58 HIS FIRST JOURNEY ACROSS THE PRAIRIES 



Three miles further on was our camping place, Rat Creek. 

 We were now ten miles from Portage La Prairie and to that date 

 no settler had crossed it. Mr. MacKenzie and Mr. Grant were 

 the only settlers there at that time. The whole of the country 

 west of this to Edmonton was called the "Great Lone Land," and 

 extended from here eight hundred miles without an inhabitant 

 except a few half-breeds and Indians. 



I may as well mention now our mode of travel. Our caravan 

 consisted of six Red River carts and two buck-boards which had 

 been bought at St. Paul. The carts were all of wood and no iron 

 in them at all. From this time forward, the Chief decided that 

 we would make three spells a day and must make at least forty 

 miles each day for the next month. We had attached to one of 

 the carts an odometer which gave the number of revolutions of 

 the wheel and from that was measured the distance travelled on 

 each spell. By such means, we knew without any difficulty how 

 many miles we had travelled. The cavalcade was arranged so 

 that one buck-board went in front and then the six carts one after 

 the other. My buck-board was the last of all. We had over 

 forty horses and, as we were going so fast most of the time, they 

 were changed three times a day. This was our regular mode of 

 travelling for the whole trip. We would rise at sunrise and have 

 some breakfast; take a second breakfast after going about ten to 

 fifteen miles; then take our mid-day spell of the same distance 

 and, after dinner, take another spell and camp early in the evening. 

 As we were passing over the whole distance through the "fertile 

 belt," we were seldom on a very extensive prairie so that we had 

 feed, wood, and water most of the time. 



Just as we were about to start and leave Rat Creek (the men 

 of the party had gone ahead), a band of Sioux, noble looking fel- 

 lows, came sweeping across the prairies in all the glory of paint, 

 feathers and Indian warlike magnificence. They had come from 

 Fort Ell ice, having recently travelled the long road from Missouri, 

 and were now on their way to Governor Archibald to ask per- 

 mission to live under the British flag, and that small reserves or 

 allotments of land be allowed them, as they were determined to 

 live no longer under the rule of "the Long Knives." All had guns 



