The Perils and Adventures of Harry Skipwith by Land and Sea

by William Henry Giles Kingston

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN.

  FROM CUBA TO NEW ORLEANS, AND HENCE UP THE MISSISSIPPI ON TO ST. LOUIS--OUR VOYAGE UP THE OHIO--KENTUCKY SHOTS--CINCINNATI--AWAY TO TORONTO--THEHUDSON'S BAY COMPANY'S TERRITORY DESCRIBED.

  After we had lost sight of Cuba I could scarcely help expecting to seesome rakish-looking craft hearing down on us, and I must own that it waswith inward satisfaction that I remembered the fact that the blackschooner and most of the scoundrels on board her were blown up, andunable any more to trouble voyagers over the deep sea. Poor Peter wascontinually on the look-out for an enemy, and if he saw a sail in thehorizon he would come up to me and ask if we hadn't better get ready tofight, lest it should be "another on them cut-throat gentlemen a-comingto look for us."

  Notwithstanding all the lad's prognostications of evil, we reached,without any misadventure, the Crescent City, as New Orleans is notinappropriately called, on account of the shape it presents, built alongthe curving shore of the river. I hastened at once on landing, followedby Peter and Ready, to the office of the merchant on whom I had lettersof credit, fortunately forwarded originally in duplicate by post, andhaving obtained a supply of cash, and such necessaries as I required, Iwas in a few hours on my way up the Mississippi, earnestly hoping thaton this voyage I should escape being snagged, and not be blown up, asAunt Becky had predicted would be my fate.

  I have not been complimentary to New Orleans, but I must say that it isa very grand city. It is divided into two parts by Canal Street--theOld and the New--the Old, built by original French and Spanish founders,contains narrow and dirty streets and the worst class of the population,while in the New are numerous fine buildings, broad streets, and wealthyand respectable inhabitants. It is not nearly so unhealthy as issupposed when once a person is acclimatised,--but to be sure a good manydie in the process. And so I make my bow to New Orli_ee_ns, as thenatives call it. Although I had not many fears on the subject, I wasglad to get away without being recognised, nor did anyone on board thesteamer take especial notice of me, that I could discover. It wascurious to go paddling on day after day, and night after night, andstill to find oneself floating on the same broad stream, sometimes withrich level land on either side, and at others with light bluffs, ortowns, or villages; also to pass the mouths of large rivers, and to betold that one was navigable eight hundred or a thousand miles up, andthat five or six tributaries, each also navigable for six hundred milesor so, while others fell into it. Truly the eastern, southern, andnorthern parts of North America present a wonderful river system, suitedfor internal navigation.

  We had a curious collection of passengers on board--five hundred atleast in the main cabin--some of them, I judged by their physiognomies,not the most respectable portion of the human race. A party of them gotround me, and in the most insinuating manner invited me to join them ina friendly game of cards, or dice, or dominoes, indeed they were notparticular, anything that would enable me to pass the time agreeably.In spite of all their arguments I persevered in declining their politeinvitations, and at length, in reply to no very polite remarks on mymanners and appearance, and a strong expression of doubt as to whether Ihad anything to lose--

  "You've hit it, gentlemen," I remarked, quietly looking up at them."It's dull work to skin a flint, and I did not wish to give you thetrouble."

  "You did well to keep clear of those fellows," observed a gentleman tome shortly afterwards. "If they could catch you on a dark night nearthe side of the vessel, they wouldn't scruple to rob you and heave youoverboard."

  In many places the banks of the Mississippi exhibit high bluffs of anearthy nature, sometimes broken into the most fantastic forms,representing castles, towers, church steeples, and ruins of everydescription.

  On the morning of the sixth day we were off the mouth of the Ohio, whichriver can be ascended for nine hundred miles to Pittsburg, and it mustbe remembered that I had already come upwards of a thousand miles fromNew Orleans. The next day, after paddling against stream two hundredmiles farther, I landed at St. Louis, in the State of Missouri. It is ahandsome city, built on ground sloping up from the Mississippi, abouttwenty miles distant from the mouths of the two mighty streams of theMissouri and Illinois, while the Mississippi itself has there alreadypursued a course of nearly seventeen hundred miles. It is a very busyplace, and vessels of every description crowd its quays. Proceeding upthe Ohio, I landed at Louisville, the chief town in Kentucky. Everyonehas heard what Kentucky riflemen can do with their weapons.Understanding that a match was going forward outside the town I went tosee it. To my disappointment it was over, but I saw two men shootingaway as fast as they could load, at two cocks in a sort of enclosure,with an open space towards us, through which they kept constantly cominginto view. Nearly a dozen shots had been tired, and the birds ran aboutas lively as at first. "Well, sir, I think with uncle's oldfowling-piece I could knock over them barn-doors a precious sight fasterthan that," observed Peter, eyeing the marksmen with a glance ofcontempt.

  "Now I guess, stranger, if you was to look closer you wouldn't be quiteso ready to boast of what you could do," observed a stout, good-naturedlooking man near us. "Understand, just what you say you could do, theydon't want to do. Their business is to knock the feathers out of thembirds' tails, and do them no mortal injury. There's a chalked line ontheir tails, inside of which a shot mustn't go, or the man who fires itloses the match. Each man, too, has his bird and it requires a sharpeye to know which is which."

  Such I found to be the case. One man had shot all but one short featheraway, and he was afraid of killing his bird; the other had shot all buttwo very long thin ones away, and his bullets constantly flew betweenthem.

  The next day we stopped at Cincinnati, a very handsome,civilised-looking city, and one of the most important west of theAlleganies. Here we embarked on board a much smaller steamer than anywhich had before carried us, though we had still four hundred milesfarther to go up the stream to Pittsburg, from whence it was myintention to proceed to Toronto, and so find my way into the Hudson'sBay Territory, in the best way I could. The boat drew very littlewater, for we had rapids and shallows to pass over; not so little,however, as a builder on board boasted was the case with one he hadconstructed--"Six inches, sir! why you know well enough, I guess, thatif you was to attempt to send a craft drawing six inches of water upsome of our streams, she'd be grounding every day in the week, and tentimes in the day," I heard him exclaim, in a tone of contempt, to afellow-passenger. "Talk of inches, sir--what do you say to one I built,sir--why, she'd go along right slick across the prairie, provided thedew was thick enough on the grass in the morning. Why, sir, nothingcould stop that craft if she could but get a taste of water." Whetheror not his assertion was believed I do not know, but as he was a bigstrapping fellow, and carried a formidable-looking bowie-knife in hiswaistcoat pocket, with which he used to pick his teeth and carve hismeat, or indeed, what was not so pleasant, any dish intended for thepublic before him, nobody chose to call his assertion in question.

  The country in which I was now about to seek for adventures, is a regionwhich must before long become of importance on account of the greathighway between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans passing over it.Through that region indeed will be found the true and only practicableNorth-west passage, but it will be across the rolling prairie instead ofthe rolling ocean, and over rocky mountains instead of mountainousbillows. The land I speak of is Central British America, also known as"Rupert's Land," "the North West Territory," and the "Hudson's BayCompany's Territory."

  The earlier French settlers in Canada believed, and not without reason,that the high road to China would be found along the course of themighty river on the banks of which they had located themselves. Theiridea was ridiculed, and the name of La Chine was given to a village tothe west of Montreal by those who believed that the explorers wouldnever get farther in that direction, little supposing that ere long arich province, full of wealthy cities, would have its eastern limitsbeyond the point in question; whi
le only of late years the truth hasdawned on a few far-sighted individuals that in that direction will befound the shortest and safest high road not only to China, but toprovinces fast rising into importance, to British Columbia andVancouver's Island, to the wide-spreading shores of the Pacific, and tothe numberless islands which stud its bosom; that it will afford awestern outlet to the commercial enterprise of the British NorthAmerican Confederation, which will raise it to a position of greatwealth and power.

  Let me try and map-down this great country. Following up the course ofthe St. Lawrence across Lake Ontario, and passing over a broad isthmus,where a deep canal is to be formed, we reach lake Huron. Still goingwest some two thousand miles distant from the month of the St. Lawrence,we arrive at the Saulte St. Marie, where the waters of the great LakeSuperior fall into that of Huron. Here is a free port, and a freesettlement has been formed; but we have yet Lake Superior to cross, whenwe shall reach Fort William, in Thunder Bay, where the most westernBritish American settlement has lately been established. From ThunderBay, a spot of great picturesque beauty, a good map will show us asuccession of lakes, joined by rivers, and known as Dog Lake, Lac desMilles Lacs, Rainy Lake, and Lake of the Woods, the chain, extendingtill the extensive Lake Winnipeg is reached, having again numberlessother lakes and rivers farther west. A journey of about eighty milesbeyond the extreme west of the lovely Lake of the Woods carries us to asettlement of British people; not of people who have cast off theirallegiance to the British crown, but true subjects, who desire to liveunder British laws and institutions, and to enjoy all the privilegeswhich Britons justly value as their birthright; yet it is not too muchto say that no community of the British race is more completely debarredfrom the advantages possessed by Englishmen at large than are theinhabitants of the settlement in question.

  A glance at our map will show us a river rising in the State ofMinnesota, and running nearly due north, entering the British territoryat the forty-ninth parallel of latitude, and finally falling into LakeWinnipeg. This is the Red River, and the British settlements on itsbanks are known as the Selkirk, or Red River settlements. Here arelocated about six thousand white inhabitants. The spiritual wants ofthe people have not been neglected, and a bishop, called the Bishop ofRupert's Land, and about eight Protestant clergymen are placed there,besides a Roman Catholic bishop and several priests. The productions ofthe district are valuable and numerous, and the climate, though coldenough in winter to ensure a supply of snow, and very warm in summer, ishealthy in the extreme, and admirably adapted to British constitutions.The Red River is navigable from the States to the settlements, and againthence to Lake Winnipeg, from which there is a ramification of watercommunication by lakes and rivers, navigable for steamers for manyhundred miles.

  The Hudson's Bay Company have a strongly-fortified post at the junctionof the Assiniboine and Red Rivers, called Fort Garry, which serves asthe citadel or capital of the settlements, for town or village there isnot. The general aspect of the country here is that of a rich levelprairie, with the river cutting its way tortuously through it towardsLake Winnipeg, forming steep or cliff-like banks. Belts of trees,however, are to be seen near the river, and woods scattered about, andto the east ranges of hills, while along the sides of both rivers arehomesteads, substantial farm-houses, mills, stores, churches,parsonages, and school buildings. These settlements are about fourhundred miles west of Thunder Bay, in Lake Superior, and the country forthis distance must be the first opened up, and about three hundred milesof it is by far the most difficult part of the undertaking; yet theengineering difficulties for forming such a road as is required aretrifling compared to those which have been overcome in numerous works inCanada.

  It is a country peculiarly of lakes, and rivers, and forests, the timberbeing very fine. The timber, by means of the lakes and rivers, can becarried to the settlements, while it is most valuable for the formationof the roads, dams, canals, and villages about to be constructed. I amspeaking of the first three hundred miles of road to be formed, whetherthat road is by lake, river, canal, or on the firm earth. The greatobject is to get a way opened up with the greatest expedition and at theleast expense. Now let us turn our eyes west of the settlements, and weshall see a belt of fertile land, in some places one hundred, in othersfifty miles wide, extending for eight hundred miles, to the very base ofthe Rocky Mountains. This magnificent belt of land has already beentraversed from one end to the other by exploring expeditions, andemigrant parties with carts, dragged by oxen travelling at the rate oftwenty miles a day. It is intersected by many rivers. The carts wereunladen, formed into rafts, and towed across; the cattle swam or waded.The once declared impassable Rocky Mountains were passed with perfectease, in several places, and British Columbia entered.

  To understand clearly the nature of the country, let us supposeourselves standing on the banks of the Red River, looking west. Infront we have the fertile belt stretching out before, us, consistingchiefly of rich level prairie land, ascending gradually towards theRocky Mountains. Rivers and streams run directly across it atintervals, invariably lined with trees, and here and there are forestsof considerable extent, though generally trees are found in small clumpsor copses, covering a few acres, having escaped the ravages of the fireswhich destroyed the primeval forests.

  On the left, running from west to east, there is the Assiniboine River,connected by the Calling River with the south branch of theSaskatchewan. On the right, extending in a north-easterly direction, isa range of wood-covered mountains known as the Riding, Duck, andPorcupine Mountains, and on the other side of these are three largelakes, the Winnipeg, Manitobah, and Winnepegosis. Into the northern endof the first falls the important river Saskatchewan, navigable bysteamers for two or more hundred miles, and, with certain breaks, up tothe very; foot of the Rocky Mountains. The Saskatchewan gives its nameto the greater portion of the fertile territory, which is known as thevalley of the Saskatchewan. This wonderful chain of rivers and lakesabounds in a great variety of excellent fish, on which once numeroustribes of natives entirely subsisted--so that they thus afford anever-failing supply of food, abundant irrigation, and extensive waterinter-communication.

  Compared with the latitude of the British North American Provinces, theclimate may be supposed to be severe, but it should be understood thatas the west is approached the climate improves, and the fact is thatnear the Rocky Mountains, farther north, and at a far greater elevation,the climate is not more severe than at the Red River. Thus there isuniformity of temperature and natural productions throughout theterritory. The cold is great, but not greater than in Lower Canada, andsometimes the winters are so mild that, as Mr Ross, an old settler,states, he has known ploughs at work at Christmas. When spring begins,the heat becomes considerable; thus all the productions of the earthripen with wonderful rapidity, and from sowing to harvest time is oftenbut three months.

  Professor Hind, of the University of Toronto, stated some years ago thatthe valley of the Saskatchewan, or rather the basin of Lake Winnipeg,contains an area available for cultivation of eighty thousand squaremiles--a territory very nearly as large as England--and that it iscapable of supporting an agricultural population exceeding fifteenmillions of souls. "The outlying patches of fertile land lying withinthe limits of the great plains, together with the deep, narrow valleysof the rivers which run through those arid regions (that is, to thesouth of the fertile belt), the east flanks of the Rocky Mountains, andthe low lands in the region of the great lakes, might support anotherten millions, so that the present available area of arable soil--thegreater portion of which is susceptible of being at once turned up bythe plough--would sustain an agricultural population equal to that ofPrussia." Indeed, vast as is Canada, the professor's calculations showan excess of land fitted for the permanent abode of man, in favour ofthe basin of Lake Winnipeg over Prussia, before its recent accessions ofterritory, of five million five hundred thousand acres. If the wholequantity of land fit for cultivation in Canada were occupied,
it wouldsustain a population of eighteen millions, while in the same proportionthe territory under discussion would sustain nineteen millions ofpeople. Including the Red-men, who slaughter the buffaloes which roamover its rich pastures for the sake of their skins alone, it scarcelynow supports twenty thousand souls.

  As to the natural productions of this region, it may briefly be statedto contain abundance of wood, stone, and clay for building; lignite inmany districts, and coal in others; iron of excellent quality, in theneighbourhood of coal; salt, which has long been in use, the springsbeing easy of access; and grasses, which afford rich fodder in abundancethroughout the winter season to large numbers of horses, and to manycattle. "Within the limits of the fertile belt vast herds of buffalocome in winter to feed and fatten on the rich natural grasses, which theearly frosts in autumn convert into nutritious hay." To sum up thecapabilities of the territory: It is an admirable grazing country, andcattle and horses can remain out all the winter. Sheep thrive andmultiply. Pigs, where there are oak woods, if turned out, require nolooking after.

  It must be understood that agricultural operations have for many yearsbeen carried on at the Red River, and round the mission-stations andtrading-posts, and that the statements made are the results of actualexperience. Wheat is the staple produce. The ordinary yield is thirtybushels to the acre, and oftentimes forty bushels. It is cut threemonths from the date of sowing. Indian corn is very fine, and neverfails on dry lands. Root crops, especially potatoes, turnips, and beet,yield abundantly, and attain large dimensions. The potato disease isunknown. Garden vegetables grow luxuriantly, and equal those of Canada.Barley and oats, when cultivated with care, yield as abundantly aswheat. Of hay from the natural grasses an abundance can be made.Tobacco is successfully cultivated. Hops, in great luxuriance, growwild. Ale is brewed with them at Red River. Hemp and flax have alsobeen successfully cultivated. A variety of fruits grow wild, such asstrawberries, raspberries, currants, and gooseberries; so does rice.Melons grown in the open air are very fine, and sugar, as in Canada, isabundantly obtained from the maple-tree.

  Again, considering the abundant supply of fish, and the various sorts ofgame, large and small, from the buffalo and deer to the hare and rabbit,it will be understood how amply the territory is provided by nature forthe support of a large population.

  Of the Indians, there are scarcely forty thousand in the fertile beltand wood and lake regions together, who chiefly subsist on buffalo fleshand fish, and live in skin or birch-bark tents. The Prairie Indianshave large numbers of hones, while only some tribes of the Wood Indianspossess those animals. Some few have been converted to Christianity,but the larger proportion retain all their heathen customs, thoughgenerally they do not show any hostility to the whites. The SiouxIndians, however, across the boundary line, from the treatment they havereceived from the people of the United States, are determined enemies ofthe white men and half-breeds.

  But how, it may be asked, can this vast territory be peopled? By asimple and easily carried out system. The object, in the first place,is to establish a direct communication across it. A railroad is out ofthe question for many years to come, and even a regular macadamised roadcan scarcely be expected for some time, but we may well be content if wecan obtain a road over which a wheeled vehicle may travel some fortymiles in the day, and horsemen at still greater speed. In the firstinstance, there must be settlements, and it is proposed to establishthem at about twenty-five miles apart, in a direct line from LakeSuperior to the Rocky Mountains. Grants of land with freedom fromtaxation, and the certainty of obtaining ample employment, will quicklyattract settlers. In the first place, in each settlement a wheelwrightand cart-builder, a blacksmith, two or more carpenters, a painter andglazier, a baker, a butcher, an innkeeper, and other artisans obviouslyrequired on a great highway, would find employment. Several farmers andagricultural labourers, and a market-gardener, would be wanted to supplyfood. Stable-keepers, and grooms, and postilions may be named, and allthese would, of course, attract storekeepers, tailors, and shoemakers.A police force, with small bodies of military pensioners, and perhaps afew troops, might be stationed at intervals in the settlements along theline. To these communities, with the aid of some navvies, might beconfided the duty of improving the road at first roughly marked out.Bridges might be required over small streams, and ferries wouldcertainly be required over broad ones, and here boat-builders andferrymen would be called for.

  It will thus be seen in what way the settlements can first be formed;but before they are placed along the whole line, the more difficult partof the country between Lake Superior and the Lake of the Woods must bepierced through. Trees have to be cut down, rough places smoothed, andbridges erected; and where the line is by water, dams have to beconstructed, landing-places formed, and steamers launched. Scarcely onesummer, however, would be required for the work; and it must beremembered that the route in question has been traversed for years back,and that, although heavy luggage cannot at present be carried that way,passengers and light goods may be transported by canoes through thelakes and rivers which have been described. The first settlement hasalready been formed by the colonial government at Fort William, onThunder Bay. About forty miles to the west is the boundary line betweenthe British North American Confederation, which is destined ere long toinclude the whole of British North America, and the Hudson's BayCompany's territory.