[Illustration: Cover art] [Frontispiece: KA-KAKE AND THE BUFFALO--(See page 155).] FOREST, LAKE AND PRAIRIE TWENTY YEARS OF FRONTIER LIFE IN WESTERN CANADA--1842-62. BY JOHN McDOUGALL SECOND EDITION TORONTO: WILLIAM BRIGGS 1910 Entered, according to the Act of the Parliament of Canada, in the year one thousand eight hundred and ninety-five, by WILLIAM BRIGGS, Toronto, in the Office of the Minister of Agriculture, at Ottawa. TO My Dear Mother THIS BOOK is AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED BY THE AUTHOR. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. Childhood--Indians--Canoes--"Old Isaiah"--Father goes to college CHAPTER II. Guardians--School--Trip to Nottawasaga--Journey to Alderville--Elder Case--The wild colt, etc CHAPTER III. Move into the far north--Trip from Alderville to Garden River--Father's work--Wide range of big steamboat--My trip to Owen Sound--Peril in storm--In store at Penetanguishene--Isolation--First boat--Brother David knocked down CHAPTER IV. Move to Rama--I go to college--My chum--How I cure him--Work in store in Orillia--Again attend college--Father receives appointment to "Hudson's Bay "--Asks me to accompany him. CHAPTER V. From Rama to St. Paul--Mississippi steamers--Slaves--Pilot--Race CHAPTER VI. Across the plains--Mississippi to the Red--Pemmican--Mosquitoes--Dogs--Hunting--Flat boat--Hostile Indians CHAPTER VII. From Georgetown on the Red to Norway House on the Nelson--Old Fort Garry--Governor MacTavish--York boats--Indian gamblers--Welcome by H. B. Co. people CHAPTER VIII. New mission--The people--School--Invest in pups--Dog-driving--Foot-ball--Beautiful aurora CHAPTER IX. First real winter trip--Start--Extreme fatigue--Conceit all gone--Cramps--Change--Will-power--Find myself--Am as capable as others--Oxford House--Jackson's Bay CHAPTER X. Enlarging church--Winter camp--How evenings are spent--My boys--Spring--The first goose, etc CHAPTER XI. Opening of navigation--Sturgeon fishing--Rafting timber--Sawing lumber CHAPTER XII. Summer transport--Voyageurs--Norway House--The meeting place of many brigades--Missionary work intensified CHAPTER XIII. Canoe trip to Oxford--Serious accident CHAPTER XIV. Establish a fishery--Breaking dogs--Dog-driving, etc. CHAPTER XV. Winter trip to Oxford--Extreme cold--Quick travelling CHAPTER XVI. Mother and baby's upset--My humiliation CHAPTER XVII. From Norway House to the great plains--Portaging--Pulling and poling against the strong current--Tracking CHAPTER XVIII. Enter the plains--Meet a flood--Reach Fort Carlton CHAPTER XIX. The Fort--Buffalo steak--"Out of the latitude of bread" CHAPTER XX. New surroundings--Plain Indians--Strange costumes--Glorious gallops--Father and party arrive CHAPTER XXI. Continue journey--Old "La Gress"--Fifty miles per day CHAPTER XXII. Fort Pitt--Hunter's paradise--Sixteen buffalo with seventeen arrows--"Big Bear" CHAPTER XXIII.