"I made a fire, and by melting snow boiled my kettle." (Page 33.)
SADDLE, SLED AND
SNOWSHOE:
PIONEERING ON THE SASKATCHEWAN
IN THE SIXTIES.
BY
JOHN McDOUGALL,
Author of "Forest, Lake and Prairie: Twenty Years of Frontier
Life in Western Canada," etc.
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY J. E. LAUGHLIN.
TORONTO:
WILLIAM BRIGGS,
WESLEY BUILDINGS.
MONTREAL: C. W. COATES. HALIFAX: S. F. HUESTIS.
1896.
Entered according to Act of the Parliament of Canada, in the yearone thousand eight hundred and ninety-six, by WILLIAM BRIGGS,at the Department of Agriculture.
CONTENTS.
Old Fort Edmonton—Early missionaries—Down theSaskatchewan by dog-train—Camp-fireexperiences—Arrival at home—Daily occupations
A foraging expedition—Our hungry camp—A welcomefeast—Dogs, sleds and buffalo bull in a tangle—Ina Wood Cree encampment—Chief Child, Maskepetoonand Ka-kake—Indian hospitality—Incidentsof the return trip
Scarcity of food—The winter packet—Start forEdmonton for the eastern mails—A lonelyjourney—Arrive at Fort Edmonton—Start forhome—Camping in a storm—Improvising a "Berlin"—OldDraffan—Sleeping on a dog-sled en route—A heartywelcome home
Trip to Whitefish Lake—Mr. Woolsey as a dog-driver—Rollingdown a side hill—Another trip toEdmonton—Mr. O. B. as a passenger—Perils of travel byice—Narrow escape of Mr. O. B.—A fraudexposed—Profanity punished—Arrival atEdmonton—Milton and Cheadle—Return to Victoria
Mr. Woolsey's ministrations—An exciting foot-race—Buildingoperations—Gardening—Stolen (?) buffalotongues—Addled duck eggs as a relish—A lessonin cooking—A lucky shot—Precautions againsthostile Indians
The summer brigade—With the brigade down theSaskatchewan—A glorious panorama—Meet withfather and mother on the way to Victoria—Privationsof travel—A buffalo crossing—Arrival atVictoria—A church building begun—Peter Erasmusas interpreter
In search of the Stoneys—An Indian avenger—ASunday at Fort Edmonton—Drunken Lakecarousals—Indian trails—Canyon of the Red Deer—I shootmy father—Amateur surgeons—Prospecting forgold—Peter gets "rattled"—A mysteriousshot—Friends or foes?—Noble specimens of the Indianrace—A "kodak" needed—Among the Stoneys—Prospectingfor a mission site—A mass