The Great Lone Land: a narrative of travel and adventure in the North-West of America ... With illustrations and route map. Second edition

Front matter

THE GREAT LONE LAM), SHOWING THK ROUTE OF CAPTAIN W. F. BUTLER. E.R.G.S. MAP OF BRITISH iXMEM€A PROM LAKE SUPERIOR lo tin? ROCKY MOUNTAINS. bimloii : Published by Sampson Low. Mitrslon . Low & Sesria, IHH. Klit-t SteMl . THE GREAT LONE LAND: A NARRATIVE OF TRAVEL AND ADVENTURE IN THE NORTH-WEST OF AMERICA. BY Capt. W. F. BUTLER, F.R.G.S. AUXIIOB OF "niSTOTJICAL EVENTS CONNECTED WITH THE SIXTY-NINTn REGIMENT," ETC. " A full fed river winding slow, By herds upon an endless plain. # * * And some one pacing there alone Who paced for ever in a glimmering land, Lit with a low, large moon." Tennyson. WITH ILLUSTRATIONS AND ROUTE MAP. SECOND EDITION. EoitUon : SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON, LOW, & SEARLE, CROWN BUILDINGS, 188, FLEET STREET. 1872. [All rights reserved.'] LONDON : GILBERT AND RIVINGTON, PRINTERS, ST. JOHN'S SQUARE.

Preface

. At York Factory on Hudson Bay there lived, not very long ago, a man who had stored away in his mind one fixed resolution — it was to write a book. " When I put down/' he used to say, " all that I have seen, and all that I havn't seen, I will he able to write a good book." It is probable that had this man carried his intention into effect the negative portion of his vision would have been more successful than the positive. People are gene rally more ready to believe what a man hasn't seen than what he has seen. So, at least, thought Karkakonias the Chippeway Chief at Pembina. Karkakonias was taken to Washington during the great Southern War, in order that his native mind might be astonished by the grandeur of the United States, and by the strength and power of the army of the Potomac. Upon his return to his tribe he remained silent and impassive • his days were spent in smoking, his evenings in fiuiet contemplation ; he spoke not of his adventures in a

PREFACE.

. the land of the great white medicine-man. But at length the tribe grew discontented; they had expected to hear the recital of the wonders seen by their chief, and lo ! he had come back to them as silent as though his wander ings had ended on the Coteau of the Missouri, or by the borders of the Kitchi-Gami. Their discontent found vent in words. " Our father, Karkakonias, has come back to us," they said ; " why does he not tell -his children of the medicine of the white man ? Is our father dumb that he does not speak to us of these things ?" Then the old chief took his calumet from his lips, and replied, " If Karkakonias told his children of the medi cines of the white man — of his war-canoes moving by sire and making thunder as they move, of his warriors more numerous than the buffalo in the days of our fathers, of all the wonderful things he has looked upon — his children would point and say, ' Behold !

Karkakonias has become in his old age a maker of lies I' No, my children, Karkakonias has seen many wonderful things, and his tongue is still able to speak ; but, until your eyes have travelled as far as has his tongue, he will sit silent and smoke the calumet, thinking only of what he has looked upon." Perhaps I too should have followed the example of the old Chippeway chief, not because of any wonders I have looked upon ; but rather because of that well-known

PREFACE.

. V prejudice against travellers' tales, and of that terribly terse adjuration — " O that mine enemy might write a book ! " Be that as it may, the book has been written • and it only remains to say a few words about its title and its theories. The " Great Lone Land " is no sensational name. The North-west fulfils, at the present time, every essential of that title. There is no other portion of the globe in which travel is possible where loneliness can be said to dwell so thoroughly. One may wander 500 miles in a direct line without seeing a human being, or an animal larger than a wolf. And if vastness of plain, and mag nitude of lake, mountain, and river can mark a land as great, then no region possesses higher claims to that distinction. A word upon more personal matters. Some two months since I sent to the firm from whose hands this work has emanated a portion of the unfinished manuscript.

I received in reply a communication to the effect that their Reader thought highly of my descriptions of real occurrences, but less of my theories. As it is possible that the general reader may fully endorse at least the latter portion of this opinion, I have only one observation to make. Almost every page of this book has been written amid the ever-present pressure of those feelings which spring from a sense of unrequited labour, of toil and service theoretically and officially recognized, but practically and VI

PREFACE.

. professionally denied. However, a personal preface is not my object, nor should these things find allusion here, save to account in some manner, if account be necessary, for peculiarities of language or opinion which may hereafter make themselves apparent to the reader. Let it be. In the solitudes of the Great Lone Land, whither I am once more about to turn my steps, the trifles that spring from such disappointments will cease to trouble. W. F. B. April Ut h. 1872. CONTENTS.

Chapter I. I'aoe

Peace — Rumours of War— Retrenchment— A Cloud in the far West — A Distant Settlement — Porsonal — The Purchase System— A Cable-gram — Away to the West ....... 1

Chapter II

The "Samaria" — Across the Atlantic — Shipmates — The Despot of tho Deck — " Kcop her Nor'-West " — Democrat versus Republican — A First Glimpse— Boston ........ 10

Chapter III

Bunker — New York — Niagara — Toronto — Spring-time in Quebec — A Summons — A Start — In good Company — Stripping a Peg — An Expedition — Poor Canada — An Old Glimpse at a New Land — Rival Routes— Change of Masters— The Red River Revolt— The Half-breeds — Early Settlers — Bungling — "Eaters of Pemmican" — M. Louis Eiel— The Murder of Scott 24

Chapter IV

Chicago— "Who is S. B. D.?"— Milwaukie— Tho Great Fusion- Wisconsin — Tho Sleepiug-car — Tho Train Boy— Minnesota — St. Paul — I start for Lake Superior— The Future City — "Bust up" and " Gone on "—The End of the Track 48

Chapter V

Luko Superior— The Dalles of the St. Louis— The North Pacific Railroad — Fond-du-Lac — Duluth — Superior City — The Great Lake — A Plan to dry up Niagara — Stage Driving— Tom's Shanty agaiu — St. Paul and its Neighbourhood CONTENTS.

Chapter VI. Page

Our Cousins — Doing America — Two Lessons — St. Cloud — Sauk Rapids — " Steam Pudding or Pumpkin Pie ? " — Trotting him out — Away for the Red River 79

Chapter VII

North Minnesota — A beautiful Land — Rival Savages — Abercrombie — News from the North — Plans — A Lonely Shanty — The Red River — Prairies — Sunset— Mosquitoes — Going North — A Mosquito Night — A Thunder-storm — A Prussian — Dakota— I ride for it — The Steamer " International "—Pembina . . . . .89

Chapter VIII

Retrospective — The North-west Passage — The Bay of Hudson — Rival Claims — The Old French Fur Trade— The North-west Company — How the Half-breeds came — The Highlanders defeated — Progress —Old Feuds 105

Chapter IX

Running the Gauntlet — Across the Lino — Mischief ahead — Preparations — A Night March — The Steamer captured — The Pursuit — Daylight— The Lower Fort— The Red Man at last— The Chief's Speech — A Big Feed — Making ready for the Winnipeg — A Delay — I visit Fort Garry — Mr. President Riel — The Final Start — Lake Winnipeg— The First Night out— My Crew 113

Chapter X

Tho Winnipeg Rivor — The Ojibbeway's House — Rushing a Rapid — A Camp— No Tidings of tho Coming Man — Hope in Danger — Rat Portage — A far-fetched Islington — " Like Pemmican " . . . 113

CHAPTER XL

The Expedition — The Lake of the Woods — A Night Alarm — A close Shave— Rainy River — A Night Paddle — Fort Francis — A Meeting — Tho Officer commanding tho Expedition — The Rank and File — Tho 60th Rifles — A Windigo — Ojibbeway Bravery — Canadian Volunteers 155

Chapter XII

To Fort Garry — Down the Winnipeg— Her Majesty's Royal Mail — Grilling a Mail-bag — Running a Rapid— Up the Rod River — A dreary Bivouac— The President bolts — The Rebel Chiefs — Departure of the Regular Troops CONTENTS. IX CHAPTER XIIT. PAGE Westward — News from tho Outside- World— I rotrace my Steps — An Offer — The West— Tho Kissaskatchewan — Tho Inland Ocean- Preparations — Departure — A Terrible Plague — A lonely Grave — Digressivo — The Assineboine River — Rossette .... 195

Chapter XIV

Tho Hudson Bay Company— Furs and Free Trade — Fort Ellice — Quick Travelling — Horses— Little Blackie — Touchwood Hills — A Snow-storm — Tho South Saskatchewan — Attempt to cross tho River — Death of poor Blackie — Carlton 210

Chapter XV

Saskatchewan— Start from Carlton— Wild Mares — Lose our Way — A long Ride — Battle River — Mistawassis tho Croo— A Dance . 230

Chapter XVI

Tho Red Man— Leave Battle River— The Red Deer Hills— A long Ride— Fort Pitt — Tho Plague— Hauling by the Tail— A pleasant Companion — An easy Method of Divorce— Reach Edmonton . . 240

Chapter XVII

Edmonton— The Ruffian Tahakooch— French Missionaries — Westward still— A beautiful Land— The Blackfeet— Horses— A " Bell-ox" Soldier -A Blackfoot Speech — Tho Indian Land — First Sight of the Rocky Mountains — The Mountain House — The Mountain Assineboines — An Indian Trade — M. la Combe— Fire-water — A Night Assault 258

Chapter XXII

Cumberland — We bury poor Joe — A good Train of Dogs— The groat Marsh — Mutiny — Chicag the Sturgeon-fisher — A Night with a Medicine-man— Lakes Winnipegoosis and Manitoba — Muskeymote eats his Boots — We reach the Settlement — From the Saskatchewan to the Seine ........... LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE Map of the Great Lone Land Frontispiece Working up the Winnipeg 147 I waved to the leading Canoe ........ 168 Across the Plains in November 215 Tho Rocky Mountains at the Sources of the Saskatchewan . . 274 Loaving a cosy Camp at dawn ........ 298 The " Forks " of tho Saskatchewan

Chapter I

Peace — Rumours or War — Retrenchment — A Cloud in the far West — A Distant Settlement — Personal — The Purchase System — A Cable -gram— Away to the West. It was a period of universal peace over the wide world. There was not a shadow of war in the North, the South, the East, or the West. There was not even a Bashote in South Africa, a Beloochee in Scinde, a Bhoottea, a Burmese, or any other of the many "eses" or "eas" forming the great colonial empire of Britain who seemed capable of kicking up the semblance of a row. Newspapers had never been so dull ; illustrated journals had to content themselves with pictorial representations of prize pigs, foundation stones, and provincial civic magnates. Some of the great powers were bent upon disarming; several influential per sons of both sexes had decided, at a meeting held for the suppression of vice, to abolish standing armies.

But, to be more precise as to the date of this epoch, it will be necessary to state that the time was the close of the year B 1869, just twenty-two months ago. Looking back at this most piping period of peace from the stand-point of to day, it is not at all improbable that even at that tranquil moment a great power, now very much greater, had a firm hold of certain wires carefully concealed ■ the dexterous pulling of which would cause 100,000,000 of men to rush at each other's throats : nor is this supposition rendered the more unlikely because of the utterance of the most religious sentiments on the part of the great power in question, and because of the well-known Christianity and orthodoxy of its ruler. But this was not the only power that possessed a deeper insight into the future than did its neighbours.

It is hardly to be gainsaid that there was, about that period, another great power popularly supposed to dwell amidst darkness — a power which is said also to possess the faculty of making Scriptural quotations to his own advantage. It is not at all unlikely that amidst this scene of universal quietude he too was watching certain little snow-wrapt hamlets, scenes of straw-yard and deep thatched byre in which cattle munched their winter pro vender — watching them with the perspective scent of death and destruction in his nostrils ; gloating over them with the knowledge of what was to be their fate before another snow time had come round. It could not be supposed that amidst such an era of tranquillity the army of England should have been allowed to remain in a very formidable position. When other powers were talking of disarming, was it not necessary that Great Britain should actually disarm ? of course there was a slight difference existing between the respective cases, inasmuch as Great Britain had never armed ; but that distinction was not taken into account, or was not deemed of sufficient im portance to be noticed, except by a few of the opposition journals; and is not every one aware that when a country is governed on the principle of parties, the party which is called the opposition must be in the wrong ?

So it was decreed about this time that the fighting force of the British nation should be reduced. It was useless to speak of the chances of war, said the British tax-payer, speaking through the mouths of innumerable members of the British Legislature. Had not the late Prince Consort and the late Mr. Cobden come to the same conclusion from the widely different points of great exhibitions and free trade, that war could never be ? And if, in the face of great exhibitions and universal free trade — even if war did become possible, had we not ambassadors, and legations, and consulates all over the world ; had we not military attaches at every great court of Europe; and would we not know all about it long before it commenced ? No, no, said the tax-payer, speaking through the same medium as before, reduce the army, put the ships of war out of com mission, take your largest and most powerful transport steamships, fill them full with your best and most ex perienced skilled military and naval artisans and labourers, send them across the Atlantic to forge guns, anchors, and material of war in the navy-yards of Norfolk and the arsenals of Springfield and Rock Island; and let us hear no more of war or its alarms.

It is true, there were some persons who thought otherwise upon this subject, but many of them were men whose views had become warped and deranged in such out-of-the-way places as Southern Russia, Eastern China, Central Hindoostan, Southern Africa, and Northern America — military men, who, in fact, could not be expected to understand questions of grave political economy, astute matters of place and party, upon which the very existence of the parliamentary system B I depended ; and who, from the ignorance of these nice distinctions of liberal-conservative and conservative-liberal, had imagined that the strength and power of the empire was not of secondary importance to the strength and power of a party. But the year 1869 did not pass altogether into the bygone without giving a faint echo of disturbance in one far-away region of the earth.

It is true, that not the smallest breathing of that strife which was to make the succeeding year crimson through the centuries had yet sounded on the continent of Europe. No; all was as quiet there as befits the mighty hush which precedes colossal conflicts. But far away in the very farthest West, so far that not one man in fifty could tell its whereabouts, up somewhere between the Rocky Mountains, Hudson Bay, and Lake Superior, along a river called the Red River of the North, a people, of whom nobody could tell who or what they were, had risen in insurrection. Well informed persons said these insurgents were only Indians, others, who had relations in America, averred that they were Scotchmen, and one journal, well-known for its clearness upon all subjects connected with the American Continent, asserted that they were Frenchmen.

Amongst so much conflicting testimony, it was only natural that the average Englishman should possess no very decided opinions upon the matter ; in fact, it came to pass that the average Englishman, having heard that somebody was rebelling against him somewhere or other, looked to his atlas and his journal for information on the subject, and having failed in obtaining any from either source, naturally concluded that the whole thing was something which no fellow could be expected to understand. As, however, they who follow the writer of these pages through such vicissitudes as he may encounter will have to live awhile amongst these people of the Red River of the North, it will be necessary to examine this little cloud of insurrection which the last days of 1869 pushed above the political horizon.

About the time when Napoleon was carrying half a mil lion of men through the snows of Russia, a Scotch noble man of somewhat eccentric habits conceived the idea of planting a colony of his countrymen in the very heart of the vast continent of North America. It was by no means an original idea that entered into the brain of Lord Selkirk ; other British lords had tried in earlier centuries the same experiment ; and they, in turn, were only the imitators of those great Spanish nobles who, in the sixteenth century, had planted on the coast of the Carolinas and along the Gulf of Mexico the first germs of colonization in the New World. But in one respect Lord Selkirk's experiment was wholly different from those that had preceded it. The earlier ad venturers had sought the coast-line of the Atlantic upon which to fix their infant colonies.

He boldly penetrated into the very centre of the continent and reached a fertile spot which to this day is most difficult of access. But at that time what an oasis in the vast wilderness of America was this Red River of the North ! For 1400 miles between it and the Atlantic lay the solitudes that now teem with the cities of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, and Michi gan. Indeed, so distant appeared the nearest outpost of civilization towards the Atlantic that all means of communication in that direction was utterly unthought of. The settlers had entered into the new land by the ice-locked bay of Hudson, and all communication with the outside world should be maintained through the same outlet. No easy task ! 300 miles of lake and 400 miles of river, wildly foaming over rocky ledges in its descent of 700 feet, lay between them and the ocean, and then only to reach the stormy waters of the great Bay of Hudson, whose ice bound outlet to the Atlantic is fast locked save during two short months of latest summer.

No wonder that the in fant colony had hard times in store for it — hard times, if left to fight its way against winter rigour and summer inundation, but doubly hard when the hand of a powerful enemy was raised to crush it in the first year of its existence. Of this more before we part. Enough for us now to know that the little colony, in spite of opposition, increased and multiplied ; people lived in it, were married in it, and died in it, undisturbed by the busy rush of the outside world, until, in the last months of 1869, just fifty-seven years after its formation, it rose in insurrection. And now, my reader, gentle or cruel, whichsoever you may be, the positions we have hitherto occupied in these few preliminary pages must undergo some slight variation. You, if you be gentle, will I trust remain so until the end ; if you be cruel, you will perhaps relent ; but for me, it will be necessary to come forth in the full glory of the indivi dual " I," and to retain it until we part.

It was about the end of the year 1869 that I became conscious of having experienced a decided check in life. One day I received from a distinguished military func tionary an intimation to the effect that a company in Her Majesty's service would be at my disposal, provided I could produce the sum of 1100/. Some dozen years previous to the date of this letter I entered the British army, and by the slow process of existence had reached a position among the subalterns of the regiment technically known as first for purchase ; but now, when the moment arrived to turn that position to account, I found that neither the 1100''. of regu lation amount nor the 400/. of over-regulation items (terms very familiar now7, but soon, I trust, to be for ever obso lete) were forthcoming, and so it came about that younger hands began to pass me in the race of life.

What was to be done ? What course lay open ? Serve on ; let the dull routine of barrack-life grow duller ; go from Canada to the Cape, from the Cape to the Mauritius, from Mauritius to Madras, from Madras goodness knows where, and trust to delirium tremens, yellow fever, or cholera morbus for promotion and advancement ; or, on the other hand, cut the service, become in the lapse of time governor of a peniten tiary, secretary to a London club, or adjutant of militia. And yet — here came the rub — when every fibre of one's existence beat in unison with the true spirit of military ad venture, when the old feeling which in boyhood had made the study of history a delightful pastime, in late years had grown into a fixed unalterable longing for active service, when the whole current of thought ran in the direction of adventure — no matter in what climate, or under what cir cumstances — it was hard beyond the measure of words to sever in an instant the link that bound one to a life where such aspirations were still possible of fulfilment ; to separate one's destiny for ever from that noble profession of arms; to become an outsider, to admit that the twelve best years of life had been a useless dream, and to bury oneself far away in some Western wilderness out of the reach or sight of red coat or sound of bugle— sights and sounds which old associations would have made unbearable.

Surely it could not be done ; and so, looking abroad into the future, it was difficult to trace a path which could turn the flank of this formidable barrier flung thus suddenly into the highway of life. Thus it was that one, at least, in Great Britain watched with anxious gaze this small speck of revolt rising so far away in the vast wilderness of the North-West ; and when, about the beginning of the month of April, 1870, news came of the projected despatch of an armed force from Canada against the malcontents of Red River, there was one who beheld in the approaching expedition the chance of a solution to the difficulties which had beset him in his career. That one was myself. There was little time to be lost, for already, the cable said, the arrangements were in a forward state ; the staff of the little force had been organized, the rough outline of the expedition had been sketched, and with the opening of navigation on the northern lakes the first move would be commenced.

Going one morning to the nearest telegraph station, I sent the following message under the Atlantic to America : — " To , Winnipeg Expedition. Please remember me." When words cost at the rate of four shil lings each, conversation and correspondence become of ne cessity limited. In the present instance I was only allowed the use of ten words to convey address, signature, and substance, and the five words of my message were framed both with a view to economy and politeness, as well as in a manner which by calling for no direct answer still left un decided the great question of success. Having despatched my message under the ocean, I determined to seek the Horse Guards in a final effort to procure unattached pro motion in the army. It is almost unnecessary to remark that this attempt failed ; and as I issued from the audience in which I had been informed of the utter hopelessness of my request, I had at least the satisfaction of having reduced my chances of fortune to the narrow limits of a single throw.

Pausing at the gate of the Horse Guards I reviewed in a moment the whole situation ; whatever was to be the result there was no time for delay, and so, hailing a hansom, I told the cabby to drive to the office of the Cunard Steam ship Company, Old Broad Street, City. " What steamer sails on Wednesday for America?" " The ' Samaria ' for Boston, the ' Marathon ' for New York." " The ' Samaria ' broke her shaft, didn't she, last voyage, and was a missing ship for a month ? " I asked. " Yes, sir," answered the clerk. " Then book me a passage in her," I replied ; " she's not Hkely to play that prank twice in two voyages."

Chapter II

The " Samaria " — Across the Atlantic — Shipmates — The Despot of the Deck — "Keep her Nor'-West " — Democrat versus Republican — A First Glimpse — Boston. Political economists and newspaper editors for years have dwelt upon the unfortunate fact that Ireland is not a manufacturing nation, and does not export largely the products of her soil. But persons who have lived in the island, or who have visited the ports of its northern or southern shores, or crossed the Atlantic by any of the ocean steamers which sail daily from the United Kingdom, must have arrived at a conclusion totally at variance with these writers; for assuredly there is no nation under the sun which manu factures the material called man so readily as does that grass-covered island. Ireland is not a manufacturing nation, says the political economist.

Indeed, my good sir, you are wholly mistaken. She is not only a manufacturing nation, but she manufactures nations. You do not see her broad-cloth, or her soft fabrics, or her steam-engines, but you see the broad shoulder of her sons and the soft cheeks of her daughters in vast states whose names you are utterly ignorant of; and as for the exportation of her products to foreign lands, just come with me on board this ocean steam ship " Samaria " and look at them. The good ship has run down the channel during the night and now lies at anchor in Queenstown harbour, waiting for mails and passengers. The latter came quickly and thickly enough. No poor, illfed, miserably dressed crowd, but fresh, and fair, and strong, and well clad, the bone and muscle and rustic beauty of the land; the little steam-tender that plies from the shore to the ship is crowded at every trip, and you can scan them as they come on board in batches of seventy or eighty.

Some eyes among the girls are red with crying, but tears dry quickly on young cheeks, and they will be laughing before an hour is over. " Let them go," says the economist ; " we have too many mouths to feed in these little islands of ours ; their going will give us more room, more cattle, more chance to keep our acres for the few ; let them go." My friend, that is just half the picture, and no more; we may get a peep at the other half before you and I part. It was about five o'clock in the afternoon of the 4th of May when the " Samaria " steamed slowly between the capes of Camden and Carlisle, and rounding out into Atlantic turned herhead towards the western horizon. The ocean lay unruffled along the rocky headlands of Ireland's southmost shore. A long line of smoke hanging suspended between sky and sea marked the unseen course of another steamship farther away to the south.

A hill-top, blue and lonely, rose above the ruffed coast-line, the far-off summit of some inland moun tain ; and as evening came down over the still tranquil ocean and the vessel clove her outward way through phos phorescent water, the lights along the iron coast grew fainter in distance till there lay around only the unbroken circle of the sea. On board. — A trip across the Atlantic is now-a-days a very ordinary business ; in fact, it is no longer a voyage it is a run, you may almost count its duration to within four hours ; and as for fine weather, blue skies, and calm seas, if they come, you may be thankful for them, but don't expect them, and you won't add a sense of disappointment to one of discomfort. Some experience of the Atlantic enables me to affirm that north or south of 35° north and south latitude there ex-is^ .- no such thing as pleasant sailing.