[Illustration: _H.B.C. Store, Sioux Lookout, Ont._]
GRAHAM is one of the comparatively small number of H.B.C. "line"
posts, _i.e._, fur trading establishments located close to railway
transportation. Graham Post is on the Canadian National Railway at
Sioux Lookout, a town of nearly one thousand people and a railroad and
lumbering centre.
The name "Sioux Lookout" was taken from the high rocky hill just west
of the town. Indian legends relate that this high hill was often used
by wandering bands of Sioux warriors, who, ranging far from their
Dakota prairies, watched with keen eyes from the top of this hill the
narrow gorge from Pelican to Abraham's Lake as they laid plans to
ambush and exterminate the Indians of that district. A fire ranger's
observation tower now stands at the summit of the hill.
Sioux Lookout lies close by Pelican Lake, one of the chain of lakes
comprising the original H.B.C. freight route from the Canadian Pacific
Railway to inland posts to the northward--_Lac Seul_, _Osnaburgh_,
_Fort Hope_ and _Cat Lake_.
The staff of the Company's present day post at Graham includes the
post-manager, three clerks, a deliveryman, bookkeeper and junior office
clerk. The Company's business, in addition to fur trading, is derived
from the population of Sioux Lookout and comprises the transient trade
to and from the lumber camps located to the east and west of the town.
The wonderful waterways and remarkable scenic beauty of the country
surrounding Sioux Lookout rival those of Minaki. Vacationers and
camping parties in ever increasing numbers are going to Sioux Lookout
every Summer, where nearly everybody has a motor boat or canoe to
traverse the wondrous stretches of waterways with their miles and miles
of beautiful bays and fine sandy beaches.
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_The Fur-ious Medicine Man_