business, and work with your own hands,
that you may act honestly to others and
lack nothing yourselves.
—Paul the Apostle
| CONTENTS | ||
| ————— | ||
| Page | ||
| A Hill-Top Adventure. Foreword | [1] | |
| THE OLD TIMES | ||
| I. | Adventures without a Man | [4] |
| Giant Lizards, page 5. Birth of the Mountains, 7. Ice Age, 7. Rhinoceros and Mastodon, 8. A Continent Waiting for Man, 8. | ||
| II. | The Indian by Himself | [9] |
| First Arrivals from Asia, 9. Spreading South and East, 11. Corn Found, 11. Gardening Begins, 12. Wanderings of Northern Indians, 13. Prairie Left to the Last, 14. Life and Death, 15. The Mound Builders, 16. The First Plainsmen, 17. Buffalo Hunting Starts, 18. Blackfoot and Cree come out of the Woods, 19. Life in a Hunting Tribe, 20. | ||
| III. | The White Man Comes Exploring | [23] |
| Indians Hear Strange News, 23. Why the White Man Crossed the Sea, 25. French Ascend the St. Lawrence, 26. La Salle, 27. English Discover Hudson Bay, 25. Radisson and Groseillers reach the West, 31. Hudson’s Bay Company Started, 33. | ||
| IV. | The Reign of King Beaver | [35] |
| His Achievements, Dead and Alive, 35. “Rupert’s Land,” 37. Trading on the Bay Shore, 39. French Opposition, 40. Forest Runners, 41. The Vérendryes, 41. First Sight of the Mountains, 43. The English Strike Inland, 44. Indians on Horseback, 45. Hearne Reaches the Arctic Sea, 47. Eskimo Massacred by Indians, 48. | ||
| The Rival North-west Company, 49. Mackenzie Crosses to the Pacific, 50. Thompson Descends the Columbia, 50. Fraser of Fraser River, 51. The Companies at War, 52. Lord Selkirk’s Colony on Red River, 53. Battle of Seven Oaks, 55. The Rivals Join Forces, 56. Company Rule Extended to the Pacific, 56. The Fur Trader’s Life, 56. Travel by Land and Sea, 57. Perils of the Straits, 57. | ||
| The West as Paul Kane saw it in 1847, 60. Isolation of Red River, 61. Slaughter of Men and Buffalo, 61. The Cree and Blackfoot Feud, 62. Indian Dance and Horse Race, 63. | ||
| Tragedy of Arctic Exploration, 64. Fate of Franklin, 65. North-west Passage Found, 66. Amundsen Gets Through, 66. | ||
| V. | The Farthest West | [68] |
| North-west Passage Hunt not Wasted, 68. Drake on the Pacific Coast, 69. Captain Cook, 69. British and Spanish on Vancouver Island, 70. United States Frontier Fixed, 71. Company’s Forts and Farming, 72. Dogs Bred for Wool, 72. Indian Sports and Slavery, 73. Flat-Heads, 74. | ||
| First White Colony, 75. The Gold Rush, 75. Company Rule Ended, 76. British Justice, 79. Coal Found, 81. Federation with Canada, 81. The Hog of San Juan, 82. | ||
| VI. | The Windows Opened | [83] |
| Exploring for Homes, 83. “Paradise of Fertility,” 84. The Door Still Shut, 84. Toleration of Savagery, 85. Alexander Henry, 86. Indians and Christianity, 86. A Peace Maker, 87. Rupert’s Land Enters Dominion, 88. Trouble on Red River, 89. Wolseley’s Expedition, 90. | ||
| VII. | The Mounted Police | [91] |
| New Danger on the Frontier, 91. Mounted Police Organized, 92. Campaign against Whiskey Smugglers, 93. Indians make Treaty, 93. Redcoats and Redskins, 94. Sioux from the States, 96. | ||
| THE GREAT DIVIDE | ||
| VIII. | Our First and Last Indian War | [98] |
| Riel’s Second Revolt, 99. The Indian Peril, 99. Duck Lake Fight, 99. Battleford Besieged, 100. Frog Lake Massacre, 101. An Army from the East, 103. The Railway just in Time, 104. Relief of Battleford, 105. The Fight on Cutknife Hill, 106. Fish Creek, 111. Victory of Batoche, 112. Surrender of the Chiefs, 112. The Hunt for Big Bear, 114. | ||
| THE NEW TIMES | ||
| IX. | Opening the Door of the West | [117] |
| The Railway to the Pacific, 117. A National Necessity, 118. How it was Got, 120. Difficulties of Construction, 121. Finished in Five Years, 122. | ||
| X. | Our Fathers and Mothers Come in | [124] |
| British Settlers in the East, 124. Their Children Colonize the West, 126. Immigrants Direct from Europe, 126. Early Isolation, 126. King Steer and King Wheat, 127. Collecting Buffalo Bones, 127. The Ranching Era, 127. | ||
| XI. | Riding the Plains in 1905 | [128] |
| A Ride through Two New Provinces, 128. Calgary, 129. Livestock in the Park Lands, 129. Untouched Prairie, 129. “We are Canadians Now,” 130. Wild Life, 131. Antelope and Railway, 131. Thin Thread of Settlement, 132. Hospitable Métis, 133. | ||
| Turn the Key and Walk in, 135. A Man from Iowa, 135. Kings and Presidents, 136. Law and Order, 137. French-Canadians’ Return, 138. Revisiting a Battlefield, 139. Indians Farming, 139. A Sylvan Home, 140. | ||
| XII. | Learning to be Canadians | [141] |
| Freighting, 141. The Blacksmith’s Wife, 141. Health in the Air, 142. Scandinavians, 142. “Who are the Slavs?” 143. Small Beginnings, 143. A Spinning Bachelor, 143. A Doukhobor Village, 145. The Long Migration, 148. The Newcomer Learns, and Teaches, 149. | ||
| XIII. | The Tree of Freedom | [151] |
| Twin Provinces Born, 151. How to Cultivate the Tree of Freedom, 153. The Political Art of Living Together, 154. Loyalty to Union, 155. The Two Empires, 156. | ||
| XIV. | On the Wings of the West | [158] |
| “Cultivating our Garden,” 158. Seeing the West from the Air, 159. Victoria, 159. Federal Observatory, 159. Ships, 160. What the British Navy Means, 160. Vancouver, 160. Fish, Forest, and Mine, 161. A Pioneer Family, 162. “Simple Life and High Standard of Living,” 163. Fruit Valleys, 164. Westerners and the War, 164. Sea of Mountains, 165. Airplane, Wireless, and Forest Fires, 166. | ||
| XV. | A Flight Across the Plains | [167] |
| Wealth of Coal and Water Power, 167. Manufactures, 168. The Chinook, 169. Watering Dry Land, 169. Bees, 170. Natural Gas, 170. Quality in Cattle and Sheep, 171. Regina, 171. Rare Clay and Common Dirt, 171. Network of Railways, 172. Better Houses, 172. Telephones, 172. Tree Planting, 173. Nomads Yet, 174. Climates, 175. “Test and Select,” 176. Wasteful Cultivation, 176. Automobiles, 177. The Business End of Farming, 178. Experimental Farms, 179. Universities, 180. People Wanted, 180. Small Farming, 181. Butter and Cheese, 183. Winnipeg, 184. Sports, 185. Boys and Girls, 185. Citizen Soldiers, 186. | ||
| XVI. | Up to the North and Home Again | [187] |
| The Caribou Pastures, 187. Reindeer and Food Supply, 188. Police on Arctic Islands, 189. Wireless on the Arctic Coast, 190. Up the Mackenzie, 190. Peace River, 191. Homes in the Brush, 191. Buffalo Flourish Again, 192. Fur Farming and Trapping, 192. A Beaver Colony, 193. | ||
| New Settlers and Canadian Ideals, 194. Harmony and Variety, 196. A Sure Foundation, 196. Pure Canadian, 199. | ||
| The Spirit of the West | [201] | |
| Index | [203] | |
| ILLUSTRATIONS | ||
| Page | ||
| Parliament Buildings of the Western Provinces | [Frontispiece] | |
| Very Early Westerners | [5] | |
| Giant Lizards on the Red Deer. Drawing by E. S. Christman. | ||
| Indian Lacrosse Player | [13] | |
| Drawing by George Catlin. | ||
| Early Buffalo Hunting | [24] | |
| Drawing by George Catlin. | ||
| Towing Through the Ice | [29] | |
| From Gerrit de Veer’s “Vraye Description de Trois Voyages,” Amsterdam, 1600. | ||
| The Voyageurs’ Way to the West. A Portage on the Ottawa | [36] | |
| From W. H. Bartlett’s Engraving in “Canadian Scenery.” | ||
| Chief Poundmaker | [36] | |
| From Pastel by Edmund Morris. | ||
| Chief Piapot | [36] | |
| From a Photograph. | ||
| Beaver at Work, and Beaver Hats | [37] | |
| From Horace T. Martin’s “Castorologia.” | ||
| The Beaver and the Unicorn | [37] | |
| From John Ogilby’s “America,” 1671. | ||
| In a Swift Current | [52] | |
| Drawing by Frederic Remington. | ||
| On the Winter Highway | [52] | |
| Drawing by Frederic Remington. | ||
| Lord Selkirk, Father of Western Settlement | [53] | |
| From a Painting by Raeburn. | ||
| Fort Douglas; Where Winnipeg Now Stands | [53] | |
| Built to Protect the Selkirk Settlers. From a Water-Color believed to be by Peter Rindifbacher, Dutch Artist. | ||
| Coast Indian Masks | [73] | |
| From the Marquis of Lorne’s “Canadian Pictures.” | ||
| On the Cariboo Trail, Thompson River | [77] | |
| From the Marquis of Lorne’s “Canadian Pictures.” | ||
| Fort Chipewyan, Lake Athabasca | [96] | |
| From a Drawing by W. S. Watson, 1899. | ||
| Buffalo Herd and Prairie Fire | [96] | |
| From a Painting by F. A. Verner. | ||
| Mounted Police Chasing Whiskey Smugglers | [97] | |
| The Covered Wagon | [97] | |
| A Returned Canadian, Home-seeking. From a Photograph by H. A. Kennedy, 1905. | ||
| An Indian Ultimatum | [102] | |
| Facsimile of Big Bear’s Demand for Surrender of Fort Pitt. | ||
| On the Battlefield. Friends Again | [112] | |
| Mounted Police Officer and Cree Indian, Sir Archibald Macdonell and Piacutch. From a Photograph by H. A. Kennedy on Cutknife Hill, 1905. | ||
| A Horse Ranch | [112] | |
| Where No Trees Grew. Forestry Station, Indian Head | [113] | |
| Quality Raising Quality. School Fair Prize Winners | [113] | |
| Antelope on the Prairie | [132] | |
| From a Drawing by George Catlin. | ||
| From the Russian Oven | [176] | |
| At the Spinning Wheel | [176] | |
| Doukhobor Housewives. From Photographs by H. A. Kennedy. | ||
| The Old House and the New. On a Ruthenian Farm | [177] | |
| A Family from Poland | [177] | |
| Lake Louise, Rocky Mountains National Park | [192] | |
| Mount Robson, Jasper National Park | [193] | |
| The E. P. Ranch, High River | [193] | |
| The Prince of Wales and his Canadian Home | ||
| Sketch Map of Western Canada | [206] | |
Hearty thanks are given to the Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll, and the publishers of “Canadian Pictures,” for the use of pictures from that book by the late Duke, Governor-General of Canada; to Mrs. H. T. Martin for the beaver pictures from her husband’s book; to Harper’s Magazine and Mrs. Remington’s executors for the two travel scenes by Frederic Remington; to the American Museum of Natural History, New York, for the giant lizards; to the scientific staff of the Victoria Museum at Ottawa for checking my pre-historic facts; to many other officers of the Dominion and the four Western Provinces, and unofficial informants, for pictorial and other details; above all, to the numberless good folk all over the West who have made my travelling and living among them an endless revelation and delight.—H.A.K.