THE SASKATCHEWAN NATIVES 



35 



The long and dangerous boat route to York Factory was 

 abandoned when the railway reached Red River. The Sas- 

 katchewan itself found its occupation gone when the "Northern 

 Outfit" crossed the plains by rail to Calgary, and later to 

 Edmonton. 



I am indebted to Mr. Angus McLean, clerk in charge at 

 Grand Rapids since 1878, for the following information concern- 

 ing the river traffic. Saskatchewan freight was carried in York 

 boats until 1874, when the steamer "Northcote" was built. In 

 the summer of 1877 she made four trips to Edmonton. She 

 was of too heavy draft for the river and now lies at Cumber- 

 land. The first river steamer was built at Grand Rapids in 1872, 

 and was wrecked at Demi-charge Rapids on her first trip, 

 before she had gone twenty miles. She had not yet been 

 named, being known simply as "the first boat." The "North- 

 west" was built at Grand Forks, North Dakota, and came to 

 the Saskatchewan in 1882, passing the Grand Rapids with her 

 machinery in place. She still makes one or two trips each year, 

 supplying the river posts of the Hudson's Bay Company. In 

 1882 another steamer, "The City of Winnipeg," intended for 

 river traffic, was wrecked near Long Point while being towed 

 across Lake Winnipeg. The steamer "Manitoba," also coming 

 from Red River, as the settlement between Winnipeg and the 

 lake is called, was taken through the Grand Rapids without her 

 machinery. Her career was very brief, terminating at Prince 

 Albert, where she was crushed in the ice. In 1877 the steel 

 steamer "Lily" was built at Grand Rapids. She proved to be of 

 too heavy draft and was in use for only a short time. These 

 were all stern-wheel steamers drawing, when loaded, from two to 

 three and a half feet of water. The "Marquis" was the largest 

 carrying two hundred and fifty tons, the others two hundred 

 and twenty each. 



OoskanatChet. Early in February I visited old Ooskanatchet, 

 at the Narrows. He was said to know more Cree legends than 

 anyone else in that region, and I had already exhausted the 

 stock of myths at Grand Rapids. I found the old man very 

 talkative, but it required liberal gifts of tea and tobacco to 

 induce him to speak of the mythical beings in whose existence 

 he had implicit faith; he was the only Indian on the Lower 

 Saskatchewan who had not accepted Christianity. He said that 



