Year: 1874




IN the month of February, 1869, l was
called by urgent business from my resi-
dence near the foot of Lake Winnipeg,
British North America, to Fort Aber-
crombie, in Dakota Territory, distance
of some $50 miles.


This call involved no ordinary journey.
II was weary, exhaustive travel of ten
or twelve days across an unbroken prai.
rie, without shelter of any kind, without
the probability of encountering single
human being throughout the entire route,
and the almost certainty of being over
taken by some of the terrible storms
prevalent at that season. But the call
was imperative, and set about preparing
for the journey.


The preparations were of primitive
Sort there being but two methods of
travel admissible at that season-the one
by dog-sledges, the other with horses at
tached to light carioles. The outfit em-
braced combination of the two by the
selection of a commodious dog-sledge,
with trans in which to place horse for
myself, and light cariole for my COM
panion, for attendant | must have over
that desolate f0Tite. Choosing stalwart
halfbreed, accustomed to the rough life
of the prairies and Injured to all manner
of hardship from infancy, we started one
bitterly cold day toward the end of the
month.


In the forward conveyance was placed
provisions for ourselves and provender
for the animals, while my own sledge was
comfortably furnished with the huge
bundle of robes and blankets requisite
for our comfort and even safety in camp.
Into this shoelike sledge fondly hoped
to creep and glide smoothly to my jour
ney's end. But the intensity of the cold
soon disenchanted me of that illusion;
for we had proceeded but few miles
when | was forced to take to my feet and
run after the sledge to avoid being frozen.
Even then the severity of the cold was
such that, when jumping on the sledge
for momentary respite, on reaching the
ground again my blood would seem
frozen, the muscles refuse to act, and it
would require sharp trot of mile or
more before l could recover usual
warmth.


To any one who has not experienced
the atmosphere of that hyperborean re-
gion the intensity of its coldness can
scarcely be described. The sun, being
so far southwark, creates but little heat,
and the major part of the time is hidden
behind somber and leaden clouds. Be-
fore you, in every direction, the eye
meets but an unbroken waste of snow,
presenting the appearance of an i'm
mense sheet slightly raised at both
ends; for the level prairie has the
popularity of seemingly being ele-
vated in whatever point Of the compass
you may turn, leaving an observer in
the depression. Far away, perhaps, as
the eye can reach, a faint line OF scat
tered tree-tops may barely be distin-
guished, appearing no higher than fern
bushes, marking the course of some
prairie-stream crossing your path, or
| running parallel with it-not q thing of
life or motion within the range of vision
between the earth or sky save the con-
veyance near you.


The atmosphere is filled with crystal,
| scintillating, minute, almost impercepti-
ble particles of snow, drifting on wings
of air, impalpable and fleeting. The
vastness and magnitude of the scene are
| overpowering. The immensity of the
dead level is overwhelming. You are
an atom in the gigantic panorama of
| frozen Nature about you. Of to the
north rolls little eddy of loose snow, a
mere puff, not larger than your hand.
| Another follows; miniature coils circle
about over the smooth surface, and sink
back imperceptibly to the level again.
| Drifts of larger proportions roll over the
expanse until the atmosphere becomes
thick with the frozen particles. The
outlines of the trees are lost and the
range of vision is limited to few feet
| The wind howls like raging beast, con.
| geallng your very hearts blood. 1t is
| the siroccO of the North! Woe to the
luckless wanderer then! The morning
sun will find a calm and peaceful face
turned up to the sky, with its life frozen
out, and its form hard and unimpressi
BILE as If carved from granite.


Our rate of travel was about twenty.
five miles day. The route pur
sued was that commonly taken by
the UoyGgeurS in their trips to st
camping-places the fuel had been ex'
hausted to supply the numberless trains
which had come and gone in the years
before. This necessitated, at times, con
tinued travel for an entire day without
stopping


At night we descended the banks OF
| the river, pitching our camp upon thu
second terrace, in some spot equally con
venient to wood and water. Then
making an excavation in the snow, logs
would be heaped up until our fire wat
sufficiently large to afford a genial lwarmtl
throughout the night. Our sledges turned
across the head, and blankets spread
upon the snow, formed bed into which
with caps and overcoats on, we were a
all times ready to creep.


Thus we journeyed on until the CLOSING
of the seventh day brought us to thu
crossing of Elm River, small stream il
Dakota Territory.


The day had been warmer than any
experienced since starting. In the after
noon the snow had melted sufficiently tC
wet our Inoccasins thoroughly, and BY
its softness to impede our travel, so tina
the distance made had not been so grea
as on other days, while the fatigue ant
discomfort had been greaterg