8 | I69E800 IOs) ¢ PEDIC UN) OLNOHOL 4O ALISH3AINN Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2008 with funding from Microsoft Corporation http://www.archive.org/details/autobiographyofjOOmacouoft THE AUTHOR AT WORK, VICTORIA MEMORIAL MUSEUM, OTTAWA. AUTOBIOGRAPHY JOHN MACOUN, M.A. CANADIAN EXPLORER AND NATURALIST Assistant Director and Naturalist to the Geological Survey of Canada 1831-1920 With Introduction by ERNEST THOMPSON SETON 119284 7041.22. A MEMORIAL VOLUME PUBLISHED BY THE OTTAWA FIELD-NATURALISTS’ CLUB 1922 a Tee roe Cree tee ett ead ce wether! Wit Fallen t, mes ee’ CONTENTS PAGE CuHaPTeR I—1831-1850.—History of the Macoun Family—Early life in Ireland—Many amusing episodes and incidents of child- PNR Se So ey Ok ie Pak et ee Re ee ees ORR, ] CHAPTER II]—1850-1856.—Emigration to pata oh 1850—Incidents of the voyage—Clearing a farm—Episodes in the life of a settler— Hiring out—First acquaintance with Canadian wild flowers.... 14 CHAPTER I]I—1856-1860.—Teaching school—Religious experiences— Study of botany—Attendance at Normal School, Toronto, 1859. 28 CHAPTER IV—1860-1871.—Continuation of botanical studies—First appointment as a teacher in Belleville, Ont.—Marriage, 1862— Relations with other botanists—Botanical excursions—Acce rgd of the Chair of Natural History, Albert College, Belleville, a 1 TE TE) EE eo Peo Rte ape ne WI RUS ea VAs AR ee ne RE Ee NEN CHAPTER V—1872.—Meets Mr. Sandford Fleming and Rev. Geo. M. ‘Grant—Becomes Botanist to their expedition across the prairies and mountains to the Pacific in search of a route for the Cana- dian Pacific Railway—Descriptions of country—lIncidents of the ERR CIR LIE TOC AIIOS iy oa. ssh pda asic: Sie 'o: reread Atv tase digi aces ste nae 46 CHAPTER VI—1872-1874.—Continuation of journey to the Pacific Coast—The Peace River—Over the mountains in winter—Arrival at the Coast—Homeward bound—Reports and conclusions in regard to climate based on growth of plants—Many episodes Ea ah card alle i A ala leah SP aig dR Re og ee Aine yee avec 65 CuHapTeR VII—1874-1875.—Exploration from Victoria to the Peace River—New Westminster, Yale, Spence’s Bridge, Quesnel, Ne- chaco, Fort St. John, McLeod Lake, Parsnip and Finlay Rivers, Hudson's Hope—Description of the route—Botanical notes—Epi- urement SUMCRCRN ET e082 Oe ot Pe AU CC eter de pat eedts’y 90 CuHaPTER VIII—1875.—Down the Peace River 700 miles in a dugout from Fort St. John to Fort Chipewyan—Provisions run out— Reaches Fort Chipewyan sick and starving—Returns east via Athabasca River, Buffalo Lake, Clearwater River and Lake, Isle- a-la-Crosse, and Green Lake—Across country to Fort Carlton and on to Winnipeg—Many interesting incidents en route—Home on November 13, after travelling about 8,000 miles............... 111 CHAPTER IX—1875-1879.—Notes on climate—Recommendations in ‘regard to route of Canadian Pacific Railway—Offers of positions —Publications of report on Country between Port Arthur and the Pacific, 1877—Made Emeritus Professor of Albert College, 1879—Explorations on the prairies, 1879—-Up the Assiniboine to Fort Ellice, then to Long Lake—Crossing the Saskatchewan River CHA CHA CHA CHA CHA CHA iv CONTENTS—Continued —Battleford—Red Deer Valley—Calgary—Adventures en route —Description of the country—Blackfeet Indians—One of the last buffalo hunts—Returns to Winnipeg and the East............. PTER X—1879-1880.—Review of conditions in Canada in regard to politics and the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway Sip etecdernticn: -Piiccnears of land from the Hudson's Bay Com- pany—First Riel Rebellion—Exploration for route of C. P: R.— Contradictory statements in regard to value of prairies for agri- culture—Fourth exploration of the Canadian North-West, 1880 —Qu 'Appelle Valley, Moose Jaw, Old Wives Lakes, Swift Current, Cypress Hills, Fort Walsh, Humboldt, ete.—Meetings with In- dians—Many interesting episodes and incidents. .............. PTER XI—1880-1881.—The North-West boom—Lectures on the West—Negotiations with the “Syndicate” for the construction of the C. P. R.—Fifth exploration of the North-West—Interview with Jim Hill, Railway Magnate, re route of C. P. R.—Decision to send railroad via Bow River Pass—Explorations along Lakes Manitoba and Winnipegosis and rivers entering these lakes—Ad- ventures, mishaps, and amusing incidents—Difficulties of river navigation—Up to the Red Deer and down the Swan River and the Assiniboine to Fort Ellice—Takes train from Brandon to Winnipeg—Interview with Lord Lorne and Donald A. Smith— Permanently appointed to the Government Service—Writes a book called “Manitoba and the Great North-West.”........... PTER XII—The climate of the Canadian prairies and causes—De- ductions from plant life—Causes of aridity in certain parts of the prairies—Uniformity of temperature over a great area and description of air currents which cause this—Suitability of the climate for wheat growing—Conclusions...............00+200- PTER XIII—1882-1884.—Removal to Ottawa—Collecting in Wes- tern Ontario and on Gaspé Peninsula—Begins work at the Geo- logical and Natural History Survey, Ottawa—Difficulties of the position—Becomes one of the charter members of the Royal Society of Canada—Visits Nova Scotia and the Island of Anticosti, where extensive collections of natural history specimens were made—In- cidents during the summer—Begins to write the Catalogue of River and Lake Nipigon, and from Nipigon east along the C. then being constructed—Reviews life in Canada up to 1884—Col- lections' meade forthe Museum. v.00. oe ba Us Oe oe Ree PTER XIV—1884-1885.—Accompanies members of the British Association to Western Canada, 1884—Incidents of the trip— North-West Rebellion of 1885—Explorations in the Rocky Selkirk Mountains—Description of climbing mountains—Many incidents—Travels on C. P. R. from the summit of the Selkirks to Ottawa, being one of the first passengers over parts of the road —Destruction of forests by fire........ 0.6 eee cee eee eee PTER XV—1886.—The Colonial Exhibition—Sent to England as one of the Canadian representatives—Attends many functions Canadian Plants—Examination of the country along the ipigon art —Entertained by Lord Brassey, Duke of Northumberland, Mar- 131 155 181 197 205 221 Vv CONTENTS—Continued quis of Salisbury, Earl Warwick, Earl of Erne, Marquis of Lorne, and others—Visits Ireland and finds distant relatives and name- sake, John Macoun of Kilmore—Many places of interest in England are visited—lInteresting incidents.................... 234 CHAPTER XVI—1887-1893.—Visits Vancouver Island to study the fauna and flora—Ascent of Mount Arrowsmith—Alberni—Cape Beale—Returns to Ottawa by C. P. R.—Appointed Asistant Direc- tor and Naturalist to the Geological Survey—Visits Prince Edward Island, 1888—Lower Mainland, Okanagan District, Shuswap Lake, and Gold Range, B.C., 1889—Large collections made for the Museum—Another visit to British Columbia, 1890—West Kootenays and eastward through the Selkirks—Visits district about Banff, 1891—Mountain climbing—Photographing trees near Lake Erie and obtaining specimens of the wood, 1892—Collecting on the Lower Mainland of British Columbia and,on Vancouver Island, 1893—Many interesting incidents........... Se Wie UGA 247 CHAPTER XVII—1893-1897.—Arranging material for the proposed New Museum—Visits the prairies, 1894, to collect specimens— Medicine Hat, Crane Lake, Cypress Hills—Examination of South- ern Saskatchewan and Alberta, 1895—Conclusions in regard to drought—Collecting in Manitoba and Northern Saskatchewan, 1896—Examination of the southern slope of the Rocky Mountains “7 the Crow's Nest Pass, 1897—Adventures and amusing inci- RACE OR iis Shai Gore Ow S DRT ais Una UA Malai Gri tar si iah we TM 266 CHAPTER XVIII—1897-1904.—Visits Cape Breton, 1898—Sable Island, 1899—Interesting observations on the vegetation of the Island—Begins the Catalogue of Canadian Birds, winter 1899- 1900—Examination of Algonquin Park, Ont., 1900—Studies flora from Niagara to Lake Erie, 1901—Visits the Klondike and reports on the agricultural possibilities of the district, 1902—Interesting observations on the climate of the Yukon—Spends the first summer in thirty years in Ottawa and vicinity, 1903—Another visit to the Rocky Mountains, 1904—Laggan, Kicking Horse Lake, Field, Emerald Lake—Collecting—Incidents.................0..0405. 276 CHAPTER XIX—1904-1920.—Work on the Rocky Mountain flora— Collecting along the Lower St. Lawrence, 1905—-Montmorency Falls, Cap a lAigle, Murray Bay, Tadousac—Collecting fungi about Ottawa—Examining the country on both sides of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway from Portage la Prairie to Edmonton, 1906 —Amusing incidents in regard to Prof. Macoun—Resolution of appreciation of his work passed by Agricultural Committee of House of Commons, 1906—Arranging specimens for the Victoria Memorial Museum—Obtained photographs of trees in Western Ontario, 1907—Later in season went to Gaspé Basin and Percé, P.Q., to study seaweeds—Revised his Catalogue of Canadian Birds, 1907-8—Visited Vancouver Island, 1908—Large collections made —Visited West Coast of Vancouver Island, 1909—Great variety of species and large number of specimens of marine life collected— Collected in Nova Scotia, 1910—Wrote the Flora of the Maritime Provinces—Moved to the Victoria Memorial Museum, 1911— Work on the Ottawa and Vancouver Island flora with a view to publication—Has a paralytic stroke, 1912—-Moves to Vancouver vi CONTENTS—Concluded Island, 1912, and begins collecting there—Much time spent in the collecting and study of cryptogams—Continuation of collecting in 1913, 1914, 1915, 1916, 1917, 1918 and 1919 on Vancouver Island and adjacent islands—Large collections of cryptogams were made and many new species found by him—Presented a large collection of plants of Vancouver Island, mounted and named, to the Herbarium of the Provincial Museum, Victoria, 1917, also, later, a fine collection of cryptogams—Death of his son, James M. Macoun, January 8th, 1920, a great shock to him—Worked on his autobiography—Conducted a column in the Sidney Review under the name of “‘Rambler’’—Died of heart failure at Sidney, Mic aid Island, July 18, 1920—Personal characteristics— BENG A OT Pelee $9 Le eee RE ye eee et vii ILLUSTRATIONS FACING PAGE The Author at Work, Victoria Memorial Museum, Ottawa, Sst Bae BS ae Ww ark cya ee GM paar ike a ieee Frontispiece Looking down the Peace River from the Escarpment, Peace River, Alta., as first seen by John Macoun in 1872 The Victoria Memorial Museum, Ottawa, Ont............ One of the Grain Fields in Saskatchewan, the Author's WEMON SUIIEIO 2 So's ee i ec cs Sek vad altinis we nes Prof. John Macoun in the Prime of Life... .............. Mount Sir Donald from Bald Mountain, with Mount Ma- Rr RY CONE CONTRO a i i mp ote ka ON 24 70 INTRODUCTION T is just thirty-eight years ago since first | came in contact | with John Macoun. I was a young man then, riding and farming on the prairies of Western Manitoba, but my thoughts were not on the farm. My eyes were ever turning to the wild life about me—the birds and flowers. I was suffering too, amid the pleasure of it, suffering from the knowledge-hunger—the total absence of books and guides. Botanies were indeed scarce in those days, and I had made a collection of prairie flowers (now in the St. Louis Herbarium) with only the popular names attached; in some cases they were names which I had given them, for lack of better. Then I met a government official at Winnipeg, who said: “Why don’t you write to Professor John Macoun at Ottawa? He is the best naturalist in Canada and is one of those big men who always are ready to help a student.” So, without introduction of any kind, I sent a preliminary collection of plants to Macoun, asking if he would name them for me. His answer is before me now, in his own handwriting: Ottawa, August 15th, 1884 My Dear Sir: “Tl reached home yesterday, after having been absent about nine weeks and, in going over my correspondence, find yours. ‘Any assistance I can give regarding botany you can always have for the asking, so do not be backward in that line. ‘The names of your plants are as follows:’ (Here follows a long list.) “Your plants are all common forms on the prairie except No. 23, (Physalis lanceolata Michx,) which, as far as I know to the con- trary, is rare. I would like to know the exact locality where found, etc. “Wishing you every success in botany and ornithology, and x agreeing with you, in the deep interest attached to the birds of the West, I am, dear Sir, Truly yours, J. Macoun. “To E. T. SETON, Esa.” That letter, written entirely in his own hand, is characteristic of the man and his life. With nine weeks’ mail piled on his desk, he, nevertheless, unselfishly paid first attention to the student who sent him specimens and craved his help. The friendship thus begun continued through life. Many other students of botany and lovers of nature found this same portal to his heart, their common interest in the wild things. His universal kindness and helpfulness, and his vast erudition in natural science, combined with the fact that he was the pioneer naturalist of Canada, with official recognition as such, have given him a permanent place in our records, as well as in our affections. He will be remembered by posterity as the father of exact natural history in Canada, and I am proud indeed of the chance to stand among his mourners, who yet rejoice that our standard-bearer died in the fullness of life and the fullness of success. May 8th, 1922. CHAPTER I 1831-1850 History OF THE MACOUN FAMILY—EARLY LIFE IN IRELAND— Many AMUSING EPISODES AND INCIDENTS OF CHILDHOOD. N writing my memoirs I intend to give at the very commence- | ment a sketch of what I know of our family history. I was born on April 17, 1831, in the parish of Maralin, called also Magheralin and, in ancient times, Linn, County Down, Ireland. The parish of Linn was very old as in the Annals of Ireland it is stated that it was assessed, in the reign of Edward the First of England, for a contribution towards one of the crusades. Our par- ish church was apparently very old and its graveyard, which was elevated somewhat above the surrounding ground, was also very old. I remember that our seat in the church was next to the Earl of Clanwilliam, and the rector, when I was leaving, gave me a paper in which he told me that we were one of the oldest families in Maralin. This paper is still in the possession of one of the members of my family. The graveyard was very interesting on account of the names on the tombstones of those who had died there over two hundred years ago. Amongst others, I noticed that a member of our family, James Macoun, had lived to be 105 years of age and was buried here in Maralin. Later I learned more of his history from my uncle, Joseph Kincaid and James Bell —two old men when I was a boy. The James Macoun, known in our family as the ‘old man,” was born in 1601 and died in 1706. He was, as far as we know, our first progenitor to settle in Ireland. Before this the family was Scotch. This first Irish ancestor evi- dently fought under Cromwell. What I am going to refer to now is from information received from the two old men previously mentioned and from Macaulay's History of the reign of William the Third. In 1641 a rebellion took place in the north of Ireland called the Forty-one War. This rebellion was an attempt made by the 2 HISTORY OF THE MACOUN FAMILY Irish to destroy the settlements, English and Scotch, that had been made under James the First, of England. A great many of the settlers around Maralin were killed and drowned by the Irish at this time as they broke down a bridge over the river Bann near Portadown and drove the settlers down to the bridge and pressed them into the river, where most of them were drowned. While I was in England in 1886 I saw a work called the “Forty-nine.” This contained a list of the men who composed a number of the re- giments who served under Cromwell in 1649, when he was such a terror to the Irish who had destroyed the settlers eight years before. In the list I saw in England, were the names of Sir Hugh Magill, Lieutenant of one of the regiments, and James Macoun, Ensign. I take it that this James Macoun was the “old man” spoken of above. These two men were apparently great friends, and it is stated that Sir Hugh married James Macoun’s sister. Sir Hugh was granted a large tract of land by Cromwell and the legend says that the men of Sir Hugh's regiment received land from him and had to do military service for it in later years. This is possibly true because our property was freehold and given by Sir John Magill, brother of Sir Hugh, to James Macoun at a few shillings a year forever and this lease we held when we sold before we came to Canada. The next record in connection with the family is in 1689 or ‘90, when Sir Hugh Magill at that date called out all the men in the neighborhood of Maralin and met King James’ army at Dro- more with such troops as he could raise, and was defeated and retreated to Coleraine, near Derry. These men were in camp there all winter while the siege of Derry was in progress, and when William the Third came over in the spring they joined his army and marched with him to the Boyne, and in that battle one of the Macouns was killed. This man was said to be the son of the original James Macoun, who emigrated from Scotland. This fight of Dromore is given in detail in Macaulay's history of that time. While this James Macoun was with the troops at Dromore his wife and two sons were left at Maralin. After the fight at Dromore the French and Irish came down on Maralin and the people fled to the woods, some going to Armagh and from there to HISTORY OF THE MACOUN FAMILY 3 Enniskillen. James Macoun’s wife went with this party and lost her two boys. They had taken refuge in the woods and were on the point of starvation when they resolved to try and save their cows which had been taken by King James’ troops and confined with many others in what was called in my day “The Miller's Holm." Oak woods surrounded Maralin at the time and at night the boys went to where the French and Irish had gathered the cattle in “The Miller's Holm” near Maralin. This was a narrow ravine down which a little stream flowed and the sentries evident- ly were close to the high road which passed the ravine, and the boys in the night went in and drove off their own cattle and took them into the woods. There they lived on their milk till their mother returned after the siege of Derry. The next item of information I have in regard to the family is when these boys appear in history as church wardens of the parish of Maralin. This record my son, W. T. Macoun, found in the parish records of Maralin. These two brothers, Robert and James Macoun, were both church wardens in the year 1706. My father held another lease besides the one direct from Sir Hugh Magill, and this lease was made by Robert Macoun, the elder, to his brother James, in 1708, on condition that the latter would build a house in a given time. This house was built, and in it, several generations later, | was born. The terms of the lease I do not remember, but I read the parchment and distinctly recol- lect that the land was given by Robert Macoun, Gentleman, to his brother James at one shilling a year forever. This land, ap- parently, was not a portion of that which had belonged to James prior to this lease as the house stood outside of our land. The house and garden were quite distinct from our other property. Evidently our house was built as a gathering place for the people of the village, as it was the largest house in the village and built in such a way that an attacking force, without cannon, could not gain an entrance. The house was not very large but was four- square and its walls were two and a half feet thick and the win- dows on the ground floor were quite narrow and each had a part that was a lattice, and all had diamond panes of small size fasten- ed with lead. Iron stanchions made it impossible to gain admit- 4 HISTORY OF THE MACOUN FAMILY tance by the windows. The front door was double oak filled with large nails that were clinched inside. This made it impossible to cut it down. The key of the door was very large and as a boy I was not able to turn it, and the bolt was nearly an inch and a half across. Over the door there was a stone inserted, giving the date, 1708, so that we had no doubts as to the age of it. The walls were so solidly built that I believe the people in the early times understood how to make mortar very much like the concrete that is used today. This is all the data I have of the erection of the house. I might say that the garden as it was in my time, showed that it was the same garden that had been established when the house was built. Inside, the garden was surrounded by a bank and outside, ‘by a ditch of considerable depth so that the land was well drained. In my father’s time it had many rare shrubs of great beauty, of which my mother took advantage in our youth and sold to neighboring families to eke out her scanty means, due to the fact that the property had been willed away from our branch of the family. My grandfather was born in 1737 and his family consisted of two sons and four daughters, my father being the younger son. Our property, being entailed, always descended to the eldest son and his heirs. On this account my father enlisted in the army ‘about 1796 and joined a dragoon regiment named “The Black Horse,’’ being the Seventh Dragoon Guards, and were called the “Princess Royal's Regiment.” (That is, the regiment of King George Third’s eldest daughter.) Its commander for a long time was the Duke of York and my mother said that my father looked upon him as an exceptionally good commanding officer, so good that he called his eldest son Frederick instead of calling him after himself. Two years after my father joined, the Rebellion of 1798 broke out in Ireland and his regiment was ordered there. This led my father to take part in all the engagements that took place in the south of Ireland and I heard my mother say that he was wounded at the battle of New Ross, where his horse was shot from under him and that he took off the saddle and put it around his shoulders when making his escape from the battle. Except for HISTORY OF THE MACOUN FAMILY 5 the Rebellion, my father saw no further active service, although the Peninsular War continued almost the whole time he was in the army. Preceding the battle of Waterloo, his regiment was under orders to embark but when the news came of the battle they were not required and returned to London. Before this time he had obtained a furlough and went home to see his father and found that in his absence his elder brother had died and he was heir to the property. After consulting with his father it was de- cided that he would cut the entail off the whole so that my grand- father could leave the property to whom he saw fit if my father did not return. This was before the battle of Waterloo, and my father, not returning again until about 1820, found that his father had made a will and died suddenly leaving the property to his daughters, except the house and a few acres of land which were left to my grandmother and a maiden sister as long as they lived. On their death it was to go to my father, if alive, and in case of his death to be divided among the other three. At the death of his mother and sister, my father got possession of the house and land, which we still owned when we left Ireland in 1850. My father married Anne Jane Nevin, (my mother) in 1824, and her family were Scotch immigrants of the usual fighting clans, who had come to Ireland after the battle of Bothwell Bridge. My mother’s people, being Presbyterians, and having relatives acting as ministers, my father was married in their house by a Presby- terian minister. Before my brother Frederick was born my father was told that if his wife had a son that he would be illegitimate and could not be heir to the property as the law required the child to be born in wedlock which had been performed by an authorized minister of the Church of England, so my father was married the second time by a Mr. Dolling in the church in Maralin. I was born on April 17th, 1831, and my father died in October, 1837 I remember very little about him but there are a few incidents that happened that I recollect distinctly. My earliest remem- | brance is that Frederick and myself were playing along a ditch that ran outside of the garden. In it grew a grass that we gather- ed the leaves of and which when put between our teeth made a sound hence we called it ““Squeal Grass.’ This grass turned out 2 6 HISTORY OF THE MACOUN FAMILY to be Glyceria nervata. While leaning out to gather the leaves, one day, that were floating on the surface of the water in the ditch, I tumbled in head foremost and Frederick ran away scream- ing. My father, who was clipping the hedge inside, jumped over and before long had pulled me out. I remember that | was so young at the time that I had not ceased to wear baby clothes. Another thing I remember was that the Earl of Clanwilliam, who, by the way, was our landlord and a member of the Magill family, invited my father and Frederick to go to Gill Hall near Dromore and have lunch with him and they went and Frederick, like most youths, got sick from the quantity of food he ate and . was taken in hand by the butler. The last thing I recollect about my father was going with him, dressed more like a boy, to Moira, where he drew his pension and he took me to the Church and showed me a tablet that was placed there in memory of a soldier, named Lavery, who was killed in the American War. I remember little more about my father, except that he was a tall man and frightened the boys on the street when he would get a little tipsy and dress up in his uni- form. After my father’s death I recall many things that hap- pened. I remember the day before he died quite well. The doc- tor had him sitting up and I saw him bleed him and take a large bowl of black blood out of his arm and the next day he died. At any rate that was the only thing that impressed me about my father’s death, except the pride I felt when being patted and such things by the friends that came to the funeral. The next thing I can recall with wonderful clearness was what they called in the north of Ireland, “The Windy Night,’ when many farm houses and stack-yards were blown to pieces and in- numerable trees uprooted and the whole country devastated. It is remembered in Ireland to this day. It took place on the night of the 6th of January, 1839. I remember being sent by my mother to school to an old wo- man who had five or six young ones like myself and my impres- sion is that she was acting as nurse for us instead of teaching us anything from books. The chief thing I recollect is that on the 2ist of June she marched us by a Saint's well near the village, HISTORY OF THE MACOUN FAMILY 7 called Saint Roan’s Well, and there she undressed us and placed each one of us under the spout out of which the water issued. This was intended to strengthen our religious and physical nature —she was a good Roman Catholic. My school days were like those of nearly all boys; the great- est impression of them that remains is the fights that we had with our fellows, and there are other pleasant memories, such as book- makers tell of when they went to school. A boy that could not defend himself had a very poor chance of having pleasant times. Our school was the parochial school of the church and, therefore, we were taught by the cleric of the Established Church of Ireland. No Roman Catholics attended it and we thought it our duty to fight the members of their school every day, as we always made a point of seeing them as they went home. From what I can re- member now I seemed to have been a terror, because | was left- handed and used my left hand while I was expected to use my right and looking back on it now I always seem to have come out the victor. I fought others as well and never seem to have ever considered myself at fault. I remember that on one occasion | came home with a black eye and a bloody nose and my mother upbraided me and I| told her that a certain boy had attacked me and caused all the trouble. I was telling this to my mother just when we entered our house and as I| had proceeded thus far the other boy’s mother, who was behind me, said: “Mrs. Macoun, look at my son and see which of them has got the worst of it.” Both my mother and I turned around and the boy, besides being far worse off than I, had his clothes almost torn off. Of course I was caught in a falsehood and had to own up that I was the aggressor but said that I fought him because he would not do what I wished. Our school was in an old orchard which had been the Abbey garden of years before, and our chief occupation in the late sum- mer was sneaking into the orchard and getting the fruit off the ground. I did my work in the early morning and got to the or- chard before the other boys and generally had the largest share. A small river ran close to the school and our occupation part of the time was catching small fish, called sticklebacks. We used a String and a small stick and a bent pin to which a fish-worm was 8 HISTORY OF THE MACOUN FAMILY attached. I have no remembrance of having had any special companions in my early youth. My mother was very particular and tried to keep us from the boys of the neighborhood and as we had a garden well fenced in she-encouraged us to spend our idle time in it. She gave my elder brother and sister parts of the flower beds that my father had had to tend but I seemed to prefer taking an old knife and going out to the fields and digging up flowers and bringing them -in and making a flower garden of my own. I only remember primroses and the wild hyacinth. About this time a sect of Methodists came to our village, called the Ranters, and preached in the village schoolhouse. « They were troubled with idle men and boys. My mother was asked to allow the Ranters to preach in our kitchen on Sunday _and she allowed them to do so. Later, a prayer meeting was established there and it was one of the old time meetings and the hearers would make responses when the speaker would bring out anything of an unusual or startling nature. One evening the speaker said, amongst other things, that if the people would not repent they would all be cast into Hell and tormented forever. One of the old men who frequently responded woke up as the preacher reached his climax and yelled at the top of his voice: “God grant it!’ To crown it all I laughed so heartily that I fell over and caused a great deal of disturbance, in the midst of which a canary, we had, started to sing. This was only one of the many occurrences that took place in the meetings held at our house. I do not wish to say that I could not tell a lie, like George Washington, but I remember well I had the moral courage, even as a boy, to not lie if I were caught in doing something wrong. I will cite one circumstance that gave me great credit with the good people of our neighborhood. One Sunday I was given the task by my mother of watching our garden, but as soon as the meeting commenced in the house | started for a stream at some distance and had a fine time wading and chasing fish. On my way home I turned up a lane which was crossed by another and as I reached the crossing I saw Mr. Montgomery, our Squire, and his wife HISTORY OF THE MACOUN FAMILY 9 walking arm in arm down the avenue and I ran across and he saw me and called out: “John, what are you running for?” [| answered without hesitation that I was running for fear of his seeing me. The next day he called in to see my mother and told her how fortunate she was in having such a truthful boy, and made me a present of a piece of silver. I felt that I had done a very meritorious thing. Whether or not that event had a great in- fluence on my boyhood and raised my status so that I was per- mitted to play with Mr. Montgomery's children in their own gar- dens, while others were completely excluded, I do not know. My aunts were married to men called Spence, Kincaid and Murphy, but I only remember that Uncle Joe Kincaid, a widower, lived with my Aunt Spence, who had lost her husband. He seems to have been a man of more than ordinary ability, as he took charge of her boys and superintended the farm. One day he took me into the orchard and showed me the filbert trees and pointed out the male flowers (aments) and told me from his imperfect knowledge, that from these flowers, nuts would come in the autumn. This sank into my memory and, as | will mention later, bore fruit. [I loved work so well that when I would go to “‘Edin- more, as their place was called, they could not get rid of me easi- ly, as I wanted to work on the land and drive a horse; and this was in the dead of winter and very cold. I loved to live outside and be going into out-of-the-way places and later. it became even a passion with me and I knew more birds’ nests than any other boy in the country. I remember being credited with the know- ledge of one hundred and eight birds’ nests in one spring. Owing to the death of my father, Frederick and I seemed to have done a great deal of the work on the land, as I remember more about that than anything else. About this time the Ulster Railway was built and Frederick and I went to Moira to see the “Iron Horse” when it first reached that village. There was a great crowd and I[ stood beside an old lady who, as the engine came along, exclaimed that it was going on without horses! Evi- dently she expected that it would be drawn by horses. At this time and for years afterwards carriages were not covered and when people, riding in them for the first time, came to a bridge you 10 HISTORY OF THE MACOUN FAMILY would see everyone bowing their heads, fearing that the bridge was falling upon them. As time passed things became more serious and my life seem- ed to have been taken up with working at one thing or another. I was always a busy-body. One time, when I was a small boy, they were building a large oblong haystack in my Aunt’s stack- yard and when the stack was nearly up the greater part of it slipped and fell down. .When my cousin looked around I was missing, but as one of them had seen me gathering up the hay close to the stack at the time it fell, my cousin crept under and finally reached me and when I was brought out | was insensible but recovered shortly. Time passed rapidly and I grew up to be a boy of sixteen, and at this time a great flood took place in the Lagan, a river near where we lived, and carried off 1,600 webs of fine linen that were on the bleach greens. The flood had come so suddenly and it was of such magnitude that no one had ever seen anything like it before. It carried the cloth over the meadows that were flooded and strung the webs in bushes and along the banks and on every obstruction the water met with for fifteen miles down stream towards Belfast. I suspect that I took chances as I got great credit for getting four webs that others were unable to get at. I took these to the office and returned them and, of course, got the bonus that was being given to anyone who obtained a web. The wife of the gentleman who owned the bleach green saw my mother and myself in Lurgan some time after that and my mother told her that I was the boy who saved the webs and the old lady put her hand on my head and said that she had heard we were going to America and likely I would be President there before I died. Of course I was very proud. My brother Frederick was now nearly twenty-one years old and he decided that as soon as he was of age he would sell the property and we would go to Australia. The year before he be- came of age a law was passed in England that was called “The Encumbered Estates Ireland Bill.” This was in the year 1849. Under this Bill any entailed property in Ireland could be sold. In due time my brother attained his majority and sold our pro- perty and we prepared to start for Australia. My mother, how- HISTORY OF THE MACOUN FAMILY 11 ever, whose brother had gone to America some years before, beg- ged us to go to America instead of Australia, and by doing so we missed being in Australia when the gold fever broke out in 1850. I might say something about the Irish Famine in 1848, but could hardly add anything to what nearly everyone knows already. I remember, however, that our potatoes were not larger than marbles and that the whole of the potato crop, upon which the people of Ireland depended, was practically destroyed in 1847 and starvation brought upon many thousands of the people. Often we would come across men and women lying by the road-side unable to walk, where they were dying either of fever or starvation. We had to pay, that year, 16 shillings on the pound taxes for Poor Houses and not one of the people of the vicinity was in them. They were filled by strangers that had been picked up dying by the road-side. At the time of Dan O'Connell's death in 1846, I was a clerk in a store on North Street, Belfast and recall that at that time the bell was tolled night and day for a month. One other event should be related. My grandfather had built a church for the Roman Catholics and given a lease for fifty years. We received the rents and one day Father Matthew, the great Irish temperance leader was at the chapel when our rent was due, and came to our house with the clerk who was paying it and had a talk with my mother and put his hand on my head and blessed me and hoped I would grow up a good temperance man, which | am happy to say I did. Before leaving my youth and Ireland, I may, in this place, mention some of the characteristics that I had as a boy and as | write this down, after seventy years, I find that I haven't changed much. My strongest characteristic was moral courage. I often | took a whipping stoically when a weaker boy bawled so loudly that listeners would say he was being killed. I, without a mur- mur, received what I got and often two whippings upon my shoulders by telling what we called a “‘white lie,” to enable some weak boy to escape it. I remember one happening at school that 1 think worthy of recording. The teacher was very strong on spelling and usually gave us forty or fifty words to learn, which we did each day. I never remember studying this lesson as, 12 HISTORY OF THE MACOUN FAMILY whether I succeeded or not, I was always whipped. One day we had a hard lesson and nearly the whole class had failed and the law was that for each word you missed you got a slap on the hand with aruler. I saw that it was going to be serious and behind my back I shook my fist at a small boy who was our best crier, and let him understand that if he would not cry I would thrash him when school was out. He understood me, as I had done it before, and he immediately began to yell at the top of his voice and the teacher could not stop him and eventually when there was quiet, asked him why he cried and the boy said: “John Macoun said he would whip me if I did not." The teacher turned to me and said: “I intend to do the whipping today” and he gave me what he had intended for the whole class. That was the kind of school- ing we got in Ireland in the days when | was a small boy. Every afternoon, when school was let out, we waited for the Roman Catholic children to come from their school and then we would have a decent set-to. I, apparently, was a little savage as my forte was to dash in and catch a boy by the hair (they wore long hair in those days) and never let go until I had hammered him below the belt so severely that he would cry “‘quit."" Hence, I never remember losing a fight but I was often afraid. I never attempted to smoke but once, when my brother got a clay pipe and tobacco and he and I| and our younger brother had a good smoke. Then we ate apples and suffered horribly all night afterwards. My elder brother and I never touched tobacco after that. I was always active and fond of work, whether I got pay or not. I remember picking a field, that is, clearing it of stones. I had taken the contract from my uncle for doing it, working hard for ten days or more at four pence half penny per day. Another characteristic was the power of seeing. I could find more strawberries and more birds’ nests and got more fun out of our games than any other boy. One thing I would never do, and that was to play with what was called a “bad boy.” In front of our own house a number of us were playing on the street one day when a “bad boy” attempted to join us. I would not allow it, and when my back was turned he took a race at me and HISTORY OF THE MACOUN FAMILY 13 shoved me and [| fell and hit my head on a stone and was car- ried in senseless. For years after that I was troubled frequently with head-ache, which ceased by my having bleeding at the nose so badly that they thought I was going to bleed to death. I have had no trouble with head-ache since. I was very determined in having my own way in our play and generally succeeded and at the same time I must have been fairly amiable because I was nick-named “Johnnie Goodfellow,” by a half-witted boy who played with us, while my elder brother was named the ‘Hard Fellow.” CHAPTER II 1850-1856 EMIGRATION TO CANADA, 1850—INCIDENTS OF THE VOYAGE— CLEARING A FARM—AMUSING EPISODES IN THE LIFE OF A SETTLER—HIRING OutT—First ACQUAINTANCE WITH CANA- DIAN WILD FLOWERS. O please my mother, my brother gave up thoughts of going to Australia and we took our passage for America and left Maralin on the Second of May, 1850, for Belfast. We sailed from there on the ship “‘Chester’’, which carried three hundred and eighty-seven passengers. I do not recall any person being in the first cabin. The steerage people, I do not remember seeing, and we of the second cabin had the deck to ourselves. The night we left Belfast a great gale sprang up and, the bow-ports having been left open, the ship began to leak. In the middle of the night all hands were called to man the pumps and the sailors shirked and hid and there was a great commotion and the passengers were called upon to go to the pumps. My brother-in-law and Frederick started for the deck. Frederick returned in about ten minutes and | asked him why he came back so soon and he said “I never got there. When we reached the deck, the ship was rolling so that I fell and when I was able to get up I came down. I would rather die in bed than be drowned on the deck."’ Some of the passengers went almost insane and the women cried and the chil- dren cried and there was an awful hub-bub. When daybreak came it was seen that the ports had been left open when they were putting the ballast into the ship. The ballast was pig-iron. After this, the weather for three weeks was beautiful and fair and we made a quick passage to some point between Newfound- land and Nova Scotia on a Sunday afternoon, the 27th of May. This day, a big storm of wind and snow broke out and our bow- sprit was carried away and all the sails upon it. There were fears that the mainmast would be taken away also, so all hands, pas- EMIGRATION TO CANADA 15 sengers and all, were called upon to take the sails off the ship, which we did in quick time. The storm soon subsided and the next day was fine and we lay to awhile till the jury bow-sprit was prepared and we passengers used to congregate at the bow of the vessel. One evening, we were discussing our position and the ship was pointing west and in the morning she pointed to the sun again and an Irishman called out: “By golly, the sun is rising this morning in the west.’ He had no idea that the ship was just merely lying at anchor and that the current had caused her head to swing round. After the storm, the Captain had taken his bear- ings and said we were so close to Newfoundland that he would put into St. Johns if the weather did not moderate. It moderated and we headed for the St. Lawrence and had fine weather all the way up to Quebec. The beauties of the St. Lawrence have been spoken of so often that I shall say nothing now about them. When we reached Quebec we cast anchor in the stream some- where about the Isle of Orleans. There were quite a number of ships at anchor at that time and our Captain took a boat's crew and some passengers and the boatswain up to Quebec when he | went to report at the Custom House. It seems that they all had more whiskey while ashore than was wise and the boatswain and the Captain quarrelled coming back. As soon as the boat touched the ship's side, the Captain ran up the ratlines on to the deck, seized a marline-spike and, as the boatswain came up, struck him on the head and the man fell into the sea and was drowned. The crew held a meeting that night and decided not to work the ship any more and, a strong wind coming up, the anchor did not hold and the vessel fell off a long distance from where she was anchored. The Captain signalled up to Quebec and the river police came down and took charge of the ship. It took them a long time to get the vessel warped up to where she had been the night before. We heard afterwards that the Captain had been imprisoned and tried for the murder of the boatswain, but it was shown that he was not at fault. The next day we left Quebec for Montreal. We went up on the “John Munn,” evidently a flat bottomed boat, because all night long three men were occupied in rolling great hogsheads 16. EMIGRATION TO CANADA from side to side to keep her on an even keel. I paid more atten- tion to the working of the ship that night than I did to sleeping. When we reached Montreal we took the train from there to Lachine, nine miles up and there we took the boat for Kingston and went up the St. Lawrence river and the canals to that city. | _ We then took another boat up the Bay of Quinte to Belleville, _ where we lodged with Robin Archer, a friend of my uncle. One _ thing I remember about the morning we reached Belleville. Like _any other “‘tenderfoot’’ we were wandering up the street in the early morning and a man was taking down the shutters and he asked us if we were new arrivals. We said that we were and he asked us if we would care to take our ‘bitters’ now. We said that we would if it were not too bitter, in fact, that we would like to have some. We went in and he put a bottle before us and a cup and asked us to help ourselves and, behold, it was whiskey of a very unpleasant taste. Two days after we reached Belleville, Frederick and I ar- ranged to start for my Uncle’s place in Seymour, thirty-two miles away and began to walk and succeeded very well the first part of the day. During the afternoon we got very hungry and we had ‘ no idea as to where we could get any food, as we thought that the public houses of Canada, like those in Ireland, only gave drink. We spent the whole day walking in the hot sun without food, and late in the afternoon reached a point in the road where | asked a man if we were near Seymour. “Oh,” said he, “you are in Sey- mour now. We asked him if he knew Alec Nevin, our uncle, who lived in Seymour, and he said that he had never heard of him. He noticed we were tired and when my brother told him that we were hungry too, and that we had had nothing to eat all day, he told us to go up to his house and tell the wife that he sent us and she would give us all the bread and milk we could eat. We went up as he told us and the bread and milk greatly refreshed us and we were informed that we had still ten miles to go, as my uncle lived on the western side of the township, while we were then on the eastern side. We travelled on and had various adventures and discussions with men we saw on the way but late in the evening we reached my uncle's house and, behold, EMIGRATION TO CANADA 17 it was a one-roomed shanty, although he had a frame house al- most erected in which we could sleep during the summer. I may say here that by this time America had lost a large number of its attractions and we began to realize something of the hardships that lay before us. The day after we arrived at Seymour a wagon was sent down to Belleville to bring up the other members of the family and in due time it arrived back, but on the way, in crossing a corduroy bridge, my mother was jolted out of the wagon and fell into the ditch; she was none the worse, however, except that her clothes were in quite a bad state. When we all got together at my Uncle's and realized that all our decisions, made while we were in Ireland and on the way to America, had come to naught, we felt very blue. In Ireland it had been decided that I was going to be the farmer and Frederick was to tend to certain other matters and James was to do something else. We now discovered that plough- ing was impossible, because the land was all covered with trees. Almost all the land was taken up by settlers or others and no place was available for a person of small means and no opportunity for anything but manual labour. We stayed at my Uncle's for the better part of June without obtaining any kind of work, and it had begun to be talked amongst the people that we were just a useless crowd. It was finally settled that Frederick was to continue his efforts to try and buy one hundred acres of land and we were to go out to work. I hired with James Ponton. My brother James went to a farmer to work in the harvest, and John Spence, my brother-in- law, did the same. Shortly after this Frederick bought one hun- dred acres with eleven acres of clearing and a small shanty on it. To this, he and my mother moved. It was about one and a half miles from where my Uncle lived and this was where Frederick lived during the summer. None of us knew how to chop and we were only fit for harvest work, that anyone can do. There was a fine spring of pure water in the forest that Fred- erick bought and he was advised to build his house near it. Then, like a woodsman, he commenced to clear the land where the house was to be, but, never having seen a tree cut down, he 18 EMIGRATION TO CANADA did exactly as a beaver does, cut all around the tree and watched it till it started to fall and then ran away from it. Working alone and in the hot sunshine, with perhaps heavy old-land clothes on, and much troubled by the black flies, he had an awful time of it and was so discouraged that he decided to leave for Ireland and join the Irish Police. He intended leaving me what money re- mained after paying his passage and | was to look after my mother and the others. After some time, I persuaded him that this would be a mistake and induced him to stay one year and if things were not well at the end of that time I would take over the money and property. Later in the summer he became more satisfied with the con- ditions and began to think about marrying and also building a house, the latter of which he did in the autumn. The house, by good luck, was built in the clearing that was on the place when we came to it and it was on this homestead that he lived until his death. I remember well the day the house was put up. At that time all buildings were erected by what was called a ‘Bee.’ The men of the neighborhood were invited to come and each man who came brought an axe, and was ready to do anything that was re- quired of him. The chief men at a ‘Bee’ were the four corner men. We had four excellent men on the corners and the building progressed finely and was completed before night. In the after- “noon Frederick produced the whisky, which was a necessary ac- companiment at all “‘Bees,” men could go and take a drink when they saw fit. ‘Bob Stillman,” a wise leader and a very religious man, said, when he saw the whisky, that the Devil was coming, and later in the afternoon ““Tom Munroe,” a Frenchman, lost his balance and fell off the corner where he was and “Bob Stillman” asked what the cause was and | answered at once: “It was on account of the Devil coming.’ Of course, in that day, everybody drank. As I have observed, I went to work at the Ponton’s and was called by the ladies “the young man,” to distinguish me from the old people and a couple of others who were on the farm. I seem- ed to be the man of all work, but not able todo much as I knew EMIGRATION TO CANADA 19 nothing of work at all. My chief work was picking stones off | the summer fallow and a yoke of oxen were hitched to a “‘stone boat’’ which slid over the ground and the stones were drawn to the fence corners by the oxen. A little boy, nephew of the wo- men, drove the oxen but, one day, he was required for something else and I was asked if I could drive the oxen alone. I thought that I could and got along fairly well. In the evening the men questioned me and asked how I got along with the oxen and I said : ‘Oh, very well, ‘Haw’ gave me a great deal of trouble, but ‘Gee’ did whatever I wished him to.’ Of course there was a great laugh. I found that the names of the oxen were Buck and Berry and that Haw and Gee meant for them to come towards you or go away from you and as I had never heard the names of the oxen, but the other two words in constant use, I had decided that they were the names of the oxen. Another afternoon, I was working in a field close to the woods when I heard something falling repeatedly from a large tree and I crossed the fence to investigate and found that there was a large butternut tree loaded with fruit and the squirrels were up amongst the limbs cutting the nuts off and letting them fall to the ground. I picked up over a bushel and piled them at the base of the tree and went back to my work. After supper, I took a large bag and went back to get my nuts, but behold, they were all gone. At first | thought some person must have stolen them, but I found out later that the squirrels had quietly carried them off. Another incident of my farming experiences stands out before me. All the fields were enclosed by rail fences and usually a block was placed under the lowest rail. A pea field was along- side of where I was gathering stones and small pigs came along, and, to my astonishment, went into the field and I could find no way to get them out but by taking down the fence. I happened to look where they went in and found that the block of wood that had been placed to hold up the corner of the fence was hol- low and the pigs crawled through the log and got into the peas. Something struck me that I could stop that and I took the log out of the corner and sloped it in such a way that it would appear to go into the field and the next time the hogs came along I watch- — 20 EMIGRATION TO CANADA ed them and they immediately crawled into the log and came out on my side of the fence. After doing this two or three times they seemed to get frightened and ran away grunting and never tried the fence again. Many other circumstances might be spoken of regarding the greenhorns when they come to a new country and, even to-day, theold settlers laugh at the ignorance displayed by _ the green youths from the old country. After our summer's work, James and myself returned to our new house. The work that all settlers took up in the fall was called “‘underbrushing,’ which was to cut all trees, under six inches, at the base, down level with the ground and gather up the rubbish of every kind and throw it into a wind-row. While “underbrushing”’ we cut all fallen trees into lengths and every- thing would then be in readiness for the cutting down of the larger trees when the winter set in. James, Frederick and myself were all “‘underbrushing” one day when we came to a tree that had been blown out at the root and Frederick, being the best chopper, took the cut at the root, while James and I cut near the top. Frederick, being handy with the axe, was soon ready to cut his length off, when he called to us: “Look out there!" We looked and, behold, he was slung over the root of the tree and the stump was turning back to where it had stood. By good luck, it threw him so far off, that the stump went into its old place and he was thrown beyond it. As soon as we saw that no harm was done we sat down and had a good hearty laugh, but, we had learned a lesson: under no consideration to stand on a log and sever it from the stump but rather by the tree above the stump. After “under- brushing” and cutting and getting ready for the winter I went to a neighboring farmer for a month to chop wood and to thresh oats _ in the barn with a flail. I received $7.00 for the month's work and worked from daylight or before it, until after dark. One day, when I was out chopping it was very cold and I was wearing a pair of worsted gloves. One of my fingers got frozen and we had been told that if any part of us got frozen we were to rub snow on that part until we had thawed it out. As soon as | saw the finger was frozen I took the gloves off and commenced to rub the frozen one with snow and in a few moments I had five frozen fingers in- EMIGRATION TO CANADA 21 stead of just one and I immediately returned to the house and had them thawed out properly and was not injured by the freezing. Another foolish thing that we did, | may mention, to show that it is only by experience we learn. At Christmas time we expected my uncle and his family to come with a sleigh and we would all have a great sleigh ride. We lived about two hundred yards from the road and, as we had no lane at the time, we got shovels and shovelled over a foot of snow off the ground all the way from the house to the road so that they, as we thought, could come up easily. Instead of helping them we had worked for nothing, because it was impossible for the horses to pull the sleigh over the bare ground and of course we were laughed at as green- horns. After Christmas and before New Year's day, Josh Archer, Frederick's brother-in-law, arranged to go into the woods to cut and saw logs. I agreed to go with him as measurer of the logs and to keep the men's time. The first thing we did when we went to the woods was to find where there was a spring and clear a place and erect a shanty where the men were to live. A number of dead pines were cut down and the logs brought together and the shanty was put up almost in a day and roofed with boards. The men began to cut the trees around where the shanty was and another man and myself were inside the shanty filling the chinks with mud and pieces of wood to keep out the cold. While we were at work the trees were falling all round the shanty and I was frightened for fear a tree would fall in our direction and I asked the man what he would do if a tree fell on the shanty. He said he would be so scared that he would not know what to do. I told him that I would drop down just where I was and lie close to the log beside me. With that, we heard a tree crack and we listened and in a short time heard the first tree strike another tree and a tremendous crack took place and we very soon heard the swish of a tree coming our way and [| did as I had said, and fell down at once beside the wall and with that a tree lit fairly on the top of our shanty and knocked the other man down; but he was soon on his feet again and ran out and was sure he was killed. He frightened all the men with his yelling and had not been injured. 3 22 EMIGRATION TO CANADA I enjoyed the winter in the shanty very much and no accidents took place and no men were injured. I left the shanty afterwards and engaged as clerk in the store of John Gibb, in Campbellford. I remained with him until late in the spring, when I got tired of being a clerk and hired with a - lady called Mrs. Carlow, for a year, at $10.00 per month with my board. During that summer my brother-in-law, John Spence, had hired out with a farmer named Fraser, who had been an old gar- dener in the north of England and was very enthusiastic about the flowers of Canada. I had been much interested in seeing the strange flowers the past summer but thought little of making a study of them, but his talks about flowers so roused my interest that I talked flowers with him every Sunday when I went to see John Spence. This was the first time I took any interest in the flowers of Canada and to encourage me he presented me with an old book, that is in my collection at Ottawa, which was a list of the plants of Northumberland and Durham in England, published in 1806. This book I studied like a child with a picture book and learned the names of the flowers of England before I knew those of our own country. During the next two years, I had many talks with this old man but he died and my visits to his place ceased. At odd times during the next winter, Frederick and I took out cedar rails from a swamp that he had on our place. I! cut and split and he carried the rails on his back for nearly half a mile. These rails eventually fenced in the 114 acres of the clear- ing on his farm. Our friends called us fools now instead of loafers, as they had done in the summer. A whole series of accidents took place while we were engaged with the rails, as we actually knew nothing about the work. One day, a cedar limb fell off a tree in the swamp and it had a sliver sticking out at the butt end of it and it fell straight on Frederick's back and penetrated between two of his ribs, close to the backbone. We thought little of it that evening but the next morning he was unable to move and had great trouble with the wound in his back. At that time, bal- sam gum was the great cure-all for wounds and I went to the woods and got a small vial filled with the gum and brought it ~~ EMIGRATION TO CANADA 23 * home and his wife put a poultice on his back with the gum. After a time, when the wound cleared Jane, his wife, thought she saw something in the wound and discovered the end of the stick, near- ly half an inch wide, protruding from between his ribs and she got a pair of tweezers that she had and pulled it out and found that it was over two inches long. We then thought there was considerable danger and so had a doctor brought to see Fred. and he probed the wound and said, that if it had gone in much further it would have struck a vital part and advised keeping the wound clean and anointing it with the balsam gum, as I had done before he came. ie, My own mishap took place in the same swamp but it was more simple than was Frederick's. I was cutting a cedar log and in bending a small stem limb it broke and the part still on the tree bounced back and struck me clear in the eye and I was blinded at once, because my other seemed to be in sympathy with the one that was struck. Frederick led me home and | was in great pain with the eye and spent a very agonizing night of it. In the morn- ing, Jane thought she would have a look at my eye and told me that she thought there was something near the eye ball and she saw something there and got her tweezers again and pulled out a piece of bark lying above and back of the eyeball and the pain was instantly relieved. In a day or two it was as well as ever. Another mishap that took place years after this, I may relate, to show how accidents often take place in the bush. I had taken a contract to cut ten acres for one of the farmers and Frederick and | worked together part of the time. One morning, we cut down a large maple that had old limbs at its top and was hollow, although we had no knowledge of this at the time and cut it. We stepped back from the tree as it fell and a family of flying squirrels flew out of the top and we gazed up at them and did not remark the large limb that was falling right down upon us. Without any warning, Frederick's axe flew out of his hand and a large limb came between him and me, where we stood. The limb had been dis- placed with the falling of the tree and it fell with the large end downwards. The limb had fallen clear on the top of his axe- handle as he held it in his hand and he was not hurt, fortunately. 24 EMIGRATION TO CANADA One other incident that happened in the same winter I may mention, to show the dangerous things new settlers in a new coun- try had to pass through. One night, in the latter part of winter, a shower of rain had fallen and caused all the logs to be covered with a thin sheet of ice, I was chopping a beech tree that was about a foot and a half through and standing on it at the same time. My boots happened to slip off the log, the axe flew from my hands, and my head scraped over the log and I almost lost my senses, but soon found that no bones were broken, but a small bone about my “Adam's Apple” was dislocated and I could not get my head straight, until I shoved the bone back in place again. The curious part of it is that that bone came out occasionally for ten years after that accident happened. I shall say nothing about selling goods, while I was a clerk in John Gibb’s store, except in regard to one circumstance that shows that I was not very wide awake at this stage of my life. 1 had remarked that old ladies who came to the store to buy cotton and such things always wanted me to sell it at a lower price than the one fixed, so, to be even with them, when they came to the store, I always added a cent to the price set per yard, and, after due discussion and deliberation, I threw it off again, and got credit from these older people, of being a very accommodating clerk. Mr. Gibb noticed that the old ladies preferred me to wait upon them and asked me the reason and I told him what I always did, and he advised me to cease doing anything like that as he would lose custom if it got around that he had two prices. After clerking, I went to Mrs. Carlow, who had an old farmer called Ivey, as foreman, and a young man to take care of the horses and [| was just the young man that did odd jobs about the place and had charge of nothing. During the summer, Mrs. Car- low, being an Anglican, gave ten acres of her land, which was bush, for an English Rectory and Church and she asked Mr. Ivey to go and locate it. He reported that he was unable to do it and she then asked the other man and he said that he had no idea of how to go about it. In the end, she turned away in great indig- nation and said it was an awful thing for her to have three men about her who could not do a simple thing like that. I spoke up JOHN MACOUN, SHORTLY AFTER HIS IN CANADA FROM IRELAND ¥ i sine islet Mined EMIGRATION TO CANADA 25 at once and said: “‘But Mrs. Carlow, you have not asked me yet!” She then asked me if I could do it and when I said that I would try she ungraciously told me to do so then. I may say here that I was always able, when a boy and up to the present, to make out to do in some way or other what was required of me and in this case I thought I saw no difficulty. I took my axe and went to the farm and, after some difficulty and a good deal of thought, I ran the lines and made a brush fence along three sides and the road allowance made the fourth and five years later, when it was surveyed properly and added to the church, I was found to be nearly right. This piece of work established my character and ability with Mrs. Carlow. She had no children of her own and was bringing up a young man named Harry Denmark, the son of her brother. A private teacher came early every evening to give him lessons and I was invited into the library by Mrs. Carlow to take part in the lessons with the teacher and her nephew Harry. Apparent- ly, | took advantage of this as the teacher told my brother that I was all mouth and eyes when I was receiving lessons. Harry was what would be called a “‘real sport’’ as he was on the river all day sailing canoes or going on rafts and taking innumerable chances. He built a skiff and, in-the autumn, he and I went to the Trent River, north of where my brother lived, and fished and shot ducks all day long and returned to my brother's house at night. By the end of the week we decided to return to Mrs. Carlow's. I may say that the skiff had been brought up to the river north of my brother's place, by a team from the farm and we were now going to take the boat back by the river, which was a foolhardy thing to try to do as there were two falls and numerous rapids on the river below us. We ran one slide (Helly Falls Slide) and, as there was scarcely any water on it, we went down it without difficulty; in fact, to- wards the bottom of it we had to pull the boat over the slippery boards as there was no water. We had then a mile and a half to Crow Bay where Harry's father lived, and below that another mile and a half and we came to the Middle Falls. Here, Harry got it into his head that we should run over the dam as the fall 26 EMIGRATION TO CANADA was not very high, but | advised him to take the slide which we did. On this slide there were about four inches of water running and, as we rushed down, the boat came too near the side and as I was in the bow I shoved it, as I thought, gently, but owing to the swiftness of the water and slipperiness of the boards the boat went broadside down the remainder of the slide and I was thrown out on the apron and Harry righted the boat and shot into the water again. By good luck, I caught a chain and was able to hold on till he came back and took me off. Another mile and we were home and I decided that that was the last time I would go out duck shooting with a “Sport.” 3 I may just add a word here. The next winter Harry went home to his father’s place on Crow Bay and he and the hired man went out in the spring with two guns and he was never seen again alive. Both were drowned in Crow Bay. When I left Mrs. Carlow, I returned to my brother's and this was my last experience as a hired man. My brother attempted tto work in a saw-mill, piling boards, but he worked two days and came home with blistered hands and told me that if he died of starvation he would never work again for anybody. After leaving Mrs. Carlow, I bought one hundred and sixty- four acres from the Government and decided to become a farmer. I made an arrangement with my brother to live with him and help him at a certain sum per day and he was to board me at a certain sum per day when I was working for myself, and that was our arrangement for the next five years. At the time I am speak- ing of most of the land in Seymour West still remained bush and the roads were little better than paths. A wagon road was generally made through the easiest part of the country and not on the proper road allowance at all. During the summer, fires would take place and at times become dangerous to the whole country round and all the farmers would have to turn out and fight the fire. Other times, a fire would be on our own land and the fight there would be both severe and dangerous. I have known Frederick and myself to have been so exhausted that his wife would have to come to us with water at the risk of being burned herself, while my mother would stand and gaze at us and EMIGRATION TO CANADA Qe the fire. Everyone in the country went through such experiences as this and none escaped. One thing was creditable to the isis they were all willing to help each other and ‘Bees’ were the regular ways of helping a farmer who was in distress or who wanted help for a big under- taking. We were just as ready to go out and cut a man’s grain or plow his land as we were to go and help him erect a home or a big frame barn. All worked and all helped. The slogan of the country was “Root hog or die!”’ These early settlers made Canada! I do not remember an idle man; all worked and although the pay was poor and the returns very often scarcely anything, | do not remember a dis- satisfied man. 3 CHAPTER III 1856-1860 TEACHING SCHOOL—RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCES—STUDY OF BOTANY —ATTENDANCE AT NoRMAL SCHOOL, ToRONTO, 1859. S I said, my brother James went to Belleville the second A year we were out and became an apprentice as a moulder and now, after six years farming and making very little, I decided to follow his footsteps and leave the farm and become a teacher. Two causes forced this upon me. One was an affront that my brother's wife received from a man who held a small mortgage on my brother's land and the other was my desire to study botany. When I announced to my mother that I was go- ing to teach school and give up farming she laughed at me as, since I was thirteen, I had never been in school and she thought I was deficient in knowledge of books. However, I said that I would make a trial and I would pay off Frederick's mortgage at any rate. I knew a little of a good many subjects but grammar was one I had never paid attention to and so I bought Kirkham’s Grammar and gave it three days’ study and decided that I could pass for a school-teacher without difficulty. After my three days’ grammar, | decided I was fit to go before the County Inspector and discuss the matter with him. I walked forty-three miles to where the Inspector lived and, it being winter, he took me out in his cutter and questioned me on various subjects as we went along. He said: “Mr. Macoun, a very short time in school as a pupil with a good teacher should give you information as to how to govern a school that I| shall give you, and with a permit you can try your hand at teaching.” He advised me to go to the school in the village where he lived and board with the teacher and attend his school. I attended school for the next three weeks and then received my certificate and returned to my home triumphantly. Now my troubles began. I thought that I would be engaged in the section where my brother lived but he was informed that TEACHING SCHOOL—STUDYING BOTANY 29 it was out of the question as it was not possible for a man who had been farming a month ago to start out to teach school proper- ly. That was my first rebuff. Next, I went to another section where they wanted a teacher and they employed one who took ten dollars a year less salary than | was asking, and so | returned home again somewhat discouraged. I now decided to strike out for the front, which was the township of Brighton, as I had heard they had schools which were vacant in that place. I had walked twenty miles that day and was very tired and had made a number of inquiries, but no teachers were needed, but, as I walked along in the early part of the evening, I saw a man taking potatoes out of a pit and he told me that a teacher was needed in that district and directed me where to inquire. The trustees met the same evening and discussed the matter and one of them, who had been at college when he was young, asked me a few questions, which I answered in a diplomatic manner. One of them was on grammar of course and I gave two answers, one according to Kirkham and another from a book I had studied when at school. Thus | got credit for a knowledge of authors, and I doubt yet whether the authors or myself were correct in the rendering of the subject, but I learned from this experience that the trustee was rather more.ignorant than I. That same evening, the trustee’s wife, in discussing school matters with me, asked me if I could teach astronomy. I said: “LT have my doubts.” “Well,” she said, “Miss Spencer, our former teacher, taught it.’ I found that Miss Spencer had taught it from books and | told her that I could teach it that way all right. I thought, before she told me of teaching it out of books, that the teacher would be expected to take the pupils out and discuss the stars with them. I was hired and my salary was the munificent sum of $14.00 per month for six months, and board around. The boarding around was that I had a headquarters where I could stay the latter part of each week and I would board a week at a time with the people that sent children to the school. I may now make a review of my character as a boy. Up to when I was nineteen, at which age I came to Canada, I was called 30 TEACHING SCHOOL—STUDYING BOTANY a “good boy,” but did not go to Sunday School so far as I can remember. I made excuses which were really lies, told the truth when a lie would have been dishonorable, never went back on my word and hence was called “‘good,’’ without having any of the characteristics that “good boys” are supposed to have now. I never swore; I never smoked but once; would not play with bad boys; read the Bible; believed in God, but all the time was a young heathen. Without any idea beyond the enjoyment of the present, I was confirmed in church and passed much better than any of the others, but still I was in the dark about religion, al- though I was always correcting my playmates in such things. I remember telling one boy that if he swore he would never get to heaven and he answered at once: “‘I guess I have as good a chance as Jock Osle.”” This man we boys used to call “‘Curse the World.”’ He never spoke but that he swore. These, then, were my opinions and actions before I was nine- teen. When I came to Canada, a new world opened up before me and of course new ideas were added to many of those I brought from Ireland. I found that truth and honor were scarcer in Canada than in Ireland and many wore the cloak of religion that had not the remotest idea of the character of what they claimed to know. We were located in the country where there were no churches except Methodist and Bible Christians. There were three different shows, running against each other, and we boys and girls patronized each one whenever it suited us. My seven years in the country brought many new ideas about things, both spiritual and temporal. We attended church and all the protracted meet- ings that were held in the churches during the winter months, which an irreverant man of my acquaintance told me were held to make over the members each year. I remember well one pro- tracted meeting that was being held and a number of young men who were attending “Bees” went nearly every night and one or two would be converted occasionally. One afternoon a young. man, named William Henry Graham, told us jokingly that he was going down to the school house and intended to be “‘converted”’ that night. He went and, sure enough, he was converted, went and studied for a preacher, and in a short time had a church of his ee TEACHING SCHOOL—STUDYING BOTANY 31 own. A year or two after his conversion he married a second cousin of mine and later in his life went to Brockville and filled the church there to the satisfaction of the people, so that they kept him for many years, and his son today is the Hon. Geo. P. Graham. “Conversion” as it was called, placed you with the saints, _ who, in my opinion, were lying sinners in many cases. I was full of fun but serious at heart and did only what I thought was right. I tried to be a Methodist and attended class-meeting. One Sun- day in telling my experience I felt I was not as good as I might be ~ and the class-leader told me I ought to have as good a testimony as Brother So-and-So. I knew the Brother lied and I did not, so I resigned from the class-meeting. I had very serious thoughts at this time about religion but in examining the people by whom I was surrounded and who were spoken of as highly religious I had my doubts of them. At this stage I shall digress and speak of my development in connection with the science of botany. In another place I have mentioned where I got my first idea in regard to botany, namely that when I was quite a small boy my uncle took me into the orchard and showed me a row of filbert trees and pointed to the aments, or barren flowers, hanging on the branches of the naked trees and said to me: “Jock, these that you see here will all fall off and in the autumn it is on these trees we get the nuts that we use at Christmas time.” This lay in my mind and after we came to America I was engaged one morning in May splitting rails and while resting on a heap of the rails I noticed the hazel bushes at the edge of the woods and, like Moses, went to examine and dis- covered that these were identical with what my uncle had shown me in Ireland. I discovered that he did not seem to have known that on these same bushes there were other little objects that were pink and these I found to be only on the bushes that held the aments. Later, I knew that these were the female flowers and that the nuts were produced by these being pollenized by the male flowers. These were the first studies I made in Botany. Next, I came across an old gentleman named Fraser, a farm- er with whom my brother-in-law lived, and he told me the names of many of the highly colored flowers around his house and gave 32 TEACHING SCHOOL—STUDYING BOTANY me a list that had been published in England fifty years before, which gave the plants of the counties of Northumberland and Durham. For years this book was the spring from which I gathered my basic knowledge. All these plants were named according to the Linnaean system. I remember that when I would be returning from labour for my dinner I always aimed to pick up a plant that I did not know and then work on it to find out where it stood in the system. As was well known at that time, the system in vogue was an artificial one but it certainly served -atyro and my object was to find out where each species was in the classification. My only other book besides this list, that [can remember, was Mistress Lincoln's Botany, and it followed the same system so that I was enabled to make some progress. ] may mention here how I learned. I would take a common species of roadside or garden plant of which I knew the name and then immediately endeavour to work out its correct name from the classification. The Mullein was the species that I took first. I found it more difficult than I had thought on account of its long and short stamens, but I soon came to understand the arrange- ment of the stamens and pistils so well that most plants could be classified by their form alone. We had a library in Seymour at this time and I obtained a small English Botany from it and learn- ed the most of our common weeds from that book as in that early time all our weeds were immigrants from England, although I did not know it then. Another book from which I learned a great deal was Agassiz’s “Lake Superior.” This gave an account of the plants around Lake Superior and was the only information recorded from that lake until I went there twenty years later. After my spending six years farming in Seymour, as already related, I decided to become a teacher, partly to study Botany and for another purpose that I have spoken of elsewhere. Up to the present I never had had more than one holiday in the year and that was Christmas Day. Frederick and I might take a day’s fishing in the summer, but an eight-mile walk and scrambling along the river was not very restful. From Seymour I went to Brighton, where I taught school two TEACHING SCHOOL—STUDYING BOTANY 33 and a half years, and in all my spare time, while I was there, I | evidently kept botany to the front. I remember sitting under | the fence when I was boarding with my prospective father-in-law, Simon Terrill, who was a well-known Quaker in that district, and he found me with a plant in my hand and said: “John, what dost thee ever expect to make out of the study of botany?” I told him that I did not know but that it gave me a great deal of plea- sure. During the first year I was there I would get a number of plants in the summertime and bring them into the school and sit and describe these plants to the best of my knowledge as I had not up to that time thought of drying them and making a collec- tion. I described them so that it could be told what I had found in years tocome. This record is in a quarto volume with a num- ber of species described in it by me over sixty years ago. In that same book is a list of 256 plants that I named and collected the first year I was there. In August, 1859, I went to Toronto to attend the Normal School for a Session and had the great fortune to board with a Mrs. Wadsworth, on Victoria St. Her son was attending Toronto University and in his third year and a prize manin botany. Very soon we became companions and on Saturdays would go off bo- tanizing. At that time the cemeteries were nearly all brush or woods and we generally went there. -I found that as I had learn- ed botany he actually knew nothing of it. He also showed me that I had much to learn. His knowledge was that of the schools and consisted of structural botany and classification obtained chiefly from lectures while mine was of the woods and fields. I knew the plants and where they grew. I soon learned where | was deficient and paid more attention to fundamentals. My experience in the Normal school was a new one to me as | never had heard a lecture or had seen a big school. Looking back now I can see that I was very green, ignorant of many things, but had the power of thinking for myself. I could not write fast enough to take lectures, but put down what I could and filled out my notes afterwards. Doing this got me into difficulties sometimes, but I made progress and was even applied to by older men when 34 TEACHING SCHOOL—STUDYING BOTANY in difficulty. I could write many pages on my experiences, but will only mention two. The students had to teach in the Model School to show their ability. The third division was the terror of the whole class and one of the dreadful troubles young students had to meet. One morning I was notified to teach it, the lesson was the Pigeon. I came in and found myself in front of a gallery of boys that would average perhaps ten or more years. Pande- monium reigned for a time as every boy wished to tell me about his pigeons. I was nonplussed, but finally got in a word and asked them to tell me something about wild pigeons. This caused the clamour to cease and as no one spoke I asked them to tell what wild pigeons ate in the spring when they came in such numbers. One boy said “‘peas,"’ I said that was right, “but what did they get in the woods,” no answer, and | said: “I will tell you, the fruit of the elm.’ I had seen them eat it. At this point the Head Master of the Model School came in and the bell rang. I had never reached the lesson. I believed I was a failure and would get no certificate. Next week a student told me that I was all right for he had seen the teachers’ standing in the Model and I stood high. Some years ago I saw a book written about the teaching of that time and the author hinted that the Third Divi- sion was designed to test the teacher's ability to keep order. The other episode was different. Dr. John Sangster was our science master and he always questioned us before lecturing on the preceding lecture. He had lectured one day on pneumatics and told the class about the atmosphere. I was absent teaching in the Model School and knew nothing about what he said. When he began to question this day, I took care to not catch his eye. He marked me and immediately asked me what was the weight of the atmosphere. I was taken aback by the question, but promptly answered, if he found the number of square inches on the globe and multiplied them by fifteen he would find the weight. In his usual sarcastic way, he said that would do, but said, why did I not follow his lecture. I said that I did not hear it as | was at the Model. From this time forward I could see his eye twinkle every time he met me. Time passed and we formed a football club at the Normal a — TEACHING SCHOOL—STUDYING BOTANY 35 and challenged the University to play a series of matches. I shall mention how we played 60 years ago. One of the Professors placed the ball in the centre of the ground and each party lined up at the end of the ground and at the word started for the ball. I was the best runner on our side (but a very poor kicker), and reached the ball first and met head-on the son of Alexander Mac- Kenzie (the rebel of 1837) and I, having more momentum, went over him and took the ball. We were not allowed to touch the ball nor put a hand on any player, but just use the shoulder. Late in the season we met for a match and it began to rain and we dis- cussed the probabilities and a University boy said, it would rain all afternoon as it was coming from the East. I agreed with him that it would but said that it was really coming from the west. Someone said let us go to Professor Kingston, who had charge of the Weather records. | We were where the Parliament buildings stand now and the Professor lived quite near. A few of us were admitted and the Professor asked what he could do for us. The young man said that he claimed the rain came from the east and another said from the west and we wished to know who was right. He said it appeared to come from the east, but this storm was coming from the west as it was now raining from Detroit to Toronto. He asked for the student who claimed the rain came from the west, so 1 stood up and he asked me how I knew, __I told him I had Maurie’s Geography of the sea, and he said, “that is the best book on the subject of air circulation." I mention these instances for the purpose of impressing upon any young person reading this that anyone desiring earnestly to attain knowledge can attain it without any teachers. Without any teacher I had succeeded so well that I was now a marked man, both in the Normal and among University students. My five months at the Normal School had opened my eyes, and | saw that being self-taught gave one a great advantage over those that had only studied what pupils are told, especially in lectures. Many young men were so busy writing they had no time to think. I could not write fast and only took ~ short notes. I had taught myself, in studying plants, to ask why such things were so and applied the same test to the lectures 36 TEACHING SCHOOL—STUDYING BOTANY in the Normal and so came out with an A1 certificate of the Junior Division at Christmas. Dr. Robertson, Head Master, offered me the Village school at Brampton near Toronto, and I offended him when I said I was already engagedifor the School at Castleton, Northumberland County. If youZwere recommended by the Normal teachers in those days it was as great an honour as to be mentioned in despatches in war time. CHAPTER IV 1860-1871 CONTINUATION OF BoTANICAL STUDIES—FIRST APPOINTMENT AS A TEACHER IN BELLEVILLE, ONT.—MArRIAGE, 1862—RELA- TIONS WITH OTHER BOoTANISTS—BOTANICAL EXCURSIONS— ACCEPTS THE CHAIR OF NATURAL History, ALBERT COLLEGE, BELLEVILLE, ONT. HE scene now shifts to Castleton, where, beginning with January, 1860, I spent ten months teaching and studying botany. The village doctor (Dr. Gould) was an Eclectic, as many doctors were at that time and understood botany. Very soon he and | were friends and I went with him when he was visiting on Rice Lake Plains. I usually rose at four in summer and made a large collection before breakfast. During this summer I progressed greatly in my studies and made excursions in all directions. Up to this time I made no attempt to do anything with carices or grasses. I had no microscope nor glass, of any kind, and had to depend on my eye alone and, as a result, I learned to depend on the eye even in taking in the meaning of a book. I collected a few species this year which I could make nothing of, and sent them to Professor Hincks, of Toronto University, who named them for me. One of them was a puzzle (Ambrosia artemi- siaefolia) to me and I have never forgotten the pleasure it gave me to know its name. Doctor Gould, of Castleton, was a great help to me and took me to many places I could not go on foot. In the autumn [| heard through my brother who lived in. Belleville that one of its schools would be vacant in November and I applied for it. The late Sir Mackenzie Bowell was Chair- man of the Public School Board at that time and obtained my ~ appointment. On November Ist, 1860, I became teacher in No. 1 School, Belleville. There were four Public Schools in that - town at that time. My removal to Belleville was the real turn- ing point of my life. Before the winter was over I had discovered | 4 38 CONTINUATION OF BOTANICAL STUDIES I could hold my own with the best of the teachers and stood well with the people. I then decided to devote all my spare time to natural history and as a commencement bought a few books. I remember the first one I bought was Goldsmith's Natural History and began its study, but soon gave it up. When I learned from it that ants laid up corn for winter, I knew better. Next I took geology and read Lyell’s First Principles and bought Humboldt’s Cosmos and Hugh Millar and other works of like nature and many on physical geography. By reading and observing in the open, and from my habit of thought, I began to see the causes which had produced all the changes in the world. My vision widened and I saw how to apply my knowledge in school. I began to give the scholars lectures on physical geography and covered the land with plants and animals that I. knew were there. It was easy to show why cities grew up by the sea and on navigable rivers and to explain about the trade routes of long ago. What I said was not all fact but none of us knew any better and the children were interested and I was learning. The first year in Belleville I had established my reputation as a teacher and had no trouble with pupils or trustees. My botanical studies were ever before me and I made great progress in collecting. 1 made a very large collection of Carices and named many of them, but had a number I could not name. I wrote to Professor Dewey of Rochester, New York State, and he answered at once that he would name my collection for me, which he did. It turned out that I had nearly ninety forms and some of them quite rare. One of my species was Carex mirata Dewey which was dropped later by the United States botanists, but has been taken up again in late years. Two forms were considered new and named by him Carex Bellivilla and C. Canadensis. This year I began to collect every moss I could see, but I knew little about them. My chief difficulty all through my earlier days was the lack of basic knowledge. I did not know how to commence, never having received a lesson in botany. Structural botany I learned from Woods Botany. I studied the Linnaean System from Eng- lish books and used it in placing plants all through the sixties. CONTINUATION OF BOTANICAL STUDIES 39 After getting a home of my own in 1862 I at once commenced a more permanent herbarium. I was married on January 1, 1862, and felt the value of a home of my own. I now had more duties, my mind was maturing and | had made more progress in my collecting and general study. I obtained a text book on geology that, after describing the various rocks of a great period, gave a chapter on the animal life of that age and another on the plant life, also. This book opened my eyes and | immediately saw the connection between the “Six Days Creation” that we all believed in at that time. I saw at once that whoever wrote the Pentateuch saw pictures of the earth in the making just as geology and astronomy teach now, but these were not believed then. Since then I never doubted the authenticity of the Bible. I still doubt many of the expounders of it. After this time I could never see how a naturalist could ~ doubt the existence of a God. By this I don’t mean one who created things en bloc, i.e., in six days. I had started on a new life and I put my powers at work and I now became a real collector and thinker, but far from being a botanist, though called that by my friends. This year (1862) I did so well in collecting Hepaticas that I sent a series of collections to Sir. Wm. Hooker, who was then Director of Kew Gardens. He was so well pleased with what I sent that he presented me with his great work on the British Jungermannia a quarto volume con- taining 91 plates. This work is in my library at Ottawa. In collecting mosses and liverworts I was also alert and had my first new moss named and figured in 1861, by Professor Sullivant, the father of American Bryology. I kept adding to my flowering plants, but could make nothing of grasses at that time. Two Causes prevented this knowledge of fundamentals. I was self- taught and had no microscope. In 1863 Mr. C. F. Austin was working on the Hepaticae and mosses of the United States, espe- cially the former, and I sent my material to him and for over ten years | supplied him with my specimens and he determined them. This year I had a visit from Mr. George Barnston of Montreal, an old Hudson Bay Chief Factor. He was an excellent botanist and a special lover of mosses. He made me many visits after 40 CONTINUATION OF BOTANICAL STUDIES this and was a very esteemed friend until his death. This year, also, Professor George Lawson of Queen's College, Kingston, who formed the Botanical Society, came to visit me and asked me to join. That summer we had a great meeting in Queen's College and I met for the first time young men who were botanical students. The leaders among them were Dr. Robert Bell and his brother John; A. T. Drummond, of Montreal and J. K. McMorine, of Kingston and others whom I have forgotten. These young men were a part of the class which Professor Lawson was teaching and I called him “the father of Canadian Botany.” All the other botanists whom I heard of or knew were taught outside of Canada. These young men were a great inspiration to me when I saw their enthusiasm, and a spur to keep ahead of them. I was older than they were, but they had been taught and I was an outsider. The older men and the professors seemed to take pleasure in some remarks I made and I lost my diffidence and we all became very sociable. Of course I was only a schoolmaster to the young men at first but very soon we were all young botanists together. Dr. John Bell had made a collection of plants on the Gaspé Peninsula and these were discussed, and it was decided that I was best able to decipher them. I took them to Belleville and named them and my part of them is now in the Herbarium at Ottawa. My visit to Kingston opened my eyes and I saw better than I had in To- ronto in 1859 that independent thought was the power that al- ways won. At oneof our meetings in Kingston I read a short paper on bog plants. In this paper I stated that the bog produced Arctic conditions and plants from a bog should not be included in speaking of the flora in Canada when climate was under discussion. Shortly after, the editor of the “Whig” said, in speaking of our meeting that in my paper I applied some of Professor Tyndall's statements in his new book on “Heat as a Mode of Motion.” I had not seen the book, but I was always looking for causes, and by this time I was ready with an answer for almost any natural cause, right or wrong. The years 1863-64 passed and I was adding to my herbarium by exchanges with botanists in the United States. Doctor Vasey and many others exchanged with me, and I began to have quite v. Bre les > a CONTINUATION OF BOTANICAL STUDIES 41 an extensive herbarium. This year I visited Professor Dewey in Rochester, New York, and had a very pleasant and instructive visit. He was nearly eighty years of age and wanted his mantle to fall on someone and told me that I was, with the exception of Dr. Asa Gray, better fitted to take up his work after his death than anyone else he knew. I told him that my knowledge was self-acquired and I was deficient in many branches of education and that I could not think of such a thing. Loaded with speci- mens and blessings I took my leave. My standing in botany was now getting well established and the next year (Sir) Mackenzie Bowell who was publishing a Directory of the County of Hastings, asked me if I would write a sketch of the Botany and Geology of the County. This I did to his satisfaction and my own, and by it added to my rising standing as a teacher andscholar. I now planned a series of excursions that added greatly to my botanical knowledge and unconsciously prepared myself for the future. My purpose was to make a botanical trip every year in my summer vacation. This year (1865) I made an excursion up the Hastings Road into sparsely settled country and brought back many species I had not hitherto found. I had learned that soils produced certain plants and I now found that rocks, lakes and ponds and river bottoms had distinct floras, and there was no chance about where things grew. I could now tell what I might expect in any local- ity so I always aimed to go where conditions varied. My school prospered and gave me no trouble. The year 1866 was an off year in many ways. The Fenian Raid took place in June and I was in camp at Prescott for sometime. The same summer gold was discovered near Madoc and people went mad over gold hunt- ing, and even the children in the school would bring me rock speci- mens showing traces of mica and others, iron pyrites. These I classified as fool’s gold. In the late summer Dr. Robert Bell, of the Geological Survey which was then located in Montreal was sent up to examine Richardson's mine and report onit. He did so and like a wise man gave a neutral report which pleased no- body. The excitement increased and men came from all over Canada and the States. Richardson's mine sold for $40,000.00 42 CONTINUATION OF BOTANICAL STUDIES and chiefly to local men. One of the shareholders, Mr. Robert Patterson, asked me in November if I would go out to Madoc and report to him what I thought of it. I told him that I knew very little of geology and less of mineralogy, and that he had better get someone who knew more. He said that he would risk me, so I made the “Pilgrimage” as we called it. I had three ideas about how to distinguish gold and with these and a jack-knife | became a specialist. I knew that iron pyrites and quartz were too hard for my knife, that calcite or limerickite would cut or crumble and that gold would cut readily but not crumble. With this primitive knowledge I entered the lists in a hotel in Madoc Village and found all sorts and conditions there. The people generally had samples which the farmers called “Quartz.” I asked to see the specimens and found, as I expected, calcite, which cut easily and looked like quartz. I told them that it was not quartz, and at once I had a crowd around me. Quartz, iron pyrites and calcite were dis- posed of in short order, and I was the centre of a crowd. A man came up and produced a nugget of pure gold, but lighter in color than the Madoc gold. This was the Quebec gold, which I had seen in Belleville. 1 immediately said that it was not found here and told him he got it before he came to Madoc, and that it came from the Chaudiere. It was seen that I was a specialist and took precedence at once. I may say that that was the first and last time I ever claimed the role of a mineralogist. The upshot of my investigation at the mine next day was that gold was there, but in small quantities. Mr. Patterson unloaded and I rose in public favour. The year 1867 was spent without special incident and in 1868 a grand expedition was planned to the source of the Trent River. I. I. Tenill a teacher in the Deaf and Dumb Institution in Hamilton, Ont., Henry Reizen, School Inspector of South Victoria and myself were the explorers, I being the botanist. De- tails of our trip and how we left Lindsay and reached the Muskoka Lakes and our adventures by flood and field would fill a book itself. In this connection I will only say that I made very large collections of many species hitherto not seen by me. I made a very large collection of potamogetons and rushes and other genera CONTINUATION OF BOTANICAL STUDIES 43 and as these species required the work of specialists I wrote to Dr. Robbins of Vermont, regarding the potamogetons and_ Professor Englemann of St. Louis, Missouri about the rushes. These gentlemen answered promptly and I had their help in all my difficulties as long as they lived. Before this year I sent my difficult species to Kew, but Sir Joseph Hooker had ceased to work on American Botany and had left the work to Dr. Asa Gray of Harvard. I wrote Dr. Gray and I suppose recited my successes. His answer was very caustic and he plainly told me that others might accept my statements, not Asa Gray. Of course I made good and I founda kind, generous, and noble man. Years after, I met him in Montreal, and remember the merry twinkle of his eye when he told how he sat on my assertion of knowledge. The upshot of my ten years or more of botany had given me standing in England and Scotland as well as in the United States, and I was becoming known even in Canada and my own town of Belleville. This year, Albert College rose from an Academy to a University and the necessity arose to increase the staff and the range of subjects. Bishop Albert Carman, Principal of the University asked me if I would undertake the chair of Natural History, and give my lectures in the morning. I fell in with the arrangement and took up the work. I had never heard a lecture in College, but I was a teacher and succeeded to my own satis- faction anyway, and as there were no complaints, I went on in my own way making sure of the statements I made. My know- ledge of botany and geology, physical geography and meteor- ology was all first hand and I could give as much in half an hour as the average student could swallow, if not digest. I had un- _ consciously been preparing myself for the future in the above _ Studies and it soon became apparent. At this time Canada was often looked on as the ‘Lady of the Snows,” and we helped that opinion by our winter sports. One section of our people maintained that Canada was a mere fringe along the Great Lakes and the arable land only fifty miles in depth at the most. The other had a wider outlook. I confess I be- longed to the majority, or the first section. My reading the accounts of explorations and travellers’ tales led me to believe Ay CONTINUATION OF BOTANICAL STUDIES this. This winter, I read Professor Agassiz’s Lake Superior and adopted his view of that Lake. He gave a real picture of it as it was and I noted his statements carefully. I was now known outside of Belleville and Mr. George Barn- ston and Mr. David Watt of Montreal asked me if I would make a botanical trip to Lake Superior and collect everything in that line. I was glad of the chance. They agreed to furnish the money if I would give them the greater part of the specimens. At this time there were few inhabitants around the Lake, except — at the Hudson's Bay Co.'s trading posts. Mr. Donald A. Smith (Lord Strathcona) was then Commissioner of the Hudson's Bay Company and he gave me a circular letter to each officer around the Lake to receive me as a guest and help me in every way, which all did without exception. Early in July, 1869, I sailed from Collingwood on the “Old Algoma” and had a wonderful time for nearly two months. I collected at many places around the Lake and stayed for two weeks at Fort William with Mr. John McIntyre, who was in charge, and, being an old traveller, was very entertaining. In Agassiz's Lake Superior, he spoke of seeing the cows and their calves swimming across the Kaministikwia every morning to feed and returning at night. He saw them in 1848 and I saw them do the same thing in 1869. They may doit yet. My collections were very large and contained many rare species, which | picked up everywhere we stopped. We had-sixteen horses and a large lot of lumber which was intended for Mr. Dawson who was just starting the “Dawson Road" that cut such a figure during the next ten years. The lumber was used to build the first house at Port Arthur, as it was named afterwards. There I saw the first specimens of Rubus nutkana, which is so common on Vancouver Island. Besides going to many places of interest I made observa- tions on climate and gained light on one problem. Agassiz placed the flora around as mostly subarctic, but I found that that state- ment only held close to the lake, while I found the plants a few hundred yards back from the lake almost identical with those north of Belleville. I saw the cause at once, the lake water ac- cording to Agassiz was 48° F. at midsummer and 120 miles of CONTINUATION OF BOTANICAL STUDIES 45 cold water accounted for the change in flora on its shores. Later on in these notes | will speak of what this led to. Many of the species I found on this trip were rare and a number new to science. Mr. C. F. Austin named the mosses and hepaticas and named one of them Jungermannia Wattiana. The lichens I sent to Professor Tuckerman and found him a gentleman and a friend in need. Until his death he named every one of my lichens. But what was most valuable to me was that he presented me with all his works and assisted me in many other ways. When I look back at this early time, I found that every specialist helped me in every way they could and I was now, thanks to them, on my feet and could do my own thinking without the aid of a master. The more I read the less I believed in many notions that prevailed about climatology, but had no knowledge to contradict them. I decided to spend part of my vacation this year (1870) in North Hastings about 50 miles north of Belleville. I took a companion, one of my pupils, and we spent two or three weeks amongst the lakes and streams of that region. No difference was found in the general flora except one that I had noted before, _ namely that the Laurentian rocks produced generally a distinct flora from that of the limestone. I considered the plants on limestone lands as showing a warmer climate than the Laurentian. I would say now that the soils were warmer and more southern forms were to be seen. The year 1871 opened with an invitation to spend my holi- days at Royston Park near Owen Sound, and I gladly accepted, as I wished to visit Lake Huron. Mrs. Roy was an accomplished botanist and corresponded with all the leading Scotch botanists. Besides, she knew where most of the species, for which Owen Sound was famous, grew. July of that year saw me a guest at Royston Park, and for the first time having communion with a botanist day after day. Mr. Roy called himself our man Friday and carried a basket. We collected many mosses and flowering plants, the former of which were sent to Professor James, who was then preparing his Manual of North American Mosses. The ferns of that region were fine and a number of species were collected in quantity. CHAPTER V 1872 Meets Mr. SANDFORD FLEMING AND Rev. Geo. M. GRANT— BECOMES BOTANIST TO THEIR EXPEDITION ACROSS THE PRAIR- IES AND MouNTAINS TO THE PACIFIC, IN SEARCH OF A ROUTE FOR THE CANADIAN PAcIFIC RAILWAY—DESCRIPTIONS OF CoUNTRY—INCIDENTS OF THE JOURNEY ACROSS THE PRAIRIES. N 1857, the British Government sent out an expedition under Capt. Palliser, to explore in Canada. This expedition spent four years in the country and made a report stating that it was impossible to make a railroad through the Rocky Mountains. Their report also said that the largest proportion of the prairies was nothing more than part of the Great American Desert. This report gave the country quite a setback. In 1867, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick joined Quebec and Ontario, forming a united Canada. As soon as this took place, the ideas of Canadians were - apparently enlarged, for immediately they asked England to arrange for the purchase of the Hudson's Bay Company's claims for the North West Territories. This purchase was accomplished in 1869. These efforts caused a good deal of irritation amongst the Company's servants in the North West and especially amongst the half-breeds at Fort Garry. This resulted in the “Riel Revo- lution,’ which took place in the winter of 1869, which led to the expedition of the Canadian Militia under General Wolseley, and the revolution was suppressed in 1870. Next year, British Co- lumbia joined the coalition and on July 20th, 1871, signed the agreement. Immediately after the signing by British Columbia, survey parties started work both at Victoria and Ottawa to survey the route of the first Canadian transcontinental railway, which was subsequently called the Canadian Pacific. In the winter of 1871, I was asked again by Mr. Watts of Montreal, if I would go to Lake Superior the coming summer and make another collection for him of the plants that grew around HIS FIRST JOURNEY ACROSS THE PRAIRIES 47 the Lake. I made arrangements at the College for permission to stay away longer than the holidays should opportunity offer to go to Manitoba, as I wanted to see the prairies. On the l5thof July, I started for Toronto and the next day went to Collingwood to take the boat for Lake Superior. On the way out I noticed a company of gentlemen in peculiar dress and thougt they were English sportsmen. I took passage on the ‘Francis Smith,’ and so did they. As the boat left for Owen Sound, I was standing on deck look- ing at the scenery we were passing when a gentlemen came up where I was and we began talking. I told him I was admiring the beautiful trees and shrubs. He said that he was considering the strategic importance of the hills. I saw at once that he was a military man. Mrs. Roy, of Royston Park, at Owen Sound, where I had spent my holidays in 1871, had promised to meet me in Owen Sound and give me a few boxes of strawberries. I walked into the town and the gentleman that I had talked with on the boat overtook me and fell into step. I told him I was about to meet a lady who was going to give me some strawberries and, sure enough, in a few minutes we met Mrs. Roy with the strawberries, and | introduced the gentleman as a military friend I had met on board the ‘Francis Smith." He bowed and said, ‘‘Colonel Rob- ertson Ross, at your service, madam,” and she said, “Am I speak- ing to the Adjutant General?” And he said, “Yes.” Mrs. Roy said, “My husband told me yesterday that you were coming West.” We had some conversation and came back to the ship. On board, a gentleman in semi-clerical costume (Rev. Dr. » Grant), came up to me on deck and began to converse. He talk- ed freely with me and shortly retired. He had hardly gone until a fine looking man appeared and entered into conversation and asked me a few questions. I told him what I was intending to do, and he said, “What would you think of going across the prai- ries?’ I said, “Nothing would please me better.” In a few minutes I found he was the Sandford Fleming who was the chief engineer of the Pacific Railway which was to be built in agree- ment with British Columbia. He invited me to go with him to 48 HIS FIRST JOURNEY ACROSS THE PRAIRIES the Pacific Coast and act as Botanist to his party which was now on the way. I now found that the men who were peculiarly dressed were his party. I became one of the company: the Chief, Sandford Fleming, C.E., Ottawa, the Secretary, Rev. George M. Grant, Halifax, the Doctor, Arthur Moren, M.D., Halifax, the Botanist, John Macoun, M.A., Belleville, and Mr. Betis Photographer. I soon felt myself at home in their company and was told by . Mr. Fleming to keep my eyes open and make a note mentally or otherwise of the productions of the part of the country we passed through. My observations on the trip are found in my report to the Government. I made a practice of going on shore at every opportunity, showing that I was on the job, and very soon at- tracted the attention of the party and the passengers on the boat, among whom there were a great many tourists. The following extracts are given word for word as they are found in “‘Ocean to Ocean,” which was written to record events of this expedition by Reverend Dr. Geo M. Grant, later Principal of Queen's University. “Two or three days previously, the Chief had noticed, among the passengers, a gentleman out for his holidays on a botanical excursion to Thunder Bay, and, won by his enthusiasm, had en- gaged him to accompany the expedition. At whatever point the steamer touched the first man on shore was the Botanist, scramb- ling over the rocks or diving into the woods, vasculum in hand, stuffing it full of mosses, ferns, liverworts, sedges, grasses and flowers, till recalled by the whistle that the Captain always for- tunately sounded for him. Of course, such enthusiasm became known to all on board, especially the sailors, who described him as ‘the man that gathers grass” or more briefly “the Hay-picker or the Hay-maker.”” They regarded him, because of his scientific failing, with the respectful tolerance with which all fools in the East are regarded, and would wait an extra minute for him or help him on board, if the steamer were cast loose from the pier before he could scramble up the side. This morning the first object that met our eyes on looking out of the stateroom window was our Botanist on the highest peak of the rugged hills that enclose the harbor of Gargantua. Here was proof that we all — eve eee 7. lh = HIS FIRST JOURNEY ACROSS THE PRAIRIES 49 had time to go ashore and most of us hurried off for a ramble along the beach, or for a swim, or to climb one of the wooded rocky heights. The beach was covered with the maritime vetch or wild pea in flower, and beach grasses of various kinds. When the Botanist came down to the shore he was in raptures over sundry rare mosses, and beautiful specimens of Aspidium fragrans, Woodsia hyperborea, Cystopteris montana and other rare ferns that he had gathered. The view from the summit away to the north, he described as a sea of rugged Laurentian hills covered with thick woods. In the meantime some of the passengers went off with the Botanist to collect ferns and mosses. He led them a rare chase over rocks and through woods, being always on the lookout for the places that promised the rarest kinds, quite in- different to the toil or danger. The sight of a perpendicular face of rock, either dry or dripping with moisture, drew him like a magnet, and, with yells of triumph, he would summon the others to come and behold the trifle he had lit upon. Scrambling, pant- ing, rubbing their shins against the rocks, and half breaking their necks, they toiled painfully after him, only to find him on his knees before some “thing of beauty” that seemed to us little different from what we had passed by with indifference thousands of times. But, if they could not honestly admire the moss, or believe it was worth going through so much to get so little, they admired the enthusiasm, and it proved so infectious that, before many days, almost everyone of the passengers was so bitten with “the grass mania” or “hay fever’ they had begun to form collec- tions.” On July 22nd, we arrived early in the morning at Prince Arthur's Landing (Port Arthur) and landed at the commence- ment of the Dawson Route which was being started when I was there in 1869. We halted only a very short time there as pre- parations had been made for us and we almost immediately start- ed for Lake Shebondowan, forty-five miles distant. We travelled in wagons up this road and found it very good indeed after what I had seen three years before. At Lake Shebondowan we took a water route to the North West Angle. At this stage I may mention how the party was 50 HIS FIRST JOURNEY ACROSS THE PRAIRIES taken through the Lakes and Rivers from this point to the borders of Manitoba. When we reached the Lake we found a small steamboat ready to take us across and ahead of us had been a number of immigrants who were going by that route to Manitoba. Our party had three large Hudson Bay birch-bark canoes and canoe-men who were brought all the way from Montreal, being the pick of the Iroquois Indians. One of them, Ignace, had been Sir George Simpson's chief guide and the others whom we had were equally as good. Of the three canoes one was a five fathom canoe equal to 30 ft., and the others were four fathom. Besides our canoes there were a number of others and the flotilla was arranged as follows. The barge with the immigrants was tied to the steamer and each canoe was attached in single fashion to each other and it. Ofcourse, Mr. Fleming's was in the lead. This was the order of progression at any time during the trip while we were attached to a steamer. After we crossed the Lake, the country passed through was very varied and, in fact, was apparently more water than land and caused great difficulty afterwards to the engineers to make a rail- way location through it. The following extract ‘from “Ocean to Ocean’’ will suffice in showing the character of the region passed through: “We now entered a lovely lake twenty-two miles long; its name explains its characteristic. As the steam launch station- ed on it happened to be, unfortunately, at the west end, the In- dians again paddled the canoes for the four miles, when we met the launch coming back; it at once turned about and took us in tow. After a smart shower the sky cleared, and the sun shone on innumerable bays, creeks, channels, headlands and islets, which are simply larger or smaller rocks of granite covered with moss and wooded to the water's brink. Through this labyrinth we forged our way, often wondering that the wrong passage was never taken, where there were so many exactly alike. Fortunately, the fire-demon has not devastated these shores. The timber in some places is heavy; pine, aspen and birch being the prevailing varie- ties. Every islet in the Lake is wooded down to the water's edge. Our Botanist, though finding few new species not obtained on his holiday, looked forward with eager hope to the flora of the plains. HIS FIRST JOURNEY ACROSS THE PRAIRIES 51 “This expedition,” he said, “is going to give me a lift that will put me at the head of the whole brigade." But, as we drew near our third portage for the day, his face clouded. “Look at the ground; burned again.” One asked if it was the great waste of wood he referred to. ‘It is not that, but, they have burned the very spot for botanizing over. What is a site for shanty and clearing, compared to Botany!" “July 20th, the Chief awoke us early in the grey, misty dawn. It took more than a little shaking to awake the boys; but the Bo- tanist had gone off no one knew where, in search of new species. As we emerged from our tent, Louis and Baptiste appeared from theirs and kindled the fire. We had commenced the programme intended to be carried out while on the way to the Pacific. This was to rise at day-break, have first breakfast, make a certain dis- tance, then a halt for second breakfast. Then another halt for lunch and to camp early in the evening after having proceeded as far as Mr. Fleming had planned we should go that day.’ This rule was carried out as long as I was with them. For the next few days, the scenery and the conditions were just as I have des- cribed. On the 25th, we had a terrible rain-storm and we lay part of the day under the canoes and, from an extract, I will tell in a few words the conditions under which travellers existed at that time. “After taking a swim, we rigged lines before huge fires, and hung up our wet things to dry, so that it was eleven o'clock before anyone could lie down. ‘Our wet things, with some meant all. The Doctor and the Secretary had stowed theirs in water-proof bags, kindly lent them by the Colonel, but, alas, the bags proved as fallacious as our ‘water-proofs'! Part of the Botanist’s valise was reduced to pulp but he was too eager in search of specimens to think of such a trifle, and, while all the rest of us were busy washing and hanging out to dry, he hunted through woods and marshes and, though he got little for his pains, was happy as a king.” | “On the 26th, we were up at three a.m., and off within an hour and made very good progress. We were now drawing to- wards Fort Frances on Rainy Lake, but owing to head winds and the little steamer having such a large number of canoes and barges 52 HIS FIRST JOURNEY ACROSS THE PRAIRIES we were unable to make the west end of Rainy Lake and so were forced to camp on the shore of the Lake after we had made only thirty miles.” Our steamer was small, the flotilla stretched out far and the wind was ahead. We therefore determined to camp; and, by the advice of the engineer, started to the north shore to what is called the 15 Mile House, from Fort Frances, said house being two ‘deserted’ log huts. In a little bay here, on the sandy beach, we pitched our tents and made rousing fires, though the air was warm and balmy, as if we were getting into a more south- ern region. The Botanist, learning that we would leave before day-break, lighted an old pine branch and roamed about the place with his torch to investigate the flora. The others visited the immigrants to whom the log huts had been assigned, or sat around the fires smoking, or gathered bracken and fragrant ar- temisia for our beds.” Next day, we reached Fort Frances and for the first time saw the Colorado Potato Beetle and noted its power of destruction as most of the potato plants were destroyed. We spent a few hours at the Fort and then started down Rainy River which was very beautiful and showed that in the future it would be a valuable and attractive country. The following extracts will give a general idea of its appearance. “Rainy River is broad and beautiful; and flows with an easy current through a low lying and evidently fertile country. For the first twenty-five miles, twenty or thirty feet above the present beach or intervale, rises in terrace form, another, evidently the old shore of the river, which extends far back like a prairie. The richness of the soil is evident, from the luxuriance and the variety of the wild flowers. Much of the land could be cleared almost as easily as the prairie; other parts are covered with trees, pines, elms, maples, but chiefly aspens.”’ We had now reached the Lake of the Woods and it being Sunday we intended to proceed no further, but, the steamer came along and we had to hook on. In a short time we reached the Lake and a thunder-storm coming up we were compelled to take shelter behind a small island. The crew, the immigrants and ourselves constituted a large number, so we moved to a smaller island, and hauled the canoes out of the water, and later had eV > — ss ee Oe 2 HIS FIRST JOURNEY ACROSS THE PRAIRIES 53 the usual Sunday service. We had dinner on this island and there I found the ash-leaved maple, the nettle tree, Celtis occidentalis, and an abundance of flowers, twenty-four kinds that I had not seen since joining the expedition and of these, eight with which I was unacquainted. Early the next morning, July 29th, we arose early and got ready for the journey. The captain was afraid to take the pas- sage as it was still very rough. The Indians were afraid also and it was finally decided that instead of travelling as we had been used to in a long line, one behind the other, two canoes should be fastened to two barges that were in front of us, thus travelling in a more compact body and, by this means, we passed the ‘tra- verse. The sun came out and we were enabled to travel the remainder of the day and reached North West Angle in the even- ing and immediately retired to rest. Early in the morning of the 30th, the wagons arrived to take us to Oak Point, the commencement of the prairies. We had now eighty miles to travel by wagon to Oak Point through a new road, the country being chiefly covered with light forest. For the first twenty miles we travelled over a flat country, much of it marshy, with a dense forest of scrub pine, spruce, tamarac and here and there aspens and white birch. In the open parts of the country many kinds of wild fruit grew luxuriantly, such as strawberries, raspberries, black and red currants, and so forth, and many flocks of wild pigeons and prairie chickens, were sitting on the branches of the different trees by the road side. The next section of the country was totally different in character. It was light and sandy for more than ten miles or so west. The following extract will give a general description of the country passed through. “‘This total change in the character of the soil afforded a rich feast to our Botanist. In the course of the day he came on two or three distinct floras; and, although not many of the species were new, and, in general features, the productions on the heavy and light soils were similar to those of like land farther east in Ontario and the Lower Provinces, yet, the luxuriance and variety were amazing. He counted over four hundred different species in this one day's ride. Great was the 5 54 HIS FIRST JOURNEY ACROSS THE PRAIRIES astonishment of our teamsters when they saw him make a bound from his seat upon the wagon to the ground and rush to plain, woodland, or marsh. At first, they all hauled up to see what was the matter—it must be gold or silver he had found. But, when he came back triumphantly waving a flower or bunch of grass, and exclaiming: “Did you ever see the like of that?” ‘No, I never, was the general response from every disgusted teamster. The internal cachinnation of a braw Scotch lad from the kingdom of Fife, over the phenomenon, was s> violent that he would have exploded had he not relieved himself by occasional witticisms; “Jock,” he cried to the teamster who had the honor of driving our Botanist, ‘Tell yon man if he wants a load of grass, no to fill the buggy noo, an’ a'll show him a fine place where we feed the horse.”’ But when one of us explained to the Scot that all this was done in the interests of science and would end in something good for schools, he ceased to jibe, though he could not altogether suppress a deep hoarse rumble far down in his throat—like that of a distant volcano—when the Professor, as we now called him, would come back with an unusually large armful of spoil. The bonny Scot was an immigrant who had been a farm servant in Fife five years ago. He had come to the Angle this spring, and was getting thirty dollars a month and his board, as a common teamster. He was saving four-fifths of his wages and intended in a few months to buy a good farm on the Red River among his countrymen, and settle down as a Laird for the rest of his life. How many ten thousands more of Scotch lads would follow his example if they only knew how easy it would be for them.” After leaving this point, we pushed on as fast as possible but found when we stopped for dinner we were still thirty-three miles from Oak Point, and, after some discussion, we decided to push on again, which was a foolish move as it turned out later. When we were about half way clouds formed and a heavy rain began to fall and our horses were very much jaded by their long haul, and owing to the heavy nature of the road our progress was very slow. Shortly after, it grew dark and the darkness was so dense that we could scarcely see the road and the teamster was unacquainted with it in the dark, but a halt was called and Mr. Fleming, Dr. HIS FIRST JOURNEY ACROSS THE PRAIRIES 55 Grant, and myself got out of the wagon and took hands in front of the horse. Mrs. Fleming in the centre of the road and Dr. Grant on his right and I holding his left hand. For some miles, and I thought hours, we tramped when suddenly the teamster’ called, “All right, I see a light.’ We were actually through the woods and onto the prairie and, sure enough, there was a light. The teamster stopped and we got on board and asked him if he could see the road now himself. He said no road was necessary now that we were on the prairie. We just headed straight for the light and, though we were two miles off, we started for it even though there was no road, and arrived a long time after midnight. The following is another extract from “Ocean to Ocean.’ “‘Ar- rived there wearied and soaked through. We came to what appeared to be the only building, a half-finished store of the Hud- sons Bay Company. Entering the open door, barricaded with boxes, blocks of wood, tools and so forth, we climbed up a shaky ladder to the second story, threw ourselves down and slept heavily beside a crowd of teamsters whom no amount of kicking could awake. That night drive to Oak Point we ‘made a note of.’ “July 31st. Awakened at eight am. by hearing a voice exclaiming: “Thirty-two new species already; it is a perfect floral garden.’ Of course it was our Botanist with his arms full of the treasures of the prairie. We looked out and saw a sea of green sprinkled with yellow, red, lilac and white. None of us had ever seen the prairie before and behold, the half had not been told us. As you cannot know what the ocean is without having seen it, neither can you in imagination picture the prairie.’ I may say . that Dr. Grant's expressions only conveyed a slight opinion of my own thoughts in the matter. I was really astounded by the number of species and their luxuriance that I beheld on that morn- ing when I first saw the prairie. And for nearly a thousand miles the same thing was repeated, at intervals, with variations chiefly in color. The impressions then made have never faded from my mind. We were now thirty miles from Fort Garry and struck out on a straight road across the prairie. In that one ride I seemed to have lived half a lifetime. When we reached the Red River we 56 HIS FIRST JOURNEY ACROSS THE PRAIRIES crossed it in a scow and walked up to Fort Garry, which was to be our home during our stay, one altogether too short. Captain Palliser in his exploration, 1857-1862, seemed to have adopted the views of the American people, who, at that time, had condemned the whole of the centre of the United States, from the hundredth Meridian to California, to sterility and called it “the American Desert.” And the desert was said by Palliser to extend northward of the 49th parallel to the Saskatchewan. Such a view was adopted at this time by our Government, and, when we reach- ed Winnipeg, all the leading men were discussing the subject, pro and con. Archbishop Taché took a leading part on one side and a Mr. Taylor, the American Consul, took the other side. While in Winnipeg, or at Fort Garry as it was known at that time, this was the constant theme of discussion. Archbishop Taché spoke of a ‘fertile belt’ extending from Winnipeg northwestward to Edmonton, but maintained that the Saskatchewan country was a dry, poor affair and it was “‘not fertile.”. In 1868, Archbishop Taché had published a pamphlet at Ottawa, in which he stated this very thing, that the Saskatchewan was not fertile but that a belt of country extended from Winnipeg to Edmonton in which wheat and other cereals would grow. At this time, the Canadian Government believed that the ““Great American Desert” extended into Canada north of Latitude 51° and hence the only part of the country of value would be that from 52° northward, hence the term, ‘Fertile Belt.” Consul Taylor, on the other hand, lived most of his life in St. Paul, Minnesota, and knew the value of the prairie country, and, having heard great accounts of the black soils to be found in the Saskatchewan Valley, he maintained that in the future it would be the wheat producing country of the American continent. I heard both expositions and thought little about the results, as ,at that time, I had no idea of the country talked of. After leaving Fort Garry, we travelled nine miles beyond Portage La Prairie and stopped there over Sunday. The after- noon we left Portage La Prairie we had an awful storm and, to show what a storm on the prairie really is, | make the following extract from ‘Ocean to Ocean”: “At 4 p.m. we started for Rat HIS FIRST JOURNEY ACROSS THE PRAIRIES 57 Creek, ten miles off (from Portage La Prairie). The sky was threatening, but, as we always disregarded appearances, no one proposed a halt. On the open prairie, when just well away from the Hudson's Bay Company's store, we thought we were in for a storm. Every form of beauty was combined in the sky at this time. To the south it was such blue as Titian loved to paint: blue, that those who have seen only dull English skies say there is nowhere to be seen but on canvas or in heaven; and the blue was bordered in the west with vast billowy mountains of the softest, fleeciest white. Next to that, and right ahead of us, was a swollen black cloud along the under surface of which greyer masses were eddying at a terrific rate. Extending from this, and all around the north and east, the expanse was a dun-colored mass livid with lightning, and there, to the right, and behind us, tor- rents of rain were pouring and nearing us every moment. The atmosphere was charged with electricity, on all sides; lightning rushed towards the earth in straight and zig-zag currents and the thunder varied from the sharp rattle of musketry to the roar of artillery; still there was no rain, and but little wind. We pressed on for a house, not far away; but there was to be no escape. With the suddenness of a tornado the wind struck us—at first without rain—but so fierce that the horses were forced again and again off the track. And now, with the wind came rain—thick and furious; and then hail—hail with angular lumps of ice from half an inch to an inch across, a blow on the head from one of which was stunning. Our long line of horses and carts was broken. Some of the poor creatures clung to the road, fighting desperately; others were driven in to the prairie, and, with their backs to the storm, stood still or moved sideways with cowering heads, their manes and long tails floating wildly like those of Highland Sheties. It was a picture for Rosa Bonheur; the storm driving over the vast treeless prairie and the men and horses yielding to or fighting against it. In half an hour we got under the shelter of the log- house, a mile distant; but the fury of the storm was past, and in less than an hour the sun burst forth again, scattering the clouds, till not a blot was left in the sky, save fragments of mist to the south and east.”’ 58 HIS FIRST JOURNEY ACROSS THE PRAIRIES Three miles further on was our camping place, Rat Creek. We were now ten miles from Portage La Prairie and to that date no settler had crossed it. Mr. MacKenzie and Mr. Grant were the only settlers there at that time. The whole of the country west of this to Edmonton was called the ‘“Great Lone Land,” and extended from here eight hundred miles without an inhabitant except a few half-breeds and Indians. I may as well mention now our mode of travel. Our caravan consisted of six Red River carts and two buck-boards which had been bought at St. Paul. The carts were all of wood and no iron in them at all. From this time forward, the Chief decided that we would make three spells a day and must make at least forty miles each day for the next month. We had attached to one of the carts an odometer which gave the number of revolutions of the wheel and from that was measured the distance travelled on each spell. By such means, we knew without any difficulty how many miles we had travelled. The cavalcade was arranged so that one buck-board went in front and then the six carts one after the other. My buck-board was the last of all. We had over forty horses and, as we were going so fast most of the time, they were changed three times a day. This was our regular mode of travelling for the whole trip. We would rise at sunrise and have some breakfast; take a second breakfast after going about ten to fifteen miles; then take our mid-day spell of the same distance and, after dinner, take another spell and camp early in the evening. As we were passing over the whole distance through the “‘fertile belt,"’ we were seldom on a very extensive prairie so that we had feed, wood, and water most of the time. Just as we were about to start and leave Rat Creek (the men of the party had gone ahead), a band of Sioux, noble looking fel- lows, came sweeping across the prairies in all the glory of paint, feathers and Indian warlike magnificence. They had come from Fort Ellice, having recently travelled the long road from Missouri, and were now on their way to Governor Archibald to ask per- mission to live under the British flag, and that small reserves or allotments of land be allowed them, as they were determined to live no longer under the rule of “‘the Long Knives.’ All had guns HIS FIRST JOURNEY ACROSS THE PRAIRIES 59 and adornment of one kind or another. A handsome brave came first with a painted tin horse hanging down from his neck to his naked bronze breast, skunk fur around his ankles, hawk’'s feathers on his head, and a great bunch of sweet-smelling mint Monarda fistulosa on one arm to set him off the more. I went up to the leader and made signs to him that he was a fine fellow and slap- ped him on his bronze thigh, as he sat like a king on his horse. They were the first wild Indians I had ever seen and, when I look- ed at those magnificent fellows, I felt that their day was about ended and was sorry to think of it. They were dressed, just as I had read in books, with breech cloths around their loins and a few beads and ornaments about their bodies and all the rest was naked and the color of bronze on account of the sun shining broad- ly on their naked bodies. This was the first and last time I have ever looked on such splendid looking Indians. The prairies, we had been passing through in Manitoba, were then called weedy prairies on account of the number of tall flower- ing plants that grew upon them. Before us, while we stayed at Rat Creek, extended a flat plain, twelve miles wide without a house, and one unbroken mass of tall flowering plants; sun-flowers penstemons, asters, golden-rods, and many other composite. This prairie that we now entered upon was the last of the Mani- toba plain and, in rainy weather, was a very difficult region on account of the richness of the soil and wet ground. For the next few days we were travelling from Rat Creek to Fort Ellice, a distance of 150 miles. During that time, we passed through a beautiful country and to us Easterners it looked as if it were a perfect garden with the rich soil and great numbers of autumn flowers. When we reached the Assiniboine, at Fort Ellice, the ford was only three feet deep but the bottom was a shifting sand so it did not do to let the horses stand while crossing. I waded in and led the company across as the Chief of the party had gone to the Fort. Curiously enough, I led my party across the same place in 1906 and close to the crossing of the Grand Trunk Pacific. After crossing the river, we moved west for the first few miles along the north bank of the Qu’Appelle and I went down into the 60 HIS FIRST JOURNEY ACROSS THE PRAIRIES valley and among the sand hills near the stream to inspect the flora and came back rewarded by finding half a dozen new species. For the next few days we were passing through a very fine country and still we felt that there were no signs of the want of fertility. All the land was good. After passing through the little Touchwood Hills and the greater Touchwood Hills, which are not hills at all but merely a succession of beautiful little lakes and forests of poplar that had been kept from fires by the lakes, we shortly came to the widest expanse of prairie we had yet seen. Away to the west and south it extended without a break as far as we could see. Before descending to the plain, the half-breeds, on horse-back, rode into the thickets and pulled down some small poplar trees that were there, put them on their shoulders and rode to our camping place out on the prairie. The day after we crossed the Touchwood Hills, when out on the prairie south of Quill Lake, we saw two white cranes, on a ridge, that looked to me like two ostriches, they stood so high. Willie, the boy that got our horses and Frank Fleming, immediate- ly started out to catch the cranes. Frank carried a gun and Willie carried a lariat. I, being at the rear of the train, had a good look at the pursuit. As they galloped towards the cranes, the cranes ran for their lives along the ridge and, as the boys approached the ridge, one of the cranes took to flight and the other one, which may have been a young one and unable to fly, ran like a race horse. Willie went after it and eventually ran up close enough to throw his lariat around its head and brought it to the ground. The old one returned and seemed to attack Willie, but was beaten off by Frank Fleming. In a few moments, Willie came riding past him with the crane over his shoulder and, at the camp fire, it was cleaned and got ready to eat at our first camping place. In ex- tent its wings were at least six feet; a most excellent specimen. The flesh tasted very good, but was of a dark color. Day followed day and, on the fifteenth of August, we arrived at the South Saskatchewan. At this time there was no established | ferry. When travellers came to the shore, if the boat were on the far side, they would send over a man on horseback, and if the boat were on their side they just took it over and left it when . q . : 4 : : ; | ‘ wn wis HIS FIRST JOURNEY ACROSS THE PRAIRIES 61 through. This was the point that was afterwards called Batoche’s Crossing. It was thirteen years after when General Middleton, with the Canadian Militia, fought with the half-breeds at this point. At Duck Lake, a few miles further on, we got a great many wild fowl, and later passed on to Fort Carlton. Fort Carlton at this time was a renowned Post, as all travellers to the north passed it. The Post itself was of very little importance. It was just the usual square of four or five wooden buildings surrounded by a high fence. This constituted the Fort, and, having been designed and intended against the Indians only, it was of little consequence that it was built on the low ground almost by the river. At Fort Carlton, we crossed the North Saskatchewan and took what was called the Northern Trail for Edmonton. Our reason for doing this was that, if we took the more southern route, we should be liable to run against the Blackfeet Indians, who were frequently fighting with the Crees, and all travellers to Edmonton kept to the north. This is a quotation from Mr .Grant: “After crossing the Saskatchewan we did not move the camp till about eight oclock. This delay gave the Botanist an hour or two to hunt for new species, which he did with all diligence and the rest of us had time for a swim or a ramble up and down the river. Our Botanist had been slightly cast down of late because of finding few new varieties. The flora for the five hundred and thirty miles between the eastern edge of the prairie at Oak Point and the Saskatchewan is wonderfully uniform. The characteristic flowers and grasses are everywhere the same. We expected, however, to meet with many strange varieties after crossing the two Saskatchewans. ” The distance from Fort Garry to Edmonton is nine hundred miles and is usually regarded as consisting of three portions: two hundred and fifteen miles to Fort Ellice on the Assiniboine; three hundred and nine more to Fort Carlton and about three hundred and eighty up the North Saskatchewan to Edmonton. On this third part of the journey we are now entering. Before writing any further of the trip, | may now repeat some opinions in regard to the prairies held at that time. Some ob- servers, long resident in the country, declared that the fertile belt 62 HIS FIRST JOURNEY ACROSS THE PRAIRIES practically meant the whole distance between the North and South Saskatchewan and other vast regions to the east, north and west, especially a broad belt along the bases of the Rocky Moun- tains to the south of Edmonton, two hundred miles long by fifty broad, the home of the Blackfeet, and pronounced by many to be the garden of the North-west. Others maintained that, as far as the Saskatchewan country was concerned, only a narrow belt along such rivers as the Battle, Vermilion and Red Deer could be cultivated with success. It is not necessary to decide between those views now. We knew, at this time, on the authority of Captain Palliser, who crossed and re-crossed the plains several times, that the central American desert extended a short way into British Territory, forming a triangle, having for its base the forty- ninth parallel from longitude 100° to 114° W., with its apex reach- ing to the 52nd parallel of latitude. But the first emigrants would naturally select land along the courses of streams, especially the navigable rivers, and they would soon find out all about the inter- vening districts. While at Edmonton, I found quite a number of miners at work on the bars of the river. From one of these miners I bought an ounce of Saskatchewan gold and, on my return to Ottawa, had it made into a ring for my wife, which she still wears. _ While we were crossing the prairie we read “Butler's Lone Land” and discussed a pamphlet which was published by a Mr. Mcl.eod of Ottawa immediately before we left. When we reached Edmonton, Mr. Fleming decided that it was important that this pamphlet should be taken into account and asked Mr. Horetzky and myself if we would try and reach the Peace River and come through the mountains to Fort McLeod this autumn, and we said that we would try. It was decided that as soon as Mr. Fleming's party left for the West, Mr. Horetzky would arrange the outfit for our trip. The following is from “Ocean to Ocean.”’: ‘We had to say good-bye (Mr. Fleming's party) not only to the Indians who had come from Fort Pitt and to Mr. McDougal © _ and the gentlemen of the Fort; but also to Horetzky and to our Botanist, as the Chief had decided to send these two on a =P — HIS FIRST JOURNEY ACROSS THE PRAIRIES 63 separate expedition to Peace River, by Fort Dunvegen, to report on the flora of that country and on the nature of the northern passes through the Rocky Mountains. We parted, with regret, for men get better acquainted with each other on ship- board, or in a month's travel in a lone-land, than they would under ordinary circumstances in a year.” The quotations from “Ocean to Ocean,’ written by Dr. Grant and published in 1873, are now followed by quotations from Mr. Horetzky’s book, named “Canada on the Pacific,” published in 1874, dedicated to Mr. Mackenzie, who was then Premier of Canada. Mr. Horetzky's descriptions and observations of cer- tain parts of our trip are freely given and | put in a few of my own observations to fill up the hiatus. The first quotation I make is a part of the Preface. “To the officers of the Hudson’s Bay Company, without exception, the best thanks are due for the hearty welcome and aid extended to Mr. Macoun (my colleague), and myself, during our journey. Mr. Macoun, Botanist, of Belleville, Ontario, has also contributed very important data regarding the flora and growing capabilities of the Peace River country. In the section covering Lesser Slave Lake to the Fraser River the reader will kindly bear in mind that absolute correctness is not to be expected.” The next quotation is in regard to the start to the Pacific: “ “Hurrah for the Peace River!’ Such was the joyous exclama- tion of our Botanist, as, after waving an affectionate adieu to our late travelling companions, he turned upon his heel and remarked to me in a manner peculiarly his own, ‘Now we shall soon settle McLeod's theory! It must here be remarked, by way of explana- tion, that, in the early part of 1872, a pamphlet, styled “The Peace River’ had been published in the City of Ottawa, setting forth the possibility of a line of communication between the Eastern and Western parts of the Dominion of Canada, by the Valley of the Peace River. The author of the article in question had been aided by extracts from an old Hudson's Bay Officer's Journal and Diary. The Chief Engineer of the Canadian Pacific Road, struck by the possible advantages of such a highway, chose the writer 64 HIS FIRST JOURNEY ACROSS THE PRAIRIES of these notes (Horetzky) to make a reconnaissance of that pass, and ascertain as nearly as possible its actual elevation. With this object in view, I left Edmonton in the beginning of Septem- ber, 1872, accompanied by Dr. Macoun, an eminent botanist, en route for the Pacific coast.”’ CHAPTER VI 1872-74 CONTINUATION OF JOURNEY TO THE PaciFic Coast—THE PEACE RIvVER—OVER THE MOUNTAINS IN WINTER—ARRIVAL AT THE Coast—HoMEWARD BoUND—REPORT AND CONCLUSIONS IN REGARD TO CLIMATE BASED ON GROWTH OF PLANTS—MANY EpisopEs DESCRIBED. companions, and having seen them fairly under way for Jasper House, it now behooved me to make preparations for the Peace River journey, and as the season was already ad- vanced no time was to be lost. A circumstance which lent an additional zest to our contem- plated trip was the fact that we were in complete ignorance as to the proper means of procedure and the time necessary to accom- plish the journey. Nobody at Edmonton could tell us aught regarding the Rocky Mountain Passes north of Téte Jaune Cache. In vain, did we seek for information as to our proposed journey. All the positive information we did obtain was that a Hudson's Bay Company's boat annually descended the Peace River to the Rocky Mountain Portage for the supply of leather required for the Indian trade in New Caledonia (a part of northern British Columbia), but that boat had already been down and long since returned to the west side of the mountains, and our chances of getting through to McLeod's Lake before the winter set in were very slim indeed. In fact, everybody was only too willing to impart what knowledge he possessed, but, as that was generally of a negative and contradictory character, we derived but little Satisfaction or advantage from it. We were told by one party that such and such a route was not to be thought of; by another that we would possibly make a very slow and tedious progress on foot through the dense forests of the Peace River but that it would be folly to think of taking horses; and a third and veritable Job's | seme: as already remarked, bidden adieu to our late 66 ARRIVAL AT THE COAST Comforter coolly affirmed that we would never be able to cross the the Grand Muskeg which was described as being infinitely worse than the famous Dismal Swamp of Virginia. We were filled with all manner of conjectures. One would tell us we could not cross the rivers on our way and others said we would never get through the Rocky Mountains. The end of it all was that Horetzky de- cided to take the bit in his teeth and do what he thought best. I may say here that it was Horetzky who had charge of Mr. Flem- ing’s party all the way from Fort Garry and, as he was an old Hudson's Bay Company's clerk, he knew how to deal with the half-breeds and Indians, therefore I was quite safe in being his companion. ‘These conflicting and adverse statements, although rather disheartening, did not prevent my choice of some well-defined course and I determined to strike across the country to Fort As- siniboine on the Athabasca and thence over the swampy and barren grounds intervening between it and the Lesser Slave Lake. But we had to bide our time. “Two Hudson Bay clerks, then at Edmonton, had received peremptory instructions from their superior officer at Fort Garry to immediately proceed to New Caledonia by way of Peace River and, as a matter of course, all the resources of Edmonton in the way of horses, men, and provisions were laid under contribution in order to expedite their iourney. Notwithstanding these draw- backs, I set about making preparations for the journey as fast as it could be done under the circumstances, but little assistance, however, could be expected from the Company until Messrs. Young and King had been disposed of. On the second of Sep- tember, these gentlemen's preparations being completed, they took their departure, kindly promising to smooth the way for us by leaving advice of our expected advent at every post they should pass, and, whilst bidding us farewell, expressed the wish that we should meet again, only on the west side of the Rocky Mountains, as they would travel with customary Hudson Bay celerity. The Botanist, whose countenance during our affecting leave-taking of Messrs. Young and King had assumed a rueful and comically sad expression, especially upon their allusion to our keeping the rear ARRIVAL AT THE COAST 67 all the way to Fort McLeod, remarked, after the last of the caval- cade had disappeared through the main gate of the Fort. “'It is too bad to be left behind in this offhand manner.’ ‘Never mind, my dear Mac,” said I, “We may not be so far behind them after all, and, as they intend to proceed by canoe from Fort Assiniboine to Lesser Slave Lake, we may steal a march on them and possibly get ahead of them yet.”’ “The fact that provisions could not be readily obtained when once on the way from Edmonton until we reached Fort McLeod, rendered it imperative to carry supplies in quantity sufficient for a journey of nine weeks’ duration. I accordingly packed two hun- dred and thirty pounds of flour, twelve pounds of tea, twenty-four pounds of sugar and sundries besides one hundred and fifty pounds of pemmican (equal quantities of finely pounded dried buffalo meat and grease). Meat and tea we expected to find at any of the solitary establishments of the Hudson's Bay Company which we might pass. Pack saddles and sundry horse trappings had to be made and fitted, men had to be chosen, the horses picked out from amongst the somewhat ill-conditioned animals left at the Company's horse guard. In the meantime Mr. Macoun, who was to be my fellow traveller as far as Stuart Lake, whence he was to proceed to Quesnel and Victoria, busied himself by scouring the surrounding country in search of further botanical additions to his already bulky collection.” “Our party, when ready, consisted of four persons, namely, the Botanist, myself, and two hired men, one of them an Irish miner, by name Armstrong, recently arrived from the Omineca diggings on the Peace River; the other an English half-breed named Thomas, who turned out to be as lazy a rascal as ever munched pemmican. Of horses we had six to pack and four to ride, making tén in all.” After saying good-bye to Mr. Hardesty, I went on with the horses and left Mr. Horetzky to settle up business at Edmonton. At one p.m., Mr. Horetzky overtook our little train, which had stopped by the side of a small creek, and found us busily and pleasantly employed preparing dinner. The preparation of this meal, indeed, of all our meals, was unvarying in kind and quality - 68 ARRIVAL AT THE COAST and simply consisted in the pounding up with an axe of a couple of pounds of buffalo pemmican, which, after receiving an addition of water and a sprinkling of flour, was placed in a frying pan and heated. This mixture, together with tea and bread, was our daily food during the whole journey to McLeod's Lake and, though very uninviting to a tyro, is the strongest food and the best for the traveller. One great advantage of pemmican is its portability. It can be compressed into very small bulk, a bag, containing one hundred pounds net weight, measures but three feet in length by about ten inches in width, and will serve four men over a month. My mode of eating it was to receive my portion while it was hot and eat it up at once. I never took a second helping! For the next few days, we had very bad weather. It was raining most of the time, but on the sixth of September the morn- ing broke bright and clear and we packed up and were off in a short time and reached the Athabasca in the afternoon of the next day. When we arrived there we found that the two clerks from Edmonton were then starting for Little Slave Lake and going - down the Athabasca. We crossed the river to the Fort and Mr. Calder, who had charge, said that his son William could guide us across the barren ground to Little Slave Lake, as he had crossed that way with a cow six years before. Here, Thomas, the lazy half-breed, was dismissed and William remained with us until we went to McLeod's Lake. For the next ten days, we were passing through a country that was almost impassable, swamps and marshes and difficulties of all kinds, and the following quotation from Horetzky's book will show what we went through. ‘‘For nearly the entire distance the trail was hardly discernable. Our animals mired at every swamp we came to and these were by no means a rare occurrence, the Botanist, having counted twenty-seven separate and distinct ones during the course of but one day's travel. We seemed dur- ing these nine days to have experienced all the misfortunes inci- dental to pack-train travelling. One of our horses was impaled on a sharp stump and almost bled to death. Our provisions got materially damaged and, to crown all, the weather, which had been so propitious during our journey over the plains, seemed now Ee OO ee P ARRIVAL AT THE COAST 69 bent on making us pay for former benefits and enlivened us with continued storms of wind and rain, which alternated to sleet and snow. ‘Upon the whole, we had a remarkable time of it and were not sorry to catch the first glimpse of the lake, which we reached on the afternoon of the twentieth.”’ My opinion of the whole country was that it was a continuous muskeg with islands of spruce through it, and our trail led through the islands. When we reached the lake we were all tired out and immediately camped and settled down for the evening, but not to sleep because at this time (late in September) the whole lake, as far as we could see, was covered with wild fowl of every descrip- tion; in fact, no water was to be seen, it was all water-fowl. This was the condition of the lake the whole time we passed along it. We had gone through one series of difficulties only to meet greater obstacles. I may say that I preferred walking to riding as I was unused to it, but now, with a river to be crossed, I had to mount my horse and, by good luck, I had a Mexican saddle with a pommel in front, and when my horse got into difficulties I held on to it. ‘The river, at our crossing place, was about thirty yards wide and each rider, before making the ford, drew his knees up to his chin, fondly hoping that in this position he would be enabled to reach the other side comparatively dry, but, entering the middle of the river and sinking deeper and deeper in the cold element that hope was rapidly dispelled and the individual temperament of each member of the party was pretty well shown. Ejaculations and more than direful expletives were heard uttered in an ascending scale and equally plaintive tones as the ice-cold water first reached the boots, then filtered into the trouser pockets and higher still in case of the most unlucky ones. This difficult little prelude to the day’s work having been gone through, we dismantled, and, having emptied our boots and rid ourselves of the surplus water, we resumed our way on foot for the double reason of restoring circulation and of sparing our animals.’ Next day we came to another large creek, or river, where our horses, losing bottom for a few yards, were obliged to swim. 6 70 ARRIVAL AT THE COAST Again we camped on the other side. Next morning, after travel- ling a mile, we came to a much larger river and this time we had to make a raft of dried trees and took our baggage across and drove our horses. In this manner we travelled over land by the lake for four days. On the evening of the fourth day we camped in a meadow of very tall grass and at this point was the crossing to the Little Slave Lake Post, which was close to the head of the lake. Mr. Horetzky fired off a gun to let the people at the Post know that:we wanted help to get across but we got no word from the Post. Two Indians who had been out hunting came up just then; each had an old flint-lock gun of the Hudson's Bay Com- pany's type. The following quotation is Mr. Horetzky’s des- cription of this meeting: “Those fellows were dressed in the unmistakable Hudson's Bay capot and were each armed with an old flint-lock gun with which they rather astonished our Botanist. A flock of grey geese happening to pass at a short distance, Mr. Macoun pointed to them, and by signs signified his desire to see them shoot. The two aborigines motioning to us to keep quiet immediately began to imitate the cackling of geese and looking up we saw the flock swerve slightly in their course and turn in our direction. When within shooting distance, although to our unpracticed eyes were yet too far off, bang, bang, went the guns and a couple of plump geese fell into the grass beside us. A plug of tobacco each, in payment, was received by the Indians with evident marks of pleasure and they good-naturedly set to work collecting fire-wood and doing other little chores of the camp.” While we were setting out our supper the Indians pointed to a canoe which was coming up and we found that it was our two friends, the Hudson's Bay clerks, Messrs. Young and King, who said we would not see them again until we got to Fort McLeod. We hailed them and they promised to have a boat sent over for us in the morning. On the twenty-ninth of September we started from Little Slave Lake for Peace River Crossing with a set of new horses. As usual, I took the lead and went forward a day ahead of Mr. Horetzky, and made very good progress and, after an uneventful 2 : : | : | : ’ eee ee ee eZsl NI NNOOVWN NHor AG N3SS LSYIA SV “VLIV ‘SSAIN 3DV3d “LNAWdYVOSS SFAHL WOYS YSAIM 3OW3ad SHL NMOG ONIMOO 7 ~~ dpe > a Pes ie Capote. tat asi Tea ARRIVAL AT THE COAST 71 trip, we reached the vicinity of Peace River on the first of October. “Quickening our pace to a gallop; and lost in admiration of the landscape and the sudden transformation of the scene, we at length came to a dead stop on the brink of the Great Peace River Valley which now barred our progress westward. We had at last reached the long-looked-for goal of our hopes and, resting our nags for a little, we feasted our eyes on the glorious landscape now mapped out before us. Throwing the reins over our horses’ necks we let them feed there a few minutes while awaiting the arrival of the others, who, with the pack animals, were still a mile or so behind. A strong westerly gale was blowing, but the air was so warm and balmy that to recline on the beautiful grassy sward full face to the blast was positively delicious. _ For several miles to the south-west, the noble river, flowing eight hundred feet beneath us on its silent course to the Arctic Ocean, could be distinctly traced as it meandered through its mighty valley. Several large and wooded islands dotted its sur- face here and there causing eddies and whirlpools, which, in their turn, made long faint streaks of foam, barely visible in the dis- tance. With the exception of these disturbing causes the bosom of the mighty river looked perfectly unruffled at our high altitude and failed to give any idea of the great velocity with which it flowed.” | On the morning of October first, it was decided that Mr. Horetzky should go right up to Dunvegan, fifty miles above, and I would bring our baggage and the boat which the Hudson's Bay Company sent down to take us up. This boat was one of the large Hudson's Bay barges which were used at that time on all the rivers to carry freight. It had a crew of six men and myself and Armstrong. Our mode of progress was, by all the men, ex- cept myself and the steersman, going ashore and hauling the boat when the wide beach called a “Batture’’ was on our side of the River. When the Batture was on the other side we crossed over and took it. In going up the river I had nothing to do but make observations and eat. This I did in a fashion altogether my own. On the boat, the men got a bundle of dried meat and each man turned over the lot and selected his own piece and so the selection > 72 ARRIVAL AT THE COAST went on until it was all taken. I asked the guide why they did that and he said: “We know that we will get no more until this bundle is eaten and hence each man makes his own selection of what he is going to eat.’ I decided I would try the dry meat in preference to raw pemmican and had a piece selected for myself. At this time, I always carried a little bag of salt with me and I remember that this-day I hung the bag around my neck, sat on the boat and cut a bite off my dried meat, dipped it in the salt and sat there and chewed. It kept me busy until nearly dinner time to eat my breakfast. At nightfall we camped on the edge of the river and fastened the boat to a tree on the bank although the boat was nearly one hundred vards from the tree. Most of the men slept on shore. The guide and myself slept on the boat, and, being tired and possible sleepy, I never woke during the night. When I raised my head in the morning I found the boat was close to the shore. In the night the river had risen rapidly and, as the water rose, the boat was hauled in and | discovered that I was the only one of | the party who did not realize the danger we had been in. The flcod came so unexpectedly that the boats that were at Dunvegan were all carried away and we saw them sail past in the morning. As far as we knew, they were lost. After a consultation with the guide I climbed the bank and ascended to the trail and took my way for Dunvegan, which I reached in the evening. The men with the boat did not arrive until the next day. The next day after my arrival at Dunvegan a council of war was held between ourselves and the Hudson's Bay people. Owing to the great rise in the river and the loss of the boats it was decided that, as we could not get assistance to go up the river by boat, owing to the high water, and as we wished to proceed fur- ther, we would have to go overland to Fort St. John. The Hud- son's Bay clerks, Mr. Young and Mr. King, decided not to pro- ceed any further as it was too late in the season, in their opinion, to pass the mountains before winter. Mr. Horetzky wished me to return also to Edmonton as he thought he might be able to get _ through even if winter did set in. I said at once that I would at least attempt to continue the journey and was prepared to ARRIVAL AT THE COAST 73 leave my bones in the mountains rather than fail. From that time forward, I saw that Mr. Horetzky believed that I would be an encumbrance to him in getting through and he laid his plans, without my knowledge, as I was not able to talk French. When | decided to proceed onwards with him a number of horses were collected and we crossed the river and took the trail for Fort St. John on the sixth of October. On that day the Hudson's Bay clerks returned to the south. For the next ten days, we were crossing through a fine section of the country bordering on the Peace River. The trail often led us into ravines cut nearly one thousand feet into the valley but good soil was found in every part. We crossed Pine River on the sixteenth and, in a short time, were in sight of St. Johns Hudson's Bay post. While there I discovered that Mr. Horetzky had a scheme to not go through the mountains by Peace River but to ascend the North Pine River where we found there was a pass that led through the mountains. We discovered it in this way: While in conversation about the mountains, the Beaver chief, Mastie, said that there was a canoe route up the Pine River into a lake in the mountains from which a stream discharged into a river flowing to the west. He showed us a plan made with a pointed stick on the floor of the cabin. | asked the guide to tell him to let us know what the borders of the lake were like. I knew if he said it was rocky his statement was wrong, but that if it were marshy along the lake his statement was correct. He answered that it was marshy all round the lake and I said at once, ‘No doubt it is a new pass.” Not understanding French I was not aware that Mr. Horetzky was trying to get the Indians to lead him up the Pine River while I would be sent with the baggage up the Peace River, through the Rocky Mountains, and up the Parsnip to Fort Mc- Leod. In other words, he would shake me off and | would be left for the winter in the mountains. That was evidently the scheme he had in his mind as the sequel will tell. This quotation is Mr. Horetzky’s own explanation of this: “Here I found Mr. Kennedy, the clerk in charge, and, having expressed my wish to - cross the mountains by the Pine River Pass, we soon had engaged 74 ARRIVAL AT THE COAST the services of three other Indians who, with Mastie, were to conduct me to McLeod's Lake by that route, while Mr. Macoun was to proceed by the River to the same point. But all my ar- rangements were soon broken through by one of my chosen band, a newly married man, backing out and his example, being con- tagious, decided the others to refuse, point blank, to go on the journey, which they now pronounced to be hazardous and difficult.” | Before proceeding up the river, it was decided that we should make a supply of pemmican for the passage of the mountains. Being interested in the making of it, I decided to watch the pro- cess. To make fine pemmican, thirty pounds of pounded lean meat, then thirty pounds of fat are taken, and in our case, thirty pounds of Saskatoon berries as well, the three making a total weight of ninety pounds. A small trough was obtained and the thirty pounds of pounded meat thrown into’it with the thirty pounds of bear's grease, or moose grease, and then the thirty pounds of Saskatoon berries which had been dried. With a scoop, we mixed it all up together. Then a bag, which had been made of green moose skin with the hairy side out, received this mixture, by being shovelled and pounded in and, as soon as it was cold, it became almost as hard as rock. Pemmican made, as this was, is almost impervious to water. While at St. Johns we did not eat pemmican because there was an abundance of moose meat and before we started on our trip each man -was given a supply of eight pounds a day moose meat for rations. I, myself, got thirty-two pounds of moose meat for a four-day trip, which we now took up the Peace River. It was fifty miles from St. Johns to Hudson's Hope by the river and we were expecting to go up in four days. Our start was not very propitious. We had two canoes, two Indians in each canoe, myself in one, and Armstrong in the other. Mastie, the chief, steered my canoe, and Armstrong had charge of the other. The population of the post came down to see us make our start. When I gave the word to shove off, Armstrong’s canoe gracefully turned down the river, while Mastie turned up and of course we had to go on shore again until the other canoe had been “ARRIVAL AT THE COAST 75 brought up to the landing. For the next four days, going up that river has always, as I look back upon it, been like a nightmare. The current was strong and the men were awkward, and the canoes were dugouts made of poplar. The most I can remember about it is that it was moonlight when we were on the river and - we seemed to have worked day and night because I do not remember sleeping at all. The Indians were fresh at the work and were bound to go up in four days and they gave me no rest and took little themselves. On the evening of the third day, we reached Half-Way River and fell in with a company of miners from the Omineca who were then on their way to Liard River where they expected to find a lot of gold. They had come through the mountains in a large boat and had left it above the canyon of the Peace River and | hired it from the leader for twenty dollars to take us through the mountains to Fort McLeod. The next evening, we arrived at Hudson's Hope and camped on the slope of the bank while the cabin, called Hudson’s Hope, was on the other side of the river. My men immediately left for the other side after piling the luggage on the bank and I, as night fell and a storm arose, was all alone. ~The trees were falling around me in all directions as it was a ‘brule’ and there were many dead poplars. Long after dark, Mastie came back and we had our supper while the storm continued. I almost gave up hope of being spared during the night as the trees were falling all around. Mastie rolled himself in his blanket and lay down be- side a log and | got myself fairly under another log. At any rate, I resigned myself to my fate and fell asleep and in the morning there was a dead calm. Since our discussion at Dunvegan I had a feeling that Mr. Horetzky was dissatisfied with me because I would not go back. It again became apparent to me that he had decided not to go through the mountains with me but that I should go through alone. The following extracts from his book show this conclusive- ly: “After vainly essaying all manner of inducements I had finally to give up the project of going by the Pine Pass and take the 76 ARRIVAL AT THE COAST only remaining alternative which was to proceed to the Rocky Mountain Portage and take my chance of finding a boat or canoe with which to ascend the river.” ‘Several days having been lost in getting men and horses for the trip and collecting large supplies of fresh moose, pemmican, and other provisions, it was three o'clock in the afternoon of the nineteenth when Mr. Kennedy, William, two Indians and myself crossed the Peace River with part of our baggage, and seven horses, en route for the Rocky Mountain Portage, distant some fifty miles. The stream being three hundred yards wide with a very strong current the usual difficulty and loss of time was experienced in getting the horses across. I ascended a hill on the north side ahead of Mr. Kennedy and took an excellent point from which to look over the country. “The appearance of Mr. Kennedy with the horses caused me to abandon the delightful prospect and, taking a last look at the Fort and river, I saw two “‘dug-outs” (canoes) pushing off with Mr. Macoun and the rest of the luggage. “They have a strong current against them all the way to the portage,” said Mr. Ken- nedy. I had wondered at the time why we did not all go overland, but Mr. Kennedy told me, three years later, when I was there in 1875, that Mr. Horetzky intended to go ahead of me as it was a doubtful matter whether we would get through or not and he thought he would get through whether the winter set in or not. When he reached the far end of the portage beyond Hudson's Hope, he found that, with the exception of the boat which I had engaged, he could not proceed and required more men to navigate than he had with him. He then decided to send over the portage for me and the men whom I had with me. This is his account of the situation: “At eight o'clock Kennedy and I, having turned in, were about composing ourselves to sleep when the wind, which had latterly been unsteady, veered to the south and blew with such terrific violence that we were obliged to turn out and fell several large pine trees which stood in the vicinity and threatened us with destruction. The cracking of falling trees was heard all night and effectually banished sleep. The following evening, Mr. ARRIVAL AT THE COAST 77 Macoun, Armstrong and the Indians, with the horses, arrived. We pushed off at one p.m. on October the twenty-fourth, on our one hundred and forty-mile trip.” “The boat being heavy and the Indians perfectly unused to pulling an oar, we started with three men on the line while Wil- liam steered the unwieldy craft by the aid of a long sweep, and - I took up a station in the bow with a pole. In this manner we proceeded up stream for the whole one hundred and forty miles.”’ During the first two or three days we had little difficulty in getting along; the weather was mild and pleasant, but on the night of the twenty-seventh it suddenly changed and began to snow. At this time we were entering the main chain and, for the next few days, we hardly ever saw the sun. Our last day in the mountains, I shall never forget. About the middle of the afternoon when the snow was falling very thick- ly, Mr. Horetzky called to me to look up and I looked and ap- parently right over my head I saw a mountain top over a mile high in the bright sunlight with fleecy clouds tossing over the sun. In a few minutes, the mountain was obscured and we saw the sun no more until the next day at five o'clock, when we turned out of Peace River into the Parsnip and faced south and in a few minutes _ we were in the bright sunlight. Three years later, I discovered the cause of our trouble of the day before. We were then passing through what is called the real Peace River Pass, called by the Hudson's Bay Company, “Hell's Gate,’ and the mountain that we saw turned out to be the same mountain I named, in 1875, Mount Selwyn. We were now on the Parsnip River, seventy miles from Fort McLeod, and, at this time, we were certain the winter was about to set in as we found the water was thirty-three degrees when we tested it with a thermometer, and, indeed, the next day, after we entered this river, little films of ice were to be seen floating. The stream was very tortuous and shallow in places with a strong current in others. The second day on this river, William, our steersman, missed his stroke and swung into the river and would have been drowned had he not held on to the oar which we kept still in the boat. We 78 ARRIVAL AT THE COAST immediately put ashore, built a fire, and he put on dry clothes; and was none the worse for his bath. Next day, we saw two cabins on the bank and of course stopped to have a chat with the occupants. They turned out to be cabins belonging to Pete Toy and Bill Southworth, the former owned a bar at the mouth of the Omineca and was noted all over the country. He told us he dug for gold and hunted for beaver and martin in the winter. We asked him where we were and he told us twenty-two miles from Fort McLeod and that we had just come up in the nick of time, for the river was going to freeze right away. He said he was going up to the Fort the next day and wished us to stay with him all night. We preferred, however, to push on as the ice was floating in the river. “Mr. Toy gave us some delicious fresh bread made from British Columbia flour. We, in turn, presented him with a chunk of pemmican, manufac- tured at Fort St. John, of which we had an ample supply. De- clining his offer to make use of his cabin for the night we pushed on and camped a mile above. Pete promised to join us the next day as he too wished to go tothe Fort. ‘Gentlemen, said Pete, as we were shoving off, "You may consider yourselves very lucky to have got through as well as you did, but I see you are prepared for the worst.’ pointing to the snow-shoes and other paraphernalia requisite for winter travelling, with which we had taken the pre- caution to furnish ourselves, ‘And mark my words,’ added he, ‘before three days, this ‘ere river will be running ice, but you are all right now!’ We arrived at Fort McLeod on the 5th of November and the next day the winter commenced. For the following four days, we were waiting for the ice to form on the lakes and, finally, on the ninth, Mr. Sinclair, who had charge of the fort, agreed to go with us to Fort St. James on Stuart's Lake, over eighty miles distant. We got ready on the ninth and started, Sinclair, Horetzky, my- self and four dogs which drew a toboggan upon which was placed our baggage. The thermometer marked nine degrees above zero and the morning was beautifully clear. This was my first time to travel with dogs and hence was a new experience. The snow was hardly a foot deep and the dogs had no road to follow. It was ARRIVAL AT THE COAST 79 necessary that one of us should travel in front of the dogs and they would follow. This was our mode of travelling: a runner going in front of the dogs and they following. Late in the afternoon, I was the leader and we came to a little hill. I was feeling tired and thought I would drop out and let the dogs go on; but instead of that they ran up the little hill after me and struck a log and upset the machine and then they turned on each other and had a fight. When we camped that night, we decided that the dogs with the toboggan were of no use to us and we resolved that after this the dogs would be packed and so we would travel in that way. This evening, while at supper, I complained of feeling somewhat sick as I was shaky all over and Horetzky said, “Well, let us see what the thermometer is.” We found it was down to zero. “The weather had now become very cold, the mercury stand- ing at zero at sundown. This night, we made our first winter camp of the season. Having chosen a convenient spot with plenty of green spruce and a sufficient quantity of dry wood at hand, one of us cleared away the snow while another cut spruce branches and a third chopped dry wood in lengths of eight or ten feet. Spreading the spruce on the ground to a depth of six inches or so, we arranged the wood in front and soon had a roaring fire by which we boiled water for tea and were presently in the enjoyment of a good supper of pemmican, bread, and scalding hot tea. After supper, we all spent half an hour in getting an extra supply of wood which was piled up close at hand to replenish the fire, and spreading our blankets we lay down with our feet to to the blaze and were soon snoring with faces upturned to the clear and glittering sky. In a winter encampment, a covering is rarely, if ever, used although sometimes a piece of thin sheeting cotton is spread behind to break the force of the wind.” “The following morning at six o'clock the mercury stood at ten degrees below zero and the air was sufficiently keen to render heat from about a cord of blazing logs perfectly enjoyable.” Our camp was by a lake which we designed to cross in the morning. While they were packing up, I went down to the lake shore with an axe and tried the ice and found it three inches thick 80 ARRIVAL AT THE COAST and prepared to cross. Our dogs carried about twenty pounds and each of us had a load to carry also, I found that the ice was so smooth that I could draw my pack along on it, which was easier than carrying it, and the others did the same, excepting the dogs. We had noticed, when starting, that cracks would run across the ice, out, apparently, for miles, and we heard them run- ning along. I took little notice of this at first but soon saw that when a dog would cross a crack with his load the ice on one side would sink and the water ooze up. I thought little of it, but the guide, Sinclair, in changing his pack let his gun fall and the butt broke a hole in the ice and the water flowed up. He immediately yelled to us to separate and try to make shore as the ice was very dangerous. By God's help, we reached the shore without any mishap and ventured no more on ice for some time. For the next few days, we struggled on, crossing difficult country until we came to Muskeg River where I was exhausted owing to the load that I had to carry. Here, we hired three Indians to take our loads to Fort St. James and we plodded on. On the evening of the 13th, we reached Carrier Lake where we camped and the night was bitterly cold. As we lay in the open camp by the lake, the ice on it, and the trees around us, kept cracking and between them they caused me to lie awake and the brightness of the night, added to the intensity of the cold, made it a night long to be remembered. In the morning, we started to cross the lake with a strong wind in our backs and on the way my cap flew off and went at a terrible rate across until it was nearly out of sight and, under the clear ice beneath our feet, could be seen water and occasionally fish and this caused me to almost lose my nerve and I could scarce- ly keep my feet as we plodded on towards the shore. We reached it almost where my hat had arrived sometime before and in a short distance we had to cross the discharge of another lake where the ice was very thin. I, being without a load, crossed first to see if it would bear and | reached the shore in safety, while an Indian of the party broke through and in a moment, almost, we had a fire lit and he changed his clothes and moccasins for dry ones and was none the worse. If we had all been white men he ARRIVAL AT THE COAST 81 would have tramped on with his wet feet and in a short time would have had them frozen. As Mr. Horetzky looked at the thermo- meter,when we stopped, he found it to be twenty-six below zero, Fahr. The same evening we reached Fort St. James and this part of our journey was over. The next morning, Mr. Gaven Hamilton, who had charge of the post, came to me and apologized for the bad quarters I had had the night before and told me that Mr. Horetzky was arrang- ing for my departure for Quesnel, and was putting up supplies. He said he had heard from Sinclair that I was on an equal footing with Horetzky on the expedition and he wished to know if this were so. I told him it was correct and showed him my credentials. He was greatly surprised; “Why,” he said, “he is ordering all manner of luxuries for himself but, for you, he has just ordered what we usually give to our men. [| told him that I did not care what I got as long as I got away from Horetzky with my life. He then assured me that in giving me the provisions for my trip my food would be as good as that of the head of the post. Next day, I left for Quesnel, one hundred and forty-four miles distant. My companions were a half-breed called Murdoch, a splendid man, and with him a young Indian. These two were to be my companions down to the-Fraser and with us we took provisions for ten days. This was carried on the backs of the two Indians and | had nothing to carry but my overcoat. The following is a quotation of Mr. Horetzky. “Here, Mr. Macoun, my fellow-traveller, immediately pre- pared to leave for Victoria and, having procured for him a couple of Indian guides to carry his baggage and provisions, we said good-bye and he took his departure for Quesnel on the 17th.” On the morning of the 17th, we started for Stuart river, but, before leaving, Mr. Hamilton took me aside and asked me if I had any matches. I told him I had none, so he supplied me with some and gave me besides a light skin coat so I could travel in it. Each one of us, when we started, carried a pair of snow- shoes, mine were nearly seven feet long, and, as I had never worn a snow-shoe in my life before, I felt very awkward, even in carry- ing them. 82 ARRIVAL AT THE COAST We walked along rapidly and reached Stuart river by dark and crossed it on the ice and slept in the cabin of the ferry-man as we were travelling on the Omineca trail. Of course, the ferry- man was not there, but we went in and made ourselves at home. The next day, we walked along and, in the evening, reached the Nechaco. The river was nearly three hundred yards wide and covered with great hummocks of ice with the current rolling between. We were very doubtful as to whether we could cross it and Murdoch got a large pole and walked in front, trying the ice at every step while I came up in the rear in perfect safety. Some miles beyond the river we camped in a little hollow and, as this was our first camp, I may as well describe how we arranged matters the rest of the journey. Every evening, when we arrived where we were to camp, which was always in a thicket of green timber, with lots of dry wood in the neighborhood, my business was to take a snow-shoe and clear the ground of snow where our camp was to be. Mur- doch took his axe and went to the wood to get wood for the night. I always got a few small twigs for kindling. By the time Murdoch got the supply of wood for the night, the Indian boy and myself had finished getting the supper ready. I forgot to mention that my bed was the first under way and it was arranged so that my head would be away from the fire and my feet towards it. I left my snow-shoes at Stuart river but the others took theirs with them. We were blessed with fine weather; very cold nights but no storms during the whole trip and we pushed on day after day as fast as possible but camped early in the after- noon and laid in a good stock of firewood for the night. As we passed southward, the snow got deeper and at last it got so that it was just an inch or so above the knee cap, and only then did I find it fatiguing. As I had no burden to carry, I walked in front and broke the road for the other two. One afternoon, when it was almost time to camp, we suddenly came across the track of a snow-shoe in the snow and, without ado, we followed the snow- shoe till we came to a sylvan lodge in which we found an Indian, and his wife and daughter, and we were greeted with all the friend- liness we could expect. I may make this remark, that all the ARRIVAL AT THE COAST 83 Indians at that time, west of the mountains, could talk Chinook, and, no matter of what tribe they were, they always understood each other. We talked Chinook and enjoyed ourselves very much and remained there for the evening. In the morning, when we were leaving, Murdoch said to me that they had a number of fine fish there and thought it would be wise if I should purchase a few as our rations were getting low. I hadn't a cent of money with me, but I did have a red bandanna handkerchief, that cost twelve and a half cents, in my pocket. I pulled it out and held it out to the old wife and let her know that I wanted fish for it, and she brought out a pile of fine trout and Murdoch, who stood by, took out all he wanted. Next day, we crossed the summit and began to go down to- wards Quesnel, and we found the travelling much better, but the cold increased. Our last night, before we reached Quesnel, was the coldest we had experienced and it was hard work to keep ourselves warm before we started to walk. Early in the after- ° noon, we reached the Fraser opposite Quesnel and found the river choked with ice moving slowly down with the current. The ferry-man refused to cross and, as we had finished our provisions, we were desirous to do so. He considered and then said, “If you will take the risk, you may have the canoe and go over your- selves, but I will not take you.” Murdoch went out and took a view of the river and said to me, “If you are not afraid to go I will risk it.” I said, “Certainly, I will go if you say you can cross. After getting directions from Murdoch as to what I should have to do, we entered the canoe and ran up alongside of the ice about a quarter of a mile and as soon as we got an opening, steered straight for the other side, but we were forced down greatly by the accumulation of ice packs until, when we got past Quesnel, we were still fifty yards from the shore and the whole population of the village watched us. By hard work and God's help, we reached the shore about one hundred yards below Quesnel and were soon landed and my long journey had ended for I had now only four hundred miles to go by stage and another two hun- dred to Victoria and I would be in civilization again. I may as well mention now that I had been the ward of the 84 ARRIVAL AT THE COAST Hudson's Bay Company ever since I left Edmonton as, when I left there, 1 had no money and they paid my way through until I reached Ottawa. Knowing this, | immediately went to the Hudson's Bay store there and explained to Mr. Williamson, the factor at Quesnel, that I had arrived and would expect him to take charge of me until I could get passage to Yale, on the Cariboo stage. He was very kind and arranged everything for me, promptly and effectively, so that in a few days I was on my way to Yale with a company of miners who were returning from the Omineca and Cariboo gold fields. The only exceptions in the company were myself and Judge Sullivan, who, three years after, was drowned in the wreck that took place off Cape Flattery. We had the usual difficulties that are experienced in travelling in winter but the road was good and the horses were in excellent condition and the Barnard Stage kept up its repute and Joe, our driver, was a host in himself and careful of his passengers. I will mention only one or two of the adventures that we had on the way. One that stands out very prominently in my mind was going down a steep hill with a precipice at one side and a moun- tain on the other. We were in a wagon by this time (we had started with a sleigh), as we were passing south, and the whole face of the hill was covered with clear ice upon which neither man nor beast could stand. Joe stopped the stage and said, “Gentlemen, you can do as you see fit, ride down the hill with me, or go down each for himself and I will pick you up at the bottom.” We one and all decided to leave the stage and Joe kept his seat and took the lines of his four horses and said, ““Good- bye, boys, He knew well that if he went over the precipice he and the horses would be killed and he knew, at the same time, that if he could steer the stage, he could steer the horses. So Joe, the stage and the horses, slid down the hill. We watched their progress and when Joe disappeared around a turn we knew he was safe. Then we began to descend and each man had his own plan and his own difficulty. We all got down safely. I remember that I kept to the cliff and held on to points of rock when it was too difficult to stand. The next episode I think of was when we reached Lytton. Sy ee ARRIVAL AT THE COAST 85 Joe asked me if I would like to see an underground Indian house. I remember saying: “Of course.’’ ‘Well, come with me then,” said Joe, and I went and found a number of Indians living below the surface of the ground close to the old village. The mode of descent was difficult. Joe asked me if I would like to go down, and I descended the pole by means of cleats nailed to it and when I reached the bottom I found a circle of Indians sitting round, apparently quite comfortable and warm. However, the stench was so great, I immediately caught my nose and closed my nostrils and rushed for the pole, up which I scrambled in a great hurry. I had never seen an underground house before and I have never seen one since. Without any mishap, we reached Yale, and, as we carried the mail, we immediately embarked in a canoe with two Indians sitting abreast paddling, and another man who steered. It was a large Indian canoe and was quite comfortable and carried at least ten passengers, perhaps more. In due course of time, we stopped at Langley and stayed over-night at Harrison River. Here again, Joe was willing to show us around and asked us to go and see a tribal house which then stood near the landing. We found this to be a large building like a shed, roofed over and built of split cedar logs, and in it we found at least a dozen different families of Indians. Each of these families had their own private fire and sleeping place but no partitions whatever. All this was so new to me that the impression. which was formed then has stayed with me ever since. [| never saw a tribal house again. When we reached New Westminster, we could telegraph to Victoria and I learned that the San Francisco boat was there and about to leave shortly. We asked them to stay over at the outer wharf until we could reach it as a number of us were going on at once to California. At this time, this was the quickest way to the East. They told us they would. In the evening, when we arrived at Victoria, we found the boat was just passing out. My friends asked if we were to be left and the Captain said, ‘Oh, we will get you when we come back again." This left me with four- teen days to spend in Victoria and I immediately took up my quarters with Mr. Watt, who had then charge of the Dominion 7 86 ARRIVAL AT THE COAST Government Stores in Victoria. Being without money, I went, the next day, to the Hudson’s Bay Company's headquarters and interviewed Chief Factor Graham who was then in charge and said that I wished for some money to enable me to pay my pas- sage through to Ottawa. He looked up and said: “Are you one of the men who left Edmonton early in September?” I told him that I was and he said: “Where are the clerks that started with you; did they not get through?” I told him no. ‘Well, how did you get through?” “We determined to risk it and here I am.” ‘‘And where is your mate?” ‘Oh, he has gone down the Skeena and will be here shortly.” He drew a long breath and then said, ‘Well, that is the first time that an employee of the Government accomplished what a Hudson’s Bay Company's clerk failed in.” The evening before we sailed for San Francisco, one of my friends turned up to go with me and the other came to bid us good-bye. And he said, with tears in his eyes, that all his money was gone and he was unable to go with us. And yet, he said, he had not seen his mother in seventeen years. Three years after, I saw him at Cache Creek where he was a man-of-all-work at the hotel and hardly had a rag on his back. This was the fate of many miners that I met in the early days. Christmas was spent in Victoria, and Johnston, my friend, the miner, and myself, reached San Francisco in due time and the only thing I can remember, that took place there, was my exchanging gold with a Jew for paper, and he, with a very sober face, said that there was four per cent discount, and I, being a tenderfoot, was about to give it when the miner said: “Look here, old fellow, it is you who gives that discount.” This was perfectly true. It may be asked why I was changing gold for paper. The reason is very simple. The Union Pacific had been open just four years and the road was infested with robbers and confidence men, and no man’s life was safe, and so I changed my gold for paper and, at the hotel, before I started for the east, I put the bills under the soles of my feet and then put on my socks and from that time till we reached Ottawa, the chief part of my money was under the soles of my feet, except what little I kept out to spend x gp ana BS mete sree inde rico (ee ARRIVAL AT THE COAST 87 on the way. Johnston and I bought five days’ provisions and a large lunch basket at the same time and had our five days’ food no matter what happened. At this time, there were no sleeping cars and each man sat up or slept as it best suited him. We had many adventures in crossing to Chicago but only one I will note. Late one evening,a man came on board with the usual belt around him. We saw a brace of pistols in it and the miner said to me: “That is a highwayman for sure and we are in for it to- night.” And I said to him: “We will not both sleep at the same time,” and we agreed that one of us would sit up awake while the other slept. We did so and the man disappeared in the early morning but no damage was done to any of the passengers, although all seemed to be aware of their danger. In due course of time, we reached Chicago and there we encountered our first confidence man. The station was placarded with notices: “Beware of confidence men.’ When we reached Chicago, I had a bag of wearing apparel and odds and ends that I wanted to express and went into the express office. When I came out I found Mr. Johnston talking with a spruce looking young man to whom he introduced me as the son of Judge some- body in Stratford. We had a pleasing conversation and, as it was time for the train to pull out, we took our seats in the train and Johnston said: “That young man is the son of one of my friends and it is a great treat to have his company with us to Canada.” A few minutes before we started, the young man came into the car and tapped Johnston on the shoulder and asked him to walk to the door with him, and, as he asked Johnston to come out and shut the door after him, Johnston said: “Oh, no, I wish to sit in the car. What do you want?’ The young man said: “I want to see if I can borrow a little currency from you as | am short on change.” Johnston at once put his hand behind him as if to draw his pistol and said: “‘Nary a red,’ shoved the man out, shut the door and came back tome. We had been sitting only a few minutes when a man came in with two valises. - He peered into every man’s face and went out of the car into the next one in front. Shortly after in came the conductor and he said: “There is a bad case! Did you see that man going down 88 ARRIVAL AT THE COAST through the car? Well, he fell into the hands of one of these confidence men and he actually gave him a cheque that he had so that he could pay for some goods which he was buying and he would make it good when they got home, as they both were from Vermont!" Johnston and I proceeded on our way and were the best of friends going home and | have never seen him since. [| may say that the basket fell to my lot and it has been in the family ever since. On my arrival home, I found everything in order. My wife had conducted the affairs of the establishment in an efficient manner. My family having increased from four to five, in my absence, I decided that it was now necessary to have larger quar- ters and I immediately set about putting up a large front to my house with a centre hall and tower three stories high. This, being a new undertaking for me, was given to a carpenter to carry out. I was shortly summoned to Ottawa to give an account of my trip and, on consultation with Mr. Sandford Fleming, | © returned to my home and commenced to write a complete report of my extended trip. After this, I took up my duties in school and college and continued my work. When my report was completed, I sent it to Ottawa and got a reply from Mr. Fleming's assistant that my report was considered the best given for the season and that it would be printed in full. I was satisfied with this and troubled myself no more about it. My summer's experience had opened my eyes to the necessity: of knowing more about our country than I had known before and I took up my studies of physical geography and climatology with greater vigour, at this time, than ever before. I was lectur- ing at this time on physical geography and geology to the stu- dents and it only added to my knowledge and not to my work. I may say that I lectured also on meteorology. In the course of my lectures, many questions came up that I could not solve and others I solved in my own way but was uncertain of their accur- acy. One or two conclusions that I came to may be here ex- pressed. Up to this time, when speaking of the climate of a country, the statement was always made of the annual tempera- ture. For years, I had been studying the growth of things and I ee eet ARRIVAL AT THE COAST 89 found that the climatic conditions of the growing time had to be the proper standard. At this time, Canada was looked on as, “Our Lady of the Snows,” owing to the fact that all our public sports were held in the winter: tobogganing, snow-shoeing, and occasionally ice palaces and carnivals. On this account, even men writing in England had stated that Canada was merely a lump of snow. While crossing the continent between Winnipeg and the Pacific, I noticed a wonderful sameness in the flora and concluded at once that there must be a sameness in the amount of heat given off in each district and, therefore, the plants of one district give a key to the climate of another that produced the same plants and the result was that I published the statement that it was only the growing months of the season that should be counted. Many other problems came before me and, in thinking them out in after years, I came to certain conclusions that were expressed in future years. While Mr. Fleming and myself were absent, a change of Government took place and Mr. John A. Macdonald gave place to Mr. Alexander Mackenzie, and, upon our return, Mackenzie reigned instead of Macdonald. Mr. Fleming and myself were both conservatives and he at once told me that my allegiance was to Mr. Mackenzie and to do what was right in my report. CHAPTER VII 1874-1875 EXPLORATIONS FROM VICTORIA TO THE PEACE RIVER—NEW WESTMINSTER, YALE, SPENCE S BRIDGE, QUESNEL, NECHACO, Fort St. JOHN, McLetop’s Lake, PARSNIP AND FINLAY Rivers, Hupson’s HopeE—DescripTION OF THE ROUTE— BoTANICAL NoTES—EPISODES AND INCIDENTS. published in the Railway Report, and Dr. Selwyn, who was then at the head of the Geological Survey, when he saw the report, said at once: “I must have that man with me when I go out next year.” He was going to make an examination of the Peace River Pass, and the country adjoining, for the Mackenzie government, who were then thinking of sending the railway through by the Peace River. Dr. Selwyn wrote to me, asking if I would go, and, having got permission from the College and the school authorities, I answered yes, but had doubts of being ac- ceptable to the government as my political principles were known. In the winter, I saw Dr. Hope, of Belleville, who had the patronage of that city, and asked him if he thought Mr. Mackenzie would give me the position and he said he thought he would because, *““Macoun,”’ he said, “I, myself, tell you, we have no one else so well fitted for the position."’ It turned out as he had said. On the 14th of April, 1875, I left home again, for the far west, travelling by railway as far as Laramie City in the state of Wy- oming, where we were detained six days by a washout owing to a rain storm and the melting of the snow. Ours was the first train stopped and each day another train came in heavily loaded. A Scotchman and his sister were with our party, and, in conversa- tion, he advised that we immediately put in a stock of provisions as there was a scarcity in the city. We did so and eight of us arranged with a boarding-house keeper to give us dishes and the ladies that were of our party did the cooking and serving and our | N the spring of 1874, my report on the expedition of 1872, was EXPLORATION TO THE PEACE RIVER 91 meals were taken after the boarders were through. We moved after six days, and had six miles to walk through the mud and then took the train for one hundred and fifty miles to Green River, where I saw the most extraordinary sight I had ever seen. Bars of silver, so heavy that none of us could lift them, were piled up like cord-wood on the platform and the sight of so much white metal has never left my eyes since. After this, we had no more stoppages but, the last day we were on the train, we took dinner on the top of the Sierra Nevada with fully ten feet of snow on all sides. After leaving the station, we immediately began to des- cend and, although we were in snow-sheds, I, and two or three other men got out on the steps and watched. We soon passed out of the snow and into spring and could see the buds on the bushes. In another minute or two spring flowers were seen; later on flowering shrubs appeared and, as we were passing towards the plains, summer was upon us and before we came to Sacramento the hay was cut in the fields. This was all seen in just half of one day. Nothing of importance took place after this until I reached Victoria where I commenced my duties. I had been appointed Botanist to the party with instructions to make note on all the country passed through, in regard to its flora, climate and agri- cultural capabilities. This I performed to the best of my ability from Victoria to Peace River Pass and the whole length of the Peace river and nearly one thousand miles more before I reached Fort Carlton on the prairie. I purpose, when speaking of matters in connection with this trip, to quote largely from my report to the government on all matters coming into my line of work. This report was published in 1876 and will be found in the geological report for 1875. I shall speak little of the botany on account of its being the subject that | fully dealt with in the report alluded to. I shall deal mostly with my observations in connection with the climate and productiveness of the country passed through. | shall also speak of incidents that took place on the journey not mentioned in the report. I reached Victoria, B.C., on the second of May and began at 92 EXPLORATION TO THE PEACE RIVER once to carry out the instructions already referred to as given ta me before I left Ottawa. I carefully examined the flora in the vicinity of Victoria and collected on Cedar Hill and Mount Tolmie and many other localities. I noticed that, on these two moun- tains, there were many species that seemed peculiar to them but which plainly indicated that a part, at least, of the California flora had worked its way thus far to the north. Since writing the above, I have found that such is the case and that the flora in the vicinity of Victoria has many species that are also found at San Francisco. Two facts regarding the climate of Vancouver Island and indicated by the flora are: dry summers and abundant rainfall. The former is shown by the annuals being all in bud and flower by the first week in May and the latter, by the luxuriant growth of succulent vegetation in the low grounds. - The general character of the flora, therefore, proves that the climate is warmer than that of England and that the rainfall is periodic, rather than distributed throughout the year, and corresponds with the decrease and in- crease of heat, the summer being very dry. It is a remarkable fact that July, the month of least rainfall on the coast, is the season of the greatest precipitation in the dry region along the Thompson. The difference in the time of blossoming of apple trees on Vancouver Island and that of Belleville, Ontario, is about three weeks. In the beginning of May, 1875, vegetation was said to be unusually backward, and yet it was three weeks, in advance of Ontario. Owing to the wetness of the soil, many apple trees, though young, were beginning to show signs of decay, but draining would remedy this and, if the advice I gave to plant orchards amongst the rocks where the oaks abound is followed, no more complaints will be heard about the apple trees dying young. Although spring was so far advanced, scarcely any plowing had been done owing to the water in the soil due largely to lack of drainage, and over a month of the best part of growth for cereals was gone. In many places, I saw grass a foot high and expected to find cabbages and other vegetables proportionately advanced but there was nothing to be seen. The climate is EXPLORATION TO THE PEACE RIVER 93 everything that can be desired and a larger number of settlers with more advanced ideas of agriculture is alone required to make Vancouver Island what nature intended it to be—the Garden of Canada on the Pacific Coast. In accordance with my instructions, | left Victoria on May 14th, on the Steamer ‘Enterprise,’ for New Westminster. Our approach to the mouth of the Fraser was indicated, before we reached the light-ship, by the muddy appearance of the water, while extensive mud banks and low marshy grounds gave evidence of the immense quantities of detritus brought down by the Fraser. As we passed up, marsh gave place to meadow, and soon, the meadow, to a thick jungle of willow and other bushes which grad- ually merged into forest that would vie with a tropical one for luxuriance. Early on the morning of the 15th, we were again under way and reached Harrison River about dark. | found the vegetation further advanced here than at Victoria. The white thorn (Cra- iaegus) was in flower and the shoots on the trees had made more growth. ‘I may mention here what seems to me the cause of the mild climate of the Pacific Coast, and, in my opinion, it is precisely the same as that of Western Europe. A stream of warm water, a little south of the Island of Formosa on the southern coast of China, a current analogous to the Gulf Stream, is observed moving to the north east. It passes east of Japan and, while a part of it enters the Behring Sea, the remainder passes through to the Aleutian Islands and ameliorates the climate of Alaska to such a degree that the annual temperature of Sitka, in latitude 57 degrees, is higher than that of Ottawa, in latitude 45 25’, the mean annual temperature of the former being 44.8 degrees Fahr. while the latter has 37.4 degrees. Esquimalt, within three miles of Victoria, in lati- tude 48 25’, has a mean annual temperature of 47.4, only three degrees higher than that of Sitka which is nine degrees further north. With these facts, the temperature of Sitka and Esquimalt, it is very easy to forecast the future of the whole region west of the Cascades between Victoria and the Stikeen River. The Queen Charlotte Islands, being more insular than Vancouver 94 EXPLORATION TO THE PEACE RIVER Island, must have a milder climate, and hence they may be set down as of equal value. A careful examination of a map of the world will show the close relationship existing between Europe and western America in the same parallels. A warm current of water flows down the coast of the latter, while the shores of the former are bathed in the tepid waters of the Gulf Stream. Both regions have their shores deeply indented by inlets, “‘Fiords,” in the one case and “Canals” in the other. The oak and pine forests of the British Isles and of Norway are simulated by the oak and fir forests of British Columbia. In both, the moist climate is caused in the same way—the vapor, rising from the warm sea water, is blown inland and, being condensed by the cooler air over the land, falls in rain or fog upon the slopes and valleys. The old forests of Great Britain and Ireland, including those of Nor- way, are a product of the Gulf Stream, while the mighty forests of our western province, including the Queen Charlotte Islands, are certainly a product of the “Kuro Siwa” (Japan Current). It only remains for me to add that as years roll on and our posses- sions become developed, the value of this second Britain will come so vividly before our people that men will ask with astonish- ment how such ignorance prevailed in the past! Today, there are four hundred miles of coast line in our western possessions north, with a forest growth superior to anything else in the world at present. Its shore is indented with multitudes of harbours, bays, and inlets, teeming with myriads of fish. Its rocks and sands contain gold, iron, silver, coral, and other minerals. And besides all this, a climate superior to England in every respect, both as regards heat and moisture, and yet, men ask me what it is all worth? I answer: “Worth more than Quebec, and all the Mari- time Provinces thrown in, and skeptics may rest assured that the day is not far distant when my words will be found to be true.” (1875). The boat reached Yale at noon and, after resting for a short time, I went out to examine the neighborhood. Tempted by the close vicinity of the mountains, I climbed the nearest and found it by aneroid to be about 1,000 feet above the river. At the base, many plants were in flower which, as I neared the summit, ceased EXPLORATION TO THE PEACE RIVER 95 to show blossom. On the middle slopes there were quite a number _ of eastern species and those noted at Victoria were congregated around a little moisture on the top.” During the next day and a half, | employed myself by climbing among the rocks and collected many interesting forms; amongst other rare things, I had the good fortune to re-discover Saxifraga ranunculifolia Hook. This species seems never to have been found since its discovery by the lamented Douglas. I found it in the high cliffs some distance from where the road turns to go up the Fraser. Dr. Gray told me there were no specimens in American herbaria and that my discovery was interesting. While climbing amongst the rocks I came across a crevice filled with ice, within less than fifty feet from the river, and from which a large supply could be taken. On the afternoon of the 18th of May, I started on foot up the Cariboo road expecting a conveyance to overtake me and carry me to Boston Bar that afternoon. A few miles on the Yale side of Boston Bar we turned the point of the mountain and, al- most immediately, the plants showed that there was less precipita- tion and, on looking back, I at once detected the cause, in the mountains acting as a barrier to keep out the superabundant moisture of the lower Fraser Valley. “May 19th. This morning, we were on our way long before the sun shone above the horizon. As we proceeded, the vegetation gave more and more indications of dryness, and at Butcher's Flat, Pinus ponderosa, the pine of the interior plateaux, was to be seen in some abundance. After crossing Jackass Mountain, which intercepts whatever little moisture goes up the valley from Boston Bar, just as the range below that locality shuts out the moist winds of the coast, the traveller will see by looking back that it blocks up the valley while the river, much compressed, winds round its base. Now all is changed; the sage brush (Ar- temisia tridentata) becomes frequent and, at Lytton, a group of Nevada plants is the characteristic flora. Vegetation was far advanced here, in fact ahead of Victoria, as roses were seen in flower for the first time a little above Lytton. Proceeding up the Thompson river, the land gets dryer, so 96 EXPLORATION TO THE PEACE RIVER that, before we reached Spence’s Bridge, we were prepared for the change that is so marked as one rises on the terrace beyond the bridge. All trees have disappeared except those on the mountain summits or in sheltered valleys, with a northern aspect. Below the line of trees, beautiful grassy slopes are covered on the lower parts with bunch grass and above was sward with a few Compositae and other plants while the benches near the river are altogether destitute of flowering plants. I spent a week on the Thompson at Spence’s Bridge and Cache Creek and collected many species of rare and interesting plants which were not observed in the low country. One fact showing the similarity of the flora with that of Nevada and Utah was the actual discovery of two species of plants, supposed by Mr. Serrano Watson, of Harvard, who has ably explored there, to be peculiar to those states. The species were Astragalus Beck- withii, T. and G., only detected in the neighborhood of Salt Lake, Utah, and in Ruby Valley, Nevada; the other Crepis occidentalis Nutt, var. Nevadense Watson, was supposed to be peculiar to Nevada, but here it was found in company with the type of the species. Dr. Selwyn noticed a paienenc et: in the rocks with those of Nevada also. It was very interesting in ascending the mountains to notice the change from early summer to late spring and to observe the shrubs which at the riverside were in full bloom and 3,000 feet above it were only bursting into leaf. A similar change was also noticed on May 26th when crossing the high plateau between Clinton and Bridge Creek, and showed most conclusively the contrast between the climate of the Thompson and that of the country between Clinton and Lac La Hache.”’ Many interesting discoveries were made as we went north, but none of particular moment until we reached Quesnel. On the 28th of May, I commenced my examinations of the flora around that part and found many of the common eastern species in full flower and nearly as far advanced as at Belleville on the 24th of May, in 1876. Nearly all the species observed were eastern ones or western plants that reach the wooded country west of Lake Superior. ee EXPLORATION TO THE PEACE RIVER 97 On June 4th, we crossed the Fraser and, I may say, launched at once into the wilderness. Up to this time, I had travelled from Yale on foot, in a stage, or by boat, to Soda Creek and then by boat to Quesnel. At Quesnel, a pack train was waiting for us to take ourselves and goods on the overland journey to McLeod's Lake. The pack train consisted of twenty-six pack animals besides a_ horse for each one of the company. Our company, on leaving Quesnel, consisted of five members. I elected to walk all the way as | could thus make observations at my leisure and collect plants. A horse, however, was set apart for me when I wished to ride, but I handed it over to a Scotchman who was attached to the pack train. Our mode of travel from now on to McLeod's Lake may be stated as follows: Owing to the large number of horses to pack, we were always late in getting away in the morning, but we never took the packs off the horses until the evening. I would start on ahead on the trail and make notes and enjoy myself, having learned from Dr. Selwyn where the proposed stopping- place for lunch was to be, the same course taking place in the afternoon. Many observations were made on the way and the most exciting circumstance on the trip was—one day when I was some miles from the train of horses, I looked up and saw three gray wolves, with their tongues hanging out, calmly looking at me from a little height of land on one side of the trail. Like the hunters we read about, I immediately looked for a tree to climb, but I could see none that suited my ability, so I loosed a sheath- knife I carried in my belt, and did the next thing that a hunter does—I yelled at the top of my voice, but they looked as uncon- cerned as if | had never made a sound. We faced each other there for some minutes, when they quietly sneaked off into the bush and | felt so relieved that I was unable to walk any further and waited for the pack-train to overtake me. The country travelled through for over ten days after leaving Quesnel was rather rough, but, after we crossed a ridge that I remembered crossing in 1872, the country showed marked signs of improvement and was drier and richer, and, apparently, well suited for agriculture. I was very much struck by the grasses 98 EXPLORATION TO THE PEACE RIVER of the region. They consisted chiefly of three Genera, Poa, Bro- mus and Triticum, all three first-class hay and pasture grasses, and I may say that these were the grasses that we found the whole way to Peace River, everywhere forming a splendid sward and were very tall for the species. When we reached the Nechaco, we found the country very rich and worth more extended notice than the other parts that we had passed through, but I may just write one incident that took place at the river to show how some people value the things they own. We had been at an Indian camp the preceding night and an Indian and I went ahead of the party and reached the Nechaco before they arrived. A thunderstorm came up and, as there was no shelter, I put on my waterproof and sat down on the green, but, to my surprise, the Indian took the saddle off his horse and turned him loose and sat on the saddle and spread what little coat he had over it to try and protect it. He protected his saddle while I tried to protect myself. We had now reached the crossing of the Nechaco and the meadows on the right bank of the river were full of meadow plants resembling those of Ontario and there was nothing in the flora to indicate a cold climate except that it was ten or fifteen days be- hind that of Ontario in 1876. The familiar plants in our meadows and fields were everywhere and not a herbaceous plant or shrub reminded one of being more than ten degrees north of Belleville, except the want of our forest trees. ’ The 16th of July was occupied in getting our baggage across the Nechaco, a broad and rapid stream two hundred and fifty yards wide, and, late in the evening, we pitched our camp on the left bank. I may mention here that Dr. Selwyn had had a canvas punt made somewhere in the east and with this he intended to cross the various rivers that we might meet in our exploration. This river was the largest we had come to and the boat was put together and found to be quite buoyant, and with it, our baggage and ourselves, were taken across the river without much effort. Our boat was named “Nechaco,”’ and will be spoken of later. The land between the Nechaco and Stuart River was of sere eae EXPLORATION TO THE PEACE RIVER 99 the very best quality, it being both prairie and forest and quite level and not difficult to clear. The next day, we crossed Stuart River, two hundred yards wide, and followed the trail without difficulty to Stuart Lake. Late this afternoon, when within six miles of Fort St. James, I suddenly came upon a limestone cliff and immediately the flora changed. Many beautiful flowers that I had not seen since I left the lower Fraser Valley were in full bloom and, on the rocks at the base of the cliff, they made such a charming picture that I sat down in my loneliness—but not alone—and drank in the surpassing beauty of the scene; hunger and weariness were forgotten and I resumed my march with the light, joyous step of the morning, feeling that in the realm of Nature, God's hand was ever open to strew one’s paths with beauties and fill one’s heart with praise. While others cursed the road and the flies, I, in my simplicity, saw nothing but Nature decked out in the springtime loveliness and, instead of grumbling at the difficulties of the way, I rejoiced in the activity of the animal and vegetable kingdoms. For nearly a month,! had kept travel- ling with spring, but now, with one bound, we had passed its por- tals and stood on the verge of summer. “Sunday the 20th. Looking back over the 146 miles which lie between Fort St. James and Quesnel, I am struck with the resemblance of the flora to that of the forest region west of Lake Superior. There is not a species in this whole distance which in any way indicates either an Alpine or cool climate except two, and these were only observed once. The dry summer climate, which is indicated by the flora, proves the rainfall to be inconsider- able, and, therefore, the prospects are good for the successful cultivation of grain. Tomorrow, I accompany Dr. Selwyn and two Indians in a canoe up Stuart Lake for about eight miles for the purpose of climbing Pope’s Cradle, or Stuart Lake Mountain. Our friends at the Fort said that we would be unable to climb it as it was quite steep and very difficult. “We commenced to ascend from the lake shore and, after a fatiguing climb of three hours in the hot sun, we reached the summit, which we found to be 2,600 feet above the lake, or nearly 5,000 feet above the sea. I obtained an enormous collection of 100 EXPLORATION TO THE PEACE RIVER interesting plants and had quite a pleasant day while Dr. Selwyn attended to the geology. After a rapid descent, we reached the lake and started for the camp, propelled by the wind, against the bear skin, which one of the Indians held up to catch the fitful breeze. It would have been less labour to paddle but that would have been ‘work. Late in the evening, we reached camp and were soon oblivious to mundane things.” On the 22nd of June, we left Fort. St. James for McLeod's Lake, and had much difficulty on our way, on account of the bad trail through burnt forest. Some days we had to cut our way for miles and made little progress. I quote the following from my journal. “To-day, that is the 26th of June, I had a lonely tramp along the shores of Carp and Long Lakes, to the discharge of the latter lake. When a few miles on the way, a pelting rain came on and continued without intermission the whole afternoon. I trudged cheerfully on believing that I would meet Indians at the ford of the river and get myself dry and warm. What was my chagrin to find the Indians gone and their fire burning on the other side of the rapid river. Without hesitation, | undressed and plunged in, but the current was so strong and the water so deep my courage failed and I returned to the bank. Shivering and cold, I contem- plated the situation and at last determined to do or die and waded across. Soon, I hada rousing fire and its genial warmth brought back life and content to my frozen limbs.”’ I was unaware of the depth of the river when | started in to wade across. As the water was very clear, with a gravel bottom, it seemed quite shallow, but, as I proceeded, the depths increased and, on my second effort, I took a large pole that I found on the shore and, with its support, I gained the other side in safety. Now, I learned that there was a fall in the river of one hundred and twenty feet only a couple of hundred yards below me, and, doubt- less, if I had known this I would have lost my nerve and been carried away in the swift water. Later, I found that the ford was said to be four to five feet deep. The next day, we reached Fort McLeod and I spent a few days collecting around the country. EXPLORATION TO THE PEACE RIVER 101 On the 3rd of July, all our preparations were made to start for the Peace River and now our company was reduced to eight. In the ‘‘Nechaco”’ were myself, Mr. Webster, the geologist, and John Mclennan, who had charge of the commissariat. In a light skiff were Dr. Selwyn and two young Indians, and, in a dugout made of poplar, were Anderson and Hillier, the cook. About two o'clock in the afternoon, we started and all the inhabitants of the post and a number of Indians who were there came out to see us make our start, and they all expected that we would never reach Hudson's Hope alive as our boats were frail and the capacity for river work that had been shown by us at the Fort was of no account. Dr. Selwyn gave orders, at the start, that he was going to micrometer the river and instructed Anderson and Hillier what they were todo. The ‘“Nechaco,” being a large boat and carrying the most of the baggage, was not required to do anything but only to proceed with the rest. All went well for about half an hour, when Hillier and Anderson stopped at a bend of the river to give Dr. Selwyn a sight. At this point, the current was very strong and ran with great force under the bend. They stopped and the current caught the canoe and caused it to turn over and both men were thrown into the rapid river. We, in the “Ne- chaco,”’ were opposite the men when they were thrown into the water and, as they were carried off in the current, we worked hard to overtake them, but failed. However, Anderson was thrown on the shore some distance below and we found that he was only slightly out of breath, and Hillier kept hold of the canoe and was caught some distance further down by Dr. Selwyn and the boys. This ended our survey of the river—it was never attempted again as long as I was with the party. We made camp right away and felt consoled for the loss of the bacon when the men were saved, but each man felt from that day forward that he was in more than common danger. On the evening of the 8th, we reached the forks of the Finlay and Parsnip rivers and camped. During the evening, I told Dr. Selwyn that when I came up the Peace in 1872 I was told that there was a very large eddy at the junction of the two rivers and, by 8 102 EXPLORATION TO THE PEACE RIVER all means, to keep close in shore as we passed out of the Parsnip into the main river. I had my note book and showed Dr. Selwyn what we did and how we passed the eddy three years before. He paid no attention to what I told him and, after breakfast the next day, he gave orders that we were to proceed down the river and ignored what I had told him about the eddy. I refused to start and told Mclennan to hold on to the bushes where we were and let Dr. Selwyn proceed first. The other men in the canoe stayed with us and Dr. Selwyn and his two Indians went on and rounded the point out of our sight. In a short time, we saw them going at a great rate backwards into the middle of the river and they were pulling with all their might to get out of it. By good luck, the eddy was nearly full at this time and it burst and they made the shore in a short time. We waited to see what would happen next and Dr. Selwyn and his men came back looking rather pale and said that it was impossible to pass the eddy, at this stage of the water, on that side. He now gave orders that we were to cross the Parsnip and we went along the right bank of the Finlay and when we got about a quarter of a mile up, Dr. Selwyn said that we were far enough and that now we would cross and run down the left bank of the Finlay. We all crossed and went up the Finlay and he, with his two Indians, went first and crossed the Finlay, and ran down and were in safety. Then, they called to us and the canoe started and they succeeded the same way; we in the “Nechaco”’ had a big punt to handle and she would never steer or go anywhere but with the current and when we reached the far side of the Finlay, we found the trees had fallen into the water and we couldn't make the shore and had to keep out in the current. However, we were able to round the point with the aid of a rope thrown to us by Mclennan. Late in the afternoon, we ran down to the rapids about a mile below us and camped. Here Dr. Selwyn thought that it was a good place to fish and got on his long rubber boots that reached to his hips and waded in and stood on a stone, but received no bites except from mosquitoes, and, in his efforts to beat them off, slipped and sat down on the stone. When he got on his feet again, he found that he was anchored as his boots were full and he was unable to walk out. Hea hes — ee a *, . EXPLORATION TO THE PEACE RIVER 103 We were all amazed at the Doctor's mishap and looked very serious when Mclennan very slowly made his way to his assistance and brought him to shore. I believe that made us all happy again as I remember the misfortunes of the morning did not seem to stay with us. I will now give Dr. Selwyn’s version of the same event. “July 9th. Started at 7 a.m. and at 9.15 reached the Finlay forks. A very swift eddying current ran along the right bank of the Parsnip and to avoid this and reach the opposite shore with- out being shot down the rapids below we were obliged to go some distance up the right bank of the Finlay. We then crossed over and were swept rapidly down the left shore, when, rounding a sandy _ point which the angle, formed by the two rivers made, a few vigorous strokes brought us into still water.”’ Later in the day, we moved down the river for about four miles and camped just at the mouth of the pass, called by the Hudson's Bay peopie, “Hell's Gate.’ The mountains on either hand rise here to about 6,000 feet almost perpendicularly from the water. We were now under the mountain to which Horetzky had called my attention in 1872, when we were passing upstream. As it seemed to be the highest mountain in the vicinity, Dr. Sel- wyn determined to climb it the next day and asked me to accom- pany him while he took observations and decided on the route that we would follow. I quote from his report: “After a critical survey of the mountain from the opposite or left bank, I thought we could reach the summit; at all events I ' determined to attempt it, and we accordingly crossed to the right bank and selected our camp. It was too late for our ascent of the mountain, but in the afternoon, Mr. Macoun and I ascended a rocky spur a short distance in our rear to reconnoiter. We reached a height of 950 or 1,000 feet above the river. | took several bearings from this point and was also able to determine the best route for our ascent the next day. This seemed to be a leading ridge on the very side of the valley of a small brook which entered the river about one and a half miles below our camp. We accordingly made our way across to this ridge and on reaching the axis of it, | was surprised at finding what appeared to be a well- 104 EXPLORATION TO THE PEACE RIVER worn Indian trail. A closer examination, however, showed that it was a path made by the rocky mountain goat and I at once concluded that it would lead us up the easiest path to the highest summit of the mountain and therefore determined to follow it on the morrow. “Next. morning, after breakfast, I called for volunteers to accompany Mr. Macoun and me up the mountain and at 8 a.m. we set out. There had been considerable discussion in camp upon the probability of our being able to reach the summit. One of our party confidently asserting that it was quite impossible. So far as his own power of climbing was concerned, his opinion proved quite correct as when we still had some 1,500 feet to ascend he gave it up and lay down to await our return, reiterating his opin- ion that none of us would ever reach the summit, and doubtless to persons unaccustomed to alpine climbing, the undertaking might appear somewhat formidable. At about 2 p.m., however, we arrived there and, though it cost us five and a half hours of con- tinuous toil, we were amply repaid by the magnificent scene around us. We were now 4,590 feet above our camp and about 6,220 feet above the sea. To the north, the river lay directly beneath us at probably less than three-quarters of a mile of herizontal distance and beyond it, from northwards to northeast, stretched away for twenty or thirty miles, a perfect sea of alpine peaks and ridges.” Early in the morning of the 11th, as quoted above from Dr. Selwyn's report, we started in high spirits to climb “Mt. Selwyn,” in company with Mr. Webster and Mr. Mclennan. -I started by carrying my botanical box and, in the latter, my portfolio contain- ing a large quantity of paper. We started from the mountain stream which Dr. Selwyn and I had seen yesterday. When we reached the stream, I asked as a favor that a halt of a few moments be made while I examined the banks which I did with astonishing success. In a few moments, I had collected a large number of alpine species which had been brought down by the stream from far up the mountain. From the very base of the mountain, we followed the path formed by the mountain goat spoken of by Dr. Selwyn. On the lower slopes, there was no change in the vegeta- EXPLORATION TO THE PEACE RIVER 105 tion, but gradually there came a change, at first scarcely notice- able. A few mountain forms were intermixed with the forest flora of the valley. Gradually the valley species ceased, alpine ones became more common, until at last none of the former remained. The day was very hot, being 84° Fahr., in the shade, when we left the base and it seemed to get warmer instead of cooler as we ascended. We had some steep climbing on the first part of the route and our progress was both wearisome and slow. About 1,500 feet from the summit, we reached the limit of trees and here also came upon our first snow. We were all very thirsty and | scraped out a hole below the snow and it was very soon filled with water and each one of us lay down on the ground and drank his fill. Mclennan, who, by the way, was a man accustomed to his drinks, could not resist the temptation of swallowing more than his share and lost all hope of reaching the top and so lay down and enjoyed himself while the rest of us plied our weary way to the summit. About two hundred feet above where we left Mclennan, the slope got much easier and we found a real spring of beautiful water and | thought that it might help Mclennan to bring him up to it so I went down and asked him to go up the two hundred feet where the good water was. He said he was d——d if he would, so I left him and followed the others. I am saying nothing about the flora of the mountain for, as it has been spoken of so often by others, it is useless for me to add to the beauties by which I was surrounded. Our trip was very hurried, but I noticed that, on the moist places where the snow lay longest, there were the greatest number of species and many were observed there that did not appear in drier spots. Where the heaviest drifts of snow had lain, and where much of it still remained, one or two anemones and Ranunculus hyper- boreus were blooming and in fine condition. To show the progress of the spring, four yards from the snow the petals had fallen and between that and the snow the plant was in all stages of growth, from its springing out of the soil to the faded flower. A number of drabas and arenarias absolutely plastered the ground with 106 EXPLORATION TO THE PEACE RIVER multitudes of flowers. Five hundred feet below the summit, Mt. Selwyn stands first, in my imagination, as the highest type of nature's flower garden. None of the plants, except the pedun- cularias, rose above the general level, which was about two inches or possibly less, and all was a flat surface of expanded purple, yellow, white and pinkish flowers. The peduncularias were about four inches high and stood singly amongst the others and each was nearly two inches broad with expanded blossoms. The summit was quite level, with a little parapet in front, upon which we stood overlooking the river as we gazed upon a wondrous scene. Leaving others to take in the picture in detail, after a few minutes of close scrutiny, I turned away from the entrancing sight and busied myself with what more concerned me; the flora of the peak. With sad and reluctant steps, I turned from the summit and commenced to descend, intending to examine the different points more fully than I had done in the ascent. About 1,000 feet from the summit, I was overtaken by the others and, after a slight halt at the last patch of snow, where we had left Mclennan, we hurried on, reaching camp in a more or less exhausted state about 7 p.m., after nearly thirteen hours of in- cessant and continuous labour. When we left the river in the morning, the thermometer stood at 84° Fahr.; on the top of the mountain in latitude 56 north, over 6,000 feet above the sea it stood at 82°. I had supposed that we would find it cold on the mountain top but the very op- posite was the case—I had actually to take off my coat and hat and bathe my head in the snow to cool myself. Looking east from where we stood, a blue, sultry haze hung over the mountains and the river, while to the west the atmosphere seemed clearer and colder. The mountain, upon which we were, seemed to close in on the river valley and shut out the vapour of the western plateau in exactly the same way as the Cascade range below Bos- ton Bar does that of the Pacific. We had this amply verified the next day for we had scarcely gone six miles—the distance along the base of the mountain—before we all noticed the change to a drier and warmer climate. Mt. Selwyn thus closes the Peace River Pass and stands as a portal barring the way against the EXPLORATION TO THE PEACE RIVER - 107 Pacific breezes carrying moisture, the alleged cause of the mild climate and luxuriant vegetation of the Peace River Valley. Later on | shall attempt to show the true cause of the mild climate of the eastern base along the rocky mountains. The next day, Anderson and | climbed a limestone mountain, 3,000 feet high, on the other side of the river, and found the ascent both toilsome and dangerous. We got little to repay us for our trip. We did not see the slightest sign of an alpine plant and I confess it with a feeling of disappointment. I looked about me and found them not. We ate our lunch on the very verge of a cliff, from which we could look down on a little mountain tarn 1,000 feet below, and our hearts yearned for water, but there was none to be had. We reached camp at 6 p.m., exhausted but well pleased with our trip. I had settled one point that, in this region, Arctic vegetation is not to be found on a limestone mountain in latitude 56°, at a height of 5,000 feet above the sea. At noon on the sixteenth, we reached the Rocky Mountain Canyon and, from sheer exhaustion, I was scarcely able to ascend the bank. Our tents were pitched and I commenced to change my plants and dry my papers. This had been part of my daily work for nearly three months so that a halt always found me busy. The cause of my great weariness was more from pulling our un- wieldy boat in making the wide crossings that we had to make from side to side of the river to suit Dr. Selwyn’s ideas about camping, than from climbing. I quote the following from my report: “On the afternoon of the 17th, Mclennan and I ascended the Buffalo's Head, the view from which is so graphically des- cribed in Butler's “Wild North Land.’ We, too, found the base of the mountain lying “thick with brule and tangled forest,”’ but, worse thant his, was the mass of pea vine, vetch and various weeds and grasses which covered the logs and made our progress both slow and laborious. Before Butler, ‘there rose abruptly a mass of yellow grass and blue anemones,"’ and before us, the same steep; but the grass waved green on the hill-side, and the herald of spring (Anemone patens var. Nuttalliana) had already perfected its seeds and disappeared under the wealth of grass that covered its grave. We also stood on that hill-top and looked on the wondrous pano- 108 EXPLORATION TO THE PEACE RIVER rama that lay stretched out before us. But our occupations were more prosaic; we were there to see and faithfully report what we observed regarding the soil and productions of the country. Sitting, possibly, on the same rock on which Butler sat, I mentally attempted to contrast the region we had left west of the mountains, with that in which we now were, and I could find no points of agreement. West of the mountains, the climate was cold and moist and the land generally covered with a coniferous forest, but here we found prairie and aspen forest and a climate dry and warm. Here, 3,000 feet above the sea, the mountains are actually without forest and covered with grass and vetches over two feet high. Botrychium lunarioides, a Lychnis and Are- naria propinqua we found on the highest point. There were many signs of the grizzly bear being in the vicinity as there was scarcely a log which had not been turned over or torn to pieces in their search for ants and their larvae. Agquilegia coerulea and Parnassia palustris were obtained on our way to camp, and a considerable number of eastern species which were not observed west of the mountains. During the four following days, we remained in camp close to the canyon, and I employed my time in making excursions in the vicinity, drying, packing and labelling plants. We.had now passed the mountains, and I closed my western observations and commenced a new series. On the morning of the 21st, we started to cross the portage to Hudson's Hope. The morning was very warm and walking over the sand hills was not pleasant. While crossing the portage, I found quite a number of eastern species, and, amongst others, Linum perenne. On reaching the Post, we ate a hearty dinner of moose meat, Early Rose potatoes, turnips and onions, and rejoiced in the thought that we had accomplished so much of our journey in safety, While the rest of the party were getting ready to proceed down the river, | employed myself, as usual, making a thorough examination of the flora in the vicinity for the purpose of compar- ing it with that further down the stream. The following extract from my journal, written on the spot, will give a truthful picture ag Peat ta age. PA age ees, Cea rie Oe Ye “aa Saeeh A EXPLORATION TO THE PEACE RIVER 109 of Hudson's Hope as | found it on the 22nd of July, 1875: “I have been extremely surprised at the rankness of the vegetation around here, although there is very little rain at this season and has been little all spring. Wild peas and vetches grow to an amazing height in the poplar woods, and form almost impenetrable thickets in places. Vetches, roses, willow-herb and grasses of the genera Poa, Triticum and Bromus fill the woods and cover the burnt ground, and surprise Canadians by their rankness and almost tropical luxuriance. Charlette, who is in charge of this post, has two small gardens, in which he has growing, potatoes, onions, turnips, beets, carrots, cabbage, and various other vege- tables. Yesterday, we had new potatoes for dinner, of a very fair size, which were planted on April 28th. Numbers of the onions were one and a half inches across, raised from seed imported from England and sown about the first of May. Growth is extremely rapid, owing partly to the length of day and cloudless skies sup- plemented by heavy dews, and possibly, also, in part, to the great range of temperature during the twenty-four hours, from about 45° at sunrise to 80° Fahr., at noon. Sometimes the range is even more, but the above may be taken as the average. The rankness of the vegetation on the west shore of Lake Superior has frequently been alluded to, and may be caused by the some- what similar great range in the temperature there.”’ For the next few days, I employed myself around Hudson's Hope examining the flora of the country. The others were busy during this time in making a raft on which we were to float down to St. John’s. During the afternoon of the 25th, and the forenoon of the 26th of July, we floated down the river on our raft, and, although we had ample time to admire the magnificent scenery, there was no opportunity to botanize. “At St. John's, a few minutes’ observation tended to show that this point was much warmer than Hudson's Hope, that the soil was richer, and that the vegetation was in a far more advanced state. Raspberries and service-berries were fully ripe and in great abundance. Potatoes, oats, barley and many varieties of vegetables were in a very flourishing state in “Nigger Dan's” garden. The oats stood fully five feet high, and the barley had 110 EXPLORATION TO THE PEACE RIVER made nearly equal growth. After the tents were pitched, Ander- son cut a quantity of wild grass for our beds which was over three feet in length; it consisted principally of species of Triticum and Poa. On your decision (Dr. Selwyn’s) to build a canoe for the ascent of Pine River, I found I would have several days at my disposal, and on the morning of the 27th, accompanied by Ander- son, I started up the hill in rear of the fort, for the purpose of examining the region north of the river. We found the level of of the country above the river valley to be about 700 feet. On the plateau, the surface is either a dead level or slopes away from the river. For nine miles, the distance travelled, the whole country was covered with the most luxuriant vegetation. Clumps of willows and poplars of various ages were interspersed with the most astonishing growth of herbaceous plants I ever witnessed. Willow herb, cow parsnip, Geum strictum, Triticum, Bromus, Poa and a number of other tall-growing species covered the whole region with a thick mass of vegetation that averaged from three to five feet in height. Wild larkspur (Delphinium scopularum) was found over seven feet high, and many vetches were even taller. In many places, the climbing Leguminosae were in such abundance as to completely cover up all other plants, and cause the country to look like a field of mixed peas and vetches. The species were Vicia Americana, Lathyrus venosus and ochroleucus, the first named being the most abundant.” s Yes Reese b: Ss hi nye ii ; / Re Wy) ar yuh ‘a i. : We a ; OTTAWA. , THE VICTORIA MEMORIAL MUSEUM cite EMERGE a eecky +3 art ue * aa Ri ut ‘ + *. f i ‘ - Cale! . i J We ora a a sex x / yas ae. a \ om Li ts 2 c ee _ v8 e 4 ‘ %y 1 ; ; eyes “ tL t 2 Wiad are yt pe PT kee * ‘ De NT, Ys by : yo a ve ) SOT ye te 1 ¥ 4 ce 7 ; CHAPTER VIII 1875 DowN THE PEAcE River 700 MILEs IN A DucouT FROM Fort St. JOHN TO Fort CHIPEWYAN—PROVISIONS RUN OUT— REACHES Fort CHIPEWYAN SICK AND STARVING—RETURNS East viA ATHABASCA RIVER, BUFFALO LAKE, CLEARWATER RIVER AND LAKE, ISLE-A-LA-CROSSE, AND GREEN LAKE— Across CoUNTRY TO Fort CARLTON AND ON TO WINNIPEG— MANny INTERESTING INCIDENTS EN ROUTE—HOoME ON Nov. 13TH AFTER [TRAVELLING ABOUT 8,000 MILEs. \ \ J HILE at St. John’s, Dr. Selwyn decided to build a canoe so that he could proceed up the Pine River on his exploration. The canoe was made out of a poplar tree and was thirty- six feet long and very unwieldy but it served its purpose. He decided that the canoe was not large enough to take all of the party and he left Anderson and myself behind. I was to go down the Peace River with Mr. King, who was going down the river to meet the Hudson's Bay boats bringing up the outfit for the posts on the river. Dr. Selwyn permitted me to accompany him with the understanding that I should not be away more than forty days and that I should rejoin his party either at St. John’s or Dun- vegan. I was supplied with forty days’ provisions and from the time Dr. Selwyn left till the morning of the 4th of August I was busily engaged drying and packing plants and had little time to think of the arduous journey of seven hundred miles that loomed before me. Had I known what was to occur, I would never have thought of going on such a foolish errand with a man who was on his way to meet his wife. Early on the morning of the 4th, we packed up and proceeded to load our canoe, which was just an old cotton-wood dugout, but found that it was so small that three men and our provisions were too much for its capacity, so a man and a bag of pemmican were left behind. With light hearts, we pushed off, believing that our 112 DOWN THE PEACE RIVER trip was going to be a pleasure excursion and that we should sail down about 300 miles and return leisurely with the boats. On the evening of the second day, we reached Dunvegan, and found the people at the post living on bear meat, so I charitably gave them some of my flour, which Mr. King agreed to replace when we met the boats. On the morning of the 5th, we left Dunvegan and floated down the river. After passing Smoky River, game became plentiful and black bears were very numerous along the river margin, feeding on berries; while beaver, lynx and geese were quite common. Later, we fell in with a camp of Indians who had a large quantity of berries and these, to go with the flesh of a black bear, constituted their sole diet. A dainty dish composed of berries fried in bear's grease was served up but my appetite for such food being very poor, I declined to partake of it. My flour did duty again as, in a few days, we expected to meet the boats. We reached Battle River on the 8th and, it being Sunday, we remained with Mr. Macaulay, the gentleman in charge of the post, until next morning. We fared sumptuously on cabbage, green peas, radishes, moose meat, bacon and flour, the latter being taken from my stores, but this could not last, and, after breakfast on Monday morning, we were again floating down the river. We slept on a sand bar above Wolverine Point, and at dawn on Tuesday, August 10th, were again at work paddling with all our might until the afternoon, when, the wind blowing strong up the river, our frail canoe was in danger of capsizing, and we were compelled to keep close in shore to avoid the waves. I had learned by this time that my trip was to be one with constant hard work and little opportunity to study the vegetation along the river. On the 11th, we started early and toiled all day with the paddle. The river, by this time, was very wide and the wind had a great sweep and generally blew in our faces. Late in the even- ing, when rounding a point, we saw buildings in the distance and knew we were approaching Vermilion. The following is from my diary: