December 25, 1916 



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Fur Trader s Christmas Dinner 



The cover picture which illustrates this issue of Hardwood 

 Ee(;okd will attract the attention of all who admire the wild, 

 romantic, and beautiful in nature, where the hand of man has 

 added nothing and has taken nothing away. It is a picture of 

 Snoqualmie Falls, in the State of Washington. This is one of the 

 most fascinating places in the world. In volume, these falls can- 

 not be compared with Niagara, but in height the measurement is 

 108 feet greater, the perpendicular plunge of Snoqualmie being 268 

 feet. 



The slogan "See America first" receives some of its force 

 from scenes like the wonderful falls of Snoqualmie. The place 

 is somewhat off the beaten paths of tourists, and those who take 

 all their views from Pullman windows will pass this great wonder 

 without seeing it. But those who are willing to inconvenience 

 themselves slightly will find no great diflSculty in the way of a 

 visit to this remote region, and will be well rewarded for doing so. 



The picture as it appears on the cover of this magazine may 

 not suggest Christmas. There is no snow, and ice is not in evi- 

 dence. This photograph was not taken in December. Had such 

 been the case, there probably would have been plenty of snow, for 

 winter is rough enough in that mountainous region, though the 

 cold is moderate. This photgraph was made for Hardwood Eecord 

 by Darius Kinsey, Seattle. 



Though the picture does not suggest Christmas and its fes- 

 tivities, the Snoqualmie Falls once figured to a small extent in a 

 unique Christmas dinner that was placed on record in the diary 

 of a fur trader who happened to be there somewhat over a cen- 

 tury ago. Though he does not mention the place by name, for the 

 probable reason that it had no name at that time, there is little 

 doubt of the location. It was in connection with the expedition 

 of Alexander Henry, a fur trader who was in Washington and 

 Oregon about the years 1812-14. He was drowned in the Columbia 

 river. 



The fur traders were important people in their day. They 

 were the real explorers of the vast interior of America. They 

 pushed far beyond the frontiers and met dangers of all kinds, 

 from the savage Indians, the wild animals, winter, floods, famine, 

 and sickness. It is remarkable how long some of them lived, con- 

 sidering the imminent dangers which always surrounded them. 

 They made journeys of hundreds or thousands of miles through 

 hostile country, and were beyond the confines of civilization for 

 years at a stretch. 



The Hudson Bay Companj- was perhaps the largest and best 

 known of the fur trading companies; but there were several others. 

 Their trading posts were scattered among mountains, plains, des- 

 erts, and wildernesses from the Great Lakes to the Rocky Moun- 

 tains and even on the Pacific Coast, and almost from the Arctic 

 Ocean to Mexico, at a time when all that vast region was wild 

 and perilous. The traders traveled by canoe, horseback, in carts, 

 by dog sleds, and on foot, and a journey which required only a 

 month was considered short. 



The diaries which some of the traders kept are interesting 

 reading. Many of them were published. Of particular interest 

 are the diaries of Alexander Henry, who followed about every 

 trail in the region between Minnesota and the Pacific Coast at a 

 time when there was not one permanent white settlement in all 

 that vast expanse. More information of the actual condition of 

 that countrj' a century ago may be obtained from his diaries than 

 from any other single source. He was a Scotchman who united 

 love of adventure to dogged perseverance. 



A party of Henry's men who had been sent on an exploring 

 expedition from headquarters, near where Portland, Ore., now 

 stands, found themselves in the interior of what is now Washing- 

 ton, when they were overtaken by Christmas. Being typical British- 

 ers, they felt it incumbent on them to celebrate the festal day in 

 an appropriate manner, and decided to make a plum pudding, ac- 



cording to the English custom. There was not a plum within 

 three thousand miles of them; but they thought they could get 

 over that obstacle. They bartered with the Indians for dried 

 l)igeon berries, a sort of service or shad berry that grows in that 

 region. It looks and tastes like a dried huckleberry, but the 

 Britishers made the berries serve as plums for their pudding. 



The next obstacle was the lack of flour. They had not an 

 ounce, and had been living on elk meat straight for a long time. 

 They went to the Indians again and traded fish hooks for "cedar 

 dough." This substance consisted of the pounded and kneaded 

 inner b.ark of the western red cedar. It has the consistency of 

 "biscuit dough," but has no taste except such as is imparted by 

 mixing something with it. The Christmas party worked bear oil 

 into the cedar dough until they had given it enoAgh flavor to 

 satisfy the taste. 



No trouble was experienced in manufacturing the plum pud- 

 ding of pigeon berries, bark and bear oil; but regulation English 

 plum puddings are always cast in moulds of some sort, usually 

 cups or other small vessels, holding the proper portion for one 

 man, so that each will receive an equal and proper share. The fur 

 traders had no metal vessels of proper size; but that obstacle was 

 overcome as easily as the others had been. They improvised a 

 mould from a moccasin; but it is not stated whether the moccasin 

 was a new one or whether it had been worn. That seems to have 

 been looked upon as a detail and not worth mentioning. 



Thus the plum pudding, without plums or flour, was manu- 

 factured that Christmas day at the very foot of Snoqualmie Falls, 

 as is believed; and the rugged Englishmen and canny Scots made 

 speeches and sang songs in which they declared their love of 

 country, and their devotion to absent ones far away. 



The region now embracing the State of Washington was then 

 claimed by England, and the traders had no trouble about being 

 on their own premises. The Americans had put forward claims 

 even at that early period, but boundaries had not been marked 

 and the whole region was a sort of iio-mau's land which was con- 

 sidered so large that there was room for all, and nobody need 

 quarrel over it. Later, however, the title to it became a serious 

 question, and there originated the famous slogan, ' ' Fifty-four, 

 forty, or fight." That was the way the Americans stated their 

 purpose of holding the country as far north as 54 degrees, 40 min- 

 utes, or fight for it. Had they made good their claim, about half 

 of British Columbia and Alberta would now belong to the United 

 States. James G. Blaine, in his book "Twenty Years in Con- 

 gress," said that the Americans could easily have made good 

 tlieir claim if they had not been brusque about it and in such r 

 hurry. When the issue was forced, it resulted in a compromise 

 which fixed the boundary where it is today. 



The Snoqualmie Falls were left well within the boundaries 

 of the United States, for which we should be duly thankful; but 

 when the first Christmas dinner was eaten at that place, the band 

 of traders^ believed that they were in their own country, and 

 they wrote a report which made plain their belief on that subject. 



The report was supplemented by some doggerel verses relating 

 to the pudding "of seeds and grease and thrums," the thrums 

 evidently meaning the stingy cedar bark of which the dough was 

 made: 



Six thousand miles from home, and more I 



What boots it if the Christmas feast 

 We gather 'round and hover o'er. 



Is built of berries, bark and beast V 



Plum pudding innocent of plums 



Or flour or sugar, out or in ; 

 'Tis made of seeds, and grease and thrums. 



And molded in a moccasin. 



But whether fortune, whether fate. 



We drinl\ a liealth to every guest, 



\m\ Ijindle love and bury hate 



Beneath the cedars of the West. 



—17-^ 



