The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-09-15
ON EDMONTON TRAIL
BLASTED HOPES AND WRECKED
FORTUNES SCATTERED ALONG
ITS COURSE
WAS GATEWAY to- KLONDIKE
Schemes for Reaching the Gold
Fields That Came to Naught
Rise and Fall of Ed
monitor.

The little Northwestern town of Ed
monitor lies on the banks Of the mud
laoen saskatchewan, connected by some
z0O miles of badly ballasted railroad with
calgary, the metropolis of the ranch
lands of Alberta. 1t boasts of some an
tfqufty, for as early as 1899 the Hud-
son Bay company had established post
there. In 1879 it was besieged by Old
Sun and his Blackfeet warriors, and one
can stall see the two old brass cannon
which so successfully held back the red
SKINS 1t Is also the center of the fur
trade of Canada, says the New York
Commercial Advertiser and is often
spoken of as the Gateway of the
North. 1t is, in fact the Jumping
on place of Canadian civilization Every
spring hundreds of halfbreeds and
Blackfeet and Crees and Wood Indians
come down from the Mackenzie and
Peace and Yukon rivers with their pet
r1es, In exchange for which they take
back with them such luxuries of civilf-
cation as blankets and beans and fire
water,
But it is not for these things that
Bdunonten is noted. Time was when
Dawson City was young and the gold
fever ran like wild-fre through both
the busted" mining camps and also
the cities of the West and the overland
route to the Klondike was still a cher
1shed dream of the enterprising Canuck,
and one heard only golden things about
TINS little wooden town on the Sas-
akatchewan.
But today Edmonton might well re
called the City of Broken Hearts, and
so long as the Klondike and 1.-The Ed
monitor trail are remembered this lit
tie Northern city will keep it's face
turned to the wall. The grizzled traders
and prospecters who lounge about the
Edmonton saloons do not talk Edmon-
ton trail nowadays. You know, the
Edmonton knows, and the most of the
West knows, but the word is never spox-
en-. Nobody boasts of those busy days
for the little town, four or five years
ago, when picturesque little band after
band struck hopefully north through
the muskegs and solitudes of Athabasca
for the land of twilight and gold
They started off in many strange and
devious fashions. One party went in the
heart of winter, when it was 40 below
zero, even in the electric-lighted streets
OF Edmonton, for now it must be re-
| membered that Edmonton boasts not only
a brewery and a flour mill, but also an
electric plant They carried with them
long Norwegian snow skates, or skis
and by means of these they intended to
reach the Yukon. Before the ice was
broken up in the Saskatchewan they
were back in Edmonton. Another gold
seeker started out with three whisky
| barrels. Axle and shafts were attach
ed to each barrel which had previously
| been packed as tight as it could hold
! with provisions and duffel. A stout
| little cayuse was hitched to each barrel
| and off they started to roll their way
| to the land of the nugget 1t seems
| hardly necessary to add that in less than
| two days the barrels were battered tc
pieces. Another party set out With col
lapsible canvas canoes, in which they
| proposed to cross river and lake When
necessary. Reversed and set up as tents
| these canoes We're to serve as sleeping
! quarters on land. Here again disaster
I was encountered, for ice and rapids soon
tore the little skiffs to rags.
Another adventurous spirit decided tt
carry with him a load of flour, which he
proposed to pack into the Yukon by
| means of stout Montana steers The
steers were procured, and fine zig speci.
mems they were, and duly roped and tied
down and loaded. This Napoleon of the
North explained that animals of such
strength and staying power could easily
be driven through swamp and coulee anG
muSkeg for a few weeks and when he
got to the K1ondike, 10 and behold, there
he would be with both beef and flour in
abundance. The steers were released
One hour later the country between Ed
monitor and Athabasca Landing looked
as though it had been visited by an ex-
cept1onally early snowstorm. For twenty
miles there was a furry of xxx flour
whitening the landscape, and not once
did these steers stop until they had
shaken or scraped every buckle and bag
and strap off their broad backs In fact,
several of the animals were never seen
again.
Still another original minded goldseeker
attempted to make the overland route
with a team of trained moose. Still an
other adventurer set Edmonton agog by
rigging up huge flat-bottomed boat on
wheels, the latter being detachable, and
the entire conveyance resembling not a
little the amphibious steam "alligators'
used by the lumbermen of Northern On
tario. But, like the whisky-barrel cart,
it was doomed to early grief. One last
son of ingenuity went forth with Red
river carts. This is an archaic vehicle,