130 DOWN THE PEACE RIVER 



Fort Chipewyan, and I now exhibited them for the benefit of the 

 company. The wheat was finer than any they had ever seen be- 

 fore, many of the ears having five and six grains in the fasicle. 



I left Winnipeg on the 5th of November by stage, and, in 

 those days, the stage always had a guard, who rode beside the 

 driver. Our trip to Fargo in Dakota took fifty-seven hours, and 

 we had the usual experiences of travellers at that early time, but 

 only one episode stands out in my mind at present and that is — 

 Somewhere in Dakota, we reached the outskirts of a village, and, 

 owing to the rough condition of the road, the driver took to the 

 side and, as we were approaching the stopping-place, we came to 

 where there had been a house at one time but now just the cellar 

 remained. One of the runners of the sleigh took the edge of the 

 cellar and tipped up and two ladies who were sitting in the rear 

 of the sleigh fell into the cellar and, of course, screamed as loudly 

 as possible and the other passengers were wishing to help the 

 poor things but I advised them to raise the runner and have the 

 horses pull the sleigh on to the road again. I said, what proved 

 to be the truth, that ladies who could scream, like they were doing, 

 could not be badly hurt. We reached Fargo next day in the 

 evening. 



The next day, I took the train for St. Paul and reached home 

 on the 13th of November having been gone eight months and 

 having travelled at least eight thousand miles. 



