Five Years in Canada

Preface

. In laying this little work before the public, I must ask their kind indulgence in respect of the many shortcomings which it contains. What I have written here are plain facts ; I have endeavoured to trace out the incidents con nected with my sojourn in Canada, and in doing so it has been my wish to point out, not only the advantages, but the disadvantages pertaining to the life of a settler in the Great North AArest. The facts narrated here are but the everyday life of an emigrant ; they are things that Lave happened to me, and that are likely to happen to every young man who may leave his home in England to try* his fortune ''out AVest." I have also endeavoured to show in its true form the position of a man who has emigrated with a family ; and also, in my picture of ranche life, to showwhat may be done with capital and energy.

By the statistics given at the end of this book I hope to have show-n what is to be gained by the different classes of emigrants ; and now, in order to give more insight into the every-day life, I must request the reader's tolerance in accompanying me through a period of five years in Canada. AV. Al. E. Rugby, February, 1895. CONTEXTS. PAGE

Chapter I

— Leave England — S.S. "Corean" — Comforts and Discomforts — Moville— The Voyage— Halifax— Intercolonial Railway— Quebec— Ottawa — The Journey — Lake Superior— The Bush— The Prairie Province— Winnipeg- Portage la Prairie— Strathclair— A Manitoba Farm 9— 1G

Chapter II

— The Buildings — Seeding - Duck Shooting — Cutting Rails- Fencing— Mosquitoes— A Frost— Salt Lakes— The Oops— Neighbours- Breaking— A Cyclone — Dominion Day— Summer-fallowing — Haying — Hudson Bay Company — Indian Reserve — Buying a Pony--An Arrival — Harvesting— Fireguards— Ploughing— Preparations for a Journey 17—24

Chapter III

— A Trip to Lake Dauphin — The Journey — Camping — Heavy Bush — Whiskey -jacks — The New Settlement — The Lake — Haystacks — Our Camping Ground — Ducks and Geese - After a Moose - Prairie Fire —An Adventure with Wolves — The Return Journey— Oil Wells -Indian Encampment— Moosemeat- Home Again— Threshing -Shoal Lake— Fish 25—33

Chapter IV

— Snow-sleighing— Bush Work— Another Trip to Lake Dauphin — Driving Cattle— On Guard— Cold Weather -The Settlement Again— Our Destination— The Shanty— Improvements— The Stables— Trapping Wolves —Hauling Hay— Frozen Feet — Home— Christmas— Cutting Logs— Bears — A Blizzard — Hard Times — Feed running Short —Rabbits — Prairie Chickens 34-41

Chapter V

— Buying a Farm— Starting for Qu'appelle— A Long Walk— Lost —Fort Qu'appelle — The Farm— A Team of Mares— Seeding— The Mosquitoes Again— The Settlement-Doings at the Fort— An Indian Chief- Hunting fur Wood— Pic-nic 42—49

Chapter VI

— Hay— A Mishap— The Crops— Hunting Horses— Gardens— A Summer Frost -The Binder— Statute Labour— Divisions- Sitting Bull— Will our Indians Rebel?— Anxiety— Backsetting — Shooting— The Thresher- Meals- Value of Grain— The Trail— Cord-wood -Wearing Apparel-Lumbering— A Party 50-59

Chapter VII

— Selling Wheat— A Journey- Prohibition Laws— Sun-dogs- Phenomena— Scarcity of Timber— Snow Going— Fighting a Pi-airie Fire— A Wire Fence— A " Bee"— Fishing— Re-sowing Grain— A Funeral— The Valley— Extraordinary Crops— Plenty of Hay- Ready for Harvest GO— G" PAGE

Chapter VIII

— Mounted Police— Troublesome Cattle— Going to England- British Sailors— On the Cars— Port Arthur— An Accident— Experimental Farms — Montreal — S.S. "Sardinian "— Quebec — The St. Lawrence — A Storm— Rough Voyage— Ireland - England OS— 76 CHAPTER 1X.-S.S. " Parisian "—Lough Foyle— Seasickness-The Voyage-A New Line — Cooking — Ice-jam — A Thief — A Stay in Winnipeg— Selling Grain — A Filly — Moving a House- Road-work — Start South — Sunbeam Farm— The Camp-Indian Head 7G-84

Chapter X

- The Ploughing- Horses Lost— A Tramp— The Search-Borrowing a Broncho— The Mission— The Prairie Fire — Burns-No News— Found — The Bell Farm— Hot "Weather — Bathing— The Pic-nic— A Quarrel — Half-breeds — The Experimental Farm 85—94

CHAPTER XL

— A Sun-dance— Trouble— A Thunderstorm— Brassey and Sunbeam Farms — Stone Stable — Indian Pow-wow — Start for Home — The Harvest -Smudging Wheat— Good Crops— Geese— Wheat Frozen— Agricultural Show 95—102 ( 'HAPTER XII.— Ranching— The Stock— Cutting Firewood— "Broncho-busting" —The Colts— Wolves— Blizzards- Riding Bronchos — Mexican Saddles- Cowboys — A Winter Ride— Sixty Degrees below Zero-Hauling Hay-A Wolf Hunt -Cow Lost 103—109

CHAPTER XIII

—The Shack — Batching — Bannock and slap-jack — Cold Weather— Long Days — Qu'appelle Station-An Arrival from England — Leaving the Farm — On the Ranche — Branding — Catching Horses — A Conal .' 110—117

CHAPTER XIV.

— Digging a Well — Nearly an Accident — A New Railway- Railway Companies— A Large Ranche - The Round-up-Calves Missing- Start for England— Regrets— The Journey- Winnipeg-Fort William— S.S. " Athabasca " -Lake Superior— Soult St. Marie— The Locks- Lake Huron —Georgian Bay- Owen Sound • 113—125

CHAPTER XV.

— A Fog— Manitoulin Island— Timber - Toronto - Island Park- Niagara Falls— " Maid of the Mist "—Reminiscences— New York Central — "Exposition Flyer "— Catskill Mountains— Hudson River— New York S.S. "Umbria" — Man Overboard— Queenstown— England 12si— CHAPTEE I. Leave England— S.S. " Corean "—Comforts and Discomforts— Moville— The Vo3-age — Halifax — Intercolonial Railway — Quebec — Ottawa — The Journey — Lake Superior— The Bush — The Prairie Province— "Winnipeg— Portage la Prairie — Strathclair — A Manitoba Farm. On the lltli of April, 1889, I sailed from Liverpool on board the Allan Line steamship " Corean " for Halifax and Portland. It was somewhat of a relief after the hus tle of the landing-stage to get on hoard and look round our new quarters. We were rather disappointed with the vessel ; we had expected to find elaborate state-rooms and cabins, but it turned out that she was only a cattle boat fitted up for emigrants for the occasion ; however, we got our things down into the cabin and tried to look cheerful.

There were four bunks, two above and two below, and a stand with a jug and basin, leaving just enough room in the place for one man to stand upright ; along one side of the cabin ran a stream of bilge water, and in the roof was a ventilator connected with the cook's galley, from which we caught frequent whiffs of boiled cabbages, salt pork, &c ; these little inconveniences no doubt had a great deal to do with our subsequent sick ness. About five o'clock in the evening we started down the Mersey, but very few stayed on deck to wratch the re ceding shores, as the tea-bell had just rung, and all were anxious to make a good meal while we were yet in smooth water. Coming on deck an hour later, very little was to be seen of the coast, and as the evening closed in we lost sight of England. There was no first cabin on the " Corean," and we in the second cabin had the best part of the deck ; the steerage passengers were berthed forward, and being mostly com posed of Scandinavians, Swedes, and Russian Jews, were kept entirely to themselves.

The first night we went to bed in our narrow little bunks expecting to be up early next morning to see the coast of Ireland ; the sea was calm and we were all fairly comfortable ; but when the morning broke the ship was rolling badly, and I soon began to feel queer in the stuffy little cabin, so I managed to get some clothes on, and scrambled on deck in time to save myself from an attack of sickness. A cold wind was blowinjr from the north, and the ship was rolling on the bit of a sea ; the coast of Ireland lay about two miles to leeward, and several small steamers and sailing vessels passed be tween us and the land. Very few passengers were on deck, and the breakfast table did not tempt more than a dozen persons. About noon the ship's head was turned to the land, and we entered Lough Foyle, where the mails and passengers from Londonderry awaited us ; several other vessels were in at the same time, anchored off the pictur esque little village of Moville.

Over a hundred passen gers came on board here, making the number up to about eight hundred ; everyone who had been ill began to feel right again now in the smooth water of the Lough, and when the ship started again, we were all in the best of spirits. An open-air concert was started on deck, but as we left the coast of Ireland and came out upon the waves of the broad Atlantic, the passengers gradually went below, some not to come up again till the end of the voyage, for when I woke next morning the ship was pitching and rolling in a dreadful manner ; to get up I found was impossible, for no sooner had I lifted my head than I was seized with sickness, which lasted for three days, during which time I touched no food and drank very little. One of the other occupants of our cabin was just as bad, but the other two did not suffer so much.

The steward came in with the soothing intelligence that we had encountered a gale, and that no one was allowed on deck — not that we wished to go ; he told us there were only three second cabin passen gers who were not sick, and these did not enjoy them selves much while the gale lasted. On the fourth morning I began to feel a little more cheerful, and with the help of the steward managed to get on deck, where I soon recovered, and spent the time between meals in chewing ship's-biscuit ; most of the other passengers began to get rigut now, and a concert was arranged to be held in the dining saloon that night. The sea had gone down a lot, though it still showed signs of the gale that had passed. But we soon got used to the motion of the vessel, and nearly evervone turned up to the concert, which went off very well.

The next few days passed very quietly ; some times a school of porpoises would follow the ship ; now and again a whale or another ship was sighted, but on the whole the scenery was very monotonous. One night a vessel passed us at a distance of three or four miles, and we were treated to a display of signalling by rockets, which looked very well on the water. Some of the daj-s were very fine and warm, but as we got nearer to the other side we began to feel the difference in the climate. In crossing the bank of Newfoundland we encountered the usual heavy fogs, and had to keep the fog-horn going regularly till we got clear of it. We were now on the look out for land, and about noon on Easter Sunday it was sighted ahead ; a fewT hours, and we rapidly came up to it. The forest-lined shores seemed to have no opening, but as we got nearer we saw a narrow channel, and steaming through this, found ourselves in the harbour of Halifax, Nova Scotia.

It was rather late when we got off the ship ; the bag gage took so long to get off and be passed by the Customs officers, who do not as a rule trouble emigrants to unfasten their boxes. About midnight a train drew up alongside, and we got on board and made ourselves comfortable. The cars were well fitted, with rows of seats up each side, leaving a walk up the middle, along which people might go the whole length of the train ; the seats pull down and make a flat place to sleep on, and in the Colonist Sleeping Cars there is a shelf up above which pulls down and makes a bed. AVe had not been in the car long before we fell asleep, and. on waking up, found ourselves amongst some of the w-ildest scenery imaginable — forests of pine and other trees, broken now and again by a small lake among the rocks, and in some places a few log huts used by lumberers.

No attempt had been made at cultivating this part ; indeed it would be impossible, as it is almost solid rock. As we got further on, however, the land got better, and in some places settlements had sprung up. We stopped at a place called Truro for dinner, and after leaving there came upon a different kind of country altogether; good-sized towns and villages were plentiful, and we passed many farms which looked as well as English ones. In some places the line ran down a very steep descent ; the train rocked and swayed as if it was going off the line, until it suddenly pulled up with a bump at some wayside station. It took us two days to get to Point Levis, opposite Que bec, where we left the Intercolonial Eailroad. on which we had travelled from Halifax, and crossed the St. Law rence on a ferry-boat to Quebec, and there boarded the Canadian Pacific Eailroad cars.

There was a great deal of crushing until we got to another station, where they put on extra cars, and in a few hours' time we arrived at Ot tawa, the capital of the Dominion. The train stayed half an hour to enable us to get some dinner, and after leaving the city ran alongside the Ot tawa River for some distance. All along the stream w_ere mills, lumber camps and piles of timber; we had left the farming country behind again, and stations were few and far between. At meal times we stopped at a small town, and once the engine broke down, delaying us for a few hours, when we walked on to the next station and strolled through the woods. We bought a good deal of our food ami cooked it on the stove in the car, but we found this hardly worth the trouble, when we could get a good meal at one of the stations for from twenty-five to forty cents.

At Sudbury Junction many passengers left the train to go down to the Lake Huron district. From this place the country got wilder and wilder ; nothing was to be seen but huge rocks and trees, with small lakes and rivers, full of fish, trout and pike. A great many bears and other ani mals are shot about here, it being considered one of the best places for sport in the country. Soon after leaving Sudbury the train was signalled to stop, and on getting out to inquire the cause we found the track had slipped and left a great hole in front of us ; it took some time to put this right and get the rails laid again, and it was not until next morning that we got a view of Lake Superior at a spot called Jackfish Bay. The ice had not all melted round the shores, but far out we could see the white-caps of the waves.

The line ran through rocky tunnels and over high tres tles hundreds of feet above the ground, which swayed to and fro as the train ran over them. They are built en tirely of wood, very few bolts being used, and though they look slender, are really very strong and substantial ; at intervals along the bridge are placed barrels of water, to be used in case of fire. In a short time we arrived at Port Arthur, situated at the head of Lake Superior, from which point the steamers start for Owen Sound and American ports ; it is only a small town, but is an important place for wheat shipping. Fort William, at the mouth of the Kaministiquia Eiver, two or three miles further on, is another place from which a great deal of Manitoba No. 1 Hard, as the best wheat is called, is shipped. We now left the Lake altogether, and passed through another barren tract of country till we came to Eat Portage, on the Lake of the Woods.

Min ing is carried on here, and a good deal of silver and some gold has been found. A few hours after leaving Eat Portage the bush began to get thinner, till at last we came out into the prairie province of Manitoba. As far as the eye can reach is one vast plain dotted with the white houses of the settlers ; we passed a good many of these prosperous-looking farms, where the people were seeding, and after running through a few small stations, saw on the horizon sisms of a larce town, and in a short time arrived at the city of Winnipeg, the capital of Manitoba. This town, formerly called Fort Garry, is situated at the junction of the Eed and Assini boine Eivers ; thirty years ago it consisted of a few small shanties ; now it has a population of 30,000, and is one of the rising cities of the Western Continent.

After an hour's stay we resumed our journey westward, and after a fifty-mile run came to Portage la Prairie, where the Manitoba and North- Western joins the Canadian Pa cific, and as I had booked to Strathclair Station on the for mer railroad, I had to change cars. We left Portaee la Prairie about 4.0 p.m., and what little light was left en abled us to see the beautiful and fertile country through which we were passing. I tried to keep awake, lest I should be carried beyond my destination, but as all the other passengers dozed off, I could not resist the temptation, and very soon followed their examples It must have been about midnight when I was awoke by someone shouting in my ear, " Where are you bound for?" I told him, and at once the conductor took hold of me by the coat collar, whilst another man o-ot my baggage, and together we were pitched out on to the platform, just as the train moved on.

When I had collected my scattered senses and baggage, I made for a small shed used as a booking office, and asked for Mr. T — , to whom I had come out to " learn farming." He was there waiting for me, and I wondered at the time how he had managed to guess the train I should arrive by ; but I ceased to wonder when I subsequently learnt that there was only one train a day each way. I shall not soon forget my first ride in a Canadian wagon and the jolting I got ; there are no springs except to the seat, and they are not of much use when the wagon goes through a badger hole or over a stone. A drive of two miles brought us to the house, like most in the neighbourhood, built of logs, and, in order to give it a neater appear ance, lined inside with lumber ; a large stove stood in the centre of the room, and altogether the place looked quite cheerful.

I was very tired after the long journey, and that night did not mind the hardness of the straw7 mat tress, nor the want of chairs and furniture in my little room, which was upstairs in the gable of the roof, and was reached bv a ladder. CHAPTEE II. The Buildings— Seeding— Duck Shooting— Cutting Rails— Fencing— Mosquitoes— A Frost — Salt Lakes— The Crops— Neighbours — Breaking — A Cyclone — Dominion Day — Summer-fallowing — Haying — Hudson Bay Company — Indian Reserve— Buying a Pony— An Arrival— Harvesting— Fireguards- Ploughing— Preparations for a Journey. When I got up next morning I found Mr. T — already busy ploughing; he was using what is called a "sulky," or riding plough ; some of these have two or even three mouldboards, and so, where horses can be got fit to handle them, are much more popular than the ordinary walking plough.

I took a look round the buildings, which were of the usual kind, rough log walls and straw roofs, and, being anxious to start work, I was set to clean the stables out and look after the horses and cattle. Seeding, I found, was nearly finished, and by the middle of May was a thing of the past, the season being one of the earliest on record. The farm itself consisted of 320 acres, about 80 acres only of which was cultivated and fenced in, the rest being open to the prairie, whilst on one part was a small lake of 20 acres, which at that time of the year was covered with wild ducks ; at night, after the work was finished, I some times went down with my gun to try and shoot next day's dinner ; at first I wasted a great many cartridges, and the ducks didn't seem to mind me, but after some practice I could generally manage to get a good bag.

When seeding was over, we went one day to the bush to get a load of stakes for fencing, and as I could not handle an axe (I had already broken two axe-handles in my at tempts at splitting firewood), I had to drag the trees out to the wagon, which I found to be rather heavj' work, and, together with the heat, counter-balanced the novelty of the situation, and when the day's work was over and we were riding home on the load, I had made up my mind that " fanning in Manitoba " was not all sugar and plums, and that " hard work " was much harder than I had anti cipated. We next set to work to do some fencing. Two stakes are stuck in the ground about six or eight inches apart ; between these are put the rails, and then the stakes are kept together by binding them round with willow bands or withes.

About this time the mosquitoes were beginning to make their appearance, and at the same time the wheat was com ing up nicely, when one morning we found there had been four degrees of frost in the night, which had cut down the wheat and killed all the mosquitoes. These frosts generally come if the spring has been early, as it was that year ; one benefit we derived from it was that we were not troubled with mosquitoes again that year, for which we could not be too thankful, for in the short time they had been with us they had given us a foretaste of what was to come wlien the season grew older. We got our mail every day at the station, one of us hav ing to go in for it, which was generally an evening job. The town, as it was called, consisted of ten or twelve houses, three of them being stores, one a saloon, one a blacksmith's -shop, and the rest "private houses," all built of lumber.

(This description refers to the year 1880; from latest ac counts I hear that the place has changed beyond recognition). About two miles from our place was an alkali lake, where we often went for a swim, and to get a fewducks and geese, with which the place swarmed. These alkali or salt lakes are very numerous in that part of the country, and in some places, owing to the continued dry summers, have been com pletely dried up, leaving the salt thick upon the ground like a layer of snow ; needless to say, these salt patches were the favourite resort of the cattle, which, on being turned out after milking in the morning, generally made for one of these places to spend the day, until one of us rode out to herd them up and shut them in a corral, or fenced enclosure, for the night. The working horses were stabled, but the others (about a dozen mares and colts) ran out from one year's end to another.

We had had no rain for some time, and the ground was getting dry and hard, and the wheat, which was recover ing from the effects of the frost, began to turn yellow ; some days were intensely hot, the thermometer register ing one hundred and six degrees in the shade ; we could not even fetch a bucket of cold water from the well but it was tepid before we could reach the house. On Sundays a Presbyterian Church Service was held in a small wooden building at the station, to which most of the people in the district went. We had several neighbours, the nearest being an Englishman, whose house was a little over a quarter of a mile away. In the hot weather b very little meat is eaten, for several reasons, the chief being that it could not be kept fresh many hours, and so bread and butter and vegetables formed our staple food.

After the fencing and other work about the buildings had been finished, we set to work to "break" a piece of land. Mr. T — started with his "sulky" plough, whilst I picked out the stones and stacked them in heaps — very heavy work in hot weather, which necessitated frequent trips to the lake, which was close by, to refresh ourselves with a draught of its, to say the least, unpleasant water ; but in these cases one must not be too particular. AVhen we had done about fifteen acres, Mr. T — started me to do the rest with a small walking plough and two horses ; it was the first time I had held a plough, so I had quite a job to keep it straight at first, but after a time I got into the w-ay of it, and did about ten acres. One day, whilst I was ploughing, 1 saw on the horizon to the north a cloud of dust, and a few minutes after a terrific wind struck us, upset the plough and myself and made the horses stagger ; when it had passed over it began to lighten, and seeing a signal from the house, I went in, just in time to escape a heavy thunderstorm.

This rain did some good to the crops,. but it had come too late to ensure a good season. The grass and herbage was as dry as a bone, and w-e frequently saw prairie and bush fires in the distance. It was now about the beginning of July, and on the 1st of that month, being Dominion Day, a pic-nic was held at a place called Newdale, eight miles east of us, to which were attracted most of the settlers and all the Indians within a fifty miles radius, for whom horse and foot races had been arranged. Soon after this we started to summer-fallow ; some of the ground that had been sow-n was in such a bad state that we ploughed it up to ensure a good crop next year, and altogether did about forty acres. Some of the neighbouring farmers had even worse crops than ours, some fields being covered with weeds, with here and there a head of wheat standing out.

The hay, which grew wild in the hollows •of the prairie, was very short, and what there was of it got eaten up by the cattle, so that the only people who got any hay were those who had some inside their fence, which we were lucky enough to have. AVe started to cut it about the end of Juty ; it needed none of the care and trouble wdiich hay requires in England ; it was cut in the morning, raked up at noon, and carried straight away. It w_as very warm work stacking it, and we were not sorry when it was done. A rack for carrying hay is made of light thin poles, in the form of a cage, and fixed on to the wagon. After this we had very little to do but herd the cattle, so one day we drove to the Hudson Bay Post, seven miles north; after covering half that distance we came to the Little Saskatchewan Eiver, which runs between very steep hills, and which at this point makes a sharp bend from south-west to north, and gives the name to the little village that has sprung up — Big Bend.

The road runs along the valley, passing a fair-sized sawmill, till it conies to the Post. This is a large lumber building, and to it the Indians come from all parts to trade their skins for merchandise. The ground floor was stocked with goods, and several In dians were bargaining with the factors for blankets, &c. Upstairs the floor and walls were covered with the skins that had been brought in ; all kinds of furs were there, some of the most valuable varieties, and altogether worth thou sands of dollars. Whilst we were there an Indian brought in four black bear skins, which he had trapped or shot, and for which they gave him fifty dollars in trade. It seemed to be an unusual sum for him, for he bought some of the "■audiest blankets and ribbons in the store, and went out to show himself off to his squaw.

There was one fellow there who had some ponies to sell, so I went with him to his place, accompanied by one of the factors to interpret ; he lived on the reservation, a tract several miles in extent, which is set apart exclusively for Indians ; his shack, as the huts are called, was made of logs, plastered and roofed with mud, but this is only for winter use, the summer residence being a tepee, or wigwam, which stood near. He got his ponies into the corral, and we picked out one, which he lassoed, and for which I gave him the sum of forty dollars ; it was a mare with a colt, which was thrown into the bargain. It was a regular Indian mustang' and had not been broken, and the consequence was that when I tried to ride it home, I found I had taken on a big job, but we let her gallop till she was tired, and then she gave us less trouble, though she would occasionally stick her feet in the ground and refuse to move an inch, when suddenly she would spring into the air, and do her best to get rid of the burden on her back.