Across the prairie lands of Manitoba and the Canadian North-West: A Wiltshire man's travels in the summer of 1882

Pocock, Sidney Job (Sir). (author) · 1883 · Historical

Pocock, Sidney Job (Sir): 1855-1931. Visited a brother in Manitoba, 1882; later prominent in the dairy industry in England ( Who was who , 1929-1940).

This 1883 document, Across the prairie lands of Manitoba and the Canadian North-West: A Wiltshire man's travels in the summer of 1882, is preserved in the Mountain Man Mining Library for research and reference. Original source: archive.org.

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MANITOBA and the CANADIAN NORTH-WEST.

Wiltslo Re Man'S Travels In The Summer ;

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A WILTSHIRE MAN'S TRAVELS IN THE sUMMER " OF 1882. . Pot, ot

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" Having heard and read 50 much' about: Manitoba and 7 o "

the,Great 'North- West, and the facilities there existing

for securing . land sunider favourable _cif

which for s ast hag occupied the public

mind, I decided to go there, especially as my' brother" who settled there about three years - ago sent home 7 very favourable reports., ,

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Thinking a brief account of. my joumey, may. 'interest:

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some of my: fellow countrymen, I. have endeavoured i in the following. pages, to present them with a plain: uns 7

varnished tale of my adventures.

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Across The Prairie Lands, Etc,

started in May, booking from Liverpool via Quebec right-through to Winnipeg, the Capital of- Manitoba. Hearing much of the famed steam-ship "Parisian" of the Allan Line, I determined to trust myself on board that vessel, to carry, me safely across the Atlantic. I may say she was most completely found with everything necessary for the comfort ahd convenience of the passengers,

We had a most pleasant and enjoyable trip across ; it took us exactly ten days to reach Quebec, which we did after passing several magnificent icebergs, and going through some dismal fogs off the coast Newfoundland. :

Ngw I had over two thousand miles of railway

- travelling by the American Pulman Cars, which I- soon found travelled much slower than our English trains. It took me five days and five nights to reach my destination, passing through. Montreals Toronto and' Chicago. Crossing thé 'river Mississippi,

'fat this point about three quarters of .a mile --

6 . Acros the Prairte Lands, 'tos

for beauty. The full moon shone from a cloudless

. sky, and lit up with a brilliant 'silver-like radiancy

the water, as it glided between hundreds 'of - small islands, which were covered with trees and bushes,

and looked magnificent as they were brought, out in!

vivid relief by. the moonlight.

'Passing through St. Paul, I reached my brother's -home-at "West-Lynne,; which is= a" small town, just

on the Canadian side of the United States boundary and separated from Emerson 'by the Red River of the North.

As. my purpose in going to Canada, was to search for minerals, and. good farming land as an investment, aS well as to see as much of the wilds as 'possible, I determined not -to spend .much time in town, so after carefully examining the map, we. (my. brother George and myself) decided, if practicable to reach. a spot on the river Souris, which is situ-

. wide, I saw a. 'sight , L have. never. geen. surpassed me

ated out in the open' prairie, about 300 miles —

south-west of Winnipeg. We ascertained.on making a . few enquiries, that the best.way to see and: examine

the country, would be to take a good outfit, and drive the whole' of the distance across the prairie. We therefore. bought a pair of Mustang Ponies,

tor which we paid 200 dollars, including their harness; -

a good strong four-wheeled vehicle, called a "Buck-

_board," a tent, a good map, a compass, and provisions to last a month, consisting principally. of hard biscuits,

potted meats, and tins of fruit. Our. cooking arrange-

. ments consisted of a camp stove, fitted with a small pot .

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king' a: atiarter: af veniéon or ry 'lump prairie chicken we 'had tires'i iron' rods trade,' two. of. them. to stick upwright' in the. ground," one Oh 'each 'side of 'a good fire; these had-crooke at the top, in which the other' rod "tested" over the fire; front which. we hung 2. larger. pot . . for prairie chickens. 'and other game,. We' also had. won an eee pot to Suspend fom the bar, in_which to-boil) water for'tea, which last arrangementwe fourid' much more serviceable than the: camp stove. "Tools were not : neglected ; ; a large axe, a spade and plenty of strong cord for making rafts, "tethering the ponies, helping out "of slews,' etc., formed part of, our outfit, as did also 'candles, " matches, a Winchester Tepeating. rifle, a 'breachloader and revolvers.. We each of us took. a niosquito net, a suit of overalls; and. a. thick, - warm ' blanket; we were then fitted out' complete and ready for ' the start. ' 'On June the and we 'set ont, and as we drove through 'thé small town, many of the igfabitants' wished us a pleasant journey and safe return Tut, at the same time vols ad did not hold out-very 'encouraging opes, ominously. - telling of broad streams, alkaline sles, steep mountains and ravines that lay in our way; but feeling equal.te battle with all difficulties, away we 'went imétruly i in the . glorious. sunshine, our ponies, as well as. ourselves, seeming elatéd'in'the pleasant light prairie breeze. © The first. day; -we drove about:25 miles, . halting: halfe-.>7- +: way at a Mentionite settlement, to givé our ponies rest and to 'obtain: alittle refreshment. 'for. 'ourselves, as we were anxious: not to break into 'the little store' we were - Tree

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carrying, while we were within the confines 'of civili- - a izations'

These Mennonites are a people who emigrated from

the South of Russia only a few years ago. The Govern.

ment of Canadz gave them a large tract of land, where they have nowestablished many villages, They appear to be very industrious, strictly religious, but very dirty in their habits and customs; a great.many of them

having their cows, horses, and even 1 pigs living under

the same. roof as themselves. . r

After feeding our ponies, we enquired. at a house if'

we could get'a cup of tea and-a little of something to

eat, A burly looking fellow asked us in broken English 1" would pay for it if he got it. Having made him

nd that we would do so, he invited, us inside; , we Saw in one corner of the room, a bed covered with huge buffalo robes, in another corner, an old hen, tied by its leg to the cooking stove and surrounded by half-a-dozen chickens ; and dirty clothes of all descriptions lying about in great disorder ; the whole ° giving forth anything but a pleasant odour, in the over: heated room. . After waiting a few minutes a dirty looking

girl brought us some tea, sour bread, sour butter;

sour milk and eggs, but it all had sych a flavour of the

room, that we were compelled to set it aside and tackle -

the eggs alone. I-do-not wonder at the: man making sure of the money first, he would never have got it had we seen the fare beforehand. - 4 Although these people are so dirty i in their domestic . life, we noticed their land was beautifully tilled, no

- corn could possibly have looked better, but certainly

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the: land 'they-! had, to farm was all in theif favour, rich, an Jonmy,ideyyrtigalthy soil, such land the eye does not see, . -- in England, fey

"We. Soon. left. the Mennonite settlement, behind,

arriving at'an hotel kept by a Mr. Brown, about 9 p.m. This gentleman we soon discovered came from the Old' 'Country, he has quite a nice hotel without any'

- Opposition, built by the side of the old Indian hunting' . trail. We stayed here for the night and made an early " start ia the morning, reaching Mountain City 'about:

rr a.m., which is quite a new city of about 30 houses

and stores and promises to be a large flourishing place

at no distant period. , After having a good luncheon and resting our - ponies,

"we started off again, arriving at a place called Pembina

Mountain about half-past six o'clock in the evening.

.. This is a gmail town consisting of about five houses? so situated i in'a valley between two mountains. ,

"We met here a party of Indians, who had a drove of

'about 20 'Mustangs, and tried to have a deal'with them

"+ as we were'afraid that one of ours would not stand the

ws "journey, but as we could not make each other under- ' stand, were obliged to give it up for a bad job.

The hotel at Pembina Mountain + was.a small c one, we

, enquired if we 'could have a bed, being anxious to sleep under a roof-as long: 'as we could 'find a.roof under. - which to sleep; "We were shown upstairs, into a room

which. contained five beds, so we had our choice of beds.

. it not.of rooms, and as we were very tired: turned in'at once ; but there was very li little sleep for us, as we were. soon, trade acquainted with the fact that all the other -

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beds were , afterwards doubly occupiéd by those persons who will be noisy whether awake or asleep. I was very glad to get out of the overcrowded room in the morning and bid farewell to the snorers.

Now we had to climb the mountain leading from the town, which was so fearfully steep, that we had to put our shoulders to the wheel and help our ponies up with the buck-board; however, they being strong, fresh and

sure-footed, we met with-no accident, and -after--about

an hour's hard climbing, with a good many halts for rest and breath, we found ourselves at the top.

Here we were delighted. and almost bewildered at the -

abundance of game that seemed to meet us at every

turn. This was the first opportunity we had of trying:

our hands at anything like sport. Wild ducks, of many different kinds, curlews,' snipe, plover, prairie chicken, and many other birds, whose names I do not remember,

all rising at once, and each giving forth its peculiar note,.

so excited me that my hand was unsteady, and the

, _game very little the worse for my gun; in fact, I was

quite a laughing stock for my brother, who, I must say

played havoc with his,.Winchester repeating rifle.. I.-

have seen him send a bullet through a duck''s head at 200 yards; but surely there was a little excuse for one who had been shut up in our, great: Metropolis for over five years, with his mind far from dwelling on the sports to be met with on the prairie. However, being determined

to make myself a better shot, I picked up the

skull-of a very large buffalo which was lying near, and stuck it on an elevatéd spot as a target, and practised at it till I sent a few bullets through its hard bone, after

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"which, :I. was much more @ successful with live game.

We halted i in the middle of the day for the usual rest and meal, when we cooked some of the game we had shot. This.was the first time we had tried our cooking arrangements, and we found the iron crooks more serviceable than the camp stove. 'The game cooked well over 'the wood fire, certainly it was a little smoky, but our appetites. were too keen to be dainty, and we thoroughly enjoyéd dur first hunters' meal, ; ,

Badger creek was reached about eight o'clock in the evening, after'a 45 mile drive. This is a small stream about fifteen yards wide, running at the rate of about six miles an hour. It gave us some little trouble in' crossing, as the bed was thickly strewn with large stones. Picking our way as best we could, we landed on the other side, with nothing worse than a little wetting and a severe shaking: oo .

We found here a small stopping house, having a store attached. ' With a little inconvenience to the proprietor he' found us a bed in a room which already contained eighfothers. 'The beds were not made of down, but of © prairie: grass, "which 'caftie sticking through the under sheet and causéd sensations which can be easier im-_ gained than described, 'but tired nature soon overcame -the inconvdniences' "of the: bed,: and we slept soundly: In the morning we were awaltened by the sound of the rain pouring down on the shingles, and a cold creeping sensation, which we found-was ; due to the rain dropping .

. _through the roof on.to.us:

We rose with the intention of starting early, but as, it'. was raining s so hard' we decided: 'to rest our ponies tor

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12 Across the Prairie Lands, ete.

ws

the morning. We got away in the afternoon, and had'

'a great deal of sport as we went along. On the way we

passed through some splendid farming land which we found was being rapidly taken possession of by immigrants.

Our next and last stopping place in a house was at a Frenchman's, who came back into the wilds many years

- ago to trade: with the Indians in furs and skins; we

reached here about six p.m. This was the dirtiest hut we met with in the whole of the'North West. We were - told we could have supper if we wished for it. Knowing that we had not too large a stock of provisions with us we were glad toaccept the offer. Whilst busily feeding our ponies a dirty looking Indian squaw. beckoned us to partake of the Frenchman's meal. Fat pork and potatoes was the best he could offer, charging 75 cents per head. I kept my eyes closely fixed on my plate, as I wished to eat as much as possible before looking at the dusky creature who waited onus. I had nearly finished when I noticed a raven black hair on my plate, and glancing at the head on which it grew, my. meal was. brought to a speedy conclusion.

Having left the table, we enquired for a bed, but were . immediately informed by the squaw. that every bed was engaged, we then asked if we might lie down on the floor of the room in which we had just taken supper, on' which floor there was a considerable coating of mud which had been brought in by the boots of the travellers during the day, which had been very wet. Having re- ° ceived permission to do so, we brought our rugs and blankets, and soon made ourselves as comfortable as

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Across the Prairie Lands, etc. 13

' . possible. We had been lying down for about half an hour when we heard another squaw's voice cry out in" broken English: " There's room on the landing if anybody would like it better." My brother and I were soon on our feet and making for the landing, as were also several others, we managed to be first in the race, and after carefully picking our way over and between -.the recumbent. forms of several-persons who had previously taken possession of the landing we found a vacant spot, just enough room for two, where we spent the night more awake than asleep.

Not having to dress in the' morning (for we did not even take off our boots) we were soon down, and called for our reckoning and paid it, being charged 25 cents

' for our sleeping accommodation, and gladly: turned our backs on the dirty Frenchman's home, and the equally dirty squaws. ,

This being Sunday, we did not hurry our ponies, but kept them at a gentle dog trot, giving them a good long rest in the middle of the day.

The land we passed through here, was splendid farm: ing land. I am-sure if half the English farmers could get on to such land, they would soon make their fortunes — instead of losing their. capital, and wasting their lives as

they. seem to be doing in the old country; but at this

spot the land is all taken up, being either sold, or given as free grants by the Canadian Government to emigrants, but further' west, 'there are millions of : acres, quite as ' good, waiting for those who wish to start a home in the new land, to which people are flocking from all parts of '+ the World to make their fortunes.

140 Across the Prairie Lands, ete.

We reached the Government Land Office about seven o'clock in the evening, here we had to pitch our tent for the first time. We were a little awkward at first, but after a few nights' practice, we soon got more expert.

We had brought with usthe canvas ready made into the right shape, and also the ropes, but had to cut the poles and pegs from the trees around. After having dug a trench all round the tent to prevent being flooded in case of rain, and laid the earth out of the trench on the bottom fold the canvas to keep the mosquitoes, which were ver? troublesome, from crawling underneath, we were settled snug and trim for the night:

We made a hearty supper off a plump prairie chicken and a dish of tea, gathered all our traps inside the tent, spread out the rugs and blankets, charged our guns, had a smoke, and lay down to sleep, but were soon disturbed by hearing footsteps outside the tent followed by a loud rattling on the canvas, and a gruff voice askingAus if we could direct him to some part we had never heard of. I layhold of my gun to be prepared. for emergencies, while my brother drew back the canvas. Our visitor seeing we were well armed and on the alert muttered an apology and sheered off. Had he forind us unarmed and unprepared we do not think we should have got rid

of him so easily. We kept watch some time, but hearing nothing more we again settled down to slumber, and I must gay I spent a much better night than the previous one, an old lawn tennis hat Serving splendidly as a night cap and my jacket rolled up as a pillow.

The next morning-we made enquiries at the Land Office respecting some land, but found all that was worth

Across the Prairie Lands, ete. 16

having already taken up. We did not waste much time here, but at once journeyed on. At our usual mid- ~day rest one of the ponies, which was rather wild, gave us considerable trouble. Although we had hobbled both, one of them liked -its liberty so much that it took us nearly two hours to catch it, which we could 'only do by riding it down with the other, and making it thoroughly tired before we could get near it. We caught it at last, and drove on till about nine p.m. , when we reached the first. crossing of the Souris River. . This was the.widestand most'difficult stream we had to cross since starting. As the wind was blowing quite a gale and a heavy pour of rain was coming down we had some difficulty in pitching the tent, but with patience and perseverance we at last got it up, pitching it on the bank of the stream, about 150 feet above the level of the water.

It continued raining heavily all that night and all the next day, making travelling very hard work for the ponies, so we remained here till the following day. During the day, a squatter came up to our tent, having with him, a very nice water spaniel, which took quite a - fancy to us and our guns. 1 asked the "boss" if he would sell the dog, and if so, how mugh he wanted for

"it; he replied "I don't want to sellit, but if youw ill give me five dollars, you shall have it". Ingladly paid -him the five dollars, for I could see the dag. was a good one, I christened it after the name of the river we were camping by, which name, it soon got used to. We 'handsome splendid sport along the river, shooting many different °

-species of -water-fowl.. .On' going .down the river, ; we

found that a man had stationed himself here, to ferry all"

16. Across the Prairie Lands, eto.

who wished to cross. His boat was a small one, 18-ft. by 4-ft.; he charged. according fo, the load he had to take, We were very glad to avail ourselves of this opportunity

_of crossing as it saved us the trouble and time of making

a raft, so we made an agreement with him to ferry us across the next morning. ;

We did more smoking than sleeping this night, being - afraid to lie down, as the ground was so damp. Early in the morning, we packed up all our things, harnessed

the ponies to the buck-board, and: defended the ravine

leading to the river, this ravine was 80 steep that we had to steady down by holding on behind. As all of us could not cross together, we placed the

' 'buck-board with all its contents 'across the top-of the

boat, which just left room for the Yankee to row. In doing so, we got further into the mud and water than was pleasant. I.quietly seated myself at the bottom of the boat, under the buck-board, expecting every moment

"'to have a spill, as the pole was skidding along the water

all the while, and occasionally falling foul of stray sticks and branches of trees that were floating in the river, but the man pulled well and we reached the other side in safety, althoughthe current'took us below the spot we — steered for. Then*he returned for my brother and the ponies. ' The horses swam well, just keeping their heads

'above water.:'I am-sure the bath did them "food, as ' they seemed much fresher afterwards.

"We soon made-another start, determined, if possible, to make up for the lost day. We had now .to pass through some "very. 'bad. slews, 'the rain having made the ground very soft. To 'Gain an idea of a Manitoba

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Across the Prairie Land, ete.

carts ny ;

, ata " The must ngs. kg

Fev read John Bunyan's description in THE: Pro ROGRESS of the Slough of respond,

ace

but this one 2 seemed to have lost: himself. Our next stopping place, South Antler Creek, reached about eight o'clock." This is a small strea running at a fearful rate from west to east. The mosquitoes here were terrible, they soon found out my a English blood, and did their'best to get all they could,. .: in spite of the utmost precaution I took to protect my-: . self; 'the further we got west the more numerous thésepests seemed to be. I must admit I felt rather nervous. Loe here, I suppose it was ®wing to the dismal howling. of © - the-wolves. There was not the slightest fear of their doing us any harm, in fact we should haye béen only. . . 'glad for them to come within range of. our guns... After-.:-vs0am making a large smoky fire—smudge 'the Yankees call © it-~just outside the tent.to keep the mosquitoes off, in ; such a position that the horses could get into it, we daid apeesecmt down for the night, but had not béen in the tent' 'long' a ve before we discovered that something was wrong with : the ponies, and on looking out we found that the wild 'sone. had broken loose and was wandering away. "we were greatly alarmed 'at this, as' it was so dark that we. . could scarcely. see the way it. was going. We dept thé .

18 Across the Prairie Lands, etc. ; nn other fast tied to the tent, where it kept neighing for its mate, which was an inducement for the runaway not to , get too far off. After running about nearly half the night we succeeded in' driving it back, and by quite a stroke of luck George captured it, after which we were careful to make him doubly secure. . C The next morning we decided to try the experiment of swimming the mustangs and buck-board across the stream to save the troubJé of making a raft; so in we plunged, letting the ponies have their heads, and sticking to the buck-board with all our might. 1 We landed safely on the {other side without accident, except a di thorough wetting for the provisions and ourselves. For ro that we cared but little, as the sun was powerful, and we soon got dry. Carefully examining the map and consulting the- 5 compass.we steered for Moose Mountain Creek, which , we reached in 'the' afternoon of the following day. Whilé'resting at. the top of a steep ravine leading down " tg. the creek we were startled by hearing a peculiar tidisey which George said was made by a Moose deet. ' We at once made the horses secure, took our guns, and went down the ravine in search of sport. After a great deal of climbing we noticed the track of some' animal which we followed for some distance, and found ourselves at the top of another ravine, when looking towards the north; we saw a tent-in the distance, which caused us to at once give up the chase and make for the tent. 7 We found the occupant to be an old Californian miner, whom my brother had met at 'Emerson ; he had

' Across the Prairie Lands, ete. 19

come back to the wilds only a few weeks before to take possession of a section of land and make a new home, which, by the way, was the nineteenth home he had started. He had some acres of land already ploughed, and a large patch of potatoes planted, besides many other steps towards preparing t the house for his wife and family to join him after the country is more 'settled. Not far from, and right opposite his tent, was a striking object, the body of a dead Indian, who had been buried up ina tree. We were informed that the Indian belonged to thé Sioux tribe. The body wis: séwh up in - - a buffalo robe and suspended tq the branch of the tree. It had hung So long' that only the bones and hair were left for our gaze.

'This settler seemed very pleased to see us, and invited us to camp near him for the night. We readily consented, as we thought he might assist us in finding that which we had come so far to seek. This was not the . 'only-inducement to stop. He was just baking, and.

could offer us a greater treat than we had had for some. .

days, namely a slice of bread, which only those' can

appreciate who have been living on hard biscuits, had. There was one other thing which attracted this spot, which was a large 'bed of stinging-netties. - 'We picked our, little pot full, and boiled them witha plecé of fat pork, and so obtained a splendid dish. I dare to say I never/félished any vegetables from the most cultivated garden in the Old Country so much. Certainly' it gave us a little trouble in gathering them, for the mosquitoes pegged away: at our faces and: necks, while the nettles did their 'well known work upon our hands.

' '

'

a m 20 Across the Prairie Lands, ete.

'As we had 'only about "thirty 'miles further to go ere reaching our destination, we invited the old miner to accompany' us. After some persuasion he consented. We started the next day, glad to have a little more company, and especially the advice of an experienced ' hand. . - ' "

Now Moose Mountain Creek had to be passed, with steep ravines on 'either side. Wewere not long in finding

an opening that led down. to the water. As the stream looked rather awkward to pass with our light

conveyance, George rode one of the ponies through to

-See what it was like. It was not deep, but very swift,

and the bottom very stony. However, we made up our . minds to venture, but after we gotin the water we found so many large boulders in the way that we began to fear crossing was impossible. We accomplished it, though, at last, but not till we had bent our axle, lost our only axe and one of our tethering ropes.

This créek-runs south to' north, eniptying itself into

the river Souris, the river of which we were, in search.

After about half-a-day's journey we found ourselves on the banks of the Souris, although at some distance from

very pleasant spot for our camp where we could see the peaceful antelope and other deer almost flying to reach

the highest point on the'hills, as they invariably do, for safety. The next day we commenced our search for

.coal, By the appearance of the land we were pretty

certain that we were now in a mineral country. For miles we had nothing but stony land and ravines through which to wind our way; this severely tried our

the point we had marked on our map. We selected a-"'

?

ponies and .puck-board: My brother and Chris. Troy the old miner, wefe away chasing sonie deer, leaving me

~deross the Prairie Lands, ete... 21

to descend the ravines*'as est. I could. I 'got along .

very well till I came to one, which, turned out .to be niuch sleeper than 'it looked when viewed from above. I had reached about half way down when I perceived

the danger I was ins: the moré I*tried to steer the ponies -

the more the danger seemed:to increase. There was but

one alternative, and thitt. was to-let: thie ponies-have'

their heads and cling to'the buck-board to prevent being pitched out head-foremost." J, was' "much surprised to see-the care and steadiness with which thege creatures picked their way among the many. dangers, over stones and huge boulders. I was delighted to reach the valley

in safety, and on looking back; could not help thinking how, foolish I had been. to attempt' a descent so danger- ,

ous. We kept moving on, making very little progress;

the sun'was getting. low, and we and 'our ponies very

tired and thirsty through the fatiguing journey and heat -

of the day. To avoid as many stones as possible we

had taken a northerly direction, 'and had got some

distance from the river, where we could find neither water nor timber. To camp here-would have been madness, so we altered our course to the south-west,

: and soon struck the river, though not without some

difficulty, as the stream, cannot be seen until one is on °

the very edge of the ravines, it flowing in a chasm about 150 feet below the level of the prairie. We were all

delighted to get back to the river again and have a good

drink of water. .

We now felt sure that we were noi far from the spot a ",

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22 - feross the Prairie Lands, ete.

we were seeking. Whilst looking down upon thc little

rivér taking a zigzag course down the valley and the - -

picturesque ravines on either side, I remarked, "Surely we are in a mineral country now, if. never we were before." Yes," replied the miner, "and I can find coal in less than a quarter of an hour".

His practised eye had seen what ours had not.

"Let us first pitch dur tent," I rejoined, "have

supper, make a smugé to keep the plague mosquitoes oe

off, and then we'll all go together.' This plan was adopted, so after selecting a suitable spot; where we could command a good view'of the river both east and west, we pitched our tent for the night, then down the ravine we went and Chris. Troy directed our attention to a dark streak, which showed for sore distance right and left along the sides of the ravine. "I told you so," cried the miner, and a hearty ¢heer went up from all, echoing through, the hills which stretched far and wide. With a good will we removed 'the top crust of darth that just covered the coal, and found the vein or-seam to be only 18 inches thick. - - We at once got a little.out and made a fire to see ifit : wasreally good coal, and-found it burnt freely and well. . By this time it was almost dark, so we made our way' , back to the tent. Before lying down, we examined the ° map, to see what distance we had to.go ere we reached 'the point we weré'bound for, when to our great surprise we found we were on,the very spot. We. at once decided to spend 'the next 'day jin exploring the many neighbouring ravines, 'in 'search of thicker and more pro- _fitable seams. ° '

°

Aoross the Prairie Lands, ato. 23

Se a etn aenmnpesnarenemmematieammeainmenmeeene onan -

We were up early next morning to commencé our search and soon found another eit, but"fiot much ' thicker than the first. Anxious to make the most of our time, we each took a different course, before separating the old miner gave me a very-useful piece of information. '¢ Whenever you see a spring; depend upon it, some

" mineral will sure to be found near. After climbing steep ravines and searching every likely

_:Place for about thtee_hours, I came to a very steep .

rocky part where small trees and shrubs were growing -out of the sides, I was creeping underneath the shrubs and making my way as best I could, when I noticed a small stream of water. I tasted it and found it intensely cold withastrong flavour of iron. I soon traced it to its source, and found it came right off a splendid seam of - coal, huge blocks coming right to surface. Meanwhile my brother had found a -seam still thicker. We were - quite delighted with the result of our morning's search. Now we determined to cross the river to examine the 'other side. The stream was running.at a rapid rate and the bed was much toovrocky to be crossed in our buckboard, so we decided to wade. across, taking. off our our poor feet did suffer, we were éontinilly lositig our . balance, and the sharp stones gave us quite enough of the river beforé we reached the other: side: 'The. mos- _quitoes stuck to us sucking our blood like leeches, Chris.: Troy who 'had been continually boasting as to his being safe from the attacks of, the -Mosquitoes, 08, account of

. "his face and neck being. so tanned by exposure to the"

weather, was to our immense delight fearfully-punished,

24 Across the Prairie Lands, ete.

"

now that our tormentors could get at the more tender

' parts of his body. After this we heard very little more

boasting. We found the south side of the-river very similar to the north, but rather better supplied with timber.

In re-crossing, my brother left part of his clothing behind, having forgotten it. .As he was partly, dressed before he missed it, and I had just come across, I volunteered to return forhis unmentionables, - Having entered the stream with them on my back, I lost my balance and down I went, of course immersing the 'articles I was . carrying. The only inconvenience, was, that George had to suspend them from his shoulders till they were dry, before he could wear them.

After satisfying ourselves that land in this neighbour-' hood was worth buying, if we could get it, we turned our steps, towards Winnipeg, travelling as fast as the ponies could take us, to purchase what land we thought advisable from the Government, or the Hudson's Bay

Company. ° We g goon reached Chris. Troy's tent, and

camped with hiny for the night. . Some time in the 'night, our wild pony got loose again.

" and caused great délay next morning. After trying our

utmost to catch it for more than three hours, we were just giving it up for a bad job, when a happy thought struck Troy. . He advised us to lay a snare for it, he . having seen wild Mustangs caught in that way, which we did by making a loosé running noose at the end of a long . cord, then. placing some bran -in the buck-board, we allowed it's mate to feed, while we stood some distance ' away holding the end of the rope. This enticed, it to

at

id

Across the Prairie Lands, ete. —y 2g .

°

tread in the noose, when at a second attempt, with a quick jerk, my brother secured it by its fore-leg, and we were soon on our way ongg, more rejoicing.

We drove about 40 mileg' that day, reaching 'South

Antler Creek about undo#n. We.could see a thunder storm rising in the north-west, and coming up against the wind, 'also another coming out of the south-east, threatening to meet over our heads. We were careful

"in pitching the tent, so as to be prepared for the coming

storm; the distant rumblings of which could be heard. Everything was, brought into the tent that could be got-inside. About midnight, the rolling of the thunder

became louder and clearer, and like two mighty black

mountains, the thunder clouds approached 'each other

lightening flashing and darting out in alli'directions.

They, seemed to meet right over our heads, forming one mass of blackness and darkness which could almost be felt ; anon, a fearful flash: of blinding lightening would light up the prairie with a bluish vivid brillianey, the flash, or succession of flashes, lasting many seconds, and then the intense darkness settled-down on us again. All

. the. while. the thunder, i im one continuous peal over our"

heads, shaking the very ground' on which we were stand- © ing. At last the rain began pouring down, and the wind

-blowing a fearful hurricane, such as I had never witnessed : 'before. We held tight to the tent to try and keep it up-but

at last it gave Way, and down it came on us with a crash, and we seemed to be rolled along the prairie in

: "one confused 1 mass of men, canvas, poles, rugs and 'provisions

.' I eried out to my brother "Let us hold together

" for I quite expected our last hour had come :

+

26 Across the Prairie Lands, ete.

George, who had seen thunder storms in the North West before, shouted "Let us get the tent up again."

The climax of the storm lasted I should think, not more than five minutes, and we were soon able to get eur tent up again, but every thread we had was wetted through and through, and the greater part of our provisions were spoilt.

'Lying down on the ground in this plight was not to—

be thought of, so the remainder,ef the night was spent in nursing our knees and smoking. We gladly welcomed the dawn of day, and were soon out of our saturated tent. . A great treat awaited us for breakfast in the shape of a fine dish of mushrooms, which had grown up during the night, close to the tent 'The stream had swollen very much, at which we were . not surprised, considering the quantity of rain that had fallen during the storm. The question now arose, how were we to cross ; making a raft was-out of the question as we had lost our only axe, and the current was so swift and strong, that we should have had considerable difficulty in steering one if it* "had been made, so we decided to swim the ponies across, harnessed to the buck-board. 'My brother was prepared to take to the "Water, should any mishap occur, as he was more used to

emergencies of this kind, so we piled our saturated

things as high on the buch-board as possible, and drove down into the water, which reached the. ponies necks: suddenly George shouted Quick! Quick ! Jump in and buckle the rein to the wild horse's bit" we having foolishly omitted to do so before starting.

e

Across the Prairie Lands, etc. 27

In I plunged right away as not a moment was to be lost at such a crisis." Having adjusted the rein, on we

swam making for the opposite bank, I holding on behind:

balancing the buck-board to prevent it Sapsizing. The

rapidity with which the waterrwas'running, forced the

lid of the buck-board bok open, and away went the

greater part of its contents. Slippers, matches, maps, .

candles, biscuits, and other stores, sailing down the river. I made a 'grab at them, and managed to capture one candle, all the rest being irrecoverably lost. We landed without any further mishap, and soon had all our things spread out on the grass to dry, which was speedily accomplished in the powerful sun.

We next stopped at the first crossing of the Souris

River, as the water was much lower 'than at our former

' visit, we had no difficulty here, and tented on the high- - . est hill we could find, so as to get the full benefit of the

little breéze blowing. "We were up be-times next morning, partook of a plate 'of porridge and a dish of tea, making more tea than was necessary for immediate consumption, so as to have a supply to drink cold duririg the day, which was very much appreciated, when we could get nothing else but slew water.

" "After About ari hour's journéy, we canie to a valley which appeared as though it had formerly been'the bed of a gigantic river, the breadth was enormous, the distance

a being more than a.milefrom:banktobank. Turtlemoun: - .

. tain was reached - -after:35 miles drive, and we were just congratulating ourselves on not having once stuck in the , alkaline slews, when, having to cross a small creek, down we sapk right up to the boxes of the wheels, sticking fast

ae

a 28 Across the Prairie Lands, ete. as we had not stuck before. took us about two hours - to get out,'and then we had to exercise our ingenuity to mend the broken harness and vehicle. .

Four more days hard driving brought us back to West Lynne, so tanned by the scorching sun and prairie breezes that our friends did not recognise us. We got back not one hour too soon, for all our provisions were gone, and the buck-board, which was brand

new when we started was _all to pieces so much so that... ...

we had to walk the last few miles. The Mustangs stood the journey remarkably well considering they had very little else than prairie grass to eat, and had travelled a thousand miles at the. lowest reckoning.

We lost no time in making our way to Winnipeg to . secure the sections of land we had examined, and had' every reason to be satisfied with our purchase.

Having secured the land, and rested about a week, 'i set out on a second trip to inspect it more closely and to discover the quality and depth of the seams of coal. Having heavy tools I took a strong wagon drawn by a 'pair of powerful horses just imported from Ontario. I laid in provisions to last for two months, and had a canvas tilt made to go'over the wagon so as to use the wagon instead of a tent. As these horses could not live entirely on grass like the Mustangs, I had to take some oats and bran which considerably increased the lozd. I took a bed made of fresh prairie hay, which we lay on. the top of the load. .As my-brother-had business .at

home he could not, come with me, but arranged to follow . --

later on with the buck-board and Mustangs. I engaged a young fellow, who had just c come into the country, to

Across the Prairie Lands, etc. 29

go with me. His name was George also. . .

We had journeyed on for about two hours when we met a'young Canadian with an ox harnessed to arudely constructed cart. Of course we pulled up to make a few enquiries.

Well boss," said I " how far West have you been?" "Oh! I guess about as far as the South Antler" he replied.

And how did you-get-through !"was my. next. ques--. tion, thinking, of the trouble that stream gave us on our way homie.

"Oh!" said he "all right, but the Turtle Mountaii

Creek gave me a fair doing"

'' How are the streams generally? Do you think we can get through with our load?" How heavy is your load, and how far 'are you going ?"

" The load is about' twenty- -five hundred weight; and we want ta get to the Souris River beyond, Moose

Mountain Creek."

You'll never get there, never! I'm sure you wont, " the slews and streams are something dreadful to cross"

he said encouragingly. ' NO

"' Surely they can't be so very bad, I replied, r ve only " just : come from that part of the c ntry."

'two, minutes." . Where were you then at the time "On its back, sure,"

30 ' Across the Prairie Lands, ete.

" Drive on George" said I "that's a Canadian lie, " there' $ no truth in his story, for he would not be here "if his ox had been under water two minutes, that's . " certain," This story seemed td dishearten # n may ay man,_but-I-soon ___talked_him_round—again~and~ "assured him that things could not be so bad as the Canadianhad made out. - We made good headway the first. "day, travelling 25 miles. 4 We halted. at the Mennonite Settlement to rest our--- 7 horses, and begging a little hot water, made some tea, as I did not care about paying the second time fot what I could not eat or drink. We slept well on our new bed and everything went on so smoothly for the first three or four days that I began to think we should soon be at our journey's end. :

We were very careful to avoid all the creeks we S could, going either north or south to get round them, but the further west we got'the more difficult were the crossings

- as more-rain had fallen. Whilst going down Pembina - Mountain we had a slice of luck, as we thought, picking , up a nice gun and a good ox collar. This was very ac ceptable as my man had no gun. But we soon had to

part with our find. We got stuck in a slew and had . ° -to unload nearly the whole of our-goods and carry them,

up to our knees in mud and water to a dry spot. While

' the things were lying on the ground a "half-bred" rode . up and at once noticed the collar. He sprang off his pony'and snatched it up, yelling out something that was at first unintelligable, but we soon understood he wanted. .. his gun which we gave him. He was so delighted at- -

. ry

Across the Prairie Lands, ete. aL

regaining his lost treasures that he yelled and jumped about for nearly an hour. He now brought out a huge block of dried buffalo meat called pemmican and began making his mid- -day meal, which he seemed to thoroughly enjoy. I tasted a little, and only a little of it, it. was not cooked to suit my palate. .We were glad to get away from the strange looking fellow, and kept a sharp look out the next night, but saw nothing more of him. Just before we reached Badger Creek we met..a man

who. had 'been. some. little distance west... He Strongly.

- south a belt, of marshy ground. about 30. yards wide, . 'nothing bugeeds, mud' and' stagnant water... Selecting' " . the most li spot, we made a rush for it, but had only

advised us to travel' in..a northerly direction, as the streams to the southwest were very bad indeed to cross. We at once altered: -our course to northwest, as we par-

'ticularly wished to avoid the creek in which the ox had

been immersed for two minutes, as we wete afraid that.

the same, good luck which attended that animal, might

desert us. ea . We had been travelling: f for six-dayé and had got

along remarkably . well; -eonsidering the load, but now

' our troubles"were about to commence. On the morning "Of the seventh day we saw in front.of us an awful slew, ."

Stretching as far as the eye could see, both north. and

gone.a few yards when in we sank, the horses up to their

' bellies and the bed of thé wagon level with the mud. The

horses plunged and kicked, and with great difficulty got —

i out after we: had unhitched them, but the wagon re- - mained. stuck. fast. and .was likely to remain sq while. . .,.

loaded, so we both set to with right good will and car-. .

ww

32 Across the Prairie Lands, ete.

ried the load across, which was anything but an easy task as the weight on our backs made us sink knee deep

and sometimes deeper at every step, After depositing ©

the goods on firm ground we set our attention to getting the Wagon out. We began by digging the mud from the wheels, after which we attached a long rope, which.

'we had brought for the purpose, to the pole, which .-

allowed the horses a firm footing on dry ground while _they pulled the wagon out of the mud.

We made very little progress that day, havi ass:

several other slews and creeks, thotigh none were'so Had as the first. One stream, however, gave us some little trouble, being very deep and rapid, but without any miud to speak of. We drove down to the edge, unhooked the horses, fastened the long rope to the pole and swam to the opposite side. After reaching the bank, the wagon was drawn-across by means of the rope. Having lost so much time that day, we kept on till rather late and

were very tired but could get very little sleep as the,

mosquitoes were so troublesome, and I was occupied . nearly all night keeping up the. smudge. Plenty' ot smoke was the only protection we could obtain from the little tormentors.

Soon after sunrise we were e again on our way, steering -

due west, having got far enough northward. We made: good progress until about three 6 'clock in the afternoon; when we came to a very deep and muddy. creek.. I got down to find the best place at which to 'cross; when I aw a settler's hut. _I.enquired of the occupant which was the best crossing. place. The answer he 'gave me was that I should never get over with so great a load.

' . :

Actos the: Prairie Lands, ete. 83

Well!" said 1, " I have crossed a 1 good many creeks " which looked as bad as this, and I mean to have a good 'try here."

Selecting a likely place, I walked in and waded about to ascertain the depth. Having satisfied' myself that if the horses pulled well together, we could get across, 7 made the attempt. With "a strong pull, long

pull and'a pull altogether," we: got across in safety though the horses had had enough of it by the time we

"had landed.

After resting awhile, we went forward reaching Toby - ' Creck about 7 p.m., this creek proved to be full of mud

and water. Walking a little distance ahead to feel the way, I cautioned my man to stop. some little distance'

- before he came to the cteek, but unfortunately he came

just a yard too near, and down went the wagon, sinking in the mud to the boxes of the wheels. We used every means available to extricate the wagon without unloading

, but were.unsuccessful. The horses by this time were °

quite fagged out, so we commenced unloading the goods and carrying them across. At this juncture, I espied a

hut and went 'off to try and procure assistance. 'The, "r -getupant was-an Englishman: pore as ss

' " Hullo," said he "got stuck in Toby Creek no "No" said I "we are stuck before getting to it, our

"wagon. is as deep as it can. be, I find this Toby Creek a.

--bad one to get through. "

Why its the easiest in the country to pass. Dye ; want any help."

— That $ fust what I'm come: "for, if 'you'll be good...

enough to give us'a pull with-your oxen there."

s

Da MRR

SA . Across the Prairie Lands, ete. ;

"With pleasure," said -he.

I thanked him much and helped hint to catch the oxen which were enjoying themselves in a large smudge close at hand. By the time we had got back to the creek, my man had carried nearly all the load through, We hitched the oxen to the wagon and after a few good pulls out-it came, and by some good steady pulling it was brought across to firm ground. The strength of these 'animals is enormous, they are much better than .

horses for getting through slews and creeks, as they pull steadily without plunging. I spent the greater part 'of

'young Englishmen) talking of the Old Country and 'learning all J could from their experience in Canada.

One of them adjust sold his homestead and pre-emption lot for a good 'price 'and was staying with his friend..

. Our helper told me, he had. been settled there about 18

; months and was 'getting on well. He had taken up 'a

homestead and pre-emption lot '(320 acres) and had. already under cultivation, enclosed with good 'wire fencing about 100 acres. The corn, wheat arid oats, looked well and promised a heavy crop. His garden —

was well stocked 'with: 'vegetables, "and altogether the.

farm looked well and prosperous. The young fellows

"seemed happy and contented and 'well pleased with the

prospect before them. I could not help noticing the

contrast between their life and prospects and that of

'many farmers I have met with in the'Old Country, who

though struggling hard against adverse seasons and.cir- . .

cumstances, find themselves losing ground and seem to be losing heart also.

Across the Prairie Lands, ete. 'GS

. As our host assured me that the creeks further on" were much worse than Toby Creek, I left part of out, °—

machinery in his charge, being convinced that it wis.

useless to attempt to, get through. with a load. Taking leave soon after sci, ean wp our minds for a day in the-slews and-wére not disappointed. Be-

fore we had travelled five miles we had to dig ourselves out four times. My man was getting quite disheartened so' [let him drive while I walked on infront picking the way. He écertainly had the best of it as I often found myself up to my waist in mud and slush. The day having been a hard one, we stopped for the night about 6 o'lock, and afte niaking a big smudge we had supper and lay down to rest, both we and our horses: quite knocked. up. oo

; We did not start quite. so'early in the morning as usual on account of the condition of the horses. During — the day one creek gave us some little trouble as the

oad

' "banks on either side rose to-a great height and were very

steep and rugged. We had to chain the two hind

wheels so as to skid down to the Water's, edge. The 'horses had-got used: to this kind of travelling now and

pulled the wagon through the 'stream with little difficulty

. Immediately after ¢tossing, we camped in view

of-Turtle Mountain. At the foot of the mountain is-a . city" consisting of a store and a few houses. Getting there about five.o'clock in the morning, we 'called up . the boss to sell us a' few articles and also to give

' some 'information as to. the condition of the country

ahead, . You'll never eet through the next creek with that

a0 cross the Prairie Lands, ete.

load," was the answer he made to our enquires, 'but if you like I'll buy the lumber of you so, as to ease the load." - ''No" said [ " we've brought it so far and will take it further." rt

I walked down to the creck as it was close, "to see for myself. Itwas certainly worse than I expected but J

wp . knew if we'got in we should get out somehow, so I went

back to my man and assured him we could get through ©

with a little perseverance. "He drove as mear the edge

'as he dared and then began shaking his head, saying,

"This is the worst job we have had."

'Never mind," said I." drive the horses through first We must carry the load through on our backs, and shall then be' able to get.the empty wagon over." °

The horses could scarcely get through the sticky alkaline mud. In carrying the goods across one turn I had rather a heavy load, which sent me so-deep in the' mud that I could not get my leg out quick enough and down I rolled into the mire. " After empting the wagon with the exception of a few beards, we sutceded, in getting it almost through, when one side sank in so deeply, that it stuck fast. Just at this moment' three men with two yoke of oxen came wading through. °

"Hullo!" said one "1 have seen a good many 'sticks' in this country, but this is almost the worst. Do you want any help?" :

"Tt looks like it" I said.

These were Englishmen from Devonshire, most of the Canadians.would have gone by taking no notice of us

except to laugh at our calamity. : With the assistance

°

Across the Prairie Lands ete. 37

of the oxen we managed to get the wagon out.: It took nearly three hours to load up and get away. This morning was really lost, for not looking as carefully at the compass as I should have done, we travelled a long way out of our course and lost a lot of time before we got right again.

We reached the first crossing wf the Souris River in

'the forenoon of the ext day and could see the ferryman' Hut some distance off on the agin

. signal soon hrought him tous. I informe our load

an . . . . "this time was much heavier than the last, and that ke had better make-three journeys of it, but he assured

me he could take it allin two. We half filled the boat .

.and thén placed the top part of the wagon right across

leaving just room enough for the man to'row, 'while. I"

crouched down under the tilt. We had only got a few yards from 'the bank, when we found the water coming

over the side, the wind acting on the tilt like a sail. J -

hatl strongly advised the ferryman to have it taken down, before starting, but he would not, and'as he was so confident in his own strength, I let him do as he liked. At last his strength gave way and he cried-out.

Shels going, she's going, I-can't hold her."

And so we were going down stream as fast as the '

wind and Current could take us, the wind tossing 'Us about like a cork,

''Can you swim ?" he said.

"Not with 'all these clothes on," I said looking round

for the nearest point for which I could strike out, as-1-.

- expected every moment to be in the. water. Suddenly the fellow cried, .

3s - eross the Prairie Lands, ete.

"Sit perfectly still, I can sec the bottom," and jumping out he could just reach it. Then all was right as the boat was much lighter and planting his fett on the bottom, he could hold her.

After some difficulty, we managed to reach the other

side, rejoicing at not having had a spill.

We soon fetched the other load over, the horses swimming' behind. After putting the wagon together and reloading it, on' we went, making for the South 'Anticr River. We had not gone far, when looking for a crossing at a slew, in the long grass which was up to my shoulders, I nearly walked right on top of the finest badger I had ever seen. It did its best to frighten me, I 'called the dog which gamely tackled it 'till I put a charge of buckshot into its head, and brought the fight toaclose. These badgers are in great numbers about the prairie, making it bad travelling, as their holes lie so thick and deep. We soon reached the South Antler and were glad to find the water much lower, than it was

at my previouscrossing. This being a very clean stream

we refreshed ourselves by having a bath. While we were thus enjoying ourselves, the horses managed to get

loose and were nowhere to be seen. I took my glasses

and ran one way, while my man George went another, but without success.* We were in great trouble, as several times one of the liorses had made a start for home and we quite thought jt had gone for good now. As I was climbing an elevated spot, to scan with my glasses ' the distant horizon, I was delighted to sce them close at 'hand coming out of some bushes near the stream: -We

wete heartily glad to get away from here, as this seems d

ys Across the Prairie Lands, ete. 39

an unlucky spot. Every time we came here we had a misfortune. Going out the first time the pony got loose and kept us'up all night hunting for it. Coming back we were caught in the fearful thunderstorm and lost nearly all our provisions in crossing the stream, and now lost the horses again.

I could not sleep that night for 'the mosquitoes, they were something terrible. As fast as I lay down in the wagon, the horses would fetch"me out again by biting

'and pulling the tilt, to let me know the smudge wanted © making up. Once the fire got so low that it needed match and some paper to relight it. \Whilst striking the match, the mosquitoes swarmed so thi¢k about my head that I could scarcely see the light: In a few seconds my hands, face and neck were swollen all over, and I was nearly blinded by the stings of these insects, and in my haste to make a smoke, I unconsciously tore up one of the best maps we had. 7 I was very sorry to lose it as it was the one b unten we-had been travelling.

On the second Sday:.atrerwards, about mid-day, we reached Moose Mauntain Crets, where Chris. Troy was . camped. He was delighted to see us and as we had a lot to talk about, "1 decided to, main with him for the night.: He advised us not to® toss the creek at the same place that we did on our fiedt.j journey, as our load this

time-was much heavier. We spent some hours i in the afternoon, hunting for the best crossing, frid soon pitched on a very good one, but before we cotild cross, the large boulders in the bed of the river had to be re-

'moved. "We therefore stripped and commenced our task, when a happy. thought struck me, that as all. our

40 Across the Prairie Lands, ete.

linen was dirty, it would be a splendid opportunity to have a washing day, so we got our things t6gether and: one by one took them to. the middle of the stream, where a swift current was running, I soaped and rubbed till I nearly fetched all the skin off my knuckles, but I could not get the linen to look white, when I had finished, itlooked nearly as brown as London washing, I'm sure it was not for the want of water, for the current

was so strong as to 'nearly take the clothes out of my

hands. The coloured garments looked all right except for the want of mending. 1 had to be careful in putting

them on that my head did not go through the wrong hole.

The evening, and part of the night were spent chatting

with Chris. Since our first visit he had nearly

completed a nice log hut, and was getting comfortably

settled. As we had been so long without bread, and had got so HU of biscuits, I asked Chris; to teach me how to baké. W ouhad a cwt. of flour with us, but did not know low to use it. "

You can't bake without', a pot" said he

"Can I bake wit one ?" I replied.

"Yes, and I'liJend you mine, as I've a spate one; and'

teach you how to make a good:loaf,'" I was delighted, as I had really begged for a piece 'of

bread by the ayes I will explain my . 'mode of baking 7 "further on.+: i

We started rather early in the morning of the following

day and passed. through : the river at our' new cross: -

the flat prairie and took a northerly direction to avoid,

. ing splendidly. Climbing a very steep ravine.we reached. .

' Across the Prairie Lands, etc. 41

the rocks and stones. we had encountered before. Hoping to reach our destination next day, we hurried on as quickly as possible. . 'Thinking we had cleared the story parts, we took to a westerly course again, but about five o'clock found ourselves right in the midst of the stones. 'As I did not care to alter our c@urse again

we journeyed on as best we could. Ravine after ravine

we crossed, travelling over one mass of rough stones and the'noise of 'the wheels' bounding over them made a

dismal sound in the lonely place. - 'The horses, too, —

seemed to feel the desolation and became very timid. If

Heft them for a short time to ascertain if we were going

right, they would be very restless, and whinny for me to return. They would*carefully watch me till I got out. of sight i in a hollow, and the instant I camé into'

"view again on rising ground beyond, they would make

straight for me, and my man had as much as jhe could

do to hold them back. As we did not reach the river, I

was a little alarmed, the night rapidly drawing on, for if we camped here we should be without water or wood and the horses were already very thirsty. We decided to tie the 'horses up and hunt for the river on foot. we -

"walked about a mile due south, when: to our delight we came to the river, and. what was still better, right: on .

our-section of land. My man could hardly think we were

so fortunate,and was very doubtful as .to. whether we 7

were on the tight spot. . "If you.doubt my "memory" said-I, "1. will soon con: vince'you'" and taking him toa table rock, I shewed him

"tn my brother' 'S name and my. own, and the date carved in — - the stone.

a;

4B Across the Prairie Lands, ete.

"That's a proof" said he "that's quite enough." We hastened back to the horses, and selecting the best way, returned to the river and pitched our tent, for, we knew not how long. :

We soon selected a spot shelter by. a ridge, which ran from east to west, the river running parallel with it some distance below us.

The first thing we did next morning, was to plough up some turf near our wagon, as the sods were most useful for keeping up a fire. during the night, by lying a little qn' some green wood, which produces plenty of smoke ; 'as it was the smoke we wanted more than the fire. The next thing was to maké ah'oven for baking,

. as we longed for a little more"bread. We soon dug a large hole in the ground according to Chris.'s instructions .

to hold the pot, he so kindly lent me. This I found to

be the easiest part of the business to one who had never

tried his hand at baking before. It is impossible for one

to be too much domesticated, who starts life in a new country ; although the cooking, washing, etc., is rather . -

different to our old arrangements. I mixed up some thin batter with some batter cakes I had in store, letting

it stand for about three hours;~ after which I thickened ;

it with more flour, and thén'stood it in a warm place for

- the night. In the morning I heated the oven with coal

and wood, till it was perfectly hot ; whilst the oven was heating, I made the dough, but somehow I did not make it quite right, for I could not get it tol é rise. I well

greased the pot before putting the. dough into it, to. prevent its sticking, and then placed the pot in the oven -

and covered it with hot ashes. I allowed it an hour to

™

Across the Prairie Lands, cto. 48

bake, or rather burn, for it was baked, not omy brown, but black, and so hard that we had to get the axe to cut. it. This was a waste we could not well afford, so I determined to be more careful next time. I did not get the oven nearly so hot ut niy second attempt, ae. dough was not quite right again, and it was far fr being a success, but the third®batch was really good. The batter 'cakes I mentioned are very useful as a substitute for yeast on an expedition of this kind, as they - - --aroused formaking many other dishes, such as yeast .. dumplings, pancakes, biscuits, etc. , We then unpacked the provisions and emptied the wagon of the.implements. The hay with which our beds were stuffed, was now. nearly all dust, so we re" plenished them with new, which was much more com- . fortable.. We spent one whole day in drawing dead trees to our tent, so as to have a stock of fire-wood close at hand. Near us was a beautiful cold spring of water . which came straight off the coal. This was a great luxury, and saved us the trouble of digging a. well. - After a few days' rest, we set to work in earnest, search- © ing for larger quantities of coal, and found severalseams secon eee Ok yatfous thicknesses, and dug out plenty for our fires. ° - As my brother intended to start afew days after our - departure, we were now expécting him every hour, but day after day passed without any signs of his arrival, We now tried our hands at building a log hut, plenty. of - timber being close at: hand, taking our pattern from one we had seen on the way-out. It was a perfect square, made'of trunks of trees' about six inches in diameter, 'placed one upon another till the required height was

ot

Add. 4eross the Prairie Lands, ete.

reached. Turfs were then piled against the outside up

xto the.reofto exclude weather 'and flies. Our wagon was so constructed that the bed could be lifted off and the lower part used as @ timber carriage, which answered our purpose admirably. We had been here a little more than -a week, when my man asked me what day it was. As I had now. left off keeping a diary, I had quite forgotten the days being so much alike, but after a long time and a great deal

of calculation we concluded that it must be Thursday,

though we were by no means 'certain that our calculation

was correct. The horses having now. recovered

from they fatiguing journey had got quite frisky, and

one night they managed to get 'the rope with which

they were secured across the fire, burnt it in two, and' got their liberty. We had a bit of a hunt for them next

morning and after a while found them, on hearing my

voice they followed us back to the tent. Wehad plenty - of sport here, prairie chickens in abundance, which often

supplied us with an enjoyable meal. We now felt quite

at home with the wagon for our house and the, sweet

prairie hay for our bed. I made a table from some of the

boards we brought with us which we found very useful

indeed. - We had our regular' days 'for washing' and baking, doing all the cooking early in the morning to

"escape the heat of the 'sun as much as'possible. -

We worked hard at the log hut and_intended when it was finished to turn back, as I was getting uneasy at the non- -arrival of my brother, when one' (morning. just. as I had finished frying a large plate of slap "jacks " (a.

kind of pancake) sufficient for the: 'day, we noticed a

Across the Prairie Léndas, ete. 46

a

man coming over the brow of the hill. He was quite a stranger to us, but soon introduced himself as one whom

my brother'had engaged to come with him. He .informed us that George would arrive in a few hours. On.

enquiring the of the delay, I was told that one of

' the ponies being kfiocked up, they were obliged to rest

for a few days, \¢ad then could only travel at a walking

pace,. I was dell hted to see my brother, and glad that ' nothing' more ser, ous had prevented his earlier' arrival. " George informed me that Chris. Troy was abaut to

make an excursion to Winnipeg i ina few days, and as. my time time was drawing toa close and T was anxious "to make my way back to England, this would afford me

a splendid - -opportunity to get over the' most: difficult 'part of thet way, which wais over the prairie to the railway about a hundred miles, leaving George and his two men to' carrggut our projected plans, so it was decided

for George drive me to Troy's abode on the follow--

ing Tuesday. Next day, three of us started to go further west to

" itispect some more laid which I proposed to' purchase .

on my return, taking enough provisions to last us..three days. Our drive,. according to the. map, ,extended

' - °

"about. 'thirty: miles, - We -took 'the tent anda; large :, Buffalo robe which: was invaluable as a: bed.:. .Wemade good. headway, halting about mid-day near a 'creek 7 which ran. into. the Souris, We unharnessed the horses... to 'give. them their usual rest; when they all started away — . .7from the spot we had chosen, making their way back to: _vthe tent at a good walking pace, Our man had'a good' sharp t run in Before he could Loatey them, and 'had to: held.

stable

46 Across tive Prairie Lands, ete. .

them the whole of the time we were resting, as they were so restless... We could not at first divine the rea: son of their restlessness, but on looking about found the remains of a number of fires, pointing out that Indians had been recently camping near the place,and the horses would not stay where they could detect any smell of these dirty people ; cogs also have the same dislike to Indians and even when one has been brought up in an. Indian camp, and afterwards gets a white man for its

-master, an Indian had better keep his distance from it. On starting again, the horses were glad to get away and

we drove on till sundown, pitching the tent close to the river. After searching for a short time we came upon a likely looking place for coal. We removed a little. of the earth and a seam of coal lay open before us. . Wishinig to ascertain the depth of the seam that evening, we worked by candle light till nearly mid-night, but did not reach the bottom. The next morning some little time was taken up in cutting a path through the trees and shrubs which grew on the banks of the river to admit of our Crossing. ; The ravines about here were very steep, giving us a great deal of trouble to climb, and we were obliged: to. skirt some of them, going several miles round to do so. We came across several places where buffaloes had been wallowing in the mud. Hundreds of tracks had been passed 01 our way out, but 'none so recent as these. We saw a large black bear. shuffling along as unconcerned as possible, " Quick ! !" said George "let us chage it." ; We sprang out of the buck-board and bounded' uP the

'

Across: the Prairie Lands, ete. . AY

hill, thinking to meet bruin, but on reaching the top, a, fine wolf jumped up just in front of us and_ stood. still looking at us for some seconds. George was just about to fire when I cried " Don't fire, or you'll frighten the bear." - So the wolf got away and as Mr.. Bruin was better acquainted with those parts than we were he also got off scot free.

Rough Bark Creek was soon reached. This was the

'part for which we had set out. We were prevented from crossing by the great depth of mud, 60 thefe' was no alternative but to retrace our steps.. Near this

creek we saw about a hundred acres of.sun-flowers in full bloom. . "

About fifteen miles from our hut, night. overtook us, and we were obliged to camp, it being dangerous to go on. All our provisions were goné, 6XGésting two hard biscuits and it was too dark: to look for water, so -we were without fire, water or food. The mosquitoes had it all their own way that ment both with ourselves and the horses,

We reached the hut about : six é'clock next. morning, both hungry and thirsty. After a good meal, my brother

and. I started, to inspect the North side of the river . -

taking the ponies 'and one day's provisions, as our jour-. ney would not be so long. Whilst resting in the middle of the day we set fire to the prairie grass some distance

," off to the windward so that'the smoke might be blown'

towards us and. thus protect us from the mosquitoes, . this answered-very well till we had half finished lunch, when the wind suddenly. getting stronger, drove the fire" nearer to us, than: .we 'bargained for. We could see it

°

Pa

yom

48 Across the Prairie Lands, ete.

coming with great rapidity, 'spreading far and wide, This was quite unexpected, and before we could get all our scattered things into the buck-board, the fire had

swept completely over the spot, devouring everything

we had left:. We-had not time to harness the ponies,

" and only saved the buck-board by drawing it along and

hurrying the ponies on in front till we got to a place where the grass was very short. We harnessed the

ponies and got away as quickly as possible, as we could - hear the fire roaring and crackling, and see the smoke . curling and towering 'up to the. clouds. This fire was -

visible at least thirty miles.' After inspecting the land,

ve got back with all haste to the rest as we were to.

part._on the morrow. We.got into our little tent to

have a farewell chat, and to thank God for 'His great ©

goodness i in preserving our lives through all dangers and 'giving us" health 'and strength to battle with every difficulty, also to ask His blessing to follow us to our journey's end. While in the tent, by some means, the surrounding grass had caught fire. We were just in

time to save the tent and soon extinguished the fire y -

beating it with sticks.. Tuesday morning dawned, and I bade farewell to my

man and horses who had déne me such good service.

Géorge 'and I' had thirty milés to travel before 'Yeaching ees

the miner's cabin. It was a hard 'day's work, asone of —

our ponies was quite knocked up, in fact we.had to ) get out.and push behind sometimes, this I thought' was a poor start for a five thousand miles journey. We did not reach' Moose Mountain Creek till ro o'clock at night when it was quite dark. A light was visible on the

'

- ee ort

other side which we knéw to be the miner's hut; bat we could not find the only safe.crossing which was' the

one we had made. on our: may out. -We hunted for

nearly an hour when our strength was almost exhausted We should have camped where we were, but our friend ' was to.start early in the morning Without waiting for

'me, ds he did not know definitely whether 1 should: -

come or no. 'As our legs were worn out we set our: lungs to work, - .

4 Bring a light " we shouted, withall the strength. our

lungs could afford. "We. took turns shouting, antl~after

'keeping on some time, we were rather surprised' to. sce - a light corfing as the distance must have been nearly a

mile. Now we had to guide Chris., who carried the

light, by continuing our shouting. The' light was stea-_

_dily advancing down to the water's edge and we could

hear the voice of Chris. guiding us tq the proper. cross: °

ing. He held the light above his head. The lamp con: . sisted of a candle stuck i in, the neck of an inverted wine

" bottle, with the bottom knocked off. 'The sides of the © - bottle serving: as a splendid protection against the ; wind'

cand the neck, besides 'holding the candle inside, serving asa capital handle. We had somedifficulty: in per-

: ,suading the ponies to enter the stream, as the'reflection' " ' 'of the light on 'the water frightened them.- We reached.

the tent at last thoroughly worn out and ready, for a

- good night's rest. After the ponies were fcd-and' se-"

cured, and we had partaken of a hearty supper we lay .. down for the night.. .

"We were all''up early the next morning, Teéling much ° Fefreshed.. I made an 1 agreement with Chris. to, pay

leross the Prairie Lands, ete. + 49

a

"Ay

50 wlevoss the Prairie Lands, ete.

him for my keep until We reached civilization ; my company would, he said, amply repay him for the room I took in the buck-board.

Now, shite, What shall we take to eat."

"Tm not at all particular" I replied, '1 can manage any thing that's eatable.". vo

He then went to the dried herring box, and after taking out about a dozen, the dried biscuit box. was

visited. Oh! thought I, hard biscuits.again, with dried

'herring to flavour them, one tin of sardines and a tin of... preserved becf were all our eatables, with alittle tea for.

drink. — 2 :

Our cooking arrangements were very scanty, consisting only of an old lobster tin to boil a little water for tea, : ' My friend was determined to protect us from the MW, osuitoes, so hg had some green sticks bent over the

buckboard, covered with unbleached calico to serve ase

~atilt. - "9

At last all was ready, and we' two brothers had: to_ say good bye, with a hearty shake of the hand, 'we

- wished each other j joy, happiness and a safe return, then .

Chris. and myself drove briskly off, Jeaving: George to return to our land. The weather was everything tg, make me feel happy

and contented with my lot, even though' our 'food for'.

some time would consist mainly of dried' salt herrings, hard biscuit, and tea made in an -old Jobster tin, with a clasp knife to.answer forall articles necessary at meal times..

nr

. oe fs .

Twenty miles had been 'run before we stopped to rest.

Nee

Across the Prairie Lands, ete. bl

I dreaded the night, as 1 feared the arrangements we had for keeping off thé flies were useless, and so it *proved. The best plan we could adopt was to roll ourselves up in the buffalo robes and he down on the © ground near the fire. The horses wanting to get into the smudge as well, we had to keep a sharp look out as they were continually getting nearer to us than was pleasant. T. sree days having been spent pretty much in this fashi n, we reached the iron road leading to Winnipeg 4 a new Station out on the prairies called Moosemair, - Having made arrangements with a person to take care 'ef Chris.'s ponies till his return, we jumped on to the 'first freight train that passed, and reached Brandon about half-past eleven at night. We enquired if there was any chance of getting'a bed, as I longed to feel myself between the sheets once more. We were directed to a very fine hotel, a finding the door 'half open, we entered, and <éfté@pnaking a considerable noise,~a person appeared at the top of the stairs dressed in white, and asked us our business. We

asked if we could have a bed for the night..

" Every bed is engaged " said he.

(Can't-you pack us in anywhere " I said.

"You can lie down in the bar " he replied..

'I'thanked him, and rolling up my coat for a pillow, spread out the 'buffalo robe and lay down forsthe night. — Come outside," said Chris., " we shall get more air' there " he not having quite made up his, mind whete to sleep. 2

No, said I, tr mean spending th this night under a roof for. a change."

52 Across,the Prairie Lands, ete.

He eventually joined me on the floor, but neither had had much sleep as it seemed so close and stuffy after the open prairie. One more day and night spent on the

cars brought us again to the great and 'flourishing' city of Winnipeg. ,

A short time spent in visiting some of the wonders of America, including the Niagara Falls and the Cities of New York and Philadelphia brought my Ameri¢an visit

a-close and I returned to England by the magnificent Conard Steamer " Servia."

The ocean passage being accomplished in the remarkably short time of seven days, five hours and ten minutes, ° being one of the shortest passages on record.

Should the reader' imagine that I have intended to convey 'an impression unfavourable to the country, I have visited, I wish it to be understood, that such was the furthest from my intention. I have endeavoured to give a plain unvarhished stogy of my adventures, which, although at times somewhat hazardous, I enjoyed in no ordinary degree, notwithstanding my journey lay through a comparatively wild and uninhabited country, but one which, from its expansiveness and the general'. richness of its soil I have no doubt will-in course /of time rejoice and blossom as the rose. In closing, I Avill give a few of what I shall call . 2 ,

GENERAL IMPRESSIONS AND succistions, One thing that seemed to impress' me most,' 'was the 'vastness of the country. We travelled hundreds of miles: through land far richer than any I have ever seen in 'the Old Country, all virgin prairie, of course varying in quality, some being grand, rich, heavy black loam,

feross the Prairie Lands, ete. 53

adapted for growing crops of wheat which English Farmers cannot realize, other being lighter and more adap- . ted for barley, &c., all waiting to be taken up by settlers who can obtain the freehold for practically nothing. Here is a grand opportunity can readily turn their hanc men who can only wo

t farmers or those who o tilling theland. Tradesat one branch of f employment

emselves which they always do to men of push and perseverance. Much has been said against the climate of Manitoba 'and the North-West Territory, it is certainly hotter in the summer than in England, according to the thermometer, but I did not fecl it so, as out on the 'prairies there: was always a gloriously cool breeze blowing, and 'however hot the day may have been, the nights were always cool, this is not the case I was told in the - older, provinces "of Canada. I did not see one close hot dull. heavy day like we often get in England; the sky seemed always clear at night, and the Northern Lights were beyond description for grandeur and brilliancy. 1 did not experience a-winter myself, but asked many persons " how they liked the winters, but did not hear anyone speak unfavourably of them. Thcy all said that it was much colder accordirlg to the thermometer than in. gland, but being so dry, it is not felt so much as the damp cold in Englapd. 'Many of whom-I enquired 1€ winters are the most enjoyable, as, being

ray said

aoe eee ee - ate ee ee re

unable to work on the land, the people give themselves np to social enjoyments, and have a merry time of Jit with sleighing parties, skating and other sports.

I made it.a point to enquire of every settler I came across how they liked the country, without exception, they all spoke favourably of it, and many of them said they would not return to England, except'on a visit, for anything. I heard some say that after being" there awhile they wondered why they had not left England before they did, and wondered still more why able-bodied farmers prefer, to drag out a miserable existance in England, sccing their capital gradually dwindling away when by emigration to the Canadian North-West they. can be in a short time, after a little privation and selfsacrifice, owners of their own prosperous farms and independent of any landlord. In this feeling I- fully

sympathise. '

Vinis. °

E

,

§. HEBERT, tito. anp Typo. PRINTERS,

London ;

21, SourH Lampetu Roap & 295, STRAND.

bs