In the evening we arrived at The Cache, and saw the bark slants of the Shushwaps on the opposite side of the river; but waited till next morning before attempting to cross.
CHAPTER XIV.
Tête Jaune Cache—Nature of the Country—Wonderful View—West of the Rocky Mountains—Rocky Mountains still—The “Poire,” or Service Berry—The Shushwaps of The Cache—The Three Miners—Gain but little Information about the Road—The Iroquois returns to Jasper House—Loss of Mr. O’B.’s Horse—Leave The Cache—The Watersheds—Canoe River—Perilous Adventure with a Raft—Milton and the Woman—Extraordinary Behaviour of Mr. O’B.—The Rescue—The Watershed of the Thompson—Changes by Beaver—Mount Milton—Enormous Timber—Cross the River—Fork of the North Thompson—A Dilemma—No Road to be Found—Cross the North-west Branch—Mr. O’B.’s presentiment of Evil—Lose the Trail again—Which Way shall we Turn? Resolve to try and reach Kamloops—A Natural Bridge—We become Beasts of Burden—Mr. O’B. objects, but is overruled by the Assiniboine—“A hard Road to Travel”—Miseries of driving Pack-horses—An Unwelcome Discovery—The Trail Ends—Lost in the Forest—Our Disheartening Condition—Council of War—Explorations of The Assiniboine, and his Report—A Feast on Bear’s Meat—How we had a Smoke, and were encouraged by The Assiniboine.
We reached Tête Jaune Cache on the 17th of July, and on the morning of the 18th were ferried across the Fraser by the Indians. The water rolled over the bed of boulders at a great pace, swelling into large waves, on which the light dug-out of the Shushwaps tossed like a nutshell. Mr. O’B., at our suggestion, lay on his back at full length at the bottom of the canoe, for we were really afraid he might upset such a very frail craft. When we reached the middle of the stream, we saw his head suddenly rise up, and his hands making frantic endeavours to loosen his cravat and shirt collar. When we cross-examined him after he had safely landed, it appeared that he suffered great anxiety when rocking about on the waves, expecting to be swamped, and had a misty idea that he could swim ashore with greater ease without a necktie.
A few miles below Tête Jaune Cache the Fraser, after running almost due west from Moose Lake, receives a tributary from the south-east, then suddenly turns almost due north; and, according to Indian report, is joined a little lower down by an important branch from the north-east. The Cache is situated in a valley of triangular form, with the apex to the south, and enclosed by lofty mountains. The valley is some fifteen miles in length, and not more than five in width at the broadest part. Across the base runs the Fraser, from east to west, turning north, when it meets the range of hills which forms the western side. The commencement of a bold range of mountains, running nearly north and south, and dividing the watershed of the Columbia from that of the Thompson, closes up the point of the valley. The main chain of the Rocky Mountains forms the eastern boundary. Part of the valley of The Cache appears to be rich; but immediately to the south is a stretch of sandy, undulating country, partially covered by small spruce, and terminated by the range of hills mentioned as dividing the watersheds. Then commence the dense forests of the North Thompson.
The view from The Cache looking westward is, we imagine, one of the most wonderful in the world. Away as far as the eye can reach, north, south, and west, are mountains packed behind mountains, separated only by the narrowest valleys, most of them snow-clad, and apparently stretching away to the Pacific.
Although we had crossed the main chain of the Rocky Mountains, and were now in British Columbia, we were surprised to find we were still really in the midst of Rocky Mountains. For, in truth, the mountains which rise like a wall from the prairies of the eastern side extend to the western ocean. The exact reverse of this view may be seen from the Bald Mountain in Cariboo, and we were assured by Mr. Fraser, of Victoria, who had visited both the Andes and Himalayas, that nothing there could compare with these hundreds of miles of mountains in British Columbia.
As there was very good pasturage for the horses, we resolved to rest a day here, in order to thoroughly overhaul our provisions, after their recent wettings, and obtain what information we could from the Shushwaps concerning our future course. The Indians brought in a plentiful supply of the poire, wild pear, or service berry, which we purchased for some needles and thread. This fruit grows on a shrub, two or three feet in height, with leaves resembling that of a pear-tree, but smaller, and it is said by the Hudson’s Bay people that wherever it flourishes wheat will also grow to perfection. The berry is about the size of a black currant, pear-shaped, and of delicious sweetness and flavour. They are much used by the Indians on both sides the mountains, who dry them for winter use. From these Indians also Milton, who had lost his buffalo robe by the recent misfortune, obtained a couple of marmot robes wherewith to cover himself at night, some large cubes of iron pyrites used instead of flints, and two curious stone pipes, which they willingly parted with, being as destitute of tobacco as ourselves. From them we learnt that there were but two families of them at this place, and the two old men of the society had three days before started in their canoes down the Fraser, to convey the miners, mentioned as having crossed the mountains just before us, to Fort George. These men had arrived in very destitute condition nine days before, without any clothing but their shirts, and having lived for a long time on partridges and squirrels. The Shushwaps could give us no information about the party of emigrants who had sought the Thompson valley the summer before. Whether they intended to strike direct for Cariboo or follow the river down to Kamloops, we could not ascertain. They told us that it was but six days’ journey on foot to the gold country—probably meaning Cariboo—or not more than eighty or a hundred miles, but that the country was very difficult. An old squaw, a native of Kamloops, who had left there as a girl to become the wife of a Rocky Mountain Shushwap, assured us that we could reach that fort in eight days, and traced a rude map of the route for us. The correctness and value of her information will be appreciated from the sequel.
On the 19th we prepared to start, but heavy rain coming on, we remained until the following day. With the exception of two thunder-storms, the weather had been uniformly bright and warm since we left Edmonton, seven weeks before. The next morning proving fine, the Iroquois set out on his return to Jasper House, and we shortly after went in search of our horses, to prepare for the commencement of our journey forward to Cariboo. But we were delayed for several hours searching for Mr. O’B.’s horse, which was nowhere to be found. The Assiniboine evidently chuckled over the loss, although he declared he could not for the life of him imagine what had become of the horse. Mr. O’B. was indignant, and vituperated the Iroquois and Assiniboine, but did not attempt to assist in the search; and we abandoned it at length with the conviction that the Iroquois was the thief, and it was useless to pursue him.
One of the young Shushwaps agreed to accompany us for a day’s journey, in order to show us the emigrants’ trail, and we determined to follow it as far as practicable, hoping to reach Cariboo in the end. The track led us through an easy country, sandy and undulating, and lightly timbered with small spruce. We crossed a small tributary of the Fraser, skirted the shores of a small lake, and by evening had imperceptibly passed the height of land between the watershed of the Fraser and that of the Columbia. The Shushwap stayed the night with us, put us on the trail of the emigrants the next morning, and then returned. We said good-bye, little knowing the long and weary time we should pass before we again saw the face of man.