PERMANENTLY APPOINTED TO GOVERNMENT 185 



Hill raised his hands and struck the table with great force and 

 said: "Gentlemen, we will cross the prairie and go by the Bow 

 Pass, if we can get that way." He immediately gave his reasons 

 for his assertion; he said: "I am engaged in the forwarding busi- 

 ness and I find that there is money in it for all those who realize 

 its value. If we build this road across the prairie, we will carry 

 every pound of supplies that the settlers want and we will carry 

 every pound of produce that the settlers wish to sell, so that we / 

 will have freight both ways." (Years after this, Mr. Fleming 

 told me that for good or for evil, I had sent the road into the Bow 

 River Pass.) 



After my interview with Hill, we went to Winnipeg and I 

 was delighted to find that I could carry my supplies from Winnipeg 

 to Portage La Prairie on the train, which we did. I found my 

 nephew, David Macoun, was baggage-man on the freight when 

 we reached there. While in Winnipeg, I made enquiries as to 

 how I could get along after leaving Portage La Prairie and found 

 that I could get a sail boat going up Lake Manitoba and, by good 

 luck, I came across a gentleman at the hotel who was going to 

 take the census on Lake Winnipegosis and he agreed to take me and 

 my party from Manitoba House to Swan Lake House in his sail 

 boat while he was taking the census on his way ; I found that that 

 was my best plan of procedure and agreed to go with him. 



Our start from Portage La Prairie was made after a heavy 

 rainstorm and, as the wagon that held all of our supplies could 

 not carry all the party, the most of us walked while the wagon 

 proceeded over the prairie, There were many puddles and hills 

 on the road and our young men paddled through the former and 

 came out besmirched with mud and some of them were wearing 

 city socks ! We reached Totogon a little before sunset and, as 

 we approached it, the mosquitoes were in such numbers that they 

 actually obscured the sunset. When we reached our destination, 

 the place where the hotel was, we found that the water of the lake 

 had risen so high that the floor of the hotel was flooded and we 

 had to walk up to our knees in water for a quarter of a mile to 

 reach it. This was the first day for my young men and they stood 

 it well. 



