The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1902-08-15

to have proof OF its reality than to put It
in practice in our own attitude toward
others. '-Philadelphia Evening Bulletin.
NO MORE PEMM1CAN.
The Passing Of Food that was of Great
Value Fifty Years Ago.
Fifty years ago pemmican was to the
shifting and scant population OF the
Northwest what -four is in the present
day to English-speaking peoples in most
civilized portions Of the globe-the staple
and most common food of the country
Then it was always made from the buff
falo, which covered the Western plains.
The great fur corporation known as the
Hudson Bay Company bought hundreds
of bags of the dark, nutritious compound
annually from the Indians for use at it's
trading posts scattered over the vast
wilderness stretching from the Red river
| and Hudson bay to the Rocky noun
tains, and from the two Saskatchewans
| to the Arctic sea, a region then designat-
| ed Prince Rupert's Land
| PeHlmlcan Tor, more properly, Dimee-
kon) is a Cree word meaning mixture,
Or something made with fat. 1t was
| composed of buffalo meat dried in the
sun and pounded fine, mixed with melted
fat, and was sewn up in sacks made
from the raw hide of the buffalo, with
the hair outside. 1t did not look invit-
ing, but was, in fact, wholesome, strong
food, which would keep for years. If
the buffalo was important to the fur
trader, the ungainly animal was life it.
| self to the red man, for it furnished him
with everything his heart could desire,
OF with the means of procuring it. And
as, owing to the migratory instincts of
| h. ol H.,
recognized territory Of one tribe and next
into that of an enemy, fresh meat was
not always obtainable, pemmican was
| the form III which the Indian preserved
and laid away his store Of provisions
against the day of scarcity.
Omitting the excitement Of the hunt
ard substituting domestic herds for the
wild ones of the plains. a description of
pemmican-making by the Indians quar-
ter of century ago will give an idea
OF what might have been witnessed at
Duck Lake in the summer of 1899. In
telligence that a band of buffaloes was
in the vicinity threw the Indian camp at
Men rushed from the lodges buckling OH
quivers of arrows and belts of cartridges,
women talked and gesticulated, boys
raced wildly about shouting shrilly to
one another, the horse herd was driven in.
and in few minutes the bucks, mounted
on their buffalo runners and under
the direction of the chief of the hunt,
moved in silent body out of the camp
Onnearing the herd advantage was taken
of each slight rise or dip to cover the APP
proach, which was always up wind, so
that the wary brutes should not catch
the scent. Stealthily they rode, one be-
hind another, until concealment was no
longer possible. Then, at signal from
their chief, they burst upon the open
plain and dashed yelling at the top speed
of their trained horses at the startled
herd.
Usually it was some distance away
perhaps half mile and it took good
horse to overhaul buffalo Once up
with the straining animals, however,
their pace slackened, and the rest was
comparatively easy. Onward galoped
the hunters between the long, undulating
hles of shaggy brown backs. picking out
the fat cows and the young bulls at their
leisure. And as a feathered shaft left
the swapping bowstring and stricken
beast tottered and went down, the loud,
and he tossed moccasin or beaded fire
!; bag beside it to mark his kill, and then
flew OH.
The chase might last as long as the
women came with the ponies and the
trailing travoys upon the field of
slaughter The carcasses We're soon
stripped of their hairy coats. the meat
packed on the travoys, the bones
broken and the marrow extracted, and.
loaded with the red spoil. the whole
party returned to camp. Here. in an
incredibly short time the meat was cut
into wide, thin sheets and hung upon
pole frames in the sun and wind to dry.
After a day or two these sheets We're re-
moved and spread upon the clean
prairie grass, where: if the weather CON
tinued fair, they soon became as hard
as shingles. They were then placed upon
a hide threshing floor. with the sides
elevated on short pegs to form q sort of
stones until the meat was reduced almost
to a powder. The strange thing was
that, if properly handled, the flesh sell
dom, If ever. became at all tainted
though in any other than the dry. pure.
atmosphere of the Northwest such Il
be impossible.
Meanwhile the marrow and other
choice fat had been rendered, and bags,
some ? by ~ feet of raw buffalo hide.
doubled over at the bottom and sewn up
at the sides with the sinew of the ami
NAL, made for the reception of the PEN
mican. The melted fat was next poured
over the shredded meat in the threshing
basin. and the whole mixed to the con-
sistency of paste. That was the penn
mican. 1t was shovelled into the sacks.
pounded down, and, after the tops had
been sewn up and the bags jumped to
make them fat, the cooled pemmican
packages were solid and almost as hard
as so many boulders. When you desired
to eat pemmican you chopped piece off
was already cooked in measure by the
sun, wind and hot fat. bat if you pre-
ferred. after tearing off the adhering
hide. you could fry it in pan OF boil it
in pot.-Canadian Magazine.