Sept. 3, 1904.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
198 
In the summer of 1800 Henry was on his way west- 
ward, with a brigade of canoes, each of which earned 
twenty-eight pieces of goods, ten of which were rum, 
containing nine gallons each; loads which sunk the 
canoes to the gunwales. He was proceeding by the 
Grande Portage to Lake Winnipeg, over the road 
which, even then, was being traveled by many fur 
traders. Wherever he found Indians, they were usually 
drunk, and when drunk always troublesome. They 
crossed the Lake of the Woods, and ran down the river 
Winnipic. At Portage de Lisle one of the canoes, to 
.avoid the trouble of making this portage, passed down 
'near the north shore with a full load. "She had not 
gone many yards when, by some mismanagement of 
the foreman, the current bore down her bow full upon 
the shore against a rock, upon which the fellow, taking 
advantage of his situation, jumped, while the current 
Iwhirled the canoe around. The steersman, rinding him- 
self within reach of the shore, jumped upon the rock, 
with one of the midmen; the other midman, not being 
sufficiently active, remained in the canoe, which was 
instantly carried out and lost to view among the high 
waves. At length she appeared, and stood perpendicularly 
for a moment, when she sank down again, and I then 
perceived the man rising upon a bale of drygoods in the 
midst of the waves. We made every exertion to get near 
him, and did not cease calling out to him to take courage, 
and 'not let go his hold; but alas! he sank under a heavy 
Iswell, and when the bale arose the man appeared no more. 
At this time we were only a few yards from him; but 
while we were eagerly looking out for him, poor fellow, 
the whirlpool caught my canoe, and before we could get 
away she was half full of water. We then made all haste 
[to get ashore, and go in search of the property. The 
canoe we found flat upon the water, broken 111 many 
Races. However, we hauled her ashore, and afterwards 
[collected as many pieces as we could find. The men had 
landed a few packages above the rapid, otherwise our loss 
would have been still greater." 
On August 16 they entered Lake Winnipeg, and were 
lalmost wrecked by a storm, the wind blowing violently 
over a shoal flat, and raising a tumbling sea. Wildfowl 
were plenty; so were also Rocky Mountain locusts, which 
\ Henry said were thrown up on the beach to a depth of six 
to nine inches. He shot a white pelican, of which many 
were seen. From here Henry went up the Red River 
to establish a trading fort, and on the way up he divided 
his goods, one-half of which were to be sent to Portage 
[La Prairie, on the Assinaboine River. The Indians here 
were chiefly canoe and foot people, and had few horses. 
• Pigeons were very numerous, as were also fish, and the 
i Indians had some dried buffalo meat, which was pur- 
! chased -from them. Fruit was abundant along the bank; 
plums of three different sorts, pembinas, and grapes, 
i A number of Indians had joined him, all of whom 
wanted liquor and supplies. He gave them more or less 
: liquor, with the result that most of them were drunk 
much of the time, and showed no dispostion either to 
Runt or to trap. As they proceeded up Red River, they 
approached the country ranged over by the Sioux, be- 
tween whom and the Ojibwas there was everlasting war. 
mbr Indians were therefore in a continual state of alarm, 
and every time a shot was heard they thought that the 
enemy were about to attack them. They were now close 
; to the country of the buffalo, and the Indians were bring- 
ing in fresh meat. Henry speaks of the abundance of 
these animals at his camp of August 26, where, he says, 
"The ravages of the buffaloes at this place are astonish- 
ing to a person unaccustomed to these meadows. The 
beach, once soft black mud, into which a man would sink 
knee-deep, is now made hard as pavement by the numer- 
ous herds coming to drink. The willows are entirely 
(trampled and torn to pieces; even the bark of the smaller 
. trees is rubbed off in many places. The grass on the first 
bank of the river is entirely worn away. Numerous paths, 
' some of which are a foot deep in the hard turf, come 
from the plains to the brink of the river, and vast quanti- 
; ties of dung gives this place the appearance of a cattle 
yam. Vve nave reached the commencement of the great 
1 plains of Red River, where the eye is lost in one continu- 
! ous level westward. Not a tree or a rising ground inter- 
! rupts the view." Here he had his first experience in run- 
ning buffalo, and merely for the amusement of it killed 
1 not a few. 
The Indians continued drinking and fighting among 
; themselves. No one as yet had been killed, but more 
than one had been severely injured. Now, however, they 
: had used up all their liquor, and ■ Henry refused to give 
' them any more ; so that while many continued to loaf 
i about and beg for drink, some went hunting. Keeping 
on up the Red River, he pushed on southward, being 
{ anxious to reach a country where the beaver seemed to 
■ be plenty. Game was very abundant — buffalo, elk, and 
bears. ''Whilst we were arranging camp I saw a bear on 
" the east side of the river, a little above us, coming down 
to drink. I crossed over and followed him; he instantly 
j stopped within a few paces, and ran up a large oak. I 
I shot, him between the shoulders, and he fell to the ground 
like a rock, but in a moment was scampering away as fast 
as he could. I traced him by the blood, and soon found 
> him sitting under a brush heap, grumbling and licking his 
: wounds. A second shot dispatched him. By the hideous 
j scream he uttered when he fell from the tree, I imagined 
he was coming at me, and was waiting for him with my 
I second barrel cocked, when he ran off. I went for my 
I two men, and it was hard work for us three to drag him 
to the canoe; he was very fat. I found that my first 
' ball had gone through his heart. I was surprised that he 
! should have been so active after a wound of that kind." 
Early in September, Henry, having gotten up Red River 
1 as far as the mouth of Park River, decided to build there, 
; and began the work of cutting and carrying stockades 
\ and house logs. Game was astonishingly abundant, bears 
being so plenty that they were killed almost daily. Three 
men came in with twelve bears ; a hunter returned with 
four bears, and so on. Now that they were settled, 
Henry began to give out to the Indians their debts ; by 
which is meant that he furnished them the articles that 
; they needed for hunting and for their life during the 
. winter, charging them with the articles, which were to be 
paid for by skins — that is, the value of a beaver skin. 
He prepared for himself a tall oak, which he used as a 
, lookout station, and from which he had an extensive 
view. Every morning he used to climb to the top of this 
oak and look over the country, not only to see where the 
game was, h>>£ *.-<.• u : s<;c if people were moving about. 
After die stce&Kk had been finished, the houses were 
built, and then came ilie task of preparing food for the 
winter. Meantime, the Indians had persuaded Henry 
again to give them liquor, and they were once more drunk 
and quarreling. Happily, when fighting, they did not use 
their guns or bows, but only their knives; and so, 
although men and women were frequently _ severely 
stabbed and cut, there were no immediate fatalities. 
Henry was a good deal of a hunter, and much of his 
journal is given up to accounts of what he killed. In- 
dian alarms were as frequent as ever, but none of them 
amounted to anything, being causeless panics. In Octo- 
ber' Henry made a journey down the river, to look up 
some of the people that he had sent off to establish small 
trading posts. On his return, about the middle of Octo- 
ber, he found that his hunter had killed a large grizzly 
bear, about a mile from the fort, and mentions that these 
bears are not numerous along Red River, but are more 
abundant in the Hair Hills. This is one of the most 
eastern records for the grizzly bear, although Long — 
"Voyages and Travels," London, 1791 — speaks as if they 
were sometimes found a little further eastward, even east 
of the west end of Lake Superior. A little later Henry 
set off with one of his hunters and another man to 
search for the Red Lake Indians, whom he wished to in- 
form that he had established a trading post here. The 
journey was long, and much of it through thick woods 
and underbrush, and it almost proved fruitless. How- 
ever, he at length came across a young Indian, who was 
very much frightened at seeing them, but finally realizing 
that they were friends, talked freely to them. The_ In- 
dian reported that his people were at Red Lake waiting 
for traders, and Henry tried to persuade him to bring 
them into his fort. Henry then returned to his post. 
Winter was now approaching. The Indians were mak- 
ing the mats with which they covered their huts in winter, 
while many of the men were preparing to go to war. An 
interesting note on wolves appears here, under date of 
Sunday, November 2 : "Last night the wolves were very 
troublesome; they kept up a terrible howling about the 
fort, and even attempted to enter Maymiutch's hut. A 
large white one came boldly into the door, and was ad- 
vancing toward a young child, when he was shot dead. 
Some of them are very audacious. I have known them to 
follow people for several days, attempt to seize a person 
or a dog, and to be kept off only by firearms. It does 
not appear that hunger makes them so voracious, as they 
have been known to pass carcasses of animals which they 
might have eaten to their fill, but they would not touch 
flesh, their object seeming to be that of biting. The 
Canadians swear that these are mad wolves, and are much 
afraid of them." 
Another note of interest to the zoologist is this : "We 
saw a great herd of cows going at full speed southward, 
but on coming to our track, which goes to Salt Lake, 
they began to smell the ground, and as suddenly as if 
they had been fired at, turned toward the mountain. It 
is surprising how sagacious these animals are. When in 
the least alarmed, they will smell the track of even a 
single person in the grassland run away, in the contrary 
direction. I have seen large herds walking very slowly 
to pasture, and feeding as they went, come to a place 
where some persons had passed on foot, when they would 
instantly stop, smell the ground, draw back a few paces, bel- 
low, and tear up the earth with their horns. Sometimes the 
whole herd would range along the road, keeping up a ter- 
rible noise, until one of them was hardy enough to jump 
over, when they would all follow, and run some distance. ' 
On November 8, with an Indian, Henry started in search 
of Indians about Grand Forks. Although the weather 
had been cold and snowy, it had now turned warm again, 
and they had much trouble in crossing streams and 
sloughs. They went south, to what Henry's Indian told 
him was the border of the Sioux country, and old camp- 
ing grounds were pointed out, which the Indians said 
were Sioux. Beaver appeared to be very numerous, but 
they killed nothing, making no fire, and firing no guns, 
and keeping their horses always close to them. 
In describing the country passed over, Henry speaks of 
the Schian River, a tributary of the Red River, which 
flows into it about ten miles north of Fargo. This, he 
says, "takes its name from a formerly numerous tribe of 
Indians who inhabited its upper part. They were a neu- 
tral tribe between the Sioux and Salteurs for many years, 
but the latter, who are of a jealous disposition, suspected 
that they favored the Sioux. A very large party having 
once been unsuccessful in discovering their enemies, on 
their return wreaked their vengeance on those people, 
destroying their village, and murdering most of them. 
This happened about sixty years ago, when the Salteurs 
were at war with their natural enemies, the Sioux, of the 
plains, who are the only inhabitants of St. Peter's River. 
The Schians, having been nearly exterminated, abandoned 
their old territory, and fled southward across the Mis- 
souri, where they are now a wandering tribe." 
' This story agrees very well with the traditions related 
by the Cheyennes to-day, except that the modern stories 
put back these wars with the Salteurs much further than 
1740. On November 13, Henry reached the post again, 
having failed to find any of the people that he looked for. 
Moreover, when he got here he received a messenger 
from Langlois, one of his clerks at a trading post at the 
Panbian (Pembina) Mountains, reporting that a number 
of more or less turbulent Crees and Assinaboines were 
gathering there, and that Henry's presence was needed to 
quiet them. Two days later he set off, stopping at Bois 
Perce, where "I remained about an hour with the worth- 
less vagabonds, who do nothing but play at the game of 
platter. Nothing is heard but the noise of the dish, and 
children bawling from hunger; their scoundrelly fathers 
are deaf to their cries until necessity obliges them to kill 
a bull for their sustenance." On his arrival at the post, 
he found all his people well, and the trouble apparently 
over. 
The weather was now very cold. Swans were passing 
south in astonishing numbers. Now the men took no 
more raccoons with their traps, for these animals had be- 
gun to hibernate in the hollow trees, where they would 
remain like the bears until spring, without any sustenance. 
Some time before, an Indian named Crooked Legs, 
while drunk, had very severely stabbed his young wife, 
who now, however, had perfectly recovered. At a drink- 
ing match, held at the post, j ust after Henry's return, this 
woman, in revenge, gave her old husband a cruel beating 
with a stick, and afterward burned him shockingly with a 
brand snatched from the fire. 
Rum was constantly desired by the Indians, and was 
begged for on every pretext. If a woman's husband died, 
or a man's wife, they came to Henry to beg, or buy, rum, 
to cheer their hearts in their sorrow. A curious trapping 
incident is reported November 28. "La Rocque, Sr., came 
in with his traps, with a skunk, a badger, and a large 
white wolf, all three caught in the same trap at once, as 
he said. This was thought extraordinary — indeed a false- 
hood — until he explained the affair. His trap was made 
in a hollow stump, in the center of which there was a 
deep hole in the ground. He found the wolf, just caught, 
and still alive. He despatched him, and, on taking him 
out, noticed something stirring and making a noise in the 
hole in the ground. Upon looking in lie perceived the 
badger, which he killed with a stick, and upon pulling him 
out, smelt the horrid stench of the skunk, which was in 
one corner of the hole. Pie soon despatched him also. 
From this the Indians all predicted some great misfor- 
tune, either to the person to whom the traps belonged, or 
to our fort." 
Two days later some of the men went raccoon hunting, 
the weather being warm. "They returned in the evening 
with seven, which they had found in one hollow tree. 
The size of this tree was enormous, having a hollow six 
feet in diameter, the rim or shell being two feet thick, 
including the bark. Raccoon hunting is common here in 
the winter season. The hunter examines every hollow 
tree met with, and when he sees the fresh marks of the 
claws, he makes a hole with an ax, and then opens the 
hollow place, in which he lights a fire, to find out if there 
be any raccoons within, as they often climb trees in the 
autumn, and, not finding them proper for the purpose, 
leave them, and seek others. But if they be within, the 
smoke obliges them to ascend and put their heads out of 
the hole they enter. On observing this, the ax is applied 
to the tree; with the assistance of the fire it is soon 
down, and the hunter stands ready to despatch the ani- 
mals while they are stunned by the fall. But sometimes 
they are so obstinate as to remain at the bottom of the 
hole until they are suffocated or roasted to death. The 
bears, both grizzly and common black, which reside on 
Red River, take to hollow trees also, and are hunted by 
the Indians in the same manner as raccoons. But the 
bears in the Hair Hills and other places never take to 
the trees for their winter quarters; they reside in holes 
in the ground, in the most intricate thicket they can find, 
generally under the roots of trees that have been torn up 
by the wind, or have otherwise fallen. These are more 
difficult to find, requiring good dogs that are naturally 
given to hunt bears. The reason why the bears differ so 
widely in the choice of their winter habitations is obvious. 
The low lands along the river, where the woods prin- 
cipally grow, are every spring subject to overflow, when 
the ice breaks up. The mud carried down with the cur- 
rent and left on the banks, makes their dens uncomfortable. 
On the Hair Hills and other high lands, where the 
ground is free from inundation, the soft and sandy soil 
is not so cold as the stiff black mud on the banks of the 
river, which appears to be made ground. Frequently, on 
digging holes in winter, we found the frost had pene- 
trated the ground nearly four feet, like one solid body of 
ice, while in high, dry, sandy soil it seldom exceeds one 
foot in depth." 
Winter had now set in, as well by the calendar as by 
temperature. It was ushered in by a great prairie fire, 
which seemed likely to burn over the whole country. At 
first it was supposed that the Sioux had fired the prairie, 
but later it appeared that the Crees had done it by acci- 
dent. These Crees reported that they had seen a calf as 
white as snow in a herd of buffalo; and Henry mentions 
how greatly white buffalo are esteemed among the na- 
tions of the Missouri, but that they are not valued by the 
Crees and Assinaboines. except to trade to other tribes. 
Occasionally buffalo are seen that are dirty gray, but 
these are very rare. Christmas and New Years passed, 
these holidays being celebrated by drinking, so that for 
New Year's Day Henry says: "By sunrise every soul 
of them was raving drunk — even' the children." Buffalo 
were now seen in great abundance, and came within gun- 
shot of the fort. A day or two later it was necessary to 
go out only a short distance from the fort to kill buffalo, 
but the cold was so intense that it was impossible to cut 
up those killed. On January 2 there arrived at the fort, 
Berclash, a man who, as used to be not very uncommon, 
wore the dress and busied himself with the occupations 
properly belonging to women.. Pie was a swift runner, 
and a few years since was considerably the fleetest man 
among the Salteurs. "Both his speed and his courage 
were tested some years ago on the Schian River, when 
Monsieur Reaume attempted to make peace between the 
two nations, and Berdash accompanied a party of 
Salteurs to the Sioux camp. They at first appeared recon- 
ciled to each other, at the intercession of the whites, but 
on the return of the Salteurs, the Sioux pursued them. 
Both parties were on foot, and the Sioux had the name 
of being extraordinarily swift. The Salteurs imprudently 
dispersed in the plains, and several of them were killed, 
but the party with Berdash escaped without any acci- 
dent, in the following manner: One of them had got 
from the Sioux a bow, but only a few arrows. On start- 
ing and finding themselves pursued, they ran a consider- 
able distance, until they perceived the Sioux were gaining 
fast upon them, when Berdash took the bow and arrows 
from his comrades, and told them to run as fast as possi- 
ble, without minding him, as he feared no danger. He 
then faced the enemy, and began to let fly his arrows. 
This checked their course, and they returned the compli- 
ment with interest, but it was so far off that only a chance 
arrow could have hurt him, as they had nearly spent their 
strength when they fell near him. His own arrows were 
soon expended, but he lost no time in gathering up those : 
that fell near him, and thus he had a continual supply. 
Seeing his friends some distance off, and the Sioux mov- 
ing to surround him, he turned and ran full speed to join 
his comrades, the Sioux after him. When the latter ap- 
proached too near, Berdash again stopped and faced them, 
with his bow and arrows, and kept them at bay. Thus 
did he continue to maneuver until they reached a spot of 
strong wood, which the Sioux dared not enter. Some of 
the Salteurs who were present have often recounted the 
