[HOW ay] argonauts of 1862 ' 47 



looked more like fine weather. The people at the fort were overjoyed 

 on seeing the arrival on the opposite shore, but in consequence of 

 the high water in the river the boats were all taken afloat down the 

 river and they had nothing to cross with; but two men managed to 

 cross in a box." So utterly fagged and travel-worn were they that 

 they rested for a whole week. This interval was occupied in crossing 

 the North Saskatchewan for the third time, in arranging the route of 

 the remainder of the journey, and in exchanging oxen and Red River 

 carts for horses and pack-saddles. After consultation with many of 

 the Hudson's Bay Company's employees the emigrants fixed upon the 

 route via Jasper House and Tête Jaune Cache as being the most 

 direct to Cariboo. They were fortunate in finding an experienced 

 guide, André Cardinal, who had already made twenty-nine trips to 

 Jasper House and had also been frequently from Jasper House to 

 Tête Jaune Cache. 



The diary mentions that they saw "great quantity of coal on the 

 banks of the Saskatchewan." There appeared to the diarist to be 

 several parallel beds ranging from two feet to six feet in thickness 

 interstratified with a kind of red clay. He dwells upon the fertility 

 of the soil and states that Mr. Brazeau, the officer in charge, showed 

 them a field which had for thirty years continuously produced fine 

 crops of wheat without the application of any fertilizer. During 

 their sojourn they delighted the inhabitants, then numbering only 

 about thirty families, with a series of concerts in which all the latest 

 'hits' from Canada were enjoyed by crowded houses. The Rev. Mr. 

 Woolsey, the Methodist missionary, was a frequent visitor at their 

 camp. On Sunday, July 27th, they attended divine service twice, at 

 the fort and at the camp. The diary carefully preserves the text on 

 each occasion. When they had secured all the available horses at 

 Edmonton the emigrants visited the settlement of St. Albans, ten 

 miles from the fort, where after much difficulty they purchased the 

 remainder. 



Finally on July 29th the party, now reduced to about one hundred 

 and twenty-five persons, for some of them remained at Edmonton, set 

 out on the last portion of the voyage. Instead of a straggling line 

 of creaking carts, the expedition now consisted of some one hundred 

 and fifty pack animals each loaded with from 150 to 250 pounds, 

 including 56 pounds of flour for each person. A few cattle were driven 

 along for food. All heavy bulky articles had been abandoned and our 

 travellers under the tuition of the guide had mastered that supreme 

 test of western frontier life, the art of loading a pack-horse and of 

 'casting the diamond hitch.' Three days travel over a rough road, 



