“It’s an odd thing about this country,” said Uncle Dick, “but people do live all over it, and have done so for a hundred years or two, although it, none the less, is the wilderness. Sometimes you will find a settler in the wildest part of the mountains. Now, Swift is an old Yankee that came up here from the States about thirty years ago. He used to trade and trap, perhaps, and of late years he has made him quite a farm. Besides that, he has built himself a mill and makes his own flour. He’s quite an ingenious old chap, and one of the features of the country. We engineers found his fresh vegetables pretty good last season. For my part, I hope he makes a fortune out of his land if we locate a town near him. His place isn’t so very far from Jasper House. That was the first settlement in this country—the Hudson’s Bay’s post, more than a hundred years ago.”
“Is it still standing?” asked Rob.
“Oh no, and hasn’t been for years. We can still see a few logs there, and nothing more. It fell into disuse maybe fifty years ago, and was abandoned altogether twenty-five years back, and since then burned down. It’s the only post, so far as I know, called after a man’s Christian name. The old posts were called ‘houses,’ but this one was built by Jasper Hawse. Hardy old chap, old Jasper, I presume; because, he made such good fur returns that the rival company, the old Nor’westers, came in here and built a post, which they called Henry House, on up the river some miles from Jasper House. But the Nor’westers couldn’t stand the competition, and before long they abandoned their post, and it has been left so ever since. Lastly came the engineers, following the traders, who followed the Indians, who followed the wild-game trails; and behind us will come the railroads. In two or three years, if you like, you youngsters can come through here on the train a great deal more easily than you are doing it now.
“But now,” concluded Uncle Dick, “we must go across the river and see how old Betsy is getting along with her family.”
They made this final trip with the boat without incident, and Uncle Dick gave the Indian ten dollars for his help, which seemed to please that taciturn person very much.
VIII
IN HIGH ALTITUDES
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