Where the buffalo roamed : the story of Western Canada told for the young

Introduction

A BEQUEST has come to me from the Publisher to write an introduction to Miss Marsh’s book, Where the Buffalo Eoamed.” The title of the book leads one to expect large elements of romance, pathos and tragedy, and this expectation will not he disappointed.

We have here the history of the Great 'New West of Canada, in the form of a series of sketches. They begin with the fascinating chapter which describes the country when it was a land primeval in which there lived in solitary grandeur the lordly Indian —

“ Free as when Nature first made man.

Ere the base laws of servitude began.”

With the Indian, in a sort of comradeship, there dwelt in that land the buffalo and the deer, and all the tribes of the animal world whose haunts had not yet been broken into by the crack of the white man’s rifle, and whose lives were not spent in constant effort to elude the cruelty of men who hunt the innocent for sport.

Here and there throughout the hook we find touches that reveal to us the lover of nature and the friend of the dumb creatures of God. This special feature has

IV

Il^TEODUCTIOIT no doubt entered into the work out of the heart of the writer of the book ; but it is a particularly good feature in view of the fact that the work is written primarily for children and young people. History is an absorbing study for most of us, but for children who have not yet been seized with the importance of it, there is need for putting historical facts into an attractive form. A story always appeals to them, and they are naturally sympathetic towards animals; hence, a book that contains these features will convey to them abundant information under its sugar-coating of narrative and description. In all this Miss Marsh has succeeded so well that even grown-up children who are anxious to get hold of the history of the West will find in her book great pleasure and profit.

The book is, of course, of special interest to me because it takes me delightfully over familiar ground. The West is the land of my birth, and from childhood I knew the life which Miss Marsh so well depicts. The story of the earliest explorers comes to me as one which I have frequently read in other works, but the leading features in the old life of the West and the period of transition to the new life are within my own ken. My father was one of the famous band known as the Selkirk Settlers, concerning whose amazing difficulties and final triumph Miss Marsh writes, perhaps, the best of all her chapters. Here and there I can see evidences that the authoress was not part of the life she depicts, but mTRODUCTIOISr

V on that account her uniform correctness is the more surprising. It must be the result of protracted and painstaking study in connection with the subject.

The kind of life described in these chapters can never be reproduced in actuality, for the West is the last corner of the habitable earth where such scenes were possible. The heroism of explorers like Radisson, Yerendrye, Hearne, Mackenzie, and the rest, can have no duplicate, because communication and travel have been made easy by the progress of science and invention. The Arcadia of the Selkirk Settlement on the Red River can never again be found in the world, because the isolation in which it existed would now be impossible, even though the lofty character of the settlers is capable of imitation.

There are no limits to be placed upon Western possibilities now. To me it seems that the Canadian West, for weal or woe, will be the largest national factor in the future destiny of the world, and it is hoped that the youth of our land will acquaint themselves with the genesis and development of its wonderful history.

Ilovember 10, 1908.

R. G. MacBeth.

Contents

CHAPTER PAGE

I. No Man^s Land - - - - - - 11

II. Henry Hudson - - - - - - 15

CHAPTER III. The Finding of the West

Aftee Hudson’s voyage, men still searched for a water passage through the new continent. Besides the explorers, the good missionaries were following the Indians farther back into the country. Father Jogues had a mission as far west as Sault Ste. Marie, and a man called Jean Hicolet, who was not a missionary, had gone through the Straits of Mackinaw. But what was beyond that no white man knew. The Indians and the animals still had the great Horth-West all to themselves. But they were not to have it alone much longer. Pierre Radisson, the first white man to enter their country, was at this time a boy living at Three Rivers, a place between Montreal and Quebec. He was born in Prance, in the little seaport town of St. Malo, but his father moved to Canada while he was still a boy.

Pierre was happy in the new country, for he loved adventure and was not afraid of danger. There was plenty of danger then. The Iroquois Indians had been at war with the Hurons and Algonquins for years. Because the French helped the Hurons and Algonquins fight against the Iroquois, this great tribe declared they would have their revenge, and were now trying to kill all the white people, as well as their Indian enemies. It was not a peaceful time for the young Pierre to live in Canada. All this does not concern the history of the

THE EIHDIHG OF THE WEST

Hortli-West, but it will make you better acquainted with the man who was to find it.

Many times the young people at Three Rivers were told not to venture outside the fort, for the Iroquois were in hiding all about, ready to capture any stray Frenchman. In spite of this warning, one fine day Pierre went out with two of his friends to hunt. Before they had gone far they met a settler who told them that he had seen hundreds of heads out among the hills, and warned them not to go on. Upon hearing this the two friends turned back, but Pierre went on alone. All through his life he was just the same, going on and on and on, no matter what the dangers were.

He had good fortune with his hunting that day, and at last he started back with a string of wild ducks and geese over his shoulders. Hear the place where he had left his companions he sat down to rest. Then the brave hunter began to have strange nervous feelings, and though he saw nothing, it seemed to him that he was not alone. To reassure himself that there was no danger, and to shake ofi this nervous feeling, he began to shoot at the wild fowl. Surely,’’ he thought, there can be no one about, or ducks would not come down to the water.” Moving on for a better shot, he stumbled over something. To his horror and amazement he saw that it was the dead body of one of his companions.

Pierre Radisson knew too well what had happened. He tried to hide, hut the dark heads of the Iroquois seemed in an instant to surround him. They had been hiding among the rushes and behind the trees watching for him. They captured him, but spared his life because he was so brave that they wanted him to be one of themselves. They adopted him into one of their families. They dressed him up in their own way, painted his face, and put feathers in his hair; then, when they thought they had made him look very grand, they gave him a looking-glass that he too might admire himself. Poor Eadisson said afterward that he looked all in a pickle.’’ But he was pleased when they gave him firearms, for nowhere could he learn to be a great hunter better than with the Indians.

F or over a year he was with them. During that time he became wise in the ways of the Indians and learned to love the wilderness. Often when he lay asleep beside the camp-fire he would dream of journeying through new lands where no white man had been before. When, at last, he got away from the Indians, he fied to Hew York, took a boat for France, and from there sailed back to Three Eivers.

While Pierre was away his eldest sister^ Marguerite, married a man named Groseilliers, who, like himself, wished to explore unknown lands. Groseilliers told him that some Indians had been at Three Eivers and had told the white men of a wide country beyond the Great Lakes that was rich in furs. They also told them that away to the north of this coimtry was salt water. Sixty canoes of Frenchmen had set out to find this land, hut they became discouraged and turned hack. Groseilliers, with one of the priests, had gone farther and heard more from the Indians about this country. He now wanted Eadisson to go with him to find that land. Eadisson was delighted at the prospect, and, though he had been home only a few weeks, wanted to start at once, and said he ^Gonged to see himself in a boat.”

THE FHSTDIHG OE THE WEST

The brave men soon had a chance to set ont for the unknown land. It happened that about this time (the summer of 1658) some Algonquins from far away came down to Three Rivers to trade their furs. Thinking it a good chance to be guided to the distant country, Radisson, Groseilliers, and quite a party of their countrymen, started back with them. The trip was so dangerous that Radisson and Groseilliers were the only white men to go all the way.

The Algonquins had traded their furs for guns, the first they had ever possessed, and were so delighted with them that they were continually firing them off. Radisson said, DonT do so much shooting, or the Iroquois will hear you; and, above all things, keep the canoes together, so that if we are attacked we can defend ourselves.” The Indians would not listen. Before they had gone far an Indian came out of the woods and shouted to them. He called them brothers, and said, I would save you ; your enemies are spread up and down. They have heard your noise, and wait for you. Keep your hatchets sharp, build a fort, and make haste !”

The foolish Algonquins would not take warning, for had they not their new guns? Because Radisson and Groseilliers told them that even with their guns they needed to be careful when such crowds of Iroquois were about, they said these men were timid squaws.” They called the Indian who warned them a hen and a dog. In spite of their bravado, however, they showed some caution. They did not land that night, but tied their canoes among the rushes in the river, where they were safely hidden.

In the morning they set out before daylight, while there was still a fog to hide them. As they glided on, the sound of rushing water told them that they had come to a waterfall. A still more alarming sound reached their ears. It was the war-cry of the Iroquois and the crash of their guns. This frightened them so that they hardly knew what they were doing. They ran into the woods and, as Radisson says, ^^got themselves all in a heap like ducks that see the eagle come to them.’^ All day they remained in hiding. When darkness came they crept hack to their canoes. The Indians were now thoroughly frightened and declared they would make a dash past the falls, but that they could not help the white men nor carry any of their things.

By this time the young Frenchmen who were with Radisson and Groseilliers, knowing they would not he able to keep up, decided to turn back. These two said they would finish the journey or die by the way.

Once past this band of Iroquois they travelled only at night, lying hidden under the trees during the day. As they were afraid to let their guns be heard, they dare not shoot at the wild fowl, but lived on boiled moss and berries. It was well for the bear in the berry patch that they dare not fire at him. In spite of the slow work of paddling up stream and portaging their canoes, they reached Lake Hipissing in good time. Then they passed dovm French River to Georgian Bay, made their way around its northern shores, past Manitoulin Island, on through the Straits of Mackinaw, and up Lake Michigan, exploring the country to the south.

The next year (1659) they turned northward and during the winter travelled day after day on snowshoes over the crisp, hard snow. On this journey they heard

THE EHSTDIHG OF THE WEST some wonderful news. The Indians they met told them about a great bay in the north, and from their description the Frenchmen knew it must he the one Henry Hudson had discovered. They heard whereabouts it was, and learned for a certainty that one could get to it from Canada by land.

In the spring of the following year they were ready to go back with some tine furs and carrying news of the great country they had found. But the Indians had reasons for not wishing to guide them back. They wanted the white men to stay with them, because they had done so much for them; and besides, the Indians were afraid to take the journey, for they had heard the Iroquois were lying in wait for them. One old chief made a speech in which he said :

Brothers, the Iroquois will destroy you and carry you away captive. Will you have the brethren that love you slain? Stay till next year; then you may go freely.”

Eadisson took a beaver skin that one of the Indians had on his shoulder, and throwing it at the chief, replied in this way :

^^How can you defend yourselves without getting arms from the French ? If you try to fight the Iroquois with beaver pelts instead of guns you will make your children slaves. But do as you like; we can get along without you.”

That speech settled the matter. The Indians were too proud to stand such talk, so they guided the white men back.

CHAPTER IV. Radisson and Groseilliers in the North-West

Upon the return of the two daring explorers the greatest interest was taken in their journey. Everyone wanted to know whether they had heard anything of the Uorth-west Passage or the Western Sea. But they were careful not to tell what they had heard of the great bay, for fear someone would start off and get there before them and have all the glory of finding it.

In spite of their care people did hear about it. Radisson was surprised when some men told him they were preparing to start for the great hay in the north and asked him to go along as guide. The man who had braved the dangers of a first journey into that unknown land, and had found the way, declined to act as a guide for others. Then he talked with Groseilliers, and they made up their minds to he ofi at once and get there before the others.

How, there was one difficulty in the way. At this time no one in Canada was allowed to trade in furs without a license, that is, permission from the Governor. When Radisson and Groseilliers asked for a license the Governor refused to grant it unless they would agree to give him half the furs and take two of his servants along to see that he received his full share.

The men who were going to take this long journey ■ and risk their lives in making great discoveries for their

EADISSOiT AND GEOSEILLIEES 2Y country were indignant. Eadisson says: ^^We made the Governor slight answer, and told him that for our part we knew what we were, discoverers before governors. If the wild men came down the way for them as for us, we should be glad to have the honor of his company, but not that of his servants, and that we were both masters and servants.”

The Governor was angry, and said they should not go. He forbade them to leave Three Eivers. They sent him word that they would go, and then stole away in the night. Meanwhile, the Indians who were going to guide them grew tired of waiting and went on. Eadisson and Groseilliers had to paddle day and night to catch up with them.

Then the real hardships of the journey began. More than once they drove away lurking bands of Iroquois. Game was so scarce that sometimes they nearly starved. But the Indians, Eadisson tells us, were ^^as kind as Christians.” Often, while gathering berries along the shore, some of them would call to him to come and share in a good place they had found. Once, in a time of great scarcity, an Indian in the boat with Eadisson, seeing a beaver put its head above the water, jumped in, went down to the bottom after it, and brought it up in his arms. He was much too hungry to fear being bitten.

In October they came to Lake Superior, where they had plenty of fish and game. After having some good meals beside their camp-fires on the beach, they coasted round the south shore to the west, and from the west to the north.

When journeying north-west from the lake they met some Indians of tlie Cree tribe, wbo lived in the Horth- West. These Indians were delighted to see them, and at once invited the white strangers to visit them. When Radisson and Groseilliers accepted the invitation, the Crees went away to bring some of their people back to carry the strangers’ baggage and conduct them to their village. As the Indians had a long journey home, the white men built a little fort to rest in while they waited for their return. It is not supposed that this fort was within the Canadian Horth-West, but the Horth-West Indians came to it. It was the place where they first traded with the white man. The queer little beginning of what was to become a great fur trade was just a tiny log hut beside a river, with a bright fire burning in the middle, log beds on one side, and a log table on the other.

You may rest assured that when you are in the land of the Indians, though you see no signs of them, they know where you are and what you are doing. So they learned the little hut was there and came to visit it. But the visits were always friendly ones, made to welcome the strangers.

Before long they were coming so often and staying so late that the white men could not sleep. Radisson put a stop to that. He was wise enough to know that if he could impress them with the greatness of the white man he would keep them at a respectful distance. What he did do was to cut birch bark in narrow strips and roll gunpowder in it at regular distances; then stretch it round the hut and set it on fire. When the Indians saw the circle of fire, with one little explosion after another, they were amazed. They declared the white men were wonderful beings, and were careful not

EADISSOJSr AND GROSEILLIEKS to offend them, nor to come oftener than they were wanted. So Eadisson and Groseilliers lived there in peace until the Crees came hack to take them to their homes.

The Crees looked up to the explorers as if they were gods. They shouted and danced for them, carried all their things, and were blissfully happy if they got a brass awl, a ring, or a needle. The first white men to travel in the ITorth-West were, as Eadisson said, Csesars with none to contradict them.’’ When nearing the Cree village with their white visitors, the Indians sent their swiftest runners on to tell that they were coming. In the morning they entered the village in grand style.

The Indians were so pleased with their white visitors and the presents they received from them that they got down on the ground to show that they would be their slaves. Some even threw themselves backwards upon the ground, which was their way of showing friendship and welcome. Afterwards they gave a grand feast and danced for their guests.

Living in the land of the Indians was very pleasant for a time, but when winter came Eadisson and Groseilliers saw some of the red man’s troubles. As the season advanced the snow began to fall. Clouds of great white fiakes came down, changing the daylight into darkness. The wild creatures hurried away to their shelters and not a living thing could be found. The Indian hunters came home empty-handed.

According to the Indian custom in days of famine, all the food was now kept for the men, that they might have strength to hunt. The women and children were 3 eating only dried skins. As time passed and no trace of game could be found, tbe skins, or soup made out of bark, was all they bad for anyone. To keep from starving they even boiled the bones that had been left from the time of plenty. As the ground was frozen, and covered with five or six feet of snow, it was only with the greatest difficulty that they could get roots.

When the spring came and the snow and ice melted, the animals came out again, and food was plentiful. Then the white men prepared to travel on. After they had made a visit to the Indians a little to the south, the Crees offered to take them to the great bay of the north, which Radisson and Gfroseilliers had come to find. Radisson had sprained his ankle, but he was a true explorer and would not stop on that account. For two days he limped along with the others. Then, as he could keep up no longer, they gave him a little food and went on without him.

Groseilliers was hunting at the time, and did not know that his companion was left behind. For a few more days poor Radisson crept along on the trail of the others. When, at last, he came to an empty wigwam, he was so weary and ill that he built a little fire and went to sleep. A great light and a crackling noise awakened him. The wigwam was on fire. He threw out his snowshoes, crawled out himself, and watched it burn to the ground. He had no shelter now, and was cold and hungry, and his foot was so sore that he could not walk. Far away there were sounds — the baying of wolves, he felt sure — and there in the cold and darlmess he wondered how much longer he would have to live. But the brave explorer was being cared for. When Groseilliers joined

KADISSO^T AND GKOSEILLIEKS the others after his hunting and learned what had happened to his comrade, he sent Indians hack for him. The sounds that Radisson took to he the howling of wolves were the shouts of these Indians. They soon found him and took him safely on to the others.

After a time they came to rivers that flowed north to the great bay, and travelled by canoe again. But so far north were they now that they found the rivers still full of floating ice. Radisson wrote of this canoe trip. We were in danger to perish a thousand times from ice jam.”

Whether or not these explorers really spent the summer on the shores of the Hudson Bay is still a disputed point. But there can be no doubt that they were the flrst white men to And the way to it overland and to sail on the rivers that emptied into that great bay.

They could tell many curious stories of the Indians they found far in the north. One of these stories was about an Indian to whom they showed the image of the flight of Joseph and the Virgin Mary with the child Jesus. The Indian at once began to weep and tear his hair. He said that the white men must know everything, for that was his wife and child who had been taken away by another tribe four years before. Pointing to Joseph, he said, There am I with my long robe, seeking for my wife and child.”

In the spring of 1663 the explorers started for home. They reached there with rich furs just at a time when the Governor needed money. He cared nothing for the hardships and dangers they had met with in flnding new lands where there was a wealth of furs for their country, nor for what Radisson had endured when he tramped for days with a sprained ankle to find a great bay. ISTor did he care that many a time they had almost starved. But he did care about the money their canoe-loads of furs would bring, and to get that money he fined the explorers because they had slipped away in the night without his permission. The fine amounted to almost as much as the value of the furs they had brought back, and they were left poor men. He gave them no honor for their service to the country, but instead tried his best to bring disgrace upon them.

CHAPTER V. The Founding of the Hudson's Bay Company

Radissow and Groseilliers, as you have seen, were unjustly treated in Hew France. They therefore resolved to cross the ocean and seek justice in Old France. But Old France would pay no attention to them. Then an Englishman, who saw how unfairly they had been used, said, Have no more to do with your own country, but come to England. You will be better treated there.’’ After trying in vain to make some arrangement in France by which they could go hack to Hudson Bay and trade, they decided to take the Englishman’s advice. They went to England, just three years after their return from the north.

Upon their arrival in the city of London, Radisson and Groseilliers were kindly received by King Charles. He was much interested in what they told him of the Hudson Bay fur trade, but he was busy with a war just then and they were kept waiting. However, he had a cousin. Prince Rupert, who wanted to make some money and who talked much with the French explorers of the wealth which they said was to he gained from the heaverskins of the Hew World.

Prince Rupert’s interest had so much influence that by the spring of 1668 a company of men advanced money enough to send two ships to the Hudson Bay. Radisson sailed in one and Groseilliers in the other.

The vessel Radisson was in was driven back by storms, but Groseilliers, in Captain Gillam’s ship, reached Hudson Bay in safety. After sailing southward they came to a river which Groseilliers named Rupert in honor of Prince Rupert. Here they built a fort and called it Fort Charles, after the King of England. The Indians were delighted to have the fort there. They brought all their furs to the white men, and promised to come again with more.

When winter set in it was just as cold and dark and dreary to these white men as it had been to poor Henry Hudson and his men over fifty years before. Captain Gillam wrote in his journal: The earth seemed frozen

to death.’’ It did not seem to him that spring could ever come. But it did. The weather became warm, then hot. The Englishmen were astonished at the sudden change, and began to think it possible for the fur-traders to live on Hudson Bay.

When the ice broke up they sailed back to England with a load of rich furs. Meanwhile Radisson had not wasted his winter, but had been talking much about Hudson Bay and the fur trade. Prince Rupert had been talking, too. The result was that when the ship came back, and all could see the beautiful furs from Hudson Bay, a company was formed. It was called the Honourable Hudson’s Bay Company, or Company of Adventurers Trading into the Hudson Bay. It is the same great company that we have to-day.

The Royal Charter was granted to the Company in May, 1670. By this charter the members of the Company were given the sole right to the fur trade, and dominion over all the northern land. Their territory

THE HUDSON’S BAY COMPANY 35

was called Eupert’s Land, after Prince Enpert, who was their first governor. At this time even the members of the Company had no idea of the extent of the land they had been given, and it was years before they knew the real value of their charter.

Other trading-posts besides Fort Charles were built on the shores of Hudson Bay. These forts were all little log buildings with high protecting walls about them. The men who were sent out to take charge of them had lonely times, with nothing to break the dullness of the long years but the Indians bringing in the furs and the English ships that came and went every summer when the bay was clear of ice. The ships brought the blue beads, looking-glasses, bright handkerchiefs, knives, needles, guns, powder and shot used to trade with the Indians, and carried back loads of the pretty furs. Better still for the lonely fur-trader, they brought him letters from home, and carried away his messages to friends across the ocean.