HIS FIRST JOURNEY ACROSS THE PRAIRIES 61 



through. This was the point that was afterwards called Batoche's 

 Crossing. It was thirteen years after when General Middleton, 

 with the Canadian Militia, fought with the half-breeds at this 

 point. 



At Duck Lake, a few miles further on, we got a great many 

 wild fowl, and later passed on to Fort Carlton. Fort Carlton at 

 this time was a renowned Post, as all travellers to the north 

 passed it. The Post itself was of very little importance. It was just 

 the usual square of four or five wooden buildings surrounded by a 

 high fence. This constituted the Fort, and, having been designed 

 and intended against the Indians only, it was of little consequence 

 that it was built on the low ground almost by the river. At Fort 

 Carlton, we crossed the North Saskatchewan and took what was 

 called the Northern Trail for Edmonton. Our reason for doing 

 this was that, if we took the more southern route, we should be 

 liable to run against the Blackfeet Indians, who were frequently 

 fighting with the Crees, and all travellers to Edmonton kept to 

 the north. This is a quotation from Mr .Grant: "After crossing 

 the Saskatchewan we did not move the camp till about eight 

 o'clock. This delay gave the Botanist an hour or two to hunt for 

 new species, which he did with all diligence and the rest of us had 

 time for a swim or a ramble up and down the river. Our Botanist 

 had been slightly cast down of late because of finding few new 

 varieties. The flora for the five hundred and thirty miles between 

 the eastern edge of the prairie at Oak Point and the Saskatchewan 

 is wonderfully uniform. The characteristic flowers and grasses 

 are everywhere the same. We expected, however, to meet with 

 many strange varieties after crossing the two Saskatchewans." 



The distance from Fort Garry to Edmonton is nine hundred 

 miles and is usually regarded as consisting of three portions: 

 two hundred and fifteen miles to Fort Ellice on the Assiniboine; 

 three hundred and nine more to Fort Carlton and about three 

 hundred and eighty up the North Saskatchewan to Edmonton. 

 On this third part of the journey we are now entering. 



Before writing any further of the trip, I may now repeat some 

 opinions in regard to the prairies held at that time. Some ob- 

 servers, long resident in the country, declared that the fertile belt 



