|
Chapter VII - Winter on Peace River
HIS object in Great
Britain having been gained, Alexander Mackenzie returned during the
summer in time for the great meeting at Grand Portage in August; and
the affairs of the traders being arranged for another year, he
hurried back to Athabaska to meet his cousin and talk over future
plans. His design, until then kept secret, was made known. He had
early in the season sent word to Fort Chipewyan that a small party
should be sent on to Peace River to cut square timber for a house,
go on with its construction, and surround it with palisades.
This was not the
first expedition to Peace River, for it will be remembered Alexander
Mackenzie sent, in 1788, trader Boyer to found a post on the Peace
River, where the soil is exceedingly fertile and the climate mild
enough to allow the growth of turnips, carrots, parsnips, and
potatoes. The spot selected by Boyer had in the four intervening
years already gained the name of the "Old Establishment."
On October 10th,
1792, Mackenzie, having arranged to leave Fort Chipewyan under his
cousin Roderick's control, prepared to push on to his winter
quarters on Peace River. Steering west his two canoes, which were
laden with his men and the necessary articles for trade, Mackenzie
came to the Vail River, which afforded a passage to Peace River, and
in two days was on his way up the Peace River itself. Peace Point
was soon reached, this name having been given to a portion of the
bank of the river formerly in dispute between the Kinistilicaux (Crees)
and the Beaver Indians. Here the quarrel had been settled, and the
spot was henceforth memorable. The falls of Peace River, twenty feet
high, were avoided by a portage, and the party soon came to the Old
Establishment. Mr. Finlay, the Nor'-West trader who had just reached
the fort over which he was placed, was overtaken by Mackenzie's
party.
On the tenth day
after his departure from Fort Chipewyan Alexander Mackenzie reached
Finlay's Fort, and was received with the firing of guns and. much
demonstration. About this fort, under Finlay's charge, there was an
Indian population of three hundred, sixty of whom were hunters.
Waiting for two or three days Mackenzie found them coming in till
their full numbers were well-nigh reached. During the whole summer
it was the custom of the Nor'-westers to give no spirits to the
Indians, but now on the approach of winter they made known their
desires to the great white chief. Mackenzie thus describes his
method of dealing with them:-
"As they very soon
expressed their desire of the expected regale, I called them
together to the number of forty-two hunters, or men capable of
bearing arms, to offer some advice, which would be equally
advantageous to them and to us, and I strengthened my admonition
with a nine-gallon cask of reduced rum, and a quantity of tobacco.
At the same time I observed that as I should not often visit them I
had instanced a greater degree of liberality than they had been
accustomed to."
As the ice was
beginning to set on the river, Mackenzie, after spending five days
with Finlay, took his leave amid the firing of musketry, having sent
on his two loaded canoes two days in advance for fear of the ice.
The next place of
interest reached by the explorer was the forks of the Peace River.
Here the river was seen to come from two directions, one east, the
other, twice its size, from the west. Pursuing the larger branch for
six miles to the south-west, the spot already selected for -winter
quarters was reached. the place was well chosen, on the high banks
of the Peace River. Cypress, arrowwood, and thorn trees covered the
banks. On either side of the river, though hidden by the trees, were
extensive plains, and on these buffaloes, elks, wolves, foxes, and
bears abounded. Far to the -vest was to be seen a ridge called Deer
Mountain, and here, as the name implied, great numbers of deer were
found.
As soon as the
explorer's tent was pitched he gathered the Indians together, and
sought to gain their favour by giving each four inches of Brazil
tobacco and a dram of spirits, and by smoking the pipe of peace with
them. He then addressed them, saying that he understood they had
troubled the former bourgeois, and reproved them for this, though
assuring them that lie would treat them kindly if they deserved it,
but severely if they shoved carelessness or opposition. After
bestowing more presents of the same kind, lie had assurance from
them of the greatest devotion and of pride that lie had seen fit to
visit them.
The explorer was kept
busy till November 7th settling matters with the Indian hunters, and
fitting them out for the winter catch. This done he immediately
began the erection of his houses. The men sent on early in the
season had been most industrious, and had cut and squared enough
palisades eighteen feet long and seven inches in diameter to enclose
a. square of one hundred and twenty feet; they had dug a ditch three
feet wide to receive the pickets ; and had also prepared timber and
planks enough for the erection of a house.
On the sixteenth of
the month the ice stopped running in the other branch of the river,
the tongue between the two being only a league across. The same
thing happened to the stream in front of their fort six days
afterwards, and the freezing of the streams enabled the hunters to
move about more freely, and to secure a plentiful supply of fresh
meat, although as there was no sleighing, the game had to be carried
home in a very toilsome manner on the shoulders of the men.
Mackenzie was called
upon to exercise his medical skill in curing his people of several
acute diseases, but all those in health were kept hard at work upon
the houses. A young Indian had lost the use of his right hand by the
bursting of a gun. He was brought to Mackenzie in a very bad state.
Poulticing, salveing, and burning away the proud flesh with vitriol,
the explorer succeeded, by this most heroic treatment, in saving the
young man's life and gaining the confidence of all his friends. A
murder occurred among the Indians and threw out the trader's plans
for gathering furs, as all disappeared for a time lest they should
be punished by the masterful man.
Until November 2nd
Mackenzie took observations of the temperature with the thermometer;
upon the coldest morning it registered 160 below zero. He was,
however, much gratified during this inclement season, to be saluted
by the singing of birds as he walked through the woods. Two days
before Christmas the explorer's house was ready, and he willingly
deserted his tent to occupy the rugged mansion.
Towards the end of
the month what is known as a Chinook wind came sweeping down the
Peace River from the west side of the mountains. It carne with the
force of a hurricane, licked up every particle of snow, and covered
with water the ice on the river. New Year's Day, which was not quite
so wild, was observed according to the usual western custom of
firing guns at the break of day. A moderate allowance of ruin and
cakes was provided for all.
Early in February the
weather became very cold, and continued so for six weeks. None too
soon for the impetuous and impatient explorer, the middle of April
brought the marvellous season so well known in the North-West when
winter merges suddenly into summer. The trees were in bud, and many
plants were in bloom. On the twenty-fifth of that month the river
was clear of ice.
A preliminary step to
the great exploration he had in view was to settle up the fur trade
for the winter. The furs were all gathered and packed securely for
the long transport to Grand Portage. The two old canoes were
repaired, and four new ones built. On May 8th the hunters and
canoemen who could be spared were dispatched in these six canoes,
which were filled with furs and provisions, and with a full bundle
of public and private despatches to his cousin Roderick on Lake
Athabaska, to be transmitted by him to the great assize of the
traders at Grand Portage.
Now for the West!
Mackenzie's astronomical observations were now of some value. He
tested carefully the instruments which he was to use on his long
,journey to the western sea. He was now ready for embarkation, for
he had worked out the details thoroughly during the winter. A
monster canoe, twenty-five feet long, of twenty-six inches hold and
four feet nine inches beam, and yet light enough for two men to
carry without fatigue for miles, was to transport the whole party
and their belongings, provisions, goods for presents, arms,
ammunition and baggage to the weight of three thousand pounds.
The crew was to consist of ten persons. Their names deserve to be
mentioned. After the great explorer came his lieutenant—Alexander
Mackay, of Reay—who relieved Mackenzie of much responsibility. He
was an able man, and was chief among the notable traders who
afterwards carried out the plans of John Jacob Astor on the Pacific
coast. Mackay's career was afterwards arrested all too soon ; he was
killed on the Tonquin—a story of the coast known to all. Two of
Mackenzie's faithful French-Canadians—Joseph Landry and Charles
Ducette, who had accompanied him on his former voyage were ready to
follow him on the present occasion. Four others also stood willing
to go. These were Baptiste Bissoii, Francois Courtois, .Jacques
Beauchamp, and Francois Beaulieu, the last of whom died as late as
1872, aged nearly one hundred years, probably the oldest man in the
North-West at the time. Archbishop Tache gives an interesting
account of Beaulieu's baptism at the age of seventy. Two Indians
complete the list. One of these was so indolent that he bore the
name of cancre—the crab.
One of the things
that constantly causes our wonder as we read the records of
North-West exploration, both by Nor'-Westers and their rivals from
Hudson Bay, is the magnitude of the results achieved by men so
poorly provided with even the necessaries of life and travel. Here
were ten men about to undertake a terrific journey of more than
three hundred leagues through a country partly unknown, and such of
it as was known presenting enormous difficulties. Mountain torrents
must be stemmed or circumvented, vast regions must be traversed
where game was reported scarce, and Indians, famed for fierceness
and deceit, must for the first time be taught fear or respect for
the adventurous intruders upon their hitherto unmolested domain.
That man was of
heroic mould who could originate such an expedition, and could
inspire other men to face such dangers, where lofty purpose and
over-mastering ambition could alone nerve him through the
discouraging and even desperate periods of his journey. And yet how
simple and natural the explorer's account of the beginning of so
great and difficult an expedition: "My winter interpreter, with
another person, whom I left here to take care of the fort, and
supply the natives with ammunition during the summer, shed tears on
the reflection of those dangers which we might encounter iii our
expedition, while my own people offered up their prayers that we
might return safely from it." |
