Churchill People and Industries. 137 



But any reference to the half-breed population of Churchill 

 without mention of Uncle Sammy, and Granny Gray, would be 

 doing violence to the simplest rules of justice. Uncle Sammy is a 

 white man, a native of England, and is considerably over eighty 

 years of age. He has resided on the shores of the bay for about 

 three quarters of a century, and is the grand old patriarchal ancestor 

 of the Churchill breeds. His wife, not quite so aged, is a Chippe- 

 wayan squaw, active, intelligent and happy as a clam. The old man 

 is as deaf as a granite boulder, and hasn't heard a sound of any kind 

 for years. He walks as straight as a Crimean soldier, and feels him- 

 self to be of considerable importance. He is very white, and begins 

 to look much the worse of wear, and will soon lay down to rest in 

 the historic burial-place, on the banks of the Churchill. These two 

 old people are as much a part of the village as is old Fort Prince of 

 Wales, a feature of Churchill. Around these are the children of the 

 fourth and fifth generations, who look back to the boyhood days of 

 old Uncle Sammy Gray with some such feelings as Canadian 

 children contemplate the childhood of Abraham, Isaac or Jacob. 



Churchill Village has nothing attractive in its appearance. The 

 buildings are all, except three or four store-houses, a little distance 

 away, within a square not exceeding two acres, and are enclosed by 

 a high palisade, now partly broken down. The little' church, with 

 its tiny steeple and bell, gives an air of civilization to the place, 

 while the everywhere prowling husky dogs, of which there are not 

 less than fifty, lend the hamlet an air of lazy animation. The do- 

 mestic animals consist of two cows, two calves and a bull. There is 

 an abundance of good pasture at hand, and hay of a fair^ quality is 

 plentiful, so that the chief trader and chief clerk's residences are 

 well supplied with butter and milk at small cost. 



The grave-yard, a little way in rear of the buildings, on the side 

 of the hill, is poorly kept, and presents no very interesting points. 

 There are but two tablets containing inscriptions. All the other 

 graves have been neglected, and are scattered among the scrub, here 

 and there with but little, and sometimes nothing, to mark their 

 exact location. Churchill is an exceedingly healthy place, there 

 having been but three or four deaths during the past ten years. 



