On the first day of January, 1776, I set out from Beaver Lake, attended
by two men, and provided with dried meat, frozen fish, and a small
quantity of roasted maize, sweetened with sugar, which I had brought
from Sault Sainte Marie, for this express occasion. Our provisions were
drawn by the men, upon sledges made of thin boards, a foot in breadth,
and curved upwards in front, after the Indian fashion.
Each day’s journey was commenced at three o’clock in the morning.
Although the sun did not rise until somewhat late, at no time was it
wholly dark, as the northern lights and the reflection of the snow
afforded always sufficient light. In addition, the river, the course of
which I was ascending, was a guide with the aid of which I was not
afraid of being lost.
As the snow was four feet deep, it rendered my progress so much slower
than I had expected, that I soon began to fear the want of provisions.
Moreover, I had not gone far before the wood began to dwindle away, both
in size and quantity, so that it was with difficulty we could collect
sufficient for making a fire, and without fire we could not drink; for
melted snow was our only resource, the ice on the river being too thick
to be penetrated by the axe.
[Illustration: ALEXANDER HENRY]
As the weather continued severely cold, I made my two men sleep on the
same skin with myself, one on each side, and though this arrangement was
particularly beneficial to myself, it increased the comfort of all. At
the usual hour in the morning, we attempted to rise, but found that a
foot of snow had fallen upon our bed, as well as extinguished and
covered our fire. In this situation we remained till daybreak, when,
with much exertion, we collected fresh fuel. Proceeding on our journey,
we found that we could no longer use our sledges on account of the
quantity of newly fallen snow, and we were now compelled to carry our
provisions on our backs. Unfortunately they were a diminished burden.
For the next two days the depth of the snow, and the violence of the
winds, so greatly retarded our journey that my men began to fear being
starved. However, I kept up their courage by telling them that I should
certainly kill red deer and elk, of which the tracks were visible along
the banks of the river, and on the sides of the hills. But to do this
was not easy, as the animals kept within the shelter of the woods, and
the snow was too deep to let me seek them there.
A little later our situation was rendered still more alarming by a fresh
fall of snow, which added nearly two feet to the depth of that which was
on the ground before. At the same time, we were scarcely able to collect
enough wood for making a fire to melt the snow. The only trees around us
were small willows, and the hills were bare of every vegetable
production such as could rear itself above the snow.
On the twentieth, the last remains of our provisions were exhausted, but
I had taken the precaution to conceal a cake of chocolate, in reserve
for an occasion such as this. Towards evening, my men, after walking the
whole day, began to lose their strength, but we, nevertheless, kept on
our feet till it was late. When we encamped, I desired them to fill the
kettle with snow, and showing them the chocolate, told them it would
keep us alive for five days at least, during which we would surely meet
with some Indian at the chase. This revived their spirits, and, the
kettle being filled with two gallons of water, I put into it one square
of the chocolate. The quantity was scarcely sufficient to alter the
color of the water, but each of us drank half a gallon of the warm
liquid, by which we were much refreshed.
In the morning, we allowed ourselves a similar repast, after finishing
which, we marched vigorously for six hours. But now the spirits of my
companions again deserted them, and they declared that they neither
would, nor could, proceed any further. For myself, they advised me to
leave them, and accomplish the journey as I could; as for themselves,
they said they must die soon, and might as well die where they were as
anywhere else.
While things were in this melancholy state, I filled the kettle, and
boiled another square of chocolate. When prepared, I prevailed upon my
desponding companions to return to their warm beverage. On taking it,
they recovered inconceivably, and, after smoking a pipe, consented to go
forward. While their stomachs were comforted by the warm water, they
walked well, but, as evening approached, fatigue overcame them, and they
relapsed into their former condition. The chocolate being now almost
entirely consumed, I began to fear that I must really abandon them, as,
had it not been for keeping company with them, I could have advanced
double the distance, within the time that had been spent. To my great
joy, however, the usual quantity of warm water revived them.
For breakfast the next morning, I put the last square of chocolate into
the kettle, and, our meal finished, we began our march. We were
surrounded by large herds of wolves, which sometimes came close upon us,
and who seemed to know the extremity in which we were, but I carried a
gun, and this was our protection. I fired several times, but
unfortunately missed at each; for a morsel of wolf’s flesh would have
afforded us a banquet.
Our misery, nevertheless, was nearer its end than we imagined. Before
sunset, we discovered, on the ice, some remains of the bones of an elk,
left there by the wolves. Having instantly gathered them, we encamped,
and, filling our kettle, prepared ourselves a meal of strong and
excellent soup. The greater part of the night was passed in boiling and
eating our booty, and early in the morning we felt ourselves strong
enough to proceed.
At noon, we saw the horns of a red deer, standing in the snow on the
river, and on examination, we found that the whole carcass was with
them. By cutting away the ice, we were enabled to lay bare a part of the
back and shoulders, and thus procure a stock of food sufficient for the
rest of our journey. We accordingly encamped, and employed our kettle to
good purpose. We forgot all our misfortunes, and prepared to walk with
cheerfulness the twenty leagues, which, as we reckoned, still lay
between ourselves and Fort des Prairies.--ALEXANDER HENRY.