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TRANSACTION Na 46.
APRIL 6th. 1894.
lie Historical and Scientific Society
of Manitoba.
» ♦ *
The OLD CROW WING TRAIL ••
BV
HON. JOHN SCHULTZ. M.D,F.Imp.I.
Um7TBNANT.OOVBRNOR OP MANITOBA,
A UVB MSMBBR OV TBS SOCntTV.
«i'
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WINNIPEQ :
MANITOBA mil PRIM PmtfT.
• "nimmm -
4.
h^
The Old Crow Wing Trail.
Mr. President, Ladies and Gentltraen.
It has fallen to my lot to have seen ami traversed, with
the exception of part of one, all the summer and winter roads
which, many years ago. connected the Red River or Selkirk
settlement with the outer world, and they may be enumerat-
ed as follows :
1. The old North West Company's route, from the mouth
of the Kaministiquia through Shehandowan, Lac des Mille
Lacs, the beautiful lakes and streams of the height of land be-
tween Superior and Lake Winnipeg to Rainy Lake, the lovely
river which drains it into the Lake of the Woods, that lake
and the river which bears its waters to Lake Winnipeg, which
with its rapids, chutes and falls is, I think, unsurpassed in
beauty by any river of Laurentian Canada.
2. The Hudson's Bay York Factory route, too well known .
to need any description, and of which I have only seen a
part.
3. The Breckenridge Flats route, skirting the west bank
of the Red River to near where it receives the name at the
junction of the Sioux Wood and Ottertail rivers, -and crossing
the Red River at Georgetown or Abercrombie to traverse to
the Ottertail Ford the flats which gave the route its name,
and enter the rolling lake-dotted country which lay between
it and St. Cloud on the Mississippi, 80 miles above St. Paul.
4. The winter monthly mail carriers' dog train route of
the old dayt", which crossing the Red River at Fot Pembina,
.sought for shelter and night encampment the skirting of Min-
nesota woods at the sources of the eastern affluents of the Red
River, as far as Red Lake, crossing which on the ice it tra-
versed many of the small lakes which form the extreme head-
waters of the great Mississippi down to Leech Lake, and
thence southward, passing through mazes of small lakes and
through the hunting-grounds of the " Pillagers," to the junc-
tion of the (^row Wing with the Mississippi Rivet, an<l then
f 8465:2
flown tilt' east bank of that stream to Fort Ripley, Sauk Ra-
pi<ls and St. Anthony, to St. Paul.
5. The military stage and early Red River steamer route,
which connected St. Paul with Fort Garry in 1860.
C. The Dawson route, which cut off the laborious naviga-
tion of the Kaministiquia River by a road to Lake Sheban-
davvan, using thence the old water route of the North West
Co., with dams on several streams, better landings and im-
proved portages to the Lake of the Woods and the North West
Angle, from which a road had been cut to St. Anne and St.
Boniface, thus saving the broken navigation of the Winnipeg
River, the crossing of the head of Lake Winnipeg, and the
ascent of the Red River.
7. The old Crow Wing Trail, opened in 1844 by a few
adventurous s[)irits under direction of William Hallett, who,
having been attacked by the Sioux on their way to St. Paul
by Lac Travels and St. Peter, sought safety in returning by
this route, many miles of which had to be cut through the
woods.
Of these seven routes of travel I have, Mr. President,
ladies and gentlemen, cho.sen the last-mentioned because, un-
like most of the others, it may not be traversed to-day. The
ploughshare of the Minnesota settler has oV>literated its once
deeply marked triple track, and even where, like the ol<l
buffalo paths of Southwestern Manitoba, these may in some
places be distinguished, the fence of the old and the new
settler bars the way.
Another reason may be found in the fact that over it 1
made my first prairie journey, that from one of its encamp-
ments 1 saw the last herd of buffalo ever seen east of the Red
River, and that though I am about to describe it as seen by
me in a peaceful journey late in the fall of 1860, I was to
traverse it again when comparatively disused during the year
of the Sioux massacre in Miime.sota, as the only hope of
reaching Foit Garry from St. Paul, where I then was, when
a camp tire was out of the question, each river-ford and bluff
of timber to be avoided, and a stealthy Indian tread to bo
fancied in the rustle of every leaf.
Coming up from Kingston in the spring of 18(10 l>y way
of the lakes to Chicago, one railway only was then in exis-
tence in the direction I wished to travel, its termination being
Prairie-du-Chien, on the Mississippi. From this point the
only connection to St. Paul, then a large frontier town and
trading post, was by steamers built for the navigation of the
upper Mississippi, and well do I rememb. r my first look at
these extraordinary boats ; accustomed as I was to seeing the
vessels used on the great lakes, where strength and solidity is
required, they seemed frail to absurdity in contrast. The
supports of the upper decks, scarcel}' heavier than the trellis
work of grape vines, were called stanchions ; and I discovered
that two inch oak was considered heavy planking for these
extraordinary craft. The boiler was on deck, the four feet of
hold not of course having room for it, and the power was con-
veyed to an immense wheel at the stern, which, extraordinary
as it looked to one accustomed to the heavy side wheels and
screws of the steam craft on other waters, was yet found to
serve an a<lmirable purpose when approaching the shallows
and sand bars in the upper part of the river.
No ordinary rule of navigation seemed to be followed in
the running of these steamers ; and watching everything with
the curiosity and interest of nnieteen, I especially marked the
method in which the " heaving of the lead." which w as order-
ed from the wheel-house, as we approached some shallow
navigation, was carried out by the mate on the fore-deck.
That functionary first seated himself near the bow, with his
legs hanging over the unbulwarked deck, and in this position,
with a ten-foot pole, the lower four feet of which were paint-
ed alternately red and white, he plunged it into the water,
announcing as he drew it up " three feet full ;" plunged again,
he announced " three feet scant. ;" another effort brought " two-
and-a-half feet ; " then the bell nuig and the steamer's speed
was decreased, and when " only two feet " was announced, the
i
f
order was given to " back her." Her bow was then turned
towards another part of the bar, and when "two feet full" was
announced as the result of the next eHbrt, the bell was rung
"go ahead," and the steamer " North Star " wriggled with an
eel-like motion, which set the glasses jingling in the cabin, and
made one feel as though riding an hippopotamus, over the
deepest part of the bar, when " two-and-a-half feet," "three
feet," "three-and-a-half feet," were aninounced in quick succes-
sion, followed by another dip of the pole which, passing be-
yond the four foot mark, brought the announcement from the
mate, who rose at that moment to put away his pine lead-lin€>
" no bottom."
Fine weather, and the beautiful scenery along the banks
of the upper Mississippi, made the trip a pleasant one, and
brought us safely to St. Paul ; Minnehaha was visited, and the
Falls of St. Anthony, as well as the beautiful and historic
promontory, then crowned by Fort Snelling ; then came the
question of the remainder of the journey, over 650 miles, which
lay between that city and Fort Garry.
The first stage line had just been given the contract for
the carriage of the mails to the then remote military outpost
of Fort A-bercrombie, with a bonus large enough to induce the
contractors to agree to the stipulation demanded by the gov-
ernment, that the mails should be carried in " overland "
coaches with four horses ; and these military conditions facili-
tated my traversing that part of the journey. Shortly before
this Anson Northrup, a well known Upper river steamboat-
man, had brought a small steamer, named after himself, dur-
ing the spring flood up to near the head of the Mississippi River^
and from there had portaged the machinery and the boat, in
sections, over to the head waters of the Red River, and the
boat, which had been rebuilt and christened the " Anson Nor-
thrup," was then lying at Georgetown, the Hudson's Bay
Company's temporary transportation |>ost, 45 miles north of
Abercrombie.
The journey on this stage was a pleasant one ; the beauti-
ful Minnesota lakes and rivers, on which temporary stage
stationM had been built, lent a great charm to it, which all have
felt who have in summer traversed this route. At Georgetown,
so named after Sir George Simpson, I inspected the craft
which was to take us by the river about 500 miles to Fort
Garry. It was a miniature edition of the Mis. issippi steamer,
but there was an ominous look about the wheel-house, how-
ever, which was on all sides heavily protected by four inch
oak planks, which the captain did not allay by saying " Of
course you have your gun along with you." Further investi-
gation shewed an arrangement by which cord wood for fuel
could be so piled while the vessel was steaming on her course
as to protect the lower deck from buUet.s. The good-natiire<l
engineer also shewed me a contrivance by which, at a mo-
ment's notice, he could turn a stream of hot water and scald-
ing steam upon any body of Indians who might strive to take
possession of the boat in case it should accidentally strike the
bank, or land for additional fuel. All this was very new, very
strange and very attractive to a young fellow who had only
heard of such matters fiom incidental reading of Indian wars
and forays, and when further explained, it appeared that the
Red Lake Indians, after further thought, had become dissatis-
fied with the conditions of the treaty made with them by
Governor Ramsay, of the then Territory of Minnesota, and
proposed to prevent whites passing through or occupying their
country till a new arrangement had been made.
Near Abercrombie I met the noted frontiersman George
Northrup, in whose log cabin were a few books which show-
ed superior culture. He had made himself familiar with the
OJibway tongue, and his home was secured by the presence of
the forces at Fort Abercrombie ; he had run the gauntlet of
the forays between the Sioux and the Ojibways and yet re-
tained the scalp which, poor fellow, he was afterwards to lose
when acting as a scout for the General commanding the
column, which, after the Sioux ma'^sacre of 1862, followed the
Sioux to the crossing of the Missouri. He was to be one of
the defenders of the boat ; and his knowledge of their lang-
tjr.
uage was to bt^ brouglit into i>lay in case of a parley with the
irate Indians.
A detention of two weeks at Geoiifetown waitiiii; for some
small portions of niachinery, however, saved us from difficulty
with the Indians, none of whom we saw on our jjuarded pas-
sage down the'iiver, they having probably gone back to their
hunting grounds near Red Lake.
Pembina was reached, then only half a dozen houses : the
boundary line was ciossetl, then Fort Pembina, (the Hudson's
Bay Company's wooden stockade) came in view. Thiity miles
below we reached the first of the Red River settlements, the
inhabitants congregating on the banks to see the strange
steame • passing ; anrl it was with intense interest that we
reached at last the ben<l of the i'iver which disclosed the twin-
towered cathedral of St. Honifact ; another bend, and Fort
Garry came in view ; a straight run along the present course
of the Winnipeg Rowing Club was traversed, when, turning
up the Assiniboine to land where Main Street biiilge now is,
the groves, church and tower of St. John's coidd be seen arross
the almost blank intervening .space ; and the steam whistle
once belonging to a very much larger steamer, which had been
blowing almost eontiiruously foi- tlu; previous half hour,
brnnght, [ tbinU. what must have bci'n very nearly every
living human being for two miles around to the sloping bank
wlier*' the steamer landed. Ascending this bank, Foit(»arry,
so often heard of, was inspeete<l : and even then time and an
imperfect foiintiation had left cracks in the stnue walls. It
seemed, however, a place whi<*h a very few men could hold
against a uundn'i- unprovided with artillery ; for the bnsMuiis
were pierced on all sides, not only for small arms, but carron-
aJts w«'re mounted at each iMnltrasure. The front gate was
massive, like tlu' front wall, which faced towaids the Assini-
lK)ine, and was entirely Hanked and protected by bastion pro-
jections, .so that there was no chaiiet; for any force unpiovided
with artillery 'o nuik*' m rush on the gateway. This gate,
however, was only open on s[)ecial occasions, the business gate
of the Fort being on its eastern side, and was simply a sally-
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port, where more than two men could not enter al)reast.
Passing down this side of the Fort was the Kino's liighway,
which led oft' in a northerly direction and was continued to
Lower Fort Garry, oi- the " Stone Fort," and thence to the
Peguis Reserve and the two Sugar Points. No biiildino what-
ever was built upon this road ; the houses of William Drever.
the two of Andrew McDerinott's, A. G. B. Bannatyne's, that
of the Ross', Logan's, Bouvette, Brown and Inkster, being,
where the land admitted of it, on the banks of the j-iver some
distance to the east.
I have .said that thf (cathedral of St. Boniface then
possessed two towers, which have lieen made familiar to the
whole of this contin<mt by the beaiitiful description of the
poet Whittier in the " Red River Voyageur."' The (^athedral
Church of St. John also possesse<l its tower, (a .scpiare and
very massive one), and my first Sunday in the settlement
found me one of its occupants during the morning ^eivice ; and
I noticed on the bordei-ed wainscoting which extended up some
height above the pews tlte plain evidence, on its paint work,
of the extreme hei<;ht, and of the yraduallv decreasiiij>- of the
waters of the tlood ^f 1<S52. Vvoxu near its gate could bi? seen
the residence of the Right Reverend Dr. Ariderson, then
Bishop of Ru])ert's Lan<l ; a building very little changed,
except outwardly, built solidly of logs, and now the residence
of His Grac(> the l^rimate of all Canada ; and between the
Chnr(;h and this house stood the then <'los(>d College of St.
John.
During my .sununer's stay 1 had \isited the Peguis
Reserve, tiie King's Highway which led to the Sugar Points
of Ma|)leton, its s(»uthern border, e. -sing then as now the
Iiriage Plain : had seen the Kihhman Church, the Middle
Church and that of St. Andrew's, and visited the Stone Fort;
had seen St. James and Headingley Chnrches, crossed the
VVliite Horse Plains, wheii' 1 saw its tine church: traversed
" Le (irrand Marais " to Poplar Point with its church, High
Bluff and its |)lace of wor.ship, and that of the Portage, all
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monuments of tlie earnest zeal ami tireless efforts of Arch-
deacon Cochrane. I had seen the " Tepees " of far off tribes
who ha<l come to Fort Garry to trade, had lauijhed with our
own Crees and Ojibways, who stood on the bank, at the
unsuccessful attempt of two Plain Crees to (uoss the Red
River in a bark canoe, these children of the prairie, whose
home is on horseback, having no use for nor acquaintance
with the paddle : had seen tlie Plain hunters come back with
tlieir loads of ])emmican, dried meat, and tlu' tiesh of the
buffaloes last seen l>y the returning brigades; had eaten of
t'iC Mairowfat and Berry pemmican, and oh, greater gustatory
joy than all else, had partaken of the delicious hump, the
odor and taste of which are still fresh in my memory after
three and thirty years. The falling leaves and autumn tints
of October 18(10 reminded me, however, that 1 must leave for
the winter this land of plenty and promise; and as the
steamers had long since ceased to run, I began preparing for
the trip which I am about to describe.
This road or trail, callnd by tho.se at this end of it "The
Crow Wing Trail," and at the other "The Old Red River
Trail," was one which had been used for many yeais ; ami
while our Metis and Crees were at war with the Sioux, it was
considered both satV'i* and sh(»rter than the one on the west
side of the River, until Foit Aberei-oiid)ii> was built; and even
then was often used, as heing less o))en to prairie fires, with
Itetter wood for eneampmcnts and high gravelly lidges to
render part of it at least almost as good as a turnpike load
Its drawbacks were the many streams, eastein affluents of the
Red River, which had to l)e forded, some of them, like the
Red Lake River, being after heavy rains very formidal)le
obstacles to loa<led or even li<dit carts. It was a favoi'ite
land route with Sir (Jeorge Simpson, who died the year I first
ti'aver.se<l it; and James McKay, his trusty and tiusted voy-
ageur, known to the Knglish and French si-ttlers as "Jeemif,"
and to the Siou.\ as ".limichi," who was to become a member
of the Leirislative Council of Manitoba on the reconnnendation
«*'t^Nf'''-"^''f.''"
18
of Governor Archibald, was proud of the fact that always on
the tenth day of their start froni (Jrow Wing at the stroke of
noon from the Fort Garry bell he landed Sir George at the
steps of the Chief Factor's House. Relays of horses enabled
him to do this, rain or shine ; and the slightest stoppage in
muskeg or stream found McKay wading in to bring Sir
George on his broad shoulders to <lry land.
Fortunately for me, a more experience<l head than mine
had chosen the horses, .selected the cart and saddle, and sug-
gested the outtit for the journey ; and, though I found soon
after starting, that there were wrinkles in eanip and travel
that experience only can teach, still 1 acknowledge my in-
debtedness to my friend, and ])roceed to enumerate the outfit
which he deemed sufficient to land me and the Canadian
friend, who was to accompany me, safely at Crow Wing ; and
I give these in th«' order of their importance.
Two Red River ponies, who disdained oats and had never
eaten of aught save prairie gra.ss, dry or green, " Hlackie " and
" Bichon," both good types of their hardy class, .short barrels,
sturdy legs, long manes, and tads which touched their fet-
locks ; differing in disposition, however, Hlackie having a ba«l
eye and uncertain temper, with a disposition ta smash things
with his hind legs, which would have hcen fatal to a buggy,
but was energy thrown away on a cart, when one knew how
helpless he was with a clove hitch aroun<l the root of his tail
with one end of a short piece of .shaganap])i, the other end of
which was tied to the front cross bar of th(^ cart, the eight or
ten inches distance between the attache<l ends affording but
little scope for the exercise of powers such a.*- Blackie un-
doubtedly posses.sed. This peculiarity was not the only one of
Blackie'.s, which would have placed him second to Bichon in
tliis narrative, ha<l he not .some (pialities useful in«leed in time
of trouble. He had a practice of trying to bolt when his har-
ness was loosed, to escape the imvitable hobble without uhich
Blttckie, whos(! leadership Bichon. the tractable and gentle,
always followed, would have left us on the prairie to our own
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devices more than once ; and even with these .shaganappi ob-
structions to his rapid locomotion he ma<le time fast enough
to make his capture, till his stomach was full, a very difficult
matter. Though bad in these respects, he was good in others 5
for the swamp must be deep that he could not pull a cart
through ; and the bank of a stream just forded must have
been steep and slippery indeed that Blackie's unshod feet
could not scramble up. Bichon, the patient, would do his best
and, failing, would lie down in the one or slide back to the
Vtottom of the other. So that as we are apt, after many yeais,
to remember the good and forget the bad, I have given the
first place in this, I fear, rambling narrative, to Blackie ;
though I acknowledge gratefully that it was on Bichon the
obedient's back that I explored the bog or essayed the river
crossing when the one was likely to be bad or the other deep.
So much for the horses. The saddle was simply a tree, strap-
ped on over a blanket, which was easier on the horses than
the Indian saddle; and the cart harness the dressed buffalo skin
one of the time, with the collar and hames in one piece, short
traces to iron pins in the shafts, to which also were attached
the hold backs, which were the broadest and heaviest part of
the harness. Shaganappi reins and a bridle with no blinkers
completed this simple but efficient equipment.
Items Nos. I, 2,ti and 4 being now described, I come to an
important one. No. 5, the cart, the jmpular impression of which
now is that it was a ramshackle, squeaky aft'uir, with wheels
five feet high, each one of which «lished outwardly, so that the
felloes looked as if about to part company with the spokes and
hub ; and those who have seen them as cuiiosities at an Ex-
hibition wonder if the wood had shrunk, which left a loose
opening where felloe joined felloe in the (|ueerly dished whet;!,
or whether in<lee<l the fellow who miulc these jt)ints had been
(juite himself when he completed this wooden monstrosity,
which had not a scrap of iron on or about it. Queer looking
they undoubtedly were, as compared with the present trim
buggy, though the sqtieak is a libel as applied to a lightly
loaded travelling cart, which has ix'cn fairly tieated by the
16
application of the scrapinns of the fryinji^ pan to its axle ; yet
no vehicle, I verily believe, which has been used before or
since, was so suited for the traversing of a country where, in
one day, it might have to *^ "avel over, with its thiee-inch-wide
wooden tire, a shaking bog, a miry creek, a sandy shore, or a
boulder strewn path up steep hills. At a cost of two pounds
sterling, in the old days, one became the possessor of a vehi-
cle, the high wheels of which made it easy to draw, the great
dish of the wh(!els made it hard to upset, while the loose joint-
ed felhjes saved the wheel from wreck, by closing and yield-
ing when a rock was struck in a deep river crossing, oi the
hidden stump in a newly cut trail was encountered. A very
haven of rest wert thou, O cart, on the prairie, when, the
long day of travel ended, a large square of canvas thrown over
you made a tent before a camj) tire better than anv other, and
an aik of safety when the swollen river was too deep to ford ;
thy wheels off and under the l>ox, with the same square of
canvas about all, thou wast a boat made in ten mimites, in
which two travellers, with their lielongings, might paddle oi
pole from shore to shore in safety, leading the swimming
horses liehind.
My excuse for thus apostrophising my Ked River cart as
a s(!ntient heinu is tiiat, like Hlackie, it had tricks of its own
which pu/zled the uninitiated. Attempt to lide in it in any
way that one is wont to do in a civilized vehicle, and it soon
t'tittleif (if I may use a modern expression) its occu]mnt, who
found himself, to a musical accompaniment of frying pan and
tin kettles, trying alternately to preserve himself from being
pitched onto the pony, having his rigiit or left ribs cracked
auainst the side rail, or tuininy; a somersault over the tail-
hoard of the cart. No, there is only one way to ride in a cart
with ease and [)leasure, and that is stated in front on its Hooi',
with your legs hanging down near the hoiseV tail. If you
are luxurious, tie a broad piece of shaganappi from lail t(,
rail to support your back, put an extra folded blanket under
you, sway your luxly slightly with Pbckie or Bichon's jog-
trot, and you need not envy the occupa!)ts of a (Mtach an<i
i-;
*.
/
nmmrn
§
__M^MMMilB
16
four. N. W., hotter known as " (\)ininodor(>," Kittson appre-
ciated this fact and never would in any of his later prairie
trips ride in an}'^ other way or in any other vehicle.
As there is only one way to ride in a cart, so there is only
one way of stowing its accessories ; the most important of
which is your half-sized axe. Put into the cart by a green
hand, this useful implement becc»mes an engine of destruction :
cuts into your packages of tea, etc., ruins your blankets and
jolts alonij till its lono- handle reaches far over the tail board,
and an extra junip tumbles it on to the trail, to delight the
heart of the first Indian who passes, but to cause you to be
extremely sorrowful when you have to make camp with a
jack-knife, or replace an old axle. No, the axe should take
no risks, and nmst have a leather socket for its head and a
strap for its handle, and both outside the cart on one of the
side boards. The gun is the next in importance ; and for
that, too, there is only one way, if you are not to lisk shooting
yourself or your companion. The butt must lest near your
seat on the left side, th«* barrels in a loop to the top rail at an
anyle of 45 dejjrees, this arrantjement, while making its
carriage (piite safe, enabling you to seize it quickly while
yet the prairie chicken or duck is passing.
Not so <langeious as the two former, but infinitely more
d'ffif.'ult to manage are the fVying-])an, with its long handle, and
the copper and tin kettles, to pnt the one loose into the cart
was to blacken and smeai" all its contents: while the kettles,
after a preliminary iow-de-<lovv. would speedily part with their
hak's and lids, batter themselves into uselessness against the
sides, and then jump out bodily on to the track. No, having
tried many ways with kettles, I have come to the conclusion
that only when inside one anothei" and lashed securely below
the centre of the axle, where they may jingle in peace, are th«'y
to b«' cii'cumvente As for the frying-pan, having been so
often entirely beaten in attempts to nmzzle ow. I have long
ago given up any thought of rendering innocuous that jing-
ling, hanging, cnjoked, perverse but indispensable adjunct to
prairie travel.
ision
low
hey
I) so
IN
The cart cover I have incidentally mentioned ; this niu«t be
lar^e and light, so as to completely envelope the cart, either
as a tent or boat, and is preferable to a tent for light travel-
ling, as it saves the carriage of pins and j)oles, may be used by
the tired traveller much sooner at night, and may be folded
in the grey dawn by the still half-asleej) voyageur without
trij)))ing over pegs or ropes.
As prairie chicken and duck were abundant, the substan-
tials for the trip were as follows :— Pemmican (marrowfat if
possible) 20 pounds, hard biscuit, 8() pounds, tea, sugar, but-
ter and salt ; a little flour, to make the " Rubbiboo " assume a
bulky appearance when Indians had to be breakfasted or dined,
their mid-day entertainment being generally avoided by givino-
them a biscuit each, and keeping on ourselves with a lunch
of pemmican " au naturel ;" a pair of blankets each, a couple
of bu tiki o robes, then costing 12 shillings sterling eaeli our
clothes in a couple of waterproof bagvs, and Lo I the expedition
was complete.
The voyage proper did not commeTice till Pembina was
reached, for the tiaveller who brought the latest news and
coidd speak a little French was always sure of the best they
had in the way of bed and board at any of the houses of the
Metis, whose settlement extended then half way to Pembina.
One's horses too were always included in the generous hos])i-
tality,and Blackie and Bichon ate of the sweetest of the r<;-
cently mown prairie grass. The second night was invariably
passed at Pembina jiost, where the H. B. officer in chaige (a
])ie<lecessor of an esteemed membei- of our Society, (Miief Fac-
tor Clark), extended similai- hospitality on a better scale, and
saw you safe on to the ferry in the morning. We had arrived
at Pembina, had eaten butt'alo stt-ak for supper, had slept in a
civilized bed, had porridge for breakfast, followed by imtfalo
steaks again, the first helpings of which were taken from the
bottom of the liberal ])ile, to give point tt) the woithy master's
standing explanation, that the Company's cooks always put
the best at the bottom, I suj)i)ose for their own delectation
after their master's meal was over. Our worthy host's close
I
•ly
19
scrutiny of our horscis and cqiiipuient seonierl to \ni satisfue-
tory save that ho insisted on his present of" a little (hied hut'-
t'aio meat, which he said went far when you met Indians, and
on learning that it was my first essay at prairie travel, in'^e<l
me to take a youui; Indian part of the way to put us on the
ri^ht track. This was a damper, tor the trail on the east hank
was in full view, jjoinijf up from the ferry landing, and the line
ot the Red River skirting woods, through which it had been
cut, could be distinctly seen, and so while middle age experi-
ence (m the bank expostulated and advised, youthful ignorance
and over-contidence at the horses' heads on the i'avry thanked
and assured, till the ferry touithed the opposite bank, up which
Hlackie quickly sprang, anxious to be away from his floating
footing, which yawed ami jerkeci in the passage across. Alas,
when was ever the confidence of tlie young justified as against
the expei'ience of their elders ? The tracks, triple marked,
were plain enough till the outer limit of the skirting woods was
reached, and then they began <liverging like the ribs of a fan,
but as they all led through a low savannah, ignorance, to wit,
myself, assumed that they would converge again on higher
•rround, and so the best marked of them was followed.
It was noticed that the trail we had chosen was a circuit-
ous one, if we were to reach by it the first camping plac<; on
the bank of the " Two Rivers," but we supposed that to be
due to the necessity of reaching higher ground ; doubts, how-
ever, about it wert> set at rest after a couple of hours' travel,
by its ending abruptly at the hay stack behind a willow bluff
which had concealed it. There was nothing foi' it but to re-
turn and essay another track, which brought us to where hay
ha<l been cut and carted away ; a third venture having failed,
and thi <lay being far spent, we gladly availed ourselves of
the services of a Metis boy, who piloted us to where we could
see the aspen bluff near the ford of the first river we had to
cross. " Experientia docel" generally when too late; and the
day ended with tired horses, and only a short part of a day's
journey traversed. The two rivers, with their nmddy, miry
banks and bottoms, were ei'ossed at dusk, for it is a rule in
-■>!■
- -^-v- - Vf^'Srtf^.f^W^'VW*,
k
mmtm
mtm
20
praivie travel always to encamp at tho further side of the
stream, that the mornint^'s start may lienunle with dry clothes
and fresh horses: and while Bhickie and Biehon are recruit-
ini"' their enerijies on the rich jjiass of ungraded savannah
land, let nie give a brief account of the character of this old
trail from Pembina to Crow Wini;. The low savannah coun.
try dotted with willow Itlutt's, such as I have mentioned, and
which is drained by the two rivers, extends from Pembina to
the Taniarac River crossin<(, about thiity-five miles from Pem-
bina ; and the traveller, after fording this, the Middle and
Snake Hill rivers, all branches of one stream, enters upon a
country ot fine gravel ridges, running in the main north and
south, with a growth of aspen willow and bal>am poplar
tlanking them, the delicate catkins, bud-^ and leaves of which in
the early spring make them look like a long avenue where the
landscape gardener has been at work. This extends nearly all
the long way from the Snake Hill to the Sand Hill River,
where the old giavel ridges of fornier lakes trend off too much
to the east, and the trail crosses a high dry praii-ie which is
fairly good for travel, but yet is unlike the voyageur's para-
dise I have just described, and I m -y as well explain why.
The three essentials of prairie travel are wood, water and
grass ; and the swamp-Hanked, tree-bordered ridges I havede-
.scribed furnished these in their perfection. Ducks and prai-
rie chicken constantly Hying up, good encampments anywhere
to right oi" left of track, safety from prairie Hres, which can-
not run in such a country, and the best of pasturage till the
snow falls, for the ponies; while on the other hand the dry level
prairie attbrds no safety from the njad rush of the Herce fires
its now dried herbage, save the oV)jectionaltle one of starting
another to your leeward ; there are long stretches between
watering places, wood only on river banks, and no shelter
from any preliminary canter which old Boreas may choose to
take before he settles down to his winter's pace ; and as it
was the 18th of October before we started on our journey, the
beautiful Indian summer might or might not last us through
our trip.
21
Level high treeless prairie was to he traversed thence to
the Red Lake River and far beyond it till the Wild Rice was
reached, and there the country chani^e*!, with heavy bonldeis
on the hills and multitudes of* small lakes fringed with sninll
oaks; this continued to Detroit Lake, a beautiful sheet of
water, n(>w, I believe, a pleasure and health resort, some of
its gravel hills being then distinguishable for miles by the
high stages bearing the bodies of the dead, from whicli flut-
tered piece.s of red and blue cloth ; and near them the remains
of food placed for the spirit's early journey to hunting-
grounds, which the Ojibways must have thought good indeed
if better than near this very spot, which afforded the best an
Indian could desire of all the deer and iowl of that beautiful
lake distiict ; where every stream teemed with fish, and
buffalo once were plentiful low down on the liver which bears
their name only three days jouiney away. The trail followed
at the edge of the water this beautiful lake foi- nearly two
miles and the ponies chose to walk in the shallow water to
cool their unshod feet, sorely tiled by our hasty crossing of
many leagues of burnt prairie to reach where grass could
again be had. We had reached this lake late at night, and
already Biackie and Bichon were eating, as if for a wager, of the
rushes and rich grass above the sand line on its shore ; when
a kettle of tea, a few biscuits and some dried meat being-
disposed of, weaiy limbs sought rest. Where should we
sleep? Why, what could be better than a bed on this clean
white sand, which the last high wind has piled up as if for
that special purpose i Hurriedly the cart was drawn over
tile highest, finest and softest ridge, and then a bUnket and
to sleep. How easily and softly the sand yielded till it made
a bed like a plaster cast ; no downy couch equalled it; and
yet when morning dawned it was another case of " experientia
docet." No, I have since that night slept on the axe-hewn
planks of a frontiers-man's floor, on the prairie, in a canoe, on
smooth Laurentian rocks, and I give each and all the prefer-
ence to soft white sand, no bed more unyielding when it has
you in its embrace ; and no wonder my friend and I woke
i
•i
;*!•■
'm
t
22
with a feeling as thouoii we had been kicked all over hv
Blnt'kie, and resolved to sleep anywhtiie oi- to sit up all nio^ht,
rather than sleep in sand a^^ain.
Leavino- this lake the country changes a.oain, with fre-
quently dense woods of small oaks, basswood nnd elm ; this
Ci'iitinues through the low-lving countrv, the Leaf MouTitains
lieing well to our left till we reach Hush Lake, the Ottertail
River and Ottertail Lake, from there down to the crossing of
the Crow Wing River the trail follows the Leaf River, which,
first a stream that one could jinnp across, carries waters which
reach the ocean at the (Julf of Mexico, a« the Ottertail car-
ries waters which reach Hudson's Bay. To call the apex a
height of land is a misnomer, for it is one of the softest and ap-
parently most low-lying parts of the route, and many a worn-
out axle and broken wheel attest the power of its stumps and
coulees to mak«' the spring and fall biigades of loaded carts look
well to their gearing before entering upon this most dithcult
part of the trail. 'J'he crossing of the < 'row Winn etfected, the
trail le<l down its easteiii l»ank, heavily wooded with Norwav
I. ftr
and White Pine, interspersed with tamarac swamps. Wlu'iv you
passed through the tiist of the.se, the roa<l was all that could
be desired, the straight stems of these northern palms looking
like stately colonna<les, through and l)etween which your
hor.ses" hoofs were nuitHed in the leaves (,f last year, but where
the tanujrac grows. look out foi trouble, for where unc(»rdu-
royed, it is treacherous indee<l. Newly corduroyed, however,
with the bark still on the tamarac poles, and these laid straight
and close, it is, though bumpy, a suie road for unshod hoofs,
an<l snfe enough for the cart, but when hundreds of horse and
ox-carts, the former with eight hundivil, the latter with (»ne
tlK)Usand ])ounds, have passed over it for some years, then this
tamarac highway shews what it can really do in the way of
smashing wiieels, tripping U]i beasts of Inu'deii, whetlu'r with
cloven o>' solid lio(»fs, and eausing nmcli questiohable language
to be used by the dliveivs thereof Replacing a broken pole
woidd l»e anywhere easy,l)Ut the dri\'er of llie lirstcart trusts
that this will be done b\- tin' next, ;ini| the next, bv the next,
. ,i JiUJ,!l,JJB...
2:i
till all have jiassed, a!i(l then all join in the ho))e that the next
brigade will really take the matter ni hand. It was about at
its worst when we j)assed, but with my companion and myself
on opposite side.s to brace up Blackie when he slipped sideways,
leaving' the siii'etboted Bichon to pick his own way at a snail's
pace on the outer rim of this wretched causeway, we reached
the further end of the " lontf corduroy," at the middle of whose
three miles some wag had nailed a barrel stave to a tree, on
which was a notice written with a red lead pencil " No riding
or driving over this bridge faster than a walk. '
Crow Wing, a frontier trading village, was reached at last,
fifteen days' joiu'iicy for the four hundred miles; and we fared
sum|>tuously on fried bacon junl many ti-iangular cuts of
apple pie. The remainder of the load, lieing ovi'.i- bridged
streams and fen'ics. neeils no spceial mention, Imt ("row Wing
warrants some slight notice, for iieai' it was the (Miipp<'wa In-
dian agency, and hard by the new residence of " lloh' in the
\)ay," then a noted Ojibway chief. This man, uho was the son
of a chief, po.ssessed great influence over the various bands of
that tribe, whose hunting grounds extcnde<l fur to the east,
west antl north, and it had been hard to con\ ince him that
thesi' bamls Wi le right in (lis|io.sing of their rich lacn.^trin<• ic-
uion where the wild rice iin-w evei-ywhci-e, fish throngrd
CN't-ry lake an<l stream, and of wild l»irtl and l»east there was
no stint; but when w<'re Indian treaties fair to Ixith contract-
ing parties i* lloh> in the Day nnist be cajoh-il; and accord-
ingly he hail been, a year ;tr two licfore, taken to Washnigton
to see his "(Jreat Father." The (Jreat Father promptly, niter
the first inter\iew. turned him over to the Indian Depai-tiueiif ,
who made hi- slrai'dil athletic li^nre look ridicnloiis in a
black bioadcloth siut and tall black silk hat, and, thus array-
tid, showed him the circus, the tlu'atre, the dime and othei-
museums, the Navy Vaid. and finally seated him in the gal-
lery of the Talking Tepee, where, no doubt, he contrasted the
orator who was not heard, an<l the as.send)led wisdom wluMlid
not listen, with the stattdy dignity and <lecorum of an Imlian
Council Kducated half-Indian men, engaged by the (Jovern-
>^
24
ment, incessantly urged the advantage of a civilized occupa-
tion of his country, bought for him everything that caught
his fancy, heaped up presents for his wives, i)roniised that a
white man's house should be built for him and furnished ex-
actly as he liked, hinted darkly at the war power of the Great
White Chief, and said that while he lived the Great Father
would give to him many bags of Mexican dollars yearly :
Hole in the Day gave in, shook hands with the President, and
came back to persuade his bands that the white chief and he
were brothers, and that Red and White were to l)e one in
heart.
P>)i»r ' Hole in the Day "; the resi<lenee stipulation was
carried out, his wives living in the kitchen and he, the
brother of the Great White Chii'f. received visitors in the
large parlor, the walls u\' which were nearly covered by
uiirrors, tlu' Hoor furnituiv consisting prinei|ially, it is said,
of manv rockiny,' chairs. A few months later he was shot Vtv
an Indian of one of the treaty bands, nn whom the truth had
dawned that his tribe hud sold their heritage for less than
they could ha\e obtaimd by the tra})ping of its furs.
('low Wing was the point t(» which from St. Paul the nias-
teis of brigades tre(|Uently teamed with wagons a portion
lit' their cartloads to save the heavy sand J'oatl down the
eastern liank of the Mississipj)i. At ('row Wing the carts
wi're finiilly loaded, it being a woi'k of tluaight and care to so
aj'|wirtion the eartdoads that one should not cany all the heavy
U'oods and another all the light; where, also, the cart coveis
of raw beef or bufl'alo hide securely fastened on and the long
slow journey connuenced, the money not spent at St. I'aul
was generally got ri I oF here in necessaries for the trip of
(»vei' a month, and in presents for the loved ones at homi'.
One ])art ot the c(|uipment of a ninnlu'i* of carts in u
brigade was a long an<l strong rope for river ciossings and soft
places which a light lia\cllini.'' cart traversed safely with an
e.\ti"a spurt on Hlackie or Hichon's jxirt, but which were for-
midabh,' obstacles for loaded carts, especially at the steep
bank of a slippery and muddy river crossing. In such places
xui — tuii^s:...
Cl
25
the ox, strange to say, was better in the tniry hottoin and the
horse the better for the steep bank ; for the cloven hoof
parted in the mire, giving a better footing to aid his patient
and great strength : M'^hile the horse's hoofs gave him a better
hokl on the slippery bank ; both needed aid however when a
deep slough was reached or streams of the kind I have men-
tioned had to be crossed ; at such places, it not very bad, the
rope was attached to each cart as it came up and Kve or six
of the men at the further end aided the struggling ox or
horse just at the right moment; but when the bog or slough
was very bad indeed, then the animals were taken out to find
their own way over, while the whole force of bjigade men
pulled the loadecl cart through.
Many a thousand tons ot freight hav(: been carried over
this road, and a brigade freipiently meant hundre<ls of carts :
(►n the fall trip tliey generally went down light, the buffalo
robe catch having been carried in closely C(tmpressed bales of
ten robes each by the spring brigades, the arrival of whichNin
St. Paul was an event not only to the fur-buyers, but to the
people of the place, who lined the side- walks as tlje long train
of scjueaking, fui'-laden carts passed through, and Kn^lish
half-crowns and .sovereigns were to be had at almost any of
the shops, all of which eagerly sought the Mvd River trade.
It is time howexir that T came back to our own ex)>ei-
iences of travel, some of which were amusing afterwards, but
very puzzling and annoying at the timr. One of the.se was
the crossing of th( lve»l Lake, the largest river on the route.
A winding track through large elm tnn's had brought us
down to its brink, and here we could see tlu' deejt tracks ol'
loaded carts stjaight over the gravel shore and into the water;
directly opposite were similar tracks on the other side. It
s(.'emed all right, though the ford was at a place where the
watei- ran very swiftly indeed. Pursuing our usual ))lan.
Iiich(»n with the saddle tried the ford, but the water whs soon
above his breast. He was brought back, and the tracks
troinir ill and connng out closelv inspected ai'ain to see if it
was straight across. Tried on foot with a long pole to keep
•.r
♦7
Tr-i
^
U
2«
Iroin IjL'iiig hwept oH* my feet in the rapid, the water was
soon breast high. What could be the matter ? Surely where
loaded carts could go so shortly ago we might easily pass ;
and there had beeu no late rains to swell the river. Search-
ing back to the top of the bank we could tind no diverging
track to another part of the river, and yet it was clearly a
case (»f swim to cross it here. Tired with the effort, the horses
were allowed to graze, and tea was made, after which the
essay was made to cross the river on f(jot at a point further
up, where broken water seemed to show shallowness, and it was
while essavin*; this that I found the secret of the ford. The
carts had indeed entered strai<;ht into the water at the foot of
the slt»j)ii)g bank we had descended, but, once in, they had
tiirnel up-stream to make the crossing in a horse shoe
fashion which biought them out directly on the opposite
side, where again a sloping bank foimed the best path for
ascent and descent.
Many ujinor difficulties at other places were the rewards
of inexperience, and, i»leusant is the trip had U^en, it was a
relief when it was over, the ponitis placed in careful hands
for the winter, the cart and harness stowed away, and St
Paul was reached, early in November, long after Dr. Anderson.
Bishop of Rupert's Land, had reached the City by the last
Red River boat and stage, and had met while there Governor,
then Senator, Seward, an interesting account of which meet-
ing WHS afterwards given by Honorable J. W. Taylor to the
St. Paul Pre.ss, as follows :—
" Allow me to present to the readers of the Press a relic
of Seward's visit to St. Paul in Sept., IHfU), which I have
fyled with the archives of the Hist*)rical Society. It is an
addn.'ss of David Anderson, Bishop of the Chuich of England,
Rupert's Land, to Wm. H. Seward, then Senator, and now
Secretary of State. The meetiiii; of the two men ha<l been
arranged by nnitual friends — it occnred at Pi o'clock m., of
September IS, 1800, in the loom of the Minnesota Historical
Society. The Bishop adopted the English custoni on such
occasions, and read his remarks from a manuscript; Seward's
Wtf"'
"^■w
1
i.:<
a
is
27
response was less premeditated. I copy from the autograpli
address of his " Rever/end Lordship."
" Governor Seward :
It is with no little pleasure that I emhrace the opportunity
of being presented to you on this occasion.
From the position which I occupy in the Diocese of Rup-
ert's Land, I cannot but feel a deep and growing interest in
the welfare of the United States, and more especially in that
of Minnesota, which immediately adjoins our >wn territory.
Whatever tends to advance our prosperity will at the same
time, I am convinced, advance also your own, and I tru.st that
the bonds which unite us together will he drawn clo.sei' year
by year.
The vi.sit of His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales to the
possessions of the British Crown on this continent, and his
approaching visit to the United States, may be hailed as an
event which is calculated to cement most happily the union
betwe«m the two countries. On the establishment and con-
tinuance of such peaceful relations the progress of civili-
zation throujjh the world and the extension of the Redeem-
er's kingdom would materially depend.
I would grutefully acknowledge the many great benefits
already received from your Government at our own distant
land. Much has been done (luring the past eleven years, of
which alone I can speak, to diminish the distance which .sepa-
rates us from the home of our fathers. On my first arrival
thrice only a year could we expect to hear from England.
We are now indebted to yourselves for a double mail each
month. For this, in the nauje of every member of our com-
numity, I would express our deep and lasting gratitude.
We would look Ix^yond this to the opening, at no very re-
mote period, of a highway towards the western .sea. I trust
that, both in your own possessions and in the British terri-
tory, a route towards the Pacific may ere long be completed
and a direct communication thus optaied from sea to sea. In
such eiitiM'prises 1 would at the present time ask you to use
whatever weight of infiuence you may possess in yonr own
m
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28
Legislature, and I would in return assure you that any such
efforts would meet with the earnest and hearty co-operation
of those over whom the Providence of God has placed me.
In conclusion, I would only pray that the spirit of har-
monj' an<l peace may ever exist between Britain and the
United States, and with tlio continuance of such peace I would
anticipate a bright and blessed spread of the Gospel of Peace
among the nations of the earth."
With the last sentence, uttered in the excellent prelate'r)
most impressive manner, all eyes turned upon the .statesman
of New York. His first words of response startled the ex-
pectant circle,
" Bishop," he said, " two hundred years ago there was an
irrepressible conflict in F^ngland. One party contended foi a
Church without a Bishop and a State without a King; anoth-
er party was certain that there could be no Church without a
Bishop, and no well ordered State without a King."
A pause. The Bishop of Rupert's Land was not comfort-
able. An uneasy suspense of breath ran around the room.
So did the grey eye of the speaker. He was evidently in the
humor which His Grace of Newcastle afterwards failed so sio-
nully to appreciate. We were soon relieved, however. The
Senator resumed :
"This conflict of opinion, with its immediate issues of civil
war, largely contributed to the emigration of Englishmen to
this continent, and the organization of diverse communities.
With successive generations, the bitterness of the seventeenth
century has been succeeded by new relations, by peace and
good will, until w^e have, on this occasion, an inter(»sting proof
that the remote settlements of Selkii'k and Rupert's Land res-
pond to the ' spirit of harmony ' which is alike the cause and
effect of modern civilization."
His Lordships muscles relaxed. A half smile succeeded
among the auditors, the speaker alone I'etaining an imperturb-
able (expression of gi-avity. In a few words, fitly cliosen but
unluckily not presei-ved by a reporter, the Senator cordially
reciprocated the sentiments of Dr. Anderson, closing the for-
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29
malities of the interview hy the Anglo-Saxon ceremony of
shaking hands. The proceed ngs were of " admirable length,''
certainly not exceeding fifteen mmutes ; and yet, as 1 recall
them, I have seldom witnessed a more striking tableau vivant.
Two hours later, from the steps of the Capitol, Seward ad-
dressed the citizens of Minnesota in a speech which to this
day attracts more attention on both continents than any
single discourse of his life. How constantly in the London
press do we hear the changes rung on these memorable
sentiments ?
" I can stand here and look far into the North- West, and
see the Russian as he busily occupies himself in establishing
sea-ports and towns and fortifications, as outposts of the Em-
pire of St. Petersburg, and I can say " go on ; build up your
out-posts to the Arctic Ocean ; they will yet become the out-
posts of my own country, to extend the civilization of my
own country, to extend the civilization of the United States
in the North- West." So I look upon Prince Rupert's Land
and Canada, and see how an ingenious people and a capable
and enlightened government arc occupied with bridging rivers
and building railroads to develope, organize, create and pre-
serve the British Provinces of the North, by the (Ireat Lakes,
the St. Lawrence, and around the shores of Hudson's Bay •
and I am able to .say " it is very well ; you are building excel-
lent .states, to be hereafter admitted into the American
Union."
I was in Washington between the date of this and anothei-
.speech of his to which I shall presently refer, and while yet
Mr. Seward, then »Secretary of State, l)elieved in his pre-
diction of IS()(), and was honored by an introduction to the
great statesman, who was then busy with his scheme for the
purchase of Alaska. The angry looking scar of a dirk wound
he had received in the neck from a would-be assa.ssin was
still fre.sh ; but he had many (juestions to ask about this
country, and after shewing me an Alaskan kyack, spear, bone
implements, and many curiosities, recently sent to him, he
stood with me bef<)re a large map of the continent and said
li
I
§
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30
pointing to Alaska : — " We are to make this {)art of the
United States ; and now, don't you think, my dear sir, that it
would be for the interest of all, if that which intervenes
should come in too V
He seemed disappointed at my answer ; for already the
resources of our great North- West were beginning to be
known to the statesmen at Washington ; and when, during
the same visit, I was asked to give some facts regarding it
before the standing (Committee on Railways, then discussing
the charter asked for the Northern Pacific line, I found a full
appreciation of the possible benefits to accrue from a trade
from here to different parts of the projected line.
Seward was no friend to England or to Canada ; but he
was truthful enough to declare his error in the forecast he
had made of our political future from the Capitol steps at
St. Paul in 18G0, in a memorable speech he afterwards made.
He had indeed obtained Alaska by purchase, but he had had
time to reflect on the bitter lessons of the v/ar for the Union
of North and South, the failure of which meant the disruption
of East and West as well ; and he frankly acknowledged
his early pro[)hetic error in these words :
" Hitherto, in common with most of my countrymen," he
said, " I have thought Canada a mere strip, lying north of the
United States, easily detachable frou) the parent state, but in-
capable of sustaining itself, and therefore ultimately, nay,
right soon, to be taken by the Federal Union, without materi-
ally changing or affecting its own condition or development.
I have dropped the opini()n as a nati(mal conceit. I see in
British North America, stretching as it does across the conti-
nent, from the shores of Labrador and Newfoundland to the
Pacific, and occupying a consider;\ble belt of the temperate
zone, traversed e(|ual]y with the United States by the Lakes,
and enjoying the magnificent shores of the St. Lawrence, with
its thousands of islands in the river and i^ulf, a retrion L'rand
enough for the seat of an Knipire. in its wheat fields in the
west, its broad ranges of cliase at the north, its itHJxhanstibie
lumber lands, the most extensive; now remaining on the globe ;
it
its invaluable fisheries and its undisturl)etl mineral wealth.
I find its inhabitants vigorous, hardy, energetic, perfected by
religious and British constitutional liberty. I find them jea-
lous of the United States and uf Great Britain, as they ought
to be ; and therefore, when I look at their extent and resour-
ce's, I know they can neither be conquered by the former nor
permanently held by the latter. They will be indejiendent as
they are already self-maintaining. They v/ill be a Russia to
the United States, which to them will be France and Eng-
land."
Statesmen are but human ; and the great Secretary was
mistaken again. Year by year, it is true, we know more
and more of our almost inexhaust'l)le riches of river and lake,
forest and mine, and now that our neiy^hbor's auricultural
land (without irrigation) has been exhausted, we more and
more appreciate the fact that Canada, not the Unite* 1 States,
possesses the great cereal belt of the continent. We extol
his prescience as a political economist in the matter of the
develo])ment of our great re.souices, hut when we look about
for those who wish severance from Grt^at Britian and tind
them only in the ct)luunis of foreign newspapers, we ((uestion
his political prophecy, and iemend)ering the giant strides our
Confederation has nmde in nmterial progress, and the welfan^
and happiness of our people, we tharik Cod that we aie Cana-
dians and citizens of an Empire ten times greater than that
which the mental vision of Seward saw from the steps of the
Minnesota eapitol in i860. His national end)lem is the Eagle
and its swift flight typifies their marvellous advanoeinent ;
ours, the Beaver, that wise, cautious buildei-, typifying our
slower, safer progiess ; and who shall say that ours is not the
better speed whicli stays to .solve problems, such as the Indian
one, the neglect of which has borne such bitter fruits to our
more speedy southern neighbors ^ And yet, have Canadians
any leason to be considered laggai'ds when they have, in a
little over a (juai'ter of a century of national life, linked Pro-
vince to Province, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, with bands
of .steel, made the hea<l of Lak(» Superior a seaport, solved the
si:-
32 ,
aboriginal problem with a success that no nation of the Old
or New World has ever achieved, whitened every sea with
the sails of Canadian ships, linked Australia, the Indies and
the Empires of the East with our western harbors, as before
we had linked our eastern seaboard cities with western Europe,
created a trade almost double, in proportion to population, of
that of the United States, touched only as yet the southern ,
border of our vast arable and pastoral reserve, content to move
slowly while we are perfecting the union of Provinces to each
other, and our joint position in the Empire, in a way anJ. with
a success that will enable the distinguished nobleman whom
the Queen has now chosen to represent her in her Canadian
Dominion to bear to her at the close of his term of office an
assurance similar to that given by a distinguished predeces-
sor. Lord Dufferin, who said, on leaving us :
" When I resign the temporary Vice-royalty with which I
have been invested, into the hands of my Sovereign, I shall be
able to assure her that not a leaf has fallen from her maple
chaplet, that the lustre of no jewel in her trans-atlantic dia-
dem has been dimmed."
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