4:48 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



the Jesuits and set them afoot. Finally, after great toil, the 

 priests reached a trading post and met Viall. 



" Well," he said to tliem, " I hcerd ye got jumped. When 

 ye've heen among ze red devils ez long ez I have, ye'll learn 

 it's a d— d sight belter to trust to your heels zan ze Lord in an 

 Injun country." 



The fort came to have a permanent importance as the head 

 of steamboat navigation, so that, although little by little th 

 business of the fur coiumnies declined, the old trading-post 

 was not abandoned until 1871. Then it was occupied by 

 United States troops for a time, and since then has been going 

 to dilapidation under the tenantry of half-breed families, who 

 cause its interior to closely resembled a court of Sullivan 

 street tenement-houses. No more do we see Fort Benton a 

 remote, isolated trading post in a broad wilderness wholly pos- 

 sessed by the red savage. Gold has been found in Montana, 

 thousands of stalwart men gather in her gulches, and the vast 

 supplies thus rendered necessary find their way to the mines 

 mainly through the Missouri River. A new and extensive 

 business is created, and under the walls of the old fore a town 

 begins to spring up. 



Tne two firms who have succeeded to the fur and Indian 

 trade of the Northwest both have their headquarters here. 

 They are T. C. Power & Co. and J. G. Baker & Co. The 

 former were post-traders for a year at Fort Bully in 1867. 

 Then they moved their store up here and began to establish 

 out-posts at (Jyprcss Mountain and Forts Walsh and McC'loud 

 north of the line, and in Montana at Fort Claggett, Marias 

 Kivcr and Fort Shaw, besides a branch office in Helena, and 

 several temporary trading station*. In 18 7G they shipped to 

 the East 33,000 buffalo robes, and in 1877, 31,000, all of 

 which were bought from the Indians in exchange for blank- 

 ets. They handle half of the freight brought up the Missouri, 

 and dhpat'cb it inland by means of their four trains of mule 

 freight wagons. Each of these trains is probably worth $12,- 

 000, and in addition to this, they are the proprietors of a 

 bonded line from the sea-board, and are interested in the 

 "Benton (steamboat) Transportation Company." Their busi- 

 ness amounts to $350,000 a year. Baker & Co. began in I860 

 to trade in competition with the American Fur Company, and 

 by 1871 had out-distanced them completely. Meanwhile they 

 also established various outposts, and united the business of 

 post-traders, forwarders, bankers and contractors to the 

 Mounted Police. Tney now run five freight trains, carrying 

 from 80,000 to 100,000 pounds each every trip, during eight 

 months of the year, at the rate of about one cent per pound 

 for each hundred miles. They own one steamboat and have 

 an interest in another, all of which, including banking, en- 

 ables them to do an annual business approaching $1,000,000. 

 The two firms together control the fur market of the United 

 States, accumulating more peltries than all the rest of the 

 country together. 



Pleasantly located in a crescent of bluffs on the banks of 

 the Missouri, there clear and swift, encompassed by the beau- 

 tiful and fertile valleys of the Sun River, Teton and Marias, 

 whose broad acres, untouched by plowshare or scythe, yield 

 abundant sustenance not only to the herds of cattle that 

 roam over them, but, at certain seasons, to myriads of buffa- 

 loes, antelopes ami deer ; close to the thickly wooded sides of 

 the High wood Mountains, in whose valleys are the most pre- 

 cious spots for farms, and whence plenty of timber can be 

 obtained. No other part of Montana offers greater inducements 

 to the immigrant and settler, as no other part of the Territory 

 is more suggestive of commercial, agricultural and mineral 

 wealth. But its chief claim to consideration, no doubt, is the 

 fact that it stands at the head of the navigation of this mighty 

 river, and nearly all the freight of the Northwest must be 

 handled at Fort Benton as explained above. River transpor- 

 tation is increasing very fast, and becoming so cheap, through 

 competition, compared with wagon freighting, that Fort Ben- 

 ton is buying its dressed lumber at St. Paul cheaper than at 

 Helena, 1,500 miles nearer ! The town consequently is grow- 

 ing very rapidly, and improving in its character and number 

 of buildings every year. Two years ago there were only three 

 white ladies in the town ; now there are about seventy-five. 

 Neat and comfortable residences have been and are being 

 built on every street ; and on every hand are seen evidences 

 of a better and more progressive civilization. Heretofore it 

 has been the case that a shanty or shell of any kind was all 

 that was required to do business in, now the business houses 

 have been so built and remodeled that it gives a substantial, 

 solid appearance to the town. The successful establishment 

 of 8nell& Co. 's brick yard is a solution of the perplexing 

 question of cheap and good building materials, and will, it is 

 believed, revolutionize the method of building business houses 

 and residences. Brick can be laid in the walls at $21 per 

 thousand, I know of no frontier town which can look for- 

 ward to such substantia] prosperity. 



For Forest and Stream and Hod and Gun. 

 _A CHRISTMAS IN PERIL. 



IN CANADA, as in England, Christmas is a time for the 

 full enjoyment of fife, of freedom from care, and a de- 

 termination to rise supreme to all the anxieties caused by 

 trouble or impecuniosity. Even the poorest will on that oc- 

 casion forestall the earnings of weeks to make raerry with his 

 friends; and those in a mediocre condition will become 

 lavish in their expenditure, although fully conscious that each 

 draft on the future must be met by disagreeable economy. In 

 the city of Quebec this holiday time is more extended than in 

 most places ; it is a carnival of two or three weeks. What 

 little business there is— and during the greater part of the 

 winter hardly any exists, gives way to amusement and gaiety. 

 Concerts, theatricals, parties, balls, charades, snow-shoeing, 

 skating and sleigh-driving constitute a whirl of excitement, 

 which no intensity of cold can chill, no blinding snow-storm 

 smother. Warmly clad, the citizen of Quebec defies all in- 

 clemencies of weather and sets at nought thermometers at 

 forty. 



A short time since I spent the winter in that almost Arctic 

 city, and really experienced how intense cold can be and how 

 overwhelming a snow-storm may be. I had arrived in the 

 autumn and enjoyed that mythical period, an Indian summer, 

 so often heard of and bo seldom witnessed, as pretended by 

 the unbelievers of its existence. The cold, clear nights were 

 followed by hazy mornings, preceding delightfully warm, 

 sunshiny days, wkde the beautifully variegated tints of the 

 Deed}, maple and birch, ran ' 



summer, and the contrast between the universal green and the 

 kaleidoscopic panorama fascinated the eye. This weather 

 continued for about three weeks, and gave way to easterly 

 blasts and cold, cutting winds, followed in December by light 

 falls of snow and biting frosts, which hardened the roadways 

 to the durability of stone. Then appeared immense sheets of 

 floating ice in the River St. Lawrence and its tributary, the 

 St. Charles, and suddenly one morning the latter was found 

 completely frozen over, and, although it may seem miraculous, 

 horses and sleighs were the next morning passing over its sur- 

 face. Roads were marked out leading from Quebec to Beau- 

 port and other villages and the Island of Orleans, and in two 

 or three days long lines of vehicles were constantly visible 

 passing and repassing throughout its entire length. Those 

 arriving in the city wtrc laden with firewood, hay, vegetables 

 and fresh provisions, and took away in return drygoods and 

 groceries. But the surface of the St. Charles River was again 

 metamorphosed ; a tiny village of about a dozen small houses 

 rose as if by magic in the course of a couple of days, and the 

 inhabitants seemed more numerous than the size of the 

 houses warranted. Sleighs with occupants, dog traineauxc. and 

 foot-passengers were continually coining to and fro, and the 

 intercourse between tlie city and the mushroom ice hamlet ap- 

 peared to cease not day nor night. I was told these houses, 

 or huts, were built by fishermen who catch an immense quanti- 

 ty of fresh-water fish called tommy-cods, for a short season 

 about Christmas time ; they are caught in such numbers that 

 they are sold for next to nothing, and supply the poor with 

 wholesome food, not only during the season in which they are 

 caught, but during the entire winter, for as soon as taken 

 they become frozen and are then packed away in barrels and 

 stored in an outhouse or shed, ready for sale, quite safe from 

 any deterioration or decay. As by far the greater part of the 

 inhabitants of Quebec are Roman Catholics— probably nine- 

 lenths — this plentiful and cheap supply is a great boon during 

 the long Lenten season. It is a favorite dish and, if properly 

 cooked, is very good ; but for my part I did not relish it, and 

 I met with many of the same opinion as myself. 



For two or three days before Christmas the city bore an 

 unusual appearance of bustle and excitement ; the shops had 

 put on thevr best regalia, and tradesmen exhibited their most 

 attractive wares ; the more public thoroughfares were crowded 

 with pedestrians and, vehicles, and every one seemed busy in 

 the purchase of presents aud the ether essentials of Christmas 

 time ; porters and express sleighs rushed through the snow- 

 clad streets laden with parcels and boxes, and alfseerned in a 

 state of acute anticipation. To avoid the general hurry scurry, 

 and, perhaps, a little piqued at the indifference paid us by 

 those who had formerly been attentive to myself and party as 

 strangers, an indifference solely caused by the absorption of 

 all the energies on the question of the day, the happy celebra- 

 tion of Christmas, I left with my party on a tandem drive to 

 Indian Lordte, a village ten miles off. The road was level 

 and hard, as not much snow had as yet fallen, and our horses 

 went at a pace utterly impossible to achieve in summer on 

 even the best of macadmized roads. We reached the village 

 in about an hour and a quarter. Although the view of the 

 Falls, surrounded with huge impending pieces of ice and the 

 dazzling white snow was somewhat unique, it was far from 

 equal to the superbly beautiful picture it presented when 

 clothed in the many colored gamieuts of autumn foliage. We 

 returned to town at about ten, when we still found the city in 

 the same state of excitement ; every one was in the streets 

 shopping for the wants of the morrow. We, who had no 

 shopping to do, no preparations to make for the coming 

 Christmas, found it intolerable, so determined at once to cany 

 out a scheme which we had before cotemplated — a visit to 

 the fishing cabannes by night, when, we were told, the best 

 fishing could be had. The moon shone down on the busy 

 streets as through a mist, and the atmosphere had become 

 somewhat tempered, and in walking over the snow there was 

 no sound of crispness, but our feet seemed even to make an 

 impression upon it. 



We left the busy streets and soon found ourselves on the ice 

 of the St. Charles, following the road to the fishermen's huts. 

 There was a cluster of them, arranged without any order, and 

 at different distances apart, connected with each other by foot- 

 paths. They all seemed to be about the same size— twenty 

 feet square — having one door and a couple of windows, while 

 beside each was a pile of firewood, and clear, wood fire smoke 

 curled upward into the misty moonlight, from a common 

 stove pipe, inserted either through the roof or a gable of the 

 hut. On knocking at the door of one, and receiving a civil 

 entree, we walked in. It is difficult to say whether the dense 

 fumes of the very worst of tobacco, or the stifling heat was 

 what most affected us. I have been in a sugar factory, where 

 the heat is kept up to an average of 150 degs.; I have leaned 

 over a charcoal kiln; I have smelled the effluvia from a beer 

 vat; I have run a vessel loading horns and hides, and I have 

 been in a patent d«ug factory, and in many similar places, but 

 they all pale in nauseousuess in comparison to the hideous 

 aroma and oppressiveness which welcomed us to this Canadian 

 fisherman's ice hut ; six men. all smoking blackened, short 

 pipes, sat on a bench, each having two fishing lines, which 

 were secured to the ceiling, and which were cast into the 

 river through an oblong hole in the floor the entire length of 

 the hut, a hole of a similar size being cut in the ice. Several 

 hooks were attached to each line, and all men were, as con- 

 stantly as possible, employed in pulling in the lines, each time 

 taking two, three, and sometimes four fish at one draw from 

 the same line. Those taken measured from eight to twelve 

 inches iu length. In the centre of the hut was a common 

 Canadian stove, heated to redness, while upon it w r as a pan of 

 cooking fish. In close proximity to the stove was a pile of 

 green firewood drying, from which the steam rose in stilling, 

 vapory clouds. Two or three tallow dips gave a ghastly, glim- 

 mering light. The men themselves were fishermen who had 

 been following their vocation night and day since the season 

 began, and were not accustomed to be regular in their ablu- 

 tions; in fact in retiring for the night (their dormitory was in 

 the very circumscribed attic of the hut, where musty straw 

 paillasses, thrown on the floor, were the sole articles of furni- 

 ture) they omitted the perhaps superfluous custom of disrob- 

 ing. The reader, by circumstantially considering each of the 

 above conditions may arrive at some vague idea of the effect of 

 the tout ensemble upon us, who had just come out of the fresh 

 air. A choking sensation seized me, and I dreaded instant 

 death from asphyxia. My vision seemed to grow dim, a tight- 

 ness across the forehead became agonizing,"while a dizziness 

 compelled me to lean for support against the wall. I did not 

 recover myself til! I was supplied with a small quantity of 

 brandy from my flask. As soon as I could speak I insisted 

 upon immediately returning, but my friends, who perhaps 

 had not been so violently affected as myself, outvoted me, and 

 showed me the absurdity' of leaving without at least catching 



•=--s Jroni the pale yellow to the o. 

 5S1£Sm$ clot, ' ea . hlU !lnd val1 ^- Tie bracing air gave [ some fish. Very reluctantly I consented, and we intimated 

 one renewed Jife and vigor after the relaxing beats of the j to our host our ' intentions. . He was a Guernsey man, called 



Christy Gunner, and had been a fisherman all his li'e, wbi<a| 

 had reached about sixty years— a 'weather-beaten red fac3 

 with bleary eyes, surmounted a Spare and strapping figure 

 which was clothed m a red shirt, which had become of a de- 

 cidedly blackened tint, and a pair of doubtfully colored pauta 

 Fastened around his waist with a string. On his feet he worft: 

 the usual hatha senmages, reaching to the knees, a kind of half- 

 tanned moccasin, which, even when new, has a most trench^ 

 ant odor. On his head was the country bonnet rouge. Ejji 

 companions did not greatly differ from him in attire. Christy 

 Gunner was most attentive torn:, and rapidly and dexterously 

 outfit ted us with the necessary fishing tackle, and baited oufc 

 hooks with small pieces of raw liver. I caunot now recall the 

 feeling uppermost in my mind, but I bad not long been pull, 

 ing up the tommy cods by twos and threes, and throwing 

 them into a large box beneath the bench, than a certain en- 

 thusiasm or desperation seemed to seize me. an enthralling, 

 desire to beat my companions in their catch. Silently I baited" 

 and unhooked, unhooked and baited again, as it my life del 

 pended on the success of the trial of speed I know not howl 

 long the contest lasted; but I was roused from my uncon- 

 sciousness to outside things by one of the men calling mM 

 "Sacre Veau est sur glace." It was certainly covering the flooiC 

 of the cabanne, but, as I wore rubbers, I had not perceived it. 

 Myself and party considered that we were about immediately 

 to be ingulfed, but the sang froid of the men reassured us, 

 I looked at my watch ; it was five o'clock. We had thus con- 

 tinuously fished for about five hours, which seemed to me to 

 have passed as one. I went to the door and opened it, anfl 

 the cool morning breeze played on my forehead with suoH 

 reviving freshness that I felt as though I had awakened from 

 the grave to a deatldess life. But I could see nothing. The 

 blackness of night covered everything as with a pall. I couldl 

 not see my hand. I was preparing to step out to still more 

 enjoy the delicious breeze, when Christy called out, at the 

 same time pulling me back by the arm, '* JS~e aorta pas, mon- 

 sieur, ily aphis gu'un pied sur la oldie." I did not iu truth 

 doubt him, but I took my stick, and in the darkness measured 

 the depth of the water. I found it to be one foot two inches. 

 In reflecting upon this very apparent fact, I began to doubt 

 whether the sang froid of Christy and his companions was 

 real or assumed. Again, I thought they might have means of 

 escape which we should be unable to follow. The conviction 

 momentarily grew stronger that our position was extremely 

 precarious, and the anxiety of myself and friends became in. 

 tense. In reply to my question of the cause of the sudden rise 

 of the waters, he said that the tide, instead of raising the ice 

 had overflowed it, and that the water would subside at its fall, 

 which, as it was not yet at its full, would be in eight or nine 

 hours. I asked him how high it might rise in the cabanne. 

 li Ah, mousieur, je ne puis pas le dire, putt tin:, un deux, ou 

 troes jrieds." Here, certainly, was consolation for us. It would 

 probably be three or four o'clock before we could leave the 

 hut; and, again, the water would in a short time rise in the 

 hut and compel us to seek refuge in the stilling attic. In the 

 meantime Christie and his party kept up the fire, which I 

 knew must soon be extinguished, and commenced cooking 

 large quantities of fish. This was a wise precaution on their 

 part, for were we to he imprisoned for nine hours.we certainly 

 would require some sort of nourishment, poor as the substi- 

 tute was. The fish were placed in a sort of cupboard nailed 

 to the wall, in which I noticed plates, cups and saucers, and 

 some bread. The cupboard was about three or four feet from 

 the floor. But the contrivances of Christie to meet all 

 exigencies were not yet completed. As soon as the fish bad 

 been cooked and placed in comparative safety, while some of 

 the men were putlingthe catch of the night in a covered box, 

 others were transporting the firewood to the attic, while others 

 constructed a sort of stand, three feet high, on which, when 

 completed, they placed the stove, near to the entrance-hole In 

 the attic, and from which the fire could be fed. While these 

 operations were being carried out, myself aud party had re- 

 treated to it, and dismally waited the climax. The men in a 

 short time joined us, and prevailed on us to partake of the 

 humble meal provided, to which we added in the shape of the 

 contents of our flasks. The water had now risen to three feet 

 in the hut. Whether from want of sleep, or the excitement 

 caused by our peculiar position, I soon lost consciousness, and, 

 as I afterward discovered, so did my.compaaions. From our 

 heavy sleep we were awakened by Christie with the joyful 

 intelligence that the tide was falling. It was three o'clock in 

 the afternoon. We looked down to the floor of the cabanne. 

 but to me it seemed unabated. Through a hole iu the roof of 

 the hut we looked out and saw the ice covered with water as 

 far as the shore, above which stood the city, so full of gaiety 

 and feasting, and where friends were no doubt wondering at 

 our unaccountable absence. But by the assertion of Christie 

 we became assured that we should soon be at liberty, and be 

 enabled to keep the engagements for the evening. With this 

 we wereobliged to be content, and prepared resignedly to wait 

 for our freedom. Again we partook of fish and bread and 

 Sfeue brandy, and quietly smoked our pipes. "Cte descendi 

 pas," I shortly afterward heard one of the men say, Who had 

 looked at the water below. "What's the matter?" I asked. 

 "The water," he answered, "had gone down a eouple of feet, 

 and had there remained ,- there was still nearly two feet on 

 the ice." We must stop here lid to-morrow m< ruing, or till 

 help came. There was no use complainiug ; we had but to 

 submit to cruel fate. The fishermen were iu the same position 

 as ourselves, and would, if they possibly could, have reached 

 the shore. To wade through two feet of water for three-quar- 

 ters of a mile, with the constant danger of falling into an air 

 hole, was not to be thought of. Disconsolate and sick at 

 heart, we turned over and tried to sleep, but that was 

 banished from us. The evening came down in its dense dark- 

 ness, and again we forced ourselves to eat, again the approach- 

 ing tide was announced, and, oh! joy, the water did not rise 

 in the cabanne. This was a good sign. The water would 

 flow off the ice and we could leave by four o'clock iu the 

 morning. I will not attempt to say how 1< were 



passing. No wonder Marie Antoinette's hair turned gray in 

 a single, night. I cannot conceive how it was mine did not. 

 Then another trouble fell upon us, the fuel became exhausted, 

 the fire extinguished, and the intense cold penetrated our very 

 bones. I think were it not for the dingy light shed by the 

 tallow dips I should have gone mad. To n in the 



daylight, or when one can see, is bad enough, but to be in its 

 power in the darkness is too terrible. I thank these puny 

 dips for my reason, 



In our anxiety and apprehension we tie atcbes 



run down, and but for the sagacity of Christie, we should have 

 had another grief. Our questions as to the hour must I 

 tried Ins fisherman patience. At last, at last, 

 most dead, the faithful, tried Christie proc joyful 



intelligence, " Messeurs, nous paurrous disa 

 no second bidding. We were quickly on El 

 cabanne, and Christie opened the floOZ TJ 



