CHAPTER XIX
FISHING WITH A SIWASH
The next morning, with Mr. James, Jack and Hugh boarded the comfortablesteamer which was to take them up the Fraser to the town of Yale,the head of navigation of the lower river. Mr. James was anxious tohave them see the end of the Canadian Pacific railroad, of which allthe residents of the Province were immensely proud at that time, forit was the first railroad that had been built in British Columbia.Incidentally they would view the scenery of the Fraser, and would seemany other interesting things.
Near its mouth the Fraser is very muddy, and Hugh and Jack spoke ofits resemblance in this respect to the Missouri, with which they wereso familiar. As the steamer ploughed its way up the river the waterbecame less and less turbid, until, when Yale was reached, though by nomeans colorless, it had lost its muddy appearance and was beautifullygreen. The current is everywhere rapid, and at certain points wherethe channel is narrow the water rushes between the steep banks withsuch violence that at times it seemed doubtful whether the vessel couldovercome its force. At such points Jack and Hugh were always interestedin watching the struggle, and noting by points on the bank the slow butsteady passage which the vessel made in overcoming the force of thewater. For some distance above New Westminster the river is broad andflows through a wide alluvial bottom covered with a superb growth ofcotton-wood trees; but farther up the channel is narrow; and mountainsrise on either side, not very high but very steeply, and on them theysaw frequent evidences of landslips which had laid bare long stretchesof dark red rock, which contrasted beautifully with the green of theforests.
As they passed along, Mr. James pointed out one mountain after another,and told of the silver mines and the silver prospects that had beenfound on each. In many places along the river were seen extensivestretches of barren land covered with cobblestones and boulders whichto Jack seemed out of place in a region where vegetation was souniversal.
"Why is it, Mr. James," he asked, "that nothing seems to grow on thesegreat piles of pebbles and cobblestones?"
"Why," said Mr. James, "that is old mining ground. Many of these gravelbars have been worked over by placer miners; and these piles of stoneswere left after the soil and fine sand had been washed for the goldwhich it contained. Many of these bars have been worked over a numberof times, and all of them, twice. Along this river it has been just asit has been back in the States. After gold was discovered, the whiteman first went over the ground and washed the gravel, getting most ofthe gold; and then, after he got through, the Chinaman, slow, patient,persistent, and able to subsist on little or nothing, went over theground again and found in the abandoned claims money enough to paywhat seemed to him good wages; in other words sufficient to give him aliving, and enable him to save up money enough to take him back to hisown country, where he lived comfortably for the rest of his life.
"I am no miner," Mr. James continued, "but you must talk with Hunter.He is a civil engineer with a lot of experience, and I saw him on theboat this morning. I understand that he has a mining scheme which isbig, though, of course, it is only a speculation as yet."
Mr. James stopped talking and looked about the deck, and then walkedover to a tall, thin man who was standing near the rail, smoking. Afterspeaking to him, the two came to where Jack and Hugh were sitting.Introductions followed, and after a little time Mr. Hunter explainedwhat it was that he proposed to do.
"Quesnelle Lake," he said, "lies away north of Yale and east of theriver, in a country where some good prospects have been found. Fromthe Lake, Quesnelle River flows into the Fraser. The bed of QuesnelleRiver is supposed to be very rich in gold. It is said that it is sorich that the Chinamen anchor their boats in the river and dredge thedirt from the bottom, take it ashore and wash it, and in this way makegood wages. I have received a Dominion grant to mine this river, or somuch of it as I can. Of course, as yet, this is a mere prospect, butI am going up there now to find something definite about it. I shallhave to do some dredging to find out what there is in the bottom of theriver. If I find that the dirt there is rich enough, I shall build,across the river near Quesnelle Lake, a dam strong enough to hold backfor three or six months of the year--during the dry season, in otherwords--the water of the lake, so that the volume which passes throughthe river channel will be greatly diminished. This will leave bare agreat portion of the river channel, which can then be mined by ordinaryhydraulic processes. As I say, there is as yet nothing certain aboutthe matter, but there seems sufficient prospect of profit in it to makeit worth while to attempt it."
"That seems a reasonable scheme," said Hugh, "though, of course, as yetthere are a number of 'ifs' to it."
"There are a good many," said Mr. Hunter; "but I believe that in thecourse of the next three months I shall know much more about it than Ido now."
"I believe, Mr. Hunter," said Jack, "that you have travelled a greatdeal over the Province, have you not?"
"Yes," said Mr. Hunter, "a good deal. I have been over the whole lengthof it and over much of its width, but I know little about its northwestcorner. There I never happened to be; but from the Fraser and Kootenayrivers, down to the boundary line and all along the western part of theProvince, I have been."
"Is there any place near here," said Jack, "where one could go intothe mountains for say a week or ten days, with a prospect of gettinga little hunting? I don't mean for deer and goats, because I supposethese are found almost everywhere, but with some prospect of findingsheep, and perhaps elk? I believe that bears exist everywhere, and ofcourse the meeting with them is a matter of luck."
Mr. Hunter considered for a moment or two, and then said: "Do you wantto make a little hunting trip of this kind, and now?"
"Yes," said Jack, "Mr. Johnson, here, and I were thinking of doingthat."
"Well," said Mr. Hunter; "I believe I know just the place for you. It'sonly a short distance from Hope, a town just below Yale, on the river,and if you can get started at once, four or five days ought to take youinto a good sheep country, where there are also a few deer and goats.You could have three or four days hunting there, and could get back totake the steamer down the river and get to Westminster inside of twoweeks."
"That's a little bit more time than we have to give to the trip," saidJack, "but perhaps we could do that, and perhaps we could gain a dayor two in the travelling."
"Perhaps you might," said Mr. Hunter, "those things depend largely uponthe outfit you have and chiefly on the energy of the man who runs youroutfit. If you get somebody who is a rustler, who will get you up everymorning before day and have the train on the march before the sun isup, and travel all day, you can get along pretty rapidly."
"Well," said Hugh, "it seems to be a matter that depends largely uponourselves. Son and I are fair packers, and if we can get horses and aman to wrangle them and somebody that knows the road, we ought to beable to keep them moving."
"I'll tell you what I will do," said Mr. Hunter. "When we get to YaleI will telegraph to an acquaintance of mine in Hope, and find out whatthe prospect is of getting the outfit that you want."
Hugh and Jack both thanked Mr. Hunter, and after some inquiry aboutthe character of the country to be traversed, the talk turned to othersubjects. It was but a little later when the boat began to pass groupsof Indians camping along the shore; and near each camp were seen thedrying stages on which they were curing the fish that they took.Horizontal poles were raised five or six feet above the ground andthese were thickly hung with the red flesh, making a band of brightcolor which stood out in bold relief against the green of the trees andthe cold gray of the rocks.
Jack and Hugh looked at these camps with much interest.
"It looks some like a little camp on the plains when there has been akilling and the meat is just hung up to dry, doesn't it, son?" remarkedHugh.
"A little," said Jack, "but I cannot separate the camp from itssurroundings of mountains and timber and big water."
"No," said Hugh,
"that is hard to do, but of course these people aregathering their meat and drying it just as our Indians gather theirmeat and dry it."
In front of the tents and shelters in which the Indians lived downon the bank of the river, were scaffolds made of long poles thrustinto the rocks and resting on other rocks, projecting out well overthe water. On each one of these stood one or more Indians engaged infishing with a hand net which he swept through the water, just as hadbeen described the day before by Mr. McIntyre. To see it actuallydone made the operation so much easier to understand than when it hadbeen simply described. The Indians swept their nets through the waterfrom up stream downward, and at almost every sweep the net brought upa fish, which the man took from it with his left hand and threw to awoman standing on the bank above the stream. They could be seen toperform some operation on it, and sometimes a woman with an armful offish went up and hung them on the drying scaffold.
Mr. Hunter was standing by them, also observing the fishing, and Jacksaid to him: "Mr. Hunter, I can't see clearly enough to understand justwhat these nets are and how they are worked. Can you explain it to me?"
"Yes," said Mr. Hunter. "It's very simple, and when you go ashore atYale, you will be able to see the Indians catch fish in just this way,and you can see for yourself just how it is done. You know what anordinary landing net is, don't you--a net such as we use for trout?"
"Yes, of course I do," said Jack, "it's pretty nearly what we call ascap net along the salt water, except that it is not so large or socoarse."
"Yes," said Mr. Hunter. "You know that a landing net has a handle, ahoop, to which the net is attached, and a large net hanging down belowthe hoop. Now if you imagine a landing net four or five times as bigas any you ever saw, you will have an idea of the general appearanceof one of these purse nets when spread. The hoop of the purse net isoval and made of a round stick, the branch of a tree bent so that thehoop is about four feet long by three feet broad. This hoop is attachedto a long handle. Running on the stick, which forms the hoop, are anumber of wooden rings, large enough to run freely. The net is attachedto these small wooden rings, and if the handle is held vertically theweight of the net and rings will bring all the rings together at thebottom of the hoop, so that the net is a closed bag. Now from theend of the handle of the purse net a string runs to the hoop and isattached to the wooden rings that run on it in such a way that if youpull on the string the little wooden rings spread themselves out atequal distances all around the hoop, and the net becomes open, just asan ordinary landing net is when open. As the Indian is about to sweepthe net to try to catch a fish, he pulls the string which spreads thenet, and the net is then swept through the water with a slow motion.The string which holds it open passes around the little finger of onehand; and if the fisherman feels anything strike against the net,the string is loosened, the rings run together, and the net becomesa closed bag which securely holds the object within it. The salmon,swimming against the current, pass along close to the steep bank wherethe force of the water is least, and the eddies help them. The Indiansknow where the salmon pass, and sweep their nets along there to meetthem; and, as you see, catch lots of fish."
"That makes it just as clear as anything," said Jack, "and I am verymuch obliged to you for telling me about it. I want to understand thesethings that I see, and sometimes it is pretty hard to do so withoutan explanation. Now, if you will let me, there is another question Iwould like to ask you. What do the women do in preparing the salmon fordrying? I can see that they are using knives. Do they just cut off thehead, or do they take out the backbone?"
"I am glad you asked me this question," said Mr. Hunter, "becausethere's a difference in the way the Indians save the fish. The coastIndians just cut off the head and remove the entrails, but theseIndians up here are more dainty; I suppose, as a matter of fact, theyare more primitive, and do not understand the importance of collectingall the food they can, although they ought to understand that, for theyhave certainly starved many times when the salmon run has been a poorone. Up here, the Indians only save the belly of the fish. By a singleslash of her knife, the woman cuts away the whole belly from the throatback to a point behind the anal fins, and extending up on the sidesto where the solid flesh begins. This portion is retained and hung upto dry. The whole shoulders, back and tail are thrown into the wateragain. There is another thing that I believe will interest you. You seethese stages from which they are fishing? Well, you might think thatanybody might come along and build a stage and go to fishing, or thatwhoever came first in the summer to one of these stages might occupyit, and use it during the season, but that isn't the fact. These stagesare private property, or rather family property, and the right tooccupy and use each point descends from the father to the oldest son ofthe family."
"Well," said Jack, "that's new to me. I never heard of anything likeit. Did you, Hugh?"
"No," said Hugh, "it's one ahead of me."
"Well," said Mr. Hunter, "you will find quite a lot of customs of thatkind along this coast. Certain tribes and certain families have theright to hunt or fish in certain localities and it's a right that isuniversally respected among the Indians. A man would no more think ofinterfering with another family's fishing stage or trespassing on hishunting ground than he would think of disturbing a cache of food thatdid not belong to him."
"That's another thing I had not heard of, Mr. Hunter," said Jack; "thefact that the Indians have separate special places where they have theright to hunt and where other people have not that right."
"Yes," said Hugh, "that's new to me, and would seem quite queer toanybody in our country."
"What is your country, if I may ask?" said Mr. Hunter, courteously.
"Why," said Hugh, "son and I have been for the last three or four yearson the plains and in the mountains back in the States."
"Oh, in the Rocky Mountains?" said Mr. Hunter.
"Yes," said Hugh.
"There, of course, your game is chiefly buffalo, I suppose, and theywander a good deal, do they not?"
"Yes," said Hugh, "they wander some, but not so much as most peoplethink. A great many people say that in summer the buffalo all gonorth and in winter they all go down south, but that's not so. Thereare movements of the herds with the seasons, but they are not veryextensive."
"Mr. Hunter," said Jack, taking advantage of a moment's pause, "I haveheard something about the caches that the Indians make of their food,but I have never seen one in this country. Will you tell me how theyarrange them?"
"Certainly," said Mr. Hunter. "These Indians, here, after their fishhave dried, pack them together; and in a tree, far above the reach ofanimals or insects, they build something that you might call a littlehouse or a big box, in which they store the food and leave it thereagainst a time of need. The house or box, whichever you choose to callit, is built of shakes, that is, of thin planks split from the cedar,is fairly well jointed, and has a tight and slightly sloping roof sothat the moisture cannot get into it. Usually they are seen along thestreams or near favorite camping grounds, and I should not be at allsurprised if we saw one before reaching Yale. They are quite commonlyseen."
"And you say," said Jack, "that they are never disturbed?"
"Absolutely never," said Mr. Hunter. "Indians would suffer greatprivations before taking food belonging to other people, because theyknow to take away this food might mean starvation to the owners. Ofcourse if an absolutely starving outfit of Indians found a cache theymight take from it a little food, perhaps enough to carry them on fora day or two along their road; but if they did, they would leave somesign at the cache to say who had taken the food, and they would feelbound, at some later day, whenever it were possible, to return whatthey had taken with good interest."
By this time the day was well advanced, and a little later Mr. Hunterpointed to a few dilapidated buildings standing near the river andsaid: "There is all that's left of the town of Hope. The situationis a beautiful one, in a wide bottom; but there is no life in thesettlement. It is from this po
int on the river that the trail startsfor Kootenay about five hundred miles distant, and all the mail andexpress matters used to leave from here. The town was founded in theearly days of the mining excitement, when it was thought that thediggings of the Fraser were inexhaustible. People used to think thatthis would be a great town, and there was an active speculation inbuilding lots, but as the washing on the lower river ceased to pay,the tide of emigration passed on. Hope was left behind, and the ownersof town lots will have to wait a long time for their money. At the sametime, when the railroad is finished it will of course pass through Hopeor near it, and there may be a future for the place; but that willdepend upon agriculture and not on mining."
A little later in the day the steamer tied up to the bank at Yale. Itwas quite a large town, spread out at the foot of a great mountain, andit seemed to have the characteristics of all western railroad towns.It was from here that the Canadian Pacific Railroad was being builteastward, and Yale was thus the supply point and the locality where allthe laborers employed on the road congregated during holidays. To Jackthe place seemed as cosmopolitan almost as San Francisco. He recognizedEnglish, Scotch, and French; and noticed some Germans, Swedes, andsome Americans; Indians and Chinese were numerous, and negroes jostledMexican packers and muleteers; while there were many mixed bloods whoseparentage could hardly be determined from their countenances.
Jack learned that a stage ran from Yale to Lytton, where the river isagain practicable for steamers, and that this was the route taken bypersons going to the mines at Cariboo.
Mr. Hunter, knowing Jack's interest in birds, took him to see ataxidermist who had a considerable collection of bird skins broughttogether from the immediate neighborhood. Here he saw many eastern andwestern birds, the most interesting of which were the evening grosbeak,the pine grosbeak, and a species of gray crowned finch. By the time thebirds had been inspected the sun had set and they returned to theirquarters at the hotel.
Immediately after breakfast next morning, Jack, Hugh, and Mr. Jameswalked along the railroad two or three miles up the river and intothe canyon. The scenery was very beautiful. The walls of the canyonwere nearly vertical, the stream tearing along between them at a highrate of speed. Just at the entrance of the canyon stands a high rockor island, which divides the current into two streams of nearly equalsize. On a flat rock they all sat down, and while the two older menfilled their pipes and smoked Mr. James told Jack the story of thisrock.
"Of course you understand," he said, "that the salmon has always beenthe most important food of the year to the Fraser River Indians. Itsupplies them with their winter food, and indeed with provisions foralmost the entire year. To them, as to almost all the Indians alongthis coast, the salmon is the staple food, just as back on the plainsthe buffalo is what the Indians there depend upon. Just as back in thatcountry the buffalo is somewhat a sacred animal, so here the salmon arein a degree sacred; and just as back there the Indians perform certainceremonies when they are going out to make a big hunt, so here thecapture of the first salmon is celebrated with religious ceremony."
Hugh nodded and said, "I guess Indians are alike the whole continentover."
"Well," said Mr. James, "each summer the first fish that came up theriver and was taken, was regarded not as belonging to the person whotook it but to the Good Spirit; I suppose that means the chief god.As soon as caught, therefore, it was to be taken to the chief of thetribe, and delivered into his keeping. A young girl was then chosenand after having been purified, she was stripped naked and all overher body were marked crossed lines in red paint, which represented themeshes of the net. She was then taken to the water's edge and withsolemn ceremonies the net marks were washed off. This was supposedto make the people's nets fortunate. Prayers were made to the GoodSpirit and the salmon was then cut up into small pieces, a portion wassacrificed, and the remainder was divided into still smaller pieces,one of which was given to each individual of those present. This,Squawitch tells me, was the regular annual custom. Now, about thisrock. One season the people had eaten all their food and had gatheredhere at the river for the fishing, but as yet no fish had been caught,and they were starving. It happened that the first salmon caught wastaken by a woman, and she being very hungry, said nothing about itscapture but at once devoured it. This was a crime and for it she waschanged by the Good Spirit into this rock, which was thrown into theriver where we see it now, to remain there forever as a memorial of heroffence, and a warning to others."
"My, that's a good story, Mr. James," said Jack.
"Yes," said Hugh, "that's a sure enough Indian story."
The pipes being knocked out they started on up the river. Just abovethe first tunnel Jack saw on a stage down near the water's edge, anold Indian fishing with a purse net, and as it seemed, catching asalmon at every sweep he made. This was too much for Jack to resist,so he clambered down the rocks to the Indian's stage. After watchinghim for a little while, and noticing closely how he handled the net,Jack took from his pocket a quarter and held it out to the Indian, atthe same time reaching out his hand for the net. The Indian gave it tohim readily enough, and began to dress the fish he had already caught,while Jack stepping out on the stage over the water, began to sweep thenet through the current just as the Indian had done. At the first sweephe felt something strike the net and loosened the string. He raisedthe net and--with some difficulty, for it was big--brought up to thestage a great ten pound salmon. He reached the net back to the Indianto take the fish from it; and, then spreading it again, he repeatedthe operation. In ten minutes he had caught nearly as many salmon, allof which were about the same size. No doubt the Indian would have beenwilling to have him fish all day for him, but his two companions, onthe railroad track above, were getting impatient and called to him.Jack gave back the net to the Indian, climbed up the bank and overtookhis companions, all three then going on up the track. It was aninteresting experience, and one that not many people have enjoyed.
On their return to town Hugh asked Mr. James if there was any one inthe town, so far as he knew, that had ever crossed the mountains to thehead of the Peace River, and followed that stream down to the eastward.
Mr. James thought for a moment or two, and then said: "Why, of course.I know just the man, and I can take you to him. It's old man McClellan.He used to be an old Hudson Bay man, and has travelled all over thecountry. I am very sure that I have heard him tell about making thattrip across the mountains."
A little inquiry brought them to Mr. McClellan's store. They found hima hardy old Scotchman who seemed glad to give them such information ashe could. He told them about the streams that they must go up to reachthe head of the Peace River, and that there was a two days' portagebetween the two waters, those flowing east into the Hudson Bay, andthose west into the Pacific.
"The distance is not so great," he said, "but it's a rough country andye'll have to go slowly, but it is a fine country to travel through;lots of game, moose, caribou, and mountain goats, and plenty of fish.Ye'll never have to starve there."
"Well," said Hugh, "I don't know as we'll ever be able to make thattrip, but I've often thought about it and wanted to. One time, a goodmany years ago, I got hold of the travels of Alexander McKenzie, theman who found the frozen ocean, and he crossed the mountains fromHudson Bay to the Pacific Ocean, and I have always thought that I wouldlike to make that trip myself, but I am getting old now for trips. Ican't get around as easy as I could twenty years ago."
"Pshaw, man," said the old Hudson Bay voyager, "never talk like that!You're good for many years of travel yet. Faith, I'd like to take thattrip with you, if you don't put it off too long. It's a fine country,and I'd like to go through it again."
That evening at the hotel they saw Mr. Hunter, who told them that hehad communicated with the people at Hope, and had found that it wouldbe easy for them to get a packer and an Indian guide and horses to gooff on the hunting trip if they wished to. The outfit could be readyto start to-morrow morning if they felt like it. Jack and Hugh though
tthis would be a good thing to do, and got from Mr. Hunter the nameof the man at Hope who could give them the desired information andassistance. They asked Mr. James if he would not join them on the hunt,but his business required him to return to New Westminster at once.It was determined, then, that all should start on the boat at threeo'clock the next morning, Jack and Hugh getting off at Hope and tryingto make a start for the sheep country that same morning.
Jack the Young Canoeman: An Eastern Boy's Voyage in a Chinook Canoe Page 21