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.
The establishment at Edmonton is the most important one in the
Saskatchewan district, and is the residence of a chief factor, who has
charge of all the minor posts. It boasts of a windmill, a blacksmith’s
forge, and carpenter’s shop. The boats required for the annual voyage
to York Factory in Hudson’s Bay are built and mended here; carts,
sleighs, and harness made, and all appliances required for the
Company’s traffic between the different posts. Wheat grows luxuriantly,
and potatoes and other roots flourish as wonderfully here as everywhere
else on the Saskatchewan. There are about thirty families living in
the Fort, engaged in the service of the Company, and a large body of
hunters are constantly employed in supplying the establishment with
meat.
At Lake St. Alban’s, about nine miles north of the Fort, a colony
of freemen--_i.e._, half-breeds who have left the service of the
Company--have formed a small settlement, which is presided over by
a Romish priest. Some forty miles beyond is the more ancient colony
of Lake St. Ann’s, of similar character, but with more numerous
inhabitants.
Soon after our arrival Mr. Hardisty informed us that five grisly bears
had attacked a band of horses belonging to the priest at St. Alban’s,
and afterwards pursued two men who were on horseback, one of whom being
very badly mounted, narrowly escaped by the stratagem of throwing down
his coat and cap, which the bear stopped to tear in pieces. The priest
had arranged to have a grand hunt on the morrow, and we resolved to
join in the sport. We carefully prepared guns and revolvers, and at
daylight next morning rode over with Baptiste to St. Alban’s. We found
a little colony of some twenty houses, built on the rising ground
near a small lake and river. A substantial wooden bridge spanned the
latter, the only structure of the kind we had seen in the Hudson’s Bay
territory. The priest’s house was a pretty white building, with garden
round it, and adjoining it the chapel, school, and nunnery. The worthy
father, M. Lacome, was standing in front of his dwelling as we came up,
and we at once introduced ourselves, and inquired about the projected
bear-hunt. He welcomed us very cordially, and informed us that no day
had yet been fixed, but that he intended to preach a crusade against
the marauders on the following Sunday, when a time should be appointed
for the half-breeds to assemble for the hunt.
Père Lacome was an exceedingly intelligent man, and we found his
society very agreeable. Although a French Canadian, he spoke English
very fluently, and his knowledge of the Cree language was acknowledged
by the half-breeds to be superior to their own. Gladly accepting his
invitation to stay and dine, we followed him into his house, which
contained only a single room with a sleeping loft above. The furniture
consisted of a small table and a couple of rough chairs, and the
walls were adorned with several coloured prints, amongst which were a
portrait of his Holiness the Pope, another of the Bishop of Red River,
and a picture representing some very substantial and stolid-looking
angels, lifting very jolly saints out of the flames of purgatory.
After a capital dinner on soup, fish, and dried meat, with delicious
vegetables, we strolled round the settlement in company with our host.
He showed us several very respectable farms, with rich cornfields,
large bands of horses, and herds of fat cattle. He had devoted himself
to the work of improving the condition of his flock, had brought out
at great expense ploughs, and other farming implements for their use,
and was at present completing a corn mill, to be worked by horse power.
He had built a chapel, and established schools for the half-breed
children. The substantial bridge we had crossed was the result of his
exertions. Altogether this little settlement was the most flourishing
community we had seen since leaving Red River, and it must be confessed
that the Romish priests far excel their Protestant brethren in
missionary enterprise and influence. They have established stations at
Isle à La Crosse, St. Alban’s, St. Ann’s, and other places, far out in
the wilds, undeterred by danger or hardship, and gathering half-breeds
and Indians around them, have taught with considerable success the
elements of civilisation as well as religion; while the latter remain
inert, enjoying the ease and comfort of the Red River Settlement, or at
most make an occasional summer’s visit to some of the nearest posts.
In the evening we rode back to Edmonton, and there found Mr. Pembrun,
of Lac La Biche, who had arrived to take command of the Company’s
brigade of boats going with the season’s furs to Norway House, and Mr.
Macaulay, of Jasper House, who had come to fetch winter supplies. Mr.
Pembrun had crossed the Rocky Mountains several times in years gone
by, by Jasper House and the Athabasca Pass, and on one occasion in the
winter.
He related several stories of these journeys, and amongst them one
which bears a strong resemblance to a well-known adventure of the
celebrated Baron Munchausen, but which will be readily believed by
those acquainted with the locality in which it occurred.
The snow accumulates to a tremendous depth in the valleys, and at his
first camp in the mountains he set to work to shovel away the snow
with a snow-shoe, after the usual manner of making camp in the winter;
but having got down to his own depth without coming to the bottom, he
sounded with a long pole, when, not finding the ground, he desisted,
and built a platform of green logs, upon which the fire and beds were
laid. Passing the same place afterwards in the summer, he recognised
his old resting-place by the tall stumps of the trees cut off twenty
or thirty feet above the ground, showing the level of the snow at his
former visit.
A party of miners came in from White Mud Creek, about fifty miles
further up the Saskatchewan, where a number of them were washing gold.
The captain of the band, a Kentuckian, named Love, brought with him a
small bag of fine gold-dust as a specimen, and informed us that they
had already made £90 a-piece since the beginning of the summer. From
what we heard from other sources afterwards, however, there seems
little doubt that this statement was greatly exaggerated. Love had been
in California and British Columbia, and had reached the Saskatchewan
by ascending the Fraser in a boat, and thence crossing the mountains
on foot, by the Leather Pass to Jasper House. He was very sanguine of
finding rich diggings on the eastern side of the mountains, and three
of his company had started on an exploring expedition to the sources
of the North Saskatchewan. Nothing had been heard of them since their
departure, two months before.
Mr. Pembrun told us that he had found gold in a small stream near
Jasper House, having been confirmed in his discovery by Perry, the
miner, a celebrated character in the western gold regions, the story
of whose adventurous life he related to us. Perry was a “down-east”
Yankee, and at the time of the gold fever in California, crossed the
plains and Rocky Mountains alone. His means being too limited to enable
him to purchase horses, he put all his effects in a wheelbarrow, which
he trundled before him over the 2,000 miles to Sacramento. Tiring of
California, he returned to the Eastern States, but on the discovery of
gold on the Fraser River, resolved to try a miner’s life once more. His
sole property on reaching Breckenridge, on the Red River, consisted of
a gun, a little ammunition, and the clothes he wore. He borrowed an
axe, hewed a rough canoe out of a log, and paddled down the river to
Fort Garry, 600 miles. From thence he proceeded on foot to Carlton, 500
miles further, supporting himself by his gun. At Edmonton he joined the
party of miners about to cross the mountains, and succeeded in reaching
British Columbia, having travelled about the same distance he had
formerly done with his wheelbarrow.
This story brought out another from Mr. Hardisty, of an episode in
frontier life at Fort Benton, a trading post of the American Fur
Company, on the Missouri, in the country of the Blackfeet. One day
a solitary and adventurous Cree made his appearance at the Fort on
foot. Shortly after his arrival, a body of mounted Blackfeet arrived,
and discovering the presence of one of the hostile tribe, clamorously
demanded that he should be given up to them to be tortured and scalped.
The trader in command of the Fort was anxious to save the life of the
Cree, yet afraid to refuse to surrender him, for the Blackfeet were
numerous and well armed, and had been admitted within the stockade.
After much discussion, a compromise was agreed to, the white man
engaging to keep the Cree in safe custody for a month, at the end of
which time the Blackfeet were to return to the Fort, and the prisoner
was to be turned loose, with a hundred yards’ start of his pursuers,
who were bound to chase him only on foot, and with no other arms but
their knives.
The Blackfeet took their departure, and the Cree was immediately put
into hard training. He was fed on fresh buffalo-meat, as much as he
could eat, and made to run round the Fort enclosure, at full speed, for
an hour twice every day.
At the expiration of the stipulated month, the Blackfeet came to the
Fort, according to their agreement. Their horses were secured within
the walls, all their arms except their knives taken from them, and
then the expected victim was escorted to the starting-place by the
whole staff of the establishment, who turned out on horseback to
see fair play. The Cree was placed at his post, 100 yards ahead of
his bloodthirsty enemies, who were eager as wolves for their prey.
The word was given, and away darted the hunted Indian, the pursuers
following with frantic yells. At first the pack of Blackfeet gained
rapidly, for terror seemed to paralyse the limbs of the unfortunate
Cree, and his escape seemed hopeless. But as his enemies came within
a few yards of him, he recovered his presence of mind, shook himself
together, his training and fine condition began to tell, and, to their
astonishment and chagrin, he left them with ease at every stride. In
another mile he was far in advance, and pulling up for an instant,
shook his fist triumphantly at his baffled pursuers, and then quickly
ran out of sight. He eventually succeeded in rejoining the rest of his
tribe in safety.
In the course of a few days we again went over to St. Alban’s to look
for the bears. M. Lacome provided four half-breeds to accompany us, and
we spent the whole day in a fruitless hunt. We found, indeed, places
where the ground had been turned up by the animals in digging for
roots, but none of the signs were very fresh.
The next day we made another search, assisted by a number of dogs, but
the bears had evidently left the neighbourhood, and we returned to
Edmonton vastly disappointed.
We were obliged to stay some time longer at the Fort, for the road
before us lay through dense forest, affording but little pasturage,
and it was necessary that the horses should be quite fresh and in
the highest condition before setting out on such a journey. The
time passed monotonously, the life in a Hudson’s Bay fort being most
uneventful and “ennuyant.” We wandered from one window to another, or
walked round the building, watching for the arrival of Indians, or the
sight of some object of speculation or interest. At dusk the scores
of sleigh dogs set up their dismal howling, and disturbed us in the
same manner at daybreak, from slumbers we desired to prolong as much
as possible, in order to shorten the wearisome day. In this habit
of howling in chorus at sunset and sunrise, the Indian dogs present
another point of likeness to wolves, which they so closely resemble
in outward form. One of the pack commences with short barks, and the
others gradually join in, and all howl with might and main for about
five minutes. Then they cease as gradually as they began, and all is
quiet again.
We found some amusement in visiting the tents of the Indians and
half-breeds who were encamped near the Fort, and were much interested
in a little Cree girl, who was a patient of Cheadle’s. She had been out
to the plains with her family, and on the conclusion of peace between
the Crees and Blackfeet, a party of the latter came on a visit to the
Cree camp. On taking leave, a Blackfoot playfully snapped his gun at
the child; the piece proved to be loaded with two bullets, which,
entering the thigh of the unfortunate girl, shattered it completely.
When we saw her she was wan and deathlike, but bore with wonderful
fortitude the pain of the probe and knife. The parents were greatly
disappointed with the Doctor’s skill, for common report had told them
that he would be able not only to remove the broken bone, but also to
replace it by an efficient substitute, and thus restore the limb to its
original condition.
At this time we made the acquaintance of Mr. O’B., a gentleman of
considerable classical attainments, on his way to British Columbia,
whither, however, he progressed but slowly, having left Red River
twelve months before. Mr. O’B. was an Irishman of between forty and
fifty years of age, of middle height and wiry make. His face was long
and its features large, and a retreating mouth, almost destitute of
teeth, gave a greater prominence to his rather elongated nose. He was
dressed in a long coat of alpaca, of ecclesiastical cut, and wore a
black wideawake, which ill accorded with the week’s stubble on his
chin, fustian trousers, and highlows tied with string. He carried
an enormous stick, and altogether his appearance showed a curious
mixture of the clerical with the rustic. His speech was rich with the
brogue of his native isle, and his discourse ornamented with numerous
quotations from the ancient classics. He introduced himself to us with
a little oration, flattering both to himself and us, remarking that he
was a grandson of the celebrated Bishop O’B., and a graduate of the
University of Cambridge; we should readily understand, therefore, how
delightful it must be for him, a man of such descent and education, to
meet with two members of his own beloved university so intellectual
as ourselves. He informed us that he was a man of peaceful and
studious habits, and utterly abhorred the wild and dangerous life to
which he was at present unfortunately condemned. He next astonished
us by telling us almost as much about our relations, friends, and
acquaintances as we knew ourselves; their personal appearance, where
they lived, what property they had, their families, expectations,
tastes, peculiarities, and his opinion of them generally. All his
statements were correct, and a rigid cross-examination failed to
confound him. He then proceeded to relate the history of his wandering
and eventful life.
After leaving the university, he studied for the bar, and became
connected with the press; then went out to India and edited a paper
at Lahore. After a year or two he returned to England. Finding it
somewhat difficult to succeed in the old country, by the advice of an
old college friend, who had settled in Louisiana, he went out to seek
his fortune there. Before long he obtained a situation as secretary to
a wealthy planter, and for a time lived in happiness and ease. But the
vicissitudes of his career had as yet only commenced. The civil war
between the Northern and Southern States broke out, and the peaceful
Mr. O’B. was startled out of his dream of rest and safety by the bustle
and din of warlike preparations. Although sufficiently alarmed at the
prospect of hostilities, he yet flattered himself that he would be
considered a non-combatant. One day, however, his friend the planter
came up to him in a great state of delight and excitement, and warmly
shaking him by the hand, said, “My dear O’B., allow me to congratulate
you most heartily on the compliment which has been paid you; you have
been unanimously elected Captain of the Home Guard.”
The newly-elected captain was horror-struck--visions of sharp-pointed
bayonets directed against his abdomen, and keen swords flashing in
descent upon his cranium, rose before his mental eye; the roar of
cannon and musketry, and the whistle of bullets, seemed already to
sound in his affrighted ears; wounds, agony, and death to stare him in
the face. Stammering out thanks, less warm than seemed appropriate to
the warlike Southerner, he stole away from his disappointed friend, and
secretly made preparations for escape. That night he took what little
money he had in hand, and, leaving all the rest of his property behind,
fled from the honour proposed for him. He succeeded in getting across
the lines into the Northern States, and there obtained an appointment
as Classical Professor at one of the colleges. This institution was,
however, supported by voluntary subscriptions, which failed under the
pressure of the war, the staff was reduced, and Mr. O’B. again cast
adrift. He next anchored for a short time near St. Paul, in Minnesota,
and thence proceeded to Fort Garry, with the intention of establishing
a school in the Red River Settlement. Classics were, however, at a
discount amongst the half-breeds, and consequently Mr. O’B.’s merits
as a pedagogue were not properly appreciated by the colonists. The
projected academy utterly failed, and after spending some time in Red
River, at a dead lock, he was fitted out by the kindness of Archdeacon
Cockran, the veteran missionary of this country, with necessaries for a
journey across the mountains, in search of a more congenial community
on the Pacific coast.
He set out with the band of Canadian emigrants before alluded to, but
they appear to have discovered that he was helpless and requiring, and
left him at Carlton. From thence he was forwarded by the Company’s
boats going back to Edmonton. A prejudice against him arose amongst
the men, and they refused to proceed with him further than Fort Pitt.
He was therefore left behind at that place, and afterwards reached
Edmonton by a train of carts. At Edmonton he had remained nearly a year
when we met him, unable either to advance or to return, and in a state
of complete destitution. He had, however, received every kindness from
the officers of the Fort, who supplied him with food and tobacco.
Having narrated his history, he propounded the real object of his
visit, which was to beg of us to allow him to accompany our party to
British Columbia. Had it been an ordinary journey, or had we possessed
the means of obtaining a proper number of men and horses, and plenty of
provisions, we should not have hesitated to take him with us, in spite
of his helplessness. But such an addition to our company was anything
but desirable, and we accordingly begged to reserve our decision.
Mr. O’B. had wintered with some miners, who had built a cabin about
a quarter of a mile from the Fort. Left alone by their departure in
the spring, he lived a solitary and anxious life, oppressed by fears
of wolves, which howled close by every night, and of grisly bears,
reported to be in the neighbourhood. He assured us that it was not
safe for him to remain longer at the cabin, since it was built near
some willows which were known to be much frequented by these dangerous
animals, and he accordingly took up his quarters under one of our carts.
He was now attacked by a number of ailments which required the Doctor’s
advice daily, and seized these opportunities to urge his request. After
submitting unflinchingly to active treatment for several days, he at
last confessed that his malady was imaginary, and merely assumed as
an excuse for obtaining private interviews. But Cheadle maliciously
refused to believe it, assured him he was really seriously unwell, and
compelled him to swallow a tremendous dose of rhubarb and magnesia.
After holding out several days, we were overcome by his importunity,
and agreed that he should form one of our party, in spite of the
rebellious grumbling of Baptiste and the Assiniboine. Mr. O’B. thanked
us, but assured us that we had in reality acted for our own interest,
and congratulated us upon having decided so wisely, for he should be
very useful, and ask no wages.
Mr. Hardisty, and the other officers of the Fort, tried earnestly to
dissuade us from attempting to cross by the Leather Pass, alleging that
the season was not yet far enough advanced, and the rivers would be
at their height, swollen by the melting of the mountain snows. They
assured us that many of the streams were fierce and rocky torrents,
exceedingly dangerous to cross, except when low in the autumn, and that
the country on the West of the mountains, as far as it was known, was
a region rugged and inhospitable, everywhere covered with impenetrable
forest; and even if we descended the Fraser, instead of attempting to
reach Cariboo, we should find that river full of rapids and whirlpools,
which had often proved fatal to the most expert canoemen. This pass,
known by the several names of the Leather, Jasper House, Cowdung Lake,
and Yellow Head Pass, had been formerly used by the voyageurs of the
Hudson’s Bay Company as a portage from the Athabasca to the Fraser, but
had long been abandoned on account of the numerous casualties which
attended the navigation of the latter river.
We were able to learn but little of the country on the west of the
mountains, nor could we obtain any certain information of the course
which the Canadian emigrants intended to follow.
From Andrè Cardinal, the French half-breed who had guided the party
across, we learned that on reaching Tête Jaune’s Cache, on the Fraser,
at the western part of the main ridge, the band divided, part of them
descending the Fraser in large rafts, and the remainder turning south
for the Thompson River. Cardinal accompanied them until they reached
the main branch of the North Thompson, having been guided thither by
a Shushwap Indian from the Cache; and he further stated that, from
a lofty eminence, they had, like the Israelites of old, viewed the
promised land, the hills of Cariboo being visible in the far distance.
But, in cross-examination, his answers proved very contradictory and
obscure. He acknowledged that the Indian knew the gold country only by
vague report, and had never visited the region he pointed out as the
land they sought. And he was uncertain whether the emigrants intended
to try and reach Cariboo direct, or steer for Fort Kamloops on the
Thompson. He furnished us, however, with a rough outline of the road
as far as he had gone, which, except as to relative distances, proved
tolerably correct.
In addition to the large band which Andrè Cardinal had guided across
the mountains, another party of five had left Edmonton late in the
autumn of the same year, 1862, with the intention of procuring canoes
at Tête Jaune’s Cache, and descending the Fraser to Fort George.
Of the ultimate fate of any of these men, nothing whatever was then
known; the only regular means of communication between the eastern and
western side of the mountains being by the Company’s brigade, which
goes every summer from Fort Dunvegan on Great Slave Lake, by the Peace
River Pass, to Fort McLeod; and news brought by this party on their
return would not arrive until next year.
With the exception of the Peace River Pass, which lies far away to the
north, all the other routes across the Rocky Mountains, as yet known,
lie south of the Leather Pass, and lead to the valley of the Columbia.
The Kicking Horse Pass, Howse’s Pass, the Vermilion Pass, the Kananaski
Pass, and the Kootanie Pass were all explored by Captain Palliser’s
expedition, and found to be practicable routes. But all these are far
to the south of the gold regions. The Athabasca Pass, used occasionally
by the Hudson’s Bay Company, strikes the Columbia River where it is
joined by the Canoe River, supposed to take its rise in Cariboo. But
the latter river, and the head waters of the north branch of the
Thompson, were entirely unexplored.
Mr. Ross indeed reached Canoe River in one of his daring expeditions,
but finding the country covered with the densest forest, he turned back
at once. And Dr. Hector, who appears to have been the most enterprising
of all the members of Captain Palliser’s expedition, although he made
a determined attempt to reach the head waters of the North Thompson
from the sources of the North Saskatchewan, was unable to get through.
He encountered a forest-growth so dense, and so encumbered with fallen
timber, that he had “neither time, men, nor provisions to cope with it,
and was nearly overtaken by the snows of winter.” He expected to be
obliged to abandon his horses, and was thankful to escape by turning
south to the more open region of the Columbia valley.
We therefore determined to adhere to our original design of taking
the Leather Pass, following the emigrants’ trail as far as might seem
desirable, and then trusting to our imperfect maps and the sagacity of
our men, to reach either Cariboo or Fort Kamloops at the grand fork of
the Thompson, as circumstances might render advisable.
Mr. O’B. utterly ignored the difficulties of the long journey before
him in his delight at the prospect of escaping from the wilds of the
Saskatchewan, so uncongenial to his classical tastes and peaceful
habits, to the more civilised society of British Columbia. But although
insensible to the more obvious dangers of penetrating through an
unknown country, without road or guide, his peace of mind was seriously
disturbed by the reflection that a man so savage as the Assiniboine
would form one of the party. He came to us one day, with most serious
aspect and lengthened visage, requesting a private interview on
business of great importance. We immediately went aside with him, and
he began: “My lord, and Dr. Cheadle, I am sure you will thank me for a
communication which will enable you to escape the greatest danger. I
have been credibly informed that this ‘Assiniboine’--the man you have
engaged--is a cold-blooded murderer, a villain of the deepest dye, who
has been excommunicated by the priest, and is avoided by the bravest
half-breeds.” We assured him that we already knew all about it, and
as the deed had been done in a fit of anger, and under the greatest
provocation, we had decided that we were not justified in depriving
ourselves of the services of a man so eminently qualified for the
undertaking we had in hand.
“What!” said Mr. O’B., “you don’t mean to tell me that you really
intend to trust your lives with such a man?” We said we really did
intend it. “Then,” said he, “in the name of your families, I beg to
enter my most solemn protest against the folly of such a proceeding;”
and declared that, although he still intended to go with us, it was
with the firm conviction that we should all fall victims to the
bloodthirsty Assiniboine.
The Assiniboine, on his side, had an equally strong prejudice against
Mr. O’B., for he had learnt from the men who had travelled with him
from Fort Pitt how very helpless and troublesome he was, and protested
long and loudly against his being allowed to go with us. We overruled
all objections, however, and by the beginning of June were prepared
to set out. Our party, a motley company, consisted of seven persons--
viz., ourselves, Mr. O’B., Baptiste Supernat, the Assiniboine, his wife
(commonly called. Mrs. Assiniboine), and the boy. We had twelve horses,
six of which carried packs. Our supplies comprised two sacks of flour,
of a hundred pounds each; four bags of pemmican, of ninety pounds each;
tea, salt, and tobacco. These last were the only luxuries we allowed
ourselves, for as we could obtain no provisions or assistance until we
reached some post in British Columbia, 700 or 800 miles distant, we
sacrificed everything to pemmican and flour. But little food of any
kind could be obtained from the country through which we had to pass,
and we were ignorant how long the journey might take. We had calculated
on fifty days as the extreme limit, with what accuracy will be seen
hereafter.
We had some difficulty in procuring what we required for the journey,
having but little money left, but by judicious barter we at length
overcame the difficulty, although, when we came to pay our bill at the
Fort, we were compelled to beg off 3s. 4d., by which it exceeded the
contents of our purse! By the kindness of the residents of the Fort,
Mr. O’B. was fitted out for the journey with horse and saddle, forty
pounds of pemmican, and some tea and tobacco.
The horses were by this time in fine condition, and we resolved to set
out at once, in order that we might have plenty of time before us in
case of unforeseen delays, although we should thus encounter the rivers
at their highest flood, and the morasses in their spongiest condition.