[256] For Fraser River see Farnham’s Travels, ante, p. 43, note 52.
A small branch of the Miette approaches within a few rods, on the summit of Yellowhead Pass of the upper source of the Fraser, running thence into Yellowhead, and sixteen miles lower down Moose Lake, whence issues the main Fraser.—Ed.
[257] For the Carrier Indians, see our volume xxvii, p. 307, note 160. They are the main branch of the Déné (Tinneh) stock, in British Columbia. See Rev. A. G. Morice, “Are the Carrier Sociology and Mythology exotic?” in Canadian Royal Society Transactions, x, part ii, pp. 109-120, with map giving location of the tribes of New Caledonia.
By the Achiganes, De Smet probably intends the Sekanais (Tsekenné), who inhabit the western slopes of the Rockies from latitude 54° to 60°. They are a nomadic people of the Déné stock, lacking houses, villages, or social organization. Despising fish, they subsist on game and roots. Numbering about two hundred souls, they now exist in two wandering bands in the Babine and Upper Skeena River agency, Hoquelget division, British Columbia.—Ed.
[258] The Montagnais are a branch of the great Athapascan (or Déné) stock of northern Indians. By some authorities they are identified with the Chippewyan; others consider them the western branch of the Chippewyan tribe—De Smet uses the term in the first sense. The Chippewyan still rove in their ancient habitat on Athabasca lake and river. The majority of the tribe has been christianized by Catholic missionaries.—Ed.
[259] Lake Athabasca, in the northern portion of the territory of that name, is the outlet of Athabasca River, and extends 190 miles in length and from five to fifty-five in width. It discharges by Slave River into Great Slave Lake, thence through the Mackenzie into the Arctic Ocean. Fort Chippewyan, upon the shore of Lake Athabasca, was one of the earliest trading posts erected by the English in the Northwest. Thence Sir Alexander Mackenzie made his famous explorations (1789-93).—Ed.
[260] The Oblate monk was Alexandre Antoine Taché, later archbishop of St. Boniface on the Red River, and the priest Father L. Laflèche. Father Thibault had visited all the Athabascan district in the summer of 1844, preparing the way for permanent mission stations. Reporting to Bishop Provencher at Winnipeg, the latter sent the two missionaries to found a central station at Ile à la Crosse (largely frequented by Crees), whence stations were later established at Cariboo Lake and Lake Athabasca.
Father Laflèche came to the Red River country in 1844, remaining at Ile à la Crosse until 1849, when infirmities led him to retire. Elected coadjutor for Bishop Provencher, he declined the responsibility, but served as vicar general until 1856.
Taché was Canadian born (1823); educated at Montreal, he joined the Oblate order, and (1845) volunteered for mission service on the frontier. Arrived at Red River, he was ordained priest, and sent (July, 1846) to found the mission at Ile à la Crosse, whence he made journeys to the distant tribes of the Northwest. Elected coadjutor bishop in 1849, he visited Europe, being two years later consecrated in France. Returning to Canada, he went back to his mission, whence he was summoned to Winnipeg by the death of Bishop Provencher (1853). Taché was an important figure in the Canadian Northwest, being profoundly interested for the material and spiritual welfare of the Indians and half-breeds. He interceded with the Dominion government for the latter’s grievances in 1869, and after the Riel rebellion was useful in restoring harmony. Raised to an archbishopric in 1871, he ably administered his diocese until his death in 1894.
See his own account of his early missionary experiences in Vingt Années de Missions dans le Nord-Ouest de l’Amérique.—Ed.