NARRATIVES OF SASKATOON

1882-1912

Genealogy, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, Pioneer,Saskatchewan history, Temperance Colony, Temperance Colonization Society, Pioneers,John N. Lake, John Lake, Saskatoon history, Saskatoon Gen Web, Genealogy, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, Pioneer,Saskatchewan history, Temperance Colony, Temperance Colonization Society, Saskatoon history, Saskatoon Gen Web

Beaver Creek. It is now in the Hanley district. My father and brother returned to Moose Jaw in June with the pony and buckboard. The pony was stolen the next night, so we purchased another pony and four voke of oxen, together with breaking equipment to start farming. We left for our new location on Beaver Creek about the middle of June. On the 23rd of August there was severe frost and the ice formed from one side of Beaver Creek to the other. On arrival we immediately started two ploughs breaking up land, and also began drawing logs from what was then called Moose Woods for the erection of a shanty, which was made of logs inside and sod outside. That year we broke about sixty acres and backset the same. My father went East the first winter and I and my brother remained on the farm looking after the stock. Our place was located forty miles from the nearest settlers, except the Indian Reserve, which was about fifteen miles. Our first visitor during the winter was an Indian. He drifted. in one cold Sunday evening. We had been accustomed to seeing Indians, but had never had the pleasure of one sleeping with us over-night, so I took the precaution to place a tomahawk under my pillow, the shotgun under by brothers' bed, and also filled the rifle, to be prepared in case of emergency. (My brother James drew the Indian out of the shack in order to have this done). That night, when we turned in, the Indian, as was In- dian custom, wore a string of bells around each leg all night, and every time he moved the bells would ring, so we didn't sleep much. The Indian re- mained with us the following night, but owing to the fact that our provi- sions were none too plentiful we gave him to understand in the best way we could, that he was no longer wanted, so he moved on without doing any damage, but this will serve to show what the first settlers were up against. Another Indian, Johnnie Littlecrow, visited us a few weeks later, but during the whole winter we never saw a white man, nor received any mail. My father brought the remainder of the family west when he returned. in 1884. We put in a crop that year, which consisted of wheat and oats, but it did not turn out very well, owing to drought. We had, however, a beautiful field of pease[sic], finer than anything we had ever seen in Ontario . We cut the pease one evening and left them in the field in accordance with the Ontario custom. A prairie wind came up in the night and the next morning there wasn't a pea to be seen, and we have never heard of our pease since. My father was riding in the direction of Hanley the next morning and he thought he might see some trace of them around the sloughs, but probably they ran across the prairie and never stopped. In November, 1884, the family all moved to Moose Jaw for the winter. In the spring of 1884, Dumont and a party of men camped at our home on their way to Montana to have a consultation with Louis Riel. They re- turned in July. Owing to the scarcity of water on the trail Beaver Creek became a stop- ping place for all travellers. A great many people used to pass by this. time, and the trail was well worn down. In the months of May and June it was a common sight to see as many as one hundred carts, drawn by oxen, filled with furs, camped along the creek. They were on their way to Swift Curent and came back loaded with bacon and provisions. In the winter of 1884, my brother James worked in a grocery store in Moose Jaw for fifteen dollars a month. I worked on the C.P.R. railway for one dollar and twenty-five cents a day, and considered myself very for- tunate. In the spring of 1885-the spring of the Rebellion-the "Northcote" came down the river with a bunch of fusiliers. Mr. J. H. Ross, who had charge of the arrangement knew I was familiar with the country, and as they needed a guide, he offered me ten dollars a day for the job if I could obtain the consent of my people. I managed to do so and hurried hack to Ross' office. He sent a man with me and we purchased a saddle horse. We first went to Clark's Crossing, loaded with all kinds of supplies and ammunition. Colonel Hudson was stationed there as transport officer. From there we were sent to Fish Creek to General Middleton's camp. I then took the teams back as my services were no longer required. We Page 53

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