The pioneer express. [volume] (Pembina, Dakota [N.D.]) 1883-1928, 1895-12-27

breed and lis con Temporary the
l,atfalO, II, Of peculiar interest to
|sas1r local readers While the old
- tAlf breed Of the prairie has scat
fersd ell over the northwest and
lsss being mingled aud lost among
So greater number Of later white
immigrants, yet there are many of
Aalsnl still with US, whose carrier
/. SsyoarsE were spent in hunting over
:leae prairies making their livli-
~ O0a Ly the fruits of the trap or
The gun. The buffalo are gone.
and practically extinct, except u
few that are preserved IN private
I or national parks; but their traces
are still plentiful and show proof
zpf the iminense herds that used to
teed on tho vast prairie pastures
81 this galley and the adjacent
hills sand blateaus lying westward.
leep- brn paths along the h,ll-
sidas Till look as if made by herds
ut attle season or two ago:
~ Cat hollows in the ground vet
lemain where the buffalo have eat
,)en up the salty soil; a, d now and
I then the farmer plows up huge
-..sl,Oile or skull tat remains us a
mark of the grave Of one of these
nlonarchs Of the plain. In some
LEGATIONS these bones are. in such
Quantities that persons have made
~ business Of collecting them by
he wagon load, aud thousands f
sssstl..,ns have been sent east to be
81 round up for fertilizers etc.
1 Bnl the history of the butflloes
md of the people vino Lived on
B i.em amt hunted them, is not an.
Gent history. As we said. many
s,f the tl;.ll.breed hunters still live
) 'tmoIg us and only eighteen years
ago, in 1877. u cara IAN of Red riv. r
CARTS loaded with buffalo robes
tbtme to Pembina for IL market.
| Nh ut that time dried buffalo meat
4 aad lenIlicall could be bought at
i Cores here and were common
/ srtici lea pf traffic.
The greater part Of the follow
I. ing sketch Of half breed life and
E pfsVhumting Ii
t,sni ~ essrs Charles
~ 81 head two
~ - abitants, who
: \ III Il 4! ND q s57 respect-
q . i' Ssi,ls iits soSf Pemb..na.
lost Of the lauguage is that of
NJ. Cavlleer, ms written By him. for
The purpo 9 OF this article.
The Metis or Lalf.breeds were
mostly the product Of the Hudson
lay 20. The company engaged
4n .rom. CANADA, Scotland and
y England as employees, in their fur
arade in the northwest, and these
men 0ftell remainedi in the Hudson
n n: BAY service for their life t,me.
They were usually men Of yigor-
Gus, hardy phys que and their
ldbors we're onerous, full of harl-
ship and often Of danger and ex-
/ element. Many OF them, in the
~ baence Of white women, took to.
themselves Indian wives and the
offspring in time. augmented in.
number, BY incoming settlers, and
natural increase, until at one time
there must have Ueen about 8 600
scattered through what is now
North Dakota and Manitoba. The.
E1ench ancestry predominated,,
| mt there were many Scotch and
y English hall. breeds. In these pal
my days, when the prairie was
open ground and the buffalo plenty
they possessed many of the char
I acteristics cf the Acadians, so
pleasantly aud. beautifully describ-
1 ed BY Longfellow They were a
simple folk, but honest, merry,
and led with the herds Of buffalo
from which they received their
chief subsistence almost pastoral
lives.
81 Utter the food Of 1852, Father
Belcourte established his mission
at ST. Joseph. Pembina mountain;
built q fine large church, then
Geyed out the town or village
BIT. Joseph into blocks, about
lesize Of those in the now city
of Pembina, and donated Il block
to3any who wished to build and
liyesin the village. Then he sur;
Keyed out lots Of land. for seven or.
hight miles down tile Pembina
river, the lots being the same size
as in the Selkirk settlement, each
me mile long and sixschains wide,.
the use Of those who wished to
tle on and cultivate a farm, as
the spring time there were many
EhoS had time to cultivate q gar
den ss consisting largely Of the
u hman's murphy" knowllas
sato.
1.-THE breeds were generally
4 mon &c good common or horse
sense, unlike the Indian who acts
"a the proverb of sufficient unto
bes dNy il. the evil thereof they
oIsd ahead for the coming win