted extraordinary 
 liberal subsidies in lands and money, though in a half sceptical 
 spirit, and as much under the influence of Rings as of patriot- 
 ism. When the member for California was urging the scheme 
 with a zeal that showed that he honestly believed in it Mr. 
 Lovejoy, of Dlinois, could not help interjecting, " Does the 
 honourable member really mean to tell me he believes that that 
 road will ever be built %" " Pass the BUI, and it will be con- 
 structed in ten years," was the answer. In much less than the 
 time asked for it was constructed, and it is at this day as re- 
 markable a monument to the energy of our neighbours as the 
 triumphant conclusion of their civil war, or the re-buildins of 
 Chicago. Three great ranges of mountains had to be crossed 
 at altitudes of eight thousand two hundred and forty seven 
 
INTRODUCTORY. 21 
 
 thousand one hundred and fifty, and seven thousand feet ; snow 
 sheds and fences to be built along exposed parts, for miles, at 
 enormous expense ; the work, for more than a thousand miles, 
 to be carried on in a desert, which yielded neither wood, water 
 nor food of any kind. No wonder that the scheme was 
 denounced as impracticable and a swindle. But its success has 
 vindicated the wisdom of its projectors ; and now no fewer than 
 four different lines are organized to connect the Atlantic States 
 with the Pacific, and to divide with the Union and Central 
 Pacific Railways, the enormous and increasing traffic they are 
 carrying. 
 
 While man was thus triumphing over all the obstacles of na- 
 ture in the Territory of the United States, how was it that 
 nothing was attempted farther North in British America, 
 where a fertile belt stretches west to the base of the Kocky 
 Mountains, and where river-passes seem to offer natural high- 
 ways through the mountains to the Ocean ? The North Am- 
 erican Colonies were isolated from each other ; the North-west 
 was kept under lock and key by the Hudson Bay Company ; 
 and though some ambitious speeches were made, some spirited 
 pamphlets written, and Bulwer Lytton, in introducing the BUI 
 for the formation of British Columbia as a Province, saw, in 
 vision, a line of loyal Provinces, from the Atlantic to the 
 Pacific, the time had not come for a consummation so devoutly 
 to be wished. Had the old political state of things continued 
 in British America, nothing would have been done to this day. 
 But, in 1867, the separate Colonies of Canada, New Brunswick 
 and Nova Scotia, became the Dominion of Canada ; in 1869 
 the Hudson Bay Company's rights to the North-west were 
 bought up ; and, in 1871, British Columbia united itself to the 
 new Dominion ; and thus the whole mainland of British Am- 
 erica became one political State under the segis of the Empire. 
 One of the terms on which British Columbia joined the Domin- 
 ion wajs, that a railway should be constructed within ten years 
 
22 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 from the Pacific to a point of junction with the existing railway 
 systems in the Provinces of Ontario and Quebec, and surveys 
 with this object in view were at once instituted. 
 
 What did this preparatory survey-work in our case mean 1 
 It meant that we must do, in one or two years, what had been 
 done in the United States in fifty. To us the ground was all 
 new. Pew of our public men had ever looked much beyond 
 the confines of their particular Provinces ; our North-west, in 
 some parts of it, was less an unknown land to the people of the 
 States along the boundary line than to the people of the 
 Dominion ; and, in other parts, it was unknown to the whole 
 world. No white man is known to have crossed from the 
 Upper Ottawa to Lake Superior or Lake Winnipeg. There 
 were maps of the country, dotted with lakes and lacustrine 
 rivers here and there ; but these had been made up largely from 
 sketches, on bits of birch-bark or paper, and the verbal descrip- 
 tions of Indians, and the Indian has little or no conception of 
 scale or bearings. In drawing the picture of a lake, for in- 
 stance, when his sheet of paper was too narrow, he would 
 without warning, continue th8_-4«Ke up or down the side, and 
 naturally an erroneous idea of the surface of the country was 
 given. A lake was set down right in the path of what otherwise 
 was an eligible line, and, after great expense had been incurred, 
 it was found that there was no lake within thirty miles of the 
 point. In a word, the country between Old Canada and Red 
 River was utterly unknown, except along the canoe routes 
 travelled by the Hudson Bay men north-west of Lake Superior. 
 Not many years since, a lecturer had to inform a Toronto 
 audience that he had discovered a great lake, called Nepigon, a 
 few miles to the north of Lake Superior. When so little was 
 known, the task was no light one. Engineers were sent out 
 into trackless, inhospitable' regions, obliged to carry tieir pro- 
 visions on their backs over swamps, rocks, and barriers, of all 
 kinds, when the Indians failed them ; with instructions simply 
 
INTRODUCTORY. 23 
 
 to do their best to find out all they could, in as short a time as 
 possible. 
 
 Far different was it with our neighbours. They could afford 
 to spend, and they did spend, half a century on the preparatory 
 work. Their special surveys were aided and supplemented by 
 reports and maps extending back over a long course of years, 
 drawn up, as part of their duty, by the highly educated officers 
 of their regular army stationed at different posts in their 
 Tendtories. These reports, as well as the unofficial narratives 
 of missionaries, hunters, and traders, were studied, both before 
 and after being pigeon-holed in Washington. The whole coirn 
 try had thus been gradually examined from every possible 
 point of view ; and, among other things, this thorough know 
 ledge explains the success of the United States' Government in 
 all its treaty-making with Great Britain, when territory was 
 concerned. The history of every such treaty between the two 
 Powers is the history of a contest between knowledge and 
 ignorance. The one Power always knew what it wanted. It 
 therefore presented, from the first step in the negotiation to 
 the last, a firm and apparently consistent front. The other 
 had only a dim notion that right was on its side, and a notion, 
 equally dim, that the object in dispute was not worth contend- 
 ing for. 
 
 Was it wise, then, for the Dominion to undertake so gigantic 
 a public work at so early a stage in its history ? It was wise, 
 because it was necessary. By uniting together, the British 
 Provinces had declared that their destiny was — not to ripen 
 and drop, one by one, into the arms of the Republic — but to 
 work out their own future as an integral and important part of 
 the grandest Empire in the world. They had reason for mak- 
 ing such an election. They believed that it was better for 
 themselves and for their neighbours; better for the cause of 
 human liberty and true progress, that it should be so. But it 
 ia not necessary to discuss the reasons. No outside power has 
 
24 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 a right to pronounce upon them. The fact is enough, that, on 
 this central point, the mind of British America, from the 
 Atlantic to the Pacific, is fixed. But, to be united politically 
 and disunited physically, as the different parts of Prussia were 
 for many a long year, is an anomaly only to be endured so long 
 as it can not be helped ; and when, as in our case, the remedy 
 is in our own hands, it is wise to secure the material union as 
 soon as possible. 
 
 On the twentieth of July, 1871, British Columbia entered 
 the Dominion. On the same day surveying parties left Victo- 
 ria for various points of the Rocky Mountains, and from the 
 Upper Ottawa westward, and all along the line surveys were 
 commenced. Their reports were laid before the Canadian 
 House of Commons in April, 1872. In the summer of the same 
 year, Sandford Fleming, the Engineer in Chief, considered it 
 necessary to travel overland, to see the main features of the 
 country with his own eyes, and the writer of these pages ac- 
 companied him, as Secretary. The expedition started from 
 Toronto on July 16th, and on October 14th, it left Victoria, 
 Vancouver's Island, on the home stretch. During those three 
 months a diary was kept of the chief things we saw or heard, 
 and of the impressions which we formed respecting the coun- 
 try, as we journeyed from day to day and conversed with each 
 other on the subject. Our notes are presented to the public, 
 and are given almost as they were written so that others might 
 see, as far as possible, a photograph of what we saw and thought 
 from day to day. A more readable book could have been made 
 by omitting some things, colouring others, and grouping the 
 whole , but the object was not to make a book. The expedi- 
 tion had special services to perform in connection with one of 
 the most gigantic public works ever undertaken in any country 
 by any people ; it was organized and conducted in a business- 
 like way, in order to get through without disaster or serious 
 difficulty ; it did not turn aside in search of adventures or of 
 
INTRODUCTORY. 25 
 
 sport; and therefore an exciting narrative of hair-breadth 
 escapes and thr illing descriptions of " men whose heads do grow 
 beneath their shoulders " need scarcely be expected. 
 
CHAPTER n. 
 
 From HaU/ax, Nova Scotia, to Thwnder Bay, Lake &wpeirwc. 
 
 Halifax. — Intercolonial Railway. — ^Moncton. — Miramichi. — Restigouche. — Matapedia. — 
 Quebec. — Montreal. — Toronto. — CoUingwood. — ^A Man Overboard. — Owen Sound. — 
 Steamer Ji^rance^ S»ii(A. — Delays, — KiUamey. — Indians. — Bruce Mines — Sault Ste. 
 Marie.— Lake Superior.— Sunset.— Pull Moon.— Harbour of Gargantua.— The Botan- 
 ist. — Micbipicoten Island. — Nepigon Bay. — Grand Sceneiy — Sunday on Board — 
 Silver Islet. — Prince Arthur's Landing. 
 
 1st July, 1872. — To-day, three friends met in Halifax, and 
 agreed to travel together through the Dominion from the Atlan- 
 tic to the Pacific. All three had personal and business matters 
 to arrange, requiring them to leave on different days, and reach 
 the Upper Provinces by different routes. In these circum- 
 stances it was decided that Toronto should be the point of ren- 
 dezvous for the main journey to the Far West, and that the 
 day of meeting should be the 15th of July. One proposed to 
 take the steamer from Halifax to Portland, and go thence by 
 the Grand Trunk Railway via Montreal ; another, to sail up 
 the Gulf of St. Lawrence from Pictou to Quebec ; and it was 
 the duty of the third — the chief of the party — ^to travel along 
 the line of the Intercolonial Railway. This narrative follows 
 the footsteps of the Chief, when more than one path is taken. 
 But, though it was his duty to make a professional examination 
 
 of all the engineering works in progress on the Intercolonial, 
 
 the Eastern link of that great arterial highway which is to con- 
 nect, entirely through Canadian Territory, a Canadian Atlantic 
 port with a Canadian Pacific port, — the reader would scarcely 
 be interested in an account of the culverts and bridges, built and 
 building, the comparative merits of wooden and iron work, the 
 pile driving, the dredging, the excavating, the banking and 
 
HALIFAX TO THUNDER BAY. 27 
 
 blasting by over 10,000 workmen, scattered along 500 miles of 
 road. The Intercolonial links, with rails of steel, the Pro- 
 vinces of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick with the Province 
 of Quebec ; the Grand Trunk unites Quebec and Ontario ; and 
 the Canadian Pacific Railway is to connect the latter with 
 Manitoba and British Columbia, as well as with the various 
 unborn Provinces which, in the rapid progress of events, shall 
 spring up in the intervening region. But the work of actual 
 railway construction is an old story-; and, if told at all, must 
 be served up at some other time in some other way. It has 
 now been told by Sandford Fleming, the Engineer-in-chief, in 
 an interesting and well written volume, " The Intercolonial ; a 
 Historical Sketch of the Inception, Location, Construction, and 
 Completion of the Line of Railway uniting the Inland and 
 Atlantic Provinces of the Dominion." The object of the pre- 
 sent narrative is to give an account of what was observed and 
 experienced in out-of-the-way places, over a vast extent of 
 Canada little known even to Canadians. It will be sufficient 
 for our purpose, therefore, to begin at Toronto, passing over all 
 that may at any time be seen on the line from Halifax to Truro, 
 and northerly across the Cobequid Mountains to Moncton. 
 From Moncton, westward, there is much along' the line worthy 
 of description ; — the deep forests of New Brunswick, the noble 
 Miramichi river with its Railway bridging on a somewhat 
 gigantic scale, the magnificent highland scenery of the Bale 
 des Chaleurs, the Restigouche, and the wild mountain gorges of 
 the Matapedia. But, without delaying even to catch a forty or 
 fifty pound salmon in the Restigouche, we hasten on with the 
 Chief up the shores of the great St. Lawrence. Passing the 
 cliffs of historic Quebec, we cross the broad St. Lawrence by 
 that magnificent monument of early Canadian enterprise and 
 triumph of engineering skill, the Victoria Bridge. Two days 
 are necessarily spent at Ottawa in making final an-angements, 
 ^nd Toronto is reached at the time appointed for the rendezvous. 
 
28 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 July 15th. — To-day, the various members of the overland 
 expedition met at the Queen's Hotel, the Chief, the Adjutant 
 General, the boys Frank and Hugh, the Doctor and the Secre- 
 tary, and arranged to leave by the first train to-morrow morn- 
 ing. On the Chief devolved all the labour of preparation. The 
 rest of us had little to do except to get ourselves photographed 
 in travelling costume. 
 
 July 16th. — Took train for CoUingwood, which is about a 
 hundred miles due north from Toronto. The first half of the jour- 
 ney, or as far as Lake Simcoe, is through a fair and fertile land ; 
 too flat to be picturesque, but sufficiently rolling for farming 
 purposes. Clumps of stately elms, with noble stems, shooting 
 high before their fan shape commences, relieve the monotony 
 of the scene. Here and there a field, dotted with huge pine 
 stumps, shows the character of the old crop. The forty or fifty 
 miles nearest Georgian Bay have been settled more recently, 
 but give as good promise to the settlers. CoUingwood is an 
 instance of what a railway terminus does for a place. Before 
 the Northern Railway was built, an unbroken forest occupied 
 its site, and the red deer came down through the woods to drink 
 at the shore. Now, there is a thriving town of two or three 
 thousand people, with steam saw-mills, and huge rafts from the 
 North that almost till up its little harbour, with a grain eleva. 
 tor which lifts out of steam barges the corn from Chicago, 
 weighs it, and pours it into railway freight- waggons to be hurri- 
 ed down to Toronto, and there turned into bread or whiskey, 
 without a hand touching it in all its transportations or trans- 
 formations. Around the town the country is being opened up, 
 and the forest is giving way to pasture and corn-fields. West 
 of the town is a range of hills, about one thousand feet hio-h. 
 originally thickly wooded to their summits, but now seamed 
 with roads and interspersed with clearings. Probably none of 
 us would have noticed them, though their beauty is enough to 
 attract passing attention, had they not been pointed out as the 
 highest mountains in the great Province of Ontario ! 
 
HALIFAX TO THUNDER BAT. 29 
 
 We reached CoUingwood at midday, and were informed that 
 the steamer Frances Smith would start for Fort William, at 
 two P.M. Great was the bustle, accordingly, in getting the 
 baggage on board. In the hurry, the gangway was shoved out 
 of its place, and when one of the porters rushed on it with a 
 box, down it tilted, pitching him head first into the water be- 
 tween the pier and the steamer. We heard the splash, and ran, 
 v/ith half a dozen others, just in time to see his boots kicking 
 
 frantically as they disappeared. "-Oh it's that fool S ," 
 
 laughed a bystander, " this is the second time he's tumbled in." 
 " He can't swim," yelled two or three, clutching at ropes that 
 were tied, trunks and other impossible life-preservers. In the 
 
 meantime S rose, but, in rising, struck his head against a 
 
 heavy float that almost filled the narrow space, and at once sank 
 again, like a stone. He would have been drowned within six 
 feet of the wharf, but for a tall, strong fellow, who rushed 
 through the crowd, jumped in, and caught him as he rose a 
 
 second time. S , like the fool he was said to be, returned 
 
 the kindness by half throttling his would-be deliverer; but 
 other bystanders, springing on the float, got the two out. The 
 rescuer swung lightly on to the wharf, shook himself as if he 
 had been a Newfoundland dog, and walked oflT; nobody seemed 
 to notice him or to think that he deserved a word of praise. On 
 inquiring, we learned that he was a fisherman by name Alick 
 Clark, on his way to the Upper Lakes, who, last summer also 
 had jumped from the steamer's deck into Lake Superior, to save 
 a child that had fallen overboard. Knowing that Canada had 
 no Humane Society's medal to bestow, one of our party ran to 
 thank him and quietly to offer a slight gratuity; but the plucky 
 fellow refused to take anything, on the plea that he was a good 
 swimmer and that his clothes hadn't been hurt. 
 
 At two o'clock, it being officially announced that the steamer 
 would not start until six, we strolled up to the town to buy 
 suits of duck, which were s^id to be the only sure defence 
 
30 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 against mosquitoes of portentous size and power beyond Fort 
 WUliam. Meeting the Eector or Rural Dean, our Chief, learn- 
 ing that he was to be a fellow-passenger, introduced the Doctor 
 to him. The Doctor has not usually a positively funereal aspect, 
 but the Rector assumed that he was the clergyman of the party 
 and a D.D., and cottoned to him at once. When we returned 
 to the steamer, and gathered round the tea table the Rector 
 nodded significantly in his direction : he, in dumb show, de- 
 clined the honour; the Rector pantomimed again, and with more 
 decision of manner ; the Doctor blushed furiously, and looked 
 so very much as if an " aith would relieve him," that the Chief, 
 in compassion, passed round the cold beef without a grace. We 
 were very angry with him, as the whole party doubtless suffer- 
 ed in the Rector's estimation through his lack of resources. 
 The Doctor, however, was sensitive on the subject and threaten- 
 ed the secretary with a deprivation of sundry medical comforts, 
 if he did not in future attend to his own work. 
 
 At six o'clock it was officially announced that the steamer 
 would not start till midnight. 
 
 July 17th. — The Frances Smith left Collingwood at 5.30 
 A.M. " We're all right now," exclaimed Hugh, and so the 
 passengers thought, but they counted without their host. We 
 steamed slowly round the Peninsula to Owen Sound, reaching 
 it about eleven o'clock. 
 
 Leith, a port six miles from Owen Sound, was reached at 6.30, 
 and we walked round the beach and had a swim, while two or 
 three men set to work leisurely to carry on board a few sticks 
 of wood from, eight or ten cords piled on the wharf. Half a 
 dozen of the passengers volunteered help, and the Royal Mail 
 steamer got off two hours after midnight. 
 
 An inauspicious beginning to our journey. Aided all the 
 way by steam, we were not much more than one hundred miles 
 in a direct line from Toronto, forty-four hours after starti«<T, 
 At this rate, when would we teach the Rocky Mountains ? To 
 
HALIFAX TO THUNDER BAY. Hi 
 
 make matters woise. the subordinates seemed also to have 
 learned the trick of how not to do it. Seemingly the Frances 
 Smith wanted a head, and, as the Scotch old maid lamented, 
 " its an unco' thing to gang through the warld withoot a held." 
 
 June 18th. — To-day, our course was northerly through the 
 Georgian Bay towards the Great Manitoulin Island. This is- 
 land and some smaller ones stretching in an almost continuous 
 line westward, in the direction of Lake Superior, form in con- 
 nection with the Saugeen Peninsula, the barrier of land that 
 sep'arates the Georgian Bay from the mighty Lake Huron. 
 These two great inland waters were one, long ago, when the 
 earth was younger, but the waters subsided, or Peninsula and 
 Islands rose, and the one sea became two. Successive terraces 
 on both sides of Owen Sound and on the different islands showed 
 the old lake beaches, each now fringed with a firmer, dai-ker 
 escarpment than the stony or sandy flats beneath, and marked 
 the different levels to which the waters had gradually subsided. 
 
 The day passed pleasantly, for, as progress was being made 
 in the right direction, all the passengers willingly enjoyed 
 themselves, while on the two previous days they had only en- 
 joyed the Briton's privilege of grumbling. Crossing the calm 
 breadth of the bay, past Lonely Island, we soon enijered the 
 Strait that extends for fifty mUes between the North shore and 
 Manitoulin. The contrast between the soft, rounded outlines 
 of the lower Silurian of Manitoulin, and rugged Laurentian 
 hills with their contorted sides and scarred foreheads on the 
 mainland opposite, was striking enough to justify the declara- 
 tion of a romantic fellow-passenger, " Why, there's quite a 
 scenery here !" The entrance to the Strait has been called 
 Killarney, according to our custom of discarding musical ex- 
 pressive Indian names for ridiculously inappropriate European 
 ones. Killarney is a little Indian settlement, with one or two 
 Irish families to whom the place appears to owe veiy little 
 more than its name. On the wharf is an unshingled shanty or 
 
32 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 the store, the entrepot for dry goods, hardware, groceries, 
 Indian work and everything else that the heart of man in 
 Killarney can desire. 
 
 The Indians possessed, until lately, the whole of the Island 
 of Manitoulin as well as the adjoining Peninsula ; but, at a 
 grand pow wow held with their chiefs by Sir Edmund Head 
 while he was Governor of Old Canada, it was agreed that they 
 should, for certain annuities and other considerations, surrender 
 all except tracts specially reserved for their permanent use. 
 Some two thousand are settled aroiind those shores. They are 
 of the ereat Ojibbeway or Chippewa nation, — the nation that 
 extends from the St. Lawrence to the Red River, where sec- 
 tions of them are called Salteaux and other names. West from 
 the Red River to the Rocky Mountains, extend the next great 
 nation of the Algonquin family,: — ^t.he Crees. The languages of 
 these two nations are so much alike, that Indians of the one 
 nation can understand much of the speech of the other. The 
 structure is simple, there being about a hundred and fifty 
 monosyllabic radical roots, the greater number of which are 
 common to Ojibbeway and Cree, ajid on these roots the lan- 
 guage has grown up. Most of the Ojibbeways on Manitoulin 
 are Christianized. At one point on the Island, where the 
 steamer called, we met Mr. Hurlbnrt, a Methodist Missionary — 
 a thoughtful, scholarly man — who has prepared, with infinite 
 pains, a grammar of the language, and who gave us much in- 
 teresting information. He honestly confessed that there was 
 little if any difference in morals between the Christianized 
 Indians around him and the two or three hundred who remain 
 pagan; that, in fact, the pagans considered themselves superior, 
 and made the immorality of their Christian countrymen their 
 great plea against changing from the old religion. 
 
 July 19th. — This morning we entered a beautiful island- 
 studded bay, on the north shore of which is the settlement 
 round the Bruce and Wellington Copper Mines. The mines 
 
HALIFAX TO THUNDER BAY. 33 
 
 have been very productive, and give employment now to three 
 or four hundred men and boys, whose habitations are, as is 
 usually the case at mines, mere shanties. One, a little larger 
 than the others, in which the Gaffer lives, is dignified with the 
 title of " Apsley House.'' From the Bruce Mines we sailed 
 westerly through a channel almost as beautiful as where the St. 
 Lawrence runs through the thousand islands. A silver streak 
 of sea, glittering in the warm sun, filled with rounded islets of 
 old Huronian rock, that sloped gently into the water at one 
 point, or more abruptly at another, and ofiered every variety 
 and convenience that the heart of bather could desiie ; low, 
 rugged, pine clad shores ; soft bays, here and there, with sandy 
 beeches; all that is required to make the scene one of perfect 
 beauty is a back-ground of high hills. Everywhere through 
 Ontario we miss the mountain forms, without which all scenery 
 is tame in the eyes of those who have once learned to see the 
 perpetual beauty that clothes the everlasting hills. 
 
 St. Joseph, Sugar, and Neebish Islands, now take the place 
 of Manitoulin ; then we come to the Ste. Marie River, which 
 leads, up to Lake Superior, and forms the boundary line between 
 the Dominion and the United States. At the Sault, or rapids 
 of the river, there is a village on each side ; but as the canal is 
 on the United States side, the steamer crosses to go through it 
 to the great Lake. The canal has two locks, each three hun- 
 dred and fifty feet long, seventy feet wide, twelve deep, and 
 with a lift of nine feet. It is well and solidly built. The 
 Federal Government has commenced the excavations for the 
 channel of another. Though the necessity for two canals on 
 the same side is not very apparent, still the United States Gov- 
 ernment, with its usual forethought, sees that the time will 
 soon come when they shall be needed. The commerce on Lake 
 Superior is increasing every year ; and it is desirable to have a 
 canal large enough for men-of-war and the largest steamers. 
 W^e walked along the bank and found, among the men engaged on 
 
 3 
 
34 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 the work, two or three Indians handling pick and shovel as if 
 to the manner born, and probably earning the ordinary wages 
 of 12.25 per day. The rock is a loose and friable calciferous 
 sandstone, reddishcoIoured,easily excavated. Hence the reason 
 why the Sault Ste. Marie, instead of being a leap, flows down 
 its eighteen feet of descent in a continuous rapid, wonderfully 
 little broken except over loose boulders. The water is wearing 
 away the rock every year. As it would be much easier to make 
 a canal on the British side of the river, one ougBt to be com- 
 menced without delay. The most ordinary self-respect forbids 
 that the entrance to our North-west should be wholly in the 
 hands of another Power, a Power that, during the Eiel distui'- 
 bances at Red River, shut the entrance against even our mer- 
 chant ships. In travelling from Ocean to Ocean through the 
 Dominion, four thousand miles were all our own. Across this 
 one mile, half-way on the great journey, every Canadian muSt 
 pass on sufferance. The cost of a canal on our side is estimated 
 by the Canal Commissioners, in a blue-book, dated February 
 2nd, 1871, at only $550,000. Such a canal, and a Railway 
 from Nepigon, or Thunder Bay, to Fort Garry, would give im- 
 mediate and direct steam communication to our North West 
 within our own territory. 
 
 At the western terminus of the canal, the Ste. Marie River 
 is again ^ entered. Keeping to the north, or British side, we 
 come to the Point aux Pins, covered with the scrub pine {Pinus 
 Banhsiana) which extends away to the north from this latitude. 
 Rounding the Point aux Pins, the river is two or three miles 
 wide ; and, a few miles further west, Capes Gros and Iroquois 
 tower up on each side. These bold wardens, called by Agassiz 
 " the portals of Lake Superior," are over a thousand feet high ; 
 and rugged, primeval Laurentian ranges stretch away from 
 them as far back as the eye can reach. The sun is setting when 
 we enter the portals, and the scene is well worthy the approach 
 to the grandest lake on the globe. Overhead the sky is clear 
 
HALIFAX TO THUNDER BAY. 35 
 
 and blue, but the sun has just emerged from huge clouds which 
 are emptying their buckets in the west. Immediately around is 
 a placid sea, with half a dozen steamers and three-masted 
 schooners at different points. And now the clouds massed to- 
 gether rush to meet us, as if in response to our rapid movement 
 towards them, and envelope us in a squall and fierce driving 
 rain, through which we see the sun se^|pig, and lighting up 
 now with deep yellow and then with crimson glory the frag- 
 ments of clouds left behind by the heavy columns. In ten 
 minutes the storm passes over us to the east, our sky clears as 
 if by magic, and wind and rain are at an end. The sun sets, as 
 if sinking into an ocean ; at the same moment the full moon 
 rises behind us, and under her mellow light Lake Superior is 
 entered. 
 
 Those who have never seen Superior get an inadequate, even 
 inaccurate idea, by hearing it spoken of as a ' lake,' and to 
 those who have sailed over its vast extent the word sounds 
 ludicrous. Though its water are fresh and crystal, Superior is 
 a sea. It breeds storms and rain and fogs, like the sea. It is 
 cold in mid-summer as the Atlantic. It is wild, masterful, and 
 dreaded as the Black Sea. 
 
 July 20th. — Sailed all night alonf the N. E. coast of the 
 great Lake, and in the morning, entered the land-locked harbour 
 of Grargantua. 
 
 Two or three days previously the Chief had noticed, among 
 the passengers, a gentleman out for his holidays on a botanical 
 excursion to Thunder Bay, and, won by his enthusiasm, had 
 engaged him to accompany the expedition. At whatever point 
 the steamer touched, the first man on shore was the Botanist, 
 scrambling over the rocks or diving into the woods, vasculum 
 in hand, stufiingit full of mosses, ferns, lichens, liverworts, 
 sedges, grasses and flowers, till recalled by the whistle that the 
 captain always obligingly sounded for him. Of course such an 
 enthusiast became known to all on board, especially to the 
 
36 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 sailors, who designated Mm as ' the man that gathers grass' or, 
 more briefly, 'the hay picker ' or ' haymaker.' They regarded 
 him, because of his scientific failing, with the respectful tolerance 
 with which fools in the East are regarded, and would wait an 
 extra minute for him or help him on board, if the steamer were 
 cast loose from the pier before he could scramble up the side. 
 
 This morning the ^rst object that met#3ur eyes, on looking 
 out of the window of the state-room, was our Botanist, on the 
 highest peak of the rugged hills that enclose the harbour of 
 Gargantua. Here was proof that we too had time to go ashore, 
 and most of us hurried off for a ramble along the beach, or for 
 a swim, or to climb one of the wooded rocky heights. Every 
 day since leaving Toronto we had enjoyed our dip. 
 
 Half a dozen fishermen, Alick Clark among them, had come 
 from CoUingwood to fish in Superior for white-fish and salmon- 
 trout, and having fixed on Gargantua for summer head-quarters, 
 they were now getting out their luggage, nets, salt, barrels, 
 boats, &c. We went ashore in one of their boats, and could 
 not help congratulating them heartily on the beauty of the site 
 they had chosen. The harbour is a perfect oblong, land-locked 
 by hills three or four hundred feet high on every side except 
 the entrance and the upper end, where a beautiful beach slopes 
 gradually back into a level of considerable extent. The beach 
 was covered with the maritime vetch or wild pea in flower, and 
 beach grasses of various kinds. Our Botanist was in raptures 
 over sundry rare mosses, and beautiful specimens of Aspidium 
 fragrans, Woodsia hyperborea, Cystopteris montana, and other 
 rare ferns, that he had gathered. The view from the summit 
 away to the north, he described as a sea of rugged Laurentian 
 hills covered with thick woods. 
 
 From Gargantua we steered direct for Michipicoten Island. 
 In the cozy harbour of this Island, the & & Manitoba lay 
 beached, having run aground two or three days before, and a 
 little tug was doing its best to haul her off the rock or out of 
 
HALIFAX TO THUNDER BAY. 37 
 
 the mud. For three hours the Frances Smith added her efforts 
 to those of the tug, but without success, and had to give it up, 
 and leave her consort stranded. In the meantime some of the 
 passengers went off with the Botanist to collect ferns and 
 mosses. He led them a rare chase over rocks and through 
 woods, being always on the look-out for the places that promised 
 the rarest kinds, quite indifferent to the toil or danger. 
 Scrambling, puffing, rubbing their shins against the rocks, and 
 half breaking their necks, they toiled painfully after him, only 
 to find him on his knees before something of beauty that seem- 
 ed to them little different from what they had passed by with 
 indifference thousands of times. But if they could not honestly 
 admire the moss, or believe that it was worth going through so 
 much to get so little, they admired the enthusiasm, and it 
 proved so infectio us that, before many days, almost every one 
 of the passengers was bitten with ' the grass mania,' or ' hay- 
 fever,' and had begun to form collections. 
 
 July 21st. — Sunday morning dawned calm and clear. The 
 Kural Dean read a short service and preached. After dinner 
 we entered Nepigon Bay, probably the largest and safest, and 
 certainly the most beautiful, harbour on Lake Superior. It is 
 shut off from, the' Lake by half a dozen islands, of which the 
 largest is St. Ignace, — that seem to have been set on purpose to 
 act as break-waters against the mighty waves of the Lake, and 
 form a safe harbour ; while, inside, other islands are here and 
 there, as if for defence or to break the force of the waves of the 
 Bay itself; for it is a stretch of more than thirty miles from 
 the entrance to the point where Nepigon River discharges into 
 the Bay, in a fast flowing current, the waters of Nepigon Lake 
 which lies forty mijes to the north. The country between the 
 Bay and the Lake having been found extremely unfavourable 
 for railway construction, it will probably be necessary to carry 
 the Canadian Pacific Railway farther inland, but there must be 
 a branch line to Nepigon Bay, which will then be the summer 
 
38 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 terminus for the traffic from the West, (unless Thunder Bay gets 
 the start of it) just as Duluth is the terminus of the Northern 
 Pacific. 
 
 The scenery of Nepigon Bay is of the grandest description. 
 There is nothing like it elsewhere in Ontario. Entering from 
 the east we pass up a broad strait, and can soon take our choice 
 of deep and capacious channels, formed by the bold ridges of 
 the islands that stud the Bay. Bluflfs, from three hundred to 
 one thousand feet high, rise up from the waters, some of them 
 bare from lake to summit, others clad with graceful balsams. 
 On the mainland, sloping and broken hUls stretch far away, and 
 the deep shadows that rest on them bring out the most distant 
 in clear and full relief. The time will come when the wealthy 
 men of our great North-west will have their summer residences 
 on these hills and shores ; nor could the heart of man desire 
 more lovely sites. At the river is an old Hudson Bay station, 
 and the head-quarters of several surveying parties for the Can- 
 adian Pacific Railway. The Chief therefore has business here, 
 and the Doctor also finds some ready to his hand, for one of the 
 engineers in charge is seriously iU ; but the captain can spare 
 only an hour, as he wishes to be out of the Bay by the western 
 channel, which is much narrower than the eastern, before 
 dark. We leave at 5.30, and are in Lake Superior again at 
 8.30. The passengers being anxious for an evening service, the 
 captain and the Eural Dean requested our secretary to conduct 
 it. He consented, and used, on the occasion, a form compiled 
 last year specially for surveying parties. The scene-\\ as unusual 
 and, perhaps, therefore all the more impressive. Our Secretary, 
 dressed in grey homespun, read a service compiled by clergy- 
 men of the Churches of Rome, England, and Scotland ; no one 
 could tell which part of it was Roman, which Anglican, 
 or which Scottish, and. yet it was all Christian. The responses 
 were led by the Dean and the Doctor, and joined in heartily by 
 Romanists, Episcopaliaiis, Baptists, Methodists and Presbyter- 
 
HALIFAX TO THUNDER BAY. 39 
 
 ians. The 1i3tiiiis were, "Rock of Ages " and " Sun of my Soul;'' 
 these, with the "Gloria Patri," were accompanied on a piano 
 by a young lady who had acted for years as the leader of a choir 
 in an Episcopal Chapel, and she was supported right and left by 
 a Presbyterian and a Baptist. The sermon was short, but, ac- 
 cording to the Doctor, would " have been better, if it had been 
 shorter ;" but all listened attentively. The effect of the whole 
 was excellent ; when the service was over, many remained in 
 the saloon to sing, converse, or join in sacred music, and the 
 evening passed delightfully away. The ice was broken ; ladies 
 and gentlemen, who had kept aloof all the week, addressed each 
 other freely, without waiting to be introduced, and all began 
 now to express sorrow that they were to part so soon. It was 
 riear the " wee sma' hour " before the pleasant groups in the 
 saloon separated for the night. 
 
 At one A. M., we arrived at Silver Island, — a little bit of 
 rock in a Bay studded with islets. The most wonderful vein 
 of silver in the world has been struck here. Last year, thirty 
 men took out from it $1,200,000 ; and competent judges say 
 that the mine is worth perhaps hundreds of millions. The 
 original $50 shares sell for $25,000. The company that works 
 it is chiefly a New York one, though it was held originally by 
 Montreal men, and was offered for sale in London for a trifle. 
 Such a marvellous find as this has stimulated search in every 
 other direction around Lake Superior. Other veins have been 
 discovered, some of them paying well, and, of course, the pro- 
 bability is that there are many more undiscovered ; for not one 
 hundredth part of the mineral region of Lake Superior has been 
 examined yet, and it would be strange indeed if all the 
 minerals had been stumbled on at the outset. Those rocky 
 shores may turn out to be the richest part of the whole 
 Dominion. 
 
 The steamer arrived at Thunder Bay early in the morning, 
 and so ended the first half of our journey from Toronto to Fort 
 
40 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 Garry ; by rail ninety-four miles, by steamboat five hundred 
 and thirty mUes. The second half was to be by waggons and 
 canoes ; — waggons at the beginning and end ; and, in the 
 middle, canoes paddled by Indians or tugged by steam launches 
 over a chain of lakes, extending like a net work in all direc- 
 tions along the watershed that separates the basin of the great 
 Lakes and St. Lawrence from the vast Northern basin of Hud- 
 son's Bay. The unnecessary delays of the Frances Smith on 
 this first part of our journey had been provoking ; but the real 
 (miari aliquid was the Sault Ste. Marie Canal. The United 
 States own the southern shores of Superior, and have therefore 
 only done their duty in constructing a canal on their side of the 
 Ste. Marie River. The Dominion not only owns the northern 
 shores, but the easier access to its great North-west is by this 
 route ; a canal on its side is thus doubly necessaiy. The east- 
 ern key to two-thirds of the Dominion is meanwhile in the 
 hands of another power ; and yet, if there ought to be only one 
 gateway into Lake Superior, nature has declared that it should 
 be on our side. So long ago as the end of the last century, a 
 rude canal, capable of floating large loaded canoes without 
 breaking bulk, existed on our side of the river.* The report 
 of a N. W. Navigation Company in 1858 gives the length of a 
 ship canal around the Ste. Marie rapids on the Canadian side 
 as only 838 yards, while on the opposite side the length is a 
 mile and one-seventh. In the interests of peace and commerce, 
 because it would be a convenience to trade now, and may be 
 ere long an absolute national necessity, let us have our own 
 roadway across that short half mile. Canada can already boast 
 of the finest ship canal system in the world ; this trifling addi- 
 tion would be the crowning work, and complete her inland 
 water communication from the Ocean, westerly, across thirty 
 degrees of longitude to the far end of La ke Superior. 
 
 (•) May 30th flSOO), Friday, Sault Ste. Mario. Here the North-Wcst Comnanv have 
 another establishment on the North side of the Rapid. « • * Here the North wZt 
 Company have buUt locks, In order to take up loaded canoes, that they mavnnt h« 
 under the necessity of carrying them by land, to the head of the Rapid, for the current 
 iatooitrong to be stemmed by any craft.— flamoTO'syMnia? ■= '-urreni 
 
CHAPTER in. 
 From, Thwnder Bay to Fort Ga/rry. 
 
 Shebanaowan Boad. — Rich Vegetation. — Rivers Eaministiquia and Matawan. — Sheban- 
 dowan Lake. ^£!mig;rant8. — Canoe train. — Iroquois Indians. — Sir George Simpson's 
 guide. — Lake Eashabowle.— The Height of Land. — Lac des MilJe Lacs. — Baril port- 
 age and Lake. —First night under canvas . —Lake Windjgofltigwan. —Indian encamp- 
 ment. — Chief Blaclcstone's wives. — ^The Medicine-man. — Lake Eaogassikok. — Shoot- 
 ing Maligne rapids. — Lake Nequaquon.— Loon portage.— Mud portage.— American 
 portage. — Lalce Nameulcan. — ^Rainy Lake. — Fort Francis. — ^Rainy River. — Luxuriant 
 
 Vegetation.— Hungry Hall Slap-jacks.— Lake of the Woods.— The North-West 
 
 Angle. — A tough night. — Oak point. — First glimpse of the prairies.— Floral treas- 
 ures. — The Dawson route. — Re^ River. 
 
 July 22nd. — At 5 A.M., arrived at Prince Arthur's Landing, 
 Thunder Bay, a fine open harbour, about ftmr miles from the 
 mouth of the Eaministiquia river, with dark cliffs of basaltic 
 rock and island scenery second only to Nepigon. Population 
 is flowing rapidly to these shores of Lake Superior. Already 
 more than a hundred stores, shanties, or houses are scattered 
 about ' the Landing.' The chief business is silver mining, and 
 prospecting for silver, copper, galena, and other valuable min- 
 erals known to exist in the neighbourhood. 
 
 The engineer of the surveying parties between "Ottawa and 
 Eed Kiver, and the assistant superintendent of the Dawson 
 Road to Fort Garry met us at the Landing and invited us to 
 breakfast in their shanty. After breakfast, our baggage was 
 packed on a heavy waggon, and instructions were given tb the 
 driver to keep moving till he reached Shebandowan Lake, the 
 first of the chain to be traversed in canoes. 
 
 Shebandowan is forty-five mUes from Lake Superior, about 
 800 feet higher, and near the summit or watershed of the dis- 
 trict. At 10.30 A.M., we started for that point, the Chief and 
 the Doctor in a buggy, the others in a light waggon. Drove in 
 
42 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 three hours to "Fifteen-mUe shanty " through a rolling country 
 with a steady upward incline, lightly wooded for the first half 
 and more heavily for the latter half of the distance. The flora 
 is much the same as in our Eastern Provinces ; the soil light, 
 with a surface-covering of peaty or sandy loam, and a subsoil 
 of clay, fairly fertile and capable of being easily cleared. The 
 vegetation is varied, wild fruit being especially abundant, — 
 raspberries, currants, gooseberries, and tomatoes ; flowers like 
 the convolvulus, ros^, a great profusion of asters, wild kallas, 
 water-lilies on the ponds, wild chives on the rocks in the streams, 
 and generally a rich vegetation. It is a good country for emi- 
 grants of the farmer class. The road, too, is first-rate, a great 
 point for the settler ; and a market is near. Whatever a set- 
 tler raises he can easily transport to the ready market that there 
 always is near mines. Miners are not particular about their 
 lodging, but good food and plenty of it they must have. 
 
 At thef ifteen-mile shanty, we stopped for an hour and a half 
 to feed the horses and to dine. Bread, light and sweet as Paris 
 rolls, was baked in Dutch ovens, buried in the hot embers of a 
 huge fire outside, near the door. The Scotch boss of the shanty 
 accepted the shower of compliments on its quality with the 
 canny admission that there were " waur bakers in the warld 
 than himsel.' " 
 
 We walked on for the next three or four miles till the 
 waggon overtook us. The soil became richer, the timber 
 heavier, and the whole vegetation more luxuriant. Six miles 
 from thePifteen mile shanty we crossed the Kaministiquia — a 
 broad and rapid river, which, at this point, is, by its own course 
 forty-five miles distant from where it falls into Lak^ Superior. 
 The valley of the river is acknowledged to be a splendid farm- 
 ing country. A squatter, who had pitched camp at the bridge 
 end last year, on his way to Red River, and had remained in- 
 stead of going on because everything was so favourable, came 
 up to have a talk with us, and to grumble, like a true Briton 
 
THUNDER BAY TO FORT GARRY. 43 
 
 that the Government wasn't doing more for him. Timothy was 
 growiag to the height of four and five feet, on every vacant 
 spot, from chance seeds. A bushel and a-half of barley, which 
 seemed to be all that he had sown, was looking as if it could 
 take the prize at an Ontario Exhibition. 
 
 The soil, for the next five miles, was covered luxuriantly 
 with the vetch, or wild pea. The road led to the Matawan, — 
 a stream that runs out of Lake Shebandowan into the Kami- 
 nistiquia. Both rivers are crossed by capital bridges. The sta- 
 tion at the Matawan was in charge of a Mr. Aitken and his 
 family, from Glengarry. He had arrived exactly two months 
 ago, on the 22nd of May, and he had now oats and barley up, 
 potatoes in blossom, turnips, lettuce, parsnips, cucumbers, etc.. 
 all looking healthy, and all growing on land that, sixty days 
 before, had been in part covered with undergrowth, stumps, and 
 tall trees, through which fires had run the year previous. Mr. 
 Aitkett was in love with the country, and, what was of more 
 consequence, so was Mrs. Aitken, though she confessed to a 
 longing for some neighbours. They intended to make it their 
 future home, and said that they had never seen land so well 
 suited for farming. Bverything was prospering with them. 
 The very hens seemed to do better here than elsewhere. One 
 was pointed out with a brood of twenty strong healthy chickens 
 around her ; Guinea hens and turkeys looked thriving. 
 
 Everything about this part of the country, so far, has aston- 
 ished us. Our former ideas concerning it had been that it was 
 a barren desert ; that there was only a horse trail, and not 
 always that, to travel by ; that the mosquitoes were as big as 
 grasshoppers, and bit through everything. Whereas, it is a fair 
 and fertile land, undulating from the intervales of the river up 
 to hills and rocks eight hundred feet high. The road through it 
 is good enough for a king's highway, and the mosquitoes are 
 not more vicious than in the woods, and by the streams of the 
 Lofrer Provinces ; yet, not half a dozen settlers are on the road 
 
44 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 for the first twenty-six miles; and for the next twenty, not 
 half that number. How many cottars, small farmers, and 
 plough boys in Britain, would rejoice to know that they could 
 get a hundred acres of such land for one dollar an acre, money 
 down ; or at twenty cents per acre after five years' settlement 
 on it ! They could settle along the high road, take their pro- 
 duce to a good market, and be independent landholders in five 
 years. This was the information about the price of land that 
 the settlers gave us. Why free grants are not offered, as in 
 other parts of Ontario or in Manitoba, it is impossible to say. 
 
 From the Matawan to Shebandowan lake was the next stage, 
 twenty miles long. We passed over most of it in the dark, 
 but could see, from the poor timber and other indications, that 
 the latter half was not at all as good as the first. The road 
 was heavy, varying between corduroy, deep sand, and rutty 
 and rooty stretches, over which the waggon jolted frightfully. 
 
 So passed the first day of our expedition, for we counted that 
 the journey only began at Thunder Bay. 
 
 July 23rd. — Rose at sunrise, andfoundthatthe baggage waggon 
 had not arrived. An hour after it came in, and, along with it, 
 two young gentlemen, M . . . . and L . . . with a canoe 
 and Indians on their way to Red River. They were traveling 
 for pleasure, and as they had been on the road all night, and 
 were tired, seedy and mosquito-bitten, they represented very 
 fairly, in their own persons, the Anglo-Saxon idea of pleasure. 
 
 At 8 A. M., the baggage having been stowed in the canoes, 
 the Indians paddled out, and hooked on to a little steam tug, 
 kept on the lake for towing purposes ; a line was formed, and 
 after a few preliminary puffings, the start was made and we 
 proceeded along the lake. The mode of locomotion was, to us, 
 altogether new, and as charming as it was picturesque: The 
 tug led the way at the rate of seven knots, towing first a large 
 barge with immigi-ants, second a five fathom canoe with three 
 of our party and seven Indians, third a four fathom canoe with 
 
THUNDEB BAY TO FORT GARRY. 45 
 
 two of us and six Indians, fourth same as number three, fifth 
 M . . . and L . . . .'s canoe. We glided along -with a 
 delightful motion, sitting on our baggage in the bottoms of the 
 canoes. The morning was dull and grey, and the shores of the 
 lake looked sterile and fire-swept, with abundant indications of 
 mineral wealth. Gold and silver have been found at Sheban- 
 dowan and prospecting parties are now searching aU accessi- 
 ble spots. ' 
 
 Our Indians were Iroquois fi-om Caughnawaga near Montreal, 
 and a few native Ojibbeways. Their leader was Ignace Men- 
 tour, who had been Sir George Simpson's guide for fifteen 
 years ; and the steersman of his canoe was Louis, who had been 
 cook to Sir George on his expeditions, and looked every inch 
 the butler of a respectable English family ; we fell in love with 
 him and Ignace from the first. Another of the Iroquois had 
 been one of the party which sought for Franklin by going 
 down the McKenzie River to the Arctic Sea. Two old pupils 
 of Ignace, named respectively Baptiste and Toma, were the 
 captains of the two smaller canoes. All were sinewy, active, 
 good looking men. Ignace's hair was gray, but he was stUl as 
 strong as any of the young men ; he paddled in the bow of the 
 big canoe, leading the way, and quietly chewing tobacco the 
 whole time. In his young days he had been a famous runner, 
 and had won foot races in every town on both sides of the St. 
 Lawrence. These Iroquois, and most *ot the Ojibbeways we 
 have met, are men above the medium size, broad shouldered, 
 with straight features, intelligent faces, and graceful, because 
 natural, bearing. 
 
 At the west end of the lake we came to a camp of seventy or 
 eighty Ojibbeways — two-thirds of them children. They had 
 been there for three weeks, of course doing nothing, and the 
 camp was very dirty. More were expected, and when all as- 
 sembled, a grand pow-wow would be held, and a Treaty 
 made between them and the Indian Commissioner of the 
 
4« OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 Dominion. So at least they hoped and they declared them- 
 selves -willing to cede, for a consideration, all their rights to 
 the land that would hinder settlers from coming in. Poor 
 creatures ! not much use have they ever made of the land ; but 
 yet, in admitting the settler, they sign their own death war- 
 rants. Who, but they, have a right to the country ; and if a 
 man may do what h'^ likes with his own, would they not be 
 justified in refusing to admit one of us to their lakes and woods 
 and fighting us to the death on that issue t 
 
 Three hours' steaming brought our flotilla to the west end of 
 the lake. A portage of three quarters of a mile intervenes 
 between it and Lake Kashaboiwe. The Indians emptied the 
 canoes in a trice ; two shouldered a canoe, weighing probably 
 three hundred pounds, and made off at a rapid trot across the 
 portage. The others loaded the waggon of the station with 
 the luggage, and carried on their backs, by a strap passed over 
 their foreheads, what the waggon could not take. This portage 
 strap is three or four inches broad in the middle, where it is 
 adjusted to the forehead ; its great advantage to the voyageur 
 is that it leaves him the free use of his arms in going through 
 the woods. A tug has been placed on Kashaboiwe, but as the 
 machinery was out of gear the Indians paddled over the lake 
 doing the ten miles of its length in two hours. The wood on 
 this lake is heavier than on Shebandowan : poplars, white 
 birch, red, white and scrub pine, all show well. The second 
 portage is between Kashaboiwe and Lac des MiUe Lacs, and is 
 the Height of Land where the water begins to run north and 
 west instead of east and south. The lakes, after this, empty at 
 their west ends. At the east end of Lac des Mille Laos a 
 little stream three yards wide, that flows in a tortuous channel 
 with gentle current into the lake, eventually finds its way to 
 Hudson's Bay. The Height of Land is about a thousand feet 
 above Lake Superior. 
 
 We now entered Lac des Mille Lacs— a lovely lake twenty- 
 
THUNDER BAY TO FORT GARBT. 47 
 
 two miles long ; its name explains its characteristic. As the 
 steam launch, stationed on it, happened unfortunately to be at 
 the west end, the Indians again paddled for about four miles, 
 when we met the launch coming back; it at once turned about 
 and took us in tow. After a smart shower the sky cleared, and 
 the sun shone on innumerable bays, creeks, channels, headlands, 
 and islets, which are simply larger or smaller rocks of granite 
 covered with moss and wooded to the water's brink. Through 
 these labyrinths we threaded our way, often wondering that the 
 wrong passage was never taken, where there were so many ex- 
 actly alike. An Indian on his own ground or water is never 
 mistaken, and we went on as surely as if on a king's highway. 
 Fortunately, the fire-demon has not devastated the shores. 
 The timber, in some places, is heavy : pine, aspen, and birch 
 being the prevailing varieties. Every islet in the lake is 
 wooded down to the water's edge. Our Botanist exulted in his 
 holiday and looked forward with eager hope to the flora of the 
 plains. As we drew near our third portage for the day, his 
 face clouded. " Look at the ground burnt again." One asked 
 if it was the great waste of wood he referred to. " It's not 
 that, but, they have burned the very spot for botanizing over.'' 
 What is a site for shanty and clearing compared to botany? 
 
 At the end of Lac des Mille Lacs is Baril Portage, less 
 than a quarter of a mUe long. No steamer has been put on 
 Baril lake; but the Indians paddled over its eight miles of length 
 in an hour and forty minutes. The blufis around Baril are 
 bolder than those rising from the previous lakes, and the vege- 
 tation very similar. We hurried over the next portage, and, 
 at the other end met the station-keeper, who had a comfortable 
 tent pitched for the emigrants, strewn with fragrant pine and 
 spruce branches. 
 
 It was impossible to avoid admiring the activity and cheer- 
 fulness with which our Indians worked. They would carry as 
 heavy a load as a Constantinople porter, at a rapid trot across 
 
*» OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 the portage, run back for another load without a minute's halt, 
 and so on tUl all the luggage was portaged, and everything in 
 readiness for starting on the next lake. The canoes were always 
 their first care. As a jockey cherishes his horse, and a shep- 
 herd his collie,so do they care for and actually love their canoe. 
 
 A fire was quickly kindled, and search made for the eatables 
 blankets, and everything needed for the night, when the dis- 
 covery was made that, though the colonel had his blankets and 
 the botanist his pair, a big package with the main supply had 
 been left behind, very probably as far back as the " Height of 
 Land." The frizzling of the ham in the frying pan, and the 
 delicious fragrance of the tea, made us forget the loss for the 
 time. We all sat around the fire, gipsy-like, enjoying our first 
 gipsy meal, and very soon after threw ourselves down on the 
 water-proof that covered the sweet-smelling floor of the tent 
 and slept the sleep of the just. 
 
 July 20th. — ^The Chief awoke us in the grey misty dawn. It 
 took more than a little shaking to awaken the boys ; but the 
 botanist had gone oflF, no one knew when, in search of new 
 species. As we emerged from our tent, Louis and Baptiste 
 appeared from theirs, and kindled the fire. They next took 
 from a wallet scented soap, brush and comb ; went down to the 
 stream, washed and made their toilettes, and then set to work 
 to prepare for breakfast. It never seemed to occur to our 
 Ojibbeways to wash, crop, or dress their hair. They let it 
 grow, at its own sweet will, all around their faces and down 
 their necks, lank and stifi", helping the growth with fish oil. 
 Every one of the Iroquois had a good liead of haii-, thick, well 
 cropped, and, though always black, quite like the hair of a 
 civilized man instead of a savage. Our Ojibbeways had silver 
 rings on their fingers, broad gaudy sashes and bedraggled 
 feathers bound round their felt hats. The Iroquois diessed as 
 simply and neatly as blue jackets. 
 
 It had been chUly through the night, and the cold mist clun» 
 
THUNDER BAY TO FORT GARRY. 49 
 
 heavily to the ground in the morning. The air is colder than 
 the water from evening till morning. Hence the evening and 
 morning mists, which disappear an hour or two after sunrise, 
 rise and form into clouds, which sooner or later empty them- 
 selves back again on the land or lakes. 
 
 After breakfast we embarked on the mist-covered river that 
 runs into Lake Windegoostigwan. The sun soon cleared away 
 the mists and we glided on pleasantly, down long reaches of 
 lake, and through narrow winding reedy passages, past curved 
 shores hidden by rank vegetation, and ' naked bluffs and islets 
 covered with clumps of pines. Not a word fell from the In- 
 dians' lips, as they paddled with all the ease and regularity of 
 machinery. The air was delightful, and all felt as if out on a 
 holiday. In three hours the fifteen miles of Windegoostigwan 
 were crossed, and we came to a portage nearly two miles long. 
 This detained us three hours,' as the waggon had to make two 
 trips from lake to lake, over a new road, with our luggage. 
 
 A man from Glengarry was in charge of the portage ; he had 
 lived here all winter, and said that he preferred the winter 
 weather to that of the Eastern Provinces. Great as is the 
 summer rainfall, it is quite different in winter ; then the days 
 are clear and cloudless, and so sunny and pleasant that he was 
 accustomed to go 'about in his summer clothing, except in the 
 mornings and evenings. Three feet of snow fell in the woods 
 after Christmas, and continued dry and powdery till April 
 when it commenced to melt, and soon after the middle of May 
 it was all gone, and vegetation began to show itself at once. 
 
 At the west end of the portage is a small encampment of 
 Ojibbeways, around the wigwam of Blackstone, said to be their 
 most eloquent chief, and accordingly set down as a great rascal 
 by those who cannot conceive of Indians as having rights, or 
 tribal or patriotic feelings. He was absent, but we saw one of 
 his three wives sitting on a log, with two or three papooses 
 hanging round her neck, and his oldest son, a stout young 
 
50 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 fellow, who could not speak a word of English or French, bui 
 who managed to let us know that \e was ill. The Doctor was 
 called and he made out that the lad had a pain in his back, but, 
 not being able to diagnose more particularly, was at a loss what 
 to do for him. Our Clhief suggested a bit of tobacco, but the 
 Doctor took no notice of the profane proposal ; luckily enough, 
 or the whole tribe would have been ill when the next Medicine- 
 man passed their way. Blaokstone's wife was not more comely 
 than any of the other Indian women ; that is she was dirty, 
 joyless-looking and prematurely old. All the hard work falls 
 to the lot of the women ; the husband hunts, fishes, paddles, or 
 does any other work that a gentleman feels he can do without 
 degradation ; his wife is • something better than his dog, and 
 faithfully will he share with her his last morsel ; but it's only 
 a dog's life that she has. 
 
 Our next lake was Kaogassikok, sixteen miles long. The 
 shores of this, too, were lined with good-sized pine, white, red, 
 and scrub. To-day more larch and cedar shewed among the 
 birch and pine than yesterday. When the country is opened up, 
 all this timber will be very valuable, as sleepers and ties foi' 
 the Pacific Railway, and lumber, for building purposes, can be 
 obtained here in abundance, if nowhere nearer the plains. 
 fJumbers of fine trees are now growing in the water ; for, by 
 damming up the outflow of the lakes to make the landing places, 
 the water level has been raised and the shore trees' have thus 
 been submerged several feet. They wDl rot, in consequence, 
 and fall into the lakes sooner or later, and perhaps obstruct the 
 narrow channels. The timber gets heavier as we go on ; at the 
 west of Kaogassikok are scrub pines, three feet in diameter ; 
 but, iinfortimately, about one-third of them are punky or hol- 
 low. Here are two portages, Pine and Deux Rivik-es, separated 
 by only two miles of water ; consequently mucli detention owing 
 to our magnificent quantities of baggage. Two Indians suffer- 
 iiig from dysentery, applied for relief at Pine Portage, and 
 
THUNDER BAY TO FORT GARRY. 61 
 
 received it at the hands of the Doctor : he has already had 
 about a dozen cases, either of white or red men, since we left 
 Owen Sound. Our party have, thus far, received little at the 
 Doctor's hands, sundry medical comforts always excepted. 
 
 After paddling over four miles of the next lake the Indians 
 advised camping, though the sun was more than an hour high. 
 As we had experienced the discomforts of camping in the dark 
 the night before, and as the men were evidently tired, we landed 
 and pitched the tents on a rocky promontory at the foot of a 
 
 wooded hilL Scarcely were our fires lighted, when M 's 
 
 canoe came up, and then another with a stray Indian, his wife, 
 papooses, dog — ^that looked half wolf, and all their traps. After 
 a good swim, we sat down to our evening meal, which Louis 
 had spread on a clean table-cloth on the sward. In front of us 
 was the smooth lake ; on the other side of it, two miles off, the 
 sun was going down in the woods. The country ahead broke 
 into knolls, looking in many parts like cultivated parks; around 
 us the white tents and the ruddy fires, with Indians flitting 
 between, or busy about the canoes, gave animation to the scene 
 and made up a picture that will long live in the memory of 
 many of us. 
 
 The Indians never halt without at once turning their canoes 
 upside down, and examining them. The seams and crevices in 
 the birch bark yield at any extra strain, and scratches are made 
 by submerged brushwood in some of the channels or the shallow 
 parts of the lakes. These crevices they carefully daub over 
 with resin, which is obtained from the red pine, till the bottom 
 of an old canoe becomes almost covered with a black resinous 
 coat. Of course, the more uniform the blackness, the harder 
 the service the canoe has seen. 
 
 The stray Indian pitched camp a hundred yards off from us ; 
 and, with true f ndian dignity, did not come near to ask for 
 anything, though quite equal to take anything that was offered 
 or left behind 
 
52 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 July 25th.— TTp before four A.M., and, after a cup of hot 
 tea, that always has a wondrous fragrance in the wilderness, 
 started in exceUent spirits. Our three canoes had tried a race 
 the night before, over the last four miles of the day's journey, 
 and they renewed it this morning. The best crew was in the 
 five-fathom boat, of which Ignace was captain, and Louis steers- 
 man. The captains of the other two, Baptiste and Toma, 
 pushed their old master hard to-day ; as one or the other stole 
 ahead, not a glance did Ignace give to either. Doggedly, and 
 with averted head, he dug his paddle deeper in the water, and 
 pegged away with his sure, steady stroke, and though the 
 others, by spurting, forced themselves half a canoe length ahead 
 at times, they had not the stay of the older men, and every race 
 ended with Ignace leading. Then he would look up, and with 
 sunshine on his broad handsome face, throw a good humoured 
 joke back, which the others would catch up with great glee. 
 These races often broke the monotony of the day. " Up, up," 
 or '-'hi, hi," would break suddenly from one of the canoes that 
 had fallen behind. Everyone answered with quickened stroke 
 that sent it abreast of the others. Then came the tug of war. 
 The graceful, gondola-shaped canoes cut through the water as 
 though impelled by steam. The Buffalo or Ignace's canoe — 
 so called from the figure of an Indian with a gun standing be- 
 fore abufialo that he had painted on the bow — always led at the 
 first ; but often the Sun, Baptiste's Ughter craft, would shoot 
 ahead, and sometimes Toma's, the Beaver, under the' frantic 
 efibrts of her crew, seconded by one or two of us snatching up 
 a paddle, would lead for a few minutes. The chivalry of our 
 Indians in the heat of the contest contx-asted favourably with 
 that of professionals. No " ibul " ever took place, though the 
 course often lay through narrow winding reedy channels. Once, 
 when Baptiste at such a place might have forced ahead by a 
 spurt, he slacked speed gracefully, let Ignace 'take the curve 
 and win. Another time, when neck and, neok, be saw a heavy 
 
THUNDEE BAY TO PORT GARRY. 63 
 
 line dragging at the stem and called Louis' attention to it. No 
 one ever charged the other with being unfair, and no angry 
 word was ever heard; in fact, the Indians grow on us day by day. 
 It is easy to understand how an Englishman, travelling for weeks 
 together with an Indian guide, so often contracts a strong 
 friendship for him ; for Indian patience, endurance, dignity, and 
 self-control, are the very qualities to evoke friendship. 
 
 The sun rose bright but was soon clouded. Ten good miles 
 were made and then the halt called for breakfast, at a beautiful 
 headland, just as it commenced to rain. Now we got some 
 idea of what a rainy day in these regions means. After break- 
 fast we put on our water-proofs, covered up our baggage and 
 moved ahead, under a deluge of rain that knew no intermission 
 for four hours. Most of the water-proofs proved to be delus- 
 ions ; they had not been made for these latitudes. The canoes 
 would have filled, had we not kept bailing, but, without a word 
 of complaint, the Indians stuck to their paddles. 
 
 From the lake we passed into the Maligne river, and there 
 the current aided us. In this short, but broad and rapid 
 stream, are six or seven rapids, which must be shot or portaged 
 round ; we preferred the shooting, wherever it was practicable 
 for such large and deeply-laden canoes as ours. 
 
 To shoot rapids in a canoe is a pleasure that comparatively 
 few Englishmen have ever enjoyed, and no picture can give an 
 idea of what it is. There is a fascination in the motion, as of 
 poetry or music, which must be experienced to be understood. 
 The excitement is greater than when on board a steamer, be- 
 cause you are so much nearer the seething water, and the canoe 
 seems such a fragile thing to contend with the mad forces, into 
 the very thick of which it has to be steered. Where the stream 
 begins to descend, the water is an inclined plane, smooth and 
 shining as glare ice. Beyond that it breaks into curling, gleam- 
 ing rolls which end off in white, boiUng caldrons, where the 
 water has broken on the rocks underneath. On the brink of 
 
54 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 the inclined plane the motion is so quiet that you think the 
 canoe pauses for an instant. The captain is at the bow, — a 
 broader, stronger paddle than usual in his hand — his eye kindl- 
 ing with enthusiasm, and every nerve and fibre in his body at 
 its utmost tension. The steersman is at his post, and every 
 man is ready. They know that a false stroke, or too weak a 
 turn of the captain's wrist, at the critical moment, means death. 
 A push with the paddles, and, straight and sVnft as an arrow, 
 the canoe shoots right down into the mad vortex ; now into a 
 cross current that would twist her broadside round, but that 
 every man fights against it ; then she steers right for a rock, to 
 which she is being resistlessly sucked, and on which it seems as 
 if she would be dashed to pieces ; but a rapid turn of the cap- 
 tain's paddle at the right moment, and she rushes past the black 
 mass, riding gallantly as a race horse. The waves boil up at the 
 side, threatening to engulf her, but except a dash of spray or 
 the cap of a wave, nothing gets in, and as she speeds into the 
 calm reach beyond, all draw long breaths and hope that another 
 rapid is near. 
 
 At eleven o'clock we reached Island Portage, having paddled 
 thirty-two miles — the best forenoon's work since taking to the 
 canoes — in spite of the weather. Here a steam launch is 
 stationed ; and, though the engineer thought it a frightful day 
 to travel in, he got ready at our request, but said that he could 
 not go four miles an hour as the rain would keep the boiler wet 
 
 the whole time. We dined with M 's party, under the 
 
 shelter of their upturned canoe, on tea and the fattest of fat 
 pork, which all ate with delight unspeakable, for every one had 
 in himself the right kind of sauce. The day, and our soaked 
 condition, suggested a little brandy as a specific ; but their bot. 
 tie was exhausted, and, an hour before, they had passed round 
 the cork for each to have a smell at. Such a case of potatoes 
 and point moved our pity, and the chief did what he could for 
 •■hem. The Indians excited our admiration ; — soaked through, 
 
THUNDER BAY TC FORT OAHRY. 55 
 
 and over-worked as they had been, the only word that we heard, 
 indicating that they were conscious of anything unusual, was 
 an exclamation from Baptiste, as he gave himself a shake, — 
 " Boys, wish I was in a tavern now, I'd get drunk in less than 
 tree hours, I guess." 
 
 At two o'clock, the steam launch was ready. It towed us 
 the twenty-four miles of Lake Nequaquon in three and a quarter 
 hours. 
 
 Next came Loon portage ; then paddling for five miles ; then 
 Mud portage, worthy of its name ; another short paddle ; and 
 then American portage, at which we camped for the night — 
 the sun having at last come out and this being the best place 
 for pitching tents and the freest from mosquitoes. Tired enough 
 all hands were, and ready for sleep, for these portages are kill- 
 ing work. After taking a swim, we rigged lines before huge 
 fires, and hung up our wet things to dry, so that it was eleven 
 o'clock before anyone could lie down. The Doctor and Secretary 
 had stowed their luggage in water-proof bags, kindly lent them 
 by the Colonel; but the bags proved as fallacious as our water- 
 proofs ! Part of the Botanist's valise was reduced to pulp, but 
 he was too eager in search of specimens to think of such a trifle, 
 and, while all the rest of us were busy washing and hanging 
 out to dry, he hunted through woods and marshes, and, though 
 he got little for his pains, was happy as a king. 
 
 Our camping ground had been selected by the Indians with 
 their usual good taste. A rocky eminence, round two sides of 
 which a river poured in a roaring linn ; on the hill sombre 
 pines, underneath which the tents were pitched ; and lower 
 down a forest of white birch. More than one of the party 
 dreamed he was in Scotland, as he was lulled to sleep by the 
 thunder of the waterfall. 
 
 July 26th. — Up again about three A.M., and off within an 
 hour, down a sedgy river, with low swampy shores, into Lake 
 Nameukan, The sun rose bright, and continued to shine pH 
 
56 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 day ; but a pleasant breeze tempered its rays. At mid-day, the 
 thermometer stood at 80° in the shade, the hottest since leaving 
 Owen Sound. One day on Lake Superior it was down to 48°, 
 and the average at mid-day since we landed at Thunder Bay was 
 from 55° to 60°. 
 
 After twelve miles paddling, halted at a pretty spot on an 
 
 islet for breakfast. Frank caught a large pickerel and M 
 
 shot a few pigeons, giving us a, variety of courses at dinner. 
 
 M 's Indians tried a race with us to-day, and after a hard 
 
 struggle got ahead of Toma and Baptiste, but Ignaoe proudly 
 held his own and would not be beaten. However, among the 
 many turns of the river, Toma, followed by Baptiste, circum- 
 vented their old master, by dashing through a passage over- 
 grown with weeds and reeds instead of taking the usual channel. 
 When Ignace turned the corner he saw the two young fellows 
 coolly waiting for him a hundred and fifty yards ahead. They 
 gave a sly laugh as he came up, but Ignace was too dignified to 
 take the slightest notice. Baptiste was so pleased that he sang 
 us two Iroquois canoe songs. 
 
 Eighteen mUes, broken by two short portages (for we took a 
 short-cut instead of the public route), brought us about mid-day 
 to Rainy Lake. 
 
 The engineer of the steam launch here promised to be ready 
 in two hours, and to land us at Fort Francis, at the west end of 
 Rainy Lake, forty-five miles on, by sundown. But in half an 
 hour the prospect did not look so bright, as, across the portage, 
 by the public route, came a band of eighteen emigrants, men, 
 women and children, who had left Thunder Bay five days before 
 us, and whom we had passed this forenoon, when ^e took our 
 short cut. They had a great deal of baggage, and were terribly 
 tired. One old woman, eighty-five years of age, complained of 
 being ill, and the doctor attended to her. As we had soup for 
 dinner, he sent some over to her, and the prescription had a 
 good efi'ect. While waiting here wo took our halt dried clothea 
 
THUNDER BAY TO FOET GARRY. 67 
 
 out of the bags, and, by hanging them on lines under the warm 
 sun, got them pretty well dried before starting. 
 
 At three P.M., at the cry of " All aboard," our flotilla formed 
 at once, — the steam launch towing two large barges with the 
 emigrants and their luggage, and the four canoes. The after- 
 noon was warm and sunny, and there was a pleasant breeze on 
 the Lake. In half an hour every Indian was asleep in the 
 bottom of his canoe. 
 
 The shores of Rainy Lake are low, especially on the northern 
 side, and the timber is small ; the shores rocky, with here and 
 there sandy beaches that have formed round little bays ; scenery 
 tame and monotonous, though the islets, in some parts, are 
 beautiful. 
 
 By nine o'clock, we had made only thirty miles. Our steamer 
 was small, the flotilla stretched out far and the wind was ahead. 
 We therefore determined to camp ; and, by the advice of the 
 engineer, steered for the north shore to what is called the 
 Fifteen Mile House from Fort Francis, said house being two 
 deserted log huts. Our botanist, learning that we would leave 
 before day-break, lighted an old pine branch and roamed about 
 with his torch to investigate the flora of the place. The others 
 visited the emigrants to whom the log-huts had been assigned, 
 or sat round rousing fires smoking, or gathered bracken and 
 fragrant artemisia for the beds. 
 
 July 27th. — Had our breakfast before four A.M.,and in less 
 than half an hour after, were en route for Fort Francis. Two 
 miles above the Fort the Lake ends and pours itself into Rainy 
 River, over a rapid which the emigrants' barges had not oars to 
 shoot. They were cast off', and we went on to the Fort and sent 
 men up to bring them down. The Fort is simply a Hudson's 
 Bay Company's trading post ; — the shop and the cottages of the 
 agent and employes in the form of a squa,re, surrounded by 
 stockades about ten feet high. From the Fort is a beautiful 
 view of the Chaudiere Falls which have to be portaged round. 
 
68 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 These are formed by the river, here nearly two hundred yards 
 wide, pouring over a granite ridge in magnificent roaring cap,- 
 oades. A sandy plain of several acres, covered with rich grass 
 extends around the Fort, and wheat, barley, and potatoes are 
 raised ; but beyond this plain is marsh and then rock. A few 
 fine cattle, in splendid condition, were grazing upon the level- 
 On the potato leaves we found the Colorado Bug, that frightful 
 pest which seems to be moving further east every year. 
 
 Half a dozen wigwams were tenanted in the vicinity of the 
 Fort, and there were scores of roofless poles, where, a fortnight 
 ago, had been high feasting for a few days. A thousand or 
 twelve hundred Ojibbeways had assembled to confer with Mr. 
 Simpson, the Dominion Indian Commissioner, as to the terms 
 on which they would allow free passage through, and settle- 
 ment in the country. No agreement had been come to, as their 
 terms were considered extravagant. 
 
 Justice, both to the Indians and to the emigrants who are in- 
 vited to make their home in this newly opened country, demands 
 that a settlement of the difficulty be made as soon as possible. 
 It may be true that they are vain, lazy, dirtyj and improvident. 
 The few about Fort Francis did not impress us favourably. 
 They contrasted strikingly with our noble Iroquois. The men 
 were lounging about, lolling in their wigwams, playing cards in 
 the shade, or lying on their faces in the sun ; and, though not 
 one of them was doing a hand's turn, it was a matter of some 
 difficulty to get four or five to go with us to the North-west 
 Angle, to replace those who had come from Shebandowan and 
 whose engagement ended here. There were some attempts at 
 tawdry finery about them all. The men wore their hair plaited 
 into two or more long queues, which, when rolled up on the 
 head, looked well enough, but which usually hung down the 
 sides of the face, giving them an effeminate look, all the more 
 so because bits of silver or brass were twisted in or ringed 
 round with the p'aits. One young fellow that consented to 
 
THUNDER BAY TO FORT GARRY. 69 
 
 paddle, had long streamers of bright ribbon flying from his felt 
 hat. Another poor looking creature had his face streaked over 
 with red ochre — to show how great a brave he was. Some wore 
 blankets, folded loosely and gracefully about them, instead of 
 coats and trousers. Indeed, every one had some good clothes ; 
 the construction of the road being the cause of this, for all who 
 wish can get employment in one way or another in connection 
 with it. At Fort Francis the hulls of two steamers, to be over 
 a hundred feet in length, for use on Rainy river and Lake of 
 the Woods, are now being buUt; and Indians who cannot work 
 at bringing in timber or at ship carpentering, can be employed 
 as voyageurs, or to improve the portages, or to fish or hunt, or 
 in many other ways. But whatever the benefits that have 
 been conferred on them, or whatever their natural defects, they 
 have rights to this country, though they have never divided it 
 up into separate personal holdings. They did not do so, simply 
 because their idea was that the land was free to all. Each tribe 
 had its own ground, which extended over hundreds of miles, 
 md every man had a full right to all of that as far as he could 
 )ccupy it. Wherever he could walk, ride, or canoe, there the 
 land and the water were his. If he went to the land of another 
 tribe, the same rule held good. There he might be scalped as 
 an enemy, but he ran no risk of being punished as a trespasser. 
 And now a foreign race is swarming over the country, to 
 mark out lines, to erect fences, and to say " this is mine and not 
 yours," tUl not an inch shall be left the original owner. All 
 this may be inevitable. But in the name of justice, and of the 
 sacred rights of property, is not the Indian entitled to liberal 
 and, if possible, permanent compensation? What makes k 
 difficult to arrange a settlement with the Ojibbeways is, that 
 they have no chiefs who are authorized to treat for them. 
 This results from their scattered and dispersed state as a nation. 
 The country they live in is poorly supplied with game, and pro. 
 ducen but little of itself, and the Indian does not farm, It is 
 
60 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 thus impossible for them to live in large bodies. They wander 
 in groups and families from place to place, often suffering the 
 extreme of hunger, and sometimes starved outright. Each 
 group has generally one or more men of greater moral or 
 physical power than the rest, and these are its chiefs, chiefs who 
 have no hereditary rank, who have never been formally elected, 
 and who are quietly deposed when greater men than they rise 
 up. Their influence is indirect, undefined, wholly personal, and 
 confined to the particular group they live witti. They can 
 scarcely speak for the group, and not at all for the nation. 
 "When anything has to be done for the nation as a whole, there 
 is then no other way but for the nation to meet en masse. 
 Even then they elect no representative men, unless specially 
 requested. Those of greatest age, eloquence, or personal weight 
 speak for the others ; but decisions can be come to only by the 
 crowd. Of course they could not have existed, thus loosely 
 bound together, had they lived in large bodies, or being pressed 
 by powerful enemies. But they are merely families and groups 
 and their lands have no special attraction fer other Indian 
 tribes. Neither can they be formidable as enemies to settlers 
 on this same account, should the worst come to the worst ; but 
 their feebleness makes it the more incumbent on the Govern- 
 ment of a Christian people to treat them not only justly but 
 generously. 
 
 After breakfast we paddled down the river, till overtaken by 
 the steam launch with the emigrants. The day was very warm; 
 when we landed, about twelve miles on, to dine, the thermom- 
 eter stood at 87 ° in the shade. 
 
 Rainy River is broad and beautiful ; flowing with an easy 
 current through a low-lying and evidently fertile country. For 
 the whole of its length — about eighty miles — it forms the 
 boundary between Canada and the United States. For the 
 first twenty-five miles, twenty or thirty feet above the present 
 beach or intervale, rises in terrace form another, evidently the 
 
THUNDER BAY TO FOET GARRY. 61 
 
 old shore of the river, which exxends far back like a prairie 
 The richness of the soil is evident from the luxuriance and va- 
 riety of the wild flowers. Much of the land could be cleared 
 almost as easily as prairie ; other parts are covered with pines, 
 elms, maples and aspens. 
 
 Thirty-five miles from Fort Francis we ran the Manitou 
 rapids and, five miles further on, the Sault, neither of them 
 formidable. A moderately powerful steamer could easily run 
 up as well as shoot them. Beyond the Sault we landed to take 
 in wood for the tug, and dinner for ourselves. The Botanist 
 came up to us in a few minutes with wild pea and vetch vines 
 eight feet high, which grew so thickly, not far ofi", that it was 
 almost impossible to pass through them . The land is a heavy 
 loam, — once the bed of the river, and the luxuriance of the 
 vegetation shows that it is of the best quality. He made a list 
 of the following plants while we halted, "and these," he truly 
 remarks " are only an index to the vast profusion of nature's 
 beauties in this region : — 
 Ijilium Canadense, Lathyrus venosus, 
 
 " Philadelphicum, " ochroleucns, 
 
 Vicia Americana, Monarda fistulosa, 
 
 Calystegia spithamea, Viburnum pubescens, 
 
 " sepium, Astragalus Canadensis, 
 
 Aralia hispida. Erysimum chieranthoides. 
 
 Lobelia Kalmii, Asarum Canadensis, 
 
 Similacina steUata, Lopanthus anistatus.'' 
 
 Besides these there were grasses and sedges in abundance and 
 many other species not worth mentioning. Enough was seen, 
 however, to satisfy the writer thai Rainy River will yet sup- 
 port a large population, mainly composed of agriculturists. 
 
 On we swept, down the broad pleasant river, with its long 
 reaches, beautiful at night as they had been in the bright sun- 
 shine At times a high wall of luxuriant "wood rose on each 
 side, and stretchBd far ahead in curves that looked in the gloam- 
 
62 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 ing like cultivated parks. Occasionally an islet divided the 
 river ; and, at such places, a small Indian camp was usually 
 pitched. Of the seventy-five miles of Rainy River, down which 
 we sailed to-day, every mile seemed well adapted for cultiva- 
 tion and the dwellings of men. At eleven o'clock the moon 
 rose ; at half-past twelve we reached Hungry Hall, a post of 
 the H. B. Company and a village of wigwams, out of which all 
 the natives rushed, some of them clothed scantily and others 
 less than scantily, to greet the new comers, with " Ho ! Ho ! " 
 or " B'jou, B'jo'u." Baptiste urged us not to stop here, as the 
 Indians of the place were such thieves that they would " steal 
 the socks off us,'' and spoke of good camping ground a mile and 
 a half further on. We took his advice, after getting a supply 
 of flour, pork, and tea from the store. 
 
 July 28th. — This morning, for the first time since leaving 
 Lake Superior, we enjoyed the luxury of a long sleep, and the 
 still greater luxury of an hour's dozing, that condition between 
 sleeping and waking in which you are just enough awake to 
 know that you are not asleep. 
 
 At 8. 30, A.M., a distinguished visitor appeared, an old stately 
 looking Indian, a chief, we were informed, and the father of 
 Blackstone. He came with only one attendant ; but two or 
 three canoes made their appearance about the same time, with 
 other Indians, squaws, and papooses who squatted in groups on 
 the banks at respectful distances. The old Indian came up 
 with a " B'jou, B'jou," shook hands all round, and then drawing 
 himself up — knife in one hand, big pipe in the other, the em- 
 blems of war and peace — commenced a long harangue. We 
 didn't understand a word ; but one of the men roughly inter- 
 preted, and the speaker's gestures were so expressive that the 
 drift of his meaning could be easily followed. Pointing, with 
 outstretched arms, north, south, east and west, he told us that 
 all the land had been his people's, and that he now, in their 
 name, asked for some return for our passage through it, The 
 
THUNDER BAY TO PORT GARRY. 63 
 
 bearing and speech were those of a born orator. He had good 
 straight features, a large Roman nose, square chin, and, as he 
 stood over six feet in his moccasins, his presence was most com- 
 manding. One great secret of impressive gesticulation — the 
 free play of the arm from the shoulder, instead of the cramped 
 motion from the elbow — he certainly knew. It was astonish- 
 ing with what dignity and force, long, rolling, musical sen- 
 tences poured from the lips of one who would be carelessly 
 classed by most people as a savage, to whose views no regard 
 should be paid. When ended, he took a seat on a hillock with 
 the dignity natural to every real Indian, and began to smoke 
 in perfect silence. He had said his say, and it was our turn 
 now. Without answering his speech, which we could only have 
 done in a style far inferior to his, the Chief proposed that he 
 should have some breakfast. To show due respect to so great 
 an 0-ghe-mah, a newspaper was spread before him as a table- 
 cloth, and a plate of fried pork placed on. it, with a huge slap- 
 jack or thick pancake made of flour and fat, one-sixth of 
 which was as much as any white man's stomach could digest. 
 A large pannikin of tea, a beverage the Indians are immoder- 
 ately fond of, was also brought, and, by signs, he was invited 
 to fall to. For some moments he made no movement, either 
 from offended pride or expectation that we would join him, or, 
 more likely, only to show a gentleman-like indifference to the 
 food. But the fat pork and the fragrant tea were irresistible. 
 Many a great man's dignity has been overcome by less. After 
 he had eaten about half, he summoned his attendant to sit be- 
 side him and eat, and to him too a pannikin of tea was brought. 
 We then told the old man that we had heard his words ; that 
 we were travellers carrying only enough food for ourselves, but 
 that we would bring his views to the notice of the Government, 
 and that his tribe would certainly receive justice, as it was the 
 desire of our Great Mother the Queen, that all her children — 
 led as well as white — should be well cared for. He at once 
 
64 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 assented, though whether he would have done so with equal 
 blaadness had we given him no breakfast is questionable. He 
 was entitled to the breakfast and perhaps to something more ; 
 for as no treaty had been made we were certainly trespassers on 
 his domains. 
 
 At ten o'clock the steamer came along. 
 
 A few miles through long reaches of wide expanding sedge 
 and marsh brought us to the Lake of the Woods. An unbroken 
 sheet of water, ten miles square, called The Traverse, is the 
 first part of this Lake that has to be crossed ; but, as a thunder 
 storm seemed brewing behind us, the taptain steered to the 
 north, behind a group of islets that fringe the shore. In half 
 an hour an inky belt of cloud stretched over us from north to 
 south, and, when it burst, the torrent was as if the lake had 
 turned upside down. The storm moved with us, as in a circle, 
 flashes of lightning coming simultaneously from opposite quar- 
 ters of the heavens. First we had the wind and rain on our 
 backs, then on the left, then in our faces, and then on the right. 
 The captain made for a little bay in an islet near at hand, and, 
 though the weather cleared, it looked threatening enough to 
 make him decide to put the steamer's fire out and wait. The 
 islet was merely a sand dune, covered with coarse grasses and 
 small willows, though in a storm these sand hills might be mis, 
 taken for formidable rocks. As there was not enough wood on 
 it for both parties, we gave it up to the crew and the emigrants, 
 and paddled to another a mUe ahead. This islet was of gneis- 
 soid rock, and had a bold headland covered with good wood. 
 The botanist found the ash-leaved maple, the nettle tree, and 
 twenty-four kinds of wild flowers that he had not seen since 
 joining the expedition, and, of these, eight with which he was 
 unacquainted. 
 
 Scarcely were our canoes hauled up, when the Colonel came 
 along. His men had been so anxious to have all their party 
 ^gether that they had paddled steadily at their hardest for 
 
THUNDER BAY TO FORT GARRY. 65 
 
 seven hours. Louis at once set to work to get dinner ; and, it 
 being Sunday, several delicacies were brought out in addition 
 to the standing dishes of pork, biscuit and tea. From the 
 Colonel's stores came MuUagatawny soup, Bologna sausage, 
 French mustard, Marmalade, and, as eveiy one carried with 
 him an abundant supply of " black sauce," we had a great 
 feast. 
 
 After dinner, all the party, except the pagan Ojibbeways, 
 assembled for divine service. The form compiled for the sur- 
 veying parties was read ; the " Veni Creator" sung in Iroquois 
 by the Indians ; and a short sermon preached. Although the 
 Iroquois understood but few words of English, they listened 
 most devoutly, and we listened with as much attention to their 
 singing. To hear those children of the forest, on a lonely isle 
 in a lake that Indian tradition says is ever haunted by their 
 old deities, chanting the hymn that foi: centuries has been sung 
 at the great Councils and in the high Cathedrals of Christen- 
 dom, moved us deeply. 
 
 After tea, candles were lit in the tents, as this evening we 
 were not too tired to read. Our candlestick was a simple and 
 effective Indian contrivance. A stick of any length you desired 
 was slit at the top and then stuck in the ground. A bit of 
 birch-bark or paper was doubled ; in the fold the candle was 
 placed, and the ends were then inserted in the slit. The stick 
 thus held the ends tight, and the candle upright. "We spent a 
 quiet pleasant evening, and about ten o'clock turned in. 
 
 July 29th. — ^There was a heavy sea on The Traverse, and, as 
 the little steamer was not very sea^ worthy, it was doubtful if she 
 would attempt the passage. But, while we were at breakfast, 
 she was announced as making in our direction. Orders were 
 at once given to take down the tents and embark the stores, 
 but the Indians showed some reluctance to move. They said 
 that it would be safer to trust to the paddles ; that the. waves 
 in the middle of The Traversewould be heavy, and that, if the 
 
66 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 canoes were forced through them, the bow or side would be 
 broken in. We overruled their doubts, with a show of con- 
 fidence, and started at 7.30 A.M. 
 
 Instead of the long single line of canoes that had been formed 
 on previous days, they were now formed two abreast, and the 
 connecting lines of the first two were shortened, and tied to the 
 middle bench of the big barge which contained the emigrants' 
 luggage. This worked admirably, as the barge brcke the 
 waves, and, in the comparatively smooth water immediately be- 
 hind her, the two canoes rode easily, the five-fathom one to 
 windward and a smaller one under her lee ; close after these 
 came the other two canoes. The passage was made safely, and 
 the water for the rest of the day was only rippled slightly, as 
 we took a circuitous route through innumerable islets, instead 
 of the short and direct one over the unbroken part of the lake. 
 The forenoon was cold and cloudy, but occasionally the sun 
 shone cheerily out. All were thankful for the clouds and cool- 
 ness, as they could note and enjoy the changing scenery, where- 
 as the day before yesterday, in coming down Rainy River, they 
 had suffered from the rays of the sun beating down fiercely, and 
 reflected on every side from the water. To sit still in the 
 canoes and suffer headache and drowsiness was a heavy price 
 to pay for the pleasure of a glowing sun. The Indians who 
 seemed able to do without sleep, if necessary, but willing to 
 take any quantity when they could get it, slept soundly in the 
 bottom of the canoes. 
 
 At mid-day we landed for dinner in a bay on a fire-swept 
 islet. The Colonel and the boys made the circuit of the islet 
 with their guns ; but saw nothing worth shooting at except a 
 solitary duck, which they did not get. 
 
 Lake of the Woods has been shorn of much of its beauty by 
 fires. The fires have also revealed the nakedness, as far as soil 
 is con(!erned, of its shores and islets which are low, hard, gneis- 
 soid rocks, covered with but poor timber even where it has been 
 spared. 
 
THUNDER BAY TO FORT GARRY. 67 
 
 In the afternoon a favourable wind helped us on ; the barge 
 hoisted a sail, and between wind and steam we made seven or 
 eight miles an hour. The tug stopped twice for wood ; but 
 such despatch was shown that though there was neither wharf 
 nor platform, and the tug had to be held by boat hooks to the 
 rocks, and at the same time kept from dashing against them, 
 the whole thing was done at each place in ten minutes. 
 
 The last eight or nine miles of the Lake, which were to be 
 the last of our journey by water, led up a long bay to what is 
 called the North-west Angle, a point from which a road has 
 been made to Fort Grarry, so that travellers by this route now 
 escape the terrible portages of the Winnipeg river and the 
 roundabout way by Lake Winnipeg. The breeze chased us up 
 finely, and we congratulated ourselves on having started in the 
 morning, as the passage across The Traverse would have been 
 an impossibility with the afternoon's wind. The land became 
 lower as we sailed west. We were approaching the Eastern 
 boundary of the great prairies, that extend to the west for the 
 next thousand miles. A vast expanse of reeds lined both sides 
 of the channel, and beyond these the wood looked poor and 
 scrubby. The Indians, however, assured us that the land was 
 good, — indeed that it was the only lake of all that we had seen 
 that had any good land. 
 
 At sunset, the North-west Angle was reached. This point, 
 though far North of the 49th degree — the boundary line be- 
 tween the Dominion and the United States, is claimed by the 
 Republic, and their claim is sustained by an evident verbal 
 mistake in the Treaty that defines the boundary. " North- 
 west " has been inserted instead of " South-west." This is only 
 another instance in which the diplomatists of the Empire have 
 been outwitted by the superior knowledge and unscrupulous- 
 ness of our neighbours. A glance at the map reveals to any 
 one the ugly jog in the boundary line here, and the absurdity of 
 the claim which now cannot be gainsaid. 
 
68 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 As we rounded out of the Bay into a little creek, the Angle 
 appeared a place of importance in the eyes of travellers who 
 had not seen anything like a crowd in their last four hundred 
 miles of travel. Fifty or sixty people, chiefly Indians, crowded 
 about the landing place, and the babble and bustle were to us 
 like a return to the world ; but, after having satisfied them- 
 selves with a good look at us, and a joyous boisterous greeting 
 to our Ojibbeways, whom they carried off to an Indian and 
 half-breed ball in the neighbourhood, we were left alone in the 
 dirtiest, most desolate-looking, mosquito-haunted of all our 
 camping grounds. In such circumstances it was indispensable 
 to be jolly ; so Louis was sumnioned and instructed to prepare 
 for supper everything good that our stores contained. The 
 result was a grand success, and the looks of the place improved 
 materially. 
 
 The chief received two letters at this point ; one from Gov- 
 ernor Archibald inviting us to come direct to Government 
 House at Fort Garry ; another fromsjihe District Superintend- 
 ent of the road, putting his half-breed cook at our disposal. As 
 cook had taken advantage of his master's absence to treat and 
 be treated up to the hUarious point, his services, much to his 
 amazement, were quietly dispensed with. At 11 o'clock we 
 turned in under our canvas, having arranged that waggons 
 should be ready at 4 a. m. 
 
 July 30fch. — Waked at 4.30, by the sound of heavy rain. 
 Drank a cup of tea and were off in an hour on the hardest 
 day's journey that we had yet had. It was two o'clock the 
 following morning when we got out of the waggons for the 
 night's rest, having travelled eighty miles in the twenty hours. 
 
 Those eighty miles, between the North-west Angle and Oak 
 Point, were through a country utterly uninteresting in appear- 
 ance. The first twenty miles are across a flat country, most of 
 it marshy, with a dense forest of scrub pine, spruce, tamarack, 
 and, here and there, aspens and white birch. On both sides of 
 
THUNDER BAY 10 FORT GARRY. 69 
 
 the road, and in the more open parts of the country, all kinds 
 of wild fruit grow luxuriantly ; strawberries, raspberries, black 
 and red currants, etc., and, as a consequence, flocks of wild 
 pigeons and prairie hens are numerous. The pigeons rest calmly 
 on the branches of dead trees by the roadside, as if no shot had 
 ever been fired in their hearing. Great difficulties must have 
 been overcome in making this part of the road, and advantage 
 has been skilfully taken of dry spots and ridges of gravel or 
 sand, running in the same general direction as the road. All 
 this part of road has been corduroyed and covered over with 
 clay and sand, or gravel. The land is loam with clay under- 
 neath, like prairie ; with the prairie so near, it is not likely to 
 be soon cultivated ; but the wood on it will be in immediate 
 demand. 
 
 The next section of the country is of a difierent character. It 
 is light and sandy, getting more and more so every ten miles 
 further west. This change in the character of the soil afforded 
 a feast to our Botanist. In the course of the day he came on 
 two or three distinct floras ; and although not many of the spe- 
 cies were new, and in general features the productions of the 
 heavy and the light soils were similar to those of like land far- 
 ther east in Ontario and the Lower Provinces, yet the luxuriance 
 and variety were amazing. He counted over four hundred dif- 
 ferent species in this one day's ride. Great was the astonish- 
 ment of our teamsters, when they saw him make a bound from 
 his seat on the waggon to the ground, and rush to plain, wood, 
 or marsh. At first, they all hauled up to see what was the mattei-. 
 It must be gold or silver he had found ; but when he came back 
 triumphantly waving a flower or bunch of grass, they exclaimed, 
 " Did you ever see the like of that ?" they looked angry or 
 amused, according as they were sober minded teamsters or the 
 reverse. The internal cachinnation of a Scotch lad, from the 
 kingdom of Fife, over the phenomenon, was so violent, that he 
 would have exploded had he not relieved himself by occasional 
 
70 OCEAN TO OCEAN 
 
 witticisms ; " Jock," he cried to the teamster ahead, " tell yon 
 man if he wants a load o' graiss, no' to fill the buggy noo, an' 
 a'll show him a fine place where we feed the horse." But when 
 one of us explained to the Soot that all this was done in the in- 
 terests of science, and would end in something good for schools, 
 he ceased to jibe, though he could not altogether suppress a deep 
 hoarse rumbUng far down in his throat — like that of a distant 
 volcano, — when the Professor would come back with an un- 
 usually large armful of spoil. The bonny Scot was an emigrant 
 who had been a farm servant in Fife five years ago. He had 
 come to the Angle this spring, and was getting thirty dollai's a 
 month and his board, as a common teamster. He was saving 
 four-fifths of his wages, and intended in a few months to buy a 
 good farm on the Red River among his countrymen, and settle 
 down as a Laird for the rest of his life. How many ten 
 thousands of Scotch lads would follow his example if they only 
 knew how. 
 
 At our first station. White Birch rivei', thirty miles from the 
 Angle, the keeper of the Station was a very intelligent man, a 
 Scotchman, who had once been a soldier. He was studying 
 hard at the Cree and Ojibbeway languages, and gave us much 
 interesting information about the country and the Indians. 
 He attributed the failure of Mr. Simpson to make a treaty with 
 the Indians at Fort Francis, in great measure to the fact 
 that Indians from the United States had been instigated by 
 parties interested in the Northern Pacific Railway to come across 
 and inflame their countrymen on our side to make preposterous 
 demands. The story does not sound improbable to those who 
 know the extremes which Railway Kings and companies in New 
 York, and elsewhere in the Republic, have gone to in push- 
 ing their own line and doing everything <per fas atqv^ nefas to 
 crush opposition. It is a little remarkable that the Indians all 
 over the Dominion are anxious to make Treaties, and are easily 
 dealt with, except in the neighbourhood of the boundary line^ 
 
THUNDER BAY TO FORT GARRY. 71 
 
 Mr. Simpson, in his Report dated November, 1871, states that 
 he had no difficulty with the Indians in Manitoba Province, ex- 
 cept near Pembina; and there he says, "I found that the 
 Indians had misunderstood the advice given them by parties in 
 the settlement, well disposed towards the Treaty, or, as I have 
 some reason to believe, had become unsettled by the represen- 
 tations made by persons in the vicinity of Pembina whose 
 interests lay elsewhere than in the Province of Manitoba ; for, 
 on my announcing my readiness to pay them, they demurred 
 at receiving their money until some further concession had been 
 made by me." 
 
 Seventeen miles further on — at White Mud river — we dined. 
 Had we known what was before us, some would have voted for 
 remaining all night. 
 
 The next stage was to Oak Point, thirty-three miles distant. 
 The first half was over an abominable road, and, as we had to 
 take on the same horses, they lagged sadly. The sun had set 
 before we arrived at Broken Head creek, half-way to Oak 
 Point. Hereabouts is the eastern boundary of Manitoba, and 
 we are not likely to forget the rough greeting the new Province 
 gave us. Clouds gathered, and, as the jaded horses toiled 
 heavily on, the rain poured down furiously and made the roads 
 worse. It was so dark that the teamsters couldn't see the horses ; 
 and, as neither of them had been over this part of the road be- 
 fore, they had to give the horses free rein to go where they 
 pleased, and — as they were dead beat — at the rate they pleased. 
 The black flies worried us, and we were all heavy with sleep. 
 The hours dragged miserably on, and the night seemed endless; 
 but, at length emerging from the wooded country into the prai- 
 rie, we saw the light of the station two miles ahead. Arriving 
 there wearied and soaked through, we came to what appeared 
 to be the only building — a half-finished store of the Hudson 
 Bay Company ; — entering the open door, barricaded with paint 
 pots, blocks of wood; tools, etc., we climbed up a shaky ladder 
 
72 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 to the second story, ihrew ourselves down on the floor, and 
 slept heavily beside a crowd of teamsters whom no amount of 
 kicking could awake. That night-drive to Oak Point we made 
 a note of. 
 
 July 31st. — Awakened at 8 A. M., by hearing a voice ex- 
 claiming, " thirty-two new species already; it's a perfect floral 
 garden." Of course it was our botanist, with his arms full of 
 the treasures of the prairie. We looked out and beheld a sea of 
 green sprinkled with yeUow, red, lilac, and white, extending all 
 round to the horizon. None of us had ever seen a prairie be- 
 fore, and, behold, the half had not been told us ! As you 
 cannot know what the ocean is without seeing it, neither can 
 you in imagination picture the prairie. The vast fertile 
 beautiful expanse suggests inexhaustible national wealth. Our 
 uppermost , thought might be expressed in the words, " thank 
 God, the great North-west is a reality." 
 
 Oak Point is thirty miles east from Fort Garry, and a straight 
 furrow could be run the whole distance, or north all the way 
 up to Lake "Winnipeg. A little stream — the Seine — runs from 
 Oak Point into the Red River. The land along it, in sections 
 extending two miles into the prairie, is taken up by the French 
 half-breeds ; all beyond is waiting for settlers. 
 
 After breakfast we started in our waggons for Fort Garry. Tall, 
 bright yellow flowers, as golden rods ; red, pink, and white 
 roses; asters, and an immense variety of compositse, thickly 
 bedded among the green grass, made up a bright and beautiful 
 carpet. Further on, the flowers were fewer ; but everywhere 
 the herbage was luxuriant, admirable for pasturage, and, in 
 the hollows, tall enough for hay. Even where the marshes in- 
 tervened, the grass was all the thicker, taller and coarser, so 
 that an acre of marsh is counted as valuable to the settler as 
 an acre of prairie. 
 
 The road strikes right across the prairie, and, though simply 
 a trail made by the ordinary traffic, is an excellent oarriago 
 
THUNDER BAr TO FORT GARRY. 13 
 
 road. Whenever the ruts get deep, carts and waggons strike 
 off a few feet, and make another trail alongside ; and the old 
 one, if not used, is soon covered with new grasses. Immense 
 numbers of fat plover and snipe are in the marshes, and prairie 
 hens on the meadow land. 
 
 At 3 P. M., we reached the Red River, a broad, deep, 
 muddy coloured stream, winding sluggishly and tortuously 
 through a land fat and level as Holland, till it empties itself 
 into the great lake Winnipeg. At a point below its junction with 
 the Assiniboine we crossed in a scow ; drove across the tongue 
 of land, formed by it and the AsiSniboine coming from the west, 
 into the village of Winnipeg, and from there to the Fort, 
 where the Government House is at present. 
 
 Thus we finished our journey, from Lake Superior to Red 
 River, by that Dawson road, of which all had previously heard 
 much, in terms of praise or disparagement. The total distance 
 is about five hundred and thirty miles ; forty-five at the begin- 
 ning and a hundred and ten at the end by land ; and three 
 hundred and eighty miles between, made up of a chain of some 
 twenty lakes and lacustrine rivers, separated from each other 
 by spits, ridges, or short traverses of land or granite rocks, that 
 have to be portaged across. Over those three hundred and 
 eighty mUes the only land suitable for agriculture is along Rainy 
 River, and, perhaps, around the Lake of the Woods. North 
 and south the country is a wilderness of lakes, or tarns on a 
 large scale, filling huge holes scooped out of primitive rock. 
 The scenery is picturesque, though rather monotonous, owing 
 to the absence of mountains ; the mode of travelling, whether 
 the canoes are paddled or tugged, novel and delightful ; and, if 
 a tourist can afford a crew of Indians and three or four weeks' 
 time, he is certain to enjoy himself, the necessity of roughing 
 it adding zest to the pleasure. 
 
 The road has been proved on two occasions to be a military 
 oecessity for the Dominion, until a railway is built farther back 
 
74 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 from the boundary line. If Canada is to open up her North- 
 west to all the world for colonization, there must be a road for 
 troops, from the first : there are sufficient elements of disorder 
 to make preparedness a necessity. As long as we have a road 
 of our own, the United States would perhaps raise no objection 
 to Canadian volunteers passing through Minnesota ; were we 
 absolutely dependent, it might be otherwise. 
 
 In speaking of this Dawson road it is only fair to give full 
 credit for all that has been accomplished. Difficulties have 
 been overcome, insomuch that, whereas it took Colonel 
 Wolseleys force nearly three months to reach Fort Garry from 
 Thunder Bay, a similar expedition could now do the journey in 
 two or three weeks. 
 
 But, as a route for trade, for ordinary travel or for emigrants 
 to go west, the Dawson road is far from satisfactory. OnJy by 
 building a hundred and fifty-five miles or so of railway at the 
 beginning and the end, and by overcoming the intervening 
 portages in such a way that bulk would not have to be broken, 
 could it be made to compete even with the present route by 
 Duluth and the railway thence to Pembina. The question, 
 then, is simply whether or not it is wise to do this, at an 
 expenditure of some millions on a road the greater part of which 
 runs along the boundary line, after the Dominion has already 
 decided to build a direct line of railway to the North-west. 
 The station-masters and other agents on the road, as a rule, do 
 their utmost ; they have been well selected, and are spirited and 
 intelligent men ; but the task given them to do is greater than 
 the means given will permit. The road is cdmposed of fifteen 
 or twenty independent pieces ; is it any wonder if these often 
 do not fit, especially as there cannot be unity of understanding 
 and of plan, for there is no telegraph along the route and it 
 would be extremely difficult to construct one? 
 
CHAPTEE IV. 
 
 Province of Mmdtoha. 
 
 Extent. — Population. — Land claims of original settlers. — Sale of Lota in Winnipeg.— 
 Hudson Bay Company. — Clergymen of the settlement. — ^Military camp. — Archbiehop 
 TachS. — United State Consul. — Conflicting opinions respecting the fertile Belt.— 
 Our outfit for the Prairies. — Chief Commissioner Smith; — Hudson's Bay Com- 
 pany. — Lieut.- Governor Archibald. — Departure from Silver Heights. — White 
 Horse Plains. — ^Eev. Mr. McDougal. — Portage la Prairie. — The last settler. — Cli- 
 mate, etc. of Manitoba compared with the older Provinces. — Sioux Indians in war 
 paint. — General remarks on Manitoba. — Emigrants and the United States Agents. — 
 Treatment of the Indians. 
 
 August 1st. — Fort Garry. — The Province of Manitoba, in 
 which we now are, is the smallest Province in the Dominion, 
 being only three degrees of longitude, or one hundred and 
 thirty-five mQes long, by one and a half degrees of latitude, or 
 a hundred and five miles broad ; but, as it is watered by two 
 magnificent rivers, and includes the southern ends of the two 
 great lakes, Winnipeg and Manitoba, which open up an im- 
 mense extent of inland navigation, and as almost every acre of 
 its soil is prairie, before many years it may equal some of the 
 larger Provinces in population At present the population 
 numbers about fifteen thousand, of whom not more than two 
 thousand are pure whites. One-fifth of the number are Indians, 
 either living in houses or wanderers, one-third English or 
 Scotch half-breeds, and rather more than a third French half- 
 breeds. Order reigns in Manitoba, though wise ruling is still 
 required to keep the conflicting elements in their proper places. 
 By the legislation that made Manitoba a Province, nearly one- 
 sixth of the land was reserved for the half-breeds ; owing to 
 some delay in carrying out this stipulation, the Metis, last year, 
 got suspicious and restless, and the Fenians counted on this 
 TvJien they.ijivaded the Province from Pembina and plundered 
 
76 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 the Hudson's Bay Company's post near tlie line. As the half- 
 breeds live along the Red River from Pembina north, the situa- 
 tion was full of danger ; had they joined the Fenians, the 
 frontier would have been at once moved up to Fort G-arry. 
 Everyone can understand the serious consequences that would 
 have followed the slightest success on their part. Happily the 
 danger was averted by prompt action on the part of the 
 Governor. The whole population rallied around him, and the 
 Fenians, not being able to advance into the country, were dis- 
 persed by a company of United States regulars, after being 
 compelled to disgorge their plunder. A battalion of Cana- 
 dian militia, stationed at different points along Red River, 
 now keeps the peace and guarantees its permanence. The land 
 difficulty has been settled by faith being kept with the half- 
 breeds ; a treaty has been made with the Indians that extin- 
 guishes their claims to the land ; and, as the whole of the Pro- 
 vince has been surveyed, divided off into townships, sections 
 and sub-sections, emigrants as they come in can either get 
 accurate information in the Winnipeg Land-office as to where 
 it would be best for them to settle, or they can visit and then 
 describe the piece of land they wish to occupy. There is room 
 and to spare for all, after doing the fullest justice to the old 
 settlers. Even the one-sixth reserved for them cannot, in the 
 nature of things, be permanently held by those among whom 
 it may now be divided. There is no Jewish law preserving 
 to each family its inheritance forever. The French half-breeds 
 do not like farming, and they therefore make but poor farmers ; 
 and, as enterprising settlers with a little capital come in, much 
 of the land is sure to change hands. The fact that land can be 
 bought from others, as well as from the Government, will 
 quicken instead of retarding its sale. 
 
 After breakfast this morning, we had an opportunity of con- 
 versing with several gentlemen who called at Government 
 House : the United States Consul, the Land Commissioner, 
 
PROVINCE OF MANITOBA. 77 
 
 Officers of the Battalion, Dr. Schultz, and others. All spoke 
 in the highest terms of the climate, the land, and the prospects 
 of the Province and of the North-west. Nothing shows more 
 conclusively the wonderful progress of Manitoba and the settled 
 condition into which it has emerged from the chaos of two or 
 three years ago, than the fact that the Hudson's Bay Company 
 sold at auction, the other day, in building lots, thirteen acres of 
 the five hundred of their Reserve around Fort Garry, at the rate 
 of $7,000 per acre. At half the rate, for the rest, the Hudson's 
 Bay Company will receive for this small reserve more than the 
 money payment of .£300,000 stg., which Canada gave for the 
 whole territory ; and, if a few acres favourably situated bring 
 so much, what must be the value of the many millions of acres 
 transferred to the Dominion 1 The policy of the Company now 
 is exactly the opposite of what it used to be ; formerly all their 
 efforts were directed to keep the country a close preserve ; 
 now they are doing all in their power to open it up. The times 
 have changed and they have changed with them. And, regard- 
 ing them merely as a Company whose sole object has hem and 
 is to look after their own interests and pay good dividends to 
 the shareholders, their present policy is as sagacious for to-day 
 as the former was for yesterday. While a fur trading Com- 
 pany with sovereign rights, they did not look beyond their own 
 proper work; they attended to that, and, as a duty merely 
 incidental to it, governed half a continent in a paternal or semi- 
 patriarchal way, admirably suited to the tribes that roamed 
 over its vast expanses. But, as they can no longer be supreme, 
 it is their interest that the country should be opened up ; and 
 they are taking their place among new competitors, and pre- 
 paring to reap a large share of the fruits of the development. 
 For many a year to come they must be a great power in our 
 Norch-west. 
 
 To-day was spent in seeing men and things, the land and the 
 rivers, in and around Fort GaiTy. The Chief drove twent^i 
 
78 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 miles down the Red Eiver, to the Stone Fort, the Governor 
 and the rest of the party accompanying him five miles to Kil- 
 donan, where they called on the Rev. Mr. Black. The farms 
 have a frontage of eight chains on the river, and run two miles 
 back, with the privilege of cutting hay on two miles more in 
 the rear. The people are Highlanders from Sutherland-shire, 
 and, they knew but little about scientific fanning when they 
 settled: the excellence of the land and their own thrifty habits 
 have stood them in good stead. They have all saved money, 
 though there was no market for produce, except what the 
 Hudson's Bay Company required, till within the last two or 
 three years. Mr. Black has been their minister for twenty 
 years. All the original emigrants were Presbjrterians, but as 
 ao minister was sent to them from the Church of Scotland, the 
 oaissionaries of the Church of England attracted great numbers 
 to their communion, by wisely adapting their service to Scot- 
 tish tastes. Till recently, the Scottish version of the psalms 
 was sung in the Cathedral, and the afternoon service was alto- 
 gether on the Presbyterian model. The missionaries, arch- 
 leacons, and bishops have been earnest evangelical men, sev- 
 sral of them Scotchmen too. It is, therefore, no wonder if even 
 3cottish dislike of prelacy gave way before such a combination. 
 There are now Methodilt and Presbyterian clergymen in the 
 Province, as well as Roman. Catholic and Episcopal. They all 
 have missions to the Indians, and report that, while the great 
 majority of the Crees and other tribes to the north-west are 
 Christianized, the majority of the Ojibbeways around Fort 
 Garry and to the east are still pagans. The Ojibbeway seems 
 to have more of the gipsy in him than any of the other tribes, 
 and to cling more tenaciously to the customs, traditions, and 
 habits of life of his ancestors. It may be that the rivalry of the 
 Churches that he sees at Red River, and the vices of the white 
 
 men that he finds it easy to pick up — drunkenness especially 
 
 have something to do with the obstinacy of his paganism. The 
 
PROVINCE OF MANITOBA. 79 
 
 drunkenness of Winnipeg is notorious ; the clergy do all in 
 their power, by precept and example, to check it, but they 
 accomplish little The Roman Catholic bishop and his priests, 
 all the Presbyterian and Methodist ministers, the Episcopal 
 archdeacon and several of his clergy are teetotalers ; but the 
 saloons of "Winnipeg are stronger than the Churches. 
 
 In conversation with the archdeacon and Mr. Black, we 
 learned that the various denominations were building or pre- 
 paring to buUd colleges. A common school system of unsecta- 
 rian education has been established by the Local Government, 
 one-twentieth of the land reserved as a school endowment, and 
 power given to the townships to assess themselves ; but strange 
 to say, nothing has been done to establish a common centre of 
 higher education. The little Province with its fifteen thousand 
 inhabitants will therefore soon rejoice in three or four denomi- 
 national Colleges. 
 
 We called on the Wesleyan minister and Archbishop Tache ; 
 but as both were from home, we went to the camp and saw the 
 battalion reviewed. After the review the Adjutant-General 
 complimented the men deservedly on the order and cleanliness 
 of the camp, the excellence of the galley, and their good con- 
 duct in their relations with the citizens. The men were smart, 
 stout, clean-looking soldiers, and went through various move- 
 ments with steadiness and activity. Many of them settle in 
 the country, as their term of service expires, free grants of land 
 being given to all who have served for a year. 
 
 August 2nd. — Archbishop Tache called this morning, and 
 delighted us with his polished manners and knowledge of the 
 country. He does not think very highly of the Saskatchewan 
 valley as a future grain-producing country, differing in this 
 respect from every other authority ; but he speaks in glowing 
 terms of the Eed-deer Lake and River which runs into the 
 Athabaska, sometimes called Lac la Biche, a better name, be- 
 cause there are innumerable " Red-deer" lakes. In that far 
 
80 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 away country, extending to the north of the North Saskatche- 
 wan, the wheat crops of the mission have never suffered from 
 summer frosts but once. It certainly is one of the anomalies 
 of the North-west, that the way to avoid frosts is to go farther 
 north. To . hear on the same day the TJ. S. Consul and the* 
 Archbishop speak about the fertile belt is almost like hearing 
 counsel for and against it. The Consul believes that the world 
 without the Saskatchewan would be but a poor affair; the 
 Archbishop that the fertile belt must have been so called be- 
 cause it is not fertile. But how explain the Archbishop's 
 opinions ? The evidence he adduced in support of them suggests 
 the explanation ; he confined himself to facts that had been 
 brought before him ; but his induction of facts was too limited. 
 It doubtless is true that at Lac la Biche wheat is raised easily, 
 and that at the R. C. Missions, near the Saskatchewan, it suf- 
 fers from summer frosts ; but the only two R. C. settlements 
 that we heard of in the Saskatchewan country, viz. : those at St. 
 Albert's and Lake St. Ann's, we visited, and could easily under- 
 stand why they suffered. They are on the extreme north-west 
 of the fertile belt, at an altitude above sea-level of from 2000 
 to 2500 feet, and were selected by the half-breeds not with a 
 view to farming, for the French half-breed is no farmer, but 
 because of the abundance of white-fish in the lake, and sturgeon 
 in the river, and because they were convenient for buffalo hunt- 
 ing and trapping, as well as for other reasons. The substance 
 of the disputed matter seems to be this : every one else believes 
 in the fertile belt of the Saskatchewan; the Archbishop believes 
 that there is a belt farther north much more fertile. 
 
 At Fort G-arry farewell greetings had to be exchanged with 
 the Colonel and his son. Military duties required his presence 
 in the Province for ten days, and we could not wait. Horetski, 
 who had been sent on ahead to make the necessary arrangements 
 for the journey westward, joined us ; so that our party from 
 this date numbered six. A French half-breed, named Emilien, 
 
PROVINCE OF MANITOBA. 81 
 
 had been engaged to conduct us across the plains as far as Foi't 
 Carleton, after the approved style of prairie travel. Emilien's 
 cavalcade for this purpose was, in our ignorant eyes, unneces- 
 sarily large and imposing ; but before many days we found that 
 everything was needed. The caravan is not more needed in 
 the East, across the deserts, than it is in the West, across the 
 fertile but uninhabited prairies. Provisions for the whole 
 party and for the return journey of the men must be carried — 
 unless you make frequent delays to hunt. Your tents and 
 theirs, in other words, house and furniture ; kitchen, larder and 
 pantry ; tool-chest and spare axle-trees ; clothes, blankets, 
 water-proofs, arms and ammunition, medicine-chest, books, 
 paper boxes for specimens to be collected on the way, and things 
 you never think of till you miss them, aU are or may be 
 required. 
 
 Our caravan consisted of six Red River wooden carts, in 
 which were stowed the tents, baggage and provisions ; a horse 
 to each cart, and three drivers, one of them the cook for the 
 party, two buckboards, or light four-wheeled waggonettes, for 
 any of us to use when tired of the saddle ; saddle horses, and 
 two young fellows with Emilien to drive along a pack of 
 eighteen horses, as a change of horses is required once or twice 
 a day when it is intended to travel steadily at the rate of two 
 hundred and fifty miles a week. The native horsos are small, 
 except those that have been crossed with Yankee or Ontarian 
 breeds , but, though small and often mean-looking, it is doubt- 
 ful if the best stall-fed horses could keep up with them on a 
 long journey. 
 
 Emilien started from the Fort with his carts and bands of 
 horses at 10 A.M. We followed at mid-day, the Governor 
 accompanying us to Silver Heights, six mUes up the Assini- 
 boLne. This had been his own country residence, but is now 
 owned by D. A. Smith, Esq., M. P., the head of the H. B. 
 Company in America, We met here Mr. Christie, late chief 
 
82 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 factor at Edmonton, Mr. Hamilton, of Norway House, Mr. 
 McTavish and others from different parts of the great North- 
 west ; and received from Mr. Smith assistance and highland 
 hospitality, of the same kind that every traveller has experi- 
 enced, in crossing the continent, wherever there is an H. B. post. 
 A few words about this Hudson's Bay Company may be 
 allowed here, not only because of the interest attaching to it as 
 the last of the great English monopolies, but because, to this 
 day, it is all but impossible for a party to cross the country 
 from Fort Garry to the Pacific without its co-operation . Its 
 forts are the only stations on that long route where horses can 
 be exchanged, provisions bought, and information or guides 
 obtained. The Company received its charter in the year 1670. 
 The objects declared in that charter were fur- trading and the 
 Christianizing of the Indians. The two objects may be con- 
 sidered incongruous in these days ; but history must testify that 
 the Company as a rule sought to benefit the Indians as well as 
 to look after its own interests. At first, and for more than a 
 century, it displayed but little activity, though its profits were 
 enormous. Its operations were chiefly confined to the shores of 
 Hudson's Bay ; but in 1783, a rival Company called the North- 
 west, — consisting chiefly of Canadians — disputed their claims, 
 entered the field, and pushed operations so vigorously that the 
 old Company was stirred into life and activity. . A golden age 
 for the red man followed. Bival traders sought him out by 
 lake and river side ; planted posts to suit every tribe ; coaxed 
 and bribed him to have nothing to do with the opposition shop ; 
 assured him that Thomas Codlin and not Short had always 
 been the friend of the Indian ; gave him his own price for 
 furs, and — what he liked much better — paid the price in rum. 
 Over a great part of North America the conflict raged ho% 
 for years, for the Territory over which the Hudson's Bay 
 Company claimed jurisdiction was the whole of British 
 America,— outside of the settled Eastern Provinces of Upper 
 
PROVINCE OF MANITOBA. 83 
 
 and Lower Canada, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia, — a 
 territory twenty-six hundred miles long and fourteen hundred 
 broad. The rival Companies armed their agents' servants, and 
 half-breed voyageurs, and many a time the quarrel was fought 
 out in the old-fashioned way, in remote wilderness, where 
 there were no Courts to interfere and no laws to appeal to. 
 
 In 1821 the two Companies, tired of this expensive contest, 
 agreed to coalesce, and the present Hudson's Bay Company was 
 incorporated. Some details as to its constitution may be gleaned 
 from a work published in 1849, entitled " Twenty-five years in 
 the Hudson's Bay Territory," by John McLean. The share- 
 holders elected a Governor and Committee to sit in London 
 and represent them. This body sent out a Governor to the 
 Territory, whose authority was absolute. He held a Council at 
 York Factory in Hudson's Bay, of such chief factors and chief 
 traders as could be present ; but these gentlemen had the right 
 only to advise, they could not veto any measure of the Gov. 
 emor. The vast territory of the Company was divided into 
 four departments, and those departments into districts. At the 
 head of each department and district a chief factor or chief trader 
 generally presided, to whom all oificials within its bounds were 
 amenable. The discipline and etiquette maintained were of the 
 strictest kind, and an esprit de corps existed between the 3,000 
 officers — commissioned and non-commissioned, voyageurs and 
 servants, such as is only to be found in the army or in connec- 
 tion with an ancient and honourable service. The Company 
 wisely identified the interests of its agents with its own, by 
 paying them not in fixed salaries, but with a certain share 
 of the profits ; and the agents served it with, a, devotion and 
 pride honourable to all parties. The stock of the Company 
 was divided into an hundred shares, sixty of these belonging to 
 the capitalists, and forty being divided among the chief factors 
 and chief traders. 
 
 The first territory lost by the Company was two-thirds of 
 
84 OCEAN TO OCEAT?. 
 
 that lying between the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific. 
 Oregon was lost to them when yielded in 1846 to the United 
 States, after the ten years' joint occupancy ; and Vancouver's 
 Island and British Columbia, when they were formed into 
 Provinces. The fertile plains along the Red River, the Assini- 
 boine, and the two Saskatchewans ought to have been opened 
 up by the Empire and formed into Colonies long ago : but their 
 real value was not known. It was not the business of the 
 Company to call attention to them as fitted for any other pur- 
 pose than to feed bufialo : for those plains were their hunting 
 grounds, and their posts on them were kept up chiefly for the 
 purpose of supplying their far northern posts with pemmican 
 or preserved bufialo-meat. The Company did what every other 
 corporation would have done, attended simply to its own "busi- 
 ness. The more sagacious of its leading men knew that the end 
 was coming, as the country could not be kept under lock and 
 key much longer. They could not enforce their monopoly ; for 
 they had no authority to enlist soldiers, they were not sure of 
 their legal rights, and the tide of emigration was advancing 
 nearer every day. Eight or nine years ago, when Governor 
 Dallas was shown some gold washed from the sand-bars of the 
 Saskatchewan, his remark was, " the beginning of the end has 
 come." Gold would bring miners, merchants, farmers, and 
 free-trade, so that fur-bearing animals and monopolies would 
 need to fall back to the frozen north ; still, the end would have 
 been longer delayed had the British Provinces not united. 
 But, in 1869, the Company's rights to all its remaining terri- 
 tories were bought up, under Imperial authority, by the Do- 
 minion of Canada, and, as a monopoly and semi-soverei'^n 
 power, the Company ceased to exist. 
 
 To return to our diary. A walk in the garden at Silver 
 Heights was sufficient to prove to us the wonderful richness of 
 the soil of the Assiniboine valley. The wealth of vegetation 
 and the size of the root crops astonished us, especially when 
 
PROVINCE OP MANITOBA. 86 
 
 informed that no manure had been used. The soil all along the 
 Assiniboine is either a dark or light-coloured loam, the vege- 
 table or sandy loam that our gardeners are anxious to fill their 
 pots with ; a soil capable of raising anything. After dinner 
 we said good-bye to the Governor, a statesman of whom even 
 opponents .will hereafter record that he deserved well of the 
 country, because on all great occasions he preferred country to 
 self or party, and of whose work in Manitoba we ought to say 
 and would say much more, were it not for the fact that we had 
 partaken of his hospitality. Driving rapidly on for five or six 
 miles, we overtook our cavalcade, which had made but indiffer- 
 ent progress on account of sundry leave-takings by the way. 
 The country along the road is partly settled, but, with few ex- 
 ceptions, the farmers do not farm. Till lately they had not 
 much inducement, for there was no market : but they have 
 neither the knowledge nor the inclination to farm systemat' 
 cally ; and, in a few years, most of the present occupantR \vill 
 be bought out and go west. 
 
 As specimens of what may be done here, the farm of one 
 Morgan was pointed out. He had bought it some years ago, 
 for .£50 ; and this year, he had already been offered £450 for 
 the potatoes growing on it. A Wesleyan missionary told us 
 that, last year, he had taken the average of ten good farmers 
 near Portage la Prairie, and found that their returns of wheat 
 were seventeen bushels to one, — and that on land which had 
 been yielding wheat for ten years back, and which would con- 
 tinue to yield it, on the same terms, for the next thirty or forty. 
 
 We drove on in the quiet, sunny afternoon, at a pleasant 
 rate, over a fine farming but unfarmed country, to the White 
 Horse Plains, and rested at " Lane's Post," about twenty-five 
 miles from Fort Garry. Lane is a North of Ireland man, a 
 good farmer, and, like all such, enthusiastic in praise of the 
 country. " What about wood and water V we asked. " Plenty 
 of both everywhere," was his answer. Wherever wells had 
 
S6 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 been dug on the prairie near to his place, water had been found. 
 On the Assiniboine and the creeks running into it, or north 
 into Lake Manitoba, there was abundance of good timber ; and, 
 where none existed, if aspens were planted, they grew in five 
 years big enough for fence poles. 
 
 Our first evening on the prairie was like many another which 
 followed it. The sky was a clear soft unflecked blue, save all 
 around the horizon, where pure white clouds of many shapes 
 and masses bordered it, like a great shield of which only the 
 rim is embossed. The air was singularly exhilarating, yet 
 sweet and warm, as in more southern latitudes. The road was 
 only the trail made by the ordinary traffic, but it formed never- 
 theless an excellent carriage road. Far away stretched the 
 level prau'ie, dotted with islets of aspens ; and the sun, in his 
 going down, dipped beneath it as he does beneath the sea. 
 Soon after sunset, we reached our camping place for the night, 
 an open spot on the banks of the river, thirty-three miles from 
 Fort Garry, on the east side of Long Lake, with plenty of dry 
 wood for our fires, and good feed for the horses near at hand. 
 Scarcely were our fires lighted when another traveller drove 
 up, the Rev. Mr. McDougal, Wesleyan missionary at Fort 
 Victoria near Edmonton. We cordially welcomed him to our 
 camp, and asked him to join our party. He was well known 
 to us by reputation as a faithful minister, and an intelligent 
 observer of Indian character. He had been nine times over the 
 plains, and evidently knew the country better than our guides. 
 On this occasion, he was accompanied only by his Cree servant 
 Souzie, which being interpreted is Joseph. 
 
 August 3rd.— "We found this morning that it was not so easy 
 to make an early start with a pack of horses as with canoes. 
 Two or three of the pack were sure to give trouble, and the 
 young fellows in charge had at least half an hour's galloping 
 about, — which they didn't seem to regret much, — before all 
 were brought together. Watering, harnessing, saddling, and 
 
PROVINCE OF MAJSIITOBA. H'l 
 
 such like, all took time. To-day the Chief and Secretary drove 
 on ahead twenty-seven miles to Portage la Prairie. The rest 
 followed more slowly, and the whole party did not reunite for 
 the second start of the day till four P.M. 
 
 The road and the country were much the same as yesterday. 
 We were crossing the comparatively narrow strip of land be- 
 tween the Assiniboine and Lake Manitoba. Long Lake, or a 
 creek that is part of it, is near the road for the greater part of 
 the distance. It is difficult to get at the water of the lake, 
 because of the deep mire around the shores ; and so we took 
 the word of one of the settlers for it, that it is good though 
 warm. Water from a well by the roadside was good, and cold 
 as ice. All the land along this part of the Assiniboine, north 
 to what is called the " Ridge,'' for eight miles back has been 
 takes up, but a great part is in the hands of men who do not 
 understand the treasures they could take out of it ; and there 
 is abundance of the same kind of land farther back, for new 
 settlers. As we drove on in the early morning, prairie hens 
 and chickens rose out of the deep grass and ran across the road, 
 within a few feet of us ; while, on mounds of hay in a field 
 lately mown, sat hawks looking heavy and sated as if they had 
 eaten too many chickens for breakfast. On the branches of oaks 
 and aspens sat scores of pigeons, so unmoved at our approach that 
 they evidently had not been much shot at. We asked a farmer 
 who had recently settled, and was making his fortune at ten 
 times the rate he had done in Ontario, if he ever shot any of 
 the birds. " No," he contemptuously answered ; " he was too 
 busy ; the half-breeds did that sort of thing, and did little else." 
 Day after day, he would have for dinner fried pork or bacon, 
 and tea, when he could easily have had the most delicious and 
 wholesome varieties of food. He told us that, in the spring, 
 wild geese, wavies, and ducks could be shot in great numbers, 
 but he had eaten only goose in Manitoba. 
 
 Portage la Prairie is the centre of what will soon be a 
 
88 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 ttriving settlement. On the way to the little village, we 
 passed, in less than ten miles, three camps of Sioux — each with 
 about twenty wigwams, — ranged in oval or circular form. The 
 three camps probably numbered three hundred souls. The men 
 were handsome fellows, and a few of the women were pretty. 
 We did not see many of the women, however, as they kept to 
 the camps doing all the dirty work, while the men marched 
 about along the road, every one of them with a gun on his 
 shoulder. The Indian would carry his gun for a month, though 
 there was not the slightest chance of getting a shot at anything. 
 These Sioux fled here nine or ten years ago, after the terrible 
 Minnesota massacre, and here they have lived ever since. One 
 amiable-iooking old woman was pointed out as having roasted 
 and eaten ten or twelve children. No demand was made for 
 their extradition, probably because they had been more sinned 
 against than sinning. Frightful stories are told of the treatment 
 of Indian by miners ; and there are comparatively few tales of 
 Indian atrocities to balance them. When the Sioux entered 
 British territory they had with them old George III medals, 
 and they declared that their fathers had always considered 
 themselves British subjects and that they would not submit to 
 the rule of the " long knives.'' They are and always have been 
 intensely loyal to their great mother, and during Riel's rebel- 
 lion, were ready and anxious to fight for the Queen. We were 
 told that the United States authorities had offered pardon if 
 they would return to their own lands, for the Government at 
 Washington is desirous now to do justice to the Indians, though 
 its best efforts are defeated by the cupidity and knavery of its 
 agents ; but the Sioux would not be charmed back. The 
 settlers all around the Portage speak favourably of the Sioux. 
 They are honest and harmless, willing to do a day's work for a 
 little food or powder, and giving little or no trouble to anybody. 
 The Doctor at the portage entertained us hospitably. He 
 spoke highly of the healthiness of the climate, showing himself 
 
PROVINCE OF MANITOBA. 8fl 
 
 as an example. There seems nothing lacking in this country, 
 bnt good industrious settlers. 
 
 At four P.M. we started for the next post, Rat Creek, ten 
 miles off. The sky was threatening, but, as we always disre- 
 garded appearances, no one proposed a halt. On the open 
 prairie, when just well away from the Hudson Bay Company's 
 store, we saw that we were in for a storm. Every form of beauty 
 was combined in the pky at this time. To the south it was such 
 blue as Titian loved to paint : blue, that those who have seen 
 only dull English skies say is nowhere to be seen but on canvas 
 or in heaven ; and the blue was bordered to the west with vast 
 billowy mountains of the fleeciest white. Next to these and 
 right ahead of us and overhead, was a swollen black cloud, 
 along the under surface of which greyer masses were eddying at 
 a terrific rate. Extending from this, and all around the north 
 and east, the expanse was a dun-coloured mass livid with light- 
 ning, and there, to the right, and behind us, torrents of rain 
 were pouring, and nearing us every moment. The atmosphere 
 was charged with electricity on all sides, lightning rushed to- 
 wards the earth in straight and zigzag currents, and the thun- 
 der varied from the sharp rattle of musketry to the roar of 
 artillery ; still there was no rain and but little wind. We 
 pressed on for a house, not far away ; but there was to be no 
 escape. Wij;h the suddenness of a tornado the wind struck us, 
 at first without rain — but so fierce that the horses were forced 
 again and again off the track. And now, with the wind came 
 Tain — thick and furious, and then hail — hail mixed with angu- 
 lar lumps of ice from half an inch to an inch across, a blow on 
 the head from one of which was stunning. Our long line of 
 horses and carts was broken. Some of the poor creatures clung 
 to the road, fighting desperately j others were driven into the 
 prairie, and, turning their backs to the storm, stood still or 
 moved sideways with cowering heads, their manes and long 
 tails floating wildly like those of Highland shelties. It was a 
 
90 OCEAN TO OCEAIn. 
 
 picture for Rosa Bonheur ; the storm driving over tlie vast 
 treeless prairie, and the men and horses ySelding to or fighting 
 against it. In half an hour we got under the shelterof the log 
 house a mile distant ; but the fury of the storm was past, and 
 in less than an hour the sun burst forth again, scattering the 
 clouds, till not a blot was left in the sky, save fragments of 
 m.ist to the south and east. 
 
 Three miles farther on was the camping place. The houses 
 of several settlers were to be seen on different parts of the 
 creek. One of them was pointed out as the big house of Grant, 
 a Nova Scotian, and now the farthest west settler. We were 
 on the confines of the " Great Lone Land." 
 
 August 4th. — Enjoyed a long sleep this morning. Had in- 
 tended to rest all day, but Emilien refused. He had contracted 
 to do the journey in so many days, and would do it in his own 
 way ; and his way was to travel on all days alike. He agreed, 
 however, to make a short journey so that we might be able to 
 overtake him, though not starting till late in the afternoon. 
 
 At 10 a. m., we went over to Grant's house to service. Mr. 
 McDougal and a resident Wesleyan missionary officiated. 
 About fifty people were present, and in the afternoon a Sunday 
 School of thirty children was held in the same room. Some 
 of us dined at Grant's, and the rest with one of his neighbours 
 — McKenzie. Both these men seem to be model settlers. 
 They had done well in Ontario, but the spirit of enterprise had 
 brought them to the new Province. One had come three years 
 ago, and the other only last year ; and now one had a hundred 
 and twenty acres under wheat, barley and potatoes, and the 
 other fifty. In five years both will have probably three *r four 
 hundred acres under the plough. There is no limit to the 
 amount they may break up except the limit imposed by the 
 lack of capital or their own moderation. This prairie land is 
 the place for steam ploughs, reaping, mowing and threshing 
 machines. With such machinery One family can do the work 
 
PROVINCE Of MANITOBA. 91 
 
 of a dozen men. It is no wonder that these settlers speak en- 
 thusiastically of the country. The great difficulties a farmer 
 encounters elsewhere are non-existent here. To begin with, 
 he does not need to buy land, for a hundred and sixty acres are 
 given away gratuitously by the Government to every hcmafide 
 settler ; and one-third of the quantity is a farm large enough 
 for any one who would devote himself to a specialty, such as the 
 raising of beets, potatoes, or wheat. He does not need to use 
 manure, for, so worthless is it considered-, that the Legislature 
 has had to pass a law prohibiting people from throwing it into 
 the rivers. He has not to buy guano, nor to make compost 
 heaps. The land, if it has any fault, is naturally too rich. Hay 
 is so abundant that when threshing the grain at one end of the 
 yard, he bums the straw at the other end to get rid of it. He 
 does not need to clear the land of trees, stumps or rocks. Very 
 little fencing is required, for he can enclose all his arable land 
 at once with one fence, and pasture is common and illimitable. 
 There is a good market all over Manitoba for stock or pro- 
 duce of any kind, and if a settler is discontented he can sell 
 his stock and implements for their full value to new comers. 
 
 And what of the Indians, the mosquitoes, and the locusts 1 
 Neither Crees nor Sioux have given those settlers the slightest 
 trouble. The Sioux ask only for protection, and even before 
 Governor Archibald made the Treaty with the Salteaux and 
 Crees by which they received a hundred and sixty acres of land 
 per family of five, and three dollars per head every year for 
 their rights to the country, they molested no one. Poor whites, 
 were they about in equal numbers, would give ten times as 
 much trouble as the poor Indians, though some of the braves 
 still paint ferociously and all carry guns. And the mosquitoes, 
 and the grasshoppers or locusts, no one ever spoke of, probably 
 because the former are no greater nuisance in Manitoba than in 
 Minnesota or Nova Scotia, and the latter have proved a plague 
 only two or three times in half a century. Every country has 
 
92 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 its own drawbacks. The question must always be, do the ad- 
 vantages more than counterbalance the drawbacks t Thus, in 
 returning home through California we found that the wheat 
 crop, this year, amounted to twenty millions of bushels. The 
 farmers told us that, for the two preceding years, it had been a 
 faUitre owing to long continued drought, and that, on an aver- 
 age, they could only count on a good crop every second yeari 
 but, so enormous was the yield then, that it paid them well to 
 sow wheat. Take, t.oo, the case of the great wheat-raising 
 State of what, as distinguished from the Pacific, may be called 
 the Eastern States. The wheat crop of Minnesota this year 
 amounts to twenty millions of bushels. But, up to 1857, 
 enough wheat was not raised in the State to supply the wants 
 of the few thousands of lumbermen who first settled Minnesota. 
 Flour had to be sent up the Mississippi from St. Louis, and the 
 impression then was very general that one half of Minnesota 
 consisted of lakes, sandhills, sandy prairies and wilderness, and 
 that the winters were so leng and so cold in the other half that 
 farming could never be carried on profitably. Severe remarks 
 could be made with truth against Minnesota, but it is also the 
 truth that twenty years ago its population was five thousand, 
 and that now it is five hundred thousand. The soil of Minne- 
 sota is not equal in quality to the soil of Manitoba. Calcare- 
 ous soils are usually fertile. And Manitoba has not only 
 abundant limestone everywhere, but every other element re- 
 quired to make soil unusually productive. Whereas, when jiou 
 sail up the Red River into Minnesota, the limestone disappears, 
 and the valley contracts to a naiTOw trough, only two or three 
 miles wide, beyond which the soil is often thin and poor. But, 
 notwithstanding all difficulties, most of the emigrants to Min- 
 nesota are prospering. Hundreds of thousands of hardy Welsh- 
 men and Scandinavians poured into the new State, secured land 
 under the Homestead Acts or bought it from Railway Com- 
 panies, lived frugally— chiefly on a bread and milk fare — foi 
 
PROVINCE OP MANITOBA. 93 
 
 the first few years, and they are now well-to-do farmers. Seeing 
 that all the conditions for prosperous settlement are more fa- 
 vourable in Manitoba, is it not easy to foresee a similarly lapid 
 development, if those entrusted with its destinies and with the 
 destinies of our great North-west act with the energy and pub- 
 lic spirit of which our neighbours show so shining an example 1 
 
 It is not hard to trace the sources of those alarming rumours, 
 that we heard so much of at a distance, concerning the soil and 
 climate of Manitoba. Our friends on Rat Creek gave us an 
 inkling of them. On their way from St. Paul's, with their 
 teams and cattle, at every post they were repeatedly warned 
 not to impoverish their families by going to a cold, locust-de- 
 voured, barren land, where there was no market and no freedom, 
 but to settle in Minnesota. Agents offered them the best land 
 in the world, and when, with British stupidity, they shut their 
 ears to all temptations, obstacles were thrown in the way of 
 their going on, and costs and charges so multiplied, that the 
 threatened impoverishment would have become a fact before 
 they reached Manitoba, had they not been resolute and trusted 
 entirely to their own resources. Even when they arrived at 
 Winnipeg the gauntlet had still to be run. In that saloon- 
 crowded village were certain touters and indefatigable sympa- 
 thizers with American institutions, men who had always calcu- 
 lated that our North-west would drop like a ripe pear into the 
 lap of the Republic, who had been at the bottom of the half- 
 breed insurrection, and who are now bitterly disappointed to 
 see their old dream never likely to be more than a dream. 
 These worthies told Grant's party confidentially that they 
 had been years in the country, and had not once seen a good 
 crop. Who could doubt such disinterested testimony? 
 
 But what of the terrible frost, the deep snow, and the long 
 winters 1 These must be stern realities. The answer of every 
 man and woman we spoke to, in town or country, was that the 
 winter was pleasanter than in Ontario, Quebec, or the Maritime 
 
H OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 Provinces. There is no severe weather till the beginning of 
 December. The avei-age depth of snow from that time is two 
 feet, and there is no thaw till March. The severity of the in- 
 tervening months is lessened by the bright sun, the cloudless 
 skies, the stillness and dryness of the air. On account of the 
 steady cold the snow is dry as meal, and the farmers' wives 
 said that " it was such an advantage that the children could 
 run about all winter, without getting their feet wet." They 
 could not say as much in Nova Scotia. This dryness of the 
 snow is also an important fact as regards railway construction. 
 Let the rails be raised two or three feet above the level of the 
 prairie, and they are sure to be always clear of snow. In fact 
 there is much less risk of snow blockades in the winter on our 
 western plains than in the older Provinces or in the North- 
 eastern States. In March, and even in April, there are some- 
 times heavy snow-storms. But the snow soon melts away. It 
 is what was intended for spring rain. Hay is needed in those 
 months more than in the winter, when the horses and even the 
 cattle can paw off the snow and eat the nutritive grasses un- 
 derneath ; whereas, in March and April a crust is often formed, 
 too hard for their hoofs to remove ; and the more hay that is 
 cut in the autumn the less risk from prairie fires, sis well as the 
 better provision for the live stock. 
 
 This hopeful — even enthusiastic — language about Manitoba 
 may be discounted by some readers, in view of the locust 
 plagues that have retarded the prosperity of the Province since 
 1872. Our hopes were founded not only on what we saw, but 
 on the descriptions of the settlers and on their brave and cheery 
 tone. They ignored rather than anticipated difficulties. They 
 had a pride in the new land they had made their own, and faith 
 in its future. Everywhere, in conversation with them, we found 
 combined with this confidence, the rising of that national senti- 
 ment, that pride in their country, which is both a result and a 
 safe-guard of national dignity and independence, as distinguished 
 
PROVINCE OF MANITOBA. 98 
 
 from a petty provincialism. This Great West will, in the 
 future, probably manifest this spirit more than even the East- 
 ern Provinces, and so be the very backbone of the Dominion ; 
 just as the prairie States of the neighbouring republic are the 
 most strongly imbued with patriotic sentiments. The sight, 
 the possession of these boundless seas of rich land stirs iu one 
 that feeliag of — shall we call it bumptiousness — that Western 
 men have been accused of displaying. It is easy to ridicule 
 and caricature the self-sufficiency, but the fact is, a man out 
 West feels like a young giant, who cannot help iadulging a 
 little tall talk, and in displays of his big limbs. 
 
 At 4 P.M., we prepared to follow our party, but at this 
 moment, a body of sixty or eighty Sioux, noble looking fellows, 
 came sweeping across the prairie in all the glory of paint, 
 feathers, and Indian warlike magnificence. They had come 
 from Fori; ElUce, had recently travelled the long road from Mis- 
 souri, and were now on their way to Governor Archibald to ask 
 permission to live under the British flag, and that small reserves 
 or allotments of land should be allowed them, as they were 
 determined to live no longer under the rule of " the Jong 
 knives.'' Some of them rode horses, others were in light bag- 
 gage-carts or on foot. All had guns and adornment of one kind 
 or another. A handsome brave came first, with a painted tin 
 horse a foot long hanging from his neck down on his naked 
 brawny breast, skunk fur round his ankles, hawk's feathers on 
 his head, and a great bunch of sweet-smelling lilac bergamot 
 flowers on one arm. An Indian brave has the vanity of a child. 
 We went forward to address him, when he pointed to another 
 as 0-ghe-ma (or chief) ; and, as the band halted, the 0-ghe-ma 
 then came up with the usual " Ho, Ho ; B'jou, B'jou,'' and shook 
 hands all round with a dignity of manner that whites in the 
 new world must despair of ever attaining. His distiuction was 
 a necklace of bears' claws, and mocassins belted with broad 
 stripes of porcupines' quills dyed a bright gold. Next to him 
 
96 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 came the medicine man, sis feet three inches in height, gaunt 
 and wasted in appearance, with only a single blanket to cover 
 his nakedness. They would have liked a long pow wow, but 
 we had time only for hasty greetings and a few kindly words 
 with them. • 
 
 It was late before we reached the tents, for Emilien had gone 
 on to "the three creeks," twenty-two miles from Rat Creek — or 
 " crick," as the word is universally pronounced in the North- 
 west. Every stream, too small to be dignified with the name 
 of river, is a '' crick." 
 
 In to-morrow morning's journey we are to pass out of the 
 Province of Manitoba. This, then is probably the best place 
 for a few additional words on it as. a home for emigrants ; on the 
 subject of emigration generally; and on the settlement of the 
 Indian difficulty in the Province. 
 
 How is it that the United States have risen so rapidly 
 from the condition of a fringe of provinces along the At- 
 lantic to that of a mighty nation spreading its arms across a 
 continent ? The question is one that the ISTew Dominion 
 ought to ask, for the Dominion also aspires to greatness, and 
 believes that it has within its borders all the resources 
 required to make a nation materially great. A principal cause 
 of the rapid development of the United States is that it has 
 absorbed especially within the last quarter of a century, so many 
 millions of the population of the old world. It had a Great 
 West, boundless expanses of fertile land, and had the wis- 
 dom to see that, while the soil is the great source of wealth, 
 untilled soil is valueless ; and that therefore every inducement 
 should be held out to the masses, overcrowded in Europe, 
 to seek homes within its borders. Each emigrant who landed 
 at Castle Garden represented the addition of hundreds of 
 dollars to the wealth of the country. He represented the 
 cultivation of some land and an increased value to more, addi- 
 tional imports and exports, taxes, and national strength. With 
 
PROVINCE OF MANITOBA. 97 
 
 the same apparent generosity, but with as cool a calculation of 
 profits as that which sent Stanley to discover Livingstone, free 
 grants of land were therefore offered to the whole world. Home- 
 stead laws provided that those farms should not be liable to be 
 seized for debt. As it was necessary that the emigrant should 
 be able to get easily to his farm and to send to market what he 
 raised, companies wore chartered to build railways in every 
 direction, the State subsidising them with exemptions, money 
 bonuses, and enormous land grants. The ancient maxim had 
 been, " settle up the country and the people will build railways 
 if they want them." The new and better maxim is, " build rail- 
 ways and the country will soon be settled." These railway 
 corporations became the emigration agents of the United States, 
 and well have they done the public work, while directly serving 
 their own interests. With the one aim of securing settlers, 
 whose labour on parts of their land would make the other parts 
 valuable, they organized, advertised, and worked emigration 
 schemes with a business-like thoroughness that has attracted 
 far less attention than it deserves. What a proud position the 
 United States, as a country, was thus made to occupy in the 
 eyes of the whole world ! " Ho, every one that wants a farm, 
 come and take one," it cried aloud, and in every language. Poor 
 men toiling for a small daily wage in the old world, afraid of 
 hard times, sickness and old age heard the cry, and loved the 
 land that loved them so well, and offered so fair. They came 
 in thousands and found, too, that it kept its word ; and then 
 they came in tens and hundreds of thousands, till now less 
 liberal offers have to be made, because most of the public do- 
 main that is worth anything has been absorbed. Those hard- 
 working masses prospered, and they made the country great. 
 Some of them who had been rudely expatriated, who had left 
 their mother land with bitterness in their hearts, vowed 
 vengeance and bequeathed the vow to their children. Others 
 attributing their success to the new institutions, began to hate 
 
98 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 the forms of government that they identified with their days of 
 penury and misery. Others were wiser, but their interests 
 were bound up with their adopted country, and, when it came 
 to the question, they took sides against the old and with the 
 new. Had the State held aloof, maintaining that any inter- 
 ference or expenditure on its part in connection with emigration 
 was inconsistent with political economy, that the tide of popu- 
 lation must be left to flow at its own sweet will, and railways 
 be built only where there was a demand for them, the great west 
 of the United States would not have been filled up for many 
 a year to come. And had the Imperial authorities thought 
 less about imaginary laws of political economy and more about 
 pressing practical necessities, millions, who are now in a strange 
 land bitter enemies of the British crown, would have been its 
 loyal subjects in loyal colonies. 
 
 The past is gone ; but it is not yet too late to do much. We 
 now stand on a more favourable vantage ground than before, 
 not only positively but comparatively, for our vast virgin 
 prairies are thrown open, while there is but little good land 
 left in the United States available for settlement under the 
 homestead laws. The great lines of communication from the 
 sear-board are beginning to touch our North-west territory ; and, 
 if we act with the vigour and wisdom of which our neighbours 
 have set the example, the ever-increasing current of emigration 
 from the old world must flow into Manitoba, and up the As- 
 siniboine and Saskatchewan rivers. 
 
 We must act, to bring about such a result. It will not come 
 of itself While we stand looking at the river, it flows past. 
 Labour is required to divert it into new channels, or it will flow 
 over the courses that have been made for it, or simply overflow 
 them. We are now able to offer better land, and on easier terms, 
 to immigrants than the United States or any of its railway com- 
 panies offer, but they will continue to attract them if we fold 
 our arms while they work. They have many influences on their 
 
PEOVmCE OF MANITOBA. 99 
 
 Bide ; the gravitating force of numbers ; past success on a grand 
 scale ; grooves worn smooth by the millions tramping westward j 
 a vast army of agents paid in proportion to their success; every 
 principal railway station in Europe, and even in the Dominion, 
 papered with their glowing advertisements ; floods of pam- 
 phlets in every language ; arrangements perfected to the minutest 
 details for forwarding the ignorant and helpless stranger from 
 New York and Chicago to any point he desires ; and perhaps a 
 comfortable log shanty ready for him when he gets there. They 
 offer great inducements to men to organise colonies ; advise 
 neighbours to club their resources and emigrate together, so that 
 one may help the other ; lay off village plots and draw beautiful 
 sketches of future cities ; and cheer the drooping spirit of the 
 foreigner, when he is discouraged with difficulties that had not 
 been advertised, with brilliant prophecies and an infusion of the 
 indomitable Yankee spirit. They make the doubter believe 
 that it is better to pay their company from $5 to $15 an acre 
 for " the best land in the world," " rich in minerals," " no long 
 winters," accompanied with free passes over the railway, and 
 long credits, " one-tenth down, and the rest when it suits you," 
 than to take up free grants elsewhere. 
 
 In all this business, for it is purely a business transaction, 
 though gilded with soft hues of buncombe, references to down- 
 trodden millions, American generosity, free institutions, and such 
 like, they have hitherto had no competitor; for, until our North- 
 west was opened up and proved to contain farms for the million, 
 we could not well compete. What the mass of emigrants wanted 
 was prairie soil ; land that they could plough at once without 
 the tedious and exhausting labour of years required in wood- 
 land farming, chopping, rolling, burning, grubbing, stumping, 
 and levelling. Such land the Dominion can now offer, and it is 
 therefore the great and immediate duty of the Government to 
 see that it be opened up, and brought within reach of the ordi- 
 nary class of settlers. 
 
100 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 To what point in the Dominion should the emigrant turn his 
 eyes ? Each province presents special inducements, but no 
 part of America now offers so many as Manitoba. The land 
 farther west and to the north-west is equally good, but, until 
 opened up by railway or steamboats, it is comparatively value- 
 less to the settler ; for there is little use in raising stock, wheat, 
 or potatoes, if they cannot be conveyed to market. But Mani- 
 toba is now within reach of the emigrant, and there is a good 
 market in Winnipeg. This little village is becoming a town ; 
 houses are springing up in all directions with a rapidity known 
 only in the history of Western towns ; and the demand for 
 provisions, stock, farm implements, and everything on which 
 labour is expended, is so much greater than the supply, that 
 prices are enormously high. The intending settler, therefore, 
 should bring in with him as much of what he may require as he 
 possibly can. 
 
 Besides a rich soil, a healthy and — for the hardy populations 
 of northern and central Europe — a pleasant cUmate, law and 
 order, and all the advantages of British connection, Manitoba 
 offers other inducements to the emigrant. 
 
 The Government of the Dominion has opened the country for 
 settlement on the most liberal terms possible. Any .person, the 
 subject of Her Majesty by birth or naturalization, who is the 
 head of a family or has attained the age of twenty-one years, is 
 entitled to be entered for one hundred and sixty acres, for the 
 pui-pose of securing a homestead right in respect thereof. To 
 secure this land he has only to make affidavit to the above effect, 
 and that he purposes to be an actual settler. On fiting this 
 affidavit with the land officer, and on payment to him of $10, 
 he is permitted to enter the land specified iu his application. 
 Five years thereafter, on showing that he has resided on or cul- 
 tivated the land, he i-eceives a patent for it ; or any time before 
 the expiration of the five years he can obtain the patent by 
 paying the pre-emption price of one dollar an acr^. This farm, 
 
PROVINCE OF MANITOBA. 101 
 
 no matter how valuable it may become, and his house and fur- 
 niture, bams, stables, fences, tools, and farm implements are 
 declared free from seizure for debt ; and in addition to the ex- 
 emption of all those, there are also exempted, " one cow, two 
 oxen, one horse, four sheep, two pigs, and the food for the same 
 for thirty days." 
 
 There are, and can be, no Indian wars or difficulties in Mani- 
 toba. This is a matter of the utmost importance to the intend- 
 ing settler. When we returned from our expedition,- the Chief 
 was interviewed at Ottawa by a deputation of the Russian sect 
 of Mennonites, who are looking out for the best place in America 
 for their constituents to settle in, and one of their first questions 
 referred to this. He answered it by pulling a boy's knife out of 
 his pocket, small blade at one end cork-screw at the other, and 
 told them that that was the only weapon he had carried while 
 travelling from Ocean to Ocean ; adding that he had used only 
 one end of even so insignificant a weapon, and that end not so 
 often as he would have liked. 
 
 As the mode of settling with the Indians adopted in Mani- 
 toba is based on the system that has been long tested in the older 
 provinces, and that will probably be extended to the whole of 
 the North-west, a few words on the general question may not 
 be out of place. There are three ways of dealing with the less 
 than half-million of red men still to be found on the continent 
 of America, each of which has been tried on a smaller or larger 
 scale. The first cannot be put more clearly or badly than it 
 was in a letter dated San Francisco, Sept. 1859, which went the 
 round of the American press, and received very general appro- 
 val. The writer, in the same spirit in which Exsebuck con- 
 demned the British Government's shilly-shally policy towards 
 the Maories, condemned the Federal Government for not having 
 ordered a large military force to California when they got pos- 
 session of it, " with orders to hunt and shoot down all the In- 
 dians from the Colorado to the Klamath," Of course the wri 
 
102 OCEAN TO OCEAN, 
 
 ter adds that such a method of dealing with the Indians would 
 have been the cheapest, "and perhaps the most humane." 
 With regard to this poUcy of no nonsense, thorough-going as 
 selfishness itself, it is enough to say that no Christian nation 
 would now tolerate it for an instant. 
 
 The second way is to insist that there is no Indian question. 
 Assume that the Indian must submit to our ways of living and 
 our laws because they are better than his ; and that, as he has 
 made no improvement on the land, and has no legal title-deeds, 
 he can have no right to it that a civUized being is bound to 
 recognize. Let the emigrants, as they pour into the country, 
 shove the old lords of the soil back ; hire them if they choose to 
 work ; punish them if they break the laws, and treat them as 
 poor whites have to be treated. Leave the struggle between the 
 two races entirely to the principle of natural selection, and let 
 the weaker go to the wall. This course has been practically 
 followed in many parts of America. It has led to frightful 
 atrocities on both sides, in which the superior vigour of the 
 civilized man has outmatched the native ferocity of the savage. 
 The Indian in such competition for existence, soon realizing his 
 comparative weakness, had resource to the cunning that the 
 inferior naturally opposes to the strength of the superior. This 
 irritated even the weU-disposed white, who got along honestly, 
 and believed that honesty was the best policy. It was no wonder 
 that, after a few exchanges of punishment and vengeance, 
 the conviction became general that the presence of the 
 Indian was inconsistent with public security ; that he was a 
 nuisance to be abated ; and that it was not wise to scrutinize 
 too closely what was done by miners who had to look out for 
 themselves, or by the troops who had been called in to protect 
 settlers. The Indians had no newspapers to tell how miners 
 tried their rifles on an unoffending Indian at a distance, for the 
 pleasure of seeing the poor wretch jump when the bullet struck 
 him ; or how, if a band had fine horses, a charge was trumped 
 
PROVINCE OF MANITOBA. 103 
 
 up against them, that the band might be broken up and the 
 horses stolen ; or how the innocent were indiscriminately 
 slaughtered with the guilty ; or how they were poisoned by 
 traders with bad rum, and cheated tiU left without gun, horse, 
 or blanket. This policy of giving to the simple children of the 
 forest and prairie, the blessings of unMmited free-trade, and 
 bidding ftem look after their own interests, has not been a suc- 
 cess. The frightful cruelties connected with it and the expense 
 it has entailed, have forced many to question whether the fire 
 and sword plan would not have been " cheaper and, perhaps, 
 more humane." 
 
 The third way, called sometimes the paternal, is to go down 
 to the Indian level when dealing with them ; go at least half- 
 way down ; explain that, whether they wish it or not, immi- 
 grants will come into the country, and that the Government is 
 bound to seek the good of all the races under its sway, and do 
 justly by the white as well as by the red man ; offer to make a 
 treaty with them on the principles of allotting to thetu reserves 
 of land that no one can invade, and that they themselves can- 
 not alienate, giving them an annual sum per famDy in the 
 shape of useful articles, establishing schools among them and 
 encouraging missionary effort, and prohibiting the sale of in- 
 toxicating liquors to them. When thus approached, they are 
 generally reasonable in their demands ; and it is the testimony 
 of all competent authorities that, when a treaty is solemnly 
 made with them, that is according to Indian ideas of solemnity, 
 they keep it sacredly. They only break it when they believe 
 that the other side has broken faith first. 
 
 Such has been the policy of the old Canadas and of the Do- 
 minion, and it is now universally adopted in America. True, 
 the agents of the United States Government have often de- 
 feated its attempts to do justice and show mercy, by wholesale 
 frauds ; and the Indians, believing themselves deceived, have 
 risen with bursts of fury to take vengeance ; and, like all 
 
104 OCEAN TO oGfiAN. 
 
 chUdren, if deceived once, they are very unwilliag to believe 
 you the next time. General Howard has therefore advised the 
 removal of many of the Indian agents, -with the remark that 
 "when agents pay $15,000 for a position, the salary of which 
 is only $1500, there must be something wrong." But this cor- 
 ruption of individual agents is a mere accident, an accident 
 that seems to be inseparable from the management of public 
 affairs in the Republic. The great thing is that the United 
 States Government has taken its stand firmly on the ground 
 that the Indians are to be neither exterminated nor abandoned 
 to themselves, but protected and helped. In a letter to George 
 H.Stewart, dated October 28th, 1872, President Grant writes 
 with his customary directness and plainness of speech : "If 
 the present policy towards the Indians can be improved in any 
 way, I will always be ready to receive suggestions on the sub- 
 ject ; but if any change is made, it must be made on the side of 
 the civilization and christianization of the Indians. I do not 
 believe our Creator ever placed the different races of men on 
 this earth with the view of the stronger exerting all his ener- 
 gies in exterminating the weaker." 
 
 It may be said that, do what we like, the Indians as a race, 
 must eventually die out. It is not unlikely. Almost all the 
 Indians in the North-west are scrofulous. But on the other 
 hand, in the United States and in Canada, they exist, in not a 
 few cases, as christianized self-supporting communities, and have 
 multiplied and prospered. These are beginning to ask for full 
 freedom. It was all right, they argue, to forbid us to sell our 
 lands, when we did not know their value, and to keep us as 
 wards when we could not take care of ourselves ; but it is 
 different now ; we are grown men ; and it is an injustice to 
 prevent us from making the most we can out of our own. 
 
 At all events, there are no Indian difficulties in our North 
 west. For generations the H. B. Company governed the tribes 
 in a semi -paternal way, the big children often being rude and 
 
PROVINCE OF MANITOBA. 106 
 
 noisy, sometimes plundering a fort, or even maltreating a factor, 
 but in the end always returning to their allegiance, as without 
 the Company, they could not get tea or tobacco, guns or powder, 
 blankets or trinkets. 
 
 Since the transfer of the country to the Dominion the Indians, 
 except when operated on by foreign influences, have been anxi- 
 ous for treaties. In the year 1871, Governor Archibald made 
 a treaty at the Stone Fort or Lower Fort Garry, with the 
 Ojibbeways and Swampy Crees, the only two tribes in his 
 Province, and a second treaty with the Indians further north, 
 as far as Lake Winnipegosis and Beren's River, and to the 
 west as far as Fort Ellice. This second treaty comprises a 
 tract of country two or three times as large as Manitoba. 
 About four thousand Indians assembled on those occasions, and, 
 after a good deal of preliminary feasting, consulting, and povr 
 wowing, arrangements were made with them. The objects 
 aimed at by the Governor and the Indian Commissioner were 
 to extinguish the Indian title to the land, and, at the same 
 time, do substantial justice and give satisfaction to the Indians. 
 The treaty-making process is interesting, as illustrative of 
 several points in the Indian character. Though it took ten 
 days to make the first, yet, in the light lately thrown on the 
 difficulties of drawing up a treaty that shall express the same 
 thing to both parties, the time cannot be considered unreason- 
 a;bly long. 
 
 The Indians first elected chiefs and spokesmen to represent 
 them. On these being duly presented and invited to state 
 their views, they said that there was a cloud before them which 
 made things dark, and they did not wish to commence the pro- 
 ceedings till the cloud was dispersed. It was found that they 
 referred to four Swampies who were in prison for breach of 
 contract, and the tribe felt that it would be a violation of the 
 brotherly covenant to enter upon a friendly treaty, unless an 
 juit of indemnity were passed in favour of the four. As they 
 
106 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 begged their discharge on the plea of grace and not of right, the 
 Governor acceded to their petition ; and the Indians thereupon 
 declared that henceforth they would never raise a voice against 
 the law being enforced. 
 
 The real business, then commenced. Being told to state their 
 views on reserves and annuities, they did so very freely, and) 
 substantially, to the effect that about two-thirds of the province 
 should be reserved for them. But when it was explained that 
 their great mother miist do justly to all her children, " to those 
 of the rising sun as well as to those of the setting sun," and that 
 it would not be fair to give much more than a good farm for 
 each family, they assented. Fortunately the Governor could 
 point out to them a settlement of Christianized Ojibbeways 
 numbering some four hundred, between the Stone Fort and the 
 mouth of Red River, as a proof that Indians could Uve, 
 prosper, and provide like the white man. This mission was 
 established by Archdeacon Cochrane, and has now a full- 
 blooded Indian for its clergyman. Many of them have weU- 
 built houses and well-tilled fields, with wheat, barley and 
 potatoes gvowing, and giving promise of plenty for the coming 
 winter. 
 
 The Indians of this district form a parish of their own, called 
 St. Peter's, and return a member to the House of Assembly ; 
 they have the honour of being represented by a gentleman who 
 has successively held the oflS.ces of Minister of Agriculture, 
 Provincial Secretary, and who is now Provincial Treasurer. 
 
 In the end, it was agreed that reserves should be allotted 
 sufficient to give one hundred and sixty acres to each family of 
 five ; that the Queen should maintain a school on each reserve 
 when the Indians required it ; and that no intoxicating liquors 
 be allowed to be introduced or sold within the bounds of the 
 reserves ; also, that each family of five should receive an 
 annuity of $15, in blankets, clothing, twine, or traps; and, as 
 a mark of Her Majesty's satisfaction with the good behaviour 
 
PKOVINCE OP MANITOBA. 107 
 
 of her Indians, and as a seal to the treaty, or Indian luck- 
 penny, a present of $3 be given to each man, woman, and child. 
 Every one being satisfied, the treaty was signed, the big orna- 
 mented calumet of peace smoked all round, and the Governor 
 then promised each chief a buggy, to his unbounded delight. 
 
 One important consequence of these Indians being pleased is 
 that the Indians forther west, having heard the news, are all 
 anxious for treaties, and have been on their good behaviour 
 ever since. 
 
CHAPTEK V. 
 From Manitoba to Fort Carlton on the N'orth Sashatchewa/n. 
 
 Fine fertile country.— The water question.— Duck shooting.— Salt Iiakes.— Camping on 
 the plains.- Fort Ellice — Qu'appelle Valley.—" Sonzie"— The KiTer Assiniboine.— 
 The Buffalo.- Cold nights.— lUch soiL— Lovely Country.— Little Touchwood Hills.— 
 Cause of prairie fires. — ^A day of rest. — Prairie uplands. — Indian family. — ^Red 
 River Carts. — Buffalo skulls. — ^Desolate track. — Quill Lake. — Salt -water. — Broken 
 prairie. — ^Bound hill. — Prairie fire. — Rich black soil — Red River Brigades. — 
 Magnificent Panorama. — Break-neck speed. — The South Saskatchewan, — Sweets 
 hearts and wives.— Fort Carlton.— I'ree traders.- The Indians. — Crop raising. 
 
 August 5th. — This morning it rained heavily, and delayed us 
 a little ; but by the time we had our morning pannikin of tea, 
 the carts packed, and everything in its place, the weather cleared 
 up. We got away at 5 A.M., and rode sixteen miles before 
 breakfast, reaching Pine Creek, a favourite camping ground ; 
 stUl following up the course of the Assiniboine, though never 
 coming near enough to get a sight of it, after leaving our first 
 camp from Fort Garry. The next stage was fourteen miles to 
 Bog Creek ; and after dinner, eleven miles more, making forty- 
 one for the day. Instead of the level pi-airie of the two pre- 
 ceding days and the black peaty loam, we had an undulating 
 and more wooded country, with soil of sandy loam oi vailing 
 degrees of richness. Here and there ridges of sand dunes, 
 covered with vegetation, sloped to the south, having originally 
 drifted from the north, probably from the Riding Mountains, of 
 which they may be considered the outlying spurs. Prom the 
 top of any one of these a magnificent view can be had. At 
 our feet a park-like country stretched for out, studded with 
 young oaks ; vast expanses beyond, extending on the north to 
 the Eiding Mountains, and on the south to the Tortoise Moun- 
 tain on the boundary line; a beautiful country extending 
 hundreds of square mil§s without a settler, though there is less 
 
MANITOBA TO FORT CARLTON. 109 
 
 bad land in the whole of it than there is in, the peninsula of 
 Halifax, or within five or ten miles of any of our eastern 
 cities. This almost entire absence of unproductive land is to 
 us very wonderful. If we except the narrow range of sand- 
 hills, there is actually none ; for the soil, even at their base, is 
 a light sandy loam, which would jdeld a good return to the 
 farmer. The soil about these hills is not equal to prairie. Its 
 flora is not that of the prairie. Both soil and flora are like 
 those of the Rice Lake plains, and the County of Simcoe in 
 Ontario, where excellent wheat crops are raised. The only 
 question^ suggestive of a doubt, that came up was the old one 
 of " Is there plenty of water 1 " The rivers are few ; the 
 creeks small. Along their banks there is no diflBculty, but 
 what of the iaterveniag ground ? We had heard of wells sunk 
 in different places, and good water found from four to fifty 
 feet down. But, yesterday, Grant informed us that a beauti- 
 ful stretch of prairie, immediately to the west of his location, 
 which had been taken up by a friend of his, had been aban- 
 doned because no water could be got. They had sunk wells in 
 three places, one of them to the depth of seventy-five feet, but 
 pierced only hard white clay. Grant believed that this stra- 
 tum of clay extended over a limited area, and that, under it, 
 water would be tapped if they went deep enough. But the 
 matter is of too great importance to be left to conjecture. 
 Test wells should be sunk by the Giovemment in different 
 places ; and where there are saline or brackish lakes, or even 
 should the first water tapped prove saline, artesian wells might 
 be tried, so as to get to the fresh water beneath. Till it is 
 certain that good water can be easily had all over the prairie, 
 successful colonization on a large scale cannot be expected. 
 The general belief is that there is water enough everywhere. 
 There is an abundant rain fall, and the water does not form 
 little brooks and run ofi", but is absorbed by the rich, deep, 
 porous ground. Still the claims of our North-west on the at- 
 
110 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 tention of emigrants would be rendered all the stronger, were 
 they assured that the -water supply was unfailing everywhere. 
 Up to this time the question has not been started, because 
 much of the land on the river-banks has not yet been taken 
 up. But it would be well to be prepared with an answer. 
 
 Nothing could be more exhilarating than our rides across 
 the prairie, especially the morning ones. The weather, since 
 our arrival at Fort Garry, had been deUghtfiil, and we knew 
 that we had escaped the sultry heat of July, and were just at 
 the commencement of the two pleasantest months of the year. 
 The nights were so cool that the blanket was welcome, and in 
 the evenings and mornings we could enjoy the hot tea. The air 
 throughout the day was delicious, fresh, flower scented, health- 
 ful, and generally breezy, so that neither horse nor rider was 
 warm after a fifteen or twenty miles' ride. We ceased to won- 
 der that we had not heard of a case of sickness in the settlers' 
 families. Each day was like a new pic-nic. Even the short 
 terrific thunder storm of the day before yesterday had been 
 enjoyed because of its grandeur. Grant told us that it was 
 the heaviest he had ever seen ia the country, and that we had 
 felt its full force. Three miles away there had been no hail. 
 
 August 6th. — Up before four A. M., but were delayed some 
 time by the difficulty of lassoing the horses that were wanted. 
 The Doctor had, meanwhile, some shooting round the little 
 lake by which we had camped ; and getting some more on the 
 way, Terry the cook was enabled to serve up plover duck and 
 pigeons, with rice curry, for breakfast. Our morning's ride was 
 sixteen miles, and brought us to the Little Saskatchewan, — a 
 swift-flowing pebbly-bottomed stream, running south iato the 
 Assiniboine. Its valley was about two miles wide and two 
 hundred and fifty feet deep. All the rivers of the North-west 
 have this peculiarity of wide valleys, and it constitutes a serious 
 difficulty in the way of railroad making ; they must be crossed, 
 but regular bridging on so gigantic a scale is out of the ques- 
 
MANITOBA TO FOET CAELTON. HI 
 
 tion. The hill sides sloping down into the valley or intervale 
 of the river are green and rounded, with clumps of trees, most 
 of them fire scorched, in the depressions. 
 
 "We hailed the sight of this flowing stream with peculiar de- 
 light ; for it was the first thing that looked, to our eyes, like a 
 river in all the hundred and twenty miles since leaving the 
 Assiniboine. The creeks crossed on the way were sluggish and 
 had little water in them, and most of the swamps and lakelets 
 were dried up, and their bottom .overed with rank coarse grass, 
 instead of the water that fills them in the spring. This morn- 
 ing, however, we passed several pretty-well-filled lakes, — plo- 
 ver and snipe about most of them, — on the height of land from 
 which the ground slopes toward the little Saskatchewan. 
 
 Our second stage for the day was only eleven miles ; but the 
 next was fourteen, and we drove or rode along the winding 
 road at a rattling pace, reaching our camping ground, at Salt 
 Lake, an hour before sunset. This lake is bitter or brackish, 
 but, on the opposite side of the road, there is good water ; and, 
 although the mosquitoes gave us a little trouble, we fared well 
 — as at aU our camps. This was the first salt lake we had seen, 
 but farther on the way there are many such ; and grievous has 
 been the disappointment of weary travellers, on drawing near 
 to one of them and preparing to camp. The causes are proba- 
 bly local, for good water is found near, and, all around the 
 grass is luxuriant. A white crust forms on the dried up part 
 of the bottom and the shores are covered with saline plants, 
 chiefly reddish-coloured, thick, succulent samphire and sea-blite 
 growing together and extending over several acres of ground. 
 The following are the principal plants: — Scirpus maritimus, L.,- 
 Sdlicomia herbacea, L.; Glaux maritima, L.; Suada mariiima, 
 Dumot, var. prostrata; Pall. Glyceria distans. These have a 
 wide range over the whole interior wherever salt lakes are 
 found." 
 
 A bathe in the little Saskatchewan before breakfast was our 
 
112 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 first good wash for two or three days, and we enjoyed it pro- 
 portionately. Our horses did their forty-one miles to-day, 
 seemingly with greater ease than they had any previous day's 
 work. Most of them are of pure native breed ; some of them — 
 the largest — have been crossed with Canadian, and the swiftest 
 with Yankee breeds. In all our pack there are only two or 
 three bad horses ; none of them looked well at first, but, 
 though small and common looking, they are so patient, hardy 
 and companionable, that it is impossible for their riders to 
 avoid becoming attached to them. Hardly two of the saddles 
 provided for our party were aJike. There was choice of English, 
 American, Mexican, and military, — the first being the favourite. 
 August 7th. — Made a good day's journey of forty-five miles, 
 firom the Salt Lake to the junction of the Qu' AppeUe and 
 Assiniboine rivers. The first stage was ten miles, to the Shoal 
 Lake — a large and beautiful sheet of water with pebbly or 
 sandy beach — a capital place for a halt or for camping. The 
 great requirements of such spots are wood, water, and feed for 
 the horses ; the traveller has to make his stages square with 
 the absence or presence of those essentials. If he can get a 
 hilly spot where there are few mosquitoes, and a sheet of water 
 large enough to bathe in, and a resort of game, so much the 
 better. Arrived at the ground, the grassiest and most level 
 spots, gently sloping, if possible, that the head may be higher 
 than the feet, are selected. Tlie tents are pitched over these, 
 one tent being allotted to two persons, when comfort is desira- 
 ble, though sometimes a dozen crowd inside of one. A water- 
 proof is spread on the ground, and, over that, a blanket. Each 
 man has another blanket to pull over him, and he may be 
 sound asleep ten minutes after arriving at the ground, if he has 
 not to cook or wait for his supper. The horses need very little 
 attention j the harness is taken off and they are turned loose — 
 the leaders or most turbulent ones being hobbled, i. e., their 
 fore feet are fettered with intertwined folds of shagannappi or 
 
MANITOBA TO POBT CARLTON. 113 
 
 raw buffalo hide, so that they can only move about by a succession 
 of short jumps. Hobbling is the western substitute for tether- 
 ing. They find out, or are driven to the water, and, immedi- 
 ately after drinking begin grazing around ; next morning they 
 are ready for the road. A morning's swim and wash in Shoal 
 Lake was a luxury, and the Doctor had some good shooting at 
 loons, ducks, yellowlegs, and snipe. 
 
 Our second stage was twenty-one mijes to Bird's Tail Creek, 
 a pretty little running stream, with valley nearly as wide, and 
 banks as high as the Little Saskatchewan. It is wonderful to 
 see the immense breadth of valley that insignificant creeks, in 
 land where they have not to cut their way through rocks, have 
 eroded in the course of ages. 
 
 At this creek, we were only twelve miles distant from Fort 
 EUice. • The true distance from Fort Garry, as measured by 
 our odometer, is two hundred and fifteen miles. As our course 
 lay to the north of Fort Ellice, the Chief and two of the party 
 went on ahead to get provisions and a half dozen Government 
 horses that had been left to winter there, and to attend to some 
 business, while the rest followed the direct trail and struck the 
 edge of the plateau overlooking the Atssiniboine, — ^which was 
 running south — just where the Qu'Appelle joined it from the 
 west. The view from this point is magnificent ; between two 
 and three hundred feet below, extending far to the south and 
 then winding to the east, was the valley of the Assiniboine, — 
 at least two miles wide. 
 
 Opposite us, the Qu'AppeUe joined it, and both ran so slow- 
 ly, that the united river meandered through the intervale as 
 circuitously as the links of the Forth, cutting necks and pro- 
 montories of land thai were almos(t islands, some of them soft 
 and grassy, and others covered with willows or timber. The 
 broad open valley of the Qu'Appelle stretched along to the 
 west, making a grand break in what would otherwise have 
 been an unbroken plateau of prairie. Three miles to the south 
 
 8 
 
114 OCEAN TO OCEAIir. 
 
 of this valley, and therefore opposite us but farther down, two 
 or three small white buildings on the edge of the plateau were 
 pointed out as Fort EUice. To the north of the Qu'Appelle, 
 the sun was dipping behind the woods far away on the edge of 
 the horizon, and throwing a mellow light on the vast expanse 
 which spread around in every direction. 
 
 We descended to the intervale by a much-winding path, and 
 moved on to the crossing, three miles above the Fort, and im- 
 mediately above where the Qu'Appelle flows into the main 
 river. Scarcely had the tents been pitched and the fires lighted, 
 when the Chief appeared bringing supplies of flour, pemmican, 
 dried meat, salt, etc., from Fort Ellice. He reported that there 
 were several parties of Indians about the Fort, who had emi- 
 grated two or three years ago from the United States, anxious 
 to settle in British territory. One of them, from Ohio, spoke 
 good English, and from him he had gained the information 
 about them. 
 
 This portion of our journey from Fort Garry to Fort EUice, 
 we had accomplished in less than six days. The last stage had 
 been over the worst road — a road winding between broad hill- 
 sides strewn with granite boulders, and lacking only brawling 
 streams and foaming fells to make it like Mofiatdale, and many 
 another similar dale in the south of Scotland. But here there 
 never had been bold moss troopers, and no Tales of the Borders 
 had ever been written: Crees, Sioux, and Ojibbeways may have 
 gone on the war path against each other, and hunted the buffa- 
 lo over the plains to the west, but there has been no Walter 
 Scott nor even Wilson to gather up and record their legends, 
 and hand down the fame of their braves. And there are no 
 sheep grazing on those rich hill-sides, and there was neither 
 wigwam, steading, nor shieling on the last hundred and sixty 
 miles of road. SUence reigned everywhere, broken only by the 
 harsh cry of wild fowl rising from lakelets, or the grouse-like 
 whirr of the prairie hen on its short flight. We had seen but a 
 
MANITOBA TO FORT CARLTON. 115 
 
 small part, and that Yty no means the best of the land. The trail 
 follows along the ridges, where there is a probability of its being 
 dry for most of the year, as it was not part of its object to 
 shew the fertility of the country or its ^tableness for settlers. 
 But we had seen enough to show that, even east of Fort Ellice, 
 there is room for a large population. Those great breadths of 
 unoccupied land are calling " come, plough, sow, and reap us." 
 The rich grass is destroyed by the autumn fires, which a spark 
 kindles, and which destroy the wood, which formerly was of 
 larger size and much more abundant than now. This destruc- 
 tion of wood seriously affects the water supply. Lakes that 
 once had water all the year round are now dry, except in the 
 spring time. But, when settlersi come in, all this shall be 
 changed. The grass will be cut at the proper time, and stacked 
 for the cattle, and then there shall not be the wide spreading 
 dried fuel to feed the fires, and give them ever increasing force. 
 Fields of ploughed land, interspersed here and there, shall set 
 bounds to the flames, and tourists and travellers will be less 
 likely to leave their camp-fires burning, when they know that 
 there are settlers near, whose property would be endangered, 
 and who would not tolerate criminal carelessness on the part of 
 strangers. 
 
 8th August. — Being in the neighbourhood of a fort, and 
 having to re-arrange luggage and look after the new horses, we 
 did not get away till nine o'clock. An hour before, greatly to 
 the surprise of Emilien, who had calculated on keeping in 
 advance the twenty-two miles he had gained on Sunday, and 
 greatly to our delight, Mr. McDougal drove up and rejoined us 
 with his man Souzie. Souzie had never been east before, and 
 the glories of Winnipeg had fairly dazzled him. He was going 
 home heavy laden. with wonderful stories of all he had seen ; — 
 the crowd hearing Mr. Punshon preach and the collection taken 
 up at the close, the review of the battalion of militia, the splen- 
 dour of the village stores, the Bed River Steamboat, the quan- 
 
116 OCEAN TO OCEAK. 
 
 titles of rum, were al] amazing. When the plate came round 
 at the church Souzie rejoiced, and was going to help himself, 
 but, noticing his neighbours put money in, he was so puzzled 
 that he let it pass. He chuckled for many a day at the sim- 
 plicity of the Winnipeggers : — "Who ever before saw a plate 
 handed round except to take apmething from it t" The review 
 excited his highest admiration : — "Wah, wah ! wonderful ! I 
 have seen a hundred men turned into one !" 
 
 Our first work this morning was to cross the Assiniboine. 
 The ford was only three feet deep, but the bottom was of 
 shifting sand, so that it did not do to let the horses stand still 
 while crossing. The bank on the west side is bold, and the 
 sand so deep, that it is a heavy pull up to the top. After 
 ascending, we moved west for the first few miles along the 
 north bank of the Qu'Appelle. Our Botanist went down to the 
 intervale and sand hills near the stream, to inspect the flora, 
 and was rewarded by finding half-a-dozen new species. We 
 soon turned in a more northerly direction, though, had there 
 been a fortnight to spare, some of us would have gone a hun- 
 dred miles up the Qu'Appelle vyhere we had been told yesterday 
 by a Scotch half-breed called Mackay, the bufialo were in 
 swarms. Mackay was on his way back to Fort Garry with the 
 spoils of his hunt. He had left home with his wife and seven 
 children and six carts, late in May, joined a party at Fort 
 EUice and gone up to the high plains at the source of the 
 Qu'Appelle, near the elbow of the South Saskatchewan, to obtain 
 his food for the year in the way most pleasing to a half-breed. 
 All had lived sumptuously while near the buffalo, and when they 
 had dried enough meat to fill theii- carts, at the rate of ten 
 buffaloes to a cart, they parted company ; he aud his wife and 
 family, with the meat and skins of sixty buffaloes, turned 
 homewards, to do little for the rest of the year, but enjoy 
 themselves. This is all very well when the buffalo are plenty ; 
 but as they get scarcer or move fartt-^r away, what is to be 
 
MANITOBA TO FORT CARLTON. 117 
 
 done ? A man cannot be both a hunter and a farmer ; and, 
 therefore, as the buffalo go west, so must the half-breeds. 
 
 But, fascinating as a buffalo-hunt seemed to us, described in 
 all the glowing language and gesticulations of a successful 
 hunter, the time could not be spared, and so we jogged along 
 our road, hoping that we might fall in with the lord of the 
 prairies as fir north as Carlton or Fort Pitt. 
 
 The first part of the day's ride, like the last part of the 
 previous day's, was over the poorest ground we had seen — light 
 and sandy — and yet the grass nowhere presented the dried up, 
 crisp, brownish look that is so often seen in the eastern pro- 
 vinces at this time of the year. Still the land about Fort 
 EUice is not to be' recommended. 
 
 Nine miles from the Assiniboine, we breakfasted beside a 
 spring in the marsh where the water is good, but where a bar- 
 rel or some such thing sunk in the ground would be desirable. 
 This is every traveller's business, and therefore is not done. 
 We are now in No-man's Land ; — where the Governor of 
 Manitoba has a nominal jurisdiction, but where there are no 
 taxes and no laws ; where every man does what is right in his 
 own eyes, and prays the great Manitou to prosper him in his 
 horse-stealing or scalping expeditions. 
 
 Our next stage was twenty-two miles to Broken Arm River 
 — a pretty little stream with the usual deep and broad valley. 
 The soil improved as we travelled west. The grass was richer, 
 and much of the flora that had disappeared for the previous 
 twenty miles began to show again. On the banks of the river 
 there was time before tea to indulge in a great feast of rasp- 
 berries, as we camped early this evening, after having trav- 
 elled only thirty-one miles. The Botanist had found exactly 
 that number of new species, — the largest number by far on 
 any one day since leaving Fort Garry. The explanation is, 
 that he had botanized over the valleys of two rivers and 
 several vaiieties of soil. 
 
118 OCEAJS' TO OCEAN. 
 
 August 9t]i. — Last night the thermometer fell to 34 * , and 
 we all suffered from the cold, not being prepared for such a 
 sudden change. There was heavy dew, as there always is on 
 prairies, and at four o'clock, when we came out of the tents, 
 shivering a little, the cold wet grass was comfortless enough ; 
 but a warm cup of tea around the camp fire put all right. We 
 were on horseback before sunrise, and a trot of thirteen miles, 
 over a beautiful and somewhat broken country, fitted us for 
 breakfast. Mr. McDougal told us that in the elevated part of 
 the country in which we were, extending north-west from Fort 
 Ellice, light frosts were not unusual in July or August. They 
 are not so heavy as seriously to injure grain crops ; but still 
 they are an unpleasant feature in this section of the country. 
 The general destruction of the trees by fires makes a recur- 
 rence of these frosts only too likely. If there were forests, 
 there would be a greater rainfall, less heavy dews, and pro- 
 bably no frosts. But it will be little use for the government 
 to issue proclamations in reference to the extinguishing of 
 camp fires, until there are settlers here and there, who wiU see 
 to their observance for their own interest. Settlers will plant 
 trees, or give a chance of growing to those that sow themselves, 
 and prevent the spread of fires. 
 
 Our second stage for the day was sixteen miles over an excel- 
 lent road and through an undulating country that evoked spon- 
 taneous bursts of admiration from every one. The prairie was 
 broken into natural fields by rounded hillocks and ridges 
 crowned with clumps of aspens — too often fire-seathed. In the 
 hollows grew tall r'ich grass which would never be mowed ; 
 everywhere else, even on the sandy ridges, was excellent 
 pasture. 
 
 We met a half-breed travelling, with dried meat and buffalo 
 skins, to Fort Garry, in' his wooden cart covered with a cotton 
 roof, and he informed us that men were hunting, two days' 
 journey ahead, about the Touchwood Hills. This excited our 
 
MANITOBA TO FORT CARLTON. 119 
 
 men to the highest pitch, for the buffalo have not come on this 
 route for many years, and eager hopes were exchanged that we 
 might see and get a shot at them. Wonderful stories were told 
 of the buffalo hunts in former days, and men hitherto taciturn, 
 perhaps because they knew little English, began explaining 
 volubly — eking out their meaning with expressive gesticula- 
 tion — the nature of a buffalo hunt. Fine fellows all oxir half- 
 breeds were as far as riding, hunting, camping, dancing and 
 such like were concerned ; though they would have made but 
 poor farm-servants. Two of them had belonged to Kiel's body- 
 guard in the days of his little rebellion. The youngest was 
 Willie, a boy of sixteen who rode and lassoed and raged and 
 stormed and swore on the slightest provocation better than any 
 of them. He looked part of the horse when on his back, and 
 never shirked the roughest work. We were horrified at his 
 ready profanity, and the Doctor rowed him up about it ] but, 
 though they all liked the Doctor, for he had physicked two or 
 three of them successfully, and had even bound up the sore leg 
 of one of the korses better than they could, the jawing had no 
 effect. The Secretary then tried his hand. Finding that 
 Willie beUeved in his father, an adventurous daring Scot who 
 had matt-ied a squaw, he accosted him one day when none of 
 the others were near, with : "Willie, would you like to hear me 
 yelling out your father's name, with shameful words among 
 strangers 1" He looked up with a half-puzzled, half-defiant air, 
 and shook his head. "Well, how can I like to hear you shout- 
 ing out bad language about my best friend?" A few more 
 words on that line, and Willie was converted. We heard no 
 more oaths from him except the mild ones : "By George," " by 
 Jing " or "by Golly,'' and in sundry ingenious ways thereafter 
 he showed a sneaking fondness for the Secretary. 
 
 We rested to-day for dinner on a hillock beside two deep 
 pools of water, and the Doctor made us capital soup from pre- 
 served tomatoes and mutton. Ten or eleven miles from our 
 
120 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 dining table brought us to the end of this section of wooded 
 country, where we had intended to camp for the night, but the 
 ponds were empty and no halt could be made. We therefore 
 pushed on across a vast treeless plain, twenty miles wide, with 
 the knowledge that if there was no water in a marsh beside a 
 solitary tree four miles ahead, we would have to go off the road 
 for five miles to get some, and, as the sun was setting, the 
 prospect for the first time looked gloomy. Making rapidly for 
 the lonely tree, enough water for ourselves and horses was 
 found, and with hurrahs from the united party, the tents were 
 pitched. Forty-two and a half miles the odometer shewed to 
 be our day's travel. 
 
 August 10th. — The night of the 8th having been so cold, 
 we divided out more blankets the following evening by dispen- 
 sing with one tent, and sleeping three, instead of two, in each. 
 The precaution turned out to be Unnecessary, though we kept 
 it up afterwards, for the nights were always cool. This feature 
 of cool nights after hot days is an agreeable- surprise to those 
 who know how different it usually is in inland countries, or 
 wherever there is no sea breeze. It is one of the causes of 
 the healthy appearance of the new settlers even in the summer 
 months. In the hottest season of the year the nights are cool, 
 and the dews abundant, except when the sky is covered with 
 clouds. No wonder that the grass keeps green. 
 
 Our morning's ride was across sixteen miles of the great plain, 
 four miles from the easterly edge of which we had camped. The 
 Secretary walked the distance and got to the breakfast-place 
 ten minutes after the mounted party. A morning's walk or 
 ride across such an open has a wonderfully exhilarating effect. 
 The air is so pure and bracing that little fatigue is felt, even 
 after unusual exertion ; seldom is a hair turned on horse or 
 man. 
 
 The plain was not an unbroken expanse but a succession of 
 very shallow basins, enclosed in one large basin, itself skallow. 
 
MANITOBA TO FOKT CARLTON. 121 
 
 from the rim of wliich you could look across the whole, 
 whereas, at the bottom of one of the smaller basins, the horizon 
 was exceedingly limited. No sound broke the stillness except 
 the chirp of the gopher, or prairie squirrel, running to his hole 
 in the gound. The character of the soil every few yards could 
 be seen from the fresh earth, that the moles had scarcely fin- 
 ished throwing up. It varied from the richest of black peaty 
 loam, crumbled as if it had been worked by a gardener's hand for 
 his pots, to a very light sandy soil. The ridges of the basins were 
 often gravelly. Everywhere the pasturage was excellent, 
 though it was tall enough for hay only in the depi-essions or 
 marshy spots. 
 
 Our two next stages carried us over twenty-five miles of a 
 lovely country, known as the Little Touchwood Hills ; aspens 
 were grouped on gentle slopes, or thrown in at the right points 
 of valley and plain, so as to convey the idea of distance and 
 every other effect that a landscape gardener could desire. Lake- 
 lets and pools, fringed with willows, glistened out at almost 
 every turn of the road, though unfortunately most were saline. 
 Only the manor-houses and some gently-flowing streams were 
 wanting, to make out a resemblance to the most beautiful parts 
 of England. For generations, all this boundless extent of 
 beauty and wealth had been here, owned by England ; and yet 
 statesmen had been puzzling their heads over the " Condition 
 of England, the Poor, the Irish Famine, the Land and Labour, 
 and similar Questions," without once turning their eyes to a 
 land that offered a practical solution to them all. And the 
 beauty in former years had been still greater, for though the 
 fires have somehow been kept off this district for a few years, 
 it is not very long since both hardwood and evergreens as well 
 as willows and aspens, grew all over it ; and then, at every sea- 
 son of the year, it must have been beautiful. Of late years 
 fires have been frequent ; and they are so disastrous to the 
 whole of our North-west that energetic action should be taken 
 
122 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 to prevent them. Formerly, when the Hudson's Bay Company 
 was the only power in this Great Lone Land, it was alive to 
 the necessity of this, and very successful in impressing its 
 views on the Indians as well as on its own servants. Each 
 of its travelling parties carried a spade with which the piece of 
 ground on which the fire was to be made was dug up, and as 
 the party moved off, earth thrown on the embers extinguished 
 ■ them. But since miners, traders, tourists and others have en- 
 tered the country, there has been a very different state of 
 affairs. Some of the spring traders set fire to the grass round 
 their camps, that it may grow up the better and be fresh on 
 their return in autumn. The destruction of forests, the drying 
 up of pools, and the extermination of game by rpasting the 
 spring eggs, are all nothing compared to a little selfish advan- 
 tage. And the Indians and the Hudson's Bay parties seeing 
 this, have become nearly as reckless. 
 
 This afternoon we had some idea of the lovely aspect that this 
 country would soon assume, if protected from the fire-demon. 
 The trees grow up with great rapidity ; in five or six years the 
 aspens are thick enough for fencing purposes. There was good 
 sport near the lakes and clumps of trees, and Prank shot prairie- 
 hen, partridge and teal, for dinner and next day's breakfast. 
 As he was confined to the roadside, and had no dog, he had but; 
 indifferent chances for a good bag. "We had to push on to do 
 our forty-one miles, and could not wait for sportsmen. At sun- 
 set the camp was selected, by a pond in the middle of a plain, 
 away from the bush so as to avoid mosquitoes ; and as Emi- 
 Uen was tired enough by this time, he agreed readily to the 
 proposal to rest on the following day. 
 
 August 11th. — Breakfast at 9 a.m., having allowed ourselves 
 the luxury of a long sleep on the Day of Best. The water be- 
 side our camp was hard and brackish, scarcely drinkable, not 
 good even to wash with. It gave an unpleasant taste to the 
 tea. »Kid even a dash of spirits did not neutralize its brackish 
 
I JiiMiiiiy 
 
 0^ '^ IA>" /* 
 
MANITOBA TO FORT CARLTON. 123 
 
 ness. Here again the necessity of finding out the real state of 
 the water-supply of this country was forced on our attention. 
 Even if the pools do not dry up, the water in them at this time 
 of the year is only what is left of melted snow and the spring 
 and summer rains, tainted with decayed vegetable matter, and 
 filled with animalculse. 
 
 This was a grand day for horses and men. Most of the latter 
 rose early and had their breakfasts and then went to sleep again; 
 others did not rise from under the carts and shake themselves 
 out of their buffalo blankets, till after ten o'clock. At 11:15 
 all assembled for service — Roman Catholics, Methodists, Epis- 
 copalians, and Presbyterians. The Secretary sat on a box in 
 front of the tents, with Frank by his side holding an umbrella 
 over both heads, as the sun shone fiercely. The congregation, 
 thirteen in number, sat in the doors, or shade of the tents. 
 Mr. McDougal led the responses, and all joined in devoutly. 
 After the service had been read and hymns sung, a short ser- 
 mon was preached. 
 
 The advantages of resting on the Lord's Day, on such expe- 
 ditions as this, and of uniting in some common form of worship, 
 are manifest. The physical rest is needed by man and beast. 
 All through the week there has been a rush ; the camp begins 
 to be astir at three in the morning, and from that hour till nine 
 or ten at night, there is constant high pressure. At the halt- 
 ing places, meals have to be cooked, baggage arranged and re- 
 arranged, horses looked to, harness mended, clothes washed or 
 dried, observations and notes taken, specimens collected, and 
 everything kept clean and trim ; rest is therefore impossible. 
 From four to six hours of sleep are all that can be snatched. 
 The excitement keeps a mere tourist up, so that on Saturday 
 night he feels able to go ahead ; and possibly grudges what 
 seems the unnecessary loss of a day ; but if he insists on push- 
 ing on, the strain soon becomes too much, and he loses all the 
 benefit to his health that he had gained : and as the men have 
 
124 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 none of the excitement of novelty, they need the periodic rest 
 all the more. 
 
 But the great advantages of the day, to such a party, are lost 
 if each man is left the whole time to look after himself,as if there 
 ■was no common bond of union, and no sacredness about the 
 day. They then sleep or gamble, ramble or shoot, snare go- 
 phers or prairie dogs, read or wi'ite, eat and drink, are bene- 
 fitted as their horses are, but nothing more, perhaps less. 
 There is a more excellent way, for the Sabbath was made for 
 the whole man. Let the head of the party ask them to meet 
 for common prayer or some simple service, ever so short ; all 
 wiU come if they believe that they are welcome. The question, 
 what denomination are you of? need not be asked. The sing- 
 ing of a hymn will bring them round the tent or hillock where 
 the service is held. The kneeling together, the alternate 
 reading, a few earnest kindly words, do more than anything 
 else to awaken old blessed remembrances, to stir the better na- 
 ture of all, to heal up the little bitternesses and squabbles of 
 the week and give each that sentiment of common brotherhood 
 that cements into one the whole party. They have been brought 
 into the presence of the Great Preserver and the rest of the day 
 and of the week is hallowed by that hour. Cut ofi" from the 
 world of men, they are made to feel their dependence on Him 
 and on each other ; and master and man are all the better for 
 is. 
 
 The large body of Canadians that preceded Milton and Chea- 
 dle in their journey across these same plains ten years ago, 
 would hardly have held together, had it not been for their 
 observance of the Sunday rest. In an account of their ar- 
 duous expedition by this route to the Cariboo gold mines, one 
 of themselves gives this earnestly- worded testimony : — " The 
 fatigues of the journey were now beginning to have an injuri- 
 ous efiect upon our animals, as well as upon the tempers and 
 dispositions of the men, and especially towards the end of the 
 
MANITOBA TO FORT CAKLTON. 125 
 
 week were these effects more apparent, when frequent disar 
 greements and petty disputes or quarrels of a more serious 
 kind would take place, when each was ready to contradict the 
 other, and, at the slightest occasion or without any occasion, 
 to take offence. But to-morrow would be the Sabbath ; and 
 no wonder that its approach should be regarded with pleasu- 
 rable anticipations, as furnishing an opportunity for restoring 
 the exhausted energies of both man and beast, for smoothing 
 down the asperities of our natures, and by allowing us time 
 for reflection, for regaining a just opinion of our duties to- 
 wards one another ; and the vigour with which our journey 
 would be prosecuted, and the cordiality and good feeling that 
 characterized our intercourse after our accustomed rest on the 
 first day of the week, are sufficient evidence to us that the law 
 of the Sabbath is of physical as well as moral obligation, and 
 that its precepts cannot be violated with impunity. We cer- 
 tainly have had much reason gratefully to adore that infinite 
 wisdom and goodness that provided for us sftich rest." — All 
 which is sound common sense. Grede expertis I 
 
 Our Sunday dinner was a good one. Terry had time and 
 did his best. The Chief gave a little whiskey to the men, to 
 take the bad taste from the water and kUl the animalculse ; and 
 EmiKen took as kindly to resting as if he had never travelled 
 on Sundays iji his life. 
 
 The afternoon was sultry and thundery. Heavy showers, 
 we could see, were falling ahead and all around, but although 
 the clouds threatened serious things, we got only a sprinkling, 
 and the evening cleared up with a glorious sunset. 
 
 After tea Mr. McDougal led our family worship. "We did 
 not ask the men to come, but the sound of the hymn brought 
 them round, and they joined in the short service with devout- 
 ness, Willie, who had done a good day's work in snaring fat 
 gophers, being particularly attentive. They were all thankful 
 for the rest of the day. 
 
126 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 August 12th.— "The 12th " found us up early, as if near a 
 highland moor, and away from camp a few minutes after sun- 
 rise. Another delightful day; sunny and breezy. Krst 
 stage, thirteen miles ; the second, sixteen ; and the third, 
 fourteen miles, or forty-three for the day ; every mile across a 
 country of unequalled beauty and fertility ; of swelling up- 
 lands enclosing in their hollows lakelets, the homes of snipe 
 plover and duck, fringed with tall reeds, and surrounded with 
 a belt of soft woods ; long reaches of rich lowlands with hill- 
 sides spreading gently away from them, on which we were 
 always imagining the houses of the owners ; avenues of whis- 
 pering trees through which we rode on, without ever coming to 
 lodge or gate. 
 
 Our first " spell "* was through the most beautiful country, 
 simply because longest spared by fire. Many of the aspens 
 were from one to two feet in diameter. Most of the water was 
 fresh, but probably not very healthy, for the lakes or ponds 
 were shallow, and the water tainted by the annual deposition 
 of an enormous quantity of decomposed organic mattei-. In 
 summer when the water is low, it is difficult to get at it, be- 
 cause of the depth of the mire. When the bufialo ranged 
 through this country and came to ponds to drink, they often 
 sank so dSfep in the mud that they were unable to extricate 
 themselves, especially if the foremost were driven ou by those 
 behind, or the hunter was pi'essing them. The harder the poor 
 beasts struggled, the deeper they sank ; till, resigning them- 
 selves to the inevitable, they were trampled over by others of 
 the herd. The old deeply indented trails of the herd, iu the 
 direction of the saline lakes, are still visible. They used to 
 lick greedily the saline incrustations round the border, as they 
 do still when near such lakes. Like domestic cattle, they in- 
 stinctively understand the medicinal value of salt. From this 
 
 * The terra** spell" is commonly used, all over the plains, to indicate the length of 
 journey between meals or stopping-places ; the latter are sometimes called spelling- 
 places, by half-breeds and others. 
 
MANITOBA TO FORT CARLTON. 127 
 
 point of view, it is doubtful if the saline lakes will prove a 
 serious disadvantage to the stock-raising fanner. In British 
 Columbia and on the Pacific Coast generally, such lakes are 
 found, and the cattle that are accustomed to the water, receive 
 no injury from drinking it. 
 
 On our way to dinner, two large white cranes rose swan-like 
 from a wet marsh near the road. Frank with Ms gun and 
 WUlie with a stone made after them. The larger of the two 
 flew high, but Willie's stone brought down the other. As he 
 was seizing it, the big one, evidently the mother, attacked him, 
 but seeing the gun coming, flew up in time to save herself. 
 The young one was a beautiful bird, the extended wings measu- 
 ring over six feet from tip to tip. As soon as Willie had killed 
 his game, he rode off in triumph with it slung across his shoul- 
 ders. In twenty minutes after his arrival at camp, he and his 
 mates had plucked, cooked and disposed of it, all uniting in 
 pronouncing the meat " first class." 
 
 After dinner a good chance of killing a brown bear was lost 
 At a turn of the road he was surprised on a hillock, not twenty 
 yards distant from the buckboard that led our cavalcade. Had 
 the horsemen and guns been in front as usual, he could have 
 been shot at once ; but before they came up he was off, at a 
 shambling but rapid gait among the thickets, and there was not 
 time to give chase. This was' a disappointment, for all of us 
 would have relished a bear-steak. 
 
 The low line of the Touchwood Hills had been visible in the 
 forenoon ; and, fcr the rest of the day's journey, we first skirted 
 them in a north-westerly direction, and then turning directly 
 west, we gained the height by a road so winding and an ascent 
 so easy, that there was no point at which we could look back 
 and get an extended view of the ground travelled in the course 
 of the afternoon. It is almost inaccurate to call this section of 
 country by the name of Hills, little or big. It is simply a se- 
 ries of prairie uplands, from fifty to eighty miles wide, that 
 
128 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 swell up in beautiful undulations from the level prairies on 
 each Mde. They have no decided summits from ■which the 
 ascent and the plain beyond can be seen ; but everywhere are 
 grassy or wooded rounded knolls, enclosing fields, with small 
 ponds in the windings, and larger ones in the lowest hoUows. 
 The land everywhere is of the richest loam. Every acre that we 
 saw might be ploughed. Though not as well suited for steam- 
 ploughs as the open prairie, in many respects this section is 
 better adapted for farming purposes, being well wooded, well 
 watered, and with excellent natural drainage, not to speak of 
 its wonderful beauty. All that it lacks is a murmuring brook 
 or brawling burn ; but there is not one, partly because the trail 
 is along the watershed. On a parallel road farther north pass- 
 ing by Quill Lake, Mr. McDougal says that there are running 
 streams, and that the country is, of course, all the more beau- 
 tiful. 
 
 Our camp for the night was beside two lakelets near forks 
 where the road divides, one going northerly from our course to 
 the old Touchwood trading-post, fifteen miles distant. 
 
 So passed the 12th with us. If we had not sweet-scented 
 heather and Scotch grouse, we had duck and plover and prairie 
 hen ; and, beside the cheery camp^res under a cloudless star- 
 lit-sky, we enjoyed our feast as heartily as any band of gypsies 
 or sportsmen on the moors. 
 
 August 13th. — Heavy rain this morning which ceased at 
 sunrise. Got off an hour after, and descended, in our first 
 stage of fourteen and a half miles, the western side of the 
 Touchwood Hills. This side is very much like the other ; the 
 descent to us was so imperceptible that nowhere could we see 
 far ahead or feel certain that we were descending, until the 
 most western upland was reached, and then, beneath and far 
 befoi-e us, stretched a seemingly endless sea of level prairie, a 
 mist on the horizon giving it still more the look of a sea. 
 Early ia the morning we came upon two buffalo-tents by the 
 
MANITOBA TO FOET CARLTON. 129 
 
 roadside. In these were the first Indians we had fallen in with 
 since meeting the Sioux at Rat Creek, with the exception of 
 two or three tents at the crossing of the Assiniboine. They 
 were two families of Bungys (a section of the Salteaux or Ojib- 
 beway tribe) who had been hunting buffalo on the prairie to 
 the south-west. They had a good many skins on their carts, 
 and the women were engaged at the door of a tent chopping up 
 the fat and meat to make pemmican. Marchaud, our guide, at 
 once struck a trade with them, a few handfuls of tea for sev- 
 eral pieces of dried buffalo meat. The men seemed willing that 
 he should take as much as he liked, but the oldest squaw hag- 
 gled pertinaciously over each piece, and chuckled and grinned 
 horribly when she succeeded in snatching away from him the 
 last piece he was carrying off. She was the only ugly being in 
 their camp. The men had straight delicate features, with little 
 appearance of manly strength in their limbs ; hair nicely trim- 
 med and plaited. Two or three young girls were decidedly 
 pretty, and so were the pappooses. The whole party would 
 have been taken for good looking gypsies in England. 
 
 The road on this stage was the worst we had travelled over ; 
 so full of ruts and boulders that the axle of one of the carts 
 snapped, and as there was not time to make another, the cart 
 had to be abandoned by the road-side tUl Emilien's return from 
 Carlton. It was a marvel how well those Eed River carts 
 stood out aU the jolting they got. When any part broke be- 
 fore, a thong of shaganappi or buffalo raw-hide thong had uni- 
 ted the pieces. Shaganappi in this part of the world does all 
 that leather, cloth, rope, nails, glue, straps, cord, tape, and a 
 number of other articles are used for elsewhere. Without it 
 the Red River cart, which is simply a clumsy looking but re- 
 ally light box cart with wheels six or seven feet in diameter, 
 and not a bit of iron about the whole concern, would be an im- 
 possibility. These small-bodied high-wheeled carts cross the 
 mii-y creeks, borne up by the grass roots, and on the ordinary 
 9 
 
130 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 trail the horses jog along with them at a steady trot of four or 
 five mfles an hour. Ordinary carts would stick hopelessly in 
 the mud at the crossings of the creeks and marshes, and travel 
 slowly on a good trail. A cart without an ounce of iron was 
 a curiosity to us at first, but we soon foimd that it was the 
 right thing in the right place. 
 
 After breakfast we entered on a plain that stretched out on 
 every side, but the one we had left, to the horizon. This had 
 once been a favourite resort of the bufialo, and we passed in the 
 course of the day more than a score of skulls that were bleach- 
 ing on the prairie. AU the other bones had been chopped and 
 boiled by the Indian women for the oil in them. The Chief 
 picked up two or three of the best skuUs to send as specimens 
 to Ottawa. Great was Souzie's amazement at such an act. He 
 had been amused at the Botanist gathering flowers and grasses ; 
 but the idea of a great 0-ghe-ma coming hundreds of mUes, to 
 carry home bones without any marrow in them, was inexplicable. 
 He went up to Frank and explained by gestures that they were 
 quite useless, and urged him to throw them out of the buck- 
 board, and when Frank shook his head he appealed to Mr. Mc- 
 Dongal to argue with us. AU his efforts failing, he gave it up ; 
 but whenever his eyes caught sight of the skulls it was too much 
 for even Indian gravity, and off he would go into fits of laughing 
 at the folly of the white men. 
 
 Our second spell was nineteen, and the third, nine miles 
 across this treeless desolate-looking prairie. Towards evening 
 the country became slightly broken and wooded, but we had to 
 camp on a spot where there was not enough wood to make the 
 fires for the night. Knowing this, Marchaud passed the word 
 to the men on horseback, two or three miles before arriving at 
 the camp. They dashed into the thicket, pitched some small 
 dead dry wood into the carts, and then each throwing an up- 
 rooted tree from fifteen to twenty-five feet long, and four to six 
 inches in diameter across his shoulders or on the pommel of his 
 
MANITOBA TO FORT CAKLTON. 131 
 
 saddle, cantered off with it, Sancho Panza like, as easily as if it 
 was only a long whip. They had done this several times be- 
 fore, Willie generally piekiiig out the biggest tree to carry. No 
 matter how unwieldy the load, they rode their horses firmly and 
 gracefully as ever. 
 
 The prairie crossed to-day extends north-easterly to QuDl 
 Lake, the largest of the salt lakes. Just on that account, and 
 because all the ponds on it are saline, clearly shown even where 
 dried up by the reddish samphire or white incrustations about 
 the edges, one or two test wells should be sunk here. 
 
 To-day we had two opportunities of sending to ^ed River 
 letters or telegrams for home, and — lest one should fail — availed 
 ourselves of both. Tying our packets with red tape, to give 
 them an official look and thus impress Posty with due care, and 
 sealing the commission with a plug of tobacco, we trusted our 
 venture with the comfortable feeling that we had re-established 
 our communications with the outer world. * 
 
 All day our men had been on the outlook for buffalo but 
 without result. Marchaud rode in advance, gun slung across 
 his shoulders, but although he scanned every comer of the hori- 
 zon eagerly, and galloped ahead or on either side to any over- 
 hanging lip of the plateau, no herd or solitary bull came within 
 his view. They were not far off, for fresh tracks were seen. 
 The tracks of former times are indented in the ground like old 
 furrows and run in parallel lines to the salt lakes, as if in those 
 days the prairie had been covered with wood, and the beasts 
 had made their way through in long files of thousands. 
 
 August 14th. — The thermometer fell below freezing point 
 last night, but the additional allowance of blankets kept us 
 warm enough. At sunrise there was a slight skiff of ice on 
 some water in a bucket ; and, in the course of the morning's 
 ride, we noticed some of the leaves of the more tender plants 
 
 * It is only fair to mention that both messengers, one of them a French, and the 
 other a Scotch half-breed and parishioner of Mr. McDougaVs, proved trusty. Every 
 letter or telegram we sent from the plains reached home sooner than we iiad counted on. 
 
132 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 ■withered, but whether from the frost or blight, or natural de- 
 cay — they having reached maturity, — we could not determine. 
 The sun rose clear, and the day like its predecessors was 
 warm and bracing, the perfection of weather for travelling. 
 "We had hitherto been on the height of land that divides the 
 streams running into the Assiniboine from those that run into 
 the Qu'Appelle, and this, in part, accounted for the absence of 
 creeks near our road. To-day we got to a still higher eleva- 
 tion, the watershed of the South Saskatchewan, and found, in 
 consequence, that the grass and flowers were in an advanced 
 stage as compared with those farther east. The grass was grey 
 and ripe, and flowers, that were in bloOm not far away, were 
 seeding here. The general upward slope of the plains between 
 Red River and Lake Winnepeg, and the Rocky Mountains, is 
 towards the west. The elevation at Fort Garry is 700 feet, at 
 Fort Edmonton 2088 feet, and at the base of the Mountain 
 Chain 3000 feet above the sea. This rise of 2,300 feet is spread 
 over a thousand miles, but Captain Palliser marked three dis- 
 tinct steppes in this great plain. The first springs from the 
 southern shore of the Lake of the "Woods, and, tending to the 
 south-west, crosses the Red River well south of the boundary 
 line ; thence it runs irregularly in a north-westerly direction, 
 by the Riding Mountains towards Swan River, and thence to 
 the Saskatchewan — where the north and south branches unite. 
 The average altitude of this easterly steppe is from 800 to 900 
 feet above the sea level. The second or middle steppe, on 
 which we now are, extends west to the elbow of the South Sas- 
 katchewan, and thence northwards to the Eagle Hills, west of 
 Port Carlton. Its mean altitude is 1608 feet. The third prai- 
 rie steppe extends to the mountains. Each of these steppes, 
 says Palliser, is marked by important changes in the composition 
 of the soil, and consequently in the character of the vegetation.* 
 
 * For an exceedingly clear descriptiou of the boundaries of these three stenuea and 
 ofthe Western, Eastern and transverse watersheds of the whole area, see "B«Mrtof 
 the Geology and Eesources of the region in the vicinity of the 49th parallel bv {jm™ 
 Mercer Dawson," p. 2—10. ' *»~«K« 
 
MANITOBA TO FORT CARLTON. 133 
 
 Our first spell to-day was fifteen, and our second, twenty 
 miles, to the Round Hill , over roUing or slightly broken prairiej 
 the loam was not so rich as usual and had a sandy subsoil. 
 Kidges and hillocks of gravel intersected or broke the general 
 level, so that, should the railway come in this direction, abun- 
 dant material for ballasting can be promised. 
 
 The prairie to-day had an upward slope till about one o'clock, 
 when it terminated in a range of grassy round hills. For the 
 next hour's travelling the road wound through these ; a suc- 
 cession of knoUs enclosing cup-like basins, which in the heart 
 of the range contained water, fresh and saline. Wood also be- 
 gan to re-appear ; and, when we halted for dinner, at the height 
 of the range, the beauty that wood, water, and bold hill-sides 
 give was blended in one spot. We were three or four hun- 
 dred feet above the prairie ; the scenery round us was bolder 
 than is to be found in any part of Ontario, and resembled that 
 of the Pentlands near Edinburgh. The hUl at the foot of 
 which we camped rose abniptly from the rest, like the site of 
 an ancient fortalice. Horotski described it as a New Zealand 
 pah ; one hill like a wall enclosing another in its centre, and a 
 deep precipitous valley, that would have served admirably as a 
 moat, filled with thick wood and underbrush, between the two. 
 Climbing to the summit of the central hUl, we found ourselves 
 in the middle of a circle, thirty to forty miles in diameter, en- 
 closing about a thousand square miles of beautiful country- 
 North and east it was undulating, studded with aspen groves 
 and shining with lakes. To the south and west was a level 
 prairie, with a sky line of hills to the south-west. To the 
 north-west — our direction — a prairie fire, kindled probably by 
 embers that had been left carelessly behind at a camp, partly 
 hid the view. Masses of fiery smoke rose from the burning 
 grass and willows, and if there had been a strong wind, or the 
 gi-ass less green and damp, the beauty of much of the fair scene 
 we were gazing on would soon have vanished, and a vast black- 
 ened surface alone been left. 
 
im OCEAI* TO OCEAN. 
 
 It was nearly 4 P.IVI- before we left the "Round Hill, and 
 then we passed between the remaining hUls of the range, and 
 gradually descended to the more levej prairie beyond, through 
 a beautiful, boldly irregular country, with more open expanses 
 than in the Touchwood Hills, and more beautiful pools, though 
 the wood was not so artistically grouped. Passing near the 
 fire, which was blazing fiercely along a line of a quarter of a 
 mUe, we saw that it had commenced from a camping ground 
 near the roadside. Heavy clouds were gathering that would 
 soon extinguish the fiames. As there was the appearance of a 
 terrific thunder storm, we hurried to a sheltered spot seven or 
 eight miles from Kound Hill, and camped before sunset, just as 
 heavy drops commenced to fall. The speed with which our ar- 
 rangements for the night were made astonished ourselves. 
 Every one did what he could ; and in five minutes the horses 
 were unharnessed, the tents pitched, the saddles and all perish- 
 able articles covered with waterproofs ; but, while exchanging 
 congratulations, the dense black clouds drove on to the south, 
 and, though the sky was a-flame with lightning, the rain scarcely 
 touched us. 
 
 August 1.5th. — Early in the morning rain pattered on our 
 tents, but before day-light it had passed oflF, and we started 
 comfortably at our usual hour, a little after sunrise. Our aim 
 was to reach the south branch of the Saskatchewan, forty-six 
 miles away, before night ; the distance was divided into three 
 spells of thirteen, seventeen and sixteen miles. 
 
 The scenery in the morning's ride was a continuation of that 
 of last night ; through a lovely country, well wooded, abound- 
 ing in lakelets, swelling into softly-rounded knolls, and occa- 
 sionally opening out into a wide and fair landscape. The soU 
 was of rich loam and the vegetation correspondingly luxuriant ; 
 the flora the same, and almost at the same stage as that we had 
 first seen on the prairie, a fortnight before, near Red River ; — 
 the roses just going out of bloom ; the yellow marigolds and 
 
MANITOBA TO FORT CARLTON. 135 
 
 golden-rods, the lilac bergamot, tlie white tansey, blue-bells and 
 hare-bells, and asters of many colours and sizes, in all their 
 splendour. We were quite beyond the high and dry region ; 
 and again in a country that could easily be converted into an 
 earthly paradise. 
 
 We met or passed a great many teams and " brigades " to- 
 day; traders going west, and half-breeds returning east with 
 carts well-laden with buffalo skins and dried meat. A number 
 of Red River people club together in the spring, and go west 
 to hunt the buffalo. Their united caravan is popularly called a 
 brigade, and very picturesque is its appearance on the road or 
 round the camp-fire. The old men, the women and little chil- 
 dren are engaged on the expedition, and all help. The men 
 ride and the women drive the carts. The children make the 
 fires and do chores for the women. The men shoot buffalo; the 
 women dry the meat and make it into pemmican. 
 
 Hundreds of half-breeds often start together on these expedi- 
 tions with horses and carts, oxen and dogs, and remain out in 
 the plains for two months at a time. The discipline maintained 
 by the half-breeds on these occasions is enough to prove what 
 formidable enemies they could be if they were determined to pre- 
 vent the settling of the country. They are all supplied with arms, 
 they shoot and ride well, and could find food and water where 
 regular troops would starve. They elect their own captains and 
 policemen when out on the plains, set outposts, make camping 
 laws and laws for the hunt, and strictly enforce them by fines, 
 or the destruction of the clothes and gear of the offender, or by 
 expulsion from the band. When near a great herd of buffalo, 
 the excitement becomes intense. The approach is made cauti- 
 ously, but not till the captain gives the word is the charge 
 made. Then like hounds slipped from the leash, in the hunt- 
 ers' dash, their horses quivering with the excitement of the 
 riders. Each man selects his cow or bull, and unless his horse 
 trips in a mole or badger hole and throws him, he is taken 
 
136 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 safely within a few yards of its flanks. Aim, is seldom missed, 
 and the hunter dashes off instantly after another, and so on till 
 the herd is far away. The half-breed would not exchange the 
 pleasure of one such " run " for a whole year's profitable farm 
 work. After the hunt the work of the women and children 
 begins. They have to prepare the dried meat and pemmican, 
 and dress the hides. And when the carts are well filled, the 
 band returns home. 
 
 Our breakfast place was a neck of land between two lakes, 
 one of them sweet, the other bitter. The elevation of the two 
 seemed to be the same, but, on a closer look, the fresh lake was 
 seen to be the higher of the two, so that when full it would 
 overflow into the other. This was invariably the case, as far as 
 we saw, when two or more of such lakes were near each other. 
 The salt lakes had no outlet, the natural drainage passing off 
 only by absorption and evaporation. 
 
 The country between this first halt and the Saskatchewan 
 consisted of three successive basins ; each bounded by a low 
 ridge, less or more broken. Everywhere the ground was uneven, 
 not so well suited as the level for steam agricultural imple- 
 ments, but tha very country for stock raising or dairy farms. 
 The road was bad, and no wonder, according to the axiom that 
 good soil makes bad roads. The ruts were deep in black loam, 
 and rough with willow roots. Even when the wheels sank to 
 the axles, they brought up not clay, but moist dripping black 
 muck, that would gladden the eyes of a farmer. 
 
 Soon after dinner, we came to the last ridge, and before us 
 spread out a magnificent panorama. Fifteen miles further west 
 rolled the South Saskatchewan. We could not see the river, 
 but the blue plateau that formed our sky line was on the other 
 side of it. And those fifteen miles at our feet, stretching to an 
 indefinite horizon on the south, and bounded five miles away to 
 the north by Minitchenass or " the lumping hill of the woods," 
 showed every variety of rolling plain, gentle upland, wooded 
 
MANITOBA TO FORT CARLTON. 137 
 
 knoll, and gleaming lake. Where hundreds of homesteads 
 shall yet be there is not one. Perhaps it is not to be regretted 
 that there is so much good land in the world still unoccupied. 
 The intense saltness of many of the lakes was the only doubt- 
 ful feature in the landscape. One at our feet several miles long 
 had a shore of brightest red, sure sign of how it would taste. 
 All at the foot of the ridge with one exception are saline ; after 
 going on a few miles and mounting a slope, they are fresh. 
 
 The sun set when we were still five miles from the river. 
 Another axle had broken and heavy clouds threatened instant 
 rain. Some advised halting ; but the desire to see the Saskat- 
 chewan was too strong to be resisted, and we pushed on at a 
 rattling rate over the rutty uneven road. Never were buck- 
 boards tested more severely, and no carts but those of Red River 
 could have stood for ten minutes the bumps from hillock to 
 hillock, over boulders, roots and holes, as we dashed forward at 
 a break-neck rate. The last mile was down hill. The Doctor 
 and the Chief put their horses to the gallop, and only drew rein 
 when, right beneath, they saw the shining waters of the river. 
 The rest of us were scarcely a minute behind, and three rousing 
 cheers sent back the news to the carts. In twelve working 
 days, we had travelled five hundred and six miles, doing on this 
 last forty-six ; and the horses looked as fresh as at the beginning 
 of the journey ; a fact that establishes the nutritious properties 
 of the grasses, their only food on the way, as well as the 
 strength and hardihood of the breed. 
 
 The first thing the Chief saw to, after pitching the tents, was 
 the preparation of a kettle of whiskey-toddy, of which all who 
 were not teetotallers received an equal share. The allowance 
 was not excessive after nearly a fortnight's work ; about three 
 half-pints to thirteen men, six of them old voyageurs ; but they 
 had been so abstemious on the road that it was quite enough, 
 and great was the hilarity with which each one drank his mug- 
 full, pledging the Queen, sweethearts and wives, the Domiaiop 
 
138 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 and the Chief. It shakes a company together to share anything 
 in common ; and by this time we felt a personal interest in 
 every member of the party, and looked forward with regret to 
 the farewells that would be exchanged to-morrow. 
 
 While at supper, rain began to fall, and it continued with 
 intermissions all night, but we slept soundly in our tents, — 
 caring nothing, for were we not pushing on in good style ? A 
 month from Toronto and we were on the Saskatchewan. 
 
 August 16th. — A grey and chilly morning. There was some 
 delay in getting the scow, that is kept on the river by the Hud- 
 son's Bay Company, up from a point where it had been left, so 
 that we did not move from camp till 8 o'clock. This delay gave 
 the Botanist an hour or two to hunt for new species, which he 
 did with all diligence. He had been slightly cast down of late 
 by finding few new varieties. The flora of the five hundred 
 and thirty miles between the eastern verge of the prairie at 
 Oak Point and the Saskatchewan is wonderfully uniform. The 
 characteristic flowers and grasses are everywhere the same. We 
 expect, however, to meet with many varieties after crossing the 
 two Saskatchewans. 
 
 At this point of the river, where the scow is usually kept and 
 where a regular ferry is to be established next year, crossing is 
 an easy matter. Wien there was no scow, every party that 
 came along had to make a raft for their baggage, and a whole 
 day was lost. Our buckboard carts and Mr. McDougal's wag- 
 gons made two scow-loads, and the horses swam across. Some 
 were reluctant to go into the water, but they were forced on by 
 the men, who waded after them — shouting and throwing stones 
 — to the very brink of the channel. Once in there, they had 
 to swim. Some, ignorant of how to do it, struggled violently 
 against the full force of the current or to get back, when they 
 were stoned in again. Others went quietly and cunningly with 
 the current, and got across at the very point the scow made. 
 The river for a few minutes looked alive with horses' heads, for 
 
MANITOBA TO FORT CARLTON. 139 
 
 that was all that was seen of them from, the shore. As the 
 water was lower and the force of the stream less than usual, all 
 got across with comparative ease. The river at this point is 
 from two hundred to two hundred and fifty yards wide. A 
 hand-level showed the west bank to be about a hundred and 
 seventy feet high, and the east somewhat higher. Groves of 
 aspens, balsams, poplars, and small white birch are on both 
 banks. The valley is about a mUe wide, narrower therefore 
 than the valley of the Assiniboine or the Qu'Appelle, though 
 the Saskatchewan is larger than the two pul together. The 
 water now is of a milky grey colour, but very sweet to the 
 taste, especially to those who had not drunk of living water 
 for some days. A month hence Mr. McDougal says it will be 
 clear as crystal. In the spring it is discoloured by the turbid 
 torrents along its banks, composed of the melting snows and an 
 admixture of soil and sand ; and this colour is continued through 
 the summer, by the melted snow and ice and the debris borne 
 along with them from the Rocky Mountains. In August it 
 begins to get clear, and remains so tUl frozen, which usually 
 happens about the end of November. 
 
 Near the ferry an extensive reserve of land has been secured 
 for a French half-breed settlement. A number of families have 
 already come up from Port Garry. We did not see them, as the 
 buflfalo-magnet had drawn them away to the plains. 
 
 Aft^ crossing, most of us drove rapidly to Fort Carlton — 
 eighteen miles distant on the North Saskatchewan, — being 
 anxious to see a house and civilized ways and people again. 
 Mr. Clark, the agent, received us with customary Hudson's Bay 
 hospitality. The eighteen miles between the two rivers is a 
 plateau, not more at its highest than three hundred feet above 
 either stream. The soil looked rather light and sandy, but suf. 
 ficiently rich for profitable farming. There is capital duck- 
 shooting on lakes near the road. From the ancient bank of the 
 river, above the Fort, is a good view of the course of the north 
 
140 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 stream. It is a noble river, rather broader, with higher banks 
 and a wider valley, than the south branch. The usual square 
 of four or five wooden buildings, surrounded by a high plank 
 fence, constitutes "the Fort," and having been intended for 
 defence against Indians only, it is of little consequence that it 
 is built on the low ground, so immediately imder the ancient 
 bank of the river that you can look down into the inclosure, 
 and almost throw a stone into it from a point on the bank. 
 Fifty mUes down stream is the Prince Albert Presbyterian 
 Mission to the Crees, where there is also the nucleus of a thri- 
 ving Scotch settlement. Fifty miles farther down, in the same 
 north-easterly direction, the two Saskatchewans unite, and then 
 pursue their way with a magnificent volume of water — broken 
 only by one rapid of any consequence — to Lake Winnipeg. 
 
 We dined with Mr. Clark on pemmican, a strong but savoury 
 dish, not at all Uke " the dried chips andtaUow" some Sybarites 
 have called it. There is pemmican and pemmican however, 
 and we were warned that what is made for ordinary fare needs 
 all th» sauce that hunger supplies to make it palatable. 
 
 A few hours before our arrival, Mr. Clark had received in- 
 telligence from Edmonton, that Yankee free-traders from Belly 
 River had entered the country, and were selUng rum to the 
 Indians in exchange for their horses. The worst consequences 
 were feared, as when the Indians have no horses they cannot 
 hunt. When they cannot hunt they are not ashamed to steal 
 horses, and horse-stealing leads to wars. The Crees and Black- 
 feet had been at peace for the last two or three years, but, if 
 the peace was once broken, the old thirst for scalps would revive 
 and the country be rendered insecure. Mr. Clark spoke bitterly 
 of the helplessness of the authorities, in consequence of having 
 had no. force from the outset to back up the proclamations that 
 had been issued. Both traders and Indians, he said, were 
 learning the dangerous lesson that the Queen's orders could be 
 disregarded with impunity. We comforted him with the assu- 
 
MANITOBA TO FORT CARLTON. 141 
 
 ranee that the Adjutant-General was coming up to repress all 
 disorders and see what was necessary to be done for the future 
 peace of the country. ' 
 
 Making allowances for the fears of those who see no protec- 
 tion for life or property within five hundred or a thousand 
 mUes of them, and for the exaggerated size to which rumours 
 swell in a country of such magnificent distances, where there 
 are no newspapers and no means of communication except 
 expresses, it is clear that if the government wishes to avoid 
 worrying, expensive, murderous difiiculties with the Indians, 
 " something must be done." There must be law and order all 
 Dver our Northwest from the first. Three or four companies 
 of fifty men each, like those now in Manitoba, would be suffi- 
 cient for the purpose, if judiciously stationed. Ten times the 
 number may be required if there is long delay. The country 
 cannot afibrd repetitions of the Manitoba rebellion. The Crees 
 are anxious for a treaty. The Blackfeet should be dealt with 
 firmly and generously ; treaties made with both oa the basis of 
 those agreed upon in the east ; a few simple laws for the pro- 
 tection of life and property explained to them, and their ob- 
 servance enforced ; small annuities allowed ; the spirit-traffic 
 prohibited, and schools and missionaries encouraged. 
 
 On asking Mr. Clark why there was no farm at Carlton, he 
 explained that the neighbourhood of a fort was the worst pos- 
 sible place for farm or garden ; that the Indians who come 
 about a fort from all quarters, to trade and to see what they 
 can get, would, without the slightest intention of stealing, use 
 the fences for firewood, dig up the potatoes and turnips, and 
 let their horses get into the grain-fields. He had therefore 
 established a farm at the Prince Albert Mission, fifty miles 
 down the river. With regard to crops, barley and potatoes 
 were always sure, wheat generally a success, though threatened 
 by frosts or early drought, and never a total failure. This year, 
 he expected two thousand bushels of wheat from a sowing of a 
 
142 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 hundred. The land at Carlton, and everywhere round, is the 
 same as at Prince Albert. Its only fault is that it is rather 
 too rich. 
 
 After dinner, three or four hours were allowed for writing 
 letters home, and making arrangements for the journey farther 
 west. We got some fresh horses and provisions from Mr. 
 Clark ; said good-bye to Emilien, Marchaud, Willie, Frederick, 
 and Jerome ; and taking two of our old crew, Terry and 
 Maxime, along with two half-breeds and a hunch-backed Indian 
 from Carlton, crossed the North Saskatchewan before sunset. 
 In addition to Mr. McDougal, two Hudson's Bay officers joined 
 us — one of whom, Mr. Macaulay, had been long stationed at 
 Jasper House and Edmonton, and the other, Mr. King, far 
 north on the McKenzie River. The scew took everything 
 across in two loads, and the horses swam the river ; but it was 
 after dark before the tents were pitched on the top of the hill, 
 and nearly midnight when we got to bed. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 Along the N<yrih Saskatchewan to Udmonfon. 
 
 The Thickwood Hilla.— The soiL— Slough of despond.— Bears Paddling Lake.— Indian 
 Missions-results. — Pemmican. — Jack-fish Lake. — TheCreesandBlackfeet. — Change 
 in vegetation. — Resemblance to Ontario. — ^The Red-deer Hills. — Rich Uplands and 
 Valleys.— Fort Pitt.-The Horse Guard.— Fresh Buffalo meat.— Partially wooded 
 country, — Cree guests. — Courtesy to Indians. — ShaganappL — Mr. McDougal. — 
 Glorious view. — Our Longitude. — ^The Isothermal lines— Scalping raids. — Jack's 
 bravery. — The flora. — Victoria Mission. — Indian school. — Crops raised. — A lady 
 visitor. — Timber; — Horse Hill. — Edmonton. — Coal. — Wheat and other crops. — 
 Gold washing. — Climate. — Soil. — Indian Races. — Half-breeds.— Water. — Fuel. — 
 Frosts. 
 
 August 17th, — The distance from Fort Garry to Edmonton 
 is nine hundred miles, and is usually regarded as consisting of 
 three portions ; two hundred and fifteen miles to Fort Ellice on 
 the Assiniboine ; three hundred and nine more to Fort Carlton ; 
 and about three hundred and eighty up the North Saskatche- 
 wan to Edmonton. On this third part of the journey we were 
 now entering. 
 
 It rained this morning, but we rose early, as usual, and pre- 
 pared to start. There was a good deal of confusion and delay, 
 as Horetsky, who had employed the new men and made the 
 arrangements, had remained over night at the fort. The new 
 horses could not be found for some time ; and, with one thing 
 and another, it was seven o'clock before we got ofi' on this stage 
 of our journey. The sky soon cleai-ed and the day turned out 
 as sunny and breezy as any of its predecessors. 
 
 The road follows the upward course of the Saskatchewan, but 
 as the river soon makes an almost semi-circular sweep, first 
 south and parallel to the South Saskatchewan, then northe ly 
 as far as Fort Pitt, the road strikes across the chord of the arc, 
 over a broken and hilly country called the Thickwood Hills. 
 
144 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 Lakes are always in sight, — one of them very large and very 
 salt — and extensive views of fine pasture lands are had from 
 every elevation. The soil and its productions, greatly to the 
 disappointment of our Botanist, resembled what we had every- 
 where seen for the last fortnight. The soil in some places was 
 equally rich and deep ; but generally not quite as good. Every- 
 thing indicated a cool and moist climate. There were few of 
 the prairie flowers, but a great variety of grasses, of wild peas, 
 and beans, all green succulent herbage ; a country better adapt- 
 ed for stock raising than for wheat. The road was rough with 
 roots, stones, and occasionally deep ruts, and so hilly that the 
 jog-trot had often to be exchanged for a walk. Mr. Clark's 
 horses, with the exception of a span attached to a large waggon 
 of his own that he had lent us, turned out to be miserable 
 beasts ; stiff-jointed or sore-backed, and obstinately lifeless ; so 
 that we would have fared badly, had it not been for the six 
 government horses brought on from Fort EUice, The two Carl, 
 ton half-breeds, employed to drive the carts or horses, were old 
 and stupid, incurable smokers and talkers. The one called Le- 
 grace was dried up as a mummy; the other fat and greasy, 
 popularly known among us as " Haroosh.'' He owed the name 
 to Terry, who, hearing him drive his red horse with frequent 
 howls of " Ho Rouge ! Ho Rouge !" took for granted that this 
 was the " Haroosh" familiar to himself in early days, and the 
 proper north-west cry to lazy horses. Terry, accordingly, never 
 whacked his unfortunate white nag without yelling " Haroosh !" 
 The only acquisition to the party from Carlton, was the young 
 hunchbacked Indian called Keasis or the little bird. 
 
 Our breakfast-place was fifteen miles from camp, beside a 
 marsh or pool on the road, twenty feet wide, and so deep that 
 the water came into the buck-boards and up to the axles of the 
 carts. It is well enough named the Slough of Despond. Often 
 have carts stuck, and whole brigades come to grief in it. Why 
 the H. B. Company has never bridged it is a puzzle, except on 
 
ALONG THE NORTH SASKATCHEWAN. 145 
 
 the principle that no private company cares to do any work that 
 wUl be a public benefit, for it has lost enough by it to build ten 
 bridges. Where there is any considerable traffic, nothing is so 
 expensive as a slough, a hole, or any serious obstruction on the 
 road. 
 
 We took dinner fifteen miles further on, beside a pretty little 
 running stream, and camped before sunset, after making only 
 eight miles more, beside The Bears Paddling Lake, a good place 
 to stay over Sunday, as there is abundance of wood, water and 
 pasture. The lake is very shallow but has a firm sandy bottom 
 and the Indians have often seen bears about its shores, enjoying 
 themselves in the water. Hence its name, a translation of 
 which is sufficient for us. 
 
 Every one from the Saskatchewan that we previously met, 
 had spoken so enthusiastically of this river and of the great 
 country it waters, that we were somewhat disappointed with 
 what we had seen to day. True, we had passed over only a 
 speck, and that so elevated that much could not be looked for 
 from it. The soil appeared good, and the grasses were so thick 
 that they almost formed a sward ; but the larger wood had been 
 burnt, and willow bushes, scattered all round, indicated an in- 
 different sub-soil. Besides, we had not got rid of the salt lakes. 
 Mr. McDougal, however, ridiculed our doubts : we had only to 
 go out of our road a little, to find a rich and beautiful country, 
 extending north to the line of continuous forest, and to-morrow 
 and every successive day, as we journeyed west, would show 
 pretty much the same. 
 
 Faith in the future of the Saskatchewan and its fertile belt 
 is strong in the mind of almost every man who has lived on it, 
 and it is impossible to see even the little of the two great 
 branches of the river that we saw, without being convinced that 
 they are natural highways along which many steamers will soon 
 be pljTng, carrying to market the rich produce of the plains that 
 extend to the east, west, and north. When the tents were 
 
 10 
 
146 OCEAN TO OCEAIT. 
 
 pitched Souzie went down to the lake and shot four or five 
 ducks, as a contribution to our Sunday dinner. The night was 
 cool, as we had expected at the elevation ; but there was no 
 frost. 
 
 August, 18th.: — Took a much-needed long sleep, as usual on 
 Sunday mornings ; breakfasted at nine o'clock, and had service 
 at eleven, Mr. McDougal assisting. We think ourselves fortu- 
 nate in having fallen in with Mr. McDougal. He is thoroughly 
 acquainted with the country, a man of ready resources and an 
 obliging fellow traveller. 
 
 Widely diflferent opinions have been expressed, about the 
 value of missionary work among the Indians, by the half dozen 
 persons we have hitherto met, who profess to be less or more 
 acquainted with the subject. One gentleman's information was 
 very decided : — " The Protestant missionaries had made no 
 converts ; the Roman Catholic missionaries had made some, 
 and they were the greatest scoundrels unhung.'' Another was 
 equally emphatic on the other side. One witness was doubtful, 
 thinking that something could be said on both sides, and he was 
 therefore subjected to a little cross-examination : — " Many of 
 the Indians are n6w professing Christians ; but, no doubt, some 
 of them are great hypocrites." Asked if there was not a share 
 of hypocrisy in all of us, and if such a charge was not made 
 against Christians everywhere. Admitted that it was so. Pressed 
 on the point, whether the old chUd-like frankness on the part of 
 the Indian along with a vast fund of reserve on the part of the 
 trader, made commercial transactions equally fair to both 
 parties ; admitted that it did not, and that thus the charge 
 of hypocrisy might be retorted in the wigwam on the trader, 
 or explained in the store on the part of the Indian. Asked 
 if he could name any positive improvement in morality, that 
 had resulted from missionaries' labours. " Yes ; Christianized 
 Crees would not steal your horses, — at least not openly — 
 when you were passing through their country." Well, yon 
 
ALONG THE NORTH SASKATCHEWAN. U7 
 
 could not say more for Christianized Englishmen, or Yan- 
 kees, if so much. Could he mention any other improvement 1 
 " Yes ; they had all been polygamista to as great an extent 
 as they could afford (a new wife being bought for a horse 
 or a blanket) and they used to exchange wives to suit 
 each others' convenience ; but such practices among several 
 tribes had passed away, or were considerad disreputable." 
 Urged to remember what they were when he first went among 
 them, so as to say fairly if there was any other gain. " Yes ; 
 away to the north the Dogribs and other tribes on the Mc- 
 Kenzie, had a practice of strangling or smothering all their 
 infant daughters after the first ; even the mother would stuff a 
 handful of grass into the mouth of the poor little thing and 
 choke it ; now the practice was unknown." A decided gain for 
 the daughters. Any more'? " Yes ; some of them did keep the 
 Lord's Day after a fashion, treated their women rather better, 
 were more comfortable, a little cleaner, sent their children to 
 school for a while, and — well, there had been improvement, 
 but after all, if you only knew how superstitious they still are, 
 how dirty, vicious, miserable, you would not consider them 
 much better than pagans.' 
 
 The style of argument seemed ungenerous. Here were men, 
 self-exiled, toiling all their lives without prospect of earthly 
 promotion or reward, from the Blackfeet on the Bow River to 
 the Loocieux on the Yucan, from Winnipeg to where the Mc- 
 Kenzie empties into_the Arctic sea ; among the Indians of the 
 lakes and the plains, and the still more degraded Indians of the 
 woods ; living, many of them, in frozen wildernesses, where the 
 year is made up of a six weeks' summer of West India heat, 
 six or seven weeks more of warm days and cold nights, and 
 nine months of stern and dreary winter ; and when they see 
 some results of their labour, some small improvements strug- 
 gling to show themselves in spite of all the dismal surround- 
 ings, they find that the necessarily slow process has made men 
 
U8 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 forget the raw materiaJ they had to begin upon ; they are 
 sneered at as making hypocrites, or are pointed only to what 
 remains to be done, because their converts are not equal to the 
 descendants of fifty generations of Christian forefathers. It is 
 so easy to forget what once was, or to kick away the ladder by 
 which we ourselves have risen. Changes take place so imper- 
 ceptibly that even those "living among them do not notice there 
 has been change, and they assume that nothing has been done, 
 when a great work is going on around them. Missionaries on 
 the plains say, that now there has been peace for the last two 
 or three years, they can call to mind only with an effort the 
 once familiar scenes of bloodshed, and the universal craving 
 for scalps. 
 
 The uniform policy of the Hudson's Bay Company was to 
 encourage missionary effort among the Indians. Their charter 
 bound them to this, and especially since 1820 they have done 
 so toa considerable extent. Sir George Simpson always offered 
 the protection of the Company to missionaries, on condition 
 that they attended to their own business and did nothing preju- 
 dicial to the interests of the Company. When a missionary 
 was stationed near a Hudson's Bay Fort, he had the position 
 also of Chaplain to the Fort, free passage in and out of the 
 country by the Company's boats, and £50 a year. For some 
 time the Anglican and the Roman Catholic were the only 
 Churches that entered on the work, perhaps because the Compa^ 
 ny was most ready to invite and assist these. During the last 
 quarter of a century the Wesleyans also have worked in this 
 field with their usual energy. They have now nine missiona- 
 ries, and it is much to the credit of the two Protestant Churches, 
 that they do not interfere with the stations of one another. 
 The Presbyterians have only one mission, that at Prince Albert, 
 and, though in a prosperous state, its work is in a great measm-e 
 confined to a congregation of half-breed and white settlers. 
 
 A practical vindication both of the general dealings of the 
 
ALONG THE NORTH SASKATCHEWAN. 14:9 
 
 Company with the Indians and of missionary work among them 
 is the fact that the survey of the Canada Pacific Railway, 
 from the Upper Ottawa to the Pacific coast, has in no case 
 been interfered with. The engineers and others have been 
 welcomed ; and very often, the Indians have proved extremely 
 serviceable. The contrast with the state of things on the other 
 side of the boundary line, — where surveys have been summarily 
 stopped, engineers killed, and where every Indian scalp is esti- 
 mated to have cost the country $100,000, — is marked indeed. 
 Of course the missionary work has another and altogether 
 higher aspect, from which it is only fair to look at it also. We 
 must judge it from its own as well as from the world's standpoint. 
 Christian men and women give their means, their labours, and 
 their lives to the heathen, not for social, political, or economical 
 results, though they believe that such results follow their suc- 
 cess, but for Christ's sake, because the heathen are their 
 brethren, dear to them because dear to their Lord. It is not 
 fair, thererefore, to leave the decision as to the value of their 
 labours wholly to men of the world, who judge only from the 
 lower point of view, — whose immediate interests may be injured, 
 or on whose passions a bridle may be put by " the impertinent 
 intermeddling " of missionaries, or who may be bitterly opposed 
 to true Christianity — for it is not extravagant to suppose that 
 there have been such men. To preach the Gospel of the won- 
 derful love of God to a few degraded Indians, may seem a small 
 thing in the eyes of tourist or trader, in comparison with the 
 gospel of plenty of tobacco for peltries. 
 
 Far otherwise is it in the eyes of the missionary and his 
 Master; far otherwise when weighed in the balances of eternity. 
 
 August 19th. — Rose at 3 a. m., thanks to the Sunday rest, 
 and got away from camp before sunrise. 
 
 Our first spell was thirteen miles, over a rich undulating 
 country, little wooded, but, judging from the strong green 
 passes and vetches, well suited either for stock-raising or 
 
150 OCEAN TO OCEAN, 
 
 cereals. We breakfasted in a lovely hollow, watered by springs 
 of delicious water the banks lined with balsam, poplars from 
 one to two feet in diameter. The road here is about forty miles 
 from the river on account of the bend, to the south, that the 
 latter makes. The Thickwood Hills are not more than two 
 hundred feet high. 
 
 Terry gave us pemmican for breakfast, and, from this date, 
 pemmican was the staple of each meal. Though none of us 
 cared for it raw at first, we all liked it hot. Cooked for a few 
 minutes in a frying pan with a little water and flour, and a 
 dust of pepper and salt, onions added if you have any, it is 
 called r6chaud, and a capital dish it is, looking like Rodney, 
 and tasting not very differently from well roasted beef Pem- 
 mican and sun-dried thin flitches of buffalo meat are the great 
 food staples of the plains, so much so that when you hear peo- 
 ple speak of provisions, you may be sure that they simply mean 
 buffalo meat, either dried or as pemmican. 
 
 The second spell was twenty miles over round or sloping 
 hills, enclosing lakes aud affording good pasturage, though the 
 most of the land was sandy or gravelly and not up to the aver- 
 age. The country resembled the Cheviots and the south of 
 Scotland — two or three places reminding iis of Drumlanrig. 
 The road followed the high lands where the streamlets or creeks 
 that flow into the Saskatchewan, take their rise. We crossed 
 one of these three times, and then halted beside it for dinner. 
 In the afternoon we followed along its course, through a suc- 
 cession of very pretty lakes, that are almost covered with wild 
 fowl, till it issued from the largest, Jack-fish Lake. We 
 should have crossed it there, but the water was too high, and 
 we had to follow down its left bank to a ford three miles to the 
 south. When within a quarter of a mile of the ford, — the big 
 waggon and buck-boards going before, the carts following at 
 some distance, and the horses driven behind them, — the hump- 
 backed Indian galloped to the front, and pointed back. There 
 
AI.UNG THE NORTH SASKATCHEWAN. 161 
 
 was Souzie crossing the river in his light waggon, and the carts 
 and the horses following lead. They floundered across pretty 
 ■well, except the cart of Haroosh, which stuck in the mud. 
 Though angry at the check of the thing, it was thought best to 
 follow, and Souzie being recalled and rowed up for his impu- 
 dence, most of the articles that a wetting would damage, were 
 transferred from the buckboards to his waggon and sent safely 
 across. The big waggon, with the Chief and the Doctor mount- 
 ed on the highest pinnacle, followed ; but when near the other 
 side, its iron wheels sank in the black muddy bottom, and the 
 horses, while struggling to extricate them, broke the whipple- 
 tree and parts of the harness, leaving the waggon and contents 
 in the middle of the stream. Maxime and Keasis rushed to 
 the rescue and untackled the horses. The Chief and the Doc- 
 tor, stripping from feet. to waist jumped down into the water, 
 and putting their shoulders to the wheels while the other two 
 pulled, amid cheers from the rest of us on the other side, and 
 countless bites from the mosquitoes, shoved the big thing to the 
 bank. The buckboards followed, and then Greasy, who had 
 been left all the time in the middle of the stream, cudgelling 
 his horse, and yelling " Ho Kouge ! Ho Rouge !" supplicated 
 help, as his arm and throat had quite given out. He was told 
 to help himself, and to our great satisfaction, the old fellow had 
 to jump down into the water and shove his caxt out. Ail got 
 safely across, nothing had been hurt, only Souzie looked woe- 
 begone for the night, and Greasy continued sulky for two days. 
 We camped at once on the bank, though the mosquitoes, that 
 always haunt woods and streams, tormented our horses so much 
 that the poor brutes could not eat, but crowded round the smoke 
 of our fires, making the place look even more like a gipsy en- 
 campment than usual. 
 
 The Jackfish-lake River runs, through a beautiful park-like 
 country from this point into the Saskatchewan, fifteen miles to 
 the south. It would be a good location for a missionary or 
 
152 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 general settlement, for the lakes above are filled with jackfish or 
 pike, and with white fish, — the finest fresh water fish, perhaps, 
 in the world. There is also good water power, as the stream 
 descends about a hundred and fifty feet in the course of the 
 next fifteen miles, and the land is slightly rolling and of ex- 
 cellent quality. It is the favourite ground of a large mixed 
 band of Crees and Salteaux, who were away hunting buffalo. 
 On a little hill, near the stream, a great annual pow-wow is held 
 in the spring, by the heathen Crees and Salteaux who come 
 from long distances to have a high time. Their medicine men 
 who have still much influence among them, take the lead and 
 hold a revival meeting. All the old incantations and wild 
 dances are practised, and as the excitement gets up, they aban- 
 don themselves to the foulest licentiousness. 
 
 We had driven forty-eight miles to-day, the longest journey 
 yet made. Except the first and last part, the land was appa- 
 rently not very good. 
 
 August 20th. — Instead of following up the right bank of the 
 stream to the main road near Jack-fish Lake, we struck a new 
 trail direct for Tortoise Kiver, twenty-five miles distant. On 
 the way we saw a fine buck and two or three antelopes, but 
 they were too far off for a shot. In the spring, several varieties 
 of deer are abundant hereabouts, but at this season, most of 
 them are away with their young on the treeless prairies to the 
 south. Halted on the road for breakfast ; but, to our disgust 
 the water was salt. A breakfast of dry bread and dry pemmi- 
 can was hurriedly made ; and we found that, on the plains, 
 any meal without tea, is as poor an affair as bacon and beans 
 without the bacon. 
 
 At Tortoise River we had a most reviving swio^ and a long 
 halt. Beyond it is Horse Hill, so called from a fight between 
 the Crees and Blackfeet forty years ago. The Crees were 
 encamped near a thicket at the foot of the hill, and a party of 
 Blackfeet, that had made a successful raid far from their own 
 
ALONG THE NORTH SASKATCHEWAN. 153 
 
 borders, discovered them and charged. But the Cress were 
 prepared, and, a still larger body of them on the slope of the 
 hill, hidden by a ravine, swept round and drove their enemies 
 into the ravine ; and though many of the Blackfeet escaped, all 
 their spoil was retaken and forty horses were killed; an extra- 
 ordinary number, for the aim is always to capture the horses, 
 — horses and buffalo being the all-in-all to the Indians of the 
 plains. In their wars the Blackfeet often suffered from similar 
 haste and over-boldness. Not long ago, a party a hundred 
 strong, out raiding in the winter time, discovered a Cree camp 
 among the hills, and rushed on it ; but when they entered the 
 pass, a second and a third camp appeared on each side. Their 
 only hope was escape, and they dashed straight on, to find that 
 they had rushed into a deep hollow, the opposite rim of which 
 was topped high with snow-banks curling over in folds, so that 
 there was no possibility of mounting it. The Crees closed with 
 yells of triumph, and for once they had their will on their enemies 
 It was not a fight but a massacre. Seventy were killed in a 
 few minutes, and then the Crees, in a fit of generosity, or be- 
 cause they were glutted with blood, opened out and let the rest 
 
 go. 
 
 Not that the Blackfeet disdain to exercise strategy. Cunning 
 is natural to every Indian, in war and peace, in hunting and 
 trading. We were told of a successful ambuscade of theirs at 
 the Round Hill so like a New Zealand pah, on the other side 
 of the Saskatchewan. A large body of Crees had camped by 
 one of the lakes near the open. Towards evening they espied a 
 buffalo grazing on the top of the inner hill. He fed so quietly, 
 that they were a little suspicious at first, but soon others em- 
 erged from the coppice in the dip between the two hills. 
 Hungry Crees could be suspicious no longer. They drew near 
 quietly, and were all ready to run the bufialo, when every 
 bush opened fire and a score of them dropped. The buffalo be- 
 came Blackfeet and turning the tables ran the Crees to some 
 
154 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 The characteristic of the Blackfeet braves, however, is daring. 
 Many a stirring tale of headlong valour they tell round their 
 camp tires, as, long ago in moated castles, bards sang the deeds 
 of knights-errant, and fired the blood of the rising generation. 
 Such a story we heard of a chief called the Swan, once the 
 bravest of the bravo, but now, tho' in the prime of life, dying of 
 consumption. Dressing himself one day in all his bravery, he 
 mounted his fleet horse and rode straight for the Cree camp. A 
 hundred warriors were scattered about the tents, and in the 
 centre of the encampment two noted braves sat gambling. 
 Right up to them the Swan rode, scarcely challenged, as he 
 was alone, clapped his musket to the head of one and blew his 
 brains out. In an instant the camp was up ; dozens of strong 
 arms caught at the reckless foe, dozens of shots were fired, while 
 others rushed for their horses. But he knew his horse, and, 
 dashing through the encampment like a bolt, made good his 
 escape, though chased by every man that could mount. 
 
 Many a story of this kind we heard from poor old mummy 
 Legrace, who boasted for himself in a dignified way that in his 
 time he had killed two Blackfeet, but how much is tmth and 
 how much fiction, deponent" saith not. 
 
 This afternoon we drove sixteen miles, from Tortoise River 
 to English Eiver, another stream running south into the Saskat- 
 chewan, so called from the fact that an Englishman had been 
 drowned while crossiag it in the spring time, when very in- 
 significant creeks are dangerous. The soil all the way was 
 sandy and mossy, except in patches or near either river, where 
 it was excellent ; the country was undulating and suited for 
 sheep grazing. At one point, the road ran within two or three 
 miles of the Saskatchewan, and a prominent hill on the other 
 side was recognized by Souzie. " Ah ! " said he to his master, 
 " I know now where I am " ; and, on arriving at the camp, he 
 went up to Frank and fm-mally shook hands with him, to in- 
 dicate that he welcomed him to his country. He had established 
 
ALONG THE NORTH SASKATCHEWAN. 155 
 
 confidential relations with Frank from the first, taught him 
 Cree words, and told him long stories, explaining Ms meaning 
 by gesticulations of fingers, hands, shoulders, mouth, and eyes, 
 so expressive that Frank understood as well as if all had been 
 broad Lowlands. 
 
 A clump of tall pointed white and branching poplar spruce, 
 on the banks of English River, was the first variety from the 
 universal aspen or occasional balsam poplar, that we had seen 
 since leaving Fort Garry, with the exception of a few white 
 birches on the banks of the Saskatchewan. The aspen is the 
 characteristic tree, just as the buflfalo is the characteristic animal 
 of our North-west ; the other trees have in great measure been 
 burnt out. Fortunately the aspen is good wood for carpenter 
 work ; good also for fuel, being kindled easily and burning with- 
 out sparks. 
 
 In the course of the afternoon, the Little Bird having gone in 
 too extensively for pemmican became so ill that he gave out 
 altogether. This generally happens with the new men that are 
 picked up at the forts along the route. They are often half- 
 starved, except when employed, and then it takes them a week 
 to go through the surfeiting and sick stages before shaking 
 down into proper condition. Legrace and Haroosh were far 
 too old hands to suffer any evil consequences, no matter what 
 the quantity they ate. One of us took the Little Bird's work, 
 and made him get into a buckboard where he lay prone, head 
 wrapped up in his blanket, till the camping ground was reached. 
 Then he stretched himself beside the fire, the picture of utter 
 wretchedness. The Doctor prescribed castor oil, and Terry put 
 the dose to his mouth. As the Little Bird took the first taste, 
 he looked up ; noticing the comical look about Terry's amorph- 
 ous mouth, he thought that a practical joke was being played at 
 his expense, and with a gleam of fire in his eyes spit it out on 
 him. The Doctor had now to come up and with his most im- 
 pressive Muskeekee ohnyou (chief medicine man) air, intimate 
 
156 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 that the doae must be taken. The Little Bird submitted, drank 
 it as if it were hemlock, and rolled himself up in his blanket to 
 die. But in the morning he was all right again, though weak ; 
 and gratefully testified that castor oil was the most wonderful 
 medicine in the world. 
 
 August 21st. — Oxir destination to-day was Fort Pitt on the 
 Saskatchewan, but learning that a visit to it involved twelve or 
 fifteen miles additional travelling, as the main road keeps well 
 to the north of the river, it was decided that Horetzky and 
 Macaulay — one of the Hudson's Bay officers that joined our 
 party at Carlton — should ride ahead to the Fort for supplies, 
 and meet us if possible in the evening at the guard. Every 
 station of the Hudson's Bay Company has a guard, or judici- 
 ously selected spot, well supplied with good water, wood, pastur- 
 age, and shelter, where the horses are kept. From this depot 
 we expected to be furnished with fresh horses and men in place 
 of those brought from Carlton. 
 
 To-day's travel was through a hilly well-watered country. 
 The first spell brought us to the base of the Red Deer HUl, 
 close to a spring of cold clear water beside a gx-ove. The 
 soil was a deep loam all the way. The grasses and flowers 
 resembled those of Ontario and the Lower Provinces rather 
 than the prairie flora. Such common wild fruits as cur- 
 rants, goose-berries, choke-cherries, &c., were in abundance. 
 We seemed to have taken leave of the prairie and its character- 
 istic flowers since crossing the North Saskatchewan. The road 
 from Carlton to Fort Pitt runs among the sandy hills, that 
 skirt the course of the river. The nearer the river the more 
 sandy the soU, and the less adapted fbr cereals, because of 
 droughts, and early frosts which are attributed to the heavy 
 mists that cling about the river banks. 
 
 After breakfast, the road ran through a still more broken 
 country and along a more elevated plateau. The windings of 
 the Eed Deer and its little tributaries have cut out, in the 
 
ALONG THE NORTH SASKATCHEWAN. 157 
 
 course of ages, great valleys and enormous "punch bowls," re- 
 sembling the heaviest parts of the south of Scotland, on the rich 
 grassy sides of which thousands of cattle or sheep ought to be 
 grazing to make the resemblance complete. At a point where 
 the plateau is about 400 feet above the level of the Saskatche- 
 wan, a round sugar-loaf hill rises abruptly from the road nearly 
 200 feet, called the Frenchman's Knoll, because long ago a 
 Frenchman had been killed here. We cantered or walked to 
 the top, and had a far extending view of level, undulating, and 
 hilly country. Most of the wood was small because of recent 
 fires, and it was all aspen, except a few clumps of pines far 
 away. The sky line beyond the Saskatchewan was an elevated 
 range with distinct summits, several of which must have been 
 as high as the Mountain behind Montreal. The smallness and 
 sameness of the wood gave monotony to the view, which was 
 redeemed only by its vastness. 
 
 Near this, the trail to Fort Pitt branched oflf. Keeping the 
 main road for a mile, we halted for dinner ; then moved on, 
 first descending the long winding slopes of a hill to the south, 
 and afterwards going west, up a valley that must have been 
 formerly the bed of a river, or cut out by an overflow of the 
 Saskatchewan. In the course of the afternoon, we crossed 
 three clear streamlets running over soft black bottoms ; in spite 
 of this abundance of good water the lakelets in the lowest hol- 
 lows were saline. The soil everywhere was of the rich loam 
 that had become so familiar to our eyes ; uplands and valleys 
 equally good. The grasses were thick and short, almost form- 
 ing a sward ; green and juicy, though they had been exposed to 
 all the summer's heat. In the marshes the grass was from four 
 to six feet high, and of excellent quality for hay. 
 
 After crossing the last creek, a handsome young Indian came 
 galloping towards us, to say that Horetzky and Macaulay were 
 already at the guard ahead, with Mr. Sinclair, the Hudson's 
 Bay agent at Fort Pitt. This was good news, for we had cal- 
 
158 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 culated on having to wait several hours for our two outriders 
 Getting to the guard before sunset, tents were at once pitched. 
 We had ridden more than 40 miles, and our avanl^couriers 
 about 52, besides attending to aU our commissions at the Fort. 
 This was the first guard we had seen. They are usually at 
 a distance from the Forts, and it so happened that this one, al- 
 though ten miles from the Fort, was by the roadside. We could 
 not have seen a better specimen, for, on account of the grasses 
 being so good, more horses are kept at Fort Pitt than at any 
 other post on the Saskatchewan. There are 300 now, and they 
 increase rapidly, though the prairie wolves destroy many of 
 the foals. All were in prime condition and some of them 
 very handsome. Not one in ten of those horses had ever got 
 a feed from man. They cropped all their own food ; and sleek 
 and fat as they are now, they are equally so in midwinter : 
 pawing oft the dry snow they find the grasses abundant and suc- 
 culent beneath. Better witnesses to the suitableness of this 
 country for stock raising on an extensive scale, than those 300 
 horses, could not be desired. When weak or sickly, or re- 
 turned from a trip, knocked up with hard driving and cudgel- 
 ling, for the half-breed looks upon cudgeling as an essential 
 and inevitable part of driving, they may be taken into the 
 bam at the Fort for a time and fed on hay, but not otherwise. 
 At the guard only one Indian is in charge of the whole herd. 
 The horses keep together and do not stray, so gregarious are 
 they. The chief difficulty in obtaioing some for a journey is 
 to detach them from the pack. There is a thick grove of as- 
 pens where they take shelter in the coldest weather, and near 
 it is the tent of the keeper. His chief work seems to be mak- 
 ing little inclosures of green logs or sticks, and building fires 
 of green wood inside to smoke oflf the mosquitoes. Round 
 these fires the horses often stand in groups, enjoying the smoke 
 that keeps their active tormentoi-s at a little distance. In con- 
 sidering this fact of horses feeding in the open all winter, it is 
 
ALONG THE NORTH SASKATCHEWAN. 159 
 
 well to remember that Fort Pitt is between two and three 
 hundred miles farther north than Fort Garry. 
 
 After inspecting the horses, we were taken into the keeper's 
 tent to see how he was housed. It was a roomy lodge, called 
 a fourteen skin, because constructed of so many buffalo hides 
 stretched and sewed together ; the smallest lodges are made of 
 five or six, and the largest of from twenty to twenty-five skins. 
 The fire is in the centre, and the family sleep round the side, 
 each member having his or her appointed comer, that nobody 
 else ever dreams of encroaching upon. The smoke of the fire 
 dries the skins thoroughly, keeps out the mosquitoes, and gives 
 the inmates sore eyes. We all pronounced it very comfortable, 
 but many people would probably prefer a house with more than 
 one room. 
 
 Mr. Sinclair showed us the utmost kindness, giving us good 
 advice, good horses, good men, and with no more show than if 
 he had merely run down to the guard on his own business. 
 The kindness we appreciated most at the time, it jnust be con- 
 fessed, was a huge shoulder of fresh buffalo meat, some tongues, 
 and a bag of new potatoes. Terry was at once set to work on 
 the fresh meat, with orders to cook enough for twenty, with 
 a corresponding allowance of potatoes. None of us had ever 
 tasted fresh buffalo before, nor fresh meat of any kind since 
 leaving Red River ; and as we had resolved not to go out of 
 our way to hunt, though Mr. Sinclair told us that buffalo were 
 in vast numbers twenty miles to the south of Fort Pitt, it was 
 only fair that our self-denial should be repaid by a good sup- 
 per at the guard. And that supper was an event in our jour- 
 ney. Falling to with prairie appetites, each man disposed of 
 his three portions with ease. The prairie wolves were yelping 
 not far off, but nobody paid any attention to them. Tender 
 buffalo steak, and new potatoes in delicious gravy, absorbed 
 everyone's attention. The delights of the table when you are 
 in the best of health and keen-set are wonderful, as a junior 
 
160 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 member of the party remarked, handing in his plate for a 
 fourth or fifth helping, " man, what a lot more you can eat 
 when the things are good" ! Gtetting out of the tent after supper 
 with an eflEort, a spectacle to gladden a philanthropist's heart 
 was presented round Terry's fire. The men were cooking and 
 eating, laughing and joking, old Haroosh' presiding as king of 
 the feast. He sat on a hiUock, holding tit-bits to the fire on a 
 little wooden spit, for Terry's frying pan could not keep up to 
 him, and his greasy face shone in the ruddy light. So they 
 continued tiU we went to bed. That they were at it all night 
 cannot be positively affirmed, ^ut in the morning the fii-st 
 sight that met our eyes was Haroosh in the same place and at- 
 titude, cooking and eating in a semi-comatose state. 
 
 August 22nd. — There was at least an hour's racing and chas- 
 ing of the guard horses this morning, before our quota could be 
 caught ; but, we got such good horses in exchange for our poor- 
 est that the delay was not grudged ; and three smart Indians, 
 Louis, Cheeman (the little fellow), and Kisanis (the old man), 
 instead of the Carlton three. We breakfasted at sunrise and 
 said good-bye to Mr. Sinclair at 7 o'clock. On account of the 
 lateness of the start, we divided the day's journey into two 
 spells, one of nineteen, and the other of twenty-one nules. 
 
 The country round the guard is fertile, and beautiful in out- 
 line ; Mr. Sinclair said that it would yield anything. At the 
 Fort and along the sandy banks of the river, their crops often 
 suflfered from Indians, droughts, and early frosts ; but it was 
 impossible to have their farm ten miles away from where they 
 lived. 
 
 Our first spelling-place to-day was Stony Lake ; after dinner 
 we crossed Frog Creek, Middle Creek, and Mooso Creek, and 
 camped on the banks of the last named. 
 
 This was one of our best days. Everjrthing contributed to 
 make it supremely enjoyable. We had fresh spirited hoi-ses 
 under us, a cloudless sky and bright sun above ; and an atmos» 
 
ALONG THE NORTH SASKATCHEWAN. 161 
 
 phere exhilarating as some pure gentle stimulant. The country 
 was of varl, 1 beauty; rich in soil, grasses, flowers, wood, and 
 water ; infinitely diversified in colour and outline. From ele- 
 vated points, far and wide reaches could be seen. Here was no 
 dreary monotonous prairie such as fancy had sometimes painted, 
 but a land to live in and enjoy life. Last but not the least im- 
 portant item, Terry had in his cart new potatoes and bufialo 
 steak, good as any porter-house or London rump steak ; man 
 could want nothing more for animal enjoyment. In the fore- 
 noon, we rode up two or three hill-sides to get wider views 
 With all the beauty of former days, there was now what we 
 had often craved for, variety of wood. Clumps and groves of 
 tall white spruce in the gullies and valleys, and along lake 
 sides, branching poplars with occasional white birch and tama- 
 rack, mingled with the still prevailing aspen. The sombre 
 spruces were the greatest relief. They gave a deeper hue to 
 the landscape, and their tall pointed heads broke the distant 
 sky line. Recent fires had desolated much of the country, but 
 there was enough of the old beauty left to show what it had 
 been and what it could soon be made. Sometimes our course 
 lay across a wide open, or up or down a long bare slope ; some- 
 times through a forest where the trees were far enough apart 
 for easy riding, while a little beyond the wood seemed impene- 
 trably close. In the afternoon we crossed plateaux extending 
 between the different streams that meander to the south ; and 
 here the trail ran by what looked like well cultivated old clear- 
 ings, hemmed in at varying distances by graceful trees, through 
 the branches of which the waters of a lake, or the rough back 
 of a hill gleamed, while high uplands beyond gave a definite 
 horizon. The road was not very good in many places because 
 of the steep little hUls near the creeks, or boulders, deep ruts 
 mole and badger holes ; but ten dollars a mile would put it in 
 good repair, and, as it was, our carts did their usual forty miles 
 easily. 
 
 11 
 
162 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 After dinner we came on our first camp of Cress — a small 
 body, of five or six tents, that had not gone after the bufialo, 
 but had remained quietly beside some lakes, liviag on berries 
 and wild ducks, Two broad-backed healthy young squaws met 
 us first, coming up from a lake with half-a-dozen dogs. One 
 squaw had a bag, filled with ducks, on her neck, and the other 
 had tied her game around the back of a dog. Some of the men 
 came up to shake hands all round and to receive the plug of 
 tobacco they looked for. Others, manly looking fellows, 
 lounged round in dignified indifference, with blanket or buffalo 
 robe folded gracefully about them, — evidently knowing or 
 hoping that every attitude was noticed. Not a man was doing 
 a single hand's turn, and not a woman was idle. The women 
 wished to trade their ducks for tea or flour ; but if we stopped 
 the carts and opened the boxes there would be no getting away 
 from them that night, so the word was passed to push ahead. 
 We were not to be let off so easily. Eight or ten miles further 
 on, two elderly men on horseback — evidently Chiefs — overtook 
 us, and riding up to our Chief with all the grace of gentlemen 
 of the old regime, extended their hands. Being welcomed and 
 invited to ride on and camp with us, they bowed with an ease 
 and self-possession that any of us might have envied, and joined 
 our party. At the camp, the Chief treated them with great 
 civility, ordering pemmican, as they preferred it to fresh buffalo, 
 and handing them the fragrant tea they love so well ; not a 
 muscle of their faces moved, though their souls were rejoicing ; 
 a soft smile when they first came upon us, and a more melancholy 
 smile in the morning when departing, were the only indications 
 of feeling that either gave. With the exception of the dull half- 
 opened Mongolian cross-eyes, they had all the appearance of 
 Italian gentlemen, and they were really handsome fellows, with 
 well cut refined features — handsomer than any of us, or even 
 than the young English trader, who " ne\-er allowed an Indian 
 to enter his rooms ; if a Chief came along, he might sit in the 
 
ALONG THE NORTH SASKATCHEWAN. 163 
 
 kitchen awhile." So far below the salt have the son.s of the 
 soil to sit now. But " Eolling Mud " and the " Walker with 
 out-turned feet," as our two guests were called, were entitled to 
 move in the highest circles, as far as appearance and a perfect 
 nil admira/ri manner were concerned. They could be guaranteed 
 to look on, without opening their eyes at a modern ball. 
 
 After supper, one of our party lolling lazily on a hillock, 
 happened to stretch out his long legs between the two and the 
 big open fire. In an undertone, the Chief called his attention 
 to the undesigned rudeness. "Oh " said he " they'll never 
 mind." And certainly they smoked on and looked as tho' they 
 saw not. " They will not say. anything, but they will mind and 
 not forget," quietly remarked Mr. McDougal. The long legs 
 were withdrawn. 
 
 Our Chief always treated the poorest Indian with perfect 
 courtesy. So as a rule do the H. B. officials, and much of their 
 success in dealing with the Indians is due to this simple fact. 
 We Anglo-Saxons are apt to sneer at French politeness. I 
 verily believe that the chief reason why the French have often 
 succeeded better than ourselves with the North American 
 Indians was in virtue of that same politeness of theirs. The 
 average Briton seems incapable of understanding that " a nig- 
 ger " that is, any man whose skin is not white, has exactly the 
 same rights as, and perhaps finer feelings than, he himself 
 But prick the redskin and he'll bleed jusf as if he were white 
 and a Christian. 
 
 In the afternoon's drive, the big Carlton waggon, drawn by 
 the span, broke down. The iron bolt, connecting the two fore 
 wheels with the shaft, broke in two. Shaganappi had been 
 sufficient for every mishap hitherto, but this seemed too seriou.s 
 ,a case for it ; but, with the ready help of Mi-, McDougal, shag- 
 anappi triumphed, and we were delayed only an hour. No 
 one ever seems non-plussed on the plains ; for every man is a 
 Jack of all trades, and accustomed to make-shifts. When an 
 
164 OCEAN TO OCEAN, 
 
 axle broke, the men would haul out a piece of white birch, shape 
 it into something like the right thing, stick it in, tie it with 
 shaganappi, and be jogging on at the old rate, before a profes- 
 sional carriage builder could have made up his mind what was 
 best to be done. Mr. McDougal in particular was invaluable. 
 In every difficulty we called upon him and he never failed us. 
 He would come up with his uniform sober pleasant look, take 
 in the bearings of the whole case, and decide promptly what 
 was to be done. He was our detis ex macMna. Dear old fel- 
 low-traveller ! how often you are in our thoughts ! ,Tour 
 memory is green in the heart of every one who ever travelled 
 with you. 
 
 Both yesterday and to-day, the saskatoon berries, that are put 
 in the best of berry pemmican, were pointed out to us, and the 
 creeper which the Indians make into kinni-kinnick, when they 
 can't get the bark of the red willow to mix with their tobacco. 
 The sasketoon are simply what are known in Nova Scotia as 
 Indian pears, and the kinni-kinnick creeper is our squaw-berry 
 plant. 
 
 Just as the sun was setting behind the Moose Mountain, we 
 had ascended the high ridge that rises from Middle Creek, and 
 were crossing the narrow plateau that separates it from Moose 
 Creek. Getting across the plateau to the edge of the descent 
 to Moose Creek, a glorious view opened out in the glowing 
 twilight. To our immediate left, coming from the west, and 
 winding south and east, the Saskatchewan, not quite so broad 
 as at Carlton, but without any break or sand-bar, flowed like a 
 mass of molten lead, between far extending hills, covered with 
 young aspens ; like the Rhine with its vine-clad slopes near 
 Bingen. Right beneath, was the deep rugged valley of Moose 
 Creek, broken into strange transverse sections by its own action 
 and by swirling overflows of its great neighbour, and running 
 round north and north-west into the heart of the mountain that 
 fed it, and that formed our horizon. Crossing the creek we 
 
ALONG THE NORTH SASKATCHEWAN. 165 
 
 camped on its bank. Our tents vreie pitched and fires burning 
 brightly, long before the twilight had forsaken the west. Then 
 a mighty supper of buffalo steak for us, and limitless pemmican 
 for our Cree visitors, rounded off one of the pleasantest days of 
 the expedition. 
 
 August 23rd. — Away from camp before sunrise. The sun 
 usually rose and set in so cloudless a sky on the prairies that 
 the Chief had all along roughly determined the longitude of 
 our camps and the local time in a simple way that may as well 
 be mentioned. His watch kept Montreal time, and he knew 
 that the longitude of Montreal was 7-3 ° 33'. Sunset last night 
 was at 0.34 p.m., and sunrise this morning at 7.26 a.m., by his 
 watch. That gave fourteen hours and eight minutes of sun- 
 light : the half of that added to the hour of sunrise made 2.30 
 p.m., on his watch, to be mid-day. We were thus two hours 
 and a half behind Montreal time, and as four minutes are equal 
 to a degree of longitude, we learned that we were 37 ° 30' west 
 of Montreal, or in longitude 111°. At the same time we were 
 in latitude 54 ° , 350 miles north of the boundary line, and 700 
 miles north of Toronto. Yet the vegetation was of the same 
 general character as that of Ontario ; and Bishop Tache had 
 told us that at Lac la Biche, 100 mUes further north, they had 
 their favourite wheat ground, where the wheat crop could always 
 he depended on. But we can go still farther north. Mr. King, 
 •/he second H. B. officer who had joined our party at Carlton, 
 told us that he had never seen better wheat or root crops than 
 are raised at Fort Liard on the Liard river — a tributary of the 
 MacKenzie, in latitude 60 ° . This testimony is confirmed by 
 Sir John Richardson who says " wheat is raised with profit at 
 Fort Liard, latitude 60 « 5' North, longitude 122 ° 31' West, 
 and four or five hundred feet above the sea." And numerous 
 authorities, from MacKenzie in 1787, whose name the great 
 river of the Arctic regions bears, down to H, B. ofiicers and 
 miners of the present day, give similar testimony concerning 
 immense tracts along the Athabaska and the Peace rivers. 
 
166 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 There are several reasons why the isothermal lines should 
 extend so far north in this longitude, and why there should be 
 the same flora as farther south, though the summers are shorter. 
 
 The low altitude of the Rooky Mountains, as they run north, 
 permits the warm moisture-laden air of the Pacific to get across ; 
 meeting then the colder currents from the north, refreshing 
 showers are emptied on the plains. These northern plains of 
 ours have also a comparatively low elevation, while farther 
 south in the United States, on the same longitude, the semi- 
 desert rainless plateaux are from five to eight thousand feet high. 
 Combined with these reasons, another may be suggested, that 
 — the summer days being much longer as you go north — plants 
 get more of the sun, that is, more light and warmth within the 
 same period of growing weather. The summer days where we 
 are now, for instance, must be two hours longer than at To- 
 ronto. 
 
 But these and such like general reasons by no means deter- 
 mine the fitness of every section of the country for cereals. 
 Much land south of 54 ° is unsuited for wheat because of 
 drought or early frosts. Probably this is so with much along 
 the banks of the Saskatchewan. It has been proved at any rate 
 that there is less or more risk, in places ; but those places are 
 as a rule adapted for stock-raising, and, in such a country as 
 this, cattle and sheep are as much needed as flour. 
 
 To-day we travelled 42 miles. The first spell, ten miles to 
 the Little Lake, was over a cold and moist soil as shown by 
 the more northern character of the vegetation. The ground was 
 profusely covered with the low scrub birch, which is found every- 
 where in the extreme north. The second spell was fourteen 
 mUes, over ground that improved as we journeyed west, across 
 Dog-rump Creek, up the opposite hill, and four miles farther 
 on to two beautiful lakes well stocked with wild fowl. The 
 creek gets its peculiar name from a bluflf, projecting beyond a 
 bold ridge that bounds the valley to the west, A lively fancy 
 
ALONG THf; NORTH SASKATCHEWAN. 167 
 
 sees in the bluff a resemblance to a dog's rump. Beavers had 
 built a dam a few days before across the creek below the road, 
 and in consequence the water was too deep for the buckboards. 
 Untackling the horse we ran the buckboards across a slight 
 bridge of willow rods that some good Samaritan had made for 
 foot passengers. The road then wound up to the top of the 
 ridge and gained the plateau beyond, through an extremely pic- 
 turesque narrow steep pass. From the summit we had a good 
 view of the creek meandering through valley and lake towards 
 the Saskatchewan. 
 
 At the second spelling-place we caught up to a large brigade 
 of Hudson's Bay carts, that had left Carlton for Edmonton a 
 week before us, heavily laden with stores. They were dnven 
 by several of Mr. McDougal's people, half-breeds and Crees from 
 Victoria, an united family of husband, wife and half-a-dozen 
 young children being at the head of the brigade. The expend 
 of bringing anything into or sending anything out of the coun- 
 try by this old-fashioned way is enormous. The prime cost of 
 the articles is a bagatelle. Transport swallows up everything. 
 No wonder that the price of a pound of tea, sugar, or salt is ex- 
 actly the same. The weight is the same, and the cost for 
 carriage the same, and that determines the price. One of the 
 Crees in this brigade, called Jack, was pointed out to us as 
 having in the last Indian war done a very plucky thing. A 
 company of Crees and half-breeds from Victoria were hunting 
 buffalo on the plains. One morning Jack and an old man were 
 left behind to bring up the kitchen and baggage carts, whUe the 
 main body started ahead for another camp. Just as the main 
 body got over the first ridge, a war-party of Blackfeet swooped 
 down on them with their usual terrific yells. They turned 
 campwards, from the mere instinct of flight, though knowing 
 that no relief could be there. The Blackfeet had just got up 
 to them, shot and scalped the two hindmost, and would soon 
 have massacred every one, when Jack, who had heard the 
 
168 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 yells, appeared over the ridge, and firing his gtin at the enemy, 
 shouted to an imaginary force behind him, " hurrah ! here they 
 are boys ; we've caught them at last." The old man at the 
 same moment was seen hurrying up, and the Blackfeet imagin- 
 ing that they had fallen into a trap, turned tail and fled precip- 
 itately. With the best intention in the world, we voted Jack 
 the Victoria Cross. 
 
 The third spell was eighteen miles, over fine meadow land, 
 covered with rich pasturage that extended without break for 
 fifty miles to the north. On the road the Doctor shot some 
 ducks for the pot. Every lakelet had at least one flock among 
 the reeds, or swimming about ; but not having a dog to bring 
 theta out, it was unsatisfactory work shooting them, unless they 
 were close to the shore. A little after sunset, we camped near 
 t lie Riding or Snake Lake. 
 
 As we were now only 110 to 120 miles from Edmonton, it 
 was proposed at supper that Horetzky should ride ahead with 
 our letters of introduction to Mr. Hardisty ; order pack-saddles, 
 secure a guide, and make as many arrangements as possible, for 
 our journey over the mountains. At Edmonton, or at any rate 
 at Lake St. Ann's, fifty mUes farther west, wheels must be dis- 
 carded and everything carried on pack horses. A different out- 
 fit is .equired and as some of it has to be made to order, time 
 would be gained for the whole party if one got to the Fort 
 before the others. Macaulay who had been away on a visit to 
 Scotland for the last twelve months, and whose wife and family 
 were at Edmonton, offered to accompany Horetzky. So it was 
 decide 1 that after an early breakfast next morning, the two 
 should ride on rapidly, each taking two horses, a blanket, and 
 some pemmican. 
 
 August 24:th. — Rose early, but as for the sake of Horetzky 
 and Macaulay, breakfast was served before our first spell, it was 
 6 o'clock before we got away. Our two couriers preceded us by 
 half an hour, but expected to be at Edmonton a day and a half be- 
 
ALONG THE NORTH SASKATCHEWAN, 169 
 
 fore us. Passing the Riding or — as it is called on Palliser's Map 
 — the Snake Lake, the smell of decaying fish-offal explained the 
 object for which a number of log shanties had been erected at 
 two points near its shores. The lake swarms with white-fish. 
 Soon after, we crossed the creek that issues from the lake. The 
 cellar of a deserted shanty by the roadside showed the character 
 of the soil ; eighteen inches of black loam, and then successive 
 layers of tenacious clay, through the uppermost of which the 
 tissues of plants extended. 
 
 The country now became more hilly ; the hill-sides covered 
 with heavy wood, and the hollows with marshes or lakelets . 
 Vegetation everywhere was wonderfully luxuriant. Flowers 
 re-appeared, but the general colour was blue in place of the for- 
 mer yellow or lilac ; mint, blue bells, a beautiful tall larkspur, 
 but principally light and dark blue asters. Our Botanist was 
 disappointed to find that, amid such wealth of vegetation, there 
 were few new species. The same plants have kept by us for a 
 thousand mUes. Mint and a saxifragaceous plant had accom- 
 panied us from Rainy Lake ; gentians, asters, castilia, anemones, 
 and golden rods from the eastern verge of the prairie. 
 
 We divided the day into two spells, — sixteen miles of the 
 richest soil and pasturage ; and twenty-four miles to Victoria 
 over a great deal of inferior ground. One large section of this 
 showed little but scrub birch. Another, ten miles broad, near 
 Victoria, was a sandy I'idge producing scrub pine, or as the peo- 
 ple here call it cypress, very like the country between Bathurst 
 and Miramichi, that was burnt over by the great Miramichi fire, 
 and where in the Lower Provinces the scrub pine is chiefly 
 found. The ground was literally covered with cranberries, bear- 
 berries, the uva ursi, and other creepers. 
 
 In the forenoon the water was in the lakes ; in the afternoon 
 m streams, all of which fortunately for us were bridged, rough- 
 ly indeed, but the worst bridge was a great improvement on 
 deep black quagmire. Pine, White Mud, and Smoking Lake 
 
170 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 Creeks were the suggestive names of the chief streams, names 
 that we had heard before and probably would hear again. 
 America has been called the country of inventions, — but it can- 
 not invent names. In the North-west, there are half-a-dozen 
 " Eed Deers," " White Muds," " Vermilions " ; next in popu- 
 larity to these come the names of members of the Royal 
 Family. 
 
 The first part of the day was bright and pleasant ; but at 
 two o'clock heavy clouds gathered in the north-west. The wind 
 drifted the thickest masses completely to our right, while all to 
 the left the sky remained a clear bright blue. It thundered on 
 the right ; and then we could see the rain falling in half-a-dozen 
 different places while intervening districts escaped. At one 
 point, not very far from us, the rain must have been terrific, 
 and right thankful were we that our course had not taken us 
 there, or we would have had Rat Creek over again. The central 
 mass of cloud hung over this point, and all at once seemed to 
 have the bottom knocked out of it, when a deluge either of rain 
 or hail — probably of both — descended, like a continuous pillar, 
 to the ground for a quarter of an hour, uniting the earth to the 
 clouds as if by a soM band. The end of the tail of this cloud 
 swept round over our heads, and gave us first a gust of wind, 
 and then a smart shower of rain and hail for two or three min- 
 utes. The sky cleared completely at 3 o'clock ; but, two hours 
 later, as we crossed Smoking Lake Creek, and entered again on 
 good land, thundery clouds rose the second time from the western 
 horizon, and soon covered the sun and sky befoi'e lis. We were 
 now in the bounds of Mr. McDougal's old mission settlement ; 
 and at his word we " hustled up," or pushed our horses to their 
 utmost speed to reach a good camping ground before the storm 
 would burst. We got to the spot aimed at in time, our course 
 for two miles being up a rich valley that is now behind the north- 
 ern ridge or bank of the Saskatchewan, but that formerly, 
 when the river was higher, must have been one of its beds, the 
 
ALONG THE NORTH SASKATCHEWAN. 171 
 
 intervening ridge being then an island. The settlement and 
 Hudson's Bay fort of Victoria is on the river slope of this 
 ridge, and thus travellers, passing along the main trail up the 
 valley, might be in entire ignorance that there was a settlement 
 near. When we rode up, however, two or three men were 
 making hay in the valley, and, hailing the sight as a sure sign 
 that civilized beings and dwellings must be not far off, we 
 camped at a spring beside them ; and, with a rapidity, that 
 astonished them and ourselves, had everything made tight be- 
 fore the rain commenced. After all the threatening the shower 
 did not amount to much. In half an hour the sky was clear 
 again and the Doctor and Mr. McDougal drove over to the fort, a 
 mile distant, for supplies, and to announce that there would be 
 service in the church next day. They returned after dark with 
 beef, bread, and milk. Mr. Tait, the Hudson's Bay agent, had 
 no fresh meat ; but, hearing of our arrival, he with oriental 
 hospitality had ordered a young ox to be killed and a quarter 
 sent over for our use. 
 
 August 25th. — Another day of rest, and a long sleep to begin 
 it with. At 10 A. M. walked over the ridge to service, at Vic- 
 toria. The church is also used as a school-room, the Mission 
 House, and Fort are all at the west end of the settlement. The 
 log-houses of the English and Scotch half-breeds, intermingled 
 with the tents of the Crees, extend in a line from this west end 
 along the bank of the river, each man having a frontage on the 
 river, and his grain planted in a little hollow that runs behind 
 the houses, beneath the main rise of the ridge. Most of their 
 hay they cut in the valley, on the other side of the ridge, where 
 we had camped. 
 
 The farming is on a very limited scale, as the men prefer 
 hunting buffalo, fishing, or freighting for the Company to 
 steady agricultural labour, and neither farming nor gardening 
 can succeed well, when the seeds are merely thrown into the 
 ground in spring, and the ground is not looked at again till 
 
172 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 autumn, when every thing is expected to be ripe and ready for 
 ingathering. The settlement is seven years old, and consists 
 now of between twenty and thirty famDies of half-breeds and 
 from ten to a hundred tents of Crees, according to the time of 
 the year, each tent housing on an average seven or eight souls. 
 It owes its origin to Mr. McDougal who selected the place as a 
 mission field because the Crees resorted to it ; and as a suitable 
 locality for a half-breed settlement, on account of its advantages 
 of soil, river, lakes abounding in fish and wild fowl, and near- 
 ness to the plains where the buffalo are always found. Last 
 year Mr. McDougal was removed to Edmonton, and the charge 
 of Victoria given to Mr. Campbell who had been conducting a 
 successful mission among the Stonies at Woodville to the south- 
 west. Mr, Campbell was at present on his way home from 
 Red River, where he had gone to attend the first Wesleyan 
 conference of Manitoba, and consequently there had been no 
 one attending to the mission for some weeks, except the school- 
 master. This removal of missionaries from one tribe or even 
 station, where they have gained the confidence of the Indians, 
 to another locality, seems a mistake to outsiders. The personal 
 influence of the missionary is the only thing that can be counted 
 upon in work among heathen, or any rude and primitive people, 
 and personal influence can be gained only after a long inter- 
 course with them. 
 
 When we arrived at the church it was almost filled with 
 about eighty whites, half-breeds, and Crees. The men sat on 
 one side, the women on the other, and the children in a little 
 gallery or loft with the schoolmaster and monitors. The ser- 
 vice was in English, but some Cree hymns were sung, and Mr_ 
 McDougal announced that there would be service in Cree in the 
 evening, through the medium of an interpreter. The conduct 
 of all present from first to last was most devout, notwithstand- 
 ing that many present understood English imperfectly. The 
 children led the singing, and though there was lack of bass 
 
ALONG THE NORTH SASKATCHEWAN. 173 
 
 voices on account of the absence of the principal members of 
 the choir, it was singularly sweet and correct. Some of us were 
 moved more than we cared to show, when we heard the first 
 Cree hymn sung. 
 
 Service over, two of our party dined at the Mission House, 
 and the others at the Fort ; and, after a walk through the set- 
 tlement along the bank of the river, we returned to the church 
 to see the Sunday School. Mr. McKenzie, the teacher, was 
 about to leave for another mission, and his successor Mr. Sny- 
 der was also present. There were sixty names, forty of them 
 half-breeds, and twenty Indians, on the roll ; but only thirty- 
 two were present, as whole families were absent, freighting or 
 hunting. "We examined the three advanced classes, numbering 
 twenty -one, of the biggest boys and girls. All read the English 
 Bible more or less fluently and with understanding, for they 
 answered every question put to them. Their knowledge of 
 hymns was such as could be found only in a Methodist school ; 
 if any of us named a hymn in the collection, the tune was at 
 once raised and all joined in without books. The more ambi- 
 tious tunes were of course the favourites with the children. 
 The Indians delight in hymn singing, and the missionaries take 
 advantage of this, making it one great means of reaching theii' 
 hearts. Heathen Crees who come to Victoria only for a few 
 weeks send their children to the school ; they pick up some 
 hymns at any rate, and sing them when far away on the plains. 
 
 Mr. Snyder had been schoolmaster for the last few years at 
 White-fish Lake, a settlement of Crees fifty miles to the north, 
 where good work has been done. He had eighty Cree children 
 at his school. When the Indians moved out to the plains to 
 hunt buffalo, the master would pack up his spelling books and 
 slates, and go off with them, setting up his establishment 
 wherever they halted. He spent from two to six months of tlie 
 year, teaching in this rotary style, — hunting half the day, teach- 
 ing the other half. The Crees at White-fish Lake are all 
 
174 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 Christianized and value the school highly. They are beginning 
 to settle down to steady farming-work too, several families not 
 "oing to the plains now, but raising wheat, barley and potatoes 
 instead. At Victoria wheat has been sowed for seven successive 
 years, and was a failure only once, the cause then being an ex- 
 treme local drought. At White-fish Lake it has never been a 
 total failure. Victoria is on the most northerly bend of the 
 North Saskatchewan ; the plateau is very elevated ; and many 
 of the plants in the country round, have more of the sub-arctic 
 character than in any other part of the fertile belt ; so that we 
 were not surprised when told that there were generally light 
 frosts in July and August. Indeed Mr. McDougal had been 
 warned in planting the settlement, that he was choosing one of 
 the worst spots on the river. The future may show that he was 
 wiser than his friends. 
 
 In the evening, we went to church again ; more Crees were 
 present than in the forenoon, but not so many of the half-breeds. 
 Mr. Tait acted as interpreter and also led the meeting, with 
 moclesty and fervour, in prayer in Cree. It must be a great 
 advantage to a missionary to have such a man in charge of the 
 Fort. 
 
 "We had seen enough to-day to convince us, more than all 
 the arguments in the world, that missionary labour among the 
 Indians is a reality, and that the positive language on the 
 other side is the language of ignorance, self-interest, or down- 
 right opposition to the Gospel. The aims of traders and mis- 
 sionaries with regard to the Indians are different ; the former 
 wish that they should continue hunters, the latter that they 
 should take to steady employment. It is not wonderful then 
 that some traders should feel annoyed at what they regard as 
 a steady working against their interest. But, as the Indian 
 has no chance of existence except by conforming to civilized 
 ways, the sooner that the Government or the Christian people 
 awake to the necessity of establishing schools among every 
 
ALONG THE NORTH SASKATCHEWAN. 175 
 
 tribe the better. Little can be done with the old, and it may be 
 two, three or more generations before the old habits of a people 
 are changed ; but, by always taking hold of the young, the 
 work can be done. A mission without schools is a mistake, 
 almost a crime. And the Methodists deserve the praise of 
 having seen and vigorously acted on this, and they can point to 
 visible proofs of success in their Indian missions. 
 
 It is greatly to the credit of the Indians in British America, 
 that they have never injured or stolen from any missionary. 
 They have plundered posts, stripped traders naked, and mur- 
 dered some who perhaps had given them cause ; but even when 
 at war, the missionary is allowed to enter and speak in their 
 great councils and is everywhere treated with respect. Rever- 
 ence is a strong trait in the Indian character. His own lan- 
 guage supplies no words for profane swearing ; if he wishes to 
 blaspheme, he must borrow from the French or English. Is 
 not his dignity of speech and manner connected with this ven- 
 eration for Deity 1 
 
 We invited Mr. Tait and the schoolmasters to walk over the 
 ridge and have supper with us. Mrs. Campbell also did us the 
 honour of coming, and, so for the first time, our camp was graced 
 with the presence of a lady. Her presence lighted up every- 
 thing, and had a very appreciable effect on our style of pas- 
 sing things round the table ; every one was as anxious to help 
 her to something as if she had been Her Majesty in person ; 
 Terry, naturally and nationally the soul of politeness, was es- 
 pecially attentive. Rather than let her put preserved peaches 
 on the plate beefsteak had been on, he removed the plate and 
 whipping out his pocket handkerchief, that had not been 
 washed since he left Fort Garry, proceeded to clean it. Luckily 
 the Doctor noticed him in time to snatch the plate away, or — 
 but we must draw a veil over Terry as cook or table-maid ; in 
 no house is it wise to look too closely into how things are done 
 in the kitchen. 
 
76 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 Since the commencement of our journey, Sundays had in- 
 ariably been our most pleasant and profitable days, and this 
 7as no exception. The kindness of every one at Victoria was 
 omething not soon to be forgotten. They welcomed us for 
 ur own sakes, and for the end the expedition had in view, as 
 hey had iong prayed for the opening up of the country. It 
 ras in our favour also here as elsewhere that a Doctor was 
 dth us. He visited and prescribed for all the sick in the 
 ettlement, and finding in the Fort a medicine chest that had 
 leen sent out as a present by Dr. Ray but had never been used, 
 le explained to Mr. Tait how and when to give the different 
 aedicines, and wrote out general directions that could be easily 
 inderstood and acted upon. 
 
 August 26th. — Rose very early, the Doctor acting as camp- 
 laster and making every one fly around, so that we got off half 
 ,n hour before sunrise. The thermometer then stood at thirty 
 iegrees, and heavy hoar-frost lay on the rich deep grass. A 
 [ense fog rose as the frost exhaled in dew, and, the sun's rays 
 triking on this, formed a beautiful fog-bow that hung before us 
 luring more than an hour's travelling. Passing up the valley 
 larallel to the river, we then skirted the edge of the plateau 
 hat bounded it on the north, going through tall heavy grass 
 ,nd a country which seemed to possess every qualification for 
 tock-raising. The road showed the influence of recent rains 
 hat, the Victoria settlers told us, had been so heavy this Au- 
 ;ust as to have completely stopped haying operations. Every 
 iiarsh was a bog, every creek swollen, and as good soil makes 
 lad roads, our progress was slow. StiU by pegging away we 
 aade forty-four miles in our three spells. The fii-st was to the 
 Vassetenow, (or opening in the bank) so called from the cleft 
 t has made in the ridge to get to the Saskatchewan. The 
 left, iostead of showing the usual broad rounded vaUey, is cut 
 harp and clean as if with a knife, partly by the force of the 
 tream and pai-tly by land slides. "We next passed successively 
 
ALONG THE NORTH SASKATCHEWAN. 177 
 
 iucker, Vermilion and Deep Creeks, besides several smaller 
 ines, and camped at the last named. The road descended 
 wice to the Saskatchewan, which showed the same clayey 
 ook as at Carlton, and ran with almost as great a volume, 
 hough more than three hundred miles nearer its source. 
 Tor thirty miles to-day the trail was through thick woods of 
 span, poplars, birch, tamarack, spruce and pine. Much of the 
 rood was good timber, from one to two feet in diameter with 
 all straight shafts, as thick fifty or sixty feet up as when five 
 ir six feet from the ground. There are occfisionally alternate 
 actions of aspen and spruce for half a mile or so ; in one place 
 he underbrush thick and green ; in another the soil so bare and 
 he trees so branchless, that movement in any direction is 
 lasy. 
 
 Camped before sunset within twenty-seven miles of Edmon- 
 on, and in honour of the event brought out our only bottle of 
 laret. As we had no ice, Terry shouted to Souzie to bring 
 ome cold water, but no Souzie appearing he varied the call to 
 
 Pemmican !" This brought Souzie, but great was his indigna- 
 ion when a bucket was put into his hands, instead of the rich 
 emmican he was never tired of feasting on. Terry had a de- 
 idedly Irish contempt for Indians, half-breeds, or coloured gen- 
 emen of any kind ; and Souzie was especially obnoxious, be- 
 luse of his magnificent appetite, and because with Indian care- 
 issness he often mislaid the belongings of the party, " as if," 
 ;marked Terry confidentially to the Secretary, " I carried 
 Uygraph wires in my head." 
 
 August 27th. — Off this morning again before sunrise, and 
 reakfast fourteen miles from camp at a little creek near Horse 
 Hll, where the guard of Edmonton was formerly located. On 
 le way crossed a strong rapid-running stream called Sturgeon 
 reek, from which twenty-five pound fish are often taken. We 
 id left the thick woods last evening, and the country to-day 
 as open and elevated. Thirty miles to our left the Beaver 
 12 
 
178 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 Hills/ on tl:e other side of the Saskatchewan, formed a bold 
 background of deep blue. Mr. McDougal pointed out a spot 
 near our breakfast spelling place, where his predecessor had a 
 remarkable escape when travelling. He had intended to camp 
 on Horse Hill, but when within a mile of it, so furious a storm 
 came on that he dismounted and crouched for protection under 
 a bank with overhanging low willow bushes. When the storm 
 passed over, he rode on to the hill and found on the very spot 
 where he intended to have camped, a horse that had just been 
 killed by the lightning. 
 
 At eleven o'clock, arrived at Edmonton and found that 
 Hore< zky had made arrangements to enable us to start next day ^ 
 Mr. Hardisty, in the quiet business-like way, and with the 
 kindness that many a traveller has experienced before, had done 
 everything to forward our views. We pitched tents on the 
 bank three quarters of a mUe down the river from the Fort, 
 near Mr. McDougal's house and the new church he is building, 
 and had the whole party photographed; tents, carts, buck- 
 boards, with Terry, seated on his pots and pans, mending his 
 pants and smoking the inevitable cutty, in the foreground. 
 
 The first great half of oiu- journey from Fort Garry, the prairie 
 as distinguished from the mountain part, was over. It had not 
 been all prairie or anything like it, and the second part would not 
 be all mountain. We would not discard our carts for another 
 fifty miles, and the mountains were still two hundred mUes dis- 
 tant. But, Edmonton may be considered the end of the jour- 
 ney across the plains and the beginning of the woods, and is 
 the point at which to prepare for crossing the Rocky Mountains. 
 It is the headquarters of the Company's posts on the Saskat- 
 chewan, and here we were to take our leave of the great river 
 Up to this point it had been all plain sailing, but now we were 
 told to expect toil and trouble. 
 
 At Edmonton we looked with great interest for the section 
 of coal that crops out on the river bank. " Is it coal or notf 
 
ALONG THE NORTH SASKATCHEWAN. 179 
 
 was ''•he question, no matter whether it was called bituminous 
 shale or lignite. A bushel or two was brought up from the 
 river side at our request. Trying it in the smiddy, it burnt 
 well and gave a good heat when the bellows was applied, but it 
 would be very difficult to kindle without the bellows. It keeps 
 burning a long time and leaves a great deal of dirt, dust and 
 ash, " at the rate of two ton of ashes to one of coal." The sec- 
 tion at Edmonton is three feet thick, and it crops out in several 
 places, with a conglomerate beneath it that resembles ironstone 
 in nodules ; at the Pembina river, seventy miles to the west, 
 there is a seam ten feet thick ; and Mr. Hardisty informed ns 
 that at the Rocky Mountain House, one hun dred and forty 
 miles to the south-west, the seam is ten feet, the coal of a supe- 
 rior quality, and used regularly in the forge. Many other 
 seams are found over a wide extent of country, and it is reason- 
 able to infer that several of these will yield good fuel, for even 
 in the richest coal countries there is no such abundant outcrop 
 13 here. What we tried was picked up from the river or from 
 the outcrop, and was hard, shaly and inferior as fuel ; but had 
 it not been very hard it would have crumbled away by exposure 
 to the rain, snow and frost, and its face been covered up com- 
 pletely with earthy and vegetable matter, so that no traces of 
 its presence would have been left. A little boring would settle 
 the matter, for the beds are horizontal and not very deep. 
 
 The Company works a large farm at Edmonton, and with a 
 success that is encouraging, especially when it is remembered 
 that the methods are comparatively i-ude. They have raised 
 wheat for thirty years, and it has failed only two or three times ; 
 barley and potatoes and turnips are sure crops. The usual dif- 
 ficulties from the Indians camping near a fort have been expe- 
 rienced. A band of strange Indians come along, and, without 
 the slightest idea that they are doing anything objectionable, 
 use the fences for tent poles or fuel ; and their horses then 
 getting into the fields destroy much of the crop. But in spite 
 
180 OCEAN TO OqEAN. 
 
 )f these and other hindrances, a thousand bushels of -wheat are 
 isually stored from a sovsring of a hundred ; and last year, two 
 lundred and fifty kegs of potatoes (eight gallon kegs used instead 
 )f bushels) were planted, and about five thousand wenp dug. 
 Che same land has been used for the farm for thirty years, 
 (vithout any manure worth speaking of being put on it. Part 
 s intervale and part upland. 
 
 The uplands do not yield such good crops because there is a 
 slight infusion of alkali in the surface soil, which subsoil plough- 
 ng would probably do away with. 
 
 In the evening the Secretary held Divine service in the ball 
 •oom of the Fort. About fifty men, most of them employed 
 ibout the post, were present. There were also some miners 
 vho had recently arrived from Peace River, and whose reports 
 )f the Ominica gold-mines were not very encouraging. The 
 nen who wash the Saskatchewan sand bars for gold make on an 
 iverage four dollars per day, but that does not satisfy them ; 
 ive dollars a day is called wages. This year there are only 
 ifteen miners on the Saskatchewan. 
 
 Three or four intend starting to-morrow for the Eed Deer, a 
 Tibutary of the Bow River, in some canyons of which heavier 
 ;rains of gold than usual have been found. 
 
 On the North Saskatchewan the gold miners or washers range 
 ip and down for about one hundred and thirty miles, Edmon- 
 on beiag the central point of this distance. It was for a long 
 ime supposed that all the gold in the Saskatchewan and the 
 ither rivers — in the same longitude — came from the Rocky 
 tfountains, and these were diligently prospected near their 
 ources. But not a trace of gold has been found there, and it 
 s now thought probable that a stratum of gold-bearing quartz 
 ixtends across the country, some distance on the west side of 
 he mountains. Float silver is also found in some of the rivei-s, 
 )ut not in sufficient quantities to encourage prospecting. 
 
 This seems the proper place, before going on with our diary, 
 
ALONG THE NORTH SASKATCHEWAN. 181 
 
 for some general observations on the country, between the 
 North-West Angle of the Lake of the Woods and Edmonton ; 
 particularly with a view to its capabilities as a great field for 
 colonization. We can speak positively only of what we saw, 
 and that includes a very narrow strip. All admit that the line 
 of our route does not show the best land, however much they 
 difier as to the quantity that is available for settlement. Some 
 observers, long resident in the country, declare that the fertUe 
 belt practically means the whole distance between the North 
 and South Saskatchewan, and other vast regions to the east, 
 north, and west, especially a broad belt along the basis of the 
 Rocky Mountains to the south of Edmonton, two hundred 
 miles long by fifty broad, the home of the Blackfeet, and pro- 
 nounced by many to be the garden of the North-west. Others 
 maintain that, as far as the Saskatchewan country is concerned, 
 only a narrow belt along such rivers as the Battle, Vermilion, 
 and Red Deer can be cultivated with success. It is not neces- 
 sary to decide between those views now. We know on the 
 authority of Captain Palliser, who crossed and re-crossed the 
 plains several times, that the central American desert does ex- 
 tend into British Territory,forming a triangle, having for its 
 base the forty-ninth parallel from longitude 100°toll4:° W. 
 with its apex reaching to the fifty-second parallel of latitude. 
 But the first emigrants will select land along the courses of 
 streams, especially the navigable rivers, and they will soon find 
 out all about the intervening districts. 
 
 Speaking generally of Manitoba and our North-west, along 
 the line we travelled, it is impossible to doubt that it is one of 
 the finest pasture countries in the world, and that a great part 
 of it is well adapted for cereals. The climatological conditions 
 are favourable for both stock raising and grain producing. The 
 spring is nearly as early as in Ontario ; the summer is more 
 humid and therefore the grains, grasses, and root crops grow 
 better j the autumn bright and cloudless, the very weather for 
 
i82 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 harvesting ; and the winter has less snow and fewer snow-storms 
 and though, in many parts colder, it is healthy and pleasant 
 because of the still dry air, the cloudless sky, and bright sun. 
 The soil is almost everyTs^here a peaty or sandy loam resting on 
 clay. Its only fault is that it is too rich. Crop after crop is 
 raised without fallow or manure. 
 
 As regards the practical experience of farmers on the subject 
 there is little to appeal to, and that little is chiefly favourable. 
 The only large settlement is about Red River. The farms there 
 are most inconveniently shaped, beiug very narrow long' strips ; 
 none of the people were skilled farmers to begin with, and, till 
 the last two or three years, they had no market except the H. 
 B. Company. But the Scotch farmers there are all making 
 money now, and their testimony is uniformly in favour of the 
 country for farming purposes. 
 
 The other settlements are few and far between, on the edges 
 of rivers or lakes, where wood and water are easily obtainable. 
 The population of these consists entirely of half-breeds, and 
 their method of farming is unique. They are farmers, hunters, 
 fishermen, voyageurs, all in one; the soil is scratched, three 
 inches deep, early in May, some seed is thrown in, and then 
 the whole household go off to hunt the buffalo. They get back 
 about the first of August, spend the month haying and harvest- 
 ing, and are off to the fall hunt early in September. Some are 
 now so devoted to farming that they only go to one hunt in the 
 year. It is astonishing that, though knowing so well how not 
 to do it, they raise some wheat and a good deal of barley, oats 
 and potatoes. There is a great difference, however, between 
 the Scotch and French half-breeds. The French who inter- 
 married with the Indians, often became as the Indians ; just as 
 the Spaniards in Mexico and South America who intermarried 
 with the natives sank to their level. The squaw was treated 
 as his wife. Her people became his people, but his God her 
 God. The children have Indian characteristics, the habits, 
 
ALONG THE NORTH SASKATCHEWAN. 183 
 
 weaknesses, and ill-regulated passions of ngmads. They excel 
 the Indian in strength of body and endurance. They beat him 
 on his own field of hunting, running, riding, power of eating, or 
 when necessary of abstinence ; with these are united much of 
 French vivacity, love of amusement, hospitality, patience, 
 courtesy of manner, and warmth of affection. When a Scotch- 
 man married a squaw, her position, on the contrary, was fre- 
 quently not much higher than a servant's. He was the superior 
 person of the house. He continued Christian after his fashion, 
 she continued pagan. The granite of his nature resisted fusion 
 ia spite of family and tribal influences, the attrition of all sur- 
 rounding circumstances, and the total absence of civilization ; 
 and the wife was too completely separated from him to be able 
 to raise herself to his level. The children of such a couple take 
 more after the father than the mother. As a rule they are 
 shrewd, steady, and industrious. A Scotch half-breed has 
 generally a field of wheat before or behind his house, stacks, 
 bam, and provision for a year ahead, in his granary. The 
 Metis has a patch of potatoes or a little barley, and in a year 
 of scarcity draws his belt tighter or starves. It is interesting 
 as one travels in the great North-west to note how the two old 
 allies of the middle ages have left their marks on the whole of 
 this great country. The name of almost every river, creek, 
 mountain, or district is French or Scotch. 
 
 The climate and the soil are favourable ! What about water, 
 fuel, and the summer frosts, the three points next ia import- 
 ance 1 
 
 A large population cannot be expected unless there is good 
 »eater in the form of rivers, lakes, springs, or wells. In many 
 mrts of the prairies of the IT. S., dependence is placed mainly 
 )n rain water collected in cisterns ; but such a supply is un- 
 sfholesome, and to it may be attributed much of their prairie 
 lickness. In connection with this question of water, the exist- 
 ;nce of the numerous saline lakes, that has been again and a^ain 
 
184 OOEAK TO OCEAU. 
 
 noted, forces itself on our attention ; the wonder is that fcmner 
 observers have said so little about them. Palliser marks them 
 on his map in two places, but lihey are really the characteristic 
 feature of the country for hundreds of miles. In many parts 
 they so completely outnumber the fresh water lakes, that it is 
 
 "Water, water, every whsre 
 And not a drop to drink." 
 
 Some of them are from five to twenty miles long, others only 
 little pools. Some are so impregnated with salt that crystals of 
 sulphate of soda are formed on the surface, and a thick white 
 incrustation is deposited round the shores. Others are brackish 
 or with a salt taste that is scarcely discernible. We noted 
 several facts about these lakes that may be stated. (1) That 
 they have no outlet. (2) That they are often side by side 
 with fresh water lakes, and that in these cases the latter occupy 
 the higher situation and their outflow consequently falls into 
 the former. (3) That a few feet away from their immediate 
 shores, on which marine plants grow, the usual flora and grasses 
 of the country flourish. (4) That the tracks of the bufialo 
 show that the water is drunk by them, and horses drink it when 
 they oiinnot get fresh water, though it acts medicinally on 
 them. 
 
 Whence have they originated ? Several theories may be 
 suggested. Here is one that explains all the facts so far as 
 known to us. Suppose that formerly a superabundant quan- 
 tity of alkaline matter was diffused through the soil generally, 
 over our Northwest, as we know it is over a wide extent of the 
 American desert and in sections on the Pacific coast. We found 
 i<; so iu some places where there are no lakes, and where it 
 could be carried ofi' by rivers. On the bank of the Assiniboine 
 near Fort Ellice, similarly on the Saskatchewan near Edmonton, 
 and at other points it was observed. If it had once been gener- 
 ally diffused through the soil, what must have happened in the 
 course of centuries wherever there was an ordinary rainfall ? 
 
ALONG THE NORTH SASKATCHEWAN. 185 
 
 The water, percolating throngh the Boil, would cany off the 
 alkaline matter into lakes and rivers, and it would be retained 
 only in those lakes that had no outlet This theory explains 
 all the features of the case, and starts no new difficulties. It 
 suggests too, that the one great reason why the American 
 Desert must remain both desert and bitter is, that there is no 
 rainfall on it, whereas farther north in the same longitude there 
 is abundance of rain. 
 
 Apart from those saline lakes, is there a sufficient supply of 
 water ? In brief we must answer that, in many parts there is, 
 in others we do not know yet. Test wells must be sunk and 
 then we can speak positively. 
 
 The question of fuel is next in importance in a country where 
 the winters are severe, for com cannot be grown for fuel in our 
 North-west as it has been on the prairies of lUinois. At present 
 there is little wood except along the rivers and creeks, and on 
 some of the hills, until we go back to the continuous forest on 
 the north, or to within two hundred miles of the Rocky Moun- 
 tains. This scarcity of wood is of little consequence, if the vast 
 coal-measures, that extend from the Red Deer and Bow Rivers 
 to the McKenzie, prove to contain good coal in large enough 
 seams to be worked with profit. By river or rail, coal can be 
 carried in all directions for every purpose ; and it is highly pro- 
 bable that we have the most extensive coal fields in the world. 
 The importance of definitely ascertaining the quality of each 
 prominent seam is very great. But even though wood may not 
 be absolutely required for fuel, every encouragement for its 
 growth should be given. Wood is needed for many purposes, 
 and the plains would be warmer in winter, if they were not 
 treeless. 
 
 The remaining difficulty is the recurrence of summer frosts. 
 In many localities these are dreaded more than anything else. 
 At one place in June or July, at another in August, sharp 
 trosts have nipped the grain, and sometimes even the potatoes. 
 
186 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 At Edmouton, 2088 feet above the sea, there is invariably a 
 night or two of frost between the 10th and 20th of August. At 
 Victoria and Fort Pitt to the east, and still more so at the E.. 
 C. mission of Lake St. Albert and Lake St. Ann to the west of 
 Edmonton, the grain has suffered more or less frequently from 
 the same cause. This enemy is a serious one, for against it man 
 seems powerless. But admitting that there are frosts that 
 cannot be avoided, and that no improvement will ensue on the 
 general cultivation of the land, the draining of bogs, and the 
 peopling of the country, there remain large and fertile tracts 
 free from them, and, where the frosts are frequent, other crops 
 than wheat can be raised, and the pasturage remains unrivalled. 
 
 It is only fair to the country to add, that the power of those 
 frosts to injure must be judged not by the thermometer, but by 
 actual experience. It is a remarkable fact, that frost which 
 would nip grain in many other countries is innocuous on the 
 Red River and Saskatchewan. Whatever the reason, and Mr. 
 Spence in a recent pamphlet on " Manitoba and the North- 
 west of the Dominion," has assigned several, — such as the dry- 
 ness of the atmosphere, the heat-retaining character of the 
 soil, and the sudden change of temperature that enables vigor- 
 ous plants to bear an atmosphere at 20 ° better than at 35 ® 
 when the latent heat of the earth and the plants has been 
 given off, — the fact is undoubted. Due regard to times and 
 seasons will also enable the farmer to escape very often the 
 dangers peculiar to a locality. Thus, at Edmonton, if they 
 sow late and the wheat is in the milk when the frost comes it 
 is injured. The remedy is to sow early. 
 
 Looking fairly at all the facts, admitting all the difficulties 
 
 and what country has not drawbacks? -it is impossible to avoid 
 the conclusion that we have a great and fertile North-west a 
 thousand miles long and from one to four hundred miles broad, 
 capable of containing a population of millions. It is a fair 
 land ; rich in furs and fish, in treasures of the forest, the field 
 
ALONG THE NORTH SASKATCHEWAN. 187 
 
 and the mine ; seamed by navigable rivers, interlaced by nu- 
 merous creeks, and beautified with a thousand lakes ; broken 
 by sweUing uplands, wooded hill-sides, and bold ridges ; and 
 protected on its exposed sides by a great desert or by giant 
 mountains. The air is pure, dry, and bracing -all the year round ; 
 giving promise of health and strength of body and length of 
 days. Here we have a home for our own surplus population 
 and for the stream of emigration that runs from northern and 
 central Europe to America. Let it be opened up to the world 
 by rail and steamboat, and in an incredibly short time the 
 present gap between Manitoba and British Columbia will be 
 filled up, and a continuous line of loyal Provinces extend from 
 the Atlantic to the Pacific. 
 
CHAPTER Vn. 
 
 From Fort Edmonton, to the River Athabasca. 
 
 False Report, — Souzie's farewell. — St. Albert Mission. — Bishop Grandin. — Small-pox. — 
 Grea.t Mortality.— Indian Orphans.— The Sisters ot Charity.— Road to Lake St. 
 Ann's.— Luxuriant Vegetation.— Pelican.— Early frosta.- Paok horses.- Leaving St. 
 Ann's. — Indians.— Vapour Booths. — Thick woods. — Pemhina River. — Coal.— Loh- 
 stick Camp. — Condemned doga. — Beaver dams. — Murder. — Horse lost. — A Birth-day 
 —No trail. — Muskegs. — ^Windfalls. — Beavers. — ^Traeea of old travellers. — Cooking 
 penuniean. — Crossing the McLeod. — ^Wretched Road. — Iroquois Indians — Slow pro- 
 gress. — Merita of pemmican. — Bad Muskegs. — ^Un beau chemin. — ^A mile an hour.— 
 Plum-pudding Camp.— Teu hours in the saddle. — ^Athabasca River.— The Rocky 
 Mountains. — Bayonet Camp. 
 
 August 28th. ^ — It is proverbially difficult to get away in a 
 hurry from a Hudson's Bay fort, especially if outfit is required ; 
 but, we were furthered, not only by the genuine kindness of 
 Mr. Hardisty but by a false alarm that quickened every one's 
 movements, and so we got off early in the afternoon. 
 
 A report reached Edmonton in the forenoon, that the Crees 
 and Blackfeet were fighting on the other side of the river, a re- 
 port based, as we afterwards learned, on no other ground than 
 that " some one " had heard shots fired, at wild duck, probably 
 enough. Where there are no newspapers to ferret out and 
 communicate the truth to every one, it is extraordinary what 
 wild stories are circulated ; and how readily they are believed, 
 though similar on dits have been found to be lies time and 
 again. As we would be detained with long pow-wows, if either 
 party crossed the river, every one helped us to hurry off. We 
 had to say good-bye not only to the Indians who had come from 
 Fort Pitt, and to Mr. McDougal and the gentlemen of the Fort ; 
 but also to Horetzky and to our botanist, as the Chief had de- 
 cided to send these two on a separate expedition to Peace River, 
 by Fort Dunvegan, to report on the flora of that country, and 
 on the nature of the northern passes through the llocky Moun- 
 
FORT EDMONTON TO ATHABASKA RIVER. 189 
 
 tains. We parted with regret, for men get better acquainted 
 with each other on shipboard, or in a month's travel in a lone 
 land, than they would under ordinary circumstances in a year. 
 Souzie was more sorry to part with Frank than with any of the 
 rest of us. He had been teaching him Cree, and Frank had got 
 the length of twenty-four words, which he aired on every pos- 
 sible occasion, to his tutor's unbounded delight. Souzie mounted 
 his horse and waited patiently at the gate of ther Fort for two 
 hours, without our knowledge. When Frank came out he rode 
 on with him for a mile to the height of a long slope ; then he 
 drew up and putting one hand on his heart, with a sorrowful 
 look, held out the other ; and, without a word, turned his horse 
 and rode slowly away. 
 
 Our number was now reduced to four. We were to drive out 
 fifty miles to Lake St. Ann's, and " pack " our travelling stores 
 and baggage on horses there ; taking with us three new men, 
 and the faithful Terry, to whose cookery we had become accus- 
 tomed, as eels are said to get accustomed to skinning. Mr. 
 Hardisty kindly accompanied us ten miles out, to the guard at 
 Lake St. Albert, to see that we got good horses. The road is 
 an excellent one, passing through a rolling prairie, dotted with 
 a great number of dried marshes on each side, from which im- 
 mense quantities of natural hay could be cut. 
 
 Crossing the same Sturgeon River that we had crossed yester- 
 day morning on our way to Edmonton, a hill rose before us 
 crowned with the Cathedral Church of the mission, the house of 
 the Bishop, and the house of th& Sisters of Charity ; while up 
 and down the river extended the little houses and fai-ms o' tjie 
 settlers. We called on Bishop Grandin and found him at home, 
 with six or seven of his clergy who fortunately hjippaned to be 
 in from vai-ious missions. The Bishop is from old FrancL-. The 
 majority of the priests, and all the sisters, are French Canadians. 
 The Bishop and his staflF received us with a hearty welcome, 
 showed us round the church, the school, the garden, and intro- 
 
190 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 duced us to the sisters. The church represents an extraordinary 
 amount of labour and ingenuity, when it is considered that there 
 is not a saw mill in the country, and that every plank had to be 
 made with a whip or hand saw. The altar is a beautiful piece 
 of wood- work in the early Norman style, executed as a labour 
 of love by two of the Fathers. The sacristy behind was the 
 original log church and is still used for service in the winter. 
 
 This St. Albert mission was formed about nine years ago, by 
 a number of settlers removing from Lake St. Ann's in hope of 
 escaping the frosts which had several times cut down their 
 grain. It grew rapidly, chiefly from St. Ann's and Red River, 
 till two years ago, when it numbered nearly one thousand, all 
 French half-breeds. Then came the small-pox that raged in 
 every Indian camp, and, wherever men were assembled, all up 
 and down the Saskatchewan. Three hundred died at St. Albert. 
 Men and women fled from their nearest and dearest. The 
 priests and the sisters toiled with that devotedness that is a 
 matter of course with them ; nursed the sick, shrived the dying, 
 and gathered many of the orphans into their house. The scourge 
 passed away, but the infant settlement had received a severe 
 blow from which it is only beginning to recover. Many are 
 the discouragements, material and moral, of the fathers in their 
 labours. Their congregation is migratory, spends half the year 
 at home and the other half on the plains. The children are 
 sent to school only when they have no buffalo to hunt, no pem- 
 mican to make, or no work of greater importance than educa^ 
 tion to set them at. The half-breed is religious, but he must 
 indulge his passions. It is a singular fact that not one of them 
 has ever become a priest, though several, Louis Riel among the 
 number, have been educated at difierent missions, with a view 
 to the sacred office. The yoke of celibacy is too heavy ; and 
 fiddling, dancing, hunting, and a wild roving life have too many 
 charms. 
 
 The settlement now numbers seven hundred souls. The land 
 
POET EDMONTON TO ATHABASCA RtVER. 191 
 
 is good, but, on account of its elevation, and other local causes, 
 subject to summer frosts ; in spite of these, cereals, as well as 
 root crops, succeed when care is taken. Last year they reaped 
 on the mission farm twenty returns of wheat, eighteen of barley, 
 sixtfSjn of potatoes. Turnips, beets, carrots and such like vege- 
 tables, grow to an enormous size. A serious drawback to the 
 people is that they have no grist mill ; the Fathers could not 
 get them to give up the buffalo for a summer and build one on 
 the Sturgeon. They would begin it in the fall and finish it in 
 the spring; but the floods swept it away half-finished, and the 
 Fathers have no funds to try anything on a solid and extensive 
 scale. 
 
 The sisters took us to see their orphanage. They have twenty- 
 four children in it, chiefly girls ; two-thirds of the number half- 
 breeds, the rest Blackfeet or Crees who have been picked up in 
 tents beside their dead parents, abandoned by the tribe when 
 stricken with small-pox. The hair of the Indian boys and girls 
 was brown as often as Black, and their complexions were as light 
 as those of the half-breeds. This would be the case with the 
 men and women also, if they adopted civilized habits. Sleeping 
 in the open air, with face often turned upward to a blazing sun, 
 would soon blacken the skin- of the fairest European. 
 
 Last Sunday we noticed, in the congregation at Victoria, 
 that while some of the old Indians had skins almost as black 
 as negroes, the young men and women were comparatively 
 fair. The explanation is that the young Crees are taking to 
 civilized ways. People at Fort Garry told us that when the 
 troops arrived under Colonel Wolseley, some of them, who had 
 slept or rowed the boats bare-headed under the blazing sun, were 
 quite as dark-complexioned as average Indians. The gentle 
 Christian courtesy and lady-like manners of the sisters at the 
 mission charmed us, while the knowledge of the devoted lives 
 they lead must impress, with profound respect, Protestant and 
 Roman Catholic alike. Each one would have adorned a home 
 
192 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 of her own, but she had given up all for the sake of her Lord 
 and His little ones. After being entertained by the bishop to 
 an excellent supper, and hearing the orphans sing, we were 
 obliged to hurry away in order to camp before dark. The 
 Doctor remained behind for an hour to visit three or fourcwho 
 were sick lq their rooms, and arrange their dispensary. Tak- 
 ing leave of Mr. Hardisty also, we drove on three miles and 
 camped. Eive of us occupied one tent ; our own party of four 
 and Mr. Adams, the H. B. agent at Lake St. Ann's, who was 
 returning from Edmonton to his post. 
 
 August 29th. — Some of the horses were missing this morn- 
 ing, but an hour after sunrise all were found except Mr. 
 Adams' and another whose tracks were seen going in the St. 
 Aim's or homeward direction. Knowing that we would over- 
 take them the start was made. After a third and fourth cros- 
 sing of the Sturgeon river, we halted for breakfast. We then 
 crossed it for the fifth and last time, caught up to the two 
 horses quietly feeding near the wayside,«dined at mid-day, and 
 rode on in advance with Mr. Adams to St. Ann's, leaving the 
 two carts to follow more leisurely. We reached the post an 
 hour before sunset, having ridden nearly forty miles, thou^, 
 as we had presented the odometer, to Mr. McDougal, our cal- 
 culations of distances were now necessarily only guess work. 
 The carts got in an hour after, and the tent was pitched and 
 the earts emptied for the last time. From St. Ann's the road 
 is only a horse-traU through the woods, so often lost in marshes 
 or hidden by windfalls that a guide is required. Tents, for 
 the sake of carrying as little weight as possible, were dis- 
 carded for the simple " lean to '' ; and wheels for pack horses. 
 Our guide was Valad, a three-quarters Indian, and our pack- 
 ers — Brown, a Scotchman, and Beaupr6, a French Canadian, 
 old packers and miners, and both first-rate men. They said 
 that the whole of the next day would be required to arrange 
 the pack-saddles, but they were told that we must get away 
 
FOBT EDMONTON TO ATHABASCA RIVEB. 193 
 
 The road travelled over to-day was throngli a beautiful 
 coimtry, hilly and wooded, creeks winding round narrow val- 
 leys, and others that beaver dams had converted into marshes, 
 on which were growing great masses of natural hay. The 
 vegetation on the hill-sides was most luxuriant. The grass 
 reached to the horses' necks, and the vetches, which the horses 
 snatched at greedily as they trotted past, were from four to 
 six feet high. The last twelve miles of the day's journey re- 
 sembled a pleasure drive ; the first half amid tall woods 
 through which the sunlight glimmered, with rich green under- 
 brush of wild currant^ mooseberry J and Indian pear, the ripe 
 fruit of which we plucked from our saddles. Through these our 
 road led down to the brink of Lake St. Ann's, a beautiful 
 sheet of water, stretching away before us for miles, enlivened 
 with flocks of wild duck and pelican on the islets and pro- 
 montories that fringed it ; and then round the south-west side 
 of the lake, for the last sis miles, to Mr. Adams' house. Mrs. 
 Adams had a grand supper ready for us in half an hour, and 
 we did ftdl justice to the cream and butter, and the delicious 
 white-fish of Lake St. Ann's. This fish (cdbus coregonue) is 
 in size, shape and taste very like the shad of the Bay of 
 Fundy ; but very unlike it in the number and intricacy of its 
 bones. It is an infinite toil to eat shad ; with aU possible care 
 little prickly bones escape notice and insinuate themselves into 
 the throat ; but with white-fish a man may abandon himself 
 to the simple pleasure of eating. Lake St. Ann's is the great 
 storehouse of white-fish for this part of the country. It pro- 
 vides for all demands up to Edmonton. Last year thirty thou- 
 sand, averaging over three pounds each, were taken out and 
 frozen for winter use. 
 
 This was the worst place for summer frosts that we had yet 
 seen, A field of potatoes belonging to the priest was cut down 
 to the ground, and Mr. Adams pointed out barley that had 
 been nipped two or three times, but from which he still ex- 
 pected half a crop. 13 
 
194 OCEAN TO OCEAJf. 
 
 August 30th. — " Packing " the horses was the order of the 
 day till two o'clock, and Brown and Beaupr6 showed themselves 
 experts at the work. A pack-saddle looks something like the 
 miniature wooden horse used in our back yards for sawing 
 sticks of cordwood. Wooden pads suited to the shape of the 
 horse's back, with two or three plies of buffalo robe or blanket 
 underneath, prevent the cross legs and packs from hurting the 
 horse. All baggage, blankets, provisions, and utensils are 
 made up into portable bundles as nearly equal in size and 
 weight as possible. Each of the packers seizing a bundle 
 places it on the side of the saddle, another bundle is put on the 
 top between the two, where the log of wood to be sawed would 
 be placed, and then the triangular-shaped load is bound in one 
 by folds of shaganappi twisted firmly, but without a knot, after 
 a regular fashion called the diamond hitch. 
 
 The articles which experience had shown to be not indis- 
 pensable or not required for the mountains were now discarded, 
 the object being to give as light loads as possible to the horses, 
 that they might travel the faster. A horse with a hundred- 
 weight on his back can trot without racking himself : when he 
 has from one hundred and sixty to two hundred pounds he 
 must be content to walk. If the horse is at all restive and 
 breaks from the path, he crashes thi'ough dead wood and twists 
 through dry till he destroys the load, or is brought up all stand- 
 ing by trees, that there is no getting through. 
 
 In the Mexican and United States Rocky Mountains, where 
 a great deal of business has long been done with pack-horses, 
 the saddles are of a much superior kind, called appara-hoes. 
 "With those the horses carry over three hundred pounds, and a 
 day's journey is from twelve to fifteen miles. As our object 
 was speed we dispensed with tent, extra clothing, tinned meat 
 books, etc., and thus reduced the loads at the outset to a hun- 
 dred or a hundred and thirty pounds per horse. That weight 
 included food for thirty days for eight men, and everything 
 
FOmX EDMONTON TO ATHABASCA RIVBK. 195 
 
 There was now before us a journey of five or six hundred 
 miles, through woods and marshes, torrents and mountain 
 passes ; for we could not depend on getting supplies of any 
 kind or fresh horses on this side of Kamloops ; though there 
 were probabilities of our meeting with parties of engineers 
 between Jasper House and Yellow Head Pass. 
 
 Mr. Adams was of infinite service in all these arrangements. 
 The luxuries of white-fish, fresh eggs, cream, butter and young 
 pig bountifully served up for us at his table, were duly appre- 
 ciated, but we valued still more highly the personal exertions, 
 made with as much simplicity and thoughtfuLness as if he had 
 been preparing for his own journey. He was the last of the 
 Hudson's Bay officers that we would be indebted to tUl we got 
 to the Pacific slope, and parting from his post was like parting 
 from the Company that has long been the mainstay of trav- 
 ellers, the only possible medium of communication, and the 
 great representative of civilization in the vast regions of the 
 North and North-west. From our meetiag with the chief 
 Commissioner at Silver Heights until our departure from St. 
 Ann's we had experienced the hospitality of its agents, and 
 had seen the same extended to all who claimed it, to the hungry 
 Indian, and the unfortunate miner, as well as to those who 
 bore letters of recommendation. It was on such a scale as be- 
 fitted a great English corporation, the old monarchs and still 
 the greatest power in the country. 
 
 At two P. M. all was ready ; eight horses packed, eight 
 others saddled for riding, and a spare horse to follow. Mr. 
 Adams accompanied us a short distance ; but, as the line of 
 march had to be Indian file, we soon exchanged the undemon- 
 strative good-bye with him, and plunged into the forest. For 
 the first five miles the trail was so good that the horses kept at 
 their accustomed jog-trot, though some of them were evidently 
 unused to, and uneasy under their pack saddles. Valad rode 
 first, two pack horses followed. Brown next, and so on till the 
 
196 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 Chief or some other of the party brought up the rear of the 
 long line on the seventeenth horse. If any of the pack-horses 
 deviated from the road into the bush, the man immediately 
 behind had to bring him back. The loud calls to the obsti- 
 nately lazy or straying " Eouge," " Brun," " Sangri," " Billy," 
 " Bischo," varied with whacks almost as loud on their backs, 
 were the only sounds that broke the stillness of the forest ; 
 for conversation is impossible with a man on horse-back in 
 front of or behind you, and there is little game in these woods 
 except an occasional partridge. After the first day, the horses 
 gave little trouble, as they aU got accustomed to the style of 
 travelling, and recognized the wisdom of keeping to the road. 
 Two or three old hands at the work always aimed at getting 
 one of their companions between them and a driver, ao that 
 their companions might I'eceive all the occasional whacks, and 
 they share the benefit only of the loud calls and objurgations ; 
 but the new ones soon got up to the trick, and their conten- 
 tions for precedence and place were as keen as between a num- 
 ber of old dowagers before going in to dinner. These old hands 
 carried their burdens with a swinging, waddling motion that 
 eased their backs, and saved them many a rude jar. 
 
 In the course of the afternoon we passed one or two dese* ted 
 tents, and " sweating booths,'' but no Indians. Three miser- 
 able starved-looking Stonies or Wood Indians had entered Mr. 
 Adams' house while we were there, and, in accordance with 
 invariable Indian etiquette, shook hands aU round, before 
 squatting on the kitchen floor and waiting for something to 
 eat ; but with the exception of the few scattered round each 
 of the Company's posts, who, as a rule, are invalids or idlers, 
 we had not seen an Indian since leaving the Assiniboine, ex- 
 cept the small camp near Moose-Creek and the Crees at Vic- 
 toria. That they were buffalo hunting, or that their principal 
 settlements are off the line of the main road does not give the 
 whole truth. The Indians are dying out before the white man. 
 
FOET EDMONTON TO ATHABASCA EIYER. 197 
 
 Now that the Hudson's Bay monopoly is gone, " free traders," 
 chiefly from the south, are coming in, plentifully supplied with 
 a poisonous stuff, rum in name, but in reality a compound of 
 tobacco, vitriol, bluestone and water. This is completing 
 -the work that scrofula and epidemics and the causes that 
 bring about scrofula and epidemics were already doing too 
 surely : for an Indian will part with horse and gun, blanket 
 and wife for rum. There is law in abundance forbidding the 
 sale of intoxicating liquor to Indians, but law, without force to 
 execute law, is laughed at by rowdies from Belly River and 
 elsewhere. 
 
 The sweating booths referred to should have been explained 
 before. They are the great nj^tural luxury of the Indian, and 
 are to be found wherever Indians live even for a week. There 
 was scarcely a day this month that we did not pass the rude 
 slight frames. At first we mistook them for small tents. They 
 are made in a few minutes of wiUow wands or branches, bent 
 so as to form a circular enclosure, with room for one or two 
 inside ; the buffalo robe is spread over the frame work so as to 
 exclude the air as much as possible, and whoever wants a Rus- 
 sian bath crawls into the round dark hole. A friend outside 
 heats large stones to the highest point attainable, and passes 
 them and a bucket of water in. The insiders pour the water on 
 the ston^, steam is generated, and, on they go pouring water 
 and enjoying ^he delight of a vapour bath, till they are almost 
 insensible. Doctor Hector thought the practice an excellent 
 one, as regards cleanliness, health and pleasure; but the Indians 
 carry it to an extreme that utterly enervates them. Their 
 medicine-men enlist it in aid of their superstitions. It is when 
 under the influence of the bath, that they become inspired ; 
 and they take one or two laymen in with them, that these may 
 hear their oracular sayings, and be able to announce to the 
 tribe where there is a chance of stealing horses or of doing some 
 other notable deed with good prospect of jeuccess. It is easy to 
 
198 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 see, too, what a capital opportunity tte medicine-man has, whea 
 thus inspired to gratify his private malice or vengeance, or any 
 desire. Many a raid and many a deed of darkness has been, 
 started in the sweating booth. 
 
 The first five miles of the road, this afternoon, was a broad' 
 easy trail, through open woods which showed fine timber of 
 spruce, aspen, and poplar, some of the spruce being over twot 
 feet in diameter ; but had we formed from it any conclusion as , 
 to our probable rate of speed, the next four miles would have; 
 undeceived us. Crashing through windfalls or steering amid, 
 thick woods rouad them, leading our horses across yielding 
 morasses or stumbling over roots and into holes, with all our 
 freshness we scarcely made two miles an hour, and that with an 
 expenditure of wind and limb that would soon have exhausted 
 horse and man. But the road again improved a little, and by 
 6.30 p. M., we had accomplished about twelve miles, and reached 
 a lake called Chain of lakes, or Lac des lies, out of which the 
 Sturgeon river flows before it runs into Lake St. Ann's. In 
 an open ground near the lake, covered thick with vetches, a 
 simple lean-to or screen for the whole company was constructed. 
 In the morning all decided that the lean to was a preferable 
 home to the round or closed tents we had hitherto used. You 
 require for the former only a large cotton sheet in addition to 
 what the forest supplies at any time. Two pairs of gross-poles 
 are Stuck in the ground, as far apart as you wigh your lodging 
 place for the night to be long ; a ridge pole connects these, and 
 then half-a-dozen or more poles are placed slanting against the 
 ridge pole. Caver the sloping fjame with your cotton sheet, or 
 in its absence, birch bark, and your house is made. The ends 
 are open and so is the front, but the back is covered, and that, 
 of course, is where the wind comes from. The ventilation is 
 perfect, and as your fire is made immediately in front, there is 
 no lack of warmth. 
 
 From this date the^ whol« party had one tent of this rlpspvfn. 
 
FORT EDMONTON TO ATHABASCA RIVER. 199 
 
 ■tion to sleep under, and one table to eat from. The days were 
 getting shorter, the horses could not go fast, and time had to be 
 •economised in every possible way. 
 
 August 31st. — As packing eight horses takes twice as long 
 as harnessing twice the number, it was 6.30 P.M., before we 
 started. Hereafter, and for the same rea.son — the time needed 
 to packj and unpack, — only one halt and two spells per day 
 were to be made. 
 
 Six hours' travel at an average rate of three miles an hour, 
 brought us to the Pembiaa river. The road was through thick 
 woods and along the Chain of lakes, with an upward incline 
 until we came to the watershed between the Saskatchewan, and 
 the rivers running north-east into the McKenzie and through 
 it into the Arctic sea. The country then opened, and we could 
 see before us four or five miles to a ridge, on the other side of 
 which the guide said was the Pembina. The timber became 
 smaller as we advanced, till in the open it was poor and scrubby, 
 and the land here and over the drive to the Pembina looked 
 cold and hungry, with occasional good spots. In the neighbour- 
 hood of coal the land is usually poor, and we had been told 
 that the banks of the river showed abundant indication of coal 
 for sixty miles up and down from where the trail strikes. 
 After passing the Chain of lakes the road led along a small 
 round lake that empties on the other side ; and, soon after, 
 over a ridge from which a fine ampitheatre of hills, formed" by 
 a bend of the river beneath, opened out before us, in the valley 
 of which we saw the broad shallow Pembina flowing away to 
 the north. The under-brush on the hiU-sides had decided 
 autumn tints, the red and yellow showing early frosts. The 
 top of the opposite ba^k was a bold face of sandstone, with 
 what looked like enormous clusters of swallows' nests running 
 along the upper part ; underneath the sandstone, clay that had 
 been burnt by the spontaneous combustion of the coal beneath, 
 ash and burnt pieces of shale like red and white pottery on the 
 
200 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 surface, half hidden by vegetation ; and down at the water's 
 edge a horizontal bed of coal. We forded the river which is 
 about a hundred yards wide, and looking back saw on the east 
 side a seam of coal about ten feet thick, whereas on the west 
 side to which we had crossed only about four feet showed above 
 the water. Pick in hand the Chief made for the coal, and find- 
 ing a large square lump that had been carried down by the 
 river, he broke some pieces from it to make a fire. In appear- 
 ance it was much superior to the Edmonton seam ; instead of 
 the dull half-burnt look, it had a clean, glassy fracture like 
 cannel coal. Carrjdng a number of pieces in our hands we 
 proceeded to make a fire and had the satisfaction of seeing them 
 burn, and of cooking our pemmican with the mineral fuel. It 
 was evidently coal, equal for fuel, we considered, to inferior 
 Cape Breton kinds, burning sluggishly, and leaving a consider- 
 able quantity of grey and reddish ash, but giving out a good 
 heat. Beaupr6, who all this while had been washing sand from 
 the river in his shovel for gold, and finding at the rate of half 
 a cent's worth per shovel full, was amazed at our eagerness, or 
 that there should have been any doubt about its being coal. 
 He and his mates when mining on difiierent rivers, had been in 
 the habit of making fires with it whenever they wished the 
 fire to burn all night ; and Brown said, that the exposure of 
 coal on Pembina was a mere nothing compared to that on the 
 Brazeau or North Fork of the North Saskatchewan ; that there 
 were seams eighteen feet thick there ; that in one canyon was 
 a wall of seam on seam as perpendicular as if it had been 
 plumbed, and so hard that the weather had no efiect on it ; and 
 that on all the rivers, for some distance east of Edmonton, and 
 west to the Rocky Mountains, are abundant showings of coal. 
 This is perhaps the proper place to mention that on our return 
 to the east, Ex-Governor Archibald presented the Secretary 
 with a little box full that had been sent him as a sample from 
 Edmonton ; the sample was . exactly like what we picked up in. 
 the Pembina and tried with the results just stated. 
 
FOET EDMONTON TO ATHABASCA RIVBE. 201 
 
 The Secretary submitted it to Professor Lawson of Dalhousie 
 College, Halifax, for analysis, and received a letter of wliich the 
 following is an extract, and may be regarded as settling the 
 question more favourably than we could have hoped for : 
 
 " My analysis of your coal is by no means discouraging : — 
 
 Combustible matter - - . • - - - 97.835 p. e. 
 Inorganic Ash •• •••••••2.165p. e. 
 
 Total 100.000 
 
 " The proportion of sulphur, chlorine, and other obnoxious impurities, 
 " is quite small. The coal burns with a flame, and also forms a red cinder, 
 " but is a slow burner ; and, although the absolute amount of ash is so 
 " small, yet a much larger amount of apparent ash will be left in the grate 
 "from imperfect combustion. Yet, if we view this as a surface sample — 
 "and such are invariably of inferior quality, — I think it offers great en- 
 " couragement, for the percentage of ash is less than the average of the 
 "best marketable coals in Britain. Of course this analysis of a very small 
 "sample can only be regarded as a probable indication, not a demonstra- 
 "tion, of the nature of the extensive beds of coal or bituminous shale 
 "described in your letter.'' 
 
 The simple fact is that the coal deposits of the North-west 
 are so enormous in quantity that the people were unwilling to 
 believe that the quality could be good. 
 
 Here then is fuel for the future (inhabitants of the plains, 
 near water communication for forwarding it in different direc- 
 tions. 
 
 Captain Palliser also reports the existence of iron ore near 
 several coal seams. 
 
 After dinner we rode on for three and a half hours to a good 
 camping ground on the Lobstick river, about eleven miles from 
 the Pembina ; and had the horses watered and everything made 
 snug for Sunday before sunset. 
 
 On the way several creeks had to be crossed, or vaUeys where 
 creeks had run tiU beavers dammed them up, and, as all had 
 high steep banks, the work was heavy on the horses. But the 
 road 30 far had agreeably disappointed us. It was not at all so 
 
202 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 bad as travellers' tales had represented ; and we felt confident 
 that in another week Jasper House would not be far off, unless 
 the roads became very much worse, instead of fifteen days being 
 required as everyone at Edmonton and St. Ann's had said. So, 
 after a talk with Brown and Beauprd about their mining and 
 Blackfeet experiences, we threw ourselves down on a fragrant 
 grassy bed, a little tired, but in good spirits and glad enough 
 that we were not to be called early in the morning. 
 
 September 1st. — When we looked out at our wide open 
 door, between six; and seven o'clock, a good fire was blazing, 
 and by it sat Valad smoking. He might have been sitting 
 there for centuries, so perfect was the repose of form and fea- 
 ture. 
 
 Brown enquired if he had seen the horses and the answer 
 was a wave of the hand, first in one direction and then in an- 
 other, not only enough to say that he had, but also where they 
 were, without disturbing any of us who might be asleep. 
 
 He ] "soked more like a dignified Italian gentleman than an 
 obscure Indian guide. With the lazy movements peculiar to 
 Sunday morning in a camp, one after another of his bed-fellows 
 shook himself out of his blanket. We had now time to look 
 around, and see what kind of a place we were camping on. A 
 blufi' had stopped the course of the stream on its way east, 
 ;uid made it swing round to the south. On the bluff, just at 
 the elbow, our tent was pitched. A rich grassy intervale along 
 the river, and vetches in a little valley on the other side of our 
 camp, gave good feed for the horses. On the opposite bank of 
 the stream, and a little ahead, stood three " lobstick " spruce 
 trees in a clump. From these probably the stream gets its 
 name. A lobstick is the Indian or half-breed monument to a 
 friend or to a man he delights to honour. Selecting a tall 
 spruce or some other conspicuous tree, he cuts ofi" all the mid 
 die branches, leaving the head and feet of the tree clothed and 
 the body naked, and then writes your name or initials at the 
 
FOET EDMONTON TO ATHABASCA RIVER. 203 
 
 root. That is your lobstick, and you are expected to feel 
 highly flattered, and to make a handsome present in return to 
 the noble fellow or fellows who have erected such a pillar in 
 your honour. 
 
 There is an old superstition that your health and length of 
 days will correspond to your lobstick's. As this belief proved 
 inconvenient in some cases it has been quietly dropped, but 
 the custom still flourishes and is greatly favoured by the half- 
 breeds. 
 
 Whether such a simple way of getting up a monument is not 
 preferable to piling brick upon brick to the height of a tree, to 
 show how highly you honour a hero, is a question that might 
 bear discussion. 
 
 At morning service the whole party attended. We took for 
 granted that all could join in common prayer, and hear witlr 
 profit the simplest truths of Christianity. With none of om 
 former crews had we been on such friendly terms as with this 
 one. The relation seemed more like that of a family than ol 
 master and servant. 
 
 The weather was beautiful. Last night it clouded up and in 
 the early morning there was a light drizzle of rain, but not 
 enough to wet the grass as much as if there had been the ordi- 
 nary heavy dew of a clear night. The forenoon was cool enough 
 to keep the black flies away, but they came out with the sun and 
 the mosquitoes in the afternoon. At sunset the black flies van- 
 ish, but the mosquitoes keep buzzing round till the night is suf- 
 ficiently cold to drive them off to the woods ; this usually hap- 
 pens about nine o'clock. The nights were so cold, though there 
 was no frost, that we usually kept our clothes on, in addition to 
 the double blanket. Our bag or boots served for pillow, and 
 none of us was ever troubled with wakefulness, or complained 
 in the morning that there had been a crumpled rose leaf under 
 blanket or pillow. 
 
 There was little to mark this Sunday except the pleasant 
 
204 DCEAN 10 OCEAN. 
 
 peaceful enjoyment of it. The murmuring of the river over its 
 pebbly bed was the only sound that broke the Sabbath still- 
 ness. The rest was peculiarly grateful after the week's hurry 
 and changes ; and the horses looked as well pleased with it as 
 we. They ate till they could eat no more : and then they affec- 
 tionately switched or licked the flies off one another, or strolled 
 up to the camp to get into the smoke of the fi.re. Had they 
 been able to speak, they would certainly have given thanks for 
 the institution of a day of rest for beast as well as man. 
 
 We had one source of annoyance however. Two stray dogs 
 had joined our party uninvited, a brown one at Edmonton, and 
 a blaok at St. Ann's. They had been hooted, pelted and driven 
 back, but after going on a mile or two further we would see 
 them slinking after us again. Pemmican could not be spared, 
 as we had sufficient for our own wants only, and to-day they 
 looked particularly hungry. What was to be done with them ? 
 Go back they would not. To take them to Kamloops was out 
 of the question. To let them die of starvation would be inhu- 
 man. There seemed nothing for it but to shoot or drown them, 
 and though each and all of us promptly decliued the part of 
 executioner, their prospects looked so gloomy that Frank, who 
 had pleaded for them all along, resolved to try and provide for 
 them outside of our regular supplies. Getting permission to do 
 what he could, he rigged a fishing line, and persuaded Brown 
 and Valad to take a gun and try for beaver or duck. While 
 all three were away, the brown was caught in the act of stealing 
 pemmican. This aggravated their case, but, though all con- 
 demned, none would shoot. The hunters too came back empty 
 handed, except with a pan-full of cranberries that Brown had 
 picked, and that he stewed in a few minutes into a delicious 
 jam. The dogs puzzled us, so we postponed further considera- 
 tion of the problem till next day. 
 
 Instead of the usual three meals of pemmican, bread and tea, 
 we had only two to-day, and a simple lunch at one o'clock. At 
 
FORT EDMONTON TO ATHABASCA RIVER. 205 
 
 six, dinner was served with all the delicacies we could muster. 
 Berry-pemmican, pork and cranberry jam made a feast so 
 delicious that no one thought of the dogs. 
 
 September 2nd. — Up at four and away at half-past five, or 
 twenty minutes after sunrise. Another bright and sunny day, 
 though the woods were so thick in some places that at one 
 o'clock the dew was still on the grass. 
 
 Our first spell was six hours long. We crossed the Lobstick 
 a little above our camp, and followed up its course without see- 
 ing it again to Chip Lake, from which it flows. The road ran 
 through a fertUe undulating country at first, then through in- 
 ferior land which forest fires had desolated. There were few 
 flowers or berries and no large trees. The dogs roused a great 
 many partridges, but no one felt disposed to follow them into 
 the bush. Brown shot a fine fat one from the saddle with his 
 revolver and divided it between the dogs, so that they had a 
 meal and therefore a respite for another day. 
 
 Our progress was so slow, averaging two miles an hour, that 
 we were all dreadfully tired. The trail was not bad in itself, 
 with the exception of a few small morasses, some of black muck, 
 and others of a tenacious clay, but at every four or five yards a 
 tree, or two or three branches were lying across, as firmly set 
 by having been trodden on as if placed in position, and they 
 prevented the horses from getting into a trot. These obstacles 
 were not recent windfalls. They had evidently been there for 
 years, and an expenditure of ten dollars a mile would clear most 
 of them away. But the H. B. Company could hardly be ex- 
 pected to make a road for free-traders to Jasper House, and as 
 it is everybody's business, not a hand is put to the work. Our 
 dining place was at a small creek that runs into Chip Lake, a 
 lake half as big as St. Ann's that the thick woods prevented 
 our seeing. The ground was plentifully covered with creepers 
 that yielded blueberries smaller and more pungent than those 
 in the Eastern Provinces. 
 
206 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 A little after two P. M., we crossed the creek, and wound np 
 the opposite hill-side into a broken weU-wooded country, thfr 
 hollows in which were furrowed with beaver dams. After an 
 hour of this we reached a hiU top, from which a great extent of 
 thickly wooded country opened out, first level and then with an 
 undulating upward slope to the watershed of the McLeod. The 
 horizon far beyond this slope in a due westerly direction was 
 bounded by dim mountains, that we liailed with a shout as the 
 long sought Rocky Mountains, but Beaupr^ checked the cheer 
 by calling back that they were only the foot hills between the^ 
 McLeod and the Athabasca. At any rate they were the out- 
 liers of the Rocky Mountains, and in exactly a month from our' 
 saying goodbye to Governor Archibald at Silver Heights we- 
 had our first glimpse of them. 
 
 The road now descended to lower ground, and passed over 
 the beds of old creeks destroyed by beavers. Had it not been 
 for half-decayed logs lying across the path, the horses could 
 have trotted the whole way. As it was, they made fully four 
 miles an hour, in the afternoon spell of three-and-a-quarter 
 hours. Before five o'clock we came to a beautiful stream, and 
 Valad advised camping, but the Chief, learning that there was 
 a suitable place with good water and feed four miles farbher on 
 gave the word to continue the march. This ground, like much 
 gone over in the morning, consisted of dry marsh, or sandy and 
 gravelly ridges covered with scrub pine. It was part of the 
 level region we had seen from the hUl-top, and it had a deci- 
 dedly poverty-stricken look. In an hour we had reached the 
 camping place and prepared our lodging for the night, well 
 pleased with the progress that had been made during the day. 
 The spare horse, however, which as usual had been left to him- 
 self to follow in his own way, was missing. Terry, who had 
 brought up the rear, had seen him lounging and looking back, 
 when within a mile of the camp. Beaupr6 at once started in 
 pursuit, bridle in hand, but returned at dusk without him. 
 
FORT EDMONTON TO ATHABASCA EIVBR. 207 
 
 He had seen him near the creek we had crossed at five 
 o'clock, evidently on his way home, or ia a state of bewilder- 
 ment, not knowing where he was going. Beaupr6 had tried to 
 drive him into camp, but he plunged into the woods and 
 refused to be driven back ; so Beaupr^ afraid of losing the trail 
 in the darkness, returned. As the horse could not well be 
 spared, Valad was asked to go after him early next morning, 
 try his luck and catch up to us before dark, while he went on 
 under the guidance of Beaupre for the day. 
 
 The evenings were getting long now, and, after our slow and 
 tedious journeying, it was pleasant to sit in the open tent be- 
 fore a great pine fire and talk about the work of the day, the 
 prospects of to-morrow, and hear some story of wild western 
 life from the men. Brown gave us the particulars of the hor- 
 rible massacre of the Peigan Indians by Colonel Baker, the 
 kindly views of it taken by the Montana citizens, and their 
 memorial to Washington in his favour when he was threatened 
 with court-martial. Brown and B^aupr^ themselves judged the 
 massacre from a miner's standpoint. 
 
 But none of their stories of lawless and cruel deeds roused in 
 us such indignation as what they told concerning villainies done 
 recently in our own North-west. Perhaps the worst had hap- 
 pened only three weeks before our arrival at Edmonton, within 
 one hundred yards of the Port. A young M6tis of eighteen 
 summers, son of a well known hunter called Kiskowassis (or 
 " day child," bom in the day) had murdered his wife, to whom 
 he had been married only a few months and who was enceinte 
 Last year he had slashed a woman with his knife in the wrist 
 and made her a cripple for Ufe. That was a small affair. But, 
 having gone to the plains and formed an intimacy with another 
 girl, he wanted to get rid of his wife. Luring her down to the 
 river side, so that suspicion might fall on a party of Blackfeet 
 camped on the other side, he stabbed but only wounded her, 
 and she fled up the hUl, he chasing and striking at her. 
 
208 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 Some of the Blackfeet on the opposite bank cried manoyo, 
 manoyo (murder), but there was no one near to help the poor 
 creature, and soon a surer blow stretched her dead. This 
 was too serious to be altogether passed over, so her brothers 
 promptly called on Kiskowassis about it. Charley — the mur- 
 derer — was not at home, but Kiskowassis acknowledged that he 
 had gone too far, and proffered two horses that he extoUed 
 highly, the one as a hunter and the other as a carter, in atone- 
 ment. The elder brother went out and came back in a few 
 minutes, saying: "They're pretty good horses, I guess we'd 
 better take them." And thus the affair was amicably settled ; 
 at the same price, as far as law on the Saskatchewan is con- 
 cerned, Charley may go on and have his six wives more easily 
 than Henry the eighth. An uncle of Charley, on the plains 
 two months ago, shot a man who had offended him ; and Beaii- 
 pr6 extolled the whole family as " very brave.'' Charley had 
 tried to enlist Beaupre last year in a promising enterprise of 
 killing some Sursees who ojvned good horses ; but Beaupr6 was 
 not brave enough. There is a young brother, aged fourteen, 
 who Beaupr^ says is sure to beat even Charley : " He is bound 
 to steal a horse this very summer from the Blackfeet.'' 
 
 We asked Brown why at any rate the miners did not lynch 
 Charley, since no one else acted. He said that there was such 
 a proposal, but it was decided that as they were strangers en- 
 joying the "protection" of the country, it would not be seemly 
 to interfere. 
 
 September 3rd. — Awoke at four A.M., and found the fire 
 burning brightly and Valad away in pursuit of the missing 
 horse. Partly owing to his absence the start was an hour 
 later than yesterday's. Leaving his saddle and some bread and 
 pemmican on a tree we moved on. The trail was a continua^ 
 tion of the willow and alder marsh of last evening, but in- 
 stead of being dry it was swampy, and the travelling heavy. 
 The brown dog caught a musk-rat that made a meal for the 
 two, and gave them another day's respite. 
 
FORT EDMONTON TO ATHABASCA EIVEK. 209 
 
 For the first eiglit or ten miles the road was almost wholly 
 swamp, till a creek was ca^ossed that runs into Chip or Buffalo 
 Lake, and from it by the Lobstick into the Pembina. The wa^ 
 ter-shed of the McLeod then rose in a long broken richly- 
 clothed slope. In five hours from camp, at an average rate of 
 three miles an hour. Root River that runs into the McLeod 
 was reached. The trail, which at no time was better than a 
 bridle path, was so heavily encumbered in places with fallen 
 timber that no trace of it could be seen. A rough path had to 
 be broken round each obstacle, and sometimes Beaupr6 had 
 difficulty in finding the trail again. Indian pears and moose- 
 berries — the largest we had seen — ^grew along the hUl-side, in 
 such quantities that you could often fill your hand by leaning 
 from the saddle, as the horse brushed past the bushes. We 
 halted two hours and a half at Root River, and, as there was a 
 birth-day at home, slap-jacks mixed with berry pemmican were 
 made as a substitute for plumpudding, and, at dinner, the Chief 
 produced a pint bottle of Noyeau, which had been stored for 
 some great occasion, and Minnie's health was drunk in three 
 table-spoonfuls a piece. Just as dinner was over, Valad made 
 his appearance. He had a hard day of it following the track 
 of the horse, but came up to him at our yesterday's dining 
 place, moving quietly home-wards. Three times he turned 
 him, but the horse always got away by dashing into the brush. 
 Valad then went ahead and set a wooden trap on the road, but 
 the horse avoided it, and Valad gave up the chase. On his 
 way back he found that the squirrels had eaten his breakfast 
 Shouldering his saddle, he followed our trail, and rejoined us 
 at two P.M., having walked forty-one miles and eaten nothing. 
 His moccasins had been cut with the stumps and thorns ; but 
 though footsore in consequence, he made light of it and went to 
 work with his usual promptness. Beaupr^ had been looking 
 for half an hour, but quite in vain, among the long grass and 
 shrubs, for a bit that had dropped ofi" one of the bridles. 
 
 U 
 
210 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 " We're all right now" was his judicious remark, when Valad 
 appeared, " the old man wUl smell it if he can't see it." 
 
 Our afternoon spell was heavy work ; crossing a branch of 
 the Root River, we came on a barren swamp, burned over so 
 thoroughly that there was not a trace of water nor of the trail 
 for two miles ; the once heavily-timbered slopes all round had 
 been devastated. On our right a forest of bare poles, looking 
 in the distance like a white cloud, clung to the hUl-side. Dead 
 logs, poles, branches, strewed the ground so abundantly that the 
 horses could pick their steps but slowly. After the barren, 
 came the last ascent, and so gradual was it that we did not 
 know when we were at the top, and then instead of a rapid de- 
 scent to the McLeod, stiff marsh succeeded that got stiffer every 
 mile. The sun set before wfe got through half of the marsh, but 
 at one spot, a dry ridge intervening with good water near, 
 Valad advised camping. In answer to our question, " how far 
 off is the McLeod still?" he pointed to the sky saying "the sun 
 will be over more than half of that again before we see it." 
 This settled the question, though in a disappointing way, as it 
 put an end to the hope of getting to Jasper's this week. Three 
 of the horses, too, were a little lame, and things did not look 
 quite as bright as when we started in the morning. 
 
 September 4th. — The three lame horses were looked at imme- 
 diately after breakfast. The cause of lameness in all three 
 cases was, that sharp strong stops or splinters had run into or 
 just above their unshod hoofs ; we half wondered that some of 
 them had not pulled their hoofs off, in struggling to extricate 
 them from tough and sharp fibrous roots. The splinters were 
 easily extracted from two, and, the third horse, allowing no one 
 near his hind leg, was managed dexterously by Yalad. Passing 
 one end of his shaganappi lasso twice round nis neck, he made 
 two turns of the other end round his body, and gradually slipped 
 those turns down over his hind legs, and tightened them. 
 Tightening the rope at his neck now, the horse resisted, but his 
 
FORT EDMONTON TO ATHABASCA RIVER. 211 
 
 legs being tied, his own struggles with a little shove threw him^ 
 and when thrown he lay quiet as a lamb. 
 
 It had rained during the night, and the morning was cloudy. 
 At 9 a.m. the rain came on again, after we had been two hours 
 on the road, if the expression is allowable when there was no 
 road. The rain made travelling across the muskeg stiU 
 more difficult and uncomfortable. In six hours and a quarter 
 we fought through ten mUes, six or seven of them being simply 
 over a continuous muskeg covered with windfalls. The horses 
 stumbled over roots and timber to sink into thick layers of 
 quaking moss, and sometimes through these to the springs 
 underneath. The greater part of the ground bore tall beauti- 
 fully shaped spruce and poplar, chiefly spruce, from one to three 
 feet in diameter. 
 
 After crossing a little creek, the trail improved somewhat till 
 it led to the ancient bank of the McLeod, at the foot of which 
 yawned a deep pool with a bottom of tenacious clay, that had to 
 be struggled through somehow. The horses sinking almost to 
 their bellies, floundered in the mud at a fearful rate, with such 
 effects on our clothes as may be conceived ; fortunately by this 
 time we were quite indiflFerent on the subject of appearances. 
 The river was only a hundred yards from this, but the trail led 
 for half a mile up through a wooded intervale to the crossing. 
 A little creek seamed the intervale, and the first open spot was 
 strewed with as many chips as would furnish a carpenter's shop, 
 beside several logs, two of them stripped of their bark and 
 others cut into junks for transportation. We had disturbed a 
 colony of beavers in their work of building a dam across the 
 creek and of laying in their winter supplies. 
 
 The sight of the McLeod was a relief, for we had found the 
 way to it a hard road to travel, as the Canadians who preceded 
 Milton and Cheadle evidently had. The Chief came upon their 
 , testimony chalked with red keU on a large spruce tree in the 
 swamp, five or six miles to the east of the river. Only the fol- 
 lowing words and half-words could be made out ; — 
 
'd-^ OCEAN TO OCEATSr. 
 
 AtronsT 10th, 1862, ****** 
 
 * * *********** 
 
 * * * * East Tilbury * * * » 
 
 * ♦ ***** and * * * 
 
 * * * * * Robert Campb * * 
 
 * « »*** ****** 
 ******* for Cariboo * 
 
 * ♦ * * * a hard road to travfO 
 
 'oor fellows ! some of them found the North Thompson s 
 larder road. 
 
 The McLeod heads inside of the first range of the Rocky 
 dountaina. Where we crossed, it is a beautiful stream about 
 10 yards wide, running north-easterly with a rapid current 
 ver a pebbly bed. Its breadth is not much greater than the 
 'embina, but it has three times the volume of water. At this 
 eason of the year, it can be forded at almost any point where 
 here is a little rapid, the water in such places not coming up 
 the horses' necks. Crossing, we came upon a few acres of 
 irairie, to the rich vetches on which the horses abandoned 
 hem selves as eagerly as our party did to the rechaud and tea 
 hat Terry hurried up. Fortunately too, the rain ceased, 
 hough the sky did not clear, and Valad made a big fire at 
 ?hich we dried ourselves partially. Brown advised that, as 
 his was a good place, some provisions should be cach^ed for 
 hose of the party who were to return from Jasper's ; and 
 f^alad, selecting a site in the green wood, he and Beaupre went 
 iff to it from the opposite direction, with about twenty- 
 ive pounds of pemmican and flour tied up, first in canvas 
 ,nd then in oil-skin, as the wolverine— most dreaded plun- 
 lerer of caches — dislikes the smell of oil. Selecting two suitable 
 )ine trees in the thick wood, they skinned (barked) them to 
 )revent animals from climbing; then placing a pole between the 
 wo, some eighteen feet from the ground, they hung a St. 
 Andrew's Cross of two small sticks from the pole, and suspend- 
 id their bag from the end of one, that the least movement or 
 iven puff of wind would set it swinging. Such a oach^ Valad 
 
FORT EDMONTON TO ATHABASCA RJVEB. 213 
 
 guaranteed against bird and beast of whatever kind. "And 
 now," Beaupre summed up, " if no one finds that, we wiE be in 
 good luck ; but if somebody finds it, we will be in bad luck; 
 that's all." 
 
 Our course from this point was to be up the McLeod for near- 
 ly seventy miles of very bad road. As we had had enough of 
 that for one day, we listened eagerly to Beaupre saying that it 
 was possible to dodge the first eight miles by creeping along the 
 shore of the river, and crossing and recrossing wherever the 
 banks come down too close to permit travelling. Though Valad 
 didn't know this way and Beaupre himself had not tried the 
 crossings, having on a former occasion made the trip up the river 
 in a canoe, and not by the shore, it was decided to try. A 
 pleasant change on the forenoon's journey it proved to be, and 
 quite a success; for we arrived at the proposed camping ground, 
 after four crossings, before sunset. The river was low and the 
 shore wide, consisting of rough pebbly stretches or sand bars, 
 covered, near the bank, with wild onions, sand grasses, and 
 creepers. Beaupr6 said that the sand would yield gold at the 
 rate of a cent a shovelful, but that would give only $2 or $3 
 per day. Where the banks came near the river in bold blufis, 
 they showed sections cjiiefly of difierent kinds of clay and sand, 
 stone separated by black slate. No coal beds appeared except 
 a four-inch seam that looked like coal, but may have been only 
 a roof of shale to the coal beneath. 
 
 At the camp a roaring fire of pine logs was soon kindled, and 
 a line hung along one side for our wet clothes ; but the steady 
 drizzling rain recommenced and continued all night. We 
 warmed ourselves at any rate, and turned in as comfortably as 
 the circumstances permitted. 
 
 September 5th. — It rained steadily through the night and was 
 drizzling in the morning. Though it hurts the horses' backs to 
 saddle them when wet, there was no alternative, and so after 
 getting ready with great deliberation, in hopes that it would 
 •laar up, w« moved away at 7.30 A.M. 
 
214 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 Our first spell was tke hardest work of the journey, so far, 
 with the least to show for it. We made about five miles, and 
 it took as many hours to make the distance. The road followed 
 the upward course of the McLeod, crossing the necks of land 
 formed by the doublings of the river. These so called portages 
 were the worst part of the road, though it was all so bnd that it 
 is invidious to make comparisons. The country was either bog 
 or barren — both bad, — for the whole had recently been burned 
 over, and every wind had blown down its share of the burnt 
 trees. There was no regular trail. Each successive party 
 that travelled this way, seemed to have tried to make a new one 
 in vain efforts to escape the difficulties. Valad went ahead, axe 
 in hand, and between natural selections and a judicious use of 
 the axe, made a passage; but it looked so tangled and beset, that 
 the horses often thought they could do better ; off they would 
 go, with a swing, among the bare poles, for about two yards 
 before their packs got interlaced with the tough spruce. Then 
 came the tug ; if the trees would not give, the packs had to, and' 
 there was a delay of half an hour to tie them on again. We 
 often wondered that the packs came off so seldom ; but Brown 
 understood his business ; besides the trees had been burnt, and 
 some of them were uprooted or broken with comparative ease. 
 Of course the recent rains had not improved the going. Beaupre 
 said that it had not been worse last summer, after the spring 
 frosts had come out and the spring rains gone in. Take it all 
 in all, the road was hopelessly bad, — deserving all the hard 
 things that had been said of it, — and called for a large stock of 
 the Mark Tapley spirit, especially when, by wandering from the 
 trail, the horses got mired in muskegs or stuck between trees, 
 or when the blackened tough spruce branches, bent forward by 
 a pack horse,swung back viciously in the face of the unfortunate 
 driver. 
 
 The road could only have been worse by the tree* bein" 
 larger ; but then it would have been simply impassable, for tke 
 
FORT EDMONTON TO ATHABASCA RIVER, 215 
 
 windfalls would have barricaded it completely. The prospect, 
 too, was dismal and desolate looking enough for Avemus or 
 the richest coal fields : nothing but a forest, apparently endless, 
 of blackened poles on all sides. Only when an angle or bend 
 of the river came into view, was there any relief for the eye. 
 
 Towards midday, when every one's thoughts were on pemmi- 
 can, " ho," " ho,'' was heard ahead, and two Indians appeared 
 holding out hands to Valad. They had left Jasper's four days 
 ago, and were bound for Edmonton, trusting to their guns or 
 the berries to supply them with food on the way. The offer of 
 a pemmican dinner turned them back with us for a quarter of 
 a mile, to a little creek where the halt had to be called, though 
 there was but poor feed for the horses among the blackened 
 trees. The Indians had no dog, and were glad to take the 
 black — as he would be useful in treeing partridges — back to 
 Mr. Adams'. They promised also to drive home the spare 
 horse if they could track him. We wrote a note by them to 
 Mr. Adams, telling him what commissions we had entrusted 
 them with. These Indians had straighter features and a man- 
 lier cast of countenance than the ordinary Wood-Indians. On 
 inquiry, we learned that they were Iroquois from Smoking 
 River, to the north of Jasper's, where a small colony has been 
 settled for fifty years back. Their ancestors had been in the 
 employment of the North-west Fur Company, and on its amal- 
 gamation with the Hudson's Bay, had settled on Smoking 
 River, on account of the abundance of fur-bearing animals and 
 of large game, such as buffalo, elk, brown and grizzly bears, 
 then in that quarter. 
 
 After dinner, the march was resumed at the mile per hour 
 rate. More discouraging was the fact that scarcely two-thirds 
 of that modest speed was progress ; for the trail twisted like a 
 ship tacking, so that at times we were actually progressing 
 backwards. In struggling across creeks the difference between 
 the Lowland Scot and the Frenchman came out amusingly. 
 
216 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 Brown continued imperturbable, no matter how the horses 
 went. Beaupr6, the mildest mannered man living when things 
 went smoothly, could not stand the sight of a horse floundering 
 in the mud. Down into the gully he would rush to lift him out 
 by the taU. Of course he got spattered and perhaps kicked for 
 [lis pains. This made him worse, and he had to let out his ex- 
 jitement on the horse. Gripping the tail with his left hand, as 
 the brute struggled up the opposite hUl, swaying him from side 
 to side as if he had been tied to it, he whipped with his right ; 
 iocre-ing furiously, tUl he reached the top. Then feeling that 
 he had done his part, he would let go and subside again into 
 [lis mildest manners. 
 
 Towards evening the road improved so that the luxury of a 
 smart walk was indulged in — with occasional breaks — for an 
 tour or two. When we camped, the tally for the day was 
 twelve miles, representing perhaps an air line of six or eight, 
 [br ten hours' hard work. A bath in the McLeod, and a change 
 jf socks followed by supper, put us all right, although the hope 
 jf seeing Jasper's before next Wednesday had completely van- 
 [shed. 
 
 September 6th. — It rained last night, but the morning gave 
 signs of a fair day. Renewed the march at 6.45 a.m. Yesterday's 
 jxperiences were also renewed, except that the road as well as the 
 lay was better — enabling us to make two miles an hotu\ The 
 L-oad kept closer to the river, revealing many a beautiful bend or 
 ong reach. The timber was larger and less of it burnt. Poplari 
 jottonwood, and spruce, chiefly the latter, predominated. The 
 opposite bank had escaped fires. Before noon, we got a glimpse 
 )f the mountains away to the south, and soon after reached a 
 [ovely bit of open prairie covered with vetches, honey-suckle, 
 md rose-bushes out of flower. Here, the McLeod sweeps away 
 to the south and then back to the north, and the trail instead 
 3f following its long circuit cuts across the loop. * This portage 
 is twenty miles long, and a muskeg in the noddle — on one or 
 
FORT EDMONTON TO ATHABASCA RIVER. 217 
 
 the other side of which we would have to camp to-night — is the 
 worst on the road to Jasper's. Halted for dinner at the bend 
 of the river, having travelled nine oi ten mUes, Frank promis- 
 ing us some fish, from a trouty looking stream hard by, as a 
 change from the everlasting pemmican. Not that any one was 
 tired of pemmican. All joined in its praises as the right food 
 for a journey, and wondered why the Government had never 
 used it in war time. It must be equal or superior to the famous 
 Prussian sausage, judging of the latter as we needs must, with- 
 out having lived on it for a month. As an army marches on 
 its stomach, condensed food is an important object for the com- 
 missariat to consider, especially when, as in the case of the 
 British Army, long expeditions are frequently necessary. Pem- 
 mican is good and palatable uncooked and cooked, though most 
 prefer it in the rechavd form. It has numerous otter recom- 
 mendations for campaign diet. It keeps sound for twenty or 
 thirty years, is wholesome and strengthening, portable, and 
 needs no medicine to correct a tri-daily use of it. Two pounds 
 weight, with bread and tea, we found enough for the dinner of 
 eight hungry men. A bag weighing a hundred pounds is only 
 the size of an ordinary pillow, two feet long, one and a half 
 wide, and six inches thick. Such a bag then would supply 
 three good meals to a hundred and thirty men. Could the same 
 be said of equal bulk of pork ? But as Terry indignantly re- 
 marked : " The British Gauvirmint won't drame of pimmican 
 till the Prooshians find it out." 
 
 Frank came back to dinner with one small trout though 
 Beaupr6 said that he and his mate last summer had caught an 
 hundred in two hours, some of them ten pounds in weight. 
 Perforce we dined on pemmican, and liked it better than ever. 
 
 The sun now shone out, making the day warm and pleasant, 
 as September usually is in America. At 2 p.m. got into line 
 again to cross the long portage. The course was westerly, by 
 the banks of the stream called the Medicine, at the mouth of 
 
218 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 which we had dined. A great part of the road was compara- 
 tively free from fallen timber, so that we enjoyed the novelty 
 of a trot, and, except near two creeks that ran into the Medi- 
 cine, — free from the still worse obstruction of muskegs. An 
 hour before sunset, the Medicine itself had to be crossed, and 
 on the other side of it was the bad muskeg. Beaupre drew a 
 long face when he saw the river,. for the recent rains had made 
 it turbid and swollen to an unusual height, and this argued ill 
 for the state of the ground on the other side. For the first 
 mile, however, we got on well enough, as the road took advan- 
 tage of a ridge for two-thirds of that distance ; but then came 
 the dreaded spot. It looked no worse than the rest, but the 
 danger was unseen. Deep holes formed by springs abounded 
 underneath the soft thick moss, in which horses would sink to 
 their necks. The task was to find a line of sure ground, and 
 by avoiding Scylla not to fall into Oharybdis. As Valad with 
 Indian, and Brown with Scotch caution were trjring the ground 
 all round, Beauprfe, leading his horse by the bridle dashed in 
 close to the swollen river, at a most iinlikely spot, exclaiming : 
 " I'll chance it, any way." The words were only out of his Ups 
 when he fell into a pool up to his middle ; but undismayed, he 
 scrambled out, and keeping close to beds of willow and alder, 
 actually found a way so good that the rest followed him. Only 
 one pack-horse sank so hopelessly deep, into a hole, that he had 
 to be unpacked and lifted out, Beaupre hoisting by the tail with 
 a mighty hoist — for the man had the strength of a giant. An 
 hour after sunset, we arrived at an ascent where it was possi- 
 ble to camp, though the bare blackened half-burnt poles aU 
 round gave a cheerless aspect to the scene. All were too tired 
 to be critical ; thankful besides that the worst was over, and 
 that to-morrow, according to Valad there would be " un beau 
 chemin." 
 
 To-day we had travelled twenty miles, representing probably 
 fourteen on the map. As more could not hare been done no 
 
FORT EDMONTON TO ATHABASCA RIVER. 219 
 
 one grumbled, though all devoutly longed for a more modem 
 rate of speed. Crossing muskegs, it is impossible to hurry 
 horses, and when fallen timber cannot be jumped or scrambled 
 ove>, a single tree on the path cnay necessitate a detour of fifty 
 yards to make five. How the heavily laden pack-horses of the 
 Hudson's Bay Company get along such a road, is rather a 
 puzzle. 
 
 September 7th. — Away from camp at 6.45 A.M. ; and in 
 less than two hours came again in view of the McLeod ; — nar- ■ 
 rower and much more like the child of the mountains than at 
 the first crossing. Instead of sand bars as there, ridges and 
 masses of rounded stones and boulders are strewn along its 
 shores, or piled up with drifted trees and rubbish in the shall- 
 ower partsof its bed. The trail led up stream near the bank, 
 descending headlong to the river two or three times, and then 
 ascending precipitous blufis that tested the horses' wind severe- 
 ly. From these summits, views of a section of the Rocky 
 Mountains, sixty or seventy miles away to the south-west, re^ 
 warded our exertions, and were the only thing that justified 
 Valad's phrase of " beau chemin." The deep sides of the moun- 
 tains and two or three of the summits were white with snow, 
 and under the rays of the sun one part looked green and glacier- 
 like. We should have crossed and then recrossed the McLeod 
 hereabouts to escape the worst part of the road, but Valad, to 
 his intense mortification, missed the point where the traU led 
 off to the ford. There was nothing left therefore but to keep 
 pegging away at the rate of a mile an hour, up and down hill, 
 through thick underbrush of willows and aspens that had sprung 
 up round the burnt spruce and cotton-wood, which still reared 
 aloft their tall blackened shafts. 
 
 At 1 o'clock, we dined beside the river- on the usual breakfast 
 and supper fare, having travelled twelve or thirteen miles in 
 six hours and a quarter. Muskegs and windfalls delayed us 
 most, the former being always near creeks, and worse than the 
 
220 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 latter. The only hard ground was on the sandy or gi-avelly 
 ridges separating the intervening valleys, and on these, wind- 
 falls had accumulated from year to year, so that the trail in 
 many places was bui'ied out of sight. While at dinner clouds 
 gathered in the west and quickly overspread the whole sky. 
 This hurried our movements, but the rain was on — with 
 thunder and lightning— in ten minutes. After the first smart 
 shower, a lull followed which the men took advantage of to 
 ' pack the horses, di-ying their backs as well as possible before 
 putting on the saddles. 
 
 A little after 3 P.M., we were on the march and on rather a 
 better road. Heavy thunder showers broken by gleams of 
 sunlight dispelling the leaden clouds from time to time, gave a 
 sky of wonderful grandeur and colour. The river and the 
 finely wooded hilly country beyond, for hereabouts too the op- 
 posite banks had escaped the ravages of fire — probably because 
 there was no trail and no travelling on that side, displayed 
 themselves in magnificent panoramic views from every bins' we 
 climbed, while far to the west and south-west beyond the hiUs, 
 masses of clouds concealing the mountains but assuming the 
 forms and almost the solidity of the mountains, made an hori- 
 zon worthy of the whole sky and of the foreground. At sunset 
 we descended for the last time to the river, and skirting it for 
 two miles or crossing to long islets where the current divided 
 itself, reached a beautiful prairie and camped under the shade 
 of a group of spruce and poplars. This was the point Valad 
 had aimed for, as a good place for the Sunday rest, chiefly because 
 of the feed ; and here we were to take leave of the McLeod, and 
 cross to the Athabasca — 
 
 " No more by thee our steps shall ba 
 
 For ever and for ever," 
 
 or at least until there is a better road. From the watershed of 
 
 the McLeod to this point was less than eighty miles, and to get 
 
 over that distance had occupied four and a half days of the 
 
FORT EDMONTON TO ATHABASCA RIVER. 221 
 
 hardest travelling. The tally of the week was 120 miles, and 
 every one was satisfied with it because more could not have 
 been done. And when, on the only occasion in the week on 
 which spiiits were used, the whole party gathered round the 
 camp-fire after supper to have the Saturday night toasts of 
 " wives and sweethearts" and "the Dominion and the Railroad," 
 immediately after " the Queen," the universal feeliug was of 
 thankful content that we had got, on without casualties, and 
 that to-morrow was Sunday. The men being without water- 
 proofs had not an inch of dry clothing on them, but they dried 
 themselves at the big fire as if it was the j oiliest thing in the 
 world to be wet. Valad, under the influence of a glass of the 
 mildest toddy, relaxed from his Indian gravity and taciturnity, 
 and smiled and talked benignantly. " When with gentlemen" 
 he was pleased to inform us, " he was treated like a gentleman ; 
 but when with others he had a hard time of it." Poor Valad ! 
 what a lonely joyless Ufe he Hved, yet he did his duty like a 
 man, and bore himself with the dignity of a man who lived close 
 to and learned the lessons of nature. Some will blame us for 
 giving toddy to an Indian, or for taking it ourselves, and per- 
 haps more severely for not suppressing all mention of the fact. 
 Our only answer is that a little did us good and we were thank- 
 ful for the good, and that the one merit this diary aspires to is 
 to be a frank and truthful narrative. It would have been mean 
 to have left Valad out _; and to show an Indian that it was 
 possible to be temperate ia all things, possible to use a stimu- 
 lant without abusing it, seemed to us on the whole a better 
 lesson to enforce practically, than to have preached an abstin- 
 ence that he would have misunderstood. 
 
 September 8th. — Another day of rest, with nothing to 
 chronicle save our ordinary Sunday routine. But no, — this is 
 doing great injustice to the Doctor who eclipsed all his former 
 eflforts, in the way of providing medical comforts, by concocting 
 It plum-pudding for dinner. The Doctor's prescriptions sraelled 
 
222 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 of the pharmacopoeia as little as possible. Was an. old woman 
 that he met on the way complaining of '' a wakeness i" Send 
 her a pannikin of hot soup. Were Valad's legs inflamed by 
 rubbing all day against his coarse trowsers in the saddle ? 
 Make him a present of a pair of soft flannel drawers. Was a 
 good Father at the mission in failing health ? Fatten him up 
 with rich diet, even on fast days. And finally, were we ail 
 desirous of celebrating a birth-day, and did the thought make 
 us a little homesick, the only sickness that our own party ever 
 suffered from ? Get up a plum-pudding for dinner. 
 
 But how ? We had neither bag, suet, nor plums. But we 
 had berry pemmican, and pemmican in its own line is equal to 
 shaganappi. It contained buffalo fat that would do for suet, 
 and benies that would do for plums. Only genius could have 
 united plum-pudding and berry pemmican in one mental act. 
 Terry contributed a bag, and when the contribution was 
 inspected rather daintily, he explained that it was the sugar 
 bag, which might be used, as there was very little sugar left for 
 it to hold. Pemmican, flour and water, baking soda, sugar and 
 salt were surely sufficient ingredients ; as a last touch the 
 Doctor searched the medicine-chest, but in vain, for tincture of 
 ginger to give a flavour, and in default of that, suggested 
 chlorodyne, but the Chief promptly negatived the suggestion, 
 on the ground that if we ate the pudding the chlorodyne might 
 be required a few hours after. 
 
 At 3 p.m. the bag was put in the pot, and dinner was ordered 
 to be at 5. At the appointed hour everything else was ready ; 
 the usual pikce de resista/nce of pemmican, flanked for Sunday 
 garnishing by two reindeer tongues. But as we gathered round, 
 it was announced that the pudding was a failure ; that it would 
 not unite ; that buffalo fat was not equal in cohesive power to 
 suet, and ^hat instead of a pudding it would be only boiled 
 pemmican. The Doctor might have been knocked down with a 
 feather ; Frank was loud and savage in his lamentations : but 
 
FORT EDMONTON TO ATHABASCA RIVER. 223 
 
 the Chief advised "more boiling," as an infallible specific in such 
 cases, and that dinner be proceeded with. The additional half 
 hour acted like a charm. With fear and trembling the Doctor 
 went to the pot ; anxious heads bent down with his ; tenderly 
 was the bag lifted out and slit, and a joyous shout conveyed the 
 intelligence that it was a success — ^that at any rate it had the 
 shape of a pudding. Brown, who had been scoffing, was silenced ; 
 and the Doctor conquered him completely by helping him to a 
 double portion. How good that pudding was ! A teaspoonful 
 of brandy on a sprinkling of sugar made sauce ; and there was 
 not one of the party who did not hold out his plate for "more,'' 
 though, as the Doctor belonged to the orthodox school of medi- 
 cine, the first helping had been no homoeopathic dose. To have 
 been perfect the pudding should have had more boiling ; but no 
 one dared hint a fault, for was not the dish empty 1 We at 
 once named the place Plum-Pudding Camp, and Brown was en- 
 gaged on the spot to make a better if he could at the Yellow 
 Head Pass Camp. 
 
 In all respects save weather the day was aa pleasant as our 
 former Sundays ; but gusts of wind blew the smoke of the fire 
 into the tent, and the grass was too thoroughly soaked with rain 
 for pleasant walking. . The sun struggled to come out, but 
 scarcely succeeded, and towards evening a cold rain, that would 
 be snow on the mountains, set in. Valad had pitched a sepa- 
 rate camp for himself under a grove of pines, that sheltered him 
 beaufifully from the wind and rain. So cozy was it that during 
 the day one after another resorted thither, for a pipe or a quiet 
 read, when eyes could no longer endure the big tent's smoke. 
 
 The usual morning and evening services were attended by 
 all. Each time that we united as one body in worship, our 
 thoughts were raised from earth, and the bond that united us 
 became stronger. 
 
 September 9th. — Up very early this morning, but it was 7 
 before we said goodbye to Plum Pudding Camp an(? the McLeod 
 
224 OCEAN TO OOEAil 
 
 river. In packing horses, the more haste the less speed. Any 
 twist of the shaganappi omitted is sure to avenge itself at the 
 most inconvenient place. And as none but Brown and Beaupr^ 
 could do this work, it took a long time. 
 
 The night had been cold, and the grass in the morning was 
 crisp with frost, but the sun rose bright and soon dissolved the 
 hoar into dew. We started in high spirits, under the warm rays 
 of the sun, with good hopes of soon seeing the Athabaska. The 
 trail to it leads up an intervale of the McLeod for a mile, and 
 then crosses a hilly portage thirteen miles long. The portage 
 consists of ridges of gravel intermixed with clay, supporting a 
 growth of pines and spruce large enough for railway or building 
 purposes. At the bottom of each ridge is a creek of clear cold 
 water, running over black muck or whitish clay. Half way 
 across, a lake that empties into the Athabaska lies under the 
 shadow of the Foot HUls ; and from this point successive steep 
 descents lead to streams running in deep valleys over pebbly 
 beds, and through the woods glimpses are had of blue wooded 
 heights on the other side of the Athabaska. Instead of going 
 directly west to the river, the trail winds more to the south, 
 ascending the river at a distance from it, and we thus missed 
 the large alluvial flat a little north called Le Grand Bas-fond, 
 where is the only good grass for miles. At 1 o'clock we got our 
 first sight of the Athabasca, from a high bluff, and beyond it to 
 the south-west, fifty miles off, but seemingly close at hand, the 
 Rocky Mountains covered with snow. It was time to halt, 
 but the pasture under the pines and spruces was so scant that 
 it would have been a mockery to turn the horses loose. We 
 resolved therefore to keep moving and make only one spell for 
 the day. For two hours longer the patient creatures toiled on, 
 as willingly as when fresh ; the trail winding for five or six 
 nules up and down the steep banks of the river, and crossing 
 several mountain stre&ms, and for the next five going along a 
 smootb terrace of shingle, now a hundred feet above the rivpn 
 
rOET EDMONTON TO ATHABASCA EIVER. 226 
 
 but once its bed. Here the trail was so good that, with few in- 
 terruptions the jog trot was maintained. At length on a burnt 
 tract, rich heavy bunch-grass^-enough for the night — showed, 
 and the trail descending to another bench only ten feet above 
 the present bed of the river, we camped on the lower and drove 
 the horses back to the upper terrace after watering them. In 
 a continuous march of ten hours about twenty-five miles had 
 been travelled. 
 
 Valad shook his head when he saw the white peaks and the 
 river. He had never known the former so covered with snow, 
 nor the latter so swollen at this season of the year. There must 
 have been severe weather in the mountains, with the probable 
 consequence for us, that instead of fording we would have to 
 construct a raft opposite Jasper House. 
 
 The Athabasca at this early point of its course is nearly as 
 large as tne Saskatchewan at Edmonton, of the same clay 
 colour, and running with a more rapid current. It varies in 
 breadth according as it is hemmed in by olifis of sandstones, 
 shales, and clay ; or as its shores expand into intei'vales or broad 
 terraces rising one above the other. These successive terraces 
 are marked very distinctly in several places on both sides of the 
 stream. Dr. Hector measured their heights with the aneroid 
 at Le Grand Bas-fond, and found that the three lowest and most 
 distinctly marked were fifteen, a hundred, and two hundred 
 and ten feet above the alluvial bottom of the valley, while one 
 still higher, not so uniformly distinct, was three hundred and 
 seventy feet. These terraces are covered with spruce and pine. 
 
 From the terrace above our camp, the mountains seemed 
 immediately beyond the wood on the opposite side of the river. 
 They towered up in a grand silver-tipped line closing the west- 
 ern horizon so high up, that the sun always sets here more than 
 half an hour sooner than on the plains. 
 
 At length we had come to the bases of the Rocky Mountains, 
 and the sight of them was sufficient reward for all the toil of 
 the preceding fortnight. 15 
 
22(1 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 While hacking with his axe at brush on the camping ground, 
 just where our heads would lie, Brown struck something metallic 
 that blunted the edge of the axe. Feeling with his hand he 
 drew out from near the root of a young spruce tree, an ancient 
 sword bayonet, the brazen hilt and steel blade in excellent 
 preservation, but the leather scabbard half eaten as if by the 
 teeth of some animal. It seemed strange in this vast and silent 
 forest wilderness thus to come upon a relic that told, probably, 
 of the old days when the two rival fur companies armed their 
 agents to the teeth, and when bloody contests often took place 
 between them. Brown presented the treasure trove to the 
 Chief, for his museum, as a memento of the Athabasca, and 
 from it, this our forty-fourth camp, since leaving Thunder Bay, 
 received the name of Bayonet Camp. 
 
 To-night we rest under the protection of the Rocky Moun- 
 tainat 
 
CHAPTER VIIL 
 
 The Rocky Motmtams. 
 
 The Flora.— The Mountains.— Prairie River.— Grilled Beaver.- Roche iMyette.— Roche 
 i, Perdrix, — Roche Ronde. — Jasper House. — Roche Jacques. — Roche Suette. — Roche 
 Bosche. — First night in the Mountains. — Grossing the Athabasca. — Magnificent 
 Mountain Scenery. — Pyramid Rock. — Jasper Lake. — Snaring River. — Jasper Valley. 
 — We meet Pacific men. — Hyiu muck-a-muck ! Hyiu iktahs ! — Old Henry House. — 
 The Caledonian Valley. — A Rough Trail. — Desolate Camping Ground. — Good Cheer. 
 — The Trail P/jty. — Yellow Head Pass. — Nameless Mountain Peaks.— Sunday 
 Dinner in " The Pass." 
 
 September 10th. — The Athabasca fell six inches during the 
 night. Got away from camp at 7:30 A.M., and for two hours 
 had a delightful ride to Prairie River. The trail ran along a 
 terrace of shingle or alluvial flats, and was free from fallen 
 timber and muskegs. Most of the flowers were out of blossom, 
 but in the spring and summer these open meadow-like places 
 must be gay with anemones, roses, vetches, and a great variety 
 of composite — none now in bloom, except a light-blue aster 
 that had accompanied us from the North Saskatchewan, and all 
 the way through the wooded country. The burnt ground 
 shewed a brilliant crimson flower from which red ink is made, 
 and which we had seen on the Matawan. 
 
 Few, however, thought of plants to-day or of anything but 
 the mountains that stood in massive grandeur, thirty miles 
 ahead, but on account of the morning light, in which every 
 point came out clear, seemingly just on the other side of each 
 new patch of wood or bit of prairie before us. 
 
 They rose bold and abrupt fi.ve or six thousand feet from the 
 wooded country at their feet, — the western verge of the plains, 
 the elevation of which was over three thousand feet additional 
 above the sea, — and formed in long unbroken line across our 
 path, save where cleft in the centre down to their very feet, by 
 
228 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 the chasm that the Athabasca, long ago forced, or found for it- 
 self. " There are no Kocky Mountains'' has been the remark 
 of many a disappointed traveller by the Union and Central 
 Pacific Eailways. The remark will never be made by those 
 who travel on "the Canadian Pacific ; there was no ambiguity 
 about these being mountains, nor about where they commenced. 
 The line was defined, and the scarp as clear, as if they had been 
 hewn and chiselled for a fortification. The summits on one side 
 of the Athabasca were serrated, looking sharp as the teeth of a 
 saw ; on the other, the Roche a Myette, immediately behind 
 the first line, reared a great solid unbroken cube, two thousand 
 feet high, a " forehead bare," twenty times higher than Ben 
 An's ; and, before and beyond it, away to the south and west, 
 extended ranges with bold summits and sides scooped deep, and 
 corries far down, where formerly the wood buffalo, and the elk, 
 and now the moose, bighorn, and bear find shelter. There was 
 nothing fantastic about the mountain forms. Everything was 
 imposing. And these too were ours, an inheritance as precious, 
 if not as plentiful ia corn and mUk, as the rich plains they 
 guarded. For mountains elevate the mind, and give an inspi- 
 ration of courage and dignity to the hardy races who own them 
 and who breathe their atmosphere. 
 
 For the strength of the hills we b ess thee 
 Our God, our fathers' God. 
 Thou hast made our spuits mighty 
 With the touch of the mountain sod. 
 
 The scene had its effect on the whole party. As we wound 
 in Indian file along the sinuous trail, that led across grassy bas- 
 fonds under the shadow of the mountains that were still a day's 
 journey distant, not a word was heard, nor a cry to the horses 
 for the first half-hour. Valad led the way, clad friar-like in 
 blue hooded capote which he wore all regardless of the fact that 
 the sun was shining ; Brown next, in rugged miner costume 
 half-leathern half-woollen, and Beaupre in the same with a 
 
THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS 229 
 
 iouch of colour added ; the Chief and the Doctor in their yellow 
 moose-hide jackets ; even Terry, who of late invariably brought 
 up the rear, ceased to howl " git out o' that " to the unfortunate 
 animal he sat upon, dropped his stick, aijd put his pipe in his 
 waistcoat pocket. He had seen Vesuvius, the Himalayas and 
 the Hill of Howth, but they were " nauthin to this.'' Before 
 us, at times, a grove of dark green spruce, and beyond the som- 
 bre wood, the infinitely more sombre grey of the mountains ; 
 where the wood had been burnt, the bare blackened poles 
 seemed to be only a screen hung before, half revealing, half 
 concealing, what was beyond. The mountains dwarfed and re- 
 lieved everything else. There was less snow than had appeared 
 yesterday, the explanation being that the first and least eleva- 
 ted mountaiu range only was before us now that we were near, 
 whereas, when at a greater distance, many of the higher sum- 
 mits beyond had been visible. 
 
 Soon after crossing Praiiie Eiver, the trail led away to the 
 east from the Athabasca among windfalls of the worst kind, or 
 muskegs, and up and down steep banks. Little progress was 
 made for the next two hours, but the mountain air told so on 
 our appetites that at midday a halt of an hour and a half was 
 imperatively demanded, although it had to be on the borders of 
 a swamp among blackened poles. 
 
 After dinner we resumed the march and soon crossed another 
 Prairie River, formed apparently by the union of three stream- 
 lets, winding by difierent valleys down a wooded range that lies 
 at the foot of the mountains, and extends east by north for some 
 distance. The view of the mountains all this afternoon more 
 than made up for the difficulties of the road. Instead of being 
 clearly outlined, cold, and grey as in the morning, they ap- 
 peared indistinct through a warm deep blue haze ; we had come 
 nearer, but they seemed to have removed further back. 
 
 When on the other side of Prairie River, the wooded range 
 from which it flowed was on our left, and the high wooded hills 
 
230 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 beyond the Athabasca on our right. Woods and hills in front 
 closed up the lower part of the gorge from -which the Athabasca 
 issued, and completely divided the Rocky Mountains into two 
 ranges, right and left ; thus an amphitheatre of mountains 
 closed round while we were making for the open that yawned 
 right in front. 
 
 At 4.30 P.M., the order was given to camp ; Frank and 
 Valad went off to hunt, and the Chief and the Secretary to 
 climb a hill and note the surrounding country. Bear and fresh 
 moose tracks were seen by the latter two, and fresh otter trails 
 leading down into the river. On their rfeturn they fell in with 
 Frank carrying a beaver ; he and Valad had fired at two and 
 shot one. The Doctor in their absence had fished in primitive 
 style, with a tent pole and twine and a hook baited with pem- 
 mican, and had caught two fine trout. Having this varied pro- 
 vision, supper without rSehaiid was unanimously decreed, and 
 Valad set to work on the beaver and Terry on the fish. In 
 fifteen minutes Valad had the animal skinned, boned, the whole 
 of the meat stretched out in one piece on a brander of sticks 
 and exposed to the fire to grill ; the tail on another stick, and 
 the liver on a third. We waited impatiently for supper, the 
 Secretary making toast of Terry's under-done bread to keep 
 himself from murmuring. In due time everything was ready, 
 and the five who had never tasted beaver, prepared themselves 
 to sit in judgment. The verdict was favourable throughout ; 
 the meat tender, though dry, the liver a delicious morsel, and 
 the tail superior to moose-muffle. Within an hour after that 
 beaver had been industriously at work on his dam, he formed 
 part of the interior economy of eight different stomachs, and 
 scavcely a scrap was left to show what he once had been. More 
 sudden and complete metamorphosis is not in Ovid. The trout 
 were excellent, so that it may be understood that a straight meal 
 was made. In honour of the event of the evening, this, our 
 forty-fifth, was named Beaver Camp, 
 
THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 231 
 
 Having lost an hour and a half of sunlight to-day, we made 
 airangements to start early to-morrow for a long spell. 
 
 This was to be our last night on the plains. To-morrow 
 night we would be in the embrace of the mountains. 
 
 September 11th. — Awa,j this morning at 6.15 a. m., and 
 halted at 1 p. m., after crossing the Eivifere de Violon or Fiddle 
 river, when fairly inside the first range. It was a grand morn- 
 ing for mountain scenery. For the first three hours the trail 
 continued at some distance east from the valley of the Atha 
 basca, among wooded hills, now ascending, now descending, 
 but on the whole with an upward slope, across creeks where 
 the ground was invariably boggy, over fallen timber, where 
 infinite patience was required on the part of horse and man. 
 Suddenly it opened out on a lakelet, and right in front, a semi- 
 circle of five glorious mountains appeared ; a high wooded hUl 
 and Soche i Perdrix on our left, Roche a Myette beyond, 
 Roche Ronde in front, and a mountaui above Lac Brul6 on our 
 right. For half a mile down from their summits, no tree, 
 shrub, or plant covered the nakedness of the three that the old 
 trappers had thought worthy of names ; and a clothing of vege- 
 tation would have marred their massive grandeur. The first 
 three were so near and towered up so bold that their full forms, 
 even to the long shadows on them, were reflected clearly in the 
 lakelet, next to the rushes and spruce of its own shores. Here 
 is scene for a grand picture equal to Hill's painting of the Yo 
 Semite Valley. A little further on, another lakelet reflected 
 the mountains to the right, showing not only the massive grey 
 and blue of the limestone, but red and green colourings among 
 the shales that separated the strata of limestone. The road 
 now descended rapidly from the summit of the wooded hill that 
 we had so slowly gained, to the valley of the Athabasca. As 
 it wound from point to point among the tail dark green spruces 
 and over rose bushes and vetches, the soft blue of the moun- 
 tains gleamed through everywhere, and when the woods parted, 
 
233 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 the mighty column of Roche a Perdrix towered a mile above 
 our heads, scuds of clouds kissing its snowy summit, and each 
 plication and angle of the different strata up its giant sides was 
 boldly and clearly revealed. We were entering the magnifi- 
 cent Jasper portals of the Eocky Mountains by a quiet path 
 winding between groves of trees and rich lawns like an English 
 gentleman's park. 
 
 Crossing a brook divided into half a dozen brooklets by wil- 
 lows, the country opened a little and the base and inner side 
 of Roche k Perdrix were revealed ; but, it was still an amphi. 
 theatre of mountains that opened out before us, and Roche a 
 Myette seemed as far off as ever. Soon the Riviere de Violon 
 was heard brawling round the base of Roche k Perdrix and 
 rushing on like a true mountain torrent to the Athabasca. We 
 stopped to drink to the Queen out of its clear ice-cold waters, 
 and halted for dinner in a grove on the other side of it, thor- 
 oughly excited and awed by the grand forms that had begirt 
 our path for the last three hours. We could sympathise with 
 the enthusiast, who returned home after years of absence, and 
 when asked what he had as an equivalent for so much lost 
 time, — answered : " I have seen the Rocky Mountains." 
 
 After dinner, a short walk enabled us to take bearings. The 
 valley of the Athabasca from two to five miles wide, according 
 as a sandy bas-fond or intervale along its shore varied in width, 
 extended up to the west and south, guarded on each side by 
 giant forms. We had come inside the range, and it was no 
 longer an amphitheatre of hills, but a valley ever opening, and 
 at each turn revealing new forms, that was now before us. 
 Roche Ronde was to our right, its stratification as distinct as 
 the leaves of a half opened book. The mass of the rock was 
 limestone, and what at a distance had been only peculiarly bold 
 and rugged outlines, were now seen to be the different angles 
 and contortions of the strata. And such contortions ! One 
 high mass twisting up the sides in serpentine folds ; another 
 
THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 233 
 
 bent in great waving lines, like petrified billows. The colour- 
 ing, too, was all that artist could desire. Not only the dark 
 green of the sprace in the corries, which turned into black when 
 far up, but autumn tints of red and gold as high as vegetation 
 had climbed on the hill sides ; and above that, streaks and 
 patches of yellow, green, rusty red, and black, relieving the 
 grey mass of limestone ; while up the valley, every shade of 
 blue came out according as the hills were near or far away, and 
 summits hoary with snow bounded the horizon. 
 
 There was a delay of three hours at dinner, because the 
 horses, as if alltired by the genii of the mountains, had wan- 
 dered more than a mile up the valley ; but at four o'clock all 
 was in order again and the march resumed. A wooded hill 
 that threw itself out between Roches k Perdrix and h My- 
 ette had first to be rounded. This hill narrowed the valley, 
 and forced the trail near the river. When fairly round it, 
 Roche k Myette came full into view, and the trail led along its 
 base. 
 
 Myettfl is the characteristic mountain of the Jasper valley. 
 There are others as high, but its grand bare forehead is recog- 
 nized everywhere. It is five thousand eight hundred feet above 
 the valley, or over nine thousand feet above the sea. Doctor 
 Hector with the agent in charge of Jasper House climbed to a 
 sharp peak far above any vegetation, three thousand five hun- 
 dred feet above the valley, but the great cubical block which 
 formed the top towered more than two thousand feet higher. 
 A hunter who has given his name to the mountain, is the only 
 one that ever ascended this cube. He made the ascent from 
 bhe south side, every other being absolutely inaccessible. Doc- 
 tor Hector gives the following description of the composition of 
 Myette : " It is composed of a mass of strata, which have at 
 one time formed the trough of a huge plication, viz. : 
 
 ft. 
 (a) Hard compact blue limestone and shale, with nodules of ) 
 ' ' . .. > 2,000 
 
 iron pyrites ) ' 
 
234 OC»AN TO OCEAN. 
 
 ft. 
 
 (&■■ Fossil shales almost black 300 
 
 (e) Hard grey sandstone lOO 
 
 (d) Shales towards the upper part with green and red blotches 500 
 
 {«) Cherty limestone and coarae sandstone obscured by timber 3,000 
 
 " The ridge we had ascended is formed of cherty limestone, 
 and capped by yellow shales with beds of black sandstone form- 
 ing the highest point.'' 
 
 The views this afternoon from every new point were wonder- 
 fully striking. Looking back on Roche k Perdrix it assumed 
 more massive proportions than when we were immediately 
 beneath. A huge shoulder stretched up the valley, one side 
 covered with bare poles grey as itself, and the other with sombre 
 firs. From it the great summit upreared itself so conspicuously 
 that it filled the back ground and closed the mouth of the valley. 
 Valad in grave tones told the story of his old partner — an un- 
 fortunate half-breed — ^who, when hunting bighorn on its pre- 
 cipitous slopes, twenty-two years ago, was carried over one of 
 them on a snow-slide and dashed in pieces. 
 
 A good photographer would make a name and perhaps a 
 fortune, if he came up here and took views. At every step 
 we longed for a camera. On the opposite side of the river a 
 valley opened to the north, along the sides of which rose moun- 
 tain after mountain with the clearly defined outlines that the 
 secondary formation of the rocks gives to them. On the same 
 side the Range from Roche Ronde was continued further up the 
 Athabasca by a hump-shaped rock, and then by a vast mass, 
 like a quadrilateral rampart, with only two sides of the square 
 visible, the sides furrowed deep, but the line of the summit un- 
 broken. At the base of this — Roche Suette — is Jasper's House, 
 and opposite Roche Jacque's showed as great a mass, with two 
 snow-clad peaks, while the horizon beyond seemed a continuous 
 bank of snow on mountain ranges. But the most wonderful 
 object w&s Roche a Myette, right above us on our left. That 
 
THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 235 
 
 iiaposing spHnx-like head with the swelling Elizabethan ruff of 
 sandstone and shales around the neck, save on one side where 
 a corrugated mass of party-coloured strata twisted like a coil 
 of serpents from far down nearly half way up the head, haunted 
 us for days. Mighty must have been the forces that upreared 
 and shaped such a monument. Vertical strata were piled on 
 horizontal, and horizontal again on the vertical, as if nature 
 had determined to build a tower that would reach to the skies. 
 As we passed this old warder of the valley, the sun was setting 
 behind Roche Suette. A warm south-west wind as it came in 
 contact with the snowy summit formed heavy clouds, that threw 
 long black shadows, and threatened rain ; but the wind carried 
 them past to empty their buckets on the woods and prairies. 
 
 It was time to camp, but where ? The Chief, Beaupr6, and 
 Brown rode ahead to see if the river was fordable. The rest 
 followed, going down to the bank and crossing to an island 
 formed by a slew of the river, to avoid a steep rock, the trail 
 along which was fit only for chamois or bighorn. Here we 
 were soon joined by the three who had ridden ahead, and who 
 brought back word that the Athabasca looked ugly, but was 
 still subsiding, and might be fordable in the morning. It 
 was decided to camp on the spot, and send the horses back a 
 mile for feed. The resources of the island would not admit of 
 our light, cotton sheet being stretched as an overhead shelter, 
 so we selected the lee side of a dwarf aspen thicket, and spread 
 our blankets on the gravel ; a good fire being made in front to 
 cook our supper and keep our feet warm through the night. 
 Some of us sat up late, watching the play of the moonlight on 
 the black clouds that drifted about her troubled face, as she 
 hung over Roche Jacques ; and then we stretched ourselves 
 out to sleep, on our rough but enviable couch, rejoicing in the 
 open sky for a canopy, and in the circle of great mountains that 
 formed the walls of our indescribably magnificent bed chamber. 
 It had been a day long to be remembered. Only one mishap 
 
236 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 had occurred ; the Chiefs bag got a crush against a rock, and 
 his flask, that held a drop of brandy carefully preserved for the 
 next plum-pudding, was broken. It was hard, but on an expe- 
 dition like this the most serious losses are taken calmly and soon 
 forgotten. 
 
 September 2nd. — We slept soundly our first night in the 
 mountains, and after a dip in the Athabasca and breakfast, 
 Valad went off on horse-back to try the fords. Though the 
 river had fallen six inches since last night, he found it stUl too 
 deep for pack horses, and there was nothing for it but to con- 
 struct a raft, — a work of some difficulty when there is no auger 
 and only one axe to cut down the wood. We had time now to 
 take a good view from our Island Camp. Looking forward, 
 Roche Jacques closed the horizon on the left ; to his right and 
 further up the river, the Pyramid Rock barred the way, a 
 graceful conical shaped mountain like SchiehalKon, but grander, 
 his front-face a mass of snow. Between these two our road lay 
 after crossing the river. Opposite the camp to the north, the 
 hump of Roche a Bosche, stood out prominently ; separated 
 from it by the Indian Snake River, and two or three miles 
 further up stream, the great wall of Roche Suette, at the foot 
 of which Jasper House is situated, blocked the western way. 
 
 The forenoon looked as if it meant rain. Sunrise gilded with 
 fire the tops of the mountains ; but the light soon died away. 
 Clouds and mists gathered round Roches Jacques and Suette, 
 but hung there instead of coming down, and the white face of 
 the Pyramid Rock, that divided the two, stood out clear and 
 untouched by the rolling vapour. 
 
 The Chief made some pencil sketches, while the men went up 
 stream a mile to a suitable part of the river and worked hard 
 preparing a raft till 10.30 A.M., by which time they had 
 enough logs for the purpose cut and carried down to the bank. 
 Returning to camp for an early dinner of tea and cold pemmi- 
 oan, they then packed the horses, carried everything up to the 
 
THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 237 
 
 raft and unpacked there. Fifteen or sixteen logs bound to- 
 gether by three strong crosspoles, and tied each to each with 
 folds of rope, composed the raft. Between the crosspoles a 
 number of smaller ones were laid, to serve for a floor and keep 
 the luggage from getting wet. The Chief and the two packers 
 were then left to manage the raft, and the rest stripped to the 
 middle and rode across — Centaur like — driving before them the 
 unsaddled pack-horses. At the crossing the river is divided 
 by sand bars into three parts, and at two of these the water 
 reached to the pommel of the saddle. All got over safely, 
 though there was some danger on account of the strength of the 
 current ; and the raft followed, after a delay caused by the 
 weight of the cargo necessitating the addition of two big logs to 
 make the ship float lightly enough. A ride of two miles took 
 us to Jasper's, where we arrived exactly fifteen days after leav- 
 ing Edmonton, two of them days of rest and a tliird lost by the 
 obstruction of the Athabasca. It is hardly fair to speak of it 
 as lost however, for there was no point at which the delay of a 
 day was so little unacceptable to us. The mountains of the 
 Jasper valley would have repaid us for a week's detention. 
 This station is now all but abandoned by the Hudson's Bay 
 Co. It was formerly of considerable importance, not only from 
 the number of fur-bearing animals around, but because it was 
 the centre of a regular line of communication between Norway 
 House and Edmonton on the one side, and the Columbia Dis- 
 trict and Fort Vancouver on the other. An agent and three or 
 four men were then stationed at it all the year round. Even in 
 Dr. Hector's time the house must have been of a somewhat pre- 
 tentious order, for he speaks of it as " constructed after the 
 Swiss style, with overhanging roofs and trellised porticoes." 
 Now there are only two log houses, the largest propped up be- 
 fore and behind with rough shores, as if to prevent it being 
 blown away into the river or back into the mountain gorges. 
 ^e houses are untenanted, locked and shuttered. Twice a year 
 
238 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 an agent comes up from Edmonton to trade with the Indians of 
 the surrounding country and carry back the furs. 
 
 The Chief expected to meet at this point, or to hear some 
 tidings of one of his parties that had been instructed to explore 
 from the Pacific side of the mountains in the direction of the 
 Jasper valley. As no trace of any recent visit could be found, 
 vre moved on up the Athabasca ; the trail leading along the 
 sandy beach of Lake Jasper for two miles to a little opening 
 on the hill side above, where as there was a species of small 
 bunch-grass growing, and no one knew of feed farther on, camp 
 was pitched for the night. 
 
 Our four miles' travel to-day on the west bank of the river was 
 a succession of magnificent mountain views. After crossing the 
 Athabasca the valley of Rocky River, which runs into' it, oppo- 
 site Jasper House, opened out, extending away to the south- 
 east, bordered on both banks by ranges of serrated bare peaks, 
 while seemingly in the very centre rose a wooded conical lull. 
 Round all these, masses of mist were enfolding themselves, and 
 the sun shining at the same time brought out the nearest in 
 clear relief. 
 
 Jasper House itself is one of the best places for seeing to 
 advantage the mountains up and down the valley. It is situ- 
 ated on a pretty glade that slopes gently to the Athabasca, 
 sufficiently large and open to command a view in every direc- 
 tion. Roche k Myette, distant five or six miles, is half con- 
 cealed by intervening heights and is here less conspicuous than 
 elsewhere even when seen from greater distances, but a gleam 
 of sunlight brightens his great face and makes even it look 
 lightsome. A score of miles to the south, the Pyramid Rock 
 gracefully uplifts its snowy face and shuts in the valley, the 
 space between being filled by the mountains of Rocky River 
 and the great shoulders of Roche Jacques. Looking westerly, 
 and behind the House, is Suette, his rampart rising cold, stern, 
 and grey above his furrowed sides. Other peaks overhang the 
 
THE ROOKY MOUNTAINS. 239 
 
 valley to the north, and between them deep wooded valleys are 
 dark as night. Separated from these by the Snake Indian 
 River, the true proportions of Eoche k Bosche are seen for the 
 first time. Away to the south the masses of snow on the Pyra- 
 mid speak of coming winter. 
 
 There is a wonderful combination of beauty about these 
 mountains. Great masses of boldly defined bare rock are united 
 to the beauty that variety of form, colour, and vegetation give. 
 A noble river with many tributaries, each defining a distinct 
 range, and a beautiful lake ten miles long, embosomed three 
 thousand three hundred feet above the sea, among mountains 
 twice as high, ofier innumerable scenes, seldom to be found 
 within the same compass, to the artist. 
 
 Valad informed us that the winter in this quarter is wonder- 
 fully mild, considering the height and latitude ; that the Atha- 
 basca seldom if ever freezes here, and that wild ducks remain 
 all the year instead of migrating south, as birds fai-ther east 
 invariably do. The lake freezes, but there is so little snow that 
 travellers prefer fording the river to trusting to the glare ice. 
 
 Our tent was pitched among firs on a slope above Lake 
 Jasper. Gusts of wind came from every point in the compass, 
 and blew about the sparks in a way dangerous to the blankets, 
 but before we were well asleep rain began to fall and dispelled 
 all apprehensions on the score of fire. 
 
 September 13th. — The rain that had been brewing yesterday 
 came down last night in torrents. One awakened to find the 
 boots at his head full of water ; the feet of another, the head of 
 a third, the shoulders of a fourth, were in pools according to the 
 form o£ the ground, or the precautions that each had taken 
 before turning in. The clouds were lifting, however, and 
 promised a fine day, and nobody cared for a little wetting, but 
 everybody cared very much, when the Chief annoiinced that 
 the flour bag was getting so light that it might be necessary to 
 allowance the bread rations. That struck home, though there 
 was abundance of pemmican and tea. 
 
240 OCEAN TO OCEAN, 
 
 The trail led along Lake Jasper ;and was so good that we 
 made the west end of the lake, which is ten miles long, in two 
 hours. Practically we were now without a guide ; for Yalad 
 had not been beyond Jasper House for twenty years, and twice 
 before dinner he missed the trail. Every mile we advanced 
 revealed new features. Roche Jacques rises on the opposite' 
 side of the lake, and one deep valley in his sides would be bright 
 as an autumn garden, up to the line of snow ; the next, sombre 
 with firs. Each of those valleys is seamed transversely by a 
 number of streamlets, that divide it into a succession of plateaux 
 rising higher and higher till the wall of steep bare rock is. 
 reached. 
 
 But there is no sharp line dividing vegetation from the naked 
 rock. A belt of harder rock intervening breaks the forest ; one 
 or two hundred feet above, the trees may reappear in a long thin 
 streak along the side of the mountain, like a regiment in line, or in 
 a dense grove, like a column ; and a diiferent stratification above 
 stops them again. The same change of strata probably accounts 
 for the absence of snow from belts which have snow above and 
 beneath them ; far away these bare belts look like highways 
 winding roimd the mountain. Behind, Myette reared his head 
 over us, seemingly as near as ever ; the Pyramid Mountain 
 supported by a great rampart of rock, from which his lofty head 
 rose gracefully, still closed the view ; and a cluster of snow 
 clad peaks sun-ounded him at a respectful distance. From 
 time to time we passed through woods growing along tke sides 
 of bums rushing down into the lake. The woods prepared us 
 for fresh prospects beyond, so that the eye had a perpetual 
 feast. 
 
 At one point the trail led up some steep rocks, and from 
 these charming views of the lake and the mountains were had. 
 Towards the west end, a lakelet, separated from lake Jasper by 
 two low narrow pine clad ridges, presented in its dark green 
 waters, that reflected the forest, a striking contrast to the light 
 sunny grey of the larger lake reflecting the sky 
 
THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 241 
 
 Rounding the lake, the trail was encumbered with fallen 
 timber, and from this point to the halting place for dinner at 
 two o'clock we travelled slowly, doing altogether not more than 
 eighteen or nineteen miles in the seven and a quarter hours. 
 At the end of Lake Jasper, a strath, from two to five miles 
 wide, which may stiU be called the Jasper Valley, bends to the 
 south. Our first look up this valley showed new lines of 
 mountains on both sides, closed at the head by a great mountain 
 so white with snow that it looked like a sheet suspended from 
 the heavens. That, Valad said, was " La montagne de la grande 
 traverse," adding that the road to the Columbia country up the 
 formidable Athabasca Pass, lay along its south-eastern base, 
 while our road would turn west up the valley of the River 
 Myette. He mentioned the old local titles of the mountains 
 on this side, but every passer-by thinks that he has a right to 
 give his own and his friends' names to them over again. 
 
 In going through the woods we saw several broken traps. 
 This was a famous place in the olden times for trappers, and 
 on that account a foaming torrent that comes down between 
 Pyramid Rock and three great crags to the north, like Salis- 
 bury Crags, Edinburgh, on a large scale, is called Snaring 
 River. 
 
 Some of the timber here is three feet in diameter, chiefly fir 
 but near Snaring River a growth of small pines has sprung up 
 on burnt ground. 
 
 This torrent will be remembered by us because of the danger 
 in crossing it, and because beside it we found the first traces of 
 one of the parties we expected to meet in the Jasper valley. It 
 is a foaming mountain torrent, with a bed full of large round 
 boulders which it piles along its banks, or hurls down its bed to 
 the Athabasca. These make the footing so precarious that if a 
 horse falls, there is little hope for him or his rider. Valad 
 crossed first. As the water came up to his horse's shoulder, and 
 the horse stumbled several times, it was evidently risky. Just at 
 16 
 
242 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 this moment, Brown who had gone down stream to loot for 
 another ford, called out that he saw footprints of men and horses. 
 Off went the Chief, and at the same moment Valad screamed 
 across the torrent that white men had just been there. AH 
 followed the Chief, and Valad came back at a ]ow&c crossing. 
 The traces of three men and three shod horses (showing 
 that they did not belong to Indians) were clearly made out 
 going down in the direction of the Athabaska ; but though 
 guns were fired as a signal, no response was heard ; and the 
 word was passed to cross at the lower ford. Beaupr^ took 
 some pemmican in his pocket, as a precaution, in case all hands 
 but himself were lost ; notwithstanding the omen, we reached the 
 other side safely, and pushed across a pine flat, and then a 
 quaking bog like Chatmoss to a little lake, with treacherous 
 quicksands on its shore and in its bed. On the other side is an 
 extensive sa;ndy bas-fond where we halted for dinner, sorely 
 regretting that the men who were on their way to Jasper's for 
 the very purpose of meeting us, had missed us by being on a 
 different trail or on no trail, for as the old one had been burnt 
 over, neither party had found it. But the packs were scarcely 
 off the horses' backs when a Shuswap Indian rode up the bank 
 so quietly, that he was in our midst before we saw him, and 
 after the usual hand-shaking, delivered a slip of paper to the 
 Chief Hurrah ! it was from Moberly, and stated that he had 
 just struck fresh tracks and had sent back this Indian to learn 
 who we were. Valad spolie to the Indian in Cree, and Beau, 
 pr^ in French, but he was from the Pacific side and only shook 
 his head in answer. Brown then tried him in Chinook, a bar- 
 barous lingo of one or two hundred words, first introduced by 
 the Hudson's Bay agents, for common use among themselves 
 and the Pacific Indians ; and generally spoken now all through 
 Oregon, B. Columbia, and the north, by whites, Chinese, In. 
 dians, and all nationalities. The Shuswap's face brightened, 
 and he answered in Chinook to the effect that Moberly was five 
 
THE ROOKY MOUNTAINS. 343 
 
 or six miles back : that they had come three days' journey from 
 their big camp, where there were lots of men and horses. 
 Brown asked if they had enough to eat at the camp; " Oh ! hy- 
 iu, muck S, muck 1 hy-iu iktahs !" " Lots of grub, lots of good 
 things" — was the ready answer. He was ofiSred some pemmi- 
 can and took it, but said that he had never seen such food 
 before. A note was at once sent back to Moberly that we 
 would move on, and that he would probably overtake us on the 
 morrow. 
 
 After dinner the march was resumed for seven miles up the 
 valley. On the east side a succession of peaks resembling each 
 other with the exception of one — Roche a Bonhomme — hemmed 
 us in : while on the west, with lines of stratification parallel to 
 lines on the east side, the solid rampart at the base of the Py- 
 ramid rose so steep and high, that the snowy summit behind 
 could not be seen. The valley still averaged from two to five 
 miles wide, though horizontal distances are so dwarfed by the 
 towering altitude of the naked massive rocks on both sides, that 
 it seemed to be scarcely one fourth of that width. What a sin- 
 gularly easy opening into the mountains, formed by some great 
 convulsion that had cleft them asunder, crushed and piled them 
 up on each side like cakes of ice, much in the same way as may 
 be seen in winter on the St. Lawrence or any of our rivers, on 
 a comparatively microscopic scale, in ice-shoves ! The Atha. 
 basca finding so plain a course had taken it, gradually shaped 
 and finished the valley, and strewn the bas-fonds, which cross- 
 torrents from the hills have seamed and broken up. It looks 
 as if natitre had united all her forces to make this the natural 
 highway into the heart of the Rocky mountains. 
 
 Myette and all his companions of the first range, that had 
 become so familiar to us in the last few days, were completely 
 hidden by the turn of the Athabasca ; and the mountains ahead, 
 that had shown at the bend, were also hidden from view ; but 
 at sunset we came to another bend that the river makes again 
 
244 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 to the west, and La grande montagne de la traverse came fully 
 out in his snowy raiment, and the Pyramid peeped over the 
 great wall, that girds his body and flows down over his feet, to 
 see our backs. We turned with the river and, after going an- 
 other mile encumbered with fallen timber, camped on a terrace 
 overlooking the river and surrounded on all sides with snow- 
 capped mountains. As this was to be our last night by the 
 Athabasca, and perhaps the last on the eastern slope of the 
 mountains, we named this camp, the forty-eighth fx'om Lake 
 Superior, Athabasca. 
 
 September 14th. — The trail this morning led along the Atha- 
 basca for seven miles, to where the Myette runs into it, opposite 
 the old Henry House. With the exception of a difficulty soon 
 after starting, caused by the disappearance of the trail near the 
 river, and the forcing a path through thick brush till we found 
 it again, the x'oad was excellent ; passing for four or five miles 
 over beautiful little " prairies," which had not been touched as 
 yet by the frost, and on which bunch grass grew, — and for the 
 next two or three miles through pines, so well apart from one 
 another that it was easy to ride in any direction. The day was 
 warm and sunny, and the black flies that had left us for a week 
 reappeared here. This valley, which seemed as beautiful on 
 the other side of the river, is so completely sheltered, that the 
 winter in it must be very mild. 
 
 The highest mountains that we had yet seen, showed this 
 morning away to the south in the direction of the Athabasca 
 Pass, and " the Committee's Punch Bowl" This Pass is seven 
 thousand feet high, and snow lies on its summit all the year 
 round, but our road led westward up the Myette ; and, as the 
 Athabasca here sweeps away to the south, under the name of 
 Whirlpool river, the turn shut out from view for the rest of 
 our journey, both the valley and the mountains of the Whirl- 
 pool. 
 
 With the Myette bad roads bejjan again. Just as they com- 
 
THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 245 
 
 menced, Moberly caught up to us, having ridden on in advance 
 of his men. He had left Victoria, Vancouver's Island, for the 
 Columbia, having organized large provision-trains in the spring 
 on pack-horses, and brought them on over incredible diflBcul- 
 ties to " Boat Encampment," at the most northerly bend of the 
 Columbia. From Boat Encampment they were to cross to the 
 Athabasca Pass and move on to the Jasper valley, to afford 
 autumn and .winter supplies to the parties operating from that 
 centre. He himself had crossed in advance direct to the lake 
 on the other side of the Yellow Head Pass, where he met one 
 of the parties under his command, making a trail in the direc- 
 tion of the Pass from the west. Hearing nothing about us 
 from them, he had loaded three horses with flour and bacon, 
 and come on to meet us ; but by taking the river trail from 
 Snaring River, ho had missed us yesterday. Except the two 
 Iroquois on the MacLeod, his was the first face we had seen 
 since leaving St. Ann's, and to meet him was like re-opening 
 communication with the world, although we, and not he, had 
 the latest news to give. — How welcome he was, we need not 
 say ! 
 
 The first five miles up the Caledonian valley, as the valley of 
 the Myette is called in the old maps and in Dr. Hector's jour- 
 nals, we made in about three hours, and a little after midday 
 halted for dinner. Fallen timber was the principal cause of the 
 slow rate, though the steep sharp rocks hurt the horses so much, 
 that they had to tread softly and slowly. The rocks are hard 
 rough sandstone, with a slaty or a peculiar pebbly fracture. 
 The trail so far was scarcely worthy of the bad name travellers 
 had given to it, and we began to imagine that the remaining 
 fifteen miles to the Yellow Head Pass could be made before 
 nightfall. Moberly quietly said that it was a fond imagination, 
 and that if the next five miles were got over by dark he would 
 be satisfied, as it had taken him a whole day to make seven 
 mUes on his way down. Myette has such unpretending portals 
 
246 OCEAlSr TO OCEAN. 
 
 especially when compared witli the magnificent ranges about the 
 Athabasca, it's current is so quiet near the mouth, and the 
 valley so short that no one would forecast any formidable diflS- 
 culties, in ascending it to the Pass. But the afternoon proved 
 that the valley is worthy of its old name Caledonian, if the name 
 was meant to suggest the thistle or the " wha' daur meddle wi' 
 me!" 
 
 The Myette has a wonderful volume of water for its short 
 course. It rushes down a narrow valley fed at every cornerjby 
 foaming fells from the hill-sides, and by several large tributaries. 
 A short way up from its mouth it becomes simply a series of rap- 
 ids or mad currents, hurling along boulders, trees and deb- 
 ris of all kinds. The valley at first is uninteresting, but five 
 miles up and for much of the rest of the way, is picturesque, 
 two prominent mountains, that rise right above the Pass and 
 the lake at the summit, closing it in at its head. 
 
 Moberly's three men and horses came up as we were rising 
 from dinner, and they passed on ahead, axes in hand, to im- 
 prove the trail a little. It certainly needed all the improve- 
 ment it got, and a good deal more than they could give in an 
 afternoon. Long swamps that reminded us of the muskegs on 
 the McLeod, covered with an under-brush of scrub birch, and 
 tough willows eight to ten feet high, that slapped our faces, and 
 defiled our clothing with foul-smelling mai-sh mud, had to be 
 floundered through. Alternating with these, intervened the 
 face of a precipice, the rocky bed and sides of the river, or fallen 
 timber stumps and blackened poles, to cHmb, scramble over, or 
 dodge. No wonder that MUton and Cheadle bade adieu to the 
 ankindly Myette with immense satisfaction. We had to cross 
 and reoross the river or parts of it seven or eight times in the 
 course of the afternoon, for the train sought low levels and 
 avoided ascending the blufis and walls of rugged rock that rise 
 sheer from the water. The middle ten miles of the Caledonian 
 valley present formidable difficulties for a road of any kind. 
 
THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 247 
 
 Four hours' hard work took ua over five miles, and by that 
 time every one was heartily sick of it, and full of longing to 
 reach Moberly's camp. As we stumbled about on a patch re- 
 cently burnt over, one of his Indians, whom he had thoughtfully 
 sent back, met and guided us to a desolate looking spot, the 
 best camping ground he had been able to find. Some little 
 grass had sprung up on the blackened soil, and no one was dis- 
 posed to be particular. Supper was left in the hands of Tim — 
 Moberly's Indian cook — and he prepared a variety of delicacies 
 that made up for all other deficiencies ; bread light as Parisian 
 rolls, Columbia flour being as different from Ked River as Tim's 
 baking from Terry's ; delicious Java coffee, sweetened with 
 sugar from the Sandwich Islands, that now supply great part 
 of the Pacific coast with sugar ; and crisp bacon, almost as great 
 a luxury to us as pemmican to Moberly's men. AH the hard- 
 ships of the afternoon were forgotten as the aroma of the coffee 
 steamed up our nostrils, and when Tim announced that be had 
 oatmeal enough to make porridge for breakfast, our luck in 
 meeting him was declared to be wonderful, and Caledonia Camp 
 was voted the j oiliest of our forty-nine. An hour after, 
 the united party gathered round the kettle to drink the three 
 Saturday night toasts, with three times three and one cheer 
 more. 
 
 Consulting Moberly about the programme for next day, he 
 advised that we should move on in the morning four miles to 
 the last recrossing of the river, and rest there for the day, for 
 the two reasons, that by so doing we would get good feed for 
 the horses, and probably fall in with the camp of his trail 
 makers, who worked in advance of the surveying party. Both 
 reasons were so good thut the advice was taken nem. con. 
 
 September 15. — Had the promised porridge for breakfast, 
 and found it quite up to our anticipations. Left the Caledonia 
 Camp at eight a.m. for our Sabbath day's journey. As every 
 one needed rest and was tired of the Myette and its swamps. 
 
248 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 willows and rocks, the sight of the crossing was hailed with 
 general joy, and all the more when those in front called out 
 that there was a fresh trail on the other side. Sure enough, as 
 Moberly had expected, the trail party had reached the river, 
 and their camp was only a quarter of a mile oiF. Our difficul- 
 ties had come to an end, we supposed, for there would be a rea- 
 sonably good trail now all the way to Kamloops; and the North 
 Thompson canyons need no longer be dreaded. The conclusion 
 proved to be somewhat hasty, but it cheered us at the time. 
 We rode up to the camp, and gave and received hearty greet- 
 ings. An old-countryman named McCord was at the head of 
 the trail party. He had pitched tents for the Sunday rest on a 
 gentle incline beside the river, which flowed without rapids all 
 the way from our last camp. We had been at the entrance of 
 the Yellow Head Pass then, for though the actual summit is sis 
 miles farther west than where we met McCord, there was little 
 of a rise from our last night's camp. The two mountains that 
 we had seen from near the bottom of the valley, closing its head, 
 now appeared as the southern peaks of a noble ridge that 
 bounded the pass to the north. The nearer to us of the two 
 was almost conical and the other resembled the frustum of a 
 cone, serrated into a number of peaks, like a cross-cut saw, the 
 big teeth in the centre and the small ones at the ends. These 
 two mountains on which the snow rests the whole year are still 
 nameless. As to the most prominent points on the Canadian 
 Pacific Railway, we would suggest that the statesmen who have 
 been most identified with the project should have the honour of 
 giving names to them. 
 
 After a hearty lunch, on pork and beans — favourite dish of 
 miners and axemen — divine service was held. The congregation 
 consisted of twenty-one men, including English, Scotch, Irish, 
 Indians from both sides of the Rooky Mountains, and represen- 
 tatives of all the six provinces of the Dominion. We joined in 
 singing Old Hundred and in common prayer, and a sermon was 
 
THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 249 
 
 then preached — not very short on the plea that the majority of 
 the congregation had not heard a sermon for three months. 
 As usual the worship had the effect of awakening hallowed 
 associations, and making us feel united in a common sacred 
 life. In the evening all hands of their own accord gathered 
 round our tent to share in the family worship. 
 
 McCord had selected his camping ground judiciously. Good 
 wood, water, and pasture in his immediate neighbourhood ; a 
 beautiful slope covered with tall spruce, amid which the tents 
 were scattered ; an open meadow and low wooded hills to the 
 northwest round which the low line of the pass winding in the 
 same direction, could easily be made out ; and the horizon, 
 bounded by a bold ridge which threw out its two great peaks to 
 overhang the pass. This was one of the most picturesque spots 
 in the Caledonian Valley, combining a soft lowland and wood- 
 land beauty, with stern rocky masses, capped with eternal 
 snow. We were 3,700 feet above the sea, but the air was soft 
 and warm. Even at night it was only pleasantly cool. We 
 were all delighted with this our first view of the Yellow Head 
 Pass. Instead of contracted canyon or savage torrent raging 
 among beetling precipices as we had half feared, the Pass is 
 really EC pleasant open meadow. So easy an ingress into the 
 heart of the Eocky Mountains as that by the Jasper Valley, and 
 so favourable a pass as the Yellow Head could hardly have 
 been hoped for. 
 
 Dinner was ordered for six o'clock and Brown set to work on 
 his pemmican plum pudding. It had to be made so large, that 
 at six o'clock it required at least another hour's boiling. For- 
 tunately McCord's cook, in ignorance of what Brown was about, 
 had prepared at his fire a genuine old fashioned plum-pudding; 
 and full justice was done to this, till the pemmican one was 
 ready. It was then proposed to keep it for breakfast, but the 
 Dr. was impatient to put Brown's skill to the proof, and an 
 liour after dinner, all gathered around our tent, to try the 
 
250 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 second pudding and decide on Brown's reputation. Terry in 
 preparing the sauce had used salt instead of sugar, and the Dr. 
 was accused of having put him "up to the mistake to spoil the 
 dish ; but the pudding was a decided success, though eaten 
 under the great disadvantage of no one being very hungry. 
 Altogether this was a great day. The pleasure of meeting 
 friends, of believing that our difficulties were practically at an 
 end, the establishment of communication with the Pacific 
 parties, the beauty or the prospect, the.general good feeling, the 
 quiet Sunday rest, the common worship, all contributed to 
 heighten our enjoyment ; and to make us rise from our second 
 plum-pudding with the plough boy's sentiment in our hearts if 
 not on our lips : " I'm fu,' and as thankfu'." 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 Yellow Head Pass to the North Thompson River. 
 
 Plants in flower. — The water-shed. — Entering British Columbia. — Source ol the Fraser 
 River. — Yellow Head Lake. — Serrated Peaks. — Benighted. — Moose Lake. — Milton 
 and Cheadle. — Relics of the Headless Indian. — Columbia River.— The two Mountain 
 Ranges. — Horses worn out. — First canyon of the Fraser. — ^The Grand Forks. — 
 Changing locomotion power. — Robson's Peak. — Fine timber. — ^Tet^ Jaune cache. — 
 Glaciers. — Countless Mountain Peaks.— A good trail. — Fording Canoe River. — Snow 
 fence. — Camp River. — Albreda. — Monnt Milton. — Rank vegetation. — Rain. — A 
 box in Vb cache for S. F.— The Red Pyramid.— John Glen.— The Forest. -Camp 
 Cheadle. 
 
 September 16. — Our aim to-day was to reach Moose Lake 
 where Mohun's party was surveying. The distances given us 
 were : six miles to the summit of the Pass, six thence to Yellow 
 Head Lake, four along the Lake, and fourteen to Moose Lake. 
 These we found to be correct except the last which is more like 
 sixteen than fourteen, and unfortunately Mohun's party was 
 near the west end of Moose Lake, and this added eight more, 
 so that instead of thirty, we had to do forty. Besides, not hav- 
 ing been informed that the second half of the trail was by far 
 the worst, no extra time was allowed for it, and hence we had 
 five hours of night travelling that knocked up horses and men, 
 more than a double day's ordinary work would have done. The 
 day began well and ought to have ended well, but instead of 
 that, it will always be associated in our minds with the drive 
 CO Oak Point from the North-west Angle on July 30th. Worse 
 cannot be said of it. 
 
 The first half of the day was more like a pleasure trip 
 than work. The six miles to the summit were almost a 
 continuous level, the trail following the now smooth-flow- 
 ing Myette till the main branch turned north, and then 
 
252 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 a small branch till it too was left among the hUls. 
 A few minutes after, the sound of a rivulet running in the 
 opposite direction over a red pebbly bottom was heard. 
 We had left the Myette flowing to the Arctic Ocean, and now 
 came upon this, one of the sources of the Fraser hurry»*ig to the 
 Pacific. At the summit, Moberly welcomed ns into British 
 Columbia, for we were at length out of " No-man's land," and 
 had entered the western province of our Dominion. Round the 
 rivulet running west, the party gathered, and drank from its 
 waters to the Queen and the Dominion. No incline could be 
 more gentle than this from the Atlantic and Arctic to the Pa- 
 cific slope. The road wound round wooded banks, a meadow 
 with heavy marsh grass extending to the opposite hill. There 
 had been little or no frost near the summit, and flowers were in 
 bloom that we had seen a month ago farther east. The flora 
 was of the same character on both sides of the summit ; eight or 
 nine kinds of wild berries, vetches, asters, wild honey-suckle, 
 &c. Good timber, the bark of which looked like hemlock, but 
 that the men called pine, covered the ground for the next few 
 miles to Yellow Head Lake. This beautiful sheet of water, 
 clear and sparkling up to its firm pebbly beach, expanding and 
 contracting as its shores recede or send out promontories, was 
 called Cowdung Lake formerly, but ought to bear the same 
 name as the Pass. Towards the western end where we halted 
 for dinner, its woods have been marred by fires that have swept 
 the hUl sides, but wherever these have kept off', its beauty is 
 equal to, though of a different kind from, Lake Jasper. Low 
 wooded hills intersected with soft green and flowery glades rise 
 JM broken undulations from its shores. Above and behind the 
 hills on the south side, towers a huge pinnacle of rock, the snow 
 on whose summit is generally concealed by clouds or mist. On 
 the north, the two mountains that we had seen yesterday, 
 bounding the pass on that side, and which had been hidden all 
 the forenoon by the woods at their base, through which the trail 
 
YELLOW HEAD PASS TO NORTH THOMPSON RIVER. 253 
 
 runs, now looked out from right over our heads ; riven masses 
 of stratified rock, in a slightly curved line, forming a gigantic 
 cross-cut saw. Through the Pass, slate cropped out in several 
 places, and boulders of granite strewed the ground, but granite 
 was not observed in situ. Probably, slate is what gold miners 
 term the bed rock, and Brown and Beaupr6 pointed out quartz 
 veins that they had no doubt were gold-bearing. 
 
 After dinner the trail, from the nature of the soil, was so 
 rough that the horses could go only at a walk of three miles an 
 hour. It ran either among masses of boulders, or through new 
 woods, where the trees and wUlows had been cut away, but 
 their sharp stumps remained. It was dark before we reached 
 the east end of Moose Lake, and if all our party had been to- 
 gether, we would certainly have camped beside one of the many 
 tributaries of the Eraser, that run down from the mountains on 
 both sides, after it emerges from Yellow Head Lake, and make 
 it a deep strong river before it is fifteen miles long. One of 
 those mountain feeders that we crossed was an hundred feet 
 wide, and so deep and rapid in two places, that the horses 
 waded across with difficulty. Our company, however, was un- 
 fortunately separated into three parts, and no concerted action 
 could be taken. Moberly and the Doctor had ridden ahead t6 
 find Mohun's Camp and have supper ready ; the pack-horses 
 followed three or four miles behind them ; and the Chief, 
 Frank, and the Secretary were far in the rear, botanising and 
 sketching. Every hour we expected to get to the Camp, but 
 the road seemed endless. In the dense dark woods, the moon's 
 light was very feeble, and as the horses were done out, we 
 walked before or behind the poor brutes, stumbling over loose 
 boulders, tripped up by the short sharp stumps and rootlets, 
 mired in deep moss springs, wearied with climbing the 
 steep ascents of the lake's sides, knee-sore with jolts in descend- 
 ing, dizzy and stupid from sheer fatigue and want of sleep. A 
 drizzling rain had fallen in showers most of the afternoon, and 
 
254 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 it continued at intervals through the night ; but our exertions 
 heated us so much that our clothes became as wet, on account 
 of the waterproofs not allowing perspiration to evaporate, as if 
 we had been thrown into the lake ; and thinking it less injuri- 
 ous to get wet from without than from within, we took ctf the 
 waterproofs, and let the -whole discomfort of the rain be added 
 to the other discomforts of the night. The only consolation 
 was that the full moon shone out occasionally from rifts in the 
 clouds, and enabled us to pick a few steps and avoid some diffi- 
 culties. At those times the lake appeared at our feet, glimmer- 
 ing through the dark firs, and shut in two or three miles be- 
 yond by precipitous mountains, down whose sides white torrents 
 were foaming, the noise of one or another of which sounded in- 
 cessantly in our ears tUl the sound became hatefal. 
 
 At length the camp-fire glimmered in the distance. But to 
 crown this disastrous day, there was no feed about Mohun's 
 camp, and his horses had left a few days previously for Tete 
 Jaune Cache. His men had a raft made on which to transport 
 their luggage and instruments up to the east end of the lake, as 
 their first work for to-morrow. They had completed the survey 
 along the west end and centre. Our poor horses most of which 
 had now travelled eleven hundi-ed miles, and required rest or a 
 difierent kind of work, had had a killing day of it, and there 
 was no grass for them. Reflecting on the situation was not 
 pleasant, but a good supper of corned-beef and beans made us 
 forget our own fatigue. After supper, at 2 p.m., wrapping dry 
 blankets round our wet clothes, and spreading waterproofs over 
 the place where there were fewest pools of water, we went in 
 willingly for sweet sleep. 
 
 The Doctor had completely forgotten his fatigue before our 
 arrival under the influence of a present of the spoon and fishing 
 line of Milton and Cheadle's " Headless Indian." One of the 
 packers had found the skeleton, and had also found the head 
 lying under a fallen tree, a hundred and fifty yards from the 
 
YELLOW HEAD PASS TO NORTH THOMPSON RIVER. 255 
 
 body. As the body could not have walked away and sat down 
 minus the head, the explanation of the packers was that 
 Cheadle's Assiniboine on his unsuccessful hunt for game had 
 killed and eaten the Shuswap, and turned the affair into a 
 mystery by hiding the head. Poor Mr. O'B., of whom we 
 heard enough at Edmonton to prove that his portraiture is 
 faithfully given in " the North-west Passage by land," will ac- 
 cept this solution of the mystery if no one else wiU. The Doc- 
 tor put the old horn spoon, and the fishing line — a strong 
 native hemp line, among his choicest treasures, and took minute 
 notes of the position of the grave that he might dig up the . 
 head. 
 
 The two descriptions in Milton and Cheadle that haive been 
 generally considered apocryphal, and that have discredited the 
 whole book to many readera, are those concerning Mr. O'B., 
 and the headless Indian. Not only did we find both verified, 
 but the accounts of the country and the tale of their own diffi- 
 culties are as truthfully and simply given as it was possible for 
 men who travelled in a strange country, chiefly in quest of ad- 
 ventures that they intended to pubHsh, and who naturally 
 wished to get items with colour for their book. The pluck that 
 made them conceive, and the vastly greater pluck that enabled 
 them to pull through such an expedition was of the truest 
 British kind. They were more indebted than they perhaps 
 knew as far as " Slaughter Camp," to the trail of the Canadians 
 who had preceded them, on their way to Cariboo ; but from 
 that point, down the frightful and unexplored valley of the 
 North Thompson, the journey had to be faced on their own 
 totally inadequate resources. Had they but- known it, they 
 were beaten as completely as by the rules of war the British 
 troops were at Waterloo. They should have submitted to the 
 inevitable and starved. But luckily for themselves and for 
 their readers they did not know it ; and thanks to Mrs. Assini- 
 boine, and their own intelligent hardihood that kept them from 
 
6 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 7iag in, they succeeded where by all the laws of probabilities 
 3y ought to have disastrously failed. 
 
 We had now crossed the first range of the Rocky Mountains, 
 d were on the Pacific slope, on the banks of the river that 
 QS into the Pacific Ocean. One or two of our party seemed 
 think that difficulties were therefore at an end ; th9,t all tha'fc 
 d to be done now was to follow the Fraser to its mouth, as 
 great a river would be sure to find the easiest course to the 
 I. A party of gentlemen ignorant of the geography of the 
 liitry, and dese]?ted by their guides in endeavouring to cross 
 3 Rocky Mountains a few years ago, farther south, argued 
 dilarly when they struck the Columbia River. " So great a 
 er cannot go wrong : its course must be the best ; let us fol- 
 V it to the sea." And they did follow its northerly sweep 
 md the Kootanie or Selkirk mountains, for one or two hun- 
 sd mUes, till inextricably entangled among fallen timber, 
 d cedar swamps, they resolved to kill their horses, make 
 ^ts or canoes, and trust to the river. Had they carried this 
 m out, they would have perished, for no raft or canoe can 
 t through the terrible canyons of the Columbia. But for- 
 aately two Suswap Indians came upon them at this juncture, 
 d though not speaking a word that they knew, made them 
 derstand by signs, that their only safety was in retracing 
 sii- steps, and by getting round the head waters of the Colum- 
 i, reach Fort ColvUle by the Kootanie Pass. 
 Just as the Columbia has to sweep round the Selkirk group, 
 in a similar way far north or north-west, the Fraser loops 
 ind the Gold Mountains. Those two groups may be con- 
 ered one, with a gap or long break between the northern 
 ad of the Columbia and the point called Tete Jaune Cache, 
 lere the Fraser has to turn to the north. It is evident then 
 it the true course for a traveller, from Yellow Head Pass to 
 3 west, since he cannot cross the Gold Mountains, which 
 etch in line across his direct path, is to turn south-east a 
 
BELLOW HEAD PASS TO NORTH THOMPSON RIVER. 257 
 
 little, try for a road by this gap, and overcome the Gold Moun- 
 tains by flanking them. 
 
 The reader must understand that besides intervening groups 
 and spurs with distinct names, and important enough to be 
 often considered distinct ranges, there are two main mountain 
 chains that have to be traversed in going to the Pacific, — the 
 Rocky Mountains proper and the Coast Chain or Cascades- 
 These two run apparently parallel to each other, but they really 
 converge towards the north till they ultimately become one 
 chain. " The distance between the axis of the two chains on 
 the line of the Union and Central Pacific Railways is about 900 
 miles, while on the lines surveyed for the Canadian Pacific it 
 varies from 300 to 400 miles." With regard to a passage over 
 or through these great ranges, the railway in the United States 
 has to climb to plateaux that are nearly as high as the summits. 
 On Canadian territory the mountains themselves are higher 
 than in the south, but they are cloven by river passes. We 
 have seen how easy is the passage from the east through the 
 Rocky Mountains proper by the vaUeys of the Athabasca and 
 Myette. The average height of the mountains above the sea is 
 nine thousand feet ; but the height of the Yellow Head Pass 
 is only three thousand seven hundred feet. On each side of the 
 valleys the mountains act as natural snow-sheds. 
 
 Is there a similar pass through the Cascades 1 Passes in 
 abundance, but unfortunately not one like the Yellow Head. 
 We can get to the Cascades only by a long detour north or 
 south, and the nearer we get the more formidable they look. 
 And first, how to reach them 1 We foUow the Fraser from the 
 Yellow Head Pass, to Tgte Jaune Cache. There we expect to 
 see the Gold range stretching in unbroken line before us, forc- 
 ing the Fraser far to the north, and us somewhat to the south- 
 east and then the south. Oh ! for a direct cut through to the 
 Cariboo gold fields like that which the Athabasca cleaves the 
 Rocky Mountains with. ! In the mean time our course from 
 
 17 
 
258 OCEAN TO OCEAl^. 
 
 Tete Jaune CacLe, 'will be to slip in between the Gold and Sel- 
 kirk groups till we strike tlie North Thompson, and continue 
 the flanking process, by going down its banks southerly till we 
 get to Kamloops at the junction of the North and South Thomp- 
 son, where we can recommence our westerly course, along the 
 comparatively low lying fertile plateau, extending between the 
 western slope of the first chain and the Cascades. West of this 
 plateau we rejoin the Fraser, and accompany it through the 
 Cascades to the Sea. 
 
 September 17. — We are now in the heart of the Rocky 
 Mountains, nearly a day's journey on from Yellow Head Pass, 
 with jaded horses, and a trail so heavy that fresh horses cannot 
 be expected to average more than twenty miles of travel per 
 day. 
 
 This morning the consequences of last night's toil and 
 trouble showed plainly by a multitude of signs. Breakfasted 
 at 9 a. m., started from Moose Lake Camp at midday, and 
 crawled ahead about four mfles, the horses lifting their feet so 
 spiritlessly that at every step we feared they would give out. 
 At an open glade here, the feed was pretty good, though 
 cropped close by the dozen homed cattle, kept for the purpose 
 of furnishing fresh beef for Mohun's party, and it was decided 
 that it would be wise to camp. 
 
 The delay was not loet time, however vexatious the mis- 
 management that necessitated it. The chief had to receive re- 
 ports about all that had been done by the engineers in this 
 quarter, inspect the line of survey and the drawings that had 
 been made ; and give instructions not only for Moberly's par- 
 ties, but through him for others. Besides, we needed a long 
 night's rest, and a big fire to dry our clothes and blankets be- 
 fore going farther. For assurances were volunteered all round 
 that we had a full fortnight of no holiday travel before reach- 
 ing Kamloops. 
 
 Mohun accompanied us until we should fall in with the pack- 
 
YELLOW HEAD PASS TO NORTH THOMPSON RIVER. 259 
 
 train on its way up from the Cache, in order to aiTange about 
 an exchange of our jaded and unshod horses for others fresh 
 and shod. 
 
 Moose Lake that we struck last night, is a beautiful sheet of 
 water, ten or eleven miles long, by three wide. It receives the 
 Fraser, already a deep strong river fully a hundred and fifty 
 feet wide, and also drains high mountains that enclose it on the 
 north and south. The survey for the railway is proceeding along 
 the north side, where the bluffs though high appeared not so sheer 
 as on the south. The hillsides and the country beyond sup- 
 port a growth of splendid spruce, black-pine, and Douglas fir, 
 some of the spruce the finest we had ever seen. So far in our 
 descent from the Pass, the difficulties in the way of railroad 
 construction are not formidable nor the grades likely to be 
 heavy. StiU the work that the surveyors are engaged on re- 
 quires a patience and forethought that few who ride in Pull- 
 man cars on the road in after years will ever appreciate. 
 
 September 18th. — Away from camp at 8 o'clock. Soon after, 
 struck the Fraser, rushing green and foaming through a narrow 
 valley, closed in by high steep rocks wooded beneath, 
 and bare from half-way up. As we advanced, a change in the 
 vegetation, marking the Pacific slope, began to show distinctly. 
 The lighter green of cypress mingled with the darker woods till 
 it predominated — white birch and small maples also coming in. 
 Our jaded horses walked quietly along, at the two-and-a-half 
 mUes per hour step, on a trail heavy at the best, across moun- 
 tain streams rushing down to join the Fraser, the worst of them 
 roughly bridged with logs and spruce boughs ; around precipi- 
 tous bluffs and hUls, and through mud-holes sprinkled heavily 
 with boulders. Frequently we came on the stakes of the sur- 
 veying party who had used the trail where there was bub one 
 possible course for any road. After travelling nine miles Mo- 
 hun invited us to tie our horses to the trees, and go down two 
 hundred yards to see the first canyon of the Fraser. A canyon 
 
260 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 is simply a mountain gorge in which the river is obliged to con' 
 tract itself, by high rocks closing it in on both sides. A river, 
 however, is not needed to form a canyon ; for walled rocks, 
 enclosing a narrow waterless valley constitute a canyon. At 
 this first canyon, the rocks closed in the river for some hundred 
 yards to a width of eight feet, so that a man could jump across. 
 Down this narrow passage the whole of the water of the river 
 rushed — a resistless current, slipping in great green masses 
 from ledge to ledge, smashing against out-jutting rocks, eddying 
 round stony barriers, till it got through the long gate-way. In 
 some cases these canyons are merely rocks near the stream ; ia 
 others they are blufis extending far back, or perhaps one great 
 bluff that had formerly stretched across the river's bed, and had 
 been riven asunder. In either case they present formidable 
 obstacles to railroad construction. 
 
 A mile beyond, we came to the Grand Fork of the Fraser, 
 where the main stream receives from the north-east a tributary 
 important enough to be often considered its source. It flows in 
 three great divisions, through a meadow two miles wide, from 
 round the bases of Robson's Peak — the monarch of the moun- 
 tains hereabouts — and his only less mighty satellites whose 
 pyramidal forms cluster in his rear. A mile from the first di- 
 vision we came to the second, and found the first section of 
 Mohun's pack-train in the act of crossing it towards us . The 
 first section consisted of horses ; the second — of mules led by a 
 bell horse — under the supervision of Leitch, the chief packer, 
 folio A^ed a mile behind. A general halt was called, and Leitch 
 sent for. No difficulty was found in making new arrangements. 
 He gave us four fresh pack liorsei, five saddle horses, and two 
 packers, and took all our horses, and Brown, Beaupr^ and Valad 
 to help him — Valad being specially entrusted with the duty of 
 taking back six horpes of the Hudson's Bay that were a'non" 
 ours. This was an entire reorganization, and again Terrv was 
 the only one of the old set that remained with us. He wished 
 
YELLOW HEAD PASS TO NOETH THOMPSON BIVEE. 261 
 
 to go on to Cariboo to make his fortune at the mines there. A 
 vision of gold nuggets, picked up as easily as diamonds and 
 rubies in Arizona, more than any sentimental attachment to us 
 •was at the root of his steadfastness. But it grieved all to part 
 from the other three, and they seemed equally reluctant to turn 
 their backs on us. Beaupre's only consolation was that he would 
 get pemmLcan again, for he declared that life without pemmican 
 was nothing but vanity ; and we had made the huge mistake of 
 exchanging our pemmican with McCord for pork. The next 
 day and every day after we rued the bargain, but it was too 
 late. Beaupre and Yalad had suffered grievously in body from 
 the change, and for an entire day had been almost useless. The 
 Doctor was reduced practically to two meals a day, for he could 
 • not stand fat pork three times. Indeed all, with the single ex- 
 ception of Brown, lamented at every meal, as they picked deli- 
 cately at the coarse pork, the folly of forsaking that which had 
 been so true a stand-by for three weeks. The Chief gave 
 Brown and Beaupr6 letters to Hoberly, the latter having 
 returned to the Jasper valley two days ago. Valad made his 
 adieus, and received the gratuity that the Chief gave him, with 
 a dignity that only an Indian or a gentleman of the old school 
 could manifest. . And so exeunt Brown, Beaupr6 and Valad. 
 
 It was only two P.M. when Leitch came up ; but his horses 
 had been travelling all day, and as we were in a good place for 
 feed, he advised that camp should be pitched, and no movement 
 onward made tiU the morrow. This was agreed to, the more 
 readily because the Chief had further instructions to write and 
 send back by Mohun, and because the clouds that had been 
 floating over the tops of the lulls all day, and obscuring the 
 lofty glacier cone of Bobson's Peak, began to close in and empty 
 themselves. Looking west down the valley of the Fiaser the 
 narrow pass suddenly filled with rolling billows of mist. On 
 they came, curling over the rocky summits, rolling down to the 
 forests, enveloping everything in their fleecy mantles. Out of 
 
362 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 them came great gusts of wind that nearly blew away our fires 
 and tents ; and after the gusts, the rain in smart showers. 
 Once or twice the sun broke through, revealing the bill sides, 
 all their autumn tints fresh and glistening after the rain, and 
 the line of their summits near and bold against the sky ; all, 
 except Robson's Peak which showed its huge shoulders covered 
 with masses of snow, but on whose high head clouds ever 
 rested. 
 
 September 19th, — It rained during the night, and the morn- 
 ing looked grey and heavy with clouds ; but the sun shone 
 before eleven o'clock, and the day turned out the finest since 
 crossing the YeUow Head Pass. At 7.30 A.M. got off from 
 the camp, giving a last cheer to Brown, Beaupr6 and Valad ; 
 and casting many a longing look behind to see if Eobson's Peak 
 would show its bright head to us. But only the snow-ribbed 
 giant sides were visible, for the clouds still rested far down 
 from the summit. Three miles from camp, beside the river, at 
 a place called Mountain View, his great companions stood out 
 from around him ; but he remained hidden, and reluctantly we 
 had to go on, without being as fortunate as Milton and Cheadle. 
 
 Our new horses were in prime condition ; but the road for 
 the first eleven mUes was extremely difficult ; and last ni^t's 
 rain had made it worse. The trail follows down the Fraser to 
 Tete Jaune Cache, when it leaves the river and turns'south-east 
 to go to the North Thompson, at right angles to the main course 
 we had followed since entering the Caledonian Valley. The 
 Fraser at the same point changes its westerly for a northerly 
 course, rushing like a race horse, for hundi-eds of miles north, 
 when it sweeps round and comes south to receive the united 
 waters of the North and South Thompson, before cutting 
 through the Cascade B,ange and emptying into the ocean. 
 iTete Jaune C4che is thus a great centre point. From it the 
 valley of the Fraser extends to the north, ahd the same valley 
 extends soutli by the banks of the Cranberry and of the Gmioe 
 
YELLOW HEAD PASS TO NOETH THOMPSON EIVER. 263 
 
 Eivers to the head of the Columbia, — a continuous valley being 
 thus formed parallel to the Eocky Mountains, and separating 
 them from the Gold and Selkirk groups. 
 
 Our first spell to-day was eleven miles over a road so heavy 
 that it cost our fresh horses three and a half hours' tough work. 
 The trail hugged the banks of the river closely, passing through 
 timber of the finest kind — spruce, hemlock, cedar (a different 
 variety from the white or red cedar in the eastern provinces) 
 •white birch and Douglas fir. An old Iroquois hunter, known 
 in his time as Tete Jaune or Yellow Head, probably from the 
 noticeable fact in an Indian of his hair being light coloured, had 
 wisely selected this central point for cacheing all the furs he got 
 in the course of a season on the Pacific slope, before setting out 
 with them to trade at Jasper House. He has given his sobri- 
 quet forever, not only to the CSche, but to the pass and the 
 lake at the summit. At the CSche, lofty, glacier clothed moun- 
 tains rise in all directions up and down the valley of the Fra- 
 ser, the Cranberry, and the Canoe — enough peaks to hand down 
 to posterity the names of aU aspiring travellers and their 
 friends for the next century. The Gold Mountains form in un- 
 broken line right across our path, forbidding any further pro- 
 gress west, and forcing us to go south-east to flank them, as 
 they force the Fraser to the north. To our great comfort there 
 is stationed at the Cache a large boat of the C. P. R. S. Into it 
 were pitched saddles and packs, and we rowed ourselves across 
 while the horses swam. The Fraser, at this early stage of its 
 jourse, is as broad and strong as the Athabasca below the Jasper 
 valley. As the packs were off the horses, we halted for dinner, 
 md at one o'clock were on our way again, hustling at a great 
 fate to mate up for the slow progress of the last two days. Jack 
 ind Joe, our new packers, proved to be no idlers. The one was 
 :i New Brunswicker who had spent years among the Eocky 
 Mountains, chiefly in the United States ; the other an Ontari- 
 in. settled in British Columbia, — both sharp active fellows. 
 
264 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 knowing a good deal of human and still more of horse nature. 
 
 Our second spell was twenty miles, south-east and south to 
 the crossing of the Canoe River. The trail here was in ex- 
 cellent condition, and for the great part of the way a buggy 
 might have been driven on it. A sandy ridge like a hog's-back 
 runs up the east side of the valley of the Cranberry, and the 
 trail is along it's top. This valley is the connecting link be- 
 tween the Fraser and Canoe rivers. The valley of the Canoe is 
 another and larger link, extending to Boat encampment ; at the 
 northern end of the valley of the Columbia. Before us, as we 
 journeyed south with a little easting, snowy peaks rose on each 
 side of the valley, dwarfing it in appearance to an extremely 
 narrow width ; while right ahead a great mountain mass that 
 marked the beginning of the main valley of the Canoe, seemed 
 to close our way. The trees struggled tar up the sides, fighting 
 a battle with the bare rooks and the snows, — the highest trees 
 heavily dusted with last night's snowfall. Crossing a little 
 stream called the McLennan that issues from a pass in Ihe side 
 hills, we rounded Cranberry Lake and saw the valley of the 
 Canoe stretching far up in the direction we had been going, 
 while our road was across the river and up the dividing line S. 
 S. W. to Albreda Lake and River. 
 
 Although only five o'clock, the sun was . now setting behind 
 the mountains to the west from which the Canoe issues, and the 
 road was heavy with recent rainfall, boulders and mudholes, 
 so that there was no use of pushing on much farther. At 
 the Crossing of the Canoe, there was a raft on the other side, 
 but as the river had fallen two feet in the course of the day, we 
 tried the ford and found it quite practicable, — the water not 
 coming much higher than the horses' shoulders ; so that the 
 Crossing which had so nearly cost Lord Milton and Mrs. 
 Assiniboine their lives did not delay us ten minutes. 
 
 The rapidity with which these mountain torrents increase or 
 decrease in depth is an astonishing feature to those who have 
 
YELLOW HEAD PASS TO NORTH THOMPSON RIVEK. 265 
 
 been accustomed only to lowland rivers. A warm day melts 
 the snows high up, and there is an increase in depth by the 
 afternoon of from six inches to two or three feet. A cold night 
 succeeds, and down the stream falls by morning. That the 
 Canoe had fallen during the day was proof that though warm 
 in the valley, the air was cold in the mountains. The high 
 mountains not only protect the valleys from much of the cold, 
 but also from much of the snow. They act as natural snow 
 fences. As the sun had now disappeared, though his light still 
 shone on the double range of high peaks stretching away down 
 the Canoe, camp was pitched on the other side of the river, 
 Jack and Joe proving themselves as expeditious and obliging as 
 Brown and Beaupr^. It was amusing to listen to the slang 
 terms of the Pacific that garnished their talk. " Spell " we 
 found had crossed the mountains, and " spelling place '' and a 
 " good spell " were as common on the one side as the other. 
 But Jack's call to his horses was new to us. " Git," the abbre- 
 viated form of our " get up " and Terry's " git up out o' that," 
 was the only cry ever addressed to them, and the sound of it 
 would quicken their walk into a trot when nc other words in 
 the language would have the slightest effect. This transatlan- 
 tic sententiousness and love of abbreviations, from which come 
 their " Sabre cuts of Saxon speech," characterized all their con- 
 versation. Without intending the faintest disrespect, they ad- 
 dressed the Doctor always as " Doc." " Good morning, Doc," 
 meant no more than " good morning, my lord " would mean. 
 Even the grandeur of the mountains did not secure to them 
 their name in fuU. " They call them ' the Rockies,' " said Jack, 
 jerking his head in their direction, with an air that indicated 
 that no farther information was required about such things. 
 Every adjective and article that could in any way be dispensed 
 with was rejected from their English ; and if syllables could be 
 lopped off long words so as to bring them down to one syllable, 
 the axe was unsparingly applied. San Francisco was always 
 
266 , OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 "Frisco," and Captain — a name applied indiscriminately to 
 every stranger — never longer than " Cap." 
 
 September 20tli. — Up early this morning and, after breakfast 
 on bread and pork — very unlike Irish pork — ^for not a solitary 
 streak of lean relieved the fat, got away before the sun had 
 looked out over the mountains. From our camp a singtdar 
 radiation of valleys could be observed. That of the Canoe ran 
 almost north and south, inclining more to the west up stream. 
 Between the west and south, the valley of one of its tributaries 
 joined it. Along this tributary, called the Camp River — from 
 the fact of one of the surve3rLng parties wintering on it last year 
 — our course was to be to-day. Between the east and north 
 the valley of the Cranberry, along which we had travelled yes- 
 terday afternoon, extended away to the Fraser. 
 
 Our aim to-day was to reach the North Thompson. Between 
 our camp and it, thirty-three nules of bad road had to be 
 travelled. 
 
 Broad gravel benches, supporting a growth of small black 
 pines, rose one above another like terraces, the highest attaining 
 a height of four or five hundred feet. XJp these the trail led, 
 heading across to Camp River. Similar benches of sand or 
 gravel, or of sand mixed with boulders, are a characteristic of 
 all the rivers of British Columbia. They are distinctly defined 
 as the successive banks of the smallest as well as of the largest 
 i-ivers. Those along the Canoe show that a much greater vol- 
 ume of water once flowed over or rested in the valley. It may 
 be that the Columbia, before the present canyons through which 
 it now runs to the south were riven, flowed thus far or farther 
 north. 
 
 It seemed to us a great mistake that the old Indian trail had 
 not been abandoned here, and a new trail made. The terraces 
 are so steep and high, and the descent on the other side to the 
 valley of Camp River so sudden, that the only explanation we 
 could suggest of the trail facing up and down instead of round- 
 
YELLOW HEAD PASS TO NORTH THOMPSON RIVBB. 267 
 
 ing them, was that T^te Jaune had first made it when chasing 
 a chamois or bighorn, and that he and all others thereafter, 
 McCord's party included, were too conservative, to look for 
 another and better way. 
 
 At the summit of the divide, Camp River flows opposite ways 
 from the two ends of a sluggish lake, the part that runs down 
 to the Thompson assuming the name of the Albreda. The 
 valley is narrow and closed in at its south-west end by the 
 great mass of Mount Milton which fronted us the whole day. 
 This mountain that Dr. Cheadle selected to bear the name of 
 his fellow traveller is a mass of snow-clad peaks that feed the 
 little Albreda with scores of torrents, ice-cold and green colour- 
 ed, and make it into a river of considerable magnitude before 
 it flows into the Thompson. It is on the south of the Albreda 
 and not on the north as stated by them, and the trail winds 
 round its right or north side, leaving it on the left. Soon 
 after entering the valley of Camp River we saw it before us, 
 towering high above the hills that enclosed the narrow valley, 
 and seeming to bar our further progress to the south and south- 
 west. A semi-circle of five peaks, enclosing a snowy bosom, 
 forms the left side ; and, next to these, four much higher rise, 
 the highest and largest in the centre showing a broad front of 
 snow like a field, inclined down till hidden by a forest of dark 
 firs on a range of lower hUls. Our road which at first was up a 
 narrow fire-desolated stony valley, led next round the base of 
 these lower hills, and from the difierence of soil and of eleva- 
 tion, changed from a succession of bare, stony ridges, into a suc- 
 cession of mud-holes and torrents — bridged, foi-tunately for us, 
 by the trail party — till we came to the first crossing of the 
 Albreda. The timber here was of the largest size, but many of 
 the noblest looking cedars were evidently not of much worth 
 from internal decay. It was after sunset when we passed over 
 the wooded slopes and along the banks of the river, and as the 
 dark forest opened here and there, one white peak niter an- 
 
268 OCEAN TO OCEAN: 
 
 other came out through a broad rift in the wooded hills. The 
 underbrush consisted chiefly of a great variety of ferns of all 
 sizes, from the tiniest to clusters six feet high, or of the broad 
 aralea which so monopolized all light and moisture where it 
 grew that there was no chance for grass. In some marshes a 
 water-lily, with leaves three feet long, in seed at this season, 
 hid the water as completely as the aralea the ground. Every- 
 thing on the Pacific slope is on a large scale, — the mountains, 
 the timber, the leaves, the ferns, and the expectations of the 
 people. 
 
 It was still eight miles to the crossing of the Thompson. 
 Since starting in the morning we had halted only once, yet had 
 made barely twenty-five mUes. But as the fast gathering dark- 
 ness, twice as deep because of the forest, compelled it, our fifty- 
 fifth camp from Lake Superior was pitched beside the Albreda. 
 
 September 21st. — Up this, morning at 4.30, in the dark, and 
 on the road two hours later. The days were now so short, be- 
 cause of the season of the year and the mountain-limited hori- 
 zon, that as it was impossible to travel on the trail after night- 
 fall, the most had to be made of the sunlight. 
 
 The trail for the first eight miles was as bad as well could b*;, 
 although a great amount of honest work had l)een expended on 
 it. Before McCord had come through, it must have been sim- 
 ply impassable except for an Indian on foot, — worse than when 
 Milton and Cheadle forced through with their one pack-horse at 
 the rate of three miles a day ; for the large Canadian party had 
 immediately preceded them, whereas no one attempted to follow 
 in their steps tiU McLellan in 1871, and in the intervening 
 nino years much of the traU bad been buried out of sight, or 
 hopelessly blocked up by masses of timber, torrents, landslides, 
 or debris. Our horses, however, proved equal to the work. 
 Even when their feet entangled in a network of fibrous rotts, 
 or sunk eighteen inches in a mixture of bog and clay, they 
 would make gallant attempts at trotting ; and by slipping over 
 
YELLOW HEAD PASS TO NORTH THOMPSON RIVER. 269 
 
 rocks, jumping fallen trees, breasting precipitous ascents with a 
 rush, and recklessly dashing down the hills, the eight miles to 
 the crossing of the Thompson were made in three hours. 
 
 The early morning was dark and lowering, and at eight 
 o'clock a drizzle commenced which continued all the forenoon. 
 Struggling through sombre woods and heavy underbrush, every 
 spray of which discharges its little accumulation of rain on the 
 weary traveller as he passes on, is disheartening and exhausting 
 work. The influence of the rain on men and horses is most 
 depressing. The riders get as fatigued as the horses ; for 
 jumping on and off at the bogs, precipices, and boulder slides 
 thirty or forty times a day is as tiresome as a circus perform- 
 ance must be to the actors. 
 
 We crossed the Thompson at a point where it divides into 
 three, the smallest of the three sections being bridged with long 
 logs, the two others broad and only belly deep, as Jack phrased 
 it. Riding down the west side, too wet and tired to notice 
 anything, the men in advance passed a blazed tree with a piece 
 of paper pinned to the blaze ; but the Secretary, being on foot, 
 turned aside to look ; and read, — 
 
 '"In V's Cache 
 
 There is a box for S. Fleming 
 
 or M. Smith." 
 
 He at once called out the good news, and V's Cache in the 
 shape of a small log shanty was found hard by. Jack unroofed 
 it in a trice and jumped in ; and among other things, stored for 
 different engineering parties, was the box. A stone broke it 
 open, and aa Jack handed out the contents, one by one, a gen- 
 eral shout announced their nature. — Candles and canned meats ; 
 -'ood. " Hooray," from the rear ! Two bottles of Worcester 
 muce and a bottle of brandy ! better ; sauce for the fat pork 
 and for the plum-pudding next Sunday. Half a dozen of Bass' 
 Pale Ale with the familiar face of the red pyramid brand I 
 Three times three and one cheer more ! Afte:- this crowning 
 
270 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 mercy, more canned meats, jams, and a few bottles of claret 
 evoked but faint applause. The wine and jams were put back 
 again for Mr. Smith. Four bottles of the ale, a can of the pre- 
 served beef, and another of peaches were opened on the spot, 
 and Terry producing bread from the kitchen sack, an im- 
 promptu lunch was eaten round the Cache, and Vs health 
 drunk as enthusiastically as if he had been the greatest bene- 
 factor of his species. As the finoUe, we deposited the empty 
 bottles and cans at the foot of the blazed tree, and wrote 
 
 " Gratefully received 
 The above ; 
 Vide infra. " 
 
 On one side, " God bless Y !" and on the other, " St vis numu- 
 fnemMmn,, despice," and decorating the paper with red and blue 
 pencil marks as elaborately as time and our limited resources 
 permitted, we rode off with merry hearts, the rain ceasing and 
 the sun shining out at the same time as if to be in unison with 
 our feelings. Is it necessary here to implore the ascetic and 
 the dignified reader to be a little kind to this ebullition on our 
 part ? It was chUdish, perhaps, but then what were we but 
 babes in the wood ? Circumstances alter cases ; and our cir- 
 cumstances were peculiar. We would have gushed over a mere 
 acquaintance, had he come upon us in that inhospitable valley, 
 those melancholy woods, under those rainy skies. Probably we 
 might have fallen on the neck and wept over an old friend. Is 
 it wonderful that the red pyramid looked so kindly, and touched 
 a chord in our hearts ? 
 
 Two miles farther on, the sound of a bell was heard. Jack 
 baid that it must be the bell-horse of another pack-train ; but 
 in a few minutes a solitary traveller, walking beside his two 
 laden horses, emerged from the woods ahead. He turned out 
 to be one John Glen — a miner on his way to prospect for gold 
 on hitherto untried mountains and sand-bars. Here was a 
 specimen of Anglo-Saxon self-reliant individualism more strike 
 
YELLOW HEAf PASS TO NOETH THOMPSOA^ RIVER. 271 
 
 ing than that pictured by Quinet of the American settler, with- 
 out priest or captain at his head, going out into the deep woods 
 or virgin lands of the new continent to find and found a home. 
 John Glen calculated that there was as good gold in the moun- 
 tains as had yet come out of them, and that he might strike a 
 new bar or gulch that would pan out as richly as Williams 
 Creek, Cariboo ; so putting blankets and bacon, flour and frying- 
 pan, shining pickaxe and shovel on his horses, and sticking 
 revolver and knife in his waist, off he started from Kamloops 
 to seek fresh fields and pastrires new. Nothing to him was 
 lack of company or of newspapers ; short days and approach of 
 winter ; seas of mountains and grassless valleys, equally inhos- 
 pitable j risk of sickness and certainty of storms ; slow and 
 exhausting travel through marsh 'and muskeg, across roaring 
 mountain torrents and miles of fallen timber ; lonely days and 
 lonely nights ; — if he found gold he would be repaid. Pros- 
 pecting was his business, and he went about it in simple matter- 
 of-course style, as if he were doing business on 'change. John 
 Glen was to us a typical man, the modem missionary, the 
 martyr for gold, the advance guard of the army of material 
 progress. And who will deny or make light of his virtue, his 
 faith, such as it was ? His self-reliance was sublime. Com- 
 pared to his, how small the daring and pluck of even Milton 
 and Cheadle 1 God save thee, John Glen ! and give thee thy 
 reward ! 
 
 Glen was more than a moral to us. He brought the Chief a 
 letter from the Hudson Bay agent at Kamloops, of date August 
 24th, informing him that our personal Ifiggage from Toronto 
 via San Francisco had arrived, and would be kept for us. This 
 was another bit of good fortune to mark the day. 
 
 In hopes of getting to Cranberry marsh, twenty-two miles 
 down from the crossing, we pushed on without giving the horses 
 any rest except the lunch half-houi' at Vs Cache ; but the roads 
 were so heavy that when within four miles of the marsh the 
 
272 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 packers advised camping. The horses continued to go with 
 spirit ; but the long straia -was telling on them, and they had 
 to be our first consideration. The road had seemed to us — if 
 not to the horses — to improve from Vs Cache ; but it was still 
 a hard road to travel, the valley of the Thompson being almost 
 as bad as the valley of the Albreda. In our eighteen miles 
 along it to-day, there was not a mile of level. It was constant 
 up and down, as if we were riding over billows. Even where 
 the ground was low, the cradle hiUs were high enough to make 
 the road undulating. The valley of the Thompson is very 
 narrow for a stream of its magnitude ; in fact it is a mountain 
 gorge rather than a valley. Only at rare intervals is there a 
 bit of flat or meadow or even marsh along its banks. High 
 wooded hills rise on each side ; and, beyond these, a higher 
 range of snowy peaks, one or another of the highest of which 
 peeps over the woods at turns of the river, or when the forest 
 through which you are toiling opens a little to enable you to 
 see. The forest is of the grandest kind — not only the living 
 but the dead. Everywhere around lie the prostrate forms of 
 old giants, in every stage of decay, some of them six to eight 
 feet through, and an hundred and fifty to two hundred feet in 
 length. Scarcely half-hiding these are broad-leaved plants and 
 ferns in infinite variety, while the branchless columnal shafts of 
 more modern cedars tower far up among the dark branches of 
 spruce and hemlock, dwarfing the horse and his rider, that creep 
 along across their interlaced roots and the mouldering bones of 
 their great predecessors 
 
 It was not five o'clock when we camped ; but the sun had set 
 in the narrow valley, and it was quite dark before the horses 
 had been driven to the nearest feed, and the tent put in order 
 for the night. Terry set to work as usual to hurry up the tea ; 
 but to his and our dismay there was no tea kettle. It had 
 fallen by the way from the pack to which it was tied. Jack 
 was sure he had seen it on, four miles back ; but as " NvUa 
 
YELLOW HEAD PASS TO NORTH THOMPSON RIVER. 273 
 
 vestigia retrorstmi," was our motto, whatever the loss sustained, 
 no one proposed to turn back and look for it ; and our only 
 other pot — the one used for pork and porridge boiling and all 
 other purposes — was laid under requisition for the tea. The 
 two frying pans had also had their handles twisted off ; but Joe 
 tied the two handles together and made a pair of pinchers out 
 of them that would lift one ; and Terry notched a crooked stick 
 and made a handle for the other. Supper was prepared with 
 these extemporised utensils. The Doctor and Frank fried slap- 
 jacks and then boiled canned goose in the one pan. Terry fried 
 pork in the other ; and boiled dried apples in the pot before 
 making the tea in it. The Chief and the Secretaiy assisted 
 with bland smiles and words of encouragement, and by throw- 
 ing a few chips on the fire occasionally : and a jolly supper 
 between the open tent and the roaring fire, was the grand 
 finale. 
 
 September 22nd. — The first meal this morning, there being 
 only one pot, was a plate of porridge, eaten after a dip in the 
 ice-cold Thompson. Two hours after Terry announced dejetmer 
 a h, fourchette. The Doctor and Frank roused themselves from 
 their second sleep to enjoy it ; but Jack was absent. Not 
 taking kindly to the porridge, he had gone off without saying a 
 word, in search of the missing kettle, and service was postponed 
 till his return. 
 
 Looking round at the site of our camp, we could see nothing 
 on our own side of the river but a willow thicket, and the 
 dense forest rising beyond. On the other side, and up stream, 
 a snow-clad, round topped mountain looked over the lower 
 hUls. Four or five mUes down stream a lofty pyramid showed 
 us its snowy face, with a twin peak a little to the souifh, and a 
 great shoulder also snow-covered, extending farther beyond in 
 the same direction. This " biceps Parnassus" we inferred was 
 Mount Cheadle, and in honour of the man the camp was dubbed 
 Camp Cheadle. 
 
 18 
 
274 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 Befoi-e mid-day Jack returned in. triumph with the tea kettle 
 — ^which he had found less than four m'iles back — slung across 
 his shoulders. A cup of tea was at once made in it for him as 
 reward. The Dr. now prepared the pudding, and when it was 
 deposited in the pot for its three hours' boil, the bell was rung 
 for divine service. 
 
 Just as the Secretary commenced, the pot to the dismay of 
 every one tumbled over. Half-a-dozen hands were instinctively 
 stretched out, but Terry put it right, with the coolness of a 
 veteran, and the service proceeded with no more trouble, 
 except that gusts of wind blew the smoke into our eyes, making 
 Jack in particular weep enough to gratify any preacher. 
 
 Dinner was ordered for four o'clock, and it need hardly be 
 said, the pudding was a success. It rolled from the bag on to 
 the plate, in the most approved fashion of oblong or rotund 
 puddings. The Dr. garnished it with sLk ferns for the six Pro- 
 vinces of the Dominion. The Chief produced Vs brandy, 
 poured some over the pudding and applying a match, it was set 
 on the table in a blaze of blue light, that gladdened every one 
 with old niemories. 
 
 Before sunset, the wind had blown away the clouds and the 
 snowy mist that had been falling up on the mountains. When 
 it was dark the stars came out in a clear sky, promising fine 
 weather on the morrow. After some general talk and calcula- 
 tions as to whether we could get to Kamloops for next Sunday, 
 in which hope weighed down the heaviest improbabilities, all 
 gathered round the hearthstone fire for family worship. It was 
 the time that we always felt most solemnized; thankful to God 
 for his goodness to us, praying His mercy for our far away 
 homes, and drawn to one another by the thought that we were 
 in the wilderness, with common needs, and entirely dependent 
 on God and each other. 
 
SKDLL OF THE HEADLESS INDIAN. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 Along the North Thompson Biver to Kamloops. 
 
 Breakfast by Moonlight.— The Bell-horse.— Mount Cheadle.— Blue River and Mountains. 
 -Goose Creek.— The Headless Indian.— Porcupine Breakfast.— The Canyon.— Mule 
 Train.— At Hell Gate, meet friends.— Gathering at Camps U. and V.— Good cheer — 
 Still water. Round Prairie.- Exciting news two months old.— Change in the Flora. 
 —Bunch Grass.— Raft River.— Clearwater.— Boat to Kamloops.- Assiniboine Bluff. 
 — Last night under canvas .—Siwash Houses.— Signs of Civilization.— Stock Raising. 
 —Wages in British Columbia.— A fl& aspect of country— Darkness on the River.— 
 Arrival at Kamloops. 
 
 September 23rd. — Jack rose this morning at 3 a.m., and made 
 up the fire by kicking the embers together and piling on more 
 wood. In a quarter of an hour after, all hands were up — fold- 
 ing blankets and packing. We breakfasted bymoonlight, and 
 would have been off at once, but two pf the horses had wandered, 
 and it was some time before they were found. Jack tracked 
 them to an island in the river, and had to wade across for them. 
 
 This was the first occasion on which any of the horses had 
 strayed even a short distance from the bell. They had always 
 kept within sound of it on the journey and during the night. 
 The bell is hung round the neck of the most willing horse of 
 the pack, and from that moment he takes the lead. Till he 
 moves on, it is almost impossible to force any of the others for- 
 ward. If you keep back your horse for a mile or two when on 
 the march, aiM then give him the rein, he dashes on in frantic 
 eagerness to catch up to the rest. Get hold of the bell-horse 
 when you want to start in the morning, and ring the bell and 
 soon all the others in the pack gather round. 
 
 'VjT'e had never seen the gregariousness of horses so strongly 
 exhibited as in the case of those Pacific pack-trains. And the 
 mule shows the sentiment or instinct still more strongly. A 
 bell-horse is put at the head of the mule train, and the mules 
 
276 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 follow him and pay him the most devoted loyalty. If a strange 
 dog comes up barking, or any other hostile looking brute, the 
 mules often rush furiously at the enemy, and trample him under 
 foot, to shield their sovereign from danger or even from insult. 
 Altogether the bell-horse was a novelty to us, thougli his uses 
 are so thoroughly understood here, that Jack and Joe were 
 astonished at our asking any questions about so well established 
 an institution. 
 
 The night had been frosty, and the ground in the morning 
 was quite hard, but after we had been on the road for an hour, 
 the sun rose from behind Mount (5headle, and warmed the air 
 somewhat, though it continued cold enough all day to make 
 walking preferable to riding. For the first four miles the road 
 was similar to Saturday's. We then came to a mountain stream, 
 towards the mouth of which the view opened and showed us 
 Mount Cheadle rising stately and beautiful from the opposite 
 bank of the Thompson. What had seemed yesterday a great 
 shoulder stretching to the south was now seen to be a distinct 
 hill, but in addition to the cone or pyramid with the twin heads 
 of Mount Cheadle, a third and lower peak to the north-east 
 appeared. Beyond the stream is Cranberry marsh. The trail 
 here goes along the beach for a short distance, and then turns 
 into the woods and hills, giving us a repetition of Saturday's 
 experiences. Eight miles from camp we crossed another and 
 larger stream on the other side of which the valley widened 
 and the country beyond opened. The landscape was softer and 
 the wild myrtle and the garden waxberry mixed with the ruder 
 plants that had held entire possession of the ground farther up. 
 Eight miles more brought us to open meadows along the banks 
 of the river, overgrown in part by willows and alders, and in 
 part covered with marsh grass. Here a halt of two hours for 
 dinner was called. We had travelled about sixteen mUes in five 
 hours, and had only ten more to travel, to reach Goose Creek 
 where camp was to be pitched for the night. It was expedient 
 
ALONG THE NORTH THOMPSON EIVEE. 277 
 
 to get there as early as possible, that the horses might have a 
 good feed, for there woxild be no grass along to-morrow's road, 
 which was said to be the worst between Yellow Head Pass and 
 Eamloops. 
 
 During the last two or three days the river had fallen very 
 much, and at our halting place it was eight or nine feet below 
 its high water mark. The valley was wide enough to enable us 
 for the first time to see on both sides the summits of the moun 
 tains that enclosed it. At this point they are remarkably 
 varied. A broad deep cleft in the heavily timbered hills on 
 the west side of the river, showed an undulating line of snowy 
 peaks, rising either from or behind the wooded range ; and the 
 opposite side was closed in nearer the river by a number of sep- 
 arate mountains, from four to six thousand feet high, that folded 
 in upon or rose behind one another. 
 
 The afternoon drive was along a level, for the next six or 
 seven miles to Blue River, where our progress was slow from 
 the stubs or short sharp stumps of the alders, that dotted and 
 sometimes completely filled up the trail. Blue River gets its 
 name from the deep soft blue of the distant hUls, which are seen 
 from its mouth well up into the gap through which it runs. A 
 raft is kept on this river for the use of the survey. We made 
 use of the Cache or shanty on the bank, opening it for a small 
 supply of beans and of soap. A diligent search was made for 
 cofiee but without result. 
 
 The timber here is small and much of it has been destroyed 
 by fires. After crossing the river, the trail winds round a bluff 
 that extends boldly to the Thompson. Timber that had fallen 
 down the steep face across the trail delayed us several times. 
 Frank shot a large porcupine as it was climbing a tree, and 
 pitched it on the kitchen pack to be tried as food. Three miles 
 more brought us to Goose Creek, where we camped an hour 
 before sunset. This was the spot the Doctor had been told to 
 examine for the bones of the headless Indian, and therefore as 
 
278 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 soon as he had unsaddled his horse, he selected a shingle shaped 
 stick, and, without saying a word, set off on his exploration 
 with all the mystery and deliberation of a resurrectionist. In 
 a few minutes he came on a bit of board with the following in- 
 scription pencilled on it : — 
 
 " Here lie the remains of the 'Headless Indian,' discovered by Lord 
 " Milton and Dr. Cheadle, A.D. 1863. At this spot we found an old 
 "tin kettle, a knife, a spoon, and fishing line ; and 150 yards up the 
 " bank of river we also found the skull, which was sought for in vain by 
 " the above gentlemen. 
 
 "T. Party, C. P. E. S. 
 "June 5th, 1872." 
 
 Scratching the ground with his wooden spade the Dr. was 
 soon in possession of the skull,- and of the rusty scalping knife 
 that had been thrown in beside it, and finding the old kettle 
 near, he appropriated it too, and deposited all three with his 
 baggage as triumphantly as if he had rifled an Egyptian lomb. 
 Terry did not like the proceedings at all, and could only be re- 
 conciled to them on the plea that they might lead to the disco- 
 very of the murderers ; for nothing would persuade him that 
 the man's head had dropped off, and been carried to a distance 
 by the wind or some beast. He had seen heads broken, or cut 
 off, but he had never heard before — and neither had we as far 
 as that goes — of a, head rolling off; and therefore concluded 
 that " there had been some bad work here." 
 
 Frank and Jack skinned the porcupine, and prepared it for 
 cooking. A leg being spitted and broiled before the fire as a 
 test morsel, was pronounced superior to beaver ; and the car- 
 cass was consigned to Terry, who decided to cut it up, parboil, 
 and fry it for breakfast. 
 
 September 24th. — There was no need to look at the thermom- 
 eter when we got up to know that there had been frost. Every 
 one felt it through the capote and pair of blankets in which he 
 was wrapped. The Chief rose at midnight and renewed the 
 fire. Frank then got up and curled himself into a ball within 
 
ALONG THE NORTH THOMPSON EIYER. 27 'J 
 
 a few inches of the red embers. At 3 A.M. all rose growling, 
 gtamping their cold feet, lingering about the fire, lighting pipes, 
 and considering whether washing the face wasn't a superstitious 
 rule to be occasionally honoured in the breach rather than the 
 observance. Everything was done slowly. It was nearly sun- 
 rise before any one even thought of looking at the thermometer, 
 which then indicated 17 ° : not so very low, but we had been 
 sleeping practically in the open air, and in a cold wind with 
 rather light covering. Three-quarters of an hour were spent in 
 cooking the porcupine ; and as it did not come up to our expec- 
 tations, from inherent defects or Terry's cooking, very little of 
 the meat was eaten ; and no one proposing to carry a piece in 
 his pocket for lunch, it was left behind, — the only thing in the 
 shape of food that had been wasted by us on the journey. 
 
 At 6.15 we were on the march, expecting a heavy day's work, 
 as the road lay over the Great Canyon that had all but de- 
 feated Milton and Cheadle's utmost efforts, and past the " porte 
 d' enfer " of the Assiniboine. The first three miles after cross- 
 ing the Creek were partly round and partly over a heavy bluff; 
 and the next five along the river, which ran like a mill-race 
 between high hills. These hills on our side afforded space for 
 the road either along their bases, or on the first bench above. 
 The next ten or twelve miles were to be through the dreaded 
 canyon ; a pass as much more formidable than Killiekrankie as 
 the Thompson is greater than the Garry. While climbing the 
 first bluff near the entrance to the canyon, the beU-horse of- a 
 pack-train was heard ahead. Fortunately there was space for 
 us to draw aside and let the train pass. It was on its way up 
 to Tgte Jaune Cache with supplies, and consisted of fifty-two 
 mules led by a bell-horse, and driven by four or five men, repre- 
 senting as many different nationalities. Most of the mules 
 were, with the exception of the long ears, wonderfully graceful 
 creatures ; and though laden with an average weight of three 
 hundred pounds, stepped out over rocks and roots firmly and 
 
280 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 lightly as if their loads were nothing. This was the first train 
 that had ever passed through the canyon without losing at least 
 one animal. The horse or mule puts its foot on a piece of in- 
 nocent-looking moss ; underneath the moss there happens to be 
 a wet stone over which he slips ; at the same moment, his broad 
 un wieldly pack strikes against a rock, outjutting from the bluff, 
 and as there is no room for him to recover himself, over he 
 goes into the roaring Thompson, and that's the last seen of him 
 unless brought up by a tree halfway down the precipice. Two 
 months before a mule fell over in this way. The packers went 
 down to the river side to look for him, but as there was no 
 trace to be seen, resumed their march. Five days after, another 
 train passing near the spot heard the braying of a mule, and 
 guided by the noise looked, and found, that he had fallen on a 
 broad rock half way down, where he had lain for some time 
 stunned. Struggling to his feet, fortunately for him the appa- 
 raho got entangled round the rock, and held him fast till he 
 was relieved by the men of the train from his razor bridge over 
 the flood. This was a more wonderful deliverance than that 
 of Bucephalus when abandoned by Mr. O'B. 
 
 For several mUes, the river here is one long rapid, dashing 
 over hidden and half-hidden rocks scattered over every part of 
 its bed. The great point of danger is reached at " Hell Gate." 
 A huge arch had once stretched across the present channel, and 
 had been rifted asunder, leaving a passage for the river not 
 more than thirty feet wide. The rock looked as if it had re- 
 cently parted, a depression on the one side exactly fitting into 
 an overhanging rook opposite, looking as if a counter convul. 
 sion might groove and tongue the two together again. Thiough 
 this passage the river raged, and the whole force of the current 
 ran under the overhanging black rock, so near its roof that at 
 high water the river is forced back. From this point the can- 
 yon continues for six or seven mUes down, at one point the 
 opposing rooks being only fifteen feet apart The river there 
 
ALONG THE NORTH THOMPSON EITER. 281 
 
 boils and spurts up as if ejected from beneath out of a hydrau. 
 lie pipe. 
 
 Half a mile below HeU Gate, a bell was again heard ahead. 
 This to our great delight belonged to a mule train accompanying 
 Mr. Marcus Smith — the deputy of the Engineer-iu-Chief on the 
 Pacific side. Our pack-horses were sent on while we halted to 
 exchange greetings and news. Mr. Smith was on his way to 
 Tete Jaune Cache to try and find a pass across the Gold range. 
 He had spent the greater part of the summer on the Pacific 
 coast, in the Cascades, and the Chilcoten district in order to 
 find a practicable line for the railway from Bute Inlet through 
 to Tete Jaune Cache. After a long consultation and a lunch of 
 bread and cheese — cheese produced by Smith and eaten so freely 
 by us who had not tasted any for two months, that Smith rue- 
 fully declared our lunch to be " cheese — and bread," the Chief 
 advised him to return with us to Kamloops, as it was too late 
 in the season to adventure into the heart of the Gold range 
 from the east side. The two parties accordingly became one. 
 
 Following up our pack-horses, ^e came in the course of the 
 next few mUes to the bottom of the canyon, and all at once to 
 a totally different aspect of the river and road. The river ceases 
 to descend rapidly for the next twelve miles, and the valley 
 opens out to a breadth of two or three miles. The road runs 
 along this level ; but, though a great improvement on the 
 breakneck hills we had been going up and down all day, th^ 
 clumps of willow and alder stubs and roots kept the horses from 
 venturing on much beyond a walk, — except the Secretary's, a 
 mad brute called the Tool which dashed on after the bell at such 
 a rate that the rest of the party in following more slowly 
 looked round to pick up the remains. The river here, as if 
 exhausted with its furious racing, subsides into a smooth broad 
 lake-like appearance, calmly reflecting everything on its banks. 
 Hence the name of this district — "Stillwater." Four mUes 
 along this brought us to our men unpacking the horses at the 
 
282 OCEAN TO OCEAIir. 
 
 point agreed on in the morning. Half a mile ahead, they said, 
 were the tents of the XJ. and V. parties who had been surveying 
 all summer between Kamloops and Tete Jaune Cache. They 
 had met at this central point, the work on both sections being 
 just finished. Going on to their camp, we found Mr. John 
 Trutch, the engineer in charge of both parties, and our friend 
 V. Their encampment seemed to us a great affair, unaccus- 
 tomed as we had been for weeks to new faces. Each party 
 consisted in all of sixteen or eighteen men, with two Indians, — 
 one the cook's slavey, and the other — slavey to the officer in 
 charge, and general messenger. Besides the two parties there 
 was a third in charge of the pack train, so that the valley was 
 alive with men and mules ; all busy packing up to start for 
 Kamloops in the morning. Most cordial were the greetings on 
 both sides. They at once set to work to prepare supper for us, 
 though they had had their own already, and men were sent back to 
 bring our tent down beside their encampment. The latest news 
 was eagerly asked and given. The news that delighted us most 
 was the victory of the Canadian team at Wimbledon ia the 
 competition for the Eajah of Kolapore's cup against eiwht 
 picked shots of the United Kingdom. The names of the eight 
 were read out, and a special cheer given for Shand of Halifax 
 who scored highest 
 
 A mighty supper was soon announced. Never were men in 
 better condition for the table. Beefsteak, bacon, stuffed heart 
 loaf bread, and a bottle of claret ; a second course of fried slices 
 of the remains of a plum-pudding, seasoned with blueberry-jam 
 made by themselves, a feast the memory of which shall lonw 
 gladden us ! There was so much to talk and hear about, such 
 a mui-mur of voices, jbhe pleasajat light of so many fires, the pros- 
 pect of a warm, sound sleep, and of more rapid journeying here- 
 after, that there was nothing wanting to make our happiness 
 complete, except letters from home, and those were at Kam- 
 loops, not far away. 
 
ALONG THE NORTH THOMPSON EIVEK. 283 
 
 September 25th. — Rose refreshed, and as ready for a High- 
 land breakfast as if we had not eaten an English dinner last 
 night. It was arranged that Mr. Trutch should accompany us 
 to Kamloops, V. remaining behind to bring on everything, and 
 that at the Clearwater River, sixty-two miles distant, we should" 
 take the survey boat and go down the Thompson for the 
 remaining seventy-three miles to Kamloops. 
 
 As the Chief had letters to write to different parties, it was 
 nine o'clock before we got away from the pleasant Stillwater 
 Camp. Our pack-horses had gone on two hours before with 
 instructions to camp at Round Prairie, twenty-five miles from 
 Stillwater. 
 
 Soon after starting, we caught up to the beef-cattle and the 
 pack-train of mules that had gone in advance with TJ's camp. 
 As the trail is narrow, and mules resent being passed on the 
 road — occasionally flinging their heels back into the face of the 
 too eager horse — it took some time and engineering to get 
 ahead ; but when this was accomplished we moved at a rapid 
 walk, breaking now and then into a trot. From the canyfin to 
 Clearwater the trail steadily improved. Our morning journey 
 was for ten miles along the grassy or willow covered meadow 
 on the west side of the Thompson's Stillwater. The river looked 
 like a long lake. The sand over the trail and the debris strewn 
 around showed that, in some years at any rate, the river over- 
 flowed the low meadow. 
 
 We halted for lunch at the south end of the StiUwater, for- 
 tunately coming on TJ's advance party, who supplied us with 
 some bread, while the Doctor produced two boxes of sardines 
 he had prudently " packei." One of the men gave Mr. Trutch 
 1 pair of vnllow grouse he had shot the day before. British 
 Columbia boasts of having seven or eight varieties of the grouse 
 kind, the most abundant being the sage hen, the blue grouse, 
 the ptarmigan, and the spruce partridge or fool-hen, that is 
 Bftener knocked over with a stick than shot. 
 
284 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 After its long repose the Thompson now begins to brawl and 
 prepare for another rush down hill. Its height above sea level 
 at the bottom of the cany6n is 2,000 feet, and at Kamloops 
 1,250. It falls more than two-thirds of this 750 feet of differ- 
 ence in the forty-five miles immediately above Clearwater. In 
 the seventy-three miles below Clearwater the fall is only 240 
 feet. The meadow now ceased, and the valley contracted again. 
 We could easily understand the dismay with which Milton and 
 Cheadle beheld such a prospect. The valley had opened below 
 Mount Cheadle as if the long imprisonment of the river, and 
 with it their own, was coming to an end ; but the Great Can- 
 yon had hedged it in again more firmly than ever. Next at 
 Stillwater, and down for twelve or fourteen milles, everything 
 looked as if the river, wearied with its long course between high 
 overhanging hills, was at last about to emerge into an open 
 country of farms and settlements ; but again the hills closed in, 
 and the apparently interminable narrow valley recommenced. 
 
 There was no gloom, however, in our party. No matter what 
 the road, the country or the weather, everything was on our 
 side ; fair trail, friendly faces, commissariat all right, and the 
 prospect of a post office before the .end of the week. The day 
 was warm and sunny ; the climate altogether different from the 
 rainy skies and cold nights higher up the slope ; and we were 
 assured that an hundred miles farther down stream, no rain 
 ever fell except an occasional storm or a few drops from high 
 passing clouds — an assiu-ance more welcome to us than to in- 
 tending settlers. 
 
 The aspect of the hills too was changing. They were lower and 
 more broken, with undulating spaces between, giving promise 
 of escape to the imprisoned traveller, sooner or later. Distinctly 
 defined benches extended at different points along the banks, 
 and on these the trail was comparatively level. About 4 p.m. 
 we came to a bit of open called Round Pr'airie, and found the 
 men unpacking for the night, as there was no other good place 
 for ^ibe horses nearer than sixteen miles off. 
 
ALONG THE NORTH THOMPSON EIVEK. 285 
 
 This had been the easiest day's journey since entering the 
 mountains, for though we had travelled twenty-four miles, there 
 was no £a.tigue, so that it was really like one of the pic-nic days 
 of the plains. The early camping gave another chance to read 
 the papers, of which every one took advantage, devouring with 
 avidity papers nearly two months old. 
 
 September 26th. — It rained heavily this morning, and the 
 start from camp was made with the delays and discomforts that 
 rain produces. The cotton tent weighs thrice as much as when 
 dry. The ends of the blankets, clothes, some of the food, the 
 shagauappi, etc., get wet. The packs are heavier and the horses' 
 backs are wet ; and it is always a question whether or not 
 water-proofs do the riders any good. This morning one of the 
 pack-horses could not be found. Everything had to be packed 
 on the three others ; Jack remained behind to look for the 
 fourth, and soon found the poor brute sheltered from the rain, 
 in a thicket near where the bell had been. 
 
 The country to-day resembled that of yesterday ; but even 
 where it opened out, the steady drizzle and the heavy mists on 
 the hills hid everything. Cedars had entirely disappeared, and 
 the spruce and pines were comparatively small. The aralea 
 gave place to a smaller leaved trailer with a red berry like the 
 raspberry ; and a dark-green prickly-leaved bush like English 
 holly, called the Oregon grape, and several grasses and plants 
 new to us covered the ground. 
 
 Six miles from camp we came to Mad River, a violent mou 
 tain affluent of the Thompson, crossed by a good bridge ; and 
 ten miles farther on to Pea Vine Prairie, where as the rain 
 ceased and enough blue sky " to make a pair of breeches '' 
 showed, the halt for dinner was called. Here we saw for the 
 first time the celebrated bunch-grass, which has no superior as 
 feed for horses or cattle ; especially for the latter, as the beef 
 that has been fed on it is peculiarly juicy and tender. The 
 name explains its character as fc grasf. It consists of small 
 
286 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 narrow blades — ten to fifty of them growing in a bunch from 
 six to eighteen inches high, and the bunches so close together 
 m places that at a distance they appear to form a sward. The 
 blades are green in spring and summer, but at this season they 
 are russet grey, apparently withered and tasteless, but the 
 avidity with which the horses cropped them, turning aside from 
 green and succulent marsh grass and even vetches, showed that 
 the virtue of the bunch-grass had not been lost. 
 
 The clouds now rolled up like curtains from the hills, and 
 the sun breaking out revealed the river, three or four hundred 
 feet below, with an intervale on each side that made the valley 
 at least two miles across to the high banks that enclosed it. 
 There was a bend in the river to the west, so that we saw not 
 only a little up and down, which is usually all that can be seen 
 on the North Thompson, but round the corner ; a wide extent 
 of landscape of varied beauty and soft outlines. The hills 
 were wooded, and the summits of the highest dusted with the 
 recent snow, that had been rain-fall in the valley. Autumn 
 hues of birch, Cottonwood, and poplar blended with the dark fir 
 and pine, giving the variety and warmth of colour that we had 
 for many days been strangers to, and which was therefore ap- 
 preciated all the more. The face of the bank on which we 
 stood presented a singular appearance. It was of whitish clay 
 mixed with sand, the front hard as cement by the action of the 
 weather ; there had been successive slides of the bank behind 
 in different years, but the old front had remained firm, and 
 was now standing out along the face, away from the bank, in 
 pyramidal or grotesque forms, like the trap of basalt rocks, 
 spires, and columns along the east coast of Skye, springing from 
 debris at the base. Similar strange forms of cemented whitish 
 clay are to be found in several places on the Fraser. 
 
 As Smith and Trutch now messed with us, the different cooks 
 contributed to the common stock and to the cooking, with the 
 two advantages of greater variety to the table, and greater speed 
 
ALONG THE NORTH THOMPSON RIVER. 287 
 
 in the preparation. After a short halt at Pea Vine we got into 
 the saddle again, and made ten miles before sunset ; the trail 
 leading across sandy benches intersected by numerous little 
 creeks, the descent to which was generally so direct that every 
 one had to dismount, both for the dowa and the up hill stretch. 
 Camp for the night was pitched at one of these creeks, twelve 
 miles to the north of the Clearwater, and Frank who had 
 become quite an adept at constructing camp fires, built up a 
 mighty one, at which we dried wet clothes and blankets. Our 
 camp presented a lively scene at night. Great fires before each 
 tent lit up the dark forest, and threw gleams of light about, 
 that made the surroumding darkness all the more intense. 
 Through the branches of the pines, the kindly stars — ^the only 
 spectators — looked down on groups flitting from tent to tent 
 or cumbered about the many things that have to be cared for 
 even in the wilderness, cooking, mending, drying, overhauling 
 baggage, piling wood on the fire, planning for the morrow, or 
 taking notes. How like a lot of gypsies we were in outward 
 appearance, and how naturally every one took to the wild life ! 
 A longing for home and for rest would steal over us if we were 
 quiet for a time, but a genuine love for camp life, for its freedom 
 and rude happiness, for the earth as a couch and the sky for a 
 canopy, and the wide world for a bed-room, possessed us all ; 
 and we knew that, in after days, memory would return, to 
 dwell fondly over many an old camping ground by lake or river 
 side, on the plains, in the woods, and among the mountains. 
 
 September 27th. — Six. miles travel like yesterday's brought 
 us this morning to Raft Eiver, a broad stream, whose ice-cold 
 pellucid waters indicated that it ran from glaciers, or through 
 hard basalt or trap rock that yielded it no tribute of clay to 
 bring down ; and six mOes more along gravelly benches to the 
 Clearwater, whose name is intended to express a similar char- 
 acter, and the difference between itself and the clay coloured 
 Thompson it empties into. The Clearwater is so large a stream 
 
288 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 that after its junction, the Thompson becomes clearer from the 
 admixture. At the junction there is a depot of the C.P.R. Sur- 
 vey, with a man in charge, and a three ton boat used to bring" 
 up supplies from Kamloops, which we had arranged with V. to 
 take down, leaving Jack and Joe to bring along the horses, at a 
 leisurely pace. From Clearwater to Kamloops by the trail is 
 between seventy and eighty miles, and by the river probably 
 ninety. Aided by the current we hoped to row this in a day 
 and a half, and so get to Kamloops on Saturday night. V. had 
 given us four men to row the boat, and as she lay at the river 
 bank, the loads were taken from the horses' backs, and thrown 
 in without difficulty. 
 
 After dining in front of the shanty, we said good-bye to Jack 
 and Joe, and gave ourselves up to the sixth lot of men we had 
 journeyed with since leaving Fort Garry, and the fourth variety 
 of locomotion ; the faithful Terry stUl cleaving to the party, 
 and really seeming to get fond of us, from force of habit, and 
 the contrast of his own long tenure of service with the short 
 periods of all the others. 
 
 At two P.M., twelve got into the boat ; our five, the crew, 
 Smith, Trutch, and his man Johnston, who was to steer and 
 help Terry. Up to two o'clock the day had been cloudy and 
 cold, but the sun now came out, and we could enjoy the luxury 
 of sitting in comfort, talking or reading, knowing too that no 
 delay was occasioned by the comfort. The oars were clumsy, 
 but the men worked with a will, and the current was so strong 
 that the boat moved down at the rate of five or six miles an 
 hour, so that after four and a half hours, Trutch advised camp- 
 ing, though there was still half an hour's twilight, for at the 
 same rate we would easily reach Kamloops on the morrow. 
 
 In this part of its course the river did not seem materially 
 larger, or diiferent from what it was much farther up. It still 
 ran between high rugged hills, that closed in as canyons at inter- 
 vals. Its course was still through a gorge rather than a valley. 
 
ALONG THE NORTH THOMPSON RIVER. 289 
 
 Any expanse was as often up on a high terrace, that had once 
 been its bed, as down along its present banks. Seventeen 
 miles from the Clearwater we passed the Assiniboine's bluflf, a 
 huge protuberance of slate that needs only a similar rock on 
 the other side to make it a formidable canyon. At some points 
 the/orms of the hills varied so much that the scene was pictur- 
 esque and striking, but these hills are merely outliers, and 
 not high enough to impress, or to do away with the feeling oi 
 monotony. 
 
 Our crew were expert in managing a boat and. in putting up 
 a tent. Before dark everything was secm-ed, and we lay down 
 for the last time in this expedition — in our lean to — sub Jove 
 frigido. This — our Thompson River Camp — was the sixtieth 
 from Lake Superior, and as we wrapped the blankets round us, 
 a regretful feeling that it woiild probably be the last, stole into 
 every one's mind. 
 
 September 28th. — Raining this morning again, but as there 
 were no horses to pack, it was of less consequence. By 7:30 
 the boat was unmoored and we were rowing down the river, 
 having fifty-two miles by the survey line and probably sixty- 
 five by the river to make before night. Behind and above us 
 the clouds were heavy, but we soon passed through the rainy 
 region to the clearer skies that are generally in the neighbour- 
 hood of Kamloops. For the first half of our way the river 
 scenery was very similar to that of yesterday, except that the 
 flats along the banks were broader and more fertile, and the 
 hills covered more abundantly with bunch grass. A few fami- 
 lies of Siwashes, as Indians on the Pacific slope are called, in 
 barbarous Chinook, — probably from Sauvages, are scattered 
 here and there along the flats. Their miserable little tents 
 looked like salmon smoking establishments ; for as the salmon 
 don't get this far up the river till August and September, the 
 Siwa«hes catch and dry them for winter use very late in the 
 y«ar. 
 
 19 
 
290 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 Small pox has reduced the number of Siwashes in this part of 
 the country to the merest handful. A sight of one of their 
 winter residences is a sufficient explanation of the destructive- 
 ness of any epidemic that gets in amongst them. A deep and 
 wide hole is dug in the ground, a strong pole with cross sticks 
 like an upright ladder stuck in the centre, and then the house 
 is buUt up with logs, in conical form, from the ground to near 
 the top of the pole, space enough being left for the smoke and 
 the inmates to get out. Robinson Crusoe-like they use the 
 ladder, and go in and out of the house during the winter by the 
 chimney. As this is ^n inconvenient mode of egress, they go 
 out as seldom as possible ; and as the dogs live with the family, 
 the filth that soon accumulates can easily be estimated, and so 
 can the consequence, should one of them be attacked with fever 
 or small pox. They boast that these houses are "terrible 
 warm," and when the smoke and heat reach suffocation point, 
 their remedy is to rush up the ladder into the air, and roll 
 themselves in the snow for a few minutes. In spring they 
 emerge from their hibernation into open or tent life ; and in 
 the autumn they generally find it easier to build a new house 
 or bottle to shut themselves up in, than to clean out the old 
 one. This practice accounts for the great number of cellar-like 
 depressions along the banks of the river ; the sites of former 
 dwellings resembling the sad mementoes of old clans to be seen 
 in many a glen in the Highlands of Scotland, and suggesting at 
 the first view that the population in former years had been very 
 large. But as one Siwash family may have dug out a dozen 
 residences in as many years, the number of houses is no crite- 
 rion of what the tribe numbered at any time. 
 
 For the first ten or fifteen miles of to-day's course, the river 
 ran rather sluggishly. The current then became stronger, and 
 as it cut for several miles through a range of high hills that had 
 once stretched across its bed, there was a series of rapids power- 
 ful enough to help us on noticeably. The valley here liecame a 
 
ALONG THE NORTH THOMPSON KIVER. 291 
 
 gorge again. Emerging from the| range at mid-day, Trutch 
 pointed out blue hills in the horizon, apparently forty or fifty 
 miles ahead, as beyond Kamloops. We halted for twenty min- 
 utes to take a cold lunch, and then moved on. 
 
 An hour before sunset we came to the first sign of settlers,— 
 a fence run across the intervale from the river to the mountain, 
 to hinder the cattle from straying. Between this point and 
 Kamloops there are ten or eleven farms — " ranches" as they are 
 called on the Pacific slope — all of them taken up since Milton 
 and Cheadle's time. The fitrst building was a saw-mill about 
 fifteen miles from Kamloops, the proprietor x)f which was 
 busy sawing boards to roof in his own mill, to begin with. 
 Small log cabins of the new settlers, each with an enclosure for 
 cattle called " the corral " close to it, next gladdened our eyes, 
 so long unused to seeing any abodes of men. For all time the 
 names and technical expressions on the Pacific coast are likely 
 to show that settlement proceeded from the south and not 
 across the mountains. But such Califomian terms as ranch, 
 corral and others from the lips of Scotchmen sounded strangely 
 in our ears at first. 
 
 Stock raising is the chief occupation of the farmers here ; for 
 though the ground produces the best cereals and vegetables, 
 irrigation is required as in. the fertile plains and valleys of Cali- 
 fornia ; and the simplest method of irrigating — even where a 
 stream runs through the farm — is expensive in a country where 
 farm labourers and herdmen get from $30 to $75 a month and 
 their board ; and where stock raising pays so well on account 
 of the excellence of the natural grass. Common labourers on 
 the roads in British Columbia get $50 a month, about $20 of 
 which they pay for board ; and teamsters and packers from 
 $100 to $150. 
 
 The farmers who have settled on the North or South Thomp- 
 son are making money ; and beef commands higher prices every 
 year. As there are very few white women most of the settlers 
 
292 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 live with squaws — or Klootchmen as they are called on the 
 Pacific ; and little agricultural progress or advance of any kind 
 can be expected until immigration brings in women accustomed 
 to dairy and regular farm-work, to be wives for white men. 
 
 The ranches taken up are near little creeks that supply water 
 to irrigate them. In the valley of the South Thompson are 
 large extents of excellent land, ready for the plough, that will 
 not be settled on till it is proved that water can be profitably 
 raised from the river, or be had from wells in sufficient quan- 
 tity. Neither way has yet been tried, simply because all the 
 land along the creeks has not yet been taken up, and there has 
 been no necessity for experimenting. 
 
 As we drew nearer Kamloops, characteristics of a different 
 climate could be noted with increasing distinctness. A milder 
 atmosphere, softer skies, easy rolling hills ; but the total absence 
 of underbrush and the dry grey grass everywhere covering the 
 ground were the most striking differences to us, accustomed so 
 long to the broad-leaved underbrush and dark-green foliage of 
 the humid upper country. We had clearly left the high rainy, 
 and entered the lower arid, region. The clouds from the Pacific 
 are intercepted by the Cascades, and only those that soar like 
 soap-bubbles over their summits pass on to the east. These 
 float over the intervening country till they come to a region 
 high enough to intercept them. Thus it is that while clouds 
 hang over Kamloops and its neighbourhood, little rain or snow 
 falls. The only timber in the district is a knotty red pine, and 
 as the trees grow widely apart, and the bunch-grass underneath 
 is clean, unmixed with weeds and shrubs, and uniform in colour, 
 the country has a well-kept park-like appearance, though there 
 U too little of fresh green and too many signs of aridity for 
 beauty. 
 
 The North Thompson runs smoothly for ten miles above 
 Kamloops, after rippling over a sudden descent, und making a 
 sharp bend round to the north-west and back again to the south. 
 
ALONG THE NOETH THOMPSON RIVER. 293 
 
 In the afternoon a alight breeze had sprung up, and a tent was 
 hoisted for a sail : but the wind shifted so frequently that more 
 was lost than gained by it, and at sunset we took it down and 
 trusted to the heavy oars. We had only four or five miles to 
 make when it became so dark that the shoals ahead could not 
 bj seen ; and as none of the crew knew this part of the river 
 the steering became mere guess-work, and the Doctor as the 
 lucky man was put at the helm. We grounded three or four 
 times, but as the boat was flat-bottomed, and the bed of the 
 river hard and graveUy, she was easily shoved off. The delays 
 were provoking, all the more because there might be many of 
 them ; but about 8 o'clock, the waters of the South Thompson, 
 running east and west, gleamed in the darkness at right angles 
 to our course. The North branch, though the largest, runs 
 into the South branch. A quarter of a mile down stream from 
 the junction is Fort Kamloops. 
 
 The boat was hauled in to the bank ; and Trutch /went up to 
 the Fort. Mr. Tait, the agent, at once came down, and with a 
 genuine H. B., which is equivalent to a Highland, welcome, 
 invited us to take up our quarters with him. Gladly accepting 
 the hospitable offer, we were soon seated in a comfortable room 
 beside a glowing fire. We were at Kamloops ! beside a Post 
 Office, and a waggon road ; and in the adjoining room, the 
 half dozen heads of families resident in or near Kamloops were 
 holding a meeting with the Provincial Superintendent of Edu- 
 cation, to discuss the best means of establishing a school. Sure- 
 ly we had returned to civilization and the ways of men ! 
 
 Were we to judge from what we have seen of the country 
 along the Fraser and Thompson rivers, the conclusion would be 
 forced on us that British Columbia can never be an agricultural 
 country. We have not visited, however, the Okanagan and 
 JSTicola Districts, or the Chilcoten Plains ; and we have heard 
 
294 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 good accounts of the fertility of the former, and the rich park- 
 like scenery of extensive tracts in the latter. But the greater 
 part of the mainland is, " a sea of mountains " ; and the Pro- 
 vince will have to depend mainly on its rich grazing resources, 
 its valuable timber, its fisheries, and minerals, for any large 
 increase of population. The part of the country lying between 
 the western slope of the Rocky Mountains and the Cascades is 
 an elevated plateavi " varying in breadth but probably av- 
 eraging over one hundred and twenty miles," and in length ex- 
 tending from the boundary line north to Chilcoten lake. This 
 extensive intervening plateau or series of pleateaux is ex- 
 tremely valuable as a stock-i-aising country, and with the aid of 
 irrigation would produce great quantities of cereals. 
 
 The indications are that it once was submerged under water, 
 with the hill tops then showing as islands, and with the long 
 line of the Cascades separating the great elevated lake from the 
 sea. In process of time clefts liven in the Cascades made ways 
 for the waters to escape. By these clefts the Fraser, the Ho- 
 mathco, the Skeena, and the Bella Coala now run in deep 
 gorges through granite and gneissic or trap and basalt rocks to 
 the sea. Originally the waters emptied by a series of falls the 
 magnificence of which it is scarcely possible to conceive. The 
 successive subsidences of the water are now shown by the high 
 benches of gravel aud silt along the river valleys, and on ac- 
 count of the great depth cut down by the r'ivers, there are no 
 bottom lands or meadows worth speaking of. As a general rule, 
 with only a few exceptions, all the water channels are found in 
 deep gorges, and for this reason the great rivers of the Province 
 cannot overflow their banks. They must be content with rising 
 higher up the steep hill-sides, between which, for the greater 
 part of their course, they are pent, 
 
CHAPTEE XL 
 From Kamloops to the Sea, 
 
 Under a roof again. — Kamloops Beef. — Sermon.— John Chinaman.— No letters. — Lake 
 Kamloops.— Savona's FeiTy.— A night ride to Aehcroft.— Farming country.— Sage 
 brash.— Inigation.— A broken leg.— The Judge and the miners.— Gold mining.— 
 Siwashes and Chinamen. — Indian gl-aves.— The waggon road. — Canyons of the 
 Thompson. — Big-bugfl. — Lytton. — The msh to the gold mines.— Effects of unedu- 
 cated Salmon Bogton Bar.— Jackass Mountain. — The road along the Canyons. — 
 
 Sir James Douglas. — Grand scenery. — Suspension Bridge. — Spuzzum's Creek. — 
 Yale. — Letters from home — Travelling by steam again. — Steamer " Onward." — 
 Hope.— Tha judiciary of British Columbia. — New Westminster, — Salmon. — Assay- 
 ingoffice. — Burrard's Inlet. — Grand Potlatch.— The "Sir James Douglas." — Gene- 
 ral remarks. 
 
 September 29th. — A long sleep in real beds under a rafted 
 roof, and a dip in the Thompson prepared us for such a break- 
 fast as we never expect to eat again. Turtle soup out of a gold 
 spoon is meagre fare compared to Kamloopg beef. After a few 
 samples at breakfast, we were willing to subscribe to all that 
 had ever been said in favour of bunch-grass as feed for the cat. 
 tie of kings. Mealy potatoes, eggs, and other luxuries that need 
 not be mentioned, lest those who never knew want should scorn 
 our simple annals, explained satisfactorily the process by which 
 Dr. Cheadle added forty-one pounds to his weight in a three 
 weeks' stay at Kamloops. The dip was a pleasure too and not 
 merely the duty it had sometimes been felt. Though the 
 branches of the river are united, the currents of the two keep 
 distinct for several miles down ; and the Fort being on the 
 south side, we bathed in the South branch, whidh is so much 
 warmer than the North that in summer, people who are anx- 
 ious for cold water often cross in a canoe to the other side for a 
 bucketful. 
 
 Soon after breakfast, people began to assemble for the public 
 worship that had been intimated immediately on our arrival, 
 
296 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 The service was held in the dining room of the fort. About 
 thirty attended : — our own party, several gentlemen from other 
 parts of the Province, the seven or eight inhabitants of Kam- 
 loops, and four or five farmers from the neighbourhood. Mr. 
 Tait's two little girls represented the female population of the 
 place; for the three or four white women of the settlement 
 were either absent from home or otherwise unable to attend ; 
 and the men who lived with Klootchmen did not bring them to 
 church. It may seem wonderful that these prosperous farmers 
 should not have white wives ; but the remoteness of the place 
 must be remembered, and they say, too, that the Victoria girls 
 are unwilling to give up the pic-nics and gaieties of the capital 
 for farm life and hard work in the interior. Of course there 
 are no servant girls at Kamloops. A young Chinaman, answer- 
 ing to the common name of John, was cook and maid of all 
 work at the fort ; and he did the work in a quiet, pleasant, 
 thorough way, that made us wish to steal him for our own use. 
 Lunch at one, and dinner at five o'clock came in not too 
 rapid succession, though a walk to the nearest hill-top was all 
 that even the most energetic of the party took in the interval. 
 From the hill-top is a magnificent view of the country around 
 Kamloops : the North Thompson valley for twenty mUes up ; 
 the South Thompson extending to the east, and the united 
 stream running west for seven miles, when it expands into a 
 beautifiri sheet of water, eighteen miles long, called Kamloops 
 Lake. The hills in the neighbourhood have the clean, cultiva- 
 ted, park-like appearance that we noticed yesterday ; and several 
 farms on the flats, at the junction of the two branches, gave a 
 look of life and field work, to which, as well as to the universal 
 soft mellow colouring imparted by the bunch grass, our eyes 
 had long been unaccustomed. Ten miles away among the hills, 
 on the opposite or north side of the Thompson, is the guard, 
 with the four or five hundx'ed horses of the fort, which, had time 
 allowed, we would hiivo visitudj to compare ths horseg with 
 
FROM KAMLOOPS TO THE SEA. 297 
 
 those of the plains. One keeper suffices for the guard, for the 
 horses cluster in bands round their own stallions, and give no 
 trouble except when some, being required for use or sale, have 
 to be separated from the rest. On such occasions, the whole 
 guard has to be corralled or penned, and the selection made. It 
 would be impossible for a thief to steal one except by corralling 
 the band. Last year the Company was offered $12,000 for 
 their Kamloops collection of horses. The offer was not accepted, 
 but it gives us an idea of the value of animals that coat their 
 owners only the pay of one keeper. 
 
 Our Sunday dinner was again crowned with a pemmican 
 plum-pudding. The Doctor had fraternized with John and 
 prepared it as a surprise. Nothing can be said concerning its 
 excellence more forcible than that it stood the test of being 
 eaten after Kamloops beef. Few guessed the ingredients of the 
 pudding, but all praised it as having a peculiar flavour. 
 
 Dinner was scarcely over when people began to assemble for 
 the evening service that had been announced in the forenoon. 
 It was rough, mighty rough, on some of the party round the 
 table, this sudden transition from material to spiritual food. 
 The Doctor looked beseechingly at the Secretary, and formed 
 on his lips without syllabling it a word that could easily be in- 
 terpreted " short !" But he, with callous indifference, preached 
 for nearly an hour, because the congregation was larger than 
 in the morning, and would not get a sermon again for six 
 months. 
 
 September 30. — On Saturday night our disappointment had 
 been intense on learning that there were no letters or papers for 
 us. All grumbled, and one threatened to leave out the last 
 half of the weekly toast of sweethearts and wives ; but hearing 
 that the paymaster of the Canada Pacific Railway Survey had 
 left Yictoria for up country, we comforted oiirselves with the 
 hope of meeting him with the budget in his pocket at Cache 
 Creek where the Kamloops road joins the Cariboo warfon road 
 or at Ashcroft six miles farther down the Thompson, 
 
:i98 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 Ashcroffc is fifty-five miles from Kamloops, and if we were to 
 get there to-night, an early start was necessary. But the pro- 
 verbial difficulty of getting away in a hurry from a Hudson 
 Bay fort held good. New arrangements require to be made ; 
 men taken on or paid oS; horses or boat, and baggage to be 
 seen to ; instructions to be left ; and all the time loafers and 
 interviewers are in the way. We took advantage of odd 
 minutes to be weighed, and a table giving our respective 
 weights at Toronto and Kamloops is enough to prove that the 
 expedition had not told severely on our physique. 
 
 Weight at Toronto, July 16. At Kamloops, Sept. 30. 
 
 The Chief - - - 174 lbs. 177 lbs. 
 
 The Doctor - - - - 184 " 187 " 
 
 Frank - ... 142 " 160 " 
 
 The Secretary - - . 142 " 160 " 
 
 Or a sum total, for the four, of 42 lbs. gain. 
 
 The order for the day was to row down twenty-five miles to 
 Savona's ferry at the foot of Kamloops Lake, and there take 
 horses to Ashcroft. 
 
 It was 8 o'clock before a start from the fort was effected, and 
 a head wind springing up soon after, our rate of progress was 
 slow. The river gradually expands into the Lake, and the 
 scenery would be exceedingly beautiful were it not for the grey 
 and arid or California look that vegetation presents. The hills 
 are diversified in form and colouring, as they are in age ; some 
 heavy bluffs of trap t-nd basalt jutting out into the lake, inter- 
 mingled with carboniferous rocks ; and beyond them elevated 
 plateaux, composed of a silt of mingled sand and clay, retreat in 
 more or less distinctly defined terraces. These plateaux again 
 have been broken and twisted by small streams and side waters. 
 On those broken narrow winding plateaux, and the hill sides 
 that bound them, is abundant grazing for ten times the number 
 of cattle or sheep now seen on themi 
 
 While rounding the great bluff on the south side of the Lake, 
 
FROM KAMLOOPS TO THE SEA. 299 
 
 the wind — ^•hich generally blows directly either up or down 
 stream — blew so freshly up that the boat made little or no 
 headway. We landed at midday, resolving to take to the 
 horses if they could be seen on the other side of the bluff, and 
 leave Terry in the boat to look after the luggage. Fortunately 
 Mr. Tait had accompanied Jack (who had made a forced march 
 from Clearwater, arriving at Kainloops on Sunday afternoon), 
 and noticing that the wind kept the boat back, they waited for 
 us in a little cove beyond the bluff, nine miles from the ferry. 
 We gladly mounted into the saddle again, and in an hour and 
 a half reached the end of the lake, where the Thompson issues 
 from it as a broad deep noble-looking river. Ferrying across, 
 a council was held at Savona's to decide what was to be done. 
 It would be sunset before refreshment could be taken ; and it 
 looked a little Dick Turpin-ish to start at such an hour for a 
 thirty mile ride over a new road in a cloudy moonless night. 
 Learning, however, that the Governor had been on his way to 
 Kamloops to meet us, but had turned back to Ashcroft on 
 hearing that we would probably be there to-night, our usual 
 word " Vorwarts" was given. A jolly-lookiag Boniface and 
 Mrs. Boniface hurried up a capital supper of Kamloops beef and 
 vegetables, coffee and cake ; and promised one " that would 
 make the hair curl" to any who could remain over night. 
 Such a temptation, aided by a variety of circumstances, in- 
 duced Smith to remain ; but at 6 o'clock the rest of us were 
 in the saddle. 
 
 Four hours after, we reached Cache Creek, having rested only 
 ten minutes on the way at the house of a French Canadian set- 
 tler. The road followed the course of the Thompson, except 
 for the last six or eight miles, when it turned a little northerly 
 up the valley of the creek that runs into the Buonaparte, a 
 tributary of the Thompson. There are good farms along the 
 road, but night and the fact that it was after barest made it 
 necessary to accept the testimony of others on the point, The 
 
300 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 ground is a sandy loam, and will produce anything if irrigated, 
 and nothing without irrigation. At Cache Creek the hotel was 
 full, as it generally is, because at a junction of several roads. 
 There was a letter for us from the Governor, and his trap wait- 
 ing to take us on to Ashcroft. After waiting a little at Cache 
 Creek to give the Doctor time to examine a patient, we got 
 into the trap, and reached Ashcroft Hotel at 11 o'clock, and in 
 half an hour after were in bed. The Governor had taken up 
 his quarters at Senator Corn wall's, hard by, and would see us in 
 the morning. 
 
 October 1st. — After breakfast, a decision had to be come to 
 with regard to our future movements in British Columbia. The 
 Governor, not expecting our arrival so soon, had concluded that 
 we would not be able to take the steamer to San Francisco till 
 the 27th inst. He had aranged to accompany us to Bute Inlet 
 on the 11th, and advised us to visit in the interval the Upper 
 Fraser river and Cariboo. It was important, however, that we 
 should leave Victoria a fortnight earlier, if at all possible, and 
 that necessitated our going on directly to New Westminster. 
 No special object would be served by the Chief visiting Cari- 
 boo. The Governor, therefore, very kindly waived his own 
 wishes, and telegraphed to Victoria for a steamer to meet us on 
 Saturday at Burrard's Inlet. 
 
 We had now to wait a day at Ashcroft for an express to 
 Yale, where the steamer to New Westminster connects with 
 the stage coach from Cariboo. Nothing would be gained by 
 going on at once, for there would have to be delay at Yale, if 
 not here. We therefore spent the day in seeing the country, 
 and in the evening dined at Senator Cornwall's. 
 
 The country about Ashcroft is sparsely peopled, and men 
 accustomed to the rich grassy plains on the other side of the 
 mountains, might wonder at first sight that it is peopled at all. 
 In appearance, it is little better than a vast sand and gravol 
 pit, bounded by broken hills, bald and arid except on a few 
 
FROM KAilLOOPS TO THE SEA, 301 
 
 summits that support a scanty growth of scrub pines. The 
 cattle had eaten off all the bunch-grass within three or four 
 miles of the road, and a poor substitute for it chiefly in the 
 shape of a bluish weed or shrub, called sage grass or sage bush 
 has taken its place. The cattle eat this readily, and fare well 
 on it in winter ; but it grows thinly, dotting rather than cov- 
 ering the sandy soil, and giving a pepper and salt look to the 
 near hill-sides. This poor looking land however is no more a 
 desert than are the rich valleys of California. Like them, it 
 will grow anything, if irrigated. Unfortunately the clouds 
 pass and repass, driving forward only to sail high up, and be- 
 yond to the mountains, or to eddy back ; but even with this 
 great drawback, and the high price of labour, and the lack of 
 capital, farming pays well. There is abundance of water in 
 the Thompson to irrigate all those arid slopes. 
 
 At lunch to-day a lumberer from the other side of the river 
 came in and enquired for the Doctor. A log had fallen on a 
 Chinaman employ^, and broken his leg. As there was no Dr. 
 within a hundred miles, the- employer had come over to tele- 
 graph for a druggist 30 miles off, as the nearest approach to a 
 regular practitioner. " John," he said, " was a wonderful 
 Chinaman ; he would as lief live with him as with a white 
 man." The Doctor went at once on the errand of mercy, and 
 having to extemporise everything required for setting the leg, 
 it was eight o'clock at night before he got back. He reported 
 the patient to have exhibited the greatest fortitude, and to be 
 doing well. 
 
 All the domestic servants we had seen as yet were China- 
 men. They are paid from $20 to $45 a month, but as servant 
 girls ask nearly as much, John is usually preferred. Though 
 all gamble and most smoke opium, such vices do not materially 
 interfere with their dirties as servants. They are bowling out 
 not only the cooks and servant girls, but the washer-women on 
 the Pacific coast, and we must look to them as the future 
 
302 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 navvies and miners of our West. There are 18,000 of them in 
 San Francisco out of a population of 160,000; 60,000 in Cali- 
 fornia, and about 100,000 altogether on the Pacific side of 
 North America. It would have been difficult to build, and it 
 would now be difficult to work the Union Pacific Railway- 
 without them. Is it wonderful then that there should be a. 
 prejudice against them in the breasts of the white working- 
 classes they are supplanting ? The true-blue Briton of last 
 century hated the French, because " they were all slaves and: 
 wore wooden shoes." Why should not the Yankee or Irish; 
 labourer hate the Chinese, when they not only wear wooden 
 shoes, but are the best of workmen, cleanly, orderly, patient,, 
 industrious and above all cheap ? 
 
 This evening we met Judge 0'B.eilly, whose praises had been 
 often sung by Brown and Beaupr6, in contrast with judges on 
 the other side of the boundary line. " There isn't the gold in 
 British Columbia that would bribe Judge O'Reilly," was their 
 emphatic endorsement of his dealings with the miners. They 
 described him, arriving as the representative of British law and 
 order, at Kootanie, immediately after thousands had flocked to 
 the newly discovered gold mines there. Assembling them, he 
 said that order must and would be kept ; and advised them: not 
 to display their revolvers unnecessarily, " for, boys, if there's- 
 shooting in Kootanie, there will be hanging." Such a speech 
 was after the miners' own heart, and after it there were no 
 disturbances in Kootanie. 
 
 The judge in his turn praised the miners, as manly, law. 
 abiding fellows. He never had the least difficulty in preserving 
 order among the thousands gathered from all quarters of the 
 earth, though the available force at his back usually consisted 
 of two constables. 
 
 Left this morning for Lytton, forty-eight miles down stream, 
 in an express, as the mail waggon from Cariboo was sure to be 
 full of passengers at this season of the year. The waggon road 
 
FROM KAMLOOPS TO THE SEA. 803 
 
 on which we travelled is the principal public work of British 
 Columbia ; constructed as a government work with great energy 
 soon after the discovery of the Cariboo gold mines. It was a 
 very creditable undertaking, for most formidable engineering 
 difficulties had to be overcome at the Canyons of the Fraser 
 and the Thompson, and the expense to an infant colony was 
 necessarily heavy. The waggon road is an enduring monument 
 to Sir James Douglas — the first Governor of the Province — a 
 man worthy to rank with those Roman generals and governors 
 who were the great road-makers of the old world. 
 
 Before its construction there was only a trail to Cariboo, along 
 which the gold hunters toiled night and day, driving pack-horses 
 that carried their blankets and provisions, or if too poor to afibrd 
 horse or mule, packing everything on their own backs. Men 
 have been known to start from Yale on foot, for the gold fields, 
 with 150 lbs. weight on their backs, and wlien they got to their 
 destination, their difficulties only commenced. Gold was and is 
 found in every sandbar of the river and in every creek ; but it 
 had to be found in large quantities to enable a man to live, A 
 pound of flour cost a dollar and a half, and everything else sold 
 at proportional prices. The gold was in largest quantities near 
 the bed rock, and this was generally covered with a deposit of 
 sUt from five to forty feet thick, containing but little of the 
 precious metal near the surface. The country presented every 
 obstacle to prospecting. Range upon range of stern hills wooded 
 from base to summit, through which a way could be forced 
 only with incredible toil, and at the daily risk of starvation ; it 
 is little wonder that the way to Cariboo, and the country itself 
 proved to be the grave of many an adventurous gold seeker. A 
 few made fortunes, in a week or a month, which as a rule they 
 dissipated in less than a year ; hundreds gathered moderately 
 large sums, which they took away to spend elsewhere ; thousands 
 made wages ; and tens of thousands, nothing. It had been the 
 «ame in California, when gold was discovered there ; but then 
 
304: OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 the masses wto were unsuccessful could not get out of the 
 country, and they had — fortunately for themselves — ^to hire out 
 as farm servants and herdmen. In British Columbia they 
 could get back to Oregon and California, and back they went, 
 poorer than they had come, but leaving the Province little the 
 better for their visit. 
 
 At various points on the river, all down the road, miners are 
 still to be found. These are chiefly Siwashes and Chinese, who 
 take up abandoned claims, and wash the sand over again, being 
 satisfied with smaller wages than what contents a white man. 
 Their tastes are simple and their expenses moderate. None of 
 them dream of going to the wayside hotels, and paying a dollar 
 for every meal, a dollar for a bed, a dollar for a bottle of ale, 
 or twenty cents for a drink. The Chinaman cultivates vege- 
 tables beside his claim ; these and his bag of rice suffice for 
 him, greatly to the indignation of the orthodox miner. The 
 Siwash catches salmon in his scoop net from every eddy of the 
 river, and hi« wife carries them up to the house and makes his 
 winter's food. These two classes of the population, the one 
 representing an ancient civilization, the other scattered nomads 
 with almost no tribal relationships, resemble each other in ap- 
 pearance so much that it would be difficult to distinguish them, 
 were it not for the long tail or queue into which the Chinaman 
 braids his hair, and which he often folds at the back of his 
 head, instead of letting it hang down his back. The Pacific 
 Indian is Mongolian in size and complexion, in the shape of 
 the face, and the eyes. He has neither the strength of limb, 
 the manly bearing, nor the dignity so characteristic of the In- 
 dians on the east side of the Rocky Mountains, but he is quite 
 as intelligent, and takes more readily to civilized ways. 
 
 Salmon are the staple of the Siwash's food, and these are so 
 abundant that they generally sell them for ten to twenty-five 
 cents apiece ; and ten cents in British Columbia is equivalent 
 to a penny elsewhere, for there is no smaller coin than the ten 
 
FROM KAMLOOPS TO THE SEA. 305 
 
 cent piece in the Province. Servants here and on the Fraser 
 river would probably bargain as they used to bargain when 
 hiring in Scotland, that they were not to be expected to eat 
 salmon oftener than four times a week, if there was the slight- 
 est necessity of their making any stipulation. But masters and 
 mistresses know their places too well to dream of imposing 
 that or any other condition on them. We passed several Chi- 
 namen travelling along the road, each man carrying all his 
 worldly goods suspended from the ends of a pole slung across 
 one of his shoulders. So habituated are they to this style of 
 carrying weight, that when they possess only one bundle, incon- 
 venient to divide, they are said to tie a stone to the other end 
 of the pole to balance the load. Whether this is meant as a 
 joke or not, I shall leave as a puzzle to my readers. 
 
 Next to the bold and varied scenery, the chief objects of 
 interest to a stranger travelling down the Thompson and 
 the Fraser, especially after entering the Cascade range, are 
 the Indian graves. Whatever these poor people can accom- 
 plish in the way of architecture or art, is reserved for their 
 dead. A house better than they live in is built, or a good tent 
 erected, and in it are placed the valuables of the deceased, — 
 his gun, blanket, food ; in front hang scalps, or bright shawls, 
 and white flags ; his canoe m placed outside, and beside it the 
 hide of his horse or mule over a wooden skeleton ; rude painted 
 images representing the man, woman, or family, as the case 
 may be, are ranged in front. It is an article of faith with them 
 that no Indian ever desecrated or robbed a grave ; and this is 
 probable enough, for seldom has an Indian been known to steal 
 or disturb even the cache of another, though the cache of dried 
 salmon on the Pacific slope is usually hung on a tree by the way- 
 side. The provincial law very properly imposes severe penal- 
 ties on those who violate Indian graves ; but that the tempta- 
 tion may not be too strong, the canoe is generally riddled, and 
 th« lock of the gun taken off, before being deposited beside the 
 
 20 
 
306 OCEAN TO OCEAW. 
 
 dead. All those possessions so valuable in the eyes of a Siwash 
 are left exposed to the winds of heaven and the beasts of the 
 forest, and the age of the grave can be read in the condition in 
 which you find them. 
 
 Driving for three hours over a country resembling that round 
 Ashcroft, we came to Cook's Bridge, where the Thompson is 
 crossed, and soon after to the foot hills of the Cascade range. 
 Everywhere the soil looked poor and arid ; yet everywhere that 
 cultivation was attempted, it produced cereals, roots, and fruits 
 of the best kind. Tomatoes, water and musk melons ripened 
 in the open air ; and no farmer has fewer than fifty head of 
 cattle, while some have ten times as many. Now, however, we 
 were about to enter another rainy region, and the heavy mists 
 resting on the hill-tops ahead, were the first indications of the 
 change. The river's narrowness about Ashcroft had astonished 
 us ; but here it contracted still more, looking smaller than 
 either its North or South branch away up at Eamloops. What 
 it is forced to lack in breadth it makes up in depth. As the 
 rocky outliers of the mountains cannot be levelled into mead- 
 ows, the river has to dam itself up their sides or dig a deeper 
 ditch. The road followed its course, winding along the bases 
 of the hUls, or cUmbing over the cany6ns, while far down, so 
 immediately under us, that a stone could be dropped into the 
 deep water, the river lay, like a green serpent, now at peace, 
 and now rearing a crested head to pierce deeper into the over 
 lapping barriers before it. 
 
 Towards sunsetting, cold rain with strong gusts of wind came 
 on ; and as the road was often only a narrow ledge, out out of 
 the side of a precipice, we were thankful when the driver point- 
 ed out a hill in front, as the one on the other side of which was 
 our resting place, the village of Lytton, at the junction of the 
 Thompson with the Fraser. 
 
 We soon saw the lights of the village, and drove up to a 
 houas, the mean outside of which gave little promise of the 
 
IT.OM AMLOOPS TO THE SEA. 307 
 
 good tilings for the inner man, in the dining room. M. Hautier, 
 a Frenchman, and his pretty little Flamand wife, kept the 
 house, and had comfortable rooms prepared for us, and a petit 
 goUt de mouton for supper. 
 
 October, 3rd. — The village of L3rtton can scarcely be consi- 
 dered worthy of its aristocratic name. A single row of frail un- 
 painted sheds or log shanties, the littleness and rickettiness of 
 which are all the more striking from the two noble rivers that 
 meet here and the lofty hills that enclose the two valleys, is the 
 sum total of Lytton. Its population of perhaps an hundred 
 souls is made up of Canadians, British, Yankees, French, China^ 
 men, Siwashes, half-breeds ; all religions and no religion. 
 
 To judge by the outside appearance of the village, there must 
 be something rotten in its state. No sign of progress ; the use 
 of paint or whitewash considered a sin ; though perhaps, even 
 whitewash would be too good for such tumble down little huts. 
 But go into the hotel, and all is changed. The inside is as dif- 
 ferent from what the outside would lead you to expect, as if it 
 was the house of a rich Jew, in the middle ages. All the com- 
 forts of the Saut-market are to be had, and everyone, inside 
 and outside the house, appears able to pay for them. A dirty 
 looking miner caUs for drinks all round, at twenty-five or fifty 
 cents a drink, and considers himself half insulted if any one in 
 the room declines the friendly invitation. " Go through the 
 form so as not to give ofience," whispered a gentleman to the 
 Doctor, as he saw him backing away from the freely proffered 
 claret, champagne and brandy. The meat, fish, vegetables, and 
 sweets on the table are all excellent, and well cooked. There 
 are no poor men in the Province, and no such thing as bad 
 living known. The explanation of this contrast, huts in which 
 the tenants live like fighting cocks — is that none of the people 
 came here to stay. They came to make money and then return 
 home. Therefore it is not worth their while to build good 
 houses or furnish them expensively; but they can afford to live 
 
308 OCEAN TO OCEAK. 
 
 well, and the gold miner's maxim is eat, drink, and be merry, 
 for to-morrow we die. 
 
 This state of things has been the mUlstone round the neck of 
 British Columbia. The discovery of gold in 1858, on the Fra^ 
 ser, brought the first rush of people to the mainland, and re- 
 sulted in the formation of the colony. All California was deli- 
 rious. Thirty thousand men left the States for the Eraser, or, 
 as it was more popularly called, " the Crazy River." The rush 
 to Pike's Peak was nothing to the rush for Victoria. But in the 
 course of the next two or three years, the thousands died or 
 drifted back again, and only the tens remained. Then, in 1862 
 the Cariboo mines were discovered, and the second rush was 
 greater than the first ; but again, not an emigration of sober, 
 steady householders, whose aim was to establish homes, and live 
 by their own industry, but of fever-heated adventurers from all 
 parts of the world — men without a country and without a home. 
 San Prancisco was deserted for a time. Thousands sold their 
 lots there, and bought others in Victoria or claims in Cariboo. 
 Cariboo was four hundred miles from the sea, and there was no 
 road but an old Indian trail, winding up and down mountains 
 and precipices, across deep gorges and rivers, through thick 
 woods without game ; but the obstacles that would have stopped 
 an army were laughed at by miners. Of course the wave soon 
 spent itself. 
 
 From that day, until recently, the colony has been going 
 back, or as some gloomily say, getting into its normal condition. 
 Within the last ten years, mUJsons of dollars in solid gold have 
 been taken out of the colony. No one thought of remaining in 
 it except to make a fortune ; no one was interested in its poli- 
 tical life ; no one of the thousands of foreign immigrants became 
 a subject of the Crown. It was a mere finger-joint separated 
 from its own body. But all this is now changing. With Con- 
 federation came the dawn of a brighter future ; and, although 
 British Columbia may never have the population of California 
 
FROM KAMLOOPS TO THE SEA. 80 
 
 or Oregon, an orderly development is commencing that will soon 
 make it rank as a valuable Province of the Dominion. It has 
 the prospect of being no longer a dissevered limb, but of being 
 connected by iron, as well as sympathetic, bands with its trunk ; 
 and it is already receiving the pulSes of the larger life. Had the 
 Columbia River, instead of the 49th parallel been made its 
 Southern boundary line, i.e., had it received its natural and 
 rightful boundary instead of a purely artificial one, it could 
 compete with California in cereals as well as ia gold mining. 
 But in this, as in every case of disputed lines in America, U.S. 
 diplomatists knew the value of what they claimed, and British 
 diplomatists did not. Every one in the Province believes that 
 they lost the Columbia, because the salmon ia it would not take 
 a fly. At the time of the dispute, when the Secretary for War 
 was using brave words in the House of Cojnmons, the brother 
 of the Prime Minister happened to be stationed on the Pacific 
 coast, and fished in the Columbia without success, because the 
 salmon were too uneducated to rise to a fly. He wrote home 
 that " there was no use making a fuss about the country for it 
 wasn't worth a ." And so the worthless region, now con- 
 sidered the most valuable on the Pacific, was gracefully given 
 up. And why not, when it was the privately if not publicly 
 announced aim of a school of British politicians to get rid of 
 the whole of British America, and thus gradually work out 
 Benjamin Franklin's problem of how " a great nation may be 
 made into a very little one." But enough of this. "We still 
 have more good land than we know what to do with. 
 
 Our first spell to-day was thirty-two miles down the Fraser 
 from Lytton to Boston Bar, once a sand-bar celebrated for its 
 rich gold deposits, and stUl rich enough to be washed by China^ 
 men and even a few not over-ambitious whites. The road for 
 the first ten or eleven miles ran chiefly across broken gravelly 
 benches ; and then over, or when possible, around canyons that 
 overhung the river. The highest of these was Jackass Moun- 
 
310 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 tain, a huge bluflf of pudding stone, probably so called because 
 before the waggon-road was made, the old Indian path must 
 have been strewn with the carcases of gold seekers' mules. The 
 road now is at an elevation of seven or eight hundred feet above 
 the river ; and a thousand feet higher up may be seen a bridge 
 at one time only two feet wide, stretched, like a spider's web, 
 across a deep gulch on the old trail. Many a miner, in 1862, 
 had crawled across this on his hands and knees, with heavy 
 packs on his shoulders, well knowing that if he slipped, there 
 was nothing to save him from rolling and pitching over sheer 
 perpendicular rocks, from point to point, for eighteen hundred 
 feet into the Eraser. 
 
 " Had you seen these roads before they were made, 
 You would lift up your hands and bless General Wade," 
 is a couplet well known to every tourist in the Highlands of 
 Scotland. Sir James Douglas is the General Wade of British 
 Columbia, and his name should be on the mile-stones of its 
 waggon-road. The boast of the Colonists that no country in the 
 world with so small a population and revenue ever constructed 
 such good roads through so difficult a country is quite legiti- 
 mate ; and no one but a man possessed of great administrative 
 ability and iron will could have done the work. 
 
 The waggon i-oad, in many places, had to be hewed sideways 
 out of the rock, or cloven through it, or built up with log or 
 mason work in the hollows ; and the cribbing is now so much 
 out of repair, that one could not help feeling uneasy. The 
 heavy rain last night had brought down boulders on it from 
 the rocks above and loosened the soil at its outward ed^e leav- 
 ing but little film ground for the waggon between the mountain 
 and the edge of the bank. The slightest carelessness or reck- 
 lessness in driving would have hurled the whble of us into the 
 deep muddy torrent that rolled along swiftly at the bottom of 
 the gorge. But the ribands were in the hands of a steady New 
 Brunswicker, who had been on the road since it was built in 
 
FROM KAMLOOPS TO THE SEA.. 311 
 
 summer and winter, day-light and dark, storm and shine, and 
 who had never once misaed time or come to grief in any way. 
 Steve and a brother New Brunswicker, who drove the mail- 
 coach, were now, as they deserved to be, partners in the con- 
 cern. Better whips there are not; and we cordially recom- 
 mend tourists who wish to travel over a road far more grand 
 and picturesque than the celebrated Oornic^ between Genoa and 
 Nice, to trust themselves to either of them. 
 
 We dined at Boston Bar ; and by one o'clock were on the 
 road again, hoping to get over the remaining twenty-four miles 
 to Yale before dark. The scenery all the way was of the same 
 frightfully grand character as it had been for most of the fore- 
 noon, with the exception of a small patch of open ground here 
 and there, cultivated by an enterprising settler, and on which 
 fruits and roots of the finest kinds grow readily. Eleven mUes 
 from Yale we crossed to the west side of the Fraser over a 
 pretty suspension bridge, and, a mile beyond had to halt. A 
 gang of men were busy rebuilding the bridge over a strong 
 mountain torrent, called Spuzzum's Creek, from a patriarchal 
 Siwash chief of that ilk, who had gathered a colony around him 
 near the bridge, in decent looking huts superior to those of the 
 town of Lytton ; and as only the stringers had been laid, there 
 seemed nothing for it but to camp, or cross on foot and walk to 
 Yale through a thick drizzle which has commenced. Several 
 of the huge freight waggons used in British Columbia, each 
 drawn by twelve or sixteen oxen, and fully a hundred pack 
 mules had come on before us, to cross ; bnt having been told 
 that there was no chance, their drivers had unharnessed, or 
 unpacked them, and were idling about. Steve, liowever, 
 was equal to the occasion. He offered ten dollars if the men 
 would stop their work and place loose planks across the string- 
 ers. The bargain was struck, and in an hour the job was done. 
 Steve unharnessed his horses and walked them across, and the 
 men dragged after him not only his waggon, but also the 
 
312 _ OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 mail coach whioli by this time had caught up to ws. A 
 number of Siwashes were engaged on the bridge, and seemed to 
 work on a footing of equality with the whites, with the grand 
 exception that their wages were only $20 a month, while the 
 whites got from |40 to $60 and their board. The general re 
 port was that the Siwagh was a good fellow, obedient and in 
 dustrious as long as he had a mind to work, if liquor could be 
 kept from him ; but that liquor made him mad. He could 
 neither resist it nor stand it. Again we were struck with the 
 Asiatic cast of countenance ; and some of them were handsomer, 
 from having decidedly straighter noses, than any Chinaman we 
 saw. But the Eraser and Lilloet Indians are said to be the 
 best in the Province, the best featured and the most indus- 
 trious. 
 
 It was not quite dark when we saw the lights of Yale. Our 
 first resort was to the Post Office armed with authority from the 
 Governor to open the Kamloops bag. No difficulty was made, 
 and in it were found letters and papers for everyone of the party 
 but the Secretary. Unfortunate man ! Never did Briton look 
 more like pariah than he as he sat looking gloomily at the 
 others. 
 
 October 4th. — At Tale, we said good bye to horses. Hence- 
 forth, steam, the nineteenth century horse, would carry us down 
 the river, along the coast, and across the continent homewards. 
 Canoe and barge, buck-board and cart, saddle and pack-horse, 
 buggy and express waggon belonged to the past of the expedi- 
 tion. 
 
 To-day the steamer Onwa/rd, that runs twice a week down 
 the Fraser froln Yale, was to take us to New Westminster, the 
 Capital of British Columbia previous to its union in 1866 with 
 Vancouver's Island. There, another steamer connects for Vic- 
 toria, but our intention was to examine some of the harbours 
 on the mainland before crossing to Vancouver's Island. The 
 Omjuard't usual hour of starting is 7 A.M., but she delayed 
 
FROM KAMLOOPS TO THE SEA. 313 
 
 to-day till noon to oblige several gentlemen who had come up 
 the river as far as Hope, to examine a new silver lead discov- 
 ered in the mountains seven miles back from that settlement, 
 and who wished to get back to Victoria this week. The delay 
 gave us time to walk round Yale and up the river. The vil- 
 lage itself has a neat, clean, thriving appearance, as if its 
 inhabitants had settled down to live in the country. The scen- 
 ery in the neighbourhood is of the grandest kind, varying with 
 every bend of the river. Hills rise in gradual wooded slopes 
 for five, six or eight hundred feet ; and above, bald rocks shoot 
 up plumb for ten or twelve hundred feet higher. The valley is 
 narrow, afibrding but little room for the farmer. 
 
 The steamer started at noon, and nine hours after reached 
 New Westminster, distant 95 miles. The current is so strong 
 that she could run down in six hours, while it takes tVo days 
 to work up. None of the stopping places are of much impor- 
 tance, though one or two are reported to be growing, especially 
 the agricultural settlement of Sumass, which is beginning to 
 supply New Westminster and Victoria with beef cattle. A 
 little more work on that line is what the Province needs most ; 
 for at present, instead of keeping her gold within her own bor- 
 ders, she has to export it all to buy the necessaries of Ufe. 
 
 Soon after passing Hope, where every one got specimens of 
 the new silver mine, the Fraser turns from its southerly to a 
 south-westerly and then a westerly course ; and the valley begins 
 to broaden and give some room and verge for farms. But the 
 good land near the river does not amount to much. The Fraser 
 has gold in its sandbars, and Salmon by the hundred thousand in 
 its pools and channels ; .but spite of its great length and force, 
 the mountains between which it forces its way are too powerful 
 for it to accomplish the usual work of rivers. It cannot over- 
 flow, no matter how immense the volume of water it rolls 
 down to the sea ; it can only rise higher up the sides of its rocky 
 barriers. We could see the high water mark twenty-five feet 
 above the present level. 
 
314 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 On board tlie Onward we met Chief Justice Begbie, another 
 name held in profound respect by the miners, Si washes, and all 
 others among whom he has dealt out justice. Judge Lynch 
 has never been required in British Columbia, because Chief 
 Justice Begbie did his duty, and maintained the dignity of his 
 Court as effectually as if it had been held in Old Westminster. 
 It is a grand sight to a rightly constituted mind when two or 
 three policemen scatter a street mob. It must have been a 
 grander to see a British Judge backed by one or two constables 
 maintaining order at the gold mines among the tag-rag and bob- 
 tail, the rough and tumble, fever-heated classes of miners, 
 gamblers, claim jumpers, and cutthroats who congregate at 
 such places. For " the yellow fever" seizes upon the most 
 daring and the most abandoned of humanity, the strongest and 
 the weakest. And where there is no previously settled popu- 
 lation to enforce order, what can be expected round every rich 
 creek and gulch but a miniature Norfolk Island without the 
 keepers? In such communities, especially at the outset, justice 
 or even a little more than justice is true mercy. That Scotch 
 Lord Braxfield who gleefully told an unfortunate wretch that 
 "he would be nane the waur o'a little hanging," would have 
 been a very guardian angel in California in 1849. It is a 
 proud thought to us that Br'itish America has proved herself a 
 worthy daughter of the Old Mother in her judiciary ; that in 
 no Province has a judge ever been accused as corrupted or 
 corruptible. In British Columbia the difficulties in the way of 
 preserving order were greatest, yet the laws have always been 
 respected and enforced, and two or three constables proved 
 sufficient for every emergency. Tlie results have been simply 
 marvellous. The Times Cariboo correspondent could write in 
 1862 : — " As to security of life, I consider it just as safe here 
 as in England." Every week for the last nine years the mail 
 coach has carried a box or boxes of gold dust from Cariboo with 
 no defender but, Steve or his partner; and though runnino 
 
FROM KAMLOOPS TO THE SEA. 315 
 
 through a country roamed over by the lawless of every nation, 
 ■where ambuscades could be planned at every turn, where for 
 long stretches there is neither house nor shanty, it has never 
 been plundered nor even attacked. Though comparisons are 
 odious, they ought to be made sometimes. It is almost impos- 
 sible to take up a newspaper, published on the other side of the 
 line, without reading accounts of violent deeds in the gold fields 
 or of mail-coaches plundered. One fact that came under our 
 own notice is sufficiently illustrative. On our return, the train 
 stopped for an hour at Ogden, in the Utah Tei-ritory. The first 
 thing that attracted our attention was a series of placards on 
 the railway station describing four difiei'ent cases of highway 
 robbery in the territory that month, and offering rewards 
 varying from hundreds to thousands of doUars for the discovery 
 of the highwaymen. 
 
 They tell many good stories in British Columbia of the Chief 
 Justice's dignity on the Bench, and the terror he inspires. The 
 last we heard ought to be true. He sternly told a witness who 
 hesitated considerably, that he believed he was prevaricating. 
 — " And h-how can a fellow h-help prevaricating who has 1-lost 
 his front teeth ?' was the half-frightened response of the poor 
 man, expecting nothing less than an order for his instant exe- 
 cution. 
 
 On our arrival at New Westminster several gentlemen of the 
 place waited on the Chief to offer him a public dinner. He felt 
 obliged to decUne, with thanks for the courtesy; and after 
 making arrangements to start for Burrard's Inlet in the morn- 
 ing, we turned into our berths in preference to going to an 
 hotel. 
 
 October 15th. — The programme for the day was to drive nine 
 miles across the spit of land, on one side of which is New- 
 Westminster, to Burrard's Inlet ; see as much of the inlet as 
 possible ; and when the steamer that the Governor had tele- 
 graphed for arrived, proceed in her to Bute Inlet, visiting on 
 
316 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 the way the surveying parties who had been at work all sum- 
 mer on the coast. Several New Westminster gentlemen ac- 
 companied us to Burrard's Inlet ; and as the member for the 
 distilbt, the senior member for Victoria, and a senator from 
 Cariboo were in town, the Chief invited them to join us in our 
 coasting trip to the north. 
 
 As this enlargement of the party occasioned an hour's delay, 
 there was time to look round New Westminster, before starting. 
 The population of the little town is less than a thousand, but 
 the importance of a town in America is not estimated so much 
 by its population, as by its position and the extent of country 
 it supplies. New Westminster is the only town on the delta 
 of the Eraser, and as the delta may be said to extend east and 
 west from Sumass to the sea, and from Boundary Bay on the 
 south to Burrard's Inlet on the north, or over sixty miles in 
 length by twenty in breadth, a district including much land fit 
 for agriculture, the population and importance of the country 
 and town are sure to increase. Its being near the mouth of the 
 Eraser, a river seven hundred miles long, does not help it much, 
 not only because the Eraser drains comparatively little land 
 adapted for cultivation, but because the entrance is intricate on 
 account of the tortuous channel and shifting shoals that extend 
 out for some distance into the Gulf of Georgia. The excellent 
 harbour of Burrard's Inlet, nine miles to the north, will there- 
 fore be generally preferred for shipping purposes. This has 
 been already proved to a certain extent. The New Westmin- 
 ster proprietors of a large steam saw-miU finding Burrard's 
 Inlet the fitter port for their shipments of lumber, transferred 
 the machinery and set up their mill on the north side of the 
 Inlet ; so that now little or nothing is exported from New 
 Westminster, except fish and cattle from the neighbouring set- 
 tlements. A practically unlimited quantity of fish ought to be 
 exported ; for salmon go up the Eraser from the sea in count- 
 less numbers. They are said to be inferior in quality to those 
 
FEOM KAMLOOPS TO THE SEA. 317 
 
 of the Atlantic coast, though we did not think so, and they 
 would probably be quite as good for canning. The first trade 
 we saw this morning was a Klootchman selling four salmon for 
 twenty-five cents ; and that in a country where twenty-five are 
 less valuable than ten cents in the Eastern Provinces. A 
 sturgeon in the fish market weighed over 300 lbs. They are 
 sometimes caught from six to nine hundred weight, and the 
 flavour of this fish is considered by many superior to salmon. 
 But the Province is young, and requires capital and exterprise 
 before it can compete on a large scale with the fish-curing estab- 
 lishments on the Columbia River. 
 
 We paid a visit to the assaying office, and the agent in charge 
 explained the process by practical illustrations. Where there 
 is no assay office, the miner in selling his gold is at the mercy 
 of itinerant dealers. Now he takes his precious dust or nug- 
 gets to the office, where it is fused into ingots and the exact 
 market value of each ingot stamped on it for a quarter per 
 cent, or $1 for $400. The New Westminster office assayed 
 last year of the products of the Eraser mines $100,000. The 
 Cariboo office of course does a much more extensive business. 
 
 At 10 A.M. the united party started ft)r Burrard's Inlet, and 
 arrived in two hours. A lover of ferns would be charmed with 
 this bit of road, so surprising a variety can be gathered, especi- 
 ally near the Inlet. Many, such as the shield, the winter, the 
 rock, the lady fern and the bracken, are similar to those found 
 in the Atlantic provinces, but other varieties were altogether 
 new to us.* 
 
 A steamer, so diminutive and toy-like that each man stepped 
 on board tenderly for fear of upsetting or breaking her, was in 
 waiting to take us across the Inlet to the large saw-mill of 
 
 * A small collection chiefly made about Burrard's Inlet, includes the following 
 varieties, besides two new ones that we could not make out :— Polypodium vulgare ; P. 
 Dryopteris ; Asplenimn Trichomanes ; Allosorus crispus ; Cystopteris montana ; 'c. 
 fragilis; Pteris Aquilina ; Blcohnum boreale ; Polystichumacrostichoides; P. Lonchitis 
 Lastrea'dilatata ; Botrychium Virginicum ; B. Lunaria; B. lun^rioideg. 
 
318 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 Messrs. Moody, Diety and Nelson. Thirteen million feet, of 
 lumber were exported last year from this, and about as much 
 from another mill on the south side of the inlet owned by a 
 company. All the lumber is the famous Douglas Kr. Logs 
 four to five feet in diameter were being hauled up and sawed 
 by two circular saws, the one placed vertically over the other, 
 as it is easier to work on such huge subjects with two ordinary 
 sized than with one very large saw. The workmen represented 
 the various nationalities scattered everyivhere along the Pacific 
 coast, Whites, Chinese, Siwashes and Kanakas or Sandwich 
 Islanders. 
 
 Tlie aborigines work well till they save enough money to live 
 on for some time, and then they go up to the boss and frankly 
 say that they are lazy and don't want to work longer. They 
 are too unsophisticated to sham sickness, or to strike. Another 
 habit of the richer ones, which to the Anglo-Saxon mind borders 
 on insanity, is that of giving universal backshish or gifts to the 
 whole tribe, without expecting any return save an increased 
 popularity that may lead to their election as Tyhees or chiefs 
 *hen vacancies occur. An old fellow, big Greorge, was pointed 
 out to us as having worked industriously at the mill for years 
 till he had saved $2,000. Instead of putting this in a Savings 
 Bank, he had spent it all on stores for a grand " Potlatch," 
 summoning Siwashes from far and near to come, eat, drink, 
 dance, be merry, and receive gifts. Nearly a thousand assem- 
 bled ; the festivities lasted a week ; and everyone got somethin<r, 
 either a blanket, musket, bag of flour, box of apples, or tea and 
 sugar. When the fun was over, big George, now pennyless, 
 returned to the mill to carry slabs at $20 a morrth. His repu- 
 tation mounted to an extraordinary height because of so mag- 
 nificent a potlatch, and he stood a good chance of the Tyhee- 
 ship ; but two rivals. Supple Jack and Old Jim, were preparing 
 to outdo him ; and if Siwasl^s are at all like civilized beings, 
 the " popularis aura " shall fill their sails before long. 
 
FROM KAMLOOPS TO THE SEA. 319 
 
 Very naturally Siwashes measure all excellence by the grub 
 or gifts they get. It is said that when a Bishop lately visited 
 a tribe that one of his missionaries had laboured among for 
 some time, they all gathered to meet him, being told that he 
 was " hyass Tyhee " or great chief of the praying men. The 
 Bishop addressed them at great length, and apparently with 
 eflfect, but when done, a , grave and reverend fellow rose and 
 snuffed out his lordship with half a dozen words, which in ver- 
 nacular Chinook, are even more emphatic than in any slang 
 English they can be rendered into, " lots of gab ; no grub, no 
 gifts; all gammon." A delightful gentleman to convert, cer- 
 tainly ! 
 
 The workmen at the mill live in comfortable little houses, 
 perched on rocks at the foot of a lofty wooded hill overhanging 
 the shore. There is no soil except what has been made on the 
 beach from chips and sawdust. Bound the nearest point is a 
 small tract diligently cultivated by a few Chinamen. The men 
 have a large reading-room with a harmonium, and a well 
 selected library. No intoxicating liquors can be sold on the 
 premises. Their pay is good and they save money. The man- 
 ager of the mill on the other side of the Inlet told ns that he 
 would give §2uO a month to any competent overseer we would 
 send him. 
 
 The woods all round these shores are well stocked with deer. 
 The usual way of hunting is to send the dogs into the woods, 
 and drive the deer down intd the harbour, where they are at 
 the mercy of the sportsman. The overseer informed us that in 
 this way he could shoot a deer any day within two hours. 
 
 After lunch, we embarked on a large steamer belonging to 
 the mill for a sail round the Inlet. At this moment, the Si/r 
 James Douglas, the steamer the Governor had telegraphed for, 
 arrived from Victoria. The captain came on board to put him- 
 self at the orders of the Chief, and it was arranged to start with 
 him as soon after midnight as possible. In the meantime he 
 proceeded with us down the Inlet. 
 
320 OCEAN TO OCEAN; 
 
 Burrard's Inlet is naturally divided into three divisions, that 
 are really three distinct harbours. The saw-mUls are on the 
 opposite shores of the middle one. This middle harbour 
 narrows at both extremities, and an outer and a further inner 
 harbour are thus made. We had time to visit only the outer 
 and the middle, both safe and capacious harbours, with easy 
 entrance and good anchorage. At seven P.M. we got back to 
 the mill, and after dinner said good-bye to the New West- 
 minster gentlemen who had kindly accompanied us. The little 
 cabin of the Sir Ja/mes Douglas was to be our dining and sleep- 
 ing room for the next week, our last week, for after it the 
 home stretch would begin. 
 
 The little that we saw of the mainland of British Columbia 
 does not warrant us to say much about it as a field for emi- 
 gi-ants. There can be no reasonable doubt that it can support 
 in comfort a much larger population than it now has. The re- 
 sources of the colony are considerable, but all its industries are 
 in their infancy, cramped from want of capital, and obliged to 
 compete with the immense and consolidated establishments of 
 similar industries on the other side of the boundary line. Its 
 distance from the countries that supply emigrants, and the ex- 
 pense of travelling from place to plaoe, on account of the 
 magnificent distances within the Province itself, are great draw- 
 backs. But on the other hand, the high price paid for labour, 
 the ready market for all products of the soil, and the healthiness 
 of the climate are immense attractions to the ordinary class of 
 emigrants. While lumbering, mining, and the fisheries ofier 
 the richest prizes to men of capital and experience, mechanics 
 and the laboui-ing classes can command such wages that the 
 economy of a few years puts them in the position of small 
 capitalists. Farm labourers especially ought to be able to buy 
 
FROM KAMLOOPS TO THE SEA. 321 
 
 and stock good farms of their own out of the savings of four or 
 five yeai-s ; and then they are comfortable and independent for 
 life. We heai-d the province styled the poor man's paradise ; 
 and as 10 per cent is given everj^where, with undoubted 
 security, for the use of money, the rich man has no reason to 
 be dissatisfied. 
 
 21 
 
CHAPTEE XTL 
 
 The Coast omd Vancouver's Island, 
 
 On the waters of the Pacific. — Bute Inlet. --.Valdes Island. — The Fiords of British Colum. 
 bia. — ^Waddiuj^n Harbour. —Glaciers. — Chilcoten Indians. — Massacre. — Party X.— 
 Salmon. — ^Arran Bapids. — Seymour Narrows. — Menzies Bay. — Party Y.— The 
 Straits of Gleorgia. — New settlements on Vancouver's Island. — Nanaimo. — Coal 
 mines. — ^Mount Baker. — Pujet Sound . — San J uan Island. — The Olympian Mountains. 
 — Victoria.— Esquimalt Harbour.— A Polyglot City. — The last of Terry. — The Pacific 
 Ocean. — Barclay Sound. — Albemi Inlet. — Sunset on the Pacific. — Return to Victoria. 
 —The Past, Present, and Future. — The Home-stretch. — The great American Desert. 
 
 October 6th. — Before any of us came on deck this morning, 
 the good Sir James Douglas had steamed out of Burrard's Inlet, 
 and past the lofty mountains that enclose the deep fiords of 
 Howe Sound and Jervis Inlet, into the middle of the Straits of 
 Georgia. Our first sight was of the Island of Texada on our 
 right, and the bold outline of Vancouver's Island farther away 
 on our left. 
 
 After "breakfast, divine service was held in the cabin. On 
 those inland waters of the Pacific that folded themselves round 
 rocky mountain and wooded island, we, who had come four 
 thousand miles from the Atlantic, united our voices in common 
 prayer with fellow subjects who call these shores of the vaster 
 Ocean of the West, their home. Again, all found that prostration 
 before Him, who is our Father, and also King of Nations, not 
 only evokes the deepest feelings of the human heart, but purifies 
 them. The tie of a common nationality, especially if the nation 
 has a great history, is holy. The aim of our work was to bind 
 our country more firmly together, and thB thought elevated the 
 work ; while worshipping together made us feel more power- 
 fully than any amount of feasting and toasting the flag that 
 inhabitants of the same Dominion, subjects of the same 
 
THE COAST AND VANCOUVER'S ISLAND. 323 
 
 Sovereign, and heirs of the same destinies, must ever be 
 brothers. 
 
 Towards mid-day, our course took us out of the Straits of 
 Georgia, north-easterly up into Bute Inlet, another of those 
 wonderful fiords of unknown depth that seam this part of the 
 Pacific coast. The chart makes it 40 fathoms deep, with a 
 mark over the figures signifying that the naval surveyors had 
 sounded to that depth without finding bottom. 
 
 The object of going up this Inlet, the proposed terminus for 
 the Railway, was to enable the Chief to get such a birds-eye 
 view of it as he had already obtained of the prairie and the 
 mountain country, and at the same time to meet two parties of 
 the Survey, who had been at work in this quarter all summer. 
 
 On the question of which is the best western terminus, there 
 are two great parties in British Columbia, one advocating the 
 mainland, the other Yancouver's Island. On the mainland, 
 Burrard's Inlet is the favourite. If a harbour on Vancouver's 
 Island be chosen, then the railway must eventually cross to the 
 shores of Bute Inlet. The advocates of the Island termini — 
 Victoria, Esquimalt, and Albemi, — asserted that it was a 
 simple matter to cross the Straits of Georgia to the mouth of 
 Bute Inlet by Valdes Island, which on the map does seem to 
 block them up almost completely ; then, that the line could be 
 made along the shore of the Inlet to the mouth of the Homathco 
 Eiver, and up its course, through the Cascades, to the Chilcoten 
 plains. Two main routes had therefore to be surveyed : one, 
 from the mouth of the Fraser River, and up the Thompson ; 
 the other, from Vancouver's Island across to Bute Inlet, and, 
 up the Homathco to the upper Eraser, whence the line could 
 be carried to Fort George or the North Thompson valley, if no 
 direct passage across the Gold-range to the Canoe River, or 
 Tgte Jaune Cache could be found. 
 
 A short time after the latter survey was commenced, the 
 entnneer reported that Valdes Island, although represented on 
 
324 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 the charts as one, really consisted of a group of three islands. 
 The naval surveyors had seen channels piercing into Valdes 
 Island, but had not followed them up, their business being to 
 lay down the soundings only along the through channels, and 
 Valdes Island, not having been explored, had always been con- 
 sidered an unit. The discovery of the true state of the case 
 complicated the question, and necessitated a hydrographic 
 survey of four or five instead of two Narrows. This was work 
 for one party, the Jine up Bute Inlet being assigned to another, 
 and up the Homathco through the Cascades to a third. 
 
 On board the Sir Ja/mes Douglas we had the member for 
 New Westminster, a zealous advocate of Burrard's Inlet, and 
 the member for Victoria — a true believer in an Island terminus. 
 To a student of human nature it was amusing to notice with 
 what different eyes each looked at or refused to look at the 
 diflB.culties of the rival routes. The former gazed exultingly on 
 the high bluffs and unbroken line of mountains, that rose sheer 
 from the waters of Bute Inlet. But his sarcasms were invaria- 
 bly met by a counter reference to the canyons of the Fraser 
 and the Thompson. 
 
 There was not one of us who had ever seen anything like 
 the Inlet we steamed up this afternoon. The inlets which cut 
 deep into this coast, from the straits of Fuca northward for 
 twelve degrees of latitude, probably resemble the fiords of Nor- 
 way, but none of our party could speak of those from personal 
 observation. 
 
 It is a singular fact that, while there is not a single opening 
 in the coast for seven hundred miles north of San Francisco, 
 except the bad harbour of Astoria at the mouth of the Colum- 
 bia river, the next seven or eight hundred miles should be 
 broken by innumerable inlets. The case is paralleled on the 
 Atlantic side of North America. From Florida to Maine there 
 are very few good ports, while north of Maine, embracing the 
 coast of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia there are scores. 
 
THE COAST AND VANCOUVER'S ISLAND. 325 
 
 Tlie openings in the iron-bound coast of Nova Scotia are not 
 unlike Lhose on the Pacific side, except that on the Atlantic the 
 indentations do not cut so deep iato the land, and the shores 
 are low. 
 
 Up into the very heart of the Cascade range through a 
 natural passage, which could not have been formed by the 
 ocean, for the coast is protected here from its erosions by Van- 
 couver's Island, we sailed to-day for forty miles, over water 
 almost as deep under our keel as the snow-capped mountains 
 that hemmed the passage were high above our heads. The 
 Inlet varies in breadth from one to two-and-a-half miles, and 
 for the greater part of its length a ship may sail close enough 
 to the shore for a man to jump to the rocks. 
 
 A mist, Allowed by a drizzling rain, came on early in the 
 afternoon, and hid the summits of the mountains, but the gleam 
 of scores of white cataracts could be seen ; and, like furrows 
 amid the dark spruce, the clean sides of the rocks in long 
 straight lines showed where avalanches had swept everything 
 before them into the deep waters below. Half way up the 
 Inlet we saw a tent on the shore. A whistle brought its tenant 
 out to us in a canoe ; he proved to be a commissary who had 
 preceded X party a few miles, in order to make necessary ar- 
 rangements for their advance. An hour after, we passed camp 
 X., but as the mist had thickened and our captain had never 
 been in these waters before, he steamed on without stopping, 
 for Waddington harbour at the head of the Inlet. This point he 
 reached after dark, and at once sent a boat's crew ahead to 
 sound for an anchoring place. After some delay, between seven 
 and eight P.M., the boatswain held up a lantern in the boat to 
 indicate where soundings had been found. Steaming up to the 
 light the anchor was let go in twenty-five fathoms, quarter of a 
 mile from the shore and from the head of the Inlet. 
 
 October 7th. — A magnificent view awaited those early on 
 deck this morning. Nearly two hours were spent in weighing 
 
326 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 anchor, and then the steamer went round the harbour to enable 
 us to see it on all sides. Rain had fallen steadily through the 
 night, and, now that it had ceased, mist clouds hung about the 
 great masses of rock that on all sides rose perpendicular into 
 the region of eternal snow. Here and there, rifts in the mist, 
 as it was broken by projecting peaks, revealed mountain sides 
 curtained with glaciers. The only sojind which broke the awful 
 stillness was the muffled thunder of cataracts, multiplied by last 
 night's rain, gleaming far up among the scanty pines, washing 
 down the slippery rocks in broad white bands, or leaping from 
 bluff to bluff an hundred feet at a time, for more than a thou- 
 sand feet down to the sea. We were at the head of Bute Inlet. 
 The salt sea water could cut no deeper into the range that 
 guards the western side of our continent. The mountains stood 
 firm except where the Homathco cuts its way through, in a 
 deep gorge, sentinelled on each side by snow-clad warders. 
 
 By this water-highway the late Mr. Waddington had urged 
 the Government of British Columbia to make their road to 
 Cariboo. On their adopting the Fraser River route, he organ- 
 ized a private company and began construction of Bute Inlet 
 Road, so convinced was he, that its superiority would attract 
 the travel between Cariboo and the outside world, and that a 
 toll on goods carried over it would repay the Company. His 
 project was a steamer from Victoria to the head of Bute Inlet, 
 and a waggon road thence up the Homathco to Cariboo ; 
 the distance being 175 miles less this way than by the Eraser. 
 After spending $60,000 on surveys and on trail making, his 
 men were murdered in 1864 by a tribe of Indians to whom pro. 
 vocation had been given. The Government secured the arrest 
 of the murderers, and had them hung up at Quesnel mouth • 
 but, from that day, the Coast and Chilcoten Indians have been 
 regarded as dangerous and blood-thirsty. The 0. P. R. parties 
 who travelled the country this year, had no trouble however ; 
 and Mr. Smith reports that the Chilcotensare the manliest and 
 most intelligent Siwashes he has seen in the Province. 
 
THE COAST AND VANCOUVER'S ISLAND, 327 
 
 From the description that Mr. Smith gave us of the scenery 
 on the Homathco, we would fain have landed and gone at least 
 a few mUes up the river : but time did not permit. He 
 had worked up from the head of the Inlet through the Cascades 
 in July last, overcoming by sheer determination not to be bea- 
 ten — all dilEculties of forest, canyons, torrents, and Indians ; 
 getting surveys at great risk of neck and limb, by felling trees 
 across deep chasms from one to two hundred feet wide, and let- 
 ting men down by ropes to the foot of high cliffs. The- follow- 
 ing extracts from one of his private letters to the Chief give 
 more vivid pictures than any plate can, of scenes up the river. 
 Here is what he says of the canyons, 31 miles from the head of 
 the Inlet, and immediately above the rope ferry used by Mr. 
 Waddington : — " I commenced the survey of the canyon, follow- 
 ing the river on the new trail commenced by Waddington, as 
 far as it went, — about half a mile, — when it terminated at an 
 inaccessible bluff on which blasting had been commenced. The 
 scene here is awfully sublime. The towering rocks, thousands 
 of feet high ; serrated and broken by dark chasms — far above 
 these again the snow-clad peaks, connected by huge glaciers ; 
 out of which issued torrents that fell in cascades ; and in a deep 
 gorge beneath a mountain torrent — whirling, boiling, roaring, 
 and huge boulders always in motion, muttering, groaning like 
 troubled spirits, and ever and anon striking on the rocks> 
 making a report like the booming of distant artillery. But 
 with all this wildness, there is the fresh beauty of vegetation. 
 Wherever there is a crevice, to the base of the snow-clad peaks 
 were clumps of evergreen trees, and lower down wherever a 
 handful of soil could rest it was' sprinkled with wild flowers 
 amongst which bloomed the sweet lily of the valley." 
 
 After getting through " the core of the Cascade range," he 
 came upon " the murderers' camp, where thirteen of Wadding- 
 ton's men were murdered eight years ago. The spot looks as if 
 it had never before been visited by man since the massacre. 
 
328 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 The number of tents could be counted by the cedar bark form- 
 ing the beds. Strewed around were various tools,^a black- 
 smith's anvU, sledge-hammers, crowbars, grindstone, vice, picks, 
 and half a dozen shovels carefully placed against a tree ready 
 for the morrow's work ; also pieces of clothing,' amongst which 
 were at least one pair of woman's boots — too surely indicating 
 the source of the trouble." This last clause suggests the origin 
 of more than one " Indian atrocity." It's always a fair ques- 
 tion to aak : " Who struck the first blow i" 
 
 The forenoon was spent by us in coasting down the northerly 
 side of the Inlet until we came to camp X. After inspecting 
 their work we proceeded on our way down, Mr. Gamsby, the 
 engineer in 'charge, accompanying us. He reported that the 
 Indians, far from giving any trouble, had been of material 
 assistance in many ways, acting as servants or messengers, and 
 selling deer, wild fowl, and fish, at moderate prices. He pointed 
 out a stream, running into the Inlet on the east aide, at the 
 mouth of which, on a recent visit, te had seen hundreds of 
 thousands of dead salmon strewn along the shore ; while thou- 
 sands of crows, kites, vultures, and eagles filled the air. In 
 similar places, such sights must have been common when white 
 men first came to the country. These Pacific waters swarm 
 with fish, that struggle up brawling streamlets to spawn, in 
 spite of rapids, cascades, rocks, and shallows. No wonder that 
 people, who have only eaten salmon caught inland, say that the 
 Pacific varieties are inferior. They were good when they 
 entered the river's mouth ; but, when caught a few hundred 
 miles up the Eraser, often the head is bruised by rocks and 
 falls,, and the scales, fins, and even the tail rubbed or worked 
 off. No wonder that half of them perish by the way, and that 
 none return to the sea. It is asserted everywhere in British 
 Columbia, that none of the salmon entering the Frasejr river, 
 and even the smaller streams, ever return to the sea. 
 
 We were struck with the beauty of Gamsby's canoe, and 
 
THE COAST AND VANCOUVER'S ISLAND. 329 
 
 indeed of all the Indians' canoes on this coast. Each is a model 
 of architectural grace, although the lines reminded us of Chinese 
 or Japanese rather than of British models. The canoes are 
 generally made out of a single large log, formerly scooped out 
 with chisel and stone mallet, gimlet, from bird's bone, and 
 muscle shell or stone adze. After scooping out the log, they 
 used to steam it in the following primitive manner : Fill it 
 with water, throw in heated stones to make the water boil, and 
 at the same time build a bark-fire round the outside. The 
 wood gives several inches, until the central part of the canoe 
 is made broader at the top, and the requisite curvature secured 
 to its sides. Light cross pieces are inserted from side to side 
 to improve the form ; outside and inside are then painted ; 
 ornamented figure-head and raised stem piece set on ; and the 
 canoe is complete. 
 
 By midday the mouth of Bute Inlet was gained, but instead 
 of returning in the direction of Burrard's Inlet, we ran through 
 Arran Rapids in order to pass round the north side of Valdes 
 Is land. At every turn, the beautiful views which an archi- 
 pelago affords, met our eyes. Tiie islands of every possible 
 variety of form, were wooded from lofty summits to the brink 
 of deep channels. At one time we were in cross-roads where 
 four different channels opened out, north, south, east, and west ; 
 soon after in a narrow winding strait, or shooting swiftly 
 through tidal rapids, or in a broad bay where snowy peaks could 
 be seen behind thegreen foothills. After passing thraugh Seymour 
 Narrows, where, if there is to be a continuous line from an Island 
 terminus, the bridge between Valdes' and Vancouver must be built, 
 we rounded into a beautiful land-locked harbour, called Menzies 
 Bay, and cast the anchor for the night. Between the Narrows 
 and the Bay, the tents of Y. party were picturesquely pitched, 
 on an open easy slope, under the shadow of the forest. A 
 whistle from the steamer brought Mr. Michaud on board, and, 
 after dinner all rowed off to his encampment, the Chief to in- 
 
330 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 speot plans, the rest to see the camp. As compared with the 
 others, Y. party has been in clover from the beginning of 
 their work. They were near Victoria, had a monthly mail, 
 and could renew their supplies as they ran out. Their store- 
 house filled with bags of flour, flitches of bacon, pork, molasses, 
 split peas, beans, pickles, and a keg of beer, suggested good 
 cheer ; while any day, they could buy from the Indians a deer, 
 weighing from 120 to 160 lbs., for one or two doUars; and 
 salmon, trout, wild-geese, duck, or mallard, for trifling sums. 
 They had no deer-meat in camp to-day, but they generously 
 presented us with two wild geese, each weighing ten or eleven 
 lbs. 
 
 October 8th. — Our programme for the day was to reach 
 Nanaimo Coal Mines as soon as possible, for the steamer's 
 bunkers needed replenishing, and we wished to see something 
 of the mines, which promise to be of more benefit to British 
 Columbia than the gold-fields. Accordingly at 4 a.m. the 
 anchor was weighed. 
 
 We were now getting into waters familiar to our captain ; 
 for strange as it may appear, not one on board with the exception 
 of Mr. Smith, had ever been up Bute Inlet or round Valdes 
 Island before this trip. Nothing shows more clearly the imper- 
 fectly developed condition of the Province than such a fact. 
 Her representative men, those most likely to be best acquainted 
 with her resources, know little beyond their own neighbour- 
 hood or the line of their one waggon-road. Distances are so 
 great, the means of communication so limited, and the 
 mountainous character of the country renders travelling so 
 difficult, that the dwellers in the few towns and settlements 
 have hitherto seen but little of the Province as a whole. 
 
 When we appeared on deck about 7 o'clock, the steamer was 
 running down the Straits of Georgia, over a rippling, sun-lit 
 sea. The lofty Beaufort range, on our right, rose grandly in 
 the clear air, every snowy peak distinct from its neighbour, and 
 
THE COAST AND VANCOUVER'S ISLAND. 331 
 
 the blue sky high above the highest. Victoria, and the twin 
 peaks Albert Edward and Alexandra, ranging from 6,000 to 
 over 7,000 feet in height, were the most prominent ; but the 
 noble serrated range as a whole, more than separate peaks, 
 caught the eye. The smaller Islands to the left were hidden 
 by a fog-bank that gradually lifted. Then stood out, not only 
 islet after islet in all their varied outline, but also the long 
 line of the Cascade range behind. Yesterday had been charming 
 from 10 o'clock, when the sun pierced through the mists ; but 
 to-day was all white. A soft warm breeze fanned us, and every 
 mile disclosed new features of scenery, to which snow-clad 
 mountain ranges, wooded planes, and a summer sea enfolding 
 countless promontories and islands, contributed their different 
 forms of beauty. The islands are composed of strata of sandstone 
 and conglomerate ; the sandstone at the bottom worn at the 
 water line into caves and hollows ; the conglomerate above 
 forming lofty cliffs that are wooded to the summit and over- 
 hang winding inlets and straits most tempting to a yachtsman. 
 From the southern point of Valdes Island down to Nanaimo, a 
 considerable area of low lying and undulating land extends 
 between the central mountain range of Vancouver's Island and 
 the Straits of Georgia, well adapted for farming purposes. At 
 two points, Comox and Nanoose, settlements have been formed 
 within the last few years, but where there is one settlement 
 there ought to be twenty, if the island is to raise its own grain 
 and hay, and to cease sending out of the country all its wealth. 
 There is little or no immigration to Vancouver's Island, and little 
 has been done to induce it, or to smooth the way for those who 
 arrive. When an immigrant reaches the country, he finds it diffi- 
 cult to obtain information as to where there is good land to take 
 up ; and how is it possible for him to go out among a sea of moun- 
 tains to search for a farm t The island should be thoroughly sur- 
 veyed according to the simple system long pwctised in the 
 United States, and lately adopted in Manitoba ; the amount of 
 
332 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 good land known, divided into sections and subsections, and 
 numbered,; so that, on arriving at Victoria, the immigrant 
 could go into the Crown Land office, learn what land was pre- 
 empted, and where it would be expedient for him to settle. 
 There are many obstacles in the way of immigrants reaching 
 this distant colony, and therefore special efforts are required to 
 bring them, and to keep them when they come ; for, until there 
 is a large agricultural population, the wealth of the country 
 must continiie to be drained out of it, to buy the necessaries of 
 life and every other article of consumption, from Oregon, Cali- 
 fornia, Great Britain, and elsewhere. 
 
 We were sorry at not being able to visit Oomox. Testimony 
 was unanimous concerning the good quality of the land, the 
 accessibility to markets, and the prosperity of the settlers, 
 notwithstanding the short time they have been in the country. 
 
 By noon we had left the Beaufort range behind, and Mount 
 Arrowsmith came into view ; while far ahead on the mainland, 
 and south of the 49th parallel, what looked a dim white pyramid 
 rising to the skies, or a white cloud resting upon the horizon, 
 was pointed out to us by the Captain as Mount Baker. Soon 
 after we rounded into the northern horn of Nanaimo harbour, 
 called Departure Bay, and drew alongside the pier, where a 
 lately organized Company is shipping coal from a new seam 
 that has been opened, three miles back from the point of ship- 
 ment. 
 
 Landing, and leaving the steamer to coal, most of us walked 
 by a trail to Nanaimo through the woods, along a channel that 
 connects Departure Bay with the old mines. The channel, 
 which is an excellent roadstead, is between the mainland of 
 Vancouver and a little island called Newcastle, on the inner 
 side of which another excellent coal mine, within ten feet of 
 navigable water, has just been opened. There are two seams 
 at Newcastle, averaging three feet each, and separated by three 
 feet of fire clay, which, ft8 the miners proceed, becomes thinner, 
 
THE COAST AND VANCOUVER'S ISLAND. 333 
 
 the coal seams becoming thicker. From this convergence it is 
 supposed that the clay ■will soon give out, and the two seams of 
 coal unite into one. Near this Newcastle mine is a quarry of 
 light-coloured freestone of excellent quality, which is sure to be 
 of immense service and value in the near future. There is no 
 such freestone quarried on the Pacific coast; and its con- 
 venience for shipping makes it doubly valuable. 
 
 At Nanaimo proper is a population of seven or eight hun- 
 dred souls, — all depending on the old or Douglas mine. The 
 manager informed us that they would probably ship fifty thousand 
 tons this season, while last year they shipped less than thirty 
 thousand ; and that, next year, they would be in a position to 
 ship an hundred thousand or more. They could give employ- 
 ment to fifty or sixty additional men at once, at wages averaging 
 from two to three dollars a day. A new seam, nine feet thick, 
 had lately been discovered below the old one ; and we went 
 down the shaft three hundred feet to see it. The coal was of 
 the same excellent quality as that of the old mine, which is the 
 best for gas or steam purposes on the Pacific coast. But the 
 miners had come upon a fault in the seam, caused by the dislo- 
 cation of the strata, immediately above and below, intruding a 
 tough conglomerate rock that they were now cutting away in 
 the hope of its soon giving out. The coal measures, which 
 these few seams now worked represent, extend over the whole 
 eastern coast of Vancouver Island, and, like those on the east 
 of the Rocky Mountains, are cretaceous or of tertiary age. They 
 are considered as valuable as if they were carboniferous. 
 
 It is provoking to know that the agricultural settlements in 
 the neighbourhood, which, though small, are the most extensive 
 on the island, are not able to supply the present population of 
 Nanaimo with food; and that no steps are taken to bring in 
 new settlers, though there is abundance of good land all round. 
 If this state of things continues, even though the mining popu- 
 lation of Vancouver's Island increase ten fold in as many years, 
 
334 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 most of the wealth will be sent out of the county, as was the 
 gold of Cariboo, and the country in the end be as poor as ever. 
 
 Nanaimo does not look like a coal mining place. The houses 
 are much above the average of miners' residences in Britain or 
 in Nova Scotia. They are scattered aboxit, often in picturesque 
 situations, with gardens, and not in long, mean, soot-covered 
 rows, laid out with the idea that men who see nothing of 
 beauty underground cannot be expected to appreciate it above. 
 The view of the Cascades range, on the other side of the Straits, 
 is almost equal to the view of the long semi-circular line of the 
 Alps from Milan. At sunset, when warmed with the roseate 
 light, or, a little later, when a deep soft blue has displaced the 
 couhv/r de rose, the beauty contrasts painfully with the ash 
 heaps and tenements of a mining village. Though not a be- 
 liever in the " God made the country ; man made the town '' 
 sentiment, the contrast irresistibly suggests the words. 
 
 October, 9th. — Another day of glorious weather; such 
 weather as Vancouver's Island has, almost without interrup- 
 tion, from March till October or November ; warm enough for 
 enjoyment, and cool enough for exercise. Our course was 
 down the Gulf of Georgia to Victoria ; past the agricultural 
 districts of Cowichan and Saanich on the Vancouver side, and 
 the various islands that line the mainland on our left. Mount 
 Baker was the great feature in the landscape all day. We 
 could hardly help feeling envious that the United States instead 
 of ourselves possessed so glorious a landmark ; especially as it 
 still bears the name of the British Naval Officer in Capt. Van- 
 couver's ship who first saw it, and is in the country that was 
 formally taken possession of for the British Crown in 1792, and 
 that had been, up to 1846, held by a British Company. Indeed, 
 it is difficult to conceive of any plausible excuse that the United 
 States could have brought forward, in claiming the country 
 round Puget's Sound. They knew its value, and the British 
 Premier, not only did not, but his brother had said that the 
 
THE COAST AND VANCOUVER'S ISLAND. 386 
 
 whole country was not worth much j foj: the salmon wouldn't 
 take a fly. 
 
 On the fourth of April, 1792, the birthday of King George 
 III., after whom he had named the Straits of Georgia, Captain 
 Vancouver took formal possession for His Majesty of all the 
 waters of Puget Sound, and of the coast north and south 
 along which he had sailed. All the prominent capes, points, 
 harbours, straits, mountains, bear to this day the names of his 
 lieutenants and friends, just as he named them on his great 
 voyage. He changed nothing. As the old Portuguese navi- 
 gator, Juan de Fuca, had discovered the Straits of Fuca, his 
 name was honourably preserved, and as "Vancouver met a 
 Spanish Squadron that had been sent out to give up Nootka 
 and other SpanisB claims on the coast of Great Britain, he 
 adopted the names that the Dons had given to any channels or 
 islands, such as Valdez, Texada, Straits of Melaspina, etc. 
 Puget Sound he named from his second lieutenant ; Mount 
 Baker from his third ; Cape Mudge from the first ; Mount 
 Rainer from Rear Admiral Rainer; Capes Grey and Atkin- 
 son, Burrard, Jervis, and Bute Inlets, Fort Discovery, John- 
 stone's Channel, and a hundred others, were -all alike named 
 by him ; and if Britain had no right to those south of the 
 49th parallel, she had no right to those farther north. 
 
 Still more astonishing ; in 1846 when Britain yielded the 
 Columbia River and the whole Pacific side of the continent 
 up to the 49th parallel, not a single eitizen of the United 
 States had settled to the north of the Columbia. Swarms 
 from the Western States had flocked into Oregon in the ten 
 preceding years of joint occupation, and so the Government at 
 Washington might plead the will of the settlers against the 
 Imperial rights of Britain ; but that plea could have carried 
 them, at the fai-thest, only to Astoi-ia. If Oregon had to be 
 ceded, the Columbia River should have been the boundary. 
 
 It may be said that all this is a reviving of dead issues, out 
 
336 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 of place and useless now. But the history of the past thro-ws 
 light on the present, and is a beacon for the future. Had the 
 San Juan difficulty been viewed, not merely in the light of the 
 literal wording of the Treaty of 1846, but in the light of all the 
 facts, the decision of the Emperor of Germany must have been 
 different. 
 
 Before noon we entered the Haro Strait that separates San 
 Juan from Vancouver's Island. Between the northern part of 
 the Haro Channel and Vancouver's Island, are several islets 
 and txo narrow channels, that ships going to Victoria may 
 take. South of these, there is nothing between San Juan and 
 the southern extremity of Vancouver, but the Haro Strait, six 
 or seven miles wide. It is therefore evident that while San 
 Juan would be useless to Britain for military purposes, its pos- 
 session by the United States is a menace to us ; for it com- 
 mands the entrance to British waters, British shores, a British 
 river, and British Province. There is a lull on San Juan 
 about a thousand feet high, a battery on which would com- 
 mand the whole Strait. 
 
 The sail down the Straits of Haro was all that a pleasure 
 party on board a steam yacht could have desired. On the 
 mainland, the long line of the Cascades or Coast range broken 
 by the Delta of the Fraser extended to the south, — though 
 dwarfed into comparative insignificance by the mighty mass of 
 Mount Baker, rising up in the midst. Farther south, the line 
 swept round the deep gulf of Puget Sound, then north-westerly 
 and away as far west as the entrance of the Straits of Fuca 
 under the name of the Olympian range. When under the lee 
 of San Juan the snowy pyramid of Mount Baker looked out on 
 us over the Island, while far to the south, in the back ground of 
 the Olympian range, the dim form of Mount Rainer was seen 
 lifting itself up in the sky. Rounding the southern point of 
 Vancouver's Island, -we came to the spit of land that is cut into 
 by the harbour of Victoria and four miles further west by tuo 
 
THE COAST AND VANCOUVEE'S ISLAND. 837 
 
 much superior harbour of Esquimalt. We steamed first into 
 Victoria to get letters and telegrams, and proceeded immedi- 
 ately to Esquimal%retumiQg by land, over a good macadamized 
 road. 
 
 The harbour of Victoria has a narrow entrance, is small, in- 
 conveniently shaped, and accommodates only vessels of eighteen 
 feet draught of water ; but as Esquimalt is near enough to 
 serve as an additional harbour, Victoria does not suffer. Esqui- 
 malt harbour is a gem ; not very large, but the anchorage is 
 excellent, and it has all the other requisites of a first-class har- 
 bour ; and in the Royal Roads outside, along the coast as far as 
 Race Rocks, any number of ships can ride safely. In Esqui- 
 malt, one TJ. S. and four British men-of-war lay, two of the 
 latter having been just paid off. Not Esquimalt, but the for- 
 eign port of Valparaiso is the headquarters of the Pacific 
 squadron. Esquimalt is our own, our interests are along the 
 coast, coal is near, China and Japan only fifteen days distant, 
 and the Admiral could be in daUy communication when neces- 
 sary with the Home authorities. The only reasons assigned on 
 the other side are that British Commercial interests in South 
 America are paramount, and that sailors desert at Esquimalt 
 and get off easily to the States. The same reasons ought to be 
 conclusive against Halifax as the head-quarters of the North 
 American squadron, and in favour of adopting Rio or some 
 other South American port in its stead. 
 
 The terms of confederation with the Dominion included a 
 guarantee of the iuterest on £100,000 stg. for ten years from 
 the completion of the work, for a first-class Graving Dock at 
 Esquimalt, and the Provincial Government has taken steps to 
 commence its construction. 
 
 On our return to Victoria in the afternoon, one of the first 
 persons we met in the street was Terry. Having no further 
 need of his services, we had parted with him last week at New 
 Westminater. He had gone on to Victoria direct and had 
 
 22 
 
338 OCEAtJ TO OCEAN. 
 
 monopolized the lionizing intended for the whole party ; Lad 
 been interviewed about our marvellous north-west passage by 
 land, with results as given in the newspapers, that spoke quite as 
 much for Terry's imagination as for his memory. He had conjured 
 up a Canyon on the Canoe River twenty miles long, where no 
 Canyon is or ever had been j had described us as galloping down 
 the Yellow Head Pass tiU arrested by the sight of quartz 
 boulders gleaming with gold, and rocks so rich that Brown and 
 Beaupre had deserted to go back and mine j and, with many 
 another fact or fancy equally readable, made the hearts of re- 
 porters glad. Drinks had been the reward, and the conse- 
 quences to Terry proved serious. For on the first day after 
 being paid in full at the office in Victoria for his long trip, he 
 had been plundered of every dollar. He was now looking 
 round for work ; and before we left Victoria, hired as general 
 servant on board a ship going north. Thus disappeared Terry 
 into space. Should any one in future wish to engage him, we 
 hereby certify him as a good servant, a good tailor, a good 
 cobbler, and indeed anything but a good cook, the post which, 
 unfortunately for us, he filled. But even of cookery he knows 
 something ; for he engaged with us as cook in order that he 
 might learn the business ; and he experimented on us long 
 enough to learn the rudiments. In his own words, " he never 
 liked being boss ; but could be understrapper to any one," and 
 such a man is a treasure in America. 
 
 A walk through the streets of Victoria showed the little 
 capital to be a small polyglot copy of the world. Its population 
 is less than 5,000 ; but almost every nationality is repre- 
 sented. Greek fishermen. Kanaka sailors, Jewish and Scotch 
 merchants, Chinese washermen, French, Grerman and Yan- 
 kee restaurant-keepers, English and Canadian officeholders 
 and butchers, negro waiters and sweeps, Australian farmers and 
 other varieties of the race, rub against each other, apparently 
 in the most friendly way. The sign-boards tell their own taltj ; 
 
THE COAST AND VANCOUVER'S ISLAND. 339 
 
 " Own Shing, -washing and ironing ;" " Sam Hang," ditto ; 
 "KwongTaiifc Co., cigar store;" "Magasin Frangais ;" Teu- 
 tonic Hall, lager beer ;" " Scotoli House ;" " Adelphie " and 
 " San Francisco '' saloons ; " Oriental " and " New England " 
 restaurants ; " What Cheer Market," and " Play me oflf at ten- 
 pins,'' are found within gunshot, interspersed with more com- 
 mon-place signs. 
 
 The senior member for the city had invited several gentlemen 
 to dine with us at the Colonial Hotel at 5 o'clock. A better 
 dimier could not be served in Montreal. We were only sorry 
 that we had to leave at 7, to go on board the Sir James Douglas 
 and proceed to Albemi Channel, one of the proposed termini 
 on the west coast of Vancouver's Island. But time was 
 precious, as the San Francisco steamer was expected to be in 
 every hour. Parting with Mr. Smith, and adding the second 
 member for Victoria to our number, we went down to our little 
 steamer and started on this, our last expedition. 
 
 October 10th.. — The distance between Victoria and the Paci- 
 fic by the Straits of Fuca is sixty miles. The Sir Jrnnes Doug- 
 las made that by midnight, and then turned north for the 
 spacious Archipelago of Barclay's sound, from the head of 
 which Albemi Canal, or to use the modem word Channel, a 
 deep narrow fiord like those on the main land, cuts its way up 
 into the interior of Vancouver's Island. Barclay sound has 
 three entrances, separated from each other by groups of islets 
 and rocks, and as the nearest is the best for ships from the 
 south, the Captain intended to run up by it into Alberni. The 
 weather during the night was so favourable that he over-ran 
 his distance, and never having been in the sound before, he 
 waited for daylight to compare the coast with the charts. 
 Those who came early on deck had thus an opportunity of see- 
 ing the Pacific breaking oiv the iron shores of Vancouver. 
 Away behind us the great ocean stretched unbroken to Japan 
 and China, sleeping peacefully — under the morning light that 
 
340 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 was shining over the mountains to the east — with no motion 
 save a slow voluptuous roll of long billows that seemed gentle 
 enough to be stayed by a child's hand. But to know their 
 strength, even in a calm, turn and look where these same bil- 
 lows meet the headlands. Over the first they break with a 
 heavy roar ; and then, as if amazed to be resisted, they gather 
 up their forces and rush with a long wild leap, like white-maned 
 war-horses charging, among the inner breakers, to meet the 
 fate that a gallant ship would meet if it mistook the entrance 
 to the sound. When a gale is blowing from the west, the surf 
 must be tremendous, for there is nothing to break the roU of 
 the Pacific for 2,000 miles.; but the entrances into the Sound 
 are wide, and one or two lighthouses would obviate all risk. 
 The most prominent mark about the southern entrance at 
 present is Ship Island, probably so called from a number of bare 
 trees on it like the masts of a ship. Beyond the coast line a 
 bold range of serrated mountains runs along the centre of the 
 island, like a backbone, north and south, into the heart of which 
 Alberni Channel pierces. 
 
 Passing up the sound, several canoes with from two to half-a- 
 dozen Indians in each hailed us with friendly shouts. They 
 are squat in shape, dirtier, more savage, with a more decided 
 cross-eye than the Indians on the maioland. In all probability 
 this side of America was peopled from Asia, and not necessarily 
 round by Behring's Straits and the Aleutian Islands. Even in 
 this century Japanese junks, dismasted in a typhoon or other- 
 wise disabled, after drifting for months about the North Pacific 
 have stranded on the American continent or been encountered 
 by whaling ships, and the survivors of the crews rescued, in 
 cases where all had not perished of hunger. 
 
 There are two or three trading posts and several Indian 
 villages on Barclay Sound. The traders come to the posts in 
 schooners at certain seasons of the year, and trade for peltries, 
 seal-oil, and fish. The sceneiy along the sound and up the 
 
THE COAST AND VANCOUVER'S ISLAND. 341 
 
 channel resembles Bute Inlet, except that the hills do not rise 
 so sheer and high from the water and the yood is better. 
 There are also larger extents of open alluvial ground at the 
 mouths of the streams that ran into the sea, and along the 
 valleys between the hills that they drain. At the head of 
 Alberni is the Sumass, a river of considerable size that drains 
 large lakes in the interior and is said to be bordered by exten- 
 sive tracts of fertile soil. At its mouth is enough good land 
 for several farms, but there are no settlers. An English 
 Company formerly worked saw mills at this point, from 
 which in 1862 over eight million feet of lumber were ex- 
 ported. The working of the mills has been abandoned, as 
 the speculation did not pay, and the premises are now 
 going to ruin. A walk round showed us one reason at least 
 of the failure. Too much money had been sunk in house, 
 orchard, outhouses, and other fixtures and improvements that 
 yielded no return. No sane man would have started on such a 
 scale with his own money. It was a sorry spectacle to see so 
 many good buildings doorless and windowless, falling into 
 decay or broken up by the Siwashes for wood to bum. In a 
 country whose lumbering interests require development it is 
 too bad that capitalists should be deterred by such an example. 
 
 Alberni harbour offers such decided advantages as a terminus 
 that it may prove a formidable rival even to Esquimalt. 
 
 After a bath in the harbour, the water being wonderfully 
 warm for the time of year, we steamed out into the Ocean 
 again, and got back in time to see a glorious sunset on the 
 Pacific. The twilight continued for an hour after ; a band of 
 carmine that shaded into orange and, higher up, into mauve, 
 lingering so long over the horizon that we ceased to look at it, 
 and only when turning into our berths, noticed that it had 
 given way to the universal deep blue of the night sky. The 
 sea was smooth and the night calm and beautiful as the pre- 
 ceding J and in consequence we were at the wharf in Victoria 
 
343 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 harbour between four and five A. M., to tbe astonishment of 
 the citizens who had not expected us back till the afternoon or 
 next day. 
 
 October 11th to 14th. — It had been assumed that the Prince 
 Alfred steamer would leave Victoria for San Francisco on the 
 twelfth ; but her day was changed to the fourteenth as she had 
 to go to Namaimo to coal. We had thus three days to spend 
 in Victoria instead of one, and so great was the hospitality of 
 the people that three months might have been spent enjoyably. 
 Various as are the nationalities and religions represented in 
 Victoria, the people are wonderfully fused, and there is a 
 general spirit of mutual toleration, kindness, and active good 
 will that makes it a pleasant town to live in. Like the whole 
 colony it is a poor man's paradise. Everyone seems to have 
 plenty of money ; and every kind of labour receives enormous 
 prices. There is no copper currency, and the smallest silver 
 piece is what is called "a bit"; the ten cent and the English 
 sixpence, though of diflferent values, being alike called bits, and 
 given to children or put in church-door plates (there are no 
 beggars) as cents or coppers are in other countries. This 
 absence of small coins has much to do with the general cost of 
 living, and the indifference to small profits characteristic of all 
 classes here. The merest trifle costs a bit ; and though there 
 are 25 and 50 cent pieces in currency, yet, if anything is worth 
 more than a bit, with a lofty indiSierence to the intermediate 
 coins, the price is generally made a dollar. Emigrants on 
 landing, and men with fixed incomes, are the chief sufferers 
 from this state of things ; for as mechanics, labourers, and 
 servants are paid accordingly, they like it, and speak with 
 intensest scorn of the unfortunates who would divide a bit be- 
 cause they perhaps think it too much to give for a paper of 
 pins or an apple. " John" who comes across the Pacific to 
 make money and then return to the flowery land doesn't heed 
 their scorn ; and so, most of it was reserved before Confedera- 
 
THE COAST AND VANCOUVER'S ISLAND, 343 
 
 tion for canny Canadians who received the flattering appella- 
 tion of North American Chinamen ; Californians being as well 
 supplied with gold and as lavish with it as the Victorians 
 themselves. 
 
 All this was very well in the halcyon days of the young 
 Province, when gold-dust was accounted as nothing ; when 
 miners who had been six months in Cariboo would come down 
 to the capital and call for all the champagne in an hotel to wash 
 their feet; eat £10 notes as pills, or as a sandwich with a slice 
 of pork, or light their pipes with them ; and when town lots 
 commanded higher prices for the moment than in 'Frisco. But 
 the tide turned ; the gold flowed out of the country to btiy the 
 champagne, and more necessary articles, instead of being spread 
 abroad among resident farmers, or manufacturers ; Cariboo 
 yielded less abundant harvests ; and the inflated prosperity of 
 Victoria collapsed. Lots that had been bought at from $10,000 
 to $25,000 have been sold since, it is said, for $500 ; the 15,000 
 people who lived around the city in tents have taken flight, like 
 wild geese, to more southern climates ; and the then reputed 
 millionaires are now content with a modest business. The 
 virus, however, is still in the blood of the Victorians. They 
 half expect that the good old times, when every man got rich 
 without efibrt on his part, will come again ; that something 
 will turn up ; new mines or the railway being now the chief 
 objects of reliance, to make business brisk. This delusion, 
 which belongs to the gambling rather than the true trading 
 spirit, retards the growth of the city ; for it makes men hold on 
 to house and business lots, or demand sums for them far 
 beyond their valiie. Great part of the four miles between 
 Esquimalt and Victoria is owned by a company called 
 " the Puget Sound." This land is held at prices too high 
 for settlers or gardeners to buy, and thus it is that the 
 suburbs do not present the cultivated appearance that might 
 have been expected from the soil and fine climate. High prices 
 
344 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 for land and for everything else in and around the town, and 
 extreme difficulty of obtaining information about good land 
 elsewhere ; what condition of affairs could be more discouraging 
 for emigrants or intending settlers ? 
 
 An infusion of new blood is required. At present the classes 
 that ought to come are servant girls, labourers, mechanics, 
 miners, farm-servants, and such like, for these would get remu- 
 nerative employment at once ; and, gradually, land would be 
 taken up, and money be diffused in so many hands that there 
 would be a healthy flow instead of the present comparative 
 stagnation and universal waiting for better times. 
 
 In looking at Victoria and the surrounding coast the situation 
 is so commanding that it is difficult to avoid speculating a little 
 as to its probable future. The island is at the end of the west 
 and the beginning of the east. Behind it, over the mountains, 
 stretch the virgin plains of our North-west, extending to the 
 Great Lakes. Fronting it are the most ancient civilizations 
 and the densest masses of humanity on the surface of the 
 globe. With such a position, the harbours, minerals, fish, and 
 timber of this colony become important. If the " golden gate" 
 be one passage-way between the Old World and the New, the 
 straits of Fuca and its harbours, the channels of Vancouver's 
 Island and the inlets of the mainland are many. To our rail- 
 way terminus wUl converge the products of Austi-alia and 
 Poljnaesia, as well as of China and Japan ; and all that the 
 busy millions of Great Britain need can be sent to them aci'oss 
 their own territory, independently of the changing phases of the 
 Eastern question. 
 
 Let there be a line of communication from the Pacific to the 
 St. Lawrence through a succession of loyal Provinces bound up 
 with the Empire by ever-multiplying and tightening links, and 
 the future of the Fatherland and of the Great Empire of which 
 she will then be only the chief part is secured. With such a 
 consummation in view, should not he be considered an enemy to 
 
THE COAST AND VANCOUVER'S ISLAND. 346 
 
 the Common-weal who would dissever the western or American 
 portion of so great an Empire from its foundation, from its cap- 
 ital and centre, simply because a belt of ocean intervenes ; a 
 belt too that is becoming less of an obstacle every year. For in 
 a few years we shall have a railway with but one break from the 
 Pacific coast to the extreme easterly side of Newfoundland, and 
 thence daily steamers will cross the Atlantic in a hundred 
 hours. Canada will be as near London as Scotland and Ireland 
 were forty years ago. It will be easier to make the journey 
 from Victoria to London than it was to make it from the North 
 of Scotland at the beginning of the century. These results, 
 however marvellous, will be due to steam alone. How much 
 nearer to the core of the Empire may not Canada be considered 
 with the means of instantaneous telegraphic communication ex- 
 tended to every part of the Dominion? 
 
 But it would be unworthy of our past to think in this con- 
 nection only of material progress and national consolidation and 
 security. Loftier have ever been the aims of our forefathers. 
 It is not enough for us to allow Chinamen to come to our shores 
 merely that, while living, they may do our rough work cheaply, 
 repelled the while from us by injustice and insult, and that 
 when dead a Company may clear money by carrying their bod- 
 ies back to their own land. A nation to be great must have 
 great thoughts ; must be inspired with lofty ideals ; must have 
 men and women willing to work and wait and war for an idea. 
 To be a light to the dark places of the earth ; to rule inferior 
 races mercifully and justly ; to infuse into them a higher life ; 
 to give them the good news that makes men blessed and free, 
 believing that as the race is one, reason one, and conscience 
 one, there is one Gospel iov and unto all ; nothing less than this 
 was the thought — deeply felt if sometimes inarticulately ex- 
 pressed — of our great ancestors in the brave days of Old. And 
 it is ours also. By the possession of British Columbia and 
 Vancouver's Island we look across into the very eyes of four 
 
346 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 hundred millions of heathen, a people eager to learn, acute to 
 investigate, and whom the struggle for existence in thronged 
 centres has made tolerant, patient, and hardy. Can we do 
 nothing but trade with them ? 
 
 October 14th. — To-day we left Esquimalt by the Prince 
 Alfred on the home stretch, friends on the wharf giving us kind- 
 ly parting cheers. A delightful voyage df four days down the 
 coast brought us to San Prancisco ; a wonderful city for its age, 
 though not equal to Melbourne, the only other city in the 
 world it ought to be compared witL Doubtless it is a fine 
 thing to escape frost and snow ; but some people would endure 
 all the snow-storms of Quebec or Winnipeg rather than one 
 sand-storm in ' Frisco. 
 
 On Saturday morning, Oct. 16th, we breakfasted at the Lick 
 House, San Francisco. On Saturday the 26th we breakfasted 
 at home in Ottawa. 
 
 And how does the country crossed by the Union and Central 
 Pacific Railways compare with our own North-west, has been 
 asked us since our return 1 Comparisons are odious and there- 
 fore the answer shall be as brief as possible. The Pacific slope 
 excepted, for there is nothing in British Columbia to compare 
 with the fertile valleys of California, everything is so completely 
 in our favour that there is no comparison except the old racing 
 one of " Eclipse first and the rest nowhere.' ' California itself, 
 though its yield of wheat in favourable years is marvellous, is 
 not a country to rear a healthy and hardy race. There is no 
 summer or autumn rain-fall ; the air is without its due propor- 
 tion of moisture ; and the lack of moisture is supplied by dust. 
 The people look weary, and used up. In the course of a gener- 
 ation or two, unless a constant infusion of fresh blood renews 
 their strength, the influences of climate must tell disastrously 
 not only on their physique but on their whole spirit and life. 
 
THE COAST AND VAUCODTEE'S ISLAND. 347 
 
 Are Anglo-Saxons secure from falling into the same sleepy and 
 unprogressive state, that the energetic Spaniards, who first 
 settled the country, soon sank into 1 
 
 But when we leave California and travel from twelve to 
 fifteen hundred miles, through Utah, Nevada, Wyoming, and 
 Eastern Nebraska, the contrast with our North-west is startling. 
 Certainly population has been attracted to various points over 
 this vast region. The Mormons with infinite toil and patience, 
 have made the deserts of Utah bring forth food for man and 
 beast, but they are deserts nothwithstanding, and yield nothing 
 unless carefully irrigated ; and the mean houses of logs or adob6 
 — or sun-dried clay bricks, — and the unintelligent careworn 
 countenances of the people do not testify very eloquently in 
 favour of Utah. The State of Nevada is rich in minerals, 
 especially in silver ; and the railway has been the means of 
 developing these to a great extent, while the export of the 
 bullion supplies to the railway a considerable local traffic. Along 
 the Humboldt, and in side valle3fs, large herds of stock are fed ; 
 and in parts of Wyoming and Eastern Nebraska stock raising 
 is carried on with profit. But what a country to live in ! 
 Everywhere it has a uniform dry, dusty, what an Australian 
 writer woiild call " God-forsaken " look. For more than a 
 thousand miles not a tree or shrub except sage-brush or grease-' 
 wood, relieves the desolation. And yet this is the country that 
 guide books describe as if it were the garden of the Lord, and 
 to which they summon the millions of Europe. As we sat in 
 the railway traiu and read the description of the land we were 
 passing through ; read of boundless tracts of the finest pasturage 
 in the world ; of free soil on which anything and everything 
 could be raised, of slopes that would yet be clad with vines and 
 bear the rarest fruits ; and then looked out of the window and 
 saw limitless stretches of desert or semi-desert, high, arid, 
 alkaline plateaux, dotted scantily with miserable sage-brush, 
 hundreds of miles without a blade of grass, a soil composed of 
 
348 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 disintegrated lava and hard clay, or disintegrated granite oi 
 sandstone, or a conglomerate of the two, we could hardly believe 
 our eyes. The American desert is a reality. It is unfit for the 
 growth of cereals or to support in any way a farming population, 
 because of its elevation, its lack of rain, and the miserable qua- 
 lity, or to speak more correctly, the absence of soil. The 
 enterprise that ran the pony express, that constructed telegraphs 
 and a line of Railway across such a country is wonderful ; but 
 not half so wonderful as the faith that sees in such a desert an 
 earthly paradise, or the assurance that publishes its vision of 
 what ought to be, for a picture of what is, or the jcourage that 
 volunteers the sacrifice of any number of foreigners to prove the 
 sincerity of its faith. 
 
 In a word, ^fter reaching the summit of the first range oi 
 mountains, from the Pacific, the Railway in the United States 
 has to cross more than a thousand mUes of desert or semi- 
 desert. According to the evidence of our senses, whatever 
 guide-books may say to the contrary, we discovered on thp home 
 stretch that the great west of the United States practically 
 ceases with the valley of the Missouri and of its tributary, the 
 Platte. 
 
CHAPTEE XIIL 
 Owr Country. 
 
 Crossing and re-crossing the Continent. — Writere on the North-west. — Mineral ff«lth 
 behind Lalce Superior. — The "Fertile Belt." — Our fellow travellers. — The ''Rain- 
 bow " of the North-west. — Peace River. — Climate compared with Ontario. — Natural 
 riches of the Country. — The Russia of America. — Its army of construction. — The 
 pioneers. — Esprit de corps. — ^Hardships and hazards. — Mournful death-roll. — The 
 worlc of construction. — Vast breadth of the Dominion.— Its vai-ied features.— Its 
 exhausUesa resources — Its Constitution. - lie Queen. 
 
 The preceding chapters are transcribed — -almost verbally — 
 from a Diary that was written from day to day on our journey 
 from ocean, ocean- ward. The Diary was kept under difficul- 
 t*«" Notes had to be taken, sometimes in the bottom of a 
 canoe and sometimes leaning against a stump or a tree ; on 
 horseback in fine weather, under a cart when it was raining or 
 when the sun's rays were fierce : at night, in the tent, by the 
 light of the camp-fire in front ; in a crowded wayside inn, or on 
 the deck of a steamer in motion. 
 
 As may be seen by a reference to the Itinerary in the Ap- 
 pendix, our Diary commenced at Halifax on the Atlantic coast 
 on July 1st, the sixth anniversary of the birth-day of the Do- 
 minion, and closed at Victoria on the Pacific coast on October 
 11th. The aggregate distance travelled by one mode of loco- 
 motion or another was more than five thousand miles, a great 
 part of it over comparatively unknown, and therefore supposed 
 to be dangerous country. We recrossed the Continent to our 
 starting point by rail, the Secretary arriving at Halifax on No- 
 vember 2nd, having thus accomplished the round trip of nine 
 or ten thousand miles in four months. None of us sufiered 
 from Indians, wild beasts, the weather, or any of the hardships 
 incidental to travel in a new and loae land. Every one was 
 
350 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 physically better on his return than when he had set out. And 
 yet there had been no playing on the road. We cannot charge 
 ourselves with having lost an hour on the way ; and Manito- 
 bans, Hudson's Bay Officers, and British Columbians all in- 
 formed us that we made better time between Lake Superior 
 and the Pacific than ever had been made before. 
 
 It is only fair to the public to add that the writer of the 
 Diary knew little or nothing of our North-west before accom- 
 panying the expedition. To find out something about the real 
 extent and resources of our Dominion ; to know whether we 
 had room and verge for an Empire or were doomed to be merely 
 a cluster of Atlantic Provinces, ending to the west in a fertile 
 but comparatively insignificant peninsula in Lake Huron, was 
 the object that attracted a busy man from his ordinary work, 
 on what friends called an absurd and perilous enterprise. All 
 that is claimed for the preceding chapters is, that they record 
 truthfully what we saw and heard. And having read since the 
 works of Professor Hind, Archbishop Tachfe, Captain Palliser 
 and others, we find, that though these contain the results of 
 much more minute and extended enquiries and scientific infor- 
 mation which renders them permanently valuable, they bring 
 forward nothing to make us modify our own conclusions, or to 
 lessen the impression as to the value of our North-west, that 
 the sight of it produced in our minds. 
 
 We are satisfied that the rugged and hitherto unknown 
 country extendiag from the Upper Ottawa to the Red River of 
 the North, is not, as it has always been represented on maps 
 executed by our neighbours, and copied by ourselves, imprac- 
 ticable for a Railway ; but entirely the reverse ; that those vast 
 regions of Laurentian and Huronian rocks once pronounced 
 worthless, are rich in minerals ; and that in the iron back- 
 ground to the basin of the St. Lawrence, hitherto considered 
 valuable only for its lumber, great centres of mining and manu- 
 facturing industry, shall in the near future spring into existence, 
 
0X7R COUNTRY. 351 
 
 Beyond these apparently wilderness regions we came upon 
 the fertile belt, an immense tract of the finest land in the world, 
 bounded on the west by coal formations so extensive that all 
 other coal fields are small in comparison. Concerning this 
 central part of the Continent, we have testified that which we 
 have seen, and as a summary it is sufficient to quote Hind's 
 emphatic words. Vol. II., p. 234 : 
 
 " It is a physical reality of the highest importance to the interests of 
 " British North America that a continuous belt, rich in water, woods and 
 " pasturage can be settled and cultivated from a few miles west of the 
 " Lake of the Woods, to the passes of the Eocky Mountains ; and any 
 "line of communication, whether by waggon road or raUroad, passing 
 " through it, wUl eventually enjoy the great advantage of being fed by an 
 " agricultural population, from one extremity to the other." 
 
 Concerning the country from the mountains to the sea, it is 
 unnecessary to add anything here. The mountains in British 
 Columbia certainly ofier obstructions to Railway construction ; 
 but these obstacles are not insuperable, and, once overcome, we 
 reach the Canadian Islands in the Pacific, Vancouver and 
 Queen Charlotte, — in many respects the counter parts of Great 
 Britain and Ireland, the western outposts of Europe, — rich in 
 coal, bituminous and anthracite, and almost every variety of 
 mineral wealth, in lumber, fish, and soil, and blessed with one of 
 the most delightful climates in the world. 
 
 And now we might take farewell of the reader who has 
 accompanied us on our long journey, but before doing so, it 
 seems not unfitting to add a few words concerning the routes 
 of our feUow-travellers who parted from us at Forts Garry and 
 Edmonton ; concerniug those men whom we found engaged on 
 the survey and the general impressions left on our minds by 
 all that we saw and experienced. 
 
 The Colonel spent ten days in Manitoba. Leaving Fort 
 Garry, he travelled rapidly to Edmonton by the same trail that 
 we had taken, in the hope of overtaking us before we had left 
 
352 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 for the mountains. Finding on his arrival that we had started 
 seven days previously, he decided to proceed 145 miles south- 
 ■west to the Rooky Mountain House ; thence through the coun- 
 try of the Blactfeet, to cross the mountains lay North Kootenay 
 Pass ; and thence into Washington Territory, TJ.S., and viS, 
 Olympia to Victoria. He accomplished the journey successfully, 
 though detained for two or three days by a snow-storm at the 
 foot of the mountains ; but as the delay enabled him to shoot a 
 large grizzly bear that approached within a few yards of his 
 camp, he had no reason to regret it much. His southerly 
 march from Edmonton gave him the opportunity of seeing the 
 western curve of the fertile belt — the rainbow of the North- 
 west — and he speaks of it, especially of that portion through the 
 Blackfeet country, extending for about 300 miles along the 
 eastern bases of the Rocky Mountains towards the international 
 boundary line, with a varjdng breadth of from 25 to 80 miles, 
 as the future garden of the Dominion ; magnificent in regard 
 to scenery, with soil of surpassing richness ; and in respect of 
 climate, with an average temperature during the winter months, 
 15 ° higher than that of the western portion of the Province of 
 Ontario. 
 
 We are now able to speak concerning the northwestern 
 curve of the fertile belt as positively as of the district to the 
 south which the Colonel traversed. At Edmonton, the Chief sent 
 Botanist and Horetzky northwards, with instructions to proceed 
 by Forts Assiniboine and Dunvegan and across the Rocky 
 Mountains by Peace River, the one to make then for the Upper 
 Eraser, and the other to go still farther north arfd reach the sea 
 by the Skeena or Nasse River. They also succeeded in their 
 journey ; and their reports more than confirm the statements of 
 previous writers with regard to the extraordinary fertility of 
 immense prairies along the Peace River, the salubrity, and the 
 comparative mildness of the climate. It is quite clear that 
 exceptional climatic causes are at woik along the eastern Hank 
 
OUR COUNTRY. 353 
 
 of the Rocky Mountains, north as well as south of Edmonton. 
 Whether the chief cause be warm moist winds from the Pacific 
 or a steady current of warm air under the lee. of the mountains, 
 analogous in the atmosphere to the Gulf stream in the ocean, 
 or whatever the cause, our knowledge is too imperfect to enable 
 , us to say. But the salient facts are undoubted. At Fort Dun- 
 vegan, six degrees north of Fort Garry, and nearly thirteen 
 north of Toronto, the winters are milder than at Fort Garry ; 
 and as for the seven months, from April to October, the period 
 of cultivation, according to tables that have been carefully com- 
 piled, Dunvegan and Toronto do not vary more than about half 
 a degree in mean temperature, while as compared with Halifax, 
 N.S., the difference is 1 ° 69 in favour of Dunvegan. Our two 
 feUow-traveUers assured us also that they had seen nothing be- 
 tween the Red River and Edmonton to compare with the 
 fertility of soil and the beauty of the country about Peace River. 
 They struck the mighty stream below Dunvegan and sailed on 
 it up into the very heart of the Rocky Mountains, through a 
 charming country, rich in soil, wood, water, and coal, in salt 
 that can be gathered fit for the table,from the sides of springs with 
 as much ease as sand from the seashore ; in bituminous foun- 
 tains into which Sir Alexander McKenzie and Harmon both 
 say that " a pole of twenty feet in length may be plunged, 
 without the least resistance, and without finding bottom,'' and 
 in every other production that is essential to the material pros- 
 perity of a country. 
 
 The following extract from the Journal of our Botanist gives 
 a graphic description of what Peace River itself is : — " This 
 " afternoon we passed through the most enchanting and sublime 
 " scenery. The right bank of the river was clothed with wood- 
 " spruce, birch and aspen, except where too steep, or where there 
 " had been landslides. In many places the bank rose from the 
 " shore to the height of from 300 to 600 feet. Sandstone clifis 
 " 300 feet high often showed, especially above Green Island. 
 
 23 
 
354 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 " The left bank was as high as the right, but instead rf wood, 
 " gtassy slopes met the view ; but landslides always revealed 
 " sandstone. In places the river had cut a passage through the 
 " sandstone to the depth of 300 feet and yet the current indi- 
 " cated little increase. The river was full from bank to bank, 
 " was fully 600 yards wide, and looked like a mighty canal cut 
 " by giants through a mountain. Up this we sped at the rate 
 " of four miles an hour, against the current, in a large boat be 
 " longing to the Hudson's Bay Co'y.; propelled by a north-east 
 " gale." 
 
 When we remember that the latitude of this river and the 
 richest part of the country it waters is nearly a thousand miles 
 north of Lake Ontario, the language we have used about it may 
 sound exaggerated because the facts seem unaccountable. But 
 the facts have been long on record. The only difficulty was the 
 inaccessibility of the country. In Harmon's Journal are such 
 entries as the following : — 
 
 " Peace River, April 18, 1809. — This morning the ice in the 
 " river broke up." * 
 
 " May 6. — ^The surrounding plains are all on fire. We have 
 " planted our potatoes, and sowed most of our garden seeds." 
 
 " July 21. — We have cut down our barley ; and I think it 
 " is the finest that I ever saw in any country." 
 
 " October 6. — As the weather begins to be cold, we have 
 " taken our vegetables out of the ground, which we find to be 
 " very productive." 
 
 Another year we have the following entry : 
 
 " October 3. — We have taken our vegetables out of the 
 " ground. We have 41 bushels of potatoes, the produce of one 
 "bushel planted the last spring. Our turnips, barley, etc., 
 " have produced well." 
 
 * April 30th is shown by the public records, to be the mean time of opening of naviga- 
 tion at Ottawa, between 1832 and 1870. During tiiat period, 88 years, April 17th was 
 the earliest and May 80th the latest days of opening. 
 
OUR COUNTRY. 356 
 
 In the journal of a Hudson's Bay Chief-factor published last 
 year by Malcolm McLeod, Ottawa, is the following extract con- 
 cerning the climate of Dunvegan, from the records of the cele 
 brated traveller and astronomer — Mr. David Thompson : 
 
 " Only twice in the month of May, 1803, — on the 2nd and 
 " 14th, did the thermometer fall to 30 ° . Frost did not occur 
 " in the fall till the 27th September." 
 
 "It freezes," says Mr. Russell, "much later in May in 
 " Canada ; and at Montreal, for seven years out of the last 
 "nine, the first frost occurred between 24:th August and 16th 
 " September." 
 
 In Halifax, N. S., the writer has seen a lively snow-storm on 
 the Queen's birthday; and almost every year there is frost 
 early in June. 
 
 Similar quotations could be given from other writers, but 
 they are unnecessary. We know that we have a great North- 
 west, a country like old Canada — not suited for lotus-eaters to 
 live in, but fitted to rear a healthy and hardy race. The late 
 Hon. W. H. Seward understood this when he declared that 
 " vigorous, perennial, ever-growing Canada would be a Russia 
 behind the United States." Our future is grander than even 
 that conceived by Mr. Seward, because the elements that deter- 
 mine it are other than those considered by him. We shall be 
 more than an American Russia, because the separation from 
 Great Britain to which he invites us is not involved in our 
 manifest destiny. We believe that union is better than dis- 
 union, that loyalty is a better guarantee for true growth than 
 restlessness or rebellion, that building up is worthier work than 
 pulling down. The ties that bind us to the Fatherland must 
 be multiplied, the connection made closer and politically com- 
 plete. Her traditions, her forms, her moral elevation, her 
 historic grandeur shall be ours forever. And if we share her 
 glory, we shall not shrink even at the outset from sharing her 
 responsibilities. 
 
356 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 A great future beckons us as a people onward To reach it, 
 God grant to us purity and faith, deliverance from the lust of 
 personal aggrandizement, unity, and invincible steadfastness of 
 purpose. The battles we have to fight are those of peace, but 
 they are not the less serious and they are surely nobler than 
 those of war. The victories we require to gain over all forms 
 of political corruption, the selfish spirit of separation, and those 
 great material obstacles in the conquest of which the spirit of 
 patriotism is strengthened. It is a standiug army of engineers, 
 axemen and brawny labourers that we require, men who will 
 not only give a fair day's work for a fair day's wage, but whose 
 work shall be ennobled by the thought that they are in the 
 service of their country, and labouring for its consolidation. 
 Why should there not be a high esprit de corps among men who 
 are doing the country's work, as well as among those who do 
 its warfare ? And why should the country grudge its honours 
 to servants on whose faithfulness so much depends 1 " There 
 is many a red-coat who is no soldier," said the Duke of Wel- 
 lington. Conversely, there are true soldiers who wear only a 
 red shirt. 
 
 This thought leads us to mak» mention of the men who have 
 been engaged for the last two years in connection with the 
 Canadian Pacific Railway Survey, the pioneers of the great 
 army that must be engaged on the construction of the work and 
 on whom has devolved the heavy labour that commonly falls to 
 the lot of an advance-guard. On our journey we met several 
 of the surveying parties, and could form some estimate of the 
 work they had to do. We could see that continuous labour for 
 one or two years in solitary wilderness or mountain gorges as 
 surveyor, transit-man, leveller, rodman, commissary, or even 
 packer, is a totally difiierent thing from taking a trip across the 
 continent for the first time, when the perpetual novelty, the 
 spice of romance, the risks and pleasures atone for all discom- 
 forts. Here are one or two instances of the spirit that ani-- 
 piates the body. 
 
OUR COUNTRY. 357 
 
 The gentleman now at the head of party X. had commenced 
 work in charge of another party between Lake Superior and 
 the Upper Ottawa. He remained out during the whole summer 
 and winter in that trackless rugged region, previously untrodden 
 by white men, and rarely visited by Indians. After a severe 
 winter campaign, he completed the difficult and hazardous 
 service entrusted to him. On his return in the spring he was 
 told that it was desirable that he should go to British Columbia 
 without delay ; and, though he had not spent two weeks with 
 his family in as many years, he started at once. 
 
 Near the end of the year just closed the Chief was called upon 
 to send a party to explore the section of country between the 
 North Saskatchewan, above Edmonton, and the Jasper valley. 
 It was deemed advisable to examine this wild and wooded 
 district in the winter season, on account of the numerous 
 morasses and muskegs which rendered it next to impassable at 
 any other season. The party most available for this service 
 had been engaged during the summer and winter of 1871 and 
 the whole of 1872 in the lake region east of Manitoba, and had 
 returned to Fort Garry after completing satisfactorily their 
 arduous work. The Chief asked, by telegi-aph, the Engineer in 
 charge if he was prepared to start at short notice for the Rocky 
 Mountains on a prolonged service. Almost immediately after 
 sending this message, the following telegram was received from 
 the gentleman referred to : " May I have leave of absence to 
 return home for a few weeks on ^lrgent private business ?" This 
 was at once followed by another : " Your message received. 
 I withdraw my application for leave. I am prepared to start 
 for the Rocky Mountains with my party. Please send instruc- 
 tions." It was evident that the first two telegrams had crossed. 
 The members of party M., notwithstanding what they had gone 
 through, away from friends and the comforts of society, were 
 ready to undertake a march of a thousand miles still farther 
 away, in the dead of a Canadian winter. 
 
358 OCEAIT TO OCEAN. 
 
 And what was the journey 1 They knew that it implied 
 hardships such as Captain Butler encountered, and which he so 
 graphically describes in " The Great Lone Land." They knew 
 that it meant a great deal more. The journey over, they were 
 only at the beginning of their work, and the work would be 
 infinitely more trying than the journey itself. 
 
 These are only two instances out of many of that " Ready, 
 aye, Ready" spirit, which the British people rightly honour as 
 the highest quality in their soldiers, from the lowest to the 
 highest grades. With respect to the ordinary everyday work 
 that has to be done, our own little experience gave us some idea 
 of its discomforts. Among the mountains, there is hardly a day 
 without rain, except when it snows. Leather gives way under 
 the alternate rotting and grinding processes that swamps and 
 rocks subject it to. Mocassins keep out the wet about as well as 
 an extra pair of socks. Clothes are patched and re-patched until 
 lock, stock and barrel are changed. At night you lie down wet, 
 lucky if the blanket is dry. In the morning you rise to a rough 
 breakfast of tea, pork and beans. When relations at home are 
 just enjoying the sweet half-hour's sleep before getting up, you 
 are ofi into the dark silent woods, or clambering up precipices 
 to which the mists ever cling, or on the rocky banks of some 
 roaring river, getting back to camp at night tired and hungry, 
 but stiU thankful if a good day's work has been accomplished. 
 And this same thing goes on from week to week, — working, 
 eating, sleeping. Books are scarce, for they are too bulky to 
 carry; no newspapers and no news — unless fragments from 
 three to six months old, strangely metamorphosed by Packers 
 and Indians, can be dignified by the name of news. Nothing 
 occurs to break the monotony save rheumatism, festered hands 
 or feet, a touch of sickness, perhaps scurvy, if the campaign 
 has been long; the arriv.^! of a pack-train with supplies, or 
 some such interesting event as the following, which we found 
 duly chronicled on a blazed tree, between Moose Lake and 
 Tete Jaune Cache ? — 
 
OUB COUNTRY. 359 
 
 " BIRTH." 
 " Monday, 5th August 1872. 
 
 " This morning at about 5 o'clock ' Aunt Polly,' bell-mare 
 " to the Nth. Thompson trail party's pack-train, was safely de- 
 " Uvered of a Bay Colt, with three white legs and white star on 
 " forehead. This wonderful progeny of a C. P. R. Surrey's 
 " pack-train is in future to be known to the racing community 
 •' of the Pacific slope, as Eocky Mountain Ned." 
 
 The Sunday rest and the next meal, are almost the only 
 pleasures looked forward to ; and the enjoyment of eating 
 arises, generally, not from the delicacies or variety of the fare ; 
 for even fat pork, porridge, bread and coflfee, need all the zest 
 that hard work and mountain air can supply, in order to be 
 thoroughly enjoyed three times a day, week in and week out. 
 
 In addition to all the extraordinary discomforts attending 
 this class of work there are the dangers to life, inseparable from 
 the great extent of the work undertaken, and the rapidity with 
 which it was begun and pushed forward ;— extensive fires in the 
 forest ; the risks of starvation or the risk of drowning, while 
 endeavouring to make the passage of lakes and rivers in a frail 
 canoe or on a raft. 
 
 This survey work implies more than hardships and hazards. 
 Already it has connected with its history a mournful death- 
 roll. At the outset, some tribes of Indians were expected to 
 give trouble. On the contrary, they have for the most part 
 been friendly and helpful. When nearly a thousand men were 
 engaged directly or indirectly on the work, and scattered over 
 pathless regions over a whole continent, it would not have been 
 wonderful had supplies failed to reach some parties, and death 
 by starvation occurred. In no case has such a disaster yet hap- 
 pened. But there are forces that can neither be organized nor 
 bribed. Fourteen men have been destroyed by the elements j 
 seven by fire, and seven by water ; destroyed so completely that 
 no trace has been found of the bodies of ten. 
 
360 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 One party, — seven in number, — engaged in carrying pro- 
 visions north of Lake Superior, was surprised by the wide- 
 spread forest fires that raged over the west in the autumn of 
 1S71. The body of only one of its number could be discovered. 
 
 In the spring of 1872, a party that had finished its work well, 
 after an arduous winter campaign far up the Ottawa beyond 
 Lake Temiscamang, prepared to return home. The gentleman 
 in charge and one of his assistants separated from the rest, to 
 take on board their canoe two others who had been previously 
 left at a side post prostrated with scurvy. The four were 
 known to have started down the river. That was the last seen 
 of them, though the upturned canoe was found, and it told its 
 own tale of an upset, by rock or rapid or awkward movement 
 of the sick men, into ice-cold lake or river. 
 
 In the Autumn of 1872, three others, on their way to begiD 
 their winter's work, were shipwrecked and drow.ied in tie 
 Georgian Bay. 
 
 All those men died in the service of their couatry as truly as 
 if they had been killed in battle. Some of them have left be- 
 hind wives and little children, aged parents, young brothers or 
 sisters, who were dependent on them for support. Have not 
 those a claim on the country that ought not to be disregarded ? 
 
 That this work is too seldom looked at from any other save 
 the wages point of view, is our excuse for putting the real state 
 of the case warmly. Who are the men whose disciplined en- 
 thusiasm enables them to manifest the self-sacrifice we have 
 alluded to ? Many of them are men of good birth and educa^ 
 tion, who have chosen the profession of Engineering as one in 
 which their talents can be made in a marked degree subservient 
 to the material prosperity of mankind. Others have chosen it 
 because of its supposed freedom from routine, and the prospect 
 it is thought to ofiei of novelty, adventure, and such a roving 
 life as every young Briton or Canadian, with any of the old 
 blood in his veins, longs for. 
 
OUE COUNTBY. 361 
 
 And what wages do these men receive ? Simply their pay- 
 by the month ! They do not know whether they will have the 
 satisfaction — that every man interested in his work has the 
 right to look forward to — of seeing their work finished by them- 
 selves. Even after the preliminary surveys are completed, and 
 the work placed under contract, the tenure of office is insecure. 
 Sometimes a clamour is raised against the presumed extrava- 
 gance of the Government, when the newspapers have nothing 
 more stirring to write about, or when some reporter fancies he 
 has not received due attention. At other times, some unprin- 
 cipled contractors conspire to effect the removal of men, whof? 
 only fault is that they have performed their duty faithfully. 
 From these or other similar causes, engineers in the public ser- 
 vice are sometimes unjustly sacrificed. And, if remonstrance 
 is made, the answer is ready : " They received their pay for the 
 time they were employed, and others, quite as competent, are 
 ready and willing to take their places." Yes, and the same 
 might be said of the officers and men of the British army, but 
 they are treated very differently. The work of one of the 
 military expeditions, such as the Abyssinian or Red River, 
 which have shed such lustre on the British name, is not more 
 arduous. The heaviest part of a soldier's duty on such expedi- 
 tions, it is well known, is the long laborious marching. The 
 work of engineers on the survey is a constant march ; their 
 shelter, even in the depth of winter, often only canvasr ; they 
 have sometimes to carry their food for long distances, through 
 swamps and over fallen trees, on their backs ; and run all the 
 risks incidental to such a life, without medical assistance, with- 
 out notice from the press, without the prospect of plunder or 
 promotion, ribands or pensions. To be sure there is the work 
 of ccmstruction only, and the world has always given greater 
 prominence to the work of destruction. 
 
 To constriict is " the duty that lies nearest us." " We there- 
 fore will rise up and build." Our young Dominion in grap. 
 
362 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 pling with so great a work has resolutely considered it from a 
 national and not a strictly financial point of view ; knowing 
 that whether it pays directly or not, it is sure to pay indirectly. 
 Other young countries have had to spend, through long years, 
 their strength and substance to purchase freedom or the right 
 to exist. Our lot is a happier one. Protected "against infec- 
 tion and the hand of war " by the might of Britain, we have 
 but to go forward, to open up for our children and the world 
 what Grod has given into our possession, bind it together, con- 
 solidate it, and lay the foundations of an enduring future. 
 
 Looking back over the vast breadth of the Dominion when 
 our joumeyings were ended, it rolled out before us like a 
 panorama, varied and magnificent enough to stir the dullest 
 spirit into patriotic emotion. For nearly 1,000 mUes by rail- 
 way between different points east of Lake Huron ; 2,185 miles 
 by horses, including coaches, waggons, pack, and saddle-horses ; 
 1,687 miles in steamers in the basin of the St. Lawrence and 
 on Pacific waters, and 485 miles in canoes or row-boats ; we had 
 travelled in all 5,300 miles between Halifax and Victoria, over 
 a country with features and resources more varied than even 
 our modes of locomotion. 
 
 From the sea-pastures and coal-fields of Nova Scotia and the 
 forests of New Brunswick, almost from historic Louisburg up 
 the St. Lawrence to historic Quebec ; thi'ough the great Province 
 of Ontario, and on lakes that are seas ; by copper and silver 
 mines so rich as to recall stories of the Arabian Nights, though 
 only the rim of the land has been explored ; on the chain of 
 lakes, where the Ojibbeway is at home in his canoe, to the 
 plains, where the Cree is equally at home on his horse ; through 
 the prairie Province of Manitoba, and rolling meadows and 
 park-like country, out of which a dozen Manitobas sliall be 
 carved in the next quarter of a century ; along the banks ot' 
 
 A full-fed river winding slow 
 By herds upon an endless plain. 
 
OUR COUNTRY. 363 
 
 full-fed from the exhaustless glaciers of the Rocky Mountains, 
 and watering " the great lone land ;" over illimitable coal 
 measures and deep woods ; on to the mountains, which open 
 their gates, more widely than to our wealthier neighbours, to 
 lead us to the Pacific ; down deep gorges filled with mighty 
 timber, beside rivers whose ancient deposits are gold beds, sands 
 Uke those of Pactolus and channels choked with fish ; on to 
 the many harbours of mainland and island, that look right 
 across to the old Eastern Thule " with its rosy pearls and 
 golden-roofed palaces," and open their arms to welcome the 
 swarming millions of Cathay ; over all this we had travelled, 
 and it was all our own. 
 
 " Where's the crowd that would not dare 
 To fight for such a land ?" 
 
 Thank God, we have a country. It is not our poverty of land 
 or sea, of wood or mine that shall ever urge us to be traitors. 
 But the destiny of a country depends not on its material 
 resources. It depends on the character of its people. Here, 
 too, is full ground for confidence. We in everything "are 
 sprung of earth's first blood, have titles manifold." We come 
 of a race that never counted the number of its foes, nor the 
 number of its friends, when freedom, loyalty, or God was con- 
 cerned. 
 
 Two courses are possible, though it is almost an insult to say 
 there are two, for the one requires us to be false to our tradi- 
 tions and history, to our future, and to ourselves. A third 
 course has been hinted at ; but only dreamers would seriously 
 propose "Independence" to four millions of people, face to 
 face with forty millions. Some one may have even a fourth to 
 propose. The Abb6 Sieyes had a cabinet filled with pigeon- 
 holes in each of which was a cut-and-dried Constitution for 
 France. Doctrinaires fancy that at any time they can say, " go 
 to let us make a Constitution," and that they can fit it on a 
 nation as readily as new coats on their backs. There never was 
 
364 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 a profounder mistake. A nation grows, and its Constitution 
 must grow with it. The nation cannot be pulled up by the 
 roots, — cannot be dissociated from its past, without danger to 
 its highest interests. Loyalty is essential to its fulfilment of 
 a distinctive mission, — essential to its true glory. Only one 
 course therefore is possible for us, consistent with the self-respect 
 that alone gains the respect of others ; to seek, in the consolid- 
 ation of the Empire, a common Imperial citizenship, with 
 common responsibilities, and a common inheritance. 
 
 With childish impatience and intolerance of thought on the 
 subject, we are sometimes told that a Republican form of Gov- 
 ernment and Republican institutions, are the same as our own. 
 But they are not ours. Besides, they are not the same. They 
 are not the same in themselves ; they are not the same in their 
 effects on character. And, as we are the children even more 
 than we are the fathers and framers of our national institutions, 
 our first duty is to hold fast those political forms, the influences 
 of which on national character have been proved by the tests of 
 time and comparison to be the most ennobling. Republicanism 
 is one-sided. Despotism is other-sided. The true form should 
 combine and harmonize both sides. 
 
 The favourite principle of Robertson of Brighton, that the 
 whole truth in the realm of the moral and spiritual consists in 
 the union of two truths that are contrary but not contradictory, 
 applies also to the social and political. What two contrary 
 trviths then lie at the basis of a complete National Constitu- 
 tion? First, that the will of the people is the will of God. 
 Secondly, that the will of God must be the will of the people. 
 That the people are the ultimate fountain of all power is one 
 truth. That Government is of God, and should be strong, 
 stable, and above the people, is another. In other words, 
 the elements of liberty and of authority should both be rep- 
 resented. A republic is professedly based only on the first. 
 In consequence, all appeals are made to that which is lowest in 
 
OUR COUNTRY. 365 
 
 our nature, for such appeals are made to the greatest number 
 and are most likely to be immediately successful. The charac- 
 ter of public men and the national character deteriorate. 
 Neither elevation of sentiment, nor refinement of manners is 
 cultivated. Still more fatal consequences, the very ark of the 
 nation is carried periodically into heady fights ; for the time 
 being, the citizen has no country ; he has only his party, and 
 the unity of the country is constantly imperilled. 
 
 On the other hand, a despotism is based entirely on the 
 element of authority. To unite those elements in due propor- 
 tions, has been and is the aim of every true statesman. Let 
 the history of liberty and progress, of the development of 
 human character to all its rightful issues, testify where they 
 have been more wisely blended than in the British Constitu- 
 tion. 
 
 We have a fixed centre of authority and government, a foun- 
 tain of honour above us that all reverence, from which a thou- 
 sand gracious influences come down to every rank ; and, along 
 with that immovable centre, representative institutions, so 
 elastic that they respond within their own sphere to every 
 breath of popular sentiment, instead of a cast-iron yoke for four 
 years. In harmony with this central part of our constitution, 
 we have an independent judiciary instead of judges — too often 
 the creatures of wealthy adventurers or the echoes of fleeting 
 popular sentiment. More valuable than the direct advantages, 
 are the subtle indirect influences that flow from our unbroken 
 connection with the old land, those living and life-giving 
 forces that determine the tone and mould the character of a 
 people. Ours are the old history, the graves of forefathers, the 
 flag they died for, the names "to which a thousand memories 
 call," the Queen whose virtues transmute the principle of loyalty 
 into a personal affection. 
 
566 
 
 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 SANDFORD FLEMINGS OVERLAND EXPEDITION. 
 
 ITIl^ElIS/-A-I2/ir. 
 
 Journey from Halifax, on tlie North Atlantic, to Victoria, on 
 the North Pacific, between July 1 and Oct. 11, 1872. 
 
 1872 
 
 Julyl. 
 
 July 9. 
 
 la 
 
 Dbsignation 0¥ tlacks by thb way. 
 
 From Halifax, along the'To Truro 
 
 route of the Intercolonial 
 Railway, under construc- 
 tion and partly in opera- 
 tion, to Riviere du Loup. 
 
 From Riviere du Loup along 
 the Grand Trunk, St. Law- 
 rence & Ottawa and Nor- 
 thern Railways to Colling- 
 wood. 
 
 FromCollingwood by steam- 
 er throu^ the Geor^n 
 Bay, Lake Huron and Lake 
 Superior to Thunder Bay. 
 
 From Tliunder Bay along 
 the Dawson route to Fort 
 Garry. *Camp No. 1. 
 
 ' Moncton 
 
 ' Miramichi.. . , 
 
 ' Bathurst 
 
 ' Metapedia.. .. 
 
 ' RimousM 
 
 ' Riv. duLoup. 
 
 ESTDdATBD MU/BB t&AV'D. 
 
 24. 
 
 2. 
 
 26. 
 
 3 
 
 2fi. 
 
 " 4. 
 
 27. 
 
 B 
 
 28. 
 
 6 
 
 29. 
 
 " 7 
 
 !!». 
 
 a 
 
 30. 
 
 " 9 
 
 ai. 
 
 " 10 
 
 Quebec ■ 
 
 '■ Montreal . . . - 
 
 ■ Ottawa 
 
 ' Toronto 
 
 ' Collingwood. 
 
 ' Owen Sound.... 
 
 ' Eillamey. 
 
 ' Bruce Mines 
 
 ' Sault St. Marie. . 
 ' Michipicoten Island 
 
 ' Nepigon 
 
 ' Thunder Bay... 
 
 WATER. TOTAL- 
 
 115 
 
 ■ Shebandowan , 
 
 ' Brule Portage 
 
 ' Camp Ignace 
 
 ' American Portage 
 
 ' Rainy Lake 
 
 ' Hungry Hall 
 
 ' Island Camp 
 
 Northwest Angle. 
 
 Oak Point 
 
 ■ Government House 
 
 827 
 
 Carried Forward 2 C 
 
 ^Camps numbered from Lake Superior. 
 
OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 ITINERART— Continued 
 
 367 
 
 I 
 I 
 
 BATE. I 
 
 1872 
 
 DESiaNATION OP PIACE8 BY THE WAT. 
 
 Estimated miles trav'd. 
 
 LANU. water, total. 
 
 Aug. 1 J From Fort Garry to Stone 
 
 I Fort and back. To 
 
 I Camp. 
 
 2. 'From Fort Garry No. 11. 
 
 10. 
 11. 
 12. 
 13. 
 U. 
 16. 
 16. 
 
 17. 
 18. 
 19. 
 20. 
 21. 
 
 27, 
 
 29. 
 
 30. 
 
 31. 
 
 Sept. 1. 
 
 2. 
 
 3. 
 
 4. 
 
 S. 
 
 e. 
 
 7. 
 
 to Fort EUice.* 
 
 From Fort Ellice to 
 Fort Carlton. 
 
 From Fort Carlton 
 fo Fort Pitt. 
 
 Fi'om Fort Pitt to 
 Fort Edmonton. 
 
 From Fort Edmon- 
 ton to Jasper 
 Houaa. 
 
 24. 
 
 Brought forward! . 
 Government House . 
 
 ' White Horse Plains 
 
 Kat Creek. 
 
 Three Creeks^ 
 
 ' Camp Assiniboine.. 
 
 ' Salt Lake 
 
 ' Qu'AppeUe 
 
 ' Broken Arm River. 
 
 ' Lonely Tree 
 
 ' Little Touchwood . . 
 
 ' Touchwood 
 
 ' Quill Lake Plain. , 
 
 ' Bound Hill 
 
 ' S. Saskatchewan. . 
 ' Fort Carlton 
 
 25. 1 ** Bears Paddling La. 
 
 38. 
 39. 
 40. 
 
 41. 
 42. 
 43. 
 
 44. 
 45. 
 46. 
 
 Jack -fish River.. 
 ' English River.. . . 
 ' Fort Pitt Guard.. 
 
 ' Moose Creek 
 
 Snake Lake 
 
 ' Victoria Mission. . 
 
 Deep Creek. — 
 Fort Edmonton . 
 
 St. Albert 
 
 St. Anns' 
 
 ' Round Lake — 
 ' Lobstiek Creek . 
 
 " Valad's Camp... 
 " Camp Minnie.. . 
 " McLeod River Camp 
 *' Indian Camp. . . 
 " Muskeg Camp.. . 
 " Plum Pudding C'mp 
 
 •' Bayonette Camp. 
 
 " Beaver Camp 
 
 " Island Camp 
 
 2,683 
 40 
 
 307 
 
 Carried Forward 3,8 
 
 'Distances between Fort Garry and Edmonton were measured by " Odometer." 
 
368 
 
 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 ITINERARY.— Contlnu JO. 
 
 Designation of places by the way. 
 
 1872 
 
 
 Sept 12. 
 13. 
 14. 
 16. 
 
 16. 
 17. 
 18. 
 19. 
 20. 
 21. 
 22. 
 23. 
 21. 
 25. 
 26. 
 27. 
 
 Oct 
 
 From Jasper 
 House to Yellow 
 Head Fasa. 
 
 From Yellow Head 
 Fa.ss to Kam- 
 loops. 
 
 Camp 
 
 No. 47. 
 " 48. 
 " 49. 
 " 60. 
 
 61. 
 62. 
 63. j 
 
 54. 
 66.1 
 66. 
 
 67. 
 58. 
 69. 
 60. 
 61. 
 62. 
 
 Brought forward. 
 To Jasper Lake 4 
 
 Estimated uilss trav'd. 
 
 WATER. TOTAL. 
 
 * Atbabaska Gamp. 
 "Caledonian Valley.. 
 " Yellow Head Camp. 
 
 " Moose Lake Camp. 
 
 " Herd Camp 
 
 " Camp Fraser 
 
 •' Canoe River 
 
 " Albreda Camp 
 
 " Cauip Cheadle, 
 
 29. From Kamloops to New 
 Westminster. 
 1. 
 2. 
 8. 
 4. 
 
 " Headless Indian. . . . 
 
 " Camp v.. - 
 
 " Round Prairie. 
 
 " Bunch Gi-ass Camp. 
 ' ' Camp Thompson . . . 
 " Kamloops 
 
 ' Kamloops . 
 ' Coruwalls 
 
 ' Lytton 
 
 'Yale 
 
 ' New Westminater. . 
 
 6. From New Westminster to " Burrard Inlet 
 
 6.1 Victoria. On board the " Waddingtou Harbor 
 
 7.1 steamer "Sir James Doug- 
 
 S.i las." 
 
 9-i 
 
 From Victoria to Alberni, 
 Aarclaay Sound and back 
 Str. "Sir James Douglas." 
 
 " Seymour Narrows. 
 " Nanaimo. 
 Victoria.. 
 
 ' Pacific Oceau. . . . 
 Total Mileage. 
 
 60 
 
 957 2185 
 
 96 
 
 16 
 
 S33 
 
 263 
 
 490 
 
 800 
 "6,814 
 
 SXT i-i ivi A. li-sr. 
 
 Miles. 
 
 Distance ti-avelled by Railway 967 
 
 " " Horses, including waggon, pack and saddle horses 2,185 
 
 " " Steamers —on St. Lawrence and Pacific waters 1,687 
 
 " " Canoes or row-boats 435 
 
 From Halifax to Victoria > 
 botwecD July 1st and Oct. 11th. / 
 
 ..Total miles 6,314 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 Delays in Constructing Canada Pacific & Intercolonial Railways— Delays in Minnesota- 
 First Linli of the Canada Pacific— Yellow Head Pass— Difficulties in the Cascade 
 Kange— Population requiredforLocal Traffic- Causes of Delay in Settling the North- 
 west—The Grasshoppers- Disappearance or Solution of Threatened Difficulties- 
 Utilization of Water Stretches — Telegraphic Communication— Productiveness of 
 Manitoha in 1876 — Surveys — Red Deer and Bow Rivers — Peace Riv^r a^ seen in 1875 
 — Water Supply — Ti'eeless Areas — Indian Question — Mounted Police — Treaties — True 
 Indian Policy— Indian Trouhles in British Columbia — Character of the Indians on 
 Pacific Slope and Coast — Progi'ess — Aims — Review — Conclusion. 
 
 The last chapter of Ocean to Ocean explains why the writer 
 accompanied the expedition to which he acted the part of 
 Secretary, and how it came to pass that the book was written. 
 The Dominion is now four years older. Our North-west is not 
 the almost unknown country it then was. True, the work of 
 colonization and of building a railway from Ottawa to the 
 Pacific has not proceeded at the lightning express rate that was 
 prophesied ; but neither the prophecy nor its failure is to be 
 wondered at. In 1867, public men and the press joined in 
 afiirming that trains would run from Halifax to Montreal in 
 three years ; and the Maritime Provinces took action on the 
 strength of the anticipation. But though the Intercolonial 
 Railway is only five hundred miles long, and passes through a 
 country which has been partially settled for one or two genera- 
 tions, and runs near the open sea, it was not completed till 
 1876. Need we wonder much should three decades instead of 
 one pass away before the Canada Pacific is opened for through 
 traffic ? However, during the last four years considerable pro- 
 gress has been made ; and in giving to the public a second 
 edition oi Ocean to Oeewn, an appendix is called for, to show 
 where we now stand. 
 
370 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 The settlement of the North-west, on which the success of 
 the great enterprise depends, cannot proceed rapidly until ac- 
 cess by rail is given to the outside world of intending emigrants. 
 The average emigrant is a poor maji. He is' likely, therefore, 
 to have a large family. He carries his household goods with 
 him. That he be taken from his old to his proposed new home 
 at the smallest possible expense, and with few changes and 
 breakings of bulk, is simply indispensable. In 1872, every 
 one expected that the desired result would be in a measure 
 attained by the completion of the railway from St. Pauls, 
 Minnesota, to the Boundary Line. A well-informed London 
 Times correspondent wrote that " 1873 will certainly see the 
 railway track at Fort Garry, and that thus will be opened the 
 rich Canadian territory of Manitoba and the fertile valley of 
 the Saskatchewan." But this certainty depended on the 
 willingness of the Dutch bondholders to advance more money 
 without prospect of immediate repayment, and was dissipated 
 by their determination not to do so, to which determination 
 they resolutely adhere. The terminus of the track remains 
 where it was ; and emigrants have still to travel on foot or in 
 their waggons for two or three hundred miles over the prairie 
 or betake themselves to the Red River boats in order to reach 
 Winnipeg. Possibly the first great link of the Canada Pacific 
 Railway, extending from Thunder Bay on Lake Superior to 
 the crossing of the Red River, may be buUt before there is 
 communication by rail through Minnesota ; and as givinw 
 direct access to Manitoba through our own territory and 
 affording the most direct outlet for surplus farm produce, are 
 objects of paramount importance, the construction of this link 
 — ^four hundred and fourteen miles long — is being energetically 
 proceeded with. A contract for clearing the whole line and 
 erecting a telegraph has been given ; and the work of grading, 
 bridging, and tracklaying for 226 miles is in progress. The 
 location of this link is well to the north of that Dawson road 
 
APPENDIX. 371 
 
 which our party canoed over, is by a shorter route, and through 
 a country much more favourable than was at one time thought 
 possible. Works of construction, except about Rat Portage or 
 the crossing of the Winnipeg Eiver, will be light, and — what is 
 of even more importance — remarkably easy ascending gradients 
 have been secured. " The more this portion of the railway can 
 be made to convey cheaply the products of the soil to the 
 navigation of the St. Lawrence, the more will the field be 
 extended within which farming operations can be carried on 
 with profit on the fertile plains. The information obtained 
 suggests that it will be possible to secure maximum easterly 
 ascending gradients between Manitoba and Lake Superior 
 within the limit of twenty-six feet to the mile, a maximum not 
 half so great as that which obtains on the majority of the rail- 
 ways of the Continent." (Progress Report, 1874.) This is a 
 noteworthy fact ; and as it also applies to the line that has been 
 located west of Manitoba into the fertile interior for hundreds 
 of miles, its importance can scarcely be over-estimated. To get 
 the shortest and best line with the lightest possible gradients 
 between the prairie region and the navigation of Lake Superior 
 is an object of the first consequence. Cheapness of trans- 
 portation has always been the one thing needful to ensure the 
 speedy settlement of the fertile North-west. This object has 
 been kept steadily in view, and from the character of the line 
 located, it is not too soon to say that it has been secured. 
 
 Respecting the line as a whole, and the character of the 
 difficulties to be overcome, the Chief Engineer's statements are 
 equally satisfactory. He reports that " the practicability of 
 establishing railway communication across the Continent wholly 
 within the limits of the Dominion is no longer matter of doubt. 
 It may indeed be now accepted as a certainty that a route has 
 been found, generally possessing favourable engineering 
 features, with the exception of a short section approaching the 
 Pacific coast ; which route, taking its entire length, including 
 
372 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 the exceptional section alluded to, will on the average show 
 lighter work, and will require less costly structures than have 
 been necessary on many of the railways now in operation in 
 the Dominion." The Yellow Head has been definitely deter- 
 mined upon as the best pass through the first range of the 
 Rocky Mountains. By it " a railway can be carried from the 
 North Saskatchewan to the central plateau of British Columbia, 
 with gradients as light, as those on railways in Ontario, and 
 with works of construction scarcely heavier than on the Inter- 
 colonial line. We are thus enabled to project a satisfactory 
 route from the railway system of the Atlantic Provinces to a 
 point within about two hundred miles of the Pacific tide water.'' 
 The character of the climate about the eastern approach to the 
 Yellow Head Pass may be judged from the fact given in the 
 report, that out of one hundred hoi-ses and mules engaged on 
 the survey, nearly starved when they reached the Jasper 
 valley, and turned out in mid-winter to shift for themselves, 
 not a single death occurred, and that all resumed work in 
 March in fair condition. The extraordinary significance of this 
 fact will be appreciated when it is remembered that the Jasper 
 vaUey is 3,300 feet above the level of the sea, or very nearly as 
 high as the Pass, and about ten degrees of latitude further 
 north than Toronto. 
 
 All this is extremely satisfactory ; but the difficulties on the 
 last two hundred miles referred to — the western end of the 
 Canada Pacific Railway — are sufficient of themselves to make 
 the undertaking a formidable one for a richer country than 
 Canada. An army of engineers has been employed among the 
 mountains of British Columbia since 1871 ; the Cascades have 
 been pierced by twelve lines of survey, terminating on the 
 coast of the mainland at seven distinct harbours ; every attempt 
 has been made to wrest from the mountains the secret of an 
 easy passage to the ocean ; but, though the outlook has more 
 than once been promising, the attempts have failed. There is 
 
APPENDIX. 373 
 
 no direct, and no easy pass. On any one of the projected lines 
 construction will involve enormous outlay. Of course the route 
 that the people of Vancouver's Island favour is to follow the 
 Fraser Kiver from Tgte Jaune Cache to Fort George, and 
 thence to strike across the country to Waddington harbour, 
 at the head of Bute Inlet. As Lord Dufferin has pointed out, 
 this means that eventually the railway must be carried down 
 the bold rocky shores of the Inlet, across to Yancouver's 
 Island, and on to Esquimalt. The cost of this latter under- 
 taking, nay, the cost of the bridging alone is enough to put it 
 wholly out of the question for the present. If Esquimalt had 
 the population of New York, it might be entertained by prac- 
 tical men. There being thus a very indefinite prospect of exten- 
 sion to Esquimalt, the fact that Waddington harbour is called 
 harbour only by courtesy, tells heavily against Bute Inlet 
 routes. 
 
 In view of all the difficulties in the way, many who originally 
 viewed with favour the idea of carrying an unbroken line of 
 railway to the western coast of Yancouver's Island have 
 abandoned it, and would be content with a line ending at a 
 good harbour on the mainland. Whether in that case the 
 terminus should be Burrard Inlet or Port Essington, no one can 
 say until the completion of all necessary nautical and land 
 surveys. Each harbour has advantages and disadvantages that 
 the other has not. The weight of naval evidence is at present 
 in favour of Burrard Inlet. But Port Essington is 450 miles 
 nearer the Asiatic coast, and 450 miles north of the boundary 
 line. Possibly before this issues from the press, the Grovern- 
 ment may have selected the terminus and the line leading to it 
 from TSte Jaune Cache. But the selection should not be made 
 until all the facts of the case have been officially presented and 
 duly weighed. The sin of delaying another year before be- 
 ginning construction from the Pacific side is small compared 
 with the sin of going by guess where interests of such magnitude 
 are concerned. 
 
374 GCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 Once built, the difficulty of operating the railway in winter 
 will be found just where construction threatens to be most 
 difficult — the western slopes of the two great mountain chains 
 in British Columbia. " Except in these localities, it will have 
 on an average considerably less snow than existing railways 
 have to contend with." 
 
 By the time it is buUt, let us trust that a population shall 
 have entered our North-west sufficiently large to ensure enough 
 traffic to pay working expenses. The prospect is good ; but 
 should the prospect not be realized, the Canada Pacific — ^irre- 
 spective of the cost of construction — would be a white elephant 
 of portentous dimensions to Canada. " The first construction 
 of a railway through the interior of British America is even a 
 less formidable undertaking than that of keeping it afterwards 
 open in the present condition of the country." At present the 
 Dominion has a population of about 900 for every mile of rail- 
 way constructed, and that is found to be anything but a paying 
 average. But on that basis, our North-west should have 
 a population of one and a half millions by the time the line 
 is opened from the Pacific to Lake Superior. Of course the 
 safe policy would be, not to begin construction from the Pacific 
 side till a million of people had actually settled in the North- 
 west ; and it is a question whether more liberal terms might 
 not be offered to British Columbia than have yet been sug- 
 gested to obtain the delay. It cannot be the true interest of 
 any member of the body that the whole body should suffer, and 
 even run the risk of destruction. This policy is all the more 
 reasonable in view of the fact already indicated, that it has not 
 yet been found possible to determine whether a southern, cen- 
 tral, or northern terminus on the Pacific should be selected. 
 The respective merits and demerits of the best central and 
 southern termini are now known ; but the northern terminus 
 of Port Essington — hitherto a kind of " dark horse " — is being 
 brought to the front, and it may yet be the favourite. But, in 
 
APPENDIX. 375 
 
 any case, it is clear that the speedy completion of the link be- 
 tween Thunder Bay and Red River, and a vigorous coloniza- 
 tion policy, constitute the key to the position. 
 
 In view of the obligations which Canada has assumed — obli- 
 gations that no party dreams of repudiating, though there may 
 be legitimate differences of opinion as to the mode in which 
 they should be fulfilled — ^the question of paramount importance 
 is. What are the capabilities of the North-west for settlement 1 
 On this point, what has been proved in the course of the past 
 four years 1 Have the views then taken by the author after 
 a rapid ride across the country been borne out by the experi- 
 ence of settlers and explorers ? Have the (Mfficulties in the 
 way of colonization on a large scale become greater or less as 
 they were approached ? 
 
 These questions can be easily answered. I have alluded to 
 one cause or delay that has operated against a more speedy set- 
 tlement of Manitoba. Another — the grasshoper plague — has 
 proved to be a more serious drawback then the settlers in 1872 
 contemplated. But, this excepted, all reasonable expectations 
 then entertained have been fulfilled. This Appendix is not in- 
 tended to serve as a guide book for emigrants. To those who 
 wish a recent and readable book of that kind, Hamilton's 
 " Prairie Province " is recommended. All that can be done 
 is to give a few facts and conclusions in the way of a general 
 review. 
 
 The grasshoppers are dreaded in all the border States and 
 Territories of America, as the locusts were by the Jews in the 
 days of Joel the prophet. Their first appearance in the Bed 
 River valley, of which we have any account, was in the year 
 1818. The Scotch settlers, brought out under the auspices of 
 the Earl of Selkirk, suffered severely from their ravages in 
 1818 1819 and 1820. Thirty-six years elapsed before their 
 next invasion ; and that was followed by a six years' respite. 
 From 1867 to 1870, and from 1873 to 1875, they did much 
 
376 OCE^IN TO OCEAN. 
 
 damage. Last year Manitoba was entirely free from their 
 ravages; and the people generally believe that they have 
 entered on another period of exemption, and that should the 
 pests reappear the settlers will be sufficiently numerous and 
 well organized to stamp them out. Those who are desirous of 
 learning about the grasshoppers, their origin, range, flight, 
 swarming, and the best means of prevention to be adopted by 
 theisettlers attacked, I would refer to Mr. G. M. Dawson's 
 Report in connection with the British North America Bound- 
 ary Commission (pp. 304-31 1). No scientific work of such per- 
 manent value as this Report has been presented to the Govern- 
 ment of the Dominion so far as known to me. While the Re- 
 port is valuable as a contribution to the Natural History — 
 especially the Geology — of America, the lucid style of the whole, 
 and the concluding chapters, on the capabilities of the country 
 with reference to settlement, make it interesting to the gen- 
 eral reader. Mr. Dawson concludes that Manitoba — from its 
 more northerly position and proximity to the great forest 
 regions — appears to be less liable to wide-spread visitations of 
 the grasshoppers than the regions further south, and that — as in 
 those more exposed regions much has been done to limit or 
 prevent their ravages — they can be successfully fought in Mani- 
 toba when population has increased and the settlers have learned 
 to combine against the common enemy. It is also satisfactory 
 to know that the North Saskatchewan country is not subject to 
 their visitations. 
 
 While every one now assigns to the grasshoppere their due 
 weight, other obstacles, once dreaded, have become less formid- 
 able as they were approached. Notwithstanding the feai-s of 
 many, and the declarations of authorities, that neither the Red 
 River nor the Saskatchewan could be utilized for steam naviga,- 
 tion, steamers do navigate both rivers. The business done by 
 the Red River steamboats is so lucrative that one trip to Win- 
 nipeg has been known to repay the owners the whole cost of 
 
APPENDIX. 377 
 
 tlie vessel. The practicability also of direct steam navigation 
 from thte City of Winnipeg to the north of Lake Winnipeg, a 
 distance of three hundred and sixty miles, has been demon- 
 strated, and different trips have been made from above the 
 Grand Rapids at the mouth of the Saskatchewan for eight hun- 
 dred miles to Fort Edmonton. It is now certain that the 
 Saskatchewan and Lakes Winnipegosis and Manitoba can be 
 utilized for traffic and intercourse by means of small steamers. 
 It is equally certain that the Mossy Portage — four miles long — 
 between Cedar Lake on the Saskatchewan and Lake Winni- 
 pegosis, and Meadow Portage — one and a-half miles long — be- 
 tween Lakes Winnipegosis and Manitoba, could be easily im- 
 proved, and the channels at Coal and Tobin's Eapids be deep- 
 ened at a small expense. The extent of the water system 
 immediately avaUable is indeed marvellous. 
 
 Again, notwithstanding the declared opinion of a high 
 authority that a telegraph line could not be constructed be- 
 cause there was not a sufficient supply of wood for posts on the 
 plains, there is now telegraphic communication from Winni- 
 peg to the bases of the Rocky Mountains. This difficulty, 
 too, has been solved in the good old fashion. Solvitur ambit- 
 lando. 
 
 In 1859, the Edinhwrgh Review proved conclusively that the 
 proposal to form the Red River and Saskatchewan country into 
 a Crown Colony was a wild and wicked notion; that hailstones, 
 Indians, frosts early and late, want of wood and water, rocks, 
 bogs, and such like amenities, made settlement impossible. The 
 answer is that in spite of the difficulties in the way of getting to 
 the country, and in spite of the unexpected vivacity of the 
 grasshoppers, the population of the Red River Yalley has in- 
 creased in four years from 12,000 to 40,000, and the population 
 of Winnipeg from 700 to about 7,000. With regard to the 
 healthfulness of the climate, the pleasantness of the long wiji- 
 ters, and the fertility of the soil, travellers and residents ha\ o 
 
378 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 borne unvarying testimony. For the production of cereals, 
 pulse and root crops, and as a stock-raising country, there 
 seems to be no better anywhere. The yield for 1876 is the 
 best proof A summary in the Toronto Daily Globe of a mi- 
 nute account in the Manitoba Free Press gives the following 
 averages for the Province as a whole : Wheat, 32J bushels 
 per acre ; barley, 42J ; oats, 51 ; peas, 32 ; potatoes, 229 ; 
 turnips, 662 J. Such was the result, although the unusually 
 severe and late rains damaged the crops, and other drawbacks 
 during the season operated to lower the average. On newly 
 broken-up ground, where the old sod had never rotted, the yield 
 was small ; and many of the settlers had to sow old and decayed 
 seed because of the grasshopper ravages the preceding year. 
 The significance of an average like 32^ bushels of wheat to the 
 acre will be best understood in the light of the following rough 
 calculation by Mr. Dawson : " As a measure of the possible 
 agiicultural capacity of this great valley, take one-half of the 
 entire area, or 3,400 square miles, equalling 2,176,000 acres, 
 and for simplicity of calculation let it be supposed to be sown 
 entirely in wheat. Then, at the rate of 17 bushels per acre — 
 which, according to Prof. Thomas, is the average yield for Min- 
 nesota — the crop of the Red River Valley would amount to 
 40,992,000 bushels " (p. 278). The total crop of Manitoba for 
 1876 was: Wheat, 480,000 bushels; barley, 173,000; oats, 
 380,000; peas, 54,000; other grains, 5,000 ; potatoes, 460,000; 
 turnips and other roots, 700,000. 
 
 With respect to the vast country beyond that North-west 
 of which Manitoba is only the threshold, we have much more 
 definite information than we had, and eveiy year adds to our 
 store. Besides the township surveys, which have already ex- 
 tended far beyond the Province, a special survey of meridians 
 and bases is also going on. The lines are laid down northerly 
 and westerly, and the work is intended to extend to Peace 
 River. The objects of the survey are to establish a practicable 
 
APPENDIX. 379 
 
 groundwork for the extension of township surveys at any point 
 along the line of railway where they may be required, to facili- 
 tate the location of the land grant along the line of railway, 
 to obtain a systematic knowledge of the resources of the 
 country, and to furnish information as to geographic position 
 and topography required for ihe accurate mapping of the North- 
 west. With this last object in vieWi the position of the bases 
 and meridians in the series are being definitely checked from 
 time to time by means of a continuous triangulation car- 
 ried on over the most favourable belt of country that can 
 be found, under the personal direction of Mr. Lindsay Russel. 
 The astronomic station on the 49th parallel at Pembina 
 has been adopted as the point of departure for this triangula- 
 tion. 
 
 Descriptive extracts from the Eeports of Township surveys 
 in Manitoba and the North-west Territory, extending to Fort 
 Ellice, have been published. These Reports mention the nature 
 of the surface of each township surveyed, the kind and quality 
 of the soil and timber, the supply of water afforded by lakes, 
 streams, springs and wells, with such other information as the 
 intending settler requires most. Hundreds of townships in 
 regular succession have been thus described by the surveyors, 
 and scarcely a score are declared unfit for settlement. The land 
 is usually pronounced of "good quality" or "the finest 'qual- 
 ity ;" " sandy loam," " deep dry ioam," or " good black loam ;" 
 "level," "rolling" or "undulating prairie j" "excellent," 
 "very rich," or "first-class." 
 
 Still fiiii-ther west than the valley of the Asainiboine settle- 
 ments are springing into existence, especially on the banks «,nd 
 at the confluence of rivers. The half breeds are selling their 
 farms on the Red River, moving west, and establishing them- 
 selves on the Qu'Appelle, the Saskatchewan and its tributaries, 
 and as far away as Peace River. These hardy bois-hrules will 
 always be the advance guard of the great army of regular im- 
 
380 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 migrants. Our old fellow-traveller, the much-lamented Kev. 
 George McDougal, writing in October, ] 875, describes in simple, 
 glowing language the fertility of the prairie, from the lower 
 Saskatchewan south-westerly to within sight of the Rocky 
 Mountains, over which he himself had just travelled as a mes- 
 senger of peace from the Government to the Indians. Writing 
 from near the confluence of the Ked Deer and Bow Rivers, he 
 says : " A great change has come over the scene in the last 
 fifteen months ; men of business Lad found it to their interest 
 to establish themselves on the banks of our beautiful river. 
 A stock raiser from across the mountains had arrived with 
 several hundred head of cattle. And now on the very hills 
 where two years ago I saw herds of buffalo, the domestic cattle 
 gently graze, requiring neither shelter nor /odder from theia' 
 master all the yea/r round." Concerning the country that 
 extends from the lower Saskatchewan north-westerly to Peace 
 River, Prof. Macoun is even more emphatic. In his Report 
 (1873) he asserts that "the prairie country extends all the 
 way from the lower Saskatchewan by Lac La Biche across the 
 Arthabaska to Slave Lake, and thence to the mountains. 
 Here then is a strip of country over 600 miles in length, and 
 at least 100 in breadth, containing an area of 60,000 square 
 miles, which has a climate in no way inferior to that of Edmon- 
 ton. . ; . Regarding the quality of the soil throughout the 
 entire region, my note-bopk is unvarying in its testimony. I 
 took every opportunity to examine the soil, and always found it 
 deep and fertile." 
 
 But it was only after Mr. Macoun visited Peace River in 
 1875, when he had time to explore the country fully, that his 
 evidence regarding that far North-land becomes positively won- 
 derful. The entire district along Peace River for a distance of 
 760 miles, in a belt of 150 miles wide on each side, or an area 
 of 252,000,000 acres, is as suitable for the cultivation of grain 
 as Ontario. Besides the peculiar excellence of the country for 
 
APPENDIX. 381 
 
 cereals, he had found thousands of acres of crystallized salt, 
 80 pure that it was used in its natural state by the H. B. Com- 
 pany. Coal abounded in the richest veins, and was interstrati- 
 fied with hematite or iron ore yielding fifty per cent. Thou- 
 sands of acres of coal oil fields were found. The tar lying on the 
 surface of the ground was ankle deep. Miles and miles of the 
 purest gypsum beds cropped out of the river banks. No won- 
 der that he considers Peace River the richest part of Canada. 
 While such facts have been given us respecting the valley of 
 the Red River and Assiniboine, of the Saskatchewan and its 
 tributaries, and even of the Great Peace River, in what was 
 formerly considered the far frozen North, the testimony con- 
 cerning our Southern boundary is more favourable than was ex. 
 peeted. All along the 49th parallel of latitude, between Red 
 River VaUey and the bases of the Rocky Mountains, the coun- 
 try was believed to be only a treeless rainless desert, a continu- 
 ation of the great American desert, extending in a triangular 
 shape well into our North-west. Mr. G. M. Dawson, in his 
 Report, describes the three great prairie steppes along the 
 boundary line (pp. 269-300), and shows that most of the first 
 and much of the second is good. Even with regard to the third 
 steppe he says : — "The explorations in connection with the 
 Boundary Survey have served to show that this country, for- 
 merly considered almost absolutely desert, is not — with the ex- 
 ception of a limited area — of this character ; that a part of it 
 may be of future importance agriculturally, and that a great 
 area is well suited for pastoral occupation and stock farming." 
 Of course he believes that the progress of settlements will be 
 from the valley of the Red River to the Saskatchewan, follow- 
 ing that to its head, and that the great pastoral area of the 
 plains south of the Fertile Belt will be entered from the North. 
 Another matter that pressed itself on our attention four 
 years ago was the apparent absence of fresh water in many 
 extensive districts. This difficulty, too, has been solved. "It 
 
382 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 is found that there are few regions where ordinary wells of 
 moderate depth do not succeed in finding ample supplies of 
 water ; and this not only far removed from the rivers, but in 
 their immediate vicinity, though the water level of the stream 
 may be considerably lower than that of the bottom of the welL 
 The rather impervious nature of the prairie subsoil renders it 
 probable that these wells are supplied either by intercalated 
 coarser layers, or, — as appears to be more likely — by water 
 circulating in fissures ; which, formed originally by the crack- 
 ing of the soil at the surface, often penetrate its homogeneous 
 mass to a considerable depth." In the vicinity of "Winni- 
 peg boj-ing has been extensively carried out ; water is reached 
 at an average depth of fifty feet, and it rises to within a few 
 feet of the surface. The general section met with is thus 
 stated : — 
 
 Black loam about 4 feet. 
 
 Yellow mud and sand ----- " 6 " 
 
 Blue mud and alkali - - "30 « 
 
 Limestone concrete, resembling the bed 
 of a river, and carrying water - - 
 
 Wherever there is alkali in the soil, the well is tubed round 
 to prevent infiltration. 
 
 Another diflS.culty to which we called attention — the exist- 
 ence of great areas of treeless prairie — can be solved slowly 
 but surely, as has been done in Minnesota and elsewhere by 
 the exertion of settlers, encouraged by Government. It is in- 
 deed satisfactory to know that the surveys of the last two or 
 three years have proved that the supply of wood is not so 
 limited as was generally supposed. The scanty supply between 
 the Red River and Edmonton was declared by some to 
 be an almost insuperable barrier to railway construction, 
 whereas it is now known that on the first great section of the 
 line that has been located — the 270 miles from Selkirk to Liv- 
 
APPENDIX. 383 
 
 ingstone — there is a good supply of timber; and as for the re- 
 maining five or six himdred miles more than half the distance 
 is through woodland. The late Minister of the Interior devoted 
 special attention to the subject of how best to encourage the 
 general and systematic planting of trees on almost treeless 
 prairie, and as he has been appointed Governor of the North- 
 west, he will be in a position to utilize the information he has 
 collected, and carry out the plans that experience has shown to 
 be best, and also to prevent or limit the prairie or forest fires 
 that have been hitherto so destructive. The good efiects of ex- 
 tensive tree-planting on the soil and on the climate can hardly 
 be over-estimated. Professor Maooun says : — " One conse- 
 quence of trees being planted will be a greater rain-fall'; and as 
 a consequence of greater rain-fall the salts in the soil wUl 
 be dissolved and carried off from the surface, and salt plants 
 disappear. This is no fancy sketch, as it is a fact in physical 
 geography that to clothe land with trees gives a greater rain- 
 fall, and takes away the salt. Any person acquainted with the 
 history of Palestine and North Africa knows that what were 
 the most fruitful countries in the world two thousand years 
 ago are now barren saline wastes. The cause is well known. 
 The trees were cut down, none were planted in their place, the 
 sun evaporated the rain before it had time to percolate the soil, 
 salts accumulated, and in the course of time the land was 
 given up to perpetual barrenness." This subject is also ex- 
 haustively discussed in Mr. Dawson's Report (p. 311 to 324). 
 
 The Indian question is the only remaining one upon which 
 anything need be said, and it deserves a chapter or a volume 
 to itself. Since Ocean to Ocean was written there have been 
 two Indian wars in the United States, one with the Modocs 
 and another with the Sioux. Captain Jack and Sitting Bull 
 have shown what loss of life and prestige, and what enormous 
 expense a handful of savages can inflict on a great nation, and 
 we should give heed to the lesson. When our neighbour's 
 
i04 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 Louse is on fire it becomes us to be on the alert. Other facts 
 indicate how deeply the honour and the interest of the Do- 
 minion is involved in preserving undisturbed our traditional 
 friendly relations with the Indian tribes on both sides of the 
 Rocky Mountains. Here is one fact that points a moral so 
 flattering to the Dominion and to Great Britain that I shall 
 not draw it in words : — During the two years that the 
 Boundary Commission was doing its work, the scientific men 
 engaged by the U. S. Government required the protection of a 
 large military force ; whereas the British and Canadian party, 
 engaged on the other side of the line, had no escort and were 
 never disturbed ! 
 
 The first steps taken by the Domiuion Government to pro- 
 tect the Indians from ill-tieatment and from whiskey were in 
 1873, when Acts were passed for the establishment of the 
 Mounted Police Force, and prohibiting the introduction of in- 
 toxicating liquors into the Territories. These Acts, and the 
 action consequent upon, have been attended with the happiest 
 results. Order reigns throughout the North-west. The fact 
 that men charged with the murder of Indians have been 
 Ijrought a thousand miles across the great lone land and lodged 
 in the Winnipeg prison to await their trial, shows the length 
 of the arm of Canada, and that the life of the Indian is as 
 sacred in the eye of the law as the life of any other subject of 
 the Queen. The trading posts and forts established by 
 outlaws and desperadoes from the Western States on 
 the Bow and Belly Rivers, that were demoralizing the Indians, 
 have been completely broken up. Some of the border ruifians 
 and whiskey traders have been caught, fined or imprisoned, 
 and their stock of buffalo robes — when they had such— confis- 
 cated. Others have recrossed the line, disgusted with British 
 institutions. The Assistant Commissioner in charge at Fort 
 McLeod reports " the complete stoppage of the whiskey triide 
 throughout the whole of this section of the country, and that 
 
APPENDIX 385 
 
 the drunken riots which in former years were almost of daily 
 occurrence, were now entirely at an end." He also reports that 
 the Indians — Blactfeet, Assiniboines, and Crees — are very in- 
 telligent men, very hospitable, and very friendly ; and that 
 they appreciate highly the boon conferred on them by the Gov- 
 ernment in establishing the Force among them. " Their de 
 light is unbounded when I tell them that I expect to remain 
 with them always." The Force is usually stationed at Forts 
 Pelly, Carlton, Edmonton, Walsh, and McLeod. 
 
 Up to 1872 only two treaties had been made with the In. 
 dians in our North-west. By the first the Indi&n title was ex. 
 tinguished in Manitoba ; and in a wide region north and west 
 of the Province, by the second. Partly in consequence of more 
 favourable terms subsequently granted to Indians elsewhere, 
 and partly in consequence of the non-fulfilment of what were 
 known as " Outside Promises," the Indians included in those 
 treaties became dissatisfied. A memorandum containing cer- 
 tain understandings, it seems, had been appended to the origi. 
 nal draft of the treaty and this had not been sanctioned. But 
 the Indians never forget. They felt that they had been cheated. 
 The Government wisely adjusted the difficulty by directing that 
 the memorandum should be considered part of the treaties. 
 The annual payment to each Indian included under them was 
 raised from $3 to $5 ; a further annual payment of $20 allowed 
 to each Chief; and a suit of clothing every three years to each 
 Chief and Headman. 
 
 Since 1872, five treaties have been made by Governor Morris 
 with difierent tribes of Indians. In October, 1873, Treaty No 
 III. was made at the North-west Angle of the Lake of the Woods 
 with the Saulteaux tribe of the Ojibbeways, by which the 
 country between Ontario and Manitoba — now forming the Ter- 
 ritory of Kewatin — was ceded. In September, 1874, Treaty 
 No. I"V. was made at Qu'AppeUe Lakes with the Crees, Saul- 
 teaux, and mixed breeds, by which 75,000 square miles were 
 
386 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 ceded. In September, 1875, Treaty No. Y. was made at Beren's 
 River and at Norway House with the Saulteaux and Swampy 
 Cree Tribes, extinguishing their title to the territory all round 
 Lake Winnipeg. Last year treaties were made with the Plain 
 Crees at Forts Carlton and Pitt, covering 121,000 square miles, 
 by which the Indian title over the remainder of the North-west, 
 except the country of the Blackfeet, has been extinguished. 
 The Blackfeet are to be dealt with this year, when Governor. 
 Morris' experience of Treaty-making ought to be sufficient to 
 qualify him for dealing with them or even with the Eastern 
 question. The Blackfeet have always taken rank as perhaps 
 the boldest and bravest tribe in America, and it was generally 
 thought that they would give trouble sooner or later ; but we 
 have learned that they desire our friendship and protection. 
 Keep whiskey from them, and they keep the peace. 
 
 What is the secret of our wonderful success in dealing with 
 the Indian t It can be told in very few words. We acknow- 
 ledge their title and right to the land ; and a treaty once made 
 with them, we keep it. Lord Duiferin has pointed out what 
 is involved in our acknowledgment that the original title to the 
 land exists in the Indian tribes and communities. " Before we 
 touch an acre, we make a treaty with the chiefs representing 
 the bands we are dealing with, and having agreed upon and 
 paid the stipulated price . . . ' we enter into possession, but 
 not until then do we consider that we are entitled to deal with 
 an acre." It is well that this should be clearly understood, be- 
 cause the Indians themselves have no manner of doubt on the 
 subject. At the North-west Angle, chief after chief said to the 
 Governor : " This is what we think, that the Great Spirit has 
 planted us on this ground where we are, as you were where you 
 came from. We think that where we are is our property." 
 And they have wonderfully English notions about all that the 
 possession of the land involves ; that the land includes the 
 buildings on it, and that trespass is not allowable. When Mr 
 
APPENDIX. 387 
 
 Dawson, one of the Commissioners, at the outeet of the nego- 
 tiations, told them how desirable it was for them to have a 
 treaty, they answered him very plainly, that there were other 
 matters that ought to be settled first ; that promises had been 
 made to them when the road was built that had not been ful- 
 filled ; and that they regarded, therefore, all the houses on the 
 line, and all the big boats on the waters as theirs, till they 
 were recompensed for them. The only answer Ms Honour could 
 give to them was to fall back on first principles that would 
 make the hair of an English Squire or Judge stand on end — 
 " Wood and water," he assured them, " were the gift of the 
 Great Spirit, and were made alike for the good both of the 
 white and red man." Being well assured that the land is theirs, 
 they demand compensation for it as a right. And who will 
 question their right 1 Those vast rolling prairies, those gently 
 sloping or bold broken hills, those sparkling lakes covered with 
 wUd fowl and stocked with fish, are theirs by inheritance and 
 by possession. They did not, after the fashion of white men, 
 divide their property up into separate estates. Had they done 
 so, no one would have questioned. their title. But that the 
 country that has always yielded them support is their own and 
 not ours, they firmly and rightly believe. The tribe holds the 
 land and the wood and the water for common use. Surely, 
 then, it is only fair that — ^before arranging to run oar railroads 
 through it, or inviting European emigrants to go in and take 
 possession — we should meet the Indians in friendly council, buy 
 their rights and extinguish their title. They are ready to meet 
 us half-way. Though brave and proud, they are willing to ad- 
 mit our superiority. Though few in number, and every year 
 becoming fewer, they would be formidable as enemies, for they 
 are magnificent horsemen, and could support themselves on the 
 great plains where ordinary troops would starve. Though born 
 hunters, and almost as fond of a buffalo run as of fire-water, 
 they are — under missionary influences — betaking themselves in 
 
388 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 some places to agriculture and stock-raising, and their most in- 
 telligent men see that it is necessary for them to abandon their 
 nomad for a settled life, if they are to exist alongside of white 
 men. Hitherto the buffalo has been to them what the potato 
 was to the Irish before the great famine. The buffalo has been 
 more ; house, clothing, harness-leather, cordage, thread, as well 
 as food. But the buffalo is beginning to be a less certain 
 element. The buffalo disappears before civilization, and Chip- 
 pewa, Cree, and Blackfeet must be civilized, or they too will 
 disappear. 
 
 Some, people smile at the notion of treaties with a few thou- 
 sand half-naked, painted savages. And to him who sees only 
 the ludicrous in anything different from his own use and wont, 
 the scene may appear a travesty of treaty-making. Any in- 
 fringement on his rights would be a serious matter. But how 
 can anything be important to an Indian ? My friend, the In- 
 dian is a man, and God has implanted the sense of justice in the 
 breast of all men. To the Indian his land or fishing ground is 
 as important as it would be to you, and the memory of his 
 fathers may be as sacred.. Said the Lac Seul Chief at North- 
 west Angle : " We do not wish that any one should smile at our 
 affairs, as we think our country is a large matter to us." 
 
 Something more than making a treaty is needed. It must 
 be kept to the letter and in the spirit. I am not aware that the 
 Indians ever broke a treaty that was fairly and solemnly made. 
 They believe in the sanctity of an oath ; and to a Christian 
 nation, a treaty made with true believers, heretics, or pagans, 
 with mosque-goers or with church-goers, should be equally bind- 
 ing. The words of Mawedopinias, who with Pow-wa-sang had 
 carried on the negotiations that resulted in the North-west 
 Angle Treaty, show that their eyes are open when they treat 
 with us, and that their covenants are meant to be sacred. The 
 business having been completed, he stepped up to tlip Governor 
 and said : " Now you see me stand before you all. What has 
 
APPENDIX, 389 
 
 been done here to-day has been done openly before the Great 
 Spirit, and before the nation, and I hope that I may never 
 hear any one say that this treaty has been done secretly ; and 
 now, in closing this Council, I take off my glove, and in giv- 
 ing you my hand, I deliver you over my birth-right and lands ; 
 and in taking your hand I hold fast all the promises you 
 have made, and I hope they will last as long as the sun goes 
 round and the water flows, as you have said." The Governor 
 took his hand and said : " I accept your hand, and with it the 
 lands, and will keep all my promises, in the firm belief that the 
 treaty now to be signed will bind the Red man and the White 
 together as friends for ever." The copy of the treaty was then 
 prepared and duly signed. The hereditary Chieftain, who is 
 said to have seen a hundred summers, was brought forward to 
 sign it first. The Governor handed him the pen. He hesi- 
 tated, and said that he expected to have been paid the money. 
 " Take my hand," said the Governor, at the same time extend 
 ing it ; " see, it is full of money." He looked in his face, took 
 the offered hand, and signed the treaty. 
 
 To break a treaty made with those old lords and sons of the 
 soil would be worse than to break one made with a nation 
 able to resent a breach of faith. 
 
 The speech of the Governor-General to the people of "Vic- 
 toria last September made known to all Canada that there is 
 one Province in the Dominion where the Indians feel themselves 
 aggrieved, and aggrieved because the fundamental principle of 
 British and Canadian policy had been ignored by the Provincial 
 Government in its dealings with them. "In British Columbia, 
 except in a few cases under the jurisdiction of the H. B. Com- 
 pany, or under the auspices of Sir James Douglas, the Gov- 
 ernment assumed that the fee-simple of as well as the sover- 
 eignty over the land resided in the Queen. Hence interferences 
 with the prescriptive rights of the Indians, and dissatis- 
 faction on their part." The annual reports of the Depart- 
 
390 OCEAN TO OCEAN, 
 
 ment of the Interior have been full of this subject for several 
 years past, but the gravity of the situation has not been un- 
 derstood by the public. How very grave it is, one declaration 
 of Mr. Powell, the Indian Commissioner, shows : " If," he 
 reports, " there has not been an Indian war, it is not because 
 there has been no injustice to the Indians, but because the In- 
 dians have not been sufficiently united." He also reports that 
 the Indian bands at Mcola and Okanagan Lakes wholly de- 
 clined to accept any presents in the summer of 1874, lest bj- 
 so doing they should be thought to waive their claims for com- 
 pensation for the injustice done them in relation to the land 
 grants. 
 
 What makes this worse and worse is that the Indians of 
 British Columbia greatly outnumber the white population, 
 that they contribute to a very marked extent to the financial 
 prosperity of the Province, and that they have made astonish- 
 ing progress wherever pains have been taken to teach them 
 anything useful. The following table, taken from Commis- 
 sioner Powell's Report, gives a comparative statement of their 
 exports for 1874 and 1875 of fish, fish oil and furs : 
 
 1874. 1875. 
 
 Ksh 169,665 00 Ksh $114,170 00 
 
 Oil 54,453 00 OU 19,816 00 
 
 Furs 307,625 00 Furs 411,810 00 
 
 Cranberries 2,01100 Cranberries 3,568 00 
 
 $423,754 00 $549,364 00 
 
 Nearly the whole of *he above exports are contributed by 
 Indians. Mr. Lenihan, the Commissioner of the Mainland 
 Division of the Province, writes in his last Eeport that the 
 Chief of the Lower Fraser Indians addressed him at a recent 
 interview in the following language: " • You told us that our 
 Great Mother the Queen was good and powerful, and we be- 
 lieved you. We know that she has only to speak to this Gov 
 ernment and our lands must be fixed (defined); we wonder why 
 
APPENDIX, 391 
 
 our Great Mother does not speak. We want you to tell her 
 what we have said. We were promised 80 acres of land to 
 each family, and now we are treated like children and put off 
 with 20 acres, which is not enough if we are to do like the 
 white men. Shall we be obliged to turn to our old ways V 
 The Chief spoke in a tone of deep earnestness. He is a re- 
 markably intelligent, clever man. The comfortable appearance 
 of the dwellings of his tribe, and the neat and substantial 
 church erected and finished by himself at his own vUlage, speak 
 well for his industry and skilL The Indians of British Colum- 
 bia, as a rule, are sober, industrioas, self-reliant, and law-abid- 
 ing. They labour in the saw-mills, the logging camp, the field, 
 the store — in fact, in every department where labour is required, 
 — and are fairly remunerated." 
 
 Lord Dufferin has paid a just tribute to the wonderful success 
 of the Rev. Mr. Duncan at Metlakatlah^— a man whom the 
 Church of England may well class with her Selwyns and Pat- 
 tesons — " of the neat Indian maidens in his school, as modest 
 and as well dressed as any clergyman's daughter in an English 
 parish," and " of scenes c£ primitive peace and innocence, of 
 idyllic beauty and material comfort" in an Indian community 
 under the administration of a judicious and devoted Christian 
 missionary. A gentleman who cannot speak like His Excellency, 
 but who has had a longer acquaintance with the Indians of 
 British Columbia, and who has employed hundreds of them on 
 siirveys and other work, writes me as follows concerning the 
 Nicola Lake, and Thompson and Lower Eraser Indians, many 
 of whom are under the missionary care of the Rev. Mr. Good : 
 " They are a most promising community, and doubtless much is 
 due to Mr. Good's teaching. They are not only regular in their 
 devotional exercises, but industrious, honest, sober, and tidy in 
 their persons and dress. And they are the most spirited Indians I 
 have yet met in B. C. It was one of their Chiefs who refused 
 the presents of the Commissioner, for fear that by accepting 
 
392 OCEAN TO OCEAN, 
 
 them he might prejudice the claims of his tribe for. lands -which 
 they believed had been unjustly taken from them and sold by the 
 Local Government ; and one of his KJootchmen knocked a cigar 
 out of his. hand, which he had accepted, and crushed it with- 
 her foot." To plunder such people of their land, village sites 
 fishing stations, burial grounds, or favourite resorts, would be a 
 blunder as well as a crime. The policy that has succeeded in 
 all the other Provinces and Territories of the Dominion must be 
 applied to British Columbia, and in no Province are we likely 
 to see more splendid results. 
 
 The colonization of the North-west, and the construction of 
 the work that is to bind all Canada together with links of steel 
 from Ocean to Ocean, are enterprises which — in the minds of 
 Canadians who believe in the future of their country — ^transcend 
 all ordinary political questions Such enterprises do not belong 
 to the region of party politics. They are not for men whose 
 vision is bounded by the present hour and by their own locality. 
 Statesmen understand their transcendent importance ; for 
 statesmen are those who divine the instincts of the people they 
 govern. 
 
 The brief review that has been given in this Appendix shows 
 that progress has been made in the course of the past four 
 years. We can see that not only have we been moving, but 
 that certain great aims have been sis steadily kept in view as if 
 one mind had controlled the work from the beginning. These 
 are — (1) the shortest and best line between the prairie region 
 and the navigation of Lake Superior ; (2) the shortest and 
 best line from Ottawa to the Pacific ; (3) preparations for gen- 
 eral and extensive colonization of the fertile interior. In con- 
 nection with these aims — which are really one, for they all go 
 together, the one depending upon and helping the other — th« 
 rate of progress has been rapid enough to satisfy reasonable ex- 
 
APPENDIX. 393 
 
 pectations. Fo\ir years is not a long period in the history of a 
 country; and to hasten surely, it is necessary to hasten slowly. 
 Two or three sentences are enough to show where we now stand. 
 The Railway located for almost the whole 1,450 miles from the 
 northern bend of Lake Superior to the watershed of the Eocky 
 Mountains ; construction commenced at several points ; and 
 telegraphic communication established over most of that dis- 
 tance. When the western end of the line is located, the 
 waters of the West and of the East shall appear sketched before 
 us as linked by an unbroken chain, only 2,000 miles long, and 
 with thousands of workmen hammering at the links. WhUe 
 so much has been done from Lake Superior westward, the 
 eastern end of the great work has not been wholly neglected. — 
 Nor should it. Our great work is not to end in a harbour that 
 is frozen up for half the year. A Canada Pacific Railway with 
 a missing link anywhere would be an abstirdity. It is true 
 that a forbidding wilderness stretches from the Upper Ottawa 
 to Lake Superior ; but wildernesses must be traversed to reach 
 lands flowing with milk and honey. If a telegraph be con- 
 structed, the two halves of the Dominion can at once commu 
 nicate with each other. And a telegraph along the proposed 
 Railway line means a road ; a road enables prospectors to go 
 in and explore ; prospectors are followed by settlers ; in due 
 time clearings penetrate the forest to the right and left of the 
 main road ; and soon the Railway becomes even a local neces- 
 sity.* There should be steady progress of some kind every 
 year in the direction of opening up the great woodland region. 
 A continuous advance — little by Uttle — in time accomplishes 
 a long journey. 
 
 * For a lucid exposition of how the Territorial Road System is the precursor of Rail- 
 ways, see a pamphlet submitted to the Government of the Province of Canada in 1868, 
 by Sandford Fleminjf, entitled " Obseivations and Practical Suggestions on the Subject 
 of a Railway through British North America." 
 
394 OCEAN TO OCEAN. 
 
 Hewlo considers our widely separated Provinces and their 
 recent confederation, the various elements that compose our 
 population and the necessary burdens that must be first borne 
 by it, may well wonder, not that so little but that so much has 
 been done in prosecuting a gigantic enterp'-'se that promises no 
 immediate results. But not as the result of accident, nor out 
 of the day dreams of enthusiasts, nor because politicians willed 
 it so, did the Dominion of Canada come into being. It seemed 
 only a political experiment, and many predicted its failure. 
 For few men. are gifted with the penetrative eye that can dis- 
 tinguish between experiment and development. The Dominion 
 was a natural and necessary growth. And now, after active trial 
 for nearly a decade, it stands before the Empire an acknow- 
 ledged success. The machinery is working well and getting 
 smoother every year. Blunders have been committed, because 
 those engaged on the work were only men ; but blunders are for- 
 gotten by all except some of the baser sort. True work endures, 
 and great aims are inspirations. No Canadian would forget or 
 forgive a party that abandoned the idea of making all British 
 America one country. But great aims must be wrought out in 
 detail, and practical and responsible men are the only judges 
 of what can be done from year to year. 
 
 I shall not parade statistics to show the material progress 
 that we are making, for material progress is only one — and not 
 the most important — element in the history of a people. The 
 growth of national sentiment throughout every part of the great 
 Dominion, unattended possibly with the noisy ebullitions that 
 more excitable peoples delight in, more than corresponds to our 
 material progress. And insight into our stock and fibre, com- 
 bined with that true imagination that realizes manifest destiny 
 — imagination which is the vision of the people more than of 
 the most gifted individual of the people — entitles Canadians, 
 while legitimately cherishing pride in the past and present, to 
 look forward with confidence to the future of their country. 
 
English Edition, - - $7.50. 
 Boston " - - $5.00. 
 
 rhlsMtioD, iwa?s.ss?s^! Only $1.80. 
 
 THE CREED OF CHRISTENDOM ; 
 
 ITS FOUNDATION CONTRASTED WITH ITS SUPERSTRUCTURE. 
 
 By "VI. R. GREG, 
 
 Author of " Enigmas of Life," " Literary and Social Judgments," etc. 
 
 One Vol. Crown 8vo. With Complete Index. 
 
 Olo-bla., - - Si. so. 
 
 "Mr. GREG is well-known as one of the man- 
 liest thinkers and writers of the day. In these 
 points he resembles Mr. Leslie Stephen, but his 
 work breathes a more Christian Spirit. Mr. Greg 
 is a Christian, though not of the narrow school. 
 He means this book as a defence of Christianity; 
 and although he unsparingly exposes what he 
 deems weak points connected with external evi- 
 dences, he does so more in sorrow than in anger, 
 and more in love than in sorrow.'" — Dundee Advertiser. 
 
 Eose-Belford Publishing Comp'y, 
 
 25 WKLLINGTON ST. WEST, TORONTO. 
 
SUPERNATURAL RELIGION. 
 
 AN EKQUIRY INTO THE REALITY OF DIVUIE REVElAflON. 
 
 REPEINTED TEOM THE SIXTH ENGLISH EDITION. 
 
 THREE VOLUMES IN TWO ! 
 
 Cloth, gUt top, $225 per vol- Half QslU, $350 per vol. 
 
 One Large Demy Yal, Cloth, $4.00. Half Calf, $6.00. 
 
 This Edition is complete, and the only revised and corrected Ameticaii 
 Edition, with Index. The Boston Edition sells at $13.5°, and the English 
 Edition at $15.00, making our edition one-third the price of any other, 
 
 "A critical exammation ol the New Testament, aiming to test the validity 
 of the supernatural element in Christianity The ablest English work of New 
 Testament criticism that has ever been produced." — Times. 
 
 For sale by Booksellers generally, or mailed, post-paid on reqeipt of price^b] 
 
 ROSE-BELFORD PUBLISHING CO., 
 
 TORONTO, Ontario 
 Or CHICAGO, lUinois.