Fall in with a party of "plain hunters"--Marvellous resources of this
great country--A "hunting breed"--Astounding ignorance--Visit a
Church of England mission--Have my first square meal of bread and
butter in two years--Archdeacon Cochrane--Unexpected sympathy with
rebellion and slavery--Through the White Horse Plains--Baptiste's
recklessness and its punishment--Reach our destination--Present my
letter of introduction to Governor McTavish--Purchasing
supplies--"Hudson's Bay blankets"--Old Fort Garry, St. Boniface,
Winnipeg, St. John's, Kildonan--A "degenerate" Scot--An eloquent
Indian preacher--Baptiste succumbs to his old enemy--Prepare for our
return journey.
The next day Baptiste and I went ahead. We were now three-quarters
of the way down, our horses had picked up well, and I wanted to hurry
on so as to get through my business as quickly as possible, and give
more time to the homeward trip, when we would have heavy loads. The
first night we camped with a large party of plain hunters, on their
way out for a summer hunt. These men were from all over the Red
River settlement, from the White Horse plains, and Portage la
Prairie. Their encampment was like a good-sized village. They must
have had five hundred or more carts, besides many waggons. Then this
number would be very much augmented from Fort Ellice and other points
eastward.
Looking on one of these parties, and remembering that two such
parties went out on the plains after buffalo every summer for the
purpose of making dried provision; that some of these would make fall
and winter forays for fresh meat; that this same thing was going on
in the Saskatchewan country among the same class of people, and that
from Texas to the North Saskatchewan many Indian tribes were living
on the buffalo, winter and summer;--I say, that if one thought of all
this, he would begin to have some small conception of the extent and
numbers of the buffalo. Moreover, if he continued to think, he would
wake up to the appreciation of a country that could in its crude and
wilderness condition maintain such countless and enormous supplies of
food, and that of the choicest kind.
These were the men who owned the rich portions of Manitoba, the
Portage plains, and the banks of the Assiniboine and Red Rivers; but
what cared they for rich homesteads so long as buffalo could be found
within five or six hundred miles? These owners of the best wheat
fields in the world very often started out to the plains and were
willing to take their chance of a very risky mode of life, forsooth,
because they came of a hunting breed, and "blood is thicker than
water," and environment stamps itself deep upon the race. In going
through the camps, eager as I was for eastern news, I could find
none. What signified it to these men that the greatest of civil wars
was then raging on the continent beside them? What thought they, or
what did they know of the fact that they were on the eve of a great
national and political change, and that the old life would soon have
to give way to a new order of things? Their teachers either had not
sought to enlighten them, or had failed to make them comprehend, if
they did desire to do so. No wonder that in their ignorance they
were led astray in 1869-70, and again in 1885. They could talk about
horses and buffalo, and battle with the Sioux and Blackfeet, and
count their beads and mutter prayers, but apparently were sublimely
ignorant of all things else. Alas! that this should have been the
case, for these men were and are full of fine traits of character.
Kind, hospitable, chivalrous, brave, I have ever found them. Surely
scores of years of preaching should have done something better for
them.
We jogged along, Baptiste and I, across the Little Saskatchewan, and
by the two crossings of the White Mud, and coming to the third
crossing in the evening, found a Church of England mission with the
Rev. Mr. George in charge. Mrs. George was very kind, and for the
first time in two years I had a square meal of bread and butter. Oh!
how good it was! I had to fairly curb my appetite. Next morning
Mrs. George gave us a fresh loaf of bread and some butter for our
lunch that day. But do you think we could wait until noon? We had
not gone a mile from her hospitable home when I said, "Baptiste,
don't you think we could carry that bread and butter somewhere else
very much better than on that pack-horse?" "Oh, yes, Mr. John," was
his expressive answer. We thereupon alighted, took the tempting loaf
from the pack, ate it with eager relish, and then went on quite
satisfied.
We rode through the Portage, finding at that time but two white men
settled there. As I had a letter for Archdeacon Cochrane, we called
for a few minutes on that venerable prelate. I found him quite an
old man. That day he seemed somewhat discouraged, for he asked me if
I did not think these people (meaning the mixed bloods among whom he
was laboring) must first be civilized before they could be
Christianized. I ventured to say that I thought Christianity was the
main factor in real civilization. Then he asked me what my opinion
was of the war in the States, and I told him that I knew very little
about it, and had seen very few papers--none whatever for some
months. Then he said he was in sympathy with the South. At this I
was astonished, but did not venture to say anything, for he was an
old man, and I but a boy. I wondered as I rode away how a gentleman
of his age and experience and education and calling could hold such
views as to be in sympathy with rebellion and slavery. There must be
something in this I do not understand, thought I. But if there was
any good reason for such a position I have never yet come across it.
That night we camped with a brother-in-law of Peter's, living at the
High Bluff, who received us kindly. The next day, continuing our
journey, we jogged along the north bank of the Assiniboine, around
the Big Bend, and through the White Horse Plains. As we were passing
a house Baptiste said, "Mr. John, my friends used to live here; stop
a minute and let me see." So we approached the house and found that
the woman of this place was Baptiste's cousin, and though many years
had elapsed since they had met, the recognition was mutual and
joyous. As the day was extremely warm, this woman offered us some
nice cold milk, of which I, remembering I had not had any for some
years, drank very sparingly, but my man Baptiste indulged in it
recklessly.
Mounting our horses, we resumed the chronic jog, and had not gone
many miles when I heard a groan, and looking back, saw Baptiste with
his hand pressing his stomach, and looking woefully dismal.
"What is the matter?" I enquired.
"Oh! Mr. John, I am sore," was the woeful answer.
"I thought so," said I. "You should not have drunk so much milk; you
deserve to be sore."
In the evening we came to the farm of Mr. Gowler, to whom I had
letters from both father and Mr. Woolsey, and whose home I hoped to
make my headquarters while doing my business and gathering my stock
and loads for the West. Riding into the yard, we found the old
farmer had just finished churning, and was enjoying a bowl of fresh
buttermilk. He kindly offered me some. I declined with thanks, but
said my man was very fond of milk. Mr. Gowler at once gave him a big
bowl of it, and Baptiste dare not refuse. His code of etiquette
would not allow him to decline, and, though in misery, he
nevertheless drank it. Like many another simple person, he was the
slave of social rule.
Mr. Gowler had come out in the Hudson's Bay Company's service, by way
of Hudson's Bay. In due time he had gone free, and settled on the
Assiniboine, a few miles west of Fort Garry, and at this time had the
largest farm in the Red River settlement. He was an English Wesleyan
Methodist in the Old Country, and though he had allied himself to the
Anglican Church when he came out here, yet he retained a warm feeling
toward those of his early persuasion. Thus Mr. Woolsey and father
had met him, and thus I had come to him to arrange for a camp, a
pasture and a home while in the settlement, all of which Mr. Gowler
heartily welcomed me to, and in such a way that I was at home at
once. The next day I rode in to the Fort, and presented my letters
of introduction and credit to Governor McTavish, who said he would
help me in any way he could, inviting me at the same time to take my
meals, when in the vicinity, with him and his officers. I also
became acquainted with his nephew, John McTavish, who was at that
time Chief Accountant, and who rendered me many kindnesses during my
stay in the settlement.
I had no trouble about the year's supplies for the missions, as these
had all been requisitioned for, as usual, early in the year. My
business was the arranging of transport. I must secure carts and
harness and oxen, and, as the several plain-hunting parties had
recently started out, I had some difficulty in finding enough for my
needs. But after some days' hunting around, I secured all I wanted;
had bought my oxen, fine big fellows, paying on an average £7 (about
$35) apiece; also four quiet milch cows, for which I paid from $15 to
$18 each, thinking as I bought them how much they would be welcomed
by our people at yonder mission. I also bought ten sacks of flour,
paying £1 12s. per sack of ninety-six pounds, and 2s. for the sack.
Add to this the freight to Victoria, and the first cost there of each
sack would be $18.50. I gave five sacks to each mission, which,
allowing a sack for the men of each party en route, would give the
missions four sacks of flour for the year. This would be a wonderful
advance on any previous experience in the bread line at either of
those places. I bought, too, a promising colt, descendant of "Fire
Away," a very famous horse the Hudson's Bay Company had imported from
the Old Country. For this three-year-old colt I paid £14, or $70 of
our money. I handled, in making my purchases, the first "Hudson's
Bay blankets" I had ever seen. These were large 5s. and £5 notes,
issued by the Company, and which I drew from them on father's order.
In the course of my business I was in Old Fort Garry a number of
times. I saw St. Boniface, then a very small place, just across the
river, and the home of Bishop Tache. I was in and out of the five or
six houses which then formed the nucleus of the little village called
Winnipeg. I rode frequently through the parish of St. John's,
passing the house of Bishop Anderson, the Anglican head of Rupert's
Land. I went down into Kildonan and spent a night in the home of the
Rev. Dr. Black, who was one of father's dear friends. I also met
there the Rev. Mr. Nisbet, who later on founded the mission work at
Prince Albert. I visited some of the original Scotch settlers, and
was looked upon by the elders as a degenerate, because, as they
expressed it, "She couldna spoket the Gaelic." I spent two Sundays
in this settlement, hearing Dr. Black the first Sunday, and remember
thinking that his fine Gospel sermon was "broad" in more senses than
one. The next Sabbath I worshipped with the Anglicans, and heard the
Rev. Henry Cochrane preach an eloquent and inspiring sermon, and was
glad that a genuine native had reached such a position. I have often
felt sorry that the men who were instrumental in raising him to this
height of development did not themselves keep ahead sufficiently in
example, as well as in precept, but by their failure caused their
weaker brother to offend, and later on to fall terribly from his high
estate.
It has taken many centuries of progressive development to give a very
small percentage of the stronger races of men the will power and
ability to understand and observe the meaning of the word temperance.
It is a very small sacrifice (if it may be called such), yet an
essential factor with missionaries in their work with the pagan
races, that they themselves be through and through transparent and
consistent, or else to these will come the greater condemnation.
But, not to further moralize, I will go back to the loading of my
carts and the gathering of my stock, preparatory to my journey
westward.
My man Baptiste had found his old associates and whiskey too much for
him, and forgetting wife and children on the Saskatchewan, had
disappeared. I could not give the time to looking for him, but hired
instead one of Mr. Gowler's sons, Oliver by name, and as I was still
short of help, was very glad that I came across a gentleman by the
name of Connor, and his son, a young man about my age, who were
desirous of making the trip to the Saskatchewan. As they had but one
cart between them, I secured the son to drive carts for me. My party
was also joined by a Scotchman who was desirous of crossing the
mountains to British Columbia, and who, finding that we were starting
westward, asked permission to travel with us. He also had but one
cart. When we started, as the Whitefish Lake party had horses
pulling their carts and would travel faster (especially in hot
weather) than we could, I let them go on ahead of us. Our party was
composed of Mr. Connor and the Scotchman, my two men and myself--five
in all.