Forest Prairie Edge

by Merle Massie

  116 LAC, RG 10, Vol. 7766, File 27107-4 Pt. 2. Quoted in letter, Hayter Reed to the Deputy of the Superintendant General of Indian Affairs in Ottawa, 4 June 1891.

  117 The Montreal Lake band also remembered agitating for a farming reserve near Sturgeon Lake in this period. Goode, “Historical/Cultural/Natural Resource Study,” 3.22.

  118 LAC, RG 10, Vol. 7766, File 27107-4 Pt. 2. Department of the Interior to L. Vankoughnet, Deputy Superintendent General of Indian Affairs, 13 July 1891.

  119 There is some indication in the departmental correspondence that the Indian Department considered other land, but none as acceptable as the land recommended by Surveyor Ponton.

  120 LAC, RG 10, Vol. 3815, File 56622, W. Sibbald, Duck Lake Agency, to the Indian Commissioner, 29 September 1894.

  121 LAC, RG 10, Vol. 7766, File 27107-4 Pt. 2. Memorandum for the Information of the Minister re Farming Lands in the Saskatchewan District wanted for Indians of the Montreal Lake and Lac La Ronge bands. Hayter Reed, 23 February 1895.

  122 Ibid., Hayter Reed to A.R. Burgess, Deputy Minister of the Interior, Ottawa, 5 March 1895.

  123 Ibid., Department of the Interior to Hayter Reed, 11 March 1895.

  124 Ibid., T. Clarke to Indian Department, 23 February 1897.

  125 Department of the Interior requested a survey to conform with township lines. The survey avoided the railway lands, addressed the school lands, and challenged the one remaining timber berth licensee to give up the berth, arguing that there was no merchantable timber on that land anyway.

  126 The reserve was created by order-in-council on 6 January 1900 as “reserved for the ‘Montreal Lake’ and ‘Lac La Ronge’ Indians,” without specific reference to the proportion of the land owned by each band.

  127 LAC, RG 10, Vol. 7766, File 27107-4, Pt.2, J. Lestock Reid to T.O. Davis, MP, no date. For a biography of Reid, see Parker, ed., Who’s Who and Why, Volume 2. See also Ray, Miller, and Tough, Bounty and Benevolence, 127.

  128 The Almighty Voice story resonates in the Prince Albert region. The bare facts are recorded by Rob Nestor in Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan, but other details, such as where he hid during the manhunt, are drawn from local lore.

  129 Carter, Lost Harvests, 193–258.

  Chapter Three: Wood is Scarce

  1 Macoun, Manitoba and the Great North-West, 294–323.

  2 Howlett, “The Forest Industry on the Prairies.”

  3 Ibid., 240.

  4 Kennedy, “Reminiscences of a Lumberjack.”

  5 The story of Captain Moore and his mill can be pieced together through the reminiscences of John Smith and Thomas Miller in Voice of the People, 57–9 and 117–24. For the north Prince Albert forest industry, see Smiley, “The Forest Industry in Prince Albert to 1918”; and Silversides, Gateway to the North, 12.

  6 For a recent overview of these settlers, see Code, “Les Autres Métis.”

  7 Abrams, Prince Albert, 1–2. Reverend James Nisbet established a Presbyterian mission at Isbister’s Settlement in 1866. Nisbet is popularly referred to as the “father” of Prince Albert. Although he gave the settlement its name, he was not the first to settle there.

  8 For an overview of the uprising of 1869–1870 that led to extensive Métis migration westward, particularly into the Saskatchewan River region, see Friesen, Canadian Prairies, Chapter 6, “The Métis and the Red River Settlement 1844–70,” 92–128. For comprehensive studies of the Métis communities in Red River, see Ens, Homeland to Hinterland and Pannekoek, Snug Little Flock; see also Code, “Les Autres Métis,” 33–8.

  9 Abrams, Prince Albert, 16. See also Saskatchewan Archives Board [SAB], Department of the Interior, Dominion Lands Branch, file 753, Rev. James Nisbet to Lt.-Gov. Alexander Morris, 25 Janurary 1874.

  10 Mochoruk, Formidable Heritage, 20.

  11 Ibid.

  12 Bob Ivanochko wrote a short overview of steamboats in Saskatchewan for The Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan. See also Barris, Fire Canoe; Peel Steamboats on the Saskatchewan; Ballantine, “Recollections and Reminiscences.”

  13 Abrams, Prince Albert, 18.

  14 As noted in Stanley, Birth of Western Canada, Chapter 9, “Growth of Settlement in the North West,” n. 17, quoting Saskatchewan Herald, 16 December 1878.

  15 Stanley, Birth of Western Canada, 184.

  16 For an overview of the decision to reroute the CPR, and its effects on the development of the western interior, see ibid.; Waiser, “A Willing Scapegoat.”

  17 Abrams claimed that it “caused no apprehension when the CPR built steadily westward towards Moose Jaw in 1881, or when the southern route was definitely fixed upon in May, 1882.” His sources for this assertion were the local newspapers, notably the Prince Albert Times and Saskatchewan Review. Abrams, Prince Albert, 45.

  18 See Black, History of Saskatchewan, 227. Black claimed the provisional district divisions were for the benefit of the Post Office Department, but clearly the Saskatchewan district was based largely on the major basin of the North and South Saskatchewan including the Forks and the Lower Saskatchewan. See http://www.canadiangeographic.ca/mapping/historical_maps.

  19 For the evolution of the boundaries, see http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/evolution.boundaries. By 1887, the Saskatchewan district boasted its own Member of Parliament at Ottawa.

  20 Abrams, Prince Albert, 48–9.

  21 The 1885 Rebellion has been examined in depth by many historians. In particular, see Stanley, Birth of Western Canada; Beal and Macleod, Prairie Fire; Flanagan, 1885 Reconsidered; Stonechild and Waiser, Loyal Till Death. For Prince Albert’s contribution and reaction, see Abrams, Prince Albert, Chapter 6, and Code, “Les Autres Métis.”

  22 An example of the Saskatchewan territorial identity is found in an editorial from Prince Albert when a Toronto newspaper, recounting an exhibition of grains from the west, mentions only three of the four major western districts: Manitoba, Assiniboia, and Alberta. Saskatchewan, the indignant editorial contended, was worthy of pride and filled with righteous anger at being left out. See Prince Albert Advocate, 10 September 1900, “Saskatchewan again gets the go-by.”

  23 SAB, R-A4535, photograph by William James of the first train to Prince Albert, piled high with cordwood to feed the steam engine. See Silversides, Gateway to the North, 42.

  24 For an interesting overview of the context of “home” for First Nations versus non-First Nations in the western interior, see Bradford, “‘Home Away From Home.’”

  25 For a discussion of the prairie market, and how it spawned its own “hinterland” around Prince George with prairie capital, labour, and a market, see Hak, “Prairie Capital.”

  26 Anderson, “Population Trends,” Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan, 706.

  27 See “The Advantages of the Prince Albert District, Saskatchewan, are unsurpassed for rich lands,” CIHM 30434, 63. Smiley, “The Forest Industry,” 8.

  28 For a full investigation of the Dominion Lands Act, see Martin, “Dominion Lands.”

  29 Martin, “Dominion Lands,” 182–3. To view the act and its amendments, see Early Canadiana Online http://eco.canadiana.ca/search?q=dominion+lands (accessed 26 November 2013).

  30 Ibid., 182–5. See also Dominion Lands Act.

  31 Black spruce and Jack pine were smaller than white spruce. They were sometimes cut by special permit for railway ties or fenceposts. See Saskatchewan, Department of Agriculture pamphlet, “Saskatchewan,” 1909, 59–62.

  32 For an extensive investigation of timber policy in the western provinces, see Martin, “Dominion Lands,” Chapter 11, “Swamp Lands, Grazing, Timber, Mining and Water Rights.”

  33 Some of the earliest maps of the north Prince Albert region were made by timber cruisers, defining and describing timber berths. See the collection of the Prince Albert Historical Society and the Department of the Interior files at the Saskatchewan Archives Board.

 
34 It is difficult to follow the many variations and changes in the Dominion Lands Act as it related to timber, and my figures may not correspond with others if the sources were from different years. Chester Martin’s detailed study focussed primarily on homestead land.

  35 Martin, “Dominion Lands,” Chapter 11.

  36 See SAB, MS W586, W.W. Whelan, “Echoes of Yesterday,” unpublished manuscript. There is a copy of this manuscript in the Prince Albert Historical Society archives. See also Lumby Production Company, Giants of their Time: The Lumberjack, movie, c. 1970s; Smiley, “The Forest Industry”; SAB, Skuli Bachman manuscript; and Kennedy, “Reminiscences of a Lumberjack.”

  37 See Saskatchewan Times, “Saw-Mill Destroyed by Fire,” 20 April 1905.

  38 Silversides, Gateway to the North, 12.

  39 The Wheat Belt Review, November 1907.

  40 See Silversides, Gateway to the North, 12; Kennedy, “Reminiscences of a Lumberjack.”

  41 Prince Albert Times, 15 January 1903.

  42 Beames, Gateway.

  43 The Lumby Production Company movie, Giants of Their Time, contains live footage of lumber drives, several photographs taken by Prince Albert photographer W.J. James, and an interview with Odias Cartier of White Star, north of Prince Albert, who had worked in the lumber camps and on the drives. A copy of the film was provided to me by the Prince Albert National Park archive, Waskesiu, Saskatchewan.

  44 Kennedy, “Reminiscences,” 30.

  45 The Wheat Belt Review, November 1907.

  46 The community is now known as Deer Ridge.

  47 Dice, “Alingly and Surrounding Districts,” 1.

  48 See Prince Albert Times, “Big Engine is Working. Sturgeon Lake Lumber Company are Hauling Lumber from their Mill to the City—Many are Witnessing the Novel Method of Moving Lumber,” 14 February 1907.

  49 The Wheat Belt Review, November 1907. For an example, see Footprints of Our Pioneers, 814.

  50 These reserves were just south of the area that was set aside as the Sturgeon Forest Reserve in 1914.

  51 The logdrivers on the Little Red River system, in particular, were drawn from these reserves. See Wheat Belt Review, November 1907.

  52 Saskatchewan Archives Office, “Index to Material Relating to Saskatchewan Indian Reserves in Annual Reports of Department of Indian Affairs 1900–1973.”

  53 See Thompson, “Sturgeon Lake First Nation,” Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan, 914.

  54 LAC, RG 10, C12112, Vol. 7839, File 30107-4, Frank Pedley, Deputy Superintendent General of Indian Affairs, Ottawa to James Macarthur, Indian Agent at Mistawasis, 3 July 1903.

  55 Ibid., Indian Agent’s Office, Carlton Agency, 249831. Each person signed with either an X or in Cree syllabic.

  56 Ibid. The surrender was signed by Isaac Itawawepsim, Edward Charles, John Hunt, Alfred Charles, Elias Hunt. In the presence of W.E. Jones, Agent. Rupert Pratt, Interpreter and A.I. Wilkinson (possibly a witness or JP). These were not the same people who signed the original surrender document. These men were living on the New Reserve and other documents indicate that at least three of these men were originally from the Lac La Ronge band.

  57 The manager of the Canada Territories Corporation was A.J. Bell, who also managed the Sturgeon Lake Lumber Company and ran the sawmill at Bell’s Lake, just to the west of the Little Red Reserve.

  58 LAC, RG 10, C12112, Vol. 7839, File 30107-4. James Hines to Indian Commissioner, 8 August 1904. In reply, it was pointed out that only the white spruce saw timber had been sold; the pine for fenceposts and aspen/poplar for building and cordwood had not been sold.

  59 Ibid., Indian Agent’s Office, Carlton Agency, Mistawasis, to Hon. D. Laird, Indian Commissioner, Winnipeg, 19 January 1905.

  60 Ibid., J.D. Maclean, Secretary of Indian Affairs, to David Laird, 7 April 1905.

  61 Ibid.

  62 LAC, RG 10, Vol. 7766, File 27107-4. Letter to the Accountant from the Indian Department, 14 October 1910.

  63 Ibid., Letter to the Accountant.

  64 See LAC, RG 10, C12112, Vol. 7839, File 30107-4.

  65 LAC, RG 10, C12112, Vol., 7839, File 30107-4. J.D. McLean to Silas Milligan, Indian Agent at Mistawasis, 17 January 1916. 1 February 1916, Reply from S. Milligan.

  66 See in particular the documentary, Jim Settee: The Way Home by Jeanne Corrigal (Inner Nature Productions, 2009).

  67 LAC, RG 10, Vol. 7766, File 27107-4. Letter to the Accountant from the Indian Department, 14 October 1910.

  68 Waiser, Saskatchewan’s Playground, 18–9. Waiser documented much of the early freighting, fishing, and general transportation history of the region. See Chapter 2, “Prince Albert and the New Northwest.”

  69 See Prince Albert Daily Herald, 6 May 1916.

  70 The state of the roads was an ongoing problem throughout the first three decades of the twentieth century in the north Prince Albert region. Once municipalities were formed, local governments sought provincial assistance to improve or create even the most rudimentary roads and bridges. These calls filled the meetings of the local municipal boards and the pages of the Prince Albert Daily Herald.

  71 Shortt, “Survey of the Human History of Prince Albert National Park,” 15.

  72 Burtman, Sustainable Management, 485. There continue to be extensive jack pine forests in the north Prince Albert region. These were selectively logged but never as intensively as white spruce. Jack pine regenerates far more efficiently than white spruce. See Thorpe, “Models of Succession,” 9.

  73 Cordwood and Courage, 9.

  74 Shortt, “Survey of the Human History of Prince Albert National Park,” 13–4; Waiser, Saskatchewan’s Playground, 14.

  75 The Reserve was formally created by an act of Parliament in 1914. Waiser, Saskatchewan’s Playground, 16.

  76 Waiser, Saskatchewan’s Playground, 16.

  77 Shortt, “Survey,” 16–7.

  78 Prince Albert Daily Herald, 24 March 1916.

  79 Shortt, “Survey,” 16. Shortt references a letter from C. Putlick to R.M. Treen, 28 April 1919, SAB, Crown Timber Agency Files, NR5, B.12.9, and noted that this number is significant, as it represented almost 25 percent of the total area within the Sturgeon Forest Reserve.

  80 Prince Albert Daily Herald, 7 October 1918; Shortt, “Survey,” 14.

  81 Prince Albert Daily Herald, 28 April 1919.

  82 Prince Albert Daily Herald, 4 June 1919.

  83 Tobi McIntyre, “Canada’s Incendiary Past.” McIntyre states that the fires were natural.

  84 Prince Albert Daily Herald, 12 June 1919.

  85 Ibid.

  86 See, for example, Weir and Johnson, “Effects of escaped settlement fires.” This essay is based in part on Weir’s MSc thesis, “The fire frequency and age mosaic of a mixed wood boreal forest” (University of Calgary, 1996). This research focussed on Prince Albert National Park. It does not explore or understand the wider implications of the logging industry in the north Prince Albert region on a broad scale. Instead, it argued that incursion into the mixedwood boreal forest north of Prince Albert was for agricultural purposes only outside the Sturgeon Forest Reserve. This is inaccurate.

  87 Prince Albert Daily Herald, 3 June 1919. The forest reserves were beginning to see increased use by tourists and campers. It is possible that the fires were started by fishermen or campers, instead of homesteaders.

  88 Northern road improvements in the post–Second World War era took foresters deeper into the boreal North: commercial timber operations resumed, and the pulp and paper industry was created in the 1960s. For an overview of the origins of the pulp and paper industry in Saskatchewan, see Novosel, “Pulp Fictions.”

  89 Saskatchewan Department of Agriculture pamphlet, “Saskatchewan,” issued 1909.

  Chapter Four: A Pleasant and Plentyful Country

  1 Belyea, ed., A Year Inland, 64.

 
2 The dairy and beef industries in Saskatchewan have been explored by Church, “Dominion Government Aid”; Williams, “Always the Bridesmaid.” Church claimed that by 1889, cheese was a major Canadian national export and it was thought that butter could be, too. Mixed farmers were the centre of the dairy industry.

  3 For overviews of the wheat-growing culture as it developed in the western interior, see Britnell, Wheat Economy; Fowke, National Policy; Thompson, Harvests of War. See also Spector, Agriculture on the Prairies and MacEwan’s popular history, Between the Red and the Rockies.

  4 Lorne Agricultural Society, “Prince Albert and the North Saskatchewan: A Guide to the ‘Fertile Belt’ now being opened up by Railway from Regina to Prince Albert, The Central City and Capital of Saskatchewan,” printed by the Prince Albert Times; CIHM 30434. The difference between sub-humid or humid “prairie” versus semi-arid or arid “plain” in the United States is more clearly defined and understood.

  5 Murchie, Agricultural Progress, 46.

  6 Saskatchewan, Department of Agriculture booklet, “Saskatchewan,” 1909, 10, 6.

  7 Ibid., 48.

  8 See, for example, Johnson, “Relative Decline of Wheat.”

  9 Maps of potential wheat-growing land can be found in many books, and formed the overly optimistic estimates of the future potential of the western interior. See, for example, Bowman, ed., Pioneer Settlement, 5.

  10 “Prince Albert Investments.”

  11 The Northwestern Miner, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1 July 1908. “Wheat is Wheat—Prince Albert—The Gateway to Hudson Bay” by Mae Harris Anson. For more on Seager Wheeler, see Shilliday, Canada’s Wheat King.

  12 Clark, “Settlement in Saskatchewan.”

  13 Thompson and MacPherson, “How You Gonna Get ’em Back to the Farm?”

  14 Russell, “Subsistence,” 16. Russell pointed specifically to Britnell, Fowke, and Thompson.

  15 This quote, taken from Britnell, was the central point of Russell’s paper. The statement, Russell argues, is not so much wrong as radically incomplete. See Russell, “Subsistence,” 26, 15.