St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1885-03-30
How tO Get There

How to Get There.
The trail WHICH the militia are to travel
over is good one in as far as prairie trails
can be called good, but should Chief Piepot,
who commands number of warriors at
Fort Qu'Appelle, become aggressive he
could, at this point and at an early stage of
the Journey, give considerable trouble and
cause delay which would hinder the troops
reaching their destination before the snow
has disappeared, for here the Qu'Appelle
river is crossed, and on either side the bluffs
tower up hundreds of feet, and the trail
winds through tortuous, wooded rayines,
which would afford excellent shelter for the
Indians, while the militia would be unable to
make even half fight crowded in narrow
pass about wide enough for one cart. In the
event of this move being made the troops
would find it more profitable, both as to time
and saving of men to retreat to Qu'Appelle
and take the railroad to Regina. from
| there striking north to the regular
trail at Touchwocd mills. From this point
the journey would be uninteresting, the trail
| ruD ming through light timber and across
| what's known as the salt or alkali plains.
! When the Batisnheis is reached-fifty miles
| from Prince Albert-the most serious resist
ance will no doubt be encountered. Here
as at Fort Qu'Appelle the banks of the river
are wooded and will give the rebels a chance
| to harass and perhaps defeat the volunteers
| Should they succeed in reaching Prince AL
bert there will be a large mum Der of residents
who are at present afraid to declare them
selves will in every way assist to crush the
rebels. Prince Albert, which the rebel
leader appears to have made his headquar-
tiers, is a place of about one thousand five
| hundred Inhabitants. 1t contains num-
| Der of mills, stores and business places.
The site of the town was originally owned by
three churches, the Presbyterian, English
| and Roman Catholics. Each of these bodies
were active in dispOsing of their property,
and the place is stretched out along The river
for mile and half. The. Hudson's Bay
company have had post in this place
| for years, but not until within
| the last ten years has the place been much
known. When the first surveys of the Cana
| dian Pacific railroad were being made it was
supposed that the road would be located and
run via this place and Edmonton, but a much
more practicable route was found and Prince
Albert received the go-by. The country for
distance of from thirty to fifty miles on the
east, west and south is settled By whites,
who appear to do well. To the north, across
the river, stretch away the eternal forests,
through which a white man has never pene
trated. He has reached the ranges of the
reindeer, 200 miles polarward, but the same
dark gloomy forests were there, with no signs
of ending. Should Riel retreat west his
next stopping place would be Battleford,
where quite a number of his followers are to
ha oil hor
of white settlers. By the time
Battleford is reached the spring will have
opened up and it may be possible for the
breeds to take the trail to Edmonton, but the
raw recruits from Eastern Canada and those
mustered at Winnipeg if given to under
stand the nature of the country through
which they will have to pass, would hesitate
to follow. There is perhaps no stretch of
country so broken to be found in all that
wild west. In fact the traveller, even in the
dry, mild summer months, thinks that had
the geographers been over this trail they
would have put it at one-tenth land and
nineteenth water. What it will be in the
spring can be imagined. A year or two ago
the half-breed stage driver on this route was
compelled to swim his horses no less than
seventeen times in making one of his trips
and one or two experiences of carrying bag
gage through mud-verv sticky mud at that
would serve to kill all desire for fight on
the part of the ''tenderfoot.' The rebels
could be headed off by sending force north
| from Calgary, but even on this trail the Red
Deer Battle and Big Vermillion
rivers and several smaller streams would
have to be forded, and the journey of 200
miles would be a hard one. Edmonton has
at present in the town and on the farms sur
rounding, through the Sturgeon river coun-
| try, sufficient whites 70 hold the rebelsi in
check If they properly organize, and as they
are frontiersmen in every sense of the word,
viii make good fighters and can iutimiuate
the breeds so long as they are leaderless.
! The Indians throughout the country will
not cause much trouble, and, with the excep-
ton OF Pepot. no outbreak will occur. The
Crees are the most numerous and are quiet
and easily kept in order. Were the Black
! feet to be found in large numbers they
would perhaps be troublesome, bat they are
too few in number to do much damage.
From Qu'Appelle, where the troops will
start from to Fort Qu'Appelle, the distance
is eighteen miles; from there to Touchwood
| Hills, sixty. humboldt is merely telegraph
| station midway between Qu'Appelle and
! Prince Albert. Batosheis is where the trail
| crosses the South Saskatchewan fifty miles
| from Prince Albert, and at this point there
/ is 4 large settem mt of breeds. Sometimes
| the two Saskatchewan rivers are confounded
| The North Saskatchewan rises west of Ed
| monton anu flows west to Lake Winnipe
| The South Saskatchewan rises west Of CAL
gary, where it is known as the Bow, and
! flows southeast to Medicine Hat, then north
east to q confluence with the North about
| fifty miles nnrthenst of Prince Albert