The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1879-05-31

ern between james Bay aud Canada, in
Guiding also East Main, on the eastern
shore Of Hudson Bay; the Montreal De.
partment comprehends the extent Of the
business 10 the Canadas; while the wost-
ern comprises the regions west Of the Rocky
Mountains. These four departments are
again divided into fifty-three smaller por-
tions, called districts, each Of which is
under the direction Of experimenting
oihcer, and has depot fort, to which all
the supplies for the district are forwarded,
and to which all fnrs aud other produce
are sent for shipment to England. These
districts are again subdiyided into numer-
Gus minor establishments, forts, posts, aud
outposts. Over each Of these there Is an
otficer and from two to forty men, me-
ehanlcs, laborers, and servants. Besides,
the Company employs multitudes Of men
as Voyagcurs, manning and working the
boats aud canoes in every part Of the ter
ritory, The discipline and etiquette main
tanned are Of the strictest kind, and an
esprit da corps exists between the three
thousand officers and nom
acknowledgement, and servants
such as Is only to be found in the army,
or IN an ancient aud honorable service.
The forts aud trading posts Of the Com
pany are scattered over its immense terri.
tories at distances apart varying from fifty
to three hundred miles. A better idea
may, perhaps, be obtained Of their relative
positions, and Of the isolated lives Of their
garrisons, by imagining the broad State
Of Ohio planted 10 the middle Of the fur
country. In that event the Company
would build one trading post in it.
Communication is maintained between
every post in the vast territory and head.
quarters during the long months Of winter
by means Of the great Northern Packet,
which leaves Fort Garry annually about
the 10th of December The appliances
for the carriage of this important mail are
snow.shoes and dog sledgcs. The latter
are two in number, drawn by four dogs
each. Upon each Of these siedges there
are bound pair Of stoutly constructed
boxes measuring about three feet 10 length
by eighteen inches deep and fourteen vide
These wooden mail-bags, when properly
packed, contain an astonishing amount Of
written and printed matter. The dogl
run at a regular trot, the drivers accom-
panying them on foot at the rate of abou
forty miles per day. The frozen channell
Of the rivers and lakes form the genera
roadway, and lake Winnipeg is traverset
to Fort Carlton, near tho eastern end o
the Saskatchewan Valley, the chief centr,
of the winter packet arrangements. Her
the entire mail Is oyerhauled and repacked
branch packets being sent of east aud west
while the Great Northern Packet journey
on to the remote arctic regions to which it i
consigned. From the morning when III
packet left tho Office at Fort Garry to tn
evening when the solitary dog train, las
of many, drags the same packet, now re
duced to a tiny bundle, into the iu
closure of La Pierre's house, more than
hundred nights have been passed in tn
great northern forests; over three thou
sand miles have been trayersed; seor
of different dog trains have hauled it, send
ing of at long intervals branch dog pack
cts to the right and left. II was midwiu
ter when it started; it arrives just as tn
sunshine Of mid May is beginning to carr
a faint whisper of the coming spring iDt
the valleys Of the Upper Yukon. n.-Hai
pepS lad9dzHe JDr June.