EXPLORATION OF THE PRAIRIES, 1879 151 



We had now ceased to travel by compass and had the beaten 

 trail which we followed clearly. On our arrival at Calgary, we 

 camped under Nose Hill, where there was a ford, and visited the 

 the fort, which was a stockade placed on the north side of the 

 Elbow River where it entered the "Bow." At this time, there 

 was only one house on the site of the present Calgary and it was 

 I.J. Baker's store and the clerk, from whom I bought some neces- 

 saries, was Mr. King, who is now Postmaster of Calgary. After 

 spending a short time at Calgary, we went up to Morley, and 

 from Morley to Old Bow Fort, at the entrance to the Rocky 

 Mountains. We went up the Bow as far as the Point of Rocks 

 and looked up the valley, down which Cascade Creek comes, and 

 which I believed to have been the valley of the Bow. While at 

 this point, we caught many large trout in the Bow, and saw the 

 Stony Indians hunting goats on the mountain to the north. From 

 this point, we returned to Morley and were soon on our way to 

 Edmonton. Matheson, Ogilvie, and myself were now satisfied 

 that we had done our work and my object was to reach Battle- 

 ford by the 11th of October. Shortly after we crossed the Red 

 Deer River, Matheson rode on to Edmonton to see his father, 

 who then resided at that place. I instructed him to be at Battle- 

 ford on or before the 10th and, the day he arrived, he was to start 

 •Wilkins on his way East. Ogilvie and I were now alone and, for 

 four hundred miles, we saw no person except when we reached 

 Hay Lakes, thirty miles from Edmonton, where there was a 

 telegraph station. It happened that the day before I reached 

 there, Dr. George Dawson and the Rev. Mr. Gordon had been 

 there and sent a long telegram regarding their work at the Peace 

 River. I may mention here that Dr. Dawson was sent to see 

 whether he would agree with my report of 1875 on the Peace 

 River and the other parties that I spoke of were sent to examine 

 the "Fertile Belt" and north of it, and see if they confirmed my 

 reports. I found later that I had been sent to see if Palliser's 

 report was of any value. After seeing Dr. Dawson's report, I 

 sent a long one also and told that I had seen no bad country at 

 all. 



Ogilvie and I took the trail for Battleford and, as it was now 



