It
was a large fenced enclosure, with the usual style of dwellings and stores,
and stood on the bank of the Assiniboine about 300 feet above the river,
surrounded by bluffs of aspen and poplar.Previous entries of Sam Steele's Journal
August 4, 1874
We had a bad time of it for several days after we left La Roche Percee, the horses being so weak that they had to be changed twice both forenoon and afternoon to enable our little force to make 8 miles a day, and the cows and the calves became so footsore that they would lie down every few yards unless a goad were constantly applied.
August 11, 1874
The guide was able to keep ahead of the transport
at a slow walk, leading his little pony and cart. The cart train and the
yoke oxen followed, while we drove the herd of cows and calves before us.
The country over which we passed, now covered with fine farms and comfortable
homes, was gently undulating and luxuriant with grass, which caused our
horses and cattle to show signs of returning vigour.
August 14, 1874
We reached Fort
Ellice. It
was a large fenced enclosure, with the usual style of dwellings and stores,
and stood on the bank of the Assiniboine about 300 feet above the river,
surrounded by bluffs of aspen and poplar.
August 15, 1874
The valley, which is more than a mile wide, was very pretty, partly timbered, and there were occasional grassy bottoms on which large herds of ponies, many of them pintos (piebald), and numbers of cattle were grazing.
August 16, 1874
Our horses and cattle were turned out on the flats, and as there were quicksands in different places we had a good deal of practice hauling them out of those death traps, which the Indian ponies knew enough to avoid.
We pulled out from Fort Ellice towards the west,
leaving behind us the quartermaster, the sick men, half of the cows and
calves, a large quantity of provisions and stores and several horses, which
were not in good enough condition to be brought with us.
August 19, 1874
Our stock had now recovered their strength, and, as we had not enough men to furnish night herders, they wandered considerable distances. As we did not know the ground, the round up took us a considerable time.
August 20, 1874
One morning I jumped a fine creek with grassy banks, and found my horse up to the neck in a shaking bog with a tough sod on top and quicksand beneath. Fortunately the horse must have been in such a place before, as he did not exhaust himself with vain struggles.
August 20, 1874
The horse took things easily and waited till I
called him to come, which I lost no time in doing. I had, as one should
always do in a quicksand, thrown myself face downwards, and struggling as
if swimming, took the lead, and the horse when called made a plunge forward,
and resting for a second, gathered himself for another effort until we were
extricated from our predicament. I noticed afterwards that this horse and
another which was always with him and had the same colour and marks avoided
all soft places when they were turned out to graze.
August 21, 1874
Stewed prairie chickens and ducks usually formed part of the evening meal...
August 25, 1874
There were signs of prairie fires having run over the country the previous autumn. These had done a good deal of damage to the islands of poplar.
August 26, 1874
The Hudson's Bay Company had no jurisdiction now, with the lamentable result that people had become careless. Travellers left their fires burning, tenderfeet threw matches into the grass after lighting their pipes, Indians and the Metis buffalo hunters wilfully set the prairies on fire so that the bison would come to their part of the country to get the rich, green grass which would follow in the spring.
August 27, 1874
Large tracts of country had been burned every year, consequently no trees were to be found except where the lakes and creeks were numerous enough to prevent the fires from running.
September 2, 1874
On the Salt Plain we met several brigades of carts driven by hunters, freighters and traders with packs of buffalo robes, dried meat and pemmican.
September 5, 1874
Inspector Jarvis bought a supply of pemmican, which is the best food in the world for the traveller, soldier and sailor, either on the plains of America or in the Arctic regions.
September 6, 1874
It (the pemmican) was cooked in two ways in the
west; one a stew of pemmican, water, flour and, if they could be secured,
wild onions or preserved potatoes. This was called "rubaboo";
the other was called by the plain hunters a " rechaud." It was
cooked in a frying-pan with onions and potatoes or alone. Some persons ate
pemmican raw, but I must say that I never had a taste for it that way.
September 7, 1874
The day was spent crossing the south branch of the Saskatchewan aided by a cable ferry which was already established there. The cattle had to swim across.
After eight long weeks of weary days we reached
Fort Carlton.
Here
perfect discipline existed. The offices and stores were neat, and over each
door was painted in French and English the name of the store and office,
together with the class of goods in the buildings.
September 19, 1874
After a week's rest we pulled out of Carlton. As we left we were informed that the Blackfeet and Crees were again on the warpath. The country through which we went was a good stock country, but we found the cart trail very rough with roots and stones, and the horses were now beginning to show signs of the long march without grain.
September 23, 1874
Game was very plentiful, and the cranes, white
wild geese or wavies were in profusion, with considerable numbers of the
grey Canadian goose. Our guns and rifles were kept busy during each halt,
Corporal Carr on one occasion shooting eleven wild geese with one barrel.
September 26, 1874
The evenings were fine, and the Métis drivers
had great fun after supper. One of them had a violin, and to its music the
remainder in turn danced a Red River Jig on a door which they carried in
their carts for the purpose.
September 27, 1874
Tired of ducks, geese, prairie chickens and pemmican,
the Métis caught skunks, boiled them in three waters and then roasted
them, thinking them preferable to any other food!
September 28, 1874
Horse Hill, close to Turtle River, was, a few years previous to our visit, the scene of a desperate fight between the Crees and Blackfeet.
September 29, 1874
From now on the trouble with our tired horses and oxen increased. Heavy rains had fallen, reducing the trails to a deplorable state, and the poor horses with the waggons staggered along.
September 30, 1874
The horses suffered much more than the oxen as the nights became colder when they lay down to rest the unfortunate brutes became so stiff that they could not rise without help. I had to call the men up many times during the night to lift them by main force and rub their stiffened limbs to restore the circulation. This occurred so often that the men themselves became exhausted from fatigue and want of sleep.
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