Pathfinding on Plain and Prairie: Stirring Scenes of Life in the Canadian North-west — John Shaqi
Pathfinding on Plain and Prairie: Stirring Scenes of Life in the Canadian North-westMcDougall, John
History
Pathfinding on Plain and Prairie: Stirring Scenes of Life in the Canadian North-west
McDougall, John
Frontier and pioneer life -- Northwest, Canadian; McDougall, John, 1842-1917; Northwest, Canadian -- Description and travel
Already many lodges of sick folk were camped close to the Mission,
and others were coming in every day. Father and mother and Peter had
their hands full in attending to the sick, ministering to the dying,
and burying the dead. And as this was a white man's disease, there
were plenty of the wilder Indians to magnify the wrongs these Indians
were submitting to at the hands of the whites. Some of them were
exceedingly impudent and ugly to deal with; indeed, if it were not
for Maskepetoon and his own people, many a time our Mission party
would have suffered. As it was life was constantly in danger. Men
and women crazed and frenzied because of disease and death were
beside us night and day. Nevertheless father said "Go," and we
started from among such scenes on our journey to Pigeon Lake.
Father had loaned us two oxen and carts for the trip. I had some
eight or ten ponies, about all I had to show for five years' work;
but as I had been helpful to father in educating my brother and
sister in Ontario, I was thankful I had come off as well as I did. A
great part of the way was under water. The streams were full, but on
we rode and rolled and rafted and forded.
Our party consisted of my wife and self, Oliver, a young Indian, Paul
by name, and his wife. Our provisions were buffalo meat, fresh and
dry and in pemmican. We had five bushels of potatoes with us, but
these were saved for the purpose of starting the new Mission. I
purposed having every Indian who might come to me begin a garden, and
these potatoes were for seed, and should not be eaten. Paul and I
supplemented our larders by hunting. Ducks and geese, chickens and
rabbits saved the dried provisions and proved very good fare.
We scouted carefully across and past those paths and roads converging
from the plains and south country to Fort Edmonton. Not until we had
made sure, so far as we could, that the enemy was not just then in
the vicinity, did we venture our party across these highways of the
lawless tribes. Then passing Edmonton we struck out south-westward,
into a country wherein as yet no carts or waggons had ever rolled;
and now it kept Paul and myself busy hunting and clearing the way,
while Oliver and the women brought up the carts and loose horses.
Our progress was slow and tedious, but we were working for the future
as well as the present.
When up here in the winter I concluded that we could on the first
trip with carts take them to within some twenty-five miles of the
lake to which we were going. Working along as best we could,
Saturday night found us at this limit, and as we were very tired, and
the weather was fine, we merely covered our carts, made an open fire
in front, and thus prepared to spend the Sabbath in rest and quiet.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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