Transcriber’s Note: Italics are indicated with _underscores_.
[Illustration: OUR PARTY ACROSS THE MOUNTAINS.
(_From a Photograph._)]
THE
NORTH-WEST PASSAGE
BY LAND.
BEING THE NARRATIVE OF AN EXPEDITION FROM THE
ATLANTIC TO THE PACIFIC,
UNDERTAKEN WITH THE VIEW OF EXPLORING A ROUTE ACROSS
THE CONTINENT TO BRITISH COLUMBIA THROUGH BRITISH
TERRITORY, BY ONE OF THE NORTHERN PASSES
IN THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS.
BY
VISCOUNT MILTON, F.R.G.S., F.G.S., &c.,
AND
W. B. CHEADLE, M.A., M.D. CANTAB., F.R.G.S.
_Ros._ Well, this is the Forest of Arden.
_Touch._ Ay, now I am in Arden; the more fool I; when I was at
home, I was in a better place: but travellers must be content.
AS YOU LIKE IT.
LONDON:
CASSELL, PETTER, AND GALPIN,
LUDGATE HILL, E.C.
[THE RIGHT OF TRANSLATION IS RESERVED.]
TO
THE COUNTESS FITZWILLIAM
AND
MRS. CHEADLE,
WHO TOOK SO GREAT AN INTEREST IN THE SUCCESS OF THE TRAVELLERS, THIS
ACCOUNT OF THEIR JOURNEY IS DEDICATED BY
THE AUTHORS.
4, GROSVENOR SQUARE,
_1st June, 1865_.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
PAGE
Sail for Quebec--A Rough Voyage--Our Fellow-Passengers--
The Wreck--Off the Banks of Newfoundland--Quebec--Up
the St. Lawrence--Niagara--The Captain and the Major--
Westward Again--Sleeping Cars--The Red Indian--Steaming
up the Mississippi--Lake Pippin--Indian Legend--St.
Paul, Minnesota--The Great Pacific Railroad--Travelling
by American Stage-Wagon--The Country--Our Dog Rover--The
Massacre of the Settlers by the Sioux--Culpability of the
United States Government--The Prairie--Shooting by the
Way--Reach Georgetown 1
CHAPTER II.
Georgetown--Minnesota Volunteers--The Successful Hunters--
An Indian Hag--Resolve to go to Fort Garry in Canoes--
Rumours of a Sioux Outbreak--The Half-breeds refuse to
Accompany us--Prepare to Start Alone--Our Canoes and
Equipment--A Sioux War Party--The Half-breed’s Story--
Down Red River--Strange Sights and Sounds--Our First
Night Out--Effects of the Sun and Mosquitoes--Milton
Disabled--Monotony of the Scenery--Leaky Canoes--
Travelling by Night--The “Oven” Camp--Hunting Geese
in Canoes--Meet the Steamer--Milton’s Narrow Escape--
Treemiss and Cheadle follow Suit--Carried Down the
Rapids--Vain Attempts to Ascend--A Hard Struggle--On
Board at last--Start once more--Delays--Try a Night
Voyage again--The “Riband Storm”--“In Thunder, Lightning,
and in Rain”--Fearful Phenomena--Our Miserable Plight--
No Escape--Steering in Utter Darkness--Snags and Rocks--
A Long Night’s Watching--No Fire--A Drying Day--Another
Terrible Storm--And Another--Camp of Disasters--Leave it
at last--Marks of the Fury of the Storms--Provisions at
an End--Fishing for Gold-eyes--A Day’s Fast--Slaughter
of Wild-Fowl--Our Voracity--A Pleasant Awakening--Caught
up by the Steamer--Pembina--Fort Garry--La Ronde--We go
under Canvass 18
CHAPTER III.
Fort Garry--Origin of the Red River Settlement--The First
Settlers--Their Sufferings--The North-Westers--The
Grasshoppers--The Blackbirds--The Flood--The Colony in
1862--King Company--Farming at Red River--Fertility of
the Soil--Isolated Position of the Colony--Obstructive
Policy of the Company--Their Just Dealing and Kindness to
the Indians--Necessity for a proper Colonial Government--
Value of the Country--French Canadians and Half-breeds--
Their Idleness and Frivolity--Hunters and Voyageurs--
Extraordinary Endurance--The English and Scotch Settlers--
The Spring and Fall Hunt--Our Life at Fort Garry--Too
Late to cross the Mountains before Winter--Our Plans--
Men--Horses--Bucephalus--Our Equipment--Leave Fort
Garry--The “Noce”--La Ronde’s Last Carouse--Delightful
Travelling--A Night Alarm--Vital Deserts--Fort Ellice--
Delays--Making Pemmican--Its Value to the Traveller--
Swarms of Wild-Fowl--Good Shooting--The Indian Summer--A
Salt Lake Country--Search for Water--A Horse’s Instinct--
South Saskatchewan--Arrive at Carlton 36
CHAPTER IV.
Carlton--Buffalo close to the Fort--Fall of Snow--Decide to
Winter near White Fish Lake--The Grisly Bears--Start for
the Plains--The Dead Buffalo--The White Wolf--Running
Buffalo Bulls--The Gathering of the Wolves--Treemiss
Lost--How he Spent the Night--Indian Hospitality--Visit
of the Crees--The Chief’s Speech--Admire our Horses--
Suspicions--Stratagem to Elude the Crees--Watching Horses
at Night--Suspicious Guests--The Cows not to be Found--
More Running--Tidings of our Pursuers--Return to the Fort
59
CHAPTER V.
The Ball--Half-breed Finery--Voudrie and Zear return to
Fort Garry--Treemiss starts for the Montagne du Bois--
Leave Carlton for Winter Quarters--Shell River--La
Belle Prairie--Riviere Crochet--The Indians of White
Fish Lake--Kekekooarsis, or “Child of the Hawk,” and
Keenamontiayoo, or “The Long Neck”--Their Jollification--
Passionate Fondness for Rum--Excitement in the Camp--
Indians flock in to Taste the Fire-water--Sitting out
our Visitors--A Weary Day--Cache the Rum Keg by Night--
Retreat to La Belle Prairie--Site of our House--La Ronde
as Architect--How to Build a Log Hut--The Chimney--A
Grand Crash--Our Dismay--Milton supersedes La Ronde--The
Chimney Rises again--Our Indian Friends--The Frost sets
in 70
CHAPTER VI.
Furnishing--Cheadle’s Visit to Carlton--Treemiss there--His
Musical Evening with Atahk-akoohp--A very Cold Bath--
State Visit of the Assiniboines--Their Message to Her
Majesty--How they found out we had Rum--Fort Milton
Completed--The Crees of the Woods--Contrast to the Crees
of the Plains--Indian Children--Absence of Deformity--
A “Moss-bag”--Kekekooarsis and his Domestic Troubles--
The Winter begins in Earnest--Wariness of all Animals--
Poisoning Wolves--Caution of the Foxes--La Ronde and
Cheadle start for the Plains--Little Misquapamayoo--
Milton’s Charwoman--On the Prairies--Stalking Buffalo--
Belated--A Treacherous Blanket--A Cold Night Watch--More
Hunting--Cheadle’s Wits go Wool-gathering--La Ronde’s
Indignation--Lost all Night--Out in the Cold again--
Our Camp Pillaged--Turn Homewards--Rough and Ready
Travelling--Arrive at Fort Milton--Feasting 79
CHAPTER VII.
Trapping--The Fur-bearing Animals--Value of different
Furs--The Trapper’s Start into the Forest--How to make
a Marten Trap--Steel Traps for Wolves and Foxes--The
Wolverine--The Way he Gets a Living--His Destructiveness
and Persecution of the Trapper--His Cunning--His
Behaviour when caught in a Trap--La Ronde’s Stories of the
Carcajou--The Trapper’s Life--The Vast Forest in Winter--
Sleeping Out--The Walk--Indians and Half-breeds--Their
Instinct in the Woods--The Wolverine Demolishes our
Traps--Attempts to Poison him--Treemiss’s Arrival--He
relates his Adventures--A Scrimmage in the Dark--The
Giant Tamboot--His Fight with Atahk-akoohp--Prowess
of Tamboot--Decide to send our Men to Red River for
Supplies--Delays 99
CHAPTER VIII.
Milton visits Carlton--Fast Travelling--La Ronde and Bruneau
set out for Fort Garry--Trapping with Misquapamayoo--
Machinations against the Wolverine--The Animals’
Fishery--The Wolverine outwits us--Return Home--
The Cree Language--How an Indian tells a Story--New
Year’s Day among the Crees--To the Prairies again--The
Cold--Travelling with Dog-sleighs--Out in the Snow--
Our New Attendants--Prospect of Starvation--A Day
of Expectation--A Rapid Retreat--The Journey Home--
Indian Voracity--Res Augusta Domi--Cheadle’s Journey to
the Fort--Perversity of his Companions--“The Hunter”
yields to Temptation--Milton’s Visit to Kekekooarsis--A
Medicine Feast--The New Song--Cheadle’s Journey Home--
Isbister and his Dogs--Mahaygun, “The Wolf”--Pride and
Starvation--Our Meeting at White Fish Lake 113
CHAPTER IX.
Our New Acquaintances--Taking it Quietly--Mahaygun
Fraternises with Keenamontiayoo--The Carouse--
Importunities for Rum--The Hunter asks for more--A
Tiresome Evening--Keenamontiayoo Renounces us--His
Night Adventure--Misquapamayoo’s Devotion--The Hunter
returns Penitent--The Plains again--The Wolverine on
our Track--The Last Band of Buffalo--Gaytchi Mohkamarn,
“The Big Knife”--The Cache Intact--Starving Indians--
Story of Keenamontiayoo--Indian Gambling--The Hideous
Philosopher--Dog Driving--Shushu’s Wonderful Sagacity--A
Long March--Return to La Belle Prairie--Household Cares--
Our Untidy Dwelling--Our Spring Cleaning--The Great Plum
Pudding--Unprofitable Visitors--Rover’s Accomplishments
Astonish the Indians--Famine Everywhere 138
CHAPTER X.
La Ronde’s Return--Letters from Home--A Feast--The Journey
to Red River and back--Hardships--The Frozen Train--
Three Extra Days--The Sioux at Fort Garry--Their Spoils
of War--Late Visitors--Musk-Rats and their Houses--
Rat-catching--Our Weather-glass--Moose Hunting in the
Spring--Extreme Wariness of the Moose--His Stratagem to
Guard against Surprise--Marching during the Thaw--Prepare
to leave Winter Quarters--Search for the Horses--Their
Fine Condition--Nutritious Pasturage--Leave La Belle
Prairie--Carlton again--Good-bye to Treemiss and La
Ronde--Baptiste Supernat--Start for Fort Pitt--Passage
of Wild-Fowl--Baptiste’s Stories--Crossing Swollen
Rivers--Addition to our Party--Shooting for a Living--
The Prairie Bird’s Ball--Fort Pitt--Peace between the
Crees and Blackfeet--Cree Full Dress--The Blackfeet--The
Dress of their Women--Indian Solution of a Difficulty--
Rumours of War--Hasty Retreat of the Blackfeet--Louis
Battenotte, “The Assiniboine”--His Seductive Manners--
Departure for Edmonton--A Night Watch--A Fertile Land--
The Works of Beaver--Their Effect on the Country--Their
Decline in Power--How we crossed the Saskatchewan--Up the
Hill--Eggs and Chickens--Arrive at Edmonton 161
CHAPTER XI.
Edmonton--Grisly Bears--The Roman Catholic Mission at St.
Alban’s--The Priest preaches a Crusade against the
Grislies--Mr. Pembrun’s Story--The Gold Seekers--Perry,
the Miner--Mr. Hardisty’s Story--The Cree in Training--
Running for Life--Hunt for the Bears--Life at a Hudson’s
Bay Fort--Indian Fortitude--Mr. O’B. introduces Himself--
His Extensive Acquaintance--The Story of his Life--Wishes
to Accompany us--His Dread of Wolves and Bears--He comes
into the Doctor’s hands--He congratulates us upon his
Accession to our Party--The Hudson’s Bay People attempt
to dissuade us from trying the Leather Pass--Unknown
Country on the West of the Mountains--The Emigrants--The
other Passes--Explorations of Mr. Ross and Dr. Hector--
Our Plans--Mr. O’B. objects to “The Assiniboine”--“The
Assiniboine” protests against Mr. O’B.--Our Party and
Preparations 183
CHAPTER XII.
Set out from Edmonton--Prophecies of Evil--Mr. O’B.’s
Forebodings--Lake St. Ann’s--We enter the Forest--A
Rough Trail--Mr. O’B., impressed with the Difficulties
which beset him, commences the study of Paley--Pembina
River--The Coal-bed--Game--Curious Habit of the Willow
Grouse--Mr. O’B. en route--Changes wrought by Beaver--
The Assiniboine’s Adventure with the Grisly Bears--Mr.
O’B. prepares to sell his Life dearly--Hunt for the
Bears--Mr. O’B. Protects the Camp--The Bull-dogs--The
Path through the Pine Forest--The Elbow of the McLeod--
Baptiste becomes Discontented--Trout Fishing--Moose
Hunting--Baptiste Deserts--Council--Resolve to Proceed--
We lose the Trail--The Forest on Fire--Hot Quarters--
Working for Life--Escape--Strike the Athabasca River--
First View of the Rocky Mountains--Mr. O’B. spends a
Restless Night--Over the Mountain--Magnificent Scenery--
Jasper House--Wild Flowers--Hunting the “Mouton Gris” and
the “Mouton Blanc” 203
CHAPTER XIII.
Making a Raft--Mr. O’B. at Hard Labour--He admires our
“Youthful Ardour”--News of Mr. Macaulay--A Visitor--Mr.
O’B. Fords a River--Wait for Mr. Macaulay--The Shushwaps
of the Rocky Mountains--Winter Famine at Jasper House--
The Wolverine--The Miners before us--Start again--
Cross the Athabasca--The Priest’s Rock--Site of the
Old Fort, “Henry’s House”--The Valley of the Myette--
Fording Rapids--Mr. O’B. on Horseback again--Swimming the
Myette--Cross it for the Last Time--The Height of Land--
The Streams run Westward--Buffalo-dung Lake--Strike the
Fraser River--A Day’s Wading--Mr. O’B.’s Hair-breadth
Escapes--Moose Lake--Rockingham Falls--More Travelling
through Water--Mr. O’B. becomes disgusted with his Horse--
Change in Vegetation--Mahomet’s Bridge--Change in the
Rocks--Fork of the Fraser, or original Tête Jaune Cache--
Magnificent Scenery--Robson’s Peak--Flood and Forest--
Horses carried down the Fraser--The Pursuit--Intrepidity
of The Assiniboine--He rescues Bucephalus--Loss of
Gisquakarn--Mr. O’B.’s Reflections and Regrets--Sans Tea
and Tobacco--The Extent of our Losses--Mr. O’B. and Mrs.
Assiniboine--Arrive at The Cache 236
CHAPTER XIV.
Tête Jaune Cache--Nature of the Country--Wonderful View--
West of the Rocky Mountains--Rocky Mountains still--The
“Poire,” or Service Berry--The Shushwaps of The Cache--
The Three Miners--Gain but little Information about the
Road--The Iroquois return to Jasper House--Loss of Mr.
O’B.’s Horse--Leave The Cache--The Watersheds--Canoe
River--Perilous Adventure with a Raft--Milton and the
Woman--Extraordinary Behaviour of Mr. O’B.--The Rescue--
The Watershed of the Thompson--Changes by Beaver--Mount
Milton--Enormous Timber--Cross the River--Fork of the
North Thompson--A Dilemma--No Road to be Found--Cross
the North-west Branch--Mr. O’B.’s Presentiment of Evil--
Lose the Trail again--Which Way shall we Turn?--Resolve
to try and reach Kamloops--A Natural Bridge--We become
Beasts of Burden--Mr. O’B. objects, but is overruled by
The Assiniboine--“A Hard Road to Travel”--Miseries of
driving Pack-horses--An Unwelcome Discovery--The Trail
Ends--Lost in the Forest--Our Disheartening Condition--
Council of War--Explorations of The Assiniboine, and his
Report--A Feast on Bear’s Meat--How we had a Smoke, and
were encouraged by The Assiniboine 264
CHAPTER XV.
We commence to Cut our Way--The Pathless Primeval Forest--
The Order of March--Trouble with our Horses: their
Perversity--Continual Disasters--Our Daily Fare--
Mount Cheadle--Country Improves only in Appearance--
Futile Attempt to Escape out of the Valley--A Glimpse of
Daylight--Wild Fruits--Mr. O’B. triumphantly Crosses
the River--The Assiniboine Disabled--New Arrangements--
Hopes of Finding Prairie-Land--Disappointment--Forest
and Mountain Everywhere--False Hopes again--Provisions
at an End--Council of War--The Assiniboine Hunts
without Success--The Headless Indian--“Le Petit Noir”
Condemned and Executed--Feast on Horse-flesh--Leave
Black Horse Camp--Forest again--The Assiniboine becomes
Disheartened--The Grand Rapid--A Dead Lock--Famishing
Horses--The Barrier--Shall we get Past?--Mr. O’B.
and Bucephalus--Extraordinary Escape of the Latter--
More Accidents--La Porte d’Enfer--Step by Step--The
Assiniboine Downcast and Disabled--Mrs. Assiniboine takes
his Place--The Provisions give out again--A Dreary Beaver
Swamp--The Assiniboine gives up in Despair--Mr. O’B.
begins to Doubt, discards Paley, and prepares to become
Insane--We kill another Horse--A Bird of Good Omen--
The Crow speaks Truth--Fresher Sign--A Trail--The Road
rapidly Improves--Out of the Forest at last! 286
CHAPTER XVI.
On a Trail Again--The Effect on Ourselves and the Horses--
The Changed Aspect of the Country--Wild Fruits--Signs of
Man Increase--Enthusiastic Greeting--Starving again--Mr.
O’B. finds Caliban--His Affectionate Behaviour to him--
The Indians’ Camp--Information about Kamloops--Bartering
for Food--Clearwater River--Cross the Thompson--The
Lily-berries--Mr. O’B. and The Assiniboine fall out--
Mr. O’B. flees to the Woods--Accuses The Assiniboine of
an attempt to Murder him--Trading for Potatoes--More
Shushwaps--Coffee and Pipes--Curious Custom of the
Tribe--Kamloops in Sight--Ho! for the Fort--Mr. O’B.
takes to his Heels--Captain St. Paul--A Good Supper--
Doubts as to our Reception--Our Forbidding Appearance--
Our Troubles at an End--Rest 311
CHAPTER XVII.
Kamloops--We discover True Happiness--The Fort and
Surrounding Country--The Adventures of the Emigrants who
preceded us--Catastrophe at the Grand Rapid--Horrible
Fate of Three Canadians--Cannibalism--Practicability
of a Road by the Yellow Head Pass--Various Routes
from Tête Jaune Cache--Advantages of the Yellow Head
Pass, contrasted with those to the South--The Future
Highway to the Pacific--Return of Mr. McKay--Mr.
O’B. sets out alone--The Murderers--The Shushwaps of
Kamloops--Contrast between them and the Indians East of
the Rocky Mountains--Mortality--The Dead Unburied--
Leave Kamloops--Strike the Wagon Road from the Mines--
Astonishment of the Assiniboine Family--The remarkable
Terraces of the Thompson and Fraser--Their Great Extent:
contain Gold--Connection with the Bunch-grass--The Road
along the Thompson--Cook’s Ferry--The Drowned Murderer--
Rarity of Crime in the Colony--The most Wonderful Road
in the World--The Old Trail--Pack-Indians--Indian Mode
of catching Salmon--Gay Graves--The Grand Scenery of
the Cañons--Probable Explanation of the Formation of the
Terraces--Yale--Hope and Langley--New Westminster--Mr.
O’B. turns up again--Mount Baker--The Islands of the Gulf
of Georgia--Victoria, Vancouver Island 322
CHAPTER XVIII.
Victoria--The Rush there from California--Contrast to San
Francisco under similar Circumstances--The Assiniboines
see the Wonders of Victoria--Start for Cariboo--Mr.
O’B. and The Assiniboine are Reconciled--The former
re-establishes his Faith--Farewell to the Assiniboine
Family--Salmon in Harrison River--The Lakes--Mr.
O’B.’s Triumph--Lilloet--Miners’ Slang--The “Stage” to
Soda Creek--Johnny the Driver--Pavilion Mountain--The
“Rattlesnake Grade”--The Chasm--Way-side Houses on the
Road to the Mines--We meet a Fortunate Miner--The Farming
Land of the Colony--The Steamer--Frequent Cocktails--The
Mouth of Quesnelle--The Trail to William’s Creek--A Hard
Journey--Dead Horses--Cameron Town, William’s Creek 351
CHAPTER XIX.
William’s Creek, Cariboo--The Discoverers--The Position
and Nature of the Gold Country--Geological Features--
The Cariboo District--Hunting the Gold up the Fraser to
Cariboo--Conjectured Position of the Auriferous Quartz
Veins--Various kinds of Gold--Drawbacks to Mining in
Cariboo--The Cause of its Uncertainty--Extraordinary
Richness of the Diggings--“The Way the Money Goes”--
Miners’ Eccentricities--Our Quarters at Cusheon’s--
Price of Provisions--The Circulating Medium--Down
in the Mines--Profits and Expenses--The “Judge”--
Our Farewell Dinner--The Company--Dr. B----l waxes
Eloquent--Dr. B----k’s Noble Sentiments--The Evening’s
Entertainment--Dr. B----l retires, but is heard of again--
General Confusion--The Party breaks up--Leave Cariboo--
Boating down the Fraser--Camping Out--William’s Lake--
Catastrophe on the River--The Express Wagon--Difficulties
on the Way--The Express-man Prophesies his own Fate--The
Road beyond Lytton--A Break-down--Furious Drive into
Yale--Victoria once more 364
CHAPTER XX.
Nanaimo and San Juan--Resources of British Columbia and
Vancouver Island--Minerals--Timber--Abundance of Fish--
Different kinds of Salmon--The Hoolicans, and the Indian
Method of Taking them--Pasturage--The Bunch-grass:
its Peculiarities and Drawbacks--Scarcity of Farming
Land--Different Localities--Land in Vancouver Island--
Contrast between California and British Columbia--Gross
Misrepresentations of the Latter--Necessity for the
Saskatchewan as an Agricultural Supplement--Advantages of
a Route across the Continent--The Americans before us--
The Difficulties less by the British Route--Communication
with China and Japan by this Line--The Shorter Distance--
The Time now come for the Fall of the Last Great Monopoly--
The North-West Passage by Sea, and that by Land--The Last
News of Mr. O’B.--Conclusion 385
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE
OUR PARTY ACROSS THE MOUNTAINS _Frontispiece_.
OUR NIGHT CAMP ON EAGLE RIVER.--EXPECTING THE CREES 68
OUR WINTER HUT.--LA BELLE PRAIRIE 76
A MARTEN TRAP 102
SWAMP FORMED BY BEAVER, WITH ANCIENT BEAVER HOUSE AND DAM 179
FORT EDMONTON, ON THE NORTH SASKATCHEWAN 183
THE FOREST ON FIRE 225
OVER THE MOUNTAIN, NEAR JASPER HOUSE 231
VIEW FROM THE HILL OPPOSITE JASPER HOUSE.--THE UPPER LAKE OF
THE ATHABASCA RIVER AND PRIEST’S ROCK 232
CROSSING THE ATHABASCA RIVER, IN THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS 245
THE ASSINIBOINE RESCUES BUCEPHALUS 259
OUR MISADVENTURE WITH THE RAFT IN CROSSING CANOE RIVER 271
A VIEW ON THE NORTH THOMPSON, LOOKING EASTWARD 275
THE TRAIL AT AN END 281
MR. O’B. TRIUMPHANTLY CROSSES THE RIVER 292
THE HEADLESS INDIAN 296
THE TERRACES ON THE FRASER RIVER 338
YALE, ON THE FRASER RIVER 345
THE “RATTLESNAKE GRADE.”--PAVILLON MOUNTAIN, BRITISH COLUMBIA;
ALTITUDE, 4,000 FEET 356
A WAY-SIDE HOUSE.--ARRIVAL OF MINERS 357
A WAY-SIDE HOUSE AT MIDNIGHT 357
MINERS WASHING FOR GOLD 370
THE CAMERON “CLAIM,” WILLIAM’S CREEK, CARIBOO 371
GENERAL MAP OF BRITISH NORTH AMERICA, SHOWING THE AUTHORS’
ROUTE ACROSS THE CONTINENT (_Bound with Volume._)
MAP OF THE WESTERN PORTION OF BRITISH NORTH AMERICA, SHOWING
THE ROUTE ACROSS THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS BY THE YELLOW HEAD,
OR, LEATHER PASS INTO BRITISH COLUMBIA, ON A LARGER SCALE.
(_In the Pocket._)
PREFACE.
The following pages contain the narrative of an Expedition across the
Continent of North America, through the Hudson’s Bay Territories, into
British Columbia, by one of the northern passes in the Rocky Mountains.
The expedition was undertaken with the design of discovering the most
direct route through British territory to the gold regions of Cariboo,
and exploring the unknown country on the western flank of the Rocky
Mountains, in the neighbourhood of the sources of the north branch of
the Thompson River.
The Authors have been anxious to give a faithful account of their
travels and adventures amongst the prairies, forests, and mountains
of the Far West, and have studiously endeavoured to preserve the
greatest accuracy in describing countries previously little known. But
one of the principal objects they have had in view has been to draw
attention to the vast importance of establishing a highway from the
Atlantic to the Pacific through the British possessions; not only as
establishing a connection between the different English colonies in
North America, but also as affording a means of more rapid and direct
communication with China and Japan. Another advantage which would
follow--no less important than the preceding--would be the opening
out and colonisation of the magnificent regions of the Red River and
Saskatchewan, where 65,000 square miles of a country of unsurpassed
fertility, and abounding in mineral wealth, lies isolated from the
world, neglected, almost unknown, although destined, at no distant
period perhaps, to become one of the most valuable possessions of the
British Crown.
The idea of a route across the northern part of the Continent is not a
new one. The project was entertained by the early French settlers in
Canada, and led to the discovery of the Rocky Mountains. It has since
been revived and ably advocated by Professor Hind and others, hitherto
without success.
The favourite scheme of geographers in this country for the last three
centuries has been the discovery of a North-West Passage by sea, as
the shortest route to the rich countries of the East. The discovery has
been made, but in a commercial point of view it has proved valueless.
We have attempted to show that the original idea of the French
Canadians was the right one, and that the true North-West Passage is
by land, along the fertile belt of the Saskatchewan, leading through
British Columbia to the splendid harbour of Esquimalt, and the great
coal-fields of Vancouver Island, which offer every advantage for the
protection and supply of a merchant fleet trading thence to India,
China, and Japan.
The Illustrations of this Work are taken almost entirely from
photographs and sketches taken on the spot, and will, it is hoped,
possess a certain value and interest, as depicting scenes never before
drawn by any pencil, and many of which had never previously been
visited by any white man, some of them not even by an Indian. Our most
cordial thanks are due to Mr. R. P. Leitch, and Messrs. Cooper and
Linton, for the admirable manner in which they have been executed;
and to Mr. Arrowsmith, for the great care and labour he has bestowed
on working out the geography of a district heretofore so imperfectly
known. We also beg to acknowledge the very great obligations under
which we lie to Sir James Douglas, late Governor of British Columbia
and Vancouver Island; Mr. Donald Fraser, of Victoria; and Mr. McKay, of
Kamloops, for much valuable information concerning the two colonies,
and who, with many others, showed us the greatest kindness during our
stay in those countries.
4, GROSVENOR SQUARE,
_June 1st, 1865_.
[Illustration:
The Western Portion of
BRITISH NORTH AMERICA.
_Showing the Route followed by_
Lord Milton & Dr. Cheadle.
from the Saskatchewan to British Columbia
1863–4.
]
THE
NORTH-WEST PASSAGE BY LAND.
CHAPTER I.
Sail for Quebec--A Rough Voyage--Our Fellow-Passengers--The
Wreck--Off the Banks of Newfoundland--Quebec--Up the St.
Lawrence--Niagara--The Captain and the Major--Westward Again--
Sleeping Cars--The Red Indian--Steaming up the Mississippi--
Lake Pippin--Indian Legend--St. Paul, Minnesota--The Great
Pacific Railroad--Travelling by American Stage-Wagon--The
Country--Our Dog Rover--The Massacre of the Settlers by the
Sioux--Culpability of the United States Government--The
Prairie--Shooting by the Way--Reach Georgetown.
On the 19th of June, 1862, we embarked in the screw-steamer
_Anglo-Saxon_, bound from Liverpool to Quebec. The day was dull and
murky; and as the trader left the landing-stage, a drizzling rain
began to fall. This served as an additional damper to our spirits,
already sufficiently low at the prospect of leaving home for a long and
indefinite period. Unpleasant anticipations of ennui, and still more
bodily suffering, had risen up within the hearts of both of us--for we
agree in detesting a sea-voyage, although not willing to go the length
of endorsing the confession wrung from that light of the American
Church--the Rev. Henry Ward Beecher--by the agonies of sea-sickness,
that “those whom God hateth he sendeth to sea.”
We had a very rough passage, fighting against head winds nearly all the
way; but rapidly getting our sea-legs, we suffered little from ennui,
being diverted by our observations on a somewhat curious collection of
fellow-passengers. Conspicuous amongst them were two Romish bishops
of Canadian sees, on their return from Rome, where they had assisted
at the canonisation of the Japanese martyrs, and each gloried in
the possession of a handsome silver medal, presented to them by his
Holiness the Pope for their eminent services on that occasion. These
two dignitaries presented a striking contrast. One, very tall and
emaciated, was the very picture of an ascetic, and passed the greater
part of his time in the cabin reading his missal and holy books. His
inner man he satisfied by a spare diet of soup and fish, gratifying
to the full no carnal appetite except that for snuff, which he took
in prodigious quantity, and avoiding all society except that of his
brother bishop. The latter, “a round, fat, oily man of God,” of genial
temper, and sociable disposition, despised not the good things of this
world, and greatly affected a huge meerschaum pipe, from which he
blew a cloud with great complacency. As an antidote to them, we had
an old lady afflicted with Papophobia, who caused us much amusement
by inveighing bitterly against the culpable weakness of which Her
Majesty the Queen had been guilty, in accepting the present of a
side-board from Pius IX. A Canadian colonel, dignified, majestic, and
speaking as with authority, discoursed political wisdom to an admiring
and obsequious audience. He lorded it over our little society for a
brief season, and then suddenly disappeared. Awful groans and noises,
significant of sickness and suffering, were heard proceeding from his
cabin. But, at last, one day when the weather had moderated a little,
we discovered the colonel once more on deck, but, alas! how changed.
His white hat, formerly so trim, was now frightfully battered; his
cravat negligently tied; his whole dress slovenly. He sat with his head
between his hands, dejected, silent, and forlorn.
The purser, a jolly Irishman, came up at the moment, and cried,
“Holloa, colonel! on deck? Glad to see you all right again.”
“All right, sir!” cried the colonel, fiercely; “all right, sir? I’m
_not_ all right. I’m _frightfully ill_, sir! I’ve suffered the tortures
of the--condemned; horrible beyond expression; but it’s not the pain
I complain of; that, sir, a soldier like myself knows how to endure.
But I’m thoroughly ashamed of myself, and shall never hold up my head
again!”
“My dear sir,” said the purser, soothingly, with a sly wink at us,
“what on earth _have_ you been doing? There is nothing, surely, in
sea-sickness to be ashamed of.”
“I tell you, sir,” said the colonel, passionately, “that it’s most
demoralising! Think of a man of my years, and of my standing and
position, lying for hours prone on the floor, with his head over a
basin, making a disgusting beast of himself in the face of the company!
I’ve lost my self-respect, sir; and I shall never be able to hold up my
head amongst my fellow-men again!”
As he finished speaking, he again dropped his head between his hands,
and thus did not observe the malicious smile on the purser’s face, or
notice the suppressed laughter of the circle of listeners attracted
round him by the violence of his language.
The young lady of our society--for we had but one--was remarkable for
her solitary habits and pensive taciturnity. When we arrived at Quebec
harbour, a most extraordinary change came over her; and we watched her
in amazement, as she darted restlessly up and down the landing-stage in
a state of the greatest agitation, evidently looking for some one who
could not be found. In vain she searched, and at last rushed off to the
telegraph office in a state of frantic excitement. Later the same day
we met her at the hotel, seated by the side of a young gentleman, and
as placid as ever. It turned out that she had come over to be married,
but her lover had arrived too late to meet her; he, however, had at
last made his appearance, and honourably fulfilled his engagement. A
wild Irishman, continually roaring with laughter, a Northern American,
rabid against “rebels,” and twenty others, made up our list of cabin
passengers. Out of these we beg to introduce, as Mr. Treemiss, a
gentleman going out like ourselves, to hunt buffalo on the plains, and
equally enthusiastic in his anticipations of a glorious life in the
far West. We soon struck up an intimate acquaintance, and agreed to
travel in company as far as might be agreeable to the plans of each.
Before we reached the banks of Newfoundland we fell in with numerous
evidences of a recent storm; a quantity of broken spars floated past,
and a dismasted schooner, battered and deserted by her crew. On her
stern was the name _Ruby_, and the stumps of her masts bore the marks
of having been recently cut away.
Off the “banks” we encountered a fog so dense that we could not see
twenty yards ahead. The steam whistle was blown every five minutes,
and the lead kept constantly going. The ship crashed through broken
ice, and we all strained our eyes for the first sight of some iceberg
looming through the mist. A steamer passed close to us, her proximity
being betrayed only by the scream of her whistle. Horrible stories of
ships lost with all hands on board, from running against an iceberg,
or on the rock-bound coast, became the favourite topic of conversation
amongst the passengers; the captain looked anxious, and every one
uncomfortable.
After two days, however, we emerged in safety from the raw, chilling
fogs into clear sunlight at the mouth of the St. Lawrence, and on the
2nd of July steamed up the river to Quebec. The city of Quebec, with
its bright white houses, picked out with green, clinging to the sides
of a commanding bluff, which appears to rise up in the middle of the
great river so as to bar all passage, has a striking beauty beyond
comparison. We stayed but to see the glorious plains of Abraham, and
then hastened up the St. Lawrence by Montreal, through the lovely
scenery of the “Thousand Islands,” and across Lake Ontario to Toronto.
We determined to spend a day at Niagara, and, taking another steamer
here, passed over to Lewiston, on the American side of the lake, at the
mouth of the Niagara River. From Lewiston a railway runs to within a
mile of the Falls, following the edge of the precipitous cliffs on the
east side of the narrow ravine, through which the river rushes to pour
itself into Lake Ontario. Glad to escape the eternal clanging of the
engine bell warning people to get out of the way as the train steamed
along the streets, we walked across the suspension bridge to the
Canadian side of the river, and forward to the Clifton House. We heard
the roar of the cataract soon after leaving the station, and caught
glimpses of it from time to time along the road; but at last we came
out into the open, near the hotel, and saw, in full view before us,
the American wonder of the world. Our first impression was certainly
one of disappointment. Hearing so much from earliest childhood of the
great Falls of Niagara, one forms a most exaggerated conception of
their magnitude and grandeur. But the scene rapidly began to exercise
a charm over us, and as we stood on the edge of the Horseshoe Fall, on
the very brink of the precipice over which the vast flood hurls itself,
we confessed the sublimity of the spectacle. We returned continually
to gaze on it, more and more fascinated, and in the bright clear
moonlight of a beautiful summer’s night, viewed the grand cataract at
its loveliest time. But newer subjects before us happily forbid any
foolish attempt on our part to describe what so many have tried, but
never succeeded, in painting either with pen or pencil. On the Lewiston
steamer we had made the acquaintance of Captain ----, or, more properly
speaking, he had made ours. The gallant captain was rather extensively
got up, his face smooth shaven, with the exception of the upper lip,
which was graced with a light, silky moustache. He wore a white hat,
cocked knowingly on one side, and sported an elegant walking cane;
the blandest of smiles perpetually beamed on his countenance, and he
accosted us in the most affable and insinuating manner, with some
remark about the heat of the weather. Dextrously improving the opening
thus made, he placed himself in a few minutes on the most intimate
terms. Regretting exceedingly that he had not a card, he drew our
attention to the silver mounting on his cane, whereon was engraved,
“Captain ----, of ----.” Without further inquiry as to who we were, he
begged us to promise to come over and stay with him at his nice little
place, and we should have some capital “cock shooting” next winter. The
polite captain then insisted on treating us to mint-juleps at the bar,
and there introduced us with great ceremony to a tall, angular man, as
Major So-and-so, of the Canadian Rifles.
The major was attired in a very seedy military undress suit, too small
and too short for him, and he carried, like Bardolph, a “lantern in the
poop,” which shone distinct from the more lurid and darker redness of
the rest of his universally inflamed features. His manner was rather
misty, yet solemn and grand withal, and he comported himself with so
much dignity, that far was it from us to smile at his peculiar personal
appearance. We all three bowed and shook hands with him with an
urbanity almost equal to that of our friend the captain.
Both our new acquaintances discovered that they were going to the same
place as ourselves, and favoured us with their society assiduously
until we reached the Clifton House.
After viewing the Falls, we had dinner; and then the captain and major
entertained us with extraordinary stories.
The former related how he had lived at the Cape under Sir Harry Smith,
ridden one hundred and fifty miles on the same horse in twenty-four
hours, and various other feats, while the “major” obscurely hinted that
he owed his present important command on the frontier to the necessity
felt by the British Government that a man of known courage and talent
should be responsible during the crisis of the _Trent_ affair.
We returned to Toronto the next day, and lost no time in proceeding on
our way to Red River, travelling as fast as possible by railway through
Detroit and Chicago to La Crosse, in Wisconsin, on the banks of the
Mississippi.
We found the sleeping-cars a wonderful advantage in our long journeys,
and generally travelled by night. A “sleeping-car” is like an ordinary
railway carriage, with a passage down the centre, after the American
fashion, and on each side two tiers of berths, like those of a ship.
You go “on board,” turn in minus coat and boots, go quietly to sleep,
and are awakened in the morning by the attendant nigger, in time to
get out at your destination. You have had a good night’s rest, find
your boots ready blacked, and washing apparatus at one end of the car,
and have the satisfaction of getting over two hundred or three hundred
miles of a wearisome journey almost without knowing it. The part of
the car appropriated to ladies is screened off from the gentlemen’s
compartment by a curtain; but on one occasion, there being but two
vacant berths in the latter, Treemiss was, by special favour, admitted
to the ladies’ quarter, where ordinarily only married gentlemen are
allowed--two ladies and a gentleman kindly squeezing into one large
berth to accommodate him!
At one of the small stations in Wisconsin we met the first Red Indian
we had seen in native dress. He wore leather shirt, leggings, and
moccasins, a blanket thrown over his shoulders, and his bold-featured,
handsome face was adorned with paint. He was leaning against a tree,
smoking his pipe with great dignity, not deigning to move or betray
the slightest interest as the train went past him. We could not help
reflecting--as, perhaps, he was doing--with something of sadness
upon the changes which had taken place since his ancestors were lords
of the soil, hearing of the white men’s devices as a strange thing,
from the stories of their greatest travellers, or some half-breed
trapper who might occasionally visit them. And we could well imagine
the disgust of these sons of silence and stealth at the noisy trains
which rush through the forests, and the steamers which dart along lakes
and rivers, once the favourite haunt of game, now driven far away. How
bitterly in their hearts they must curse that steady, unfaltering,
inevitable advance of the great army of whites, recruited from every
corner of the earth, spreading over the land like locusts--too strong
to resist, too cruel and unscrupulous to mingle with them in peace and
friendship!
At La Crosse we took steamer up the Mississippi--in the Indian
language, the “Great River,” but here a stream not more than 120 yards
in width--for St. Paul, in Minnesota. The river was very low, and
the steamer--a flat-bottomed, stern-wheel boat, drawing only a few
inches of water--frequently stuck fast on the sand bars, giving us an
opportunity of seeing how an American river-boat gets over shallows.
Two or three men were immediately sent overboard, to fix a large pole.
At the top was a pulley, and through this a stout rope was run, one end
of which was attached to a cable passed under the boat, the other to
her capstan. The latter was then manned, the vessel fairly lifted up,
and the stern wheel being put in motion at the same time, she swung
over the shoal into deep water.
The scenery was very pretty, the river flowing in several channels
round wooded islets; along the banks were fine rounded hills, some
heavily timbered, others bare and green. When we reached Lake Pippin,
an expansion of the Mississippi, some seven or eight miles long, and
perhaps a mile in width, we found a most delightful change from the
sultry heat we had experienced when shut up in the narrow channel. Here
the breeze blew freshly over the water, fish splashed about on every
side, and could be seen from the boat, and we were in the midst of a
beautiful landscape. Hills and woods surround the lake; and, about half
way, a lofty cliff, called the “Maiden’s Rock,” stands out with bold
face into the water. It has received its name from an old legend that
an Indian maiden, preferring death to a hated suitor forced upon her by
her relatives, leaped from the top, and was drowned in the lake below.
Beyond Lake Pippin the river became more shallow and difficult, and we
were so continually delayed by running aground that we did not reach
St. Paul until several hours after dark.
St. Paul, the chief city of the State of Minnesota, is the great
border town of the North Western States. Beyond, collections of houses
called cities dwindle down to even a single hut--an outpost in the
wilderness. One of these which we passed on the road, a solitary house,
uninhabited, rejoiced in the name of “Breckenridge City;” and another,
“Salem City,” was little better.
From St. Paul a railway runs westward to St. Anthony, six miles
distant--the commencement of the Great Pacific Railroad, projected to
run across to California, and already laid out far on to the plains.
From St. Anthony a “stage” wagon runs through the out-settlements of
Minnesota as far as Georgetown, on the Red River. There we expected to
find a steamer which runs fortnightly to Fort Garry, in the Red River
Settlement. The “stage,” a mere covered spring-wagon, was crowded
and heavily laden. Inside were eight full-grown passengers and four
children; outside six, in addition to the driver; on the roof an
enormous quantity of luggage; and on the top of all were chained two
huge dogs--a bloodhound and Newfoundland--belonging to Treemiss.
Milton and Treemiss were fortunate enough to secure outside seats,
where, although cramped and uncomfortable, they could still breathe the
free air of heaven; but Cheadle was one of the unfortunate “insides,”
and suffered tortures during the first day’s journey. The day was
frightfully hot, and the passengers were packed so tightly, that it was
only by the consent and assistance of his next neighbour that he could
free an arm to wipe the perspiration from his agonised countenance.
Mosquitoes swarmed and feasted with impunity on the helpless crowd,
irritating the four wretched babies into an incessant squalling, which
the persevering singing of their German mothers about Fatherland was
quite ineffectual to assuage. Two female German Yankees kept up an
incessant clack, “guessing” that the “Young Napoleon” would soon wipe
out Jeff. Davis; in which opinion two male friends of the same race
perfectly agreed. The dogs kept tumbling off their slippery perch,
and hung dangling by their chains at either side, half strangled,
until hauled back again with the help of a “leg up” from the people
inside. This seventy mile drive to St. Cloud, where we stayed the first
night, was the most disagreeable experience we had. There six of the
passengers left us, but the two German women, with the four babies they
owned between them, still remained. The babies were much more irritable
than ever the next day, and their limbs and faces, red and swollen from
the effects of mosquito bites, showed what good cause they had for
their constant wailings.
The country rapidly became more open and level--a succession of
prairies, dotted with copses of wild poplar and scrub oak. The land
appeared exceedingly fertile, and the horses and draught oxen most
astonishingly fat. Sixty-five miles of similar country brought us,
on the second night after leaving St. Paul, to the little settlement
of Sauk Centre. As it still wanted half an hour to sundown when we
arrived, we took our guns and strolled down to some marshes close at
hand in search of ducks, but were obliged to return empty-handed,
for although we shot several we could not get them out of the water
without a dog, the mosquitoes being so rampant, that none of us felt
inclined to strip and go in for them. We were very much disappointed,
for we had set our hearts on having some for supper, as a relief to
the eternal salt pork of wayside houses in the far West. On our return
to the house where we were staying, we bewailed our ill-luck to our
host, who remarked that had he known we were going out shooting, he
would have lent us his own dog, a capital retriever. He introduced us
forthwith to “Rover,” a dapper-looking, smooth-haired dog, in colour
and make like a black and tan terrier, but the size of a beagle. When
it is known from the sequel of this history how important a person
Rover became, how faithfully he served us, how many meals he provided
for us, and the endless amusement his various accomplishments afforded
both to ourselves and the Indians we met with, we shall perhaps be
forgiven for describing him with such particularity. Amongst our Indian
friends he became as much beloved as he was hated by their dogs.
These wolf-like animals he soon taught to fear and respect him by his
courageous and dignified conduct; for although small of stature, he
possessed indomitable pluck, and had a method of fighting quite opposed
to their ideas and experience. Their manner was to show their teeth,
rush in and snap, and then retreat; while he went in and grappled with
his adversary in so determined a manner, that the biggest of them
invariably turned tail before his vigorous onset. Yet Rover was by no
means a quarrelsome dog. He walked about amongst the snarling curs
with tail erect, as if not noticing their presence; and probably to
this fearless demeanour he owed much of his immunity from attack. He
appeared so exactly suited for the work we required, and so gained our
hearts by his cleverness and docility, that next morning we made an
offer of 25 dollars for him.
The man hesitated, said he was very unwilling to part with him, and,
indeed, he thought his wife and sister would not hear of it. If,
however, they could be brought to consent, he thought he could not
afford to refuse so good an offer, for he was very short of money.
He went out to sound the two women on the subject, and they presently
rushed into the room; one of them caught up Rover in her arms, and,
both bursting into floods of tears, vehemently declared nothing would
induce them to part with their favourite. We were fairly vanquished by
such a scene, and slunk away, feeling quite guilty at having proposed
to deprive these poor lonely women of one of the few creatures they had
to lavish their wealth of feminine affection upon.
As we were on the point of starting, however, the man came up, leading
poor Rover by a string, and begged us to take him, as he had at last
persuaded the women to let him go. We demurred, but he urged it so
strongly that we at length swallowed our scruples, and paid the money.
As we drove off, the man said good-bye to him, as if parting with
his dearest friend, and gave us many injunctions to “be kind to the
little fellow.” This we most solemnly promised to do, and it is almost
needless to state, we faithfully kept our word.
A fortnight afterwards, these kindly people--in common with nearly all
the whites in that part of Minnesota--suffered a horrible death at
the hands of the invading Sioux. This fearful massacre, accompanied
as it was by all the brutalities of savage warfare, was certainly
accounted for, if not excused, or even justified, by the great
provocation they had received. The carelessness and injustice of the
American Government, and the atrocities committed by the troops sent
out for the protection of the frontier, exasperated the native tribes
beyond control. Several thousand Indians--men, women, and children--
assembled at Forts Snelling and Abercrombie, at a time appointed by
the Government themselves, to receive the yearly subsidy guaranteed
to them in payment for lands ceded to the United States. Year after
year, either through the neglect of the officials at Washington, or the
carelessness or dishonesty of their agents, the Indians were detained
there for weeks, waiting to receive what was due to them. Able to bring
but scanty provision with them--enough only for a few days--and far
removed from the buffalo, their only means of subsistence, they were
kept there in 1862 for nearly six weeks in fruitless expectation. Can
it be a matter of surprise that, having been treated year by year in
the same contemptuous manner, starving and destitute, the Sioux should
have risen to avenge themselves on a race hated by all the Indians of
the West?
Unconscious of the dangers gathering round, and little suspecting the
dreadful scenes so shortly to be enacted in this region, we drove
merrily along in the stage. As we went farther west, the prairies
became more extensive, timber more scarce, and human habitations more
rare. Prairie chickens and ducks were plentiful along the road, and
the driver obligingly pulled up to allow us to have a shot whenever a
chance occurred. On the third day we struck Red River, and stayed the
night at Fort Abercrombie; and the following day, the 18th of July,
arrived at Georgetown. The stage did not run beyond this point, and
the steamer, by which we intended to proceed to Fort Garry, was not
expected to come in for several days, so that we had every prospect of
seeing more of Georgetown than we cared for.